Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

WISE’s air always held a bit of tension. Of course it would, because they were agents in a hostile, foreign country. All of them were on edge, but there was something particularly tense about WISE headquarters today, and while most of the newer agents were terrible about being able to look him in the eyes (and Twilight didn’t understand why that was), but today when they looked in his direction, he saw a mix of sadness, horror and disgust in their eyes. Even some of the senior agents were looking at him with what he could tell was, of all things, pity. Pity! Twilight hadn’t been looked at in pity since… well, he didn’t want to think about it.

Even Nightfall had given him a look tinged with sadness and yet disgust. While she always seemed to have trouble hiding her emotions, she had never given him that sort of look before.

What the hell was that about? Had he accidentally killed someone he wasn’t supposed to? No, of course he hadn’t. He was Westalis’ top agent for a reason - because he was the best at his job and did everything to the letter. Surely he hadn’t made that sort of error on his last mission… and the last time he’d spilled someone’s blood had been months ago - any issues would have arisen long before now.

Handler’s face was always difficult to read, but there was another layer to it today as he stood before her desk. 

“Good evening, or rather, good afternoon, Twilight.” 

She cut down her greeting. That couldn’t be good. 

He felt that sinking feeling in his stomach starting to creep back up. “Hello handler. What’s this about?” he questioned.

“Do you remember Project Apple, Agent Twilight?”

“Of course.” Bond was a Project Apple dog, after all. It was hard to forget someone out there was twisted enough to experiment on dogs.

Handler took a deep breath, like she was bracing herself for either what she had to say or how he was going to respond to it. The sinking feeling was turning sour, and was rising in his throat no matter how hard he tried to focus on the moment.

“They didn’t just use dogs for their experiments.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “What else did they use?”

“Humans,” Handler said. “More specifically… children.”

She dropped the folder she was holding in front of him, and to his horror, wide, familiar eyes stared back at him from the photo attached to the file.

“Anya.” Now all those looks from the other agents made sense. There must have been some sort of raid or leak somewhere.

Handler’s head bobbed. “Indeed. This was not news I wanted to give you, Twilight. But I do need to ask you some questions about the girl.”

Twilight sagged into the chair he hadn’t realized someone had put behind him, his head in his hands. Anya had been an experiment. Like some sort of science fair project.

(That reminded him, Anya had a science fair project due next week. Yor was helping her with it.)

“Agent Twilight, other than the information Mr. Franklin has already shared with us, is there anything at all you can tell us about Anya?” Handler asked. “Anything at all that might be unusual about her habits, her quirks…?”

Her quirks…?

( “This girl looks no older than four or five - ”

“Six! I’m six years old!”

“I wonder if I can trade her in for -”

“Papa, no! Please don’t leave me!”

“I thought about asking her to play my wife, but I’d better not.”

“Oh! Poor, poor me! I’m so lonely ‘cause I’ve got no Mama!” )

“She… she always seems to know exactly what it is I need to hear,” Twilight began slowly. “Almost like she can read my mind.”

Handler’s face remained stony, though it didn’t appear she was angry - at least, not yet, anyway.

“But I don’t need to study for some stupid test! I’ll just read people’s - ”

She hadn’t finished that sentence, but Twilight remembered being worried that she was going to cheat on Eden’s entrance exam. Was reading minds technically cheating? Of course it was. Why was he questioning it?

“Anything else?” Handler questioned.

She was testing him, Twilight realized. She had clearly already read the file forward and back, whereas he’d been struck frozen upon seeing Anya in the photo.

Twilight pressed a hand to his forehead as he thought back to the day he’d taken Yor and Anya out to learn more about culture. There was the political rally, where Anya had become weak and had gone almost completely limp in his arms, her nose having begun to bleed. At the time, he’d thought it had been because she was hungry - that had been a long afternoon, after all, or maybe she had been allergic to something in the park. It had happened not too long after that, when they’d hunted down the purse snatcher.

And then it had happened again at Eden, during the accident with the farm animals. Anya had nearly passed out in Yor’s arms.

All of those situations had something in common: they were large, chaotic events with dozens - or hundreds - of people around them.

Then there was the strange, sometimes erratic behavior in other situations, like when they’d been on the Princess Lorelei. Had her behavior not been because of him, but because of other stuff she’d overheard?

He’d joked to the interviewers at Eden that sometimes it felt like Anya could read his mind, but…

Twilight grabbed the file off the desk and began to read it for himself.

Test Subject 007 “Anya”

Powers: Telekinesis

October 4, XXXX

Today, Subject 007 spent most of the day drawing instead of working to better control her powers. Despite our best efforts of gently coaxing the child to do her work, she remained stubborn in her refusal. We had no choice but to forcibly remove her toys and coloring materials until she began her studies. She did not get any of them back for the whole day. If her attitude continues into tomorrow, she will not have time to play then, either.

Twilight’s hand gripped the file tighter. Anya always had such a resistance to studying, though it had gotten better since the day he’d adopted her, she still had her moments of screaming and treating him like he was torturing her because he wanted her to pass her classes with higher marks than she was currently making.

Now it made sense as to why she acted that way. She had been treated horribly by those scientists and forced to study, in ways unlike a normal child should be told to study by a parent… or so he vaguely remembered from his own childhood.

“I adopted a telepath,” he said flatly as he tossed the file back on Handler’s desk. He hadn’t finished reading it, but the way his stomach was churning, he didn’t want to. He’d read enough to know that Anya had suffered, been in pain, and that it was unacceptable. “Why did you show me this?”

“They’ve started working again.”

Twilight froze, carefully-concealed anger settling into his heart. “I see. And the plan is to eliminate them?”

“The superiors are unsure if we’re taking down the whole organization yet. Their scientists claim this is for world peace but… the use of children and animals in experimentation is unethical and inhumane. More importantly, we believe Desmond is involved in some capacity. Get in, eliminate whoever you have to, and get whatever documents you can find. We don’t know how many people they experimented on or where those people are now. Your daughter is on our side, but others…”

Twilight hated that Anya had to be on a side at all. She was just a child. She wasn’t a spy, no matter what she always tried to act out when she was recreating Spy Wars .

“I will get what we need, Handler,” Twilight agreed.

Handler slid a dalc across her desk. Ah, the mission details. He would decipher it when he got back to the hospital. “I know you will. You are dismissed, Agent Twilight.”

Twilight nodded once and left, his stomach feeling no better than it had when he’d walked in.

“Will you need backup, Agent Twilight?” Fiona asked him when they were secure in his hospital office again. “They’re sending you to a warehouse , after all.”

Twilight glanced at the scrap of paper containing mission details after removing it from the dalc. A warehouse in the industrial district, seven-thirty. Got it. “No. I can do this on my own. All Handler and HQ want is information. I’m hoping I won’t have to eliminate anyone. After all, it’s easy to make papers disappear in a lab.” 

“After what they’ve done? I’m surprised you aren’t out for more blood.”

“If we take them alive, we can get more information out of them. Like the student terrorists,” he reminded her.

“Ah. Yes, of course. We can give them a painful death after.”

Twilight couldn’t help but frown. Fiona had never said as much, but she always appeared to be rather… hostile when it came to Operation Strix. How many times now, had she made an off-hand comment about Yor, or Anya, or the mission as a whole? Now she wanted death for the people who were a part of Project Apple, knowing that Anya was part of it?

“This revelation seems to have shaken you, Fiona.”

Something crossed Fiona’s face. He couldn’t be sure what it was, but something broke through her sterile veneer. “The child is important to Operation Strix. Who knows what sort of information she knows about us, Twilight. Who is to say she hasn’t told the Desmond boy about us?”

He didn’t like the insinuation in her tone, and narrowed his eyes dangerously. “If she had, don’t you think the government would have come for us by now?”

Then again… Yuri Briar was with the SSS, and he had been at the apartment more frequently in the aftermath of the bus hijacking.

No, no. He couldn’t think about those sorts of things now. Yuri’s presence was likely innocent, to support Yor after everything that had happened with Anya, and besides, Yuri had been hurt. Surely sibling bonding in the face of a near-death experience was normal.

“Of course, sir. They can be quick when they want to be.”

Twilight scoffed, which may have been confused for a laugh if it were anyone else in the room. “I’m going to call Yor and let her know I’m going to be late tonight. Did you need anything else, Fiona?”

“Of course not, Agent Twilight. I’ll leave you to your work.”

He waited five seconds before picking up his phone and dialing the number to city hall.

The Shopkeeper liked to think he was like a dandelion - everywhere all at once, even in places people wouldn’t expect. His connections in the underworld allowed him to keep people fed that needed food, kept supplies coming in that couldn’t come through the proper, legal borders.

Most importantly, his connections kept information coming in. Oh sure, there were a few poisonous plants that sprouted once in a while, but those were disposed of quite quickly.

Franky Franklin had been on his radar of those who potentially needed pruning for a while, but after learning he was friendly with Thorn Princess, Shopkeeper had decided to be merciful and keep him alive. After all, he was good at getting information, and the newest batch of information had him calling in his best assassin.

“Sir, you wanted to see me?”

The Shopkeeper allowed the ghost of a smile to cross his features as he set down his gardening shears and turned to her. “Yes, thank you for coming so quickly, Thorn Princess. I have a new assignment for you. I need it taken care of as soon as possible.”

Thorn Princess’ eyes narrowed in understanding. “Of course sir. What can I help you with?”

“There has been an underground group of scientists working on some rather… inhumane projects, Thorn Princess. While we have left that alone in the past, there have been rumblings in the underground that they have begun to be more politically motivated, and I am concerned that they could threaten world peace.”

Thorn Princess was nodding along, absorbing every word, as she always did. “What sort of projects, may I ask?”

“Human and animal experimentation.”

Anger flashed across her typically stoic features. “I see. When do you want me to take care of them?”

“Seven-thirty. Here’s the address to the warehouse they’ve been spotted at.”

Her red eyes scanned the slip of paper quickly, before she nodded once. “I won’t let you down, sir.”

“I know you won’t.” She had been hand-raised by him, after all. If she let him down, he would be letting himself down, and he would never allow that to happen. “That’s all I have for you, Thorn Princess. Don’t forget to let your family know you’ll be late getting home.”

“Of course not.”

“Yes,” the Shopkeeper thought as Thorn Princess left the room. “Franky Franklin is lucky to be alive.”

“Yor, your hubby’s on the phone,” Camilla said with a grin Yor didn’t quite know how to interpret.

“Oh! What good timing, I needed to give him a call too!” she decided to say instead, with a grateful smile. “Thanks Camilla!”

Camilla rolled her eyes and sat back down at her spot.

“There you are, Yor. I was a bit surprised when Camilla said you were out. I didn’t think you had any errands to run today,” Loid said after she greeted him.

“Ha, yeah, I didn’t either. But I guess the city clerk forgot his anniversary and I was the first person he saw, so he asked me to order him some flowers from the shop next door. It took longer than I thought it would.”

“No problem at all. But I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be late coming home. There’s a patient here that’s having some issues, and my superiors think I’m the best one that can get through to them.”

Her eyes widened. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to use his concussive therapy for that patient. It seemed rather… lethal for a normal human when he’d demonstrated it to her the night of Camilla’s party. “Oh! Uh, that’s no problem, but I’m also going to be late getting home. I’m really behind on my work since I got called to that job. So…”

“That’s fine, I can call Franky. If he’s not available, I’ll call you back and maybe you can ask Yuri? He seems to be getting along well with Anya lately.”

Yor smiled in relief. It seemed Loid was warming up to Yuri despite the strange, awkward first encounter they’d had. “Good idea. See you later tonight. Good luck with your patient!”

“Thank you. Good luck with your work.”

“Thanks. Bye Loid.”

As she stared up at the warehouse later that night, Yor shook off the sense of fear and blood in the air. If these scientists were as bad as Shopkeeper said they were, the sense of dread she felt was to be expected. If there were any animals or people inside, hopefully she would be able to free them without anyone seeing who she was.

Thorn Princess never showed mercy to people, but… tonight she had to make an exception for the people that might be hurt inside. Where they would go and what they would do she wasn’t sure, and Shopkeeper hadn’t said anything about that either, and Yor was hoping that meant he didn’t think innocents were inside.

Gunpowder and blood assaulted her nose as she stepped inside, her weapons lightly in her hands when she noticed a body laying in a pool of blood in the archway to another room. 

What the - ? 

Had someone gotten here before she did?

If so… who?

As Yor gracefully moved through the building, making sure the occupants inside were dead, she noticed that whoever had beat her here was incredibly skilled - all of the fatal wounds had been in the usual places, between the eyes or straight through the heart. 

She would have to be on her guard. What if this was the SSS committing a raid?

Another gunshot rang out above her, so Yor followed the sound up to a hallway of what she assumed were supposed to be private offices, hastily constructed. Clearly, this wasn’t a one-hundred percent legal endeavor.

Then again, what was?

Her heels clicked softly against the concrete ground as she glanced at cages and other scientific equipment she did not want knowledge of. It didn’t seem like there were innocent people or animals here, which was a relief.

Then she heard the sound of papers shuffling, and instinctively tightened her stance and her grip on her weapons as she approached the room, light on her feet as she always was.

She peaked her head into the room, and frowned in confusion at what she saw. A tall man with blonde hair was standing near a file cabinet, rummaging through files, the body of another scientist unmoving in front of a desk.

Or at least, it appeared to be unmoving. To the untrained eye, the man with round glasses looked quite dead, but Yor had been an assassin long enough to know that he was just bluffing, fingers twitching in an attempt to reach the fallen phone.

Yor didn’t know if the man in the hat was friend or foe, but she did know her job was to eliminate the scientists in this building, so before the man reached the phone, Yor struck, her knife stabbing him straight through the heart, and he let out a choked noise before going completely still.

The blonde man moved as fast as she did, his gun pointed at her in a second as she readied her own weapons, which nearly dropped from her hands when she saw the man’s face clearly.

“L-Loid?!”

“Yor?”

Chapter Text

This couldn’t be happening.

What the hell was Yor , of all people doing here? Why was she holding a bloody weapon?

He had been compromised, and worse, it had been by his wife . The woman he had been lying to for over a year now in an attempt to seem like a completely normal Ostanian man, and not Westalis’ greatest weapon.

Fuck. Calm down Twilight. There had to be a reasonable explanation for this, right? Then again, Yor had said there was stuff she needed to finish at work. And Twilight could not figure out what that was supposed to be if she was here covered in blood and holding some very sharp looking weapons.

Still, he needed to figure out what was going on, so he took a slow, deep breath. “Yor… I thought you said you were behind on your work at city hall.” His voice was colder than he normally used with anyone outside of missions. He couldn’t muster up the airy, laid-back voice of Loid Forger. Not now.

“And I thought you were supposed to be helping some patients. I’m not a doctor but I’m pretty sure murder goes against your code, even if concussive therapy for some reason doesn’t!”

If he’d been anyone else, he might have missed the shudder that went down her spine before she spoke. But he saw the slight quiver of her arms, and while he normally felt good about making people fear him, the sour feeling that had vanished with each death blow of these awful scientists, was beginning to return.

“Clearly… we both have skeletons in our closet. Why don’t we talk about this calmly? Let’s… put our weapons away.”

Yor made no movement to do so. “DId you kill all those people?”

Or… they could just start asking questions with little to no fanfare. “I did.”

“Why?”

“Human experimentation is barbaric. I wanted to stop these people from starting it back up.”

Yor’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know about that?”

“How did you ?”

Yor’s weapons quivered, and the gun suddenly felt so heavy in Twilight’s hand. A stalemate. How long had it been since he’d been in a stalemate with someone?

“Let’s put our weapons down and talk about this calmly,” Twilight said. “But I have to know I can trust you.”

“Well so do I!”

She was scared, he realized. Scared and flustered over seeing him here. He couldn’t blame her - he felt the same way, even if he was doing his best not to show it. How much had they gone through together while trying to act like a totally normal family? And yet it seemed all three of them had secrets they’d been keeping.

“I’m here because of Anya,” he settled on. She deserved to know.

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“Anya is not my biological daughter, Yor. I adopted her. And recently I came across some information that told me she was one of the children experimented on here.”

Yor grew paler, which Twilight would admit was rather impressive given how fair her skin usually was. “She… these people hurt her? They hurt our daughter?! And you didn’t leave any of them alive for me to take care of except one?!”

Okay, good. She still trusted him, and was just as angry as he was over what happened with Anya.

“I didn’t know you would be coming tonight, Yor. How could I have left some alive for you?” he asked with a frown.

“I guess so…” she agreed. “But what I don’t understand is how you know how to kill people with such precision.”

“I would like to know the same thing about you. How do I know you aren’t a member of the Secret Police come to take Anya away?”

“I’m hurt you’d think that after everything we’ve been through! Besides, I’m not with the secret police! Besides - ” she lowered her voice, like she was hoping he wouldn’t hear her, but he distinctly heard the words “Shopkeeper hates them.”

He believed her, of course, because he knew it was Yuri who was on that path, but still, it was good to hear her say it. “I believe you. And I want you to know I’m no fan of them either.”

Yor sighed, her shoulders relaxing. “Good…. Then who are you?”

Twilight glanced around, then shook his head as he approached her, dropping his voice low. “I shouldn’t tell you here. We trust each other, and our house is secure from any traps or listening devices. We can talk more there.”

“Okay,” Yor agreed. “I’ll meet you there.”

He nodded once and turned back to the files he’d been collecting before Yor came into the room. “RIght, I’ll be off with these.”

“But won’t the government realize some documents are missing?” Yor questioned.

“It’s hard to tell if something is missing or if it got burned away in an explosion , isn’t it?” he asked, sliding his hat back onto his head and putting his gun back in his inside jacket. “You have five minutes to get away from here as quickly as possible.”

Not that he doubted she would, now that he knew she was apparently harboring a secret the same as he was. All of her random acts of strength were suddenly becoming clearer - he just didn’t know who she worked for, which was an issue Twilight intended to solve tonight.

Yor nodded and bolted from the room. Twilight followed, but by the time he’d gone outside, he couldn’t see her anymore. Oh well.

It was done. Those people would never be able to harm Anya ever again.

Twilight turned the key to his van just as the warehouse exploded in a brilliant flash of light.

“Excellent work, Agent Twilight. It seems Mr. Franklin’s handiwork once again paid off,” Handler said with a smirk when he returned to headquarters and dropped records on her desk. “Though I will admit, I was expecting you back sooner.”

“It appears we were not the only ones aware of that organization and aiming to stop them,” he began carefully. If he could avoid telling them about Yor, he would be satisfied with lying to his superiors.

Handler, though, sat straight up, alarmed. “What? Who else was there?”

“Someone who planned to do the same thing I was.”

“Twilight.”

He wouldn’t be able to get out of telling them the truth. He expected it, but he was hoping to not put a target on Yor’s back.

“Before I say it, I need your assurance that WISE will not go after them.”

“I can’t promise that, Twilight. If you were compromised - ”

“Operation Strix will be compromised if any harm comes to the one I ran into in that building,” Twilight said simply. “I am not asking for assurance, Handler. I am expecting it.”

Those words seemed to get her attention, and she leaned over in her chair to make sure the door to her office was locked. “What exactly do you mean?”

“Because I ran into my wife there. She had also been sent by someone to eradicate the scientists.”

“Your wife ? You ran into Yor Briar at that warehouse?”

“I did.”

“And she was tasked with killing the scientists?”

“Correct.”

“Who tasked her with it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Twilight!”

“We didn’t have much time to talk. You are the one who told me to blow up the warehouse after I grabbed the information you requested,” he pointed out. “The only thing I heard her say was ‘Shopkeeper hates the SSS.’”

Handler frowned. “I’ll look into it. For now, this stays between us. We cannot jeopardize Operation Strix. How did she seem to react to your presence?”

“Shocked but she didn’t seem interested in harming me. She was, however, enraged when I told her Anya had been one of the children there.”

“The fact that she still cares for the girl is a small comfort,” Handler said. “Fine, I won’t report it to the superiors, but I trust you understand why we are going to have to keep a close eye on her from now on.”

That was the best he knew he was going to get, so he nodded in agreement. “Very well, Handler. I understand.”

“Good. Now get home, it’s late.”

Right. The neighbors had already suspected Loid Forger of cheating several times by now. It was best to not let them think it was happening yet again. 

“Thank you for your understanding, Handler,” he said.

“You better hope this doesn’t end poorly for you, Twilight, because if it does… Operation Strix is finished and you will be assigned another mission somewhere outside Ostania.”

It wasn’t the first time she used that threat, but it was the first time Twilight actually felt worried and angry at the thought of it coming to pass. He couldn’t let Anya go back to the orphanage, not now. Not after knowing she’d been experimented on.

“Hey Loid,” he heard Yor’s soft voice call as he approached a corner. “Shall we walk home together?”

The City Hall uniform, once so innocent and unassuming, looked wrong on her now.

“Of course, Yor,” he said with a gentle smile. “How was work?”

It was odd to Twilight that moving into step with Yor as they walked the familiar Berlint felt totally normal, despite what they’d found out about each other.

“So… how are things with work? Did you manage to smooth things over with your patient?” she asked quietly.

Interesting. She knew to keep things normal and unassuming while they were walking home surrounded by other citizens of Berlint, even if many of them weren’t paying attention and were instead glued to the shops that sold TVs, news about the explosion having broken while he’d been at WISE headquarters.

“Things are stable for now,” he said. “And what about you? Is everything okay at City Hall?”

“For now.”

They were in another stalemate then, it seemed.

When they entered their building, they greeted the neighbor ladies with a smile before entering their apartment. He distinctly heard one of them comment how nice it was to see the two of them obviously coming home from a date night, and while he was glad they appeared to be giving off the appearance of a normal couple, he wondered how much longer it was going to last.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting you two to get done at the same time,” Franky greeted, looking up from the magazine he was reading. The TV was playing the news report about the explosion, and if Twilight had been a lesser man, he wouldn’t have caught the giddiness in Franky’s gaze. He supposed everyone got pride out of something, even if it was creating an explosive. “Pretty crazy about that warehouse, huh? Good thing you two were nowhere near!”

Yor managed a nervous cough. “Nope! I was all the way at City Hall and Loid was at the General Hospital!”

Franky gave her a confused look as he shoved the magazine into a bag, leaving an inconspicuous Berlint General Hospital folder on the coffee table where he’d been. “Right, yeah, obviously you two were. Anyway, Anya finished her homework, ate, watched Spy Wars , and passed out after trying to re-enact the episode with Bond. He’s also in her room. I’ll get out of your hair now. See you tomorrow, Loidy-boy, Yor.”

When the door clicked closed behind Franky, he heard Yor’s soft giggles from behind her hand. “I’m glad you have a friend like Franky, Loid,” she said. “Now… I don’t want to make this difficult, so you’d better spill who you are.”

Loid turned in surprise to find his wife standing behind him with her weapons limply at her side. Clearly, she hadn’t deemed him a threat… yet.

He kept himself calm as he considered the best way to get out of this situation. “Let’s make this easy on each other. On the count of three, we say what our professions really are, okay?”

She nodded slowly. “Okay. One - ”

“Two.”

“Three.”

“Spy.”

“Assassin.”

They each stared at each other in shock. An assassin? That made sense, given there had been a rash of killings linked to assassinations lately but who in politics would want to assassinate those scientists? Perhaps the current political leaders? If Desmond was linked to the scientists in the warehouse, that was the only group he could think of.

“You’re a - you’re a spy?” Yor asked, her voice quiet. “What are you doing in Ostania? What do you want ?”

“I want to stop Donovan Desmond.”

Yor’s shoulders dropped in relief. “You want to stop him? You don’t support him?”

“Of course not. We’re concerned he’s planning to reignite the war with Westalis. We want to intercept him before he can.”

“That’s why you were so interested in me becoming friends with Melinda… because it would get you closer to Desmond.”

“Exactly.”

Yor sighed and ran a hand down her face. “I can’t compromise myself by killing you or divorcing you. Yuri would be too worried.”

“And I can’t compromise myself by killing you either. Eden already looks down on me for having a second wife.”

“Am I really your second wife?”

Ah, right, they were supposed to be telling the truth now, so Twilight cleared his throat awkwardly. “In the eyes of the Ostanian government, yes, you are.”

“And in the eyes of Westalis’ government?”

“To them I’m just a weapon. I gave up any chance of a normal civilian life long ago.”

Yor frowned. “Then what about Anya? Is she just a tool for you to use while you try to get closer to Desmond? What about me?”

Twilight sagged onto the couch, his head in his hands. “At first, yes, that’s all either of you were. But as this mission has gone on, the more I feel like I genuinely care about you both, and your safety. That’s why I have vowed not to turn you in. And when I first started storming the warehouse, I had every intention of taking some of the scientists back to headquarters so our people could interrogate them, but when I got there and realized I was at the heart of an operation that allowed Anya to be hurt, that could try to find her again and take her away from me - us, I knew there was no sense in leaving any of them alive.”

He heard the zip of Yor’s bag open and glanced over at her. She put her weapons in her bag and set it down next to the chair, then took a seat in it, her hands clasped in front of her as was typical.

“I - I see,” she said with a frown. “I’ve grown to care about you too, Loid, and Anya. In fact… since we’re being truthful, I may have lost Anya the day we adopted Bond… and when I found her, I ran into a couple of those student terrorists. They were threatening to kill her. I don’t know why.”

Twilight frowned and looked down at the folder, thinking back to what Handler had shown him back at headquarters before he spoke to Yor. “It’s possible she overheard something she shouldn’t have after she got separated from you. What happened to the terrorists?”

“I managed to knock one of them out cold, but the other one escaped. I think he must have been the leader since he had another dog with him besides Bond. Anyway, I ran into him again while I was looking for Anya. I called the police, but I don’t know what happened after that because I was too busy trying to find her other than he was taken into custody.” She frowned and sighed. “Do you know if those students had anything to do with the people who hurt Anya at the lab?”

“No. My intelligence agency confirmed they got the dogs from the black market.”

Yor sighed in relief. “Good. Then at least we know the people who hurt Anya are dead.”

Anya Willians, Anya Levski, Anya Roche… Surely Anya had been hurt by those people too. Maybe not physically, but it couldn’t have been easy to be returned to an orphanage four times. No wonder she never said anything to them.

“Loid?”

He glanced up, shaking himself free from his thoughts. “Yes, Yor?”

Her hands, while still clasped, had tightened around themselves in the way they did when she was uneasy about asking him something. “Do you know why those people hurt Anya? Or… what they did to her?”

“I can’t answer either of those for sure, but… Anya is a telepath, Yor. They were going to use her for their own gain.”

Yor’s head bowed, but he saw a glimpse of anguish on her face before it was hidden by her hair. “Our poor daughter… I just want to go into her room right now and give her all the hugs I can.”

“Anya doesn’t know that we know about her, Yor. It would be best to not even think about it until we can figure out how exactly to bring it up,” he said. While her head was down, he took a moment to peek into the folder Franky had left. More information on the scientists, it looked like. Good. He’d read that later.

“Oh… wait, does that mean Anya knows about who we really are too?” Yor questioned, running her hands down her face. “That explains a few things…”

“Yeah. I had that feeling too,” Loid said. “A spy and an assassin are raising a telepath. How in the world did we get here?”

“I don’t know,” she said with a shake of her head. “But I’m glad it’s you who found out about me and not Yuri. But there’s something else that’s bothering me right now.”

“What is it?”

Yor furrowed her brow. “Why would dogs be on the black market? That’s usually reserved for drugs, or poison, or other things that are illegal in Ostania. But dogs? Are they the same dogs these people experimented on?”

“So your boss knows about the experimentation too?”

“He’s very well-connected to the black market.”

Twilight knew he should press for more information, but on the other hand, with he and Yor being having a truce, he didn’t want to ruin the fragile trust they had in each other. “I see. Yes, you’re correct. Those dogs were part of an experiment called Project Apple that the Ostanian government’s old regime started. But from what we’ve been able to find, it didn’t seem like the experiments were ever successful. The dogs disappeared after that, until they showed up with the terrorists.”

Yor nodded in understanding. “Yeah, okay. If that’s the case, then… does that mean Bond - ”

“Borf?”

Chapter Text

The air in the room once again stilled when Bond… barked? Honestly, Twilight still wasn’t sure what the noise Bond made was even supposed to be , because it certainly wasn’t a normal bark. He knew what dogs were supposed to sound like, and that wasn’t it. Was it something that he’d been given during Project Apple, or something that had been done to him? Either way, people never seemed confused by it - to his face, anyway, which was a relief. He supposed to normal people, Bond was just a unique dog.

Well, they certainly had that right.

“Borf,” Bond blinked at them, then began to whine as he looked in the direction of Anya’s room.

Yor was on her feet immediately. “Is there something wrong with Anya?”

Bond’s ears perked, like she’d asked the right question. “Borf!”

“MAMAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Yor bolted down the hallway with a speed Twilight had never seen her use and he followed with Bond on his heels.

“Anya! Anya, it’s okay, I’m here,” Yor said as she took a seat on Anya’s bed, pulling her into her arms. “I’m here…”

Twilight clicked on the desk lamp to chase any of the ghosts in Anya’s mind away. “We’re both here, Anya. What happened?”

Anya, though, had simply pressed her face against Yor’s stomach, babbling incoherently and holding Yor so tightly, Twilight was worried she would leave marks on Yor or cause harm to her own hands.

“I can’t help but wonder if she saw the news broadcast of the warehouse explosion…” he thought. “It was probably breaking news. Maybe Franky had another channel on before Spy Wars started. Maybe it triggered something… but then, how would she have known the warehouse contained what it did? There’s no way the news would have had that information at that time. I doubt even the SSS had known.”

He heard more incoherent mumbles from Anya, but for once, felt no need to correct her or ask her to repeat herself. His child had just woken up screaming, and while it wasn’t the first time she’d had a difficult dream since she’d been in his care, it was the first time her scream had sounded so painful, so terrified like that, that he hadn’t wanted to give her any grief tonight.

It had also been the first time one of her nightmares had caused Twilight’s stomach to plummet out of concern.

Twilight scrubbed a hand down his face and looked down at Bond, who was sitting next to him. Putting his hand on Bond’s head, Twilight smiled. “Good job, boy. Thank you for coming to get Yor and I.” 

Still… how could Bond have known Anya was about to wake up from a nightmare? Was it something he could sense as a dog? Or did it have something to do with whatever he’d gone through at Project Apple? Dammit, he really needed to talk to Handler about what else they’d learned about Project Apple lately.

“Are the bad guys gone?” he finally heard Anya say, though she hadn’t lifted her head away from Yor. “They’re not gonna come back?”

Even though she was a child, she somehow sounded and looked even younger, the way she was latched onto Yor and how her wide, terrified eyes flickered back and forth between the two of them.

He felt so tired as he looked at her. All of a sudden, everything he’d worked for for over a decade crashed into him. Using a child as part of Operation Strix had once felt wrong to him - and some days, like when Eden’s busses had been hijacked, it still did - but as he’d managed to give Anya a relatively happy home away from that horrible, run-down orphanage, he’d felt more at peace with it, and Anya had been a driving force in his quest to create a world where children never had to cry.

But here she was, crying.

“The bad guys are gone,” Yor confirmed softly, her hand rubbing circles in Anya’s hair. “They will never hurt you again.”

Twilight had no idea if Anya knew he and Yor were at the warehouse, but for now he would act like she wasn’t aware of it, until they figured out how to actually tell her what they’d discovered, and where their family would go from there.

“Your mother’s right, Anya. No one will ever be able to hurt you, not so long as we’re here,” he chose to say. “Try to go back to sleep, okay?”

“Can Mama stay with me?”

He noticed Yor hold Anya just a bit tighter. “Of course I will.”

This all felt so foreign to him, two parents comforting their terrified child after a nightmare. Even before the war, his father had been someone who would tell him to suppress his fear, and especially his bad dreams, despite his mother’s attempts to do otherwise. But this… this had to be what was normal, right?

“It’s fine, Anya,” Twilight said with a smile when he noticed she was looking at him with worried eyes. “You had a nightmare, and so we need to make you comfortable. That’s our job as your parents.” 

For once in his career, he meant it.

Next to him, he saw Bond’s ears perk again, his head twisting in the direction of the front door.

“What’s wrong, Bond? Is there a bad guy outside?” Anya whimpered.

Bond’s eyes dropped, and he looked almost sad. “Borf?”

Twilight had to resist the urge to sigh. “I’ll go check, Anya. You stay here with Yor. Bond, why don’t you come with me?”

His tail wagged. “Borf!”

They stepped out of the room as Yor began to speak softly, soothingly to Anya again. He kept the door open just a crack so Anya could see the light of the hallway and know she was safe (wait, hadn’t his mother done the same thing once…?). Bond went straight to the front door, having caught the scent of something in the hallway. His tail was wagging though, so surely that meant it was someone familiar, and no one he needed to worry about.

Still, Twilight couldn’t help but feel tense as he peeked through the peephole. For a moment, he didn’t see anyone in the hall, until a familiar form hurtled himself around the corner, his red eyes wide and looking strangely scuffed up.

Yuri Briar.

Twilight had to hold back a groan as he pulled open the door before Yuri could ring the bell. He had no idea if the noise would freak Anya out even more, and did not want to risk it.

Yuri lurched back in surprise, and while it wasn’t unusual for him to recoil away from Twilight, doing it before he even registered who was at the door was unusual. “Loidy! What are you doing here?”

It took everything in him not to bite out a sarcastic response. Instead, Loid Forger, beloved psychologist and fine, upstanding citizen of Berlint, gave Yuri a warm smile. “Sorry if I startled you, Yuri. I think Bond could sense you were coming and wanted me to get ahead of you.”

Yuri frowned. “What? Get ahead of me? Why? What did you do to Yor?”

“Nothing,” Twilight ground out, before he replaced himself once again with the worried, doting father and husband. “Anya had a nightmare and woke up screaming for Yor. I didn’t want the doorbell to scare her further.”

Yuri’s red eyes seemed to soften just a little at that, and Twilight felt the tension in his shoulders ease a little in return. “Oh. I’m sorry. If this is a bad time - ”

“Not at all, I’m sure Yor will be happy to see you, and Anya will be happy to know it’s you and not someone scary. Just… please keep your voice down. Are you okay? You’ve got dirt on your clothes and your cheek - ”

“I’m fine. Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

Twilight didn’t doubt that, but still, what would Yuri have been doing (had the SSS already been given clearance to investigate the warehouse? Surely not, right?) that caused him to be injured? “Alright, come in. Do you want tea or anything?”

“I’ll wait for sis to finish with Chihuahua Girl before I have some.”

Chihuahua Girl? Was that seriously what Yuri called Anya?

“Loid?” he heard Yor call softly. “Is everything okay out there?”

Bond immediately rushed back toward Anya’s room, and Twilight gestured for Yuri to follow him as he followed Bond. “Everything’s fine, Yor. Yuri just decided to stop by for a visit.”

When he glanced back into Anya’s room, he saw her fighting to stay awake in Yor’s arms, worry still clear in her eyes. 

Yor’s body slumped in relief when she saw Yuri, just as he’d said. “Oh, Yuri! What a pleasant surprise this is! See Anya, Loid was right, it wasn’t a bad guy at all! It’s just Uncle Yuri!”

Well, perhaps ‘not a bad guy’ wasn’t quite true given who Yuri worked for, but if it was between Yuri visiting or one of the scientists making it out alive, he would rather see Yuri at the door.

Yuri gave an awkward wave. “Er, hi Anya. Yeah, it's just me, so get some rest, okay? Or I’ll have to start reading from one of your science textbooks.”

“Unkie…” Anya mumbled with a small smile and giggle, before she finally allowed her eyes to close completely, her body visibly relaxing in Yor’s grasp.

Yor began to sing a lullaby under her breath, one Twilight recognized immediately as he closed the door again, leading Yuri back into the living room.

“Sis used to sing that to me all the time. She learned it from our mom,” Yuri said softly, slumping into a chair and not noticing the way Twilight shuffled the files away.

“My mother used to sing it to me too,” Twilight admitted with a small smile. “I never felt safer than when she was singing that song to me.”

“Yeah. I felt the same way.”

“I mean, it’s a good song. Talking about being safe and sound in someone’s arms. I bet Anya needed it.”

“It seems like you two are finally bonding over - oh! Yuri, what happened to you?!” Yor gasped when she stepped into the room. “Oh my goodness, you’re hurt !”

“It’s just some scratches and bumps sis, nothing to get alarmed over,” Yuri said with a smile. “Anyway, Dominic said you were working late tonight. City Hall didn’t have to send you near that explosion, did they?”

Yor frowned. “What? Of course they didn’t. Why do you ask?”

“Good. I was just making sure. When I heard about it on the news I was worried going there was part of your overtime, that’s all. I got so worried I rushed here as soon as I could, and ended up tripping and falling on the sidewalk. Pretty lame, huh?”

Yor laughed softly. “Oh Yuri, you’re so silly. As you can see, I’m totally fine. Neither Loid nor I were anywhere near that explosion.”

Twilight had a feeling Yuri wouldn’t have cared if Loid had been caught up in the explosion. If anything, he probably would have relished in him being one of the mangled bodies that were being pulled out of it. “Why don’t we get you something for your wounds, Yuri? A pain killer and some bandages?”

“I told you, I’m fine.”

Yor didn’t seem as convinced. “Yuri, please let Loid and I help you.”

“You can. I don’t need his help.”

Twilight plastered a fake smile on his face. “That’s fine, Yuri. I’ll make us some tea and some food instead. We all look like we need it.”

“Thank you, Loid,” Yor said, fast enough so Yuri couldn’t argue about that too. “I’ll grab the first aid kit and a cloth to clean Yuri’s wounds.”

Twilight smiled and rose to his feet, going into the kitchen to prepare something quick. Now that his nerves were relatively calm, he felt like he could come up with something good for them to eat. Let's see… there was salmon and vegetables. That didn’t take long, especially if he wrapped the pieces in foil first. He had no idea if Yor had managed to eat anything before she left for the warehouse, and wanted to make sure she got a good meal.

And Yuri. For Yor’s sake.

“Hey, Loidy.”

He looked up from the counter, where he was quickly dicing up a garlic clove, then mixed it in with some olive oil. “What is it, Yuri?”

“That actually… smells really good.” Despite the kind words, Yuri looked annoyed at himself for saying it. “Where’d you learn to cook?”

Twilight cleared his throat, choosing his words carefully as he wrapped the vegetables and salmon in the foil. “Well, when you’re a war orphan, it’s pretty sink or swim, isn’t it? I didn’t really have a choice if I wanted to stay alive. One of my esteemed colleagues from the hospital taught me how to make this when we were in the midst of the war. Quick and filling, made with whatever I had on hand and able to be cooked on an open fire.”

Yuri winced and nearly flinched back as Yor dabbed antiseptic on one of his wounds. “Yeah. Guess so. You sure got that fish in the oven quickly.”

Twilight blinked in surprise, then mentally cursed himself, because of course a member of the SSS would pick up on that. Okay. Calm down Twilight, Figure something out to say…

One of Loid Forger’s light, nervous laughs escaped him, and he reached to scratch the back of his head bashfully. “I guess I still have my single father instincts to get everything done quickly. Anya’s such a precocious kid you know. I never feel like I can take my eyes off her, so I guess I learned how to get food in the oven before she had time hurt herself, or someone else. I’m so grateful to have Yor here now, but still… instincts never really go away.”

Yor just laughed lightly as she wrapped one of Yuri’s deeper wounds. “It’s a wonder he managed to get anything done at all while he was on his own.”

“Ha, I knew there was something you were bad at! You don’t know how to care for a kid on your own!” Yuri cheered, pointing at Twilight like he’d just uncovered his secret identity.

“Yuri!” Yor snapped, putting salve on another cut and leaving the antiseptic pad there longer than Twilight thought she needed to, given the way Yuri flinched in pain. “Don’t be so rude to Loid after all of the kind things he’s done for us.”

Twilight shook his head in amusement, giving the siblings a small smile. “It’s okay Yor, really. I’m only human. There’s always going to be something I’m bad at, right? At least we have each other now.”

Yuri’s eyebrow twitched, and Twilight couldn’t help but feel a little smug. If Yuri was going to act like a child, Twilight was not going to treat him like one by tiptoeing over how he felt about Yor. They’d tried that the first time Yuri had visited, and it had ended in literal bloodshed.

At least now he understood how Yor had the superhuman strength to slap Yuri across the room that night.

“At any rate, it’s nice to see how much Anya has improved since Yor joined our family. And she really loves spending time with you too, Yuri,” Twilight said. “I can’t tell you how glad I am for that. Her grades at school have gone up after you’ve started tutoring her!”

Once again, Yuri looked annoyed, which was a face Twilight was rapidly getting used to seeing. “I’m… glad to hear about her grades. That kid deserves to be happy. All kids do.”

“Indeed they do.”

Well, at least there was something he and Yuri could agree on. It was just a shame he was on the wrong side of things.

“Oh, Loid, can you get me a glass from the cabinet so I can give Yuri his pain medication?” Yor asked with a smile as she snapped the first aid kit shut.

Twilight swore he saw Yuri’s eyebrow twitch the moment Yor turned away from him. Perhaps he was just fussy about taking medication? Though he thought children grew out of that behavior (at least, that’s what the books he’d read when he first adopted Anya had said), Yuri, on the other hand, still behaved like a child when it came to Yor, so perhaps Twilight was overthinking things again as he handed her a glass of water and the bottle of pain medication from their cabinet.

“The tea is ready too,” he said. “And dinner shouldn’t be too far behind.”

Yor smiled. “Oh, perfect timing. We might as well move this conversation to the table then.”

Twilight watched Yuri rise to his feet, shoulders slumped like he was a child about to eat a vegetable he absolutely hated as Yor moved into the kitchen to grab the tray he’d set up, bringing it to the table and handing Yuri a steaming hot mug.

“Here, Yuri, this should help you feel better too,” Yor said with a smile. “This is my new favorite tea. Octavia Blackbell introduced me to the blend.”

Yuri frowned. “Blackbell? You mean like the military manufacturer?”

“Yes. Her daughter and Anya are best friends, so we see each other when we have mother-daughter days.”

“It sounds like you’re getting more comfortable around the Eden elites. I hope that means Loidy isn’t making your life difficult.”

“I don’t know if either of us will ever fully adjust to being among the elites of Ostania, Yuri,” Yor said. “We just got lucky that Anya was accepted, and that we have each other to rely on when things get overwhelming at Eden.”

Yet again, Yuri’s eyebrow twitched, and Twilight couldn’t tell if Yor was actually oblivious to his frustration or if she was getting some sort of enjoyment out of annoying him. That happened sometimes, right? Siblings liked to tease each other?

“Like I said, Anya’s grades have been improving,” Twilight said. “It isn’t just Yor and I. You’ve been a big part in helping Eden get easier for us too, Yuri.”

“That’s true. I think she’d rather study with you than Loid sometimes,” Yor agreed with a giggle before bringing her mug to her lips and taking a slow sip.

“Well, obviously she’d prefer me. Why wouldn’t she?”

Twilight had to resist the urge to roll his eyes as he took the salmon out of the oven and brought it to the table. Yor helped plate it, and they worked in tandem with each other, hands brushing against the other with no reaction from either of them, unlike the first time Yuri had been here.

“Didn’t you eat already, Loidy? It’s pretty late for a full meal,” Yuri asked with a frown.

“Me? Ah, I was working overtime too. Unfortunately, one of my patients took a bad turn and needed to be stabilized,” Twilight explained. “I figured Yor and I could eat together once we were both home since Anya’s babysitter fed her.”

Yuri’s eyes narrowed slightly, which was expected. Despite having a cover as a doctor, it seemed Yuri Briar just couldn’t believe anything that came out of Loid Forger’s mouth.

He was mostly correct in that assumption, but Twilight needed him to play along.

“So Yuri, any trips planned to Hungaria? I’m sure the foreign ministry is keeping you busy!” Loid asked. If Yuri was going to be here, maybe he could try to get some intel out of him.

“Huh? No, nothing planned. I’m hoping to get something soon. I’m supposed to be up for a raise and I want to make a good impression on my boss. I’m hoping a trip would be just what I need.”

Ah, and how many people would need to be interrogated or tortured for that to happen?

Yor gasped and pressed her hands together in delight. “Oh that’s great, Yuri! I’m sure you’ll get it.”

Yuri smiled. “Yeah? Well, thanks, sis. I’ll do my best to get it, for you.”

“Aw, you don’t have to do that. I’m proud of you either way,” Yor said.

Twilight couldn’t help but wonder how proud of him she would be if she knew what her precious brother actually did for work, and even when Yuri left later that night, he felt the temptation to tell her creeping up on him.

But, he supposed, as he glanced into Anya’s room to check she was still comfortably asleep, he should let sleeping dogs lie, at least, for now.

Chapter Text

“Loid, I meant to ask last night… if you’re a spy, did you actually have a wife that passed away?”

It was an early Saturday morning, which meant Anya slept in later than she normally did, and Twilight figured she would probably be sleeping even longer due to the restless night she’d had. Even after Yuri had left and he’d checked on her, he and Yor had heard her mumbling to herself in her sleep, despite Bond trying to settle her.

Twilight caught the deeper meaning in her question. “No. You are my first wife, and Anya’s only mother since being adopted by me.”

Yor frowned, her hands frozen over the stack of plates. “Since being adopted by you?”

Twilight nodded. “Anya had four other families adopt and return her, Yor. It was part of the information I was able to obtain about her after I brought her home.”

“What? How could anyone do that to a child as sweet as Anya? Who are they? Where are they?”

If he hadn’t been made painfully aware of who Yor was the previous night, he would think nothing of the question. However, since he knew she was an assassin, the implications of the question worried him, because it was the same exact urge he felt, especially in the aftermath of the nightmare Anya had last night.

“None of them are in Berlint,” he chose to say. “We won’t run into them, so you have no need to worry.”

“I’m not worried , Loid.”

“I know you aren’t, but killing them will do nothing but lead to police investigations, and possible SSS involvement. I don’t know who you work for, Yor, but I’m sure your boss wants you as under the radar as possible. And honestly, so do I.”

Yor frowned a little. “Why? So you can keep doing your spy work or whatever?”

Well, yes, but also… “No, because Anya needs her mother.”

That seemed to trigger the Yor he thought he’d known all along, and she took a deep breath. “Right, you’re absolutely right, Loid. Sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t apologize, I know exactly how you felt. If I hadn’t had that… business at the warehouse I would have wanted to hunt them all down too.”

Yor nodded. “Yeah, of course you would.” She paused again as she set the plates on the table. “I know you’re a spy and all, but you really do care for Anya. That makes me happy.”

“Am I that obvious?” Twilight asked, raising a brow. He should be very concerned about that, but honestly, with Yor around, he found himself more relaxed and at ease. It should have been a problem for the world’s greatest spy, but for Loid Forger, it was perfectly normal. After all, what normal, middle class husband wouldn’t be comfortable with his normal, middle class wife and child?

Even if none of them were normal at all.

“You always came across as a normal, loving father to me.”

Twilight smiled a little. “That’s good to hear considering I have no idea how to even be a father.”

“You don’t remember yours?”

He shook his head. “Not much Just… fragments. Same with my mother. I was a kid when they died in the war.”

“I’m the same way. Just fragments, like my mother’s stew recipe. I don’t want that for Anya, you know? So the two of us will just have to stick together to make sure she doesn’t lose us the way we lost our family.”

There was that uncomfortable feeling in his stomach again, because as much as he wanted that - and he wanted it even more now that he was aware of what sort of life Anya had lived prior to her coming into their care - Operation Strix would end, preferably sooner rather than later, given the tensions between Westalis and Ostania, and then what?

This was supposed to be a long-term mission, but not a permanent one. He wasn’t supposed to develop any sort of feelings or affection toward his family, but he had and now… now he was concerned about what came next, because he doubted Yor and Anya would be a part of his next mission. He didn’t even know what he’d be doing for his next mission, but it was likely safe to say that Yor and Anya would have no need to be a part of it.

And the thought of it terrified him because as much as he was loath to admit it… he didn’t want to leave them.

“Don’t leave, Papa…” he heard a timid voice say from behind him.

Even when he wasn’t trying, Anya still got the jump on him. It would be impressive if he wasn’t concerned about the fact that she had, in fact, heard his frantic thoughts and now his plan of acting like everything was normal was out the window.

So Twilight took a deep breath and turned to his daughter, still looking so much smaller than she normally did, but much less panicked than she had the previous night.

“Anya… I’m not going anywhere,” he promised. He hoped. “Come on and wash up, breakfast is almost ready.”

Yor nodded and gave Anya a bright smile. “That’s right, and your father made your favorite too, as a special treat.”

“Omelet rice?” Anya asked, apparently having forgotten her worries, and Twilight tried to keep them from his mind as he looked over the food again and made sure everything was done before he stepped aside to let Yor plate everything and bring it over to the table.Luckily, in their quest to find more domestic duties she could do to take some of the load off of him, plating food was something she could do without starting a fire.

Twilight did, of course, make sure the stove was turned off before she did so, though.

“Mama, you gave Anya extra sauce!” Anya said.

Yor looked over, her brow furrowed as she slid a plate in front of Twilight and took a seat with her own. “Oh, um, yes, I suppose I did, Anya. Is that okay?”

“Omelet rice tastes even better with extra sauce!” she exclaimed. “Thanks Mama!”

Yor sighed in relief. “Well, good. After you were so scared last night, your father and I wanted to make sure you felt better today.”

“That’s right. And since it’s raining, we’re going to have fun indoors today,” Loid agreed. “Is that okay with you?”

“But Anya has homework,” Anya replied, to his shock. He knew she had been working hard lately, but for her to actually suggest doing homework over spending the day watching or acting out episodes of Spy Wars was more than a little surprising to him.

“If you promise to work hard, you can do it tomorrow instead.”

Anya stared at him like he’d been possessed, or like he was lying to her. “Really?”

He nodded. “Yes, I promise. We could all use a lazy day inside after the late night we had. But you have to study hard.”

“Anya will! Promise!”

There was something in her little voice and face that was much more determined - and yet almost scared . 

They really needed to have this conversation sooner rather than later.

But Twilight didn’t want to ambush her with this so quickly, so instead, he turned back to his breakfast and let Anya chatter about school and about what she and Franky had done the night before. When breakfast was finished, Yor helped her get cleaned up while Twilight cleaned up the dishes, having made a mutual promise with just a single glance that the conversation would be happening now.

Anya stared up at them with her wide green eyes as they sat her down, Bond at Yor’s feet, and Twilight very nearly buckled under the sheer innocence in them.

“Anya… do you know where Yor and I were last night?” he started, completely unsure as to how he was supposed to even start this conversation. Not even a normal parent would have to have a conversation like this, because no one else in the world was a telepath… hopefully. 

Maybe.

“You were at work,” Anya replied with a frown.

Twilight’s lips twitched into a small smile, glad she still had at least a little bit of childlike innocence left inside her despite all she’d been through at such a young age. “Yes, that’s right, we were working… but do you know what we were doing at work?”

Anya gave him a bewildered look. “You’re a feelings doctor and Mama works at City Hall… so boring stuff?”

Yor let out a laugh. “Well, I can’t say you’re wrong about that, Anya.”

“Anya,” Twilight sighed. “Last night, your Mama and I fought some very bad people. We - we found out about your powers. We know about each other.”

Anya’s eyes widened in fear. “Papa and Mama know about Anya’s powers? Then Anya has to leave.”

“No!”

Yor’s tone was sharp, and her eyes were wide with fear. “Anya, you are not going anywhere, do you hear me? You are my - you are our daughter, and we love you. We would never send you away because of your powers.”

Twilight wasn’t certain if he would know what love was if it hit him in the head, but he certainly was fond of Anya and had no intention of throwing her out at this point. If not for himself, but also because Eden would find it very suspicious if Anya Forger suddenly dropped out (even if her grades were still far below their standards). They’d made too many connections at Eden to try again with another child.

“Yor is right, Anya. We are not going anywhere. This family is staying together, no matter what… and we will always protect you.”

Anya’s eyes filled with tears, though she was very quiet, looking between Twilight and Yor rapidly, like she didn’t trust them.

He didn’t blame her.

“Anya, I - we promise. We’re not sending you back to the orphanage. Not this time. Never again,” he thought, looking at her. There were so many little things that added up all of a sudden. Her panic that very first outing he took her on, her sudden need to blurt out information - relevant or not - at certain thoughts he’d had. “You’ll be able to stay here and go to school and be with all of your friends.” And Anya had managed to make a lot of friends, very valuable friends, though Desmond still seemed to be out of his reach, and likely would be until Anya became an Imperial Scholar.

If. If she became one.

“Anya really doesn’t have to leave?” Anya asked quietly.

“Never. Er, at least, until you become an adult yourself.” He had a very vague recollection that was what normal people did - graduate from school then move on to their adult lives.

Yor smiled and lifted Anya onto her lap. “I’m so sorry you met all those scary scientists, Anya. But those bad people will never hurt you again, your father and I promise.”

And Anya would have WISE and whoever Yor worked for looking out for her. It made Twilight actually feel like she would be safe. Hopefully. Despite WISE and Ostania’s government agencies, the school bus hijacking had happened, and Anya had very nearly been killed because of it. But that hadn’t been due to Anya specifically. It hadn’t been because someone found out about her powers.

Selfishly, Twilight wanted to ask her all sorts of questions about what she knew, because surely she knew more than she had ever let on. But now wasn’t the time, was it? Not with the way Anya was clinging to Yor and looking at her with wide eyes.

Instead, Twilight moved to sit next to Yor and Anya, and put his hand beneath Yor’s on Anya’s back, pulling the trio into some sort of awkward group hug.

“We are the Forgers, and we always will be,” he said. 

He hoped.

Operation Strix had so many unknowns when it came to the future. Once they found out what Desmond was planning, how were they supposed to stop it? And then when that was handled… there was no telling what would have to happen to Loid Forger. It would have been easy twenty-four hours ago for him to fake his death and disappear on the first train out of Berlint, but now… now Yor knew who he was, and Anya always had . He couldn’t just disappear now - he knew what Yor was capable of, and knew she would tear Ostania apart in order to find him again, if, for nothing else, to make sure Anya still had her father.

“Papa?” Anya’s voice was muffled again, but didn’t have the fearful, sobbing tone it had the night before.

“Hm? What is it, Anya?”

“That white-haired lady you work with wants to take Mama’s spot.”

Twilight blinked and dropped his arms from around Yor and Anya. Then blinked again, as if blinking would confirm to him what he’d just heard. “Do you - do you mean Fiona?”

“Uh-huh! So if we’re gonna stay a family, that means she can’t be my new mama, right?”

Yor was staring between the two of them like she too couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing.

Twilight had questions. So many questions, many of which he wasn’t sure he needed - or wanted - the answer to, so instead, he shook his head. “Of course Fiona isn’t going to be your new mother. I’ve grown to care for Yor too much to ever consider replacing her.” It would look far too suspicious at this point, for Dr. Forger to be down a second wife, and for Fiona to step in so suddenly. Men, as he had found out in his time as a psychologist, mourned their wives, or the loss of their marriages, especially men who cared about their reputations - publicly anyway. What happened behind closed doors stayed behind closed doors… or became something discussed with a doctor.

“Good. She would be a mean mama anyway.”

That was… another fair point, and suddenly made all of the snide comments Fiona had made about Anya and Yor come into a clearer focus.

It also made him annoyed. Had that been why Fiona randomly showed up to their apartment and checked up on the mission? Why she had insisted on interacting with them after the tennis match?

Well, now he was irritated.

“I’ll speak to her tomorrow, Anya, and I’ll make sure she doesn’t make you or Mama uncomfortable again,” he said, glancing up at Yor now, who was staring at her hands. “Yor… are you alright?”

She startled, meeting his gaze. “Hm? Oh - yes, I’m alright Loid… I was just thinking about Fiona. It did feel like she was scoping me out, or testing me. I always thought that tennis match was strange, but I just felt like I had to prove to you that I was capable of being your wife.”

Fiona had made Yor doubt herself? Suddenly things were starting to make sense. Yor’s sudden desire to do good and meet all of Fiona’s odd requests, and her tension and fear during the date that ended when she kicked him in the chin and knocked him out. 

How many times had he told Fiona not to let her emotions cloud her mind? And now here she was, risking the biggest, most important mission in WISE history. What had she been thinking?

“I promise you both, this will not happen again. She will not be able to talk down to you, or try and test you in any way.”

“Loid, you - you aren't going to get her fired, are you?” Yor asked.

What? Yor was concerned about a woman who was trying to kick her out of her own life? He had always thought Yor was naive, or too innocent for her own good, but knowing she was an assassin, someone who could have killed Fiona, well, he was completely baffled now.

“Don’t worry, Yor,” he said smoothly. “I’m just going to talk to our boss and make sure Fiona won’t be stopping by for any unexpected visits. She will not be fired.”

Irritated as he was at Fiona now, WISE couldn’t afford to lose anymore agents, especially agents that had been trained by him personally.

Yor smiled in relief. “Good. Thanks, Loid.”

Twilight gave her a small smile in return. “Of course.” He took a deep breath, his face dropping into a more serious fixture as he looked at his wife and daughter again. “Now… we all know this means we cannot speak to anyone about the truth of who we are. As far as everyone knows, we are still just the Forgers. An ordinary family of Ostanians.”

“Right,” Yor said, ruffling Anya’s hair playfully. “An ordinary family with no secrets and with completely regular jobs.”

“Yes! But we’re going to help Papa in his goal toward world peace! And that means I gotta get an invitation to Second Son’s house!” Anya cheered.

“World peace?” Yor questioned with a raised brow. “But there’s already peace between Ostania and Westalis.”

Twilight cleared his throat awkwardly. “Yes, well… there have been some… concerning developments surrounding Donovan Desmond. That’s why I was sent here - to see what was going on and make sure that peace remains.” Or, even better, anyone like Desmond was permanently removed from power. “It’s why I needed a child to be accepted to Eden College.”

Yor set Anya on the couch and rose to her feet. “Then Anya’s right! I’ll do my part in helping get you close to him. I’ll become better friends with Melinda so she asks all of us to dinner, or whatever it is normal women do!”

Anya pulled a face, but Twilight decided to ignore it for the moment as he rose to his feet as well. “It’s settled then. We’ll have a mission, just the three of us. Anya - ” he paused to lift her into his arms. “What do you think we should call it?”

“I can name it? Really?!” she squeaked. “Okay! Then We’ll call it… Operation Friendship Scheme!”

Oh great, she’d known about that too.

“I think this calls for a celebration,” Yor said with a wide smile. “I know it’s raining, but how about we head to the bakery and pick up a cake? And we can go out somewhere for dinner? Sharon told me there’s a new restaurant on November Drive. Apparently her son loves it too!”

“Sounds good to me,” Twilight chuckled. “Come on Anya, let’s get your coat.”

“We’re going on an ooting!” Anya cheered, rushing over to Bond and laughing as the dog licked her cheek. Twilight watched as she hugged him around the neck and paused for a brief moment, then smiled and pulled away, skipping over to the closet where their rain boots were kept.

Twilight glanced between Anya and Bond and frowned a little.

Strange. He would need to investigate Project Apple further.

Chapter Text

Twilight pressed a hand to his forehead and exhaled as he strode to WISE headquarters a couple of weeks later. The rest of the weekend had gone relatively smoothly. Anya hadn’t provided any crucial information he didn’t already know and managed to get some rather difficult math problems she had been struggling with, and Yuri and Franky didn’t interrupt at all. Best of all, neither he nor Yor had been given any other assignments, which said to him WISE and whoever Yor worked for weren’t suspicious of them.

Everything would continue as normal.

Hopefully.

Nope, if he thought too much about the alternative, he would get a stomach ache, and that was the last thing Twilight needed to deal with right now. Handler was a master of figuring out people’s emotions, despite herself being known as the Iron Lady.

He sat down across from her, she did the usual greeting, which had his stomach untwisting from the knot it had placed itself in. Good. This was good. She seemed unconcerned with what she’d discovered about his wife and daughter.

“There isn’t much to report on when it comes to Project Apple - not as much as we’d hoped anyway,” Handler said after her usual greeting (which gave him a sense of calm. So there wasn’t some new big emergency). “Have you discovered anything, Twilight? Anything new to report from Anya?”

Twilight could only shrug. “Anya has managed to memorize the PEMDAS acronym by using Spy Wars characters.” The fact that she’d managed to memorize anything regarding mathematics was impressive, in Twilight’s mind. “And her grade in mathematics has gone up one percent.” She was still failing, but the grade was trending upward, which was a good thing. “Ever since the… incident she’s been working harder and… in a way I think opening her mind up to her classes.”

“Good. Perhaps there’s hope yet for a Stella regarding academics,” Handler said with the barest hint of a smile. “But… everything is okay at home with Yor? There hasn’t been any strange deliveries or anything?”

“No. Everything is continuing as normal.”

Handler nodded. “Good. And I’m glad that Anya’s grades are going in the right direction. See if you can… figure out anything else from her. I’m not asking you to use your typical methods of information extraction but whatever we can find out about that project Anya went through, the better chance we have of stopping it.”

Twilight nodded. He had sworn to make the world one without war or strife - a world where every child could smile and laugh, and that urge only got stronger with Anya. He didn’t know if he had genuine parental instincts or if it was just something he felt strongly about due to his mission, but either way, Operation Stryx would be a success and he would wipe out anything that caused Anya pain.

“You are dismissed, Agent Twilight.”

Twilight felt his muscles relax just slightly as he stepped out of Handler’s office and made his way back up to the busy streets of Berlint.

Something bothered him about this whole thing though: Anya’s biological parents. When he’d first adopted her, it had been easy to assume that she was an orphan, and her reaction to Headmaster Swan’s question about her birth mother had only solidified that assumption. Now, though, that he knew that she had been an experiment in a lab, he had doubts. What if her parents had been scientists that had experimented on her? He’d met so many awful people in his life he wouldn’t have put it past them.

At one point, Twilight had felt sympathy for Anya being an orphan, but now… he really hoped he’d gotten her out of there in time.

… though, given the nightmare she’d had the other night, he wasn’t sure if he had.

It bothered him, for some reason, that he didn’t have all the answers about Anya. Yes, he was legally, morally, responsible for her, but there was something else inside of him, a deep seated part of him that needed to know why and needed to fix everything that she felt was wrong.

He slid his hands in his pockets as he passed by the bakery. Now wasn’t the time to buy sweets - he needed to get back to the hospital so he could continue his work. He never knew for sure what sort of information would help WISE, but any little bit helped, he supposed.

“Doctor Forger, good, you’ve returned early!” his colleague said with a smile that was tinged with relief. “There is a new patient on their way and I thought you would be the best fit for her.”

Twilight raised a brow. “Me? I’m flattered, but why?”

“Because she’s six years old. Just a year younger than Anya, right?”

Twilight’s blood ran cold. Why would a six year old need severe mental health treatment? Children that age hadn’t grown up like he did - not in a war zone where bombs were alarm clocks. They had only known peace time.

“I see. Of course I’ll take her on.”

As he made his way to his office with her file in hand (patient name: Lila Michaelson, and her parents Edmund and Anna Michaelson), the only thing he could think of was that this girl was a classmate of Anya’s who had been struggling since the bus hijacking. Perhaps she had an older sibling that had been on the second bus (Michaelson didn’t sound familiar as anyone in Anya’s class) For an average six year old, he wouldn’t have been surprised. Even Anya had struggled in the aftermath of that, and he’d thought she was an average six year old. If this Lila girl had a sibling who had gone through it, he couldn’t imagine what sort of nightmares an average six year old had had.

Twilight got the play therapy box out and tried to make his office a little more comfortable by pulling the blinds closed and only having the dim lights of his lamps on, rather than the bright overhead lights. Hopefully his new patient would enjoy the toys a little more than Anya had when she’d come to the hospital for her assignment.

The memory made him faintly smile. How funny it was to look back on so many of Anya’s slips of the tongue and realize they hadn’t been slips at all, but her actually knowing everything that had happened at any point.

Which was making him question every decision he’d made regarding her over the past year. He’d thought he’d been making decisions that kept her safe, but how did you keep a telepathic child safe from danger - or keep closely guarded work secrets a secret?

Ah, but the knock on the door tabled his troubled thoughts. He pulled the door open with a warm smile, finding a couple and an unfamiliar child on the other side. Not one of the children from Eden then. Strange.

“Good afternoon. I’m Doctor Forger. You must be the Michaelsons,” his eyes trailed down to the little girl, and he bent to her height. “I’m guessing you’re my patient then, Lila?”

The young girl with dark blue hair nodded with wide eyes.

“We can’t thank you enough for taking our daughter on, Doctor Forger. My father’s friend is a patient of yours, and he says you are the best of the best,” the father, Edmund, said. “We just want to help our daughter.”

Twilight stepped aside, allowing the family entry to the office and closing the door behind them. “It’s not a problem at all, Mister Michaelson, that’s what I’m here for. It’s flattering to know that my reputation among my patients is positive, so I hope I can help Lila. as well. You all can take a seat on the sofa.”

While the family did so, Twilight observed their behavior as he reached for his notepad and a pen. He could see the nervousness in the parents’ eyes, but that was probably normal - though he only had Anya, he couldn’t imagine having a child with a mental illness like this. Neither of their eyes were darting around the room, only taking careful looks behind them to discard their coats and Anna’s purse (a discarded chair, which was a strangely intimate place to put things for them being in a hospital setting and despite Twilight having a coat rack in the office). There were no secret gestures between the family, only a shared look of nervousness between Edmund and Anna - which was to be expected, given what was happening.

Maybe this really was just a normal family that needed help for their child.

He would have to get to the bottom of this.

Twilight cleared his throat as he took a seat in the chair across from the family. “Alright, so when I see a patient for the first time, I like to spend the session just getting a baseline. What their normal day is like, or their background. Given Lila is a juvenile, I’m hoping you both can help me with this.”

“Of course,” Anna said, and Edmund was nodding in agreement. “Ask us anything - we’re open books.”

Was that too easy? He hoped not.

“Alright, well… I would like a little backstory on you all. Where you’re from, what you both do for a living, what your situation was like when Lila was born - ”

“We don’t know what it was like when she was born, Doctor Forger… Lila was adopted. We really don’t know much about her life before she came to live with us.”

Ah. Now that was an issue.

Still, Loid Forger gave them a polite smile. “Alright, well, Lila, there’s a small box of toys there on the table in front of you. You’re welcome to play with them if you’d like while I talk to your parents.”

Lila nodded quietly and pulled the box closer to her, picking up each toy and looking at them like she was weighing the pros and cons of using each. What a peculiar case this was going to turn out to be.

“So Edmund, Anna, what made you decide to adopt?”

That question seemed to rattle them, forcing them to exchange a nervous glance, before Anna spoke.

“Everything we say here is… confidential, right? You won’t be reporting us to the Secret Police?” she asked.

Loid shook his head. “Not unless you give me reason to, like if I suspect there’s abuse.”

“We would never!”

He held up his hands as a show of peace. “Easy, I don’t mean to insinuate that you’re abusing Lila. I’m just trying to make sure you’re comfortable with me. I have no intentions of turning any of my patients in to the secret police unless absolutely necessary.”

“No, I know. I-I’m sorry, Doctor Forger. I didn’t mean to jump down your throat. It’s just… we had to pull a lot of strings, that’s all. You see, my husband got a job at Berlint University a few years ago. It’s prestigious, and we didn’t expect it since we’re such a young couple but here we are. One of the things people there kept hammering home to us was having children. You know how much families are emphasized in Ostania, especially in the education field.”

Yes, he was quite familiar with the propaganda surrounding the perfect family unit - especially when it came to young adults. Westalis had a similar idea. Likely, both countries were trying to show the other that neither’s spirit had been broken after the war. But Twilight also knew not having a family made people suspicious and couples desperate to escape the Secret Police’s radar would turn to underhanded tactics in order to get a family and keep themselves safe.

Twilight had all the connections he needed in order to pull it off. He couldn’t imagine what an average person had to go through.

“We’ve been trying to have a baby naturally but… it doesn’t seem to be in the cards, so we found this… horrible little orphanage on the outskirts of the city before we moved here. We would have adopted the whole place if it wouldn’t have looked even more desperate,” Anna continued. “That’s where we found Lila.”

A horrible orphanage on the outskirts of town? It couldn’t be…

“Lila is incredibly smart. Despite living in such a run-down place, she knew about Schwarz, the Ostanian philosopher who came up with the theory of what it means to have a perfect family unit,” Edmund added. “My specialty is history and philosophy, so we bonded very quickly over that. It was a no brainer that we adopt her. Since the orphanage didn’t have the greatest credentials, we had to get Lila a new birth certificate, listing us as her birth parents.”

“That’s okay! I like you better anyway,” Lila suddenly piped up, smiling at Edmund and Anna in a way that reminded Twilight of the trust and love Anya showed him and Yor. “You’re nicer than the other people, and you agreed to adopt Gustav too!”

Loid laughed softly. “So you weren’t the only one adopted that day, Lila?”

Lila shook her head. “Nope! Mama and Papa adopted Gustav too! He’s not my real little brother, but we got close at the orphanage and I didn’t wanna leave him there! That place was gross.”

If it was in fact the same orphanage he’d found Anya at, he couldn’t blame her for thinking that way. “That was very kind of you, Lila. Do you like living with Gustav, Edmund, and Anna?”

She nodded eagerly. “Yeah! My mama and papa are nice and they let me play with toys and send me to school so I can meet other kids and they read with me! When I was in the other place all I did was study, which was boring! But now I like learning!”

Twilight made a very careful note of that. “That’s all very good, Lila. Learning is very important.”

“Yeah, and I’m glad I have a family now. You aren’t gonna take them away, are you?” She looked up at him with wide, fearful eyes, almost like she was regretting speaking up.

Loid shook his head and gave her a gentle smile. “Of course not. I would never separate a child from their loving parents. Your parents are just worried about you, and I’m going to try and help get you better, okay?”

Lila looked at him, relieved, and went back to playing with the toys.

“Mister and Mrs. Michaelson, what is it you’re hoping Lila gets out of therapy with me?” Loid asked. “So far, she seems like a very bright and happy six year old.” She reminded him of Anya, really, and he still couldn’t tell if it was good or bad that she did.

“We don’t want to force it but… we’re hoping to gain some knowledge of her life before the orphanage, so we can help her through whatever it was. We’re hoping to get her into Eden and while we aren’t worried about the written exam, we are very worried about the interview. We’ve heard horror stories about children being brought to tears during it. If we could help Lila through whatever trauma befell her before we found her.”

Twilight very nearly winced at the memory of their own interview with the Eden teachers. He wanted to give them a winning smile and a promise that the interview would be fine, but he couldn’t. That whole day had been nothing but a disaster (and suddenly Yor taking down a fully-grown cow made way too much sense), and he would feel terrible about lying to these people. Instead, he took a deep breath, removing his glasses as he did so.

“The road to Eden is a difficult one, and I know that first hand because my daughter goes there. I understand your worries about the interview, because ours is something that still keeps my wife and I up at night. But the important thing is to be united as a family, and trust in each other. You have to trust that Lila will know what to do when they ask her questions - they won’t all be scary, I promise.” That, he could promise at least. “Eden is an excellent school, and will be lucky to have Lila.”

Anna gave him a relieved smile. “That is great news, thank you Doctor Forger. But… if there’s any advice you can give us on childhood trauma…”

“Children, much like adults, process trauma differently. Some people shut down and refuse to speak of it, but others do, and want their story out there. There is no right or wrong way to react to it. That said, I would never recommend forcing anyone to discuss their trauma, especially a child. I’ll do my best with your daughter, and see what I can do for her.”

Edmund nodded. “Thank you.”

“Of course. That’s what I’m here for.”

The sound of the toys falling over into the box had him glancing down at his young patient. “Alright over there, Lila?” he asked with a kind smile.

Lila seemed frozen as she stared into the box, decidedly not meeting any adult’s gaze. “I’m sorry! Please don’t punish me!”

That sounded like another problem.

Loid looked at her with a warm smile, ignoring the frantic, concerned looks of Anna and Edmund. “Hey, don’t worry, Lila. They’re just toys. You can always pick them up and start your play over again. There is no punishment here, okay?”

Lila looked at him warily, then at Edmund, who nodded in agreement. “You are safe here, Lila. Your mother and I wouldn’t bring you somewhere scary, you know that.”

At least they were able to actually promise that. Now that he knew Anya could read minds, everything he had done, every mission he had gone on since adopting her was now in question. How many places had she sneaked into in an attempt to help him? How many times had she nearly gotten herself killed?

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. Now was the time to figure out what had happened to Lila before the orphanage, and figure out how to help her recover from it.

“Mister and Missus Michaelson, has she had worries like this before? Like when you first brought her home from the orphanage?” Twilight asked.

Anna nodded. “Yes… she accidentally knocked into a table while she was helping us move furniture into her bedroom. A picture frame fell over - it didn’t break, just fell forward onto the table. Lila was in hysterics, thinking we were going to send her and Gustav back to the orphanage. It took almost an hour for us to calm her down.”

He understood quite clearly now why they were worried about going for Eden, but if it was something they truly wanted for their daughter, he was going to help prepare Lila for it to the best of his ability.

A knock on the door caused everyone to jump.

“Pardon me, Doctor Forger? Your next appointment has just arrived,” came Fiona’s muffled voice.

It had been an hour already? This day was just flying by.

Loid rose to his feet, prompting Edmund and Anna to do the same. “I do apologize for the abrupt ending to our session, but I believe I have enough information to begin a treatment plan for Lila. You can make your next appointment with Miss Frost, and if you need anything else beforehand, do not hesitate to reach out to me,” he said with a polite smile.

As the Michaelsons departed, he realized he ought to take another look at some of the child psychology books he’d originally checked out of the library when he adopted Anya.

“Hello Mister Weber,” Twilight said, gently helping the aged military colonel into his office and into a comfortable chair. “Please hold on for just a moment, I have something I need to ask Fiona, alright?”

“Alright Doctor Forger, but don’t be too hard on that young lady.”

Loid laughed lightly. “Don’t worry, I just need her to fetch something for me.”

Closing the office door tightly, he swiftly made his way to Nightfall’s desk, speaking in careful code. “Nightfall. I need you to find any information you can about Lila. Enlist Franky’s help.”

“Wha - of course Twilight, but why?”

“I think she may have lived in the same orphanage as Anya. I just want to make sure she wasn’t a product of the same experiment Anya was.”

Fiona’s eyes widened. “I see. You will have that information delivered to you as soon as possible.”

The sinking feeling in his stomach returned as he made his way back to his office for his next appointment.