Chapter Text
Mid Morning sun shone brightly on Berlint. A warming mirth filled the city's air to the noise of construction sites and rustling trees. The fragrance of roses sidled around in warm breezes, mingling with the scents of kebap and asphalt.
But far off the city center the pavement between wide shadows of brick and metal architecture wallowed in cold, stale smell. Only a slit of clear blue sky floated above a man in an industrial overall, who dragged his feet along a passage between the roofs of Berlint's industrial complex. Agent Twilight was disguised with the face of an unremarkable worker, at a place all too familiar.
After a few minutes, he interrupted his careful slouch at the sight of a sturdy container.
A thin veil of soot overlaid its corner, barely noticeable to the usual bypasser. He remembered the event that had taken place around the marked object. This was where he proposed to Yor, an innocent woman who he carelessly dragged into his perilous business. He asked her for her hand in marriage to the explosion of a grenade. It was loud, it was dangerous, it was - he had to admit - incredibly exciting. How could he ever forget the sight of her smoothly sending a man flying with a forceful kick while looking so incredibly graceful?
As more weeks passed, living together in the Forger home, the more difficult it became to repress all the pleasant emotions that came up in the presence of Yor, his fake wife, a mere tool for his mission. He quickly tried to quench the warmth that had unfurled in his stomach. Like the walk through this area, his marriage was not a romantic endeavor but a professional one. There was no time to reminisce, right now or any other day, and no room to live out an identity that was bound to be shed at some point in the future, just like those that came before 'Loid Forger'. Missions first and, if peace was ever secure enough, feelings second.
A new mission brought Agent Twilight back to this alley. A few meters away was the entrance to a sporadically used underground storage. Just recently, WISE became interested in a defunct laboratory that was said to have been located there. An informant brought attention to its existence and was able to acquire snippets of information. Judging by the sparse documentation, it may have been the site of a certain series of experiments that were performed immediately after the war. Experiments - but on what? WISE sent their best agent to find out - to bring back anything he could find about the abandoned research facility before the Ostanian government sends their own agents.
Twilight leaned closely into a corner of the building. He peeked around and saw that the entrance of the inconspicuous building was monitored by two middle-aged men. They wore similar suits as himself and slackly sat on wooden boxes while complaining about too many working hours.
The spy checked his watch. 11:46, almost noon. Silently he took a deep breath, then started walking towards the guards. "Hey guys! Have your break already."
One of the men lifted an eyebrow, then shared a questioning glance with his co-worker. Twilight felt cold sweat break out underneath his mask but kept his face expressionless. After a few more seconds one guy sighed, "My, my, Hans, you are really so weird, coming half an hour early for your shift." He shook his head, stood up and walked away. The other man followed, giving Twilight a pat on his shoulder as he passed by.
Twilight stood in front of the metal door, exhaling slowly as the workers were no longer in sight. It was not unusual for other staff members to show up for a quick inspection. After all, there were secrets of the former government scattered around. Before touching the handle, he scanned his surroundings one last time, then quickly unlocked the door and disappeared inside the building.
*At 12:15 the next guard will arrive. I need to be done and gone by then.*
Twilight paced forward to the other side of the storage hall. Another doorway revealed a set of metal stairs that led downwards into a barely lit underground corridor. Dust particles swirled in the thin rays of light that came through ground-level basement windows at the upper end of the wall. The spy went down into the corridor and passed one empty room after another until he arrived at a closed metal gate. For this mission, WISE had provided him with a special key that was stolen from the city archives.
With a heavy clack, the key turned in the lock. It seemed to not have been moved in a while. Twilight pushed the door gently to enter a hallway similar to the one before. More dust flew by and the floor was soiled, especially below one of the windows. It was shattered. Dried dirt stuck to the wall below it, trailing down to a muddy puddle on the floor. As Twilight walked by, one of his shoes swept through it. Shards of glass were crackling below his sole. He knew there was no time to lose but from the corner of his eye he could detect a tiny shimmer in the puddle. It made him curious and drew him back. He crouched down and reached for the glimmer, not really expecting anything of importance.
He examined the object in his hand and it took him a moment to realize this incredibly improbable find. He held a ring. A white gold ring whose own shimmer was outshone by the massive diamond it held. His eyes wandered upwards.
*That's where it went?*
Yet again Twilight had to remember his unconventional proposal. He did propose with the ring of a hand grenade pin in the heat of the moment. It was enough to persuade Yor but he had lost the ring he actually planned to use. A white gold ring with a massive diamond. The ring he now held in his hand.
Twilight dropped it into a side pocket of his backpack. *I have no time for this,* he thought, keeping up his unimpressed act in front of no one but himself.
Hastily he went through the three rooms of the hallway and beamed light inside them with a pocket lamp, but they were all empty. Further down the corridor and around another two corners was one last space, filled with desks, cabinets and tall mirrors that leaned against the walls. Random tools were scattered all over. Twilight pulled open every drawer and cabinet and collected any piece of paper he could get his hands on.
Then it was finally time to leave. In quick steps Twilight rushed towards the door, fiddling with the zipper of his bag. The last part of it seemed stuck. Being distracted by pulling it impatiently, he stepped on a cylindrical object. Untypical for the usually so focused spy, he tripped, stumbling a few steps sideways until he loudly crashed into one of the mirrors that leaned against the wall.
Bells of a church started to sound in the far distance, when he sent shimmering mirror shards into the air. He was dizzy for a moment and rubbed his head. Soon the haziness disappeared. But as his eyesight almost cleared, he winced, seeing his reflection unexpectedly. Why was he not wearing his disguise anymore? He touched his cheek but he still felt his sticky mask heavy on his face. The realization kicked in quickly. The man in front of him was not his reflection. He was real - an entity of his own - and sat right in front of him. Above all, he looked exactly like Twilight - same face, same hair, wearing his pale green suit. The unknown imposter frowned and palpated around his belt as if checking for a gun. Then he looked around and jumped on his feet.
"What the...?" Twilight murmured as the other man already rushed to the exit.
Bewildered, Twilight stood up, noticing that his backpack was nowhere to be seen, only endless flinders of the broken mirror and the tools that had been laying around before. He followed his lookalike outside the building. Luckily, the next guard had not yet arrived, so there was no one else but him and his doppelganger. Twilight caught the man by his arm to confront him in the back alley.
"Wait! Who are you?" He only received a quizzical stare. In his state of shock, Twilight finally ripped off his mask to reveal his own face to the identical-looking man, who now looked at him attentively, "No way,.." he mumbled. His gaze bounced from side to side and finally stayed fixed on the main road. Twilight also glimpsed at the sunlit street and hastily stepped behind a dumpster. A certain state security agent in a simple, black suit was walking around nearby.
Against his expectation the doppelganger, who wore his face as if it was his own, did not join into hiding but instead calmly walked up to the young man on the street.
Yuri lightly twitched in confusion, "Loi-Loi?!"
"Yuri, my dear, when did you get here? You won't believe wha-"
"Your what?! Dear? Why would you call me that?"
"Um, you're the one who started giving me pet names, remember?" the Loid-looking man said, smiling sweetly.
Yuri's cheeks caught a rosy hue. "Uh, yes, but..," The gears were mercilessly turning in his head. "No, wait! What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean? I'm on the way home. Don't you want to join?"
"I - .. What? I'm on duty- I mean- I-" The young man seemed completely overwhelmed, looking up and down at the man in front of him, trying to make sense of the conversation. Without another word he walked away quickly.
Twilight tugged the doppelganger's sleeve strongly from behind and pulled him back into the shadows of the side street.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?", he yelled.
The stranger raised an eyebrow. "Talking to Yuri," he responded.
"You can't just do that. How do you even know him?" Twilight huffed in distress. "Let's discuss this somewhere else."
---
And so the two sneaked around a few corners while Twilight tried to find an explanation behind this strange encounter. The sudden appearance, the looks, the behavior, none of it made sense. If he was an Ostanian agent on a counterintelligence mission, why would he dress up as the spy himself? Could that be a new tactic? An experiment? Mind games he has not yet heard of?
Both men came to a halt in a narrow passage.
"Who are you?" With effort only, Twilight managed to sound somewhat unruffled.
"Loid Forger." Cold stares were mirrored back at him.
*So he even copied my name,* Twilight's eyes narrowed. *Could this be a plot to murder and seamlessly replace me? Will he infiltrate WISE under my name? Why would the culprit meet his victim in his disguise? He could have easily assassinated me already in the storage hall.*
The doppelganger released his focus only for a brief second when Twilight took the chance and quickly drew his gun. He aimed at his lookalike and threatened, "I will give you one last chance. Who are you?" With a frown he examined his counterpart more closely. The WISE pin was not attached to his suit and a faint but long cut scar was showing at the right side of his neck.
"Loid Forger." Now, there was a tiny tremor in his breathy voice and his eyes widened slightly. It looked like genuine fear. The other man, with eyes still on the gun, asked, "You know Franky?"
*Is my network exposed, too, or is he really...?* Twilight let his arms sink a little, still holding onto his disbelief and the weapon in his hands. *Could he really be Loid Forger? Could he be.. me?* It sounded completely impossible but any other conclusion seemed just as illogical.
"Yes, I know him. And you will lead me there," Twilight demanded. Maybe he could test him. He would know where to find Franky, if he was really Loid Forger.
---
In silence, they rode a streetcar to the vicinity of Franky's hideout, who, at their arrival, was also struck speechless. Twilight roughly outlined whatever fever dream had taken place during the last hour of his mission. He whispered some of the details into Franky's ear at some distance to his lookalike, then walked up to the mysterious stranger. He stood in front of a table, sternly looking down at the seated man on the other side, who, again, stared back likewise. The reason he knew Franky's location must be coincidence, or luck, or well-executed espionage. Twilight felt stuck between what he thought was realistically possible and the evidence in front of his eyes.
"Who are you?" he sternly asked again.
"Loid Forger."
"No, that's impossible! Who are you?" he demanded to know more eagerly, frantically even, leaning over the table and pulling strongly on the other man's cheek.
"Excuse me? That's my real face."
"Listen, Twilight," both men turned their heads to Franky, "This will surely sound surreal, but you might have spawned a version of yourself from a parallel universe."
The fretful men looked at each other. Twilight let go of the other man's cheek. "So, we are the same person?" Now that Franky was to confirm the conjecture, it seemed even more bewildering.
"Yes, but no. You might be different in some ways."
"How is that even possible?"
"There are rumors about experiments on duplication methods, as an alternative to synthetic cloning. As far as I know, these tests have never been successful but maybe nobody ever cracked open a gate by running into it before." Franky shrugged. "However, if that is the case, we have no way of knowing how different he is. All the documents disappeared with your bag."
The newly arrived duplicate seemed sunken into thoughts until the original Twilight continued the spontaneous interrogation, "Tell me, who do you work for?"
The man seemed sunken into silence and conflicted about answering. After a few more seconds went by he finally looked up. "You got a lighter?" Franky pulled one out of his shirt pocket and threw it. In a swift motion the blond man plucked it from the air, snatched a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, gently sucking in the warm fumes. His expression lost a bit of its tension while he blew the smoke into the face of his interrogator and said, "Why don't you tell me first?"
Twilight barely suppressed a cough. He was now glaring. "Look, you have nothing to lose. You will probably be stuck here without us anyways, so you better cooperate."
After a few seconds of goggling ahead, the duplicate hesitantly responded, "Alright. I'm employed by WISE. My Codename is Twilight."
The room was silent and dense with tension. He took another pull from his cigarette. "My cover identity is Dr. Loid Forger, psychiatrist at Berlint General Hospital. Currently my main focus is Operation Strix."
Franky chimed in, "So far, so similar."
Now having awoken a curiosity stronger than the disdain over the other man's attitude, Twilight asked, "And how is Strix going?"
"Well, I would say it's not going perfect but at a satisfactory pace."
"Did you manage to adopt a child?"
"Yes, her name is Anya. You?"
"Me too. I have adopted Anya. And how is yours doing?"
"She's only at her sixth Stella but I'm sure we can still make it with a short delay."
Twilight's expression fell. *Six Stellas?!*
"Not one Tonitrus", /Twilight added.
"How did you do that?" Twilight was voicelessly seething.
"I guess I would need to thank my husband for that." As he spoke a silkiness came over his voice. "He is great at teaching."
"Your what?"
"My flatmate." He harrumphed and repositioned himself on his seat, bringing back his cold demeanor. "It's complicated. I had no time left so I had to work with what I got. Turned out... alright."
"Well, I have a wife."
The lookalike, /Twilight, nervously lifted his wrist to check his watch. "Don't we have to get going and prepare dinner? Anya will be home soon."
"It's ok. Yor will be there."
"Yor?" He repeated.
"Yes, Yor. As you apparently know Yuri, you may also know his sister? We got married. I mean, we made a mutual agreement. Thanks to her, my cover is solid and she is safe from being suspected by the government, being single and childless at her age. Now we still live in the apartment together."
"Yor?!" He repeated again, more agitated than before. "And you're still alive?"
"What do you mean? Yor is a great wife and mother!" Angrily Twilight snarled. *Is this about her cooking? It is not that bad.*
Having regained his calmness, /Twilight stubbed out his cigarette on the table and proceeded to lean forward with his head sitting on his clasped hands. "How is Strix going for you?"
Somehow the question came unexpectedly. With a slight blush Twilight wrestled with himself to answer and grumbled through his teeth, "It's going fine."
"Oh, yeah? How many Stellas?"
"Two."
Fired up the lookalike pulled up an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth jumped amusedly. "Tonitrus?"
"Two."
A smirk overtook /Twilight's face, provoking Twilight to speak further. "I'm using other methods besides grading."
"Huh, I, too, would use other methods, if I were you," he mockingly chuckled.
To not let this pissing contest end in an incident of manslaughter (or would it be suicide in that case?) Twilight lead the discussion back to viable information procurement. "What were you doing in that building? You're dressed differently than me," he said, still wearing the overall.
"I was surprised the building was suddenly empty and abandoned. Before I fell into the mirror I wasn't alone. The laboratory is in use in my world. I was on a surveillance tour."
*Without a disguise?* Twilight wondered. "We need to check with WISE. I will arrange a meeting for tomorrow. In the meantime, do not mess around too much. Franky, would it be possible to let him stay here for-"
"No way! It's enough to take care of your daughter and your dog all the time. I will not babysit you too. Not today. I have a date."
Both men stared blankly at him for a moment.
"Alright. You will come home with me and sleep on the couch. But please be careful with what you're saying. No one besides WISE agents and Franky know my real identity. Only them, Anya and Yor know my marriage is fake."
"Got it."
"I suppose you live in the same building?"
"128 Park Avenue."
Twilight nodded and started unbuttoning his overall. "Let's change."
"Do what now?"
"You can't walk around in that suit. I have the same one." *.. and it has also been in that backpack,* he remembered.
/Twilight grudgingly took the hint. They had to make up an identity, an excuse for the existence of a second Loid and it had to be plausible.