Work Text:
An explosive train ride. Literally. Gerard was faced with a choice – assume the role of Ludger Cherish, the young man who just exploded in front of him moments ago, or face punishment for his crimes at the hands of the knights.
The knights chose for him.
“Oh, Mr. Ludger Cherish, welcome to Letherbelk!”
Huh, who, me?
He was practically thrown into the carriage. It was only then that he opened the luggage of the man whose identity he had to assume this time.
An ID, a coded message, and… some snacks?
He ate some gummy worms as he read the message, which was hidden in a newspaper. It was a Qeden cipher, no big deal.
‘Using the gummy worms, decode your mission using a substitution cipher. For every red worm, move the alphabet 3 letters to the right.’
Goddamit.
The packet was already empty, the sugary gummies already dissolving in his hungry stomach – he hasn’t eaten since yesterday when the terrorist attack happened.
Thankfully, he had enough know-how to decode the message.
Agent John Doe,
Your mission, should you choose to accept it (you don’t have a choice), is to go undercover and assume the role of watching over some high-priority individuals. Agent Esmeralda will give you your case details of your marks upon arrival.
Due to their unique and unpredictable abilities, the targets are highly vulnerable to external influences. They are also highly emotional, chaotic, and menaces to society.
‘This sounds dangerous,’ he thought. He wondered who these people are. If he had to assume this new identity, he had to do well. Thankfully, his days roaming the world using different identities allowed him to pick-up skills that’d put even Leonardo da Vinci to shame.
Espionage. Assassination. Even torture. He was ready for it. Whoever it is they have to watch over, they sound like a security risk to the empire. Still, they’d be no match for him.
He kept reading the mission briefing.
> Mission Parameters:
- Establish your position.
Gain the trust of your targets through routine and guidance, with a focus on safety and preventing any untoward incidents and helping them assimilate and become productive members of society.
- Monitor threats.
Identify each target’s strengths and weaknesses. This intelligence will be vital for the Empire’s progress, as these individuals will carry its future.
- Contain magical manifestations.
Many individuals at your mission location exhibit strong magical affinity. Ensure any outbreaks and mishaps will not be detrimental to your mission without alarming the general public.
‘Easy enough,’ Ludger thought. He’d done something similar. Perhaps it won’t be as challenging after all. He steeled himself, already preparing for another high-stakes, undercover mission.
'The environment must be extremely hostile for them to send an undercover agent,' he thought.
Duration: This mission will continue indefinitely until the children can be transitioned to formal magical education.
Indefinitely? And more importantly, children?
He scanned the newspaper closely, reading and re-reading that clause with uncertainty. Did he decode it right? Maybe he really needed those gummy worms after all?
Location: Theorn Academy’s Daycare Center
Daycare.
‘No, no, no,’ he thought. ‘Daycare’ must have been a code word for prison. ‘Yeah that’s it.’ And ‘children’ must’ve been a code word for high-profile criminals. Criminals he needed to “take care of.”
***
The carriage stopped in front of a small building enclosed in a small, grassy clearing. It was gated, with one main gate, and another smaller gate that connected it to the main academy grounds.
Awfully small for a prison, he thought.
Maybe that’s why they need agents, to make space for new criminals?
He stepped out, luggage in one hand and a walking cane in the other. His three piece suit made him look polished and elegant, his long black hair half-tied at the back. Every movement, every step of his was calculated. He strode confidently toward the criminal detention center, cloak fluttering, billowing behind him in the bright morning sun. He thought he heard the sounds of laughter emanating from the tiny, pastel-colored building.
But Ludger’s lips twisted into a grim line.
"How insidious," he thought, eyeing the bright flowers painted along the doorway. “They disguise this facility in cheerfulness. A smart tactic.”
He knew better than that.
He strode forward with a slow, pensive pace. This was no ordinary mission. According to his briefing, this was a detainment center for individuals of “immense magical potential,” and he had been assigned to “take care of” these hoodlums.
As he approached, he envisioned the vile world inside the prison: criminals awaiting judgment, perhaps plotting chaos with their unruly, unpredictable magical abilities.
The building’s quaint little sign came into view. The Little Theorny Seedlings Daycare. A clever code name, he mused. He smirked slightly at the thought.
He paused in front of the door, taking a breath and composing himself. Intimidation was key. If these delinquents thought he was weak, they would never submit to him. He needed them to understand immediately: he was not to be trifled with.
‘Steady,’ he reminded himself. ‘Step one: Establish dominance.’
With a flourish, he threw open the door and strode into the building. His boots clicked on the polished wooden floor as he strode with purpose. With a confident, intimidating gait, upright posture, and a cold and unwavering gaze. His aura, naturally intimidating, would serve him well here.
The walls were painted a warm, sunny yellow, adorned with cheerful posters of animals and enchanted suns that seemed to wink at him. Bright colors surrounded him, from the walls to the small, cozy cushions scattered around the room.
His brow furrowed. The deceptively innocent decor would not fool him.
This must be some sort of psychological torture tactic to make those scoundrels more docile.
He looked at the corkboard, pinned with sordid, macabre drawings of dismembered people; if they were even people – the scratchy scrawls in what seemed to be crayon and the thick, unsteady lines made it hard to distinguish which one is a person and which one was a rat. He saw a drawing of a giraffe that was labeled “my pet rabbit”. ‘Damn,’ he thought. Did these criminals dabble in taboo experimentation as well?
Their list of crimes must be endless, he thought.
And he promised that he’d do his mission well, even if this was just a borrowed identity. The risk was too high – these individuals absolutely can not be left unsupervised.
For the good of the Empire. No, for the good of the world.
He opened the door to the only other room in the building where he heard voices from. He quickened his pace. The earlier these savages learn their lesson the be–
He slammed the door open, only to see no one there? He was sure he heard talking just a few moments earlier. He wondered if this was magic.
A tug at the bottom of his coat. He glanced down and froze. A tiny little girl, no taller than his legs, were staring at him wide-eyed. Her face was smeared with something suspiciously sticky. Her hands were covered with the same thing.
The same hand that now grasped around his tailored, premium wool dress pants.
“Hi mister!” She said, lifting her sticky hand up to high five him. Was that glue?
“HI MISTER!” A chorus of high-pitched voices startled him. He looked a bit further up, and there he saw the reason why he thought no one was there.
He was expecting normal human-sized criminals, scanning the room at eye-level. He didn’t expect these… these actual children. These munchkins sitting on their tiny little plastic tables and chairs looking up at him with their innocent, sparkly eyes.
Oh god.
This might be his hardest mission yet.