Chapter Text
A young, brown haired man is seen swiftly evading gunshots from a group of 6 men. Despite his big stature, the man managed to disappear into the night.
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"DAMN IT, HE GOT AWAY! SURROUND HIM!!" One of the older men in the group shouted.
"DON'T LET THAT SNEAKY BASTARD SLITHER HIS WAY OUT, BOSS MIGHT KILL US IF WE DO!" He added, whilst hastily reloading his gun.
After a while, the group of men soon came to a halt, and what stood before them was an abandoned mall. Seeing this, they all decided to separate into 3 groups, 2 men in each one;
Big mistake.
Soon, the group that approached the mall was dragged into it by some sort of booby trap. The other 2 groups were terrified by their screams. However, they had to investigate in order to catch their target. Slowly but surely, they cleared and entered the mall safely. But that safety was only temporary..
"For fuck's sake, have some courage you cowards!-" A morale boost attempt from one of the braver men was quickly interrupted by a bullet to his head. The recently deceased male's partner froze in fear, followed by them fainting from shock. The last 2 men standing were on guard, responding to every sound and movement they heard. Yet, even extreme alertness wasn't enough to evade their demise.
"Shit shit shit, don't let your guard down!" the younger of the two men whispered. The youngling was expecting a respond, but he was instead met with a kick to his stomach. A light flashed before his eyes, and the last thing he saw before passing out was his comrade getting the same treatment. When their bodies met the floor, 3 gunshots rang across the building, and everything went black for them both.
"Ugh, they were such a hassle."
Sighed the brown haired man whilst massaging his shoulders, visibly in discomfort. Soon after that, he proceeded to rip off his.. face. Or rather, a mask of another face.
Turns out, the man's true identity was a middled aged, blond haired, blue eyed, 193cm and well built spy. (Yes I made him taller, bite me.)
However, he is no ordinary spy. In fact, he's the number 1 Spy in Westalis Intelligence Service's Eastern-Focused Division, also known as W.I.S.E.
He gained his current position by rising through mission after mission, leaving a great first impression on W.I.S.E's higher-ups. Soon, he became one of their greatest asset. Due to his impressive feats, he later received his Codename; Twilight.
W.I.S.E has a strict hierarchy, and codenamed spies are at the top of said hierarchy. With that fact, only the most valuable of spies receive Codenames.
Not only because of their dying loyalty to W.I.S.E (literally dying for WISE), but also due to their obnoxiously cautious nature (understandably so, they're spies.) and their need to disguise themselves.
With that in mind, W.I.S.E HQ decided to assign these codenamed spies their own dress codes and cyphers. The spies receive new dress codes and cyphers every now and then, but W.I.S.E HQ advised that it is a must to constantly change them in randomised orders so enemies won't be able to catch on.
Twilight's dress code today is an Ostania military uniform, the face of a young soldier with W.I.S.E's pin on his left collar. His cyphers for now is the F cypher. Though, Twilight has been warned to avoid using the same cyphers and use other niche ones more. The cyphers Twilight were used to had become more popular amongst enemy lines, and one mistake equals death.
Twilight was seen lifting and dragging 3 corpses with an uneased expression. This kind of thing was basically normal, he had been doing this for 15 years. Even then, he couldn't help but feel like a barbarian. After a while, he dropped all of them onto a nearby bench and brought out his machete from his bag.
"I apologise deeply, but I can't leave any evidence that I was here." Twilight whispered to himself before brutally dismembering the enemy corpses one by one. It was messy and inhumane, but Twilight developed the habit of dehumanising his enemies over the course of his career.
"It's.. for the mission." Was what Twilight would always say to justify his actions, whether it truely was for the mission or not.
While butchering the corpses, the mutilated body parts were twitching from time to time even though they've been detached. Twilight kept seeing them twitch, which reasonably bothered him. He knows that they're dead, he's sure of that. Nonetheless, the corpses' desperate attempts to keep itself alive creeped him out.
After what felt like forever, Twilight had finally cut them all up and put them in multiple plastic bags. Fortunately, he's freakishly skilled in everything he does- even if Twilight had only dabbled in it for a bit. But, even the greatest spy had 1 weakness: age-related problems.
Although Twilight was only on his 30s, the fact is that he had done this kind of job for half of his life. It's only logical for his body to respond accordingly to repeated physical, mental, and emotional stress he went through without enough time to process it all.
Despite his disadvantages, Twilight calculated a two-time trip to the back of the mall was the fastest way to prepare the bodies for their 'burials'.
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"Ugh..! Why do they all have to be big boned?? I need a smoke break after this." Twilight complained. The men he eliminated were all on the larger side, making his 1st trip slower than he anticipated.
"If there's a God, please make this trip faster. I can't stand their dead, warm bodies squishing against my back over and over again every time I take a big step." He whined.
Unfortunately, his prayer didn't go through, and him constantly thinking about the corpses only made the trip feel slower. After a while, Twilight finally saw the back emergency door of the mall. His footsteps grew louder and hasty, as he wanted to finish this mission as fast as possible so he could focus on his next objective.
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"Phew.. nothing went wrong."
Twilight finally arrived at the back of the mall and decided to relax for a bit..
Before snapping into reality and humbling himself. It's one of his most prominent old habits, inherited from his superiors. What a good example, they are.
"What am I saying? Remember your roots, Twilight! "Suspect everything.", "expect the unexpected." and "plan every possibility."!"
He grumbled, disappointed that he even thought of having a moment of peace.
"You're in the middle of war. Don't lose your edge now. Dont let their deaths be in vain." Twilight grumbled again.
Twilight had lost everything important to him; from witnessing his very own town blown to bits, his father dying in front of his very own eyes to his mother sarcrificing herself and others for his nourishment.
He once had true friends and other agents he considered close, only for them to be treated as nothing more than target practice in concentration camps. Twilight had seen it all, the darkest side of humanity not even the cruelest would be able to fathom.
Due to these losses, Twilight believed that any attachment was the reason why he felt such despair in his early days. Hence, why he adopted the mindset of a 'Cold Spy'. He vowed to never become attached to anyone or anything ever again, because he believes emotions are nothing but a burden due to his personal experiences.
' "For the sake of the future generations, give everything you've got. Your blood, sweat, and tears. Everything." That's what Handler told you. She gave everything to shape you into what you are now, Twilight.'
He thought to himself while digging, using a makeshift shovel he crafted. Twilight tried his best to lock in but eventually got carried away in his thoughts when he began to dig the second grave
"With everything that's happened, doing a decade and a half of espionage is slowly becoming dull. I expected it to become more.. dangerous? Yet almost nothing notable happened." He questioned, puzzled by the dwindling numbers of bloodshed recently.
"Well, besides the usual danger of espionage, Ostania's wrath has been low lately."
"..What are you saying, Twilight?? This is the most free time you've got to yourself in years." He mumbled.
"I have to use this extra time I have carefully. Dilly-dallying is a definite waste of time. First, I'll - "
The bushes around him rustled. Instinctively, he reached for his machete.
'I heard something. Where is it? Or rather, where are they?'
The bushes kept rustling. This time, whatever was in those bushes came closer.
'I wasted all of the ammunition, if only I had more time to plan -'
Suddenly, a white, big, fluffy dog jumped out from the bushes and stood before Twilight, growling and ready to bite. Its face was covered in fresh blood, further intimidating him. However, Twilight wouldn't let an animal get the upper hand and used his surroundings to his advantage.
"Take this!" Twilight shouted whilst throwing nearby rocks to the dog.
To his surprise, the dog didn't dodge. Instead, it caught the rocks and parried it back to Twilight.
"What the -" the flabbergasted Twilight spouted, dodging the rocks the dog was parrying back.
"That's enough now, Subject N. 008."
A mysterious voice commanded, which successfully stopped the dog from attacking.
Twilight froze for a moment. He recognised that voice. Even then, he still had his guard up.
"Hello. Or Should I Say, Good Evening, Twilight."
The strangely worded greeting finally made Twilight straighten himself, confident that it's no enemy.
"At ease, Twilight. Rest assured, the other agents have cleared the perimeter multiple times. There seems to be no other threats."
He was a bit surprised that the other agents gathered in the first place, so he looked at the woman a curious glance. She only shook her head in response, seemingly distressed in something.
"You barely changed, huh? You're like a restless dog, Twilight." She finally commented.
".. You're one to talk, Handler. You're covered in blood, too." Twilight talked back.
"Oh, hush, this dog here did most of the work. It just happened to shake off the blood near me. Besides, judging from those plastic bags you brought, you eliminated at least 3 people." Handler said whilst analysing her surroundings.
"They look quite large, too. I guess the only thing that changed was your strength." She added.
For some reason, Twilight felt complimented by that comment, even if it was backhanded. Impulsively, he felt obligated to mention the other bodies in the mall.
"Actually, there's 3 more in the mall." He said proudly. He was expecting to start banter, or, at the very least, a sigh from Handler. Unfortunately, neither seem to be the case, as Handler's aura changed when she heard those words leave Twilight's mouth.
"You idiot, why didn't you call for backup?? That's what your watch is for! And why do you look so proud?!" She furiously shouted. Her sudden change of tone caught Twilight off-guard.
"You know very well what could've happened if whatever you did that killed them didn't kill them?!?" Handler then continued:
"I've said this again and again, Twilight. Killing is no joke, whether it be a slaughter animal or an enemy." Handler went on to ramble on the importance of morals, safety and other things Twilight had heard for the entirety of his career with her.
"I thought you'd finally learned your lesson, but I guess that-" She stops, feeling Twilight's sharp eyes glaring at her with shock anger. The white dog returned the glare, but she signalled it to stop.
"Don't, please. I understand." Twilight mumbled, clutching one of the plastic bags tightly.
She only wanted to lecture and warn him, but it looked like she went off the rails. Thankfully, Twilight quickly collected himself.
"..You couldn't think of anything else but that specific incident?" He asked.
"..We both do, don't we? Every day, it haunts us like it was just yesterday." Handler answered. After that, a few minutes passed. Only digging, burying, and dog whimpers could be heard. The deafening silence finally came to an end when an agent came over to Handler.
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"Handler, there's movement in this part." Said the agent.
"Oh? So, the status report of a potential enemy inactivity was false?" Handler replied.
The agent stumped and chuckled nervously, avoiding eye contact as if their very life depended on it.
"You're lucky that we have the most skilled agents here to cover your asses. Don't make any mistakes from now on, you hear?" Handler said assertively. She then proceeds to intimidate them further by using psychological tricks.
A.k.a, staring them down.
"Y-yes, I'll work harder, I promise!" It clearly worked, as the terrified agent ran away.
"..scary." Twilight snickered, which was also quickly shut down by Handler's soul-sucking glare.
By that reaction alone, Twilight figured it'd be better to deescalate the tension, since Handler looked like she was about to explode from stress. Luckily, he didn't have to, as a familiar agent approached Handler.
"I haven't heard you cuss in a while, Handler." A stoic female agent appeared, unphased by Handler's anger. To no one's surprise, she was immediately berated by Handler.
"Oh, shush. Younglings like you wouldn't understand a fraction of what W.I.S.E's HQ demands to drive even the most elegant insane!" The outraged Handler then continued;
"Agent Nightfall, out of all the others, you're the one who ALWAYS irritate me the most. I don't know whether to think if that's impressive or - " Before Handler could finish her outburst, the white dog somehow broke free of its leash and started running away.
"That can't be good." Said Nightfall, completely ignoring the predicament she was in. Her timing couldn't be worse, as Handler looked like she was about to kill everyone there and then herself. Thankfully, Handler regained her composure.
"..ugh, not again. I have a bad feeling about this." The suspecting Handler sighed.
"As punishment, your new mission is to find Subject N. 008. , Nightfall. He's a trained military dog, so good luck."
Nightfall nodded before immediately chasing after the dog.
"..So, you said you had a bad feeling. What exactly do you mean by that?" Twilight asked.
"It's complicated, but long story short; that dog was a victim to one of Eden's experiments. It's safe to assume he was a lab dog and gained some kind of precognition senses during its suffering there."
Twilight tilted his head, clearly questioning what she meant by precognition senses. After all, he'd been trained to think logically for everything. Something that sounded supernatural just didn't sit right with him.
"Sorry, I think I misheard you - " His question unfortunately fell on deaf ears.
"No time to waste, Twilight. Go follow Nightfall. She's still your junior, and she's been reckless recently. This is your new mission."
She commanded whilst pointing towards the direction Nightfall ran to. He had no choice but to abandon his curiosity, heed her commands, and begin his new mission;
Supervise Nightfall.