Chapter Text
Cypher exited the VLT/R with a satisfied hum. He carried a duffle bag with his gear in one hand and tossed a chess piece up and down in the other. Harbor and Skye followed suit as they carried their own gear as well as boxes filled with various files found at Sunset. The trio made the small trek to the debrief room where they met an expecting Brimstone and Viper.
“Welcome home, agents. Cypher, you and Fade will be in charge of going through these boxes and reporting anything important found. For now, what are the most important things you learned? What happened to Kingdom’s HQ in LA? Any leads?” Brimstone queried as Harbor and Skye placed the boxes on the central table.
Cypher raised his hand and motioned towards the chess piece, “If I may?”
Brimstone nodded and moved aside for Cypher to access the computer within the room. Viper rounded the table towards the other two agents to take a look at the files they were pulling out.
With a press to the top, the sentinel’s chess piece ejected the end of a USB. He accessed the computer with a swipe of his ID and pulled up the digital information he had gathered. The projector lit up as Cypher opened and dragged various files around, and he also pulled up a hologram of the US map in the center of the table.
All agents paused to look at the map as Cypher pinpointed various locations on the map and connected them to various files pulled up on the projector.
“While Skye and Harbor gathered all of those paper files from some of the cubicles of the lower levels, I was able to hack into one or two computers they had hidden away upstairs… I was able to skim through most of this on the ride back to HQ, and I will go into more depth later, but here-”
Cypher zoomed into a particular city on the map, and more files appeared on the projector, “There seems to be more than meets the eye. Kingdom’s Los Angeles location has connections all over the country, but here- Detroit, Michigan, intrigues me. Before the sinkhole appeared and they were forced to evacuate, there seemed to be a lot of communication between them and someone or something in this city.”
The Moroccan cleared his throat as he pulled up files closer to the evacuation date, revealing letters that held redacted logos and names.
“I also found this,” Cypher pulled up local news articles from Detroit.
BREAKING NEWS: LOCALS AND TOURISTS ALIKE ANGERED AND CONFUSED AT DIMINISHING ANIMALS AT STATE ZOO
Skye scoffed in disbelief. A few other articles pertaining to the issue popped up on the screen. Cypher then pulled up older articles they’ve seen before about mysterious creatures popping up in the area of Los Angeles now known as Sunset.
“Also if we look at radianite transactions between these events,” Cypher pulls up another graph, “We see various warehouses in Detroit slowly increase, and here we see some of the biggest transactions are under the city’s zoo.”
“So you think they’ve moved operations to Detroit once they realized what they did in LA?” Viper questioned.
“It’s quite the speculation, but yes. As I said earlier, I can dig into this more with Fade and report what we find.”
“I’ll help. I wanna know what Kingdom is doing with those poor animals,” Skye chimed in.
Cypher nodded in approval, “The more hands the better.”
Brim gave a single nod in agreement, “Alright. Now that’s settled, if there’s nothing else of important information, then we’re done here. Make sure to turn in your reports and rest up.”
///
One week later lead to Brimstone, Viper, Sage, Fade, and Cypher in the debrief room discussing all that was discovered from the files. Cypher’s initial conclusions were further proven to hold some truth in them as they went through the files, but more confirmation was needed.
“Every answer just brings more questions,” Fade shook her head in annoyance as she presented her findings. “Why Detroit and where are they keeping these animals now? There doesn’t seem to be any Kingdom presence either. At least none that we can find. And why is the city’s zoo in on it? Who exactly are we working with?”
“Do we need another mission to Sunset?” Sage asked.
Brimstone shook his head, “It would be more efficient if we went straight to the source. We’d need to send a team to Detroit.”
“Not a team. A team is too big,” Viper interjected with a shake of the head. “Detroit is still a thriving city. If whoever we’re dealing with catches wind that we sent a team, they’ll just run.”
“So what do you want to do, Viper?”
Viper stared at the information scattered around the table. She tapped her fingers on the table as she thought about what to do. If they did nothing, they could risk Kingdom or whoever they’re dealing with getting comfortable and setting up shop just to ruin another city. If they immediately seeked information, they could lose all leads before anything new could be revealed.
“We send someone undercover.”
“Who would we send?”
All eyes were on Viper as she ran through the list of agents in her head. She examined the provided information over and over before shaking her head. All of the agents are too damn vital for other missions.
“I’ll go.”
While Brim was hesitant, he knew the chemist’s meticulous thought process. It also helped that Sage has fully acquainted herself with her fairly new position as third in command. So whenever Viper was gone, he knew he had another person to rely on.
“Who will you be bringing?”
Viper shot the other controller a confused look, “No one.”
Sage butted in, “You need a backup, Viper.”
“I’d have to agree with Sage here,” Cypher chimed in, “While you may be right about not sending in a full team, you should at least bring one more person. Detroit is a big city, and you will need a second pair of hands to help.”
The chemist pursed her lips. He was right. With all the open leads, she wouldn’t have the time or physical capability to follow them all alone. She nodded her head, “Alright. Who would you suggest?”
“Maybe someone like me or Sova. We can help you scope out the area,” Cypher suggested.
“Cypher, even though I said it was more beneficial to go straight for Detroit, I actually want to send you back to Sunset with a team to look for more information that could possibly help us here. I also have Sova meeting with some informants in Eastern Europe that we cannot miss.” Brimstone spoke as he ran through the agent’s itinerary for the following several weeks.
“Skye? She helped Fade and I go through the files. Debriefing would be easy.”
Brimstone shook his head, “She’d get too hot-headed when those animals come into the picture.”
“Reyna?”
“We need the duelists for combat missions, preferably.”
The five sat around the table and tried to come up with a solution. Brimstone tried moving things around on the calendar, but every edit ended in a grumble.
“How about Killjoy?” Sage queried.
The techie hasn’t been needed on any recent missions, and her position in upcoming missions could easily be replaced by Cypher or another sentinel. When there were no objections, all eyes turned to the chemist.
Viper opened her mouth to argue but let out a sigh as she herself could not find any reason why the sentinel wouldn’t be a good fit. They have always worked well together on the field, and her technical skills could become a good hand in following any leads and keeping in contact with protocol. After scanning the room and not finding any hesitation, she nodded her head.
“Alright. Killjoy it is.”
///
“Sabine. You’re pacing.”
The chemist stopped dead in her tracks to offer the phantom a deadpan look. She swiftly resumed her pacing.
“What’s in your hands?”
Viper held up the folder before dropping it on the nearby table in front of Omen. He looked between the two a few times before picking up the bound papers and flipping through them. A humored grunt left his body.
Viper rolled her eyes before picking the folder back up and rifled through the files she’s looked over countless times.
“Who’s idea was it?”
“Mine.”
“You picked Killjoy for the mission?”
“No, that was Sage’s idea.”
“Well aren’t you lucky.”
A scoff-like laugh left the chemist, “It’s not like I could have objected. All the other agents are occupied or insufferable.”
“So you finally admit that you enjoy her company.”
Viper fixed Omen with a look, “I said she wasn’t insufferable.”
“Which means you like her.”
Instead of answering, Sabine shook her head and headed towards the door. As she reached for the handle, Omen offered one last jest, “The first lead is a dinner date. How romantic.”
He was met with a slam of the door.
///
“Hoy. So that’s what’s been keeping you holed up in here all day.” Neon eyed the thick folder Killjoy was currently curled up with in a beanbag in the corner of her lab. She entered the lab with Raze trailing close behind holding three boxes of food. “We haven’t seen you all day, so we brought you dinner.”
Killjoy looked at the two duelists before looking over at the clock. Damn, she missed dinner again. She flipped over one of the files to mark where she left off before closing the folder and sitting up.
“Danke. What’s for dinner?”
“Jett made bulgogi for everyone tonight.”
The engineer’s eyes lit up as she reached out for her box. She hastily opened it and took a bite. Jett’s cooking always hit the spot after a long day. Raze and Neon pulled their own bean bags over to sit in a circle with the former as they all dug in to their meals.
“So,” Neon spoke between bites, “Whatcha got there?”
Killjoy looked over at the folder before returning to her food, “Mission debrief.”
“That big?!” Raze picked up the folder and let the weight of it move her arm up and down. She dropped the papers with a surprised groan.
“Ja. I was just as surprised when Viper dropped it off earlier.”
///
The thud of an object jolted Killjoy awake from her accidental slumber at her desk. She hastily fixed her glasses on her face before furrowing her eyebrows at the large folder. Her gaze slowly followed the hand that held the folder before making contact with the chemist’s unreadable expression.
“Wake up, Maus.”
“Scheisse, what time is it?” She took the folder and flipped it to face herself. She sat up further in her chair as she started to skim through the papers. She glanced up at the chemist again before looking at the files again, “What’s this?”
“Mission debrief. We leave next week.”
“We? Okay… Who else?”
“Just you and me. We’re going undercover.”
///
“What’s the mission? I haven’t seen anything new pop up on the schedule recently,” Raze asked.
“I can’t say much, but let’s just say I can’t tell if I am looking forward to it or absolutely dreading it.”
Raze and Neon looked at each other in confusion before directing their gazes towards the engineer to explain.
Killjoy sighed, “Like I said, I can’t tell you.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Cypher announced at the door frame before making his way in and handing Killjoy a few pieces of paper stapled together, “Here’s more information about yours and Viper’s little mission.”
Cypher made a swift departure as Killjoy sighed and moved the papers to the back of the stack. Even more reading.
“Ohhhhhh so-”
“Raze, don’t start.” Killjoy held her hand up before using it to take another fork full of food.
“What’s so bad about a mission with Viper?” Neon asked with confusion. Raze leaned over to whisper something in her ear. Sparks flew from her hair as she put the pieces together.
“So that’s why you started to try hard in aim practice when she walked in the other day.”
“I’m not above nanoswarming you both.”
“Noooo, you love us. Just not as much as Vi-”
The shell of an old nanoswarm colliding with her head shut Raze up.
///
Killjoy hovered over one of the tables in her lab. She had all the gear she could possibly need for the mission splayed out in various categories. She had spent the last week tweaking some of her gear to work for the spaces her and Viper would be working in. Since all of their advances would be undercover, they needed less lethal equipment and more equipment geared towards surveillance and information gathering. Though, she did plan to bring a few spare alarmbots and nanoswarms in case of any dire situation.
Cypher and Deadlock were generous enough to offer the techie some of their tripwires and sound sensors. She also spent some time working on those devices to only notify her of any movement rather than stun the victim.
Lastly, she also had a few of her other personal bots she always carried along with her. She created them for productivity reasons way before protocol existed, but they proved to be useful when she dusted them off for the mission where they discovered Pearl.
Going through her checklist one last time, Killjoy packed everything into the duffle bag she was provided. A knock at her door interrupted the final moments of packing. She looked over her shoulder to see an oddly casually dressed Viper leaning on her door frame.
The chemist was clad with a plain green shirt and jeans. She did a once-over of the engineer’s choice of apparel, “I assume that you know you’ll have to leave your jacket and beanie. They are quite defining.”
Killjoy patted her head and her chest before shoving the puffy coat off and tossed it over a nearby chair. She then took her beanie off and placed it in a drawer at her desk, “Oh, ja. Of course.”
She let out a nervous chuckle as she took off her wide bracelet that held all her devices. “Speaking of which, have I shown you my newest invention? Come look.”
Killjoy motioned for Viper to enter her lab before exchanging her bracelet with a watch that sat by her laptop. She showed the accessory to Viper as she came closer, “Since I shouldn’t wear that bracelet, I made a similar device inside of one of Brim’s old watches I found. The main difference is that I have to actually touch the screen to control everything since I won’t always have my gloves on me.”
Viper towered over the techie’s shoulder as she demonstrated how to use her new control center. A hum of approval left the chemist’s lips as Killjoy even added Cypher’s and Deadlock’s modified gear to the accessory’s menu. Killjoy looked up to Viper and offered a meek smile as she took a side step out from under the towering chemist. She opened another drawer to reveal a replica of the watch she held, except it had a woven green strap instead of a brown leather one.
“I assume I’ll be doing nearly all the set up, but just in case, I made you one to access the gear. Of course, you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to. I can leave this here or I can just toss it in my bag in case you want it later. Of course, I am more than capable of doing all the setup. If you do choose to use it though, I can teach you everything on the ride over. It’s quite simple honestly, and if you want, I can even add some of your-”
“Impressive. I think it will be beneficial to the success of our missions,” Viper cut off the rambling engineer.
“Okay. I’ll be sure to pack it.”
Killjoy placed the two watches beside her laptop before returning to the gear she was packing before Viper arrived. After she finished packing the bag, she placed it by the door where her suitcase waited. She then moved over towards her desk where she started to pack her laptop and other various personal belongings. She took in a deep breath as she could feel the chemist’s gaze follow her every move.
“Ready to go?”
Killjoy popped her head up to see Viper with her duffle bag thrown over her shoulder with ease. She blinked a few times as her eyes zeroed in on Viper’s uncovered, toned arms. After a few moments of staring, she shook her head and rushed to shove the last few wires into her back, “Ja, yes. Uh, let’s go.”
///
Killjoy and Viper carried all of their luggage into the two-bed one-bath riverside apartment Brimstone arranged for them. Through his connections and Cypher’s brokerage experience, they were able to get the two undercover agents a fully furnished apartment they could call home for the next month or two. They dropped their bags off in the living room before exploring the rest of their temporary home.
The engineer peeked her head into the various rooms down the main hallway. On the left there was an office with a desk setup just how Killjoy liked, courtesy of Cypher. Across the hallway was the bathroom, and further down the hallway was the main bedroom. Killjoy walked back into the livingroom to look for any other hallways that could be behind the first. When all she was met with was the kitchen and a door leading to their balcony, she pulled out her phone.
Killjoy: Cypher. Where’s the second bedroom?
Cypher: Did you go to the wrong address?
Killjoy: I don’t think so? The addresses match. There’s only a bedroom and office down the hallway.
Cypher: Ah yes. I forgot to tell you the second bedroom is your office. I assumed you’d like a space of your own to lay out your gear and set up communications.
Killjoy: Where am I supposed to sleep?!
Cypher: In the other bedroom
Killjoy: There’s only one bed
Cypher: And?
Cypher: Oh little engineer. Are you scared to share a bed with Sabine? I promise she won’t bite. That is unless you want her to ;)
Killjoy: Ugh, nevermind. Thank you for the office setup. I’ll let you know when I have everything set up.
The annoyed engineer pocketed her phone before grabbing her duffle bag and walking back into the office. She surveyed the space and got to work organizing all of the gear on the provided shelves. Once that was done, she hooked up her laptop to the desk setup. Once she configured all of the monitors, she opened her communication panel with Cypher again where she had an unread message.
Cypher: You can thank Raze for the office suggestion
Killjoy rolled her eyes before confirming her successful setup of the office.
///
“Hey. You should get ready for the mission. I brought your things into the bedroom and put them against the far wall earlier.”
“Oh, danke. I’ll go get ready no-”
Killjoy stopped in her tracks as she spun around. For the second time that day, she was stunned to see Sabine out of her usual attire. The chemist had changed her tshirt out for a black short-sleeve button down.
Sabine looked up from her phone and furrowed her eyebrows at the engineer, “Is everything alright?”
“Ja- yes- I’ll go now,” Killjoy cleared her throat before sneaking past the chemist who was leaning against the doorframe. Viper’s lips curled into the slightest smile as she shook her head. She walked further into the room and looked for the necessary items on the shelves.
Viper grabbed the discrete voice recorder and her new watch that rested on one of the shelves. With a click of the button, the watch’s face lit up. It looked like a standard smartwatch, and the scan of her fingerprint turned it into a whole new device. She swiped through all the equipment, and clicked the recall button once she found the voice recorder’s icon. Within seconds, the item dematerialized right in her hand. The screen lit up green, signaling the success of the operation.
“Oh good! You’re getting the hang of it!”
Sabine turned her head to see the techie walking into the room while adjusting her leather jacket. She looked the German up and down, and her eyes met the beaming smile of the other.
Killjoy looked through the devices on the shelves and back towards the chemist, “Did you recall everything we need?”
The chemist nodded as she fastened the watch to her wrist, “I just added the voice recorder, and there were a few other items listed in the watch already. We shouldn’t need any movement intel tech since we’re just going to be recording a conversation, but feel free to add anything you may think we need.”
“Alright. I added my things earlier, so I guess we can leave now, ja?”
Viper looked around the room one last time and checked the time, “Let’s go.”
///
“Recorder set,” Viper husked into Killjoy’s ear with a soft squeeze to her shoulder. She swiftly rounded the table and took her seat across the techie.
Killjoy nodded sharply as she took a sip of her drink to calm her down. Once both were settled, Viper rested her elbow on the back of her chair and her head in the palm of her head. She leisurely twirled her straw in her drink, “How’s work been?”
It took the engineer a moment, but she soon relaxed in her chair as well. She copied the chemist’s posture as she recalled the personas they both were to take on, “It’s been busy. I’ve picked up a few new clients, and it’s been a fun challenge adapting my skills towards their content style.”
“What kind of content do your clients make?”
“Mainly vlogs. Though, I do some slightly larger projects as well. What about you? Any outstanding students this semester?”
Viper rolled her eyes and grabbed her wine glass. The large table next to them filled up, and she glanced at them before taking a sip of her drink. “I’m just teaching a few sections of the introductory course. Most students are there just to pass the class and move on.”
The two women continued to discuss their cover careers, occasionally pausing if something interesting popped up in the conversation to the side of them. Fortunately for them, some of the more important bits of information seemed to be discussed when they were served their food.
“How are the animals doing?”
“Most are right on track. We tried a slightly different method than what was done on the west coast, and it seems that the survivability is better. We see increased strength and speed in some, and heightened senses such as hearing and smell in others. A few have gotten… a little out of control, but the percentage we have under control is higher.”
“That’s good to hear. Is there any way we can take a visit soon? Say, the end of the month?’
“Yes, of course! We should have more to show by then as well. Can we also arrange another radianite supply for around then as well?”
“How much?”
Killjoy glanced at her watch as she chewed the last few bites of her dinner. Sound waves with different colored backgrounds popped up periodically as different people from the other table spoke.
Because Viper tended to be a fast eater in order to maximize her time in the lab, she was left to watch Killjoy finish the last of her food. She sat with her back against the chair, and she tilted her head ever so slightly. If anyone were to look over at the duo, they would probably just think she was admiring her dinner partner. She mindlessly tapped her fingers against her arms as she got lost in the engineer’s profile.
When Killjoy looked up, she was taken slightly aback to see Viper staring at her. As if feeling eyes on her, Viper’s gaze locked on hers.
Viper didn’t know what would be worse - to continue staring or look away. Frozen in indecisiveness, she stared into the warm brown eyes across from her.
“I gotta use the restroom,” Killjoy cleared her throat as she stood up.
Viper snapped her gaze up towards the engineer and nodded, “I’ll get the bill.”
As Killjoy swiftly made her departure, Sabine shook her head at herself. It wasn’t like her to get lost in thought. She frowned slightly as she finished the last of her wine, and her frown deepened at what she heard.
“One final thing I want to bring to your attention. We received information that the LA facility was breached, and some of our documents have been compromised. We’re going to send some of our people back to check the damages and watch out for another hit. We might want to go ahead and add more security here. We would like to work with you to secure this project if you’re willing.”
Killjoy returned to the sight of the large meeting saying their goodbyes and Viper signing the check. She stood to the side for the group to leave, and returned to the table with one glance back towards the group.
“Finished?”
Viper nodded, “Let’s go.”
Killjoy waited until the last of the party was out of the door before stopping the voice recorder and recalling it.
The first mission was considered a success. On their drive home, Viper explained what happened in her absence, and they made a quick call with Brimstone to alert him of possible company at Sunset. When they arrived at the apartment, Killjoy started transcribing the audio log in the office while Viper took her laptop to the livingroom and wrote her report on the couch.
Once Viper finished her report, she closed the top of her laptop and took the moment to stretch. With a sigh to release the day’s work, she moved the laptop under her arm and left for the bedroom.
She peeked her head into the office and saw Killjoy still had a ways to go with her part of the report. Two quick knocks on the door frame caught the attention of the techie, “I’m headed to bed. We’ll turn in the reports tomorrow. Don’t stay up too late.”
With a curt nod and thumbs up from Killjoy, Viper left her to finish her work.