Author's Note:
[Sleeper Agent Evan AU]
Intended to be a continuation of Chapter 3 of the fic 'The Case Opened' by June Ellie.
If you haven't read that, I suggest reading it first. Otherwise this would be a spoiler for that fic and wouldn't make much sense =u=
Got hit by inspiration (again) after reading Chapter 3 because Evan~
So I got June's permission and wrote this :3 (Thanks, June!)
*OCs were made because the plot wouldn't move otherwise. Borrowing some kids from a future Evan fic that I'm planning to write (Although I've tweaked their backgrounds to fit with this fic's AU setting. Kept their personalities, though) ;D
And I get to practice my French. Yay~ (Correct me if you spot mistakes XD)
*This time, I'm not particularly being mean like I did in 'Case Closed'. Be glad XDDD Also, this couldn't fit into 1 chapter, so maybe 2. There'll be a trivia section at the end of the fic to explain all the names, etc. Enjoy!
*Thanks to June Ellie for grammar checking!
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
【Lost Identity】
【Part 1】
After completing my investigation, I have discovered that Agent Evan Bernard is the leak. Bernard is not at all who he claims to be, and the name we know him by is most likely not his real name. I have uncovered evidence suggesting that he is a sleeper agent, specifically planted to destabilize the VSSE from within. The large–scale disaster which brought him to the VSSE's attention while he was in the French Coast Guard appears to have been deliberately engineered by his organization so that he could infiltrate the VSSE. Bernard's organization is powerful enough to orchestrate such an occurrence and allow Bernard to pass the VSSE's background checks without raising red flags. We can assume that we are up against a very dangerous enemy. It is imperative that Bernard is captured alive and interrogated to determine the extent of this threat and the organization's goals.
Report compiled by VSSE Officer Christy Ryan
Two years after the incident, Maximum security prison, Unknown location 21:12
The VSSE's maximum security prison was an area whose existence no one really knew aboutーnot even the VSSE's own agents themselves.
It had no particular name, and was purportedly built in the middle of nowhere, kept so secret that only the chosen guards who ran the place knew of its actual location. Having been built with the blueprints of the inescapable prison of Alcatraz in mind, the place was where the organization would keep their captured high-profile criminals and interrogation subjects, especially ones whose escape would lead to unspeakable outcomes.
Rumor has it that the place was dark, cold and dingy, its wardens and guards demonic bullies who ruled the place with an iron fist. Thus the common name for the prison that the VSSE agents had come up with was 'Cocytus'ーthe lowest, coldest level of Hell where traitors and sinners were eternally imprisoned.
And at night in this Cocytus, after all the lights were put out and all the other inmates had gone to sleep, one light could still be seen shining from under the thick metal door of a certain interrogation room.
A loud crack rang through the air as warden Bradley Marshall flung another hard punch at the traitor and spy Evan Bernard's cheek.
Evan whimpered and panted from the pain, messy flaxen hair matted onto his sweaty forehead. Wrists handcuffed securely to his chair, his naked body was full of cuts, bruises and scarsーa handful of new ones, hundreds of healing ones, uncountable old onesーeach of them evidence of his refusal to cooperate. Luckily, his captors had been kind enough to at least spare his pretty face any permanent damage. He guessed that it was a rule they had set up to avoid accidentally killing him from blunt trauma to the head.
Evan's identity as a sleeper agent in the VSSE had been discovered by agent Christy Ryan two years ago. While he thought that he had gotten himself close enough to spy on her, it turned out that he was the one to have been spied on. Following Christy's report, the VSSE had immediately captured him and sent him to this prison for interrogation.
But although they had wanted to figure out Evan's allegiances and his organization's motives quickly, not a soul had managed to make Evan open his mouth. Not one in the past two years.
"That's impressive of you to stay silent for this long," Bradley said, "But not to worry, everyone we put here eventually breaks, so I'll just enjoy my time with you until then!" He laughed, punching Evan hard the other way.
Evan coughed. His head spun. He took in a deep breath and spat some blood onto the floor, trying to recover. Bradley grabbed him by the hair, forcing him to look up. Evan glared back with clear, sharp blue eyes, which hadn't dulled one bit even after all the unspeakable horrors he had been forced to go through. Fresh blood trickled down his busted lip, dripping onto his bare chest.
"I'm quite sure that being tied here naked is humiliating enough, but I can make it worse... Much worse," Bradley spat threateningly. "So either you talk, or you provide the entire prison with some fresh entertainment!"
Bradley had an evil grin on his face, clearly loving his job. But Evan, of course, wasn't about to let him win. His face relaxed, and with a belittling look, he smiled his little angelic smile, replying in a teasing whisper.
"Désolé, je ne comprends pas anglais. (Sorry, I don't know English.)"
The attitude naturally ticked Bradley off. Evan winced as the warden forcefully yanked his hair hard to the side, slamming his chair onto the floor.
"Stop fucking with me! Maybe having a taste of what things will be like for you tomorrow will change your mind!" Bradley yelled.
Evan rolled his eyes, bracing himself for what was about to happen. But then there was a loud bang and the ceiling's ventilation grate fell onto the floor with a crash.
"What?!" Bradley exclaimed.
From the ventilation shaft, a slender brunette woman dressed fully in a black body suit, hair tied into a neat ponytail, slipped into the room. The lower half of her face was masked with a black cloth. Before Bradley could react, she pointed her gun at him and fired. Evan flinched as the warden's body crashed loudly against the floor in front of him.
"..." He looked at Bradley, whose eyes were open wide in shock as he laid motionless there. Guess his threat was no more. Since the room was soundproof, it shouldn't attract attention from the other guards outside either, he thought. Evan heard the woman approaching him.
"Voilà! Here you are. Sorry it took such a long time to find this place," she said.
"And you're...?" Evan asked, raising an eyebrow curiously, craning his neck and trying hard to see her from his fallen position. The woman stopped in front of him, taking off her mask.
"C'est moi, numéro quatre-vingt-deux (It's me, No. 82)," she smiled at him sweetly. "It's been a long time. Good to see you again, numéro quatre-vingt-un (No. 81)."
"Mon Dieu...! Ma cherie! (My God...! My dear!)" Evan exclaimed, a look of surprise and happiness washing over his face upon recognizing her as a fellow agent from his real organization, as well as his good friend. "It's been four years! ...You've grown into a real woman."
"Save that for later. We need to get out of here," she said, quickly grabbing Bradley's keys and beginning to work on Evan's handcuffs. Evan glanced up at the camera on the ceiling.
"That okay?" He asked.
"Oui. (Yes.) Soixante-quinze (No. 75) worked hard and managed to hack into the system. It's currently playing the recording of your interrogation from three months agoーthe one with you getting your face dunked repetitively into an ice water tub."
"Aïe! You don't have to remind me," Evan shuddered. He heard the click of his handcuffs being unlocked and pulled his hands free immediately, rubbing his red wrists and sitting up.
"But soixante-quinze is here, too?!" Evan asked excitedly, eyes lighting up as both No. 82 and No. 75 had been his best friends.
"Oui. This prison's on an island. He's waiting for us outside with a motorboat. The VSSE's computer programs will probably figure out that our camera recording's a fake in a few minutes, so we have to hurry," No. 82 said, quickly reaching into her waist bag and taking out another body suit. She held it out to Evan.
"Let's go home."
La Fraternité Headquarters, Paris, France 03:19
The camera's inconsistencies at the VSSE prison had been discovered a little too quickly, making Evan's escape as well as motorboat ride pure hell. Luckily, they managed to use the raging ocean waves and the poor visibility of the night to their advantage, escaping and disappearing into the darkness. Evan, or should we say 'No. 81' as 'Evan Bernard' was nothing but a cover identity, was glad that he managed to arrive safely back home in his true organization's underground headquarters in Paris.
The organization itself was known as 'La Fraternité'ーthe Brotherhood, made up of carefully selected agents who specialized in infiltration, espionage and intel gathering. Agents were recruited as children, raised and trained specially to grow into and be perfect at their job. Most of those children were originally starving orphans from the streets, thankful that they had been given a chance to live. It made the organization feel like a family, and thus its name.
It should also be noted that upon adoption, the children were stripped of all their previous names and identities, being henceforth referred to with agent numbers instead to make them hard to trackーOnce they had entered the brotherhood, they weren't supposed to exist in this world anymore.
La Fraternité's loyalty laid mainly with Le Milieu, the French criminal underworld. The organization's services being crucial in keeping the underworld's activities undetected, it received protection as well as support from the entire underworld itself, making it powerful and influential. In return, the organization was expected to provide the best services and complete their missions without fail.
So needless to say, No. 81's relief at having escaped the VSSE didn't last long. The infiltration mission entrusted to him had blown up into pieces, so returning home like this might as well be flying from the frying pan into the fire. His usual bravado melted away and he gulped nervously as No. 82 and No. 75 escorted him to his boss' office. Every step felt as though he was climbing the stairs to the guillotine. No. 82 and No. 75, being his close friends, looked markedly nervous as well.
When they finally arrived at the luxurious, well-lit room, the boss was seated in a black leather chair behind his desk, facing away from them. No. 82 called out nervously.
"Euh... Zéro... It's quatre-vingt-un. We managed to rescue him safely," she said in a low voice. The air in the room felt heavy.
At that, the leather chair spun around slowly, revealing a man in his fifties, neatly clad in an expensive black suit. He was No. 0, the head of the organization. A thick collection of reports titled 'No. 81 (L'Opération de l'Infiltration de la VSSEーEvan Bernard)' was in his hand.
"Ah, Quatre-vingt-deux, soixante-quinze, beau travail. Bravo (Ah, 82, 75, good work. Bravo)," he said with a smile, looking pleased. And then he looked at No. 81, the corners of his lips suddenly dropping, his tone and expression changing immediately.
"Et bon retour, quatre-vingt-un (And welcome back, 81)," he said, his voice curdling with venom as he tossed the reports in his hand onto the desk with irritation, glare never leaving his subject.
No. 0 was everyone's fatherーvery patient and well loved in the organization. Thus, he was normally very hard to cross, but on the rare occasions where unbelievably awesome fuck ups like this happened...
No. 81 looked away, shrinking into himself, nervously avoiding his boss' intense gaze as his heart thumped faster. He could hear No. 0 rise up from his chair, briskly walking towards him until he stood right in front of him.
"Look here," he said, something hot and destructive boiling just beneath the surface.
"..." No. 81 knew what was good for him, but he hesitated. Fear and shame mingled together, and he couldn't bring himself to look.
"Regardez ici, j'ai dit! (I said look here!)" No. 0 commanded, raising his voice.
"..." No. 81 curled his lips in, shivering as he reluctantly turned back. His head remained lowered in submission and guilt as he peered up at his boss through his bangs.
"You know that it was a big mission that we had entrusted to you," No. 0 began, "A lot of money and time to raise and train you, more investments to put you in the French Coast Guard, and then even more to pull the strings to orchestrate the disaster to put you into the VSSE... We went in so far, and progressed so smoothly..."
"And at the last second, you had to ruin everything!" No. 0 snapped, hitting No. 81 hard enough on the cheek to send him slamming against the cold floor.
"Quatre-vingt-un!" No. 82 exclaimed, eyes wide with fear. She tried to get to him, but No. 75 stuck an arm out in front of her and shook his head, not wanting her to get involved in their boss' wrath. No. 81 whimpered, twisting a little on the floor with a hand on his stinging cheek. Tears forced out by the pain welled in his eyes.
"Ten whole years and ten years' worth of money went to a complete waste," No. 0 hissed angrily, "Our best clients lost their trust in us overnight and refused to pay for the mission. To make it even worse, the VSSE now knows that someone was trying to infiltrate them. Trying to plant an agent there again in future will be close to impossible!"
"J'suis désolé! Donnez-moi une autre chance... S'il vous plaît! (I'm sorry! Give me another chance... Please!)" No. 81 begged, all the while not daring to look up at No. 0. He failed to hold back the quiver in his voice.
"..."
No. 0 walked over and knelt down on one knee next to him. No. 81 felt his hair being yanked up, his head being forcefully bent back to expose his face. His boss studied him with scrutiny. Tears of pain, mixed with a lot of fear and horror, rolled down his cheeks.
"They've certainly hurt you after your capture, haven't they?" No. 0 asked, studying the bruises and scars trailing down No. 81's neck.
"Oui..."
"And you've told them nothing?"
"Oui... Yes, sir. Not a wordーI wouldn't dare...!"
No. 0 looked up at No. 82 and No. 75, as if to look for confirmation. No. 82 gulped, nodding slowly. No. 75 nodded as well.
"While they've found out that No. 81 is a spy, no one knows anything about him or that he came from here, sir," No. 75 elaborated with a pleading look, "I mean, it's the VSSEーIf they've found out, they'd have shot him dead and come after us immediately. But they haven't."
"..."
No. 0 thought a little about it. The good news seemed to have fixed his mood a little. He let go of No. 81 and stood up. No. 82 and No. 75 immediately ran to No. 81's side protectively. The boss walked away back to his desk, taking in a deep breath to calm down.
"That, quatre-vingt-un. Well done," he said, standing next to his leather chair, "I know that we mess up at times. I'd have loved to forgive you just for having shown such fierce loyalty towards the brotherhoodーafter all, you're one of our best agents, and I respect you for that. But..."
He let himself drop into his seat, sighing with a perplexed look. No. 82 and No. 75 were helping No. 81 to his feet. He watched the three of them quietly.
"But...?" No. 81 asked once he regained his footing.
"But your loyalty doesn't change the fact that you have failed," No. 0 continued. "Our sponsors and clientsーbig names, all of themーwere enraged that their money and time had gone down the black hole. And our board of directors had agreed that the only way to appease them would be to offer them your screams and eventually, your head. That's why we went through all the trouble of getting you back here in the first place."
No. 81 froze. No. 82 gasped in disbelief.
"Wait, wait, wait! No. You've never told us that!" No. 75 protested, "You mean we've rescued No. 81 just to feed him to the wolves?!"
"I'm afraid so," No. 0 said with a troubled look. "It's for the good of the entire organization. We need to regain our clients' trust."
No. 81 looked to the floor, never having felt greater fear. "I..."
If he ran away from this, the brotherhood would be in trouble. His two best friends who stood by him would be blamed for it and asked to be his replacements. And who knew what disaster would befall the rest of his beloved seniors and juniors. His nails dug into his palms as he tightened his fists.
"I'll take the blame," he said boldly.
"Quatre-vingt-un! No!" No. 82 pleaded, grabbing his arm.
"Please," he told her, "I'm just one person. If this big mess can be solved with just me, then they can have me."
"Isn't there some other way...?" No. 75 took a step forward, urging the boss.
No. 0 turned his chair to the side, hands on his knees, racking his mind for other possible routes. He could be strict when it came to failures, but he still saw every member of the Fraternité as his own beloved childrenーeveryone having been raised by him when they were first recruited as young kids, No. 81 included. He had watched them grow up like a father, and he'd hate to simply discard them into the fire if it could be helped.
"There might just be a way," No. 0 responded after a while.
"...?!" A ray of hope shone on the three young agents.
"What is it?" No. 82 asked hurriedly.
"Quatre-vingt-un did well by keeping quiet about us, so I'll do my best to argue his case with the board of directors and ask them to reconsider," the boss said, "But I doubt that just that is going to be enough to please all of them. So I need you to complete a certain mission and prove that you're still a worthy asset. Will you accept it?"
"Tell us," No. 75 said.
"Whatever it is, we'll help out," No. 82 added. No. 81 looked at his friends, touched by their immediate supportiveness. He looked back at No. 0, waiting for his answer.
The boss nodded at their determination. He opened his desk's drawer and took out a thick red folder, opening it on his table.
"As of late, there has been an armed man around this area," No. 0 said.
"He seems to be snooping around trying to gather information about us. And once he discovers that an individual comes from our organization, he shoots them down without mercy. Last week, he took down cinquante-trois (No. 53) and cinquante-cinq (No. 55). Just yesterday, cent-six (No. 106) and cent-neuf (No. 109) went down. Over the past year, he has killed 19 of us in total. Quite impressive of him to even manage to find out that they're our members."
The boss leaned back and continued, "We think that this man wanted to destroy the Fraternité bit by bit, and the board of directors has been on edge over it for the whole year. Problem is, no matter who we sent to get rid of him, no one came back alive."
He looked at No. 81. "But you, quatre-vingt-un... If it's you, we might just have a chance. Finishing this mission will calm the board of directors down and give me a sure-fire way to get you off the hook. So... are you in?"
No. 81 frowned, clenching his fists in anger. "He killed our brothers. I'll stop him even if no one asked me to. Tell me his name."
"Well..." No. 0 said, "According to our intelligence, he's an ex-VSSE agent, quitting just a year ago. And his name is..."
Giorgio Bruno.