It was a beautiful night in Paris. The stars were brighter than ever, and the pyramid glowed with a soft, warm light. Despite the flock of tourists gazing in awe at the Louvre palace and the giant, triangular glass structure before it, it couldn't be denied that there was something special in the air. Yes, it was a beautiful night in Paris.
And Izumi absolutely hated it.
The girl gritted her teeth. The idiot was late, and now they were running out of time to escape before the guards noticed that the security cameras were rigged. She adjusted her grip on the rope, willing the grappling hook sunk into the stone to hold on for a bit more.
"Saki!" she hissed, "Where the hell is Kei?! He's supposed to be out of the building by now!"
Silence, and then the transmitter in her ear sparked to life. "Just hold on! Something went wrong with the drop-off – I think Kei went back in."
"Back in?!" Izumi nearly yelped aloud. Swearing, she pulled herself slightly higher, feeling the muscles in her arms and thighs burn. Hana would be happy at the amount of training I'm getting here. "I've been hanging nearly twenty feet off the ground for almost forty minutes, and we're ten minutes behind schedule!"
"Okay, okay, he just intercommed me. He's got Takano's location – you can drop now!"
"Fucking finally!" Izumi reached for the camera beside her, plugging out the device she'd inserted and shoving it back into her pocket. Looking around to make sure that none of the people below were looking in her direction, Izumi swung, using the momentum of the rope to launch herself out of the small circle she'd made on the window. The grappling hook behind her detached itself from the wall and snapped back into her waiting hand. Without wasting a breath, Izumi took off at a run, ignoring the aching in her arms and legs.
"You'd better have a good reason for being late, Kei," she hissed. A second later another voice spoke into the earpiece, deeper and – in Izumi's opinion – much more annoying.
"Oh, sorry, did I keep the princess waiting? I guess her royal highness isn't a patient one," Kei drawled. Despite the dripping sarcasm in his voice, Izumi could detect a hint of breathlessness.
The girl rolled her eyes, scaling down the back of the building to a bush where she'd hidden her civilian clothes. "You damn well know I'm not, you idiot. What the hell kept you?"
"I recognised some of his goons," Kei quietened at Izumi's sharp hiss, "Yeah, they were standing around pretending to be civilians."
"Probably there to scout any potential agents," Izumi shimmied into a new pair of jeans and a shirt, crumpling her old ones and shoving it into a plastic bag. She shoved a pair of glasses onto her face, tied up her hair and slid into the darkened pathway towards the front of the Louvre palace.
Kei hummed, grunting as he jumped over something. Pulling a phone out of her back pocket, Izumi held it up to where her earpiece was. "Did they notice you?"
"No," the girl sighed in relief. "I only went back inside because I realised that I missed something. I'll tell you guys about it later."
As she neared the entrance, Izumi spotted a group of Japanese men huddled together in front of the pyramid. Most people would mistake them for tourists, but she knew better.
"Aw, I miss you too, Kei!" she exclaimed loudly, eyes trailing over them. Sure that she'd had a good look at their faces, she pretended to gasp at the Louvre pyramid, aware that some of them had turned to look at her. "The pyramid is gorgeous, honey! I wish you were here with me!"
Kei made a retching sound, and Izumi could hear Saki laughing. Smirking slightly, she turned and made her way back into the Parisian nightlife, mingling with the other tourists and locals who were lucky enough to be out on this fine night.
"I can't believe you called me honey," Kei fell into step beside her, quickly dodging when her fist shot out to clobber him on the shoulder. Izumi shot him an irritated look.
"I can't believe you made me hang twenty feet off the ground for almost an hour," she snapped, nodding at a junior agent who hastily bowed and scurried away the moment Izumi and Kei passed by.
"I knew you could handle it," said Kei, a smug smile forming on his face when the girl just grunted in agreement, bowing at a senior agent who walked by. Izumi straightened, a sigh escaping her lips as she glanced down the hallway. They'd only been back from Paris for less than an hour, but she already felt so much better.
Headquarters was busy – it always was, anyway. Fellow Echelon agents bustled about, each on the way to their own assignment. Izumi and Kei weaved their way through them, following the path they'd always taken for nearly their whole entire life.
"Is the Deputy already waiting for us?" Izumi asked as they reached the main elevator. Kei nodded, letting her go in first.
"Yeah, Saki said she'd meet us there." Her partner scanned his thumbprint on the scanner beside the door then jabbed the button with the Deputy's insignia. Slowly, the lift started to sink towards her office. No one – save for the Director and the Deputy – knew just how far down headquarters actually went. The lowest level belonged to Director Yagami, and both were rarely called down to her office. Even in her 10 years of fieldwork, Izumi had only seen the Director twice.
"Do you have the documents?" Izumi glanced at Kei, who was trying his best to tuck his unruly curls behind his ear. "You do know cutting your hair will make your life simpler, right?"
Kei rolled his eyes at her. "Not being friends with you would make my life simpler, really." At Izumi's glare, he grinned sheepishly and held up his arms in surrender.
"Yeah, yeah, don't get your princess panties in a bunch. I sent them to Saki right after I left the building."
"Do you have to be so disgusting?" Izumi retorted. "And good – she's way more reliable than you, anyway." Kei gasped, pretending to be offended.
The elevator came to a standstill, signalling their arrival at the Deputy's office. The two stepped out and began to roll the right sleeve of their uniform up. As they walked, lights flickered to life underneath their feet. Eventually, they came to a steel door with a similar scanner beside it.
Izumi held her right wrist out, palm towards the black scanner. It lit up, and so did the tattoo inked onto her skin: a crimson disc slowly bled into existence, standing out against her fair skin. She stepped back, allowing Kei to do the same.
"Please state your names." A robotic voice emanating from the scanner echoed throughout the hallway.
"Miyamoto Izumi and Tanaka Kei," both stood still, allowing the camera above the door to scan their eyes. Moments later, it opened and they stepped into a well-lit room, bigger than the floor they were initially on. Floor to ceiling bookshelves lined the right side, while a door separated them from another room on the left.
"Took you two long enough," a familiar voice spoke behind them. Izumi didn't need to turn to know who it was.
"It was this idiot's fault," she began to walk towards the second door, ignoring Kei's protests and Saki's snickering. She stopped in front of it and knocked.
The two behind her immediately quietened and snapped to attention. Despite the silence, Izumi let her body settle into the stance. The moment it opened she raised her right palm to her forehead, the tip of her fingers just below her hairline.
"Good evening, Deputy Uchiyama. We are here to report on the progress of our assignment."
"Come in." The voice came from farther within, behind a wide glass table in the centre of the room. The three obeyed, the door behind them shutting on its own. As they approached, the woman seated glanced up, waving her hand over the surface of the table. The files hovering above disappeared.
Izumi and the others bowed, "Deputy."
The Deputy nodded, standing up. Even at her full height, she only stood a mere foot taller than Saki, the youngest of the three of them. Her long blonde hair was tied up into a bun, the colour a startling contrast with the organisation's black uniform.
Deputy Uchiyama was well known throughout Echelon, not just because she was the youngest woman to have ever been made as Deputy, but also because she served as the point of contact between the agents and Director Yagami, who rarely made contact with most agents.
"Report to me, agents."
"We've managed to uncover Takano's location," Izumi spoke first. She nodded at Kei to continue.
"The information was hidden in one of the Louvre guard's computers, which we managed to infiltrate and extract earlier this evening." The Deputy nodded. Saki stepped up, the watch on her wrist lighting up and sending a hologram hovering above her palm.
"His drug cartel isn't just based in France, ma'am," Saki explained, tapping a file on the hologram. A map of Europe popped up, red dots appearing on various points. "They're everywhere in Europe – from Italy, to Germany, and even Poland."
"We have reason to believe that he wants to expand into Japan," said Izumi. She reached out and swiped to the next hologram, revealing the scan of a letter. "This letter is addressed to Sauce City's politician. We think they're working together to create a drug syndicate."
The Deputy frowned, eyes scanning the flickering words on the letter. After a moment, she spoke. "And what do you suggest we do, Agent Izumi?"
"We take him out before he reaches Japan," Izumi raised her chin, meeting the Deputy's gaze with confidence. "By severing their head, we can start disassembling the cartel's power and erase all former traces of them."
Deputy Uchiyama nodded. "Well said. That's what we've already planned from the start. We will need the next phase to be initiated." To Izumi's surprise, the Deputy raised her head and nodded at Saki and Kei. "Well done, agents. You may go. Agent Aiko will be waiting for you in the hangar. She will carry out what's needed to be done."
Izumi blinked. That wasn't what she expected. She opened her mouth to protest, but Saki and Kei were already saluting the Deputy. As they headed for the door, she turned to look at her friends. Saki caught her eye and shrugged, mouthing the word "later". She was about to look at Kei when the Deputy cleared her throat, grabbing her attention.
Izumi waited until she was sure that the two were back in the elevator before speaking. "What the heck, Hana? Aren't I supposed to be on this mission?"
The aforementioned woman sighed, gesturing to the settee at the side of her office. "Sit down, Izumi. And I told you not to call me that here."
Izumi did not sit down. "No one's here, it's just us. Besides, it's not as if the whole of the agency doesn't know about us. I don't know why you still bother."
Hana scowled. Gone were the lines of sophistication and grace etched into her frame – both were replaced with the weariness of an older sister dealing with her younger sibling. "I bother because we're at work, and at work, I'm your boss." Izumi waved her words aside, causing Hana to throw her hands up in frustration.
"I don't care about that, we all know I'm good at what I do so it's fine," stated the younger girl. There was no hint of pride in her voice, just plain truth. And Hana would concede to that statement – Izumi was one of the best assassins in the Echelon unit, despite being only 17 years old.
"So if you agree," continued Izumi, "Why would you send someone else – with my team – instead of me?" She paused, "Unless you have another assignment for me?" The anticipation was clear in her voice.
Hana briskly walked to the settee, patting the space beside her. Reluctantly, the girl followed. "Yes, you smartass, we do." Izumi's eyes lit up. Hana could already see the images of assassination swirling around in the girl's mind.
"So what is it?"
"It's a guard assignment."
Izumi froze. "…What."
Hana fought to keep herself from laughing. "A guard assignment. We need you to guard someone."
"No."
"What do you mean, 'no'?" She couldn't help it now – Hana started laughing. Izumi glared at her. "You do realise you can't disobey a direct order from the Director, right?"
The girl's eyes widened in surprised, and then narrowed. "This is Director Yagami's orders?"
Hana nodded. "She thought you would be perfect for the job."
"And what exactly is this job about? Who would I be guarding?"
"Well," Hana tapped the watch on her wrist. The hologram that sparked above was a picture of a boy who looked to be about her age. His face was expressionless, and his black hair resembled that of a haircut you'd get if you stuck a bowl on your head and cut around it.
"That would be Kageyama Shigeo, Japan's most powerful esper."