"Myst does not own Skins," the deep voice of a man said as he twirled his swivel chair, creating creaking noises – a rift in the silence of the atmosphere. The room was dark. The only source of light was the moon outside and even that was pale and dim, creating only little illumination on the torso of the man on the chair. His face was concealed by darkness. But then again, there would be no need to know his identity. After all, he'd already done my disclaimer for me.
"She will never own it. Ever." And with that, he twirled his chair once more, turning his back mysteriously on us all without even saying his name. Mysterious tosser.
Masked
A Naomily Fic
By: Mystical Pen
Prologue – Operation Commence
The creaking of a swivel chair doing a ninety-degree turn ripped at the veil of silence that had wrapped over the dark room. There was hardly any light illuminating the occupants, only the pale lunar glare streaming in from the small crack in the curtain, but that didn't seem to bother the two people nestled on two chairs placed at opposite sides of a wooden table. Especially not the man perched on the swivel chair. The sliver of light landing on the lower portion of his face was a witness to the smile that stretched his cleft chin, a proof that he didn't find the darkness very much pressing.
The same couldn't be said about the other person sitting opposite the man. Although the darkness didn't really bother the person, even though she sat straight in the wooden chair, her chest puffed out in a perfect sitting posture, her knees were still slightly shaking. Her heart was thumping hard against her ribs, and against the silence of the room, that seemed to be a deafening sound to her. It was a wonder her boss hadn't already heard it.
"So, officer, you have been debriefed for the operation?" came the voice of the chief. He clamped his hands together atop his table as he leaned closer. The sliver of light moved up his face as he moved, illuminating his blue eyes and the ends of his brown fringe this time.
"Yes, sir. I've been preparing for this for months." Despite her nerves, the female agent looked back into the probing eyes of her chief with certainty, as if telling him with only her gaze that she was indeed the best choice for the job. "The team has prepared me for anything and everything I would be dealing with for this operation. I've also done my own research. I'm as prepared as possible, sir. I'm ready to do this."
The man nodded approvingly, the sides of his eyes crinkling in glee at the woman's statements. "Good, then. Most excellent, officer." He smiled proudly once more to the woman before leaning away. The sound of an opening drawer reverberated on the walls of the room followed by the sound of a heavy stack of papers landing on the table top. Illuminated by the pale light was a thick brown folder overflowing with papers.
"This is the file folder of the team assembled to assist you in this operation." The man pushed the folder towards the woman, who took and laid it on her lap. The folder was heavy, filled with papers, with files of information about various agents. The woman sifted through the papers, skimming the information and taking in the most basic facts about her 'team'.
"They're about the same age as you," the man explained as the woman continued to scrutinize the papers. "Which means, they're young agents. And also means that they are deemed efficient enough in their own fields earlier than everyone. They are remarkable in what they do, is what I mean, officer. They're the best agents in their fields. They are chosen to assist you because they're the best choices."
The man waited for a while, letting the woman check the information herself in silence. Just like he said, they were actually the same age as her. The youngest was 25 and the oldest was 28, but most of them were 26, much like the woman.
"Some of them have been in this operation since over a year ago, but most are new in the team. Two of them have been in the company you will hopefully be a part of soon. Some of them, on the other hand will be deployed a little later, to avoid suspicion. Now, being a part of the company in itself will be up to you. You will have to work it out on your own. We would love to help, but we can't risk it." The man leaned back in his chair, leaning his weight in the back of his seat. The chair creaked under his heaviness. "But do not fret, officer, with your status and relations, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem."
The woman read each and every name of the person on the folder, taking in their appearances, their fields and talents and their cover names, making sure to remember all the important facts.
Backwell
Barbieri
Henshaw
Pasqualino
Pasqualino
Scodelario
Tomone
O'Connell
"Backwell, Lisa," the man started, launching into detailed introduction of each and every member of her team. The woman listened intently, taking in as much information as possible. "Her cover identity is a queer, cheerful and joyous woman, not so far from her real personality. Her field is gathering information. Innocence and curiosity are the weapons she uses to extract the information she needs. People often dismiss it as just thirst for knowledge of a not-so-informed individual, so it works for us. From now on, you call her Pandora Moon." True to the description, Lisa Backwell's picture showed a woman with a wide smile that reached and touched even her eyes. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, much like the two people conversing in the room.
"Barbieri, Ollie. He is your team's researcher. His specialty is a more thorough extraction of information from all kinds of sources. Whatever you want him to find out, he'll be able to. And he's a genius in statistics, so that's his cover. A genius boy who is obsessed with trivia and facts and numbers. He works well with Backwell, so when you need something, you go to those two. Call him Jonah Jeremiah Jones, or JJ Jones. Whatever works for you." This one had curly brown hair and friendly blue eyes that held gentleness. He had braces glinting in his white teeth as he smiled innocently and sweetly at the camera. Judging by his look, he really did look like a wellspring of knowledge. His eyes had that genius glint.
"Henshaw, Georgia. She will be your personal bodyguard. She won't be able to come into operation until much later. We have to work her entrance and involvement into all this, somehow, for her to be your personal bodyguard. Of course, being an agent yourself, you know how to defend yourself, but your cover identity shouldn't be able to. That's where Henshaw comes in. The field and the career you are going to enter is not just play. It's dangerous and it's a big risk. So there must always be someone to look after you, and that someone, always being with you, is also supposed to be someone who won't betray your operations and moves to anyone on the other side of our investigation. So that person needs to be someone from our side. Henshaw has been an agent for three years now, specializing in martial arts and undercover missions that require physical strength. She might look small and fragile, but don't be faked. She will be Lara Lloyd to you." Just like Backwell, Georgia, or Lara perhaps, had blonde hair. But the ends of the strands on the sides of her hair had a reddish pink tint in them. She had dyed her hair. Add that to the serious scowl she had when the picture was taken, she really did look like someone you shouldn't mess with.
"Pasqualino, Luke." The man gestured to the folder in the woman's hand that was now flipped to Luke's page. A dashing bloke with a charming smile looked back at the woman. His eyes were deep-set and were warm brown, hidden a little by the fringe that fell carelessly over them. His skin was a bit tanned. He looked like someone from the Mediterranean. "Or Frederick McClair, his cover name. For his identity, he doesn't have to pretend and act that much. He just goes and reaches far in his past to bring back his old identity. He used to be a stoner, an addicted teenage in his youth. That was until he was pulled into the path of being an agent. He's one of our best ones, actually. Doesn't look like it, but he is. He is going to be his former self for this mission. Because of that, he could use his old connections. Bar hoppers, drug dealers, gangs and syndicate members, if you need any information from or about any of those, just go to Pass, that's his job. He does it well because he has real life tight connections to them. Very handy."
The next one was another Pasqualino. Besides the name being the same with Luke's, she looked like him as well. Judging that, they were most probably related, the woman thought. "Pasqualino, Klariza. She's Luke's sister, as you may have already figured out. So naturally, she's also supposed to be Freddie's sister. She's going to be another McClair – Karen McClair. She's not gonna be part of the company. But she's your team's best actress. If you need to extract any information from anyone where Lisa and Ollie's special talents won't work, and Luke has no connections to, then Klariza is the woman for the job. She can manipulate anybody into doing anything she wants, that's how amazing an actress she is. If you need to persuade someone into doing anything for the benefit of the operation, Klariza will be able to help you."
"Scodelario, Kaya," introduced the boss. He had a proud smile on his face as he talked about this next one, as if she was the most amazing thing that's ever happened to his career. "She's the youngest out of all of you, but don't let that taint your opinions of her. She's been in this business the longest. She's one of the experts in this field of undercover missions. She's been deployed to the company you will be working in a year ago and she's already making a good reputation there under the name Effy Stonem. She's been in this job for a long time, she knows a lot, sometimes even stretching out of the field of her specialty. She's going to assist you in this operation, officer. If you need anything, need to know anything about everything, you go to her. She knows everything, trust me." Looking back at the woman from the picture was a brunette with piercing blue eyes that, even though it was just a picture, seemed to hold so much knowledge. She had a smirk on her face that mirrored the same knowing look on her eyes. It was as if she was smirking because she knew something about you, like a very deep, dirty secret. It unnerved the woman a bit, but even she had to admit she was really beautiful. The woman got why the man in front of her looked smitten. It seemed everyone would be by this Scodelario woman.
"Tomone, Thomas." The man gestured to the picture of a black guy with a very wide smile. The look in his eyes suggested innocence and genuineness, much like Lisa's. "He's an informant. Has inside connection to one of the biggest gangs in Bristol. He's one of Johnny White's men. He's the one who gave us the inside information about the target of this mission. We owe everything to him, so to say. He won't be directly connected to your team. But from time to time, he might come to all of you for more information that could help your operation. Look out for him." Being a gangster struck the woman as a weird job for the Thomas guy. He didn't look like a gangster bloke. If anything, he was the one who had the most innocent look in any of them, like he was the purest out of everyone. That was weird, the woman thought again.
The boss took a deep breath and smiled at the agent. "That's your team for you," he said with a flourish of his hand towards the folder in her hands. "They are also chosen because they have special talents in the field that the company you will be infiltrating focuses on. These talents have permitted and will permit them into the ranks of the higher workers. They will have their own field in the company, to help you with the position you will surely be given. And as I've known, you've also specialized on Electronic Engineering. It will help a lot."
"As for your headquarters, the McClair family, a fake family for Luke and Klariza, has this shed that they have given to provide this purpose. It looks like an old, trashy shed of a young man on the outside, Freddie's supposed shed. It'll be covered and made to look trashy and homely, but it will have the usual necessities for your operations. You will learn more about that as you go on. For now, that's all you need to know."
After the long introduction, the agent looked back at the folder in her hands. There was still one more person in there that wasn't introduced. "Wait, this Jack O'Connell," she said, reading his name. "Isn't he my partner?"
"Oh, yes. I almost forgot about him, what with him not being here. Yes, he is your partner." When the woman looked back at the file on her hands, the picture of happy, happy guy looked back at her. His smile was so wide, his mouth was open in glee. He had mousy brown hair with straight fringe that fell to his forehead, hiding his eyebrows. To be honest, he didn't look much like a copper, let alone a secret agent. But then again, maybe that was the reason why he was into undercover operations. "This is O'Connell, Jack. He's supposed to be your partner in this operation, yes. He's supposed to be called James Cook. And he's also supposed to be here today with you, being prepared and briefed for the operation, but sadly, we can't reach him at the moment. We don't know why."
And then, as if on cue, the door of the room flung open, the hinges creaking and the wood clapping loudly against the wall. The light from the outside peered into the room, almost blinding the eyes of the occupants that had been used to the darkness by now. It wasn't long before someone blocked the light, though. In the threshold stood a man not much taller than the woman, but very well built for his height. His wide frame blocked out the bright light.
"Jack the lad is he- whoa, anyone in here? Why the fuck is it dark? Hullo?" The words were spoken by a low, deep voice with a funny accent.
"Mr. O'Connell, finally!" The other man's voice boomed as he stood up from his chair and beckoned for Jack to join them. "We have been trying to contact you for hours. You're supposed to be here being prepared."
"Oh, sorry 'bout that. I was, errrm…busy. Was in a party last night, friend's birthday and all. I overslept, yano, the usual." He walked towards the table, guided by only the dim light from the window. When he reached the table, he realized there wasn't a chair for him. But instead of that bothering him, he just went and sat on the edge of the table. "Why the fuck is it so dark in here, sir?"
"Well, the…errr lights died out a while ago. Haven't had time to replace it yet. But don't mind that, don't you like it? Gives a bit of mysterious air, doesn't it? I quite like it, actually."
With that, Jack laughed out loud. "I like it, I do. Besides, it hides your face, sir. I really, really like it! Love it!" He boomed, clapping the boss' back like he was clapping a comrade's shoulder. And with that, the tense atmosphere seemed to shatter around them, leaving comfortable air of companionship in its wake, seeing as the boss didn't actually seem that strict and serious. Didn't even seem to mind that Jack had been cursing all this time, not to mention, teased him about his face.
The woman, up until then, had been staring shocked and wide-eyed at the two as they had their friendly banter. There she was, all serious and nervous about her operation and then came her partner, acting like this was some kind of easy game they were going to play like chums. Didn't he care about the seriousness and the direness of the mission? "Wait, why are you laughing like that? Why are you so careless? You're supposed to be my partner, but you're acting like an immature teenager. You're supposed to be professional about this." The woman couldn't even keep the incredulity and the irritation in her voice.
In her surprise, instead of going serious, Jack only laughed again. He stood up from the table and went to sit on the arm of the woman's chair. "Don't be too serious." He reached out to clutch a lock of the woman's hair, examining it in his hands with the help of the little light from the window. "Blonde," he said after seeing the colour of her hair, "Blondie, don't be too serious. Our jobs and missions are serious enough. Our lives don't have to be too serious. Embrace fun as much as you could. Shag it even, if you get the chance." He glanced at the boss again, laughing at how mysterious the man seemed to look like in the dark. That was funny as hell. The man was far from serious in reality. "Besides, you shouldn't be too serious around him." He chucked his thumb towards his boss. "Yeah, he's our boss, but he's fun. He doesn't mind, not really, do you, sir?"
"Not that much, Jackster." The boss smiled at Jack again.
"See? I told ya."
"But back to business, O'Conell," the boss said once again, using Jack's surname, trying to get into the mission mood once again besides the lighter atmosphere over them. "I've handed your partner the files of your team. Study it. You will start this in a week's time so do whatever you want to do as yourselves before then. Because in a week's time, you won't be yourselves anymore."
"Sure thing, sir." Jack took the folder from the woman. "Wow, this is a lot. New friends, eh, Blondie?"
"Comrades, actually," the woman corrected.
"Eh, what? Just comrades? Co-workers?" He laughed. "Don't stick to that. I've been in this business for a long time. You don't spend time with them without turning them to your very own tossers. Give it two months, you'll be close to them and I'll hopefully have all the girls very well shagged by then. You should do it too. 'Tis fun. Releases the pressure."
To this, the woman gave Jack a disgusted look. "You're very unprofessional."
"Babe, I'm very real, that's what I am." He, then, turned to their boss. "Everything covered, then, sir? We can leave now?"
"You've barely even been here and you already want to leave?" The woman was looking at Jack with her eyebrows cocked up.
"Of course. We've got some partying to do, Blondie. Get to know each other and all that jazz, yano? Maybe some willy waggle, yeah?" Jack said with a smirk as he provocatively wagged his eyebrows at her.
"Please do not do that in front of me," their boss called out to Jack, pertaining to his eyebrow wagging. "It is very much creepy. But anyway, you are both dismissed. Everything you need to know is in that folder. Be on your way now. Good luck, officers. Og-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, sir. We get it. Bye bye now," Jack said, cutting off whatever the boss was about to say. Then, he turned to the woman. He clutched at her wrist and pulled her up out of her seat and towards the door. "Thank you again, sir. Bye." And with that, he walked out the door with the woman.
The light that attacked her eyes was blinding, causing her pupils to react violently to it. She felt her eyes sting. She extracted her hand from Jack's hold and automatically raised it to shield her orbs from the bright light.
"Wow that is bright light, right there. But you, you are a great sight, Blondie. You're gorgeous," the woman heard from beside her and when she looked up, she saw Jack with his eyes roaming her face and then her body. "I thought you weren't because you looked like you loved being in the dark in there. Blondie, you should have said something."
"Would you stop calling me Blondie? It's irritating me. I'm not my hair colour." She glared at him, to which he only chuckled.
"We should introduce ourselves then." Jack suggested, as if she didn't already know who he was. "Hi, the name is Jack O'Connell." He thrust his hand forwards in a handshake. "Oh, wait. No. Hi, the name is Cook, James Cook." He beamed proudly at her as if remembering his cover name was the most amazing thing in the world to have done.
The blonde rolled her eyes, but nevertheless took the hand he offered and shook it once. She was already dreading the months she would spend with him. He was a right pain in the arse, in her opinion. "Naomi. Naomi Campbell."
To her surprise, instead of smiling, Jack frowned. "You didn't get the game, babe." He thrust his hand again. "I'm James Cook."
"And I'm Naomi Campbell."
"You're supposed to say your cover name, yano? And Naomi is your real name, as I've known. Unlike what you probably think, I did a little research on you. We are partners, after all. The cover name, Blondie. Or I'll keep calling you that."
"My cover name is my real name," Naomi said with a sigh. And to Jack's questioning look, she only answered, "Connections. That's why I'm assigned to this operation, because of my relations to the target."
"Oh. Okay."
"You should have known that, if you really did your research, like you're saying."
At that, Jack smiled sheepishly. "Well, I may or may not have read only your real name." He then grinned at her. "But anyways, Naomikins, we should party. Get to know each other and all that. Go to heaven before jumping into hell next week, eh?"
"Told you to call me Naomi, Cook." said Naomi, getting into the spirit of the cover name-calling. After all, if she would have to call him that for the next who-knows-how-long, she should start doing it now, get used to it and all.
"That's what I called you, Naomio." He grabbed her wrist once again as they walked through the department headquarters, eyes trailing after them. "You gotta get fucked up with tha Cookie Monster. This is gonna be fun. I can feel it, Naomikins. I can just feel it. The next months are gonna be fucking amazing. Just you wait. Just you wait…"
And with that, he pulled her towards the door and out the headquarters to wherever the hell he would bring her to. He came in the headquarters as Jack O'Connell and he walked out as James Cook.
A/N: There we go. I think I should apologize for using their real names, yeah? I had to use different names for them for their true identities, but I couldn't be bothered to think of new names. So I just used their real ones. I hope that poses no problems. Klariza had to be a Pasqualino, though, because she's supposed to be Luke's sister because Karen is Fred's sister and she can't very well be his sister without having the same name as him. And this will be the last time you'll see their real names in there, at least until the near end. Just saying.
So there it is. Thanks for reading. Pretty long and kinda dull for a prologue, but we need introductions, don't we? We'll get into the plot next chapter. If it's not much of a bother, send me a little tiny review, yeah? It'll make me happy. Anyway, bye. See you next time.
-xoxo Myst