BGM: Blackheart by Two Steps from Hell
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[Cyrus Hunt was the director of the Whisper Corp, Vale's special task force, during the Silent War. He retired from active duty shortly after the war ended and the task force was exposed to the public. Ever since, there had been continuous rumors of the organization's involvements in various battles, both against the Grimm, the criminals, and the citizens themselves. He refused to make any statement about the those accusations, stating that he had only agreed to the interview regarding one of his agent.]
The first time I saw Ms. Belladonna, she was sitting in the corner booth of the Last Drop, the only cafe still open in the city during the war. She looked just like everyone else, with the same exhausted expression on her face and the same haunting eyes.
She was wearing a knitted beanie, understandable for the weather, considering it was one of the coldest winter in the recent 50 year. Most people wouldn't have bat an eyelash at such outfit under normal circumstances, but it wasn't normal circumstance for either of us. We were arranged to meet.
I watched her from some distance at first. Even with the recommendation letter from someone I trusted, it was essential to see with my own eyes. After all, letters can be forged, but my judgement would be difficult to deceit, to myself at least.
I hid myself for an hour and half. All the while she sat there, reading the newspaper. Her eyes darted across the shop every so often, lazily, as if curious of the people coming and going from the shop.
She was alone the whole time, which was particularly interesting. For such a beautiful young woman to be sitting alone in the busiest shop in Vale, and having nobody to approach her? She either hid herself well in the shadow, or she drove any suitor away with an peculiar intimidation so subtle it was difficult to tell. Whichever the case may be, she caught my attention quickly.
["I thought you said the meeting was arranged?"]
It was. But you must understand, not every stray cat was cut for the Whisper Corp. We need agents, but they can't be plain. There must be something unusual about them to be even considered, and the recruiters wouldn't settle for anything short of extraordinary. We don't operate based on favors and other people's recommendations. I wanted to know what she had to offer to the Corp.
Naturally, I heard about the massacre before the paper even printed them. It's part of my job to be alerted of all the disturbance within the city. I knew the role she played in the event, or didn't play.
The Black Blood had been giving us troubles before that, but most of us just saw it as citizens' ways of letting out their frustration and, as bad as it sounds, it didn't look like such a bad idea to let them settle their differences on their own accord. We got the police department to make sure things didn't go too far, anyway.
What we couldn't have predicted was that those idiots would decide to attack a refugee camp. I mean, for Oum's sake, it's one thing to shove past the person in front of you in the lunch line, but something completely different to attack the injured, the old people, and the kids when they were asleep in the middle of the night. It would have broken up our kingdom even further if the terrorists had succeeded in claiming any life. I'm eternally grateful of Ms. Belladonna's intervention.
["Intervention?"]
Ah, I suppose those stories haven't got the chance to surface. Yes, it was thanks to Ms. Belladonna that the Black Blood didn't succeed. She somehow caught wind of the attack and warned the Vale Police.
I'm sure you know what happened next. The police arrived, but unfortunately the White Fang showed up for the party as well. To this day, we don't know how they managed that, but someone must have seen Ms. Belladonna when she went to the police. Long story short, the police got there on time to arrest the Black Blood scums before they could do any real damage, but the White Fang maniacs shot many of them dead. It's tragic.
What the newspaper didn't write about was what happened after the White Fang showed up. Ms. Belladonna recognized the leader, and went to the camp leader, Fintan Todde. She explained her background, and her suspicion that the White Fang was there for her.
It wouldn't bid well for the camp if the White Fang thought they were hiding Ms. Belladonna on purpose. It would also be undesirable if the camp members thought the White Fang were there to save them. The truth must get out, if not out in the open then at least reach those who mattered.
Fintan could have scorned at her, but she didn't. She wrote the recommendation letter instead, asking me to take Ms. Belladonna into my organization. I don't know if she was touched by her coming out or what, but she must have seen something in her.
Satisfied with my observations, I walked up to the table next to her and sat. I unfolded my copy of newspaper.
Out of the corner of my eyes, her expression never faltered when I spoke. Anyone near enough would have thought I was just trying to strike up a conversation, but it was not. Only the contacts and the recruiters knew those code sentences.
To any bystanders, our conversations began politely, and ended plainly. But under the cover of the newspapers and the cups of coffee, we talked in low whispers.
I remembered thinking to myself whether I was making a mistake by accepting this recommendation. After all, Fintan and I had been out of touch for quite some time. I had no way of knowing whether she was still loyal to the kingdom, though in my heart I believed it.
Well, she didn't make a mistake. Nor did I.
Ms. Belladonna remained, to this day, one of the most successful and outstanding special agents in the history of the Whisper Corp. You will learn of the missions she partook in as they were revealed to the public, but I assure you this.
[He smiled. I was surprised by this expression, not because Mr. Hunt never smiled through our encounters. Quite the opposite. He smiled often, but it was the first real smile since we met.]
We would be in a much different place had she not become one of the Whisperers.
