"Okay, so you've picked your card then?"
"Yeah."
"Commit it to memory."
"I know, I know."
"..."
"..."
"...Seems to be taking a while."
"Shuddup! Okay, I've got it."
"Alright now place it back in the deck."
Ren Amamiya and Junpei Iori were sitting in the living compound's living room with the former showing the latter a card trick that he'd recently learned. Already being a master of sleight of hand, it followed that Ren was able to pick up magic tricks with relative ease and Junpei was a more than willing guinea pig to test his skills on.
"Alright, now with a wave of my hand-" Ren began but was stopped before he could complete the trick.
"Guys!" A voice called out to them from the hallway. Turning to the source revealed it to belong to none other than the Shadow Ops' field leader, Yu Narukami.
Narukami was a tall man, standing well above 6 foot and built with enough muscle to make Akihiko blush, he was the envy of most men who saw him and an object of desire for most women who saw him. He was a well respected leader as well, keeping a cool head during missions and being open to suggestions from his team. Ren had always preferred a more hands off approach when it came to leading his team, but even he had to admit that it was hard to dislike Yu's leadership methods.
"What is it?" Junpei asked, startled and a little annoyed by the sudden interruption.
"Grab your gear, we need to get moving." He stated, his voice dead serious. "We just got the call."
"The call?" Ren and Junpei asked in unison, exchanging a glance with each other.
Suddenly their eyes widened in realization as they jumped off of the couch, hurrying to the weapons locker.
"Do we know what the target is?" Ren asked as the trio ran through the halls.
"Yeah, the message was encoded, but from what I could gather, it looks like the target is the Diet Building, and most likely all of the politicians inside."
"Damn…Do the others know yet?"
"Yeah, they're already preparing. You two were the last ones. They'll be carrying the plan out within the next few hours so we need to get to Tokyo asap."
Almost a year ago, having heard rumors regarding Neo-Strega recruiting newly discovered Persona users into their organization, the Shadow Ops planted a mole within their ranks, one who would discretely report back to them on the enemy's movements and allow them to interfere whenever they were planning something nefarious. Normally, these would just be short encoded messages that would tip them off as to what was going on, but this was different.'The call' was something that the Shadow Ops had been waiting on for nearly a year now, so long that many, including Ren, had nearly forgotten about it. This was the big operation, the move they'd been waiting for Neo-Strega to make that would put all of their pieces on the board at once to finally be removed.
Ren and the other operatives quickly grabbed their gear, loading up into two of the cars waiting for them in the compound's garage. Without wasting a moment, the team sped off toward Tokyo as fast as they could.
Less than an hour later, the Shadow Ops were positioned strategically around the Diet Building. Each member had paired off with a partner, ensuring that no one would be left alone to fight the enemy.
As he sat across from his own partner at a table near the building, Ren surveyed the area around him, sunglasses masking his wandering gaze.
"Spot anything?" Naoto asked, her face masked by the magazine she was pretending to read.
From the outside, they looked like an ordinary couple spending a nice day together, rather than secret agents working for an organization outside of government control.
"Nothing yet. Maybe they saw how nice the weather was and decided to go to the park instead." Ren quipped. "I mean, terrorist organizations still get days off right?"
"Hilarious." Naoto rolled her eyes.
"Have you ever been to the Diet Building before?" Ren asked, deciding to make small talk. "I have, but it was kind of in the form of a giant cruise ship sailing over a flooded city so I'm not sure it really counts."
"Don't you think you should be a bit more serious? People could die today if we mess things up." The original Detective Prince reminded him.
"I'm at my best when I'm like this." He assured her before suddenly turning serious. "But don't worry, I'm fully aware of what's at stake here."
"Check-in," Narukami's voice suddenly sounded from their ears. "Cipher, Joker, anything on your end?"
Given that this was an official mission, they were strictly limited to codenames when speaking over their comms.
"Nothing yet King." Naoto replied in a low voice.
"Are we certain that Sunny's tip was good? This is the first we've heard from her in months. It's possible that she was compromised and we were given a false lead." Ren suggested.
"I'm certain." Narukami stated without a shred of doubt. "I trust her with my life."
Ren had only met the girl once before, just after he'd joined the Shadow Ops. She didn't seem like the friendliest person, but Ren was sure Yu had his reasons for trusting her.
"Hey, uh…guys?" Junpei's voice cut in over the radio. "Anyone else seeing the sky right now?"
Looking up, Ren and Naoto suddenly noticed the sky changing from a bright blue to a dark shade of red with black clouds scattered throughout. A sure sign that the Metaverse was colliding with reality.
"Well, that can't be a coincidence." Ren noted, blue fire engulfing him and changing him into his Metaverse attire. Next to him, he saw the same happening for Naoto.
Naoto's suit was relatively simple, a navy blue trench coat that extended down to her knees, black trousers, a pair of brown leather boots, and a white domino mask across her face with her usual blue hat atop her head.
"Which means the enemy either knows when and where the Metaverse will collide with the real world," She pulled out her revolver from her jacket, loading six bullets into the cylinder before clicking it into place. "Or they're able to cause the collisions themselves."
"We'll just have to ask them politely and find out which it is." Ren said as he made sure that his own gun was loaded and the safety was off.
"Hostiles spotted! Northeast end!" Rise's voice came over the comm. As soon as she said so an explosion sounded from that direction.
"Mona and Fox, engaging!" Yusuke's voice called out.
As Ren turned to go help his friends, he was stopped by Naoto placing a hand on his shoulder.
"We have problems of our own." She said, pointing to the two figures approaching from the distance, from the way they walked so calmly there was no way they were civilians. Placing her finger to her ear, she spoke over the comm. "Two hostiles spotted on the south end, Cipher and Joker, engaging."
The two duos approached one another. Now closer, Ren was able to make out some details, both figures were men, one tall and lanky with buck teeth, most likely in his late teens to early twenties and the other was more rotund and probably around forty.
"Sorry gentleman," Ren began, he and Naoto stopping about 10 feet from the men. "This area's closed off for a private event, you'll have to come back another time."
The rotund man chuckled, turning to his friend. "Looks like we got a jokester here."
"Not exactly, but close enough." Ren shrugged. Next to him, Naoto raised her pistol.
"Come quietly and answer our questions and we won't have to hurt you." She warned, pulling back the hammer.
"Hehe, I didn't notice until she spoke, but the blue one is a girl." The taller one chuckled, eyeing Naoto up and down in a way that Ren didn't appreciate.
"Really? This might actually end up being fun then." The other man replied, rubbing his hands together.
"Alright, as charming as this conversation has been, I think we should get down to business." Ren stated, placing his hand on his mask before tearing it off. "Yoshitsune!" Behind him, the figure from Japanese legend came into existence in a brilliant flash of blue light.
"Yamato Sumeragi!" Naoto called out, removing her own mask.
"Forneus!"
"Eligor!"
The tall and rotund man yelled respectively, the two demonic figures appearing behind them.
"Looks like Neo-Strega's after quantity over quality." Naoto smirked, raising her revolver and firing at Forneus while her own Persona quickly circled around it, drawing out its sword.
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Ren said before dashing in to deliver a kick to the lanky man's stomach, causing him to double over in pain and throw up on the ground.
The rotund man attempted to call out an attack for his Persona, but before he could, Ren turned around and delivered a punch directly to his teeth. The man reeled back in pain, clutching at his face in pain. Turning to face Eligor, he was just in time to witness as it was completely bisected by Yoshitsune.
"Let me guess, after you got your Persona, you thought you were invincible, right?" Ren asked, the man before him falling to the ground and attempting to crawl away. "Having a Persona isn't everything, it's just as important that you yourself know how to fight." He stated, standing over the scared man before him. "And from the looks of it, you've never had to so much as raise a hand against anyone else."
"Joker!" Naoto called out.
Turning around, Ren saw the lanky boy running from the battle as fast as he could, his Persona staying behind to cover his retreat and keep Naoto busy.
"You son of a bitch!" The rotund man called out to his fleeing ally before being kicked in the head by Ren and knocked unconscious.
"On it!" Cursing under his breath, Ren took off after the other one.
The boy was surprisingly quick on his feet, fleeing past the street and into a nearby alley. Quickly following after him, Ren entered the alley, pulling his strongest dagger, Cocytus, from his coat.
"There he is! There he is!" The lanky man's voice called out from the back of the alley, seemingly speaking to someone else. "C-C'mon hurry! If the two of us work together we can definitely take him out!"
Stepping further into the alley, Ren spotted the two figures at the other end. Readying his pistol, he waited for them to make the first move.
"You're fucked now buddy!" The lanky man stepped out from the shadows with a newfound confidence. "This is our strongest Persona user! You don't stand a-AGH!" He was cut off by a blow to the back of his head knocking him unconscious. The other figure in the alley then walked forward, seemingly to greet Ren.
Confused by the turn of events, but not naive enough to let down his guard, Ren prepared himself.
"Seriously? Even after all the help I gave you guys to get here, you still need my help catching these scrubs? You're so pathetic it's sad."
Letting out a sigh of relief, Ren sheathed his dagger. "It's good to see you again Sunny."
"Ugh," The figure made her disgust apparent as she stepped out of the shadows. "I hate that stupid codename, I wish you guys had given me a better one." She stated before entering the light, revealing a beautiful young woman with pale silky skin and medium length black hair.
"Can't you just call me Marie?"
Later, back at the base, the team celebrated their successful operation. After years of chasing down Neo-Strega, they'd finally busted the entire operation capturing every one of the enemy Persona users.
After ensuring that all 38 members were safely incarcerated in the compound's cells, the Shadow Ops held a large party for all of the operatives and staff. This was one of their biggest wins in years, a huge threat to society had been taken down and no civilians had been hurt in the crossfire. It couldn't have gone more perfectly, and Marie was the big hero of the night, having several toasts raised in her honor.
…So then why did she look so miserable?
It was past midnight now and just about everyone had either gone to bed or passed out somewhere in the living room. Everyone except for Ren, who had gotten up in the middle of the night to piss, and apparently Marie, who Ren had spotted sulking over the kitchen counter with an empty glass in her hand.
Approaching the sad woman, Ren decided to see what was wrong.
"Hey." He greeted simply, taking a seat next to her at the counter.
"Hmm?" She looked over at him, confusion written all over her tired face before recognition finally flashed in her eyes. "Oh, hey uuumm…"
"Ren."
"Ren…right." She nodded to herself, turning back to her empty glass.
He couldn't blame her for not remembering him, even without all of the drinks they'd both had. The first time they met was back in…January? Ren tried to recall. It was late November now so it had nearly been a year since they'd last seen each other.
"So um…Is there something bothering you?" He decided to ask outright.
"Huh?" Marie turned to him with a surprised look, as if she believed she'd been masking her emotions completely.
"I just mean that…tonight was a big night, and it was all thanks to you. But it seems like something's had you down since you got back."
"What? No, nothing's had me down, what a stupid-" She began, but struggled to finish, her voice beginning to crack. "What…What a stupid…"
"It's Narukami isn't it?" Ren guessed. "You love him."
He'd heard several stories about the Inaba Investigation Team, including their interactions with Marie, the weather-manipulating amnesiac girl who joined them late into their adventures. Based on what he'd been told about her, it had been simple enough to put together her feelings for the Shadow Ops' field leader.
Turning to face him, Ren spotted the tears forming in Marie's eyes. Before he could even react, the woman wrapped her arms around the younger man and began sobbing into his shoulder. Placing his hand against her back, he gently patted her to comfort her as best as he could.
After about five minutes of this, Marie finally pulled away, returning to staring at her empty glass.
"Do you know why I volunteered to go on that mission? To live in the fucking basement of a shithole abandoned building Neo-Strega used as a base for almost a whole year?" Marie asked.
"I uh, I can't say that I do." Ren replied, noticing that Marie seemed to curse a lot when she was drunk, or angry, or both.
"It's because it was too painful, being around Yu after he got engaged. Seeing him every day and knowing that he didn't love me the way that I loved him. I just…I had to get away from it all." She confessed, slumping over and placing her chin on the counter. "And I stupidly…stupidly believed that while I was gone, my problems would fix themselves. Maybe he would call off the engagement or maybe I would stop feeling the way that I do for him. But I didn't. And now…now I don't know what to do anymore."
"It's okay to not know what to do." Ren assured her. "You don't need to have everything planned out, maybe just stop trying to control things for a while and see what life throws your way, y'know? You might end up with something better than you could've hoped for."
"*sniff* Really?" Marie asked, wiping her eyes.
"Definitely." He nodded. He should know, after his arrest, he never could've dreamed it would lead to such an amazing life full of incredible experiences and the best friends a guy could ask for.
"Hmm." Marie really seemed to consider his words. "Don't get cocky from this or anything, but…you kinda sometimes give good advice."
"Thanks." Ren assumed that was the highest praise Marie could give.
Things became quiet again after that, the two of them sitting in the comfortable silence of the night. Until finally, Marie broke the silence between them.
"Hey Ren?"
"Yeah?"
"I think we should fuck."
[Shadow Operative File: 007]
Junpei Iori
Codename: Slugger
Status: Active
Species: Human
Age: 27
Sex: M
Persona: Trismegistus, formerly Hermes
Description: Former member of SEES and founding member of the Shadow Ops, Junpei Iori is considered a valuable team member (for some reason) by his teammates. Interestingly, his Persona, Trismegistus may possibly be the first and only example of two Personas belonging to different wielders fusing into a single entity as it was created when Iori's original Persona, Hermes was imbued with the power of another, dying Persona, Medea.
Notes: While he is a founding member of the Shadow Operatives, Iori's personality is among the most child-like of the team members, causing no shortage of issues when it comes to professionality in the field. It should also be noted that when operative numbers were being assigned, Iori insisted that he get to be 'Agent 007' or he wouldn't join at all.