Ren Amamiya found himself not in the Velvet Room.

It was unlike anything he had dreamed before.

He was looking down the scope of a sniper rifle.

At least, that was what seemed to be the case, or else why would there be crosshairs.

Ren scanned the periphery of the scope, despite the tunnel vision, he could see that he was in a city… A French city? The signs and texts on the streets looked to be French and so did the architecture. It was a relatively narrow corridor of a road, flanked by trees and relatively low buildings.

Soon, the Sniper Scope swiveled and focused on a figure walking down the sidewalk. The crosshairs were locked on.

Ren squinted. The 'target' was a man dressed in a white tuxedo. Sunglasses obscured his eyes.

Suddenly in a single swift motion, faster than the blink of an eye, the man spun and stared directly at Ren, aiming a gun.

BANG! A thick red dribbled from above, red shifting Ren's vision as he felt a searing pain.

As his vision faded to black, he heard what he thought was a guitar solo.

Ren sprang up from his bed in a cold sweat.

A slight stinging pain came from his forehead, causing him to move his hand to soothe it.

It was another strange dream. So far, his dreams revolved around being sent to the 'Velvet Room' where he was 'undergoing rehabilitation' and learning about personas under enigmatic characters such as Igor.

Not sniper missions.

Ren groaned. He had to get to school. He wrangled himself out of bed, and changed into his school outfit with record speed.

Grabbing his bag, he found a plate of breakfast, presumably left out by Sojiro.

It was two slices of French toast and a small omelet.

Ren wolfed down the entire meal while staying careful not to stain his uniform.

After breakfast, Ren grabbed the dishes and dumped them in the kitchen sink, away from the view of any customers of the Café. He moved to the door and grabbed an umbrella.

Ren was about to flip the 'Closed' sign to open, but he caught a sticky note on the sign.

"Urgent business, do not open café," it read.

Ren found it odd, but he supposed that Sojiro had his reasons.

The weather was terrible. Rain poured from the heavens in torrents. The atmosphere in general was cold and damp.

However, Ren still needed to go to school. At least the subway would provide refuge.

So he left the Café, and went into the cold.

"One of our agents was blown." K told the Briton. "Got her in less than twenty four hours."

K was dressed in a business suit compared to his usual dress, the only thing he retained was his sunglasses.

"What makes you think she'll be any different?". The Briton asked, handing K a cup of hot tea. "God knows you'll be sending her to her death."

"She has to." K sipped the drink. "I'll be damned if they'll have rolled up my network this quickly."

"Well, by all measures, she is late." The Briton noted. "You can't wait here forever Kap. It's been five hours."

"If you want to go, go." K told her. "You've been damn good, I'll tell Nakai that."

K peered through the window of the Briton's apartment. She had kindly allowed her fellow operative to use it as a stakeout.

"How could Roland have caught on so fast?". The Briton questioned. "God knows it could have been a coincidence."

"A hit and run where the driver got away, in the heart of Tokyo?" K began. "It's very hard to do that without a dozen or more witnesses, and it's too big for the police not to care. They must've had a man inside law enforcement."

"I'll be forwarding this to the scalphunters back at Circus, see what they can do about it." The Briton replied. "Control's been waiting for some action here."

"Good. We win here, East Europe may just live to fight another day." K spoke. "I understand you've just been posted here from Europe. What's the situation? Things are developing too fast for reports to keep up."

"The public believes the build-up is simply another scare-tactic." The Briton responded.

"Why wouldn't they, these people do this all the damn time." K said.

"Anytime they want to achieve political goals, they rush in their armies under the guise of training exercises and threaten war if we do not bend to them."

"The difference this time is the fact there is medical equipment. Why would a training exercise require large field hospitals and more?" The Briton continued.

"So it is genuine." K took a drag from his cigarette. Suddenly his eyes darted to the street below.

From the rain, a bicycle pulled into view of the apartment window. The rider wore a dark blue raincoat.

"It's her." K announced in a gruff, quick, hushed, voice. K scrambled downstairs to "receive" the rider.

Meanwhile, the Briton produced a silenced walther, and took up a shooting position by the window.

Out in the cold rain, K stood by the road as the bicycle approached. As it did, the weather reminded K of the long nights in West Berlin. K spent those days peering over the wall, as agents from both sides crossed that treacherous path.

K cleared his mind as the bicycle and rider stopped in front of him.

"When does the train leave?" K challenged the rider.

"Quarter to twelve." The voice of a young woman answered.

"Follow me," K directed. The two went inside the Briton's apartment, out of the cold.

The Briton let them in, sheathing her sidearm.

"May I take your coat?" K offered the rider. The rider accepted, and revealed herself as a young redhead.

"Please take a seat, I'll be debriefing you." K told the young woman as he hung up the raincoat.

The young woman complied, taking a seat as the Briton slid her a hot drink. K soon sat opposite of her.

"What was the hold up?" K puffed on his cigarette.

"Public transit was… unreliable." She replied. "And leaving my performance early.. Would have gotten unwanted attention."

"I see." K acknowledged. "Your legend was hard to develop as is, better to play it safe."

"Anyways, this will be your assignment."

"I want you to tail this man." K pulled out a photo of a young highschooler.

The young woman picked the photo up.

"Shujin academy student, same as you."

The target had frizzy dark hair and glasses, but other than that, he was relatively unremarkable.

"His name is Ren Amamiya."

K slid a note and a small package to the young woman.

"Details for a reptile fund at this bank. Consider it payment for your work." K explained.

"I understand." The young woman replied. She did a small bow, grabbing her coat, and went downstairs, out of the Briton's apartment.

And into the cold.

The subway was filled to the brim, and its passengers were packed like sardines. The deteriorating weather increased the number of passengers, despite the recent accident.

Ren shuffled through the crowd, trying to make himself comfortable.

"Please, have this seat, my stop's coming up."

Ren turned to see a young student with a ribbon in her red hair as the origin of the voice.

"Oh my! Thank you dearie." The old lady thanked. However, before she could sit down-

A salaryman seized the opening and slid into the seat.

"Wow.." The redhead stated plainly. "Excuse me, that seat was for her-".

The salaryman immediately began snoring.

"...You want me to wake him up?". Ren offered.

The redhead turned to face Ren.

For a split second, her pupils enlarged upon seeing Ren, before returning to normal.

"Oh it's alright, I understand his position well." She smiled at Ren.

Soon enough, the subway reached their station where Ren and the redhead disembarked.

"Oh! Thanks for trying to help earlier." She told Ren as they walked through the Subway station. "I don't want to be rude to my senpai."

"It's alright." Ren replied, smiling. He recalled Sojiro's words, and decided to 'play it cool'.

"I haven't seen you around." Ren stated, mustering his courage. "You new here?".

"Ah yes!". She replied. "I only got a scholarship here recently."

"Well, I can help show you around." Ren offered. He had memorized most of Shujin's layout when he visited with Sojiro.

"Thank you senpai." The redhead smiled.

"No need to call me senpai," Ren replied. "Call me Amamiya Ren, and you are?".

"Of course! I am Yoshizawa Kasumi."

"Well Kasumi, allow me to walk you to school."

As they trudged through the rain, shielded by Ren's umbrella, Kasumi discreetly slipped a tracker into Ren's pocket.

"Yo."

Ryuji greeted as Ren walked down the stairs.

Classes had just ended, and both were outside of the main school building.

"So what the fuck do you think happened yesterday." Ryuji stated bluntly.

"...Your guess is as good as mine." Ren replied.

"We're actually at the school this time." Ryuji remarked.

"...This might be a stretch, but..". Ren pulled out his phone, and tapped on the strange app that had caused yesterday's events to happen.

"Kamoshida… Shujin Academy… Pervert Castle…" The phone announced.

As the two were sent back into the metaverse, neither noticed a redhead watching from afar.

"We're back." Ryuji looked around. "So it was real…" He said in fascination.

His attention soon turned to Ren. "Why don't I get a sick outfit?". He complained.

K discreetly left the Chinese Embassy, posing as a Japanese businessman.

He smuggled a small fortune of documents with him, he would pass them onto his handlers in the Circuit.

The documents detailed a list of bank accounts and financiers for Otdeleniye operations in Japan. Through these, the Otdeleniye was able to: fund their agents, finance political parties and the like which forwarded the Otdeleniye's interests, as well as hamper American efforts in the region.

From this information, not only could K and his superiors 'retire' the financiers and close the accounts, they could also trace recipients of the Russian money, and allow for further operations from there.

K climbed into his car, a sleek, black, Nissan. The type that a big earner would certainly drive.

He drove away from the embassy, careful to make sure nothing was following him.

He drove into downtown Tokyo, blending in with the flow of traffic, before pulling into a back alley.

K pulled out a fob, opening a garage.

When he came back out, he was now dressed in a fedora and trench coat, and driving a worn Toyota.

As K drove back to his residence, there was one thing in his mind.

Who could have known about the package drop?

It was clear that whoever did, only knew about half of the operation. K himself was alive and well. For now at least.

There was only one person who could have ordered a mailfist job of this caliber.

'Roland', head of the Russian Otdeleniye.

Also known as, "The man without a face."

Roland, was a figure shrouded in mystery and myth. For starters, no one had seen his face. Even in an age of smartphones and cameras, no one could verify his appearance.

Hell, even his name and identity were unknown.

He was named "Roland" because of an operation he was involved in, which revolved around the sale and purchase of Roland anti-air missiles in the late nineteen nineties.

However, there were two pieces of concrete knowledge that K and superiors, along with their colleagues at the Circus, knew about "Roland".

The fact he began as a low ranking operative, before rising through the ranks,

And his voice.

They were able to obtain a recording of 'Roland's' voice during his titular operation, and managed to contact a Russian defector to verify its authenticity.

Unfortunately, contact was lost with the defector soon after, and all signs pointed to the defector's liquidation.

K sighed as the traffic light turned green.

He would need to do some digging when he got back.

"...Man, I've always wanted to see Ann… well, like that." Ryuji admitted. "But not in that way."

Ren straightened his glasses, a spark had been lit in his heart, and it would grow into a raging fire.

However, taking down Kamoshida would not be an easy task, at all. Powerful as they were in the metaverse, it meant nothing in reality.

"We got a score to settle." Ren replied.

"..Damn right." Ryuji affirmed. "God I wanna kick his teeth in."

"Attaboy," Ren thought.

Sometime later, a slightly irritable Ren was waiting in the subway station.

"Wait, what!? That's not what you promised!".

Ren turned to search for the source of the familiar voice.

It was Ann Takamaki, the girl who sat in front of him, she seemed to be highly enraged at whoever was calling her.

Ren could only suspect Kamoshida.

"Are you alright?". Ren approached her.

Ann turned towards Ren, clearly surprised by him.

"I-it's nothing at all!". She declared, before running off.

"Wait!". Ren ran in hot pursuit.

K slinked along the streets of Tokyo, masked by the growing darkness, and chilled by the resulting cold.

This time, he would be performing a package drop.

He approached a red mailbox, next to a bulletin board.

K placed a small, waterproof, polymer box, behind the red mailbox where it would be out of sight.

He then put in a purple thumbtack on the board,

And left the scene. He would have a guest visiting him, he didn't want to leave her waiting.

Ren walked towards Café Le Carré. It had been… a strenuous day, to say the least. Recent developments had left him frustrated.

As he approached the café, which was still closed, Ren noticed a figure with red hair walking into the opposite direction.

As if she had just left. Ren remarked that the figure was familiar, but it was nigh impossible to discern from this far.

Ren was a little disconcerted, but Sojiro appeared to be inside. Ren opened the door and left the cold.

The door chimed, as per usual, and Sojiro turned to face Ren.

"Welcome back." Sojiro greeted Ren warmly, but lacked his usual energy. "You're a little late."

Ren noticed Sojiro seemed troubled by something. After all, Ren just had a chat with Ann, who tried to conceal her own troubles. The encounter left Ren more.. perceptive to those in dire straits.

"I'm sorry, I just had a little chat with one of my teachers." Ren lied. "Dragged on a little."

"Well then, that's alright." Sojiro nodded, accepting Ren's excuse. Hearing Sojiro's response, Ren had a feeling he wasn't the only one lying.

"Dinner's in the back, if you want it." Sojiro told Ren, gesturing towards the kitchen.

Ren took off his coat, thanked Sojiro and moved to grab the food.

However, Ren could not shake the feeling that something was off. Certainly, the encounters with Kamoshida and his crimes left Ren on edge, so he made a quick glance back at Sojiro.

Ren swore the older man grabbed something out of Ren's school coat.

" I really am losing it.." Ren thought.

The rest of the night proceeded in relative quiet. Both Ren and Sojiro sensed the other was tired, and did not pry.

Ren opened his eyes. He was back in his cell.

"Welcome back." A low, gravelly voice greeted.

Ren turned to face Igor. Something was 'off' with him, too.

Igor looked only the slightest bit disheveled compared to normal. Igor's usual 'commanding' demeanor of Joker's rehabilitation was replaced by a more irritated, concerned expression.

"Trickster, allow me to get straight to the point." Igor began.

"We were…'disrupted' last night, something is interfering with your rehabilitation." He explained.

"As such, you will be waking earlier in the real world. The source is emanating close."

"Find the source Trickster, and end it."

Ren awoke with a jolt. He had a sudden urge to go downstairs, but he did not know why.

" ...No, I don't need to go to the washroom." Ren ruled that out for why he wanted to go downstairs.

Nevertheless, Ren stumbled down to the café as if something was possessing him, actually, maybe something was.

He crashed into the backroom with a loud BANG!

Despite his bleary eyes, instead of food or kitchen and cooking items of any kind,

There were computers, documents, and what appeared to be radio sets.

What.

Ren stumbled closer and picked up a paper.

"So what the fuck do you think happened yesterday."

"...Your guess is as good as mine."

"We're actually at the school this time."

"...This might be a stretch, but..".

It was a transcript of everything Ren had said or had heard yesterday.

Suddenly footsteps came from behind.

"Kid? You alright? What's-".

Ren turned to face Sojiro.

"Sojiro…. What's this?..". Ren stared directly into Sojiro's sunglasses-covered eyes.

In a split second, everything came together. The handwriting, the cafe-closing, why Sojiro was so darn nice, the coat, why the principal and teacher were intimidated by him.

What came out of Ren's mouth was a jumbled, but still slightly discernable mess.

"..You wouldn't believe me if I said you're very fucking tired and this is just a dream, right?". Sojiro offered.

In response, Ren reached over to a kitchen faucet, turned it to the coldest water possible, and stuck his head under.

"I don't believe you." He replied, drenched and cold.

'Sojiro' laughed.

"You're sharp kid, real sharp." He continued chuckling, pulling out a cigarette and laughing.

"Just who are you?" Ren pressed intensely.

"The name's Kaplan, kid, John Kaplan."

A more espionage focused chapter, with some major developments.

A Glossary for some of the terms in this chapter:

Blown: uncovered, revealed (Cover was blown)
Circus: Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) aka MI6
Control: Head of Circus
Legend: Secret Identity
Mailfist Job: Assassination operation
Scalphunters: Agents who handle assassination, blackmail, burglary, kidnapping
Reptile fund: A Slush fund used for covert operations

I don't think the next chapter will come as quickly as this one. I need some more ideas.
(many parts of the game that are canon will be abridged)

Regardless, Espionage is a dangerous game.

-Joesephi