A/N: Thank you for your reviews! So here's another chapter! I was a bit sleepy when I wrote it but I hope it will make sense!
Disclaimer: nope, still don't own them.
Chapter 3
Benji was trying to adjust to his new role. It was so weird to be back in England in business. As it turned out, he was sent to the town Dr. Wickham had been living after retirement. The former technician allowed himself a relieved sigh as the chances of being recognized here were close to zero.
He was posing as a police officer. Police detective, to be precise. He was kind of glad he didn't need to wear the uniform albeit he had a childish interest in whether it would suit him. One of his teammates was with him as another police officer while the other two were hanging around the university. Arranging such cover wasn't easy as it required a lot of paperwork faking and pulling a lot of strings in different departments. The former technician was only thankful that the IMF took care of all that. And he really felt out of place here, as what he was doing was quite unlike anything he had ever done as an agent.
Benji had talked to the neighbors and had visited the professor's house several times. No evidence of struggle, no leads. He wasn't much of a detective but the lack of materials could be a clue by itself. He remembered Dr. Wickham to be obsessed with his subject. It would have been weird if he had just abandoned everything.
However, this was bringing him nowhere. Until one day he was passing the professor's house to see a young girl standing in front of it.
"Can I help you?" he asked, not sure how to start the conversation. She shook her head.
"Is this the house of Dr. Phillip Wickham?" she questioned, and Benji nodded, trying his best to hide his agitation. He didn't tend to be good at it but now it was way too important.
"Did you know him?" he tried to keep his tone neutral.
"He was my professor at Oxford," she nodded. "Then he started acting weird and suddenly retired. They say his health condition became worse. But I don't believe it".
"What do you mean, acting weird?" Benji was trying to stay calm but really couldn't. For the first time he might actually be on to something.
"Who are you?" the girl suddenly asked, her tone suspicious.
"Detective Sergeant Evans," he managed an apologetic smile, showing her his badge. "I am investigating this case. And you?..."
"Doyle," was the answer. "Janine Doyle".
"So what was so strange about Dr. Wickham's behaviour?" Benji proceeded. "He had always tended to be a bit… odd. That is, from what I've already heard of him,' he rushed to add seeing another suspicious look from the girl.
"I don't think he was odd," she answered. "He loved his subject but nothing weird about that".
Benji raised an eyebrow.
"And what about some stories to scare the younger students?" he chose his words carefully.
"What stories?" Janine looked utterly confused. "He didn't talk to us apart from his lectures. He never got away from the topic. And then he became really nervous. Like almost paranoid. Looked out of windows, as if expecting an attack…" she smiled guiltily. "But maybe I've read too many detective stories".
"Maybe," Benji smiled in response absentmindedly. "But who knows…"
That day he arrived at his apartment in deep thought. So if the younger students knew nothing about the Anti-God, it explained why they weren't among the disappeared. So apparently it was about the Anti-God. Benji searched his memory for what the professor had told him years ago. An unstoppable force… end of the world… It was just too abstract to even be taken seriously. He remembered some of the vanished people. He read all the possible data on them. They were some of the best. He sighed and looked around him. There was no way he could get to anything here. Deep down in his mind he had known from the very beginning that he had to leave his cover behind. That the main reason he was sent here was his past involvement. On the bright side, it meant he could finally be himself as much as it was possible. On the other hand, it was highly possible that he was now a target to whomever was behind it all…
"Are you nuts?" agent Morgan sure had a good inside voice even though his tone suggested he was quietly yelling now. The police station was seemingly empty but they wouldn't take the risk to be heard.
"There's no other way," Benji retorted. "I'll go meet some of my old professors. Let's see what happens".
"But…" the other man was trying to find another argument but failed.
"There is this girl… Janine Doyle," the former technician tried to apply authority to his voice. Being a team leader was really exciting and cool but he wasn't used to it, either. "Keep an eye on her".
He watched Morgan write down the name.
He was on his way to Oxford when he got a phone call informing him that a young girl with documents on the name "Janine Doyle" had been found dead in her hotel room. Having arrived there and met two of his local fellow agents, he found out that agent Morgan was shot while on a case of an armed robbery. All three of them knew it was far from the robbery case…
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Agents Ethan Hunt and Jane Carter were sitting at a bar. They were expecting agent William Brandt to arrive soon. Their memories traveled to a weird moment when the nearly bumped into Benji near the IMF headquarters. He had been mumbling something and probably hadn't even noticed them. All they knew was that he was sent on a mission, which was weird as he clearly hadn't quite healed.
Brandt stepped inside and headed straight to his friends as soon as he had spotted them. It was kind of their meeting place. Even they hadn't contacted each other ever since the former analyst's departure they knew where to find each other.
William couldn't help noticing that Benji wasn't with Jane and Ethan. He had been at surgery last time Brandt had seen him. His blood ran cold. No… it couldn't be that bad… Oh God…
His fellow agents greeted him with somewhat absent smiles when he finally reached them.
"How was your trip?" Jane asked politely. The ex-analyst just shrugged.
"And where is Benji?" he tried to sound as calm and cheerful as possible but the shaking of his voice was an outright betrayal.
"That is a good question," Ethan sighed. "We don't know".