Fiona's heels clack on the cement floor of the WISE office as she steps towards Sylvia's desk. The other administrative employees look for the source of the sound before scattering and clumsily moving out of her way, lest they provoke her anger. Just the way Fiona likes it.
She stops once she reaches Sylvia's desk and chooses to remain standing as she faces her handler. "What is it this time? Do you have a new assignment for me?"
"I know it's been some time since your joint operation with Twilight, but I trust that you remember and are up-to-date about Operation Strix's latest developments?"
She feels a vein about to burst when remembering how she was denied to be his wife and how his stand-in wife, Yor Briar, managed to slightly overpower Fiona in her last challenge. "Yes. I still have some knowledge about his mission and situation."
Sylvia squints through her circular glasses, perhaps sensing that there's something off in Fiona's statement, though she ultimately says nothing and pulls out a file from her desk drawer. Unfortunately for Fiona, reading through other people's intentions, especially fellow professionals, was never her strong suit. Sylvia slides the folder across her desk towards Fiona before following up with some choice words. "There is a possible variable. The subject of that file is Yuri Briar. Brother of Twilight's wife, Yor Briar."
After opening the file, Fiona sees a man with a face that has a striking resemblance to Yor. And that makes her all the more irritated. "According to Twilight's report, the subject is an undercover agent of the secret police and someone with severe attachment issues to his sister." Fiona mumbles.
"Yuri Briar has been suspicious of Twilight since the beginning. Lately, he seems to have been getting closer and closer to the truth about Twilight's assignment. It's only Twilight's intuition so far, but that's usually on the mark. If we wait until the evidence falls in our lap, it may be too late to do anything."
"Does he need to be eliminated?" Fiona immediately asks, unable to help herself when seeing the same eyes as Yor.
"...No, he doesn't. Ignoring that we only resort to that when we have to, it would definitely affect Yor in some way. For all we know, she'll figure some things out and file for a divorce or worse; confess that the marriage is a sham. If that happens, the next time Twilight walks into any government or Eden building could very well be his funeral.
"And then, there's the most pressing issue of all; the SSS will use every weapon in their disposal to completely destroy us if they catch even a whiff of us having a hand in it."
"In an emergency, I can take over as his wife as long as we clean up properly-"
"No." Sylvia says with finality in her voice that she won't take any answer besides the one that she wants. Also a tone that Fiona has been on the receiving end of too many times.
"...Understood, ma'am." Fiona sighs. "What do we need to do with him, then?"
"We don't know how much he knows and what- if anything- he's shared with his employers. Find out."
Fiona looks once more at his picture before she truly processes what is being asked of her. "...Are you telling me to-"
"I don't care what methods you use. But, as I made perfectly clear before: do not kill him. And no torture, either." Sylvia adds when Fiona opens her mouth. "That should go without saying. He has his strange quirks, but he's a faithful employee of the secret police. Everyone could be in danger if this goes wrong. If he's still wavering on whether to share what he knows or not, steer him in the right direction."
Fiona scans Sylvia's face for any way she can get out of this. No such luck, not that she was expecting it. "Understood, I'll head out now to begin my preparations."
She gets up to leave, and as soon as her back is turned she clenches her teeth. Of all the people, it has to be that damned woman's brother.
Fiona spends her free time the next week observing Yuri Briar. Though… there's really not much to report. As a young and seemingly ambitious agent, he spends long hours and weekends at the secret police's office, only going home late into the night. There's no way for her to know what he's doing inside the government building as getting too close would put her right in the middle of enemy territory. He will occasionally go out into the field and the only thing that she makes note of is he is the one in charge of arrests, showing he has some power despite his young age.
These long hours of work make his home a tempting target. Too tempting. The curtains are always down, so there's no way to see the interior layout from the outside. As Fiona experienced with Frankie, there may also be traps along the way before she can even get to his apartment. While she has full confidence that she can disarm any trap and escape unscathed, putting it back together afterwards is a different story. Doing a poor cover-up job would only serve to signal that someone is after either Yuri or his information, the very thing that her organization is trying to avoid.
And then, there's the very crux of the issue; she can't be sure what information- if anything- he has in there. Raiding his home is far too much of a high-risk, low-reward gamble. She tactically withdraws to formulate a new strategy.
Although plan A doesn't appear very promising, a good agent always has backup plans. The key to this plan B is at a familiar location; Loid Forger's home.
Opening the door and facing Fiona is the said key to plan B; Yor Briar. "Hello… Fiona, right?"
"Greetings. And yes, that's correct. I work with Dr. Forger."
"Yes, I remember that part. What can I do for you? Loid and Anya are at a fair today."
I know, that's why I came at this time. Fiona silently thinks. "I found something recently that I believe also belongs to your daughter. Does this look familiar?"
"Oh, that's Anya's scarf! We thought she lost it."
"I found this hidden behind Dr. Forger's bookshelf. I'm not sure if she left this there on her most recent visit or if it's been there for some time."
"Well, whichever the case may be, thank you! You really didn't need to do that again. Since you've come all this way, would you like to come in and have some tea?"
So far, this is going almost too well and extremely similar to the first time she visited here. Another terrible memory she attempts to repress. "If you're sure you don't mind."
Fiona uses her left hand to hold the saucer and the right to bring the cup to her mouth. She sniffs the aroma and it is noticeably better than previously. She samples the taste and finds that the improvement matches the smell. Not bad… though, I could make it better. When she finishes, she places the saucer and cup back on the coffee table.
"Ms. Forger, may I ask you some questions?"
"Of course you can! And please feel free to call me Yor."
But I don't want to. "You have a brother, correct?"
"Yes? Did I mention him before?"
"There's some pictures of someone with a striking resemblance to you next to your family photos." Fiona points out. "Dr. Forger has also mentioned that you had a brother."
"Ah, you have a good eye. Yes, this is my brother, Yuri." Yor pulls up one of the pictures and puts it on the coffee table to face Fiona. "Isn't he great? I'm glad my brother managed to grow up to be a fine, upstanding member of society despite our troubles growing up."
While Fiona does have to feign interest for the next phase of her plan, this is not a topic that she wants to delve into, so she ignores the doting sister. She brings the photo closer to her, as if she hadn't seen his face before. "Could you tell me what does your brother like?"
"Nowadays, I'm not sure... He's always so busy and it's been a long time since I've taken care of him, so he probably has different tastes from what I remember. He only stops by once in a while to eat and try to help out around the house." Yor's eyes grow wider as she looks like she's come to a realization. "Wait, are you interested in him?! If you are, I could introduce you if you'd like. I probably shouldn't say this, but I'm a little worried about him as his sister. He hasn't had many successful relationships even though he's so nice and handsome…"
'I don't care what methods you use.' Sylvia's words ring in Fiona's head. It hurts me to even be here without Twilight's presence and ask this woman for her help. Fiona internally grimaces. "If it's not too much trouble, I am a bit interested in meeting him."
"Not at all! I'm sure he'll be happy to have a chance to meet such a beautiful woman. What's your availability like for the next month?" Yor pulls out a notepad and a pen and begins writing times and dates down.
