OPERATION PSY-LENT GUARDIAN (PT. 1)
It was a quiet downtown afternoon in a quaint café in Berlint. The street's midday traffic had dwindled into a slow but steady stream of people travelling the roads. People went home, to gatherings to see their friends, or have a drink together at one of the many bars and beer halls in the city. A perfect afternoon to grab a coffee and relax in peace, watching the city go by. The capital city of Ostania was a sight to behold in the afternoon, with its picturesque architecture and bustling businesses. A peaceful city, at first glance.
But beneath the veneer of tranquillity, a wave of uncertainty and fear gripped the people of Berlint.
There was the fear of total war breaking out at any moment, the fear that your neighbour or fellow countryman could be a secret agent of the opposing side. In every newspaper read the words 'WAR IMMINENT', 'SPIES IN OUR MIDSTS'. A page would have a foiled terrorist plot there, a successful assassination here.
It was like watching an enclosed pot rattle and boil, ready to spill at any moment. It would be great if it didn't spillover today.
"S-Stop that man! He just stole my briefcase!" A shout pierced the tranquillity, startling bystanders.
How troublesome.
Several onlookers turned to pinpoint the source of the commotion. A man sprinted through the sparse crowd, clutching a large brown leather briefcase to his chest. A pink haired boy down the street raised his head from the newspaper in his hands. The frantic owner gave chase, stumbling in his pursuit.
"He's fast!" the man wheezed, rounding a corner into a side street. 'Damn it, if I don't get those documents back, I'm dead!'
'He's way too slow to catch up. Jackpot! People'll pay thousands just to get their hands on these papers— Huh!?' A malicious grin spread across the thief's face as he glanced back, but before he could react, a gust of wind sent him slipping. The would-be briefcase snatcher's foot awkwardly landed on a bundled up newspaper, sending him careening in a perfect 180 backflip into the pavement.
"WHAT THE HELL!?'"
BANG!
The owner swiftly caught up, accompanied by two police officers who apprehended the fallen thief.
"Man, that was incredibly lucky." One of the police officers commented.
"More like unlucky, he fell on a newspaper that slipped from this pile." His partner picked up the dazed man by his shoulders, putting his arms behind his back and handcuffing him while the other officer returned the briefcase to its owner. The encounter had ended as quickly as it started, the officers walking away with a criminal in handcuffs and a successful return of that man's property.
Of course, the conveniently placed newspaper that tripped the thief seemed too fortuitous. It might have unwittingly prevented a catastrophic chain of events that could have sparked war between Ostania and Westalia.
Can I introduce myself now?
The pink-haired boy flicked the newspaper he had been reading, unseen amidst the chaos. The perpetrator of the strategically placed newspaper.
Hello, my name is Kusuo Saiki. I am a psychic. Folding the newspaper neatly, he returned it to the stack and rose, walking away unnoticed.
For sixteen years, I've lived as a psychic orphan in Berlint, in Ostania.
Kusuo boarded a tram towards the outskirts, squeezing among tired workers. Their thoughts flooded his mind—mundane desires and odd details, some sounding suspiciously like espionage. Perhaps not spies, but who would suspect the old lady feeding birds to be State Security?
You may wonder: 'If you're the psychic I know, why not end this cold war?'
Kusuo hopped off the tram after reaching his destination, the streets scant with activity. A lot quieter than the city central, although it was still a far cry from absolute peace.
I could. I could probably even get it done in three days. But the moment I do something big like that I would be harassed for the rest of my life. They would probably try to make me their superweapon or kill me in some way because I ruined their nation.
Good grief, he thought, as unlikely as the latter were to happen, I would much prefer to live a normal, quiet life.
Saiki sighed, relieved as noise subsided, strolling down a drab alleyway. He teleported near his home, an aged building in an older part of town, fenced off and weathered. The rusted metal arch above the gateway had words spelt out, read 'ORANGE'. Evidently, a few of the letters are missing, but I assure you it's an orphanage.
I also have someone else to take care of other than me, being caught would be a huge hassle. You see, I'm not the only Psychic there is in the world; there's another one like me here in this orange.
"I'm back." He called out with telepathy, waiting at the entrance of the orphanage for the little psychic that would come out in about… now.
"Biiig brooooo Sssaaaaaiikkiiiii!" A voice echoed in his head. The muffled sounds of repeating footsteps closed in on the door before they swung wide open, pushed by the two hands of a six-year old girl with pink hair, black cones on her head and the widest smile that could fit her face.
My name is Anya Saiki! A-N-Y-A, uhm, S-A-Y-K-I! Anya dashed forwards and tumbled into Kusuo at full speed. The older psychic barely even budged as the smaller psychic smashed into him, wrapping her arms around his leg in a hug.
That's Sayki. It's S-A-I-K-I.
I'm a Saikik telepath!
It's 'Psychic'.
"How was your secret mission, big Kuu!" Anya looked up to her older 'brother', eyes sparkling with intrigue as she quickly combed through his mind for the memory. Kusuo took Anya's hand, walking the two of them back into the Orphanage and through its hallway. "I watched a briefcase snatcher trip on a newspaper."
Anya glared at him with disbelief, her mouth open with a blank stare.
"Eh, that's boring. You said you were about to stop a war this morning?"
I did. Kusuo wasn't lying.
That briefcase was carrying an itinerary for the Ostanian foreign minister's visit to Westalis as part of some de-escalation plan. The premonition he had earlier in the morning was vague, but it left enough evidence that the person who sold the briefcase would allow another man to plant a bomb in the Foreign Minister's car, and use it to kill the minister before he got on an aeroplane.
Good grief, and all because some government worker got their briefcase stolen.
The two of them passed by a few dozen rooms before reaching their own at the end of the hall. He swung the door open with telepathy before collapsing on their dirty patched up couch, sinking into it as he relaxed his body after a hard day's work. All that clairvoyance and mindreading to find out where they would be had drained the life out of him.
Saiki had spent his entire day tracking down a single pair of thoughts throughout the city. Who knew one briefcase thief could be so diligent in hiding from him. Another exhausted sigh escaped his lips, feeling himself sink deeper into the couch. I figured I let the man snatch the briefcase first rather than stop it before it even happened.
Anya looked at her brother melting into the embrace of the ratty couch before going to join him. She jumped up onto the cushion and swung around to face their television, remote in hand and flicking through the channels.
A musical stinger played, followed by an overly dramatic voiceover. "Spy Wars, an adventure cartoon!"
That show again, huh? Kusuo partly blamed himself for Anya's obsession with spies. He's been interacting with a bunch of them ever since they went to Berlint together.
The city was practically a hotbed for all sorts of espionage, some of which he had a hand in foiling or helping succeed. Spy work was nothing like the things on televisions, no explosions, fancy cars and suave acrobatic smooth talkers. It was boring people thinking about ways to trick someone into a plan to trick another person into tricking themselves into a plan that tricked the trick which was the trick all along.
In simple terms, it was an endless loop of planning and counter-planning that I would brute force through most of the time. What a pain.
'Waku waku!' Anya said, pumping her fists at the ongoing action on the screen. Bondman's theatrics against his latest foe was truly a marvel to behold nowadays. Did he just use one of those toy grabbers to steal the detonator off of the villain? Saiki mentally scoffed at the image, feeling exhaustion start to weigh on him as he rested on the couch.
"Big Kuu is going to sleep again, remember to sleep on time, Anya." The little telepath nodded without taking her eyes off the screen. Kusuo yawned and relaxed further, falling asleep to the sound of slowly fading thoughts and the background music of Spy Wars.
"Subject-001 is showing incredible progress in adapting to his abilities."
"It won't be long until we can start delving deeper into his secrets. Are those limiters ready?"
"It's a miracle we even caught him in the first place, are you certain we can replicate his results?"
"We should start gathering material now, sedated, just in case 001 isn't compliant."
"Start it up, we'll start extraction when he's under."
That dream again. Calling it a 'dream' is an understatement, it was a 1:1 recreation from his memories. What a pain…
The morning sun started to filter through the curtains in their room. Anya had fallen asleep beside him, curled up near his chest with the TV turned off and a blanket over the both of them. Good grief, Kusuo yawned, pulling off the blanket from his side and being careful not to stir Anya as he got off the couch.
It was time to get to work doing the job that the caretaker was supposed to do. Saiki started off the day with a simple restore to get some of the damaged wooden planks fixed. He went around the hallways and empty rooms, sweeping them clean with a duster while simultaneously swiping the floor with a broom and dustpan.
There were no bugs around, and he was grateful for that. Last time a rogue cockroach had gotten a bit too close for his liking, and he accidentally tore down a wall overlooking the street. There was no evidence of it, but a loud explosion caught the attention of nearly everyone in the orphanage.
Alright, cleaning's done. Saiki teleported back and forth between the grocery store and the orphanage, carrying a dozen paper bags filled to the brim with food. It was time for breakfast.
The kitchen sprang to life with multiple pots and pans bubbling, the enticing aroma of sizzling bacon and porridge filling the orphanage. Kusuo managed the entire kitchen with nothing but his mind, functioning as a one-man kitchen staff. If he could do all of this alone, he might have considered a job as a kitchen hand. Of course, using psychic abilities openly was out of the question.
"That should suffice." With a flick of his hand, a long tablecloth gently settled on the benches, and plates and cutlery floated out from the cupboards, arranging themselves neatly. He intended to discreetly retrieve money from the caretaker's wallet when the opportunity arose. Though, with his 'absentminded' nature, the caretaker might not even notice the loss of a few hundred dalc anyway.
"Big Kuu, where are you?" Anya's voice echoed in his head.
"Downstairs, breakfast time."
Kusuo Saiki being the only teenager in the orphanage felt strange. There was Anya, who is, despite not being blood related, often referred to as his little sister by the caretaker and the other kids in the orphanage. They've been together for the past year, constantly changing households and last names. He was a Kusuo Williams, a Kusuo Levski, Kusuo Klein then a Kusuo Roche.
Those were annoying times. Constantly changing families, changing schools, what a bother. In two years, Kusuo would be old enough to act as the official guardian for Anya. He couldn't spend most of his time managing this small orphanage, as quiet as it can be, it could potentially come under watch, or worse, be used as a listening post for spies.
"Thank you for the meal, Big Brother Kusuo!" The kids gathered around the table yelled out, looking at the scattered array of breakfast foods laid out neatly across the table. He poured out a cup of coffee for himself, watching on as their fellow orphans snacked on. Kusuo smiled at the small crowd gathered around the table, a pang ringing in his heart.
No, that wasn't a smile. I managed to get some coffee at a discount.
"Make sure to eat well, I will clean the dishes." Kusuo sipped from a steaming cup of coffee, his face melting into joy at the subtle bitterness and fine taste as he watched the rest of the kids dig into their meals. "Anya, make sure to finish your porridge."
"Anya wants to draw Kuu's big adventure yesterday!" She hummed, shoving a spoonful of porridge into her mouth. "Stoppen da big purse snatcher!"
"Don't speak with your mouth full."
"Thank you for the meal! Big bro Kusuo!" I'm not smiling.
He was washing off the dishes from breakfast before another series of thoughts came into view. Or, well, rather listened to. Kusuo continued to scrub down the dishes, hoping they would just stay inside their office for now.
"Kusuo, did you cook breakfast again?" A slurred voice asked out of sight. Maybe not.
"Ah, I don't know why I bother waking up if you're just gonna do all the work." The greasy man snivelled, wiping his nose as he sauntered down the hallway. "Keep doing your work, I'll give you some money later. I'll be in my office doing paperwork."
You're just going to keep on drinking again, I didn't even need to read your mind to know this.
The owner didn't care much for them. The state of the orphanage before he and Anya came in was atrocious. Broken floorboards, boarded up windows, cobwebs almost everywhere. If that wasn't the worst part, he didn't even care what kind of person took the kids. They came and went without even being registered that they have even left, with delays from a week to a month.
Sure, just give away these children without doing any sort of record keeping, I'm sure they'll not end up being trafficked. He huffed. I'm surprised he hasn't been audited yet, they really ought to do background checks on the true shady characters here, not the spies.
Kusuo was certain that if a spy were to come in and take a child, nobody would be able to trace where they came from. What a joke.
Something came into the range of his telepathy.
'This looks to be the place.' A man's voice echoed in his head. Wait, no.
'Franky's address wasn't wrong. However, this place looks a lot more well-kept than he had described it.' Kusuo snapped his head over to the hallway that split down the middle of the orphanage. 'I was expecting it to be a bit more shady, but I ought to prepare a cover story on why I'm here, just in case.'
Please don't tell me, did I actually summon a spy while thinking about one? Disbelief flooded Saiki's mind as he swung his head around to view the origin of those thoughts. This is bad. Very bad.
Kusuo slipped the last few plates into the cupboards before he hung up his apron. While Kusuo didn't mind it if they were adopted now, he would literally want anything other than a spy. He marched down the hallway, dead set on stopping them at the door.
Could they possibly want from an orphanage? There's no way a Spy suddenly gives up their quiet life just to raise a child! They're so annoying to deal with.
"Anya is not annoying to deal with, big Kuu is a tsun-tsun." Kusuo furrowed his eyebrows, snapping his head over to the drawing room. Sparkles flew from Anya's head as Kusuo came into range of her telepathy.
"You are."
He could hear Anya blowing raspberries in his head as he stepped up towards the front desk. The wooden boards under his feet creaked as he approached swiftly. I'm going to scare off that spy before he gets second thoughts.
"Spy!?" Anya suddenly proclaimed in her head.
"No, there isn't." Saiki could see through the door with his X-Ray, the man's hand inches away from hitting the doorbell.
No you don't. Saiki reached for the door to stop him, his eyes flaring with his psychic power as he closed in. The psychic was going to curse the doorframe to subliminally convince him the orphanage was a front to catch spies, and throw in some images of State Security Service agents in the attic with some fancy radio equipment. That will scare them off rightly—
As he reached for the door, ready to intercept, a flash of movement caught his eye. His heart skipped a beat.
A pair of black beady eyes stared back at him from the corner of the room. Insectoid legs sprawled out on the blue patterned wallpaper and a bulbous shining carapace stared back at him. Kusuo was dumbfounded that he hadn't seen the creature as he was traversing the hallway, his mind so dead focused on stopping the spy from reaching the door.
Its antennae twitched before the creature flew.
Ah.
'Big Bro Kuu suddenly disappeared!?' Anya's wide eyes darted around the almost empty drawing room, her small body tensing for a moment. The faint pop and absence of her brother made her freeze in confusion before her imagination took over.
Oh! He must be on a big super secret spy mission! Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she envisioned Kusuo sneaking around, dodging lasers, and outsmarting villains. "Damn you! Super Agent Big Bro Kusuo!"
The thought made her giggle, her worry dissipating as quickly as it had come.
Without missing a beat, Anya returned to her drawing, her tiny hands gripping the crayons with enthusiasm. She added a dash of black here, drawing two pink-haired figures with triumphant smiles. Her depiction of Kusuo had a cool black mask over his green-tinted glasses, and wavy lines emanated from his hand, symbolising his psychic powers. Next, she drew a brown box being taken from a rotund man, her scribbles representing the chaotic scenes she imagined.
Epic big bro spy mission, so exciting! Anya thought, her face lighting up with a proud smile. The doorbell's ring echoed through the orphanage, snapping Anya out of her drawing-induced trance. She looked up, her eyes wide with curiosity. Who could that be?
At the front door, the original caretaker, a dishevelled and slightly tipsy man, opened the door. His half-lidded eyes squinted at the well-dressed man standing before him.
"Good afternoon," the man said with a polite smile. "I'm here to inquire about adopting a child, you see me and my wife have—"
The caretaker blinked, trying to focus. "Adoptin' a kid, huh? Well, come on in," he slurred, stepping aside to let the man enter. "We got plenty o' kids here."
Twilight entered the orphanage, his eyes scanning the surroundings with practised efficiency. A few of the kids stood in the hallway, looking up at the spy as he stepped through. Despite the caretaker's less-than-professional demeanour, the place was cleaner and better maintained than he had anticipated, but he could sense that this was someone else's handy work, not the Caretaker's. 'Hm, despite its outward appearance, this place still seems to be a shady establishment. The owner doesn't look up to the task."
As Twilight walked through the room, he crushed a cockroach under his foot without much attention.
"I would prefer it if I could handle this mission on my own, but I can't exactly disguise myself as a child, no matter how skilled of a spy I am." He needed to play his cards right if he were to accomplish this mission. It was critical to the success of Operation Strix to have a gifted child, especially with the standards of Eden Academy to consider.
"Pardon me," Twilight spoke up, "If possible, I would like to have a child who can read and write."
"Ah? Well, in that case." The Caretaker yelled aloud. "Hey Anya, and Kusuo!"
Twilight's eyes fell on a small child seated on a drawing table with a Chimera sitting on the table. The child's pink fluffy hair and black horn accessories on her head made her stand out amidst the sparsely populated playroom. The caretaker's eyes, still somewhat glazed, blinked twice as he scanned the room. "Wait, usually there's two of them here…"
'Ah, who cares. Both of them are creepy brats, Anya's an especially disgusting one. I'd be glad to get both of them outta my hair.'
"Whatever," the caretaker muttered drunkenly, "Both of 'em don't talk much, but Anya and Kusuo are good kids. Her brother does most of the cleaning and cooking 'round here."
"I see, and how old is her brother?" Twilight racked his mind. 'Hm, this may be more difficult than I could've anticipated. I only need one child to get this right, a second one might get in the way, especially if he's old enough. However, a sibling could take off the burden of raising a child.'
"He's a teenager or somethin's," The caretaker's attention quickly returned to Anya, who looked up at the two of them. "Oi, come on Anya, say hello."
"Er… Pardon me." Twilight stepped forwards cautiously, looking down at the small child in front of him. He took a quick glance at Anya, keeping his expression neutral as he recalled the details about Eden Academy's admission standards. 'If I recall, the earliest age students can enter Eden College is six, up until sixteen… She definitely looks to be no older than four or five."
Invisible sparks flew around Anya's head as she read the mind of Twilight, gears twirling in her head as she quickly came up with a response.
"Six." Twilight raised an eyebrow at her response. "I'm six! Uhm, big brother is sixteen"
The drunken caretaker piped in, "You're six now, huh?"
She seems to be a little bit smaller than your average six year old… Anya stood up on her tippy-toes in response to his side comment, earning her a confused eyebrow raise from the agent and caretaker. She struggled to maintain her balance for a few seconds before landing on her heels. How can I make mister Spyman adopt me…
Anya spun around and looked at the newspaper that lay next to next to her drawing. She quickly walked over towards it and picked it up, raising the crossword puzzle towards Twilight.
'A crossword puzzle?' His eyes ran down the side of the page to read the hints on the sheet, a question about biological balance, metaphysics, what kind of newspaper uses all of these scientific terms on a daily crossword puzzle? 'That's probably a bit too difficult for a child.'
'Well, of course for me, it's mere child's play. One down is 'homeostasis', one across is 'Casual Closure'. Next is Symplectomorphism…" His eyes widened in disbelief as Anya wrote down each word she came across, albeit with minor spelling mistakes to them. After a few seconds of a pencil scratching the paper, Anya spun around and revealed the fully completed crossword puzzle. 'Wait, she completed it? Seriously? Such unbelievable intellect…!'
"B-Big Kuu helped me learn some of this!" Anya swiftly added. I don't want to leave big brother behind!
"I see. I'd like to meet Kusuo as well, to get a complete picture." Twilight stood up, turning towards the Caretaker with clear interest in his voice. "Do you know where he is?"
The caretaker gave a lazy shrug. "He's 'round here somewhere. Probably cleanin' up or cookin'."
Nope. No no no no. Spies, espionage, murder, criminals, bomb threats. All of those were child's play to the psychics immense power. But bugs were an immediate 'no' for him. He stood in the middle of a deserted island in nowhere, the azure blue seas surrounding him. He vaguely remembered seeing this place on a travel poster when he was going through the subway tunnel, a random island in the middle of nowhere. Kusuo hated bugs more than anything else in the world, he was terrified of them.
The moment that thing had its wings out and darted towards him, he was in more mortal danger than any sort of crazy spy plot he inserted himself into.
Wait, shit! The spy!
He had remembered that whomever that man was, was probably inside the orphanage talking with the caretaker. How unlucky did he have to be to waste his teleportation on something so menial when a spy was literally knocking at his front door. His mental timer quickly started, three minutes until he could get back into the orphanage.
Stupid! If I could've just stayed I would've stopped him from entering. He mentally berated himself, walking around in a circle on the Island.
No no no no, I was still justified in teleporting away, who knows what would've happened if that bug landed on me. A fair assessment, if it had landed anywhere on him, let alone his face, he would've probably demolished the whole building around him from a knee-jerk reaction.
Kusuo waited out his three minutes, impatiently tapping his foot against the beach. Hurry up, hurry up — Now!
His surroundings quickly changed to that of his bedroom, their blanket still resting on the couch from where Kusuo slept, and a few of his books out of the way. I hope I'm not too late.
Oh who am I kidding. He's right outside of my door. The caretaker swung open Kusuo's bedroom door as he quickly straightened himself out.
"Here's their room. Oh, Kusuo, you're here."
"Please knock next time before entering, thank you." He spoke with a deadpan expression on his face. He came face to face with the man trying to adopt them.
Loid Forger, Agent Twilight, ever the professional, quickly sized up the boy standing before him. Kusuo stared blankly back with his unassuming demeanour and calm expression. It didn't seem like much at first glance. Yet, if Anya's intellect were to come from somewhere, it would've come from her role model of an older brother. "Pleasure to meet you, Kusuo. I hope we can spend some time together getting to know each other before I adopt you and your sister."
'I'll have to drop this plan if he's too intelligent. Most teenagers may not look like it, but I can assume from his little sister's intellect that he's no joke either.'
"Could I please enter your room?"
"Sure." He stepped back and removed the blanket from the couch in their shared room. Loid entered, followed shortly by Anya trailing behind him with sparks in her eyes.
"Big bro! He's a spy on a mission! SO COOL!" Kusuo had to control his face not to twitch in annoyance at Anya's willingness to go along. As much as he would like them to get adopted, as mentioned previously, this was the worst foster parent they could have wished for, at least in Kusuo's opinion. He maintained his facade of disinterest.
"I hear you're quite the worker, Kusuo. The caretaker says you handle most of the housework in the Orphanage."
"I do, but it's not like he would care to get out of his office to do it himself." He spoke with a harsh undertone of malice towards the caretaker.
'I see. Kusuo doesn't seem to like the caretaker a lot. A dislike of authority? No, perhaps it has to do something with his previous foster families.' Twilight would have to approach this topic carefully, and assess the dangers of adopting the two of them. One child was the requirement for Eden Academy, but two would likely increase his chances of getting into it. 'Would Kusuo Saiki be a liability or an essential asset to Operation Strix's success?'
We're about to find out.