Thank you everyone for your reviews and thoughts from last chapter! thank you for your kind words and I'm so glad you are all still enjoying the story! :) It is really such a massive project so it really keeps me going!
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Handler clicked the television off as the news segment came to a close.
"Congratulations, Twilight," she said, and she appraised him coolly. "After twelve years in the field, you managed to wrap up Operation Strix, unearth a top secret operation at the governmental level, and keep the peace between the East and West - without having to make a kill. Impressive."
Twilight nodded respectfully.
She tilted her head at him. "Although we could have done without the dramatic exit."
"The best chance we had to take down the lab was to pull the funding," Twilight explained, although he imagined that Handler had already made the connection. She just enjoyed it when he debriefed fully with her. "And if top-level members of the SSS were in on the project, then arresting him wouldn't be in their best interests unless it was demanded by public opinion."
Plus, no-one would suspect a spy being the instigator for a domestic media storm. It would have been far too flashy.
"We take down Donovan Desmond, we take down the lab, and we take down the corrupt officials in one go," Twilight summarised. "It worked out for everyone."
And he didn't say it out loud, but Yuri Briar certainly benefited from the operation. If he removed corruption from the top, then that opened up more spaces for himself to get promoted. It was a win-win.
Although, now that Yuri and he had completed their deal, he would have to have another conversation about keeping the peace for the sake of their family…
"Well, now that that's finally over, here's your new mission," Handler continued, and inclined her head to Dusk, signalling him.
Dusk removed a pale manila folder from his clipboard and passed it wordlessly to Twilight.
Twilight sighed. After twelve years on the mission, he really thought he had earned a bit of a break. He should have known that another mission would land straight on his lap.
And so it continues.
Twilight picked up the envelope.
"Operation… Echidna?" he read.
"Yes."
"Like the hedgehog?" He wondered, and then realised too late that he had watched too many of Anya's cartoons over the years.
Handler rolled her eyes. "Like the myth. Half-woman, half-snake."
"Ah," said Twilight, and somehow, he knew exactly what Operation Echidna referred to without even opening the file.
The Director.
He flipped through the file. It was sparse, which wasn't surprising, mostly made of up documents that he had already collected when he took down the lab for the first time. He noted that a couple had been added, probably by Handler, or Dusk, but they did not contain any leading information that he could use.
"Now that we know that Donovan Desmond was on the shadow board of Project Apple, that tells us about how he was a threat to the peace between our countries. Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, the leaders of the shadow board still exist. As long as they are not behind bars, then they are still a threat to peace. Especially if they still intend to rebuild the lab, as you say."
Twilight nodded, agreeing completely. It took far too long to find Donovan, and they couldn't risk another decade for any of the other shadow members to slither around under their noses. They had to be eliminated, and quickly.
Twilight looked down at his documents again.
"Do you have any word that she is on the move?"
"We have had some reports of a figure making enticing offers to some groups of organised crime," Handler conceded. "It's hard to tell what the details are exactly, but if there is a chance that the Director is planning something big, then we need to find her, and strike first."
"Of course," Twilight agreed.
Dusk cleared his throat, directing both of their attention to him.
"Excuse me," he said gruffly, and then addressed Handler directly. "Pardon my intrusion, but I believe that it would be better if I take over this mission. Twilight has earned a rest after completing a twelve-year long operation, and no doubt he must be tired from the stress."
Twilight's eye twitched, but otherwise he kept his face pleasantly neutral.
"I feel no such strain," he said, only just holding himself back from gritting his teeth. It was odd that moments ago he had felt some disappointment from being assigned immediately to another mission, but Twilight saw Dusk's jibe exactly for what it was.
Dusk wanted to undermine Twilight's competence. Well, he wasn't going to have that.
"I have already infiltrated the upper class social circles," he said with a victorious grin. "If the Director is indeed in one of those circles, I am already best placed to continue the search."
Dusk's face would have remained impressively impassive, if not for the slight twitch of his cheek.
"You are too emotionally invested in the outcome of the Operation-"
"Which is exactly why I assigned it to him," Handler cut in sternly. "Twilight may have additional insights because he is emotionally invested."
Dusk sighed. "Handler, with all due respect, you taught us that a spy should always mask their true emotions."
Handler pressed her lips into thin lines, and Twilight's shoulders sagged. That was how she trained them…
"If you will allow me to be blunt…"
Handler waved her hand at him. "Fine, go on then."
Dusk took a deep breath, and Twilight immediately recognised that sort of motion. It was exactly the type of deep breath he used before delivering bad news to patients.
"Twilight has a record of making mistakes when he is emotionally invested in the mission."
Twilight's jaw dropped to the floor, and he forgot all about hiding his emotions. "I'm right here!"
But Handler ignored Twilight's brief outburst, and narrowed her eyes at Dusk. "Explain."
At least Dusk had the decency to look a little guilty, and he gave Twilight the merest of apologetic glances before he delivered the blow.
"For example, revealing his identity to Damian Desmond."
Uh oh , Twilight gulped. He had forgotten to disclose that little detail…
He almost didn't want to face Handler, but he swallowed his pride, and flicked his eyes to her.
As he thought she would be, Handler was not happy.
"Twilight," she growled, and just the tone of it sent a shiver down his spine. "Is this true?"
"Er…"
He jolted as she slammed her fist onto the table.
"You bastard!" she spat. "You are supposed to be my top agent! What is wrong with you?!"
"Handler, I can explain-"
Once again, she ignored him, and if anything, zeroed in.
"Is there anyone else that knows? Anything that you haven't told me?"
Twilight paused, and beads of sweat prickled on the back of his neck as he realised the deep trouble that he was in.
"There's also Yuri Briar…"
Handler's expression took on a very strange shape, in that it had first inflated like an angry red balloon, before deflating immediately, and she shook her head in immeasurable disappointment.
She held out her hand.
"I'm reassigning Operation Echidna to Dusk," she said through gritted teeth. "Enjoy your retirement, Twilight."
He returned the papers to her, and she snatched them from his hands with another barely-concealed growl.
"You are dismissed ."
Spurred by the broadcast, by the realisation that Donovan Desmond had been arrested , Anya had been worrying for a full hour before Loid opened the front door. She had heard him coming, and she stood by the door so that her solemn face would be the first thing he would see when he entered.
"Are you going to leave us?"
"What?" said Loid, and he blinked in confusion.
Anya's unsmiling face unnerved him. Even worse, Yor stood in the background, watching everything with sad eyes. Loid tried to catch her eye, for her to understand that he had no idea what was going on, for her to send a silent message, for something, but at the sight of Yor's vacant expression, he seized up.
"What's going on?" said Loid, looking between Yor and Anya. "Are you alright? What brought this on?"
"You're leaving, right?" said Anya, and as much as she tried to hold it back, a sniffle broke loose. "Operation Strix is over. You don't need us anymore."
Pain slammed into his chest as Loid understood Anya's fear, and automatically, he reached out to stroke her hair.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said gently, and then he looked up to Yor, and met her eyes too, for good measure. "I'm staying right here. With both of you."
Yor's shoulders loosened with relief, while Anya broke out into full sobs, and leaned against her father.
"Besides, why would I leave? I'm retired now," said Loid. He meant to say it light-heartedly, but it was hard to hold back the note of sadness that came through.
It wasn't how he wanted to go. He had pictured his retirement many times - or at least, had tried to. In his early years as a spy, Loid was convinced that he wanted to 'go out with a bang'. He wanted to be taken down by some fearsome foe in enemy territory, but not without finishing the mission, and solidifying his reputation in WISE legend forever.
Once he finished his training, and started being assigned missions as a solo spy, that fantasy changed very quickly.
If he died on a mission, no one would remember him. No one would be there to witness it, or pass along to his colleague what had happened. He would not be immortalised in legend; he would be a speck of dust in the tomes of history, destined to be forgotten. At some point, Twilight convinced himself that he was okay with that. That it was how spies should die, because they weren't supposed to leave any mark on the world.
Twilight couldn't remember when that changed. Somehow, the idea of a quiet life creeped into his consciousness, and he allowed himself to entertain the idea of 'retirement': when he could be on standby for WISE if there was an absolute need for him, but ultimately, the new generation of spies would exist to carry out the missions, probably to a much higher standard then he could in an older body. At some point, the knees just creaked too loudly to be able to perform stunts like he used to. The back groaned in too much protest. The new generation of spies would have no such ailments, and would no doubt be able to carry on the sacred mantle.
He had been picturing what retirement would look like for him, and to his surprise, he could not picture it without Yor and Anya. He had given twelve years of his life to them already.
"What about Eden College?" said Anya, her worry breaking him from his thoughts. "Can I still go? Even though Strix is over?"
"Yes, Anya," he squeezed her shoulder in reassurance. "WISE paid the tuition in full at the start of the year. You can finish the year." And then his brows drew together as he recalled something. "Although perhaps don't go for the expensive option at lunch anymore, I don't think I can afford-"
Loid wheezed as Anya clamped her arms around him in a tight squeeze.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she said without taking a breath. "Please tell Auntie Sylvia I owe her a huge hug! And a million other things!"
Twilight smiled as he hugged his daughter back.
At least that was one thing that wasn't falling apart.
And yet…
Twilight still couldn't settle, because after twelve years, Operation Strix was over. Case closed, stamped, whatever you name it. Donovan Desmond had been arrested, his plans had failed, peace was restored to the world, so he could finally say that he had succeeded in his mission - right?
In all his years as a spy, Twilight's instincts had kept him alive, and had guided him through every mission. Yes, there were times that he had been misled, and perhaps if he could read minds the way that Anya could then Operation Strix would have been over long ago, but he had learned to trust the small voice in his head that told him when something was wrong.
The voice hadn't gone away, and if he listened closely he would hear it:
This isn't over.
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It's a double chapter day! Next chapter will be posted soon xx
The chapters today are on the reflective side, partly to provide a break for you emotions - but also mine! If this is a rollercoaster to read, imagine what its like to write 😂