Chapter Text
Twilight entered 328 Park Avenue, scanning the small apartment for anything suspicious. It was a small, two bedroom apartment near City Hall, and the new home of Loid Forger, his latest alias.
“This is going to be a long term mission.” Handler warned him in their meeting. “Our original plan was to have you infiltrate Donovan Desmond’s inner circle, but he’s too socially isolated for that to work in the timeframe we have. You will be working in the government’s clerical departments. Work your way into classified information, and piece together what the plans for war are that way.” It was called Operation Slipstream.
The apartment was small. This building seemed to have copied each apartment, and changed the floorplan slightly depending on how many rooms it had. As it was, he could see characteristics left behind by the previous residents. A few faint crayon markings on the wall of one of the bedrooms. Scratch marks from some small animal, probably a cat. A wine bottle had been left behind in one of the cabinets. It laid out an interesting story of the inhabitants that had lived here.
There didn’t seem to be any listening devices anywhere. Twilight did notice several nooks and crannies where they could be hidden though. Even a couple cracks in the walls, seemingly due to small household accidents. He’d have to rigorously check those spaces anytime this space got compromised. As for the apartment itself, he planned to set up one room for his bedroom and office, and the other as a guest room, and a space where he could work on longer, more difficult projects. Because despite taking on a long term project, WISE was still having him take on side missions. His stomach hurt thinking about it.
Twilight jolted. For a moment, he had a feeling like someone was watching him. He swiveled his head around, but the apartment was still empty. He shook it off. Loid Forger needed to start unpacking.
“Did you guys hear? They’ve hired a new filing clerk, and he’s a cutie!” Millie spun around with her hands on her cheeks. “Do you think he’s single?” Sharon took a long drag of her cigarette, shaking her head.
“You’re hopeless, you know that?”
Yor furrowed her brows in confusion. She didn’t understand why wondering if the new clerk was single made Millie hopeless. These conversations never made sense.
“They’re going to take him on a tour around City Hall later today.” Camilla grinned. “Maybe you can catch his interest?”
“In these uniforms? Never!”
Yor spoke up. “I think Millie is always very interesting. She has those stories about those dates she goes on.”
Camilla sighed. “Yor, when the new guy comes around, just keep your mouth shut and smile, okay? We don’t want you scaring him off with your Yor-isms.” With the other three clearly ignoring her to continue their chat by the window, she turned back to her desk work.
She sighed as she typed away at her typewriter. She always felt so lost with these conversations, like half of what was being said was missing. It would be so much easier if everyone said exactly what they meant all the time. With the way that her coworkers talked, she couldn’t tell if they liked her or not, and it made her uneasy. What if this new clerk joined in their chats and she couldn’t understand what he meant either?
“And here are the girls.” A supervisor from another department entered, followed by a handsome blond man. “They mostly transcribe stuff and do basic office tasks. Don’t be fooled by their pretty faces though, they help keep this place running!” He laughed and hit the new clerk on the back. Yor wondered if it hurt.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you ladies.” The blond man smiled. “My name’s Loid Forger, and I’ll be helping in Records.” He held his hand out to Yor to shake. “What’s your name?”
“Oh! I’m Yor Briar. It’s wonderful to meet you.” She very delicately shook his hand. The last thing she wanted was to break this polite man’s bones.
Millie appeared, leaning across the desk on her elbows. “Hi! I’m Millie, and that’s Sharon and Camilla! We’re so excited to get to work with you! Would you like to join us when we go out for drinks later?” They had not discussed going out that night, but the others seemed interested.
“I just moved into the city, so I’m sure such wonderful women such as yourselves can show me the best places around here.” He smiled again as he shook hands with the other girls. “I look forward to getting to know you all.” As soon as he left, Sharon let out a loud wolf-whistle.
“Dang. Whoever ends up with that is one lucky lady.”
“I know, right?” Camilla gushed. “If I didn’t have Dominic, I’d say you’ve got competition, Millie. We have got to get you set up with him.”
“I hope that he likes working here.” Yor added to the conversation. “Do you think he misses his old home?”
“Who cares?” Millie skidded across the floor in her chair back to her desk. “All that matters is that Mr. Hot Guy is here now!”
Twilight began packing up at the end of the day. No remarkable information had been gathered yet. It was all mostly the kind of stuff he paid Franky for. But it would definitely lead to more useful stuff, especially once he got promoted toward more relevant content. Now he needed to go get drinks with the women from the other department. Another good source of information. One thing that he had learned from his years of spy work is that befriending the gossips always helped speed things along.
Three of the four were waiting for him, and quickly led him to a nearby bar. It was small and had cheap alcohol, which is probably why they chose it as an after-work location. They soon got settled in with drinks. “So you’re Camilla, Sharon, and…” he furrowed his brow as he pretended to struggle with remembering. “Millie?”
“Yep!” The younger woman giggled as she leaned against the bar. He was learning about their personalities pretty quickly. Sharon was married with kids, and a very serious, tired woman. Camilla seemed to be very gossipy with a vicious streak that he’d have to watch out for. And Millie was cheerful and flirty, and seemed to be attracted to Loid Forger. That could be useful for manipulation if needed.
“Where’s the last one of the group? Yor, was it?”
Camilla answered, obviously drunk. “She’s got something going on with that director. I swear, she’s probably trying to sleep with him. Why else would he constantly be calling her into his office?” She leaned in conspiratorially. “She’s such a weirdo. I mean, she’s 27, and has never been in a relationship. Makes you wonder what’s going on.”
“I’m so sorry I’m late!” Loid nearly fell out of his chair as Yor herself seemingly materialized in the seat next to him. How had she snuck up on them without him noticing? He had been keeping constant track of everybody entering and exiting the bar. “Oh! It’s very nice to see that you joined us!” The woman frantically bowed, still sitting, and began setting down her things.
“I’m glad that you made it. I was starting to get worried that something had happened to you.”
“Oh, no, I just had to talk with the director. He manages City Hall projects, and sometimes he needs to double check information.” She smiled before ordering a sweet drink, more lemonade than booze.
“Well, I was just getting to know your coworkers. How about you tell me about yourself?”
“I’m not very interesting, I’m afraid. My only family is my brother, who works as a diplomat. I don’t really do much outside of work.”
“So you’re both civil servants.”
“Yes, but he’s always been far smarter than me.” She took a long swig from her drink. “Growing up, I had to take care of him after the war, so I didn’t have time to go to school. But I made sure that he went to school every day so that he could have a good life.”
“That’s… that’s very kind of you.” They sat there in the comfortable noise of the bar for a while. People came and went, glasses clinked, and the two bartenders working that night would call orders back and forth to each other. The sun set, and the glow of street lights illuminated the dark.
Sharon tapped on Loid’s shoulder. “Hey, Camilla’s kinda getting sick, so I’m going to take her home. Will you three be fine on your own?”
He shrugged. “It’s probably time to start heading out anyway. It was nice getting to know all of you.”
“Same to you!” Millie cheered.
“Mishter Forger, I’m going to work real hard sho you can do your job!” Yor slurred, drunk despite only having two glasses of the sweet drink. “You are sho nice, and I want to make sure you’re shafe!”
“You stay safe yourself, Yor, okay? Do you need me to call you a taxi?”
“No, I can run! I have very good legs!”
And so ended Loid Forger’s first day at work.
The apartment was dark. Keys scraped against the metal of the door, before finding their home in the lock. The door swung open, and the lights flickered on.
Was this really the best mission HQ could think of? It seems like there would be better ways to collect war plans than by observing government records. Maybe this is meant to be an in-between mission. A way to keep busy while a strategy is organized. The spy calling himself Twilight dropped off his briefcase and coat at a coat rack near the door, before turning to the kitchen and cooking himself up a stir fry. The space filled with a cozy, tangy smell.
Soon, the lights were turned off, and the main room of the apartment was empty again. And out from a crack in the wall came a tiny, pink haired girl wearing a tattered doll dress and a poorly cut pair of wax paper wings.
A spy? So exciting!