Canon?
Yes (has a planned occurence in the plot)
Main Cast
Time period
2041 - 2044
Tags
This is still very brainstorm-y for now so bear with me! Any info subject to change.
Start of the war
Sky, having no experience in wartime state security — or state security in general for that matter, being freshly out of training and all, a really new Half-Noob. He was eager to work with his mentor Goose, mostly in interrogating the prisoners of war Bauhinia captured. When Goose was alone, the interrogations were messy, involved too much bleeding and screaming, and arguably counterproductive. With Sky, she was a lot more reserved, and Sky learned a lot.
And one day, they captured a Fantoni agent lurking near Bauhinian military forts, way behind the frontline. She was sent to Goose and Sky.
Recruitment
Mulberry
She said her name was Mulberry and that she wanted to defect. Fanton coerced her into spying in Bauhinia, and she had always dreamed of escaping that totalitarian hellhole. Her first words as a baby were "fuck Fanton." Okay sorry officers I lied on that one, but I wish it were true, but the "f" sound is really hard for babies to pronounce you know? Ehh… sorry I'll shut up.
Goose was laughing so hard. You think you know more about totalitarian states than me? I spent my whole life living in one! Anyways, she was about to write Mulberry off as a really poorly-trained dangle. Sky, however, had a hunch that she was genuine.
He decided to treat Mulberry to dinner. Starving, she didn't care if the food was poisoned (or just didn't think of the possibility) and devoured it, meat and all. He also poured wine for all of them, gleefully clicking glasses with Mulberry. After the dinner, they each had a cigarette.
And he had his conclusion: Fanton would never hire someone who eats meat, drinks alcohol, and smokes to work for them. Mulberry couldn't have been pretending too, since her reactions suggested she was used to drinking and smoking.
He questioned Mulberry late into the night. She was drafted, trained in boot camp for a while, before offering to work for the NSA, and she was supposed to stay in Bauhinia, taking orders and providing them with the intel they wanted until they summoned her back.
Great. How do you feel about never going back?
The contract was signed; Mulberry was now an official double agent, promised permanent residency in Bauhinia should she see her service until the end of the war. Goose let Sky be her handler, since without him, Goose would've deported Mulberry right back to Fanton. Come up with a code name for her!
Agent Spades.
After the contract was signed, Mulberry opened up to them a lot more. Here's one crucial piece of information she gave them. During her time in boot camp, she heard that the Fantoni had acquired a deadly weapon that could kill people while leaving barely any marks. They called it "magic."
This had already been observed by soldiers on the frontlines. They didn't know how it happened, and their comrades were lying dead on the ground with no visible injury. Countless PoWs had been tortured over it but not a single one talked; no Bauhinian spy sent to investigate had returned. Like magic.
Like magic? Sky knew magic. One of his closest friends was a magician, though he hadn't heard from her in years. He had met the Arch-Magician once, briefly, inside a police station. And he knew that one, magicians only appeared in Bauhinia for at least a few hundred years now; and two, magic cannot be used by anyone other than the magician themselves. Qibli confirmed it, and she got her knowledge from the Arch-Magician, who, as the world's leading authority on magic, couldn't possibility be wrong1.
This could be a lead, but unfortunately Mulberry didn't have much additional information. She dropped the topic, and spent her time supplying the Fantoni with MSS-approved chicken feed.
Fortunately, someone else came along who could potentially investigate this issue further.
Blackjack
Blackjack was also caught by the MSS in the middle of her mission to sabotage an important fiber-optic cable line with a magic spell. Sky got ahold of the spell trinket, an innocent-looking pen. They locked Blackjack in a room with a one-way mirror and forced her to cast it. The one-way mirror shattered.
So, apparently the effects of this spell was just to shatter all glass nearby, which was how they planned to break the fiber-optic cable.
It was confirmed: the Fantoni did have magic. But how? Blackjack didn't really know either.
Sky gave Blackjack an offer to work for them in exchange for a proper job and permanent residency in Bauhinia after the war. She agreed, and was made Agent Clubs.
Blackjack's government official wanted results. What happened to the fiber-optic cable?? Well, they just published a news article about it being mysteriously broken and that a bunch of delinquent kids were charged for it.
Since the government official gave her a magic spell, it must mean he was a part of the chain that delivered the magic from its supplier to the frontlines. With that, Blackjack was sent back to Fanton with a task: cut the chain from her trusty bribe recipient.
Jumbo
Almost at the same time, the MSS intercepted some correspondence between someone in Bauhinia and someone in Fanton. They looked at it and just stared… Seems like this person is trying to sell the Fantoni info but failing terribly at that. The person in question was completely making shit up.
They realized that the Fantoni trusted this person a lot, and that they could use them to provide intentionally misleading information.
Sky found out everything about them. Jumbo, trader, sometimes smuggles stuff but mostly law-abiding. He posed as someone wanting to contact some Fantoni traders and introduced himself to her.
Sky pulled a dirty trick for this one. He asked his beloved mentor Goose to hide herself and his MSS uniform touching him. That way, he appeared as a civilian while wearing the uniform.
Jumbo met Sky in a restaurant, but quickly, Sky asked to go somewhere more private. She took him to her studio.
In the split second Jumbo had her back turned, Goose released Sky, letting his uniform show. Still invisible, she slipped away, trusting her apprentice to handle it.
Jumbo turned around to see Sky clad in a jet-black uniform.
Sky was stepping around the room, surveying the place, arms behind his back.
Jumbo narrowed her eyes.
When did you put on that coat? I don't remember you carrying it. And it kind of looks like a government uniform?
Sky pulled his badge out of his pocket and showed it to Jumbo.
Sky pulled out a pair of handcuffs by his left hand, dangling them in front of Jumbo.
But — Wait! Let me explain! I — I made everything up! Surely you know that? I never gave them real information! I was — I was intentionally misleading them for the benefit of Bauhinia!
The Ministry does not care whether the information is true or false. The Ministry only cares about whether you did it. Did you, or did you not?
Jumbo was sweating and heaving, on the verge of tears.
He produced a piece of paper from his right hand. A contract.
The Ministry is generous enough to offer you a chance to atone for your crimes, and even receive merit. Come work with us. Or…
He jingled the handcuffs in his left hand. Both hands are extended towards Jumbo. She swallowed.
Thus, Jumbo was recruited as Agent Hearts.
Tsunami
Sky had been keeping track of Firecrackers's status ever since he had been drafted. The news came that he was one of the soldiers killed by Fanton's magic.
That was his chance: he went to Tsunami, Firecrackers's older sister, working as a hotel concierge. She was trying and failing to take Firecrackers's ashes from their dad, who had apparently buried it already. Sky informed her of the cause of her brother's death: it was a magic spell. Do you want to help the MSS find the source of it?
Driven by a desire to avenge her brother, Tsunami agreed. She was recruited as Agent Diamonds.
By then Sky already had an idea who it would be: Qibli. He had this hunch ever since seeing Blackjack's spell in action: the color seeping through the cracks in the mirror was the exact dark purple of her soul. But he didn't want to believe it. Qibli wouldn't intentionally harm people like that.
Sky prepared Westavian papers for Tsunami, who first entered Westavia before going into Fanton from the north.
And then she went places saying she wants to buy magic n shit (but not too directly of course) and then Qibli heard it and was like "oh potential client!" so through an intermediary they arranged a meeting.
Qibli was waiting for her when she went in.
But suddenly, Fantoni police stormed into the room. Apparently the intermediary ratted them out, having heard that Qibli was being wanted.
And well, if some normal police could catch Qibli then Qibli wouldn't be Qibli. She grabbed onto Tsunami and teleported them both to Tsunami's dad's grocery store, unaware that it had been shut down.
and then something something and tsunami gets back to confirm skys worst fears. His friend had murdered his other friend, indirectly or not. But was Sky any better? Didn't he use Firecrackers's death to manipulate Tsunami into working for him? But she completed the mission, Sky told himself. I did the right thing.
Epilogue
After the war ended, Sky was awarded with eternal bragging rights and a choice to work wherever he wanted to. He decided to become a teacher at Ministry Affiliate2.
Next: Spy School, Poker Party.