Chapter Text
There's two agents in the protocol that every new recruit is weary of.
The first one is the lighthearted Cypher. Well, lighthearted at first glance. But beyond the cheery persona, his words are laced with a hint of his expertise in information gathering. For example, when Agent 18 Chamber joined. The recruit custom was to have a group introduction in the meeting room, so all the agents went around to introduce themselves. When it was Cypher's turn, they shook hands, exchanged names before Cypher leaned close to Chamber's ear and whispered some inaudible. While the French weapon designer did not seem to be fazed, there was a hint of sour shown on his face as he went to the next person. When Killjoy leaned over and nudged Cypher trying to see what he said, he merely smiled and said, "that's for me to know, little engineer".
The other agent is the resident wraith Omen. Contrary to the Moroccan information broker who had everyone's secrets and information, Omen's secret and information were his own. Almost none of the agents knew much about Omen, things like his name or age. Even Omen himself didn't know and eventually stopped bugging Viper about it after she refuse to crack under his questioning. On top of that, his physical appearance was also scary at first glance. After all, he isn't exactly human so to speak. He's a person of few words, with a powerful and unapproachable aura. It took on average four to six months for newer recruits to finally be able to feel more like acquaintances with the wraith.
And the Protocol, especially the younger agents, surely liked to gossip about the only two masked agents and how it seemed like they got along really well. Too well in fact.
Today was no different. At the doorway to the lounge of training room B, Jett was peeking around the corner when Phoenix tried to push her knee in. The wind assassin whirled around, raising a finger to her lips as a motion of silence. Phoenix scowled as Jett pulled his collar and pointed inside the lounge. Phoenix glances inside and raised an eyebrow as he whispered, "No way."
In the lounge, there was nobody there except two people. Cypher seems to be going off about a topic, motioning his hand to illustrate and Omen would just listen, his blue slits for eyes would fully be on the Moroccan. To show that Cypher has his attention, Omen would nod or shake his head or make a few grunting noises every now and then. The two of them do not seem to notice the two young agents right outside.
Omen responded something, since Cypher let out a light laugh as he closed his locker. Omen leaned against his, the space between them was Agent 4's locker.
"Wait, is that Cypher and Omen?" Yoru asked behind the two nosey duelists. Phoenix grabbed Yoru by the neck and covered his mouth, shushing him. Yoru glares at him and smacks the British agent's hand away, also joining in on watching this scene unfold.
As the two agents continue to converse, the younger batch also whispered among themself.
"Man, Cypher has balls to just talk to Omen normally. I still get chills when I talk to him." Jett shivered, rubbing her arms.
Yoru glances at the young woman, "Huh, he seems pretty nice to me. Told me how I leave pieces of myself behind when I dimensional drift."
"I never said he wasn't, just... he seems so serious. Seeing Cypher just casually talking to him like that I'm so envious." Jett pouts.
"Well, they have been here the longest aside from Viper and Brimstone."
The trio jumped, turning around and straightening their posture. Killjoy looked at the three, a laptop under her armpit. Her glasses sat a bit crooked on her nose and she looked like she just came out from pulling an all nighter. The three agents politely greeted Killjoy who nodded in return. Phoenix asked, "But you were hired after Omen right?"
"I was indeed hired shortly after Omen by Viper since our department had its fair share of interactions. But I didn't actually work with the Protocol until around five months later since I was still working with Kingdom's Research and Development." Killjoy says. "And Cypher was hired I believe two weeks after I was, so the two of them worked together a lot during the early days of Protocol. Anyways, why are you guys standing at the door? You guys going in or?"
"Yeah of course." Jett says, pushing the other two men in. Cypher notices the four agents coming in and politely greeted them. Omen just gave his usual low "hello". Killjoy smiled at the two, stepping in between them and opening her locker with no hesitation. The others also went to their respective lockers. Cypher and Omen leaves from that spot, turns out the two of them just finished their training session.
As they leave, Cypher whispered "was it fun hiding behind the door" to Jett, who squeaked in fear as her face flushed in embarrassment.