#agent eclipse

***

Dawn broke over the city of London, and Matthew was awake for it. He was sitting on a balcony overlooking an empty street, dressed in a loose-ish dark red shirt and dark blue denim jeans (Galileo had told him that it would be best to dress smart-casual for the first day). He was eating breakfast as he sat there, every few seconds turning to look at the suitcase just behind him. It was everything he’d apparently need for the next four months.

Finishing breakfast, he left the balcony and carried the bowl and the suitcase downstairs to the kitchen. Sitting there reading the paper was a man in his early fifties with short brown hair and a small beard along his chin. He turned to Matthew and smiled. Matthew tried to smile back, and not look at the headline which read “CENTRAL LONDON FIRE AND BREAK-IN: INVESTIGATIONS ONGOING”. Funny. He’d been the victim of one and the cause of the other.

“You all ready, then?” Peter Luther asked, putting the newspaper down. “You know, I’m really proud of you for doing this. Putting yourself out there, and getting some great experience, too.”

Matthew nodded, smiling in the same way he’d smiled at that Reflection employee two weeks ago. “Yeah, it’s great that they offer short courses like these at colleges. It’s not completely related to my degree, obviously, but there’s a lot more crossover than you’d expect.”

“Well, you’d be the expert in that.” Peter shrugged. It was a pretty good cover story, all things considered, but even someone like him, who’d left school at 16, could tell that going from biology to astronomy was something of a leap. “But I trust you, Matt, I want you to know that. Make sure you enjoy yourself up there, okay?”

“Course I will, yeah.” Matthew paused as he saw a car pull up outside. “Ah, there’s my friend I told you about. I should probably head off, don’t want to keep them waiting…”

Peter gave Matthew a brief hug and smiled at him. Matt said another quiet “bye” to his Dad and opened the door, taking a brief look at the pictures on the wall before leaving. Some had four people in them, but most had three. Blinking for a moment, he turned and walked out the door, closing it behind him. He went to get in the back of the car, before hearing the voice of the driver.

“In the front, Agent Moon, if that’s alright.” came the voice of Agent Terra, who was sitting in the driver’s seat. He looked in to see Agent Gaia sitting at the back, a laptop on her legs and a pile of folders in the middle seat that had toppled onto the third seat due to the movement of the car. “We’re meant to be working right now, but…we wanted to have a chat before you started training.”

Terra pressed a button and the boot door opened, allowing Matt to put his suitcase and rucksack in. Closing it back down, he walked over and got into the passenger seat, and had barely put his seatbelt on when the car,a decently expensive one from what Matthew could tell, started moving.

Gaia cleared her throat as they passed through the London streets. “See, Agent Galileo told us you were off today, and that she’d be sending Agent Eclipse to pick you up. And Terra wasn’t sure-”

“Hey, don’t pin all this on me, ok?” Terra said, rolling his eyes. “We both agreed that it’d be better if we were the ones to do it. Just to make sure…uhm…”

“That Atticus wouldn’t scare me off?” Matthew guessed. The two looked at each other before Terra refocused on the road.

“Something like that.” Agent Gaia said in a hushed voice, looking down at her laptop screen. “It’s weird knowing his name now, but honestly, it fits him. Galileo did tell us not to tell any other agents, though. Eclipse likes to keep his secrets, after all.”

Matthew thought about the years he’d known Atticus. They’d played together as kids whenever they were allowed over to see his mother’s side of the family. That visit where he’d told Matthew to go for the MI6 job was the last time he’d seen Atticus in years. “Yeah, I guess he does. I feel bad for having yelled it out, um, back at E- um, Agent Galileo’s office.”

“Don’t worry about it, you had no way of knowing.” Terra reassured him, taking another turning as the car snaked through the London suburbs. “If I’d seen one of my cousins working as a spy, I’d probably have the same reaction. Though probably best to switch to Eclipse while you’re training.”

Matthew nodded, looking out of the window as the buildings around them gradually became further spaced apart and shorter as they entered the Greater London area. The patchwork of suburbs that surrounded the city made for a nice view as the car sped through, the traffic minimal seeing as they had passed the morning rush hour. He noticed that Terra wasn’t following a satnav or a phone, and instead appeared to know the route from memory. Terra briefly looked back at Matthew and smiled, with Matthew smiling back, before turning his full attention to the road once more.

“You all healed up, by the way? Some of those bruises looked pretty nasty.” Terra asked, scratching his head as he took the car onto an A-Road. The expensive-ish houses around them gave way to the green and pleasant fields of the English countryside, minus the housing development site or two.

Matthew turned back around, having been counting how many fields of sheep he saw. “Oh yeah, uh, I’m more or less perfect. The stuff Agent Luna gave me cleared them up in no time.”

“Yeah, Luna’s the best.” Gaia smiled from the back seat, her quiet typing having not stopped since the journey began. “Or so I’ve heard. I’ve never really needed the Medical Team’s help, being a handler and all.”

Terra chuckled. “Nope, me neither.”

Gaia suddenly cleared her throat. “Well, actually-”

“Oh, for god’s sake-”

“I have a rather distinct memory of you burning your finger on the toaster in the break room-”

“It was a bad burn!” Terra hissed, rolling his eyes as the car came to a stop at a red light.. “It needed medical attention!”

“Yes, and Agent Luna was there to provide; her invaluable guidance of “stop screaming and run your hand under the tap” really saved the day, didn’t it?” Gaia snorted, clearly remembering the incident in vivid detail in her head. “At least she had the decency to say you were very brave and it wasn’t your fault the toaster was still warm.”

“You are totally misrepresenting things!-”

Matthew watched all of this with a bemused expression. “Um…light’s green, um…” he muttered.

“If you hadn’t denied it, I wouldn’t have had to explain!”

“I denied it because I knew you would explain!”

Matthew cleared his throat, albeit quietly. “Um, the light is-”

There was a loud honk from behind, and Terra hastily moved the car forward. Silence followed for a few seconds, before Matthew couldn’t help but laugh. Eventually, the twins followed.

“Sorry, Moon, didn’t mean to…” Terra paused, covering his mouth to hold in more laughter. “This is why we tend to stay back at HQ. At least there we can argue all we want without annoying anyone.”

Matthew simply smiled. “It’s not annoying to me, really. As long as you keep your eye on the road, you can argue all you like.”

Gaia sifted through the notes on the seat beside her. “Well, that’s very nice of you to say. And once you’re through training here, you’ll get to listen to us argue a lot more.”

“I look forward to it.” Matthew said, watching as the countryside scenery continued to roll on by. Eventually, he spoke up again. “So…I’m guessing you can’t say much about the training, right?”

Terra shrugged. “Well, they change it every time, since people can retake it and everything, but the basic principles are always the same. You know, physical ability, problem solving, teamwork, ability to deal with the stresses of the job, all that stuff.”

Matthew had assumed as much, but hearing it from someone else made it all feel a lot more real somehow. “I see…wonder if I’ll have to retake it…”

Terra and Gaia looked at each other briefly. “Are you joking?” Gaia chuckled, leaning forward to look at Matthew. “You’ve already got a successful mission under your belt, what do you have to worry about?”

“Yeah, but…” he trailed off, his smile fading. “A lot of that was down to you two.”

Terra sighed. “Look, we appreciate it, really. But you can’t sit there and say that some of that wasn’t because of your own skills, right?”

Matthew shrugged. “I…I guess? I dunno, sorry, um…” he stammered, wincing at himself. He tried not to think about what Bill would say if all of this was for nothing, or what Terra and Gaia would think of the person who took Bill’s title, or even what Eclipse would think. “I just don’t know if I can do it again.”

“Well…” Terra said, a small smile appearing on his face, “There’s only one way to find out.”

The car drove through a roundabout, off the A-Road, and past a hill with some trees on it before a vast compound came into view. There were half a dozen hills scattered across the area, each with its own domed building with a large telescope sticking out of it. Matthew watched as small shuttered hangars, large antennae, and smallish buildings that reminded him of university housing went by, until Terra stopped the car by the front entrance, a sign over the doors reading “Haverhill Observatory - Operated by The Midnight Foundation”.

“Alright, this is you.” Terra said, leaning back in his seat. “Gaia, his things?”

Gaia leant forward again and passed a document of some kind with a card paperclipped alongside it. Matthew took it and noted Agent Galileo’s signature on it, as well as a blue stamp with the Midnight Foundation’s logo on it. He got out of the car and held up the paper. Sure enough, the stamp matched the logo next to the double doors. He turned back around to grab his bags from the boot, before turning back to the twins.

“Thanks for this, I really appreciate it.” He looked down at the card quickly, and was surprised to see that it had the image from his MI6 file.

“No worries, Moon. We’ll see you on the other side, yeah?” Gaia said, waving to him with a smile.

Terra gave a wave and a nod too. “Good luck, mate. They won’t know what hit ‘em.” Both agents rolled up their windows, and the car rolled away. Matthew stood there for a second, took a breath, and turned towards the double doors. Entering, he saw that the architecture was quite similar to that of the London Headquarters, though much smaller and without the large carvings and sculptures, instead favouring detailed paintings of the solar system as well as several stars, presumably ones discovered here. 

Not wanting to be late, he stepped towards the desk. He would have said something (hopefully something coherent), but the receptionist interrupted before he could.

“Card and certificate, please.” He said, in a tone that suggested that he’d be spending most of today saying those four words. Matthew obliged, and watched as he stamped the certificate once more before putting it in a pile of certificates nearby. Matthew guessed that maybe 7 or 8  people had arrived here before him. That made him feel some amount of relief: he probably wasn’t late. Once the receptionist had scanned the card, he passed it back to Matthew.

“Oh, thank you-” he said quietly. The receptionist looked up in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected to be thanked, before continuing to type away on a computer.

“...You’re signed in…Agent. Would you like to be known as Matthew Luther for your time in training or choose another name?”

It was now Matthew’s turn to be surprised. He knew they’d have to take measures to make sure people didn’t know about just how he’d been recruited, but to take on a new name? He thought about it for a moment, about what he wanted his name to be associated with, and-

“Matthew Luther is fine, thank you.” He said, adjusting the collar of his shirt a little. The receptionist typed this into the computer. Another button pressed, and there was a click from the door to the left.

“Thank you, Mr Luther. If you’ll continue into the cloak room you can drop your luggage there. It will be brought to your room. Then, continue on until you reach the meeting room.”

Matthew nodded, and started on his way before pausing and turning back around. “Sorry, um, I don’t suppose there’s a map or something, is there?”

The receptionist’s face formed a smile, a sort of this is my favourite part of the job smile. “You should be able to find it. If not, a member of staff will come to collect you.”

Matthew clicked his tongue. “I see. Thanks again.” he said, turning back to the door, his brain registering the feeling that the training might have already begun.

The cloak room, at least, seemed fairly normal. He slotted his suitcase in the nearby rack, which seemed to operate like an airport baggage claim in reverse, with the baggage disappearing from view as the rack spun around. It now occurred to him that he had very little trust in this place, and found himself wondering what was and wasn’t a test. Needless to say, he decided to keep a hold of his rucksack just in case. Slinging it on his back, he opened the other door and left the cloakroom. He found himself walking through a thin, brown corridor with several framed signs on the wall. One read “DO NOT TRACK MUD INTO THE OBSERVATORY”, the next said “PLEASE DO NOT LITTER OR LEAVE BELONGINGS BEHIND”, and the final one read “BE CAREFUL - EQUIPMENT EASILY DISTURBED”.

Matthew could admit that he felt a little patronised by all this, but knew he had to balance this with the fact that somewhere in those signs was the guide to not failing at the first hurdle. Cautiously, very cautiously, he opened the door into the next room, though stood in the doorway without going right in. This room was wider than the last one, and a lot less brown too. The floor consisted of several metal squares, which looked similar to the material that escalators were made from. To his left and right, the walls were covered in pipes and venting, as white as the wall they covered. Finally, Matt looked up at the ceiling, which oddly enough reminded him of the ceiling of a classroom.

Surely not was Matthew’s first thought. He had been taught during his time at MI6 to disregard any and all cliches from spy movies, even the ones as subtle as using codes and ciphers. These days, all messaging was done in encrypted programs. But considering the Midnight Foundation already had a propensity for the use of gadgets, he realised he couldn’t be too careful. 

He took his rucksack off of his back, and pulled out one of the pens he’d packed. He wondered vaguely if the Foundation made pens that exploded as he tossed the pen into the room. The pen bounced off the square it hit perfectly, then the next one just the same, but it was when the pen landed in between two of the slits of the metal that Matthew realised what the problem was. Slowly, the square the pen had landed on started to tilt.

Matthew leant down to look at the square closest to him, or rather through it. He pulled out his phone and the light passed through, revealing a large pool of mud. This was a military survival course crammed into an observatory. He had to marvel at the ingenuity of it all, a smile forming on his face as he lent on the doorframe. He looked over to the pen that he’d dropped. Judging by the signs, he probably shouldn’t leave it there, and so very slowly he put his bag back on his back and tiptoed towards the square where it had ended up. 

Fortunately, he’d thrown the pen sideways more than he had forward, and so in only three or four squares he’d almost gotten to it. Already starting to slip, he reached for the pipes, and was surprised to find they were sturdy enough to hold his weight. Something occurred to him at that moment. He pulled himself further to the edge of the room, grabbing another pipe to do so, and hoisted his feet up to rest on the pipes too. They didn’t budge. Loosening a finger, he tapped on the pipes, and as he’d suspected, there was the thunk thunk of a decidedly un-hollow “pipe”.

A full smile on his face, he started manoeuvring across the wall of pipes, picking up his pen as he went along. From this angle, he could make out several muddy footprints across the other half of the room, presumably from people who tried to brute force it. For Matthew, it seemed the rules of hiking applied to this test: Leave no trace. It seemed incredibly fitting for spies too.

Across the room he went, tapping the pipes before putting his weight on them just to make sure the Foundation hadn’t put any decoys in to mess with anyone who’d found the solution. He came to the far wall, and looked over to the door. There were a few squares between him and the door, which by far had the most mud on them. It seemed the challenge of the room wasn’t over just yet. Something else had caught his notice as well. The footholds that seemed designed into the pipes had been going upward, so much so that Matthew’s brown hair was brushing against the ceiling. Unable to help himself, he stretched upward a little and felt the square in the ceiling move upward. He’d always wanted to do that whilst at school.

He shook his head as he focused his attention on the door, head still brushing against the ceiling. Did they want him to jump for it? He considered it and got ready to go for it, trying to get as high up the pipes as possible, before realising that there was no longer a ceiling overhead. He looked up, and a pair of hands was holding the square. There was a gasp, and the hands dropped it. Matthew didn’t have time to stop it hitting him square in the face, but at least was able to reach out to grab it before it fell onto the floor. He coughed and sputtered from the dust, before looking up at where the hands had come from. There was a light.

He was only able to stammer the word “H-Hey!” as he quickly clambered upward, having to breathe in a bit to get his long legs through. He placed down the ceiling part and breathed a sigh of relief as he hit solid ground. He really should have guessed that the ceiling at a state-of-the-art observatory shouldn’t have done that. The area above the room was dusty and small, the light Matthew had seen emanating from a crawl space in the wall. 

Matthew’s attention, however, was on who the pair of hands had belonged to. Here on the ceiling with him was a woman around his age, perhaps a year or two older. She was fat and had brown skin, with dark curly hair and bright green eyes that reminded Matthew of his own, though they were more of an olive shade compared to his. She also, somehow, seemed even more nervous than him.

“Um,” he began, still getting his feet in through the hole in the ceiling, “hello. Sorry, um-”

Before he could say anything else, the woman made a noise that Matthew could only describe as a “squeak”. “Oh! I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to let that hit you, I was just trying to slot it back in! They…took marks off from me for it last, um…” she trailed off, and before Matthew could say anything else she had fled through the crawlspace, her red trainers dropping away with the rest of her into the light. Matthew turned back to look at the ceiling square, rubbing his forehead where it had struck him. He slotted it back in place, the light from the room below disappearing. A few seconds later, he heard the sound of the door below opening, a single footstep, and a muddy splash. Matthew chuckled silently as he moved towards the crawlspace.

To his surprise, the crawlspace didn’t lead to the room on the other side of the door, but instead veered left, ending at an exit 30 metres or so away. Matthew watched as the woman from earlier appeared outside, squatting down to put the grate back over it. Gritting his teeth, Matthew continued onward, trying his best to move quickly, though this was difficult as a result of his height. He kept going, making sure to avoid a few bits of mud here and there before reaching the grate himself. He reached out and pushed it open, and hoisted himself out. He got up, caught his breath, stretched, and put the grate back in its place.

At this point he was half-expecting a bottle with a label reading Drink Me or something of the sort, but instead, the room was totally empty save for a single door, and a sign next to it reading MEETING ROOM ONE. Not wanting to take any chances, Matthew once again opened the door and remained in the doorframe. This time, however, he needn’t have worried; inside was a fairly standard lecture room, complete with blue leather seats. Matthew saw 4 other people in the room already, the woman from the ceiling among them, as well as a man in his late forties at the front of the room.

“Ah, welcome. Thank you for arriving so promptly.” He said, adjusting the glasses on his face as well as his neatly combed hair. “If you could take a seat, we shall wait for the others before we begin.”

Matthew sat down near the back of the room, trying not to be too close to anyone. He leant back, the realisation that he had made it through a military survival course unscathed. He’d followed the signs the very best he could, but he couldn’t help but look over to the woman who’d been up in the ceiling. He promised himself to thank her at the next chance he got, having realised that if not for her, his feet would likely be covered in mud and he’d probably not even have found the room. He still wasn’t convinced that he had what it took for all this.

Over the next half an hour, about a dozen or so others came into the room, with varying degrees of mud on their clothes. Once that happened, the man at the front pressed a button on the laptop he was standing in front of. Five minutes later, and the door opened once more. A man and a woman wearing security uniforms gestured into the room, and around ten more people filed in, none making eye contact, every single one with mud on them. Matthew figured that the door must not have led anywhere. With everyone assembled, the man in front cleared his throat.

“Thank you.” He said, nodding to the two security guards who turned and left the room. “Well, on behalf of the Midnight Foundation, I’d like to welcome you all to Haverhill Observatory, and of course, to your Basic Training. Over the next four months we will build up and test the skills needed to be one of our agents.”

“Now, a lot of you come from various governmental departments, military espionage groups, private military companies and intelligence organisations. An agent of ours scouted you for your talents, as well as an interest in astronomy, and you were asked to attend this four-month training course.”

Matthew took a moment to examine the room. There was a group near the front who he recognised as fellow agents of MI6. They didn’t seem to pay him much attention. He’d never exactly minded that, but Matthew was starting to wonder if that had been a mistake on his part.

The man continued. “My name is Agent Hubble, and I will be overseeing this first part of your training. Much of this first month or so will involve you getting used to the very basic duties an Agent has to follow, featuring a mix of spywork and astronomy. You’ll notice that for an agency like this one, we’re rather open amongst ourselves about the fact that we are, indeed, spies. We are secret agents. This is true above all other things, at all times. What that means for each of you may differ slightly, but it should nevertheless bring you to similar conclusions about what to prioritise when on missions.”

“Now, to begin. I’d like to ask you all to find someone to work with. We have surmised over several years of carrying this training out that cooperation is one of the skills least developed in our recruits, and so to correct this we have decided to create opportunities to use this skill from the very beginning of your time here.”

Matthew felt like his stomach was about to turn in on itself. He’d done so well up until this point, even if he’d needed a bit of help, and now it was all bound to collapse. He knew how this would go. He looked over at the group of recruits from MI6, and sure enough they were either pairing up with their friends from other groups or with each other. He felt an urge to just leave the room, but then he turned to see the woman from earlier. He recognised the exact same things he was feeling at once, from the stomach ache to the eyes looking around the room trying to decide what to do. He stood up, adjusting his rucksack, and crossed the room.

“Um, hello-” he began, in very much the same way he had when she’d dropped the ceiling on his head. “S-Sorry, I, um…I wanted to, um…”

“Oh, I’m so sorry about that, really, don’t let me take up your time-” she insisted, her french accent still as strong as before.

“Wait, um, that wasn’t…I actually wanted to thank you.”

The woman raised her eyebrow. “Really?”

“Well, I would have had to do the walk of shame otherwise, I imagine, so…yeah.” Matthew shrugged.

She blinked, unsure how exactly to respond. “Oh…well, it’s no problem, really. You should…probably find a partner, though…”

“Yeah, um…” he sighed, looking out over the lecture hall. “...I don’t exactly know anyone here. Would it, um…would it be ok if I worked with you? It’s totally ok if not, um…” he said, trailing off as he winced at himself. The others seemed to make it so easy, but then again a lot of them seemed to know each other.

Matthew would have dwelled more on his failure to network if not for hearing: “Really? You’d…want to work with me? I…I should probably tell you now, this isn’t my first time attempting to pass, I’ve…had to retry it several times now.” she admitted, looking away for a moment.

“I’m ok with that.” Matthew replied bluntly. He couldn’t explain it, but for some reason when he talked to her it didn’t feel like he was struggling to find ways to respond. That he could trust her to be patient with him.

“Oh…well, as long as you’re sure.” She said, gesturing for him to sit down. “I should probably introduce myself. My name’s Camille..”

Matthew sat down, allowing himself to smile as the stress faded from his body. “Nice to meet you, Camille. My name’s Matthew.”

The only sounds that rang out through the building were the three pairs of feet that sped through the reception, a large open place with a few benches along the walls, and a large array of constellations and planets on display on the domed roof above them, as well as a large wall behind the stairs with a large carved logo of the moon and several stars, with the initials “TMF” carved next to it. Two of the three flashed passes of some kind to a receptionist as they beckoned the third to follow them. “C’mon!” Agent Terra said, panting, “We should be able to make it!”

Matthew nodded, trying his best to keep pace with the twin agents as they darted down a corridor. However, they had the slight advantage over him in that they had not spent their night fighting for their lives and scrambling through a building full of people wanting him dead. The prize Matthew had won by doing so, in his hands, his other hand went down to clasp his hip. Of all the times he could have developed a stitch, he supposed it was once again his luck that it would occur at the final hurdle. Still, he gritted his teeth and sprinted towards the others as they went up the stairs and turned the corner, before slowing as they came to a door.

They had gone down a corridor labelled “Senior Astronomers’ Offices”, running past various cabinets filled with trophies with awards labelled with “The Midnight Foundation” for outstanding services, charity work, or other such endeavours. However, Matthew’s eyes only focused on those for a moment before turning to the door the Agents had stopped in front of, seemingly deciding which one of them would open the door. Eventually, Gaia relented and knocked thrice below the sign that read “Professor Helena Ravenclaw - Senior Astronomer” The three looked at each other, Matthew unable to risk looking down at his watch.

“Come in.” said a voice from within. Wiping the sweat from her brow, Agent Gaia opened the door, revealing a larger-than-expected room with a large window at the back, providing a view of several London landmarks along the river Thames. The other walls were adorned with various astronomical charts, as well as a projector screen, Matthew’s eyes widening when he saw it was showing camera footage from the Reflection building. Once again, however, his eyes were drawn to what was directly before him, namely the woman sitting at the silver desk.

Between a Newton’s cradle and a clock that read 7 minutes to midnight (Matthew had to force himself not to weep with joy when he saw that) sat a woman who looked to be in her thirties, with long black curly hair tied behind her back. She had a dark blue suit jacket on with a matching tie, and pale silver-blue eyes that glared at the group that had entered her office. Her eyes flitted between the twins, to Matthew, to the ID Machine he held. Her expression did not change as she leant forward, pressing a button on the keyboard in front of her.

“Agent Gaia. Agent Terra…Agent Moon.” she said finally. “What do you have to report?”

Gaia looked at her brother and gestured; clearly since she had knocked it was thus Terra’s turn to speak. “Agent Galileo, we are pleased to report that our mission was a success. Agent Moon was able to locate and secure the device used to identify and eliminate agents of MI6.”

Galileo (somehow the name already replaced Helena in Matthew’s mind) blinked, her expression unchanging. He was sure that she would address that technically two Agent Moons had been involved in this mission, but instead simply said. “Very good. Agent Moon, if you would allow me to examine the device?” she said, making it sound equal parts a request and an order. He stepped forward and held out the ID machine, and while he had hoped to do it silently, he couldn’t help but mutter the word he said more than any other. “Uh, here, ma’am, um, sorry-”

She stopped in her tracks, both their hands on the device. “Sorry? Whatever are you sorry for?”

He could feel Gaia and Terra glaring into the back of his head, unsure if they were angry at him or simply confused at why he’d apologised. To be honest, he wasn’t sure why he’d done it either. The adrenaline from the mission gone, he felt the memories of the previous night weighing upon him. “I just…well, there was the whole mess with the earpiece and me suddenly just becoming Agent Moon and the stuff with the sniper and-”

“Matthew.” Galileo said, slowly taking the machine. “I may call you that, yes? It is quite alright. Believe me, this was one of the cleaner missions we’ve had, especially for an unofficial one. And you don’t have to worry about the nature of your recruitment. I joined the Midnight Foundation in…a similar way.”

“You did?” Gaia and Terra asked simultaneously. Matthew merely nodded along, his mind still full of flashes of gunfire, the flashbang, the decision to use his bracelet as a knuckle duster, the consequences it had.

“You’ve been through a lot, tonight, but you’ve managed something incredible. Agents Gaia, Terra, Moon, your mission is accomplished at four minutes to midnight. And worry not, we’ve had many far closer calls than this.” Galileo reassured Matthew, sitting down at her desk once again, and gesturing for the others to take a seat. “Now then, I suppose we should move on to the debriefing, as long as Agent Moon is not too badly injured. Agent Moon?”

The question barely registered with him. The knuckle duster. The punch, the glazed, confused look, the stagger out of the lift shaft, the gunshot, the way the card fell from his bloodstained suit-

“Matt!” Terra said, finally causing him to look up. “You’re …”

He looked down, and saw that there were multiple cuts and scratches that had been made along his arms and chest. He must have got them when the Knight of Swords (the card in the guard’s pocket) had a hold of him and was trying to force him out of the shaft. “I…sorry, I didn’t…”

“Take him to the medical area.” Galileo ordered. “Once he’s ready, return here for debrief. And Matthew, you do not have to apologise. You had no warning whatsoever for this…your predecessor, however, did.”

Gaia and Terra helped Matthew out and back down the stairs, both of them seeming just as nervous as he was. When they were a fair distance away from the office, Gaia sighed. “Can’t believe her! Blaming M-, er, Bill like that!”

“Quiet! You know how she can listen in via camera.” Terra hissed. “Besides, it’s…not like she’s wrong, he even said it himself.”

Gaia rolled her eyes. “Still, it’s cruel, especially since he’s in the hospital. I dunno…how you holding up, Matty.”

Matthew simply shrugged, clutching the bruise that hurt the most. “S-Sorry, I just…never been good at describing pain and…all suddenly washed over me.”

“Don’t worry, we get it, Galileo’s pretty scary at times-” Terra admitted.

“No, it wasn’t her. She actually helped. She was nice.”

The twins looked at each other, a little confused. “If you say so…” Gaia said, sighing. “Here we are. These guys are the best at what they do, you’ll be fine.”

Matthew felt his stomach churn, and not just because of the bruises and cuts across it. “I…I just hope I’m not wasting their time, I’m sure they deal with far worse and to deal with someone who’s as much of a mess as m-”

On reflection, Matt felt that it was quite frankly embarrassing how quickly the feelings of dread vanished from his mind as he walked into the so-called medical area. Before him stood a woman who somehow seemed more than fine with being awake past midnight. She had silver-white hair and a lab coat over medical scrubs, and was taking a sip from her coffee when the group came in. She smiled softly as she got up, kicking her chair under her desk as she walked over. “Ah, hello! You must be the new Agent Moon! Galileo sent me a message in advance! I’m Agent Luna, why don’t you sit down and we’ll take a look at you?”

Matthew suddenly felt less like he was in a spy headquarters and more like he’d gone to the doctors for a check-up. Bewildered by this change in tension, he obeyed Luna’s instructions and scooted over to the bed/chair/seat that the room had. He tried to shake himself out of the state he was in and turned to Gaia and Terra. “Th-thank you, really, I…I don’t know what I’d be doing without you, especially with everything going on around here, I, um…”

“It’s alright.” Terra reassured him. “We’ll be waiting for you outside, too. Got to debrief after all. Just let yourself relax. That’s what this place is for.”

He and Gaia waved and left the room, but as they opened the door to leave Matthew saw someone short with black hair walking past. He was convinced he was seeing things, but they closed the door before he could see them properly, leaving Matthew feeling as alone as he had in the lift going down in the Reflection building. He remembered that Agent Luna was there, however, and turned to her.

“So, you just got recruited, is that right?” she asked, typing away at her computer (which actually seemed quite modern, which was new for computers in doctor’s offices that Matt was used to seeing). “Thrust straight into a mission? That certainly would explain the state you’re in, my word…how were the twins? They didn’t bicker too much, did they?”

Matthew shook his head, only now realising the earpiece was still in his ear. “Not really. I mean, sometimes, but it wasn’t too bad. They still helped me through everything, saved me a lot of times.”

“Mm, that sounds like them, yeah.” Luna chuckled. “So, what’s the damage?”

Matt looked down at himself, the suit which had looked brand new at the start of the night now dirty and bloodstained. He wasn’t sure if it made him more or less nervous that the blood seemed to be his and not the guard. “Well, I’ve got cuts and bruises across my stomach, that’s where most of the pain is, as well as across both my arms.”

“No bullet wounds or anything? Hmm, quite impressive for a rookie. You not had any formal training, then?” Luna asked, pushing her office chair over to him.

“Well, not really, just sort of the basic training they give everyone in MI6 but…not as intensive, seeing as I was in IT.”

“Ah, the classic downfall of the MI6 types. We never really saw the point of dividing things like that. Sure, people have different strengths, which is why they tend to take different roles, but we all had the same start and then specialised. Like you, right? You said you were an IT guy but then completed a successful field mission! The old Agent Moon definitely picked well, if you don’t mind me saying.” She said, before going a little pink. “Sorry, didn’t mean to ramble.”

“I-It’s ok, I…tend to ramble a lot too, goodness I was a mess in front of agent Galileo, um…”

“No, I totally get that. If you could roll up your sleeves and lift up your shirt?” she asked, examining each injury once Matt did so. “Nothing too major, but some of them will scar going into the next few days. Hey, Aquila! Can you bring the box of sprays out?!” she yelled, apologising when Matthew winced.

The other door in the office opened, and a woman with black hair and a chocolate bar in her mouth appeared from within an attached office. “De boffs dof sbrays?” she asked before removing the chocolate. “Sorry, the box of sprays, right? One sec. That the new guy? Glad to see he made it in one piece, ha!”

Luna sighed. “That’s Agent Aquila’s way of saying hello. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it…eventually.”

Aquila returned with a box full of various containers, presumably with sprays within. “Here ya go! And don’t worry babygrill, if you end up sticking around, we’ll be sure to patch you up! And we give out free chocolate!”

“That was meant to be a surprise!” Luna said, exasperated. “S-Sorry-”

“Really, you don’t have to apologise, she seems nice.”

Luna nodded, pulling a few of the sprays out of the box. “Well, it’s lovely to meet someone so accepting. Hold still now, these might sting a little.”

After several sprays, and several winces from Matthew, Luna allowed him to put his shirt back down. “Now, I’d also say you need to get out of those dirty clothes, but since you don’t exactly have anything else that can wait for a while. Oh, and here’s your chocolate!” She got off the chair, inviting Matthew to do the same, and handed him a wrapped piece of circular chocolate. “It’s a moon! It’s even got little craters in it, which I suppose means you get less chocolate, but still, that means it’s healthier, right?”

Matthew laughed, and felt like a weight had released itself from his shoulders. “Thanks so much, Luna.”

“Don’t mention it, Moon! Welcome to the Midnight Foundation!” She said, waving. Aquila stuck her head out again and waved too, Matthew repeating the gesture as he left the room.

He found Gaia and Terra sitting just outside, the both of them immediately getting up from their seats. “You ok? Get some stuff for the injuries?” Terra asked, pausing to yawn. It had barely registered to Matthew that it was so late, he’d more or less been running off of adrenaline since sunset. Still, he nodded in return.

“Good, good.” Gaia said, looking just as tired as her brother. “Come on, let’s get back to Agent Galileo. I get the sense that this is going to be one hell of a debriefing.”

They made their way up the stairs once again, once again returning to the part of the building that looked like an astronomy society. “So, everyone’s got agent names based off of…well, space names?”

Terra nodded in reply as they once again passed the receptionist, climbing the stairs past the large wooden carving of the Midnight Foundation’s logo. As they walked, Matthew kept his eyes on a swivel, just in case he saw whoever it was he thought he’d seen earlier. “Yeah, so you’ve got me and Gaia, both old names for the Earth, you and Luna being names for the moon, Galileo being, well, Galileo, plus a lot of people named after constellations.”

“Oh yeah,” Matthew remembered, “I met Agent Aquila while I was with Luna, so that makes sense.”

“Did she call you babygrill? She tends to do that. A lot.” Gaia said, her face growing uneasy as she approached the door once again, gesturing for Terra to knock.

“Come in.” said Galileo, in an identical cadence to the first time. The three walked in and she gestured for them to sit down, not looking up from whatever she had in front of her, which included her computer, some papers, and of course the ID Machine. Once they had sat down, she finally turned her head to look at them. “Well…I think to say that this mission had some unexpected turns to it would be something of an understatement, wouldn’t you?” The other three agents nodded before she continued. “But let’s review this from the very beginning. Three weeks ago, I tasked Agents Gaia, Terra, and Moon…that is, the current Moon’s predecessor, with investigating MI6 from within to find a cause for the high number of casualties that were occuring. Now…” she said, turning to the twins, “When and how did your group first make contact with Matthew Luther?”

It was Gaia who spoke up. “W-We found that one of the people that MI6 had tasked with investigating the problem had discovered an actual connection, and so worried that they would squash it, as MI6 have been doing recently, the, uhm, former Agent Moon decided it would be best to intervene directly and work with that person to properly investigate the area that was triggering these incidents.”

Galileo simply nodded, her fingers still on the ID Machine. “Very good. Now, you are all on the same page, I feel comfortable informing you of certain developments. Namely regarding William Weasley. He’s currently being treated and is in a stable condition. You’ll be able to visit him tomorrow if you wish, as visiting hours are over for now.” She gestured to the time, 25 past midnight, before turning to Gaia and Terra. At last she held up the ID machine. “I’ll have you two take a look with it alongside Agent Scorpio and Agent Andromeda, but it seems a fascinating contraption based on my own investigation. Not to mention the fact that I found this.” She opened the machine up fully, both the screen and the case itself, and pried away some sort of drive. Underneath it was a card identical to the one Matthew had found on the guard. He pulled that one out of his pocket on instinct.

“You were informed that we had noticed a group using tarot cards as identifiers, yes?” Galileo asked, not waiting for a full answer before continuing, “It would appear that this group is far more dangerous than we first assumed. That card was the Knight of Swords…as for this one…”

She turned the card and laid it face up on the table. It depicted an angel-like figure with two goblets in hand, passing water between them, with the word “TEMPERANCE” written below in large lettering. “Temperance, meaning balance and moderation, or if reversed, an imbalance or excess, or in some cases re-alignment.” “Could it mean something?” Matthew asked, “Like, why would whatever this group is put that card out of all…however many cards are in a deck-” “78-” “Thank you, Terra. Out of 78 cards…maybe…”

“It’s certainly something to look into, as we will with the Knight of Swords as well as the High Priestess, just to be sure. It seems you’re starting to form something of a collection here, Moon.” she said, smiling for the first time as she collected the two cards together. “Now to deal with the elephant in the room: your agency.”

Matthew suddenly felt like that sniper was once again aiming at his chest. “Y-Yes?”

“Well, it’s certainly unorthodox. Most transfers of agency don’t come mid-mission, and certainly don’t result in a successful mission. Bill’s faith in you, it seems, was well-placed. Despite your current occupation as a member of the IT department, you showed initiative and skill that we expect from our field agents. You impressed a lot of people with your actions tonight. As did you two.” she pointed to Gaia and Terra, who both looked like they’d almost fallen out of their seats. “You guided a rookie through a dangerous mission and got him out of there with this.” she said, pointing to the open ID machine. “You all saved a lot of people’s lives, and prevented deaths from going unchecked. Well done. At the same time…”

She sighed, looking at Matthew, this time with a degree of empathy. “It’s clear that this experience has taken a toll on you. Which is why I want to emphasise that there is no pressure on you to remain part of our foundation. If you want, you can give up the agency, leaving it vacant, and return to your normal life. I’ve read your file and understand that you’ve had…difficulties…as a result of things that have happened in your past. And so…I imagine tonight has caused you a lot of mental anguish. Would that be an accurate assessment?”

Matthew nodded, not saying a word. Could he really just…leave? He’d blundered into a secret spy organisation that not even MI6 knew about, and was entrusted with a mission by someone who in a few short days had given him more support than anyone else ever had. Looking back at the “difficulties” Galileo had mentioned, it was as if they had far less impact on who he was. Tonight, it was like he’d seen more of himself than he had in the past several years.

“I understand this is a difficult decision, Matthew. And again, I want to emphasise that there is no imperative for either choice. We would be thrilled to have you join our organisation.”

Gaia and Terra nodded, the latter leaning forward. “Yeah, you were amazing out there! If you went through basic training too, you’d be one hell of a spy!”

Matthew went slightly pink. “W-Well, I mean…it was…” he paused, took a breath, and continued, the words almost painful to get out into the open. “...my brother was the one who went out in the field as an agent. He worked in British Intelligence too, so…guess it runs in the family?”

“In more ways than one, Matthew.” Galileo said cryptically, causing Gaia to raise her eyebrow in confusion. Galileo, meanwhile, pressed on what looked like an intercom system. “Send Agent Eclipse in, if you’d be so kind.” There were footsteps, the sound of the door opening, and a short man with black hair walked in. Matthew immediately got up off his seat in shock.

“Atticus?”

*** In that moment, an old memory emerged from years before this long, long night. It had been 3 weeks or so, maybe 4. Matthew had tried to keep count, but it just made him feel worse. His aunt and uncle were around, trying their best to help him and his Dad, but eventually they’d have to leave, and it would just be the two of them. To be honest, Matthew hadn’t even expected anyone from his mother’s side of the family to show up, it wasn’t like they ever did for anything else, after all. But after everyone else had gone out for some police questioning thing (it had all sort of gone in one ear and out the other when he heard it) there was a knock on the door. Quickly getting dressed, he’d left his room and approached the door. He opened it, and standing there looking a little uncomfortable in the warm weather was his cousin, Atticus.

“Ah, hello, Matthew. Are the others in?” he asked, his slightly German accent coming through.

Matthew shook his head. “N-No, they’re out, um…I’m not sure when they’ll be back, sorry-”

“I know, it’s ok, worry not. To be honest, I wanted to see how you were doing more than anything else.”

“Oh. I’ve…um…” he trailed off, unable to find the words. “It’s…been a lot.”

“I understand…I know I have not been around much, but…I wanted to see if there was anything I could do all the same. Especially since…your mother, my aunt is…somewhat unreachable.”

Matthew tried not to scowl at the mention of his mother. He was honestly surprised that she cared, after all, it was not as if she’d said anything. “Oh, ok…well…thanks for stopping by, ah…”

Atticus suddenly stepped forward, and yet did not move fully, stopping Matthew from shutting the door. “...I just wanted to say that…well…I understand that you were ready to take an entrance test for MI6, yes? In their computing department?”

“Yeah, but…now I don’t know…I mean, it’s where…”

“I understand, believe me. I’m not very good at all this condolences and grief stuff, but I think that at the end of the day…something like this might help you work through what’s happened. And…I think he’d want you to do it.”

Matthew blinked, his green eyes staring at Atticus’ identical ones. “You think I should still go through with it? What if I fail?”

“There is no shame in failure. Take it from someone who took years to learn that lesson.” Atticus said, his face softening. “...I should go. I…I’m sorry about what happened.”

***

“Ah, hello, Matthew.” Atticus, no, Agent Eclipse said, closing the door behind him. “I managed to catch glimpses of your exploits tonight, a lot of the agents were curious about just what the new Agent Moon was made of.”

Matthew couldn’t speak. Several times throughout the night, he’d wondered if he’d blink and wake up back in his bed, the names and events rapidly fading as his dreams tended to do. But this was the one that genuinely made him question himself. He stepped forward, looking him up and down. “...What the hell are you doing here?!” he exclaimed, blinking rapidly as he tried his hardest to process all of this.

“I work here, cousin.” Atticus chuckled. “...Maybe now wasn’t the best time to drop this on you, but…if anything would be the deciding factor in your choice to stay or leave, I figure it’d be this.”

“Eclipse, there’s no pressure for him to do so.” Galileo interjected. “From any of us.”

“Forgive me, but that’s clearly not the case.” Atticus pointed out. “Matthew, I am afraid that there is a fair bit of pressure on you. But has tonight not shown you are capable of dealing with it? Of not ignoring it, not ignoring that nagging part of you that wants to do something-”

“Lay off, Eclipse, for once in your life-” Terra began to say, Gaia turning around to protest as well. For Matthew, however, the argument around him just turned into white noise as he thought. He thought of his bedroom, where he’d sat so many times regretting and remembering. He thought of his desk at MI6, where so much of his work trying to make some small difference faded into nothingness. He thought of the building, the way he had scaled it like a knight climbing a tower to fight a dragon. He remembered the sheer joy he felt at sprinting across the reception, moonlight shining through the windows upon him and the bracelet. He turned to the large window, seeing that same moon. Tonight, unlike many other nights, he didn’t feel guilty for being up this late.

“I’ll do it.”

The argument stopped at once as the four other agents turned to look at Agent Moon. “You…will?” Terra asked.

“Really? I thought I’d screwed my argument over, thank goodness.” Atticus said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Good choice. You’ll make a fine agent.”

“We’ll be having words about this, Eclipse.” Galileo sighed, “Go on, here, take this to the tech group and see what they make of it. Gaia, Terra, you two go with him…and I’ll get Agent Moon home and explain what’ll happen from here.”

Gaia and Terra looked over at their new colleague. “Well, welcome I guess. Glad Eclipse didn’t scare you off.”

“I can’t believe you’re his cousin!” Gaia shook her head, looking between the two. “You’ve got the same eyes, but you’re so much nicer, friendlier, taller-”

“C’mon, let’s let them talk.” Atticus said bluntly, opening the door for the twins, who waved goodbye as they walked through it. “It is good to see you again, Matthew, or should I say, Moon. Welcome to Midnight.”

He closed the door, and Galileo sighed, switching off the projector and starting to move the chairs back. Matthew immediately moved to help, but she stopped him. “No, no, it’s alright…you’ve done enough helping for a night.” She yawned, suddenly looking a lot more casual than she’d done previously. “Oh, if you must, go on.”

They put the chairs away and rolled up the projector, closing the curtains as well. Galileo took a few items off of her desk and put them in her bag, the two cards included.

“S-So, uhm…” Matthew began, “what exactly happens now?”

“Now, we go down to my car while I explain the next four months for you. See, you are still Agent Moon, but I think you’d agree it’d be wise to put you through basic training just to be 100% sure. You’ll be fine, don’t worry-” she added, looking at Matthew’s worried face, “you can retake it as often as you’d like. The next round of training starts in two weeks, so really you’ve shown up just in time.”

Matthew followed her out of her office and down the stairs once again. “You’ll be in with a whole batch of recruits, who thankfully won’t know that you’re technically an agent, so it’ll be a level playing field.”

Before they could get out of the building, however, the receptionist stopped them. “Apologies.” they said, holding out a phone, “Call for Agent Moon.”

Galileo shrugged, gesturing to the phone, and so he took it. “H-Hello?” he asked, before hearing a coughing he’d heard at the very start of the night.

“Sorry, hey there, Matt!” Came the voice of Bill, “I hear you had one hell of a night, even by our standards. Don’t worry, this is a secure line, I’m at a Foundation Hospital. Oh, hang on, Herc, it’s ok-”

“What’s-” “Sorry, had a fellow agent visit and they fell asleep…me talking must have woken her up, that’s all.”

Matthew found himself chuckling as he heard this develop. “Glad you’re ok, Bill.”

“Oh never mind me, I’ll be lucky if they let me back in the building after this. You’re the one who finished the mission. Speaking of, how’d it go?”