After leaving the scene, it did not take long for Lena to arrive at Olympus. When she did, she lightly slapped her cheeks to help herself cheer up, running inside with a bright smile. “Hermes~! Can you tell me where Tsubaki is?” She asked, even as she was running through the halls.
“Tsubaki is currently located at the Keeper’s side, within his personal office. Would you like me to deliver a message?” The voice of the digital assistant spoke up, but Lena quickly shook her head.
“No, that’s fine! I’ll just head there myself!” After saying that, she jumped into one of the elevators, teleporting to the Keeper’s palace, and then ran towards his office. Thanks to the time spent training with Tsubaki, she had already memorized the layout of Olympus, and could easily find her way.
When she arrived in the office, she saw the Keeper looking over a series of documents, with Tsubaki standing behind him. She knocked on the doorway to get both of their attentions, smiling wide. “I’ve come to make my report, senior!”
Tsubaki turned to face Lena, arching her brow. “Already? It has barely been an hour since you left.”
“Yeah, well~. The mission was easy to accomplish, so I got done early!” When Lena said that, Tsubaki’s eyes narrowed.
“You discovered something, then?”
“Mhm! They wanted to use a Reset Protocol device on the Keeper, and were preparing materials to customize it for him. I had my friends from the ninjas clean them up before I left, though, so don’t worry!” Lena could feel the anger radiating off of Tsubaki when she reported what the group’s plan was. However, she didn’t see a reason to directly bring up Black or how she had made her priorities to the Keeper and Tsubaki apparent to the ninjas.
“I assume that the method that you used was thorough?” Tsubaki asked, and Lena quickly nodded her head.
“Oh yeah. They won’t be a problem anymore!” The Keeper looked over at the two kitsune curiously, before questioning Lena.
“You got done awfully fast. Tsubaki reported to me what your mission was, as well as that you asked for it. If you knew that they were planning something, couldn’t you have just told her directly from the start?”
When Lena heard the Keeper’s question, it even made Tsubaki look at her for an answer. However, Lena simply shook her head quickly. “No no no, it’s nothing like that. I knew that they wanted to plan something, because of my last time infiltrating the group. However, at the time, they didn’t have any set plans. That’s why I asked my senior to send me to this group, to see if they had made any real progress. We can’t just hold a massacre because of naughty thoughts, right?” She asked with a wide smile, though Tsubaki looked like she disagreed.
“I suppose.” The Keeper nodded. “In that case, are there any other groups that you think might have similar objectives?”
Lena took a moment to think about that. “There are two other anti-Keeper organizations that I have personally infiltrated in the past. One of them was all talk, but were too scared to take any actions that could prove dangerous to themselves or others. Like, they don’t believe the whole ‘The world will be destroyed if you die’ thing, but part of them is like ‘But what if it’s true?’ I doubt that group would make a move on their own.”
“As for the other one… I’d say it’s fifty-fifty? They’re less likely to act than the one I had my senior send me to. But at the same time, they’re not afraid to get their hands dirty if they come up with an idea that won’t easily be traced back to them. Well, some of them. The boss of the group is actually a pretty sweet guy, just trying to fight for mortal independence.”
“Generally, he dislikes the idea of not only the Keeper, but all forms of gods, whether normal or fallen. He’s not violent about his ideals or anything like that, but some people twist his words around to take it that way. That’s the group that I think would be the next most likely to act.”
“You sure know a lot about this group in particular.” Tsubaki pointed out, Lena chuckling a bit.
“Well, yeah! I infiltrated as his daughter, so I had a front row seat to the show. She’s an adorable little thing, and nobody cared about watching their words around her. It actually made the whole thing pretty easy. You’d be surprised how many of my missions can be solved just by finding that one guy that nobody bothers to keep quiet around.”
The Keeper nodded his head at that, looking at Tsubaki silently. Tsubaki paused, before directing a glance at Lena. “In that case, your next assignment will be to infiltrate these two groups again, and ensure that they have not made any plans themselves. After this confirmation is done, I have a long-term assignment for you.”
Lena’s ears perked up at that, looking at Tsubaki silently. Tsubaki kept her tone neutral as she elaborated. “You are going to be a wandering agent. First, I must ask you something important. Are you only capable of becoming real individuals, or can you also turn into characters of your own creation?”
Lena had to pause at that. “I have some experience becoming original characters, but there are some restrictions. Their powers can’t be something I create myself, I have to take from real-world examples. For instance, I can’t turn into a God of Green and Hope, unless I have previously studied someone with those two domains. Likewise, I wouldn’t be able to turn into someone with World Sight unless I had studied you or others with that energy.”
“Next, I can create the full records needed for this character with the Identity, Information, and Alteration domains, but there will always be flaws. For instance, although I can change class photos to have the character in them from school days, the students won’t remember that character’s existence.”
“There’s a way around that, though, but it requires me being able to meet everyone in the character’s backstory. That’s not easily doable, obviously, so I just never really bothered with it!”
Tsubaki nodded her head as she listened to Lena’s explanation. “Next question. Is it possible for you to use your domains to create clones, with these clones representing the identities that you give them?”
“Oh, yeah, totally!” Lena smiled wide at that. “They’re not as convenient as your avatars, though. See, although I can create the clones and give them that identity… I am giving them that entire identity, and not leaving my own mind in there. So, let’s take this last mission as an example! If I created an identity clone of Jim Jaeger, the person I was impersonating, that clone would completely believe itself to be Jim Jaeger.”
“He wouldn’t believe himself to be an undercover agent working for me. If I altered his mind so that he did believe that, there is the possibility of revealing that information during social interactions depending on his loyalty. That’s why I always handle the investigations myself.”
Tsubaki paused at that. “I see. In that case, you can’t set up your own spy network. Not in that way, at least.”
“Oh, if you want me to set up a spy network, there’s another way to do it!” Lena spoke up, causing both the Keeper and Tsubaki to look at her. “See, what I’d need to do is first create an identity to infiltrate the group. I handle the initial infiltration myself. After I’m done embedding the identity into the target organization, I create an identity clone.”
“However, I don’t leave any trace of my own will in this clone. Instead, I use the Information, Understanding, and Stealth domains to leave a hidden divine power in a target. This divine power will transfer all of the clone’s memories at regular intervals, kind of similar to the memory transfer of your Virtual selves.”
Tsubaki seemed relieved when she heard that, but also confused. “Are you able to handle that many memories from multiple identities without losing your sense of self?”
“Oh, easily!” Lena nodded quickly. “I don’t download them directly into my mind or anything. Instead, I use my own divine power made of Understanding, Information, and Identity to create a database inside my divinity to store the memories. Then, whenever I want to, I can load up the profile of any identity, browse through their memories, and learn anything that has happened to them.”
“Good, in that case, it is possible.” Tsubaki nodded her head again. “As a wandering agent, it will be your job to infiltrate any organization you feel may be harmful to my Keeper or the world as a whole. After infiltration, you are to leave one of these clones to continue monitoring the organization from within.”
Lena thought about that for a moment, before abruptly raising her hand. “Question, senior!”
Tsubaki’s brow twitched for a moment, before she gestured for Lena to speak. “In order for me to create these agents that you’re looking for, I would need to create an identity for them that the organization would find useful enough to keep around, with an ideology that would make the people in charge trust them. If I do that, wouldn’t I be creating more trouble for us than I would otherwise be trying to investigate?”
Tsubaki blinked at that, and the Keeper chuckled, looking over at her. “In that case, what would you suggest to achieve similar results?” The Keeper asked, looking at Lena.
“Well… if your goal is to plant a long-term intelligence agent in numerous suspicious organizations, there are problems with any method.” Lena admitted freely. “You’re either making the potential problems worse, or leaving yourself open to being traced.”
“If you want to minimize your impact on the group itself, it would be better to plant something to directly monitor a key member. For instance, if I impersonated the leader of a group for a day, I could find his most relied-upon methods of communication or items they always have with them, and plant the monitoring ability I mentioned before for the clones on those. The information would be less complete, but it would be safer than planting a potentially useful spy.”
Tsubaki thought it over, nodding her head. “I see… that would be more reliable in some ways. I suppose there would be no objection to using this method, then?”
“None that I can think of!” Lena smiled. “And don’t worry, senior! You weren’t trained for modern espionage tactics. Back in your day, espionage just meant assassinating the enemy leader.”
Tsubaki’s brow twitched at that. “You… are not wrong. However, if I am to lead you, I must train myself on these methods, so as to properly instruct you for your missions.”
The Keeper let out a long sigh. “You’re going to start your own Trial of Shadows arc, aren’t you?”
Tsubaki couldn’t help but glance off to the side. “I may. It would help me coordinate with Lena more effectively, you must admit.”
“I think that you just want an excuse to do more trials.” The Keeper said in a teasing tone, Lena clearing her throat.
“If I may, senior! I have one request in regards to this mission.” Tsubaki looked over at Lena, gesturing for her to continue. “Can I ask Lifre to assist me, if the need arises? If I need a bit of chaos created to either get in or out of a situation, I could ask Lifre to act for me.”
Tsubaki nodded her agreement. “If you believe that Lifre would be useful to you, without compromising your mission.”
Yes! Lena grinned inwardly, happy to have an excuse to get Lifre involved in her future shenanigans.
