Mole Hunt Arc

Note that the arc title is conjectural and following sub-headings are fan-made, used to better organize the story.
The Mole Hunt Arc is the fourteenth story arc in SPY x FAMILY.
The lives of Westalian agents in Ostania are put at risk after a mysterious mole steals classified documents, one of which includes operations in Ostania like Operation Strix. The intelligence services of the two countries begin the pursuit of the thief and the stolen files in the hope of getting to them first.
== Summary ==
=== Yor's Gripe ===
At Berlint City Hall, Camilla and Millie get stuck working overtime. Luckily for them, Yor offers her help, and Sharon is dragged along as well. After finishing all their work, Camilla, Millie, and Sharon agree to go out for dinner, and to everyone's surprise, Sharon invites Yor to join them. Yor agrees but quickly gets drunk there, and the ladies discover a new side of Yor, which they find hilarious and adorable. Camilla and Millie grill Yor for any gripes she has with Loid, but Yor cannot think of any, which they all find hard to believe. After the ladies share their gripes about their partners, Yor tries to fit in to appear "normal," even attempting to drunkenly leave the restaurant with a butter knife to prove it as she imagines killing Loid to preserve her assassin identity. Ultimately, the girls accept Yor has a "lovey-dovey" marriage and tease her about getting intimate with Loid, then tell Yor that giving a welcome home kiss is normal for couples, which shocks her. When she returns home, Yor faints at the thought of giving Loid a welcome home kiss. Loid catches her from falling, but a flustered Yor ends up crashing around the house to prevent herself from hitting Loid, to his bewilderment.
The next day, Yor wakes up and worries that she made a fool of herself in front of Loid the night before. Meanwhile, Loid prepares Anya for her trip to the zoo with Becky. After Anya leaves with Becky and Martha, Loid sees Yor creeping into the living room. Loid remarks to Yor about how she overslept and worries to himself that she is dissatisfied with him after knowing how heavily she drank. On the other hand, Yor believes Loid is griping about her oversleeping and concludes that she should have a gripe too. Loid asks Yor to tell him any concerns she has about their life together, which only furthers her misunderstanding. Yor cannot think of anything and tries to be vague by saying that she has problems with everything, which astounds Loid.
Yor declares to Loid that she is dissatisfied with their life together. As she says this, a recovered Yuri bursts into the house for an impromptu hangout and is shocked by what he hears. From this point on, Loid struggles to resolve Yor's problem as soon as possible, but Yor wants a problem, and all the while, Yuri antagonizes Loid. The discussion is interrupted after Loid gets an emergency call - and secret emergency code - from the hospital and promptly leaves. Believing that Loid could be having an affair, Yuri convinces Yor to follow him but is forced to withdraw after receiving an emergency summons order from the Lieutenant. After Yor follows Loid to the hospital, she finally sobers up and heads home.
At the hospital, Fiona reports to Loid that they have an extreme situation: a mole from WISE HQ in Westalis has stolen important, top-secret files, one of which was a coded map regarding agents' operational activities in Ostania, including Operation Strix. At the same time, Yuri and other SSS agents are ordered by the Boss to ensure the mole's security upon crossing the border.
=== The Chase for the Mole ===
The mole is revealed to be Winston Wheeler, a talented spy whose abilities are praised by Twilight himself. The WISE agents make their way to Wheeler's supposed destination, Shellbury in northwest Ostania. Fiona is worried about the risk of this mission and suggests pulling the plug on every operation in Ostania and restarting with a clean slate. Loid refuses, reasoning that in Operation Strix's case, it would take years to get as close to Donovan Desmond again as they are now. Agents from both the SSS and WISE arrive at Shellbury, and Loid is tasked with keeping the SSS from getting Winston. At the same time, Winston receives orders to meet at the city's hotel. Disguising himself as Winston, Loid scouts the hotel from afar and observes disguised WISE agents waiting for the real Winston. In order to buy time to capture Winston, Loid approaches Yuri as Winston and tells him that he will change the meetup location to a park.
Meeting at the park, "Winston" and the SSS agents question each others' identities. Loid says his "green" tie and "yellow" gemstone tiepin was the signal that they specified. The agents report the color yellow to the Boss at HQ, who goes to chat with one of their officers, Jeffrey. The Boss reveals that a canary trap was set to reveal who was leaking their information by giving officers different colors of Wheeler's gemstone, then exposes Jeffrey as a mole working with WISE. Upon learning that Twilight is impersonating Wheeler, the SSS agents prepare to capture him. However, Loid is a step ahead and triggers several hidden traps around the park as he escapes.
=== Twilight vs Yuri Briar ===
Loid quickly disguises himself as Yuri and misdirects the SSS agents to another location before heading down the sewers. The real Yuri arrives at the park shortly afterward and notices that Twilight left behind a track leading to the sewers. Yuri gives chase but is almost killed by Loid, who hesitates upon seeing him. While both men are taken aback by their sudden appearances, they nevertheless shoot at each other. At the Forger home, Yor is still rattled by Yuri's suggestion that Loid is having an affair and wonders to herself if Loid will be coming home late.
The fight in the sewer continues, with Yuri's shot injuring Loid's right arm while Loid shoots Yuri's gun away. Yuri is shocked to see Twilight posing as him and wonders if the spy could be someone close to him. Yuri focuses on capturing Twilight, and as the two continue to fight in hand-to-hand combat, Loid is surprised by Yuri's endurance. After knocking down Yuri multiple times, Loid ultimately comes out on top as Yuri finally collapses. Loid prepares to make a finishing blow but spares Yuri after hearing him apologize to Yor and disappears further down the sewers.
=== Nightfall vs Winston Wheeler ===
Winston does not show up at the hotel, prompting Fiona and the WISE Agent to switch their plans, with the Agent putting on a disguise of Gascoigne, the SSS officer that Winston is supposed to meet. Wheeler, who has been waiting for a signal, notices "Gascoigne" leaving the area and tails him under the possibility that the meetup location changed. Still unable to lure out Wheeler, WISE agents stage a car accident. By observing the onlookers' reactions and poses, Fiona finally identifies Wheeler. Realizing he has been made, Winston attempts to escape but is cornered by Fiona and another WISE agent.
With nowhere to run, Winston surrenders. Fiona has the other agent secure him by tying his hands behind his back, then recovers the files he stole. Concerned that he has the intel memorized, Fiona and the agent begin moving him. However, in that instant, he jumps over his restrained hands, and, now free uses the bind to take the agent hostage. Winston proceeds to tell Fiona to drop the gun and threatens to kill his hostage, but Fiona ignores his threat, saying they are all prepared to die. The WISE Agent disguised as Gascoigne suddenly arrives on the scene, and, using this to his advantage, Winston throws the hostage at Fiona and jumps down the railing to the level below. After freeing himself with the knife the agent dropped, Winston escapes into a nearby sewage pipe. Fiona orders the Agent to aid their teammate and send backup, then continues the pursuit into the sewer.
Inside the sewer, Loid, still wearing the disguise of Yuri, is attempting to get to a safe zone when he starts hearing the footsteps of someone being pursued. Not knowing the circumstances, he decides to assess the situation first. However, Winston has already gotten behind Loid and attacks him. Loid tries to maintain his cover as Yuri to Wheeler, but Winston sees through the lies as Loid's footsteps were similar to his. Realizing he is talking to Twilight, Winston decides to unmask him, and they get into a melee. Fiona arrives at the scene of a defeated Loid as Winston is pulling the disguise off him. Consumed by rage, Fiona unleashes a forceful blow with her feet, stopping Winston in his tracks.
Elsewhere, Yuri is awoken by his teammate, Chloe, and the Lieutenant. Knowing Yuri was defeated by Twilight, the Lieutenant has Chloe bring Yuri to the surface for medical treatment and goes after him alone. On their way out, Yuri wonders why he was not killed but cannot put his finger on what that would suggest.
Returning to the spies, Fiona draws her gun at Winston, who threatens to kill Loid and orders Fiona to throw away the gun, to which she angrily complies. Winston realizes that Twilight holds some importance to Fiona and reminds her that they cannot have any attachments in their work. He then says that he has a rule to never trust or invest anything in anyone, claiming it is what gives him a clear view of everything and makes him strong. Winston tells Fiona that she has no hope of beating him, but Fiona jumps at him with blind rage. Winston can read her attack, but the speed of her punch is so fast that it confuses him, and he barely manages to block it. Fiona lands her punch on Winston, punching his arm into his face and breaking her right arm. Rattled, Winston struggles to get back on his feet.
A narration explains that human beings are normally prevented by subconscious mental inhibitors from using 100% of their strength, as doing so would seriously damage their muscles and bones. However, in Fiona's case, she was so furious that all of her mental inhibitors broke. Fiona declares Winston weak for his inability to trust anyone, deeming him an empty man meddling with the world for his own amusement. She then says that her belief and thoughts of Twilight make her strong, and is why she will not be beaten. Fiona lunges at Winston again, swinging her left arm at Winston but dislocating it when he dodges. However, she twirls from the miss and hits Winston with a powerful kick, breaking her leg in the process. Winston is shocked but believes that with Fiona's injuries, he can try making a safe distance away from her. To his surprise, Fiona swings a hook at Winston with her dislocated arm and knocks him to the ground, defeating him.
=== A Seed of Doubt ===
Fiona's hit knocks Winston out cold. Just as she is about to finish him off, Loid comes to, telling her not to kill Winston. Together they tie him up, but Fiona begins to panic, wondering when Loid regained consciousness and if he heard what she said about him. They begin discussing everything that has happened earlier, with Loid reasoning to Fiona that he was unable to kill Yuri due to how it would affect Operation Strix. After the WISE Agent arrives, they begin to leave the area with Loid carrying Fiona while WISE Agent carries Winston.
On their way back, the WISE Agent asks Loid to join him for a drink, but Loid declines, as he had left on the pretext of a work emergency and that it would be rather suspicious if he did not head back soon. Loid then goes on to talk about his troubles with Yor that morning. Fiona tries to accompany Loid to investigate and possibly try to set herself up to take over the wife role, but she is sent home due to her injuries.
Outside the Forger Residence, Loid is preparing himself to handle Yor's grievances. To his surprise, Yor is no longer mad as he falls to the floor in exhaustion and relief. Yor notices Loid is injured, for which he comes up with an excuse about a wrestler patient. Loid then asks about Anya, who is now fast asleep. He proceeds to apologize to Yor about her gripes, but she explains that she only made them up to seem normal. Gobsmacked, Loid collapses on the floor again. Yor asks if Loid needs an ambulance, but he shrugs it off and requests Yor to take care of the housework for him for the next two days, which she gladly accepts. As she laughs to herself, Yor explains to Loid that she realized it is not griping that she wants, but to be able to take care of him and for him to share his burdens. She tells Loid that he does not have to be perfect all the time, but Loid, after fighting Winston and Yuri, believes that he must be perfect in order to survive.
As they finish their conversation, Yuri barges in. Noticing Yuri is hurt as well, Yor wonders out loud what has happened to everyone that day. Yuri makes up an excuse at work while Loid repeats his story about a wrestler patient. Loid then goes to prepare some tea, but Yuri notices that Loid is injured in his right arm. Remembering that he injured Twilight in the right arm earlier that day and that Twilight could be someone he knows, Yuri forcefully rolls up Loid's sleeves to check for bandages or the wound but finds nothing. Yor inquires what Yuri is up to, who makes up an excuse about Loid's safety. Yor then hurries Yuri away and tells Loid to take a shower.
Inside the shower, it is revealed that Loid had disguised his wound. Realizing that Yuri could tell he was injured, Loid reminds himself that a spy is as good as dead if he allows a seed of doubt to take root in someone else and urges himself to pull himself together. Coming out of the shower, he smells something burning and worries that Yuri might have returned after acting on his suspicions. What he instead finds is that Yor has accidentally set his shirt on fire while trying to iron it, and Loid collapses on the floor once more.
=== Recovery ===
After the mission, Fiona is admitted to the hospital where she normally works undercover with the cover of her falling down the stairs in the hospital. Director Gorey has arranged a private room for her and attempts to spend some alone time with her. Fiona brushes him off and the nurse in charge also tries to send him away to let Fiona rest. After a bit of back and forth, Gorey finally takes his leave and Fiona asks Handler what she is doing there.
Sylvia, disguised as the nurse, is here to debrief her. As they are short-handed at the moment, she has no choice but to take part in the infiltration operation herself. She then hands over Fiona's test results. Fiona is actually less seriously injured than first feared and will be back to work in no time. As it turns out, her training for the revenge tennis match against Yor has kept her from getting seriously injured. Sylvia congratulates her on a job well done but asks Fiona not to get herself killed as she cherishes and adores her. As she leaves, she tells Fiona to keep pushing but not too hard, not even for his sake. Fiona immediately panics, believing that Sylvia knows about her feelings for Loid.
At the Forger residence, Anya compliments Yor's cooking has gotten a little bit better. However, it is clear she has injured herself a lot preparing the breakfast. Loid thanks Yor regardless as Anya overhears his thoughts about the mission the day before. Loid tells Anya that they will not be going out in order to recover. After Loid goes back to his room, Yor asks Anya about her day at the zoo and Anya takes out a lion plush she got at the zoo. Noticing the plush, Bond immediately becomes jealous and tries to get Anya's attention. With his hair raised, it now resembles a lion's mane. Anya is impressed and asks Bond to imitate an elephant and a giraffe, so he tries to stretch his nose and neck. Yor then has the idea to wet Bond's hair around the neck but he ends up looking more similar to an alpaca instead. Yor then starts brushing his hair to restore his look.
After Yor finishes, she comments that Bond's hair seems more shiny after brushing it. Wanting her hair to be shiny too, Anya asks Yor to brush hers as well. Franky then arrives, delivering the stuff Loid has requested and Anya suggests brushing Franky's hair too, which he rejects. Hearing the commotion, Loid comes out of his room to check what is going on, but upon hearing the conversation, he heads back to his room.
=== Damian's Gift ===
At Eden, Damian has prepared a bag of cakes to repay his debt to Anya, but to avoid others finding out about his debt to her, he plans to give them to her without the others noticing. Just as he prepares to do so, Becky, Emile, and Ewen arrive at the scene. Not wanting to be embarrassed in front of everyone, he backtracks from his plan, but Anya finds out about it through her powers of telepathy. And so she badly asks him if he has something for her. Damian immediately denies it and runs away, leaving the girls perplexed as to what just happened.
Throughout the class, Damian tries to come up with a plan to give Anya the cakes without compromising his dignity, which Anya overhears via telepathy. So, she talks to Becky to come up with an idea. Becky suggests asking him to meet her in the courtyard. Anya passes a note on to Damian, but her writing is completely incomprehensible, so she makes another attempt, but her writing is so threatening that Emile and Ewen misinterpret it as a challenge to a duel.
When break starts, Damian and Anya tell Emile, Ewen, and Becky to stay away. Despite that, they come along anyway, which foils Damian's plan. So they start running away with their friends following close behind. This continues till break is almost over, where they arrive at a corridor. Emile, Ewen, and Becky continue to observe when they suddenly hear some familiar footsteps. Believing that they have managed to lose their friends, Damian is about to give her the cake when Henderson arrives. Since bringing sweets is against the rules, Henderson confiscates them and tells Anya and Damian to see him after class.
Later, after they finish writing their apology, Henderson invites them to join him for tea along with the cakes that he confiscated earlier. Damian tells Anya that he considers them even while Henderson points out the cakes are quite precious, which Damian says were provided by his household. Damian then has a flashback to his conversation with his butler, where he finds out that the cakes were procured by his mother and she also left a message hoping that he would become closer to Anya.
Back in the present, Anya asks Damian to be friends just as she finishes her cake. Damian is confused as to why she asked to meet him alone in the first place. They then realize how embarrassing everything was earlier that day. And so Anya retracts her offer of friendship, to which Damian responds that she can't, not before he formally refuses. At that point, Henderson tells them to go home.
=== Yuri's Dilemma ===
As Yuri heads to work, he gets hit by a truck. In the locker room, his captain scolds him not to get hit by trucks again but Yuri is not bothered, he starts talking about his life, his life has become a mess and he has not seen his sister in a while. He talks about skipping grades at college, getting hired at the foreign ministry, and then becoming an elite of the SSS but what bothers him is that Twilight bested him, even though landing a blow on the man in the first place is an achievement in itself. The captain then mentions that ultimately, with both sides losing an asset, overall damaging Twilight was still worth it. However, Yuri still feels down because he still lost to a man with an injured right arm in a fight.
Speaking of right arm injuries, Chloe comes over and informs them they have just arrested a man with a similar injury. They go to see this suspect but given his short build, there is no way they have Twilight in custody. As the captain leaves, he tells Yuri to help with the interrogation. The suspect, Bobby Bockle, is uncooperative at first and Yuri starts belittling him. The suspect starts to break but he still refuses to betray his organization and so Yuri starts threatening him.
Ultimately the interrogation yields results and so Yuri and Chloe set off to the address provided. On their way, Chloe questions Yuri why he is in such a bad mood lately. Yuri counters by questioning Chloe why is not addressing him as Lieutenants. Chloe points out that they are in public and doing so would give them away. Besides she was his upperclassman, so that should cancel things out. She continues, pointing out Yuri has not changed, he is still the brat that everyone despises. Yuri did not care, he was and still is only concerned about his powerlessness. Suddenly he ducks down in his seat as they drive past city hall because he senses Yor who is on her lunch break. Chloe is shocked that Yuri can sense her like that but does not understand Yuri's need to hide since they are not wearing their uniform and even if she spotted him, he could have come up with an excuse such as they are dating. Yuri is annoyed with such a suggestion but Chloe tells him that if she were his sister, she would want him to be happy.
Arriving at the suspect's base of operation, Chloe advises him to be careful but Yuri decides to throw caution to the wind and heads in with his weapon drawn. Yuri manages to take down most of the assailants but he misses one who is hiding in another room. Yuri is about to be stabbed from behind but Chloe comes in just in time to save him. Chloe proceeds to slap Yuri, telling him he would have been stabbed and died if she was not there. Yuri says that would not have killed him and Chloe slaps him again, telling him that people die, even him. She states that he keeps talking about protecting his sister but does not think of how would she feel if he died.
With those words, Yuri finally snaps out of his misery, and Chloe continues by saying that there are other ways he can support his sister, such as showing that he has grown and is able to protect himself. Yuri then thinks back to a time when Yor was collecting herbs while he was sick and she was injured by bees and boars. She eventually overcame them by getting faster, so Yuri concludes that he needs to do the same. Back home, Yuri is training when Yor comes for a visit. Yor sensed his presence earlier that day and also wants to apologize for kicking him out of her apartment during his last visit. Yor has food brought over, some of which was prepared by Loid. Yuri becomes disgusted as soon as Loid is mentioned. He starts fantasizing about arresting Loid for being Twilight, but then he suddenly considers how Yor would feel about that.
== Story Impact ==
* It is revealed that there are moles in both WISE Headquarters and Ostanian Intelligence.
* Yuri and Loid meet for the first time during their secret jobs as an SSS agent and WISE spy, respectively. When they meet, Loid is disguised as Yuri. Their encounter results in Loid almost killing Yuri twice, but he hesitates each time.
* The mole, Winston Wheeler, is defeated and captured by WISE.
* Yuri begins to suspect for the first time that Loid may be Twilight.
* Loid begins to doubt for the first time about his feelings for Yor.
* Sylvia reveals her awareness of Fiona's true feelings for Loid.
* Anya begins to suspect Damian has romantic feelings for her.
* Yuri's fellow officer and collegemate, Chloe, is introduced.
== Characters Introduced ==
== References ==
== Navigation ==
Category:Story Arcs
Category:Mole Hunt Arc