Agent Shade

Agent Shade takes a call from the Queen in Detectives United: Origins

**Agent Shade** is an intelligence agent with the Mystery Trackers investigative organization, and their agent liaison for the Detectives United.

## Biography

Very little has been revealed about Agent Shade. The *Mystery Trackers* installment *Silent Hollow* describes her as being the organization's main intelligence conduit, and "as deadly as she is beautiful." The same game notes that she is an active ops agent whose role is "intelligence and safety management," and has special skills concerning "control over multiple and diverse resources." She has a significant role in the installment *The Winterpoint Tragedy*, in which she's working at a remote Mystery Trackers research outpost when it's attacked by an unexpected enemy. In *Train to Hellswich*, she appears in the bonus chapter, helping Amber disarm a bomb on a train before being kidnapped. Shade finally repays Amber for the rescues in *Darkwater Bay*, when she saves her old friend after she's left for dead by the Dark Trackers Agency. In *The Fall of Iron Rock*, she appears in the bonus chapter, accompanying Trainee Agent Ginger on her first field assignment. *Fatal Lesson* delves a little into her past, as flashbacks show her training alongside Amber to become fully-fledged Mystery Trackers.

Like most Mystery Trackers field agents, Agent Shade uses a code name for her work. Her real name is unknown, although her identification badge in *The Winterpoint Tragedy* gives her first initial as M. When the Queen calls for help in *Detectives United: Origins*, she addresses the agent as "Miss Shade."

In the *Detectives United* series, she takes on the role of mission control, providing the three detectives with information about their cases and the means to remain in contact with each other while in the field. She is the group's primary form of contact with clients. In *Origins*, she dispatches Agent Brown to respond to the Queen's request for help, provides him and James with transport to the Black Swan Clinic, and - at the end of the adventure - proposes the group name and distributes membership badges to the three detectives. At the end of *The Darkest Shrine*, she's the one to present the detectives with medals for their heroism.

Her role in the DU series beyond this has been minimal. She is attacked during the events of *Origins*, when the Collector invades the Mystery Trackers headquarters in search of the stone known as Azazel; he doesn't hurt her, but she's left shaken by the experience. In *Darkest Shrine*, she coordinates the efforts of the detectives as they split up and head to different parts of the world. Her participation in both *Timeless Voyage* and *Phantoms of the Past* is extremely brief, owing to the nature of the plots. She barely participates in *Deadly Debt* at all, other than as a point of contact between the three detectives; she doesn't even appear in the game except in conversations on the telephone.

## Relationships

### Amber and Elf

According to Amber's inner monologue during one of the flashbacks in *Fatal Lesson*, Shade is her best friend. *Fatal Lesson* shows that they trained side by side to become Mystery Trackers, and share a close friendship. In *The Winterpoint Tragedy*, Amber rescues Shade after she's been incapacitated; in the bonus chapter of *Train to Hellswich*, Amber again goes to help "my old friend Shade" when she's kidnapped by a member of the Black Swamp Society. Shade returns the favor in *Darkwater Bay*, leading the charge to rescue Amber when she's nearly lost at sea; security camera footage shows Shade sitting at Amber's bedside while she's unconscious, tending her until she wakes. Despite their closeness, however, even Amber doesn't know Shade's real name (or, if she does, she's not sharing it).

### James Blackthorne

There is a slight implication that Agent Shade is acquainted with James prior to the events of *Origins*. He explains that he was the one who helped the Mystery Trackers develop the technology for their field communications device, and since she's their top intelligence agent, it stands to reason that they would have worked together on this project. We don't see much interaction between them, but their communications are always polite and friendly.

### Anna Gray

The two women of the DU team have few interactions onscreen, but they obviously know of and appreciate one another's skills and abilities. Agent Shade knows that Anna can get things done, and when James needs help during the events of *Darkest Shrine*, she calls on the time traveler to go to his aid.

### Dorian Brown

Brown and Shade are both field agents for the Mystery Trackers, and have long been acquainted with each other. There is clearly mutual respect present in their relationship; when the Queen first calls Shade with a problem in *Origins*, she immediately knows that Brown is the perfect choice for the case, and Brown is grateful to her for the consideration. She seems to regard him with admiration and slight awe, to judge by the hesitant way she addresses him when she first contacts him about the case. Given that Brown is old enough to be Shade's father and has been with the Mystery Trackers almost as long as she's been alive, he likely had a hand in her training. As the series continues, she loses the hesitation and instead displays genuine warmth toward him, which he returns.

Their onscreen interactions are limited thus far, but he is always seen to treat her cordially. Notably, in *Phantoms of the Past*, she is the only one in whom he confided that he was going on his secret mission, and he entrusted her to pass on his case notes to his partners if he didn't return. When she finally breaks the news to James and Anna that she hasn't heard from Brown in two months, her usual calm demeanor is somewhat jostled by palpable concern for his well-being. In *Deadly Debt* he calls her with the first update about his investigation into the back alley location where he has detected paranormal activity, and she urges him to please be careful, once again showing that she truly cares about his welfare.

## Trivia

* Like Agent Brown, Agent Shade is not the player character in the *Mystery Trackers* series. However, she is seen (unconscious) in the fifth installment, *Silent Hollow,* which gives the player some of her dossier. She thereafter appears in a number of other installments.
* According to her identification badge in *The Winterpoint Tragedy*, Shade's first initial is M and her date of birth is July 25, 1989. Her personnel dossier seen in the DU game *Deadly Debt* gives her age as 23 years old; combined with that date of birth, this would suggest that the DU games take place in the early 2010s.
* Shade does not participate in the events of *Mystery Trackers: Paxton Creek Avenger*. However, one of the newspapers found during the game features a headline mentioning her success on a case, which she solved alongside another agent called Raven. Additionally, she appears in the game's photograph collection sidequest. Gathering fragments of photos found throughout the game allows the player to assemble an image of her wearing a bathing suit, inscribed with the words "Greetings from Hawaii."
* The dossier in *Deadly Debt* states that in addition to being the Mystery Trackers' contact agent for the Detectives United, she also serves as the DU's psychologist.
* Most field agents in the Mystery Trackers have companion animals who assist them in their investigations. According to the profiles seen in the installment *Silent Hollow*, her companion is a pyrokinetic vulpine called Firefox.
* Courtney Christine Rosemont, who voices Agent Shade in most appearances, is also the voice of Anastasia Smith, the flower seller in *Detectives United: Phantoms of the Past.*

## Gallery

Photograph of the members of Detectives United, observed by James in *Detectives United: Darkest Shrine*Agent Shade on vacation, if the player collects all of her photo fragments in *Mystery Trackers: Paxton Creek Avenger*Cadet Shade, taking an exam during her training days, in a flashback in *Mystery Trackers: Fatal Lesson*