Agent Twilight

**Agent Twilight**, currently assuming the name of "Loid Forger", is a member of Sentinel, and one of its highly skilled infiltrators and field agents. One of the unfortuanate victims of living through a war, he grew up fighting in said war and his feats during the fight for his country earned the attention of Sentinel, who saw how his skills could be put to good use. As a Sentinel in the Shadows, he has worked tirelessly to prevent tragedies he experienced from being seen by others. His current mission is the hardest one yet, for his training did not prepare him for parentage and husbandry.

## Background

The future agent Twilight was born as a relatively normal kid. His parents were part of the Grand Order of Magi but they weren't important enough to stand out and they also took a relatively human view on raising their child. In most "proper" mage families the number one most important thing is legacy and lineage, making sure your child will be the ideal heir. In many cases familial affection is ignored or plowed over to make sure one's heir comes to have the right ideals and the right skills. Children are treated less as children and more as future mages.

In his family’s case however this wasn't what happened. His parents were much more relaxed and viewed the way other mages acted with disdain. In particular his father was very against the typical coldness of a magus and would sometimes react harshly when Twilight would display any signs of it. So he was raised with a softer and more normal hand than most other mage children. This life would not last forever though for reasons completely unrelated to the world of magi.

In 2003 tragedy struck. Russia had been discreetly raising a separatist faction within Estonia and now they began to more openly support the faction. Their justification was a stated belief in the rights of the separatist faction, plus Russia's former ownership of the land and the large Russian population of Estonia. Although mages have many advantages over Sleepers they are not invincible. Twilight’s father was amongst the first civilian casualties to missile strikes and by unfortunate coincidence the place his mother took him to flee the war turned out to be one of the very next targets, suddenly leaving him without a family or home.

After that day where death suddenly and violently struck he grew a hatred for the invaders. Some years later he falsified his age and joined the military, becoming part of special forces. He became a nightmare for the invading forces, using all his abilities and skills to the purpose of killing as many of the enemy as possible. He had spent much of his childhood already hearing all about how terrible Russia was, just waiting for any opportunity to claim their land. While true about the government perhaps, this also made it easy for him to dehumanize the rank-and-file. Many he faced were just conscripts but he still viewed them as monsters and treated them accordingly. This view would persist on for a long time and lead to him obtaining a massive kill count until eventually he met a Russian soldier that started to make him question things.

This soldier was actually a deserter and after being caught in one of Twilight’s traps, he plead for his life on the basis that he had not yet lost his virginity. A surprising response that amused the young Twilight enough to hear him out. They ended up sitting and talking for a time until the conversation inevitably reached the topic of the war itself. The deserter was of course rather disillusioned with the whole thing which Twilight believed was only right since they had started the war. To this the deserter responded that many of the people he had fought alongside believed the opposite, not necessarily himself but that many believed this was a response to aggression and to help their ethnic brothers. This pretty much immediately ended the fragile truce as Twilight became infuriated at the idea but before he could actually pull the trigger a squad hunting for deserters was drawn to their position by his anger. He managed to escape but was injured in the process.

He had not yet fully mastered healing magic and wasn’t able to heal his wound on the run, because of this it was logged before he got the opportunity to speed up his recovery, preventing him from magically healing it afterwards either to avoid suspicion. As a result of this he ended up off of the frontlines as his injuries were temporary but debilitating. While working in logistics and support he was approached by people he never thought he’d see again. Old friends of his who he thought had died in the bombing of their hometown, all of them had also signed up. They caught up and made plans to meet up for a meal once their upcoming operation was done. However, they would never come back from that operation. Their commanding officer was reckless, prioritizing the destruction of enemy assets above all else and suffering massive casualties as well as inflicting heavy collateral damage as a result. This was the final nail in the coffin for Twilight as a soldier, no longer able to dehumanize and eliminate the enemy with the same zeal as he had before.

Fortunately for him, he would not have to anymore. A group known as Sentinel had been keeping an eye on the war. They did not fight on the frontlines but rather directed their efforts towards sabotaging the war effort and as a result they sometimes had to work around or with special forces groups like the one Twilight had been part of. Realizing his true potential he was approached by a Sentinel agent with an offer of recruitment. He took the offer, no longer for his country or to hurt the other side but rather to help end conflicts like these so everyone could go home and children could live their lives happily.

Twilight would end up under the command and training of Sylvia Sherwood, a veteran Sentinel agent in charge of many solo international agents. She had shared his experience with war and though she was strict the two developed a good working relationship. Once he was deemed ready he was given his codename of Twilight, a name he has chosen to go by since. His former name and allegiance no longer matter as he now intends to help people all over the world. He has gained a reputation as an exceptional and highly dedicated agent, completing every mission he’s given and there have been many. He’s prevented assassinations, intercepted shipments of dangerous weapons to dangerous factions, rescued kidnapping victims, etc. All this has led to his most recent and quite possibly most tricky assignment yet.

After finishing a mission in which he prevented a minor scandal with a major figure he received his next set of orders for a mission known as Operation Strix: to create a fake family in a matter of weeks. Although Sentinel always keeps an eye on groups like Shin-Ra, there is someone in particular they need to keep an eye on. Their attention was drawn by a prominent figure in a particularly dangerous faction of Shin-Ra. A faction that has views which may lead to conflicts in the magus world. So Sentinel needs someone to figure out what this man is really like and any plans he may have.

For this mission the normal approaches are not an option as this information can only be reliably extracted with deception and trust. As opposed to thefts and assassinations they must maintain long-term contact with the target and this target is renowned for being very reclusive. He is rarely ever seen outside of his estate and has almost never been seen outside of Sector 0 of Midgar. The only occasion to make him regularly leave his home is an event at a school his sons attend. Hence the need for a family so that he too can enroll a child in the school, as well as give the impression that Twilight intends to settle down.

Twilight was quite shocked when hearing that he’s supposed to somehow find a wife and child who are willing to play pretend within a few weeks. However he still agreed to at least try and began his search for potential family candidates in the Americas. He ended up finding an orphanage in Detroit that was shady enough to simply hand over a child without worrying much about paperwork, allowing Twilight to fill in the blanks himself to suit his needs. He was looking for a smart child who could get into Eden academy, the school that his target sends his children to. By coincidence this orphanage happened to house a girl with telepathy that could not even be detected by a veteran magus and agent such as Twilight.

Anya, the girl, read his mind and saw that he was a spy working for a group aiming for peace and benevolence. This quite excited the young girl who loved spy shows, so she immediately made herself appear as the ideal candidate for Pperation Strix. Twilight was fooled as he had no reason to believe this girl was a telepath skilled enough to remain completely undetected at her age. Unfortunately after being adopted Anya was proving to be of rather average intelligence, which was not enough to get into the school he needed her to get into. So he left their temporary apartment to see Franky, the deserter he had met so long ago who had since become an associate of Sentinel. Franky was able to get him the documents and answers related to the entrance test so that getting Anya into the test would be guaranteed and she would know ahead of time all the material.

When he came back home however he found the apartment seemingly empty, only to suddenly be ambushed on his way in. Unknown to him, Anya had broken into his spy stuff and sent out an open transmission that compromised the apartment, getting herself captured. He was able to defeat the ambush easily enough, even when one of them got back up and attacked him from behind. He had become very cold and practical, the image of a pragmatic spy and a magus, so at first he thought to simply find another location and adopt another child. When he started the process though, something deep inside him stopped him from doing so. So using his magic he took on the appearance of one of the thugs that ambushed him, dressing up the thug in his own clothes so that he could turn “himself” in. Using this trickery he got Anya out and in the process remembered why he had signed up as a spy in the first place. He determined himself to find a way to finish this mission without endangering a child and, framing it as a game, gave Anya instructions to find the nearest police station while he finished up with these criminals.

When he came back out he found that Anya had not left, he had already changed his face back to normal by this point and she asked to go back home. He was hesitant at first, asking if she was sure. Ultimately, her desperation to go back home with him reminded him of some information Franky had given him. She had been adopted before and returned every time by every family. That in mind he decided not to add “Forger” to the list of families that rejected her. By studying with the materials he had given her she was able to pass the entrance exam, giving them an opening to move into the Shin-Ra controlled city. However the interview phase required both parents to be present, meaning the time table for finding a wife just got majorly pushed up.

Meeting up with Franky again he was given a list of possible wife candidates. By coincidence, around this time there was another organization interested in embedding an agent in Midgar, the Snake Tong. There were several high-value targets in the upper tiers of the city that they would love to take out and to this end they decided to send one of their agents who keeps a secret identity in order to not arouse suspicion, “Thorn Princess”, Yor Briar. The two ended up crossing paths in a shop. Although they at first had their own reasons to think the other was an unsuitable fake spouse, Anya was determined to have both a spy and an assassin in her family, immediately talking about how she’s so sad to have no mama. This handled Yor’s concern that Twilight was probably already married and so she proposed the idea to Twilight, stating that she has a brother working in Midgar who believes she’s already dating someone and she’s about to move there herself. Twilight for his part used the excuse of needing a fake wife because his “late wife” and “Anya’s mother” wanted the best education for Anya which he believed he could find amongst the elite of Midgar. So the two agreed to this arrangement with Twilight using his Sentinel connections to make it seem like they had been married for a couple of years now.

Although there were some incidents with a rather boorish judge during the interview, they were able to get through thanks to the actions of a more elegant staff member who admired their own elegance and dedication to their child. So the three successfully moved to Midgar where they have passed themselves off as the Forger family. Twilight has integrated himself into society as a medical and mental health doctor, mainly using his magic for the medical side of things. Although Operation Strix is his main priority and mostly relies on Anya, he's still kept quite busy. After all he's one of the only Sentinel agents they have in Midgard and he's often given smaller missions. Though they have their share of excitement and adventures, the Forgers have continued on strong.

## Personality

Before Operation Strix, Twilight had become a cold and entirely pragmatic agent. Going through war and countless missions began to harden him. Nothing mattered to him except the completion of the mission. When he first adopted Anya he even viewed her more as an asset than a child. Although he has softened more ever since he gained a family he can still be rather pragmatic. Most of his actions are still taken with the mission in mind but being with them has reminded him of why he does it in the first place.

In fact his interactions with the “Forger family” are a big indication of the very changes they have brought to him. They have reminded him of what it’s like to let his emotions and ideals guide him and to trust another person. Anya is quite possibly the first person he’s let his guard down around in a decade and Yor was not far behind in reaching this same status in his mind. In particular he can be very proud and protective of Anya. He has occasionally gone on tangents about Anya’s achievements when he was supposed to be reporting to Sylvia. In another case he briefly forgot about his mission when confronted by his target’s rather dismissive attitude toward his son, reacting with anger. Fortunately, this actually helped as the genuine reaction put him beneath suspicion but it was not a tactical decision.

When he is acting as “Loid Forger” he puts up the image of the perfect husband, father, and co-worker. Loid is a very hardworking and personable individual who is extremely popular with his co-workers. He is a dedicated father who pushes his daughter to succeed academically for the sake of her future but also makes sure she can enjoy her childhood now. Even though both he and Yor recognize their marriage as fake he does his best to be a good husband and the two have had ‘date nights’ with each other. Although he calls all of this a role he is playing for the mission, there is a part of him even he can not ignore that is growing genuinely attached to the role.

This contrast between the cold and ruthless agent Twilight vs the family man Loid Forger who becomes more real every day has been something of a source of conflict for him. Most directly it can have an effect on his missions when they are in some way related to the Forger family, such as one mission that brought him into contact with Yuri Biar. Against any other opponent, he wouldn’t have hesitated to shoot them considering the stakes of that mission but he did hesitate when he thought about how Yor would be affected. In general he feels conflicted between his care for his family and the fact that his loyalty to Sentinel will take him somewhere else once he’s done with this mission. At the moment he believes the best thing he can do is to fake his death somehow and leave Anya with Yor if she will take her or with a retired Sentinel agent that he can trust otherwise.

Due to his past experiences with it, Twilight detests war. He finds the justifications for just about any invasion to be excuses for expansion and power or simply a stupid way to express national pride. Whatever the people in power say to justify their aggression it still destroys cities, kills families, tricks young adults into throwing away their lives, promotes hatred of others for where they were born, etc. Even when he had become a cold and ruthless agent, peace was always the reason he kept pushing forward no matter how much was asked of him. Because of this attitude, he is very averse to collateral damage even if his superiors would understand it if he let something happen. He can not bring himself to let any more innocents be harmed by his actions or inactions.

Although he dislikes pointless death and hurt, Twilight does admire those who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others. This can be in a multitude of different ways whether it’s sacrificing one’s life or even just being able to give someone something you want. This is something he admires about Yor as even though he believes her cover story, he still knows she worked an unpleasant job for the sake of her brother and thinks there is no shame in that. He lives up to this himself and would be willing to give up anything for his family and for peace.

Twilight is usually very composed but something that almost never fails to confuse or irritate him is stupidity. He isn’t too strict about this when it comes to Anya. He’s a strict teacher but only within reason as he’s fully aware that he can only expect so much from a young child. When it comes to stupidity from other professionals or the odd gaps in his wife’s common sense though he has a hard time keeping a straight face, even breaking character once when confronted with a monumentally stupid and arrogant “spy”.

## Abilities

### Magic

Twilight's family specialty as alchemists has always been in transmutation and in particular they specialize in modifying the living body. Experimenting with long-term upgrading of the human body combined with physical training has granted him a level of physical ability above that of the mundane human in every way. He can heal grievous wounds and certain illnesses through this as well, shaping and modifying the body in the affected area. His most commonly used spell though is to change his own appearance. He is an expert at disguise due to his ability to perfectly take on all the physical traits of whoever he's pretending to be. This magic can also be used to harm others. He usually doesn't use it to kill because it's impractical in combat, requiring him to be close and use an incantation. Also during assassinations he'd rather use methods that aren't as traceable to him. However he sometimes does things like temporarily cripple a target he's bringing in alive to make sure they don't flee.

Another aspect of his alchemy is in regards to his mind. Boosting his already analytical mind he's able to support multiple thought processes at once to do things like having a coherent conversation while also speaking in code. He is also able to accelerate his thoughts, combining these allow him to analyze situations and think of his course of action very quickly.

### Intellect

Agent Twilight was born with a genius level intellect that only shows up once or twice every few hundred years. His ability to learn and retain new skills and information is truly exceptional. If he had remained a mage he would probably have become one of the greatest experts in the theory and academia of magic. As it is he is able to pass as a great psychiatrist despite never having gone to school for it, skim over a large list of people or animals and easily identify any individual from it as well as recall their details, think of plans on the fly, keep track of many variables at once, etc.

### Physical Capabilities

Twilight has used his magic to enhance his own body, granting him better senses, greater strength, faster speed, etc. He is strong enough to split apart solid wood and his senses combined with his general alertness make it very difficult to sneak up on him. However he is still not on the same level as his fake-wife who can force him onto the defensive even with his enhanced body and accelerated thought

### Observation

Twilight is a highly observant individual and in any situation he's constantly analyzing his surroundings and the people in it, figuring them out and keeping himself spatially aware. He can easily identify fake ID, recognize phrases and symbols associated with certain organizations, tell when he's being lied to, etc. He does notably have something of a blindspot when it comes to the Forgers however, having missed multiple signs that any spy should have been able use to tell there's something going on with Yor and Anya.

### Acting

Being able to convincingly play a role is a standard skill taught to Sentinel agents but even amongst them, Twilight stands out. He is able to convincingly copy the demeanor and mannerisms of a target after only seeing them for a short time, though by his own admission he needs more material for long-term disguises or to fool other intelligence agents. When it comes to playing a role instead of a person he is flawless. Everyone at his work place believes him to be a normal magus doctor and he's quick to quell any doubts on the Forger family.

### CQC

Although his specialty is in espionage and deception, Twilight is still quite skilled in a fight. He has even been able to take on a few other agents at once in sparring matches. Against opponents with no or standard training, he can take them down in a matter of seconds. Against a large group of enemies he once calculated in his head that he had less than ten seconds to spare on each opponent then successfully defeated them in time anyway.

### Marksmanship

Twilight is one of the best shooters in the organization, making perfect marks at the shooting range whenever he needs to refresh his skills. He is so confident in his aim in fact that he could even shoot the vest off of a bomb dog without any harm to the dog themselves.

### Cultural Knowledge

Twilight has been to many places all over the world and has learned many different customs and languages to blend in as needed. He plays well the part of an American immigrant, with Estonian ancestry to explain any DNA scans. Even his accent is indistinguishable from someone who grew up in Michigan. This also allows him to understand just about any conversation he overhears as he will secretly know the language being spoken.

### Equipment

#### Sentinel Uniform

Despite the name, the Sentinel uniform tends to have a lot of variety. Most often it is worn as a suit or a dress but members can request whatever design they like as long as it remains practical. About 1000 years ago the finest artificers of the organization discovered how to weave special materials together with magic to create clothes that look and feel normal but are highly protective. The uniform can resist bullets, spells, knives, etc.

#### Vanguard

The Sentinel vanguard is a defense type piece of equipment. It's made with durable plasteel frames and manaweave canvas to appear as an umbrella and provide greater defense than the Sentinel uniform. In addition the inside of the umbrella can turn transparent so that the user does not have to sacrifice vision for defense. The vanguard is mostly meant as a shield against projectiles but has also found great uses as a melee weapon and is able to fire projectiles of its own from the tip, most often rubber bullets

#### Watcher

The aptly named Watcher wristwatch has a dart launcher hidden inside it that can fire small but sharp darts often filled with venom of some sort. Effects can vary from being lethal, to knocking out, to disorientation, to amnesia.

#### Stormneedle

A disguised pen design inspired by the shockpen used by a certain Southeast Asian mage group. Unlike the original design that it is based on,  the Stormneedle is meant to be used more as a handheld EMP that stops electronics from working once touched with it. It can still be used against people but unlike the Shiai-shi counterpart is not really lethal.

#### Bladerunners

Retractable blades hidden within the soles of shoes worn by Sentinel agents. They are primarily meant to be used as surprise weapons against enemies who have no idea about them or as a secret tool to cut out off or through things. Some members modify theirs to also be venomous.

#### Dealmaker

The Dealmaker is made to look like a briefcase with its main purpose being to hide a weapon inside and, if it is a gun, to fire it without needing to open the case. There is also a variation meant to get past metal detectors and such that fires magic bullets instead. In addition to its offensive capabilities the dealmaker has a foldable covering that can expand to act as a light but large shield covering most of the user's body. The dealmaker is partially see-through from the user's perspective to grant protection without sacrificing too much vision.

#### Seers

Contact lenses worn by many Sentinel agents on missions. They have a variety of utility uses. They allow users to see through objects including walls, identify and translate languages, tag important things, zoom in, and quickly identify people of interest. They also have shared perception spells useful for group missions being able to look through a teammate's eyes, send "footage" back to HQ, and transmit visual information

#### Mimicry

An artifact meant to record and playback audio. It can create a database of sounds that it is exposed to and then make that sound. It is also capable of throwing this noise, making it sound like the noise came from a different direction. This can be used as a distraction, to record audio information, etc. there are two variations to this. One version appears as a pin and possesses a larger amount of features. The second version takes the form of a pill, it cannot record any new noises once swallowed nor can it throw noises but it is very specialized in mimicking voices, a useful tool for masters of disguise such as Twilight.

#### Skeleton Key

The sentinel Skeleton Key usually appears as a small sphere of metal. The purpose of this sphere only becomes clear when around physical locks. Upon activation the metal shifts from its sphere form and takes on the shape of a key. At first the key isn't actually fitted for any lock but upon being inserted into a lock it automatically senses the mechanisms of the lock and further alters its shape to fit the lock. It is also meant to seek out and help the agent disarm any defensive spells connected to the lock. This allows Sentinel agents to enter any locked door that uses a key. It is unfortunately not as useful against more modernized targets and locations that use keypads instead, however the Stormneedle can often make up for this.