— 𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕠𝕦𝕣

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agentbrunhilde‌:

@endcavours​

The fuzzy sound of Dean Martin’s Sway could be heard from a record player in the other room. The noise was purely meant to keep the silence from dawning on her. It used to be her favorite song but she isn’t sure anymore. She was looking forward to finding new favorite things. A new life should warrant such discoveries.

Setting down the cardboard box next the old wooden staircase she took a moment to look around the nearly empty cottage. So far only the big furniture has been placed but she intended on spending the day filling the rooms with decorations and flowers. The wall next to the staircase was going to be covered in photos from both of their pasts’ but those were hard to come by at the moment. Charlie volunteered to return to England to gather memorabilia.

With lovely neighbors on either side, Lena finally felt as if she could settle down. Of course she’d interrogated the woman next door to the left thoroughly, and on the right was going to be Charlie’s summer home. If she was going to start a new life she would take proper precaution.

As the sound of his footsteps up the gravel path, she turned at first with a prickle of paranoia running up her spine. But immediately she recognized his smile through the open door and relaxed. She nudged the box aside with her foot, and beamed excitedly just as she had every evening before, “How was work? Unexciting I hope.”

           the upside of living in sweden was that, besides it being an incredibly beautiful country, the english language wasn’t terribly uncommon. noah managed to get a job at a local library-- god knew he wouldn’t be fabricating for profit any time soon, and the calm atmosphere in the semi-large building was a stark contrast to what he was used to for the past month, but he kept catching himself smiling off guard.

the knowledge that he wasn’t currently a spy tended to slip away. he still looked up, surprised, when someone approached him, and it took him a moment to remember where he was. no longer careful of every move he made, trying to pretend he was someone else. he didn’t approach strangers to extract information, only to offer help. it was a process, getting used to the change. the thought that always brought a smile to his face was lena, however, and how he would go home to her at the end of the day.

it was an ordinary house, nothing big or flashy or right in the city. back in england, noah had spent most of his life living in london, though he always pictured himself in a place like this. the smile on his lips only grew as soon as he saw her, and the domestic scene she painted made his heart swell.

he stepped in, leaning down like he’d done the previous day to kiss her with his arm wrapped around her waist.      “ yes, terribly boring and unexciting, ”      he confirmed with a grin just as big as hers, lifting her up the ground.      “ it was great. ”

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codanpc·:

gregory was open to all possibilities. in his time working for mi6 he’d learned never to underestimate the probability of circumstances that others would deem unlikely. he was willing to hear out all of his agents to understand what happened on that remote island, but repeatedly he found himself baffled. “ that’s correct. as soon as they arrived in this country we lost all contact with them. on the plane were they acting strange or did they say anything? i just need to understand why two mi6 operatives would run when the mission was complete. and since we have no file for charlie we have no idea what his involvement was. what was he like? did he have an accent or say anything that might indicate where he’s from?”

          noah didn’t want to spend too long thinking of answers for gregory’s questions, he knew that would be odd. he needed to report like an effective spy-- quick and to the point. it was good that he had time to think about his answers on the plane ride, he knew the remaining agents would receive this line of questioning.      “ i... we were all in off moods and exhausted after the events on the island. brunhilde and tecne were no different-- they seemed just as fatigued as everyone else. ”      he replied, wondering how they would figure out that henry and lena ended up working as double agents for vronsky, and how the team could excuse not knowing.       “ charlie was a hostage, along with agent prey. ”       noah said.     “ he seemed to have medical knowledge, somewhat extensive. after vronsky was killed, he aided us. he... might’ve been english, but i did not interact with him enough to say this with certainty. ”

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codename-fugue·:

@endcavours

If Mortimer were a more perceptive man, he would have been asking Noah if he was doing okay re: the revelation about Lena. But that would have required knowing that Noah and Lena had a bit of a thing, which Mortimer had this far remained wholly oblivious to.

So, perhaps fortunately for Noah, Mortimer wouldn’t be asking that question.

Instead, as they watched flowers being laid on Eden’s coffin, rain beginning to drizzle down from a grey sky, Mortimer couldn’t think of much to say at all. Except: “Honestly, I feel like Eden would hate the fuss being made.” He huffed a faint, wry laugh. “I wouldn’t be surprised if his will was more along the lines of, shoot my ashes out of the biggest cannon you can find.”

          the small chuckle that suddenly escaped him was pained and bittersweet. noah did not grow to be close enough to eden to picture what type of will the man left, but what mortimer said sounded an awful lot like what he would’ve done. it was odd to have the knowledge that they didn’t even have eden’s ashes and that his coffin was empty. he wondered how the cia explained this to his family, and he wished he could tell the woman who sat beside the coffin during the whole of the ceremony-- his mother, noah concluded-- what had happened to her son. 

     “ that does sound like eden, ”      he replied quietly, remembering the last moments of eden’s life. he saved lena-- he saved all of them. the entire united states would never know about their hero, and it was another thing he wished he could change. he looked at mortimer and wondered when would be the next time he saw him, if there would be a next time. 

     “ are you staying in the states after this ? ”

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codanpc‌:

@endcavours

“see, here’s the problem …there’s so much about his mission that doesn’t add up. i’m going to need your help filling in the blanks. for starters, why are two of my agents missing?”

         " it is my understanding that agent brunhilde and agent tecne went missing after landing in d.c. "      noah spoke, dreading the conversation as soon as it began. he did not want to lie to the leader of mi6, gregory was a nice man. noah hadn’t met him personally too often in the past, but from the few times that he did, he appreciated gregory’s polite and calm way of dealing with situations. but, noah also could not tell the truth about what had happened in the plaza. not all of it... not when he was planning on running with lena.      " along with a man named charlie-- a civilian, i believe. "

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agentbrunhilde‌:

@endcavours

“sweden,” she spoke softly through the veil, “close enough to home that i can visit sometimes. but they won’t come looking for me there. it’s neutral ground where i can live out the rest of my life…hopefully in peace.”

she stops for a moment, consideration donning her concealed face. she looks up at him through the veil, “before greece you asked me to take you with me after all was said and done. i have secured a flight to stockholm, with one extra seat reserved. if what you said still rings true …”

         he still didn't quite believe greece. noah felt the dull ache on his shoulder, the soft pulse of skin that had been cut open underneath his jaw, but most of it felt like a blur. he wasn't quite sure how he was going to escape this year, and then he heard lena's soft voice beside him.

    " i haven't changed my mind, "      he responded, not pausing for consideration. among all the confusion, in the end, noah was only certain that he wanted to be with lena, even if that were in hiding. and sweden, well... it had a nice ring to it. he turned slightly to her with a smile, just small enough for her to notice.     " i'm glad you chose sweden... to be honest, i've always wanted to learn the language. "

[codaaes]

ALL THAT REMAINS

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agentbrunhilde·:

it was incredible to her how quickly paths that seemed intertwined could diverge. in this moment the two were inseparable, after spending weeks together in high pressure scenarios, forging an undeniable bond that scared her and filled her with ethereal splendor. “yes, i was thinking i could get a nice little cottage…live the most peaceful life i could,” she sighed, a sadness lacing her tone, “if i can i’d like to just be …ordinary.”

         he'd never really been able to ask something of lena. even when they confessed their feelings to each other, he told her that he would only take what she gave and ask for nothing more. it was a promise that he was about to break because the thought of walking out of this alive with lena was what helped keep him sane, it kept him fighting and kept him from tearing at the seams. if she rejected him, then, well... at least he could be sure, and at least he'd jump over one fear.      "take me with you,"      the words were abrupt, almost a whisper, and his gaze was on her again; stronger than before.      "i... i want to be there. canada, sweden, wherever you go."

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codename-fugue·:

@endcavours

If Mortimer never had to get on a plane again, he’d be happy. Oh, the private jet was comfortable enough, and there’d been no turbulence to speak of, but he feared he’d now associate any future flights with the current tension in the air – the tension of our leader has been replaced, and we’re about to go confront an incredibly dangerous man.

Mortimer didn’t worry for most of them. Eden and Lena, Klara and Bobby, they’d be okay. They’d be able to look after themselves, at least. But he and Noah… weren’t exactly the sneaky spy type. Or the combat type.

Which was why, on the flight, Mortimer decided to deliver a nice, bracing glass of whiskey to Noah, and sat across from him, grimacing. “I suppose you’re looking forward to this about as much as I am. Which is to say, precisely zero excitement. Perhaps even in the negatives.”

         noah hadn't been able to sit still since they received the news that levi would not be boarding with them. it was like someone looked down at him, saw how much anxiety he already had about going to greece, and decided to throw in another fistful of unease. 

the glass of whiskey that appeared in front of him was almost welcomed, which only spoke for his distress because noah wasn't the type of person to enjoy an idle drink. he watched as mortimer sat before him, nodding with a sigh. 

    "it's very likely that it's in the negatives,"      noah agreed, pressing his lips together. the team had been cut in half from its initial form, and as he looked around in the private jet, he only saw weary faces.      "i suppose it’s the right way to feel when you’re about to save a nation,"      he said, feeling the weight that he'd tried to ignore ever since embarking on the mission.      "or try to, at least."

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agentbrunhilde·:

as much as lena would have liked to steal noah away and keep him in her life for as long as he could bear,  she suspected that by the end of the week that would not be feasible. so at the very least if she knew his contingency plan she could help secure it, even if she was not a feature in the landscape of his future. she smiled, “back to the homeland…how lovely,” her eyes fell to her hands which lay tightly wound together in her lap, “sweden or canada, somewhere that won’t notice me.”

         he wanted to ask about his part. where would he be in her future, but asking 'what about me?' only felt like being reassured in the rejection. he was no longer smiling with his chest tightening, wishing he could look into lena's thoughts or at least be brave enough to ask why she was leaving them behind.      "o-oh,"      he lowered his gaze.       "sweden or canada, huh..."

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agentbrunhilde·:

@endcavours | closed starter

“…if we make it through the week. if we make it out alive and this mission is complete. what do you want to do after? not necessarily with me, just…in general?”

         'not necessarily with me'... well, noah precisely thought that he'd like to be with lena when it was all over, of course, if they both managed to make it out alive. they were given report files upon being briefed of what to expect, yet he still had no idea of what exactly they were walking into.      "i've been thinking of wanting to go back to england..."      he gave her a response.     "and once i'm there, i'd like nothing to do with stepping on a plane for a while."     a small smile curled into his lips, and he looked at her.      "what about you, what... what are your plans?"

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agentbrunhilde·:

for a moment lena forgot what it was that she was doing. she could sink so naturally into casual conversation that the thought of the crime she was committing flitted out of her mind. she was in the moment, purely fixated on impressing this handsome coworker. who was she to deny an office romance? even if they couldn’t use real names or tell each other the truth. 

as she leaned in for the handshake, she felt the file under her sweater pucker for a moment, and a twist of anxiety sparked up her spine. she pulled away from him a little too fast, but tried to compensate with a sweet smile. she wished she could have lingered, a warm touch tended to calm her down even if it was from a stranger. 

“well, in that case i’ll be sure not to do any more growing. i was debating it, but your poor review of the situation has discouraged me,” she replied, laughing softly under her breath. she didn’t know why she felt so compelled to stick around. if anything she should have bee lined it out of there as quickly as possible to get to place where she could dispose of her original file. but instead she was trying to wedge her way into this man’s mind as much as she could for an initial interaction. good ol’ betty lou always making an impression. 

“endeavour? oh you got a good one,” she said, her tone teasing but he sentiment genuine. she had to look up the name of her alias at the local library. being a fallen agent was quiet nice, but the name tripped over her tongue. it didn’t have the ring to it that she desired. but tit wasn’t her choice. “nice to meet you too hun, glad we’re both new to the office that way you probably couldn’t catch on to the fact that i am hopelessly lost!”

a second chuckle filtered past noah's lips, finding genuine joy in the odd rhythm of their conversation. he wished for more time to spare, to stand there aimlessly and taking-- god, how long had it been since he found someone he wanted to talk with? was it the ease in which she spoke, or the way his chest constricted with something besides anxiety? 

❛❛ yeah, i suppose it has a good ring to it, ❜❜      he nodded thoughtfully, though when he got it he couldn't help but think how little it suited him. noah never suspected to end up where he was. he never trained himself to become a spy, or to get work by forging documents illegally. sure, the money he made was far more than he'd ever earn by making an honest living, but he found out quickly that it was more trouble than what it was worth. he had always just wanted a peaceful existence, he had no idea how he came to be on a spy team with the codename 'endeavour', of all of them.

he did not like the sound of that, though. he was working within a small timeframe where he could pull this off. he'd done his research in the department, and if he wasn't wrong, he only had a little while left to switch out his files if he hoped to go unnoticed. he'd have to end this far sooner than he would've liked to.      ❛❛ oh, i've-- well, i'm pretty familiar with this building already, ❜❜      he said, wondering why he admitted it.      ❛❛ if you like, ❜❜      oh no.       ❛❛ i can walk you to your destination. ❜❜

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agentbrunhilde·:

lena scanned his face.  she didn’t recognize him that was certain. it was unlikely she’d run into anyone she knew by coincidence, seeing as she’d only been formally introduced to three mi6 employees at this point in her career. and she knew that if she’d seen this man before she would have recalled that moment, just as she would recall this moment for the rest of her life. 

her heart beat in her chest so loud that she had to hold her hand over it for a moment just to assure herself she wouldn’t burst at the seams. then she offered her dainty hand out to him to shake, a polite and professional formality to disguise how badly she wanted to run away. 

but oh boy was he cute. she was inclined to flirt with him, just as she was always inclined to flirt. but the dire stakes of the situation paired with the fact that she was technically in the workplace, even if off-hours, caused her to tone it down. 

“ah yes i can imagine,” she replied, with a bright smile, “you probably get twice as many television channels up there.”

it was a bad joke, and she had to repress the embarrassed  wince that tried to cross her face. “i’m agent brunhilde, by the way, brand new recruit. trying to make friends of course!”

         oh, was he nervous. he wondered what they’d do to him if it came to light that he was forging and switching out his own file– would they send him straight to prison, where he should rightly be, or would it be something much less merciful? he couldn’t imagine what worse things could happen to him than being a prisoner, institutionalized all over again, but he knew better than to assume spy agencies cared much about mercy.

he hesitated to shake her hand, pausing to stare at it for a second like he wasn’t sure what the motion meant.      you are a human, noah. it would be a great time to act like you have in fact been living in civilization.      he told himself, then promptly shook her hand. he was used to being larger than people, but couldn’t help but especially notice the way his hand wrapped around the entirety of hers. an unexpected laugh left his lips, and he found himself entirely charmed by such few words.       ❛❛ actually, much less than you’d expect, so this whole being tall thing was a big ripoff. ❜❜      he replied with more ease than he thought himself capable of, even if his heart wasn’t beating any more slowly than it had been after the initial surprise.

    oh, good. not an employee at the records department. noah tried not to look relieved as he smiled at her, nodding once. he had barely met her, and already he admired the extroverted personality she presented.     ❛❛ agent endeavour. ❜❜     the codename still felt odd on his tongue.     ❛❛ and, uh, i’m relatively new here as well. it’s wonderful to meet you, agent brunhilde. ❜❜

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agentbrunhilde·:

@endcavours

It was a risky maneuver. She wasn’t sure what would happen if she was caught. They could just fire her, and she’d be fine with that. But somehow she feared they would attempt something far more sinister. She didn’t think that MI6 would execute her or any of her family members for this intentional act of deviance. But maybe she’d get some jail time. No matter what it was a job that had to be executed with swift precision.·

The fabricating of the file had been easy enough. It wasn’t her forte but through some sleight of hand, penmanship, and creative writing she was able to create a document which would change her life and her identity. And she knew form the moment she slipped her file into the cabinet, she was no longer·‘Betty Lou’.· She was Lena Marks, an only child born in Oxford, and a spy.·

And she was almost successful escaping with her original file tucked under her skirt and sweater when she ran into him. Not literally, but as she rounded the corner to see the imposing figure of a six foot four man, she gave a start; yelping softly. With a hand on her chest, she caught her breath.·

“Sorry love,” she said,·“I didn’t expect anyone else to be skulking around back here.”·

        neither had he.

it was a familiar name. he'd used it before, giving people a fake name for professional purposes or simply because that was the name that escaped his mouth first. not john, but noah. john was what people had called him on the playground, either in cruel remarks or by the teachers. it was how people knew him during his years of studying, but noah was what started feeling more natural during the past few years. it didn't have any entanglements, no memory of it being the only thing his parents gave him before they abandoned him every time he was called.

‘noah’ felt like flipping a new page, but he'd risk getting cut while turning it. fabricating legal documents came easily to him. it was his life's work, however sneaking into restricted areas in a highly upstanding building was not.

the fake file was in a folder, tucked against his stomach underneath his sweater. he was about to safely walk into the section of the records department where they kept all of the files when he nearly walked into her.

he took one whole step back and it took him a sharp jab to his palm with his fingernail to round himself up. if he ever needed confidence, it would be now.     ❛❛ oh, no, i apologize. ❜❜      he spoke quickly, looking down at the short woman. he didn't recognize her, but then again, he didn't expect to. was she an employee here? that would surely bring about trouble.      ❛❛ i didn't either, and i tend to-- well, ❜❜      he motioned at his own body.     ❛❛ my line of vision tends to be a bit different. i’m sorry. ❜❜

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levimercer·:

Levi nodded, letting Noah speak. Only once he was sure Noah stopped talking, he hummed thoughtfully. “People are messy,” he said finally. “Sometimes there is no why. Sometimes the why doesn’t make sense to anyone but the person themselves.”

He leaned back. Why had Henry finally spoken up? Lena would have almost certainly defended him to the last breath if he’d maintained his innocence, and Klara too by the looks of it. 

“Maybe he’d just had enough,” Levi suggested softly after a short pause. He glanced back up at Noah. “Who knows how long he’d been under Vronsky’s thumb. Given the right pressure he just … snapped.”

         levi made a good point. it was hard to imagine what kind of things vronsky might have told henry, or done to him. maybe it was because noah didn't grow up with anything to protect but himself, and he lacked the experience to relate. or maybe henry was just a bad person. 

    ❛❛ but would he have told us ? ❜❜     he thought out loud, still looking at the table as if it was the table talking back to him and not levi. he caught himself and looked up, appearing apologetic.      ❛❛ sorry... i just, don't know what makes someone inherently bad, if there is such a thing. i-- maybe i don't want to think henry had a choice. and if he did, he must've changed his mind. ❜❜      he paused, eyes going back to the table. that was how noah's mind worked; from one thought, one theory, to the next. he was distracted enough to let it show.     ❛❛ but i suppose i shouldn't be thinking in terms of morality. i don't know how henry measured his actions. ❜❜

another long pause.      ❛❛ r-right, sorry. ❜❜     he sat up rather sharply, moving his hands underneath the table.     ❛❛ you must be busy. ❜❜ 

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levimercer·:

If Noah thought this was a mess, he’d have been appalled at what Mortimer called ‘clean’.

Levi was long past the ‘professional leader stage’ with the CODA crew. They’d gone through too much shit for Levi to bother to make himself up as more than a brother-at-arms but he supposed even then he must have appeared as something grander thanks to his training, especially to people like Noah.

Levi took the offered seat and tilted his head curiously. He felt like he’d gotten to know Noah through Lena, though he supposed he’d never really gotten to know the man himself all that well. Lena had always had a thing for civilians, but what was it that made this one special?

He found himself watching Noah’s trembling hand absently. Noah was perched like a bird, ready to flit away. Levi matched Noah’s smile. “I’ve been better,” he replied, not unkindly, hoping to prod a bit more out of Noah. “It’s … a lot to process.”

          he could certainly agree to that statement. even   ' a lot '   felt like too little to say about it. the entire situation, from start to finish, was a complete disaster. even when it began and they were merely discussing, noah could feel the oncoming chaos. he didn't think it was wise to pit everyone against each other, but somehow, henry had confessed. 

     ❛❛ i'm still not sure what was it that made henry speak. ❜❜     noah thought out loud, lowering his eyes to the table. he had always been terrible at eye contact unless he was actively forcing himself for client meetings or undercover work, but the true noah always felt like he hid behind the simple things. 

    ❛❛ everyone was talking-- no, we were fighting. pointing fingers. he could've easily hidden among it. ❜❜     his next words were almost frustrated, and he wore the same expression of when he was trying to solve a difficult puzzle but got stuck and didn't seem to find a way out of the rut.      ❛❛ so... why ? ❜❜

[leepace71]

Lee and Colin Firth in A Single Man…

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levimercer·:

Levi strode into the room but paused a few steps in.

Noah looked … well, exactly as Levi had expected him to look, how all of them must have looked. Scared. Jittery. Above all else: tired. 

And Noah’s hands were red. Levi knew that feeling. Blood had a nasty habit of getting itself stuck in the last places you wanted it to. Fingernails were the most infamous culprits. You could scrub all you wanted and even if you did end up getting all the blood off, you could still feel it there, hot and sticky and a constant reminder of the trauma.

“Hydrogen peroxide,” Levi said quietly. He blinked twice and brought his gaze up from Noah’s hands to meet his eyes. “For blood. To get it out of fabric. If you need.” He tilted his head and smiled a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. This was the least he could do—make sure the remaining agents under his power were safe and sane … though he’d done a properly shitty job of it so far. “How are you holding up otherwise?”

        ❛❛ hm ?  ❜❜     for a second, noah was confused. then he saw levi's eyes raise from his hands, and he suddenly felt self-conscious.      right. highly trained spy.      he scrubbed the hair at the back of his head a few times as he closed the door, then let the towel hang on his shoulder.      ❛❛ r-right, hydrogen peroxide, thank you. ❜❜     he returned the smile as best as he could, nodding and stepping into the room. 

he imagined levi was doing his rounds to make sure things were as under control as manageable in their circumstance, and he didn't want to make him waste his time here. he offered a seat out of politeness. he felt out of place in a sense. he wasn’t used to being around his superiors, and his respect for levi made him act awkwardly around the other. that, and because he knew that his relationship with lena was not professional.     ❛❛ would you like to sit ? sorry about-- ❜❜     he motioned at the general mess his room was in: opened luggage, papers, books, tools, and the half-built hotel replica.      ❛❛ the mess. ❜❜     he took a seat at the table, picking up a thin paintbrush if only to have something to do with his hands.      ❛❛ i'm, well, holding up. ❜❜     he replied with a smile, and he realized as he dipped the brush into glue that he was still shaking. he gripped it instead and looked at levi. he knew it was useless to hope he didn’t notice.     ❛❛ and you ? are you holding up alright ? ❜❜