Cold War Mystery AU

The United States is in the middle of Cold War with Phantasm; a large, technologically advanced country to the North. Spies fly between the two countries, selling information, stealing secrets- but that's not my job. My name is Valerie Grey and I am looking for the double agent known only as The Phantom

[grey-valeriegrey]

So people from Phantasma are looking for him too - who's on the case, do you know? Have they made any headway in their investigations?

It’s an operative known as Skulker, but we have no idea how far they’ve gotten in their investigations- we don’t have people tracking him down. 

Although… That might be a good idea if we’re not having any luck here… Except I’m not exactly a spy- it’s no secret who I’m working for, so I doubt I’d be authorized to enter the country… 

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*psst* I heard phantom has a crush on you

What!? That’s ridiculous! And where did you hear that? You would actually have to know who The Phantom was and somehow I don’t think you’d be blowing your cover for a cheap shot like that.

( (Sorry I haven’t been on in a while- finals :/ so I’ve been avoiding Tumblr like the plague))

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have you asked someone (like vlad?) why he wants you to track down the phantom

What do you mean? The Phantom is stealing our secrets and selling to the highest bidder!

Not to mention what he might have under his sleeve as a plea bargain if he does get caught- we can’t afford to have Phantasma find him first. 

Besides, no one expects me to make any headway, and all the previous investigations seem to have gone cold…

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And The Phantom isn't affiliated with Phantasma, then?

The Phantom sells information to both sides; he’s making a profit off the conflict, and doesn’t have any regard for right or wrong. He wants us to know he’s been stealing our secrets- it’s like a job counts as advertising!

And the worst part? It’s working. A few of the higher ups have been buying information from him- he’s always accurate, even if he’s ridiculously expensive. It’s above my pay grade, but I think we’ve gotten some really valuable information from him…

Of course, there does exist the possibility that he’s actually working for Phantasma, and they’re just waiting to lead us into a sabotage, feed us the wrong information when it matters most… But if that’s true they’re pretty thorough- they’ve got people trailing him as well. 

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Can you tell me more about Pariah Dark?

 Well, Pariah took over after his father, Darren Dark and mysteriously lost an eye around the same time. There’s been some speculation that it was a coup, or that he murdered him, but if so it’s been covered up and is, again, above my pay grade.

There was also some question as to his validity as heir- sometime in the history of Phantasma there was a king who died without any legal heirs so the throne passed to his cousin or something… But apparently he had an illegitimate child with a noblewoman and some people said that child should be king?

Basically, the cousin’s line continued to today except that Pariah’s grandfather didn’t have any male heirs so Pariah is technically not of a direct line? I think it’s more complicated than that, but I’m not sure.

Anyways, now Pariah runs Phantasma with an iron fist, and I don’t think people are questioning his right to rule anymore- but my work is mainly dealing with problems on the home front…

((Darren is supposed to sound like Dairy- get it? Dairy King! It’s terrible, I know, but dairy isn't actually a name…))

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Wow, Phantasma sounds pretty advanced. Is there anything *we* do better than *them*?

Public policy. Under the new, almost totalitarian, rule, Phantasma is currently dealing with at least six known resistance movements, and The Kingdom of Aragon is lobbying for independence, although they’ve quieted down a lot after what happened to Amity, which might have been the purpose behind it.

Also, they have practically no natural resources (Although, admittedly, America is beginning to outsource as well). They have to import almost all their food from other countries because it’s too cold to grow many successful crops. This, of course, is causing problems because they’re being watched by the entire UN, and a few countries have issued embargoes against them. 

That’s really all I know- I’m not a big economy buff…

[grey-valeriegrey]

So Val, tell me about Phantasma.

Phantasma is the country to the North of the United States and is technically a constitutional monarchy, although the king has significantly more power than other constitutional monarchies, such as Great Britain. 

The current King, Pariah Dark, shares power with The Ancients, and, although little is known about these proceedings (The security involved is incredible, and getting in is a birthright reserved to only the oldest of families, so infiltration is extremely difficult), they supposedly function the same way as Congress. 

There is also the Observant High Council which acts as a judicial branch, although it is known for conducting its own investigations…

The Country is made of three states, known as The Kingdom of Aragon, The Far Frozen(In the North), and The Borderlands (which borders the United States).

Like DALV, their main intelligence agency is called Clockwork, and they aren’t afraid to spy on their own citizens. The inner workings aren’t public domain, but from what I’ve learned working here, the lower levels are insane. Apparently they have it worked out so you are only in contact with one or two people above and below you and information is only given when absolutely necessary. Needles to say, it doesn’t look like we’re getting very far using double agents…

I think we do have a few people higher up, though, but that’s above my pay grade. 

Unfortunately, security isn’t the only thing their better than us at; they are known for their weapons which is what their economy is primarily based on, although they keep the best ones for their own military. Apparently, some of the stuff they make requires the user to be native to Phantasm, and no, we don’t understand how that works. 

They’re also the leaders in medicine and technology, meaning on the scale of global powers, the weight’s kind of tipping their way…

In terms of history, we were allies until Pariah Dark took over from his father and invaded the small country of Amity, which used to be a buffer country for us. They used The Wail, a large weapon that causes massive Earthquakes, large enough to level multiple cities. While not as powerful as a nuclear weapon, it only affects the desired area, unlike radiation which travels and would affect our own country were we to use them against Phantasma. 

((That’s a pretty long one, so I’m going to stop there; it’s a pretty good overview, I think. Feel free to ask more about a particular subject here you’re curious about- it might be important later))

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Hey, just curious, can I send more asks? I mean I know this is an interactive blog and so sending in multiple questions all at once might be frowned upon, but I only just remembered I was following this blog when I saw that anon ask, and it doesn't look like it's been very active since then? I am curious about the storyline so I want to ask but I don't want to be rude.

Please do- I've only got 11 followers, so if everyone only asks one question we'll never get anywhere. (Also considering I've got more followers than posts, not everyone is asking questions, so we need someone to take up the slack)

So feel free to send as much as you want- although I might space them out a bit so I don't clog dashboards with text posts.

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Got any co-workers?

Technically, I mean, it’s a pretty big organization… 

There’s Star, a small blonde girl who shares a cubicle with me; she’s a little ditzy, but every once in a while she’ll surprise me and actually come up with something clever… We were interns together and get along pretty well. 

There’s my supervisor, Lancer, who’s a huge prude and still treats me like an intern even though I’ve got bigger assignments now…

There’s Paulina, who I’m pretty sure is only here because her dad works high up or something… She pretty much shirks all the responsibilities she’s supposed to have, but everyone who doesn’t work in our department absolutely adores her, so I’m pretty much required to be nice.

There’s also Mikey, who gives really thorough reports at meetings and I’m pretty sure has been promoted at least 4 times since I’ve been working here. 

There’s a few other trainees who just started working with us, but I’ll admit I’m not very good at remembering names…

That’s about it for people I really work with; it’s not a very open work environment…As for people I do know by name, there’s Dash, the janitor, who swears he used to be a world class football player.

There’s Boxer,s another janitor who’s actually from Phantasma, but the most he ever does is get on people’s backs about recycling and pretends to be a menacing double agent. He might be funny if he wasn’t so annoying…

There’s also Nathan, the creepy old IT guy who I’m pretty sure purposefully leaves viruses on my computer so he can come fix them and ask me out to lunch…

Mr. Masters, my tall, white-haired boss who sometimes comes and talks to Lancer. He’s CEO, though, so it’s pretty amazing that I even see him as often as I do…

And that’s about it, really… 

Oh, and there’s Will… I guess…

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Hey Valerie, how old are you?

EDIT: ((Oh whoops sorry I meant to ask how old WAS Valerie when she started working for DALV sorry agh))

I am currently 22. I technically started working for DALV 3 years ago when I was nineteen, my sophomore year of college. I was an unpaid intern until my senior year when I actually started getting paid minimum wage and working on minor assignments.

Upon graduation, I’ve been working full time, and this is my first really major assignment… although I’m pretty sure they only gave it to me because they think it’s impossible and are just waiting for me to give up… 

Like that’s going to happen; I’m pretty sure I only got this job because Mr. Masters was “impressed with my passion” in my interview…

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Explanation

So, the idea behind this blog was to have people ask questions, and investigate characters. When you ask Valerie things, you get a simple text post of what she knows. When you ask another character, Valerie asks them, and you get a scene. If you play your cards right, eventually you get a story, and you might end up with a scene like this one:

Here's a little incentive to keep going.

"Please! Just tell me what's going on!" he shouts, cuffed to the chair of an interrogation room. He keeps glancing around, terrified and confused, and when he meets her eyes it's all she can do to not break him free.

"Look, Will, I'm sorry. Clearly you've been framed, but you need to cooperate until your name can be cleared-"

"What am I even being being framed for? Do they think I'm a spy?"

When he put it that way, it sounded so ridiculous; he had minimum security clearance at best, was clumsy, childish. There was no way he could be the illusive Phantom.

"I-"

The door opened, cutting her off. She stepped away, backing into her guard position at the door, which she should have been keeping all along.

"I think we're done with games, now, don't you think?" Vlad Masters asked casually, as he stepped through the door, completely ignoring Valerie's presence.

And just like that, Will changed. His shoulders relaxed and he leaned back, arms that should have been in chained to the chair coming up to rest behind his head, his feet crossed themselves on the top of the table. She could only stare as he popped his thumbs back into place, without so much as wincing. Instead, the creases in his forehead disappeared, his worried frown becoming a cocky smirk.

Where a moment ago he had exuded fear and uncertainty, he now seemed to radiate confidence.

"Vlad." He said, somehow managing to make it reminiscent of two old friends having a reunion, with just a hint of a threat.

"Daniel."

"Let the girl go."

[phantomlist]

Please like or reblog if you are a Danny Phantom roleplay or ask blog

And if you could specify in the tags if you are canon, au, or oc, and if you’re ask only or both ask and roleplay, that would be great too.

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//I just want to say, I just read the AU and I already am in love with this. You're awesome, this AU is awesome, and I can't wait to learn more about this. 8D

((Wow! Thank you so much! I actually got the idea when I went to the International Spy Museum in Washington DC; the 'ghost worms' are actually based on real soviet bugs...

Unfortunately, I'm not getting too many asks, so I'm really sure how to continue...

I'm really glad you're enjoying it, though!))

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Valerie: Do you know a Danny Fenton?

Fenton? No…

I mean, there were a couple conspiracy theorists named Fenton when I was a kid; my dad used to catch them all the time, trying to set up cameras and break in. They were completely nuts; had no idea what they were doing.

But they got blown up in 2004; some kind of illegal experiment going on in their basement…

Their daughter, Jazz, went to my school…

But I don’t think they had a son…

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What did the precious Ghost Worm do to you to earn so much of your hate?

Okay, who doesn’t hate ghost worms?

They’re a covert listening device designed by Phantasma to bug our buildings.

They’re designed to be installed in the concrete, before the building has even been constructed and get installed during renovations. Then they wait for a signal and start digging until they break through to the outside room and transmit any overheard conversations back to the base in Phantasma.

They’re reliable, tiny, and virtually impossible to detect; any time you scan for outgoing transmissions, they turn off and check back periodically. To find them you literally have to physically scan a wall looking for miniscule holes; it’s tedious and mostly pointless, so guess who has to do it?

The interns.

My first assignment was to scan the building for them. It took months. I found four.

Our agents are still working on replicating the technology, but so far haven’t been able to come up with anything near the quality…

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Swaq-Danny asked: Even if you've never caught the Phantom, have you ever actually seen him?

((Accidentally deleted the original ask))

No one has ever seen the Phantom; he hasn't shown up on any video tapes and has never left any evidence (other than the card he uses for advertising).

I was there at his first operation, though (at least, the earliest one we can identify; it's not like we're comparing notes with Phantasma). It was September 24th, 2004, and I was fourteen. He broke into a safe at Axiom labs; they think he stole some plans for nanobots, although nothing was actually taken. Some people think it was just advertising; getting his services out there...

I didn't see anything, though. A dog got out of it's kennel at the same time; we think he used it as a distraction.

My dad lost his job.

That's when I decided I was going to hunt him down.

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Hello, my name is Valerie Grey. I am 22 years old and working for the intelligence agency DALV Co. You are my partner. We are investigating the Double Agent known as Phantom. Who do you want to interrogate first?

((Official opening of an Ask blog for my Cold War mystery AU))