Forty feet above the river, the hall echoed with the sound of many people talking. In the bath of soft golden light filtrated through the glass windows beside them, people in dark blue uniforms and cloaks were gathering.
"Welcome, everyone."
A cold and loud voice coming from the stage silenced the entire hall. All eyes were fixed on the gray-eyed man who raised his red drinking glass on the stage.
"Today, we're here to commemorate a once-in-a-lifetime moment for a man who has provided us with a home, shielded the weak, and exposed evil."
Drey turned to a man in his fifties in a dark blue suit who was walking up the low steps leading to the stage.
"Let us greet Marius Pagan, our beloved head of headquarters," he said with a cordial smile, inviting applause that echoed in every corner of the room.
Meanwhile, beyond the large doors of the hall, Harris and Brissia were standing next to each other. He gave her a quick nod, signaling for her to begin their plan.
When Brissia had walked away from the north aisle, the appearance of Debora from the west aisle made Harris frown. Until when the dark ruby-haired girl handed him a flashdisk, then he spoke.
"What's this?" Harris stared questioningly at Debora.
"I dunno."
Harris's flat stare made Debora snort a little.
"Benjamin wished for you to make good use of it. Take it and hurry up," Debora said, thrusting the flashdisk closer to Harris's palm.
Harris took a deep breath before picking it up, walking quickly after Brissia. He glanced at the troop of agents with golden crow emblems coming from the west aisle, nodded briefly after receiving a polite greeting from Debora, then entered the hall without minding Debora who was following them.
The joyous clamor in the hall pierced through her eardrums. She glanced briefly at the existence of the most powerful figure in the headquarters before looking at the two people who had the most different reactions to their leader so blatantly; Drey, who was standing by the tall window of the hall with an icy expression, and Fayrl, who was standing in the middle of the crowd with a sour face as the agents around her cheered joyfully.
"Wait, Brissie!"
In the middle of a classic, quiet hallway with high ceilings, Harris kept up with Brissia hastily.
"Why do you walk so quickly? Is it because it's warm enough to go jogging this morning?" said Harris with a small grin.
Brissia took the golden key out of her dark blue trouser pocket as she stared at the single steel door in front of her.
"Well, you could say this is just a warm-up," she said.
Clack!
She winced when she heard an odd sound from the keyhole.
"Harris, someone's inside," Brissia muttered.
"Let me face that," said Harris, beckoning her to take a step back, then turned the lock and twisted the doorknob up and down.
Behind the door, a girl with shoulder-length hair gazed blankly at the swiveling doorknob. The purplish glint in her eyes reflected off the metal shelves that lined up beside her and cut through the sunlight.
Brissia held Harris's hand that was gripping the doorknob, making him freeze, and stared at her hand for a moment before turning to stare at Brissia in surprise.
"At this rate, they'll find us first."
His hazel eyes widened as the neon blue sparks in Brissia's eyes flared.
"Brissie?" he asked quietly as her face grew tense.
"Not her again," Brissia mumbled worriedly.
The shoulder-length hair girl on the other side of the room smiled crookedly. She spread her arms, flung open the door and pulled Brissia quickly into the room.
"Hey!" Harris shrieked, immediately running over to Brissia who fell on the white floor of the room.
Brissia whimpered. She instantly got to her feet in an alert stance after realizing where her twin's purplish light was coming from.
"Are you that keen to remember him?" asked a short-haired figure resembling Brissia beside a gray steel shelf, glancing at Harris for a moment.
"I don't get what you're saying, Myself," Brissia said, stepping gradually toward her twin with unblinking eyes.
However, a hand suddenly grabbed her body.
"She likes to bewitch people. Beware of her," Harris whispered, holding Brissia in his arms.
Brissia's twin snorted softly with a grin, folding her arms across her chest. "For a brief while, you seemed to have forgotten that Harris shares the same face as the teaching assistant who wounded your pride."
It froze Brissia, causing Harris to call her name in repeat.
"Don't listen to her. You mustn't forget your purpose here, Brissie," Harris said, glancing sharply at the figure with a purplish glint in her eyes.
Hearing that, Brissia's copycat rolled her eyes. "Ever had the feeling that you were being used as a temporary escape?"
Then it was time for Harris to stun.
"You're most likely unaware that there was someone quite similar to you on the other side. Imagine if all your 'lover' sees in you is a docile embodiment of him," the girl continued, showing a sly smile.
"Enough!" Brissia shouted, pushing her twin away from the shelves. "Harris! Get the book!"
Harris flinched then immediately headed to the second shelf from his right. However, when he was about to take the book, suddenly the shelf next to him collapsed and almost fell on him.
"Ouch!"
Brissia was knocked to the floor in the area opposite the shelves. Harris stared at Brissia tensely for a moment then dodged when Brissia's dopelganger knocked another shelf onto him.
"Brissie! How can this thing help us?" asked Harris as he ran to dodge the steel shelves which were vying to fall at him from behind.
Brissia got up slowly, widening her eyes as Harris threw a flashdisk at her. Deftly, she caught it and kicked her twin's leg, taking a rectangular object that fell from her doppelganger's trouser pocket.
"Oh, thank heavens he remembered their existence. If he didn't…"
Brissia stuck the flash drive in the charging port of her doppelganger's phone.
"…I would be the only one to lose a cellphone in the 20th century."
The doppelganger's cellphone turned into a hologram trail, making the owner turn her head quickly.
"What have you done?!" the girl snapped at Brissia, aiming her wide open fingers at Brissia.
Brissia dodged, not realizing she was near the second shelf. As she dodged once more, the purplish light shot toward a folio sized book and burned it.
The three of them fell silent as the fire alarm echoed in one corner of the room. As water gushed from the ceiling, her doppelganger covered her head with both arms, causing Brissia to rush toward Harris who was frozen.
"Harris! We have to get out!" Brissia exclaimed as she pulled Harris out of the room.
"But the book—"
"Don't worry about that. Even if I lose all of my memories in the future, I have at least saved us now."
Without blinking, he stared at the back of Brissia's head. Her presence seemed to engulf the noise, even though they were in the middle of a frenzy of agents running toward the emergency exit.
Meanwhile, Brissia's doppelganger stood under the fire extinguisher on the ceiling while staring at her palm that turned into a hologram imprint. Her jaw tightened.
"You'll see why you have to forget Archtier… Brissia," the girl hissed with vengeful eyes before vanished in the air.
Moments later, agents wearing the golden crow emblem investigated the archive room. Drey walked past two agents stationed at the door, coming to a halt when he noticed a burnt book on the floor with the title Noir Dust.
In the front yard of headquarters, where all the agents had gathered and astonished rumors swirled, Fayrl and Hansen stared flatly to their right. It was because while the agents were busy questioning the situation and preparing their equipment, two of them were busy arguing.
"Hey, should we tell them they are being too obvious?"
Hansen shook his head at Fayrl, glanced at Debora who nonchalantly pushed the shoulders of the people in front of her and split the sea of agents to separate the two.
"Everyone! Please pay attention!"
Fayrl, Hansen, and all the agents around them turned to the balcony on the third floor. Drey and Davina were up there standing in the spotlight, accompanied by two agents wearing golden crow emblems in their shadows.
"Have any of you had direct contact with Noir Dust?"
Drey's words made Harris and Brissia, who were separating from Debora, turn to the cold-faced man.
"If anyone tries to hide, none of you will remember anything after today."