And you decided whether you saw beauty or destruction

Rivals

(Spies)

This one's for "Full_of_Trash" on ao3 

All of the best agencies gathered in one place.

It was an oddity, but there was one person with the ability to pull such strings, and they had no shame in doing so, particularly when the threat was bad enough.

"I called you here because we've been compromised"
They walk around the table, eyeing the back of the agents sitting on it and their bosses.

"Now I know you lot don't work well together, and I am not going to ask you that"
They make it back to the sole empty chair in the room, standing behind it, hands gripping the top of the back.

"What I'm proposing is a race"

That's how it started.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Connor was running against the clock, roaming the halls of an enemy base as fast as he could. No time for stealth, no time for fighting.

He gets to the room and knocks the door open, no time means he gets to be sloppy, he finds the computer and puts the USB in, quickly searching for the right folder.

He never finds it, instead there's a single message over a picture of their main rival agency, it reads:

'Better luck next time –Cedar'

This is why Connor insists they hire hackers, but no one listens to him.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Evan was chasing down a mole, some asshole that was filtering information from where Evan couldn't keep it locked. He had been hot on trail of the guy about minute and a half ago, but his partner had taken a wrong turn, so Evan had abandoned the vehicle in favor of trying to make up for it.

See Evan would ask to be reassigned, but this is the first partner in months not to file complaints about Evan's methods, so he was stuck. It was kind of his own fault for being so reckless when it didn't involve a computer.

He does find the guy, but he does so on a well-hidden alleyway, completely dead. There on the wall, written in the guy's blood, which, gross, was a message that read:

'Better luck next time –Nightshade'

And a crude drawing of their main rival agency. Granted, Evan kind of deserves that one.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

It becomes a thing, every new mission they're sent on, somehow the two agencies with the longest history of rivalry are the first ones to arrive, which means the messages repeat.

To the point where Connor has Cedar's operating modus almost down to a fine art.

To the point Evan's become privy to Nightshade's abilities with weapons.

A rivalry grows between them, as they try to outsmart the other, and get there first, always leaving the same message. Both of their partners accuse them of flirting with the enemy

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

It gets worse when they finally get a good look at each other, when they have a face to match a code name to.

It gets better because it gets worse, and it becomes sort of a personal thing, and they're single-handily ridding of the problem bit by bit; so the big gun allows them to keep going

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

After the whole ordeal is said and done, Evan's a bit disappointed; he'll miss having someone to make things interesting, something to excuse his reckless behavior.

He knows that he'll keep on brushing with Nightshade's agency, but the chances of running into Nightshade himself are really low, so he decides to leave a final message for his fellow spy.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

When Connor's going through the files for the whole shenanigan, because he's somewhat decent at this, and he doesn't trust the guys at his agency; he gets a pop-up message with a symbol he's now familiar with, it's a map with a mark made on it and the words:

'Good luck –Cedar'

And he's sized by something he can't describe, quickly inputs the direction into his phone, and drops everything to run there. He has no idea how much time he has, or what he's going to do once he gets there; just that he can't let Cedar go just like that, not after everything.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Evan decides to wait until the day changes, not a minute more. If Nightshade doesn't appear, he'll just go, and hope never to cross paths with the other man again.

He has no clue what he'll do if Nightshade does appear, but he hopes he does.