Symphony

1. Before Dawn

FOUR WEEKS EARLIER

The agent was late.

He flew through the Sydney streets, bumping pedestrians left and right. Normally, on a morning like this, the man would be in his apartment cradling a warm cup of coffee, waking up to the softly rising sun.

But today, he had an early assignment, an interrogation that he'd nearly forgotten about. The agent slowed his sprint for a moment to glance at his watch.

4:05 AM.

He was supposed to report at 4.

Fuck.

He willed his legs to move even faster.

A little less bubble tea might improve his agility, but he didn't want to think about that.

Finally, the agent approached the familiar entrance alley. He ducked into the dimly lit space, his long, black coat billowing behind him. After checking to make sure that he was totally alone (most people tended to avoid spots like this in Sydney, but the agent could never be too sure), he approached a boarded up doorway. Displayed amongst the rotting wood and was a sign illuminated by a single, sputtering lightbulb.

CAUTION: HAZARDOUS MATERIALS, it read.

Undeterred by the blazing red letters, the man pressed his left pointer finger onto the O in CAUTION and his right pointer finger onto the O in HAZARDOUS. After a few seconds, (which seemed like an hour to the hurried agent) the light above the sign turned green, and the old doorway shifted to reveal a much newer-looking passage behind it. The man scurried into the hallway and felt the door slide shut behind him. He sighed, pushing his glasses up and adjusting his dark hair, which was more than a little disheveled thanks to his frenzied run.

4:08 AM.

He jogged quickly down the wide corridor, nodding at the few other agents who passed him by. There was constant activity at ADL,  regardless of the hour. It made the man feel stupid for oversleeping—he was a fucking secret agent, for crying out loud! Punctuality and preparedness were essential to his craft. However, he had neither of those this morning—not only was he late, but he had no idea who he would meet in the interrogation room. Clark had offered no name, no case file, no background of any sort when she had assigned him the interrogation the night before. Thus, there was no way to prepare, to practice.

And that drove the agent nuts.

All that he knew was that only someone urgently dangerous would catch the attention of the League. And the agent was good at deciphering danger—great at it, actually. He had almost an innate ability to search out the truth and the lies amidst the layers of clever criminals.

4:10 AM.

The young agent took a deep breath as he reached the door of the interrogation room.

Whoever is behind that door is just another code for me to crack. It'll be simple, he reassured himself. Follow your instinct. You know what to do.

Little did he know, what was to come would be far from simple.

Agent Eddy Chen was about to meet his match.