1939

I was having a great day until I got busted.

I woke up on time. My coffee was the perfect temperature. The lift boy was just a little bit cute.

You're rambling.

Right, sorry.

I slipped into my target's apartment from the balcony above, picked the lock and gently slid the doors open. My intelligence told me that the flat should be empty for another 30 minutes, but you can never be too careful.

The apartment was clean, luckily, and it took me barely a moment to locate the file I had come for. But that's when everything went wrong.

I stepped backwards to check the room for any obvious signs that I had been there and tripped over the target's cat. My arms went flailing out in all directions and my hand caught the edge of a shelf, which fell, sending it's contents all over me.

What a lovely way to truly wake yourself up in the morning.

Glass vases smashed onto my head, scratching paths down my face.

'Ugh.'

I flopped down onto my back. Beads of blood ran over my skin, dripping onto the collared men's shirt I wore, complete with a pair of trousers and a belt, to disguise my 'feminine' form.

The cat came over to me, winding itself through my legs. I glared at it, but, try as I might, I couldn't stay angry at a cute fluffy being for long.

Huffing, I scratched it behind the ears. And that's when any success I might have had on this mission fizzed miserably like a wet firework.

A creak came from the front of the apartment and the nozzle of a gun poked around the edge of the door.

'Sard!'

You really do love the medieval curses don't you?'

Not the time honey.

I rolled to my feet, swearing lightly at the the shards of glass digging into my legs through my decidedly glamorous trousers. A head followed the nozzle and I drafted a shield, pulling magick from the faé stone in my necklace. Tucking the file into one of my pockets, I backed slowly towards the balcony,

The man had a shocked expression on his handsome face, beautiful blue eyes narrowing at the sight of me and his destroyed vases.

Not the time.

Ugh.

I grasped the door handle, swinging out of the room as he opened fire. Once on the edge of the balcony, I jumped off, performing a simple cushioning charm to stop my body from turning to body and blood soup and my bones from shattering to sm-

Too much?

Too much.

Right, to stop my body from breaking on impact.

I crouched in the shadows at the base of the building, hoping I was fully out of sight as the man peered over the edge. From what I could see, the shocked expression hadn't left his face.

I just love the effect of magic on people.

When he had gone, I stood up, brushing gravel off my trousers, fingers catching on tiny rips. I surveyed my outfit ruefully, the shirt had several spots of blood on it, the trousers a couple of holes. Nothing I couldn't fix or wash off.

So much effort though. Mother was always nagging me. 'Do your sewing!', 'Do your throw-knife practice!', 'Wash the blood out of that uniform!'. Like, come on. Can't she see that I Cannot Be Bothered.

As I said, quite the lady.

Lay off.

I made my way to the nearest safehouse, making several random turns to remove any tails from my trail. Once there I stripped and washed the blood off my face, wincing when the cuts twinged.

Honestly, for things so tiny, they really stung.

I changed back into my normal clothes, a light blue blouse, matching skirt and woollen stockings. So much nicer than Victorian dresses, so much easier to move in.

But still not as easy as men's clothes.

I slipped out of the safehouse, making sure that I had remembered to transfer the file into my skirt pocket.

I forgot it once. Explaining that was not pretty.

Then I made my way home, only stopping to hand the file in to my contact. Not after a good snoop though. Honestly, who do you think I am?

He handed me a wodge of one-dollar notes which I counted twice before pocketing. I stopped again at the diner around the corner from my apartment, taking a moment to say Hi to my flatmate, Katy, who worked in the local Hospital, and to grab a chocolate milkshake to celebrate getting paid.

Nowhere does chocolate milkshakes like New York.

Finally getting home, I put the key in the lock and pushed the door open with my shoulder. Koshka, my cat, Yes she did call her cat, 'Cat' in Russian came running over, winding around my legs not unlike my previous target's cat.

I sighed, picking her up, 'You really should apologise for your species, you know. Almost got me killed this afternoon. Well, I say killed, more like severely scratched.' Koshka seemed to raise her non-existent eyebrows at me.

'It was very painful.'

She meowed skeptically and hopped down, out of my arms, running off to her food bowl. I sighed again, heading over to top it up.

'Such a greedy cat.'

There was an outraged yowl from the kitchen.

I grinned, reaching the kitchen and putting the kettle on. I grabbed the pot of instant coffee, sniffing the delicious smell of powdered еnergy and caffeine.

When the kettle was done I made my drink and curled up on the sofa with a random book off the shelf.

»--«

Three hours and two cups of coffee later, Katy came home from work. I had finished my book and was feeling severely bored, so when the key turned in the lock I bounced up to meet her.

'Honestly, I swear sometimes you're just like Koshka,' Katy grinned at me, 'Always expecting me to provide entertainment.'

I smirked, 'Well I do try. My cat impression is on point if you want to hear it.'

Katy's expression turned to one of mock horror, 'No no it's fine. We already have one needy animal in the apartment, we don't need another one.'

Koshka meowed plaintively next to us.

'It's ok Kosh,' I said, picking her up, 'Katy didn't mean it, did she?'

Katy rolled her eyes, muffling a grin and pushed past me to dump her bag on the couch. She took a couple of items out of it and walked into the kitchen to make some food for the evening.

'A telegram came for you, by the way. The post boy was about to deliver it when I got here. Should be on the table.'

'Thanks.' I snatched it off the counter and tore the envelope open.

𝙴𝙰𝙶𝙻𝙴 𝚃𝙾𝙾𝙺 𝙿𝙾𝙻𝙴𝚂 𝚂𝚃𝙾𝙿 𝙰𝙽𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚂𝙸𝙰 𝙰𝙽𝚂 𝙿𝙸𝙴𝚁𝚁𝙴 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝚃𝙴𝙰 𝚂𝚃𝙾𝙿 𝙵𝚁𝙸𝙳𝙴𝚁𝙸𝙲𝙷

'Holy Morgana.'

Katy's flour covered face popped through the doorway to the kitchen, clad in a worried expression, 'What is it?'

'Britain and Germany have declared war. France and Russia are mobilising troops to join Britain.'

Her face blanched under the flour. If the situation wasn't so serious, I would be in peals of laughter.

But the situation was serious. Britain and Germany were at war and it could only be a short while till we had another World War in capital letters on our hands.

[1677 Words]