#msi tile | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ghostinthelibrarywrites · 1 month ago

Text

Let's not overanalyze

The first chapter of a belated fill for @palasakiweek, set in my Ministry of Supernatural Investigations AU. You can read the first chapter below or here on AO3.

Prompt: Day 6: AU

Rating: T

Word count: 4K.

Warnings: none

Relationships: Crystal/Niko; Edwin & Niko; Edwin & Crystal

Summary: When Niko starts a job as an analyst at the MSI after barely leaving her flat for two years, she has no idea what to expect. She��s not expecting to find out that vampires, ghosts, and other supernatural entities are real. She’s especially not expecting Crystal Palace Surname-von Hoverkraft, the gorgeous and somewhat terrifying agent who she can’t stop thinking about.

***

Niko stares at the blank white wall of her brand new office. There’s a tiny dent right at her eye level, but besides that, it’s an expanse of nothingness, like no one has ever stepped foot in here before. She wanted to bring some posters to hang up today, but that seemed overly optimistic when she doesn’t even know what her brand new job entails, or if she even has a job. She isn’t entirely convinced that the slow slide into losing her mind that started when her dad died two years ago hasn’t finally caught up with her. Everything about being in this strange room in this strange building seems a little surreal.

Before last night, she hadn’t even heard of the MSI when her godmother called to tell her that she got Niko a job as an analyst and she would start in the morning. Niko doesn’t know what the MSI does, or even what the acronym stands for. She thinks it might be like MI6, but what would an agency like MI6 want with a uni dropout who hasn’t left her flat in two years?

Maybe it was a mistake to call Auntie Niko and ask her for help finding a job, but it had been two years since she’d left her flat for more than a few minutes at a time, the money she inherited from Dad was starting to run out, she knew what would happen if she called her mother back in Osaka and asked her to send money so Niko could keep hiding out in her flat, and Auntie did always say to call if she needed anything. She doesn’t actually know what Auntie does for the British government. Not even her mother knows, and they’ve been best friends since they met at boarding school when they were girls. Auntie could work for MI6, for all Niko knows, though it’s hard to imagine.

Niko wonders if she should start unpacking the small box of things she brought—her heart-shaped stationary, her favorite sparkly pens, the Scooby Doo plushie Auntie gave her when she was little—but she’s half-convinced that as soon as she opens the box, someone will come along and yell at her that she actually shouldn’t be here and she needs to leave. Assistant Director Nurse is supposed to come speak to Niko at some point, but according to her skittish assistant, she’s been delayed by another meeting that went long.

Part of Niko wonders if she should just go home, change into her favorite hedgehog slippers, and crawl into bed, but then she pictures the disappointment on Auntie’s face. If her godmother thinks she can do this, then Niko is going to do it.

The sound of heels on tile is the only warning she gets that she has company before someone slaps a clear plastic bag full of what looks to be shards of seaglass down on her desk. Niko startles and whirls around in her desk chair.

“I need to know if there’s been any chatter online about seaglass similar to this washing up on the coast near Dover,” the woman standing over her says briskly. “And see if you can find out what language this is etched on it while you’re at it. It’s nothing I recognize.”

Niko stares. The newcomer is a few years older than her, petite and stunningly pretty with a cascade of dark hair highlighted blond, golden brown eyes, and the most immaculate makeup Niko has ever seen in her life. Actually, everything about her is immaculate, from her heels to the perfectly tailored black suit to her manicure.

The woman arches an eyebrow. “Hello?”

“Sorry, yes.” Niko turns to the bag of seaglass. She can make out the faint lines of symbols that might be writing, though it's nothing she recognizes. “How should I do that exactly?”

“You’re new.” It’s not spoken like a question.

Niko smiles, relieved. “Yes.”

“And nobody’s been in to train you?”

“No. Sorry.” Niko isn’t sure why she’s apologizing. “I’m Niko. Niko Sasaki.”

“Agent Crystal Palace Surname-von Hoverkraft.” She says the name with emphasis, like she expects Niko to recognize it.

Niko doesn’t. “Wow, your signature must take forever.”

Crystal looks incredulous, which is fair. It was a pretty stupid thing to say. “Hana and Rosa are busy on a case Payne has them working on, because of course he needs two analysts, since every case Edwin fucking Payne works on is the priority. Duncan’s out on paternity leave and Grace apparently caught norovirus from eating a sketchy burrito. That leaves you as the only analyst available. And meanwhile, I have pieces of seaglass that keep showing up and driving people to dance into the ocean.” She pauses, then adds, “Don’t handle it with your bare hands.”

Niko has no idea what any of that means. “I’m still not really sure what an analyst does.”

“Mostly, you’re going to monitor chatter online for any sign of the supernatural,” Crystal says, her obvious impatience increasing with every word. “And you assist agents with our research so we’re not wasting time at a computer while there are monsters to hunt down.”

“Monsters?” Niko can’t keep the squeak from her voice. The supernatural?

“So I would really appreciate it if as soon as someone bothers coming along to train you, if you would look into this seaglass so I can figure out why people are losing their minds up and down the coast.” Crystal flashes a smile that’s as false as her long lashes. “Thanks, Nikki.”

“It’s actually—”

Niko is cut off by a shriek from outside, followed by the blare of an alarm loud enough that the floor seems to vibrate with it.

“Fuck,” Crystal says and turns to run into the hallway. She runs really well in those heels, Niko notices.

Niko thinks about heading home to her quiet, safe flat again and not leaving for another two years. Instead, she follows Crystal. In the hallway, Crystal is facing two people. One, a pretty woman with curly blond hair, is pressed up against the wall with wide eyes. The other one is a tall, thin man in an old-fashioned tweed suit, complete with a slightly askew bow tie. The man and Crystal appear to be in the middle of a heated argument.

“How precisely was I to know that the amulet would react like this?” he demands. “I’ve been handling it all morning with no trouble. Perhaps it was a woman’s touch. But no, then it surely would have reacted to Agent Drake’s touch. Miss Green, are you by any chance a virgin?”

The blonde’s eyes go even wider.

“You can’t just ask people if they’re virgins, Queen Victoria,” Crystal snaps.

“I am simply trying to determine the cause—”

“I’m not worried about the cause, I’m worried about the fucking hellhound you let loose."

“Its origins appear to be a cursed amulet, not the depths of Hell, so I’m not sure if we can call it—”

The blare of the alarm is making it hard for Niko to think, but she understands enough to pick up on “cursed amulet” and “hellhound.” Before she can ask for someone to please tell her what’s going on, there’s a snarl loud enough to be heard even over the alarm and something comes bursting through the closed office door across from Niko, sending shards of wood flying everywhere. The blond woman shrieks and goes running down the hallway, but Niko can’t move.

It’s a dog, but it’s not a dog, because she’s never seen a dog this large. Its fur is black, with red glowing through it, like it isn’t skin under the fur, but molten lava. The eyes that fix on Niko burn with fire and its teeth are easily as long as her hand. When it takes a step towards her, Niko is hit with the smell of burning meat, strong enough to make her gag.

The first time Niko has left her flat for more than a few minutes in two years and she’s going to get eaten by a dog. She even likes dogs. She donates to the RSPCA every year.

Crystal steps between Niko and the dog, planting a hand on Niko’s chest to shove her back. In the other hand, she holds a baton tipped with metal. She swings at the dog, hitting it in the face. A line of red fire appears on its cheek and it snarls. She brings the baton down on its head and another line of fire appears, but it doesn’t go down.

“Payne, could you do something fucking useful for once?” she shouts.

The man, who must be the Edwin fucking Payne Crystal mentioned earlier, brings up his hand, where an amulet with a dog’s snarling face carved into it dangles from his fingers. He’s pale and wide-eyed, but his voice is steady as he chants something that Niko thinks might be Latin, though it’s been a long time since she took Latin at Gray Wake. The dog lets out a howl and seems to dissolve right in front of Niko, a dark shadow twisting in the air right before it’s sucked back into the amulet.

“Excellent,” he says. “I wasn’t certain that would work.”

And then there are a lot of people in the hallway and a lot of shouting. Niko stands very still, letting people move around her. No one seems to notice her, which is just how she likes it. They’re asking a lot of questions and Crystal and Edwin are back to arguing. Someone takes the amulet from Edwin, placing it in a large metal box with multiple locks. Niko wonders if she should just go back into her office, close the door, and hide under the desk until someone finally comes to tell her what’s going on.

A woman in a brown pantsuit with her red hair in old-fashioned victory rolls comes stalking down the hallway. Niko recognizes one of the women following her as the assistant who showed her to her office this morning. “What on earth is this racket?” the woman demands in a Scottish accident. “And will someone turn off that bloody alarm? We all know there was an emergency!”

The alarm goes quiet, like the building itself is under her command.

“Agents Payne and Surname-von Hoverkraft.” The newcomer, who must be Assistant Director Nurse, turns to Crystal and Edwin with her arms crossed over her chest. “Explain.”

“The amulet that was recovered from the Sofia Delacroix murder scene appears to be possessed by the spirit of a monstrous dog,” Edwin says briskly. “While it didn’t react to my touch, the moment Miss Green picked it up, the spirit was summoned. It had little interest in myself or Agent Surname-von Hoverkraft, so given its known victims, I can only guess that the spirit targets virginal young women.”

He turns to Niko, opening his mouth, but Assistant Director Nurse cuts him off. “Agent Payne, do not ask what I think you’re about to ask. There will already be enough paperwork about this incident.” She turns to Niko with a strained smile. “You must be Ms. Sasaki. I’m Assistant Director Asa Nurse. I do apologize for the delay. Director Brown was unexpectedly out of the office, so I had to fill in for him at a meeting.”

Niko finally finds her voice from under a layer of shock. “What was that?”

Crystal, Edwin, and Assistant Nurse all turn to her, as if they forgot about her presence entirely. “I just explained,” Edwin says. “A cursed amulet. I believe its origins to be roughly thirteenth century, give or take a few decades.”

“A curse?”

“Yes, quite a rudimentary bit of magic. Even Agent Surname-von Hoverkraft would be able to counteract it.”

Crystal glances at Assistant Director Nurse to make sure she’s not looking, then flashes a rude hand gesture at Edwin. His nostrils flare with annoyance, but he doesn’t reply.

“A curse.” Niko’s thoughts are swimming. Cursed amulets and seaglass that makes people dance into the sea and hellhounds that aren’t really hellhounds.

Assistant Director Nurse eyes Niko like she’s a bomb that’s about to explode. “Ms. Sasaki, what do you know about the MSI?”

“Nothing.” Niko shakes her head. “I don’t even know what MSI stands for.”

“The Ministry of Supernatural Investigations, of course.”

“Oh.” Niko stares at the place where the not-hellhound just vanished. Well, that explains why she’s never heard of the MSI before. She imagines that if the UK government has a ministry devoted to solving supernatural crimes, they probably don’t advertise it.

“Oh, dear,” Edwin murmurs and Crystal curses softly.

Assistant Director Nurse lets out a gusty sigh. “It seems like we have things to discuss. Ms. Sasaki, please come with me. We can get this all sorted out.”

***

There are no monster dogs on Niko’s second day at the MSI, which is nice, especially since yesterday, she didn’t think she would have a second day at this job. The fact that the supernatural—including demons, ghosts, the Fae, hellhounds, vampires, and more—is real is still taking some getting used to, but Niko has always been very open-minded. Plus, she can’t really deny the existence of the supernatural now that it’s nearly eaten her.

After spending her morning looking into the cursed seaglass for Crystal, she goes to work with two of her new coworkers, Rosa Green and Hana Watanabe. Rosa—who apparently isn’t related to Dr. Jenny Green, the scary medical examiner Niko met during the tour Assistant Director Nurse gave her yesterday afternoon—seems unfazed by her close call with the not-hellhound the day before.

“A near death experience means I’ll probably get a holiday bonus this year,” she told Niko brightly when she poked her head into Niko’s office to introduce herself properly this morning.

Niko marvels at how normal everything seems as Hana and Rosa fill her in on the office gossip and complain about the workload caused by two analysts being absent at once. They tell her all about the tumultuous love triangle going on between three of the agents.

“Shelby and Maren are going to leave Brad for each other eventually,” Hana says with a twinkle in her eye, which gets a bark of laughter from Rosa.

They warn her about Agent Hunter, who has asked out every woman who works at the MSI (except Assistant Director Nurse, Niko assumes.) They tell her about Agent King, who is a shapeshifter and occasionally wanders around as a tabby cat, but gets cranky if someone tries to pet him. Niko files that information away, because she would definitely try and pet a tabby cat she found wandering the halls.

“Thomas is always a laugh at the monthly socials when he’s around,” Rosa tells Niko. “He does a lot of the undercover work, because no one thinks twice about a cat being places its not supposed to be.”

That brings them to the topic of Edwin Payne, who’s rumored to be a sometimes-hookup of Agent King’s. Apparently, they’ve been seen leaving at least one supply closet together.

“He’s a lot,” Rosa says. “If he brings you a case, it’s probably going to be your full-time job for two weeks. He doesn’t get that we only have a few analysts supporting thirty agents. He also doesn’t get technology at all.”

“To be fair, he was born in 1900,” Hana adds.

Niko doesn’t get to ask about that before Rosa continues. “He thinks it’s like magic, like I can just wiggle my nose and all the answers he needs will materialize.��

“I’d take him over Crystal Palace Surname von-Hoverkraft,” Hana says.

They exchange loaded looks. Rosa and Hana have been friends since secondary school and seem to have a whole language of silent looks. It makes Niko, who hasn’t talked to any of her friends from Gray Wake since stilted calls to tell her how sorry they were about her dad, insanely jealous. She’s never been close enough to somebody that she could talk to them with just a tilt of her head or the arch of an eyebrow.

“What about Crystal?” Niko asks. “I met her yesterday. She seemed…” She trails off, because she was about to say “nice,” but that’s not accurate. Crystal breezed into Niko’s office, deposited a bunch of seaglass on her desk, saved her life, then breezed away just as fast. She wasn’t nice at all, but she did save Niko from the not-hellhound while wearing high heels, which is its own sort of accomplishment.

Rosa waves a dismissive hand. “She’s just basically MSI royalty. Her parents are Seth von Hoverkraft and Maddy Surname, who are basically the MSI’s James Bonds. For most of the 90s and early 2000s, if there was a high-profile case, they were probably on it. They’re the ones who figured out what really happened to the Titanic.”

Niko doesn’t think she actually wants to know. She’d like to be able to rewatch Titanic without picturing a kraken snatching Jack off the deck.

“So everyone always knew Crystal would follow Mommy and Daddy’s footsteps and join the MSI,” Rosa says. “They were probably training her to become an agent before she could walk. And she’s a psychic, which is really rare. She and her partner walk around like they own the whole place.”

Hana makes a face. “Agent Fisher. He’s creepy.”

“So creepy,” Rosa agrees. “They’re dating too, which, ew.”

Hana nods. “Ew.”

The conversation moves on to the recent battle over the break room’s aging coffee maker, but Niko’s only half-listening. She wonders what it would have been like for Crystal, to know from the time she was little that she was meant to follow in her parents’ footsteps, to know what her life would be like before she drove her first car or went on her first date. It sounds like a lot of pressure. It sounds really lonely and Niko knows all about loneliness.

***

Walking into the agents’ workroom is immediately overwhelming. The space is crammed with haphazardly arranged desks, only about half of which have agents sitting behind them. The room is filled with the sounds of phones ringings, raised voices, and a strange buzzing that seems to be coming from a smoking alarm clock one of the agents is examining. Most of the walls are covered in photographs, newspaper clippings, and case notes. There’s what looks a lot like a human heart covered in barnacles sitting in the middle of one woman’s desk, right next to a greasy bag of takeaway.

Niko spots Crystal at a desk in the corner. She’s leaning back in her chair, staring up at a wall of photos, all of which depict close-up shots of seaglass. There’s a man leaning against her desk, bending down to whisper into her ear. He wears a glossy black suit with a matching fedora perched on top of his wavy dark hair and without even seeing his face, Niko feels pretty confident that Rosa and Hana’s estimation of Agent David Fisher, Crystal’s partner, is accurate. There’s something about the way he crowds into Crystal’s space that puts Niko on edge.

Niko stops on the other side of Crystal’s desk, waiting for either Crystal or Agent Fisher to notice her. When neither of them do, she says, “Hi.”

Crystal turns around in her desk chair. When she sees Niko, she sighs and holds out a hand to her. For a strange moment, Niko thinks she wants to shake hands or something, before Crystal snaps, “The seaglass?”

Oh, right. Those. Niko passes the bag over.

“You must be the newbie.” David smiles, his gaze traveling over her. “The hellhound didn’t scare you off?”

Niko doesn’t dislike many people, especially after only exchanging a handful of words with him. She thinks she might dislike David Fisher. “It wasn’t a hellhound. It originated in a cursed amulet, not in Hell.”

David laughs and looks down at Crystal, as if inviting her in on a joke. “Payne’s going to love her.”

Crystal smiles. It’s not a very nice smile and Niko gets that shrinking feeling she used to get back in uni, when she felt like everyone, even people who didn’t know her, was staring at her, laughing at the girl who had a breakdown after her father died. “Did you find out anything useful?” Crystal asks in a tone that suggests she’s pretty sure the answer will be no.

“I don’t know what language the writing is in,” Niko says. “But that’s because no one knows what language it’s in. Similar writing has been found on seaglass along the coastlines of Greece, Italy, and Spain. Some people think it’s an ancient mer language we haven’t encountered before. But this is the first time the seaglass has hurt anyone, as far as I could tell. Unless they stepped on it and cut their foot, I guess.”

David smirks and tries to exchange another look with Crystal, but she's frowning at the seaglass.

“I’ve never known mers to drive people into frenzies like this,” Crystal says thoughtfully. “But there’s a first time for everything.”

“I couldn’t find anything about anyone finding seaglass just like this in Dover,” Niko adds. “But I did find this.”

She pulls up her MSI-issued tablet and pulls up an Instagram post by a user named heathersfeathers1087, which shows sandal-clad feet with bright teal toenails standing within a perfect circle of green seaglass. The caption reads, “Nature’s mysteries are beautiful!”

“If you look closely,” she says. “That almost looks like the same writing, doesn’t it? And in the comments, she says she’s going to take some of it home to make a necklace out of it.”

Crystal and David both squint at the screen. “I don’t see it,” David grumbles.

“No, she’s right,” Crystal says, tapping one perfectly manicured nail against the screen. “There. It’s faint, but you can just see it. Shit, this was posted yesterday. This lady may have drowned by now.” She looks up at Niko with a frown. “Do you know—”

“Heather Featherington,” Niko says. “She lives near Brighton. I sent you her address. She hasn’t posted since finding the seaglass and her neighbor’s security camera hasn’t shown her leaving her house since she got home last night.”

“Then we need to get moving.” Crystal is already standing up, grabbing her blazer from the back of her chair.

David sighs in a long-suffering sort of way. “Like you said, it’s been over a day. The damage is probably already done.”

“That doesn't mean we're not going to try,” Crystal snaps. “Come on, David.”

Niko knows she should let Crystal go save this lady’s life, but first, she says, “Thank you, by the way.”

Crystal blinks at her, halfway through putting on her blazer. “For what?”

“You saved my life yesterday,” Niko says. “I never got the chance to say thank you. So thanks for not letting me get eaten by a monster dog.”

“Oh.” Crystal smiles, a far nicer smile than the one she flashed earlier. It’s sweet and makes her look younger, less like the terrifying MSI princess Hana and Rosa described. “You’re welcome. First days suck enough without getting mauled.”

David sighs gustily. “I thought Heather with the tacky toenail polish was in mortal danger here.”

“Jesus, David, I’m coming.” Crystal rolls her eyes and follows him out of the workroom.

Later, Niko learns through the grapevine that Heather Featherington was lucky enough to break her leg dancing down the stairs and never made it to the sea, but Crystal apparently spent several hours at the bottom of the ocean, negotiating with the priestess of an ancient mer clan until she agreed to stop trying to kill humans with enchanted seaglass. It sounds really badass and Niko wishes she could hear the story from Crystal herself, but Crystal is already away on another case.

But the first case Niko helped with at the MSI has wrapped up successfully and that’s enough to give her a warm little glow that’s almost as good as having Crystal Palace Surname von-Hoverkraft smile at her.

***

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, please consider leaving comments and kudos over on AO3, where the rest of this will be posted.

#dead boy detectives #palasaki #crystal palace #niko sasaki #palasaki week 2024 #ghost's fic #ghost's writing #ministry of supernatural investigations au

22 notes · View notes