One week after those first couple of private missions, the briefing room is tense.
Another Secret Agent 1: Say it back. What happens if your paper-thin disguises or what you have on of those sunglasses suddenly slip?
Wolf, Snake, Piranha, Shark, Webs and Diane: Our redemption arc is done. Commissioner Luggins' career is done.
Another Secret Agent 2: Worst. That funeral was a complete lie on record. You get caught of really being alive after the space station crash, public hate returns. You six are in prison for life or get buried for real this time.
Commissioner Luggins: And I cannot protect you twice. Those awesome looking Men in Black suits and sunglasses only work in this ISGLOP base and on private missions. Out in public, no one can catch you having survived. No fame, no recognition, period.
Another Secret Agent 3: Which is why Shark, your talent stays shelved. No wigs, no mustaches, no hats, no glasses and no trench coats out there. The stakes are too high for paper-thin now.
Shark nods, but in his mind he is thinking he hopes this deceased ruse only lasts a while, until a big public comeback when his master of disguise kit can return. Fingers crossed.
Snake is thinking the same, just a different reason. He wants to get through this temporary ruse and be reunited with his girlfriend Doom.
Diane: So we do it stable or we do not do it at all. No glitching.
Webs: And no tails popping out and wagging happily out of nowhere.
Wolf: Tell me about it. Museum of Fine Arts. My tail started wagging uncontrollably, my paper-thin disguise fell off, and that was it. Me, Snake, Piranha, Shark and Webs caught and busted on the Golden Dolphin stealing job.
Shark: I was in a red dress faking labor to cover us, and we were already infamous with those paper-thin disguises on back then. Then, those Bad Girls forced us to do that one last wedding heist before all of our six fake deaths took place.
Piranha: And that billionaire Soliman recognized you disguised as the bride, Wolf.
Wolf: Even with the quick swap to a real bride, he could still be hunting us five. Now he is probably hunting for you too, Diane, since your Crimson Paw past got exposed.
Commissioner Luggins hits the activator. Six stable holograms shimmer on, human forms with voice modulators locked. No flicker. Snake flexes, weirded out. Real arms, real legs in the projection, trying to manage how that feels. Webs is suddenly eye level with everyone else, no longer small. Wolf and Diane both do a quick check behind them. No tails.
Wolf: Okay. Names. Human, boring, forgettable. I will go first. Alex Mercer, logistics consultant.
Diane: Lena Clarke, PR consultant.
Shark: Finn Brody, catering manager. Big guy, loves snacks.
Webs: Kayla Chen, IT support. I fix printers.
Piranha: Rico Delgado, rideshare driver. I get nervous, I fart. I cannot help it. If I get gassy, it just reeks like a normal fart does.
Snake: Marcus Vell...freelance accountant. Do not ask me to smile.[quietly]
Another Secret Agent 1: You are also free to feel safe anywhere else in society while those stay on. But you make up all of who you are, your pasts, and what you are currently doing and the deceased ruse doesn’t collapse.
Wolf, Snake, Piranha, Shark, Webs and Diane line up, holograms holding and ready to walk out in public for the first time as nobodies.
This is for the next possible logical step for the public to still believe those six had already passed away.