City Spies is an agency in the British Intelligence community.
It is run by a man who is a full-time agent of MI-6 so technically it is part of that organization but it is unique enough that it really operates on its own. Certainly the name used most often by that man is in itself unique. Though he is a man of many names and passports, inside his small group he askes to be referred to as 'Mother'.
Asking to be addressed as a female parental unit in any spy organization would be bizarre, even more so considering the fact that in this case 'Mother' is a male, but in the case of City Spies, it sort of makes sense. This really sub-agency of operatives consists of 5 kids, each known by a nickname based on where Mother recruited them.
The concept behind the group is that there are an exceptional number of places where adolescents, such as young teens, could operate almost invisibly; they would be seen and forgotten as much as the furniture by adults. If these 'kids' were properly trained and outfitted and organized, the undercover work they could accomplish would be noteworthy.
The five team members of the City Spies are:
- Paris: Real name Salomon Omborenga. The eldest of the group (15) and usual team leader, Paris was a refugee from Rwanda living alone in an abandoned warehouse in the French capitol. He was the first recruit by Mother, noticed by him when a mission Mother was on went south and Paris stepped in and saved his life.
- Sydney: Real name Olivia Rose. Next oldest (14) and the field ops specialist, she is from Australia and is very much a known rebel at heart (said to be 'allergic' to following rules) and prone to wanting to strike out for justice. She also loves to surf and be active outdoors. Her affinity towards explosives is well known.
- Kat (short for Katmandu): Real name Amita Bishwakarma. A youngster from Nepali, aged approximately 13, she is "an excellent lookout because she saw the world differently" in that she had an uncanny ability with math that let her "identify patterns where everyone else saw chaos". Her ability in cryptography is daunting.
- Rio: Real name Joao Cardoza. A 12-year old former street urchin from Brazil, his skills at magic and sleight-of-hand is very impressive and aids tremendously in such things as picking pockets and palming items.
- Brooklyn: Real name Sara Maria Martinez. The newest member of the team, this 12-year-old from New York is a computer whiz. She once used her less-than-new laptop to send a birthday greeting to her idol, a female astronaut who was aboard the Space Station at the time which required Brooklyn to hack NASA and the DoD.
As can be seen above, the 'codenames' of the members are city names (hence the 'City Spies' name), indicating the metropolitan area Mother first encountered each one. Each was an orphan, usually in the 'system' but brought to work in the City Spies group and given a new home and a new family, each other.
Good Lines, spoken by Mother to his young operatives and sometime referred to as 'motherisms':
- "Only fools and liars speak with certainty about things beyond their control."
- "You can't look out if you stand out."