Tobias (トバイアス Tobaiasu) is a CIA agent who was tasked with concocting a plan to force the Bosnian government to cut ties with a group of anti-American extremists that the CIA wanted to destroy. He appears in the spinoff manga Eda Initial Stage.
Appearance[]
Tobias is a Caucasian man with pale skin and a tall and skinny build. He has short, light-colored hair standing straight up on his head, and he has a thin beard on his jawline and chin as well as a thin, patchy mustache. He wears a dark suit over a light-colored dress shirt and dark-striped necktie, and in the field he is seen wearing a tactical vest over his dress shirt without his suit jacket. Most of the time, he is seen smoking a cigarette.
Eda Initial Stage history[]
Balkan crisis[]
The United States government had supported the Bosnian Muslim side since the Yugoslavian Civil War's start, but later on some anti-American extremists affiliated with al-Qaeda appeared. To the CIA's annoyance, they were not able to convince the Bosnian government to cut ties with the extremist group. Subsequently, the CIA concocted a plan for an agent to be abducted by militants, which would give them an excuse to force the Bosnian government to cut ties and allow the CIA to kill the extremists.[1] At the same time, Tobias's group had a female informant who was the wife of a militant in the extremist group which used an Islamic charity as a front. Accordingly, Eda was assigned on the case and she arrived in the Balkans in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. When Eda met him, Tobias was disappointed at her appearance, but he ignored it and clarified that he specifically needed a female agent. He then informed her how some Muslim volunteers aided Bosnian Muslims trapped between Croatian and Serbian forces during the Bosnian War, but a few of the groups among the many volunteers were quite extremist and began plotting trouble after the Dayton Agreement.
Finishing the explanation, Tobias said that their insider among the suspects was a woman, saying that he needed Eda since the Muslims in the group were less suspicious about same-sex friendships. Soon, Tobias's assistant and interpreter Rashida helped Eda don a hijab, which she was hesitant to wear since she saw plenty of women throughout the city without one. Once donning it, Eda listened to Tobias explain that the female informant would go into town every three days to buy food, and contact would be established via a passphrase. Returning to Tobias after hectically receiving information on a slip of paper, Eda removed her hijab and threw the small paper at him, furiously asking what was wrong with the woman since she was a bad agent. Examining the paper and smoking a cigarette, he casually told her to be careful how she spoke to her superior, saying that she would not die in the field so long as she followed instructions.[2]
Three days later, Eda met the informant once more and received another envelope, giving it to Tobias. As Tobias skimmed the writing, the disgruntled Eda asked if the information was actually useful since he only spent a short time reading the intel. Sternly looking at her as she exited the room, Tobias told her to mind her business while he put the paper into his trash can.[3] Later, when Eda got captured by the extremists, Tobias used the abduction story to coerce the Bosnian government into cutting ties with the extremists, allowing the CIA to attack the group. Unknown to Eda, Tobias ordered the informant to intentionally prolong the meetings between her and Eda so that the female agent would be suspected by the Muslim fighters of being an agent. As the women tried to escape, the extremists briefly surrounded them until Tobias and his men opened fire on them, killing some of the men but allowing two cars and some of the al-Qaeda fighters' "emir" to escape.
Figuring that they could not make a further mess, Tobias ordered his men to exfiltrate quickly. Once the area became secured, he casually asked Eda if she had been harmed, but Eda only furiously glared at him and demanded to know the full story. Sighing, Tobias told her about the CIA needing to create an excuse to coerce the Bosnian government into cutting ties with the anti-American extremists who wanted to rekindle war in the Balkans. Scratching his head, Tobias remarked that he wished that they could have killed all the extremists in one move, but two cars had escaped. Although she was angry for being used and replied that she would not just let herself be killed, Eda sternly asked Tobias to give asylum to the Bosnian woman and her child as a favor.[1]
Tobias agreeing to Eda's request for the two Bosnian girls
When she agreed to pay him after the mission, Tobias waved his hand and told Eda that it was a done deal. As Eda tried to console the two girls, they were both shot and killed by an enemy sniper affiliated with the woman's extremist husband, prompting Tobias and the other agents to take cover. As he laid low on the ground, he yelled at the shocked and frozen Eda to take cover. Furious at the women's murders, Eda entered one of the agent's cars, angrily confusing Tobias as to what she was doing. He told her that their work was already done, but Eda ignored him and began to pursue the husband. Seeing her drive away, Tobias angrily cursed her for disobeying him. In the end, Eda and a Serbian Christian woman killed the husband. Afterward, Tobias reprimanded her for her pursuit, demanding that she travel back to the United States. According to Rashida, Eda's chase through town resulted in the locals becoming extremely wary of foreigners.[4]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 10: Balkan crisis Part 3
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 08: Balkan crisis Part 1
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 09: Balkan crisis Part 2
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 11: Balkan crisis Part 4