The Welcome Back Assignment (f/ Emmett Hagen)

[Drina]

Posting this for Emmett’s player. He’s had trouble getting his forum account to work so I’m just posting for him. ;D Phases 1-3 are his writing, and Phase 4 is mine. His story also has images in the original doc. I’m not including those here bc of formatting issues.

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The Welcome Back Assignment

Phase 1

The Agartha portal outside Austin, TX is on the Colorado River, just a short hike from Mansfield Dam. This means that it’s close to a tourist spot and one must take care entering or exiting the glowing magic portal. The factions have done some work to obscure the site from any casual onlookers, the Illuminati even exerted influence to have the area marked restricted from some age old (and completely fabricated) government use. Very very few locals go near that spot these days.

2 AM- Emmett Hagen exits the portal, wearing dark clothes, hiking boots, and wearing a light black backpack. He has an hour’s hike to the waiting car at the dam’s tourist parking. He gets his bearings and starts to run, faster than any human could, towards the distant lot.

As he runs, several different lines of thought are in his head. He knows the plan and actually likes it- a little shock and awe courtesy of a pile of money and reality bending magicks. If everything goes as planned, he’s going to be in and out inside 3 hours with no mundane way to track who or how an assailant broke into an executive’s home and terrorized him. It’s phase 1 of the plan to force compliance on Ellis Lawrence, CEO and founder of Farsight Software. The Illuminati’s Board has decided that Farsight needs to be a tool for operations but Lawrence rebuffed the initial outreach. If the quarry won’t respond to the carrot, then it’s time for the stick. Each member of the C suite is going to have some unpleasantries dropped on top of them. Lawrence needs to understand that not he nor his best employees are untouchable. None of these people have done anything to deserve this- except that Ellis Lawrence said ‘no’ to Kirsten Geary. An outside observer might think that’s a bit arbitrary and very unfair. Hell, Emmett thinks this is a bit of a raw deal. *Just follow the plan Hagen, follow the plan. Don’t get distracted right now, don’t quibble on the morality of all this. The chance for some ‘improvements’ will come later.

2:21 AM*- Emmett gets to the parked car and gets in. It’s a 2017 FIAT Spyder, untraceable since the VIN tags have been removed and the license plates are fake. Power is out at the lot; the cameras will not have any record of him getting into the car. The tech team back at the Labrinth made sure to force a maintenance interruption on the local power grid from 2:15 to 2:30 AM local time. Authorities will only see the car present and then gone. He starts the engine and slips it into gear, pulling out and heading towards Evan Jay’s home, Farsight’s Chief Information Officer. Jay is tonight’s target, the first rung on the ladder to Lawrence’s cooperation.

2:58 AM- Emmett arrives at the outside of Jay’s home. There are no guards to worry about, just alarm systems. The house has a generator, cutting power won’t disrupt camera feeds or security systems. Instead, this is where his new ability to warp probability and energy states will come in handy. He parks the car about a quarter mile away from the front gate to the house, pulling the car off the road and into the woods. A very short run and he is at the fence around the property. He gets close to one of the cameras and exerts all of his warping energies at it- causing three components inside the camera to fail with a large power surge. Emmett doesn’t understand what just happened exactly, he knows that he pushed the camera ‘hot’ and something inside burnt up. He knows he can also make things go ‘cold’ but that usually means it will recover. He hops the fence with a running jump not unlike a track athlete doing the high jump. At the apex of the jump, he uses a hand to vault him over the fence and to the ground; he’s in and moving towards the house quickly. He has the hood of his sweatshirt up to cover his head in case a camera he can’t see is doing a sweep along the east side of the house.

3:08 AM- He gets to a side door, leading to the laundry room- of course Emmett’s studied the house’s layout. He knows that there is an alarm panel to type in a code to prevent a call to the security service just inside the door. He uses the chaos aura to cool the panel, making it unresponsive. It takes just a moment for him to pick the lock and enter inside. He moves through the laundry room and into the kitchen, turning right and going towards the master bedroom. Jay should be there with his wife, the kids should be upstairs in their rooms asleep. Fortunately there are no pets; there are dander allergies in the family. He gently opens the bedroom door and goes in. The couple is asleep, nude under the sheets and possibly spent after lovemaking. The two are entwined, posing a small problem for how to pull Jay out of this room for the planned chat. Emmett kneels just inside the doorway, slides the backpack off and then opens it. He gets out a small dermal patch and pulls the adhesive off. He stalks silently over to the woman’s side of the bed and applies it to the back of her neck. It will take about a minute for the narcotics to do their work and keep her very asleep. In short order, he pulls her arms off her husband and then moves around to Jay’s side of the bed. He forcefully clamps a hand over Jay’s mouth and a cocked pistol at the man’s forehead. In a harsh whisper, “You cooperate quietly or your family doesn’t see the sunrise.” Evan Jay’s eyes snap open and takes a split second to realize what’s happening. He looks at Emmett and makes a quick repeated nod. Emmett lets go of his mouth and slips an arm under Jay’s neck and hooks his throat. Emmett then drags the CIO out of bed naked and out of the bedroom.

3:17 AM- Emmett drags the man into the living room and pushes him onto the couch. He levels the pistol at the man, pointing at his chest. Emmett doesn’t make any effort to hide his face and he takes on a very deliberate calmness, bordering on boredom for this conversation.

“I talk, you listen. Answer questions directly and this can be over in short order. ■■■■ around, you will find out how unpleasant family trauma can be. Nod once if you understand me.”

Jay nods once, slowly. He shifts just a little to not have his genitals so open to view.

“Perfect. Tonight has to happen because your boss is in over his head. He was told to cooperate with a company that never asks, only tells. Ellis, that old prick, said no. So he has to learn that ‘no’ isn’t really an option. Unfortunately, you have to learn about it too. With me so far?”

Jay nods again, a bead of sweat forming on his brow.

“Fast learner. Love that. The new part of your job is to encourage Ellis to comply. There are many battles to fight in this life, but cooperation here is NOT one of them. A mountain range of pain will drop on you all… save yourself and Farsight the grief.” Emmett pauses for effect and makes a ‘measuring the scales motion with both of his hands. “Oh, one more thing. Don’t resign from the company until Farsight is on board. You ducking out before this is resolved will trigger another visit. You don’t want another visit, right?”

Jay shakes his head no, vigorously.

“Atta boy. Now, watch closely. This will help you understand what you’re up against.” Emmett takes a step back, puts the pistol in the waistband at the small of his back. He makes a smirk on his face and calls inward to his bee, and there’s a flash of yellow light as he warps through space-time and is gone from the house. Evan Jay looks around in disbelief; did that just happen? HOW did that just happen? He wants to think he somehow imagined it all but the goosebumps on his naked body just won’t let him deny the reality of this night.

4:03 AM- Emmett has a small smirk of satisfaction as he jogs towards the Agartha portal. The anima well he warped to is about 8 miles from the portal so he still has a bit to go. Phase 1 went smoothly and that guy was just the right amount of scared. He was literally pulled out of his bed after f–ing his wife over a squabble he knew nothing about. If Lawrence did happen to mention Geary’s reach out to his lieutenants, even better. The review of the camera feeds, the door security system logs, the dermal patch on his wife’s neck, the abandoned car that leads nowhere… it all speaks to an organization of means and determination. Security will be tightened around Lawrence for sure. Probably the other execs too. When Emmett circumvents those precautions, it will demonstrate how very touchable they all are. Geary should be pleased when he files the action report.

[Drina]

Phase 2

Believe it or not, the options for Agartha portals close to French Polynesia are for shit. The Hollow Earth is not like a subway map for convenience, it’s more of a hub/spoke airline system. Larger land masses gain concentrations of magic and then form portals. Small, short lived islands just can’t gather the needed energies to make one. This means for an agent to get to Tahiti or Hawaii, for example, then more traditional transportation is needed. Exiting back to the Hollow Earth is much easier but the agent has to get there first.

3AM- Emmett Hagen arrives in Papeete, Tahiti- sleepy and cranky. “Why the ■■■■ are all flights into Tahiti arriving in the middle of the night?” he asks himself as he slow walks towards customs. He’s carrying a small travel bag and a fair amount of cash. He shows his forged passport and then goes out to meet the advance field agent.

Emmett finds Lewis Locke outside sitting on a bench in the taxi area, playing some game on his phone. The man is very dark skinned, possibly Egyptian by birth- Emmett can’t remember and doesn’t care- but has taken on the look of a local. Locke is taller than Emmett but thinner, his colorful Tahitian shirt has a blue base color with white fronds as the pattern. The off-white khaki shorts and flip flops make Locke fit right in as a native taxi driver instead of an Illuminati agent. Emmett doesn’t have to say a word; Locke looks up from his phone and smiles. “Hope the flight in wasn’t too terrible. I resent being up at this hour but I was asleep an hour ago. I doubt you can say the same.” Emmett just groans as a reply but adds, “You have the client’s location?” The tall man nods and stands up, walking over to a tiny white Hyundai Elantra. The vehicle is unlocked and both men pile inside. Emmett grunts at first and then finds the release to push the passenger seat all the way back. “F–ing kidding me… you have a kid in this seat last?” Locke laughs just a little, “No, I’m just passive aggressive” and drives the car away.

3:50 AM- Locke gets Emmett to his room and gives him the key access card. “There’s a file on the desk. You’re on the clock in 3 hours, so I’d get familiar with it as quickly as you can. I’m supposed to be your local support but I’m notoriously unreliable for this sort of thing.” Emmett really can’t tell if he’s joking or not; he doesn’t really think too hard about it but just answers, “Noted.” Locke heads out and Emmett is alone in the room. He goes to the desk, takes a seat in the chair, puts his feet up on the desk and starts to read.

5:02 AM - Emmett has learned a bit about this target: Kelsey Doug, Executive Vice President of Operations for Farsight Software, on vacation for the last four days. She’s short, thin, has shoulder length dirty blonde hair with small teeth and a subtle smile. It’s likely that she’s aware of the events with Evan Jay and may have even added some bodyguards. If so, these won’t be professionals and definitely not aware of the Illuminati. The element of surprise should give him a lot of advantage. Kelsey is a bit of an adventure tourist, so jungle hiking, scuba diving, sport fishing charters, even high stakes gambling could be activities to plan around. He’d have to find her first- so get to Kelsey’s hotel and do surveillance, then wait until an opportunity presents itself and pull her into custody for a private conversation. No family to worry about on this one, just a girlfriend.This feels like something that’s just a step ahead of a milk run. He puts the folder down and thinks about grabbing a short nap. Emmett decides against it and does sets of pushups, situps, and squats instead. The exercise should help with the anxiousness to get started and give him some more time to go over options in his head.

7:01 AM- Freshly showered, wearing a grey polo and dark slacks, Emmett is down to the hotel lobby and taking his rental car over to the Tahiti Hui Hotel. It’s actually close enough to walk but he can’t chance that the client might be headed out farther than the immediate area. The tech team at the Labrynthe had found reservations under Doug’s name and would be the best place to start surveillance. Emmett expected a dull morning, keeping an eye out for Kelsey or her girlfriend when they head out for breakfast or the day’s tourist activities. He parked on the street in front of Tagaloa Tattoo and went into the Tahiti Nui Hotel lobby. He bought a local paper and got a large latte and acted as touristy as he could for staff benefit. Emmett was unconcerned about being recorded on security camera or being connected to the rental car- there were only enough breadcrumbs from his picture or the rental record to make his presence more mysterious and threatening to Farsight and any local investigators. Emmett slowly leafed through the paper and drank his coffee, and waited.

8:40 AM - It was boring doing stakeout work solo. Emmett had barely drank half his coffee for worry over needing to use the restroom and missing the client. Ol’ Kelsey and her gal were supposed to be active types; Emmett was expecting to have spotted them by now. He drains the now cold coffee and goes to the lobby desk. He puts on his most affable and inquisitive look and asks, “Hey… I was hoping you could help me?” The middle aged woman behind the counter looks up from her computer screen and smiles, “If I can. How can I help you?”

“Oh yeah, I’m here to meet my friend Kelsey Doug but she’s not down from her room yet. Can you ring up to her room and let her know Ellis Lawrence is here? I don’t want to be a nuisance but we’re wasting the day.” He smiled over enthusiastically for effect. The woman smiles slightly and taps at her keyboard. “I’m sorry but we don’t have anyone here by that name.”

Emmett over exaggerates surprise, “What? I would have *sworn* this is where she said she’d be. Um… can you double-check please? Kelsey Doug- D-O-U-G. Should have gotten here 4 days ago?” If there’s a privacy policy here, this woman isn’t following it. “No… Ms. Doug is not a guest here. You should call or text her to see where things got confused.” She offers a small shrug and a smile.

“Yeah, yeah good idea. Um, thank you.” He steps away from the counter and gets out his phone. He starts texting but not to Doug of course.

Bad news- client is not at expected residence. Will need to expand inquiries for other lodging, travel or related expenses in this locale.

Emmett walked out of the hotel and got into the rental car, driving back towards his hotel.

12:05 PM- Emmett hadn’t found any other ideas in the folder that he had, so he stretched his legs a bit, walking around the close neighborhood of his hotel. The Labrynthe will have to dig up something definite about what Doug’s been up to over the last few days. He ducks into a good seafood restaurant close to the waterfront and tries their poisson cru. He’s very surprised about the flavors and makes a note to try to make something like this when he gets home. There aren’t too many people inside the restaurant so the vibe is laid back and care free. He’s tempted to ask about the dish but that’s probably too touristy. As he’s finishing up and paying the bill, his phone buzzes. He checks the message:

Client used personal credit card to get a new hotel two days ago. Guess she got wind of recent events and switched up to less known hostel. She had a charge for a bungalow Poerani Moorea on Moorea. Looks like you might need a ferry ride to pay a visit.

About two minutes later, there’s another buzz:

Even better, there’s a reservation at the Bora Bora Pearl Farm at 3pm today. Looks like the lovebirds are going to scuba and get some black pearls. Better hustle if you wanna catch up.

Emmett swears a barely audible curse- he’d have to find a quick plane charter to get to that island in time. Worse, he’d have to pay through the nose for speedy service. He gets up and starts to move quickly to run back to his hotel. He does text Locke to drop what he’s doing and get in touch- he’d need some help to get things in motion.

3:23 PM- Emmett sits at the entrance to the Bora Bora Pearl Farm, the dock out into water in clear sight. He got there early enough to spot Kelsey and the girlfriend getting onto the boat with scuba gear and heading out for a dive. The standard package is just over an hour, then back in to shop pearl inventory and get a custom jewelry order in. He had a little less than an hour to kill until they were back on dry land. He had been pretty fortunate to find a small plane that was ready to fly over; the pilot was a quiet but affable sort that figured out asking too many questions might be a bad idea. Emmett had promised him an extra 200,000 francs to wait for him and forget the job once back in Papeete.

Emmett pulls out his phone and is thrilled to have a signal. He starts to text Rye back in New York. He knows it’s not great operational security to do this but he has no f–s to give right now. He at least resists flirting with her or sending a selfie. As he sits there looking around and waiting for replies, he sees the small shack and all the stored scuba tanks on the outside. There’s probably a changing area for guests in there; Kelsey will have to go there when the dive is over. He gets an impulsive thought and decides he won’t need to shadow these two for much longer. He texts Rye a slightly abrupt ttys and starts to walk towards the dock.

4:06 PM**-** Emmett stands in the scuba shop, looking like a typical tourist waiting to speak with someone. He knows that there is no ‘next dive’ for the day but it’s a flimsy enough excuse if he has to answer questions from anyone. He can see Kelsey Doug and her girlfriend walking in from the boat, a tote bag on each woman’s shoulder and towels wrapped around their midsections to help dry out their suits. The girlfriend is quite a bit taller than Kelsey and they are talking excitedly to each other, holding hands while they approach. Emmett tries to look like he’s inspecting some of the scuba swimsuits when they make it in.

“Hey- I think we only have like an hour to look at the pearls and put in a order”, the girlfriend says.

“Right- can’t dawdle!” Kelsey leans over and gives the other woman a quick kiss on the lips.

There are two changing rooms; they each take one and go inside to change. Emmett inwardly cringes at the necessary next steps- he’s about to seem creepy as hell. He waits about a minute, then takes a rubber door stop and puts it at the changing room door of the girlfriend. She will not be able to push that door open easily (if at all) and he can just deal with Kelsey. The door handle to the changing room is cheap- the kind that you can pick a lock with a credit card. He pops that lock and opens the door, walking in on Kelsey changing. The short woman looks up at him in surprise, quickly shifting to anger and barking at him, “What the f–? I’m in here!” She’s in her underwear with a pair of shorts in her hands about to step into. Emmett steps forward, quickly closing the space between them and planting a medium punch to her unguarded solar plexus. Kelsey drops to the ground, unable to breathe or make much of a sound. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small dermal patch, just like what he’d used on Jay’s wife three days ago. He pulls away the adhesive on one side and puts it onto Kelsey’s neck as she keeps trying to find her breath. Emmett stands and goes out of the changing room, into the shop area and grabs a large travel bag for sale. No employees in sight- they must still be on the boat taking care of the tanks. The bag itself is made of thick canvass like materials, perfect for transporting a single tank and maybe additional breathers. He rips the sales tag off the bag and goes back into the changing room. Kelsey is starting to feel that knockout drug and her eyes are getting very unfocused. Emmett opens up the bag and folds Kelsey into it. She’s so damn small that she fits into it even better than he thought she would. He puts the straps around her waist to help keep her from shifting around too much inside and then closes up the bag. He stands and lifts the bag, slinging it over his shoulder- around 100 lbs and the bag is holding together just fine.

He hears the girlfriend turn the door handle at the other changing room and react to the door being stuck. She pushes, maybe kicks at the door. “Uh… Kels? My door’s stuck. The hell…? Kels? Gimme a hand baby?”

Emmett heads out quickly, walking out of the scuba shop and towards the rental car at the entrance of the farms. He knows this shouldn’t have worked as well as it has- no employees to subdue, he didn’t have to knock out the girlfriend. Rather be lucky than good any day was something his father had said often. Emmett let himself have a grin, *You bet pop. You bet.

8:36 PM*- Emmett is back in his hotel room in Papeete, a single lamp turned on at the far side of the room. The room has a dark and less than welcoming air about it under the dim light. He has Kelsey Doug’s wrists zip tied to the armrests of the chair and she’s gagged with a balled up sweatsock in her mouth and tape around her head to hold it in place. He did put her shorts on her before tying her to the chair; he didn’t want that vibe to confuse things here. He cracked a smelling salt under Kelsey’s nose and she snapped awake, trying to move her nose away from his hand. Emmett knew she’d still be damn groggy so this would have to go slow.

“Hey there. Welcome back to the world. I bet you’re very confused right now; I know I would be. We got time, no need to rush. Get your bearings.”

Kelsey’s eyes go wide and she tries to look around the room for some sign of familiarity. As she doesn’t find anything she recognizes, her eyes get wider and the panic is building.

“Hey hey… you’re in some shit here but it can end pretty quick. You just gotta listen and make sure you can remember what happens later on. If you understand, look right at me and nod once.”

Kelsey slowly looks at Emmett and then nods once very slowly.

“Perfect. I’m guessing you heard about what happened to Evan Jay a few days back? Suddenly changing your accommodations and all.” Kelsey nods again, eyes closing as she takes a deep breath through her nose and then looks at her captor again.

“Yeah. This is part of that. I doubt anyone told you what message your colleague received, so this will seem new to you. Your boss, Ellis Lawrence, was approached about a business deal. He was given a chance to link up with another organization for some ongoing projects. Ellis said no but… we weren’t asking. So now there have to be some demonstrations, so everyone understands how serious this is.” Emmett steps in front of Kelsey and leans in close enough to whisper in her ear. “None of you are safe. Not at work, not at home, not on vacation. Nowhere.” He stays close to her, letting her panic rise, letting her feel the extent of her helplessness in her bones. He whispers, “Your girlfriend isn’t a part of this- yet. We can include her next time.” He stands upright and steps back into view again. He can see the fury and pure hate in her eyes now. “You have a new responsibility added to your job description. Talk to Ellis, make sure he understands that he’s made a mistake. A BIG ONE. He should fix that as soon as possible. I doubt that he or your other C suite pals want more of these demonstrations.” He smiles at her faintly. “Oh, right. Don’t quit your job until Ellis has gotten onboard. If you resign, I’ll have to come find you and… whomever… you’re hiding with. I recommend sticking with it until things are smoothed out. Easier for everyone.”

Emmett steps back a pace or two, puts his arms out like a big T and winks at her. “Enjoy the rest of your vacation” and then activates the homing device to warp out of the hotel room. For him, he’s standing in a dark hotel room in Tahiti, then he’s in the Hollow Earth with bright golden light shining from seemingly everywhere. There are people walking about, on their way to this portal or that one and hardly noticing him at all. A large walking automaton stomps past him, on some solemn errand only it understands. Emmett takes a breath and glances at his watch: 2:52 AM. He sighs, “I guess I’ll get some sleep and wait for Geary to point me at the next client.”

[Drina]

Phase 3

The Farsight Software company is now on high alert. Two of their top executives have been personally assaulted with the clear threat that more attacks are to come. Personal security guard details have been hired, round the clock surveillance established at residences and in the office. Further engagement now requires planning, precision and flawless execution.*

You believe that, there’s a bridge in San Francisco that’s for sale and at a surprisingly low asking price…

Emmett Hagen likes the call from Geary: time for a direct show of strength and capability. The new client from Farsight is David Marion, Chief Security Officer. The idea is to directly confront Marion, any and all security measures in place and then deliver a message that cannot be ignored. Details for the op are up to Emmett but resources are available to make it happen. He treats it like an assault assignment- going right through the security detail and taking the client. The where and when will likely be the hardest part to decide; the Illuminati Board was watching closely on this. Emmett thought a bit about possibilities and decided this would be a two prong operation: while he hit the client’s residence to take custody, another team would hit Farsight HQ and disable security systems there. Emmett would deliver David Marion to HQ to be found later. It was showy without being overly so and underlined the previous actions- there was nowhere that Farsight executives could call safe. With that decided, he had to get to work.

It takes him about three days to get the two teams assigned, equipped and create plans of attack for each. For Farsight HQ itself, the Eye had been infiltrating that network for some time. Identifying security systems and capabilities was a formality; outbound communications could be stopped at any time. A powerful signal jammer delivered to the premises would keep phones from working; once the op was in progress, that office would be isolated and cut off from help even though it’s inside Austin city limits.The recent additions to security included a 24x7 presence inside the building. They would have to be countered so this operation could work. Emmett’s team would hit the client’s condo and take him into custody. There should only be two bodyguards to neutralize and neither should be magically enhanced. Simply doing it quietly should be enough, getting Marion out and then down to the Farsight offices for delivery. The teams would do just enough collateral damage to both their offices and Marion to make it seem frightening and that, as they say, would be that.

Ronelle Washington is a human force of nature. The lady has been part of the Pyramid for years and become very adept in only being seen when she’s willing to let others notice her. She’s been solving difficult problems reliably for longer than Emmett has had his little bee and an invite to the Hollow Earth. Her work usually means people end up dead but that won’t be required this time. Emmett got approval to put her in charge of the office headquarters team; she would absolutely make sure the team gets in, secures the building and has things ready for him when he delivers Marion. She had just one thing to say to him during the initial briefing: “I’ve never minded doing performances but this? This is a speed bag drill and I’m more of an MMA type.” Emmett had smiled at that one.

10:53 PM- Team 101 arrives at the The Modern apartment building in Austin, TX. A grey cargo van marked as Butterfly Movers parked near the loading docks. Emmett and two agents got out of the van, dressed in casual clothes and headed to the front of the building. They used a forged access key to get into the building, chatting loudly between themselves about why the Henry Cavill Superman is a better casting than David Corensweat even though Man of Steel wasn’t very good. The cocktail bar was closed for renovations; it wouldn’t be open for another month. Emmett and one of the agents headed for the elevators while the other one peeled off, headed to the restroom saying he’d catch up. That agent would not- he’d be here to alert to any possible reinforcements if things went poorly.

Emmett and the other man ride the elevator to the 12th floor and exit out. The other man pulls his phone and sends a group text to Team 101 and 201 that they are in place and ready to go. Emmett nods and walks down to the end of the hall, close to the stairwell emergency exit and stops at door 1243. He listens at the door and makes out the faint sound of music playing. They’re still up, he thinks. Good- better showmanship here. Emmett looks down to the man by the elevators and nods, then takes a step back to kick in the door. The handle splinters and the internal deadbolt breaks off the door frame- one of the benefits of having anima fueled strength. As Emmett steps inside the room, a flash of purple runes appear on the floor and a flash of white light envelopes him. He can feel pain run through his veins as his body becomes slow and heavy. A man in a black suit jacket and blue slacks steps into view in the living room. He’s late 30s, early 40s, bald and smugly smiling. This is blood magic that David Marion should not have access to. Did Farsight have a faction backing them? Independent contractor? How did he get hired *so fast?

11:00 PM*- Ronelle says it so quietly the driver almost didn’t hear her. “Curtains up.” The black Dodge Durango jumps off the curb and roars into the parking lot of the Farsight Software headquarters as the power goes out for the entire building. Ronelle makes the mental note to thank Labrynthe IT tomorrow. The security guards are all distracted by the sudden darkness as the main doors shatter; the vehicle drives right into the center of the atrium. Car doors open and four agents dressed in dark clothing and armed with automatic weapons come out barking orders. “Hands on top of your head! NOW!” Ronelle takes lead, moving quickly to the front counter and one handed vaults over it to get next to the guard there. The startled guard follows orders, hands on head and then going to his knees to show compliance. Ronelle hits him once hard at the temple and the guard is unconscious. She takes zip ties and binds his wrists and ankles, moving the still body out of the way. “Clear” she calls out, and the rest of the men move out to find the other guard on rounds. The driver of the vehicle types a few buttons and enables the signal jammer in the back of the truck- no mobile phones will work inside a quarter mile of the building. No chance of police or anyone else getting alerted now. No chance Team 201 can reach anyone either.

11:02 PM- David Marion is a good sized man, graduated from the Naval Academy before getting into the private sector. Marion has a reputation of being a bit macho for a Chief Security Officer in the software industry. Emmett recognizes him as he comes out of a bedroom, like he’s been waiting for this. Marion throws something that leaves a small trail of smoke at Emmett. Emmett is in too much pain and disorientation to try to get out of the way; there is a loud POOF and the foyer and hallway outside the apartment is filled with grey smoke. Emmett can feel his bee go quiet, and that usual feeling of something like adrenaline fades away. Bee smoke- a handy Phoenician weapon to temporarily neutralize enhanced agents. They want to capture me. I’ll have to make a point of not dying for the next few hours until the effects wear off. Unfortunately, David Marion isn’t interested in letting Emmett take in the situation- he bull charges and puts a forearm into Emmett’s jaw. Emmett recognizes the blow- that’s Muay Thai. The knee strike coming right after is standard and expected; Emmett blocks the strike at the thigh and punches savagely into the man’s groin. David Marion replies with a loud yelp and starts to crumple to the floor. Emmett catches him under the arms and lifts him up like a shield, facing the bald man in the living room. Emmett grits his teeth- lifting Marion up so he can rush forward is a strain and the pain running through his veins isn’t helping. Hopefully this contractor won’t kill Marion just to get to Emmett.

They close the distance to the living room and Emmett throws the still crumpled Marion towards the blood mage. The bald man is able to side step the flying Marion but isn’t quite fast enough to be ready to defend himself. Emmett runs into him with a flying knee, connecting into the man’s chest. The force of the hit sends him backwards hard into glass doors that lead to the patio. The doors spiderweb from the impact but hold; he falls to the floor dazed and struggling to breathe. He gets to all fours, looking up to find Emmett. He almost sees the kick Emmett delivers to his face but then sees only blackness. Emmett whirls back around to check on Marion- he’s still fetal, clutching his balls and trying to not throw up. Emmett walks over to him and grabs a fistful of hair. He starts to pound the man’s head into the floor, again and again and again until he’s unresponsive. “Step into the ring Davey and you have to accept all the consequences.”

11:09 PM- Ronelle’s team spreads out and does a sweep of the building. They’re silent, covering each other as they move through corridors and offices. It takes about twenty minutes for them to find the other security guard; the guard offers no resistance and he has his hands bound immediately. Ronelle whispers to the man, “You want to go home later…”, she pulls the badge off his chest and glances at the name, “Gary?” Gary nods, “yeah… I would.”

“Fantastic- so just show me the console for the security cameras and things should stay pretty smooth for you. Otherwise, tonight might get a little more exciting for you.” Ronelle smiles thinly at him. Gary shows her the security cameras.

11:14 PM- Emmett is not doing well. His vision has waves of blur, he feels like he’s getting a fever and then chills and then fever again. He has no real strength in his body- walking is about as much as he can do right now. He makes it to the hallway and signals down to the agent at the elevator. The man is medium height but thick, a definite gym rat and should be able to pitch in no problem. “Gonna need a minute to recover, get right again. You grab up the client and get him down to the loading dock. Message Luis to be ready in the van. I’ll be down soon.”

The agent nods and scoops up Marion, putting him over his broad shoulder and carrying him out. Emmett goes over the unconscious bald man and kneels down next to him. He goes through his pockets, pulling the wallet, the phone, a wad of cash. Now… does he leave him alive? The show of force approach says this f–er dies, but that won’t happen if he’s a bee. In less than a couple minutes, the body would disappear and he’s awake back at an anima well. If he’s not a bee, then that’s that and I’ve committed a murder just to send a message. I like him hurting and waking up here later, embarrassed and beaten. Emmett reaches down and breaks two fingers on each hand; try casting magicks like that Mr. Clean.

He makes it back to his feet and fights through a hard wave of dizziness. He is somehow able to make it out the door and down to the elevators. Navigating to the loading dock and finding his men in the van takes longer than it should have but it gets done. “Head to Farsight. We have a package to deliver.”

11:55 PM- The Butterfly Movers van pulls into the Farsight Software lot. No sign of anyone else; the plan stated that Ronelle and her team were out as soon as the office was secured and camera systems were compromised. Knowing Ronelle, Team 201 was gone 20 minutes ago. The two agents get out and open the back doors of the van, the only cargo is the unconscious David Marion. Emmett moves slowly, groaning a bit as he eases out of the passenger seat to join them. “OK, strip him, zip tie him and put the note on his chest. We’ll drop him in the boardroom. Then we head out.” Another wave of dizziness and then some nausea- this is getting worse quickly. Without a bee to help speed up recovery, this could get very very bad. He’d need some help and he didn’t want to have to admit to Geary that things weren’t by the numbers. What to do? What the f– to do? F–i*ng finish this, then get well dummy.

1:03 AM*- He is lying on a motel bed, body dripping with sweat. He has chills hitting him hard enough to make his teeth chatter. The bee smoke should have worn off by now; instead he is still getting worse. He’d texted Rye 10 minutes ago- hopefully she’d see it soon. She’s smart, she’s capable and she’s the only person that could both save him AND not keep it from Geary that he was hurt. Hopefully, this will all blow over in no time. He’d be back in New York tomorrow, enjoying the accolades of a job well done and being welcomed back into the fold.

[Drina]

Phase 4? (Written by me, featuring Rye and Alana. Slight nsfw?)

It’s late when she gets that text, but Rye’s immediately on edge. Emmett hadn’t told her a lot, but he’d given her enough information to know he’s in a bad way. There’s only one person she trusts to call, knowing the importance of keeping things quiet.

“David, hey. It’s Mariah Saffron… I need a favor. And I need your discretion…”

In less than an hour, she’s just pulling up to the Red Roof Motel with Alana Rios Ramirez, a capable bee with healing abilities, and one of David’s trusted charges. Rye leads the way inside the hotel, offering a polite nod to the front desk person as she and the other woman breeze past. She heads for Emmett’s room, slipping a card from her jacket pocket. She slides the card between the door and its frame, gently pushing downward and wiggling slightly as her other hand starts to glow. A quick little zap from her fingers seems to trigger the mechanism and she maneuvers the card downward as the locking mechanism dies, preventing it from re-locking. Alana watches curiously, but mostly stays silent for now.

“Lock the deadbolt,” Rye instructs as the two women enter. Alana complies, while Rye moves for Emmett, sprawled out on the hotel bed.

“Hey you,” she murmurs, looking down at the man. He doesn’t look well. He’s pale and sallow, covered with a sheen of sweat, and his eyes look almost sunken as he opens them to look at her. He opens dry lips to speak, though no words come out immediately. He finally rasps out, “Hey, baby…”

Alana glances at those two little words, and Rye can feel herself blush instantly, quickly speaking. “We, ah… We used to date.”

“Oh, yeah. No worries,” Alana says with a swift smile, making a motion of zipping her lips. She joins Rye on the opposite side. “I’m just gonna see what’s going on with him…”

Alana starts to unbutton Emmett’s shirt and the man groans slightly.

“I don’t think I’m gonna be able to last right now,” he mumbles blearily at Rye. She draws a breath, refraining from outright face-palming, and Alana has to smother away a smirk.

“I think he’s got internal bleeding,” Alana says, motioning to bruising around his abdomen and sides. She places her hand on his skin, “And his fever’s pretty high… Gonna try to… Bring that down.”

Alana concentrates, her hand starting to glow. Emmett squirms underneath the pressure and suddenly she can feel his hand on hers, guiding it down. Alana yanks her hand away, trying hard not to laugh now.

“Emmett,” Rye says gently, “That’s not my hand… This is Alana. She’s trying to help you…”

Emmett’s eyes roll toward Rye as she speaks, and then he slowly raises his head, trying to focus on Alana sitting there on the bed beside him. He looks back at the blonde woman, giving a sly smile. “Weird time… for a threesome…”

“Not a threesome,” Alana and Rye practically blurt in sync.

“If you want to just… contain him a little,” Alana says. Rye nods, reaching for the previously offending hand and holding it. Emmett’s head rolls back toward her and he watches her, squeezing her hand. “Your skin… so soft.”

Emmett reaches with his other hand toward Rye’s face, trying to coax her toward him.

“Calm down, Loverboy,” she says quietly.

Alana shifts some, bringing a hand to Emmett’s forehead. “His bee is still… there, and connected. Everything’s just… a little messy right now. It was that bee smoke?” She looks toward Rye rather than Emmett.

“And blood magic, apparently. Not sure what they did with it but it hit him hard…” Emmett mutters something inaudible here.

“Yeah,” Alana says. “It’s almost like it’s still… inside him or something. Like… it should have worn off, right? How long does that sh–stuff last?”

“I think it depends,” Rye says, “I’ve seen reports of it being really temporary, and others where the effects lingered. So I think it’s just the combination of things that really did it.”

“It’s almost like he has blood poisoning or something,” Alana comments. “That’s why he doesn’t seem to be healing. Like… he might be healing something internally, or his body is still trying to, but he’s really messed up and there’s a lot of damage for the natural regeneration process to figure out. I think… I might be able to try to get some of it out of him, though–” Alana gives a thoughtful pause as Emmett murmurs Rye’s name, though he seems to have fallen asleep for the moment.

“Anyway,” Alana continues, “I’m not a blood magic person. But I can do things to try to draw out whatever’s inside… That’ll make it easier for him to recover. And I can stop the bleeding, too.”

Rye seems satisfied by this, nodding in response. “Whatever it takes, yeah.”

Alana places her hands on Emmett’s chest and the man immediately moans, shifting some. She glances down the man’s form, then over at Rye, cheeks red, “Is he always so…”

“Attuned…?” Rye asks.

“I was gonna say horny,” Alana offers.

“I am so sorry,” Rye says, sighing. Alana fights a laugh. “I think he’s going to be incredibly embarrassed when he comes to… He’s really not like this.”

“It’s fine,” Alana says. “I mean… it’s kind of funny, to be honest.”

The curly-haired woman’s focus goes back to Emmett and she draws a breath, gaze fixed on her hands on his chest. Her hands start to glow, a faint purple seeming to envelop them. Immediately, Emmett starts to cough, amorphous reddish-gray misty clouds expelling in little puffs from his mouth with every cough. He groans between coughs, shifting more and trying to get up, eyes going wide suddenly. His free arm grabs for Alana, trying to pull her away from him, and she releases him, scrambling back a bit, trying to secure his legs as he starts to thrash. He’s sweating more profusely now, skin moist to the touch and almost fiery hot as he starts to shiver.

“Emmett,” Rye’s tone stays surprisingly gentle as both women work to keep him flat on the bed, “Emmett it’s OK. Relax… She’s helping you.” Rye leans over his face, looking into his red-rimmed eyes, and Emmett tries to speak, but starts coughing more.

“You’re OK,” Rye reassures. “You have to get it out.”

“I’m gonna give his bee a little boost with the bleeding,” Alana says. Her hands are on Emmett’s abdomen now, glowing again as she gently moves them in an easy circular pattern from his abdomen, down to his hips, and outward before coming back. She does this several times, Emmett groaning uncomfortable as the bruising pattern across the surface of his skin seems to change with the movement. It doesn’t go away, but the coloring seems less intense, with yellowy hints around the edges of the bruises as his body works to slowly heal them.

Emmett coughs a couple more times, though the mist seems to have dissipated. He manages to slip both arms around Rye now, pulling her against his burning chest, shivering so hard his teeth are practically chattering as he manages to mumble, “S-s-soooo… c-cooo-ld.”

“You have a fever,” Rye murmurs, laying half beside him, half on his chest as she tries to support her body weight with one of her elbows and not put pressure on him.

“His body should burn through it pretty quickly,” Alana assures. “It’s just a lot to heal, but the worst of it is mending.” For her part, Alana now looks much paler, a little more drained, while Emmett’s color seems to be returning to his skin. It doesn’t take long for the shivering to slow, now mostly just an occasional erratic twitch as he starts to settle again. His temperature is still warm, but not dangerously high as his body focuses on the slow and tedious process of healing.

“Now it’ll just take some time, but it’s… he’ll be fine,” Alana says. Her hand comes to her head as she starts to massage one of her temples.

“Are you OK?” Rye asks, straining some to keep a watchful eye on the other woman.

“Yeah,” Alana says with a small nod, “This is, uh… pretty normal. It’s just a little draining. I’ll be OK. Um… You should probably stay with him as he heals, though… Just, you know, in case. Do you want me to stay, too?”

“No,” Rye says with a little shake of her head, “I mean… Unless you need to rest here. Otherwise I think I can handle this part. But, um… do you need someone to help you get back? I can get one of my people…”

Normally Alana would probably say no, maybe just peace out directly to Agartha, but a wave of nausea hits her pretty suddenly and she steadies herself against the bed. “Uh, I might, actually.” She moves to sit in an armchair in a corner of the room.

“Alright,” Rye says, hesitating before freeing herself from the now sleeping Emmett’s grasp as she moves to retrieve her cell phone, “I’ll call Morales.”

—–

After Ollie collects Alana, Rye is left alone with Emmett, who’s mostly sleeping things off as his body continues to heal. He’s looking a lot better, though still gets the chills here and there. She makes a point to lay with him when he shivers, heating up her own and his bodies with a little bit of anima, despite his fever. If it spikes too much, though, she places an icy hand on his head to bring things down just a bit. During brief periods when he awakens, she makes sure he’s drinking water and staying hydrated. She keeps a watch on his phone just in case Geary or anybody else checks in, but refrains from snooping beyond any necessary messages.

In the meantime, her focus is on finding out more information about the blood mage Emmett encountered. She’s a little disappointed he didn’t collect the man for direct questioning, or at least try to get more out of Marion about him, but he was obviously not in the best frame of mind by the end of the altercation, so the next best thing is the man’s information. Emmett’s being a lot more cautious on this assignment than she would prefer, but she also understands he’s trying to do things as by-the-book as he thinks Geary wants. And Rye is happy to help out with some of the legwork. She wants him to succeed, after all.

She makes a few calls to their people and finds out the mage’s driver’s license is a fake and the credit cards in the wallet all seem to go to ghost accounts. The only other information in the wallet is a handwritten address for The Modern, along with David Marion’s name. Bodyguard, it seems. So who hired the blood mage, or loaned him out to Farsight’s CSO?

The blood mage’s phone appears to be a burner, but there are a few calls in it to other numbers. Most of those also appear to be useless, but there is one number that actually goes somewhere: a security company with ties to an Alejandro Rivera. The name doesn’t mean much to her, but when she has it run through a couple databases, Alejandro Rivera is a known alias of a Phoenician agent. Emmett’s hunch is right. Purple definitely wants some of whatever Farsight can do, and they’re likely offering to protect Farsight’s execs. Really, they should have known better than to send a single agent to a fight with a bee, even with the smoke. She has a feeling if there is another encounter, it will be messier, and possibly bloodier. Rye casts a wary glance Emmett’s way as he stirs in his sleep, debating her own next move in all this.

[Aath]

This is a really enjoyable read. It flows well and the main characters are believable while the extra’s a fleshed out enough to really sell the story. I really liked it.

[Drina]

Thank you so much Aath <3