The Requineverse

[Requine]

This time, the Arbuthnot sending out a call for help is not Cassandra - it’s Faith. The young free agent has found a job that has a moral element, and also pays a shitton. She’s asking for anyone interested to give her a ring.

One catch: Don’t tell Cass.

Grace Mereland sweeps in after a few minutes of waiting. The text Faith got was two words: “Sit tight,” annnd here she is! She looks like she maybe visited a water park before-hand - Soaked from head to toe. She smiles, snakebites gleaming. “Hey.”

Eve Van der Kirk arrives next, wearing a cream vest, suit, fedora combination with a bright blue carnation and highlighted by a prominent gold watch over her velvet gloves. “Hello, hello my lovelies!”

Faith has chosen a busy diner in the middle of London as her meeting spot, and waves Grace and Eve over. The striking contrast between the three women might draw attention anywhere else. Here, the waiter just offers you all Diet Cokes.

Door rattles, the wind comes in for a moment - is it always so Windy in bloody London? - and Calden Weir steps in, nudging the door shut after with his foot. Dark jeans, nondescript jacket, no slogan on his shirt, the hallmarks of someone working very hard in the don’t get noticed wing of their work. Brown hair flicked back, he makes a beeline for the coven and sits down politely, clearing his throat and waving once he’s sat. “E...vening? Christ I’ve lost track.”

For someone who is working to not get noticed, Calden has chosen an interesting group. The waitress assesses you all. “I don’t get teens these days. Can I get y’all anything else?”

Faith waves her away. “We’re just here for cokes and coffee, ma’am. I love your shoes, by the way. They look so comfortable.” Once the placated waitress is out of earshot, Faith glances at you all. “You ever hear of a company called EinSoft?”

There’s a chance you have - they’ve been making waves in certain sectors lately. Run by an enigmatic young genius working out of a garage and slowly climbing the ranks of respectable business, they’ve been making waves for their scientific advances in unexpected fields. If you’ve been watching the news - or, you are the heiress to the world’s largest corporation - the name may ring a bell.

“...Tea? y’all got sweet te-” alas. The waitress is already gone. She mock-sighs. “...I can’t say I’ve heard’a them. No. Why?”

Calden shook his head. “Never heard of them,” he lied blithely. After all, if Faith had to explain to Grace - best she explain to everyone. And it might help Faith feel more in charge.

“What do you know about them?” Eve asked, switching into her ‘Polite dinner conversation’ voice.

“Here’s what I know - they’re into all sorts of advanced tech. They’re not affiliated with any faction. They’re super small - less than 100 employees, although they’re super picky about who they recruit. They kinda sound like they sell limp dick pills? So I guess they ain’t hiring marketers. But here’s what I really care about: They have a job. Lots of money. And there’s some real important medical research on the line.”

“I am fairly certain you’re not getting the job Faith. Unless you want us to see if we can pull some strings.”

“Already have it. Boom.”

“Well, congrats on your...new medical career?”

“Well, here’s the thing, it ain’t so much a career as a one time thing. The medical research is on a chip. Now, EinSoft has some... unusual safety precautions. So the chip inside a brain. The brain is inside the skull of one Nathan Davis. Davis is in Barcelona. Davis is trying to sell the chip to someone with enough money to extract it without killing or lobotomizing it. And seeing how EinSoft wants to make this medical tech cheap or free to the public, and whoever wants it will be patenting it to get rich? I think we can call this one a public service case.”

“... I. Okay.” Calden said, somewhere around the point of inside a brain.

Grace made a similar, quiet noise of agreement. “makes perfect sense.”

“Whole thing is a bullshit set up.” Eve declared blithely and confidently.

“I ain’t turning this job down. I have a reputation as a professional and I intend to keep it. If you want to walk, there’s the door.” Pause. “Just... don’t tell Cass.”

“I didn’t say don’t take the job. I’m just saying that spiel you gave me is a bullshit set up.”

“I ain’t lyin’.”

“No, you’re being lied to.”

Faith looks at the other two people at the table for their opinion on the matter.

Calden scratched his temple with a thumb, then rested his hand on the back of his neck. “Eve’s a shark in those waters, Faith. Trust her judgment on shit like this. Just in general. This is why we make teams - we want people to bring their expertise.” he drew a breath. “Cass tends to build teams of just ‘whoever she’s close to, who can hit things.’ You can make better use of assets like Eve and Grace here, y’know?”

“That sounds a lot like all the other sorts’a shit I hear. Not from pharma-whasit-companies. But yeah. That’s a horseshit sandwich I’d say.” She sips her coke. Makes a face. “...It’s too nice to be real.”

The diner door swings open and a woman with red hair, an unzipped bomber jacket, tank top, and loose-fitting cargo pants steps into the diner. She looks around and notices the others - if the rest of her face didn’t give it away, the scar sure as hell does - it’s Anna. She walks up, offering a nod, and scootches into her seat, resting her hands on the table and looking around.

“Hey. Heard y’ gotta job, Faith.”

“Think about it Faith. If they wanted to give it away and make sure nobody did anything like this, they’d just...file a patent. You can still give stuff away with a patent. That’s the point of a patent. You can do what you want with it. All they’d have to do is submit the paperwork today and there’d be no danger of theft.” Eve explains

“White Wedding, you think, Maris?” more of that low-tone mumbling.

Faith chews on her thumbnail for a moment in thought. “I’m still going.” She says, after a moment of thought. “Because it’s a big ass cheque, it’s a big ass job, and if we spring the trap... Maybe bigger opportunities await.”

There’s a moment, and then Calden’s phone rings.

Calden fished down into his jacket pocket, flicking the phone unlocked with a gesture and glanced about the table. “Sec,” he murmured, nodding politely - and oddly, specifically to Eve - before he stood and stepped outside to answer it.

“Calden, sweetheart, this is Kirsten Geary. Take the phone back into the diner and put it on speaker. And tell Faith that it was a really nice try to find somewhere without surveillance. Seriously, solid B+.”

When Calden’s back inside, Geary addresses the group from her phone. “One of our techs heard the phrase ‘Einsoft’. We’re very curious about this organization. Sprung out of nowhere, and seems to be growing fast. I’m going to strongly encourage you all to take this job. Convince the Templar to come with, if you can.”

Anna offers a small, knowing nod in Cal’s direction at the little murmured remark and a hint of a smile in Grace’s direction. She arches an eyebrow as he walks off with the phone though she has a feeling… she still seems surprised at the voice coming from the phone, though, she wasn’t quite expecting her.

“... No encouragement needed, Miss Geary.” Anna remarks, succinctly, and looks around at the others, clearly expecting the same sentiment from them.

“Like. - Do they get bonus points if I come along,” Grace asks. She sounds unreasonably serious about this ‘bonus points’ concept. Sips her drink. Makes a face. Why is she still drinking it? “...I mean-” She trails off, her train of thought running off the rails.

“Sure. 50 points to Gryffindor.”

“Do you have an endgame in mind for the Chip, Ms. Geary or should we use our discretion?”

“For all we know, the chip has a copy of Good Housekeeping on it. Bring it home for analysis.”

Faith holds up a napkin, with pen on it: IS THIS PERSON IMPORTANT? Y/N

Even Grace nods at that. “Gryffindor? Ughh. The arbitrary win house. Fine. I’m in.”

Calden’s gesture is… weirdly obscene to Faith, but maybe conveys that yes, Ms Geary can fuck them all if she wants. Then he just nods, gesturing a Y with his hands.

Eve simply nods politely and smile. “Will do, Kirsten.”

“Alright then, I expect nothing from the best from you all. And Ms. Arbuthnot? I look forward to welcoming you as an official member of the Illuminati once you turn 18 and we don’t have to worry about that... pesky legal guardian issue. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Fantastic. Ciao ciao.”

 

[Requine]

Faith quickly goes over logistics with you all - she can’t travel through Agartha, so you’ll have to meet her in Barcelona the next day when she hitches a ride via plane. This gives you time to do any research checks and acquire a safehouse, etc. What do you guys do while you wait for Faith, re: Davis, EinSoft, and the chip?

Eve is going to attempt to try and set up a an actual attempt to invest in or buy out the company if possible. Failing that, she’s going to try and talk to some industry contacts. She’ll also give Dr. Aldini a ring. Hopefully he’s having a ‘good day’ and she can talk to him if he knows anyone in Barcelona.

No one has a squeaky clean record. Grace makes a few calls in private to the sort of people who might know about their less - Savory activities. Anyone involved in less-than-legal activities. Anyone leaving a trail in the underworld.

Anna - lacking contacts that might be particularly helpful with this case, volunteers to either assist Eve (on Illuminati business), or Grace, should Eve feel that Anna’s touch is really - the last thing she wants in industry negotiations. Especially if they need some “hands-on” assistance.

Grace, you find out that Davis has a criminal record - he started out in low down, petty crime, the type you specialize in. However, over the years he managed to get a second chance and got increasingly white collar with his crime. Unfortunately, that came with an addiction to some real expensive varieties of drugs, and his style of crime dipped once more. He was fired from EinSoft after assaulting his girlfriend in a parking garage. He’s been asking around for hook ups in Barcelona, but has had seemingly no success. Without his EinSoft pay-cheque, and potentially out of spite for losing his job, it makes sense he would flee with company property in his head to sell it. Anna, you manage to get footage from your Illuminati contacts in NYC of the assault - this could come in handy if you need to smoke the man out or rally opinion against him.

Eve, the director and CEO of EinSoft offers to do a Skype call with you.

Eve eagerly takes up the offer and prepares a list of news articles so that she can plausibly at least seem like a billionaire who read a few news articles and decided to invest.

Aidan Tarrant picks up the call. “Ms. Van der Kirk. A pleasure.”

“Mr. Tarrant, the pleasure is all mine!” Eve is all polite English and fawning schoolgirl.

“Well, I have to admit, I’m not interested in selling EinSoft. It’s my baby. But, I feel like a partnership, perhaps, maybe some investments that allow me to retain control...” Calden, Maris, and Grace are able to watch in on the call thanks to Illuminati tech, hidden from Tarrant’s view. He’s a mousy looking sort, with a face that’s slightly too wide and sandy brown hair.

“That’s, honest Aidan that’s the last sort of thing I have in mind. Clearly, whatever you’re doing it’s working. And I wouldn’t want you to change a thing about it. And I know there’s a lot of people out there who are bearish about EinSoft stock, saying it’s oversold, but I don’t think so. I think you are going to keep having successes, especially with an influx of capital, and I wouldn’t want to get in the way of that.”

“Mmhm, mmhm. This is all sounding great, I have to admit.” Tarrant is checking his watch occasionally, you notice. An odd quirk for someone in such an important meeting.

“I was hoping, before I put in, we could talk about what you have in the pipe, what you’re working on right now? Where you see yourself in six months to a year?”

“Wow, that’s fascinating. What a great question. You see, I’m working on the future of everything medical. Burn victims, for instance.” Tarrant’s eyes flick towards the webcam for a second. “We’re so far behind in this, just wow. And so in five to ten years -” He starts talking about paradigms and new visions and very 2035 and you lose the thread of what he’s saying behind the jargon.

Eve really hopes she can get someone to translate some of this, and hopefully it’s of some value. Once she’s certain she can change gear. “Now, I’m a little worried. I’ve heard a rumour that you’ve been having some IP issues. Something stolen?”

There’s a long pause. “Yes. I’m surprised you would be looking at that sort of job listing. Things not working out at your day job?” Fake laughter.

“Well.” Eve said, dropping the business like tone and lifting one arm then the other. “That doesn’t mean the offers not true mind you. If you have something worthwhile, I have all the more reason to be interested, yeah?”

“For the record, yes, an employee of ours stole some IP. We’re working on retrieving it. I will not discuss the matter further. I’m sure you understand.”

“Understand completely, Mr. Tarrant. But you understand I can’t invest until you’re willing to disclose anything on this.”

“We’ll have to try this again another day then. Ta.” The screen goes dark.

“Ta!” Eve says to the blank screen. She calls Maris “Do you think you could tail him, physically?”

Anna picks up her phone, answering Eve. “Could do. - Lemme jus’ know where to get started an’ I’ll do th’ rest - If y’ want, I can get answers out of em’ directly, fancy suits an’ lawyers ain’t ever been a match for a .45 ‘gainst th’ head.”

“No need for that yet. He’s got a meeting with someone very important. More important than me. We want to play this quiet, and have him lead you to what’s really afoot.”

“Understood. Anythin’ else?”

“Know anyone who can translate nerd to english real quick?”

“... Yeah, actually. Gotta person I work with in Crab Squad whose whole damn job is gettin’ data outta th’ Orochi mainframes - if anyone could understand what he jus’ said, it’d be him. Send me a recordin’ and I’ll forward em’ it.”

As you guys discuss logistics, the door busts open and there stands poor, Agartha-unattuned Faith Arbuthnot, sweating in something entirely too small. “Hey. Sorry I’m late. But I have neeeews.” She says the last bit in a sing songy voice.

“christ on toast.” Calden mutters.

Anna turns around in a bit of a start, “... Oh yeah? Let’s hear it, Faith.” She’s still holding her phone in one hand, though she’s muted her end of the call.

Grace’s sword is in hand unreasonably fast. Before she even processes “Faith.” Once she does though, she stows the thing and tilts her head. “‘sssup?”

“You will not believe what people tell you when you’re wearing this.” Faith gestures at her outfit.

“christ on toast.”

You can almost hear Cass screaming in the back of your head. “Anyways. I have a buyer, or I guess if you’re Eve... “buyer” for the EinSoft data.”

“Oh yeah? Let’s hear it.”

“Guy named Pierce Jones. Ex-Illuminati. Ex-Orochi. Really good at staying alive. Hoping to prolong that with some cutting edge medical data. Kind of shitty at kissing, though.”

“What”

Anna glances over at Eve at the mention of Jones’ former employers.

“I can start looking through OSS and human resources things on this guy?” Eve shrugs, assuming her call to Aldini is now not happening.

Your call to Aldini did happen, although it takes him some time to call you back. The man does have connections in the city, but few of them are medical. Most of them are the vain sort who love the night life. They love Aldini for keeping them eternally young, and if need be, he may be able to call in a couple of favours for you.

Eve is mainly interested in who would be Aldini’s competition, the kind that could covertly remove a microchip in your brain, no questions asked.

Aldini thinks everyone in Barcelona is a hack. Either he’s arrogant, or Pierce and Davis are fleeing Barcelona after the pick up, or there’s no extraction planned.

Grace continues to have her crime- … riminals… Crimeinal friends dig up what they can, shifting the focus from Davis to the higher-ups of EinSoft. If they are playing a game, she wants to know what it is.

Eve decides to provide backup for Maris, out of sight, but within contact.

Anna looks to gain information on Tarrant’s vehicle - make, model, license, etc, mostly by putting it out to the tech people within the Illuminati who’re actually good at that sort of thing - as well as any other information that may help her tail him, say, his location during the call.

Calden, while they’re waiting for Faith, slips out; he returns about six hours later. It isn’t an obvious thing - but he’s walking the streets of the city, looking at what can most politely be called ‘the flow of the city.’ The way people move - and where they go.

It normally takes years to learn a city. But Calden’s a quick study - and without the same connections as the rest, he’s planning for things to go wrong.

Anna, you find that EinSoft has a small office (by which I mean they share a room with two other guys in a building), in which Tarrant made the call. His car, which is in Eye records (of course it is), begins to drive. You’re able to intercept him, and begin to follow him.

Grace, you find out that Davis has been desperately looking for a fix. You know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who sells Davis’s drug of choice. You’re able to get in touch with him and he thinks you seem a sweet girl so he says that you can come over for when Davis visits. And maybe, like, you know, you can watch some Netflix later?

 

[Requine]

Grace chooses to bring Calden along, and Faith uses her little sister skills to tag along. She’s changed into jean shorts and a fashionably oversized top.

“Welcome to Spain, jesus christ. Just… ahem.”

The dealer opens the door, and his doofy smile just grows wider when he sees Faith, although Calden gets the stink eye of the century. His apartment is pretty nice - seems he runs a lucrative business. “C’mon in, ladies.”

Calden is listening in the room, in the space around Faith; how many heartbeats? How many fearful beats? Grace is basically a never-ending metronome of faint anxiety that threatens to tip over into The Old Testament, while Faith’s a familiar flutter up and down.

Grace shoots him a dirty, if subtle look, then steps inside, glancing at her phone. What time is he supposed to be here, again?

It’s the early evening, around 6:30. “The guy will be here soon, and then we can quit worrying about the hanger ons -” another fucking glimpse at Calden - “and, like, y’know, hang out?” The man’s heartbeat is like a dull thud of someone bustling around in the kitchen at 3am. No one else is in the apartment.

“Motherfucker, I give the best head in this room.”

“Hot,” Grace murmurs offhandedly. “Yeah. We can hang. No worries, just bringing the right people for what I need, yannow. Just.. The less you know the better, huh?” She offers him a bright, broad grin that promises terrible things if he asks questions.


The guy hesitates at that toothy, toothy grin. “Maybe it’s for the best if you le-”


“Oh, wow, is that your comic book collection?” Faith takes him by the arm. “I’m a big fan of, you know, Marvel in general. DC needs to step their game up.” She’s taken a quick scan of the collection, enough to bullshit him.

The guy seems less convinced you should head out for the night, and allows Faith to ... well, be Faith for a few minutes. Long enough that there’s a knock on the door, the sort of frantic knocking that implies a need.

When Faith takes him away, when it’s that little moment of attention to him from her, Calden listens carefully, expecting a flush of excitement in the man’s blood. If not… well, something’s odd.

Grace steps off to the side. It’s rude to answer someone else’s door.

The man, his heart rate elevated like someone who’s just fallen in love, gently detached himself from Faith and opens the door.

“Hey. You got the cash?”

“I wasn’t expecting a fucking social engagement. Who are these people?”

“Friends. You got the cash?”

“You promised me a one on one fucking deal.”

“You. Got. The. Cash?”

Grace thinks fast. No she doesn’t. She just sort of throws on a blissed-out grin and slurs a bit. “...Heeeey. Izzat. Th’ friend you mentioned?”

She figures someone can do something if he calms down.

Calden, you hear his heartbeat go even higher, like a hummingbird. “Jesus Christ, you told me about them? Are you stupid?”

The dealer grabs his client by the collar. “You wanna call me fucking stupid again?”

Faith is between the two men. “Hey, hey, let’s calm down. It’s cool, everything’s cool. I’m Eliza-”

The mark decks Faith, hard, the blonde girl goes down, and Davis is running.

Oh thank god. Grace shoves Dealer Mc Selly aside, hopping over Faith and tearing ass after Davis. She is, of course, not playing fair. Going as fast as any bee reasonably can. She adds, over her shoulder. “SORRY ‘BOUT YER FACE.”

Davis turns into the stairwell, clambering down the stairs and skipping a few where he can.

Damned impulses - Calden’s practically catching Faith, feeling the spike in adrenaline, the rush of blood, but more focused on her. Checking, seeing if she’s okay - while he listens around for the other heartbeat.

Specifically, Grace’s.

Grace is like a blender in a barrel of nails when she’s like this. When there’s something for her to chase. So while he was touching Faith’s face, testing her heart rate, checking to see if she was okay, he was already charting a path down the building, to catch up with Grace.

“You okay, Elizabeth?” he asked, not even skipping a beat on the name.

And that guy, if he was lucky, would get caught by Calden, not her.

He probably wasn’t going to be lucky.

“I’m good,” Faith gasps, touching her face. “You - you go get the bad guy. I’m going to raid the apartment.”

“C’mon, fuckface-” Calden mutters, grabbing their ‘contact’ by the collar out the door. Why? To give ‘Elizabeth’ room to work.

Maybe he’ll get lucky, but probably not. Chasing is what Grace does. It’s her thing. If she does, in fact, get ahold of this guy it’s a one-way ticket to being hauled into a dark alley and meeting brick with his face.

Davis is still clambering down the stairwell. On one hand, he’s fast on account of the adrenaline. On the other hand, he’s shaking like a leaf.

Also, it’s Grace.

She gains on him near the bottom, and he turns and throws his sweater at her like it’s a deterrent.

To be fair it is stinky.

It seems to actually make her angrier. She literally growls at him, batting it aside. Why. Why would you do this?

He also pees in his pants.

Aaaand. Davis’ face: Meet stairwell door. She smashes him face-first into said door(hard), then tossing him back towards the stairs (even less gently) and planting her boot on his gut. (One guess.) “Hi,” she leers.

“So who are you?” He manages to gasp through bloodied teeth. “The - the - the police? Orochi? EinSoft?”

“Worse. Way worse.” She doesn’t answer further. She- She can’t quite remember why she’s brutalizing this guy. She’s just mad. This is a problem.

“Shit,” Calden mutters from upstairs. Grace’s heartbeat levelled off. THat was bad. Very very bad. Angry Grace was bad, calm Grace, straight after angry Grace, was prone to destroying information sources, potential rapports, contacts, walls, doors, several types of ways of life, small and large forms of endangered cryptids and at least once, a Cathedral. A hoot from the stairwell as Calden hoisted over the rail and then, knowing nobody was watching, kicked his way down; a parkour trick of springing from wall to wall, launching off and effectively cutting the trip down into a drop.

“Grace! Y’all rescued the guy or what?”

“r..-e..ssscued?” The answer is slow. “Uh. well you know ha ha people fall?”

“HELP, HELP, SHE’S BRUTALIZING ME!”

“Shut your stupid face.”

He shuts his stupid face.

“Hey there, chum,” Calden said, walking the last of the way up. “I see you’ve met Ms White already. I’m Mr Blanc.” he said, hoisting on the rather badly hurt man with the shut stupid face. “Can’t help how these things go, but the problem is if we’d asked you to turn up, you’d have figured something was up.” Calden slipped his arm around the man’s shoulder. “Congratulations. Today is your luckiest of days.”

“Y-Yeah?”

Grace steps off of him, although hovers near enough to not need to do anything to be a threat. “Lucky, real lucky.”

“So. You’ve namedropped Orochi and the Illuminati, and according to our records you’ve done three years of advanced study in a medical facility and another two years of covert research so I can estimate that you are at least … five years old. Good!” Calden clapped his hand on his shoulder. “Because right now, you are being given a golden opportunity to escape the fear that comes from being Important To Important People. Ms White here-” he nodded to Grace, “is our Disappearance Specialist.”

Calden left that phrase hang in the air for one grim fucking moment.

“If you’re big on research you’d find her in various… unpleasant incidents. All very artfully constructed to make it look like any time Ms White gets involved in something… there’s not much else to do but mop up the blood!” He said, walking back up the stairs, guiding his victim with him. “Today, you were witnessed being chased down by Ms White. So. For the records of those people who are watching - but not seeing this now - you are gone. You are… an invisible. And we are here to assist you in your relocation. But we will need to talk to Elizabeth about the specifics of your safety. I guess the only question I have for you at this point is -

“Do you want to live, or do you want to make things difficult for us?”

He swallows hard, stinking of urine, but under that you can hear his heartbeat stabilize to a steady tha-thump tha-thump tha-thump. “I want to live. Let’s make this easy, friend.”

Calden stopped, halfway up the stairs. “Alright. Now, I just need to deal with the witness - Ms White - do you mind waiting here with this gentleman?” he paused, and lowered his voice, whispering to Grace just out of earshot.

“So like when you say you’ve never had Thai food, like, never? Not even Pad Thai or a red curry? Like, I’m gunna make this stuff good and proper, I just - like, I mean, when we have the house and all. Just nod and look at that guy now and give him that look you do, okay?”

“pad what.” She does nod, though, glancing at Her New Not Friend. She narrows her eyes at him in a manner that suggests he is risking life and limb if he breathes funny.

He whimpers, eyes wide, and nods. Calden is free to go back up to the apartment, where he finds Faith examining some things - a bag of mushrooms, various other drugs, and a hard drive. She glances at Calden. “How can you tell if shrooms are good? I’d bring some to Cass if I didn’t think she’d flip the fuck out.”

“I feed them to Cass and watch her flip the fuck out, Ms DeWitt,” he said, standing in the doorway, hand on the kob. “Mission parameters have changed,” he said, watching her eyes carefully, that grin on his face making it clear to her at least that he was spinning bullshit at speed. “The contact for this apartment -” who was in Calden’s other hand, held by the back of his coat, in the doorway, “needs to be scrubbed. I was going to use the bathroom.” And then, with the man held down so he couldn’t see, mouthed carefully:

take him from me

stuff him in the closet.

“I’ll need the space, Ms DeWitt.”

Faith nods, every inch the professional. Her face is grim as she follows Calden’s orders, only letting the grin show once it can’t be seen by Closet McStuffy.


The door slams shut behind Stuffy as Calden leans in to whisper to Faith.

“Tell him you’re doing him a favour, and giving him his life. Tell him, like… you don’t want this to come back to bite you, so he should behave. You’ll get a contact for the future and he’ll be convinced you’re way scarier than you are.”

“Absolutely, sir. I won’t let you down.” Faith’s tone is ice.

A few moments later, Calden is outside, trotting down the steps to where Grace is waiting, patiently. A sweet smile on his face. “Ms White, Ms DeWitt has agreed to help our New Friend disappear. Do escort him upstairs? Ah-” he paused, stopping momentarily. “That is to say actually escort him upstairs. Don't’ escort him up and down the stairs repeatedly.” he cleared his throat, giving Grace a meaningful look. And when the mark’s face wasn’t watching him - Calden flashed her a toothy grin.

She almost sounds disappointed as she acknowledges, voice devoid of - Everything, almost totally blank, flat. “Yes, sir.” She reaches down to haul Their New Friend to his feet, almost barking, “Up.”

He gets up and follows Grace’s physical direction carefully, carefully. It’s clear he’s in desperate need of a hit, but you don’t particularly care.

“What I wouldn’t give for mahoe to turn up with a garbage bag right abut now.”

“Is this about the chip?” He finally asks, weakly.

“Something made you important. Unfortunately, friend-” And the way she says it makes it clear he is anything but, “It’s not my job to care about that. Only about finding you.”

“W-Well, I’m f-found, so...” He spreads his hands wide in a gesture of surrender.

“You’re going to want to talk to Ms DeWitt. This is her…” he cleared his throat. “Negotiation.”

Faith leans over him. “No bullshit if you want to live, Nathan. What’s the chip in your head. What’s it really?”

“Not medical data.” Nathan snivels. “EinSoft corporate secrets. The sort Tarrant doesn’t want people to know. That’s why I had to run. The medical data story made me an easy target, made people think they were helping. But really, I’m trying to spread the truth about EinSoft.”

Grace takes some time to lean on the door and watch this happen.

“Shit, that’s not very specific, is it? We might have to send him off to...” Faith sighs. “But I couldn’t bear to do that. Not when it’s so unnecessary. What kind of secrets are we talking here, Nathan?” She leans forward and her shirt hangs off her lean frame some.

“...Employee lists. Projects. I don’t know a lot of this shit myself. I was low level. Tarrant wouldn’t give me room to shine, room to grow. But I stole this chip. It basically outlines the company and a five year plan. The problem is, I came up with a great way no one could steal it back off me. Unless you have a surgeon...”

Faith chews on her lower lip. “Think we can fly him to NYC?”

“It’s your operation, Miss DeWitt,” Calden said by the door. “Say it, and we’ll make it happen.”

“Mr. Blanc is right. Say the word.”

“What is it Cass said was the word one time?” Faith grins. “Bird. Let’s make it happen.”

And as Grace came so close to saying something [/i]silly and cracking their veneer of terrifying competence, Calden swung an arm around her shoulder and yanked her gently back out of the room. The door closed. He stood in the hallway and looked at Grace.

“Were… you were… you were about to say-” he said, grinning like he was about to burst out laughing. Even as he had his phone in his hand, pressing a particular button to summon the Geary cavalry to come tidy things up.


“yes.”

 

[Requine]

Anna, you see the sensible sports car - something that looks good, but is a few years dated, has a bit of damage on it, isn’t exactly top of the line, pull onto a side street and slow down. Eve is following behind, on voice comms in case Anna needs backup.

Anna’s been tailing Tarrant in a wholly unremarkable sedan she checked out using her resources as Chief Agent. Nothing that draws attention. She notices Tarrant pull to the side street and start to slow down when she’s a block away and pulls over, opening the door and casually getting out, walking towards the side street, turning her head and looking to catch sight of his car - and Tarrant too, hopefully.

Tarrant performs a perfect parallel park and then jogs into a two story house. The house, unlike his office and car, is far less than modest. You spot a lit pool in the back, and there’s a gorgeous staircase up front. Bay windows make it possible to peek inside.

Anna peers in through the window, staying out of sight, crouched behind - well, whatever’s close but near enough to get a good view - seeing if she can see Tarrant and watch where he’s going, then creeps forwards, staying out of sight… If it looks like he’s going upstairs, she searches for what she could use as decent hand/footholds on the side of the house and starts tos nags her zipline gun out of her jacket and finds a good anchor on the roof to fire it at. It’s whisper-quiet and the tip works thru adhesive means rather than embedding itself, making it perfect for this sort of thing. Otherwise she stays close to the house, always out of sight, finding a window or a thin wall where she can listen in…preferably the former.

“You have fun today being Tarrant?” A young woman’s voice says.

“Oh, absolutely. I love being Tarrant. I just talk about paradigms and shit. Had a complication though. Actual business meeting. Some dumb broad. Think I managed to bullshit her. Think. Not 100% sure.”

“Well, there’s another meeting today. Want me to be Tarrant for this one?”

“Yeah, the fuckin’... I don’t trust the AR. Also, makes my fuckin’ skin itch. Let’s switch. I’ll make dinner?”

“Sounds good.”

Anna’s got a small - but sensitive - little listening device, that she’s dug out of her coat and pressed up to listen in so Eve’s also hearing all this too. She moves around, low, silent, fast, practically a scamper if it weren’t so … controlled… taking a spot out of sight where she has view of the kitchen…

Tarrant takes something off from underneath his collar, and the sandy haired man disappears to reveal a young, dark skinned man who grins. The woman he’s talking to, with dark hair, puts it on around her own neck, and suddenly she is Tarrant.

Anna whispers into her comm, “Don’t think ‘Tarrant’ exists, Eve. Two people an’ some kinda - I dunno. Glamour? Hologram? He’s a front, either way… want me to keep listenin’, or bust in there an’ get some answers?” The eager little tinge in her voice is obvious.

“Wait...the chip in the brain. What if it’s like a...like a borg thing?”

“... Like mind-controlled technozombies r’ some shit?”

“Some sort of intelligence collective?’

“... Whatever it is, it’s best if w’ have it in our hands…”

“What’s our next move?”

Anna frowns, “... I could wait here all day for them t’ finish their meeting - or I could get em’ to talk now - if I do, would like you t’ be there. Cut off escape. Ask th’ right questions.” She presses the listening device against the window, taking a couple more moments, seeing if the conversation persuades her to take one action over the other…

The girl is laughing to herself as she sets up a laptop. “I’m Aidan Tarrant, look at me. I drive a SmartCar! I think Tesla is the bomb! Myeh myeh myeh!” She boots into a call and clears her throat. “Peter Johnson. A pleasure!”

“Eve. I’m by th’ window. You bust in through th’ door. I cut them off. Understand?” Anna’s voice is sharp, certain, assertive.

“Wait, wait, they just gave us a name.” Eve said, getting into position to block the exit. “Peter Johnson.”

“... Wonder if his middle name’s Richard. Fine. Givin’ em’ five to see if they ain’t just fucking around.” Anna turns her attention back to the listening device.

“Come on, stay with me Maris. Big Fish here. If they’re shapeshifters or something, we need to find out who’s in charge or they’ll just...shapeshift away.”

“...fine - should grill em’ ‘bout - snrk - ‘Peter Johnson’ after th’ call though.” She shuts up and listens.

“Right, your line of extension cords has really helped us - but right... we feel like there’s just a vision mismatch between EinSoft and CordCo. Right. We’re not interested in expanding that partnership. Very sorry. Thank you.”

The call ends and “Tarrance” stands. “Poor fucker. You think his mom hated him?”

“Probably. I hate him. Motherfucker thinks he’s selling paradise in a plastic wrap that plugs into your wall.”

“We can’t all save the world.”

Anna keeps listening in on the two. She lets out a small disappointed sound through her comm, “... We know they’re talkin’ to other small businesses… That’s ‘bout it.”

There’s more chatting.

“So, you think Tarrance himself is gonna come check up on us?”

“Dunno. He missed his last two Barcelona appointments. He’s real interested in Canada these days, while it’s still... mild, he says.”

“Weather?”

“I guess. It’s summer.”

“... Well. He exists - jus’ has his two cronies handlin’ calls.” Anna listens a little more. Her fists clench and she takes a deep breath. See if there’s any more chatter - interesting tidbits, or just the two impersonating the same man and conducting calls and making dinner…

Their voices drop. They’re still talking, but they’re out of ear shot. It’s do or die time.

“... alright let’sfuckin’dothis... BREACH!” It’s clear, confident - to the point - She’ll let Eve, the significantly stronger of the two, bust her way through the door, letting her catch one - and moving to cut off the escape route of the other.

Eve comes charging through armed with her golden shotgun, loaded up with beanbag rounds, ready to blast the first thing she sees moving center mass.

Tarrant and Not-Tarrant freeze at the assault. Tarrant flees for the back doors. Not Tarrant moves for the kitchen knives.

Anna moves to intercept Tarrant at the back doors. When they swing it open they’re greeted by a sudden sharp kick to the gut, intended to force them square on their back, Anna pressing her boot down as she crouches and reaches underneath their collar to snag that something away, her other hand suddenly drawing a mean-looking utility knife from inside her coat.

When you snag away the chip attached to a thin adhesive strip, Tarrant fades, and all that’s left is a woman - 120 pounds, maybe, lying there curled up like she’s dying.

If Anna feels concerned, she’s not showing it. She takes her foot off and sharply grabs her arm, wrenching her to her feet, twisting it behind her back, and putting the knife to her throat, then forcing her into the kitchen.

Eve relaxes, plants her feet, follows the lead of the one running for the knife, and fires. Just like shooting skeet.

He doesn’t even make it to the knife. These are clear non-combatants. He whimpers on the floor as his coworker comes in, being carried by Anna. “Look, we’re - we’re just making money- we’re not doing anything wrong!”

Anna pushes his co-worker down on the floor besides him. She looks down, “An’ what are you doin’?” She holds the knife by her side, impatiently turning it over with her hand.

Eve stays way back, trying to avoid being recognized by them.

“...Mr. Tarrant is trying to m-maintain a global presence with EinSoft, but we don’t - we don’t have the infrastructure, so, he came up with t-this innovative way t-to...”

“It’d be a real fucking shame if y’ last words were corporate bullshit.” Anna spits disdainfully. “Let’s start simple. What. Exactly. Are. You. Doing. For. Tarrant.”

“...He’s b-being followed by paparazzi and D-Dawnbreak and I-Illuminati and all sorts. He has a c-collection of people m-meant to confuse t-them.”

“‘Confuse.’” Anna says the words with an amused little smirk on her face, “Seems pretty damn clear t’ me. So where’s th’ real deal hiding out?”

“Canada.”

Eve stifles a series of quips.

“... Gonna have t’ be more specific than that.”

“Look, this is all I know - shit is going bad in Canada and M-Mr. Tarrant is v-very concerned about it. Northern Canada. Upper Canada. Whatever the fuck you call it.”

“... City? County? You can do better than that, yeah?”

“...There are monsters there? And like, eskimos? Or some shit?”

“Monsters an’ eskimos. Real goddamn helpful.” She looks over her shoulder, at Eve, “Grab th’ laptop an’ search for anythin’ important lookin’. I’ll see if these sad fucks can’t manage t’ be a LITTLE more useful. What kind’ve monsters we talkin’ about here?”

Eve starts tearing the house apart. Once she’s out of distance for the people to hear she says to Maris over the link. “Promise me you won’t hurt them.”

Anna murmurs quietly over the link, “... I won’t... Promise.”

“Look, apparently there are forces in Upper Canada that are supposed to keep monsters at bay. Scary monsters, I guess. I don’t fucking know, I went to BC once to go skiing, and I’ve never seen a fucking monster, except you maybe.”

Anna snorts, “I’m so much worse n’ that.” She flashes a - grin, but it just shows teeth… twirls the utility knife around in her hand, and checks her comm, “... Whatcha found, Eve?”

Eve finds laptops - one for each of them, plus a third that’s locked beyond her initial capabilities to get through. Also, a hard drive. There’s a note on it. SEND TO TENNANT.

“A bunch of laptops, and a hard drive, I think? It’s got a label “Send to Tennant on it. I could crack the passwords if you give me some time.”

“Good. ‘less there’s anythin’ else I should ask - I think we’re … just about... done here.”

 

[Requine]

The job is done, but new questions arise.

Everyone meets at a gelato parlor, Faith working away at a peaches and cream bowl while her face swells up horrifically. She’s all smiles anyways. This was a good job.

Anna offers up what she’s learned, that Mr. Tarrant is very concerned with things up in Northern Canada - and that monsters are involved.

“So did you guys find the chip?” Eve asked, tapping away at her phone?

“We did.” Faith says proudly. “It’ll be ready for examination once the surgery in NYC is done. It’s apparently loaded with EinSoft secrets.”

She keeps pointing her bruise towards Anna, like she’s fishing for something.

Anna smirks, looking over at the bruise, and taps her scar as if asking if it’s related to that. She adds, “W’ found that EinSoft’s got people carryin’ chips on em’ that let em’ - impersonate their boss, supposed t’ throw people off his trail, too.”

“Seems like EinSoft could be important. And Canada, I guess.”

“Yeah. Why they’re so interested in th’ whole monster situation up there’s definitely worth lookin’ into…”

“So…” Eve said in an ‘I told you so’ tone. “Were they bullshitting you about saving the world?”

“I kinda doubt they are - too early t’ draw conclusions ‘bout em’ til we see what they’re up to up there, yeah?”

Faith makes a face and mutters. “They were lying.”

“Don’t trust anyone who says they’re jus’ out to do that m’self…” Anna half-murmurs as she spoons into her chocolate gelato.

Eve beams her best shit-eating grin. “Well, would you look at that.” She squeeks out in a tiny high pitched, playful voice.

“Well, I need you guys to keep me in the loop, ‘cause I’m not an Illuminati. But good job, team.”