Something Unidentified

After Ed had retold Ian the whole story as best as his writer's mind could muster, another awkward silence fell upon them. In all honesty, Ian had no idea what to make of the fact that Ed had heard Aaliyah as one of the counsel, let alone of the fact that he has brought a little girl back from Egypt who could possibly have been augmented. Ian's jaw still felt slightly uncomfortable as the two of them stood at the weapon rack where Ian had put the swords back in place while Ed told him of his short little journey and how it had been cut short after almost losing his arms.

            "At least we're starting to get a stronger foothold now that Safu is here," Ian said after he had contemplated the situation. "Where is he now?"

            "I sent him to Connor's. Figured that he would be sufficient extra security for now."

            Both men turned around at the unmistakable sound of JR's blaring headphones that broke the tranquillity as he entered the sparing room, plucked the headphones off his head and hurried down the few steps and jumped in excitement toward Ed who merely stood still with an amused smile playing across his face. "Welcome back buddy!" JR exclaimed, loud as ever. "I love the new tattoos!"

            Ed looked down at his arms and shrugged. The bloodied red lines had dissipated into faded pink lines that flowed across the expanse of his arms and branched out in thinner and smaller branches as it reached his fingers. Ed looked up and shook JR's hand and slapped him on the shoulder. "Welcome to the club!"

            "Now I'm finally a top secret super spy like you!"

            "Not so fast there, Madcow," Ian said, "remember, only those of us who used to be in the Agency really have government immunity -- and proper training."

            "Yeah, you still have a long way to go."

            "I can last quite a while already!"

            "But can you win?" De Beer asked. He had joined the three of them. It seemed to Ed that this was where all of the important agents seem to meet up all the time. He would be sure to only come there when necessary, then.

JR and De Beer carried on sparing while Ian and Ed discussed the slight problem that was the Counsel and more importantly Devon who would not return any of their calls.

            "Commanders," CNet said, his voice emanating from somewhere undetectable, just like the Stronghold in the Vatican. "I have found a digital trace on Devon."

            "Where?" both Ed and Ian asked in unison.

            JR stood quietly and admired the scene from the sparing mat where De Beer heaved out of breath. He may have been inexperienced and too sloppy with his form but all of them knew for certainty that the years had not been as hard on JR as it had been on them. Except for the lack of muscle and a bit of lung, JR would probably be able to outlast any of the agents currently in the stronghold in a fight. He had amazing dexterity.

Dev found himself in his office at Project 8 mindlessly scouring the internet for any kind of trace about the Counsel. After getting nothing but a few vague references to the Illuminati, Freemasons and other, lesser vague internet induced hype about all kinds of weird shit no person, half sane, would believe. Even double checking the bit of the archives that he had managed to save before the Agency was completely destroyed had absolutely nothing to offer him.

            He slammed his right fist on the desk as he hanged his head forward, wishing that he could find something, anything that would bring him closer to the people he so desperately wanted to kill.

            "Fucking life..." he mumbled and got up from the chair. It was then that he remembered his phone vibrating endlessly. He took a single glance at the screen and rolled his eyes. He finally gave in and wanted to answer his phone when a tiny beep resounded from the back of his office. Dev put his phone back down on the desk and walked back to see what had triggered the rooftop alarm.

Ed and Ian drove by Project 8. Their destination was the warehouse that they had infiltrated when they had first done an assignment for the Counsel. As they reached the parking lot of the pub nearby, Ian merely sped by and broke the iron gates open with the bonnet of his Subaru. Ed merely followed in his Lexus as they climbed the small dirt trail.

            "It's pitch black," Ed said as he shut his car off and turned off the headlights. "Seems...eerie."

            "That it does," Ian replied as he got out of his car and met up with Ed at the small unmanned security check in building at the gate.

            "Think he's really here?"

            "CNet mentioned that the digital signature would be about an hour old by now, but he's hardly ever wrong."

            "Yeah, lets get inside and find out where Dev is," Ed said and reached through a broken window and pushed the button that opened the gate. They cautiously made their way up the two steps that lead inside the main building and walked inside after making sure nothing would be there to surprise them.

            What had followed shortly after they entered the upper floor where they had found the data for the Counsel, was a quick and easy fight with two assassins that seemed ill equipped to handle veterans such as Ed and Ian. Both of them had no significant markings on them, and neither did they have any sort of identification.

            "The counsel?" Ed asked as he dragged one of the bodies behind cover.

            "Can't be. They would send someone much stronger and quicker. These two were rookies, now come on. We need to find something that would tell us where Dev had gone with whatever he had come to find here."

He had no idea how exactly it had happened, but he found himself slumped over against his desk. The 30 inch LED screen he used was damaged beyond repair right next to him and his chair was mounted on top of a broken bookcase to his right. Dev tried to get up but couldn't, as a dark figure appeared, first in the window then forming into a solid figure in front of him.

            The figure bowed down, as if it greeted Dev, then hovered over toward the broken screen. As it seemed to inspect the office, a lanky arm started to form by its side, inside the palm of the skeletal, shadowy hands was a device that resembled a USB drive, that was connected to a lanyard.

            Dev only sat, disoriented from what he could now recall as a fight and a struggle that he had had with an unmarked assassin. He vaguely remembered snapping the assassin's neck like a twig before he blacked out. He rubbed at his temples as he tried to focus. He still had the ghostly bastard to take care of, though how successful he would be, only time would tell.

JR was hunched over the back of his desk chair as he contemplated joining his guild for a DoTA match, then decided against it and turned the screen off. He got up and sighed. He still needed to call Abigail and tell her that he was safely back at home, but he didn't even want to do that. He felt strange in a way, as if the others, even those that called them Others, was treating him like a baby. He knew that that was exactly how it must be though, since he was the rookie. The new guy.

            JR grunted and backhanded one of the empty glasses on his desk so it fell and shattered on the floor. It was times like these that he wanted that green veiny bitch to still occupy his head. At least then he would feel like someone had been thinking of him.

            JR stood in silence, then turned his chair so it faced the right way and sighed a heavy sigh. He knew that his friends only meant well, but he felt as if though they only now included him in their plans so he would shut up about their secret lives. He then went downstairs and retrieved a bucket and the brush that had accompanied it so he could clean up the mess that he had made.