“Joey, what is–” Curtis starts to say, but she puts a hand out.

“Curtis, bad things are happening. I’ll explain later.” They continue to watch, all of them keenly focused on this conversation picked up by a chance encounter.

“The outcome you desired was achieved. She survived the encounter. Along with…an unexpectedly adept crew of individuals,” King replies. “I told you to have some faith. Everything works out when the right plan is chosen.”

“This has become exceedingly dangerous.'' The lensing of the camo is slowly moving back and forth, in and out of the camera’s range, as if the individual is pacing. “I paid my dues ten times over for the mistakes I made. My family should not have to pay the price for that.”

“Then help us redress these grievances we have against the Conclave. Those journals contain key information that will lead to their downfall, in the long run. And that is all you need to know,” the second male answered back. King possessed immense composure. He’s calm. Collected. He is very experienced in this clandestine endeavor.

“I could get those damn journals of Crosomer, they aren’t that hard to get at in the archives–”

“It’s not those logs I’m interested in, though they are quite useful for other reasons. Crosomer did have some choice research that no one else ever compiled, and it has likely been moldering for some time, waiting for someone to rediscover it. Our priority is the one in the Vault that contains key information for us, Volkir's notes. He had the most comprehensive notes." There's another grunt of frustration from their presumptive Lavernius, and Curtis is jotting down everything in a notebook as fast as he can. “You understand who built this construct, yes?”

“I know the history. Volkir Menrayas, that looney dragon sage who also had a hand in annihilating almost all of dragonkind, during the Ascension events,” the first man scoffs, as if this knowledge were trivial to him. “You know, even if you get a team in here, without tripping security, that place will eat you alive, I’ve already told you this. No one goes down there. No one’s been to the bottom in seven hundred years. That looney sage locked it up tight, let loose a bunch of monsters, traps, and who knows what else. Now it’s condemned, and a death wish for all but the most prepared mages. I asked around, it's tougher than we discussed earlier. If Volkir is indeed alive, he’s not just going to ‘hand it over’, by my guess.”

“You let me worry about that possibility. Just be ready when we send the signal.” There’s a low curse and the first man bangs a wall with a muffled fist, the shimmer of the cloak blurring the motion. “Even if this doesn’t work, I’ve already made arrangements for your family.” Kyle is mouthing obscenities silently, and Joey doesn’t even try to stop him.

“I want out the second I’ve done my part. King, I did this for you as a friend, because I know the work you do is for the betterment of all–even given the people you work with,” the man snarls. “If my kids ever got hurt because of your people, I would never stop hunting you. You know my history, you know I’m really good at what I do, even discounting my current expertise.”

“Jeez. Drenar wasn’t kidding, they did have a past.” Joey feels a trickle of instant fear with these two talking like old friends. This was beyond terror. The co-leader of the Talons had been in their facility last night. And he’d gotten in without a trace, and left almost no evidence of his passing. In fact, this camera might have been a slight miss on their part.

"Collateral is something I avoid when possible. You know that." The second man sounded unimpressed. "I will uphold my end of the deal, because if there's one thing I cannot stand, it is unnecessary violence. Sometimes, it only takes a kind word and a gesture of faith to accomplish the impossible."

"You might believe that, but your…partner…is a walking nightmare of a woman who has a history of bloodshed. Either you have one hefty contingency planned, or you're a bigger fool than me." There's a brief pause, and a scuffing of a boot on the floor, and a cell phone pinging. “King, what is it?”

“Val’s furious. I had to…direct her back to her corporate office to avoid suspicion,” he utters with a hint of annoyance. “There’s fallout from that meeting, let’s just say. Now she’s seeking heads on platters.”

“Who?”

“Rashalda, DeVerdra, and the Shalinde siblings. Plus a few of SAF’s finest agents. Not that she knows names and faces, yet.”

“Do not hurt them, King. They’re kids. Not soldiers.”

“I’m thinking ten steps ahead, just like old times. This was an…eventuality that was going to happen. The kids scuttled the mine, by my guess, they pieced together what was happening, or DeShandrea tipped them off somehow. It was actually kind of fortuitous, because Nigel, Greg, McKinsley, and Karl are all alive and breathing. Val’s men would have shot them all in the head, and cost us incalculable research. I should be thanking Drenar on that account, actually.”

“I know that look, King. They’re kids, not pawns.” Joey does the math, this happened just after the events at the school. He broke out of custody, and then just casually waltzed into the Conclave’s most secure facilities on the same day?! King has indeed been busy, and he has been aware of them. This guy is playing at another level. He is super dangerous, she thinks worriedly.

“Did you just make a pun? That actually is quite funny. You’ll forgive my lack of laughter–it’s a medical condition.” Joey rolls her eyes. Criminal mastermind or not, this is strange. “Don't worry, though. Walk me through the layout." The door opens, and the slightly distorted image shows the person in the camo cloak still lingering by the door. "Oh, and just a thought for the future…if Rashalda and DeVerdra do show up here at the archives…avoid them."

“How in the hell could they get here?! They don’t have biometric IDs–you know what, screw it. You’re you, which means you’ve already got your scheme in motion, just like always.”

“Oh, that hurts. They’re more adept than you give them credit for. And you know why they are the way they are.” the saboteur lets out a soft grunt. “You think I’m playing too dangerously?”

“I know you’re playing dangerously. I know you profess to achieve some greater good…but how many good people are you going to hurt in the process?” King doesn’t answer, and the cloaked individual sighs in frustration. "King. You and I have known each other for a long time. What you're attempting…should never come at the expense of the innocent." The second person finally heads out the door.

"If only it were so easy. There’s another problem.”

“What’s that?”

“Val might also have a man inside Asqualia. How she got them in, I don’t know, but if she enacts her plan–it will be a bloodbath. Which is why I need every detail. I need to get these journals before she burns the place down in her usual ‘kill everything that moves’ mentality.”

“You’re gonna drop that on me now? No pressure or anything!”

“I can only make moves based on predictable actors. Val can be…a chaos machine. Now let’s get this done.”

The door closes, and there's nothing but the scuffing of a vent being moved, and the first unnamed individual clambered into the vent system, presumably to further the plan.

What the hell?! Is King counting on them getting into the facility? Joey is busy playing out scenarios, and Kyle is as well because he glances at her, and nods. This changes the calculus, on a variety of fronts. And none of them are good.

"Who is this 'King' that guy mentioned? We have to go to lockdown, this is a major security breach," Curtis said before pulling out his phone. Joey puts her hand out, her expression etched in determination.

"Curtis. That man is the co-leader of the Onyx Talons. He walked into our home, and we have no idea how he's getting in and out. If we set the place on lockdown, we have no idea what'll happen. Lavernius is the likely threat, but we have a second saboteur problem." She's furious now, more than she's ever been. “No one gets in or out of Asqualia like they’re a ghost. He either found an exploit, or a physical route that we don’t know about through the cavern system. These caverns are unmapped, and go for miles. We’re using golems to try to map them out. Our dreaded ‘worst case’ is that King has men deep inside SAF, and we absolutely cannot trust them. It’s the only way he could have gotten this far into the facility, he had a biometric ID.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“But we’d know if the portal was activated–”

“There is a secondary portal system used for the transport of heavy cargo. My furnace was brought in using one I built, and they tap into the main line. It *can* be spliced, I proved it, but I was also bringing in from the main pad to a temporary pad in our lab,” Kyle explains. “But I also had access. King might have used a one-time-use admin card, but they're tightly controlled. Which means, our saboteur had inside help, period.”

“Joey, Kyle, we have to call this in. The safety of this facility, and everyone in it, is my priority,” Curtis insists.

“We don’t know their ingress point yet, or the timetable. If SAF is compromised with their men, and they intercept–then we open the front door right to them,” Joey warns. “We need to find the saboteurs, pin them down, and fast. I know we’re right to find Lavernius as likely suspect A, but we need to observe him if he pops up. If we try to set off the panic alarm now, they'll go to ground. We'll never find out how they're getting in, and we will still be at risk."

A plan is forming, and her vow never to use this ability like this may indeed get people hurt if she does nothing. "Short version, we've been in contact with another team, working against the Talons. Two of them are SAF agents of an immense reputation, Dillenger and DeShandrea. Do you know about them?"

"Joey, I'm still playing catch-up, jeez." He glances at the notes, then at her and Kyle. "I know Dillenger's name. The guy is a legend at SAF, good tactical leader. He's on this, too?"

"Him, DeShandrea, and a few other teens from town who were impacted by the Talons activities. They intercepted the Talons at the Grady Biggs high school last night, and kept a lot of people from getting hurt. They told us they were there to intercept the Talons from recruiting some kids into their enforcer group. They pulled a hell of a lot of records of what the Talons have been up to. We need them here, and we need them to find a quiet way in, because they know exactly what the stakes are."

"What–Joey, this is crazy! What could be so important here at Asqualia they'd throw this much effort into?" Curtis looks like he's still struggling.

"Curtis, the Awakenings in town were triggered by a device under the Talon's control. They're recruiting dragons and drakensouls for an assault on the Conclave. The Conclave might have its faults, but a terrorist group with thousands of dragons under their belt is a massive problem. The device could be used to Awaken all the missing dragons from the Ascension events, up to two million of them, and the key to that is somewhere in some old notes that were buried and forgotten in the archives. That’s not even the scariest part. These notes could allow them to control the machine and split the Veil in half.

“Forget our secret mage society. Forget a quiet life. The world will be in nonstop chaos if they pull this off. Got your attention?" Kyle said firmly.

"How did you even–you know what, I don't even want to know how you got involved in this," Curtis groans. "This is insanity."

"That's what we said! Everything going on in town is connected, it's not a whole bunch of one-off coincidences!” Kyle states with fervor. “There is one tactical advantage we have. One I think you know about.” he nods to Joey.

It’s now or never, if she’s going to do this, it has to be for the right reasons. Defending her home, and the people in it, is an ironclad reason to pull out all the stops. "Curtis. You signed off on my security clearance. You…know of my particular background?"

He looks at her, and lets out a resigned sigh. "I do. Only me and Zameren. And I presume mister Bertance here. I know you have some kind of psionic ability. That is all I know, and it’s none of my business to pry further, unless you want to tell me more about it on your own volition. Honestly, why’d you even fill that on the form? You could have lied, and no one would have ever questioned it.”

“I didn’t feel like committing a felony on my dream job application,” she said quietly. He nods respectfully.

“I think those forms are a load of crap, is what they are. We live in a weird world, and there are many individuals with unique origins or magical abilities. Some who would rather live a private life.” He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, rubbing at a faint scar line–a reminder of a close call to his life, most likely . “Alright. I see where this is going. You need time to find the saboteurs. And you think you can extract what they’re planning.”

“We think it's someone in the maintenance crew, possibly Lavernius, but I don’t think it’s 100% sure yet. We found a shred of their uniform in one of the vents. We need to investigate that botany area, and scour it with chemical tracers, and we need to do it soon. Time is a factor, the mana primer they stole is massive, and he could be using it for any number of things, or making one big hole in the facility somewhere,” she adds with emphasis. “Curtis, how many personnel do we have on file for the maintenance crew?”

“About a dozen, plus a few roaming contractors." He's already punching up a search of personnel on his laptop. “I think we got a big clue, the first individual mentioned his daughter got attacked. What was that about?”

“The forest! That was Drenar and Nick, they mentioned they crashed a Talons get-together, and they had to flee the scene with a few extra kids. They were chased by one massive Siberian Hellkite, who could have turned them all to ash. That’s who Val is. But, we don’t have a way to contact them reliably, not without the risk of our communications getting intercepted. King is…genius-level insanity, and I think Nick’s team is being watched when possible,” Kyle adds.

“So, what is the plan? If we can't contact SAF, then we’re relying on those two, plus a bunch of untrained teenagers? This is a recipe to get everyone killed–”

“No. Some of them are incredibly adept, even being so young. I saw them take out several Talons soldiers, and they sparred with King inside a bunker lab by the high school, and came out alive,” Joey counters. “They have an idea how to get in without drawing attention, and we need them here, because they know the stakes. I think they want to help.”

“Oh ignore her, she’s got a crush on that dweeby teen that’s running their motley crew. She just wants alchemical samples of all the dragons on their team, for her ‘academic’ purposes,” Kyle adds with air quotes.

“Kyle, seriously? Bigger stakes than my academic curiosity!” she snaps back. “Look, I think we can narrow down our suspects. But when we grab them, we need to inject them with a Magica suppressor solution, so they can’t use any verbal invocations or activate any magical devices in their possession. I’ll prepare a batch in my lab tonight, then we’ll get them to talk.”

“Wait, hang on. King was at the facility, plus this traitor. What about the third person? It sounds like they don’t know who it is. Which is even more worrisome.” That is a big issue, without further clues.

“Which is why we have to play this covertly. If we identify a suspect, I’ll use my psionics and see if I can get them to give up the goods, without having to take a hammer to their kneecaps,” she adds while glancing at Kyle. He pouts at this subtle suggestion. “Curtis, once we do this, the Talons might get desperate, if they know their inside men failed. When we have both suspects, we need to get every staff member who knows mage combat up and ready as quickly as possible. Just say it's impromptu training drills or something, for now."

“This is so risky,” he sighs. “The prudent thing would be to contact SAF.”

“Or, we could try the Valkyries,” Kyle suggests with a raised eyebrow. “You know, the larger-than-life legends of the mage world who chew up Talons soldiers and other criminals, eldritch abominations, and run-of-the-mill monsters for breakfast?”

“Do they have a phone number? A one-eight hundred number?” Curtis asks sarcastically. He glances at the two young arcanists, while tapping a finger gently on a key on his laptop. “Alright. One caveat. If I see anything that sets off my danger sense, we’re going on lockdown. No questions asked.”

“Deal. Now, we need to get to work.” Joey takes a deep breath, and hopes that Drenar and Nick are putting their everything into getting into Asqualia without raising suspicion.

Meanwhile, they’ve got work to do, and little time to do it, especially with the workday waning. Curtis pops open a drawer, and pulls out a small metallic and gunmetal black bolt pistol, already loaded, and hands it to Joey. It has a refex sight mounted on the top rail, for close-quarters target acquisition. “I know your training file, both of you. Joey, you used tranq rifles when in MBPS, yes?”

“I’ve used an autobow too, at MBPS, along with non-lethal tranquilizer rifles. I never had to use it on…on a person before,” she adds with discomfort. She checks the tension in the bow portion. “You think we’ll need this?” She eyes the weapon warily, but stuffs it into a pouch on her alchemical belt, after checking the safety. He hands her a spare magazine. “It's been a little while, but I still have good aim. I’m hoping we won’t need it.”

“For self-defense only, and I will feel far safer, given the risk we are taking. If this is counter-intelligence, we are playing a deadly game against people who know what they are doing. Kyle, I know you have a miniature armory, but your stuff is all research and development, and bulky. I’ll be making sure we’re ready on my end, and you need to do the same.”

“Ready for what?”

“Ready for the scenario where our plan fails. We need to be ready for a war with the Talons. I didn’t retire from SAF, just to watch the world go to pieces as soon as I left.” There’s something to be said about a calm stoicism, and just the faintest hint of his thoughts radiating out, that lets her know that Curtis is one of the few people they can trust in this endeavor.

Hang on. She hadn’t been focusing her psionics, she realizes when they walk through the door to track down more leads.

What did that mean, exactly? Is he--no, he couldn't be. She hasn't seen any signs.