novelraw Chapter 144 – Second Impressions
Chapter 144 – Second Impressions
Chapter 144 – Second Impressions
“The reclamation team is a new addition to my operations in my region. It is all funded like the rest of my teams and can even fill the same role when needed. Their main focus is on repairing damage from supernatural creatures and community outreach. I bill the US government’s FEMA program directly for the services.” – Jay explaining the different teams he runs to the directors of Earth operations.
Kurt took his seat in the sea of chairs that occupied the seating area of the range. They were a little better than the typical folding metal chairs but not by much. Around him were Kristi and Val with Tig and Sam behind them, looking through the gaps over their shoulders.
Across from them was the team based in Arizona, made up of Taylor and Shanna the Halfling-elf and Sylph-dryad, respectively. Their manager was absent, likely working on something else and relying on them to behave themselves like… well, like adults.
Not far away and representing their own side of the triangle of tension was the new team that Kurt hadn’t even been introduced to yet. Among them was the orc who Jay had called Gella and the dwarven-gnoll known as Hans. The small naga was still unnamed along with the rather pale elf that stood to the side of their team. It just so happened that he spoke first.
“Ahem, perhaps I should start.” The elf said with a familiar clear and high tone. “My name is John Smith and-“
“Really?” Kurt asked. “John Smith?”
The elf frowned. “I don’t see what the fuss is about that, it’s a perfectly common name.”
“That’s the problem, it’s too common.”
The elf huffed then crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Well, I don’t know what you want me to do about it but that is my name. Now if you wouldn’t mind?” Seeing Kurt make a gesture to continue, he did. “We are currently based out of Laramie Wyoming, or there abouts. This is the team leader, Gella and her two partners, Tae’al and I believe you already know Hans.”
“We’ve met.” Kurt grunted
“Yes, I saw. Again, I would like to express our most sincere apologies over the issue. We have all been thoroughly chastised over it and it will not be a mistake we make again.” He bowed low from the waist and his team followed suit, all of them saying sorry while the Arizona team looked on in confusion.
Kurt was silent for a moment while he thought about what had happened. Sure, Hans had been out of line but he nearly killed the guy by throwing him. That balanced the scales in his opinion. “Apology accepted. Now, let’s get this over with.”
Standing up, Kurt crossed the open area in the middle and handed one of the identify rings to Gella. She looked at it for a moment before a confused expression crossed her face. “Oh, honey, I’m taken and you are not my type.”
“AAHHAHAHAHAH!” Val burst into laughter, sliding out of her chair and barely being caught by Sam before she hit the ground. Even Jay was chuckling openly at Kurt’s expense.
“I swear to god I am never handing one of these things out again.” Kurt grumbled before just tossing it to the orc. “It’s not a fucking engagement ring. Just put it on.” He handed one each to Tae’al and Hans before flipping a fourth to John like it was a coin.
“Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” Kurt held out his hand to each of them in turn and watched their expressions morph from confusion to understanding as they shook. If not for the whole proposal thing that kept happening, this would be one of his favorite things to do.
His ring told him that Gella was half orc and half elf, getting much of her figure from the elven half. She was tall like an orc but slim in the waist and shoulders like elves. If not for her black hair, tiny tusks and slight green tint to her skin, she would pass for a very tall elf.
Hans was still a gnoll and dwarf mix. Stocky was the word that jumped to Kurt’s mind, and he was surprised that he was able to do as much damage as he had done with that genetic combo. The short man had what looked like a salt and pepper mix to his short beard and fohawk hair but Kurt recognized it as the gnoll coloration.
Tae’al, or Tae as he told Kurt and the girls, was a halfling and naga mix which was interesting. He also preferred to stand for the meeting rather than sit. Kurt wouldn’t begrudge him his preference and could see the rather slim blond man having some height issues like Rupert. He made a mental note to see if he had any issues with weapons later on but doubted it since he appeared much longer in the arm than Rupert.
When he got to John, he was thoroughly surprised for the first time. John was a vampire. An elf turned vampire. Apparently, the confusion was evident on both their faces because Jay stepped in for that one.
“John here actually came from your dad’s home world of Verdant. I picked him up in Stalvantol a couple years back after Cassator mentioned a run in with a ‘most disturbing individual’. Of course, with a description like that, I couldn’t help myself and reached out to put him on retainer.”
“I didn’t think an elf could be turned?” Kurt was utterly confused, that went against everything he knew about elves and their unique biology.
“And I didn’t think we could become werewolves, half-elf or not.” John smirked. “I guess there is more out there than even our ‘esteemed’ researchers know about.”
Kurt thought those researchers and archivists would collectively shit themselves if they overheard this conversation or knew anything about the two of them. He also thought that it would be quick way to get a one-way ticket to a lab and never come back.
The doors to the range banged open a moment later and he turned to see who had entered. It was Winslow and his squads of former mercenaries. Kurt noted that the group had grown a little and the two squads was resembling something more like a platoon. They weren’t the only ones to come through the doors, however.
The remaining agents and handlers were making their way in behind them, along with the support squads and the auxiliary teams. Jade even made an appearance and was walking at the back with Ra and his team.
After the newcomers had made their way over and found their places amongst the gathering, Jay stepped up on a box he had summoned from his ring. “I would like to thank you all for coming today. I know we don’t gather often and I plan on fixing that at some point, but for now we have things to do.”
There were a few murmurs from the new teams, but Jay just talked over them. “We have two new teams, a few new support squads and a fancy new enchanted gadget courtesy of our dear Kurt. I am hoping we can do a little meet and great after we install the new equipment in all of you.”
The old guard all looked around happily, always eager for more enchanted gear from Kurt. A few among them noticed Jay’s choice of words and a couple hands came up from the crowd. Jay pointed at one and a woman spoke up from behind Ra.
“Sir, what do you mean by installing the equipment in us?” she asked and the murmuring instantly died off.
Jay’s near permanent smirk widened into a cheshire grin as he held up a remote control. “So glad you asked.” He clicked the button.
Immediately all the little sounds and movements that people usually make halted and the range went completely silent except for the air circulation system which suddenly became painfully loud. Only Kurt and the girls were unaffected and they looked around in shock at the mass paralyze spell that had just went off. Although, Kurt knew better.
“The remote wasn’t actually needed, was it?”
Jay scoffed at him. “Tsch. Kurt, please, there is such a thing as dramatic effect and this was the perfect instrument to deliver it.”
“Is that a garage door remote?”
“Overhead fan actually, but that is beside the point. Got the chips?” Jay waived him off and immediately changed the topic.
Kurt sighed and pulled out several stacks of clear plastic containers that each held one of the sterilized telepathic implants. He handed them to Jay who gleefully walked around the rows, casting and recasting the spell to implant them into each of the agents and soldiers.
He then retook the stage and cast the spell on himself, making his eyes water for a moment as he scratched behind his ear while addressing the still frozen group. There was still a stack of the devices that he stored in his spatial ring before speaking. “Alright folks, thanks for your cooperation on this. This implant will allow you to communicate telepathically with each other. It also lets you understand and speak any language. Kurt will give you specifics.”
Jay stepped off the makeshift podium and Kurt took his place, noting that the wooden crate said ‘soap’ on the side causing him to roll his eyes. “Sorry about him but… actually, I’m not. Take up your grievances with him, I just make the shit.
“The range is around ten miles from point to point, but each unit will allow a small amount of push through and can act as a bridge to extend the range a little or to get around significant terrain. The language part will be like a dubbed movie where the lips don’t match. It works on intent to communicate so it won’t work on digital media but works fine on spoken or printed words. Also, I have found it to translate things very formally until it gets the hang of the language.”
Kurt looked at Jay who waved his hand again and the room was almost immediately filled with cursing and many an oath. He let them vent some frustration before he raised his hand for quiet. “Any questions?” He asked once they quieted down.
One of the wolves with Ra raised her hand. “Will the translation teach us the language?”
“There is some subliminal learning since you will hear the words, but it will be translated automatically so I am gonna say no. I have only been using mine for a week, but I have learned a few things. Sentence structure and idioms are really rough, though.”
Gella raised a hand and he nodded at her. “How does it work? The communication part. Like, what do I do?”
Kurt kicked himself for not covering that first. “Just think your thoughts at a person with an implant or to a group. Like this.” He focused and thought a message to everyone in the room. “You can include or exclude as you see fit, but I have preset a series of permissions in them with a hierarchy. Test amongst yourselves.”
He watched as the crowd immediately split off into small groups and began figuring out the implants. Penny strolled over after he stepped down from the soapbox. “Hey, everything going ok? I see they are all still alive, so I assume they made amends.”
“Yeah, we are on speaking terms now.” Kurt confirmed as his team moved off to the side where Jay was standing. “Where is Anna?” he didn’t see her in the crowd, but she was short so he might have missed her.
“I gave her the option to sit this one out.” Jay said. “I didn’t want to retraumatize her with another implant after the last one was so… yeah…” He trailed off with a wince.
“Oh, I didn’t even think about that.” Kristi said and Kurt agreed immediately that it was for the best.
Penny bobbed her head in acknowledgement. “Yeah, I talked to her about it and put the ball in her court, as they say. I told her that the offer was on the table but completely voluntary. I will check back in if I don’t hear anything about it in a couple weeks.”
“Other than the implant, how is she doing? We haven’t seen her in a while.” Val asked as they continued walking around the practicing groups, following the path set by Jay.
“Good but I think she misses you guys.” Penny had to turn sideways as one of Justin’s people nearly backed into her. “Believe it or not, you all are a pretty good influence.”
“How does that work?” Kurt was baffled, as he had usually been the cautionary tale for his family.
Giving him a lot of side eye, Penny answered. “Self confidence is a big part of her recovery goals. You might not notice, but when she isn’t around you guys, she is kinda a mess. Always second guessing herself and tiptoeing around like I’m about to bite her. Hell, it took weeks for her to just be comfortable in her natural state in the apartment.”
Kristi raised her eyebrows at that. “She doesn’t show us that.”
“Yeah, she is always fuzzy at the house. Even when she is outside with Bont.” Val piled on.
“Hmm, you two should spend more time with her not around our house. See if you can extend her comfort zone a bit. She might associate more places with her comfort zone that way.”
Jay stopped a few steps later, having made a full circuit around the group. “Really quick, I want to talk to you about them.” He pointed at Taylor and Shanna.
“OK, sup?”
“They are not going to be a regular field office. I am having them do something a little different.” He waived them and their manager over. “Something that they are going to tell you about so you pick up on some details that I would otherwise omit. It’s all part of the deal that I worked with your government when I got that contract signed.”
“Yes, Jay?” Landa asked as she nearly slid to a stop in front of them.
“I want you and your agents to tell Kurt what your mission is.” Jay waived his hand to Kurt and pointed them toward a couple chairs on the edge of the seating area.
They moved over there and sat down, rearranging the furniture so the two teams could sit face to face. Landa scooted forward and leaned in as she spoke. “So, our mission isn’t so much to go get bad guys or to even close rifts. We can do that, but it’s secondary to our reclamation projects.”
“Reclamation projects?” Kristi asked.
“We are trying to make right all the damage caused by supernatural entities and the like.” Landa was not helping with specifics, but she tried. Thankfully, Taylor’s shitty attitude was perfect for being succinct.
“Anywhere that nature has been upset or the natural flow of mana has been disrupted is our work.” Said elven halfling. “With our natural affinities, we can repair the land and restore balance to the ley lines. We can also remove some corruption from rifts and certain rituals if we have the mana for it.”
“Poor Shanna near works herself into a mana deficit every time.” Landa shook her head sadly.
The dryad had a sad look on her face. “I can’t help it. I see the wounds in the world and just want to stop the suffering.”
Taylor put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “We also help with any of the displaced victims of some supernatural’s. Recovery efforts when we are too late and rebuilding for the survivors.”
Kurt arched an eyebrow at that. “Really? You do social work?”
“He’s really good at it!” Shanna immediately came to Taylor’s defense.
“Don’t worry, only you tool-bags get the pleasure of my real personality.” Taylor’s cocky grin was almost enough to hide that he actually did care and was using the Order as an outlet. Kurt had seen that before, people turning to self-destructive outlets because they didn’t have any other method to deal with their frustration.
“Fair enough.” Kurt held out his hands in surrender. “So, you could use some specialized gear? Like a personalized focus and maybe some mana batteries?”
The two agents looked at each other before turning back to Kurt. “Yes, that would actually be quite helpful. And could we ask for one more thing?”
“Sure. What is it?” Kurt had already pulled out a note pad and began writing.
“Can we have something to conceal our identity? A lot of the humans are less than … eh, pleased, when we are the ones helping after a disaster.” Shanna’s thin and airy voice broke a little when describing the situation.
Kurt couldn’t fault her. If all they wanted to do was help, it was pretty heartbreaking to be rejected because of how they looked. “Consider it done. This might take a couple weeks with my other workload but I will get something for you.”
“What do we owe you?” Taylor asked, his expression holding some doubt and caution.
Pulling out his little mana sampling device, Kurt held it out to him. “Let me sample your mana. That’s all I need for payment since I keep having materials thrown at me.”
Taylor hesitantly followed Kurt’s instructions and placed his finger on the silver button then pushed some mana into it. After that, Kurt swapped the synthetic sapphire with a blank one, putting Taylors away, taking a moment to admire the lavender color. Shanna’s turned the crystal a minty-green and Landa’s had a glossy orange hue.
“Why are you taking all these samples?” Jay asked.
“One of those books you gave me talked about natural affinities and how everyone has a specific flavor of mana. I am collecting samples to use in testing a few designs. Can I get yours too?”
Jay shrugged and stood up from where he had been sitting. “Sure, but what is the point of it?”
Kurt noted that Jay’s crystal was a uniform black color but had odd specks of silver that hung in it. “We waste a lot of mana when it is ‘typed’ in spells. We also absorb natural mana slower and have to convert it to our own type. If I can make a concealing artifact, it will work better if I use Val’s mana as a base to imprint it since she already has an affinity with those spells.
“It can also help with a battery where it is preset to a user’s mana and automatically converts the ambient mana to the users, thus making it more efficient.” Kurt finished his summary and stored the crystals in his divided sorting box after labeling them. “For me this is theory but according to the author of that book, he had some initial success.”
“Well, why stop here?” Jay smiled and then turned to the room at large. “Alright folks, come on over and form a line. Kurt needs some samples from you.”
“Don’t we need a magazine and some privacy for that?” Called one of Justin’s people.
That got a laugh out of the crowd and everyone got in line to give him a bit of their mana. That line quickly shrank when they realized that only people with external mana could donate. One by one they filtered through until Kurt had collected a dozen samples. Oddly enough, Jade couldn’t provide one despite her having some strange ability to manipulate faith and divine energy.
After Kurt had put the samples away, Taylor piped up again. “Got a weird question, Kurt. How come you can use silver and touch it? I thought werewolves were allergic.”
Kurt frowned and was about to answer that he had never had an issue and thought it was a baseless rumor but Jay butted in. “Because that has nothing to do with silver and everything to do with gods.”
“What?” Taylor looked very confused while Kurt and the girls became suddenly much more interested.
“The weapons made of silver or alloyed with silver used to kill werewolves, demons and the like were blessed or anointed in rituals to grant them powers to overcome the natural healing of those creatures.” Jay answered.
“So why silver then?” Kurt asked, now wanting to hear the full answer.
Jay shrugged. “From what I remember it’s just fancy enough. Sure, iron or steel could have worked but a precious metal made it all the more ‘magical’. That and silver was always held in high regard and considered to be holy.”
“From what you remember?” Taylor looked confused.
“Well, I wasn’t exactly part of the planning committee when a few zealots decided to launch an indiscriminate crusade against supernatural or paranormal beings.” Jay waived him off, skipping over the fact that he was around when those decisions were being made and myths started. “Anyway, that is a story for a later time. Looks like the babysitters are on the job now.” He nudged Kurt and pointed to a group of people standing around the newest team.
“Is that…?” Kurt began. He trailed off as he picked out one of the support teams huddled around the Wyoming agents. It was one of the ones that had been part of the assault team and had once been Jade’s team.
“Yup. They did such a great job on that raid. So, I decided, if they can handle that, they can show the new kids the ropes.” Jay said beaming with a strange sort of malevolent pride. “Now to get them some comms…” He wandered off to meet them, summoning the several containers of implants as he made a familiar gesture to freeze them in place.
Kurt watched his boss walk away to terrorize a new group of mostly innocent people before turning back to the small group he was in. “So, who wants to go get some food and not be stuck in here anymore?” When nobody objected, the two teams and their handlers went off in the direction of the entertainment district of the Order pocket dimension.