[IC] EAU

[dabombjk]

Director Verdock and Cori

Director Verdock, Head of the CIA, was sitting a conference room in the White House. He tapped his finger impatiently, anger slowly filling his throat. He was a patient man on the battlefield, but in a simple civilan room waiting was not his strong. Technically Ms Woods was not late, she would be arriving on time, but with his Army backrounf if you were not fifteen minutes early you were late. Verdock eyed the classified file on the table he sat at, then eyed the projector and computer attached to the projector. In less than 24 hours, everything had gone to hell. The entire worlds security had been put at risk, and the enemy was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. Their electronics were at risk with no way to avoid being hacked, the entire world was being watched, and the only weapons that could hurt the enemy were the strongest weapons in the world which needed a unanimous vote from the entire worlds leaders to use. This meeting was officially not happening, and the outcome of this meeting would affect the world.

Agent Woods was escorted in, her gaze flickering about and then resting on Director Verdock for a moment before she approached the table. "Good afternoon," she greeted, her tone stiff. No doubt, everyone was stressed and she was particularly paranoid. A mile a minute, her mind raced searching for any sort of answer besides releasing these weapons. However. besides the chaos that had been unleashed on Earth, there was little to go on. She sat, her posture straight and shoulders back and hands together on the table as she nervously picked at her nails, avoiding the other's gaze for now as she looked anywhere else. The clock ticked and she tensed further--it was time for the meeting to start. The woman drew in a long breath, looked up, and waited.

Verdock cleared his throat and slowly stood up. He eyed Cori Woods suspicously, then mentally shook his head. Verdock had quite a few old school views (not gonna get all up in those views at the moment) but he had no choice but to leave them at the door. Her track record was spotless, and she had just the skill set he needed. No...the world needed. Verdock picked slid the file to Ms Woods then picked up a remote and showed the first slide from the projector. The first scene was a blurry picture of an unidentified person. "At 0700 today, 8 hours ago, we recieved sattelite images of several different humanoid figures on different parts of the globe. They caused no chaos, made barely any noise, they simply watched. Then......we stopped recieveing images." Verdock clicked a button and another slide replaced the current one. This time is was an image of a blurry spaceship in space hovering near earth. "This....ship....knocked out all advance communications, not disrupting simple phone signals but knocking out communication between governments, world leaders, and blurrying all images related to the humanoid people and this ship. Simply put, this is the first signs of an alien invasion."

Cori had been listening intently, steely gaze on the slides, but now she blinked at the Director. "Aliens, sir?" she repeated, eyeing him curiosly with an almost mocking tone.

Verdock nodded, expecting resistance. "Yes agent Woods. Aliens. We do not know what they look like specifically, nor what their ship looks like, but make no mistake this is a real threat." Verdock clicked another button, another slide presenting itself. This time it was a slide of the wreckage of sattelites in space, zoomed in to see how broken they were. "This is no joke. Our main sources of communication have been hacked or destroyed, and we need exceptional agents at our disposal. Look inside the folder."

"Even if it is aliens, what sort of endgoal could they have?" she wondered. Her brows furrowed at the next slide and she reached for the folder to look inside.

"We have no fucking clue. We are completely in the dark and I hate it so Goddamn much. But thats were you come in. Agent Woods, I am assigning you as of this moment as head of the Anti - Security Threat Task Force. I am calling it that because as far as anyone else outside this room is considered it is for dealing with terrorists. No one is to know your fighting aliens until the time is right, which is when I say. You are to build a small team of outside agents, free lancers included, to invetsigate this alien threat. They have small hideouts in almost every city, and your tasked with giving me and only me the info."

Cori couldn't allow herself to be stunned by the contents in the folder: Verdock was already moving on. She looked him, tensing at his assignment. There was no doubt that she was being assigned a heavy task, but Cori couldn't refuse a challenge. "We have plenty of good men. We won't need free lancers," she said as she looked back to the documents, her scowl deepening. After a few moments, she nodded slowly and looked back to Verdock. "This is...huge, Sir. Thank you for trusting me with this. I'll get to work right away," she said. The nervous woman who had entered had found resolve.

Verdock nodded, then stiffened slightly. Verdocks voice became emotionless. "Your first recruit, not optional, is in that file. His name is Kieran, a very popular freelancer. He is highly trained, been used by the CIA before black ops only, and loyal to a fault when he accepts a contract. A meeting has been set up, you are to go to this meeting and convince to work for you."

Her white eyebrows raised and then her lips pursed, the irritation clear on her face. Slowly, she began, "With all due respect, Director Verdock, 'freelance' and 'loyal' does not go together. I want to know I can trust my subordinates."

Verdock snapped. "With all due respect Agent, you may have just been promoted but you still work for MY agency. I gave you an order, so do it. And I meant it. He is loyal. He may seem like an average free lance espionage agent, but he isnt. He is of a different breed, better. Also, when you meet him, do not mention me in any way shape or form."

With a slight shake of her head, Cori somehow managed not to loudly sigh. Now she was suspicious of Verdock's final order, but after that she supposed she shouldn't argue further. So she looked back to the documents and nodded slowly. "Alright. Yes, sir."

Verdock sat back down. "Your dismissed Agent Woods."

[dabombjk]

Kieran and Cori/Cori and Verdock

Kieran sat at the table for two. right leg over left and from what it looked like reading the newspaper. He wore a tan unuttoned suit, with a white dress shirt and black dress shoes. From what it looked like he was reading the newspaper, but in actuality he was trying to read the enviroment around him by pretending to read. He gave the CIA this location for a reason, not that he thought they could hurt him but he never did trust the CIA. They were a good organization, and from when he worked with them in the past, they never screwed him over. But they were flawed, very much by far, and he could never accept a permenant position there. He did have to wonder, it had been awhile since they hired him, what could it be that they wanted this time?

"Large coffee, black," Cori ordered, skipping over the hellos and how-do-you-dos. The barista took the rudeness gracefully, of course, and took her order and the money. She had identified Kieran upon walking in, and wanted to put off actually talking to the free lancer for as long as she could. But when the coffee was placed in her hand, she had little else to do except sit at the table. She wished she had arrived earlier because he was in her preferred seat: back to the counter, eyes on the door, but she supposed anyone in the business would think that. "Hello," she greeted, her tone ice--not quite mean, but strictly professional. "I'm Cori Woods." After speaking, she took a sip of the coffee and finally took off her sunglasses to eye him.

Kieran could already tell this was going to be diffucult, and that whatever they offered him was going to have be huge. Finance wise. Kieran folded his newspaper and set it down in front of him. He had not ordered anything, but that wasnt an issue. His ace in the hole saved him from that. "hmm." Kieran looked Cori over. "I have to say im not that impressed. I would have thought I meritted a meeting with some one who had a bit of a higher security clearance. Oh well.....so whats the job and how much is the CIA offereing this time."

Cori drew in a breath and somehow managed not to roll her eyes. Of course he only wanted to talk about money, but she ignored that for now. "Well you have me," she said simply. "The job, however, is a unique one and we will need your skill set. You might not believe it, but the communication and power blackouts that occured were caused by..aliens." She coudln't quite believe it herself, even with the evidence in her very hands. It was still easier to say than the following. "We believe they're hiding out in pockets about the city and we need your help finding them and gaining information on them."

Kieran blinked once, then twice, then thrice. Kieran sat still, not letting a single muscle twich or a single breath betray him. After a full minute, Kieran spoke. "The CIA knows my price, and knows I get paid before I work. Is the CIA willing to keep up with our previous agreement?" This women was obviously touched in the head, and while yes this was a serious organization, someone must be testing her. Aliens? Right.....

Now she allowed her eyes to role and she took another sip of her coffee. "Yes, we can pay you beforehand," she said impatiently. "It doesn't really matter when you decide to take the taxpayer's money to me. Are you going to be taking the job or not?"

Kieran nodded. "Yes. Do you have any leads? Am I working solo?"

Cori blinked and she frowned slightly. Part of her was hoping he wouldn't be taking the job, but here they were. "You'll be part of a team I'm building," she explained. She shuffled through a briefcase before sliding him a yellow folder. It would contain only a fraction of the one she recieved, but enough for him to start. "Leads, evidence. It's all here. Just get started and report what you learn to me."

Kieran reached over and opened the file on the table. He skimmed over a few pages and spoke while he did. "Since your squad leader, I can only assume you will be my handler as well." Kieran pulled out a small piece of folded paper and slid it over to Cori. "My number and address of where I am currently staying."

"Thanks," she said, slipping the paper away without even unfolding it. "I'll have them pass your payment on by tomorrow morning and if you don't like the price, we can negotiate." With that, she took her coffee and stood up. "So if you don't have any questions..." She allowed her voice to trail. She was ready to leave.

Kieran sighed. "Actually yes there is one small thing. See..a few years back there was this CIA agent that thought he could hire me, then betray me later. Fail to make payment, and then try to kill me. See I really dont like that. Turns into something nasty."

She only stared at him for a moment, then her brows forrowed as it clicked. "Whether that was a threat or an accusation, I don't appreciate it." She put her sunglasses back on and licked her lips. "Just do the job and we won't have any problems."

Kieran closed his eyes. He held up his right hand. "See, I am very skilled at what I do. So when I get betrayed by trusted government agencies I get a little upset. You guys are suppose to be the good guys. So I take steps to prevent this." Kieran snapped his fingers twice, then all of a sudden everything in the cafe stood and turned to them, all pulling out a gun and aiming them at Cori. Kieran stayed cool and emotionless. "Once I am payed I will be loyal to a fault and I will get the job done. I dont discuss my other jobs with other clients, so anything you say or do is safe with me. Betray me and I will kill you, end of story. This is not a threat, this is....well take it as you will. I have eyes and ears everywhere. I hear and see everything. So do not think about betraying me."

If it weren't for her sunglasses, the fear in Cori's eyes would be obvious. But she only swallowed, her posture tense and understandably so. Why would Verdock send her to this man? There was nothing reliable about this, but she couldn't use the moment ot dwell on it. "Like I said," she said evenly, "do the job and we won't have any problems. I'm not looking for any trouble here."

Kieran opened his eyes, and took a few moments to watch Cori closely. Kieran sighed, then snapped his fingers on his left hand and everyone in the cafe hid their weapons and acted like nothing had happened. "I always do my job. Im Kieran Hishamie." Kieran stood up and put on his aviators. He picked up the file and looked at Cori. "I will start now, go collect the other members of you little group then text me." Kieran started walking away then stopped. He dropped the file on the ground. "You know, something tells me you are withholding information from me. Next time give me all that you can give." Kieran then walked out.

Cori said nothing. She waited until Kieran was gone before looking around, squinting at the cafe-goers from behind her sunglasses. Then she turned to leave, stopping only to pick up the file he had left behind. 'There's no way I'm working with him,' she thought, scowling at her hand. She was sitll shaking. Part of it was anger, but most of it was the fear and adrenaline still coursing through her blood. 'Fuck you, Verdock,' her thoughts continued as she finally left.

After Kieran had left the cafe, he went straight to work. He did not believe that the agent was...well....plain and simple offering legit work but he was getting paid either way so he might as well do what was asked of him. Doing this may end up hurting him in the end, rep wise, but why the hell not. He hasnt had an easy assignment in a while. Kieran first went to the area that the first photo was taken in the file he read. Kieran didnt bring the file simply because he did not want to bring that kind of file with him, and he felt like it would be safer in the agents hands. But he could not come right out and say it. He also felt like she was one of the good agents, someone in the agency that could be trusted. He made a mental note, next time he worked for the CIA remember to ask for Cori Woods. Kieran made his way over, on foot which was about a thirty minute walk, to the old shopping district where the photo was taken. Kieran looked around, then checked the alliey that the photo was taken. He looked up and down the alliey, checking for odd markings and signs of anything........supernatural. Kieran nearly gave up looking in the alliey, when something caught his eye.

"What the hell did you send me into?" Cori bursted into the Director's office, his secretary helpless trailing behind her. Ignoring her, Cori dropped Kieran's files on the desk in front of him, face hot with anger. "He threatened me after spouting some shit about how he had already been betrayed by us. Why the hell do you want this guy so badly?" she demanded.

Verdock wavied a hand at his secretary, letting her know he was ok and did not need her. The secretary walked out in a huff. Verdock looked at the files on his desk. Then at Cori. He had expected this, and a part of him felt a swelling pride. The other half was slightly annoyed that she was whining this much already. Did not bode well. "Agent Kieran is....a special assest that the CIA has used in the past. But when we first used him for an extremely sensitive black op, its in the file look it up, we tried to....remove him after the fact. Did not go well. He killed the agent he tried to kill him, then killed three more agents we sent after him, then stole an entire armoury from us and burned down a safehouse. Now I know what you're thinking. Why we would use him again and how did we fail originally. Honestly....he is just flat out good. Possibly the best. And if we are using him he isnt being used against us."

"I'm not wondering why we're using him again, I'm wondering why he isn't behind bars or dead," she snapped. Cori drew in a breath and sighed. "He doesn't trust us. I don't trust him. We don't need him. Let me drop him from the program. He's not an asset, he's a hazard."

Verdock leaned back inot his chair. "No. He is the best at what he does....what WE do. We need everything we can get. And we havent arrested him for the same reason he isnt dead. We couldnt kill him because he....well.....he outsmarted us. Also we cant afford to send him to prison. He knows too much. We cant risk him talking. He says that he wont talk, and he has kept his word thus far, but if he gets sent to prison that could change. Same as why we wouldnt send you to jail." Verdock chuckled slightly, trying to joke.

Cori didn't laugh. She stood there, glaring at the Director and allowing her anger to be felt in the silence. "Fine," she condeded finally, mustering up all the passive-aggression that she could before turning to leave. "Maybe if we're lucky, the damned aliens will take care of him."

Verdock jerked his head and stood up. When he spoke his voice was full of masked anger and pain. "Agent Woods! You will quite your bitching at once! Stop your insufferable complaining, and grow up! Who do you think we are facing? And why do you think you have a monopoly on who is good and who is bad? Did you even read his file?"

Cori quickly turned on her heel, welcoming the aggression. "Bitching?" she repeated. "Complaining? He could have killed me for a mistake you made handling him years ago! I told you I didn't want to work with a freelancer for these exact reasons and you didn't even think to tell me? I don't demand information from you--unlike he's doing, by the way--so maybe you don't belong in that seat if you can't handle a single man. The only reason this is stopping here is because we do have a bigger threat to face and I'm not going to waste my time worrying about, again, your mistake."

"My Mistake? I am Director of the entire CIA! My job is to assess risk and deal in accordance to that risk. I was given this position by the President himself! And the only mistake I made was underestimating this assest. But please if you think you can do better, better than a decorated war veteran, then by my right I authorize you to eliminate Kieran if you want to. Use any means you want, any time, any place. Just know if you do be ready for the consequences. I mean, if you cant handle a single assest, then maybe you dont belong in this agency."

Her brows furrowed together and her scowl deepened into puzzlement. "I'm not going to 'eliminate' him," she said, her voice lowering but still hard and far colder. "Like I said, I understand that there is a larger threat. But maybe you should take some responsibility, 'Director.' I already know I'll do better when this is my office."

Director sighed and sat in his chair. "If you work in this office, you will understand the choices I have had to make. As a man, an agent.......and other things. I did the best I could with the knowledge I had. You are dismissed Agent Woods."

Cori watched him for a moment and then nodded. "Thanks," she said, though ice still laced her tone as she turned to leave again.