dabombjk

EAU

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.

EAU

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."

EAU

This is an AU of another RP.

Dabombjk's Character Sheets.

Hello! :)

After the End

Name: Kira

Age: 27

Gender: Male

Nomadic or sedentary: Tends to pick a place and settle for as long as possible

Weapons(A reasonable amount: 1-3 though some are probably more scarce than others): Hunting knife, sawed off shotgun.

Skills: Kira can pick most locks, and has great physical attributes. Decent strength, fast, and good stamina. Kira has good leadership skills and can usually rally his allies around him in the most dire of situations.
Any unusual traits? Does it show physically?: none.
Appearance:
Brief Personality: Kira tends to be serious most of the time, quick thinking and quick to act, but sometimes he can let a slip of sarcasm slip.
Background(Please reveal your current location): Kira is not this mans real name, but the name he chose when he became someone in this world. He was a child when everything went to hell, and twenty years later he turned what was a tragic event into an opportunity. The road was long, his family is gone, and for a long time he was alone. But now, he is leader of The Hunters, an up and coming gang of people who are tired of being crushed by those who claim strength but lack compassion. Right now Kira is travelling along a dusty road.
Alone or with someone?: with someone

@penguin

Empowered!!! (Closed)!

Kieran

and

Cori

Cori was still replaying the meeting in her head. It was something out of a dream: she walked in there fully expecting to act only as an informant. She didn't expect either of the men to jump at the chance to give her free reign to act as she pleased, but now she was suddenly in charge of the entire Georgia branch. It was a daunting task and while it was she would take on seriously with the intent to do her job excellently, she felt doubt in the pockets of her mind. "That prick," she whined, dropping her head against the steering wheel. For minutes, she sat there in the car in the lot of the Atlanta aiport before sitting up suddenly. "It's still Saturday."

She patted at the heart of her jacket, where she felt the key sitting safely in her pocket. Then she patted the opposite to find her pack of cigarettes...empty. "Fuck it," she decided, finally turning the car on. She had already called her father to fill him in before leaving DC, but she was desperate for some sound--to take her mind off her situation at least until she got to Kieron's base. So she flicked on the radio, which was already on a station known for its "classic" country, but her nose wrinkled at the pop vibes and drove faster.

---

Kieran had waited patiently. Once on a mission he waited 24 hours in one spot, under water, with only just barely enough oxygen in his scuba tank, just for a single moment so he could avoid being detected. If he had jumped the gun or messed up someother way and stayed undetected. he would have had to wait another 24 hours. On another mission, he waited litterally two months for a single piece of intel that was a single sentence. On both times, he had been quiet, been productive, and made the most of it. This was not one of those times.
Hour one:
Kieran had prepared the home cooked meal and set it on the table, freshly seasoned and still steaming. He had lit the candles, and made sure everything else in the medium size studio wa slocked and secure. Nothing had been out of place, nothing had been dirty. As the hour wore on, Kieran sat waiting patiently.
Hour two:
Kieran stood up from his chair, and stood behind it. He kept his hands in his pockets, going over mental techniques of meidtation. Something to calm him down.
Hour three.:
Kieran paced the room quite quickly. Had she forgotten, had she decided not to come? He texted her the time to arrive, maybe she lost her phone. He had been blunt and not really given her an option to say no. And why did he care? Kieran though that since this was more than a simple dinner, like a covert op, that must be why he was so anxious. But he had never been anxious like this before. Not since he had been captured by a foreign terrorist sleeper cell that hid on american soil, and was known to torture the.....sensitive areas.
Hour four:
Kieran had worn a white button down shirt with a black vest, black dress pants and shoes. His shirt was slightly less buttoned now, but still appropriate, and he had taken to practicing hand to hand combat with the air.
Hour five:
Kieran had taken off the vest, taken off the dress shirt so now he was wearing a sleeveless white shirt. He had taken to doing pull ups on a pull bar attached ot the wall directly across from where the door and dinner table was lined up.

The sleek, black Aston Martin pulled up to the house. It was only then that she realized she hadn't thrown the guy any warning texts or calls about her arrival, but he was the one who invited her. So she shoved the thought aside, locked the door behind her, and approached the house. A pale hand came up to knock at the door, but she hesitated, remembering the keys in her pocket. "Well," she said, pulling the keys to enter the home herself.

And there was Kieran. She blinked, taking off her sunglasses to rest them at the collar of her shirt, eyes watching the flex of his muscles for just a moment before she glanced away and around. Her nose wrinkled as she caught a whiff of the cold dinner. "Smells good," she said, finally closing the door behind her with a gentle clack.

Kieran quickly pressed his feet against the wall, ran upwards, and flip backwards landing on his feet facing Cori very much suprised. If he had a weapon he would have thrown it or pulled the trigger. Kieran thanked himself that he didnt decide on target practice. Kieran noticed that while he didnt smell, he had aquired a small amount of sweat. Kieran walked over to the counter and wiped his face off. "Oh. Hello. Well....it did smell good. I apologize it is cold, time does that." Kieran set the rag down and put his shirt and vest back on. Kieran felt slightly sunbconscious about his appearance now. "I wasnt sure what to make, so I made italian spagetti. With meatballs. Im not much of a cook honestly."

"Showoff," she accused after his flip. She pulled off her jacket as she spoke, looking further around the house. She didn't miss the nice pants or the discarded button up, and felt underdressed: sure she dressed professionally after getting back from such a high caliber meeting, but she felt stuffy all of the sudden. "Italian's alright. I can't cook at all," she admitted. "So, what do you got for me? Besides the cigarettes you owe me." She sat down.

Kieran pulled out a pack of camels from his pocket and held it up. He then walked over at sat down across from Cori at the small table. He then set down the package and slid it across to Cori. "Yes because you won. Here. Not much of a smoker myself, too many substances can be put in a cigeratte and kill you." Kieran mentally smacked himself. Real flipping smooth, Kieran thought to himself. "How did your meeting go today with the president?" Kieran picked up a small pale from underneath the tabel with a bottle of wine and two wine glasses. The ice in the pale had turned to water but the wine was still cooled. "Drink?"

Cori's eyes sharpened at him, eyebrows furrowing as she hesitantly picked up the pack. It was definitely an odd thing to say, but the question surprised her even more. "How'd you know who I met with?" she asked, sitting back and crossing her arms, clearly uninterested in the wine after that.

Kieran did not show any emtion. He poured two drinks and set Cori's glass in front of her plate. "Excellent vintage. Recieved it as a gift from an arabic embassador. And I didnt know, you just confirmed it. I guessed. You just obtained the extremley important flash drive. You are a high ranking CIA agent. The flash drive contained some....unique info. Wasnt hard to guess, but I didnt know."

Her cheeks warmed and she sighed, glancing away. Kieran was young, but perceptive and his actions spoke to the experience despite his age. It annoyed her, and--for a moment--she could sympathize with all those people she surpassed within the CIA. She was just a know-it-all brat, and she could feel her new rank weighing on her shoulders especially in this moment. Silently, she accepted the drink he poured for her. The wine was quickly downed and the empty cup set aside in only a moment.

"So," she sighed, looking for a topic about anything but her and that whole day. "Learn anything while I was away?"

Kieran raised an eyebrow, then filled Cori's glass again and left the bottle on the table. Kieran drained his glass, then took a small bite of his food, suprised that it wasnt total garbage. "Not really. I havent done much. Accepted some work in the city, I bought a store. I do have a few things on my plate though. Someone has started sending me work, someone who apparently knows me from my past. Before that, I started investigating that super powered psycho who sent my associate to the hospital. Then there was that whole harley quinn thing. So did the president believe you about alien and super powers? Let me guess you have a task force?"

"I don't even think I believe me about the aliens," she complained. Though she followed his example and took a bite of the food, figuring she shouldn't drink on an empty stomach. The small pout of the lips and nod of approval was about the closest thing to a compliment Kieran would get, and she took another bite. Especially with Kieran, she figured she shouldn't be drinking wine on an empty stomach. Her thoughts were already a little too delayed and she scowled. "What's a Harley Quinn?"

Kieran shrugged. "Something some crazy women called herself. I think its a fictional characters name. She made a video of kidnapping and killing the mayors daughter and her roomate or something. I will be honest I heard of it all last second, I was preoccupied. But one thing is clear she is desperate to meet the psycho who put my associate in the hospital. Like, insane love at first sight. She is crazier than him, and she wants to be his queen. And God save anyone who disrespects the queen I guess. You avoided the question, was I right about the task force?"

"I can't talk about it with you," she stated.

Kieran shrugged. "So I was right. You know its going to be a short conversation if you like that." Kieran poured himself another glass, and drained half of it. "Im not gonna spill anything. Think of it....as a game. You ask me something, I ask you something."

Cori sighed and punched at the bridge of her nose. "But it's not a game, Kieran. I'm not like you. I have allegiances and loyalties here. I can't just..spill information to you over a game," she snapped, sitting back and away from her plate. "You don't get it because you're freelance, but some of us are taking this thing seriously, okay? Lives are at stake and already being lost."

Kieran froze, not so much suprised by her reaction but caught off guard. Similiar in nature but two different things. Kieran remembered this was why he chose not to interact when he was not on mission. People were so diffucult to.....interact with, especially those with codes. "I wasnt asking for state level secrets you know." Kieran took his fork and flipped it once in the air, letting it land on the tip of his finger, balancing it. "One, I offered my services to you, which is in turn the CIA, free. Two, I am sorry but did I say I didnt have alliegances? You just assumed I didnt. Im a freak now, and my fellow freaks are going to be hunted soon. I want to try to save as many innocent freaks as possible. Three, Ive worked CIA missions before. I am sure you have done many things good for your country and job, but who do you think has had to do the dirty jobs so you can do the nice jobs? Im not asking for a thank you, but being a free lance means I can help as many people do the good jobs and sleep at night. Its not why I do it, but its an after effect." Kieran drained his half glass and took another bite. He wa starting to feel quite a little tipsy.

Cori's scowl deepened. Her fingers tapped anxiously at her bicep and she looked around the house. It would be dangerous to venture into the conversation about Empowereds with Kieran, so while she would've loved to argue, she hesitated. She could still use him and despite his freelance status, he has been willing and open. And she wasn't all bad: she felt the guilt in a small pocket of her mind for thinking of him in such a way. But, she had chosen her loyalties long ago and he wasn't in that picture. "What exactly are your plans, then?" she asked. "For this whole mess?"

"Well my options are limited right now arent they? I have no intel, no backup, no anything. I cant accept any high end contracts because I cant leave the city, and my one point of interest," Kieran said pointing at Cori", Continues to treat me like I am the enemy. I mean what do you think I wanna burn he CIA down? No. Good organization, does a hella lot more good than it does bad. But.......I guess I am sorry. I realize your very.......work involved and I didnt mean to push you."

At his apology, she visibly realxed: her shoulders lowered and she uncrossed arms to pick at the pasta again. "I just need to be careful," she explained. "The Coalition agent you killed--it was my fault he was a part of the retrieval team to begin with, and he just...murdered my men. I can't just..." Her voice trailed off and she shook her head, and she sighed, reaching for the wine glass again. This time taking only a sip before sitting up again and taking another bite of food.

"Whatever, you get it. If you want to help, identifying more of the Empowered who have been fucking up Atlanta would be appreciated," she said, her tone not nearly as sharp as it had been earlier. "From what I can tell, most of them are hiding their identities--most of the violent ones, anyway, and we really need to get them under control, first things first."

Kieran sighed. Well got out of the frying pan but he was still in the kitchen. Why he was in a kitchen, why he was in a frying pan, Kieran had no idea. But it seemed like work was a sensitive subject, and she was goal driven. The info about the agent he killed.....that was new. He had no idea that was a coalition agent. "Well.....If I was going to identify more....you called them Empowered? Hmmm, not bad. Ok so we are Empowered. Not bad at all. Some will fight back. I will need....as silly as this sounds.....better equipment to hide myself. Is there some way your CIA lab workers can make me a suit and something to hide my face? "

Kieran knew it was risky to bring her work up again, but he had no choice. He could go in wearing his dress shirts, but he would be found out instantly after his first attempt."It would need to be resistant to the elements, and the face guard would need to block inhuman frequencies to prevent mind control. If I can get that, I can talk to them face to face and even make them an ally. We forge an alliance and stop Empowereds from using their powers for crime." Kieran tapped his finger on the table. Then took a swig of his drink. "Also I should be able to locate more Coalition agents soon. I am working on a plan."

Cori kept her face straight, but she hadn't meant to call them for their new technical name in front of Kieran. When the sentiments against the supers came out, he'd know exactly where it started. But for now she just nodded. "We'll probably have new gear coming up pretty soon. Just send me your measurements and it'll be easy to get you a set." She poked at her food and licked her lips with a sigh. "I think they want me focusing on the Empowered. But Coalition is the bigger threat--and the source of them anyway. I'm not going to ignore them, so thanks. What's the plan exactly?" She recalled that the president had mentioned Coalition had been on the radar for a while and she frowned. This whole situation probably could've been avoided if he had taken some initative against them a long time ago.

Kieran frowned and could not meet Cori's eyes. "Honestly, I am going to steal something that could help me identify coalition agents." Kieran poked at his food and sipped at his wine. He filled his glass and offered more to Cori."I swear it wont affect anyone in a bad way. I do the bad to help the good remember? But if this works I could have a pattern to snuff out any coalition agent. Once we identify who is who, we can take the fight to them and this war wont be so one sided."

Cori blinked and pulled her glass back to take a sip. She didn't need it topped off quite yet. "Where are you stealing the intel from? I could help," she offered.

Kieran looked literally anywhere else besides at Cori but tried to make it look like he was avoiding her eyes. "Its ok really. Let me handle this part. You just need to be the one to take the credit for finding the agents. No way woudl they accept a free lancers word. Well...ok maybe they would take my word considering what Ive done for the CIA but probably not."

She wanted to press, but she held herself back: she was keeping quite a bit from Kieran, and pressing him for answers too hard wouldn't be fair. And it wasn't so much the fairness she cared about, but she wasn't quite willing to share in return if he was already helping by getting the names of Coalition agents. "Keep me updated on them. They tried to kill me and they can bet I'll return the damn favor," she grumbled before stuffing her mouth with food.

Kieran picked up his glass and motioned at Cori. "I told you, I wanted to be close by because of something like that. I knew Coalition was gonna come after you." Kieran took another sip of his drink, fully feeling the devils nectar now. "But I have to say, vengeful you is......well...not bad at all. Brings out the color of your eyes."

Cori blinked and glanced away with a shrug. "I hate the color," she said. Then she sighed and fixed her hair, not quite sure where to take the coversation. They covered plenty, and she knew to look into some Harley Quinn video... So she pursed her lips, growing quiet and awkward again.

Kieran mentally face palmed. Kieran, he thought to himself, you moron. Kieran thought for a moment then used his index finger, he tugged on his dress shirt, slightly unbuttoned, until you could see a small patch of skin right belowe his collar bone. On that small patch of skin was a mark, in the shape of a strange symbol in deep red and black. It almost looked like a cross between a pentagram and a star. "When I was a child, my...father...branded me with this mark. He said, boy this will teach you pain. I thought he meant physical pain but after he branded me, he made go shirtless for almost a month, making everyone who saw me see it. For awhile the skin was damaged and it it made my chest look really ugly. But.....now it s a part of me. I take pride in it. I am unique in this way, well I am now. My fathers family is all gone so I am the only one with this mark."

Kieran let go of his shirt. He looked Cori in the eyes. "Basically what I am trying to say is......you shouldnt hate any part of you. I think.....it looks good but you should also. Your unique. Better."

Cori watched him and swallowed, attention on the brand. "Kieran, I'm sorry that happened..." she started, but paused when he looked at her again, wrapping up his point. She sat there for a moment, eyes finding something else to occupy their attention as she thought. Then she sighed again and picked up her glass to swirl the wine inside. "[color=lightpink]Thanks. It's a killer on your eyesight, though, you know. I'm one of the best shots in the agency. It's not better, but..I guess it shows I work harder to get to where I am sometimes.[/colr]" She nodded, satisifed, and took another sip.

Kieran nodded. He thought on it for a moment then finished his what was left on his plate. "Huh. Good to know, in case you ever get tired of me and decide to hunt me down huh." Kieran took a sip of his wine, words ever so slightly slurred. "What is your weapon of choice? I prefer something silent, something quick to the draw and doesnt need a ton of stoppin power. But thats me."
Kieran wiped his mouth off with his napkin. "Maybe next time we do this we go to the shooting range. Would love to see your grip and aim."

Cori nodded, a teasing smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Yeah, I could teach you a few things, I guess," she said, glancing at him before taking another sip. She set the glass down in exchange for her fork again and took another bite. "But...I like range. It's easy to confront another person with a powerful pistol or shotgun.. But there's satisifaction behind the patience and skill it takes to kill from a half mile away. They don't even see it coming."

Kieran raised an eyebrow and smiled. Obviously, no intention of hiding the pleasure of the moment. "Killing from a distance is fine and does take the right amount of skill. But you put yourself at such a......disadvantage for the future. Patience I am well versed in, but when the time is right wouldnt you want to know for a fact the job is done. Getting...up close and personal allows you to show your skills and confirm for yourself you have done the job. Sometimes you get dirty......but I am not afraid to get dirty."

Cori nodded a little, watching him. Her lips parted like she was going to say something, but she decided against it and poked at her food instead. "Spoken like a true freelancer," she said lightly with a teasing roll of her eyes.

Kieran feigned hurt. He put his hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. "Oh how you have wounded me so. Happy dagger pierce me true, sheathe yourself inside my heart." Kieran laughed gently. "Too cruel. That coming from the cold hearted government women."

Cori shook her head and finished her glass of wine; it had helped but it didn't quite erase Verdock from her mind. "[color=lightpink]Well. This was...oddly pleasant,[color]" she complimented (kind of). "But I should... She paused and sighed, eyes closing in irritation. "I can't drive home like this," she realized, scowling at the empty glass of wine.

Kieran realized he was in the same boat and was in no condition to drive her home. "You can spend the night here. The sheets are clean, and there is a shower with new utilities. I am in the same boat I cant drive in my current state." Kieran checked the nearly empty bottle of wine. "If you do stay In have better stuff than this."

"I don't need more to drink," she assured. "But it does look like I'm stuck here, so thanks." She thought for a moment, as best she could in that moment. Nothing having much else to add and wanting to avoid on another awkward silence on her fault, she cleared her throat. "I'll take the bed then, thanks," she said before getting up.

Kieran stood up, slower than he would have prefered. "Yea go ahead." Kieran walked over to Cori, slightly wobbly, and stood in front of her."Goodnight." Thats when Kieran made it weird. Kieran wasnt sure what to do next. He almost went for a handshake, but nearly withdrew his hand. Then opened his arms, for hug maybe he didnt know. Then he went to just pat a shoulder but did not touch her. Kieran blushed slightly and rubbed his neck with his other hand. Then he chuckled. God he was dumb. Kieran wasnt sure what to do.

Cori watched him make a fool of himself, and covered her lips to suppress the giggle. "Goodnight," she returned. She would walk past him to find the bed, and "accidently" and quite rudely bump into him as she left the room.

Kieran blushed madly, and almost turned his head as she left. But he controlled himself. Kieran walked over to his desk, and sat down in his chair. Kieran laid his head down on his desk and thought about every detail he could remember about the night.

Empowered!!! (Closed)!

@ParagonX Thanks for your input. I had one more option I wanted to offer. Are you familiar with Libriomancy? Or is types of Magic off-limits?

@GamerXZ

the magical power of pulling things from books into reality right?
im not a gm or co gm but im sure paragon would be ok with that

Empowered!!! (Closed)!

Kieran Hishamie

Once Carter left, Kieran sunk into his chair and rubbed his temples. The day had turned very productive but at the expense of more stress. Kieran ran is hands through his hands, then stood up and walked over to the kitchen. He checked the fridge and cabinets and realized he had almost nothing to eat. Ans he was planning a dinner tomorrow! Kieran grabbed his things and walked out and got into the stolen car from before. Before he drove off he realized he probably neede his own vehicle. Kieran drove the car back to where he had taken it, then ubered his way over to a nearby car dealership. After much debating on shooting the car salesman, Kieran decided on a black Chevy Impala.

Kieran paid off the car with cash, which wasnt hard to do after offering twice the amount the car was worth. Kieran drive off the lot, confident in his choice. His first stop was to the store. Kieran, believe it or not, knew quite a few dishes. Mainly dishes that you can sneak posion in, but Kieran did not plan on doing that this time. Kieran decided on going simple though, going for a spagetti and meatballs freshly seasoned with fresh hdand made sauce. Kieran bought the ingredients easily enough, then drove back home. As Kieran began prepping for the dinner tomorrow, starting to make the sauce and whatnot, he was interupted by a loud bang. Kieran looked up and saw that a man, obviously injured and dripping with blood, being held up by a women, not injured, had burst through.

As Kieran chopped up tomatoes he spoke. "Do you mind closing the door?"

The two people who had burst in looked frantic. The man spoke first. "Please sir, we need your help! There are people after-"

Kieran spoke up. "Close.The.Door."

The man and women looked at each other, then the women set the man on the couch then went and closed the door. She then spoke. "Please we need help. My name is Jen and this is Samuel. There are people after us who wanna kill us."

Kieran continued to prep food as his new guests spoke.

The man spoke."We are sorry, but we were nearby and we heard this was the place of a guy who could help us."

Kieran narrowed his eyes."Who told you this?"

The women spoke." Just some person we knew....uh...well honestly our dealer. I dont know how but our dealer said that you two knew each other."

Kieran shrugged and continued prepping food.

The man spoke." Please we need help. We own a shop nearby, and the local gang forces everyone on the block to pay a protection fee. Well the shop hasnt done great the last month and we fell behind on the protection money, and the gang doesnt really give second chances. They tried to burn our store down but I tried to stop them. They hurt me, hit my wife, now they are trying to kill us."

Kieran listened to the mans story, but seemed unmotivated. Small crime like this was very very well beneath him and his skills. But.......he didnt really have anything better to do. For the first time he was accepting any new contracts because he needed to stay here. And it was only a few blocks away..........

Kieran stopped cooking and looked up. "So you want me to......what? And stop bleeding on my furniture I have a dinner date tomorrow. You, women, go to the bathroom there is a first aid kit with everything you will need."

Jen raised her eyebrow and held her chin up defiantly. But she looked at her husband and the worry on her face became apparent. So she went and got the kit. As she began fixing her husband up she spoke. "This is uh...kinda like a impressive first aid kit. You need to dig bullets out often?

Kieran shrugged. "I am more suprised you know to do that yourself."

Jane gave him a dirty look."Im a nurse. So are you going to help us?"

Kieran continued to cook but said nothing. He thought about who could this dealer be that could have referenced him. Could be Luke, but he doubted it. If it was Luke, they would have said it was Luke. No they were being ambigiuous about the dealers identity on purpose. He would have to investigate this later. Kyle then spoke out loud. "I do require you to pay me."

Samuel scoffed, and groaned in pain. "Fine. We have ten grand in savings we can pay you with."

Kieran nodded. That was beyond low, but whatever. He could use it in a backup cache somewhere in the city. Or he could use it to pay Carter after he reveals how he isnt selling anything in the heist. "Thats acceptable. Ok then. But we do it my way. Now shut up, stop dying, and let me finish this."

The next day

Kieran was sitting outside a coffee shop, pretending to read a newspaper while he was actually watching a few gangers recieve protection money from the shop across the street. Today Kieran was sporting a white dress shirt with a black vest, with black dress pants and shoes. When the gangers began to move, Kieran slyly got up and followed. He walked slowly, keeping his distance. He followed them for a few hours, watching as they did their round, learning how they act and respond. After a few hours it seemed like they were done, and they walked back to their car. This was his opportunity, Kieran quickly ran to through an alliey. He ran past a few buildings, ahead of the gangers knowing their route. Kieran set up roadblocks, pushing carts into the street so they had to go down the road Kieran wanted. This forced the gangers to go down the path Kieran wanted, until they ended up going down an alliey that Kieran was waiting for them in. When they drove in they were forced to stop in front of Kieran, trapping them in the car. On one side of the car was the alliey way, the other was a dumpster.

Kieran smiled then pulled out his gun and shot the tires on the car. Then he picked up the two gasoline cans and jumped on the hood of the car. Kieran set one down, pulled his gun out again, then shot holes in the roof of the car but avoided hitting anyone inside. Then he started to pur gasoline inside the car. Kieran laughed and jumped up and down on the car, scaring the men inside whow ere screaming to be let out and how crazy he was. Kieran jumped off in front of the car, and pulled out a lighter. "Hiya guys! So listen if I throw this lighter in the car, its gonna ignite the gasoline in the car and set everything on fire. But guess what? That wont kill you! No you guys will suffocate first! The gas and fire will cloud your lungs and you will choke to death! Unless......" Kieran pretended to throw the lighter, but didnt, scaring the crap out of the gangers. "I dont! Now what you guys are gonna do is go to your boss and tell him to meet me at the store you guys burned down yesterday asap. You know the one, the store belonging to the couple you guys shot at."

Kieran pretended to throw the lighter again, causing the gangers to scream. Kieran laughed and then walked away.

An hour later, Kieran was standing in the rubble of the burned up shop when an elderly hispanic man with six men following behind him walked into the store. The elderly man spoke first. "So...I hear you wanted to talk me eh? Well go on with it. Say your peiece."

Kieran shrugged. Kieran put his hands in his pockets and looked around the store. "You know for the life of me I cant figure out what they sold here. I mean I could have asked but the owners arent.....well....not in a chatty mood. Huh...you know its not a bad space, could see potential in this store. Maybe make it a laundry matt or book store. Huh......"

The boss coughed. "Is this what you wanted to say? You wanna start a book store?"

Kieran never looked at the man, he actually turned and walked towards the back of the store. The entire time the bosses gangers had guns traine don him. Kieran leaned against the back wall. "You know, the space is small, the size of a gamestop I think, but it could work. "

The elderly man snarled and spoke. "Enough games. You harrassed my guys, and you at first intrigued me but now your boring me. Boys...."

The gangers all cocked their guns. Kieran narrowed his eyes, and his face become steely hard and expressionless. Before the gangers could react Kierna threw something and it landed and rolled and stopped at the old mans feet. They all looked down but immediately hit by it. Kierna had thrown a flash grenade, and as soon as he threw it it he hid behind a badly burned stand. Once the shrieks of pain started, Kieran stood up and aimed his gun at the gangers. He shot each ganger in the head, then walked over to the old man. Kieran kicked the mans legs, and forced him to his knees. Gun pointed at his head, Kieran reached down and took the mans phone. He opened the contacts list and started a conference call with the most called people in his phone. Kieran theorized as the boss, the man would only call the higher ups in his gang. Everyone Kieran called answered and joined the confence call.

"Listen to me, I will only be saying this once. Your boss-" Kieran stopped and pulled the trigger, shooting the man in the head. "- is dead. Im calling nine one one now so they can move the bodies. Your leader is dead, and your out of six people in your gang. Now I am assuming that this gang of yours is small, because of the type of buisness you people have been conducting so your gang is pretty much finished. Try to extort people here again, I will hunt you all down and kill you."

Kieran hung up and threw the phone down.

Kieran went home after, and came home to Jane and Samuel were sitting on the couch desperate for good news. As Kieran walked in they both jumped up and walked over to him.

Jane spoke. "What happened? What went down? What did you do?"

Kieran held his hand up. "Dont worry about what I did just know the local gang is done. Really simple honestly. The store is done but you guys will figure something out."

The married couple sighed happily. Then Kieran walked over to his desk safe, and pulled out two thick vanilla envolope. He walked back over and handed it to Samuel. "This is two million dollars. Go deposit this at your bank, dont advise keeping it. Also I am buying your store. Come back later and drop of the documents ill need to change the ownership."

Samuel and Jane's mouths opened, speechless. They held the envolopes carefully, as if they werent real. Jane spoke first. "What? Bu-But what? I....I dont....I we didnt even pay you!"

Kieran walked over to his kitchen and began pulling out the necessary food, dishes, and candles for dinner. "Dont worry about it I am not gonna take your savings." Kieran thought to himself, Also you could never really afford my price. That much money was too little for him to do anything.

After many thank yous and a few more words, the couple left, much happier than they had been before and Kieran was able to start setting the table and sett the mood.

Empowered!!! (Closed)!

Hey, are you guys still accepting?

@GamerXZ

Yes we are. Post a CS and we will judge u......lol jk

Empowered!!! (Closed)!

Kieran and Allan

After Kieran finished his call and apologized to Carter, he focused on driving. It only took a bit more time to arrive at Kierans home, and when they arrived Kieran parked and spoke to Allan before they got out. "Thanks man for letting me drive us. I just prefer being the one behind the wheel ya know? And again sorry about the call." Kieran got out of the vehicle and gestured at the night club/studio apartment above the club. "Me casa es......whatever I dont speak mexican."

"I know you know its called spanish kid" Alan sighed getting out of the passenger seat. the phone call had been interesting. He may have heard only one half of the conversation, but he got enough out of it. The kid was really trying to keep information about himself hidden, which probably bode well for their upcoming dealings if they did not come to blows and then there was that little snipet at the beggining about Luke. Apparently he might have a sort of telepathy. This was of course news to Alan as Luke had never mentioned nor did he ever act as if he could read Alan's mind. Questions for later he supposed. Walking up to the studio apartment Alan declared "Before we get going I am going to need something to refer to you as."

Kieran shrugged and walked past Carter, unlocking the door and walking inside. He made his way over to his desk and sat in his chair and faced Carter. "Just Kyle is fine my main man, dont matter none to me. Call me whatever you want. This place is super private so we can speak freely. Do you have any connections that could get us a list of items such as military grade equipment? Like frequency dampners, eavsdropping equipment, door code hacking equipment? I have a whole list."

Just Kyle? Alan thought as he followed this new partner inside. This guy had no fun with fake names. "Don't patronize me, I have most of that here in Atlanta scattered around. That said i'm not going to tell you where it is till I know why you need it."

"Super easy man listen no listen I swear. We are going to break in to a government facility. Well I mean its government property. They have a security team, and some people do some work, but mainly its just some place a wealthy government employee bought up at an auction. He uses it for his personal use, not sure what, but he also uses it as a storage facility. Now it still is government property, so it has high end security measures. Which is why we wil need dampners, to block communication, door hacking equipment because we wont be able to break door codes on skill alone, and we will need a few more things. and we need it in two days. "

Two days? That wasn't a particularly good sign. Normally He'd stake out a place for longer than that before putting the whole plan together, but now he had to to do this completely in less time than a single stage of a normal heist. Well, except the robbing itself which normally took only a few minutes. Truth be told it got Alan's blood flowing. This was going to be exciting. At the very least his people were already mobalized. "How quietly does this need to get done?"

Kieran shook his head. "Completely my main man. It needs to be so silent, silence takes a lesson from us. These assholes should be too distracted by all the crazy shit happening all over the city to notice us unless we make ourselves noticed." Kira pulled out a folder from his desk and held it out for Carter. "This contains a list of everything we will need. Also in it are the layout plans of the building, guard schedule, and path we will be going."

Alan grabbed the folder and started to skim through everything. "I'm going to need to make some calls" he sighed. "I'll get back to you soon, but if you need me earlier than that call" he ripped a corner off on of the files and scibbled something on it "this number." With that he walked out. First up was Madison. "Hey. Call off everything we've got a big job and a time window of just 48 hours so get everyone to the stagging area and a list of equipment that I will send you in a minute. And the second one was Wash. Alan needed someone to pick him up.