The Introduction To The Agents (And Supporting Cast)

The room was pretty big, with most of one wall taken up by a huge computer and another by a huge wooden desk covered in papers and shiny little things. Two chairs, one wooden and tall and stiff, the other a giant La-Z-Boy that could have convinced a dead man to give up rigor mortis, were stationed in the room. Walls and ceiling were colored a dark gray and the floor tiled in black - all the easier to clean blood up - and the door had about thirty locks on it. There were no windows, but the sole door was all that was needed; scribed into its lintel were a dozen sigils that hurt the eye to look at. If one knew how, one could have opened that door on nearly anywhere in any known universe. Sparing a moment to be thankful for the impossible physics of Paradise City, the two new agents exchanged looks as the female shut the door behind them.

"So just -how- did you connect Paradise City to PPC headquarters?" Dorian asked, dropping a rucksack to the floor with a careless motion. He had a compelling voice, the kind of voice one thought about when they thought of a siren. He was drop-dead gorgeous and damned well knew it, more than accustomed to stealing the heart of whomever he damned well pleased and killing them later. He fell back into the wooden chair, sprawling over the high-backed affair without a care. He flipped a lock of his long, wavy golden hair over one shoulder, peering up at Sarah with curiosity obvious in his blue eyes. One slender, long-fingered hand graced with all the callouses of a true pirate brushed invisible dirt from his tight black pants, the only thing he wore in his 'lazy' mode. He had that air of immortal beauty, his age impossible to guess other than 'older than Sarah'.

She grinned, flinging her backpack under the desk with such force that it continued to slide on and crash into the wall. "Honestly, if I could figure it out scientifically, I'd either jinx it and prevent the entire thing from working in the first place, or get a few Nobel prizes, and my money's on the former. I'll just blame Topaz and Connor for it and pretend it's nowhere near bizarre to walk from the city in my closet to PPCville." A short girl who was nowhere near anorexic, Sarah was about as sane as a drunken monkey, and it showed, particularly in her wardrobe. Today she had on a pair of tie-dyed pink and purple jeans and a t-shirt in dark orange that read "got guilt?" with a little image of a redhead on it. Altogether, it was almost as blinding an ensemble as her personality. She turned toward the computer, humming under her breath as she leaned over to prod at the controls, green eyes bright with a manic sort of ecstasy. "We get shinies, we get to kill, we get shinies to push out the windowsill," she sang, ignoring Dorian's disgusted sigh. A sixteen year old was more than entitled to her whacked-ness. After several minutes of fiddling with it, the blonde rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you call Makes-Things in?" Dorian wanted to know, regarding his partner like she was an idiot. She might have been, but she didn't really care. She turned beck to him, grinning widely as she shoved her thick braid of chestnut hair over her shoulder. "'Cause it's kind of rude to impose on our first day out, and I've been working with computers since I was about two. I think I can make it work. Besides," she said, tweaking one last button, "I think I've about got it."

The girl took a step back, a proud smile on her face as she gestured to the console a la Vanna White. "Ta-da!" she caroled. Dorian was about to grudgingly congratulate her when a deafening screeching filled the air.

Giving an agitated howl, Sarah flung herself on the computer, desperately smacking buttons as the wailing got louder. Dorian was having none of that, though, and stood, stalking over to the console and yanking out the powercord with one smooth movement. The cacophony died, and Sarah rolled off the console, landing on the floor with a loud and rather painful sounding 'THUNK'.

She glared up at Dorian, eyes alive with anger. "I almost had it! And NOW we've lost the info!" She was about to launch into a full-out tirade when Dorian knelt in front of her, pressing a finger to her lips.

"Who spruced up the computer for us?" he asked lightly, as though that was supposed to explain everything.

"Topaz and Connor. Mostly Topaz. What's -that- got to do with it?" she demanded in irritation.

Dorian sighed. Did he have to spell EVERYTHING out? "Would Topaz ever let you have access to something that wouldn't work properly after being abruptly turned off?" he inquired, well knowing Sarah's tendency to kick her computer or simply turn it off if it angered her.

"...Probably not," Sarah said sheepishly, grinning. Her anger melted away with a sudden flash of hyperactive bipolarity. "So that means it's special and stuff?" she asked, hopping to her feet and bouncing back to the console.

Dorian rolled his eyes, rising gracefully and settling back into his chair. "Of course it's special. It -was- built in Paradise City, after all, and anything that comes from a city in your closet is going to be special. Little yellow bus special, maybe, but special."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Sarah said distractedly, flipping a few more switches before plugging the computer back in. "There! NOW I've got it. Makes me glad I took mod tech and was in that eckeltronics -"

"Electronics."

"-Eckeltronics mod." She seated herself in the luxury of an armchair and leaned forward, fingers skittering over the console's keypad with frightening speed. "Let's see... call for alarm... oh! That wasn't even an incoming story, just the computer testing out its vocal cords, as it were," she informed Dorian, who made a face that said he wasn't too surprised. Then the blonde frowned thoughtfully.

"Sarah..." he said slowly, regarding her with confusion evident in his cerulean eyes. "Just what are we working on, anyway?"

"Oh, like department-wise? Well, we don't really have an official designation yet. In other words, anything and everything we can get away with," she grinned, winking at him as she spun around in the chair whose physical reality had just shifted to accomodate a twisty-pole. It was -so- nice to be able to manipulate reality here. There would be no such conveniences once they got started.

Dorian sweatdropped. "Why am I not surprised?" he muttered. Sarah was about to reply when there was a knock at the door. She frowned, glancing at Dorian as she leapt to her feet. Who would be here? Who even knew this place existed yet? Paradise City's reality was very mutable, and so when new places popped up in the City they were nearly impossible to find unless you knew -precisely- what you were looking for and exactly where to find it.

She pulled the door open, ready to tell whoever it was to sod off. Upon seeing whom it was, however, she blinked and shut her mouth before opening it again. "Gyah?" she asked intelligently.

The young man standing there managed a pained, shy smile. He looked quite a bit like Dorian - the same willowy frame that would have suited a sapling, thick, wavy blonde hair to his ass, and a breaktaking beauty. However, his eyes were a different shade of blue, more like the autumn sky, and he was much shorter, only an inch or two taller than Sarah's meager five feet and three inches. He didn't look any older than sixteen, but he probably was; time flowed quite strangely in Paradise City. In fact, it was a world-wide myth that time had any sort of flow to it. Around here, it stopped and started as it damned well pleased, in no part spurred on by the magical experiments in the Tower. Sarah spared a moment's thought to curse Kieran for -ever- having anything to do with Kanil; the space-time continuum of her city-world had never suffered like that before and probably wouldn't again. Then she shook her random thought away and smiled warmly at the boy, still wondering what in the -hells- he was doing there. "Skye? What is it?" she asked softly.

Dorian perked up. Skye? That meant he'd have someone to torment, or, at the very least, bother some. He rose gracefully, floating over behind Sarah to peer out the door at Skye with a wicked little smirk on his angelically beautiful face. Sarah elbowed him without even looking, knowing him far too well to suspect he was doing anything but precisely what he -was- doing.

Skye bit his lip. "Kieran sent me over with some things he said he thought might help you," he said softly, holding up a bag. Sarah grinned and shoved Dorian out of the way, backing up and gesturing for Skye to enter. "C'mon in, then, and let's have a look. Did he send any
lasave powder?" she asked hopefully, taking the bag from him and plunking it on the desk.

The boy eyed Dorian nervously and stood on Sarah's other side. "I-I think so. I'm not sure. He said that he and Ori had worked out some new things just for you two and this whole assassin thing."

Sarah nodded gleefully, more wrapped up in the bag of goodies than in keeping Dorian from smirking at poor Skye. She did, however, snag Dor by the arm and yank him closer. "Here," she said, shoving a fat leather pouch at him. "Take this. Wrap it up in something and pack with the rest of the gear. And make sure it's waterproofed. A drop of water on that stuff'll level the entire City." Dorian eyed her like she was nuts, but turned to do as she said, leaving Skye to take a deep breath of relief as the girl plunged her hands into the bag again, looking like a kid in a candy store whose credit card had just been issued.

By the time she had emptied the bag, there was a tidy bit of intruiging things before her, the least of which were hinged adamantite manacles with double locks. She held those up with a wide smile, turning to show them to Dorian. "Look, babe, Kie even sent us some -fun- toys!" she crowed. Skye turned an interesting shade of red and said nothing as Dorian rolled his eyes. Sarah shrugged, accustomed to being discounted, and turned back to the pile. It consisted mostly of spare q-cell batteries, a remote control miniature tank, assorted poisons, a large vial of Kolar, and what looked vaguely like a Character Analysis Device but was most certainly not. Sarah occupied herself with investigating it, sitting on the floor and fiddling with it with a single-minded intensity that would have been frightening were it a gun. This of course left Dorian to smirk at Skye and Skye to shift nervously.

Finally, Dorian spoke, wandering closer to Skye. "I don't suppose you'll be joining us on any of these little outings, hmm?" he inquired lightly, draping an arm over Skye's shoulders. The boy flinched and shook his head. "N-no. I'll stay here, thanks. And I should probably be getting back to the Tower," he said hastily, ducking out from under Dorian's arm and making a beeline for the door. Dorian just smiled slowly, eyes never leaving Skye. "You do that," he purred. Skye swallowed and bolted out the door, gone like sunshine in a storm. Dorian permitted himself a light chuckle. It was incredibly satisfying to scare Skye, despite the fact that it was absurdly simple to do so. He settled back into his chair, taking a moment to relax while Sarah was busy.

The Narrative Laws of Comedy weren't having any of that, though, and the computer cleared its electronic throat with a cough. "Hey, you've got a mission," it said friendily. No answer. "Guys? There's a major M-S on the loose here..." Unfortunately, Sarah was Occupied and Dorian was an asshole, so it went unheeded. The computer mutered to itself. "Now I know why the others just start screaming right off. HEY FUCKWADS!"

Sarah looked up, finally startled from her obsessive trance. "Wha huh huh?" she asked. Dorian shrugged. "Computer's talking to you."

Green eyes lit up. "Topaz made it TALK?" she demanded, sounding utterly delighted.

"Of course I talk. Now come take care of this story. It desperately needs to die," the computer said, imparting the electronic impression of a shudder. "Check out the Words."

Sarah leapt to her feet and flew toward the console, braid flying behind her. Leaning over it excitedly, she peered down at their first assignment.

A moment later, all enthusiasm had vanished. This... this needed to be stopped. This needed to be printed out for the sole purpose of burning. Struck wordless by the sheer Wrongness of it all, she motioned Dorian over.

Despite being a complete and utter evil prick (he -was- a demon, after all), Dorian knew better than to disobey Sarah, and he stood, resting a hand on her shoulder as he examined the Words.

The hardened pirate, who'd grown up loving to shed blood, paled and swallowed hard. "Dear Umberlee," he whispered, stricken. Sarah nodded soberly, taking a step back and mechanically collecting up her gear, making sure to methodically pack away the newest toys. Dorian took a deep breath, turning and scooping up his satchel as Sarah turned to the computer, pressing in codes for their disguises. The computer obliged, illusions springing up about them.

Sarah walked up to the door, shutting it completely and locking each and every lock upon it. Laying one hand on either side of the frame, she shut her eyes. "Take me -there-," she ordered it. Reality twisted with a gut-wrenching leap and the entire door and frame vanished to be replaced by a curtain of leaves and greenery.

Dorian stepped up behind her, looking about as sober as he ever got. "Let's go."

It was time.


*** Dun dun DUN! TBC ^_^ ***
On to part 2
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