Archived La Vie de Luxe

[Eugene]

"Standing by," Euge replied. He had transited the helicopter to a pad within the city where he was closer to the action and was keeping close watch on the agents' current position.

He watched as Chase and Phoenix converged on Missy's tag, and his hand twitched near the collective. It would take him less than a minute to spool up, and he was just a few miles down the road from the agents.

Euge forced himself to relax. The ground pounders would call him in if they needed him. In the meantime, he could spend time catching up on his reading.

 

[E. Mayhew]

'WW -- I'm near, 15 minutes to your six.'

Missy read the order quickly and gave a slight nod to herself. Her hand started to put the blackberry away when she paused and brought it back to her line of sight, her face turning a shade paler than before. He'd called her WW. In her past life, her former identity Chase Devineaux had given her a pet name. Wonder Woman. She in turn had called him Batman. It was something small, office chatter really but seeing the initials there in place of MW had made her stomach knot.

Melissa put the blackberry away quickly. No. No no, she was getting ahead of herself. Maybe he used that nickname on other people, maybe it was a typo... this was not the time to worry about things that she was probably being paranoid about.

"Jordan's at your 8... calm down, he hasn't done anything yet." she told the luchador softly. "Devineaux is on his way, Jordan needs to be kept in sight until he gets here... so let him follow. Then we'll deal with Eartha."

 

[Narrator]

[El Halcon Verde]

El Halcon gave a slight nod and widened his stance a bit, making himself look more relaxed. He crossed his arms and looked about nervously, wondering if it were more prudent to stand in place or move if they were being followed.

 

[Lee]

Lee kept an eye on the two, nothing too easy to notice. The more he thought about it, the more he could see it wasn't likely that girl was who she's pretending to be. Eartha probably saw them as strange too, but she was too dumb to put it all together.

Then, overhead, he saw something that really doesn't belong, Chase's falcon. Yes! Lee was happy, now he can get out of here. Changing the way he was standing, Lee started to look around the streets for Chase Devineaux.

 

[Chase]

Exactly fifteen minutes after he messaged Melissa Wayward, Chase caught up with his operative. Seeing the wrestler with her was unexpected, but logical. Chief must have sent an agent in response to the informant report on Eartha Brute. Not far from them, he could see Lee Jordan. Good, a decent assembly was underway.

"Missy," he greeted briefly, then gave his attention to the Luchador, "You're sent by Chief? Looks like I'll be your Field Director for now."

Glancing in Jordan's direction, he took a breath and nodded, signalling the informant to come closer.

"While this is usually done before the fieldwork," he continued, "let me introduce you to our current informant... Lee Jordan."

 

[Lee]

((Moving Lee up, mate.))

Lee Jordan wasn't that surprised. If he was, he sure wasn't going to show it. Walking up to Chase, he nodded to the guy in the green mask and the girl.

"Nice meeting some agents. Finally."

 

[E. Mayhew]

Missy's eyebrow raised in slight displeasure as Lee Jordan was introduced as an ACME informant. Not only was she sent to simply watch someone but watch someone who was in no way shape or form even someone who was a threat or someone that would have to be arrested. Feeling her face start to pucker and a tell tale sarcastic tone about to come from her lips Missy shook it off and smiled instead.

"Nice to meet you, Lee." she said calmly, giving a tilt of her head towards his direction before looking to Devineaux.

As expected any sort of tell tale sign about Devineaux and his feelings, thoughts or otherwise were hidden behind steel eyes and a stone face. She was still wondering about that text but, she thought to herself, that would have to wait.

"So?"

 

[Chase]

(Slight god-moding here approved, thanks)

Chase nodded in Lee's direction soon after Missy spoke. "Jordan, got a safe place we can talk?" Informants consistently knew locations where briefings were optimal, "Start walking, take us there."

Before they moved, Devineaux took a hold of Missy Wayward's arm. "One moment?" He said, indicating to both the masked luchador and to ACME's second-most infamous turncoat that he needed to speak with his agent alone, "Debriefing."

Pulling her far enough away, the Field Director started in a composed, deep tone, "I'm going to talk, Eleanor. I suggest you stay calm, listen, and play along." He was expressionless, "There's a discrepancy we're both aware of, I won't ask you why, not yet, but I suspect Chief Weller put you up to this so I won't hold you completely liable." Sensing her sudden felled disposition, he breathed slowly, almost apologetically. He'd give her chances to argue, but now was hardly the place.

"Don't look distressed, give me a nod, and a firm smile, then let's go back to the group. We'll clear this up later," Chase let her go, and with a gentler voice said, "Got it?"

 

[Lee]

Lee knows good places, and he was liking this, that Chase's trusting enough to let him choose. He started walking to one of them.

"There's some place just down the street, yeah, you sould tell me before there were going to be four of us," he complained then said sarcasticly, "More's the merrier!"

He didn't wait for Missy and Chase during their conversation, she's a new agent and agents get instructions all the time in 5 seconds or less. They'll catch up with him and the clown soon.

"El Halcon, that's a stage name? You've something like 'John' I can use?"

 

[E. Mayhew]

In hindsight the WW should have been enough of a clue. She should have seen it coming. Some time down the road, when reflected upon, this entire experience would be looked upon with a chuckle over tea sometime. That didn't help right now though. Missy stood in silence for a moment as she took in the sentences thrown at her in rapid succession.

Chase said: "I'm going to talk, Eleanor. I suggest you stay calm, listen, and play along. There's a discrepancy we're both aware of, I won't ask you why, not yet, but I suspect Chief Weller put you up to this so I won't hold you completely liable."

Despite the lack of physicality present Missy felt like she'd taken a sucker punch to the gut. Her mouth was left nearly slack jawed as she repeated such a simple string of sentences in her mind. Eleanor. Oh god he knew. It wasn't like she hadn't been planning on telling him, it wasn't like he would NEVER know but he wasn't supposed to know yet. But he did. He did NOW. This was... horrible. This was beyond horrible. This was absolute defeat.

Before her mouth could even catch up with any form of reply her eyes had given her and her sudden feelings of failure away.

Chase said: "Don't look distressed, give me a nod, and a firm smile, then let's go back to the group. We'll clear this up later,"

Whats worse than being told that you've failed by the person you're supposed to keep hidden from? For Missy it was the inability to say a word in response. By the time she'd finally found her words she'd been silenced, an act which left words merely buzzing in her mind. A mixed collection of anger and apologies, surprise and disappointment left locked within. She looked at him for a moment, the look of hurt turning itself into an accusatory stare. Not at his discovery but of telling her now. When she couldn't rightly defend the choices she'd made or explain why. Did he even know that her Special Operations Agent certification was riding on his not knowing who she was?

Chase said: "Got it?"

Missy's eyes glanced over at Lee and El Halcon for a moment before returning to Chase. She let out a heated breath and as she took it back in slapped on a smile.

"Yeah." she answered, the tone betraying the grin she'd started to wear. "I've got it." Turning herself away from the Special Operations Director she headed back to the other two.

 

[Narrator]

[El Halcon Verde]

El Halcon hooked his arms around Missy and Lee's shoulders and gave a hard chortle. "The party is assembled. Now all we need is to apprehend the already identified culprit. Forward into the fray go we stalwart investigators to quell the rime though it means certain danger to us all! Viva la victoria!"

 

[Carmen]

[OOC: Joint post from Carmen and Eartha. The red spinel pen mentioned in here is the same one in "On Angels and Dragon" written by Carmen, Vic, and Dragon (Link pending)]




Near Am Tunnel, Luxembourg


Minutes after Eugene Grovington unloaded the Boeing along with the rest of ACME, Carmen and her team landed in a rented field outside the city. Using a red Ducati Multistrada 1100, she wounded her way through the streets of Luxembourg and to Eartha's temporary apartment. No one was home, but entry was easily obtainable. After the long flight, she was tired and uncomfortable, and needed an immediate remedy to both afflictions.

At about the same time Eartha Brute began speaking to who she would come to know as 'El Maestro del Absurdo', Radio Luxembourg broadcasted its 'Classics' hour, and Carmen finished her bath. Soon, she was on her laptop, looking through a list of 103 locations spanning 38 countries.

Eartha, thinking about that masked luchador, returned home to find it exactly as she left it, except with her boss inside.

"Oo no, you shouldn't be here!" Eartha said with surprise.

"I have a team on location nearby, but they need time to setup," Carmen replied without lifting her eyes from the screen, "The entire trip was a meeting." Here, she redistributed her plans and turned off the computer, "I need sleep."

"Okay," Eartha wasn't sure if that was an order or what, but she started looking to make sure no one suspicious was around. Near Carmen's discarded red coat, a black pen with a red gem on it was on the floor. The large woman picked it up and untwisted the cap to look inside. It was finely crafted with engravings in gold, and Eartha gasped a little.

"You may keep that," Carmen spoke as soon as she noticed her friend's interest in the object. "It's a red spinel Mont Blanc, just don't forget to refill the ink."

"Oo I couldn't!" Eartha said reluctantly, this was so pretty, and she liked to write.

"It's yours," Carmen insisted while rummaging through Eartha's little-used bed full of stuffed bears. "Eartha, where are your pillows?"

"I don't sleep on this bed, it's too small," Eartha pointed to the linen closet, "I have a big roll-out mattress with pillows in there. Here, I'll get them for you."

"Never mind," mildly irritated, Carmen decided on using one of the bears as a substitute headrest.

As she drifted, a shadow against the window's light curtains roused her awake. Refocusing, she could see the sleek form of a falcon. A jolt of recognition heightened her senses and she sat up, pulling the curtains aside for a clearer view of the bird on Eartha's faux balcony. The falcon looked at her, exchanging one eye at a time in her direction as if to say hello. Around one of its legs was a long, pin-like ACME GPS transmitter.

"Eartha," Carmen slowly spoke, there was no breath of a doubt to the raptor's identity. It found her, and unless something was done, its master would soon follow. "Quickly, grab me a towel..."