01 - The Artifact Enigma

The Daniel Codex

Artifact Of The Sky Gods >>

CIA agent Daniel Winters is on a mission to keep two worlds safe; he just needs to bring a guy back from the dead first. To most, Daniel is the charming owner of an oddities shop he inherited from his grandfather. But looks are deceiving. Charged with keeping the worlds safe—from magicals and humans alike—Daniel leads a double life, leaving no room for anything—or anyone—else. When a relatively straight-forward mission takes a turn, it plunges him into a dangerous new world where no one can be trusted. He must live a lie within a lie while he works from the shadows to keep the worlds safe from a deadly new threat. Everyone has their limits. Will Daniel survive being pushed past his? James Bond meets Harry Dresden in this action-packed paranormal thriller that’ll keep you guessing until the last page.

TDC 01/01 THE AMULET Daniel watched for the two humans and the elf that had been tracking him, since he’d recovered the amulet. The CIA had trusted him with this mission. He took out his jammer, and his new gadget, the active deflector, as he allowed them to approach him. He refused to go with them, and they began to fire, but the deflector worked very well, as the bullets could not pierce the shield. He then ran, throwing a sonic grenade at them. The elf fire-balled the gadgets, filling the alley with smoke. Daniel ran, dodging bullets, and throwing another sonic grenade at them. This one was effective, taking out the two humans, and the elf advanced, starting to cast a spell. Sirens sounded, and Daniel got away by using a grapple gun to rise to the roof of an adjacent building, the elf following him on a pillar of fire. The elf demanded the amulet, which Daniel refused to give up. A Sky Jager (bounty hunter) descended from his jet wings, and drew a gun on the elf, demanding his surrendered as a level four bounty. The police were arriving, as well, so Daniel fell off the side of the building, hearing gunfire overhead. using his inflatable cushion to soften his fall. He found the two humans starting to revive. He knocked them out again, and sprinted for the road.

TDC 01/02 THE ANTIQUE SHOP Daniel opens the shop, and meets with Tommy, who brings him his coffee every day, a teen-ager whom Daniel had befriended, allowing him to stay in the apartment overnight sometimes, helping hm with growing up. They talk a little, then go to the basement to “hang with the heroes”, DC, Marvel, and Dark Horse comics. They talk about Tommy’s family, and Peter comes in (Daniel’s Grandfather), who owns the shop as well, and finds artifacts for Daniel to search for and buy, when he isn’t doing CIA work. Tommy goes off to school, and after Daniel activates the jammer on the table, Peter tells Daniel of an artifact he want him to find and buy, a shotgun. Daniel is encouraged to use the jammer at all times. (“The Company wants me to be able to talk without risk no matter where I am. It’s one of the few things they let me sign out permanently for general use.”) “This one was sent to us by your buddy ,Rolf, who found it on the dark web. Allegedly has strange powers. Daniel will hunt for it when he goes to Munich soon.

TDC 01/03 PROBLEMS IN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD As Daniel is going to the Metro station, to his day job (the CIA), he sees a thug menacing the local corner shop keeper, and goes in to find out what is going on. Upon the thug’s threats to Charlie’s dog, Daniel beats him and throws him out of his shop.(Doesn’t use ANY special talents – like fighting with a kid!) Daniel likes to keep this a safe neighborhood, and will not allow anyone to upset it. The people call him “The Mayor”, and are happy he will do this. Charlie tells him about several threats lately, is if a gang and organized crime might be moving in. And as the thug is leaving, he threatens Daniel with reprisals. Something far more targeted was happening?

TDC 01/04 HIS NEW ASSIGNMENT Daniel takes the Metro to another neighborhood, where he keeps his car in a locked facility. (See Characters, Daniel) He checked into his office, through all of the necessary security check-ups, and learned that Nessie was looking for him. She tasks him with his new assignment. “ You’ll go to Germany to rescue a dead man from the tomb where he’s been resting for one hundred years. Then you’ll deliver him to some contacts to be flown to a secure location. Get the man out of his sarcophagus in Munich. He’s a man in need of rescue, not a body, and he’s not in a cemetery, but in a sarcophagus being stored with some archaeological and historical artifacts. The sarcophagus belongs to a man named Gunter Holst who died in World War II. Part of your assignment is to recover a body that will appear dead and ascertain his identity. Our information suggests he might be a useful asset in terms of dealing with magical threats. Has been in the box for one hundred years. You’ll be working with Ronni on this assignment. I need to get you signed off on all your devices, so you can catch your flight.” She pushed a box of gadgets toward him.” The government needs to dock your pay for what you lose.” Even if they don’t work?” Nessie nodded. “At least they’ll have a chance to examine why they failed.” (See SAD Equipment for contents).

TDC 01/05 In Munich, Daniel goes to a local bar for more information about Leuchtenberg Palais. For one thing, his briefing didn’t give him a clue about how he might bring a dead man back to life. Splashing a little cash around to the right man or woman might help with that. Ronni always modified the “gadgets” to do more than they were built to do. Ronni had a knack for combining tech and small artifacts with low levels of magic to make something new, despite lacking any actual magical ability otherwise. At least, he’d been told she lacked magical abilities. This time, she had altered her receiver. It looked like a little Pikachu. It can also pick up conversations and transmit the information remotely. Daniel didn’t know what state the body would be in. Ronni thought that it would have at least some sound generation capability, so probably not a skeleton or goo. Even magical beings tend to still rely on some basic biology. Probably humanoid. To pass the time, they talk about the three most wanted On the Homeland Security Enhanced Threat list. Number three is Cailarin. He was a big player in the Oriceran Dark Market. Also helped create a new dark web system nicknamed Venger. You not only need specific software but also a minimum of magical ability.” Number 2 is dead, yesterday, by a Level Six Bounty Hunter from LA. Number One has only an alias. Morgana. Daniel will see what Rolf has to say about her.

TDC 01/06 Daniel creeps into the Palace at night, Ronni keeping two drones going, one on him, the other on the neighborhood (from thousands of miles away!). Daniel had gotten more from Rolf than he had from Nessie about the target. Thanks to Rolf, easily avoided the alarm system. Made his way to the basement, where the sarcophagus was in a storage facility. He finds the room, opens it, lights click on. Automatic motion sensors. Ronni reported some weird interference on some of the drone feeds. Daniel started searching the rooms, and finally found the sarcophagus. He opened it, and his target, dressed in a faded black suit, lay inside with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked peaceful for a skeleton. Suddenly, it sat up, and began replacing itself – lungs, stomach, kidneys, liver, brain- and then the skin. The whole thing took 15 seconds, and he saw a well-built, square-jawed, blond-haired, blue-eyed man. The man’s name was John Rainer. John got out of the coffin, and Daniel’s link to Ronni suddenly went dead. Daniel heard a voice, and looked around. Daisy! ! An elf he had crossed paths with in prior tasks. Daisy wanted to take John with her, and Daniel needed him to go back with him. Just as Daisy was about to use magic to take him, guards burst into the room.

TDC 01/07 Daisy said “You take him, and keep him safe. And you owe me.” And she started to disable the guards as John and Daniel ran. As thy exited the building, Ronni came back on-line. As Daniel’s car had been transported to Munich with him, they used that to take John to a black van in an alley. After codes were exchanged, the men I the van took John Daniel told him he’d been out for a little over100 years, and he was, indeed surprised, but things hadn’t changed that much. Still have cars, Germans and elves.

TDC 01/08 THE ARTIFACT Daniel signs off from Ronni. Had delivered John to CIA people, so will go after the shot-gun for Granddad. Daniel disguised his car (different color, new plates - nanopaint) He met the contact, Gunter, at an old warehouse, and the man begged him to take it off of his hands, for free. Just needed to get rid of it. He showed Daniel what he had inadvertently done (killed his friend), and he wanted no more of it. It looked like a gigantic shotgun with a black metal stock. Hand cannon might have been a more appropriate description given that the barrel was over two feet in diameter and half an inch thick, but there were no obvious triggers or buttons. It worked on what you thought. To activate it, think of what you want it to do. To stop it, think of something neutral. A particle separator. Daniel didn’t want to touch it, so went to get an emergency blanket to wrap it in.

TDC 01/09 Daniel was wary of the gun. He didn’t know of its capabilities, and random artifacts only made things more impossible. Daniel had returned at night, and no one was up. But when he got to the basement, Grandfather came and opened the door. Grandfather had known it was dangerous, but also knew that Daniel would handle it. “Let’s get it into the vault and pretend it doesn’t exist.” They locked it into the vault, and went to bed, except that Grandfather came down about an hour later, took the control rod out of the gun, copied it so that the gun would look complete, and kept the real control rod himself. Daniel just wasn’t ready to know everything about it, yet.

TDC 01/10 Granddad went out, got in a cab, and went to an all-night diner, to meet with the old Fixer, Turner Underwood. Underwood had known of the gun, and that it needed a non-magical person to handle it. The last time it had been handled by a magical, it almost blew up the whole country. Peter met with Underwood, and took, as payment, news of his daughter and son-in-law. They might still be alive, in an unknown village in Brazil. Problem was, the village had ceased to exist, as if it had never been, and there were no clues to its disappearance. Peter was dismayed, but he still had a copy of the strange runes and cyphers on the control copy, and he would look into what they might mean. They might have clues to their whereabouts, and how to get to tem, and get them back.

TDC 01/11 Now that Daniel has a few days off, he’s looking the neighborhood over, for signs of the trouble that had been brewing when he left. Everything looked good until he came to the florist’s, talking on the phone with a panicked look on her face. Something was happening, he just didn’t know what. His phone rang- they needed him at Headquarters, so he left to go to work. He met Nessie in her office, gave a report on the failures of some of his equipment, and left. On the way out, he met with an older agent, Timothy Franklin, who had been around longer that he. Franklin warned him to “watch his back”. Franklin wanted to investigate his availability for a small job, perhaps even that night. Daniel could do it – just let him know. Visited with Ronni, thanked her for her help in Munich. Traded insults with Jack Buckley, and promised Ronni that he would take her out to lunch as payment for her good work. She accepted. Daniel left, no jobs at hand, for a relaxed evening.

TDC01/12 THE NEIGHBORHOOD AGAIN Daniel and Connor sit, playing D & D with some of their friends, and Daniel seemed to be loosing. (Four men, one woman) Connor, Daniel, Taylor, Juan and Lorelai. They had played for years together. The one thing constant through their various life experiences. Suddenly a real scream sounded. They all rushed outside, and Daniel saw that it was Jeanine, the florist who had been panicked earlier. She was being held by one thug, while four others watched. The group attacked the thugs, and managed, with Daniel’s expert hidden help, to overcome them. The police arrived, and they all decided to go back to gaming. Daniel knew he would have to be more involved with keeping the neighborhood safe.

TDC 01/13 OFF THE RECORDS ASSIGNMENT Timothy and Daniel talk, Timothy making it more of a request than a mission. “There’s a man in Vancouver, a very wealthy man,” Timothy began. “And it’s come to my attention that he’s keeping a dangerous artifact, a nozzle. There’s no way he should hold on to something like that artifact. It’s a danger to him, his city, his country, and the world. I need you to do what plenty of CIA agents have done throughout history. I need you to do something a little shady off the books to help protect the peace of your country and the planet.” “You want me to go on a blind mission with no material or personnel support, and I shouldn’t even breathe a word of it to any of the people I work with? . I have to get in, grab the artifact, not seriously hurt anyone, and get out. Otherwise, the Company will come down on both of us for an unauthorized mission.” Daniel agreed. But it were anyone but Timothy, the answer would have been no. Timothy sent him the address and the layout of the penthouse. The Artifact was in the middle of the living room, on display. Daniel thought about asking Ronni to be his visual support, then decided not to. He’d handle it himself.

Daniel created a safe behavior pattern, in disguise. Blond wig, blue contacts, face putty. Looking like everyone else was simply another way of being invisible. Security drones protected the penthouses, so an internal raid was necessary. Using his special lockpicks and cards, Daniel got into the penthouse, but was apprehended by a guard, then by many guards. He escaped by jumping from the thirty-eight story window, using his inflatable cushion to land. Jumping in his car, he took the nozzle to Timothy, with lots of questions! The nozzle also contained many of the symbols he had seen on the shot-gun barrel. Same wizards? Same race?

TDC 01/14 ’THE CONSPIRACY Daniel started to investigate some of the strange symbols he had found on the gun barrel, and on the nozzle. He engaged Ronni, a good research person, for this “top-secret” job. Erase the work when you’re done, and only tell me directly, face to face, if you find anything.” Daniel went to find Timothy for some answers, entering his office door and locking it behind him, demanding to know the truths of the situation. Timothy implied that his silence was for Daniel’s own good, that maybe it wasn’t good to know too much. Then Timothy started talking. The artifacts were from true aliens, not from Oriceran, and the technology was so advanced it seemed like magic. But not magic, science. Also, aliens good at imitating humans. Are walking around, undetected. The point is, we don’t know where they’re from, how many of them are here, or their intentions. The only thing we know is that they’re here, and they are potentially armed with technology hundreds of years beyond what we have available. The hawks want to arm the country to take on those aliens. The same people who wanted to nuke Oriceran are ready to start a war with an enemy they haven’t even identified. And as worried as I am about these aliens, we’re not even sure they’re enemies. These aliens might be a threat, or they might merely be tourists. I’ve put together my own group within the CIA to look into the aliens. If it costs me in the end, then I don’t care. I’ll die with no regrets. Do you want to grab magical tchotchkes for the rest of your damned life, or do you want to save worlds? We’re connected to Oriceran now. If things go south, they’ll be in the line of fire, too.” Daniel thought about this. Doing a side job without the Company knowing was one thing, but participating in a fully independent rogue team wasn’t merely brushing against the line. It was jumping yards past it. Daniel needed to talk to Nessie, one of the rogue group, before he gave his final answer. He talked to her, and she gave him an address in DC, to go and see the whole picture. This would be a test of his good faith.

TDC 01/ 15 Daniel goes to the secret briefing that Nessie and Timothy suggested. He meets with Malcolm White, another CIA agent in the conspiracy.” This is the HQ for our new task force or whatever you want to call it. Group less than ten people presently. Everything’s secure. Only a small number of people in the entire world know about this building. They enter a meeting room. A large virtual screen covered the back wall. Several workstations with computers and large headphones lined one of the other walls. The screen currently depicted a flat map of the Earth marked with several small triangles in various locations with small notes next to them. Vancouver, Canada, and Munich, Germany had both been marked, but there were easily a dozen other notations on the map. They talk about how the Fortis Group operates – a shock. Destroyed (bombed) and entire American town because they thought that one alien was there. Are now looking at Ronni, as she is investigating artifact material for Daniel.

As Ronni approaches the CIA, on her way to work, she is accosted by two men who try to take her with them. They do not identify themselves in any way. She eludes the with two of her gadgets (a Gumby- a personal poisonous gas bomb, and a Barbie Shoe, a flash bomb which explodes and blinds viewers). She arrives at the CIA, and sees two agents who had all of her office things in boxes. They refuse to allow her to enter, and inform her that she’d been fired for “suspicion of espionage.” As she started to walk away, Daniel drives up in his Jag, sees that she’s been fired, and takes her into the car, to explain what had happened. (They caught her investigating the symbols for Daniel). Daniel explains about the new group, asks her to join, and she accept

TDC 01/16 RONNI AND HER FRIENDS’’’ A week later, Ronni goes to the Big Gnome’s house, to ask him to join the group, as well. He invites her into his living room, filled with a large table, tools, and gadgets in the process of creation. She offers him a better job than his one on TV, with an otter to save the country, shows him the symbols from the artifacts, and explains. He accepts, and wants to bring along Madge, a friend of his cousins, a pixie, who can help with the paper work, and other things.

They go to his office, Lat Productions, and see his sign, printed in Comic Sans font. He’d do business HIS way! Madge is a winged pixie. Ronni starts to give her the pitch, but all she wants to know is, “Are there snacks? She doesn’t care about the job, as long as she can snack on what she wants. So Daniel is responsible for recruiting Ronni, Big Gnome, and Madge for the group

TDC 01/17 DANIEL’S NEXT OFFICIAL RETRIEVAL Buckley approaches Daniel in the CIA office, as Daniel was looking for Ronni, and told him that she was no longer there. Fired for leaking information for personal gain. Buckley looks unkempt, beard, creased cloths, Has been busy. Ducked behind a desk when a loud crash occurred as someone dropped something. Daniel goes to Nessie’s office, talks about Ronni, about his next job. A ring of burglars has terrorized London, and they might be using a magical artifact. We want you to investigate and recover it before MI5 or MI6 get involved. Every one we control adds to the safety and security of the United States.” Nessie showed him all of his equipment, including a couple of new items (See Technology SAD Equipment. Artifact, this time, is a glowing medallion. Some reports suggest it increases mobility, and others suggest that it allows people to pass through walls. It might even do both. It also remains unclear whether it only works on one person, or if it works on a group of people in a certain radius. We only know the local authorities and bounty hunters haven’t been able to track them down. Even when they get close, the thieves get away.” In London, Daniel is happy that this artifact wouldn’t kill someone, just help steal from them. He meets with a local back-up, to help him, Serena. She’s done her homework, and knows where the thieves will strike that night. They are on the roof, and apprehend the thieves as planned, but just as they attempt to capture them, a new group shows up, a tomb raiding group, led by John Hollingsworth V, current CEO and leader of Hollingsworth Retrieval Specialists. John and Daniel chase a thief, and it was the wrong one. (eight thieves). One of John’s men had captured the one who had been wearing the artifact. John hopped into the craft, leaving Daniel empty handed. Now Daniel would have to get the medallion from John before he could go back to America! Daniel goes to a local pub, and meets with Daisy, the elf, telling her of the other aliens, besides the Oricerans, who were on Earth. She had been unaware of them. He offers her the opportunity to work with the rogue group of agents, to save the worlds, and she accepts. At the very least, it should be interesting.

TDC 01/18 NEW FAMILY HISTORY Daniel and the group were involved in another D & D game, Daniel and his cohorts falling to Connor’s team because of bad luck with the dice. In his mind, he likened D & D to real life, but it wasn’t. Real life isn’t a game. My parents hit a tomb, and they didn’t come back. A good roll won’t save you when real magic is around, and the only ones who bring people back from the dead are necromancers. And after the gamers had left, he went down into the basement and looked through the keepsakes he had left from his parents. And as he thought of the dangers his parents had faced, he thought of his own situation, and about joining the new team. Is this my future? I’ll chase these aliens until one day, I disappear, and no one knows what happened to me? Will I be as smart and ready as Ronni when they come for me? Granddad stepped into the room, and confirmed that Daniel’s parents had really been looking for a Codex, the Codex of the Sky Gods, which had the unusual symbols in it. If found, it might tell how to reach the alien planet. Had nothing to do with Oricerans, but with true aliens from another place. Daniel told him about the nozzle he had retrieved. Peter also told him that they might still be alive, somewhere. Daniel was amazed, and now knew he could NEVER walk away from the group, now.

TDC 01/19 MORE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD Daniel went out for a walk a few weeks later, and, in passing by the Florist’s shop, found three men in the alley trying to set it ablaze. As he confronted them, they ran, jumped into a van, and escaped. He followed in a parked car he had found running, and, when he started to lose them, implanted a GPS tracker on the van . He went back to the neighborhood, retrieved his own car, and returned to tracking the vans, which now numbered three. Using many of the gadgets in his car, he disabled all three, and , tracking the fleeing arsonists, found one of them phoning information to their leader. He grabbed the phone, and warned the voice on the other end to stop fooling with his neighborhood, as he wouldn’t play so nice next time he caught them doing anything. His Jag had gotten a few dents in the chase, and Daniel knew that Nessie wouldn’t be happy at all about that!

TDC 01/20 NON-STANDARD EQUIPMENT The next day he took the Jag into a garage Tim had told him about, and found Nessie waiting for him, unhappy, as expected. She took him into a supply room, showing him that it contained a vast store of both replacement parts for their equipment, but new parts for the gadgets they had reverse-engineered from alien technology. She also told him that he was the new operational head of the unit, a simpler job than it would have been for CIA, requiring no signatures of approval for things.

She showed him ‘’special suits’’, blast pistols, assassin drones, rings and watches (low-powered energy fields), anti-magic deflectors, and a tiny miniaturized ’subcutaneous receiver and transmitter. (See Technology, SAD Equipment, Non-standard Equipment for details). As his car was now repaired, he and Nessie went back to the CIA office , to their jobs.

TDC 01/21 SUSPICIONS Daniel was determined to maintain his double identity for as long as he could. As he was in his office, completing paperwork about his jobs, both official and unofficial, Buckley came in, surprising him again. Buckley wanted to invite him to lunch, as he had something to talk to him about. Not in the CIA cafeteria. They took Daniel’s car. Even though they liked to joke around in the office and had worked together for years, they’d never socialized outside the headquarters They hadn’t even had any occasion to work missions together. He didn’t consider the man an enemy, but he was far from a friend. They’d always sparred verbally, but that was just cheap fun. He was now delivering barbs. Buckley accused him of being a “CIA sheep, and a coward”, of throwing other people “under the bus to save your own ass.” Daniel pulled over, and Buckley got out, leaving Daniel to go back to the office where he talked to Timothy about it. Daniel and Timothy go to a bar, using their jammers for privacy. Daniel accuses Buckley of being a Fortis agent, because of the Ronni connection. Daniel says,” “There’s got to be some way I can convince him I’m not involved in any of these alien investigations.” Timothy advises, “Arrange a meeting and feel him out,

TDC 01/22 THE MISUNDERSTANDING Daniel calls Buckley, setting up a meeting, at the parking lot they knew, at 7 PM that night. He goes to Ronni for a jammer interference gadget, and she gives him a My Little Pony figure. Toys? Disguises! Cuter this way! (See Characters, Ronni for a list of her “toys”) Buckley and Daniel meet, in the parking lot, and Buckley insists that Daniel follow him to a place he would pick. Daniel does so, suggesting to Ronni that she keep a drone on him, for protection. Daniel laughed. “It’s hard to fight people who know all your procedures and moves. That Mustang is almost as tricked out as my car. He’s probably got some drones following me as well.” Buckley took him to the Wharf Marina, where he lost contact with Ronni. Jamming, but Buckley’s line would be jammed as well, so they were on an even playing field. Buckley took them to a small cabin cruiser, the ‘’Big Bad Wolf’’. Will talk on the water. Buckley accuses Daniel of being a Fortis Agent, and of killing Ronni. And Buckley takes him to a quiet, still place where he would be able to force Daniel to talk and tell everything he knew about Fortis.

TDC 01/23 Daniel laughed, and told Buckley that Ronni was alive, and working for a special group. To prove it, they both turned off their jammers, and Daniel called Ronni, asking her to speak to Buckley. He asks to join Daniel’s group, and Daniel agrees to talk to them about him. Timothy agrees to try him out, but to not let him know about anyone but Ronni and Daniel, so Daniel agrees to meet him for lunch. As Daniel came in, seeing Buckley at a back table, he also saw an adjacent customer rise, trip, and fall on him. Lucky man! Suddenly Buckley started up, clutched his stomach, coughed and started to spit blood. They called 911, but it was too late. Daniel ran to the parking lot and saw a car, a Fiat, drive out. then, saw it turn color, with different plates. Someone from their own CIA agency had killed him! !

Daniel talks to Timothy about it. “They murdered him in fucking broad daylight and in public. But Timothy shook his head. The report was already in. “According to the report, poor unfortunate Jack Buckley overdosed on a new dangerous synthetic that was mixed with dust.” He took a deep breath. “The Company isn’t treating it as anything more than that. They are initiating a formal review of his cases. As far as the official word goes, Agent Jack Buckley had become a junkie. We can’t investigate this or make any noise. If we do, they’ll come sniffing our way, and we’re not ready to take them head-on just yet. The only thing we can do is move forward and make sure he didn’t die in vain. Do you understand, Daniel?”

TDC 01/24 THE PORTAL ARTIFACT Daniel had a new CIA case, so was able to get away from the office, to rural Quebec, and recover from the Buckley incident. The mission was simple enough—check out the site to see if he could gather any information about a portal-opening artifact. . The Company had followed several suspicious and gory deaths all over the world in the past few months, all associated with an anti-magic terrorist group, New Veil. Daniel thought, They hate magic, but they’ll still use artifacts. Got to love human consistency. Maybe it was human nature to turn into what you hated. Or maybe it was something darker. And Daniel vowed to get even with them.

He received a call from Timothy, who had just discovered information known by the CIA – about his parents disappearance, being tomb-raiders, and that they had been seen after the village disappeared. Still alive? Who knew? The agency had betrayed him. They knew the entire time that his mother and father might still be alive but hadn’t seen fit to pass that information onto him, even after he’d joined the CIA. If Fortis had killed his parents because they’d found evidence of aliens, he’d burn their entire group to the ground, no matter what it took, and dance in the ashes. “You don’t fuck with dogs and family.”

Daniel arrived at the abandoned church, finding four humans inside, three standing, one on the ground with his hands tied behind his back. If the terrorists were in disagreement it might be a good time to grab the artifact, assuming they had it with them. After listening, Daniel discovered that they wanted to use the bound man for experiments to test the new alien gadgets they had. Daniel sees them activate a portal (The three terrorists held small glowing leaves in the air. Tendrils of energy connected the leaves to the center of the portal), and confronts them. They explain their actions (See Groups The New Veil), and Daniel orders them to deactivate the portal, whereupon they send it towards him, attacking him with it. It seemed to send his bullets back at him. He used that knowledge, of reverse maneuvers, shooting into the portal and then jumping toward the New Veil men, so that the bullets would return to them. He’ also, was injured as the portal came at him, but it worked. As he jumped towards the attackers, the portal shot is bullets at him (them), leaving them with multiple chest wounds. As they died, Daniel collected the leaves of the portal, the artifacts. He injected the bound man with a drug that would destroy the memories of the last few hours, and left.

As he was driving to the airport, Charlie (corner store owner that the thugs were threatening), called him, told him his store was being robbed, and that his call to 911 had been diverted. Daniel told him to stay out of sight, that he’d be back soon. And don’t call anyone else.

TDC 01/25 THE ROBBERY When Daniel got back, h examined the break-in. It felt wrong. Back door lock had been shot out. The alarm had not gone off, though. Nothing taken, nothing trashed. If this was a revenge action, the place should have been destroyed, with lots missing. This wasn’t some random punks from the neighborhood. Whoever did this was a professional with expensive gear. The Munich gun was still there . Someone had managed to enter his shop without tripping the alarm. They had taken nothing and disturbed nothing—a break-in with no damage and a robbery with no theft. Nothing about the situation made any sense. Maybe it was a warning to keep his nose out of alien business.

THE BEATING As Tommy walked down the street, he was approached by four men, who didn’t want his money, but did want his pride. Called him a Half-Ori bitch, and wanted him to lick their shoes. He tried to get away, pulling out the web cube he carried, and was punched in the stomach, then in the face, then was kicked, and kicked again, and again, all of the time being taunted to use magic, cast a spell, etc. They kicked Tommy’s web, stomping it and crushing it. “We don’t need no more people on this planet, and you fuckers come here and flash your little magical dicks around like you own us. I don’t get it. You feel free to tell everyone in this neighborhood how we beat your ass down and how they shouldn’t fuck with us. We’re moving in now, and anyone who gets in our way is gonna fucking die. Make sure that bitch who everyone calls the mayor hears it, too.” And they told him to move away, as they might kill him next time.

Daniel talks with Peter about the break-in. . It must be the Company. Maybe they don’t have direct evidence on me like they did Ronni or Buckley.” Peter wasn’t as upset as Daniel, as he would take a few of them with him if they came after him. Then Tommy came in, with a battered face was covered in bruises, limping. “Who did this to you? Tell me right now.” Peter wanted him to just call the cops and let hem handle it, but Daniel refused. He wouldn’t let people beat a boy black and blue on his watch. The teen swallowed. “Y-you shouldn’t mess with these guys, Daniel. This wasn’t just some asshole who wanted my wallet. These guys are seriously bad news. New gang, I think.” Daniel gave Tommy money to go and see a doctor. Peter took him out, and Daniel made plans.

TDC 01/26 Daniel checks out information with a contact he knows, and finds that this is a new gang, calling themselves the Steel Wolves. Used to be a decent-sized gang in Baltimore, but they started some shit with an Ori gang, and it didn’t end well. Lost most of their guys and kind of disappeared until rumors of them hitting the DC area started popping up. A little over thirty guys survived. They learned firsthand how a good gun don’t always work against magic. They’ve got a house they’re renting in DC until they take over their new neighborhood. They are pretty vicious, and into the full package of rape, murder, and assault.” And Daniel decided When you break the rules, you have to be punished. That’s simply the way things are. Daniel went to their neighborhood, and ascertained that there were over two dozen of them in their house. He contacted them, finding them as dumb and arrogant as he had assumed and, posing as a Mafia agent (their assumption), went in. He was recognized by one of the thugs he had previously beaten, and so asked to talk to their leader. T.E. came forward, challenging Daniel. Threatened to take him down with the gang, one against many. Daniel surprised them by grabbing one and killing him, then dropped a flash-bang into their midst. Daniel whipped out his pistol and methodically put a single round into the chest of man after man until he ran out of bullets. He snatched a gun from a blinded man, shot him with his own weapon, then used his body as a shield and put rounds into the gang members coming down the stairs. Their bodies rolled down to form a pile of dead men. He dropped the body, reloaded his own gun then stepped over the tangle of limbs and bodies and stalked slowly upstairs, pulling out a sonic grenade. After priming it he bounced it off the top of the wall and immediately crested the stairs. Several men lay groaning on the floor. He fired two bullets into each man before ejecting his magazine and reloading. A thug charged him, and Daniel went down, but slapped his watch, and a needle popped out, with which he injected the thug. Single use paralytic agent.

TDC 01/27 Tommy brought Daniel his morning coffee, and Tommy told him the news, that the Steel Wolves had been attacked by the Baltimore gang, and had left town. There was nothing more to worry about in the neighborhood, and he was heeling well. Would be fine in a couple of days. Daniel went to the brownstone house, finding Ronni, Big Gnome and Madge there, working away, with lots of new stuff, holographic displays, virtual keyboards. And then they showed him their masterpiece, a three-dimensional rotating wire-frame holographic display of the Earth appeared and floated above the table. Flashing dots were spread all over it, marking possible alien activity or artifacts.”

His parents had been seeking, a source of information that would lead them to a gateway to another world, ‘’The Codex of the Sky Gods’’, and when he saw the three-dimensional holographic representation of the Earth and its artifacts in the Rogue meeting room, he knew that he had now his own source of information that might lead him not only to that gateway but to his own codex. I’ll protect my neighborhood, country, and planet from all enemies foreign and domestic. Human or magical. Terrestrial or extraterrestrial.

The Daniel Codex was operational.