11 - Fatal Mistake

<< One Bad Decision

The Unbelievable Mr Brownstone

The government is trying to take down the Council... But they get their asses handed to them. One of the senators wanted to play hardball from the beginning but got outvoted. Now, the head of the task force is killed. Will they wise up and swallow their pride to get the best? Lt. Hall is working more closely with Shay, and admits that the kidnapping and fights and losing a man has made it hard to sleep. Will she be able to get revenge and close the gate to the fear that is creeping into her life? Brownstone isn't going to play by anyone's rules, so he waits patiently while his team works on their barbeque skills. Will the government ask Brownstone to go to war for them? Will he, after what they did to Alison?

TUMB 11/01 THE ATTACK Special forces groups from the Department of Defense, enriched by witches and wizards from the PDA (Paranormal Defense Agency) were approaching a large fenced area, ex offices of a special tech company, which had been taken over after bankruptcy, by a private group who was supposed to have been using it for a corporate retreat. However, satellites and drones had determined that it was really being used by “the Council” to develop and launch terrorist attacks. The artifacts stolen from the LA Museum were allegedly inside this complex, and the DoD’s Special Forces units were sent out to recover them, with the extra help from the PDA. (See Groups, US Government Special Forces (TUMB) for structure, goals.)

The PFW team from the agency had still not heard the results of the competition they were in. James was reviewing what they needed to do to improve- We’re nowhere near perfection. Only okay temperature control, but the balance in the sauces were off a little this time. Good but not great. Maybe we need to go to daily barbeque practice.

He hadn’t done too much in bounty hunting lately, as all of the higher level criminals were avoiding LA, so thought he might just as well concentrate on BBQing!.

TUMB 11/02 THE COUNCIL MEETING Crazak, leader of the Council, saw all seated except one, who was going to cause trouble eventually, He Who Hunts. Crazak opens a hologram above the table showing the group approaching, and the entire group decided to meet at another location, all opening their own portals to do so, except He Who Hunts, who looked at the approaching group and glided towards the door. He was going hunting.

THE HUNT “Contact!” And Major Davies looked over at Hammer 3. His exoskeleton lay on the ground, the soldier still strapped in with his head lolled back. Blood dripped from a gaping wound in his chest, where his armor had been shredded like paper. They were ruthlessly attacked by four-armed monsters. Bullets and magic were exchanged, and finally the monsters and their magicians were conquered. The surviving soldiers, along with the single wizard and witch left, searched the roofs and ground for more enemies. Everyone reloaded, as they decided to breach the building. As they exploded a door, a cloaked figure stepped out. They shredded its clothing with a grenade, and a dense and thick red mist appeared. A red-mist tentacle whipped out of its sleeve and wrapped around Hammer 2’s neck. He got out a scream before his entire head melted like ice under a heat lamp. The red mist disappeared into a portal. Several explosions ripped across the compound. The first few blew the landing craft apart and scattered the reinforcements. The next one knocked Major Davies to the ground. A final titanic explosion consumed him, and everyone else.

TUMB 11/03 Captain Tanaka, leader of Eagle Team (. (See Groups, US Government Special Forces (TUMB) for structure, goals) , arrived, and found all dead, consumed by the fires and the explosions. Correk advised, “You’re going to have to think way out of the box when dealing with this group, Captain.” The Captain asked if he thought that she (Leira) might come back. Correk said, ”No. You humans need to find your next set of heroes. We have been trying to help you do this for decades.” The elf shrugged and raised his hand, and a portal winked into existence. “I have a suggestion. Place a very large bounty on this group, dead or alive, a level six. I’m sure you’ll find the expenditure of money worthwhile, and you’ll find plenty of bounty hunters who know how to think outside the box.” The Captain called for a phone.

James and Shay were watching some of her Parkour Penny incidents, and were amused. James feels, however, that the Bounty Agency training isn’t enough, that they need training in combating magicals. He tried to think of how he could improve the training at Camp Brownstone. Obviously, he didn’t want to cripple his men or feed them to crocodiles, but maybe making things rougher wouldn’t be such a bad idea. The phone rings. It’s Alison, wanting to prepare James with the idea that there just might be a boy she’s interested in, and she doesn’t want him coming over and blowing up the school about it. James agrees he won’t do that, And Shay says, “ You’re being mighty mature about this. I was half-expecting you to already be on the phone for a supersonic flight to Virginia.” He gave her a feral grin. “Nope. You’re right. I need to let Alison grow up a little. So this guy gets one chance, but if she ever calls me up crying because of this boy I’m paying that school a little visit.”

Maria and Tyler, at the bar, feel that it’s been too quiet. Tyler says, “Brownstone. And now not just Brownstone, but his whole Brownstone Agency thing. As long as he’s in town, a lot of the high-profile scum aren’t going to want to risk a visit. Maybe you should ask him to move to Vegas so a few of the bad guys start crawling back in. Even the gangs and Mafia are laying low, worried that they might get Brownstone’s attention and he’ll go all Scourge of Harriken on their asses.” And they talk about how to keep the money flowing in. Tyler feels there’s got to be an angle he’s missing. Needs to get Brownstone to agree to do something. Fight-training videos? Brownstone documentary? Maria kids him about joining Hollywood!

TUMB 11/04 DoD (Department of Defense) MEETING General Francis looked around the closed-door task force. “DoD’s already got this lined up with Homeland Security Three PDA teams. With the current plan, we’ve got two bounty hunter teams in the deal, and a third Special Forces team. The bounty hunters will be the bait for the bad guys, and our Special Forces boys will clean up while the bad guys are distracted. We’ve already got actionable intelligence on the location of several of the leaders of the so-called Council. ” Senator Johnston objects. “Bounty hunters? We’re already experiencing a hard time with the media asking why a group of Army Special Forces was attacking a corporate retreat on American soil. Perhaps they need better information on this before they send more men in.” Senator Silver concurs. General Francis says, ““I invited you here today in a purely advisory capacity. We don’t need additional Senate funding to proceed with this operation, and I do plan to proceed. I think the plan presented makes the most sense, and I don’t think we have time to sit around debating everything.” And the plan went ahead, Senator Silvers upset that Brownstone might be in one it, and she didn’t want her masters to be disturbed.

Shay and Brownstone go to the Leanan Sídhe for a drink, not realizing it was the night of the BARD OF FILTH competition. The Professor has already won, but calls on Brownstone for an exhibition of his skills. He demurs, but Shay volunteers, and brings forth a limmerick, ex-temporaniously, saying she might have to try to compete in the next competition. Father O’Banion and the crowd clap and cheer, and O’Banion said that if she does, he’ll have to bring out his A game ! (See Miscellaneous Bard of Filth Competition).

The Professor warns them that the Council might still be looking for some artifacts they hadn’t gotten, and that the government was asking bounty hunters in on the deal. James had not been contacted yet. The Professor wants the artifacts out of circulation, and is disappointed that James is not volunteering to do the USA’s dirty work. Not unless they come along with a truckload of money.

Shay wants James to think outside his “box”, and thinks a “Three Wise Men” cocktail will do it. James wants to only think BBQ. But as Shay says, “If you lived and breathed barbeque any more than you do now, you’d start sweating God Sauce.” And Shay goes shopping. Only problem was, she was shopping in the middle of a robbery. Thugs came in, attempting to rob the store, but James is listening to a BBQ program, and misses it all. Shay stopped them, police were called, and she went to the truck. He had, indeed, noticed nothing. Or so she thought. That night, later, he told her he had taken out the driver, so that they couldn’t have gotten away. They went on to doing other things.

TUMBV 11/05 THE BOUNTY HUNTERS A group of four hunters (Harrier, George, Lise, Tim) had banded together, including one who was a wizard, and they were attempting to take down two council members in a warehouse. Drones slammed into the roof, exploding and demolishing the building. Men with guns and wands poured out, shooting and slinging fire and energy bolts. Tim’s orbs stopped orbiting and flew toward the bullets and spells to absorb them with a flash. Lise and Tim went to the roof, to try to get the Council members, who protected themselves with shells of ice. Three wizards attacked them, killing them all.

Another group, the Wu family, tried. Dozens of fearless bronze and iron statues holding heavy curved swords marched forward, ignoring the bullets and fireballs blasting around them. Scorch marks and chips indicated the hits, but the statues’ expressions didn’t change. Their warriors slammed into the line of four-armed monsters that had emerged from the mansion. Their claws scratched at the animated statues to little effect. Their creations brought down their mighty swords and cleaved the first group of monsters in half. They finished off all the gunmen and wizards the Council members had brought with them. But the Council members were stronger wizards than they were, and three of the family of five were dead, Dad, and two brothers.

TUMB 11/06 THE REAL ATTACK As the Council had been concerned with the Bounty hunters, the US Gov, was tracking them, and immediately attacked the Council in their next hide-out. The soldiers quickly spread out, their rifles spewing anti-magic bullets and shredding the wizards and armed guards. Less than thirty seconds after the soldiers had arrived they’d reduced half the support forces to red paste. The Council attempted to leave through their portals, and they wouldn’t open. Someone was blocking their spells. The soldiers were spreading around the Council members. All of the Council’s servants and guards lay dead. The government’s witches and wizards walked slowly forward but remained well behind the soldiers. “If we have no servants,” Crazak shouted, “then we should summon new ones. Ferrao, hold the shield.” They banded their energies, and opened portals to somewhere much more dangerous than Earth or Oriceran. Dozens of jet-black holes opened. Looking into them was like staring directly into an abyss. Dark, shuddering monsters with hungry tentacles and tooth-filled maws started dropping from the holes. The soldiers opened fire, and attempted to stop them, but it wasn’t enough. Hideous monsters continued to pelt down. Then a large railgun pierced their shield, killing Lawrence. The dark portals above began to shrink and close one by one, a few slicing their arrivals in half. Man after man fell, but no man broke and ran. The soldiers were dying, but they were taking their enemy with them. The Council escaped, through their own portal, and watched. The army had almost caught them. The remaining Council members (1/3 had been killed so far), were upset. Crazak snorted. “Worthy foes are always the most annoying.”

General Francis, head of the DoD operations, was disappointed that they hadn’t won. Not a rout, but not a victory, either. They will ask other nations to join them, maybe use Nukes. Need more info before they try again. Francis went back home, sat and drank, and reviewed his life. He’d had a good decade before the magic began. A lot of officers of his generation had then quit. But he’d refused. If anything, it had made him want to stay in the Army until his dying day. He noticed a small green light coming his way. General Francis blinked several times as he realized that light was growing larger and coming straight at him. The man barely had time to register the thought as a massive energy blast slammed into the side of his house and exploded. Glass, metal, and wood rained down.

TUMB 11/07 INTERLUDE Trey and Shorty,walking toward the agency, were reminiscing about their lives, thinking about how it had been, and how it was now. Five thugs sauntered out of a nearby alleyway and formed a line to stop the two men’s advance. Blood Tornadoes, huh? Officers Davidson and McMillan saw the confrontation, called it in, and sat back to watch the fun. WWTBMD? What would the big man do? Trey thought to make sure made sure they really wanted a “donation”, before he and shorty took them on. They did, so Trey did, too. After the fight, the police sauntered up, saw that they were all right, and told them to leave. Trey was upset because he had gotten blood on his silk shirt, and now it would have to be cleaned.

Tumb 11/08 THE VISIT The Government knows that the Council killed Francis, and that the Council is desperate. It’s now fully confirmed that they’ve suffered casualties and can be injured without the use of strategic-scale weapons.” A portal opens, and Correk steps out, into the meeting. “This Council is a threat, and I’m doing everything I can to help you deal with it. I just wanted to give you a little more insight, based on what we’ve seen of the Council so far, as I know that some of you might be frightened by what happened to General Francis.” He stepped around Senator Johnston and tapped the table twice. “But that only proves they’re worried about your operations. Keep in mind that despite your awful losses, you’ve killed several of them and many of their trained followers. It’s not like they can just go to the local unemployment office and grab dark wizards. I’m not trying to dismiss your losses, only remind you that this is a fight that can be won. They strike from the shadows because they have no choice. I’ve already passed some information on to the Paranormal Defense Agency that was helpful to them stopping direct Council portals. Magic isn’t as precise as technology, so there are always ways around things. Attacking dense population centers? The information I’ve shared with your government suggests they have an interest in collecting artifacts, but not so much in mass destruction. Many of the final artifacts they ended up with, although they are dangerous weapons, can be used to manipulate populations directly or indirectly. I suspect their goals are subtler than you might appreciate. “The other thing you might want to focus on in terms of investigation is magical signatures. “ And he left. The Department discussed his information, and felt that he had a good point about their tactics. We need to stop the council. They still felt as if they had some options to discuss.

There was a knock on the door, and Secret Service agents came in and arrested Senator Silvers, “…for working with the Council, and for aiding and abetting a group that is attempting to undermine the United States of America.” She rubbed her ring, a green glow started to surround her, and the agents stunned her again, arresting her. She concluded that as she had been so easily found out, she should ask for help, and turn on the Council before they killed her.

Brownstone, at the Agency, is called to the front to talk with Senator Johnston.

TUMB 11/09 THE REQUEST Johnston wants to talk to James. James Oks it, but the Senator’s bodyguards stay out. Alone is one-on-one. Johnston wants Brownstone’s help. James asks what they have already been doing, and is told. Working with the PDA, other agencies. Council has been around for about twenty years, started when magic began to flow to Earth. Don’t know their ultimate goals but do know that they now have some artifacts to help them. They’ve got something up their sleeve, and the fact that they already have so many little safehouses and bases set up isn’t a good sign. They’ve been playing a long game, and we got lucky. FBI and PDA managed to capture a few mid-level agents. These guys play hard. Even their low-level punks don’t like to be taken alive. A lot of the law isn’t settled on magical evidence and the Constitution, so we’ve taken advantage of the gray areas. “ We need the biggest damned boots in the country to squash these roaches, and that’s you, son.” Willing to pay, usual bounty plus bonus, plus favors in high places. Alison might need those some day. Never hurts to have them. James responded." “I’m not a fucking moron who’ll toss myself into the furnace just because some Senator asks. What you’ve told me is that you guys keep fucking up, and now you’re desperate.” As the Council might decide to come after James in the future because of what he’d done, he might as well take the fight to them first. “If you want this done, I want complete support when I ask for it. Otherwise, stay the fuck out of my way. I’m not taking orders from anyone, and I don’t want anyone crying if a building or two blows up by the time this is over. I’m not filing reports or asking permission for shit, either. I’m more interested in political help in case I do blow up a building. Shit like that. I also might need quick transport or portals or some shit to get to these bastards. “Magical portals might not work again. If you need insertion, we’ll get you there fast and in style.” The Senator gave him an authenticator, a gadget that would allow him to access all of the relevant information gathered so far. “Fine. But if I so much as smell a hint of the idea that you’re fucking me over, I’ll drop this monkey on your back again.” Brownstone calls Shay, tells her it’s all-out war, and that they’ll need Heather and Peyton on it. Shay wants to sit Lily out on this one. Not ready yet. Tyler, at the Black Sun, gets a call from Brownstone. I need the best to poke around in the dark web. Got a huge pile of cash for this one. Possible death if we fuck up though. You in? Time to fuck up the people calling the shots. Don’t be a pussy. Strap on a cup and saddle up. Tyler agrees, and they meet at the bar that day, after closing. More phone calls, and Shay, Trey, and Maria Hall will be there, too. The Professor will also help out, with items. Brownstone goes to Zoe’s house, orders 500 healing potions, ready in two weeks or less. She’ll do it.

TUMB 11/10 THE PLAN They’ll collect their own information(Tyler, Heather and Peyton), eliminating the government roaches. Maria will be able to contribute any info from national law enforcement sources. Tyler will go to his special sources, contributing what he could in information. James spells out the conditions. “I want this crystal-fucking-clear. These people are dangerous. If they know we’re sniffing around, they might come at us. If anyone wants out, fine by me, but if you stay in, we’ll take these fuckers out, and we’ll make a shitload of money.” Trey and gang will help, buy don’t know magic stuff. James will get the anti-magic deflectors, but not cheap. (Maria knows a source.)

Heather and Peyton talk. They’ll just divide and conquer for now. How about Heather hitting the financials and property records, and Peyton’ll see if he can trace any people associated with them?” Heather challenges him, betting she’ll find the Council before he will! He’s on!

TUMB 11/11 Tyler goes to see “The Eyes”, a source of information, guarded buy a huge Kilomea at the door. He meets with the Eyes, and is complemented for changing, for finally developeing a pair of balls and a backbone. The Eyes has special information, but its price is a body, alive. May be a servant of darkness, who has fallen. Just keep him alive and bring him.

Brownstone is sitting at Camp Brownstone with Trey, Heather, Hall and Dannec, pouring over government reports, trying to cross-reference them with clues from Heather and Peyton. For now, their focus was on the magic used by the Council. That magic was what was letting the Council win in fights. His team needed to figure out a way to neutralize it. Dannec’s new saying “ ‘Don’t hate the player, hate the game.’”

TUMB 11/12 THE COUNCIL MEETS Crazak meets with the four who are left (See Groups, The Council), summoning a few quick scrying windows. Their surviving safehouses and bases had not yet fallen. Yilin said, “We need more information on where the government pawns might strike next. All my contacts have been useless.” Ferrao contributed, “The loss of Senator Silvers has made us even blinder. He Who Hunts shook his head. “I’ve tasted the magic at the sites. Our enemies did not trace us using magic. They knew where to strike.” Yilin’s frown slowly faded. “Perhaps it’s over. They struck us repeatedly at our secret bases ferociously, but they’ve not followed up since then. Perhaps the slaying of General Francis was sufficient to cow them.” Crazak suggests that He Who Hunts take care of Silver, as they couldn’t have them getting information from her. He visits her, and melts her head.

Dannec, in reviewing the magic used, feels that the Council is playing with dangerous magic, even for them. He will tell Brownstone about it, when he has more information. Correk visits him, arriving through a portal, invited by Dannec, who wanted to talk about Brownstone and the Council. Dannec has found references that suggest that the Council might have some Soul Drinkers (used by Rhazdon). Correk think they are extinct (haven’t been spotted on Oriceran for millennia) , but apparently not. Correk offers that Brownstone had killed one in Japan recently – they were calling it a despair bug. Might have been hiding out on Earth for a long while. They talk for a moment about why Dannec was exiled by the Light Elves. It might have been an error. If he could come back to Oriceran, would he want to? It would be his choice.

Brownstone calls Trey to pick up the first batch of healing potions.

TUMB 11/13 Trey meets Zoe for the first time, and she propositions him. Money off Brownstone’s bill for his body. And LOTS off, because he’s a virgin! He goes for it, and they go into the bedroom. Afterwards, Trey kicks himself for all of the fun he’d been missing. And Zoe tells him that he has natural talents she wasn’t expecting. She will need more of his energy. She gives him a present, a locket, a small gold circle inscribed with a rune. Defensive magic. “It won’t stop the most powerful spells, but I’d hate to be your first and last.” She swears an honesty oath to him, which he appreciates, and tells him that the next batch will be ready in forty-eight hours.

Heather and Peyton pin-point cleaning services with companies the Council own, and they might have two locations that look good, one in Las Vegas, the other in Salt Lake City. Heather tells Brownstone.

TUMB 11/14 STUN GUN PRACTICE Trey and Shorty out on a Level Three bounty named Howard. (Shorty asks Trey why he’s been grinning like a fool for the last few days.) Brownstone had given them healing potions, just in case they might need them. They had a solid team: Trey, Shorty, Deshawn, Isaiah, Lachlan, and Max. Several Level Threes had popped up in the last couple of days, and James wanted them taken down as soon as possible. Even a minor easing up by the agency had convinced some scum they were free to pop out of their holes. They had new stun guns and stun rifles to practice with, to get ready for working the council events. Everyone had a potion and a bulletproof vest. Trey understood his intention. The boys had gotten used to easy beatdowns, and the Council wouldn’t be drunk losers they could manhandle, even with better weapons. Staff Sergeant Royce had stressed it too. Warrior protection was a mindset, he said. Healing magic could do a lot, but it couldn’t bring you back to life. Lachlan is to guard their vehicle. Wants to be where the action is, so complains, but will do it. They walk to the location, a run-down apartment house, boarded-up windows, dirty, etc., with expensive cars in its lot. Contrast. Instructions. After stunning, tie up wit zip ties. Stun doesn’t last long. Shorty doesn’t want to hunt him out, so suggests they just call him, challenge him to come out. Shorty does so, and twenty armed guards come out to confront them. They were outnumbered and on open ground. Even with their vests, there was too much of a chance of a head-shot. “Come on, boys, let’s go. Time for a strategic withdrawal.” Trey winked when his back was turned and mouthed, “Use the fucking cars as shields.” Battle ensued, and the stun guns did their work. Shorty and Isaiah got shot, took potion, got better. They took in Howard.

TUMB 11/15 James and Shay had taken out the Utah Council safe house, and had lost their rental SUV to a fire bomb, because it was parked too close to the targeted house. They were parking farther away now, safer. They’ll try to keep the damage contained to the house itself, also, and the police were on patrol on the outskirts, in case they were needed. Might be artifacts inside, so don’t want to just blow it up. He bonded with the amulet, which was ready to fight stronger enemies, so he would get stronger. Shay has a magic shield to protect her, and will take the back entrance. Brownstone kicked in the front door. Four men inside the living room opened fire with assault rifles. Brownstone was unaffected, because of the amulet. They killed three of the four, and called for any Council member there to come out. A muscular man stepped out of a bedroom door. He growled several times and pounded his fists together, and an orange aura oozed from his skin and surrounded him. Bullets bounced off him. Shay tossed Brownstone her magic sword, and he finished off the enemy, taking the jade earrings from him, per the Professor’s instructions. This had not been a Council member, and they were disappointed.

TUMB 11/16 THE INFORMATION FROM THE EYES Tyler, at the bar, finds just the person he wants to take to the Eyes, Stone Hanson, a sex slaver, selling to prostitute rings. Real scum, that even Kathy doesn’t want in the bar. Tyler tells him he has a deal that needs someone with Hanson’s peculiar skill set, and Hanson agrees, if it would be a 70/30 split. They go to see the Eyes. Hanson meets the Eyes, and is taken for an experiment on limits – limits of pain the human mind can stand. The Eyes gave Tyler three sets, of two numbers, each separated by a comma. Tyler asked what they were. Enough to restore balance. Tyler forwarded the numbers to Heather and Peyton with the message, I got this from a contact. I have no fucking idea what it means. Maybe you can make heads or tails of it.

Brownstone, the next day, presents a map to Shay, Hall, Tyler and Trey, with three locations marked on it. The number sets were locations, latitude and longitude. James does not even want to give the information to Johnstone, as it might be leaked. They decide to take care of it themselves, the old-fashioned way, no satellites or magic or other shit. A stakeout. Dannec sent me a message this morning, he’s ready to deliver most of what I need. We can equip some teams and stake out the locations. Just for observation. If we verify the Council members are there, then we send everyone there. All the locations are within an hour by supersonic flight. I’ll lead a team with a few guys. Trey will lead some guys. And you and Shay can be a team. We’ll watch these fuckers for a few days and see if we spot any roaches that need to be squashed.”

TUMB 11/17 THE STAKEOUTS Brownstone, Lachlan, Deshawn, and Max had been on stake-out for four days. Getting boring. Shay and Maria are in the same boat. Boring, so they talk a lot about Brownstone And Shay.

I’ve got a sob story about how I got into it, but I’m sure everyone does. It has taken me a while to actually turn into someone other than the killer, but here I am—Shay Carson, tomb raider. Don’t know if I’m a better or worse person, but I’m sure as hell different.”

Trey, Shorty, Manual, Isaiah, and Russell were also bored, watching the cows on a ranch. Shorty suggests that all of those cows were valuable, and that there were no people taking care of them. A disguise? An Illusion? . We just ain’t thought of it before because we’re a bunch of city boys who ain’t used to looking at ranches.” Trey hadn’t thought of that, and will call Brownstone with the idea. I think it’s time for at least a quick look inside. James gave them the OK, with the command that they pull out immediately if they met resistance. They go to the house, look back at the ranch and see nothing. It WAS an illusion! Nothing but dust inside the house, so they check the storm cellar. Upon opening the door, they find two pairs of glowing yellow eyes looking up at them. Their flashlights highlighted portions of the massive reptilian creature below, but more importantly, they revealed the ten pairs of legs, each foot tipped with massive claws, and wicked jaws and teeth. Trey threw a grenade in on them. They were dead, and the team investigated whatever it had been guarding, a wall with n intricate pulsing sigil. They heard a hum begin. Trey felt something was terribly wrong, so they ran from the storm cellar, and got far enough away from it that they were only knocked down when it all exploded, not killed.

TUMB 11/18 THE SIGILS Correk again visited Dannec, bringing a book along with him for Dannec to research.Trey’s discovery of a sigil in the storm cellar had been followed by the other two teams finding different sigils and experiencing equally unpleasant explosions. No one had been injured. He’d looked at the pictures the teams had sent and had no clue what they meant. The tome was a rather ancient survey of powerful sigils. The book might have dated from before the Great War. It did indeed have copies of the exact sigils in he pictures sent to him. Just what magic are you playing at, Council?

In Tyler’s bar, they talk about their strategy. Brownstone feels that they need more intel, and a bigger hammer. “I always figured your main strategy was to just go in there and beat them down until they lost consciousness. But these aren’t the kind of people we can just rush at without thinking. We need more information so we can do this shit the smart way. Until then, I’m not going anywhere, and I’m telling everyone else not to go anywhere.” Dannec showed up, with good news. He was starting to understand the sigils. “They are part of a magical energy channeling system. Relays to a sort of amplifier.” Doesn’t matter what they were amplifying, that’s less important than understanding they are relays. I can potentially trace the magic now by experimenting with sigils of my own. I can trace it to where it’s being sent, but if I’m not careful about this they might be able to trace it back to me, or I could blow myself up. It’s going to take me a few days to get the artifacts I need to do this securely and safely and a few more after that to trace them, so about a week overall.” . The situation had changed in a matter of minutes. They might soon have the intelligence they needed. And Shay was going to take Maria to the warehouse, and suit her up in special equipment.

THE TRAINING The teams stood outside Fort Brownstone, their new training facility, standing where the mud-pit had been. “Welcome to your new training environment, Fort Brownstone. James has informed me that you’ll soon have to take on powerful magical foes. I’m going to do my best to simulate magical attacks. (See Groups, Brownstone Agency TUMB 06/18 entry, Training for Magical Attacks. )

TUMB 11/19 One of the Senators, McNamara, was upset that there weren’t more reports on the activities concerning the Council. Johnston reminded him that they didn’t want the Council to find out what they were doing. McNamara stated he would halt all proceedings until reports were presented, and Johnstone reminded him of the Michael Galbraith ruling from fifteen years ago, allowing such actions. McNamara continued saying he would stop the actions unless reports were forthcoming, and left the meeting. Johnston made a call, asking for a favor, and setting up a meeting in an hour at Calabrese. Johnstone meets with Galahad, a hacker, who already had a file on McNamara to use, if he needed it. Johnstone considers him to be a dirtbag. “I thought he was dirty. Men that strident are usually trying to hide how damned filthy they are.” Galahad snorted. “He isn’t even a good dirtbag. The asshole barely covers his tracks. Bribes all over the place. Hell, he’s taking bribes from opposing sides at times I’ve traced at least one bribe to an account associated with the Council.” Johnston thought a minute. “I have some people working for me right now. They’ve got hackers working for them, too. Very skilled. I’d like it if your information about our mutual friend made it to them.” The hacker nodded. “I can set up a series of hints—breadcrumbs—that if they’re good enough, they’ll be able to follow until they find the information. I’ll also set some stuff up so I can get a good fingerprint of them. They might be helping you now, but they might sell you out later.” “Fine, son. That sounds like a good plan. Just don’t do anything to piss them off. Their bosses… Well, let’s just say we wouldn’t like how they’d handle the situation if they thought the government was coming after them..”

AT THE WAREHOUSE Shay and Maria, in Shay’s warehouse. Maria comments, ”I’m surprised that you’d show me all this stuff. For all you know, I could get mad and decide to bust you for all these illegal weapons.” The tomb raider chuckled and shook her head. “If I’m going to trust you to have my back, then I need to make sure you don’t have a damned pee shooter when we’re firing at a charging demon.” And Shay offers her one of her adamantine knives, describing it’s special use.

TUMB 11/20 Peyton finds some interesting “hints”, and accounts with a crypto bank, about someone moving around a lot of Bitcoins and Trollcoins, concealed as standard contract stuff. Will track it down. They do, indeed, find information leading to a DoD account, on a Senator who might be working with the council, and they need Shay to access the room where ithat computer is, physically. Any more digging might tip off the hack. Shay says she can call in some favors, and she does. She talks to the Professor, who talks to Correk, the Fixer, who just might know someone who could get into the office magically to access that computer. The Professor gives Correk a tiny black square gadget, to access it, and Correk says, “Now, if I can get him to do this and not moon the cameras, we’ll be golden. I just need to keep him away from the Cheetos.”

Later, a data stream started coming. It was data being transmitted through the proxy chain. “Damn. This guy is dirty even by the standards of a congressman. Maybe Shay should kill him.” . “I’ve got a better idea. Let’s make some mid-level reporter’s day. It’s time for us to mail a little anonymous dirt to a reporter and then the FBI. Senator McNamara’s arrested in a day or two tops, and whatever shit he’s doing for the Council stops.”

TUMB 11/21 THE END Crazak wants to move the Council and its activities to Amsterdam. “They’ve been hitting our safe houses and nodes one by one. It’s only a matter of time before they find this place and assault it. Relocating to Amsterdam is a less elegant solution than we prefer, I agree, but it’s not worth further losses They agreed.

Dannec calls Brownstone, telling him he has found their central location, but that there are fluctuations occurring that indicate that if he were going to do anything, he should do it fast. James put the coordinates into a map app. They took him to mountains east of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. When he checked the satellite images, there was nothing but normal mountains there

ON THE WAY Shay glanced around the interior of the massive Air Force plane. It was the largest team she’d ever worked with. Besides James and Maria, the dozens of men who formed the rank and file of the Brownstone Agency filled the seats. It was a damned army. An army of bounty hunters. James looked green. He hated flying, even in service of a nice righteous beatdown.

Before landing, Brownstone makes a final speech, telling them of what they would meet. “We’ve got about twenty minutes until we land in Ellsworth. From there, they’re taking us by VTOL insertion craft toward the site but outside the Council shield. The government’s going to man the perimeter, and PDA witches and wizards are gonna do some shit so there won’t be any portals. Unless we take out the Council, the shields they put around the base will stop any direct missile attacks or any shit like that. So this is going to be brutal, direct, in-their-face shit.” He slammed his fist into his palm. “This isn’t dead or alive. This is just dead. This is war, and we’re gonna annihilate these assholes.” He tapped on his phone, and a moment later the large screen at the front of the passenger cabin came to life and displayed an image of a sprawling and rugged complex of buildings in the mountains. He gestured toward it and tapped different large letters. “You all know your teams. The government and my elf friend have confirmed there are more than a few people at the site, but we don’t know anything about the inside. At least one Council member has been confirmed to be there, an elf named Crazak. If he’s there, the others probably are too. Just like the government can’t bomb the fuck out of the place, because of the shield we’re not going to be able to do any funny drone tricks. Don’t waste your anti-magic bullets on regular targets. Remember Lieutenant Hall’s briefing about the anti-magic deflectors. If they get too dark, you need to pull back. The only people dying today will be the Council and their lackeys. We don’t know how many monsters or soldiers the Council have left. We’ve picked off a lot of places and grabbed some artifacts, but this will be their last stand, and they will fight like cornered animals. So watch each other’s fucking backs, and make sure that every last Council motherfucker goes to meet their mak

TUMB 11/22 THE BATTLE They were on the ground, near the facility. Jame’s amulet was talking to him. Kill strong enemies. Adapt. Grow stronger. Reach advanced transformation. Full capabilities yet to be unlocked. There would be no fancy communications tech this time. The main buildings were already in sight. The Council had pulled all its forces inside, so they knew they were coming. “From what I was told, the Council’s men are in that large building. We’ll stick to the earlier plan. I’m gonna knock on their door to get their attention with Shay’s and Lieutenant Hall’s help. The other two teams should hit the sides and sweep toward the center. Pincer-attack shit. I’m sure Royce would be proud. James had decided against bulletproof vests to focus on armor with more resistance to stabbing and slashing. They expected monsters and magic, not gunslingers. James halted about twenty yards from the front of the building. Two massive metal doors stood there, decorated with two halves of an elaborate crest made up of concentric circles and upside-down triangles. The teams spread out. Rockets were fired, and the doors collapsed, opening the way into the buildings. Dozens of four-armed Zains were waiting. Grenades and gunfire followed, with knives and Shay’s sword completing the task of annihilation. James’ amulet kept urging him to fight stronger enemies for advanced transformation.

Trey’s group were also fighting the Zains, when six wizards came around a corner. Trey fell back, and attacked them with grenades. Ineffective. The wizards shot magic bolts back, hitting Manuel, who fell, screaming, as did another bounty hunter. Trey ordered his men to switch to anti-magic rounds, which pierced their protective shields. The six wizards died, and Manuel and the other man stood up, their anti-magic deflectors dark, but they were alive. The deflectors had saved them.

TUMB 11/23 James met up with his other two teams. OK so far, nothing they couldn’t handle. But Shay warned them, “They’re using disposable forces to judge our strength and make us run through our supplies. It’s only gonna get harder from here.” They advanced into the building, coming to an intersection of three tunnels. Brownstone took one, Shay and Maria took one, and Trey and shorty took the third. Shay and Maria found Ferrao down the hall, with a culling machine which protected him, and tried to kill them. Shay destroyed it with a magical spell, and fought. Ferrao almost killed her, wounding her so that her digestive tract was showing, but she used her magic sword to decapitate him, and the healing potions works to save her.

James came to a set of double doors, and found Shay, Heather and Alison all accusing him and rejecting him. Then the amulet re-established contact, and he realized that these were really monsters in disguise. He became so angry that the extra energy caused the transformation the amulet had wanted. Silver-green tendrils shot from James’ chest. This time the metallic bio-armor didn’t stop with his chest and back. It moved all the way down his legs, ripping his pants in several places. A sort of helmet formed over his head, but despite his eyes being covered, he could see fine. Better than fine. His peripheral vision was wider. Both arms were tipped by blades, and his gauntleted hands now had claws. His rifle clattered to the ground, and the armored bounty hunter advanced toward one of the monsters, growling under his breath. One of the three monsters rushed him, and he easily killed it. The amulet was all but shouting in his mind. Yes. Anger. Hate. Extended advanced transformation achieved. Whispy Doom’s thought collapsed into pure bliss and murmurs of excitement. James killed them with energy shots. The amulet urged him on to more kills.

Trey hissed and downed a healing potion, then shook his head and looked at the wounded men lined up against the wall. No one was dead, but most had burned through their healing potions and could barely move from exhaustion. Piles of dead witches and wizards lay in the cafeteria that had become their battleground. Trey came to one of the wizards, who mocked him, then pulled on one of his teeth, which caused his body to explode, blinding Trey and throwing him and Shorty against a wall. Trey got up again, but Shorty didn’t make it. Trey tried giving him a healing potion, but it wouldn’t bring back a dead man.

TUMB 11/24 James continued down the hallway, continually being encouraged by the amulet to find the Council, and flooding him with joy at the destruction he had caused. He came to a large room, and found Crazak and Yillin on its stage. They tried to kill him with ice spears and firebolts, which only irritated him. Crazak tried a blue force field, and a void black-light appeared, as his final weapon. “Armor is nice, Mr. Brownstone, but it just protects from forces, magical or otherwise. This isn’t a force. This is anti-life magic that has been tuned to better affect humans. Don’t worry, after I kill you I’m sure I’ll find some use for your nice artifact armor.” The black ball shot out and connected with James, and he flew backwards, crashing into the floor of the hallway, then felt nothing but pain. He pulled out a healing potion, and downed it. His amulet spoke again. Useful. New attack. New adaptation, potential strong. Severe damage. Adaptation achieved, but regeneration limited. So James pulled another healing potion out, and poured it over his armor. New adaptation, potential strong. Improved short-term regeneration, exterior and interior adaptation in progress. The hole in the armor closed. James went after Crazak again, and another black ball hit him, but this time it only annoyed him. The amulet had adapted to it, so that it was ineffective. James leapt toward Crazak, and attacked him with a blade, then sliced his head off. He then hacked at the body in senseless rage, not noticing the chill in the air around him. Ice formed around his arms and legs, until only his head was free of it. Yilin thought she had him conquered, as no one had his back. Then Shay spoke . “I’ve got his back.” Yilin protected herself from Shay’s sword with an ice shield, and another voice spoke up. “Except I’ve got HER back!” And Maria fired at her. But Yilin again protected herself with an ice shield, as Shay ran her through with her magical sword. The amulet adapted to melt the ice, whereupon Shay quipped, “That hot to see me, huh?”

TUMB 11/25 Three down. Just He Who Hunts left to find and kill. The Senator called, telling James that they were sending in reinforcements, and James agreed. Let the PDA kill the last Council member. Lachlan came stumbling into the room, looking for him, saying,” . “Big man, we’ve got bad trouble. Come with me.” They all rushed to the other room, where Trey stood over Shorty’s body. James brought them all out, the team carrying Shorty with dignity. They stepped outside to helicopters and VTOL landing craft deploying soldiers. An officer rushed up to James. “Mr. Brownstone, we’ve been ordered to evacuate your men. Do you have any wounded?” The bounty hunter grunted. “Yeah. Several guys hurt.” He nodded to Shorty. “We lost a man, and we need to guarantee his body gets back to LA.

AFTER THE BATTLE Two days later, Major Tennett and his SAS squadron surrounded the last warehouse in the Amsterdam headquarters of the Council. Other NATO Special Forces units, including American, French, Belgian, German, and Dutch forces, were contributing to Operation Cold Iron. They blew open the door, and found He Who Hunts floating above the boxes of artifacts there, in the warehouse. They opened fire on him, but didn’t do more than shred his hooded cloak. A few seconds later, reddish-blue bolts blasted from it and struck a half-dozen soldiers. Their afflicted body parts melted like ice hit by a blowtorch. The troops retreated and called for the magical forces, “ All Merlins enter and engage. I repeat, all Merlins enter and engage.” They did, and blasted him with all sorts of magical energy and spells. He grasped a small hand mirror from one of the crates, and threw it on the ground. A jagged crack of light in the air appeared above the mirror, blinding in its intensity. The light died, and the last scrap of He Who Hunts’ robe disappeared into the crack, the fissure in reality sealing itself behind him.

James stood behind Shorty’s coffin. The church was full. After the first prayer, the Pastor asked for Anyone in the community who wanted to, to speak of Brother Theo. Nana spoke first, calling him a hero. Trey spoke, as did many others from the community, including Charlyce, who sang Amazing Grace. All joined in. At the post-funeral BBQ, James watched everyone talking, and knew he HAD made a difference, and that he would continue to do so. And Father Mc Cartney underlined that feeling when he told James he didn’t have to make anonymous donations after this. He would accept them even with his name on them. He would never refuse him again.

TUMB 11/EPILOGUE As Johnston left an upset Galahad (who couldn’t figure out how the information had gotten out without leaving him tracks to trace), he met with an agent who told him about what they had found when they had gone into investigate. They, also, hadn’t been able to trace the leak, and had found some unusual evidence on the ceiling of the room – colored dye, and other substances, similar to those found in Cheetos. Johnston laughed. He knew who he would tell THAT tale to