Chapter 19 – Inside Jobs

  “I have literally no idea where we are or how we got here from the bazar.” – Order Stabilitas recruit looking at the wall signs.

  “Good morning, team!” Penny said as she walked through the door and saw Kurt and Val eating breakfast. “I hope we are ready to put in some work today.”

  Kurt stopped with his fork halfway to his mouth. “Oh god. She’s not a morning person, is she?” He asked Val in mock horror.

  “Careful, she might accuse you of having a case of the Mondays.” She said in return.

  They both ughed while Penny looked equal parts confused and offended. Kurt and Val had watched the cssic movie of Office Space the night before and some of the parts seemed to have really stuck with the kitsune.

  “Well, despite it being a Thursday, it is the official start to our working together.” Penny said while trying to be stern but just sounding flustered. “We have a busy schedule to make up for the unconventional beginning of your career here at the order.”

  Rinsing down the st of his breakfast with the st of his coffee, Kurt sat up straight. “Of course, Penny. Why don’t you tell us what we have on the agenda today. How does an ancient order that predates modern history start out their new hires?”

  “Gd you asked.” Penny said with far too much of a smile. “We have our official employee onboarding to take care of.” Val ughed but was savagely cut off by their handler. “You too Val. Since you are officially switching roles and have yet to complete agent onboarding, you can join us.”

  Val groaned into her palms at the news. She had been through the basic onboarding that troopers receive already and thought it was the worst part of basic training.

  Kurt looked back and forth from the 2 women, clearly confused at the wildly different reactions. “So, details?” He asked.

  Penny had them follow her through the doorway to the order proper. They stopped in her office and Kurt got his first real look. It was an odd assortment of modern office and run of the mill 80’s office. The computers and chairs were all very modern and reasonably comfortable looking, which is what really mattered.

  The rest of the office was a mix of faux wood, modur metal desk and cabinets that seemed to be nothing more that holdovers from a bygone era. Then there were the modern florescent lights above checkerboard carpet tiles and bright white walls with a blue accent stripe along the top. All in all, the office was making Kurt second guess the contract he had signed.

  Penny opened a drawer and pulled out a small clip board. “We will do an abridged version of the general new hire presentation with a short video. For the agent new hire presentation, I will brief you directly. Then we will have a general orientation and cover how we will work together.”

  “What, no tour?” Kurt asked, joking about the packed agenda.

  Val shook her head with a sigh. “It won’t really do much good. The order is the size of a small town or city, and things kind don’t make sense since they can connect to multiple pces that are nowhere near each other geographically.”

  “Exactly right.” Penny agreed. “Pretty much you navigate the order by following the painted lines and signage.” She then rotated a monitor around to show a movie beginning to py. “Please watch this introduction presentation.”

  Kurt tried ‘really’ hard to focus on the film that was being pyed. While it was well made and of excellent production quality, it was still the same boring presentation he had seen a few times before. Company mission statement, core values and some general facts made up the bulk of the half hour presentation.

  “Lets move to the Agent specific version.” Penny said after the film ended. She pulled up a PowerPoint presentation and began to talk through the slides. She thankfully wasn’t one of the people that just read off the slide and actually seemed to know about the material in question.

  She told them that agents operating out of a field office, with the support of a hub, were expected to be the driving force of any local actions. They were to subjugate rifts when they attached, and they would take direct action against any persons or groups aiming to propagate the spreading of extradimensional influences.

  What Kurt found rather nice to know what that they could request additional support and assets from the order if needed. The order would also provide necessary manpower if they needed to take rge actions within their territory. Apparently, the folks in charge really didn’t like the normies getting wind of their operations.

  When it came to rifts, it was a lot of what Val had already told him, but he still appreciated the recap. She also made it sound like dealing with rifts was becoming a bigger problem than it had been, and the order was ramping up its use of anchors and hubs to create more field offices. She did let it slip that they were having some problems on that front, however.

  Penny finished her presentation and started clicking away as she rotated the monitor toward her. “That reminds me. The findings on those flowers and the rift core.” She then flipped the screen back. “The flowers are an average source of mana rich nectars and sap, but they grow very quickly and without much fuss or special attention. Given the amount you retrieved along with the several complete specimens, I have been able to negotiate a lump sum payment from both the alchemy association and the botanists group.”

  The screen she dispyed had the breakdown of the payout in USD. The alchemy folks would be shelling out a total of twenty thousand for the cut flowers and stems, around two hundred for each. The botany bunch had fronted five thousand per living pnt for a total of thirty thousand.

  Kurt stared at the screen in bewilderment. “You mean to tell me that they are paying us fifty thousand dolrs for two garbage bags full of pnts?”

  “Yes, and with explicit instructions to make more of an effort to retrieve complete samples in the future.” Penny said as she looked at something on her other screen. “I was told that unearthing and repotting in the same soil would be best and to ask for more details about the conditions of the rift. I assume they mean is it wet, sunny, and such.”

  “Yeah, got it.” Kurt said, still slightly amazed at how much they paid. “How about the core?”

  “This has got to be good.” Val said as she leaned forward in her chair and grasped his hand.

  Penny pulled another pager over to the screen they could see. “The core was of medium size and its crity was slightly better than average. With the density, factored by dispced volume versus weight, it was graded at seventy-six percent. They also noted that due to its completeness, it earned a ten percent bonus to that figure despite the addition of copper and steel.” She said the st part with a severe look to Kurt.

  “All in all,” she continued. “You will receive a bonus of eighty-six thousand USD for that rating on a mid-grade core. Naturally high grade and low grade are on different scales.”

  Val’s grip on his hand was nearly crushing his fingers as she practically vibrated in her seat. “That’s a hundred-and-thirty-six thousand dolrs.” She managed to choke out in an even tone.

  Kurt looked to her, and she met is eyes. “Even split right?” He asked and she immediately nodded. Then a thought occurred to him. “Wait, Penny. You get paid right? Like the order is fairly compensating you?”

  Penny seemed startled by the question before she blushed heavily. “Ah, yes. I am paid very well by the order, better than both of you in terms of sary. Also, handlers are not allowed to take payment from field agents or portions of their reward. It’s a safety measure to make sure we don’t abuse our retionship and send you off to rifts hoping to get a cut without any risk.”

  Val smiled sweetly. “It’s still very thoughtful of you to ask.” She rubbed his arm. “Now how about Penny confirms that payment to our accounts and we move on to the next part so we can get out of here.”

  Once again changing the dispy on the screen, Penny showed them what looked like a standard hierarchy tree. “We are really just starting up this program, so our chain of command looks a little different than others.”

  The screen showed a picture of Penny with Kurt and Val attached to her picture with circle around it. That circle had a line going up to a picture that almost looked like Jay but was just different enough to possibly be someone else. There were a few other bubbles that led up to Jay as well and it was all centered over the eastern half of North America.

  “We fall under Jay who had begin an experimental initiative to use more external candidates for your open positions.” Penny began to expin with a slight nod to Val. “He proposed the idea of hiring external candidates and made a push for half breeds to be the main candidate pool.”

  “Why?” Kurt asked, interrupting Penny.

  She shrugged. “No idea. If you ask him, you might get an answer. If you are really lucky, you might get the truth.”

  Val rolled her eyes. “Ugh, demons.”

  Penny went on to expin that their group was given a lot of leeway in how they operated due to multiple factors. They were a test, a proof of concept, essentially an experiment with such low risk that it didn’t hurt to try.

  Kurt then had another question. “What is the purpose of a handler? No offense, but couldn’t one person issue orders out and track progress for like ten groups of agents?” In his mind, it seemed really inefficient.

  “Good question.” Penny said. “I am part of the team as well but act as an observer and support. If we were to conduct a raid in your hometown, I would be apart of it. While I have no great combat ability, I am rather handy with rituals involving teleportation and obscuration.”

  Seeing the look on Kurt’s face, Penny continued. “I will help get assets to and from the target as well as cast a wide area zone of silence to encompass the target. It will be about the limit of my ability to maintain that but its necessary for the work.”

  Val and Kurt shared a quick gnce that Penny picked up on. “What? What’s with the look?”

  “Go ahead and show her.” Kurt said and sat back in his chair.

  Holding out her arm, Val pced her wrist on the desk in front of Penny. She pointed to the bracelet and the blond woman had to lean in to try and see what she was pointing at.

  “What am I supp…osed to…” Her words faded away as the obscuration part of the enchantment was broken by Val sliding her finger under the band and lifting it slightly. “Where? Where did you get this?”

  “Kurt made it!” Val said, her face beaming as she showed off. “It’s a focus that reduces my mana cost and amplifies the effect a lot. I am pretty sure it also reduces the mental strain of maintain spells too.”

  “I can make one for you.” Kurt offered. “And I’ll do it at cost.”

  Penny looked from Kurt to the bracelet several times, biting her lip slightly as she thought. “I don’t think I could afford that even without paying for your services. Plus, it would take forever, and I don’t want you to be stuck on this one thing.”

  “That’s the neat part, I can have one to you in a couple days.” Kurt said. “Val bought this bracelet from a pawn shop and other than some gold wire, it didn’t take much to make.”

  Val leaned in. “I watched him do the whole thing in about 4 hours.”

  Kurt braced himself, this was the tipping point that he had been waiting for. Penny’s face went from confused, to shock then horror before fshing briefly with anger. She pulled out her cell phone and sent a quick text message before smming it on her desk.

  She flinched at the noise and regained her previous composure. “Sorry, can you please wait a moment for Jay…”

  A fsh of red outside the door to Penny’s office could be seen through the frosted gss. A red and bck ring materialized in mid air before snapping shut as a familiar man stepped through. A courtesy knock ter, and Jay stepped in the office.

  “We have a problem.” Penny said.

  Jay for his part looked both perplexed and intrigued at her sudden shift in behavior. “Oh? And what sort of problem would that be?” He asked with an amused smirk and partly raised eyebrows. “Did your litter enchanter reveal his secret? Or rather the guild’s secret?”

  “You knew about this!?” Penny hissed. Literally hissed the st part.

  “Well, I had my suspicions.” He said as he sat on the edge of her desk and looked to Kurt and Val. “Can I see it?”

  Val took off her bracelet after a moment’s hesitation. She handed it over and Jay carefully took it, gently cupping it in his hand as he held it up to the light.

  “While it is far from the finest work I have seen of runic enchanters, it is simply breathtaking for something completed in such a short time. It took 4 hours, you said?”

  “Um, probably? I was kinda in the zone but that sounds about right.” Kurt replied.

  “Hmm. And the materials? I know the band is silver but what about the iny?”

  “White gold. Ptinum and gold mix if you want specifics.”

  Jay seemed to consider that for a moment. “Ah, yes. Using 2 transition metals made into an alloy then set into a third, albeit slightly lesser, transition metal.” He held it to the light and twisted back and forth to catch the subtle glint in the overhead lights before handing it back to Val. “As I said, exquisite given how fast it was made and the use of an off the shelf bracelet.”

  Val put it back on while Kurt focused back on the demon. “Thanks. So, I assume this isn’t it? Like you didn’t come all the way down here to admire my craftmanship.”

  “Unfortunately, not. While I have been known to enjoy fine works of art as such, I have a proposition for you. It seems to check a lot of your boxes too.”

  “What boxes are those?” Kurt was once again alert but had a feeling he would end up doing what Jay suggested.

  Counting off on his fingers, Jay listed it out. “Getting to put a hurting on shitty people, making the world a little better for you and getting paid. So long as you are ok with a little cloak and dagger that is.”

  After another look to Val, Kurt answered. “How about you tell me a little more before I say yes this time.”

  When it came to enchanters within the realms, they weren’t exactly rare. All in, about a quarter of people ‘could’ create enchantments of one kind or another. The problem arose when the ‘could’ turns into ‘would’. As there were many types of enchantments, there was a lot of issues with consistency.

  There had been a stigma on enchanting for hundreds of years. It was seen as a very difficult practice that required a lot of study and work before you could even begin to create an enchanted item. Compounding this was that a runic enchanter like Kurt, couldn’t make ethereal enchantments and needed physical items. Someone with the ability to permanently enchant an area, likely couldn’t focus their works down to a single handheld item.

  While there were various ways to enchant objects or pces, all of them needed specialized instruction and study in that methodology. Finding someone willing to take on an apprentice wasn’t always hard, but finding a master and apprentice that could both work the same type of enchantment was difficult.

  So, it was when Kurt began learning to cast spells from his father, having inherited his runic casting methods, that his uncle had tried to teach him to enchant with runes. After a few summers of study during school break, Kurt’s uncle had decred him a passable enchanter, allowing him to continue on his own. Naturally this process took pce all over and wasn’t just limited to Kurt and his family.

  The result was that enchanters were rare and often formed into groups under the ubiquitous ‘Enchanters Guild’. The guild was a lifetime membership, and one signed an agreement to join. In turn, the guild would help market products, source materials, and various other things to help the enchanter do business in retive comfort and safety. Or so they said.

  While the general demand for enchanted items was going up, the supply was staying the same and the only enchanters were in the guild. Bespoke items, such as custom weapons, clothing or accessories were nearly impossible to get without waiting decades. Common enchantments on objects were extremely expensive to the point that only the wealthiest would consider using them on a regur basis.

  For a while nobody seemed to mind, and it became the standard for the realms. Apparently, Jay minded this arrangement and had made it a personal mission to investigate. By personal mission, he of course meant outsourcing it to his newly recruited half breed team.

  “So, what I want from you is to make a name for yourself, maybe sell some items in the bazar, either online or in person. Then when the guild comes a knocking and tries to rope you in, you do that stubborn act and see what happens.” Jay finished expining.

  “And what do you think will happen?” Val asked, clearly worried at the prospect.

  Jay shrugged. “That’s the problem, nobody really knows. I haven’t seen the contract and nobody that has signed it will tell me about the guild other than what they do and the generally accepted common knowledge.”

  Kurt had pretty much made up his mind. “And you said pay? What about if things get heated? I don’t want to get myself in hot water by defending myself or when things get nasty while I do your dirty work.”

  “I will make sure they pay you more than fairly. If things get violent, just get violent right back. I know you can do it with the right motivations.” He smirked at Kurt and Val. “Besides, I will make sure Penny has all the proper authorizations for an internal investigation.”

  “But what about the guild? They extend beyond our order and might be entrenched in other pces as well.” Val brought up a good point about the wider ramifications.

  Jay sensed her worry and reassured her. “For now, we are cleaning house in our branch of the guild. If the guild at rge comes knocking, they have to get through us first.”

  Kurt turned to Val. “What do you think? You know the order better than me.”

  Val was staring at her hands where they were clenched in her p. She didn’t respond until Kurt pced his hand on hers and asked again. “I think we should. I grew up with my mother’s cn having immense wealth but precious few defensive artifacts. A ck that I am sure caused many deaths in service to the order. If we could…”

  Not needing to hear more, Kurt turned back to Jay. “We will do it. But at our own pace.”

  The demon nodded. “Of course, if you need anything, please reach out to me. While I don’t know about direct support, I can probably help in other ways.”

  “’No direct support’ fucking story of my life tely.” Kurt muttered under his breath.

  While Jay frowned at his words, a chime sounded from the computer and Penny gnced over. That gnce quickly turned into a frown, followed closely by her leaning in. “We might have to cut our little orientation short. The folks over in the investigations department returned something on those case files.”