Nine Swords

Isabella was dizzy and disoriented after stepping through the portal to New York. She still wasn't quite used to traveling through pathways that ran throughout Agartha. Her cell phone buzzed with a new message. She took not of the case number before slipping her phone back into her pocket. After getting her bearings she began to look around for her teammates.

It didn't take her long to spot the small group forming by the dumpster. Still a little bit dizzy she slowly made her way over to the group. She had dressed for the heat wearing a red tank top with light weight khakis, and sneakers. Her pistols were secure in the holster at the small of her back. Her backpack had her sniper rifle and extra ammo.

"Hi everyone. Sorry I'm late. Has our contact arrived yet?"

The rest of the briefing passed very quickly for Kleopas, being a field agent at heart he just smiled and nodded to the hypotheses that were being suggested by the others.

The next day he found himself laying on top of a old New York park bench, passing the time until the rendezvous. He was dressed in his civies, which consisted of a brown leather jacket with various anarchist logo's sown into it whilst hiding his Glock handgun, a loose white shirt underneath, baggy denim jeans and a pair of well used black Regatta walking boots.

“You look like a tramp you know” Miranda chirped into his ear.

Opening his eyes Kleopas stared at the sky for a minute for replying.

“I may do, but people will ignore me. It provides an excellent position to eavesdrop and anyway why should I care how I look?”

“'cause....”

“'cause what?”

“'cause your a secret agent, you should be in a swanky suit like James Bond”

“You do know how impractical fighting in a suit can be right? Besides posh shirts make my neck itch”

In the corner of his eyesight he could see Miranda shaking her head in dismay. Before he could carry on describing the other impracticalities of a suit he felt his phone buzz.
Reaching into his pocket to retrieve the device he quickly glanced at the contents of the brief message.
Sighing slightly he sat up from his prone position.

“Looks like it's time for work M”

“The highly classified mission? If you choose to accept it that is?”

Kleopas groaned inwardly.

“So its secret agent movie quotes today is it?”

“You bet it is Mr secret agent man” replied Miranda, who promptly begin to hum the Goldeneye theme.

“I should really cut your television time down.....”

Slowly getting to his feet Kleopas wondered out of the park and towards the rendezvous location outside the agartha portal. As he got closer Kleopas saw that a few others had already arrived and were talking amongst themselves.

“Hey folks, miss me much?” he casually called, giving a slight wave to them.

Elania smiled, waving to Kleopas and Isabella as they approached the group. She gave a nudge to the others as she engaged the pair.

"Hello to both of you, I hope your trip through was ok? We are just waiting for everyone to show before we get moving, we have not yet established contact with our er... contact."

Elania looked around at the assembled group, taking a mental headcount. "Are we missing anyone?"

As Elaina looks around for any other team members, she can't help but notice an intense young man standing not too far away. He has the chiseled and balanced looks of youth, but hair that is naturally prematurely gray. He wears a gray and blue plaid over shirt, and blue shirt, and faded blue jeans.

It's his bleached-gray eyes that seem to lock Elaina into place. Then her eyes start to gloss over as she seems to start to faint.

[[Action Scene - round 1]]
[[Since this is our first 'action scene', I want to just take a moment to talk you through how we proceed in moments like this You are welcome to post any actions (please just one post until everyone has had a chance to react) you want your character to take. Once I've posted a reply, I'll ask for actions for the next round, and we'll continue until I announced that the threat/situation has been resolved by posting "[[Freeplay]]". Then you are welcome to post and reply to other's post, freely. Enjoy!! - V]]

Elania having no active anima powers (she travels Agartha through a device in her ear made by the Templars which replicates the buzzing) She would have no defense against a mental attack of any sort, and she begins to fall to the ground, fainting.

The first thing that Alexander notices, or feels, is the distortion in the local aura flow. It's a sense that puts him off balance momentarily. All humans, anima-radiant or otherwise, output a psychic signature, that someone like Alexander is sensitive to. He quickly turns to Elania, whipping off his glasses. Now, he sees the world for what it truly is. Her aura, along with the auras of the group and everyone around them, shine like fires, tinged to the emotions their bearer is experiencing.

Alexander snaps to the young man staring them down, examining his aura.

Tom was busily poking at his phone. He had big fingers and a small phone, it was not a good combination for getting anything done quickly. He managed to navigate his way into a text message for Volen, and was carefully poking each letter to construct his message.

"V, got wind one of your buddies was missing. Savoy. Got any idea what he might have been doing in New York recently?"

He was so preoccupied with tapping out the message, that he did not notice Elania start to faint, or Alexander looking around sharply.