Lookout's PoV

Spence was keeping an eye out on the target's house. Fellow's name was Jim and he seemed to be a dangerous guy. Not only had he apparently run off the previous guy that snooped around, he combated four armed men with nothing but his bare hands. Spence shivered when he watched the video. He would do his job and just keep an eye out. Nothing more.

So far he had been there the entire day before and there was no activity. He was kind of hoping that he would get more of the same today. Spence was getting paid a good bit of cash to sit here and do nothing. But then he started to take note when a taxi pulled into the man’s driveway. Then he saw the person who had been in that video. Sighing he dialed a number.

“Report?”

“Just arrived. Main target. Alone. No car, came in a taxi.”

“Good work, if he moves location track him. Don’t let him out of your sight.”

“Roger.”

Damn. He actually had to pay attention now. Popping open an energy drink he prepared for the long haul.

Jim’s PoV

When he opened the door it felt good to finally be home. Again. Hopefully this time it would be permanent. He considered his filthy guests and he tried to consider a plan to minimize the damage. Eight rolls of paper towels and two rolls of plastic wrap later he looked at his creation.

His floor had plastic wrap with a few layers of paper towels over it and the guest room bed was completely covered by the wrap. Grabbing Milly first he dropped her out of his inventory. Just in case there was any odd bugs or “accidents” she would be the guinea pig. Jim was fairly certain that everything should be fine though.

With one hand he crossed his fingers and with the other he pulled “Milly the Annoying One x 1” out of his inventory. What came out seemed like a huge pile of cloaks. But when he heard the pile snoring he figured it was a success. After some digging he found the girl and shook her shoulder.

Milly’s PoV

Someone was shaking Milly but she wanted to go back to sleep.

She mumbled sleepily “Go away, we’re closed.”

But the shaking continued. She tried to bury herself deeper but she got really cold all of the sudden. Opening a bleary eye she saw a man shaking her. Why was a man in her room? Now awake and scared she started screaming.

Her screams were quickly cut off with a firm hand to her mouth. The man said “It's Jim. Shut up or your fired.”

Taking a look at the man he did seem familiar but he was a lot... shorter. Normal Jim was a tower of a man that was bigger than anyone she had ever seen. This Jim was… a bit taller than average maybe? Still he was a muscular guy.

She asked “Really? You look a little different.”

The man nodded and said “My two bodies are connected somehow. But yea, other me is a mountain.”

Jim said briskly “I have someone coming over with some fresh clothes for women. She should be here any minute. Your clothes will stick out way too much, plus I don't think my washer can handle all that dirt. I need you to cleanup and I should have something for you shortly. I like my house clean, just follow me.”

As he showed her this thing called a “shower” she was in love! Hot water! It was Great! But their clothing was really weird. He gave her a temporary garment called a “towel.”

It didn’t seem to cover very much. Still she nodded along while not paying attention. Her mind went dreamy thinking that the first thing she would buy when she got paid was a shower. Mmmm.

Charlotte’s PoV

Charlotte was looking through her clothes trying to decide what to bring over. It was a weird request even for Jim. Why would the new people need clothes? But it seemed asking Jim questions lately only got met with flippant excuses.

Things just did not add up. Jim’s expertise was more on the technical side of things. Yet he somehow obtained a stockpile of silver, a miracle cure, and now these mystery people. And then there was his physical transformation and his combatives display at the pawn shop. Too many things were not adding up.

Then the old quote from Arthur Conan Doyle came to mind.

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

He did not have the skill set to produce the results she had seen so far. No one did. If it had only been the combatives display she could have made a small potential connection to their former research. So in the end that meant he was cheating. But how?

She intended to find out. At first she was going to let Jim keep his secrets, but she would not be party to exploiting people who could not defend themselves. Charlotte knew that it was probably an irrational thought. It was probably going to be nothing. Maybe he had a secret society of genius gaming buddies from overseas or something. Still, she had to be sure that it was their choice to be here and they were not under some kind of duress.

Charlotte had a feeling that these new so called “employees” would let something slip. She wanted to trust Jim but there was a good saying. Trust but verify. She would verify his good intentions towards these people. After making some selections of her old clothes, she left for Jim’s house.

Jim’s PoV

Now satisfied that he would not turn his people into goo, zombies or crazy people he grabbed the other three from his inventory.

Looking at the confused trio he said quickly “Milly is using the shower right now. Ask her how to use it when she is finished. No one leaves this room till yall are clean! This zone is now flagged as the only place it's okay to be dirty. Dirty people do not leave this room unless they become clean people! Davis, I got some of my clothes over there for you. For everyone else Charlotte will be here in a bit with the loot.”

Maria said “You look different.”

Jim muttered “Yea, yea. I know. Shorter. Welcome to Earth!”

Then the doorbell rang. Jim saw three confused faces as he made a quick exit. Grr. Why did it make him feel awkward to show them this weaker version of himself? Seriously he needed to find out how to leech Charlotte's super manager powers. She was like a half a foot shorter than him but still remained confident all the time.

Charlotte’s PoV

Charlotte rang the doorbell and had the clothes she had chosen to be sacrifices in the other hand. Jim opened up and said “Welcome!” as he ushered her indoors.

Preemptively she said to Jim “You didn’t tell me their sizes, and I don’t think I have anything that will fit the girl. But Hopefully some of this will work.”

Jim nodded and said “Fantastic! So, how long do you think it will take you to get them all working legallyish. The sooner I can get Milly’s lab up the better. We need to make sure her weeds actually work here. It’s possible they might not, so the sooner I know the better.”

Confused she said “Weeds?”

“Yea. She got some plants from her.. Uhh.. country? I remember vaguely that some plants have trouble adapting to different environments. Is that right?”

With the feeling of a headache coming on she asked “Jim.. I don’t suppose the plants were declared when they entered the country?”

“Ummm.. no… is that bad?”

Angrily she said “You will be fined if it’s found that you smuggled them in. Also if it causes problems to the local flora and fauna you will be held liable for any damages.”

“Right.. So we need to make sure they don’t leave the building. Got it. Easy peasey.”

The pain of the headache increased as she thought about how to implement designs that would prevent spores or seeds from exiting the building. Not to mention just the designs but there would need to be a protocol for entering and exiting the room. While she was thinking through the new problem a waif in a towel started coming down the stairs. Just a towel and nothing else.

Her jaw dropped as she watched the poor girl. How could he! A woman that was beholden to him was forced to run around naked and barefoot in his house? What happened to her original clothes? Then she was angry. As anger washed over her she dropped her pile of garments and started beating him with her handbag. She yelled "How could you!"

“What? What are you doing Charlotte! Stop!”

He was easily weaving and blocking her makeshift club but that only made her more angry. She started grunting with effort and she attacked more vigorously. Then she blinked and there was a man in literal armor. Like knights and castles kind of armor. What the hell?

Jim then shouted “Dirty people do not leave the contamination zone!”

The man stuttered and said “I heard you were under attack. I came to help.”

Jim looked at his floor and said “Blood is so hard to get out of carpets. Your armor still has that dried blood all over it! Davis. Become a clean person. Until then you are banished to the land of the dirty people.”

Davis looked sad and said “Sorry Jim.”

Shaking his head Jim said “I understand that you want to do your job of guarding me, but I just moved back in. We should be fine for now. Just clean up man.”

Jim bent down and got one of the garments that she dropped and said to the girl “Milly, that’s a towel. People don’t walk around in towels. They’re for drying off. Wear this.”

As they went upstairs Charlotte could only look in confusion. She asked “What… what happened?”

Jim shrugged while rubbing one of the spots where she actually hit him and said “Beats me. Guess she doesn’t know what a towel is. And dammit she looked good without all that dirt! If you had given me a second I could have taken some pictures. I would have shared. I'm not stingy”

She narrowed her eyes. Charlotte would talk to the girl later.

Lookout’s PoV

Spence’s stomach roiled as he looked at the text for the tenth time.

“Coming to pick up the packages. Please deliver them to the normal place.”

God he hated this part of the job. It was when the risk was greatest. Normally it didn’t come to this. Still if they give the boss what he wants there was a good chance they would be fine. But he had a temper. He absently rubbed his ribs.

It was healed now but he had made what he thought was a good joke at the time. The boss didn’t think so. He had two of his goons hold him while he delivered consecutive blows to the same area. If only that Charlotte woman hadn’t shown up.

They were both high priority targets. Why did they both have to show up at the same place? Damn. He had to report it too. And with them both together he knew that a snatch and grab was a good possibility.

Then the next text came.

“Delivery in 5.”

So less than five minutes till they did the grab. Looking in the rear view mirror he saw the nondescript vehicle with four men in it. They all filed out of the car professionally and made their way to the front door. He winced as one of the large men beat the door down in one blow. Some of them were really good at that. Poor bastards. No time to run, no warning.

Not thirty seconds later they came out with two bodies thrown over their shoulders. They used some kind of chemical that could knock a person out in seconds. Most people didn’t even remember what happened when they woke up.

Spence pulled up and the team deposited the two in his vehicle. He really hoped the people would cooperate. Shoveling was hard work.

Davis’ PoV

He didn't understand why being male meant that he had to take a shower last. Davis was a bit nervous when he heard a loud crash downstairs but he remembered what Jim had told him last time. So he stayed put.

But after that noise he couldn't hear voices anymore. Still he stayed because he didn't want to disappoint Jim again.

So when it was his turn to shower he finished in only a couple minutes and then threw on the clothes that had been left for him. The women didn’t seem eager to leave the room so they all left when he did.

As he descended the stairs he could see the door. It was broken off its hinges. His heart leapt.

Then Gwen said “The loud noise.”

He nodded.

Gwen asked “What do we do?”

Grimly Davis said “We find him.

Random Bystander’s PoV

Riley was on her way home from school when she saw something interesting. It looked like a scene out of a bad fantasy movie. There was a man in heavy armor with a sword and shield, a woman with a black robe and black staff, a woman with a brown covering that looked like a monk and finally trailing a girl in a cleric looking garment.

She was jealous. Her mom would never let her skip school to participate in a comic convention on a weekday. Although Riley couldn’t recall one going on right now. Sighing she walked home and started thinking of an argument that would let her attend one on a Friday. Some people were so lucky.