Clancy Ambrose stood at the balcony of squat brown concrete building in the small town of Donnybrook, New Mexico.

A small town in the south-eastern quarter of the state, with a population that was a little under fifty thousand. Famous for ghost sightings in the same way that its neighbor Roswell was famous for aliens.

He glared upwards at the roiling black clouds that had gathered over the town, joining together into a singular mass of black steel wool. Drumming his fingers against the railing of the balcony.

There was a sense of dread, that was slowly building up inside of him, a sense of ominous certainty that was growing with each passing second.

Clancy, and Francis, his new Cleric, were both puzzled, and a little troubled to find that there was only one assignment open to him. He, of course was instantly suspicious, Francis on the other hand was merely confused.

They made him a mayor. Clancy Ambrose was now Mayor of Donnybrook New Mexico. Mayor for life even, or until he let the contract run out...or until there was no town.

The town was unincorporated, and was run privately, with the state of New Mexico having disavowed it for various...reasons.

Its governance had been entrusted into the hands of the Prospero Foundation, and the UN Council, who both took interest in the town for a variety of equally vague and worrisome rationales.

The job was a cushy one, on paper it amounted to Clancy simply keeping an eye on things and occasionally assisting the local Sheriffs when it came to dealing with the town's more anomalous population.

In practice, it would mean just hanging back and serving as an observer, and it was that little detail that had the hairs in the back of Clancy’s neck rising.

What exactly was he meant to be observing? What was so important that the foundation was posting someone like himself here? Posting people on a near indefinite notice.

If something looked like a set up, and smelled like a setup, Clancy was pretty sure it was a set up. He’d told Anne as much before moving some of his stuff out to the mayoral McMansion, a tacky, overly ostentatious dwelling that had been built over a fairly sturdy military bunker.

She’d just told him to hang on for a bit while she got some things set up for him, so he could better take advantage of the situation.

He’d told her he was definitely sure that this was probably some kind of trap. Predicting that all this was some Fun with Dick and Jane nonsense., where things were going to go terribly wrong and he’d be left with a mess in his hands. Standing as the fall guy, for after whatever went wrong had passed, and it was time to hand the blame out.

Anne had responded by saying she was absolutely certain that this was what was going to happen but then smiled, gave him a kiss on the lips and told him to go anyway.

He’d asked how she knew, and she said she’d asked around using the usual means, and then asked “Howard” about it. Howard Goulding, Her estranged father who worked on the UN Council.

Clancy had taken one look at her, and had instantly known that this was at least partially part of her plan. If not she would never have gone to Howard about it.

Anne hated her own father almost as much as she hated Clancy’s, and she hated Clancy’s father enough that the two of them had a pack going where Clancy would be perfectly okay with her smothering the bastard in the crib if she ever figured out time travel.

She insisted she wasn’t responsible for making things happen this way, this was apparently all a “happy accident”. Still, he knew that she’d at least been responsible for letting them happen.

He suspected she’d known he was being plotted against before he did. Just like she knew about everything else before he got around to finding out.

Which meant he was slightly annoyed that she hadn’t warned him first...though it was entirely possible she’d played dirty pool and just told him while he was….distracted. The dam of his will having been allowed to drop, his full attention, and every sense focused on every inch of every curve of her body.

She could be tricky that way when she wanted to play cute...which was a common cause of arguments between the two of them.

He was the reckless one, she was the tricky one. Sometimes it worked well between them, other times they got on each other nerves.

Though he wasn’t entirely sure how coming to this town was connected to their goals, Clancy decided to take things in stride.

This was actually pretty mild for his girlfriend’s scheming and it seemed to concern something significant enough for the scheming to be justified. He had no clue why she hadn’t run it by him first but that was just sort of her way.

Besides, even if she had warned him, it likely wouldn’t have changed anything, because the Prospero Foundations contracts were like loose fighting admantine manacles. Unrestricting yet near inescapable.

With the exception of Clancy doing something rash to escape, even if he’d known what was coming he’d have still needed to willing walk into whatever this situation was and gauge things personally.

Clancy’s best guess was that she intended to have the two of them try and snatch chestnuts from an open fire. Collecting benefits despite knowing that someone out there was trying to play some games with them.

Clancy thought it a risky idea, he could pretty much punch and spell his way, through anything, but this seemed like it was going end up bigger than that. Something on a scale that he’d never had to handle before.

However, since he’d agreed to abide with this grand working that she seemed intent on pulling together for their sakes, he went along with her plans.

Thus here he was, settling in for what was his first, and possibly last job as a Foundation Elite. Hoping all this didn’t blow up in their faces.

He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t trust his girlfriend’s judgement, and since he was here he figured he might as well make some preparations. Starting those preparations, by getting ready for his new job and getting used the little town he’d be calling home for the foreseeable future.