“Of course I don’t buy the hype behind you. Your mother might have given you preferential treatment. But, I’m here to make you kneel. Remember I was an Agent too and my team was just as successful.”

~ Krista Noches

Kouki

Everything is going exactly as I planned. Now, I just have to buy a little time. “So, did you at least have the balls to show up yourself? Nah, you’re slightly smarter than that.” One of the Veiled Guardsmen or as they’re known “The Cloaked” places a small device on the ground and it projects an image of Krista. Her face is smug as if she’s already won.

“Of course not, what's the point of being the director if I have to do my own dirty work. But, on the off chance that you were really arrogant enough to depower yourself, I just had to have some kind of presence.”

“This is why you were always such a bad agent. You let your team do all the work. You never saw how hard things really were to accomplish and never had to stick around for the consequences. Also, side note mom definitely did her own dirt. A fact that’s about to bite you in the ass shortly.” Poised as ever she raises her hand to her face and shakes her head.

“All that bravado must be exhausting.”

“I’m pretty sure if it was just bravado you would have shown up in person” I interject. That touched a small nerve. She jerks her arm forward threatening me with her finger.

“I will not be goaded into a straight-up fight like a child! Cloaked fire on him at once.” As they take their aim I throw back my glass of wine while producing the cork to the bottle in my other hand.

“Yes, doom yourselves. By all means, proceed.”

“You think a wine cork is going to save you?” She laughs and the Cloaked look at each other confused.

“I would do it with a teacup but I don’t like tea. I had this amazing artificially aged Zakarin wine distilled for this occasion and so it’s today's weapon of choice.”

“I’m not going to just let you stall. I have about four minutes and thirty seconds to kill you and I’m not going to waste the opportunity.” With one swift move, I throw the cork at one of the seals I placed earlier. The cork hits the seal and ricochets with explosive speed propelling it into the other seals, accelerating and magnifying its force. None of the Cloaked could do anything but be blown away as the cork shot into each one of them in a meticulous pattern that left no prisoners. Delayed impacts send their bodies flailing and flying all around me as I lean back and sip my next glass of wine.

This goes on for some time. When the dust that used to be armed soldiers settles I take my last sip and pour my next glass. “I call that one Flex Tech: Ricochet Reaper. So, I’d say you only have about 3 minutes and fifteen seconds now. So, while you prepare your next set of teams to frantically try to make that deadline allow me to explain how I’ve already won.” The hand of her hologram clenches.

“Send everyone now!”

“See, I knew that you would never just fall into my lap like a good little mass murderer. So, I hatched a plan. The whole facade of saving my friends was perfect for this since you regard my loyalty as my greatest “weakness”. But of course, since I’m an overachiever I’m actually doing that so it’s not really a facade.

“ In any case no matter how vulnerable I was, you would never trust that it wasn’t a trick. But, you’d always respond in some manner just in case. I applaud this 5D chess way of thinking by the way. Inconveniently that meant trying to kill you was pointless but luring you out of your hidey holes to see my demise on the other hand...Well, that could be useful because even if you can protect yourself there’s no way to protect all your assets. The only question was which asset to target?”

“Are you getting to a point anytime soon? The fact that you’re here means it can’t be anything too important. What a building? A Weapons cache? None of that means anything to me.”

A devious smile appears on my face because I know when I reveal my hand the storm that’s going to come down will be the stuff of legends.

“Precisely, I considered all of those options. They weren’t sufficient. I needed something that you can’t live without that would simultaneously cripple if not outright destroy the Veiled in one swoop. Luckily, there’s one asset that all Veiled Agents and Directors keep that trumps all the others.”

A slow expression of realization crosses her face. It’s an expression of pure fear and dread and I’m reveling in every delicious drop of it. The summoning circle I placed on the altar starts glowing right on time. I throw back the last of the Zakarin wine to wash her anguish down. Snatching the seal and throwing it to the ground the light brightens, my smile widens and my laugh becomes maniacal. “That’s right! I won because I took a Veiled Agent's ultimate treasure. Your Black Book!”

~ End