Tatiana Sabine's Story

A knock at the door. Snapping angrily, "Who could that be? We're busy here. I'm not expecting anyone, how about you?" They shook their head and looked curiously at the door. "Alright. We'll have to check it out then. You go over there, just in case. Over by the bed." The door swung open and a man in a suit stood in the hall. "What do you want?" A woman with a clipboard and suit on stood in the doorway, staring Theodore down. She looked to be in about her late twenties or so with a very business air about her. She held herself tall and strong with a very serious expression on her face. "Well? Who are you? What do you want?" Just then the phone rang. She looked back at the phone, torn to if she should leave the man at the door or answer the phone.



Jack and the mysterious stranger stood in the basement. "We own several companies under different names to hide ourselves from The Vircid, those people that we're at war with, the ones trying to stop us saving the world." They began walking down the center of the training area. "You have to understand, to stop people from panicking we've kept up appearances and tried to hide the fact the world is crumbling around them. People like you, people with a talent above others, we need you to know the truth to fight The Vircid. Here we'll teach you how to access and control your powers. Already you've shown you can. How do you think you survived the war? Bullets flying all around you, but none hit you." The man, taller than Jack, looked down into his face with a very stern, serious look. "You're body has the instinct to protect itself. You don't know how to harness it yourself, but you're powerful enough that you inside already realize it's needed to keep you alive. You used the wind to save yourself." He turned and jack could swear he heard something, like a whisper right in his ear. "I am one of the best of my kind. I will teach you." He walked off.

Jack stood there, very confused. It would take him a while to deal with this. He looked around, but there was nothing to sit on. The room was filled with strange contraptions. They looked like the kind of things that you put a mouse into and have it solve puzzles, some of them. Others were vessels filled with water and other materials. A couple had mercury in them. "Training area, huh?" He walked down the center some more. The place was big, like a floor of a parking garage. It looked like it covered the entire basement of the hotel, possibly some more. He came to the end of the room and touched the wall. It was very cold. Then he realized the entire room was cold. He looked to his left, hoping to find something to warm him up, to his right. He blinked and stared. The entire corner of the wall in the far back right was filled in with dirt instead of wall. It looked like it had been torn out and shoved back up, but there wasn't a speck of dirt on the floor. It was all perfectly pushed back into the wall. "Why would someone do this?"

Theodore was confused. He saw two men, not two men and a woman. He sighs. "I thought there were a couple guys in here. One looking kind of, well, I don't know how to put it really. Troubled, maybe? Another wearing a suit. Maybe you know their whereabouts?" Theodore asked politely. This woman looked professional, experienced. He wondered what may be going on, but he had no doubts now that Signet was involved. Damn rats couldn't keep their paws off natural elementals or skilled individuals if they tried. Which, now that Theodore thought about it, could mean that the man he was looking for was one of these. Even more reason to find the guy. Signet was a persuasive bunch, able to appeal to anyone to get what they want. "I'd very much appreciate it if you could tell me where they are." Theodore admitted to himself that he may be laying it on too thick, a fatal mistake if this were true.

"I have no id... Have I seen you before?" All of a sudden it hit her that this man looked familiar. She couldn't really place the face. It was someone she saw, a couple years ago maybe? "I... I need to get that." The left the door open and ran to the phone. "Hello?"

"Anya, there is a man who was looking for Gray and a potential new recruit. We're not sure who he is, but he's not one of us. I would have called earlier but I got pulled away. Find out who he is and why he's looking for them. If needed, deal with him. He could be a pot..." The line cut up as a cat jumped on the phone.

"Anastasia!" She hung up the phone and picked up the cat. This one was a heavy-set, but not fat, dark-grey cat with lighter colored stripes. "Now, come in." She sat down in the office chair at her desk and turned to face the front of the room. She motioned to a chair by the wall near the door. "Sit down." She waited for him to be seated. Something about him was familiar, but she just couldn't place it and that caused her to stare at him in a rather uncomfortable manner. "Now, who are you again? Oh, wait, right, the, uh, the two men. They work with me, but that's our business. How is it any of yours?"



Back downstairs, the man, Gray, came up to Jack. "That's the work of one of our earth movers. They're a rather secretive type. Even I don't know what they do for training back there. You can only get in if you're an earth mover and when you leave, you can't leave a speck of dirt on the ground or the teacher makes them train nonstop until they pass out from exhaustion." He put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "We won't be working there, though. We use the wind, the subtle vibrations in the air. If you get as good as me, you'll even be able to make the air move in such a way as to move sound on the wind without ever making it yourself. We'll start you off simple and should start as soon as possible. Time is most certainly of the essence. But by the end of your training with us, you'll be able to actually guide bullets through little tunnels of wind. You'll be able to hit anything with that skill, even with an impossible shot. And if you're quick, you can even turn an enemy's shot back on them. Then, with enough practice on your own time, you might get more powerful than me. You have it in you."

Jack and Gray approached one of those little puzzle things. It was a series of clear pipes with flaps, balls and other knickknacks inside. Jack's mind was filled with all the words the man was saying, but none of them seemed to settle. He couldn't make sense of anything he said and walked along with him seeming almost mindless. "Here. It's not as hard as it sounds. With you're beginning level, you'll need to use your body. In actuality, you're not using your body but more using the wind like a separate appendage. You even have, sort of an aura about you and other wind users will be able to tell if they get close enough."

Jack's head shot up. That's what I felt when I bumped into that guy! "Are you alright? Something wrong?" Jack shook his head and shrugged. "Alright. Well, this pipe has an opening here and here. Without being able to move the wind to your will, you can't solve any of these puzzles. First, all I want you to do is make this little turbine spin. It can take a little while, but don't get discouraged. You'll definitely be able to do it if you put your mind to it." Jack knelt down and looked at the turbine. He tried moving his hands, making a blowing motion and everything else he could think it without so much as a flutter. This is... Could I even... This has to be real though. There's too much coincidence. The letter, the guy, the wind, this entire basement, everything in the past few days says this is real.

A mix of fear and suspicion ran through Theodore. This woman, although it was faulty, recognized him. No one in Signet knew him. He wasn't much of a field agent, he was a recruiter. And he hadn't seen this woman...Wait. Anastasia. Why did that name, when paired with a cat, seem so familiar? For a moment, Theodore froze, but he shook himself free of it and stepped inside. He closed the door, and sat down.

"I'm just a man with a curious mind and eager employers, dear. I only really care about the troubled one. You see, he's an applicant for my employer's business, and a spot just opened up for him. I simply came to tell him so." Theodore explained. He could see how it may be taken as a shady mob threat or something, but he didn't want to just come out and say, "Hey, I work for a secret organization going against a huge corporate group, and I'm here to get my recruit back. "So, you like cats? Anastasia is a wonderful name for one." Theodore said, gesturing to the cat that had interrupted the phone call.

"You're a recruiter?" She turned to pick something up and happened to look out the window. She sighed at the sight. It had been years since she'd seen a beautiful, sunny day. She missed it. Sometimes she wondered if it was better to be ignorant. "Well then, it looks like we might be competition." She turned around, her face flashing back to a business smile just a little late for it to be hidden. "The other man, he's a recruiter for our business. If he brought your recruit in, then it's probably too late. He rarely brings people here that aren't sure things." She turned back to the desk and opened a drawer with a pen and pad in it. "Yeah. I like to adopt strays. I've always loved cats. So, how about this weather? Have you ever seen such a beautiful Maine afternoon?" Her eyes narrowed as she asked and she stared at him. Between the fact that she recognized him and the interest in the new recruit, she wondered, Could I have seen him back then?

"I find it to be quite drab outside, if I may say so." Theodore said, eyes narrowing as well. "I don't like the competition. To be quite blunt, I find them to be power hungry and fake." He added with a hard tone. He decided it was time to pull out another indicator, to see who this woman truly worked for. It was a method The Vircid used to confirm which people to trust, based on colors. Each department was assigned a very specific color and they were to refer to it as their favorite. It was their pass code. Which is exactly what he gave Airesmee. Theodore looked through the room, until he found the curtains, a nice deep maroon. "I love the color maroon. Such a deep color, don't you think?" He said to the woman, with a sly smile.

Tatiana knew where she knew this man from. He was one of the new recruits she saw before leaving the day she left to go undercover. She wrote on the notepad and walked over to him, handing him the paper. "I never really cared for that color myself, why?" The notepad had the words, "They have the room mic'd and recorded." written so it had to be held at a precise angle to read it. "I think it's time I show you the door, sir. I don't feel we have anything else to talk about." She grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door, Anastasia on their heels, pulling it shut behind her. She looked at the security cameras in the hallway as she pulled him to the elevator. As the doors opened, the bellhop was in there.

"Anya..." She pushed on his face and a flash of flame came from her hand and burned down his throat. He fell to the floor, his mouth bleeding and him not moving.

"I always hated that name. It's TatiANA!" She kicked him and used his key to call the elevator to the basement. "The elevator's bugged too, but we'll have enough time to get out of here since he's not at the desk, little snitch. I'm Tatiana, you can call me Tati [Tetch-E] for short. Never Anya. If you're after the new recruit as well as gray, I'm guessing it's important. When we get down there, we'll only meet Gray as resistance, but he's a very effective Wind elemental, one of our best who teaches the new recruits. I'm the middleman, the paper pusher. I've got enough information to get help us a little in this drive," she pulled out a small drive from her purse and a notepad, "and this pad for what they'd know if I made digital copies." They were on a high floor and it felt like it was taking forever to get to the basement. "By the way, I'm Tatiana, this is Anastasia and I KNOW YOU! I saw you before I went undercover in Signet. Who are you? What can you do?" They were only about halfway to the basement at this point and Tati was getting nervous that they wouldn't have time to get out before reinforcements got called. "Boy I hope you're an Earth elemental or we may not make it out of here."




Gray walked around the floor, his steps seeming to echo around the entire basement. Jack couldn't concentrate with everything else trying to work itself out in his head. "Come on. I can do this. It's simple. I could probably move this with my breath. It's just like a pinwheel. In a tube," he reassured himself under his breath. He took a deep breath in and tried to calm himself. He pictured a pinwheel in his mind and blew on it, spinning and spinning. He opened his eyes. Nothing. He tried again, picturing it in the tube. Nothing. He tried to calm himself again. He pictured the pinwheel in the tube and saw himself being in the tube and blowing on the pinwheel. Just then he heard the elevator ding and turned, not seeing that the turbine was spinning. Gray started speed-walking towards the elevator.

Well this was sudden. Although very preferable. The shocked Theodore cleared his throat. "I'm Theodore, call me Theo. Now I'm the recruiter." He looked down at the body, then back to Tati. "No. I'm a Wind elemental as well. So yeah, we have a problem. I did bring an energy slug pistol, which can't be stopped with conventional Wind techniques. But if he has buddies on the way, then, to put this not so lightly, we are fucked. He knows us now. As far as I'm concerned, he doesn't leave here alive." Theodore said in a very urgent tone. His hand rested on the gun beneath his blazer, ready to pull it out and pull the trigger. He should have realized this place was under Signet. But he didn't. And now that was going to cost him.

"Great. What is it with you wind elementals? You seem to be everywhere. Maybe it's the sea air, I don't know." Anastasia wrapped around her leg and gave a worried meow. "It'll be alright. It will have to be," she sighed. They were almost there. "Sorry about just springing that, but I felt wasting time would, well, waste time. Anyway, I'm tired of a desk job." As the door opened, a gust of air pushed them all back.

"What are you doing here?" Gray looked down and saw the dead bellhop. "So it was you. We were wondering when the traitor would reveal themselves." A stream of fire flew at him, but he simply waved his finger in a, "No, no, no," gesture. "You need three things for fire. Fuel, heat and oxygen. And I control the oxygen in here." Tati and Gray fought each other, her trying to surprise him and him dispersing each flame she made. "If I wanted, I could pull the air right from your lungs and let you suffocate until you passed out. Then the real fun would start." They kept this going, back up towards the opposite wall as Jack ran to the elevator.

Jack slid into the elevator. "You're the guy I passed. What are you doing here?" He watched the Tati and Gray back and forth. Gray was smiling. He had something planned. Jack looked back at the bellhop. If these guys are Vircid, or whatever he said, I can't trust them. Already I know they killed a guy. But how do I know anything he said was true?

Gray and Tati came to the back wall. "You've been toying with me. Why not hurry this along?"

Gray smiled. "There is an impressionable young man back there that it looks like I'm not the only one who's seen his potential. I imagine if I killed someone right in front of him, he wouldn't take to kindly to that. But as you can see, you've got me with my back to the wall and a dead body in your wake. I don't see any way for him to trust you. You can have him, for now. But he'll work for us sooner or later. I've already won him. Now...!"

"Oh, shut up! Are you really going to monologue?" Tati cut him off and Gray's face looked quite annoyed. She tried to surprise him with another attack, him blocking her flame again as she came in with a knife. He blasted her across the room into a mercury puzzle, causing it to shatter and spill everywhere.

"Well, son, I'm here for you. Sorry I wasn't at the apartment, got tired of waiting. Now." Theodore pulls the pistol out from his coat, stepping out of the elevator. "Try as you may, the rounds fired from this gun will not yield to wind. Try and empty my lungs, and I'll fill them again." Theodore walks slowly to Tati, his aim locked onto Gray's chest. As he stands over her, he drops his aim and fires two shots, one at each leg in quick succession. Theodore knew he would not be able to kill this man. He had much more skill. Theodore gets Tati out of the mercury, trying to prevent poisoning, and gets her to the elevator. Theodore tosses the bellhop's body out. In desperation, he slams the "Close Door" button.

The door didn't close.

"Damn it! Come on!" Theodore depresses the button countless times, hoping the doors close before Gray comes after them.

Gray fell to the ground, caught off guard. "I know you're face now. I'll find you." He began to pull himself up as Theo jammed on the close button. Tati groaned as she was helped up and stagger-ran back to the elevator. They all huddled up there together as Gray approached. Why isn't it working? That thought, or something similar went through the minds of all three of them.

Tati grabbed the key the bellhop had. "Maybe?" She used the key, still nothing happened. Gray approached closer and closer. "Fuck it." Tati put her hand on the entrance and shot flames under the car with enough pressure to send it grinding up far enough to keep them away from Gray, but it also smashed Tati's fingers between the car and the door. She let out a horrible scream as her fingers snapped and bent in ways they were never meant to.

"Dear Lord, are you alright? Help me get her out of there." Jack jumped up knocked Theo's arm as he did, motioning to help. "Grab something. If we can get something to find leverage between the wall and the elevator, we might be able to work it free." Theo looked for something, anything in the elevator that he could possibly use as Jack knelt down next to Tati. "Are you alright? If we stay calm, we can get you free. You'll be alright." He'd been talked down a couple of times during the war and saw it done to others, but he wasn't sure if his voice was really steady enough to make it convincing.

Tatiana's voice was shaky and filled with pain as she choked back her body's response. "I'll heal if we get me out get me get... Sorry. I'll heal if you get me out of here. Though I don't think I'll be writing anything for a while." She smiled as tears rolled down her cheek. Jack looked back at Theo, who was shoving up the hatch on top of the elevator car and looked to see if there was anything up there. "If push comes to shove, look at me." Jack turned back. "If push comes to shove, the two of you get out of here. No, scratch that. Push comes to shove, we all get out but I'm missing a few digits. If we can't do that then you and Theodore get out of here. Vircid needs everyone it can get."

Jack looked back at Theo who jumped back in, shaking his head. "Fine." He shot himself up and grabbed the fire extinguisher. "I saw this in a movie once. Let's hope it works." He smashed the control panel until he was able to pry it off. "Alright," he commanded as he pulled it loose of the wires, "I'll get whatever leverage I can with this, probably not a lot. You go up top, see if you can give us a push from up there. You, be ready for whatever happens."

As Jack went to jam the panel into the space, the elevator jumped with a rush of air and another scream from Tati. Gray was tired of waiting and started trying to push the elevator up. "HURRY!" Theo jumped on top and started trying to use his power to push them down. It was harder since there was a lot more space up there than down beneath them and the pressure couldn't build up to help him. Jack jammed the control panel down as far as he could, but it just seemed to bend and move more than the elevator did. "Come on come on com'on..." He concentrated on pushing the elevator down, trying to work the metal down as Anastasia paced and yowled, staring at Tati. Another push up from Gray reversed any progress they made. Jack kept trying with Theo pushing it down slowly, the built in security brakes fighting them all the way. Jack let out a frustrated grunt and a gust of wind knocked Theo down and the elevator dropped enough to free Tati.

Jack picked up Tati and Another gust from Gray pushed them back up. "We can make it. THEODORE! Help her up!" Theo helped Tati up on top of the elevator as it jumped again. Jack jumped and caught the hatch to pull himself up. As he went to pull up, he felt claws sink into his legs and Anastasia ran up his legs, back and jumped off his head on top of the elevator. "You go first, I'll carry her." Jack dropped his pack on the elevator roof, "Not much of worth in there anyway," and carried Tati on his back with Anastasia nervously trying to lay/sit between Tati's and Jack's shoulder, often digging a claw in here and there. "Hold tight, as much as you can." Her fingers were obviously broken and bleeding. Anytime they moved she she let out a little pained gasp. The two of them climbed the ladder until Tati told them to stop. "Now, how do we open the door and get out of here?"

"There's an emergency switch in these elevators nowadays." Theodore says with an effort. This was certainly messing with his schedule, and now there was a Signet agent with all the information he needed to expose The Vircid completely. Theodore paws at a panel to the side of the door, and flips it open, revealing a red button. He presses it, and the doors slide open. Theo pulls himself into the hall. "I did some field work early in my career with the Vircid. Lots of elevator shaft scaling." Theo explains as he holds out a hand to pull the two up. He wanted to get Tati back to base, so things could get sorted out. There was still the matter of the rest of the recruits, and he wondered if base sent anyone out to meet them.

Tati, Anastasia and Jack climbed up into the lobby. People were staring and whispering. No one was at the desk, which Tati considered was luck. She held her hands, which were slowly bleeding onto the floor, close to her body. Jack looked around, seeing a Bellhop coming through a door near the rear of the lobby. "Let's hurry. Theodore, where should go?" He put his arm around Tati's shoulder and began walking with her to the door, Anastasia trying to keep up. "Where do we go? We need to get her hands fixed up and get out of danger."

Theodore ignores the stares. They would have worse problems soon enough. "Take her to the base. Here's the location." Theodore gives Jack a paper with directions to the cave on it. "Someone will take care of her there. I have to go deal with the recruits." Theodore exits the hotel promptly. He flips on his comm. "Base. This is Theo, and we now have a huge ass problem. The undercover agent in Signet has been discovered, as well as myself. Signet sent an agent that was far superior to either of us, and I could only damage his legs. Prepare yourselves, kiddos." Theodore switches off his comm, and works his way back to the recruiting station, completely composed. "Hello, all of you. Welcome. If you'll please come with us." Theodore motions to Elliott and walks up beside her. "Thanks for covering. It's not exactly good news, but you'll hear about it at base." He whispers to her, then sets off towards the base.

Jack and Tati slowly worked their way to the address without attracting much attention. It's not hard to blend in when people aren't looking. The walk was quiet. If they were being followed, they didn't make themselves known. Before long, Anastasia became annoyed that she had to walk on her own instead of being carried like she's used to. Finally, they made it to the cave. "Well, that's not what I expected," exclaimed Jack.

After a few moments, the group arrives at the mouth of an imposing cave. Theodore turns to the group. " Once again, Welcome, all of you, to the base of The Vircid. Normally, we'd take care of things back at the apartment, but recent events have decided otherwise. If you wish to turn around and go, now is the time. But I assure you once again, nothing in that letter is a joke. It's true, down to the last period." Theodore says, addressing them. He really didn't want to bring them straight to base, but they had no choice. The guards down the tunnel would relay their arrival, and Theodore would be chewed out. Wonderful. Theodore motioned for everyone, including Tati and Jack, to come inside.

Evelyn followed quietly behind the group. Eyes continued to watch everyone as they reached the base. When they arrived, she carefully listened to Theodore. Despite his words she was still unsure of the whole situation. Since she had gone this far all she wanted to do was go inside of the base. A quick look around the base would help her decide what exactly she was going to do. Even though she was here with the group and responded to the letter, she still had not decided if she was going to follow through. The situations she had been in in her past had always given her something to use in the present. Her right hand slowly packed her right thigh, for some reason making sure she still had at least one weapon on her person. She was more than curious of the situation Theodore spoke about. She had not been updated on anything so far, but she wanted to become involved. If it involved using her skills it was something she would gladly do. Now at the door of the cave, she examined the area. As she looked around she began keeping a mental note of how to get there and what the place looked like. If anything were to happen, she would know exactly where to go to solve any issues. She suspected there would not be, but she would rather be safe than sorry.

Very soon after Jack and Tati got there, Theo and a rather sizable group of people came. Theo instructed them in, which they were happy to oblige with. Jack handed Tati off to some people that said they could help her. They bandaged up her hands, but they said that it would be about 4-6 weeks before she would be healed. They splinted her fingers and gave her antibiotics for the cuts, but she was still in a lot of pain and laid down for a rest to try to sleep away the initial effects, Anastasia sleeping on her stomach.

Jack looked around and noticed a woman with long dark hair and a couple of large bags tap her leg as if checking for something. He thought that maybe she just had an itch or something, but he'd seen people store weapons along their legs before and wondered. He walked into the cave and let some people who could help her take Tati away. The place was much more than he'd expected it to be and it felt a little overwhelming. He still didn't know if he should even trust these people or not. They certainly seemed organized enough to be some weird army. They had reached out to him, but that didn't mean anything. The man from the other group had come to him first, but why should he trust him any more than these people or vice versus?

He went over and found a place to sit. He needed to wrap his head around everything. He'd seen someone dead in the elevator. Most likely, either the guy or girl had killed him, but he had no clue as to which or why. It didn't seem like it would be a particularly good idea to go and ask, "Alright, now, why should I trust you? Why might one of you kill a guy? Why are you fighting each other? Are you really trying to kill the planet? If I don't know if I can trust you, how I can I know if any of these answers are true?" No, that certainly wouldn't work. He had to make a judgment call eventually. More information, that's what he needed. The only thing he could think to do was listen, talk to people if the opportunity arose. He turned where he was sitting to look and see that Tati had decided to lay down and Anastasia was sleeping on her stomach. But just beyond her he saw what appeared to be a large number of syringes being prepared with an odd fluid in them.

Theo, after the group had gotten in, turns to his followers. "Someone other than I will have to show you around. I have to go be in trouble and such. See ya later. Well, if you stay." Theodore waves, then walks off down the corridor. The expression on his face was one of pure loathing. He was about to be chewed out for basically exposing the entire organization. He stands in front of a glass door, and steps inside. "I know you want to see me, Sir..." Theodore says, exasperatedly. The office was dark, but lights in the floor and walls illuminated the room slightly, at least enough to see the mahogany desk and it's occupant. A rough, tall, muscled man turns around in his chair. "Theo. I was hoping you could be more discreet. Looks like I was wrong." The man says in a somewhat sad tone. Theo knew better.

The leader of The Vircid, Frederick V. Stalhiem was a master of delusion. He could portray any emotion he pleased, and you'd go along with it, not knowing any better. Because if you did notice, you'd be dead in an instant. He was a powerful Earth elemental after all. The man was a beast, but his only rage was directed at Signet. While Theodore supported the Vircid completely, he did not care for it's leader. But still, orders were orders.

"You do realize that your face is known by Signet now, correct?" Frederick says, standing up and preparing to pace the room. "Yes sir, I understand that. If I could have stopped the bastard, I would have. But I wasn't even close to his level. I'm a recruitment officer, not one of the foot soldiers." Theodore replies, a chill in his tone. Frederick turns to him. "Well, besides all that, which I'm pretty sure could have been prevented, we need to do something about you." Frederick's expression turns to one of playful thought. Sadistic, really. "We could kill you, mangle your face, give you painful surgery..." He rattles off.

Theodore was realizing why he didn't like Stalhiem. He was a fucking psycho. This whole organization was founded on his little grudge, and now it's something he didn't intend. Nonetheless, he was enjoying it. All the power, all the underlings. Theodore hated it, and that's why he was glad the recruits weren't going to meet him anytime soon. "Look, Stalhiem, I have business to attend to, so either get with slapping my wrist or let me go fix my mistake." Theodore says impatiently. Frederick looks at Theodore for a moment, questioning why one of his dogs was barking at him. He shakes his head. "Fine, go. Get out of here." He says dismissively. Theodore walks out of the room, and to his quarters, a simple room with good bedding and amenities. He needed to unwind. Someone else could take care of the newbies...