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Brandon Hammerstine

On call bounty hunter for MCU

0 · 2,569 views · located in The Faerie Court

a character in “The Unseen World: MCU Archives”, as played by DemiKara

Description

Image


MCU and Council

Org Name (MCU or Council)


Basic Information
Disclaimer: portions of this bio and it's formatting were borrowed from Ylanne

Name: Brandon Izaak Hammerstine
Titles: Necromancer
Aliases: Parson Lessard
Race: Human
Date of Birth (DOB): June 21, 1982
Place of Birth: Dallas, Tx
Age: 34
Height: 5’9”
Weight:
Hair Color: dyed brown, natural white
Eye Color: Blue
Physical description: Bone thin and sickly looking, Brandon has the look of someone who never eats enough food.
Distinguishing marks: none
Citizenship: Us
Ethnic origin: German
Religion: Orthodox Christian
Sexual Orientation: Homosexual
Languages Spoken: English

Employment Background

Occupation: Artist/ Art Store Owner
Former Occupations: MCU Contractor
Occupation and employer: Art Store Owner, Visual Eyes Art, owns business

Health Background

Physical Condition: poor
Disabilities: Dyslexia
Drug and Alcohol Usage History, Illegal or Otherwise: N/A
History of Health Problems: Bone Cancer as a young child, vampirism
History of Mental Health Problems: extreme impulse control, declared mentally unsound, currently takes medicine to remain stable

Family

Father: Jakob Hammerstine
Mother Elizabeth Ritter
Siblings Mary Anne, deceased
Spouse N/A
Children N/A
Uncle Izaak Hammerstine
Aunt Catherine Dumitrescu
Cousins Mary Madeline and Emily Hammerstine

Associates
Alexander Summers
Dawson Summers

Contact Information

Current Permanent Address: Visual Eyes Art Studio, Dallas, Tx

Educational Background

Institutions Attended: Dallas Academy for Gifted Youth (Unseen school)
Degrees Earned: High School Diploma

Criminal History

Arrests: 3
Criminal Complaints: Numerous
Indictments: Numerous
Detainers: On Probation until he’s 65, bound by Council
Traffic Offenses: N/A

Skills, Talents, and Equipment

Job-related skills:
Limited telekinesis
Brandon has limited telekinetic abilities, and only uses them in order to keep his abilities in check. He can be seen using them when working in his art workshop.

Necromancy
Brandon is a necromancer kept on retainer by the council. He is allowed only to practice on animals, but is known to practice elsewhere. Not accomplished with other magics, Brandon is prone to using necromantic cantrips in battle. His favorite tricks are listed below:

Touch of fatigue
A necromancer cantrip, this ability is to simply remove a small amount of life energy from an animal or person, and to cause them to be slightly more tired. This lasts for three rounds.

Necromancer's Knife
Stolen from his former adoptive mother, this knife has the ability to dehydrate flesh if left inside of flesh for very long.

Cheap Red Lighter
Given to him for his protection as a child, Brandon has the ability to summon his adoptive mother's hell beast Scamp by flicking this on. He works side by side with the hell beast happily enough.

Shadow Step
Brandon has the ability to step through the shadows in a form of teleportation. This requires a shadow big enough for him to fit in.

Ghoul's Touch
Causes localized paralysis of the area touched. Lasts four rounds.

Drain life
It drains the life out of something, and transfers it to Brandon. He could use it to heal injuries, and usually does. Effects are immediate.

Death's Kiss
Brandon rarely uses this spell, and it gives him temporarily vampiric features, including the ability to drink blood for a boost of magic, energy, and health. It isn't long lasting however, and is very draining to cast, requiring preparation before hand to manage it.


Personality

Ambitions: Brandon wants to make up for his actions as a child, and be a relatively successful artist.
Fears/anxieties/hangups: Falling back into madness
Attitude toward life and death: Brandon does not seek death actively, but passively put himself into life and death situations without care if he dies.

History & Background
Brandon's birth family shaped him very strongly. His father was incredibly abusive to him and his mother and sister, but especially to his mother. As a result, outside of the home the boy was a bully and a brat to everyone. One night, overwhelmed by his father's actions, the boy planned to sneak out, taking his sister with him. His father caught them on the way out. A fight ensued and his father, a big man, knocked Mary Anne to the side. The little girl did not survive the attack, her neck breaking due to force of the hit. As his mother tried to revive her daughter, Brandon cried out and his powers reacted, a wave of his power flowing out, and starting an electrical fire, even as it knocked his father down. Luck alone had the man hit his head, as the boy scrambled for the door and ran away. He was the only survivor of the apartment fire.

The boy lived on the streets for several years, changing his name to Parson Waters. It was easier to hide under a new name after all. In time, he came to make Gambit's Bar his favorite haunt. It was clear that the fire and attack by his father left an indelible mark on the child, twisting him fiercely just as much as living on the hard streets of Wing City did.

There he met, and began to torture and torment, the girl who would be his new sister. It didn't take long after meeting the small twisted girl for him to meet Sanina, who would be his adoptive mother. His adoptive mother who was clearly no more in her right mind than the rest of the small family, as she carried around the skeletal remains of a young girl, whom she called Jezebell.

Parson, who could barely read, and was often a crude young boy, turned out to have necromantic powers, that his new mother 'Nina' began to teach him. He even slowly began to accept his sister Bethany, though he would never be nice to her, he would be nicer. It was to his advantage to be nice to his family after all, even if both sister and mother were touched.

What many do not realize about Parson is that he positively loathed his Aunt Kaitlynn. Not only does she think him weird at best, she also shows quite a bit of favoritism to his sister Bethany, at least in his eyes. With this loathing between them, it only made sense that, on a day when his aunt wasn’t quite herself, she turned Parson into a vampire, a state that he would find himself cured from in time.

Parson has since gained some sort of equilibrium and is a well known name in the human parts business, as he kills his people himself. He was wanted by the Wing City Police Department for an incident of blood lust which he slaughtered every single doctor on duty at Wing City General Hospital. While he was caught once, and put on trial, the boy was declared criminally insane and put instead in a High Security Institute meant for insane supernaturals. His mother was kind enough to break him out and Parson then lived not above Gambit's but in the same house as his grandfather and his mother.

However, after being broken out, the boy was killed by hunters, his body fading into the shadows. It would later be found back the in Institute for the Criminally Insane, where he would be revived, miraculously cured as vampirism. The boy did not know why, but it wasn't long until the asylum was once more broken into, and he would escape again. Captured quickly, the now human boy was picked up by MCU and put on probation, where it was soon discovered who he really was, and that he had two living relatives, his Aunt Catherine, and his Uncle Izaak. With a lingering fear of men form his childhood, he began to live with his aunt Catherine, after being abandoned by his former adoptive family, the Lessards.

As he grew there, he grew found of her, and when she disappeared, institutionalized for political reasons, he refused to allow her to remain, and broke her out, forcing her name to be cleared as well. Now, the necromancer, still under severe restrictions from his childhood, runs an art supply store with an art studio in the back, and his apartment above. In a separate building, more shed than studio, he practices his magic and his powers, knowing that he is heavily restricted in what he can do when not on a Hunt for the very organization that punished his aunt for nothing more than politics.

So begins...

Brandon Hammerstine's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine Character Portrait: Laura Seychelle
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Brandon cuddled his familiar and then sighed and managed to stand. "Can't send Babbit back." He muttered and picked up the skeleton. He yawned, clearly tired and held the skeleton close, stumbling to the car, and pulling half the beads off the athame to slip around his own neck, so Laura and Catherine wouldn't be stuck in a car with someone so clearly reeking of a magic that made everyone else ill.

"There."

Laura, seeing it all clear, opened the door and slid out of the back seat, though she kept the door between here and those...creatures. "Mrs. Dumitrescu? Mr. Hammerstine? Is it over?" She hoped it was over. That had been scary. She glanced down the street to the blockade between her and the creatures and shuddered. That had been terrifying. It was also amazing, to watch, and he had no clue where the animal skeleton had come from, or how that fire started, but this was amazing.

The teen couldn't help but be happy that these two had come for her, even if she didn't really understand how they found her at all.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine Character Portrait: Laura Seychelle
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"It's over. Though you and I are going to have a little talk about this soon." Catherine said leaning on the car for a moment, exhausted beyond measure. "Can you drive?" She asked looking over at Laura. The girl needed to know how to defend herself, even if that meant just no longer broadcasting herself; she seemed to be worse than most humans.

Neither her nor Brandon were really in any shape to drive, and she hoped that the teen at least had a permit. Because sooner or later the police and fire departments were going to show up; and Catherine had no energy left to wipe minds, plant false memories, and do anything else of that nature.

"I'm not even going to discuss that.. thing with you Brandon till I've had some sleep."

Setting

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine Character Portrait: Laura Seychelle
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Laura nodded. "I have my license. But I'm not suppose to have more than one passenger..." She shook her head and held out her hand. "Give me the keys. It'll be okay, this once." She smiled as Brandon gave her the keys and slipped into the back seat himself, curling around his familiar. Ah, hell. He was going to be in trouble for having Babbit off the reserve. Whatever, Babbit was his familiar, and he maintained they had no right to keep the two apart.

"Mr. Hammerstine, why do you have a skeleton anyway? It's a little weird."

"You just got chased by pseudo-zombies and you think my familiar is weird?" Teenagers. He didn't understand them. "Just drive us to the shop, Laura. Soon as we get there, you need to call your parents." He'd manage to stay awake long enough to see her parents show up, and then he planned on crashing for a nice long nap. "...and figure out what you plan on telling them."

Did they even know about the Unseen world? He couldn't recall. The man yawned and stretched out on the backseat as much as he could, and passed out. His work was done.

The setting changes from Dallas, Texas to MCU Headquarters

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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They were all there, all thirteen of them, though Brandon looked dead on their feet and no one had cuffs on. They were here mostly willingly, though clearly all uneasy, and none even looking at each other. This wasn't a usual meeting after all, but a one by one interrogation. They had all heard of the zombies going after Brandon's little assistant after all, and while his coven members refused to believe he wasn't teaching her a damned thing in necromancy, they did all want cleared of being the ones to attack the girl. Brandon may not be the strongest of them, but he was determined and could do serious damage, if he wanted to.

Still, none of them acknowledged each other as they all waited their turn.

"Loretta Carlson." A young officer called out, standing in the hallway. "We'll start with you. You're going to have to wear handcuffs until we're done." He didn't seem at all apologetic. Brandon winced. The idea of them all having to wear handcuffs, and no doubt anti-magic ones, was an unwelcome one. It wasn't right, what was expected of them all for this nonsense. It simply wasn't right.

The officer cuffed Loretta, and led her back to the interrogation room, directly her in and securing her hands on top of the table before stepping out. Someone else would question the woman.

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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After the officer secured Loretta to the table and left, Catherine picked up the woman's file, or at least what little they were able to get in such a short amount of time. "No real detainers or offenses." She muttered to herself before entering the room. This was going to be difficult, but at least she could try to start everything off easy.

"Good afternoon Ms. Carlson." Catherine said sitting down in front of the woman. She was exhausted from yesterday's adventure still, but the only Warden on duty for now, and she didn't trust Johnson to handle this case anymore. "I'm sorry about the handcuffs, but it's for your safety." She explained as she set a blank notepad down in front of her on the table.

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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Her own safety? Loretta rather doubted that, but she held her tongue and then took a deep breath. "It's alright, Warden." She assured the other woman and then managed a smile for her. "I just hope this is over with soon. My co-workers know I had a witness interview today, but I don't want them to worry too much. Please, ask anything you need to. I'd like to start by saying I'd never hurt little Laura though. I've only seen her once, but she seemed a sweet girl." Very innocent.

Brandon shielded his apprentice too much, all too much. But she could understand why because she would too, if she had an apprentice so prone to trouble and so innocent of just about everything. At least she was okay, after that attack.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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"Of course, let's get started then." Catherine replied returning the smile with one of her own, all in an attempt to make the woman feel at ease. "Could you please tell me what you know about this recent news article?" She asked as she slid a copy printed from the Dallas Morning News's website across the table towards Loretta. "We would just like to know if you had possibly heard anything, since you work in a public setting." She suspected that the woman was fairly innocent except for a few small time dealings in necromancy. "Have there been any strange book requests lately?" Catherine knew that the library didn't have a huge selection of rare books, those could occasionally be dug up at your local Half-Price Books or an estate sale if you were lucky.

"Go ahead and take your time Ms. Carlson. There's no pressure."

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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Loretta glanced over the article, and then considered things carefully. "Now, I can't recall anyone in particular digging around for unusual books, or necromantic books." She frowned and read it over once more. "So many corpses. But they wouldn't be ideal, you see. They'd be chock full of preservatives that can interfere with the magic, when the body is that fresh." She bit her bottom lip. "No ma'am, I don't recall there being any strange requests. I try and keep an eye out for those, so I can re-direct them anyway. Nobody needs to start in this field, not when there's other magic out there."

She considered it. "Of course, I only work at the one branch, and it's not the biggest one. We don't have a large occult section there." Strange requests occurred of course, but she doubted they were the type of requests the warden wanted to know.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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Catherine made a few notes and considered another question before speaking again. "Any strange requests at all would be helpful Ms. Carlson. We don't like this anymore than you do." And that was the truth. This whole thing had forced her hand, and Brandon's the other day. She still wasn't sure what exactly to report to the Council, after all she couldn't exactly say, "Oh by the way guys, we're dealing with a zombie making mad man, and these aren't normal zombies. Advise please." Catherine was supposed to be able to operate independently enough, without too much interference from the Council.

"Ms. Carlson, you are aware of yesterday's incident are you not? Word travels fast among the unseen." She asked, keeping her tone level and polite. "Myself and a contractor encountered at least six animated corpses, but these didn't seem normal, if you understand what I'm saying." Catherine continued, waiting for a response.

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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"Warden, I don't think you quite understand how odd requests get in the library. Yesterday, I was asked if we had any precolonial porn." They didn't, but she was used to odd requests like that. "We keep a list in the office of especially strange ones. I'll see that it gets to you." That she easily promised.

Still, she hesitated. "I heard about it." She admitted quietly. "Little Laura ended up chased halfway home, didn't she?" She bit her bottom lip. "Poor girl. Not that most could put that it was Laura together, but well. It was close enough to work that I could feel when Brandon lit up like a flare. He's not all that experienced with human animation or deanimation, the dear." She thought it over. "Unusual animated corpses...if any survived, I would check for rune work around any chakra points under a black light. It would have been done in blood, then washed away with a particular potion. Those tend to be hardier, and meant for seeking. From the rumors, they were definitely a seeker sort of zombie."

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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"Perhaps I don't, and thank you." Catherine said clasping her hands together in front of herself on the table, the silver braided binding ring on her right hand with it's three, pale and watery looking stones contrasting sharply against the dark ruby polish of her nails. "Yes, Laura ended up chased halfway down McKinney avenue, it wasn't a very good situation." She answered seeing that there was no harm in answering Loretta's question. Catherine couldn't sense any harm or malcontent from the woman, but then again everything felt dull and thick after yesterday; like she was wrapped in a thick wad of cotton.

"I will let our research team know what to look for. Thank you for your time Ms. Carlson." Catherine reached across the table and offered the woman a hand before standing to leave.

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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Loretta waited to be released after shaking hands, and slipped outside, free to return to her life. The moment she was gone, the officer from before glanced to his list, then around the room, clearly unimpressed with the hodge podge of freaks who studied necromancy of all the vile things. "Jung Chu." He called out, though he terribly mangled the pronunciation. Regardless, a korean in his late 30s stood and walked forward, holding his hands out to be cuffed. It wasn't long until he was in much the same position as Loretta had been moments before, chair still warm from the black woman who had sat there before him. The short man was clearly not pleased with being there.

"I hope to get this over with quickly." He muttered to himself. "It is a waste of my time to be here."

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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Once again Catherine studied the file that they had cobbled together on such short notice. "Lovely." She muttered under her breath. This man wasn't going to be all that much fun to interview, considering he had a few old detainers on his record. It seemed that he thought he was above the law, especially if you threw enough money at it.

"Good afternoon, Mr... Chu." Catherine said as she entered the room, seeing that the man had been appropriately cuffed. She didn't believe that she had much to fear from this secret coven of Necromancers, after all they had been mostly cooperative in the questions she had to pose. "I'm going to ask you a few questions, and then you can hopefully get back to life, alright?" She continued as she took a seat across from the man. "So before we start, can I get you anything? Water, coffee?"

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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"I would like to be done with this, Warden. What you may do, if hurry with your questions. I have work to get back to." And it was far more important than being here, his very demeanor shouted. Chu was there 'willingly' thanks only to peer pressure. He was not pleased with being forced to come along to this farce of an interview, from which he was certain to get more marks against him merely for practicing his art.

The fact that the warden's nephew, fool he was, assured them that it was going to be okay did not reassure Chu at all. The boy, and despite being near the same age, he considered the other man just a boy, was a fool raised to believe in MCU like a mere patsy.

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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Catherine raised an eyebrow at the man's response before continuing. If he wanted to make things difficult, he was more than welcome to. "I'm sure you do, we won't keep you long." She assured the man, but she could feel the hostility radiating off of him. He was obviously here of his own free will, so she couldn't hold that against him. "Well let's get started then."

Flicking through the pages of her notes, she came across a few notes she had made while questioning Loretta. "I understand that you are a necromancer Mr. Chu, is there anything in particular you can tell me about human reanimation?" She asked, her tone even and firm. If he was looking for a reaction, he wasn't going to get one unless he really pressed; and even then it wouldn't be what he was looking for.

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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"That your department's pet sucks at it. Otherwise, I can tell you human reanimation is strictly prohibited, and I would clearly never take part in it as a law abiding citizen." The man lied well. Human reanimation was certainly something he practiced, though he hid all signs of it. "It is also not something half trained necromancer's can do. If you're dealing with human reanimation, then you're dealing with either a journeyman, or a master. There will also be clear signs around any graves that used to contain remains that have been reanimated, such as a circle of dead blackened plants. To prevent ghouls are that, you'll need to reconsecrate the entire cemetery."

There. He was even cooperating by Loretta's definition, the damned softie. He had given the idiot woman extra information, and wasn't that nice.

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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His tone peeked Catherine's interest, especially after he was so quick to claim he had never taken part in such an act. "That's interesting you say so Mr. Chu, because you're so quick to dismiss yourself from any associated deed. Why is that?" She asked patiently. She knew all about the need to reconsecrate, and what sort of skill level they would need to look at for potential reanimation charges, but Chu didn't need to know that.

While Catherine agreed that Brandon wasn't the best at his trade, at least he had taken a track where it didn't cause trouble, and in fact came quite in handy at times.

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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"Because I don't Dumitrescu. It's very illegal, and any half wit of a necromancer can tell when any other one does it, even that barely trained boy you call a nephew." And he had his doubts about that relationship as well. The boy was probably some foundling lied to about who this woman was to him. "Look, if you're asking if I was behind the zombies that came up McKinney, then I wasn't. I was at work the entire time, and had several meeting that day, so no time time to go raise multiple zombies and sic them on a bunch of teenagers."

Nor inclination. Attacking teenagers was the height of stupidity.

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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For a second Catherine's eyes flashed dangerously, the stones on her ring deepening in color, signaling a draw on power when he mentioned Brandon's short comings. "I don't think you understand the importance of your current situation Chu. I'm not asking if you were behind what happened on McKinney, I'm asking why you're so quick to distance yourself from involvement with human remains." She had no patience for men like this, lying through their teeth, and taking jabs at anyone who dared inconvenience them.

"I will also need to verify you were in meetings yesterday." She added.

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Character Portrait: Catherine Dumitrescu Character Portrait: Brandon Hammerstine
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"I am quick to distance myself because it is well known how hard the MCU comes down on necromancers who raise dead humans." His voice was firm as he spoke, and he met her eyes, unafraid. what was she going to do to him after all? "As for the meetings, I keep a copy of my work calendar on my phone. My manager can also verify my whereabouts, though I would prefer not to do that route."

Slowly, he reached for his pocket and took out his phone, placing it on the table. "The unlock code is 7328." He pushed it lightly to the other side of the table. "Feel free to check it yourself." The calendar showed back to back meetings, even some with light overlap. It was busy at work lately. Of course, whether he had managed to attend each one, she'd have to confirm with someone else."