This choice: The twelve-year-old Indian girl • Go Back...Chapter #17Preparations for a Trip Back by: rugal b.   "Do you have any other information on these kids?" you ask.
"I seemed to have indicated that I did not have much more, did I not?" Hyde-White retorts.
"Sure," you nod, "but that implies you might still have some additional information and if I'm going to do this I'll need every piece of information I can get, scraps or no. I don't like going into a job blind."
The professor holds your eye for a moment before seemingly relenting. "What, then, were you looking for?" he asks.
"Where are they?" The question is blunt and seems to take the professor aback, so you decide to expand. "Are they mobile? Stationary? Where are they currently living? If you know about them then certainly you'd at least have that, correct?"
"Hrm, yes, I suppose," the professor grunts. "The first thing we can tell you is that she is the center of it."
Hyde-White pulls out a picture and slides it over to you. "And this is..." You look at picture, unsure of what to make of it. She's a middle-aged woman, still attractive, with what looks like African or mixed features.
"Kali Valentine," he answers. "She is quite well known in the worlds of architecture and especially interior design. People with money -- the famous and powerful -- hold her in high regard and high demand. Naturally, however, more interesting to us is the work she keeps hidden. She is a member of the Stellae, one of their most senior from what we have gathered. Her role in the group seems to be as a teacher, there to instruct newer recruits in mystic ways and impart upon them the group's own philosophy."
"So I take it that means these kids are being taught by her?"
"That would be a correct assumption," states the professor. "Mostly, at least. The two girls are living directly with her as her students. The boy was but we have reason to believe he may be apprenticing under another."
"Why's that?"
"He has been spotted recently with a man you are quite familiar with: Joe Durras."
Your lip curls at the mention of the name. Sure, he wasn't the Durras that blinded you and left you reliant on masks to see, all but killing your real identity. But he certainly played his own role in creating the mess you've been in for the last ten years. You're actually tempted to pick the boy. If he's close to Joe, then you might be able to really put the screws to him and his even more loathsome brother.
But the feeling passes quickly. You're going to be doing a job, not gaining revenge, and so you need to put personal feelings aside. That means going with one of the girls.
"I see," you say, stowing aside your anger towards the name Durras. "Then in that case I'm going with her."
You point to the picture of the older girl, Vidya you believe is what the professor called her.
"Any particular reason for that choice?" he asks.
All you can do is shrug. "We're trying to infiltrate through these kids. An older one's going to have a little more freedom than a younger one. The other girl is probably under more watchful eyes by virtue of her age." Not that you've become them often but there are a handful of times where you've had to play the role of a kid and you well remember how maddening, how stifling, it was being a very young one.
You watch the professor gather up his things. "Then we shall meet tomorrow in my office at ten o'clock in the morning."
He says this all with the type of matter-of-fact calmness that you've come to really find irritating about the man.
* * * * *
You meet in the professor's office the next morning at ten sharp. Unsurprisingly, he barely gives you more than a greeting before it's straight to business. "So, have you thought any about a possible team?" he asks straight away.
"A team?" you reply in confusion. "You didn't say anything about any team."
"I would have assumed it was implicit," he says with a shake of the head. "For all intents and purposes this is little different from any other Diana operation."
"Except for the fact it's not really a standard infiltration," you mutter.
"That is why you shall be taking Dr. Plante with you," Hyde-White says to your further surprise. "He will be in charge of operating the machine while also evaluating its performance, ensuring it does what it is supposed to."
"Not like that thing I saw yesterday looked very mobile."
"Quite right. However, we have developed a smaller version of the machine."
Whatever warmth the professor attempted to affect all but vanishes. He produces a piece of paper and hands it to you, insisting that you sign it once you've read it. Your eyes scan over and by the end you're incredulous. "The fuck is all this?" you ask as you rather forcefully slam the paper onto the professor's desk.
"A release," he states simply.
"No shit," you cry out, "you're basically saying you get my body!"
"As is to be expected," he replies calmly. "Mr. Prescott, you are aware that it contains assets that Fane has spent much time and money on, correct? You have been quite the investment."
"Well yeah, but--"
"Where you're going, do you think you'll still be needing it?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" you ask as you eye him warily.
"Think, Will. Should this work, and I have every reason to believe it shall, then you would be a Stellae in every conceivable way." It sounds as if he can barely contain his excitement. "This will be no short term job, I assure, but a full transfer. You will be living among them, growing among them. You will be under the most extreme of scrutiny and one small misstep could prove to be your doom. But the reward..."
"Yeah, I get it."
"You Diana lot enjoy your poker metaphors. I would think this type of high stakes gamble would be quite thrilling for you."
You want to say no, that he's completely and totally wrong and yet you can't fully discount those words either, much to your chagrin.
"We are willing to wait as long as it takes on this, Will," the professor states. "Could you imagine? The Stellae and their confederate organizations, all made into divisions of Fane. You would be at the forefront of that, the type of person who would be forever revered in the annals of Fane's history." He looks at you and smiles. "A true revolutionary," he states.
Though you're not still without trepidation, you realize that the professor does know better than anyone how best to push your buttons. Also for the simple fact that you are in far too deep at this point. And so, a minute later, you've signed on the dotted line. Once you've done this and should Plante's machine work as intended, the body of Will Prescott will be property of Fane.
However, freed from its physical shell all that makes up Will Prescott, makes up you, shall find its new home inside the body of Vidya Mukhopadhyay.
* * * * *
"Please be careful with that," you say as the movers bring the couch up to the door of the condo.
"We'll be good," one of them says.
You huff a bit at that. "I just don't know if it's going to fit. It's an awfully big couch and there could be damage if you try to force it in through--"
"Ash, dear, it's fine," comes the voice of your husband a he comes up beside you and places a hand on your shoulder. "They're professionals. They've done this too many times to count I'd bet."
You turn to look up at him. He's a handsome man, tall with dirty blonde hair and the most charming, piercing eyes. You can't help but to melt when you look at them and quickly push yourself up onto your tiptoes to pull him down for a nice kiss. That is, until you feel a pair of eyes on you. Out of the corner of your eye you spot someone and pull away embarrassed.
"Oh heavens, don't stop on account of me. I was just making my way in," comes a voice, followed by a small laugh, tinged with a Scottish brogue. It belongs to a woman, mixed it appears, and still attractive despite looking like she's approached middle age. "New neighbors, I take it?"
"Ah, yeah," you say while blushing. "I'm Ashley McMillan and this is my husband, Anthony. We, uh, actually just moved out here to L.A."
"And what brings a lovely young couple like yourself out here?" the woman asks.
"It's my work," answers Anthony. "I've been promoted to overseeing real estate management for the L.A. branch of Credit Marchand."
"Well that is wonderful," the woman says with a warm smile. "My name is Kali and as you can see I live right next door so please, if you need anything do not hesitate to ask."
She bids you goodbye and heads into her own condo.
You look at Anthony and giggle though this time it's at the thought that it's all a line of bullshit. Of course you knew who she was the moment you saw her. That's why you're here, that's why you have this specific condo in this specific complex.
Even your identities are fake. Your "husband" is really Cox, the member of your Diana crew you trust more than anyone. "Anthony McMillan" is a sort of floating identity Fane likes to use for deep cover assignments, much like "Lenke Varga". Your own face is from a tattoo, a hotel worker whose form you'd borrowed for a job of little importance years ago. You don't even remember her name though today she plays the part of "Ashley McMillan".
It will be a role you'll be settled into for a little while as you scope out the best way of getting Vidya in order to make this transfer. Truthfully though, you're a bit impatient. You have a Stellae right here. A kid might be actually harder to get to but a seemingly friendly adult like Kali Valentine on the other hand...  | Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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