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Yeah no shit, Sherlock. How the fuck...? You know what, don't answer that. [Kevin eyes the knife sticking out of Ashley's back and looks around.] Knowin' Anika, she's got a first aid kit somewhere nearby, where's it at?

[Kevin reaches into a pocket for his flask, takes a sip, then offers it to Ashley.] Han better wash that damn thing, too, before I find it in the silverware drawer, or I'm gonna dig out my steel-toed boots to play football with his head.

I went out to dinner. That's how. [That dinner was at a known vampire hot spot. The job had been mostly successful.] Under the sink in the bathroom. Big leather bag.

[Taking the flask he takes a long drink and hands it back.]

Don't kick Han, he can't spare the damage. Just accept this utensil will one hundred percent be used at The Rat. Shit, you gotta get this out. I'm pretty sure it's actual silver. Not Wal-Mart.

Edited 2022-09-24 10:43 (UTC)

Yep, it looks like the good stuff. Last time I saw silver that quality, my ma was pawning the set so she could get high later. [He goes off in search of the first aid kit, coming back looking at least mildly impressed.] So how often does Anika patch you up? There's stuff in here I didn't keep in my kit when I was actually out asking for ass-kickings.

[He pulls up a chair and sits behind Ashley. Before he does anything else, he's getting supplies together. A towel, gauze, bandages, and a suture kit were all laid out, and Kevin made sure to wash his hands and grab some of the gloves. Not that he was too worried about Ashley getting an infection, but no sense worrying Ani unnecessarily.]

Not gonna promise this'll be as neat and tidy as when Ani does it. Middle managers don't get as much practice stitching people up. [With that, he pulls the knife out and grabs for the towel to slow down the bleeding a bit.]

Took a fork to the thigh too. [He just couldn't quite reach where the butter knife had been very, very forcefully thrust into his back.] Fucking butter knife aren't even pointy.

You've seen how messy Oni can get. Always smart to have a well stocked med kit running with this crowd. Pretty sure Ani made sure we all have a kit so she's ready to go when we do something stupid.

[He pointed over his shoulder at the knife. His current something stupid.]

Motherfucker! [He yelped out as the blunt, silver knife was pulled from his back. It wasn't just the pain of being stabbed with something blunt but what the knife was made of.]

Damn that burns. [Ash chuckles.] Don't worry about making it look nice, only need a pretty face.

Tell me you at least got a decent meal outta this. I've seen vampire shindigs. They fetishize people eating in a way I usually reserve for the really expensive hookers. Not the most fucked up thing I've seen, but when you add in their idea of entertainment when they're not trying to look all respectable, it can make the list.

[Kevin stretches to turn on the tap and switches his towel for a thick wad of gauze, so he can wet a clean corner of the towel and clean around the wound. Once he can see what he's doing, he removes the gauze and begins to stitch the wound closed. Despite his warnings, he's not half bad at it. He's had more than a little training. He's just not nearly as practiced as Anika.]

It shouldn't take too long to heal now that the silver is out, at least. [He hands Ash the bloody knife.] You oughta keep it. Dress as Julius Caesar for Halloween and dare people to make Ides of March jokes.

Edited 2022-09-24 21:28 (UTC)

More then decent. I decimated those assholes. Just wasn't expecting the wait staff in the kitchen. [He said it with a pained laugh. Which turned into a deep, fully belly laugh.]

Fucking hell, that is brilliant.

[He flipped the knife over in his hand grinning wickedly at it.]

How's it going back there, Doc?

Don't think I'll have to amputate anything. [Kevin finishes the last stitch and wets some gauze to clean around the wound one more time. Then he puts a bandage over it to keep it clean. Then he starts cleaning up and putting things away.]

You know, you oughta take backup next time. I know how to rub elbows with leeches then make 'em eat their own intestines. I can usually even keep up with most of the small talk.

Dude, that is a skill I will never understand. How you ignore the feeling of puking around them. Maybe you'll have to teach me.

Use to be I could count on Eyota for that....but now...[Epic eyeroll.] I'd rather stab myself with that butter knife in the balls then ask Nasir for help.

Good thing that stuff shirt idiot ain't the only half moon you know, then, huh? I mean, unless stabbing yourself in the balls with silver is your idea of a good time. No judgement.

[Kevin grabs for his flask and takes a sip, then moves to sprawl in a chair facing Ash. He offers the flask over.]

Eyota. Now there's a guy I wish I'd known better when he was alive. Wise as fuck and he didn't kick my ass when I probably deserved it.

As for the vampires? Fuck, you think I didn't picture in detail how exactly I was gonna make that crazy bitch of a vampire I reported to at Pentex wear her own fucking intestines for a party at the local Hive, then we really gotta hang out more. I had a job to do. Now? Not so much. We run into each other on the street, I get to show her exactly what I fucking think of her.

Edited 2022-09-25 20:06 (UTC)

Just always feels like he's hiding something, you know?

Ash didn't bother putting a shirt back on. Instead of taking the flask he got up, went to the bar and dug out a very, very expensive bottle of aged bourbon. He poured two glasses and handed one to Kevin before sitting down with a wince.]

He had a way about him. Didn't have to kick your ass. He always knew what to say to make feel like he kicked your ass without lifting a finger.

Don't know how you did it, man. How you worked for them. Or how you got away with it. I mean, they knew what you are right?

Pentex knew what I was. That's why I had the job. With Garou fucking up their operations left, right, and center, who better to fight a werewolf than another werewolf? It's a little better if their pet werewolf comes from a tribe that already serves the Wyrm, right? Pentex fucking loves having Dancers on the payroll. They just probably shoulda quit while they were ahead, because their little science project fucking backfired on them when they used it on me.

[Kevin shrugs and sips at the offered glass. It gets an appreciative grin.]

That's ancient fucking history, though. I got a lot to make up for. Did my job a little too well, back then. Got to talking with Eyota once I got my head on straight, and hell, he made a lotta sense. This shit is too much to try to go it alone. Gotta trust the pack to have my back. Gotta trust my alpha. I ain't used to that. I used to lead a pack of Dancers. You do your fucking job, but you don't trust your packmates. That's how you wake up with someone's teeth in your throat. I may not serve the Wyrm anymore, but old habits are hard to break.

I get a similar sense from Nasir. He's aloof, like he thinks he's better than the rest of the pack, or like he resents being saddled with a buncha misfits. He don't trust nobody to have his back, so he don't say shit to anybody, even when the pack alpha's life is on the line. His problem, though, is that he overestimates himself and underestimates his packmates, because he wants as little to do with the rest of the pack as possible. [Kevin sighs and runs a hand through his hair.] What Eyota told me about my problems kinda rings true for Nasir, too, but short of calling the old man up, I don't know how to make him see it. He told me, the strength of the wolf is the pack. They'll watch your back when you can't-- If you'll let them. The hunters that jumped Oni will return...just like my fucking former pack ain't gonna stop hunting me. When they do, he'd rather our pack was ready for them.

We haven't ever done this before...really talk. Gotta apologize for that. After everything that happened with Oni...I'm a dick on a good day...after that? Felt like it was me against the world trying to protect what was left of the family she built. Thought for a second I could just walk away but I couldn't. It physically fucking hurt to think about leaving.

Never had that before. A pack or much of a family. So I'm really fucking protective of what we have. These shits are the first pack I've ever had and I became part of it for the same reason Eyota said the same thing to me, the strength of the wolf is the pack. And when he said it I swear I felt it in my bones.

Anyone comes for you...you aren't alone. She won't ever be alone unless they fucking kill me. Now we just have to figure out how to get Nasir to believe in that, to trust it. Cause I don't like the way this feels with him, it's gonna get someone hurt.

[For a moment, all Kevin can do is nod silently. He's never had much of a pack, and he's never trusted someone to have his back like this. To just have that trust vocalized like that...it almost chokes him up. Not that he'd ever admit it. He hides it by taking a sip of his drink.]

I gotta agree with that about Nasir. He's overestimating himself, and I'd rather it didn't hurt the pack. I might have something. [Kevin takes out his phone, a nondescript black affair without a trace of branding on it. Ash can probably tell that this thing has more going on with it than meets the eye. Kevin brings up Google Maps and finds a place upstate, then slides it across to Ash.]

I got a small arsenal of gear and weaponry I squirreled away back when I was still with Pentex. Figured I'd use it as an insurance card in case the Hive ever got butthurt about my pack serving Pentex. They did that from time to time. None of the shit is Wyrm-tainted too bad. It'll smell a little, I was a fucking Dancer, after all. But it's mostly just military surplus shit that I thought would help give us an edge on the Hive. It can't hurt to bring some of that down here were it can do some good. I can start teachin' those in the pack that want to learn how to use it and some more advanced group tactics.

[With the phone in his hand Ashley grinned. That sounded like fun. Han would hate it. He turned the phone over to really look at it. Went to the home screen to take a peek at the operating system. This wasn't something you could grab at the Apple store.]

We're gonna play soldier with fancy weapons? Han will hate it. I think it sounds like a party I wanna attend.

Where'd you get this? [He waggled the phone at Kevin.]

Han is who I'm worried about. Gifts are all well and good, but I'd feel better if he could stall for time a bit better. We'll figure something out once we can get upstate and grab the shit.

[He looks at what Ash is looking at and grins.]

That? I know a guy who knows a guy who supplies the government. When my old phone was repossessed, I grabbed a new one. That is an umbraphone. Calls all your usual numbers, but then also calls up places in the fuckin' Umbra, too. My contacts list used to be really fucking exciting. With some work, I could probably get Eyota on there, if I really wanted to bug the old man. Which I don't.

I'm down for a roadtrip.

[He can feel something different about the phone and now that makes sense. Although that also made him curious about how his technological gifts would work on the phone. Mostly he just wanted one.]

I want one. How much?

That one ain't for sale, but you gotta phone that ain't connected to Pentex's network, I can show ya how I made it work. It ain't hard. If ya need a phone, I can see what my buddy can dig up. The phone itself ain't nothin' special. It's the aftermarket rite you perform on it that makes it work. I've been through like a dozen phones. Goddamn Banes get in 'em and knock 'em dead if ya ain't careful.

Of course I have phones that aren't on their shit. [His brow lifted as he looked at the phone.] An aftermarket rite? How do I not know this? Who taught you?

I was a Dancer. Who do you think? It ain't a Wyrm rite, but it also probably ain't something most Gaian Garou use. You know how they feel about the Weaver. I take that back, maybe some Glasswalkers use 'em. I seem to remember Phyber saying something about that, but he said a lotta shit I didn't pay much attention to.

I know how they feel about a lot of things....but yeah, some of us... [He sighed.] You know how it goes, most Garou don't trust us anyway. Too human. Too engrained in their world. Guess for some that feels like an excuse to push that line as far as they can.

[Ashley handed the phone back.]

More fool, them. If I learned anything in all this time, it's that you underestimate and back the misfits into a corner at your peril. Eventually they're gonna bite back.

So you wanna learn that, or what? I'll teach you, but I gotta favor to ask. If you can do it. Need someone good with computers to search Pentex's database for the research they did on me. The formulas for the meds they pumped into me, the works. I don't wanna cure or anything. I just wanna see if that's something we can weaponize. Put it in the Hive's water supply or something, make 'em all lose the wolf for a bit.

I am almost offended by what you just asked and am going to have to whoop Oni's ass for not properly bragging about what it is I do.

Of course I can do it. I've done it before. I mean, you know, we don't just walk through glass, Kev.

[The former Black Spiral Dancer just grins.]

I knew, I just wanted to see what you'd say. The ragabash in my former pack used to be a Glasswalker. Guy had a real love of computers. And he had a mouth when he was drunk. He probably couldn't do what I need, but I figured there was a Glasswalker out there who could. Getting into the files for the Special Projects Division isn't exactly a walk in the park, it stays locked down tighter than a Tzimisce's asshole, but there's gotta be something in there about what kinda meds they used when they were trying their little "Dancers, but less prone to being batshit insane" bullshit. I couldn't change for two fucking years. There's gotta be something in there that's useable, even if I think me ending up here was a fucking fluke of nature.

[Kevin points at his phone.] Trick to this thing? It's a fetish. Cleansing a phone is a pain in the ass. Obviously cleansing with water or fire are out. Either burying it in pure earth, like at a caern, or exposing it to constant wind for three nights are the better options. After that, convince a spirit to enter the phone. A Weaver spirit is probably the best bet with that. After that? You got a phone with speed dial to interesting places.

Damn right you knew. [Ashley wasn't shy about his abilities and unless he was with his pack he couldn't openly talk about what he was or really did 'for a living'.]

I'll admit the last time I hacked Pentex I had help from a Kitsune. Trick is you have to be fast and ready for the blow back because it will come. Just takes preparation. Safe place no where near the Caern. Location of their data warehouse and sever farm.

Can you do this rite on something bigger? Like a computer? If I could access their network through the umbra, shit, that might buy me a lot more time. They wouldn't have a tracable IP to follow and I would have one less thing to try to do. Wouldn't burn out as fast.

[Gears in his brain were already churning, thinking through how he could use this on a larger scale. Getting the files Kevin wanted was all Ashley. Getting past their firewalls and security protocols to find the files? That was were the magic of being a Glasswalker came in. At the same time he had to use gifts to obscure his location to buy time and that was all it did, buy time. It consumed a lot of energy, any step he could cut out would help keep him from burning out.]

I'll need protection too. We'll have to take this to the pack. If they find me, they'll send something after me.

[Kevin grabs a cigarette from his shirt pocket and sticks it unlit in his mouth as he grabs for a pad of paper and a pen. He doesn't write anything just yet, but fiddling with the pen in his hand seems to help him think.]

You ain't gonna get near the servers. That I can almost guarantee. They're almost certainly routed through Malfeas. Like, I'm sure they're at least partially scattered around, but the entire fucking Hydra at the highest levels that I knew about took advantage of how closely the Wyrm paid attention to Pentex.

And yeah. A safe place. Cuz doing that rite on a computer ain't gonna put them off the scent too long. A connection through the Umbra of that magnitude is liable to attract the attention of Banes, and they'll attract the attention of the First Teams hunting the intrusion. I used to semi-regularly have to have Banes removed from my tech. Or just replace the shit, one of the two. Pain in the ass bullshit. Not using a fucking Bane in the initial rite ought to help a bit, but it's still gonna attract attention on the other side. You may as well make off with anything interesting looking while you're in there, if you can. Make the heist worth it. Don't bother with bullshit from a few years ago in LA, though. You want records of what happened on Magadon's end in LA, I have copies.

[Kevin thinks a moment and laughs.] You know telling the pack about this is gonna give Nasir a fucking aneurism, right? I might have to record that shit for posterity, or at least to cheer myself up later.

They have to employ regular people right? I need more details about their org structure. You got someone I can lift contact info off of? Some low level security guard or admin.

Everything nugget of information I can get up front will buy me more time. With this rite? I'll get what you are after.

[He raised a brow. An information hoarder is never going to say no, Kevin.]

Yeah, fuck yeah. I want everything you'll give me.

[He smirked.] He won't be the oy one. Pretty sure Oni will have something to say about it. We'll have to have a good angle to sweet talk then with.

You ain't gonna get much off of some low level flunky. Most of 'em don't even know that Special Projects is in the fucking building. Pentex really weaponizes the corporate bullshit to keep people from asking questions. I do have someone in mind, though. His name's Phyber. Alias Fred Arlen. Former Glasswalker Metis, currently working IT in a lower capacity than my former position. He's got enough access to both Special Projects and the First Teams to get you in. If he were sane, I'd say it'd be too risky to use him to go fishing, but he's easy to manipulate, if you got a strong stomach. Fucker has a real hard-on for tech. Like, the kind where you catch him using the new robot vacuum to jack off. Get him worked up enough, he'll sell his own mother to get some. He's also low enough on the totem pole as a Dancer that he can't sniff you out. Ironically, I was the one of that pack that would have sniffed you out quick. If you need to physically catch up to him, the coffee shop across from the Magadon building will be tempting, but don't try anything suspicious there. Pentex has eyes on it, both here and in the Umbra. Just stay away from Doctor Natalie Thurman. She's pack theurge and his smarter half. She don't have any specific gifts for sniffing out Garou, she just knows how easy Phyber is to lead around by his balls, seeing as she does it to him herself.

Come to think of it, other members of the pack that I know of? Teivel Wyrm-Song. Black Spiral Dancer Metis, so he's royally fucked in the head. He's pack Galliard. I kept him around mostly because he had a lot of knowledge I wanted, but he's getting on in years and can't fight like he used to. Han could probably deck him with a folding chair and he'd go down. Cormac is the pack's Ahroun. Lupus, but he's been around the block a while and he grew up in the Hive that I was brought to after my first change, so yeah. He's known me a while. Better just to avoid Cujo if you don't wanna get bit. In a fight, how powerful he is as a Dancer ain't gonna matter nearly as much as the fact that he leads a couple of the local First Teams. Neither of these chuckle-fucks have decent access to anything, though. Well, Cormac might, but trying to sweet-talk him or lift it off him will just piss him off when he can't figure out what's going on immediately. He don't have Oni's patience.

As for the LA info... [Kevin pulls the cover of his phone off and peels it apart, fishing in between two layers of rubber for a small SD card. He hands it over to Ash.] I have hard copies and computer records of all that elsewhere, that's just everything digitized, in case Cujo sniffs out my hoard. Promise me one thing? When you get to the part about what happened to the Rokea's caern off the coast of LA? Don't let your huge friend bite me in half? I haven't figured out a good way to make that shit right with him and he's big enough to fold me into a fucking pretzel and eat me.

Hell, he might have to get in line, because while Magadon wasn't the only reason shit went to hell in LA before I moved out here, I got moved out here because my work made my superiors pretty fucking happy. So. There's probably a lotta shit Oni would like to kick my ass for. It might give her something to use with the Sept, though. Maybe. Garou are pretty good at nursing grudges beyond all reason.

What I get off the flunky is operational stuff. Picking up names, titles, departments, that kind of stuff. You always get people to trust you more if you sound like you know what you are talking about. Any chance I could get myself in as a janitor? I just want to get in and wander around. What are my chances?

[He takes the card and his whole face lights up.] Is it fucking Christmas? Holy shit.

[Ashley is surprised by Kevin's honesty. He would have probably tried to hide it. What that meant to him was that Kevin was looking for redemption or he would have done just that, hidden it.] Why don't you just tell me what I'm going to find? I'm not going to lose my shit and to be honest, I think I'd rather hear it then read it on my own.

Maybe. My suggestion? If you can invent yourself a background, say, ex-military. Wounded, receiving treatment at the VA. Something that would hinder your ability to do higher paying jobs but still leaves you pretty trustworthy. Seizures or something. Wear a wedding band. Take pics of the kids at the house, stick 'em in your wallet where you'll have to flash them to get to your ID. Then insist on day shift. Trust me. The vampires on night shift see you, it may be game over.

I'd offer to help more, but your Christmas present is why Cormac is after my fucking head. And the bats, but that's more the principle of the thing. They didn't realize I was backing up my work outside the office, just in case what'shertits upstairs decided to fuck me over.

And that thing? Well, long story, hope you brought popcorn. Some background about me, I grew up in Atlanta. Had my first change in a fucking subway station in the middle of the night. Scared a couple homeless guys out of their damn minds. My kin-fetch had already let a Dancer Hive south of Chattanooga know where I was, and I didn't have long to wait till I was dragged back to the Hive. Eventually, I started with one of Pentex's First Teams, para-military security designed to hunt Garou. I worked my way up into the office. When I waltzed into Los Angeles years ago, it was to take over as director of special projects for Magadon, Inc's Los Angeles branch. This was...shit...just after that bullshit with Deacon Frost. The one where vampires literally took over. Corporate was a bit concerned.

So yeah. Our to do list involved driving the Garou and Fera who'd just run rampant through Los Angeles...out. The local caern was too well protected, so our to do list started with the Rokea's grotto. We had a man on the inside, so to speak, after we got through breaking one of them. While our first assaults on the grotto were rebuffed...kind of surprisingly,actually, I didn't expect the Rokea to ask for help. Later efforts included a fucking leviathan we managed to wake up. The grotto fell to the Wyrm. During all this, I was also coordinating with the local vampire Prince and other local vampires. We quietly helped to support his reelection campaign as mayor, a campaign that sadly didn't pan out. Still, we were given a wide berth by the vampires of the city to throw what we could at eliminating the Garou of the city. Quietly. Couldn't have them come knocking on our door. There were several big fucking monsters that were the doing of Special Projects.

Meanwhile, in the Umbra, both Pentex and the local Dancer Hive spread corruption. It kind of all blew up about the same time as something going on with a vampire I've had off and on contact with, Catherine de Volanges. I never figured out what exactly she was up to, except that it was something demonic. Point is, corporate was pleased with the fallout. I got transferred to New York. I had a harder time getting the ball rolling here. The local Hive is very traditional, which means they're extremely resistant to dealing with Pentex, so aid from them has been sporadic at best. Corporate didn't like it, they wanted Dancers on their payroll that were more predictable. So I got drafted into a little science project. They fed me some kinda drugs that made me practically human for two years. I ended up staying away from the Hive so I wouldn't get my ass kicked. Not exactly the result they wanted. When I could finally turn again, I found that the Wyrm-taint I'd been living in turned my fucking stomach. And yeah, long story short, I fled for my life here. Now the records for their little science project, I didn't have access to, that's shit I documented based on what I heard and saw. But the rest is there.

Magadon and Frost I know about. Worked on getting intel on all of them in LA.

[Well shit. Ashley wasn't expecting all of that. Maybe he was but it was still hard to hear. Brought up a lot of really bad memories. He also knew he couldn't share all of this with the pack at least not yet. Oni would lose her shit.]

Just a friendly warning if you want to keep the skin you're in, don't ever talk about Tristan to Oni. Pretty sure her blood will boil.

[Everyone knew the name of the Prince, he had been mayor after all, didn't exactly keep a low profile. What the pack knew was much, much darker. Tristan had been responsible for very dark vampire gutting Oni like a fish and playing with her insides. He stared at the tiny device holding this information and shook his head.]

Fuck. That's...just...fuck.

Yeah, this shit's fucked up. Cliche to say I was a different guy, but yeah. I'm hoping eventually I'll sleep a little better at night.

If Oni wants Gray, I might be able to pull some strings. Maybe. Most of Pentex's vampires are enemies of Gray's group, so I might be able to make inquiries about where he is now, without getting my bluff that I'm still with Magadon called. I thought he was here in NYC, but I ain't seen him in a while.

[Kevin points at the SD card.] Careful with that. Fuck knows if they can track any of it. I'm assuming not, but I always disconnected from the internet just in case.

[His brows lifted and he looked mischevious.] Of course she does. We all do. He's been number one on the shit-list for years now. Just be careful sniffing around.

I'll make sure it can't be tracked before I use it. Now I just need to go buy a wedding band and get some pretend kids, then we're off to the races.

Oh trust me, I will. I just got outta the Hive, I ain't getting dragged into any vampire bullshit. You wanna work off some frustration, lemme know, I know a couple dives we don't even gotta be subtle around. Been a while since I gutted a leech and watched him squirm. Not a bad idea for entertainment on a Friday night.

[Kevin flexed his hand and the tattoos, normally invisible in his homid form, flared bright blue. Unlike the first time Ash saw him in Crinos, with Wyrmish tattoos covering his body, the tattoos had obviously been painstakingly changed to Garou and Pictish symbols. One symbol is very clearly the Garou symbol for the White Howlers.] Kinda hoping I can sleep decent the whole night, truth be told. Weird shit's been going on since I left the Hive, and especially since after I talked to the old man and some ancestors about what the fuck was going on, my dreams have been something fucking else.