Victory Girl - The Session
Epilogue 1
"You've been missing for the better part of a week," said Ms Abel nonchalantly as she sipped her whisky. "Don't tell me you were concerned," teased The Fixer as he poured himself a drink and joined her. "I am eligible for leave and so I took some," he added.
"Except, that's not like you. You love what you do here, and I don't think you've taken a day off since we started this organisation together."
"Well, something came up and I needed some time away from the lab and the desk."
"I thought we didn't keep secrets from each other," replied Ms Abel, as she took a long sip from her glass. While her drink was still cold, the ice had long melted. She had been waiting since his locator had finally turned on and it indicated he was on his way to their office. "You know that that cartel is still after you, and the last thing I want is my top engineer in their hands."
"We don't," said The Fixer as he sunk back into the chair. "This little 'side project' dropped into my lap only a couple of weeks ago and I might finally get the answers that have eluded me for more than a few years. You know how I am with questions I don't know the answers to." He paused for a moment as he stared at the ceiling. "Besides, I couldn't take the chance that it was a hoax; you'd never let me hear the end of it. Or a trap, which I'll admit, I did have my apprehensions about. But if it was true, it would be too good to pass. That's why I went off the grid and disabled all comms. As much as I love indulging in this new little side project, I can't have it jeopardising the organisation. In any case, Phase 1 is cleared, and I think I'll need to prepare for Phase 2. I going to need access to the space over at the old docks and I'll need the mothballed facility near Gunner hills up and running again."
"That's our old heavy weapons lab. Just what the hell are you up to?"
"You wanted some of my latest tech live tested, I'm arranging to it live tested. I'm having the prototypes for the new contractor moved to that facility as well. If you don't mind, I'd like your Tech Support team to run point on the set-up at the docks. I'll pass on my requirements to them by tomorrow. Have a support team prep the facility and all the items. I'll have a final run through once they are done."
"It's not like you to hand over the implementation of your plans to someone else..."
"I handpicked your Tech Support team so I'm confident in their ability to deliver. Besides, there are some interesting reports coming out of the Australia unit that I want to turn my attention to. Also, there's all that data from the Europe field ops that needs to be sifted through to plan out the next upgrades. It's going to be a busy week for me."
"As usual, you're not interested in the updates from my end."
"Only if it means I get to develop new tech. Besides, if there's anyone in the world that I trust to make the right decisions and keep this organisation running like the well-oiled machine that it is, it's you."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, you know that right? While I may have landed the new contractor, I still have my apprehensions about their operations. The checks have come out clean, well, a little too 'clean'. You know we never develop the tech they are asking us to work on. I could have a team run background in person."
"Ha! I'm sure we both have our suspicions about their true identity, but I doubt an on-the-ground team will fare any better. At this point, there seems to be only one way to figure out their true intentions, and that is to develop the holding tech they have asked us to develop. Besides, I'm sure at this point that this new... arrangement, is more long term than short term."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because like it or not, AGNI's Counter-tech is still the best bet against Evolveds. And thanks to your efforts, my tech is finally getting the attention it deserves."
"I just hope its not the attention we've been trying to avoid. In any case, you have my reports. At least glance through them when you have the time."
"The same way you look at my findings?"
"Touche. Still, I'm not comfortable with you running a live weapons test and prototype testing all by yourself. I'll have Tech Support on standby. The last thing I need is you killing someone because you dialled in the wrong settings in all your enthusiasm. And don't you dare go dark again!"
"Nonsense, I have no intention of killing myself. And besides, I may have found the perfect test subject."
***
“We meet at last, ‘Victory Girl’,” said the man in the chair, barely glancing up from his laptop screen. “I see your little caper did not yield any significant results.”
“He is very cautious. Turned up quite off the grid. No trace backs to his main server since.”
“When they told me you were the best, I expected better results. Still, you did manage to get some one-on-one time with the man himself. That’s more progress than many of our agents have pulled off in over a year of trying to infiltrate AGNI. So, what’s your opinion of this ‘Fixer’?”
“I’ll keep my opinions to myself for the time being. All that I had to say has been included in my report.”
“Still, I am curious how you managed to land this meeting.”
“How many people will turn down the chance to meet ‘Victory Girl’ in the flesh?”
“Hmmm, perhaps. AGNI has been a thorn in E-Division’s side for a long time now. To think they are making our Evolved agents look like amateurs at times is insulting to say the least. We need solid intel to unravel their operations. I assume you are not yet done with this ‘Fixer’.”
“I am running my own investigation into his operations. For now, I have to wait to hear from him. If things go as I expect, I should be able to get some more insights into his operations.”
“I expect to be kept abreast of any new developments, ‘Victory Girl’.”
“Ha, Don’t forget who you really report to, ‘Acting’ Director Michael,” replied Victory Girl as she left the office. Michael leaned back in his chair. As he closed her official report and the tech team’s findings, he ended up on her official file. Most agents could only see what was already in the public domain about Victory Girl. As Acting Director, he should be able to see all the details in her file, and yet, it was heavily redacted. He had tried numerous times to gain access, but it remained sealed by the highest levels of the Government. As he shut the program, he mumbled to himself, “We’ll see for how much longer.”
***
I normally render my comic series in 3delight because its faster and looks good enough for me, but I was having issues with this scene because most of the items in it are for iray and were looking like a total mess in 3delight. I finally lost patience and just threw in an iray light source and let it render while I did other things
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