Post by Draxas on Apr 23, 2012 22:19:14 GMT -5
Twilight tapped into the main channel to the Institute's headquarters, ignoring the deep cover protocols he had been maintaining for so long. After the day's events, any need for subtlety was long gone, even though it was only a few hours ago that he was trying to coax essential files from an auxiliary terminal while the guards had started to panic as they got picked off one by one. Besides, he was starting to feel a little woozy, no doubt the result of suffering two head injuries in a short span of time. He only hoped that someone reasonable would be on the other end of the line, because he was in no mood nor condition to deal with the runaround right now.
"This is Agent Twilight, requesting immediate evac. Do you copy?" He noticed that his speech was slightly slurred in a strangely detached manner, as if a still lucid portion of his mind was evaluating his condition from a disembodied perspective. It was a rather bizarre feeling.
"We copy, Twilight," responded the voice over the comm, "That was quite a fireworks display you put on there." The distinctive mix of sarcasm and cockiness was unmistakable.
"Jonathan? Is that you?" One of his instructors from his training days was the last person Twilight expected to be talking to, and the realization helped snap his mind into a more alert state, "I thought you were still on assignment in Brazil?"
"Just got back yesterday, actually. Rio's not all it's cracked up to be this time of year." Twilight could practically see the smirk that he knew was spreading across his face, "I was just having a little chat with Tierney here when you called. Suffice to say he's still annoyed that I snatched the transponder away from him, but I wasn't going to pass up this opportunity."
Twilight, for one, was grateful. Tierney was a notorious stickler for following protocol, and almost certainly would have given him an earful he didn't need if he had answered. Besides, it had been almost a year since he last talked to Jonathan thanks to their various assignments, but Twilight still considered him to be a friend, even a mentor of sorts, and wished he could do some catching up. That would have to wait, though.
"So what the hell happened out there, Twi?" Jonathan asked, "We saw the whole place go up in flames on the sat feed, and we were starting to get worried when you didn't report in."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Jon," Twilight sighed, "But I need to get back to the Institute right away. The situation with NUFLO has changed dramatically, I have data on my uplink that could potentially crack the whole organization wide open, I even found out who's calling the shots, but that's only made the situation ten times worse than any of us thought. I need to speak with Dr. Carrington directly, and relaying this info through some backwoods outpost isn't going to cut it."
"I've told you before, Agent Twilight," called a distant voice over the comm in a mild Scottish brogue, "Everyone who works for the Institute should just call me Daniel."
"Looks like the boss just arrived," quipped Jonathan, "I'm going to pass you over to him. We'll catch up later."
"Agent Twilight," said Carrington, this time directly into the comm, "You need to give me some idea what's going on out there. We all feared the worst when we saw the facility explode."
"Here's the situation," began Twilight, "I need immediate evac for four people, direct to the Institute. Besides me, I have a captured informant, a researcher from NUFLO. There are also two agents here that are unaffiliated with the Institute but have essential information they are willing to exchange. You... might not like who they are, though."
There was a noticable pause on the other end of the comm before Carrington responded, "God above, it must be Razor and his brother. Anytime one of these operations goes horribly wrong, he's usually involved somehow."
"Er, not exactly," Twilight replied, stealing a glance over at his companions. Both were eavesdropping on his end of the conversation with silent interest, though the researcher was still lying in the dirt, groaning in pain. Razor and Sinim, on the other hand, seemed to have already left in the hovercar while he was talking into the comm. Twilight chalked up missing that detail to the increasingly fuzzy feeling that was returning to the inside of his head.
"Well then who is it?" queried Carrington impatiently. He seemed a lot more agitated now that he suspected Razor was involved, just as everyone had suspected.
"Their kids are here," Twilight responded cautiously, "Both of them would like to speak with you too."
"Absolutely not!" roared Carrington, accompanied by a muffled thump that Twilight suspected was a fist pounded on a desk, "Every time Razor or someone affiliated with him enters Institute property, my buildings need a fortune in repairs, all of my ops go straight to hell in a handbasket, and the Maians get pissed at us for months! I'd sooner let another Skedar invasion through the front door than let those two in here! I swear that if they try to set one foot inside the Institute, I will personally --"
"The brains behind NUFLO is Daishi," interrupted Twilight quietly.
The silence on the other end of the comm was palpable, and lasted several seconds longer than Twilight felt could be considered "awkward".
"Fine," grumbled Carrington, finally cutting the tension. Twilight exhaled, which made him realize he had actually been holding his breath, "We're preparing a jumpship to pick you up, they should be there within 15 minutes. I expect full cooperation from your guests when you arrive, and I'm holding you responsible for their behavior, Agent Twilight."
"Yessir," croaked Twilight. Despite Carrington's attempts to foster an informal and friendly atmosphere among his employees at the Institute, he still could be fiercely intimidating when he was angry, and few things seemed to make him as angry as when Razor got involved with Institute business.
"I also expect a full debriefing when you arrive," added Carrington, his voice calming somewhat but still containing an edge, "I need to know what information you have on NUFLO's long term objectives and plans. I don't want to be caught unaware by their next move."
Twilight's head swam, probably from the stressful situation.
"Um, I may not be able to manage that... Could you send a medical team with that jumpship? Our informant looks to have some cracked ribs at least, maybe worse, and I think I've got a concussion," Twilight swayed on his feet as he said it, drawing a few concerned looks.
"Ehm, of course, Agent Twilight," responded Carrington, a note of concern entering his voice, "I'll make sure a medical team is on board. The jumpship will be enroute momentarily, just hold on until then. Carrington out."
As Twilight cut of communication, he stumbled over to a nearby boulder and sat down heavily with his back against it.
"Our chariot is on its way," he said with a weary smirk, "So I think I'm going to just sit down for a bit while we wait."
"This is Agent Twilight, requesting immediate evac. Do you copy?" He noticed that his speech was slightly slurred in a strangely detached manner, as if a still lucid portion of his mind was evaluating his condition from a disembodied perspective. It was a rather bizarre feeling.
"We copy, Twilight," responded the voice over the comm, "That was quite a fireworks display you put on there." The distinctive mix of sarcasm and cockiness was unmistakable.
"Jonathan? Is that you?" One of his instructors from his training days was the last person Twilight expected to be talking to, and the realization helped snap his mind into a more alert state, "I thought you were still on assignment in Brazil?"
"Just got back yesterday, actually. Rio's not all it's cracked up to be this time of year." Twilight could practically see the smirk that he knew was spreading across his face, "I was just having a little chat with Tierney here when you called. Suffice to say he's still annoyed that I snatched the transponder away from him, but I wasn't going to pass up this opportunity."
Twilight, for one, was grateful. Tierney was a notorious stickler for following protocol, and almost certainly would have given him an earful he didn't need if he had answered. Besides, it had been almost a year since he last talked to Jonathan thanks to their various assignments, but Twilight still considered him to be a friend, even a mentor of sorts, and wished he could do some catching up. That would have to wait, though.
"So what the hell happened out there, Twi?" Jonathan asked, "We saw the whole place go up in flames on the sat feed, and we were starting to get worried when you didn't report in."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Jon," Twilight sighed, "But I need to get back to the Institute right away. The situation with NUFLO has changed dramatically, I have data on my uplink that could potentially crack the whole organization wide open, I even found out who's calling the shots, but that's only made the situation ten times worse than any of us thought. I need to speak with Dr. Carrington directly, and relaying this info through some backwoods outpost isn't going to cut it."
"I've told you before, Agent Twilight," called a distant voice over the comm in a mild Scottish brogue, "Everyone who works for the Institute should just call me Daniel."
"Looks like the boss just arrived," quipped Jonathan, "I'm going to pass you over to him. We'll catch up later."
"Agent Twilight," said Carrington, this time directly into the comm, "You need to give me some idea what's going on out there. We all feared the worst when we saw the facility explode."
"Here's the situation," began Twilight, "I need immediate evac for four people, direct to the Institute. Besides me, I have a captured informant, a researcher from NUFLO. There are also two agents here that are unaffiliated with the Institute but have essential information they are willing to exchange. You... might not like who they are, though."
There was a noticable pause on the other end of the comm before Carrington responded, "God above, it must be Razor and his brother. Anytime one of these operations goes horribly wrong, he's usually involved somehow."
"Er, not exactly," Twilight replied, stealing a glance over at his companions. Both were eavesdropping on his end of the conversation with silent interest, though the researcher was still lying in the dirt, groaning in pain. Razor and Sinim, on the other hand, seemed to have already left in the hovercar while he was talking into the comm. Twilight chalked up missing that detail to the increasingly fuzzy feeling that was returning to the inside of his head.
"Well then who is it?" queried Carrington impatiently. He seemed a lot more agitated now that he suspected Razor was involved, just as everyone had suspected.
"Their kids are here," Twilight responded cautiously, "Both of them would like to speak with you too."
"Absolutely not!" roared Carrington, accompanied by a muffled thump that Twilight suspected was a fist pounded on a desk, "Every time Razor or someone affiliated with him enters Institute property, my buildings need a fortune in repairs, all of my ops go straight to hell in a handbasket, and the Maians get pissed at us for months! I'd sooner let another Skedar invasion through the front door than let those two in here! I swear that if they try to set one foot inside the Institute, I will personally --"
"The brains behind NUFLO is Daishi," interrupted Twilight quietly.
The silence on the other end of the comm was palpable, and lasted several seconds longer than Twilight felt could be considered "awkward".
"Fine," grumbled Carrington, finally cutting the tension. Twilight exhaled, which made him realize he had actually been holding his breath, "We're preparing a jumpship to pick you up, they should be there within 15 minutes. I expect full cooperation from your guests when you arrive, and I'm holding you responsible for their behavior, Agent Twilight."
"Yessir," croaked Twilight. Despite Carrington's attempts to foster an informal and friendly atmosphere among his employees at the Institute, he still could be fiercely intimidating when he was angry, and few things seemed to make him as angry as when Razor got involved with Institute business.
"I also expect a full debriefing when you arrive," added Carrington, his voice calming somewhat but still containing an edge, "I need to know what information you have on NUFLO's long term objectives and plans. I don't want to be caught unaware by their next move."
Twilight's head swam, probably from the stressful situation.
"Um, I may not be able to manage that... Could you send a medical team with that jumpship? Our informant looks to have some cracked ribs at least, maybe worse, and I think I've got a concussion," Twilight swayed on his feet as he said it, drawing a few concerned looks.
"Ehm, of course, Agent Twilight," responded Carrington, a note of concern entering his voice, "I'll make sure a medical team is on board. The jumpship will be enroute momentarily, just hold on until then. Carrington out."
As Twilight cut of communication, he stumbled over to a nearby boulder and sat down heavily with his back against it.
"Our chariot is on its way," he said with a weary smirk, "So I think I'm going to just sit down for a bit while we wait."