[x] "I'll call you when I get to work, alright?"
"I'll call you when I get to work, alright?" Malcom said as he stood up, taking Maggie by then hand and giving it a comforting squeeze. She returned the gesture in kind and nodded.
"Okay." She said, wiping the tears form her eyes and putting on a brave face for him. "Good luck at your new job." She said.
They shared another quick hug before Malcom left, and made sure the Valkyrie squad next door had been informed that Bart might be stopping by, and that he was allowed to do so.
On his way out the door he looked up at the rooftop where he had seen the shadowed figure standing and watching the past few nights. He wasn't there this time, and Malcom wondered what that meant. He was less concerned now that he had an armed guard watching his home, but it was still something that bothered him.
The drive to the mission location was uneventful, and he made sure to give Maggie a call once he arrived like he promised. Nothing noteworthy had happened during the time he had been away, but she sounded happy that he had called nonetheless.
The location itself was an address provided to him by Naomi that turned out to be an abandoned shopping mall. There were several people milling about out front of one of the entryways, and as he walked towards them he saw that one of them was Naomi.
She approached him as he walked up, looking irritated about something. That in and of itself was unusual considering how calm and unflappable she normally was. She was also dressed very differently from normal. Gone were the normal suits and blouses, and in their place were a pair of jeans and a plain button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to fight the summer heat.
"Malcom, about time." She said, sounding as irritated as she looked. She stopped herself and took a moment, muttering something under her breath and making an odd sign with her hand. When she was done, she looked much calmer, more like her usual self.
"Sorry about that. I'm having difficulties with some of the on-site staff." She said as she motion for him to follow her. They walked over to where the others where. They were standing by a large black van, and were dressed in casual clothing. Were it not for their rigid postures and coordinated movements, Malcom might have mistaken them for ordinary people taking a gander at the abandoned complex out of curiosity.
The tension in the group visibly rose as they approached, to the point where one of them momentarily touched his service weapon that was holstered just out of sight. She removed her hand from the weapon at a look from someone Malcom assumed to be her superior, but it still put him on edge.
The man who had given the woman the look had a sour look on his face. He was a gruff, older looking man who was starting to see some grey in his hair, but the confidence in which he carried himself implied that his age had no impact on his abilities.
"I told you, you're not going in without authorization." He said as Naomi came within speaking distance. "I don't care if you're the new favorite. This is my command and I'm not going to let some caster barge in on my watch, especially not without backup."
"I have authorization, commander." Naomi said smoothly. "I showed you the documents and you verified them. With my associate here, I now possess the backup you required of me. Are there any other stipulations you have or may we proceed with the investigation?"
The commander looked at Malcom incredulously. "Him? Your boyfriend doesn't count as backup, Watanabe. Get out of here and let the actual professionals do their job, alright?" He said, glaring at her.
"Mister Clark is a special agent of Task Force Valkyrie." Naomi said, meeting his gaze unflinchingly as she reached in to her back pocket and pulled out a sheaf of papers and handed them to the commander. "These will verify his status, as well as his authorization to enter the property."
The commander took the documents and looked them over, his glower getting more and more prominent as he did so. When he was done, he shot Malcom a glare and thrust the papers in to Naomi's chest, which she took without complaint.
"Fine, get on with it then." He said, walking away without another word.
Malcom wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a smug look of triumph ghost across Naomi's face as the commander barked orders to let them through.
He definitely heard her mutter "Asshole" under her breath once they were inside, though.
Malcom had never seen the inside of an abandoned shopping mall before, but it was pretty much what he had expected. The whole place had been stripped of any identifying brand or store, save for places where it was physically apart of the architecture. There was trash and debris everywhere, and almost every surface was carted with a layer of dust, dirt or both. Off to the side there was an abandoned bicycle that was rusted over, and more than a few windows had been smashed in, likely by vagrants or vandals looking to get drunk or high while exploring. The presence of abandoned beer cans and discarded needles in one corner all but verified that theory.
Malcom looked over at Naomi, who had produced a flashlight from nowhere and was examining the entry way with a thoughtful look on her face. She swept the beam of light across a few shops in examination before, apparently satisfied with what she was seeing, switched it off and turned to him.
"This is a basic fact finding mission." She said, adopting the tone that Malcolm had come to recognize as her 'explanation voice.' "I don't know if you can feel it, but the membrane between here and the Gauntlet is unusually thin. We believe that the Seers are using this as site as a staging ground for their rituals that help them influence the local spiritual climate of Boston, which helps them manipulate the mood and attitudes of the city at large."
That meshed with what Malcom knew of spirits. They were ephemeral personifications of place, ideas or objects that held sway over whatever they embodied. Influencing a spirit allowed you to influence whatever they were a spirit of. The Gauntlet was the barrier between this world and the Shadow, the spirit world. Since it was so thin here, it was an ideal location to travel in to the Shadow and manipulate the spiritual side of Boston.
[] Ask about the Seers and their plans for this location (write in).
[] Ask if she's alright.
[] Ask about the encounter with the commander.
