[x] Contact Naomi with his reply - I'm in.
If there was one takaway from the events of the last few hours, if was that Boston was indeed an unsafe place. Having seen first hand what the lives of people were like in the shadow side of Boston, Malcom knew that he could no longer stand idly by and let things continue as they were. This was especially so when he had been told by two different sources that things were continuously falling apart and depending in to near lawlessness. Naomi had asked him for his help, and he had told her that he needed time to think it over.
His phone was in his hand by the time he got to the parking lot, and by the second ring she had picked up.
"Hello Malcom. Did you need something?" She asked, her voice as cool and professional sounding as ever. In his minds eye he could practically see her sitting at her laptop, working on some obscure project. The sound of a keyboard in the background only further cemented the image.
"I thought about your offer, and I decided to take you up on it." Malcom said.
There was a moment of pause on the other end of the line before Naomi spoke again.
"Excellent. We'll have to arrange a meeting to go over the details. Are you available for the next few days?"
Malcom couldn't think of anything pressing that he had to attend to, other than his job. "I'll be free anytime during the evenings after I get off work."
"Yes, well, you may wish to consider letting your current employer know that you've found a new occupation." There was an amused lit to her tone as she spoke.
"I'll do that once the paperwork has been signed and my check is in the mail." Even if he was about to be joining a crusade to free Boston from the clutches of evil, he still wasn't about to quit one job without making sure he had secured another.
"Very well. I'll send you the address once we're ready. I look forward to working with you, Malcom."
They said their goodbyes and Malcom put his phone away. Climbing in to his car, he reflected on how rapidly his life had changed in such a short time. It hadn't even been a month since that encounter with Pricilla.
A few days later and Malcom was meeting with Naomi, going over the documents she had brought him. Most of it was standard non-discloser agreements, consent forms and so on. Bureaucracy, thy name was government.
A few of them were special, containing very clearly worded statement to the effect that what he was about to embark on was considered top secret, classified at the highest levels, and that telling anyone anything about what he was doing while working for Task Force Valkyrie would be met with harsh punishments.
Malcom read these documents carefully, asking several questions as he did so. Eventually she had gotten government lawyer on the phone who answered the questions for her.
"I didn't realize you had a background in federal law." Naomi said with some surprise as Malcom finished signing everything. Everything had been on the level, so he had no reason not to at this point.
"I don't. I just wanted to be careful before I signed away my firstborn or whatever." He said as he handed the sheets back to her. She collected them and put them in a folder.
Naomi frowned at the answer. "Malcom, your questions dealt with legal details that are highly obscure and specialized. We don't normally call Francis when signing on a new recruit. Is that level of legal insight normal? Our background check showed you haven't worked with government before."
Malcom paused, considering her words. He had read and signed work contracts before, but his understanding of the documents had been pretty typical in the past. "No, this was new. I didn't realize what I was doing until you pointed it out." He said.
Naomi nodded in understanding. "I believe your powers go beyond brute applications of mystical force and may extend to cognitive enhancements as well." She said, looking pleased. "I can perform similar feats, but they require a deliberate casting of a spell. You appeared to do this unconsciously." She made a note in the folder with his contract before turning her attention back to him. "I'll inform my superiors of this, perhaps we can find other uses for you beyond field work."
"I have a degree in engineering. I practice martial arts were more for fitness than actual combat." Malcom said. "Maybe I could look at some of your equipment and see where improvements could be made?" He offered.
"Perhaps. Task Force Valkyrie is already on the cutting edge of technological advancements, but if your abilities can be applied to your field of expertise, we might be able to push those bounds even further." She said.
"That's a discussion for another time, though. Once we're finished here you'll be taken to one of our facilities for some basic training, as well as shown where you can access our stores of occult literature and resources should you feel the need for further study. Once you've been cleared for duty, you and I will be working together on a series of operations we have planned throughout the city. If all goes well, we should be able to make serious headway in securing Boston from the Vampire-Mage alliance."
"What kind of training are we talking about?" Malcom had expected something like this, but he still wanted to know what he would be getting in to.
"That depends on you. You have the best perspective on how to channel your power. What do you think your best efforts should be
put towards?"
Malcom went silent as he mulled the question over. He didn't think it was arrogance to say that he would excel at whatever training they gave him, so the real question was what did he want to specialize in, or, what areas was he deficient in that needed extra effort put in to if he wanted to be more well rounded.
[] Fighting monsters
[] Mastering my powers
[] Uncovering occult secrets
[] Influencing others
[] Research and development
[] Write in
OOC
Pick two.
