This morning I woke up to a text from Agent May, telling me that she had set up everything so that a Life Model Decoy of Agent Coulson would be what was buried in his plot, and she was letting me know so that I could make sure that I didn’t tip my hand or anything, she added that she’d be releasing the news tomorrow, but that I wouldn’t be included in the initial message link to keep me off the radar. I thanked her for keeping me updated, and that if I heard anything, I would let her know. She thanked me and I went about getting ready for work, knowing that I would be working on an enchantment project for the shop. I also figured that I would need to be getting work done towards Clint’s extra equipment and my own as well. A lot of stuff in the future for me to do, so I need to figure out who to time everything.
I got up and got Rex off of me, not abruptly, but he didn’t especially want to get up early today. I got everything ready for my ride into work and thought about the fact that I should separate the “facilities room” off from the tent/living area. Maybe there is a small/cheaper item that allows you to have just the restroom in it, as I don’t think it needs a one hundred square foot room. I’ll research that tonight after the work day today, before I go to bed. I got my clothes and everything ready and closed down the storage unit.
As I got to work, after getting breakfast, Bob was waiting for me. He seemed especially happy, and that was probably because the parkas had come in. He asked me what all I might need to get started, and I noted that I would work on it with just the salt and the parka, but that I would probably expend around two hundred and forty pounds of salt per parka, and that I would let him know more when I did. I set an Unseen Crafter to disassemble, clean, reassemble, and lubricate any firearms that were placed on the rack, while I worked on the enchantments. While looking over the components, I had a brilliant idea to make them as a set. I wasn’t going to tie the activation of each of them to the activate at the same time, but it was basically the same enchantment redone four times, so making them as a set could help make them quicker.
I got the four parkas set up and decided that I wouldn’t add anything special for any of them. If needed, I can update the enchantment for any of them, or make a separate canteen, or some kind of modification to allow for the “upgrade” after the fact. It wouldn’t be a difficult thing to accomplish, and it wouldn’t need to be relegated to just the canteen. Just the kind of thinking that will make it quicker. Also, I’m certain that Bob would not want to be promoting alcoholism.
When I started to perfect the items, I noticed that there was still a magical resonance about the room, and specifically the table. I think that the only way to get rid of that resonance, would be to either fully enchant the table, or completely dispel the room of any latent magic. The fact that it is lingering so much is a bit concerning though. I started the enhancement process after working my way around the effect and working further into the set of cloaks. I succeeded in taming the rampant energies, drawing some of the extra mystical energy into the cloaks.
After eight solid hours of enchanting, I got ready to head out for the day. Bob was there, waiting for me, and asked if I had made progress. I told him that I had, but that it would still be at least a while longer to go. Bob said that he can understand that and just politely asked to be kept informed. He also thanked me for keeping up on the regular aspects of the job while I did so, and that if I could keep that up, I would probably be in line for additional pay. I thanked him, and headed out for the day.
I didn’t want to get his hopes up, but if tomorrow goes like today did, I could see the possibility of getting more enchanting done for my own needs, while keeping up my job and doing what Bob requested. I certainly wouldn’t be dipping into the company’s salt, but I could unload one hundred and twenty pounds a day for the next two days, maybe even two hundred and forty if I drop by the storage unit for lunch every day to pick up more. That could give me up to three hundred and sixty pounds to start enchanting something for myself or Clint. I figured that I would start going through the items to whichever is the easiest get made tonight. I headed back out from the storage unit towards dusk, just to try to get some patrols done, and found a robbery in progress.
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Another building that was apparently abandoned, and more of the Warlocks trying to muscle in on the territory. This time, it was half a dozen of them. Quickly making my way to a nearby alley, I spied on them for a few minutes to make sure that they were engaged in the activity, while I got ready. I summoned up my Mirror Images, getting a whopping seven images. Then, I activated Heightened Awareness, to get even more of a jump on them, then Cat’s Grace to increase my defenses further. Then, I cast Vanish, to get into position. As I moved into position, I changed into my “Verdigris costume”, cast Prestidigitation (to start collecting the rounds as they are fired), and then I cast Displacement and then Haste.
As I was ready, I started by getting into my Stance of Piercing Rays, and activated the Solar Reflection maneuver for my first shot, as I appeared. The six Warlocks, despite “knowing” something wasn’t right, still got a vicious bevy of shots against them, and the first one I hit even dropped unconscious before he could do anything. The round reflected into the chest of another Warlock, doing a fair amount of damage. My second actual shot was directed at yet a third of the six who took the round in stride, even with my Horizon Wind Lancet maneuver activated, while I wheeled my pistol around to fire at the furthest one out, firing with the Iron Fang maneuver, in an attempt to keep the conscious ones boxed in. Of the six that were standing around, five were left upright, and of those five, three were wounded.
Since the bikers were a bit flummoxed by me appearing out of thin air, I continued firing away, firing another shot at the one I stopped on, dropping them. With my next two shots, I hit the one next to him, and then wheeled over to the furthest one on the far side, one of the first four that I had hit, dropping them as well. By this time, the six were now three, and they each fired off a series of rounds at me. Of the rounds that went at me, not a single one struck the actual me. However, of the seven Mirror Images I had started with, I was only left with three.
I picked the two remaining central Warlocks to focus on for my ballistic violence on and dropped the two of them from a combined three bullets. This allowed the final biker to actually get a bead on me, and get close to hitting me. Thankfully, I used my last prepared maneuver, Intercepting Shot, to deflect the round away from actually hitting me, and his last shot hit another of my Mirror Images, bringing me to just two remaining. This allowed me to focus fully on the last one, dropping them with three of the rubber bullets. Looking around, I spied that camera that would have recorded the whole thing, tipped my hat to it, and collected any bullets or cartridges that had been expended by me.
I picked up one of their cell phones and texted to 911 that there was a drug fueled gunfight occurring at the address. I used Prestidigitation to clean any fingerprints or evidence of me being on the phone, before tossing it back on the gunman’s body. I looked at the camera again, gave a slight head nod, before disappearing into nothingness with another Vanish spell. I quickly made my way back to my bike and changed back to my civilian attire, before escaping through the back alleys back to the storage unit. I started to think about more different ways I could be helping others, but realized that I didn’t want to specifically be known for it.
I figured that I could put this on the back burner, as I had enough to worry about currently. I got back into the storage unit and thought about what my future would hold. The firearms seemed to uniformly need at least two shots to drop the average villain here, but maybe if I increase the caliber of the firearm and enchant it, it will be strong enough to allow me to get it in one shot. Something to include in my future plans, I guess. Rex and I settled back in as we bedded down for the night.
- No downtime event, rolled random encounter, stopping a Robbery in progress, rolled for the bad guys, ended up being 6 of the Warlocks. Got to try out the new firearms. So that’s a positive.
- LMD or Life Model Decoy, has been brought up in both the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series and in Iron Man 2.