Monday, July 02, 2018, 9:30 AM Norfolk, VA

  I woke up with Rex telling me that the kid was still in the other room, laying there but not asleep. I thanked Rex, got up, and got dressed, before going to check on the kid. He was sitting there, on the cot, looking a little confused with the whole situation. I asked him if he wanted to head out to get breakfast, to which he agreed, and I opened up the storage unit before escorting him out. I walked with him to Chick-Fil-A and we got some breakfast hash brown burritos, and an extra order for him.

  With some time to actually discuss the actual situation, we finally got to the point where he felt safe enough to give me his name, Cal Thimes. We headed out from Chick-Fil-A with a second combo for both of us, as we walked back to the storage unit, where it would be safe to talk. We sat down in our camp chairs while I waited for Bob to deliver the specialty order for the next unit. Cal asked me all kinds of things about magic and everything, and I told him what I could. After a while, he admitted that he really didn’t have any other options for where to live and that he didn’t want to live on the streets anymore.

  I told him that I could possibly get him some help via S.H.I.E.L.D. if he was interested, and that I had to check in with my Handler today about some things I had reached out to them about last week. Cal said that he would appreciate that, and I added it to my list of tasks today. I noted that we had until around nine AM when Bob would bring the items for me to work on, so I started to ask him more and more about his life and how he ended up here in Norfolk, looking for stuff to sell in storage units. He told me about how his family had lived paycheck to paycheck, basically, and that when the Snap happened, his family had all disappeared. He added that he had heard on the news after a few hours that it wasn’t just his family, but like half of the people in the world had disappeared.

  He continued that he had managed to be okay for a bit, until the gang members were going door to door to scavenge everything in the houses left vacant. He added that he had locked everything securely, but they eventually broke in. He escaped with little more than what he had on him, and he had spent all of the cash and traded all of the goods to be able to eat. He had run out two days ago and was getting desperate, but not desperate enough to join up with the gangs. I listened as he continued to talk and eat, obviously hungry from his travails.

  As I listened, I found a fair amount of understanding for this young man, the vicissitudes of fate that they had endured in the past month. After a bit more, I offered him up a chance. I told him that he needed to be registered as finishing up whatever schooling that he needed to be recognized as an adult (I had learned that much from the school books I had read here). To that end, I was going to take him with me to go to the representative, to see what can be done. Then I would head back here and they would call me.

  Then the offer would be provided, when we could discuss it secretly again. I told him that this room was fairly secure, but that I needed to know how long it would be for his schooling to be finished for him to bed an adult, before I would allow him to put himself in risk, for what I could teach him. I added that I would make sure that he had some degree of spending money, no matter what. Cal thanked me and I apologized that I had to make a call, and stepped outside of the tent, into the rest of the storage unit. This place was rapidly becoming too small for me, and anything that I would endeavour to create here.

  I got my phone out, saw a text, and read it. It was Bob, telling me that he would be at the storage unit at nine o’clock sharp, and that there would be two pallets of salt delivered shortly before then, as was the deal last time. I sighed, and dialed a different number, getting a hold of Jonathan. Jonathan answered fairly quickly and told me that he was planning on contacting me today as my Boron Carbide cloth was supposed to be delivered today. I thanked him and asked if he could spare a minute to listen to me as I had a bit of an issue, and I wondered if he could help me with it.

  Jonathan agreed, and I told him about Cal and the issue with him needing some degree of assistance procuring his necessary certification or what not of adulthood. Jonathan laughed and said that it was a high school diploma, and that while S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t really deal with that, he would ask around. I then told him about the second problem, how this… storage unit that I was using was great and all, but if I was going to be doing more in the future, especially with the hints that I would be continuing with the contract of upgrading the military’s firearms, that I would be needing a larger building. Jonathan said that he thought that it would not be a problem after he had seen the news clip where Steve Rogers had basically given me a glowing endorsement for the job I was doing here in Norfolk, and that I had gotten a massive bump in social media popularity over the weekend. He added that a large portion of Norfolk was either in or formerly in the Armed Forces, or were related to someone who was, so the endorsement of a cultural icon like Cap can really boost my chances for getting something approved by the City Council. I shrugged, saying that I didn’t know what I could actually offer that would allow the purchase of buildings, considering what everything cost here.

  Jonathan told me that he would swing by to pick up Cal, on his way in. I thanked him, and said that I could probably use another pallet of Salt before the end of the week. Jonathan said that he would arrange it, and reduce it from my banked monies. I added that he was probably going to be getting a small allotment from Bob for what I upgrade this week. Jonathan added that he had received a fair allotment from what I had made for him last week. I told him to just transfer most of it into the donation account. Jonathan said that he would, and added that if I kept up at this rate, I might make it self-sustaining.

  I told him that I was just interested in helping others, and that if it got to that point, to let me know, and that we can talk about either increasing the daily donation amount or donating to another organization at the same time. Jonathan agreed and said that he’d be by shortly. I went back into the storage unit and saw Cal sitting there, eating my second combo, looking ashamed. I told him that it wasn’t a problem at all, that there was a person from S.H.I.E.L.D. that was going to help him get some things sorted. Cal looked a bit worried for a minute but I told him that Jonathan was a good sort that would try to help however he could.

  Cal seemed to calm down a bit, as we talked about what he might want to do with his life, and Cal said that he wanted to do something important, but didn’t know what he could do in this new world. I shrugged, and said that this was something that could be discussed later, when he had all his options ahead of him. The conversation was a little bit easier after that, with him being more interested in what I did and could do. I told him that I would be working today and tomorrow on a project, but that he could feel free to drop by whenever. Cal thanked me and it was then that Jonathan showed up.

  I brought Jonathan into the storage unit to show him around, and he was impressed with the extradimensional nature of the tent. He asked where I had gotten this, and I told him that I had made it since getting here. Jonathan asked if I could whip up a list of whatever I could make, because that could be a good bargaining chip for the talks with the city. I told him that I would, and we got Cal into the car with Jonathan, just as a flatbed truck showed up with two pallets of salt on the back. Jonathan said that he’d drop by once his Boron Carbide Fabric showed up, and discuss things further. I closed up the flaps to hide the internals of the tent, and asked them to bring the pallets into the storage unit. They did, carefully, and looked at the tent a little oddly, and I told them that the person who wanted the salt didn’t have room at their place, so they had it sent here to pick it up later.

  The two delivery people shrugged, got the Moffett back onto the flatbed, got back into the truck, and drove off. Shortly thereafter, Bob came by with two locked cases in the back of his SUV. I carried them into the storage unit, and Bob followed me in, looking at the tent and marvelling. He told me that this was marvelous, and that he expected me to do big things if I could do this. I thanked him and told him that I would probably be moving to another building, and asked him if he had any ideas. Bob told me that the building and lot across Starke Street from his shop had been empty for years. I thanked him for the tip and told him that I’d look into it.

  I escorted Bob out, thanking him and asking him to just send the remuneration to the account that had been set up with the bank when it was received. Bob told me that he would, and said that I should contact him when it is ready, but that he would appreciate it if I didn’t call him on Wednesday, as he would be quite busy. I asked him why, and he told me that it was a holiday. He added that I should probably get a better information primer from Jonathan about the holidays of this world, with a smile, and then he left. I closed the gate of the storage unit, and got to work. I decided to go through and get as many as I could today, with the idea that I would finish them off tomorrow.

  **********

  Monday, July 02, 2018, 8:00 PM Norfolk, VA

  I spent a half hour prepping every rifle for the process with Prestidigitation and Mending. Then I went on to spend seven hours working on enhancing the firearms. I got a little bit of a work out, moving the salt bags as I needed to enhance the firearms, moving a total of eleven bags, with a half bag left over for the next one, tomorrow. I spent the last half hour cleaning the finished firearms and putting them in the cleaned case. This left an extra one that couldn’t be put back in the clean case, so I stowed it in my Bandolier. With my day ended for spellcasting, I stepped out of the tent and checked my messages.

  Jonathan had sent me a text saying that Cal was going to be set up with a GED test, considering that the last month of his senior class was disrupted by the Snap, there was some leeway being given, and him being brought in after running from gangs was a substantially good secondary reason. Jonathan said that he was going to set Cal up in the same Wyndham Garden Hotel room that I was at for the two weeks for him to get everything he needed done, in a place where he can access the internet and computer services freely. Jonathan told me that he’d be by shortly with my Boron Carbide fabric, saying that he was actually at Rally’s getting dinner with Cal before they were going to come check in with me before dropping him off at the hotel, and to discuss the needs that I would have for a property. I thanked him and was about to hang up, when I heard a scuffle from his side of the line at the end of the call. Shit, I cursed to myself as I took stock of what I had available as I had expended so much on enhancing the firearms earlier.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I got my gear on and ready, got on the bike, and quickly rode to the Rally’s while assuming the Verdigris outfit via my Disguise Self ability. I rode as fast as I could, getting there in less than a minute, and could hear yelling at the back side of the building. I quickly set the bike aside, and cast Vanish to get into position easier. I could see that there were a few people who were wounded from gunfire from the criminals, but didn’t have the time to address them when the attackers were still going around. As I snuck invisibly around the corner, I spied the four of them, going car to car, on both sides, shaking down the inhabitants. I could see Jonathan’s car would be next. I leapt into action, resolving to keep the criminal’s aim on me, and the area behind me devoid of possible victims behind me.

  Once I had gotten into position and ready, I hit my Stance of Piercing Rays, and summoned up my Searing Break. I only managed to get two different shots off, lacking the benefit from Haste. I still managed to drop two of the four that were around one of the two cars that were being held up. In the immediate aftermath of that, they started to round on me, when I dropped a third with a Strike of the Adder. I told the last one, as the third dropped, that they can either drop their gun, or get the same.

  The criminal paused, just long enough for him to give it serious consideration, and then held his hands up, with the gun being suspended by his ring finger. I held the Teleported behind him using my Dimensional Stride Boots, and relieved him of the pistol. I got him down on the ground and heard him muttering that he didn’t even want to be in this city anymore anyway. I told him to get down on his knees, and he did, and I shackled his hands before activating a Sift spell to see if there was anything that he was hiding. He didn’t have any other weapons or contraband, so I told him to get up, and added that he was going to have the chance to do something good.

  The Warlock looked at me oddly for a moment before I continued with telling him that he was going to use his phone to call the police to admit what he and his former fellows were doing, before I busted up the attack. I looked around and saw Jonathan getting up out of his car. I asked him, as an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. to keep this guy covered while I went to administer aid. Jonathan rushed forward, and I quickly yelled out to everyone that if they were wounded, I needed to know where. It seemed like they had only managed to shoot four people, which is surprising, but I quickly evaluated which person was in the most danger.

  Of the four people wounded, one of them was shot through, the other three still had bullets in their bodies. I went to the one who didn’t have the bullet first, and quickly cast Cure Light Wounds on them. While I was doing this, I yelled to Jonathan to have his S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent in Training carefully collect the guns from the other robbers bodies, and put them on the back of the Agent’s trunk. With this first person saved, I realized that I might need to do a bit more for the others. I know that the current medical theory states that you shouldn’t remove the bullet unless you are absolutely certain that they will not die because of it, but that theory didn’t have what I did.

  I promptly used my existing Prestidigitation (it is better to just keep it active anymore) to collect the bullet out of the wound, and then to clean the wound as well. I followed up with a Cure Light Wounds, and left the bullet that had been in them, with them, with the indication that they should hold onto it for when the police need evidence. I moved on to the next person, who didn’t look to be in as good condition as the second person, so I got right to work following the same procedure. They actually required a second casting of Cure Light Wounds to get them in good condition, but by the end they will be okay. I moved on to the last one, and they were barely hanging on. I quickly worked to get them in a stable condition and heal them. By then I only had the ability to cast two more Cure LIght Wounds, but I did so, and the person pulled through.

  With the emergency medical care dealt with, I went back to the robber and told them that their chance to do better is here, and that they will be helping to determine what was taken from everyone during the robbery attempt, and which person did the actual theft, and getting it back to them, with the two Agent’s help. While they did that, I quickly bound the criminals that I had shot that were just unconscious, but looked dead. I was waiting for the police to show up, so that I could officially give them a statement. Since I had been endorsed by the Captain last week, I thought that it would be a good move. I heard the sirens in the distance, showing that someone had managed to call, and I confirmed that everything was actually under control. Jonathan came up to me and asked if I wanted to duck out, as he could give the pass down to the police.

  I thought about it but decided to not leave, as this was going to happen at some time, sooner or later, and if I needed to, I was pretty certain I could get away in the worst case scenario. Before the police arrived, I secured my rifle in my bandolier after ducking around a car to break line of sight with anyone I didn’t trust. I made sure that I was visibly in the open as the police rolled up. I kept my hands where they could easily see them and away from anywhere I thought that they thought would be where I could produce firearms. Jonathan stepped up with his S.H.I.E.L.D. badge to let the police know that he was here and a witness.

  When the police officer came up and talked to me, they tried to have an air of detachment, but I could tell that the officer wasn’t my best fan. I answered the questions as accurately as I could, with every bit of information that I could. After twenty minutes, the officer finally gave up on the concept of busting me, and accepted that I had stepped in to defend those who could not defend themselves, which protected me under the “stand your ground” laws. He said that he didn’t appreciate vigilante behavior, but at least I didn’t kill people like that Punisher nut up in the Big Apple. That was when the Warlock yelled out, asking what about the other Warlocks.

  The police officer said that they would be perfectly fine in twelve hours or less, a day at most. Jonathan came over to us and asked the police officer if he was done interrogating me, as he had to debrief me on the events. The police officer let us go and we went over to talk. Jonathan thanked me for the help, in that he didn’t think that dealing with four hopped up criminals would be the best thing for him at the moment. I told him that it wasn’t an issue, and that once I heard about the problem on the phone, I rushed over as quickly as possible.

  Jonathan thanked me, and said that he’d drop by the unit after everything was cleared up here. I nodded and got out of there, getting my bike from where I stashed it and dropping my disguise when I was in the clear. I made my way back to the unit, got inside, and checked on everything in the unit. All of the armor work was still being done by the Unseen Crafters, and tools were continuing to work on their own, so I checked to see if there was anything else that could be done, while I waited. I realized that I had not spent any time actually enchanting anything today, so I got set up to work on that, while I waited.

  It was about a half an hour later when the two showed up. I led them both in and Jonathan took a look around at the place. He sympathized that I was obviously running out of room here, even with my apparently much larger than appeared room. Jonathan and Cal both sat down and Jonathan actually pulled out a bag from Rally’s, having been given it by the staff at Rally’s to give to me before they left. I thanked them both and asked Jonathan what he was going to do now, and that was when he replied that he was going to ask me the same thing.

  I looked at him oddly, and he turned his phone so that i could see it, and showed me a video of me first taking out the Warlocks with efficiency, and secondly providing medical aid both physically and magically. I looked at him and told him that it had to be taken by one of the Rally’s staff. He nodded and told me that the individual had not come forward or anything to let him know that he had gotten the video, that they had just posted it online, with the title, “Blink and you’ll miss it. Verdigris stops a robbery and saves people’s lives.”. I asked him if this was going to cause any issues for S.H.I.E.L.D. Jonathan laughed and said that oddly, it would probably be pretty good, even though he was outed as S.H.I.E.L.D. publically, he was never on the track to be an actual undercover Agent.

  I ate the Rally’s combo while Jonathan explained that part of the reason why it took a half an hour to get here, was that after ten minutes after the event that the video had been posted online, and it was ten minutes after that, while the police were wrapping up, that he was contacted about the video, asking about me, by a higher up. Jonathan told me that he had passed on the highlights of my information that was already in the Index, and got informed on what he was to do. I lifted an eyebrow as he pulled out the Boron Carbide Fabric, and put it on the table, before pulling out what looked like a patch, and set it on the table alongside the fabric, and tapped it twice. I asked him what it meant, and he said that this material comes with a caveat, that Verdigris might be called upon, if the situation merits it. I told him that I was more than happy to help, but that I wouldn’t betray my morals for anything, least of all some fabric that I could eventually acquire myself.

  Jonathan told me that he didn’t expect me to do so, that I had made my stance on lethal violence obvious, and added that they had other people for that kind of thing. I took both and asked the two what they were going to do next. Jonathan stood up and said that he was going to get Cal situated at the Wyndham Garden, and added that he was going to relax before the real work started tomorrow. I looked at Cal and he seemed excited, so I wished them both good luck, and said that I needed to get to work on things. Jonathan and Cal left after handshakes and I put the Boron Carbide cloth over on the pile of things slowly taking shape into the future armor.

  I looked at the patch for a minute before leaving it on the table and getting to work on enchanting. I decided that I needed to get the food situation dealt with, realizing that I needed to be able to possibly provide for a number of people, if the same things happens to others that happened to Cal. I decided to make one of the items that I had looked up in the past. I got the small box that I had used the Animated Tools spell on the carpentry tools to start working on a few days ago. It was ready for the runes to be engraved into it, and I decided that it was time to finally make the Field Provision Box.

  The fact that I am getting more and more in tune with the Ley Lines here in Norfolk helped me finish up what should have been a solid eight hours only took a little over two hours. It still took all of the available enchantment focus that I could focus into it. I decided to clean up my entire tent and make sure everything was good before heading to bed early. Thinking quickly, I sent a text to the number that Amber had texted me from, telling her that a kid named Cal would be checking into the hotel, and that he was a good kid. I got a text back saying that she’d take care of him as I was getting ready for bed, so I sent a text back thanking her before turning in.

  Unknown specifically to the character: Most of the current active Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. leave Earth to search for Fitz.

  Rolled 2 Downtime events (one shop, one house), and one encounter. Shop Downtime Event was Special request (the order of rifles being dropped off)

  The Encounter was 4 motorcycle gang members

  The house encounter was: protection racket, so I picked a random business that the main character had been associated with.