"Let me make this perfectly clear to you. Though some might seek to make it appear otherwise, I am not a bride to be bartered away to another kingdom, not a prize of war, not a mouthpiece for your Komizar. I am not a chip in a card game to be mindlessly tossed into the center of the pot, nor one to be kept in the tight fist of a greedy opponent. I am a player seated at the table alongside everyone else, and from this day forward, I will play my own hand as I see fit. Do you understand me? Because the consequences could be ugly if someone thought otherwise.” -Mary E. Pearson MISS BIANCA GABOR PART OF BEINGDISNEYRP
Agents Rothschild and Dyer, of the RAS’s London Headquarters, come to Swynlake to make a few deliveries.
Trigger warnings: talk of death
Rothschild flicked her hair over her shoulder, and huffed softly. Why did it seem so much colder out in the countryside than it did in London? She was freezing, pulling her coat tighter around herself as she waited for Dyer to make another appearance. Of course he would get to go inside the lovely warm building whilst she stood around downstairs, but she had thought that, if one of the Swynlake agents came home whilst they were here, she would be the best one to meet them at the door and let them know that nothing terrible was happening.
Well. Nothing more terrible than what had happened to Gabor.
The door to the Castle Suites apartment building opened, blowing some warm air Rothschild’s way. She instinctively leaned towards it, and then looped her arm through Dyer’s; she hated when they had to pretend to be a couple, but it was so much easier than any other cover.
“Well? All sorted?”
The order had come in late the night before, a parcel sent from the Director himself. How on earth Gabor had ever gotten so close with Chairmouse had always baffled Rothschild, but she never dared to comment. She enjoyed having a job, after all.
The note had been written in his own handwriting, not even that of his secretary. See these letters delivered by end of play tomorrow. They all knew an order when they saw it. Seemed right that she and Dyer should take care of it.
He cleared his throat, and they stepped back onto the pavement, heading towards Main Street. A quick uber ride and they would be back at the train station, and in a few hours, back to London. There wasn’t really any need for them to stick around any longer than that; it wasn’t as if the Swynlake branch was without any sort of leadership, with Gabor gone.
“All four letters delivered,” Dyer nodded. “Although why they couldn’t have just gone in the post...”
Rothschild rolled her eyes. “You know why,” She said plainly. Assured delivery, that was why. “You just like to complain.”
“And you don’t?”
“Not when I’m doing favours for a dead colleague.”
That shut him up, for a moment or two. Not long enough, though. “At least they all live in the same building.”
Dyer laughed. They needed agents all over London - it made sense for them to be spread out, with a much wider area to cover. “Do you think they’ll manage?”
“I’d say so.” Rothschild nodded. They were at Main Street now, and she fished her phone out of her coat pocket, wondering if this town even had Uber. “I suppose we’ll find out, won’t we?”
Dyer raised his eyebrows, but said nothing. All that was left was to leave the Swynlake team to it.
Bianca took a breath, feeling the cold air fill her lungs. Night had only just fallen in Swynlake, and the light from the full moon, hanging low in the sky, gave everything an odd, luminous glow. Just beyond the treeline, however, it was fairly dark. The trees did a very good job of blocking out the light, which would give them decent enough cover for their mission, Bianca hoped.
It seemed like a relatively simple mission on the surface: their main priority was to find the black unicorn and make sure it lived to see another sunrise. If they could get past this full moon, then they could spend the next month organising proper protection for it. Move it perhaps, to some new location, somewhere a poacher wouldn’t think to or wouldn’t be able to find it. She would think of the specifics later - they had to protect it first.
And of course, they needed to get the poacher into their custody, but Bianca was classing that as secondary to the main mission. It would be ideal if they could apprehend him, but the unicorn was their main concern. There would be time for the rest later.
Bianca had left it up to each agent how they would reach their little rendez-vous spot for the pre-mission briefing. She hadn’t been too concerned, knowing that they would all be careful, that they would not raise any suspicion. This was to be their first mission in Swynlake together - it needed to go well. They couldn’t go outing themselves on their first proper foray into the field.
“Alright,” She began, glancing around the group. “We all remember the plan, yes?”
GIL:
Gil was calm.
He had to be, in these moments. He’d done this before. He’d gotten so close. Sometimes he succeeded. Other times he didn’t. As he stood in the forest, the moon hanging low in the sky, peeking through the nearly-bare branches of the rattling trees, he swore that this one would not get away.
Nodding at Gabor, he swept his gaze to the rest of the team.
“Rogers, Gabor, and I will go ahead and track the herd. We have the most experience with magical animals. If necessary, Rogers will be the one who makes contact with the unicorn we’re looking for.” He crossed his arms over his chest, feeling a bit of a chill as a particularly cold gust of wind blew through them. But he did not flinch, instead looking to Roberts and Shiftwell. “The two of you will remain at the tree line — if you see any suspicious activity, contact us. We need to be in communication. If we spot the poacher before you two, we’ll lead him back there. Be ready.”
He paused, giving everyone time to process this information. Shiftwell was practically quivering in her boots, but he was certain she had immediately digested all the orders and was processing the most optimal way to carry them out. She was over-eager, but that was good when it came to performing well — as far as he knew, this was her first big job, though, and he hoped that enthusiasm would not turn into anxiety.
“Any questions?” he asked. “If not, we can start heading out.”
JAKE
It was a bit of a chilly night in Swynlake, Jake had been doing the calculations on how the herd might migrate given the weather in his head most of the way towards the woods. He’d been quiet for most of the way there. He wasn’t really the leader type who was barking orders until it came down to making contact with magical creatures. Then he took point. All this other coordinating he left to Bianca and Gil.
As Gil rattled off the plan yet again, Jake cut his eyes over to Bianca over at Gabor. Honestly, he sometimes forgot that was her last name. He never used Bianca’s last name. He’d known her for too long. He still couldn’t bring himself to be entirely serious around her, but when it came down to it, he was more than serious enough. But to him, she was B or Miss B, or Bianca.
“Nah, I’m raring to go. Let’s get this settled.” He squinted as he looked out towards the direction of their usual grazing grounds. “I think they might be on the move to find a place away from the wind tonight, so we might be dealing with some more cover than usual. Keep your eyes out for hoof prints, the ground is a little damp so there should be some kind of trace of ‘em.”
He looked to Barbie and Holley with an easy sort of smirk on his face, “Keep us safe and kick some ass if necessary, yeah?” The way he talked on a mission really was a dead give away that he wasn’t academy trained, at least, he was crash course trained and a contractor that got hired on. It was also a reason why he was sure HQ would never put him in a leadership sort of role (especially after the last one that got dumped on him) so he didn’t see a reason to change.
“Right then, let’s head towards their grazing area and then try to pick up fresh tracks from out of there.”
And with that he started pushing his way through the brush, checking the compass on his watch every now and then to make sure they didn’t get turned around in the dark.
BARBIE
Barbie’s favourite part about missions were the gadgets. She had been given some new communication devices and Barbie was trying out some new material that would be thin and resistance to bullets. (Could never be too prepared). And stay warm which was always important. Functional and pretty.
Barbie was double checking and triple checking everything as everyone spoke and agreed. Simple mission or not it was good to be prepared.
“Ready to go. Everything’s set and we’ll be monitoring.” Barbie agreed adjusting her collar, no matter how many missions she went on there was always some nerves of making it perfect.
Nodding her head to the other team Barbie and Holley moved to their look out.
“Are you nervous at all Holley?”
HOLLEY:
The correct answer was that, yes, Holley was very nervous about this. But she didn’t want it to show, because this was their first big assignment in Swynlake and Holley’s first big assignment ever, and she wanted to be capable, so she just shook her head.
“No!” she said, perhaps a bit too loudly. “We’re going to catch this person — I know it. There’s nothing to be nervous about because we’re ready and we’re capable.”
If she repeated it this many times, then perhaps it might be true.
It was cold. Holley and Barbie waited. The moon rose higher in the sky, though that did not really mean anything got brighter. If anything, it cast an eerie silver glow upon them. It was not yet cold enough for Holley’s breath to mist as she exhaled, but it was cold enough that she could feel it in the back of her throat. She shifted her weight, crunching the dead leaves behind her feet. It was still and quiet, save for the occasional gust of wind through the trees and the chatter of the forest —
And then Holley heard a crunch.
It was unmistakably footsteps — heavy ones, too, probably wearing boots. She cast a glance at Barbie, and the two ducked behind a tree, trying to get closer to the noise. Holley held her breath. Her heart raced. She tried to remember all her training she’d gone through.
Sure enough, as they stalked closer to the noise, they saw a figure. It was hard to make out features in the darkness, but it was tall and carrying some sort of knapsack — no doubt full of hunting materials. No one would be out this late unless it was for poaching. And certainly, no one would be crouching to inspect footprints on the ground.
The two of them were a safe enough distance away, but still, Holley braced herself, preparing to run if the poacher stood up and saw them. But when the figure lifted their head, they looked in the other direction. Holley let out a breath she did not realize she was holding
“We should call the others,” she said, tapping her earpiece. “Agent Gabor — this is Shiftwell. We’ve gotten sight of a suspicious figure back here. Roberts will send over coordinates.”
BIANCA
Bianca had been a fan of hiking, but hiking through Enchantra in the pitch black of night was starting to change her mind. At least she didn’t have to do too much - Jake was the one leading the way, weaving them through the different paths carved out by the forest. All Bianca had to do was stay alert: listen out for strange sounds, look around for any odd shadows. That much, she could do.
She hated feeling helpless. Out of her depth. That was a little how she felt here, which wasn’t at all aided by Jake’s knowledge of magical animals, and Gil’s knowledge of poaching. She knew what she would tell a fresh graduate from the academy: it’s a learning experience. Use it wisely. But she felt like she wanted to be more of use than she was at that moment, though she wasn’t entirely sure how to do it.
So: stay alert. Look out for anything strange. The cornerstone of any RAS mission.
It always surprised her just how bright the moon could be when one needed it. The light from their torches was muted, trying not to alert the herd (or the poacher) to their presence, not wanting to scare them off, but as they came up the edge of the clearing, they almost didn’t need them. The darkness of the forest grew lighter by shade, the closer they got, like approaching the end of a tunnel. Their small group came to a stop just before the clearing itself, sheltering behind a row of shrubbery. The unicorns hadn’t spotted them yet. They stood around with their heads down, grazing, silvery tails catching the moonlight as they twitched.
“Is it here?” She asked Jake in a whisper, scanning the herd for the black unicorn. “There seems to be quite a few of them.”
JAKE
Jake lead them through the clearing, both aware of the group behind him and nearing the clearing that the herd was grazing. He held a hand up to motion for them to stop and duck behind one of the more fragrant areas to try to mask their scent in case the winds changed.
He looked over the silvery and white bodies of the herd. The large male unicorn who Jake had seen take charge of the herd was on alert but seemed to duck his head back down. The black unicorn was much harder to spot in dim light. The black coat allowing it to blend into the shadows in the moonlight, behind trees. The unicorn had survived this long, it knew its preferred grounds well.
Jake whispered back lowly to Gil and Bianca, “We should keep our eyes on the trees behind them, they cast enough shadow to conceal the dark one, but it wanders when it grazes so the moonlight will hit it eventually.”
He glanced over to Bianca, having a feeling of deja vu overtake him. Maybe it was just being this close to her again, hiding in the brush, trying to find an endangered creature. It reminded him of when they first met. He was a bloke who flirted with just about anyone and kept himself closed off from most people, Bianca wasn’t an exception, certainly not at first, but what had come from their Outback fling had changed his life. And it’d led him to Swynlake. To Alana.
Bianca had been involved in a lot of important moments in Jake’s life either directly or indirectly. Years of friendship, of trust. And for a moment, he got a glimpse of the old days in the light of the moon of this newer night. He smirked a bit to himself, it was just for a moment but if anyone had been paying attention to him they would have noticed it.
But it was fleeting, and there was a shift in the posture of some of the unicorns to which moments after, Jake noticed there were other sounds, sounds that weren’t coming from the wind or the grazing animals in front of them. They were faint, but they weren’t silent. “Someone’s coming.” He whispered lowly, moving to crouch into more of a ready position for whatever might be coming.
In the corner of his eye he saw the shine of a sleek black coat move through the trees, obviously, it had heard the noise too. “Surveillance target on the move, on your nine.” He whispered to Gil and Bianca.
BIANCA
It took a moment, but Bianca spotted it: the black unicorn, the moonlight glinting off its dark back, making it look like it was carved from obsidian. She’d had the same thought when she had seen it for the first time in the daylight: she couldn’t believe a creature like it could exist. The more she looked, the more her eyes adjusted, and she saw the way the horn protruding from its forehead seemed to glow in the moonlight.
“Keep an eye on it, Jake,” She murmured. They couldn’t lose it now. “Agent Wahed, do you see--”
Before she could finish there was a crackle in her ear, the earpiece coming to life. A suspicious figure -- coordinates. She turned over her wrist, looking at the watch that, to anyone else, would’ve looked like any other smart watch. RAS issued, however - almost as soon as Holley finished talking, the coordinates popped up, displaying their location.
“Right on the treeline,” She said in a whisper, more to herself than to anyone else. “Shiftwell, Roberts, follow him, it might be--”
Once again, she didn’t get to finish. Because this time, when Bianca looked up, her eyes looking for the last place she had spotted the black unicorn, she saw something else glinting in the moonlight. She trained her eyes, trying to adjust to the lack of light once more, so she could make it out.
“Does anyone else see that?” She asked, squinting for a moment.
The barrel of a gun.
“He’s here. The poacher--”
She saw a hand move, a finger twitch. The unicorn had lined itself up perfectly, the poacher would be an idiot not to take the shot. They might never get a chance like that again. Their fingers twitched towards the trigger, and Bianca did the only thing she could think to do: she flung herself forward, out of the trees, hoping to startle the herd and send them running.
The shot was muted, hidden by some kind of silencer. The unicorns might not have heard it until it was too late. Not that it mattered; as soon as Bianca ran out into the clearing they raised their heads and scattered, hooves thundering against the earth beneath them as they tried to get to safety. The sound was almost deafening; Bianca went to shout, to send Jake and Gil after the poacher.
Her breath caught. Her heart was pounding in her ears, adrenaline coursing through her. Maybe that was why she hadn’t felt it immediately: the pain that now ripped through her, searing hot, causing her to bring her hand to her chest. When she pulled it back, blood glistened on her fingertips. She could feel it soaking her shirt, warm, sticky. She tried to swallow, tasting it in the back of her mouth. She staggered, and then she fell, gasping as she stared up at the star-filled sky above her.
GIL:
It happened very fast.
These things often did.
One second, Gabor was standing at his side, instructing Shiftwell and Roberts over the comm line. The next, she’d torn from him, before he could even react, before he could yank her out of the way, and then in a blink of an eye, there was blood on her chest, spilling from a gaping dark wound.
Gil surged forward, catching Bianca as she fell, so that he could ease her to the ground. It was not the worst injury he’d seen — that’s what he told himself. Gabor was tough. They’d get her medical attention. They’d rush her to the hospital —
And then he saw it.
Perhaps it was by chance. Perhaps it was by fate’s design. Whatever it was, Gil flicked his eyes up for a moment — just enough to catch sight of the poacher in the shadows. And right at that moment, light from the full moon streamed through the trees, reflecting off a pin on the hunter’s lapel, with an insignia that was seared into Gil’s mind.
The insignia of the cartel that slaughtered his pod all those years ago.
He knew it very well: a silver pin with an ornate design that looked like a spider if you squinted, but could simply be a geometric configuration of outstretched lines.
It was so small, yet the way the moonlight hit the pin right at this moment, it was undoubtedly the same.
Gil did not remember much of what happened next.
“He’s getting away,” he must have shouted, and then without looking back at Gabor, still stained with blood on the ground, he took off, sprinting through the trees.The poacher was running — but Gil could get him, Gil could run fast and Gil would make this man pay. The wind whipped through his hair and his eyes flashed a brutal scarlet. He bared his teeth, feeling a snarl threaten to rip through him.
He ran faster and faster, his heart pounding and nearly bursting, as he darted through the trees, led only by the sound of this man’s heavy footfalls and fueled by the rage that had consumed him for the past twelve years. He ran forward and did not look back.
—
“Agent Gabor!?”
Holley was —
Holley was pale. Holley was shocked. Holley dropped down to her knees and she did her best to recall her first aid training as she fumbled in her satchel for the basic supplies and recited the proper way to patch up a gunshot wound under her breath.
There was so much blood.
Moments after they’d radioed Agent Gabor, they heard shouting, then Agent Wahed yelling something about someone getting away, and then Jake stuttering something that Holley could not quite make out, but immediately, Barbie had grabbed her hand and they’d run.
Jake looked frazzled, more frazzled than Holley had ever seen him. Barbie was at Holley’s side. Agent Wahed was nowhere to be seen.
This was her fault, Holley realized with a pang, her fault because this mission was based on her intel and —
She couldn’t think of that. Not now.
—
Gil was alone.
Gil was alone in the forest, his breath hitching, as he collapsed to his knees to the cold forest floor.
The poacher had gotten away. The fucking poacher had gotten away because Gil was not fast enough, because he was not strong enough, because he hesitated too long. He looked at his hands, the blood of his pod staining them forever, because he was too weak to avenge them, too weak to —
The blood on his hands.
With a jolt, he remembered — Bianca.
—
“You’ll be alright,” repeated Holley for the tenth time. Her fingers fumbled and she blinked away tears. There was so much blood. Agent Gabor — fearless, compassionate, brilliant Agent Gabor — looked pale. Her breathing was staggered. The blood was spreading, despite Holley and Barbie’s best efforts. “We need to get you to a hospital, but you’ll be alright.”
The truth of the matter was that Holley did not know this, but if she kept repeating it, she told herself, maybe it would be true.
—
When Gil returned, he knew.
“He got away,” he said, voice clipped and short.
He couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. He couldn’t look at Bianca. Because he knew.
He crouched down, next to Gabor, then flicked his eyes to Roberts and Shiftwell.
“You two need to leave,” he said. “You don’t have a reason to have been out here with her. You will be each other’s alibis. Rogers and Gabor were out — old friends on a hike, checking out the herd. A hunting accident.” He paused. “We can get her to the hospital. We can say you ran into me on the way back, down by the lake —”
Bianca inhaled and Gil finally flicked his gaze towards her. At this point, the scarlet had faded though hints of red still tinged his dark eyes. He swallowed.
The poacher got away — one part of him screamed and demanded he throw himself back into the woods and search till morning for the stranger with the gun.
Gabor is dying — another part dug its heels into the ground and forced him to stay.
Both these things could be true. Both these things were true.
It did not make either one easier to accept.
JAKE
The shot had gone off and everything just went. Everything just carried on through, Gil got to Bianca first and in a flash he was gone and Jake was now the one holding her as the blood spread through her clothes.
Holley and Barbie came rushing in and Jake vaguely remembered he had radioed that the shots fired and couldn’t choke out the rest of it.
He gazed down into Bianca’s face, he couldn’t say a thing. For the first time in their almost decade long friendship, he didn’t have a quip to say. Not as her pained eyes stared up at him. Not as the red seeped down through and into his own clothing. Not as Holley and Barbie tried to help him with the wounds.
Gil was talking, he heard clips of it. Little sound bites. He got the picture. It would just be him and Bianca in the end. He’d have to make sure her cover was secure. The thing she held dearly to her, her job, he’d make sure she went out without a flaw. “Yeah, I-I’ll handle the story. Just go.”
Jake sniffled, realizing his face was wet with tears, his words quivering under his breath, not sure if they’d left already or not but the rest of the world faded out of his senses and it was just him and Bianca on the forest floor, “C’mon B, you’ve handled worse. It’s just like old times. You’ll be back up and giving me one of those firm shoves of yours.” His hands were shaking and he choked back a breath, “You’re part of everything I’ve got, B. I c-can’t lose ya. You’ll fight this.”
He sat up and looked up at the sky, fighting back the sobs that threatened to come out. He was trying to be strong for the team, it was what she’d want. She’d want him to guide the team. He looked back down to her and he couldn’t help what he was rambling, “It’s just another night out in New Zealand, yeah? You and me, Miss B. Remember? You changed my life, B.” He whispered softly, tears welling in his eyes, “Ya know I love ya, right?”
BARBIE
For most people this is when things started to blur. Anger, fear, sadness, despair. It circled your mind until you couldn’t do anything else. Barbie wasn’t immune. The moment Holley and her got to Bianca her throat clenched and she was immediately on guard.
Holley dropped to try to stop the bleeding, Jake was struggling and Gil was nowhere to be found. She could track him. It wasn’t hard to see what direction he had run in. But Barbie also had a job here.
“Agent 404. Report your status.” Barbie called out as she watched hope drain out from in front of her.
She made sure Holley was doing what she could and leaned down to help her own hands covered in blood while she watched her surroundings. They had gotten close to the poacher and even if Gil was following there was no promise they wouldn’t double back.
There was nothing else that could be done. There was a good chance they wouldn’t be able to get Bianca to the hospital in time and although tears gathered at her eyes there wasn’t time for this. Not with the whole team here. They needed to move quickly so Bianca had the best chance.
Looking briefly at Bianca, Barbie offered her the smallest smile. She would protect everyone here. She had to. She would do her best to protect Bianca too.
So they needed a plan.
“We need to take Bianca’s gear. Anything you can’t hide or explain, Holley and I will take it. We’ll meet you at the hospital. Jake will call Holley and I’ll come as support.” There was no time to waste, the sooner they moved the sooner Jake and Gil could get her there.
“Move!” Barbie commanded gathering anything they needed to and making sure Holley was on her tail. Quietly and quickly, there was no explaining the blood on them if they were caught.
“Take your jacket off, flip your shirt and look at me.” This would be Holley’s first potential death in the field. If they were lucky it was just a bad injury. But Barbie wasn’t counting on luck. Not with everything she had seen. “We’re going to have to get into our building without drawing attention. We can scale it if you’re able.” But that didn’t change the fact it was by the University. A lot of people could still be out.”
BIANCA
The lesson that was pressed upon all new recruits to the Society was that this kind of job could get you killed. It would most likely get you killed, even if you knew how to do it well. There was a certain element of luck to being an agent; no mission could be planned out from beginning to end to ensure success. There were variables. Always, variables.
And Bianca had lost agents in the field before. Some she knew well, others she didn’t. Some hit her harder than others, and some she could pick herself up from and carry on sooner than she’d like to admit. It was a reality of their work - sometimes, people died.
Bianca was only sorry that it had to happen this time.
She didn’t hit the ground like she was expecting; someone caught her, lowered her down to the floor, and she was grateful for it. She didn’t think she would’ve been able to stand of her own accord. And from the ground, looking up at the sky, she could see an almost overwhelming amount of stars.
It reminded her of being a little girl. Standing at the very bottom of the lawns at the back of their too-big house, trying to escape the effect of the light filtering out from inside. Even as close to Budapest as they were, there had been so many stars. Her father had stood beside her, pointing out Orion, Taurus, Ursa Major. Her mother had clucked her tongue and told her to look harder - she had pointed out Perseus, Cassiopeia. Bianca had just enjoyed looking. Wondering at how large a universe could exist, and how much of it she would get to see.
The stars blurred together now, distorting themselves into strange shapes. Bianca’s hand was still pressed to her chest, her fingers warm and wet with her own blood. She looked down, but she couldn’t see the wound itself.
Instead, she was met with faces. Her team. Gil appeared a moment after the rest, but Bianca understood - he wanted to catch the poacher. She wanted him to catch him, too. She couldn’t blame him for going.
And she was glad, when he and Barbie took control. They would need to step up, the both of them, but she trusted them to. If anything, she found herself rather proud of them, and a little annoyed at herself; she could’ve been delegating more this entire time.
She wished she could reassure Holley. Maybe she would be alright, maybe she wouldn’t. But Holley had done her job either way, and she had done it admirably. She would be a wonderful agent - one of the best.
Each one of them disappeared, one after the other, until it was just herself and Jake. Bianca had heard the plan, and she agreed with it. It made the most sense. She and Jake had the most reason to be out together, but she was sorry that he would have to be the one to bring her back. She did remember New Zealand. There had been stars there, too. Millions of them. And she wished she could tell Jake how much she loved him, how he had been her very best friend, but she still couldn’t catch her breath. She couldn’t make a sound, blood thick at the back of her mouth. She could only use the last of her strength to take his hand, press a kiss to his palm, and give his wrist a weak squeeze. She hoped it translated well.
Her chest tightened again; she gasped for air. Bianca looked back up at the clear night sky, the stars reflecting back in her eyes, and let go.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it || Bianca & The Interns
@the-name-is-chip @and-im-dale
The Blood Moon was fast approaching, which meant there was a lot of preparation to be done. This might’ve been an issue back when it had just been herself, a one-man-band running around Swynlake, but that wasn’t how things were anymore.
Nowadays Bianca had more agents than she could shake a stick at (a funny phrase, one she had picked up once she had started working with the Society that she still didn’t really understand - why was she shaking the stick to begin with?), which meant that the work could be far more evenly distributed. A good job, too, because there was certainly much to be done.
And thankfully, some of the more... Bianca hated to say mundane, because arguably all of it was exciting stuff for someone who had yet to be out in the field, but more of the behind the scenes work, as she might put it, could be left to the interns. Wasn’t that precisely what they were there for? She had never really interned herself, but she could remember her own days fresh out of the academy - there had been a lot of paperwork. But it was an insight into what exactly went on in the build up to a mission, which was invaluable when the time came to undertake one yourself. They would have an idea of where to start, which was often the hardest part of any new project, RAS mission or otherwise.
But before Bianca could get them doing anything, she was going to have to brief them.
So she called a little meeting, though this time, not at her office. With the university back in session she found she might as well install a revolving door for how often people were in and out of her office. With a chill in the air that would drive most people indoors, Bianca told the pair to meet her on one specific park bench in Main Street Park, and to make it look casual.
The park was as quiet as Bianca had expected it to be when she happened upon the bench, already with the two occupants she had expected. She paused by the empty end of it, and for the benefit of anyone else who might be around, she asked, “I’m sorry to interrupt, do you mind if I sit?”
“I mean, I am very cute, so I’d make a great face of a movement,” Mim said with a cheeky grin. It was her standard mixture of honest self confidence and deflection away from looking too closely at the things that mattered to her. If she was already laughing, no one could laugh at her in a way that mattered.
Although it didn’t seem like Bianca was? But she couldn’t say for sure. Better for Mim to do it first, just in case.
“But also, there’s a lot of really important conversations that are already happening. Like, the disability rights and accessibility in this town is mediocre at best, mental health access is basically a joke, women still aren’t paid fairly or given equal protections in most places, immigration issues are literally moving backward in this country if you aren’t white, and that doesn’t include that if we don’t do something about our environmental issues and environmental protections we’re not going to have much of a planet to do things with.”
She leaned her chin on her hand against the table and absently swung her leg back and forth. “But I definitely don’t want to be a cop because like, ACAB and fixing systems from the inside basically never works. So I know I want to do uni and i have to figure out what to major in and maybe that would help me figure stuff out.”
Bianca thought that was a very mature answer, actually. It was true that there were already so many movements that needed attention, at home, further afield; wherever you looked, really. Hadn't she gone and joined the fight for magicks to live happily, freely, safely, rather than finding a new battlefield all her own? She had certainly been of more use that way, she thought. And she definitely felt like she had more of a purpose. How long would it have taken her to make a difference had she decided to strike out on her own?
As for how to get into all of that, well. Bianca had been lucky. A gymnast, a linguist, an exceptional student, head of a handful of different charitable movements in and around Budapest - she had been snapped up by one of the RAS's scouts, and recruited by the Director himself. A stroke of luck, apparently, he'd been on a river cruise down the Danube, but that was much beside the point. Bianca hadn't even known, when she had gone to university, that she was setting herself up for the life she would later lead.
"Well, I'm sure there are many different things," She supplied, her head tilting for a moment as she thought. "Politics, perhaps, though... I imagine it's not for the faint-hearted," She said with a small chuckle. She had a few politics majors in some of her classes, and she knew how intense they could be. Although, perhaps Mim would fit in quite well with them. "Or Sociology, even - that was what I did my undergraduate degree in. I did a little charity work, lobbying, things like that. It's important to remember, though," She continued, laying her hands flat on the tabletop. "That whatever path you take can be changed if necessary. Nothing is set in stone; whatever you decide, if you later change your mind... that's okay."
Both her superiors looked very serious now, and Holley felt a sudden rush of guilt for her misplaced excitement. Sure, she was happy that she could be taking on a big mission and making a difference, but considering how Agent Wahed’s lips were drawn, her own giddiness seemed trite.
The key to being a good agent was to know when it was the place for smiling. When they secured their victory, that would be it. But now — now was time for planning. Now was the time to put her head down and use her skills. For all of the agents in Swynlake to do what they did best.”
“We should ask Agent Roberts about what the hunting culture is like in Swynlake — or what it’s been like historically,” she piped up. “Since she lived here before. And Agent Rogers can track unicorn habits! I’ll get right on investigating this P.O. Box — maybe I can find the credit card that set it up. Or at the very least, get more information on it, to help narrow it down.” She gave a little nod. “We’ll apprehend this culprit. I’m sure of it.”
“I admire your positivity,” said Agent Wahed. There was a ghost of a smile on his face that did not quite reach his eyes. He flicked his gaze to Agent Gabor. “There is one later this month, but if I had to guess… our poacher will be waiting for the Blood Moon in October.”
Every so often, Bianca was reminded of the fact that she was the one of the seniority here. It was a relatively new concept for her, a condition of her return to Swynlake, and though she had been back for some time now she still found herself looking for someone above her station, every so often. She had never particularly been one to seek approval from anyone but herself, but it would certainly be nice to know that she was doing everything right just now.
And of course, the way things were supposed to work was that she was a supervisor, and as such, she sat out of most of the leg work. She organised and she strategised and then she sent the agents out to do the grunt work, but unfortunately, she had been lying when she had assured the Director of that. Bianca was terrible at sitting still when there was work to be done.
Though when Holley spoke, she was reminded that she did in fact have a team behind her. Barbie knew about Swynlake - she might have a good idea of how much hunting had gone on in the past. Jake could go and track the herd - Bianca would be sending him to check on the black unicorn anyway, so he might as well make it a long term study. Holley could dig a little deeper into whoever was receiving those parcels - she was always good with details. That was the benefit of having a team, each with their own particular specialist subject, their own skills.
Bianca's job was to lead them. So that was what she was going to do.
"The Blood Moon," She breathed, wrapping her hands around the back of one of the dining room chairs for a moment. "Alright," She nodded. "Then we have a deadline. I'll speak to Roberts and Rogers - Agent Shiftwell, you know what you're doing." She looked at the equipment on the table, and then straightened her posture. "I'll keep all of this with me. If either of you find anything else, let me know - and I'll have them report to you if they can't get in touch with me." She added, nodding to Gil from across the table. "Alright. Let's get to work."
Mim shrugged, although she couldn’t entirely hide the small grin at Bianca’s comment. It didn’t feel impressive since she’d grown up in a bilingual English and Spanish household, and Latin lessons had started early as part of her magic studies. French was all about fancy culture and the other Coven members and because she hadn’t been allowed to take anything else in school. BSL was the only one she’d really had to work at, and that’s because it was Martin teaching her and not her parents making her practice.
Still, it was wonderful to have someone like Bianca think that anything she did was impressive.
“Wow, I didn’t think of that. But yeah, I can see why that would be cool. Kind of like unlocking an achievement but it can happen a bunch of times. And getting to talk with people who actually care about the same stuff you do is one of the best feelings in the world!”
Mim knew there was a pat easy way she could answer it and probably should. She was supposed to talk about the Coven, and being a sorceress and being a good ambassador for her family name. But maybe since she didn’t really know her, she could afford to be a little more honest. Who knew? Maybe she would get lucky and find someone who would listen without laughing at her.
“I don’t really know? I don’t think I want to try and make a living as a sorceress, and I don’t really want to be a lobbyist since that is an incredibly frustrating life and even if you want to talk about something besides Magick-issues, being a Magick makes everything a Magick issue. I want to actually help people somehow, in a real way, but, I don’t really know how. I just-yeah. I don’t want to wait for policies to move when there’s stuff that needs to happen now.”
Though it was really just a cover, Bianca did in fact enjoy teaching, and very much for the reason she had given. She was mostly a Modern Foreign Languages tutor, which meant a lot of lessons on the cyrillic alphabet and masculine and feminine words in German, but she got to branch out. Lectures on the history of Eastern Europe, on politics and economics. Things Bianca never really sat down to discuss with anyone, because usually she had mission reports to go over and debriefings to sit through.
It was also nice to get out of the house for a moment. To get around Swynlake a bit more, and to see other people. Her last cover in Swynlake, working in a publicist's office - it had been fine, as covers went, but it did make things quite insular. There were far more excuses needed if she wanted to get about - this way she could breeze about in coffee shops and around campus and no one had any reason to suspect.
Bianca's head tilted a little as she listened, and she smiled softly. She'd had no idea what she'd wanted to do after university either. She had studied sociology because she had thought it would be interesting, and it had been. Looking at how societies had evolved, talking about crime, gender, migration. It had been quite general, but then again, she'd enjoyed that. It had given her more avenues to wander down, more topics to explore.
"So you want to be a revolutionary, then." She surmised, giving Mim a small, amused smile. It was no laughing matter, of course; it was a wonderful thing as a matter of fact. But it did seem very similar to that dream, didn't it? "Start a movement?"
Holley studied his face. He kept his expression purposefully blank, his mouth nothing more than a straight and undistinguishable line. His brows did not furrow, his eyes did not darken. His voice was steady. And yet — and yet, Holley felt that something was off about him, something that went beyond the methodical answers he gave Agent Gabor.
It was a gut feeling, which Holley knew was important as an agent to have. Logic could only get you so far — she liked having order and reason and interrogating those gut feelings, but at the end of the day, sometimes you just had to follow them. That’s what separated a good agent from a great one.
Not that Holley would impulsively follow her gut; oh not at all. She would tuck away this feeling and save it for later, dutifully interrogating and dismantling it till it became useful.
Besides, she had more important things to do right now.
“I can absolutely start tracking those shipments and see where they originated from,” said Holley, breezing away to her laptop.
“We’re going to have to prepare for the worst,” said Agent Wahed. He flicked his gaze to Agent Gabor. “You mentioned a particularly rare unicorn you and Rogers tracked? If it’s the one I think it is… this might be even bigger than just a small hunting party. There is an annual challenge in certain elite poaching circles and I believe this years’ involves that particular breed of unicorn.”
And now, a tell: his jaw twitched slightly. Just slightly enough that Holley noticed, because she was already looking at him, and she immediately looked away and made a mental note to maybe keep that in mind later.
"We didn't just track it," Bianca sighed, folding her arms over her chest. It was hard to take her gaze away from the table, and everything that lay out on it. "We brought it here."
Swynlake was meant to be a safe haven for it. The rare black unicorn, a one in a million specimen - the London branch had rescued it from illegal animal traders, and when they'd suggested Swynlake might be a good place to relocate it, Bianca had agreed. There was an established herd, they would be there to protect it. What could go wrong?
They were looking at what could go wrong, she supposed. A variety of weapons and storage equipment, right on their doorstep. They hadn't so much protected the unicorn as they had placed it right in the spot one might expect to find it.
But they still had time.
And they had bought themselves a little more by finding this package. Whoever had ordered all of this wouldn't be receiving their shipment - they'd have to order again. And Bianca assumed that custom made pieces like these were available for overnight shipping.
"We'll need a list of full moons coming up," Bianca mused aloud. It would be easy enough to get, something she could set Chip to, but it would be good to have. "And try to look into that more - the annual challenge thing." She said to Gil, her face grave. She knew it would bring him no joy, but it needed to be done. "If there is something like that going on, there'll be talk about it."
She now had a laundry list of things to do: she would have to get Jake to check on the herd, and she would have to fill both him and Barbie in on everything they'd discussed today. She would have to report back to the HQ in London, let them know what was up, see if they had any ideas. It would keep her busy for a while, at least.
"We'll need to keep our ear to the ground. Keep an eye out for anyone new in town who seems like they might be here to poach."
It wasn't easy to keep an eye on an entire population, though. Bianca huffed a sigh; this was going to be an even bigger job than she'd thought.
Mim’s eyes honestly only got bigger as she talked. She was a professor who taught about history and politics and languages! It was all the kind of stuff that Mim had studied mostly on her own because her dad was too busy instructing her in magic, biology, and physics to pay attention to the other stuff. Or Arthurian history but that hardly counted. Plus she had done other stuff which basically meant she was a total boss.
“Oh, no, I grew up there and my parents are based there. But my brother is Martin Ambrosius? He’s a grad student for Magick History and he TAs for Professor Khan a lot.”
It was kind of fun to be able to use the Ambrosius name just because it was connected to Martin who worked in the same place as Bianca. Not that that guaranteed that they would know each other because it was a big campus. But still. Getting to ignore the fact that her parents were politicians and instead focus on how cool Martin was in some ways was much more fun.
“I know a couple languages, but its only English, Spanish, French, and Latin so far, so its nothing useful except outside Western Europe and some parts of the Americas. And BSL but I’m never sure if that’s classed the same as like, spoken languages when it comes to uni stuff. Why do you like teaching so much?”
"The name rings a bell," Bianca said with a nod. She wasn't sure she had ever met the young man, but the name did sit somewhere at the back of her mind. The young man with the owl, if she remembered correctly (and it was very rare that she didn't). As was often the case with Bianca, however, she couldn't reveal the true extent to just how well she did or didn't know someone, lest she give herself away.
All she could really do was smile politely, though her eyebrows did tick upwards as Bianca listened to her list off the languages she spoke. It was, in fact, rather impressive, and though she meant no offence, it was even more impressive for a native English speaker. Bianca had spoken three languages as a child only because she lived in a bilingual household, and because one needed English to survive in the modern world. And native English speakers weren't exactly known for their desire to pick up another language, not when everyone spoke English everywhere you went...
"I think that's very impressive," She informed Mim, reaching momentarily for her drink. And for the record, though she didn't say it, she did think that BSL counted; it was a form of communication, after all.
The next question was not so easy, though. Bianca crossed one leg over the other, humming as she considered her answer. "I think for me, it's the moment where the student understands. When it clicks, you know? It's wonderful to pass on knowledge, but even better to know that it's actually been received. And especially at the university level, having conversations with people about subjects you're passionate about... well, it makes my job feel a lot less like work."
She paused, head tilting a little. "What is it you're thinking of doing after school?"
“There’ve been a few sent to that same PO box,” said Shiftwell. “But this is the first that’s come from that specific reroute that we have on file from Agent Wahid’s last mission.”
She shyly glanced up across the table at Gil, who was quiet, studying the items on the table. He met her gaze briefly, but furrowed his brows and did not respond.
“I can certainly pull the old tracking for other packages and see if the rerouting matches up to anything else in the databases…” Shiftwell continued. “And if not, well, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on them.”
Gil was quiet again. He looked at the tools, at the serum, and he felt that familiar pull that twisted in the pit of his stomach. Granted, there was no way to connect this particular poacher to the ones he sought but… if there was even a remote connection, he would find it and he would use it and —
Well, maybe his time in Swynlake was going to be useful after all.
“If there’s one poacher, there are usually more in the wait,” said Gil, finally. “They follow each other. If we figure out who this is, we can prevent more poaching.”
That was precisely what Bianca had been worried about: the idea of there being more poachers, waiting in the wings.
She was from a family that had enough wealth to make shooting an attractive sport. She had never gone herself, but her father, her uncles, and a rather large party had gone out looking for pheasants or geese, and the occasional big game, if there was occasion for it. No one ever went hunting alone - it was a hunting party for a reason.
The idea that Swynlake might become some kind of safari for poachers seeking magical game was abhorrent, and most definitely under RAS purview. It was the very last thing they needed, too, on top of everything else.
The headache at Bianca's temples was getting worse, but she ignored it, gaze flicking to Holley again.
"Try and pull up as many of the old tracking details as you can. It's too late to know what was in any of those packages, but if they're from the same address, I think we can make an educated guess."
That would only confirm their suspcions, though. They were going to have to be proactive. "I'll organise a watch at the edge of the forest, to see if we can spot any suspicious activity. People coming and going frequently, taking anything out of the ordinary in with them, that sort of thing."
It would be a lot of work, admittedly, but it would be necessary. They had to get ahead of this, before it was too late. "And I'll speak to Agent Rogers. See when he thinks the best time to hunt a unicorn might be." She paused then, looking up at Gil, eyebrows arching. "Unless you've any ideas?" And then again, eyes flicking to Holley - she was a good source of information on things that surprised Bianca, occasionally. "Either of you?"
“I couldn’t imagine it.” Barbie paused as if she was even thinking about it. The group of them while all smart and capable were a handful in different ways. In Theory, Jake and her the worse considering the connections they had made.
“Good, nothing too special, with Bruce in the play I’ve been able to keep an eye on him there. Edward is doing fine though he’s a pretty loose canon. But I haven’t met the interns yet. What are they like?” Pulling out a tin of cookies Barbie set it on the counter as they waited for the water to boil.
They needed a proper team, that was what Bianca thought. Most other magical towns had their own RAS hub, so it was about time Swynlake had a proper group of agents to deal with whatever might come up. They all had different skills, different strengths, different weaknesses; that was what they needed, so she supposed, the more the merrier.
"They're... very eager." She said diplomatically, reaching out to take one of the biscuits Barbie offered with a polite smile. "But then again, so was Holley, when she first left the Academy. Still is, I suppose. I just worry, with them not being fully qualified yet..." Well. She worried they might get themselves into trouble that would jeopardise everyone on the team, but she almost didn't want to say that out loud. "They have a good support network, though. With all of us. So hopefully that'll help them."
As soon as she agreed, Mim slid into the seat across from her. She did her best to sit up straight and look competent and responsible, like she had been in the dream so that Bianca would take her seriously.
The reality was that inside she felt extremely giddy just being here. Maybe it wouldn’t go anywhere and Bianca wouldn’t want to talk to her or wouldn’t have anything to say. But this was the best possibility she’d found since coming here besides Zira, and she didn’t really want to let it go when she had such a clear in.
“Ok, so the quick rundown on me here in reality is that I’m still a transmutation sorceress, although its kind of in training. I’m about to start my last year of Secondary School, and I live with my brother Martin because our parents are in London. I’m still really good with tech stuff but I’m not like, hacker level good like I was in the dream. Mostly I play a lot of videogames. But-”
But I really want to hang out with a woman who has her life together and is competent and doesn’t think I need to do everything my dad says just because he’s a guy.
“But what about you? You seem like you’re working on something?”
Bianca didn't mind talking, especially not to young women. Before she had become an agent, when she had just been an heiress with a sociology degree, she had worked with quite a few programmes that aimed to help young women and girls in Budapest and beyond. Offering chances for education, or independent housing, or whatever it was they might need. She missed it, sometimes. Just because she had a lot of secrets to keep nowadays didn't mean she couldn't chat; it just meant that she had to be more careful about it.
She saved the file she was working on and closed the laptop, showing Mim that she was focused on her, rather than seeming distracted. It was a courtesy thing more than it was anything, but she highly doubted Mim was going to be interested by anything in the powerpoint presentation she had been putting together. Although, stranger things had happened, she supposed.
And it seemed Mim was not your ordinary girl, anyhow. A transmutation sorceress in training, living with her brother, away from her parents, and gearing up to leave school. That was a lot to have on one plate.
"Ah, nothing too exciting, I'm afraid, unless you're interested in the history of communism in eastern europe." She said with a smile, placing one hand on top of her laptop, to gesture what she had been working on. "I'm working as a professor at Pride University at the moment," She explained. "Modern foreign languages, with a few history and politics classes thrown in here and there. I've had quite a... varied career up until now, though. Some charity work, a little publishing. Teaching is what I keep coming back to, though." Not exactly a lie; she had been a professor for cover before, back in Budapest. "Are you from London, then, or is it only your parents that are away?"
Okay, sure the package they’d intercepted probably meant that the person who ordered it was up to some very bad things — but, here was something finally exciting happening in Swynlake! And Holley had been the one to find it! She’d been proactive about it, cross referencing tracking labels and incoming shipments and noticed that this package was coming from the same place where the Nostero Syndicate often rerouted their packages —
Anyway, just a little bit of hacking away and she was able to file return to sender so it never reached the unmarked PO box it had been addressed to and she picked it up at the post office, with a little lie she’d spun up and the faked credentials to prove it.
Okay, it could’ve been nothing (in which case, Holley would’ve sent it right back), but sometimes an agent had to trust her gut!
And her gut was right.
She was trying not to smile as Agent Wahed looked over the contents of the package. He looked very serious, brown drawn, lips pressed together. She tried to look very serious too.
“It’s poaching equipment,” said Gil. He reached for the little bottle, holding it up. “You might have to verify with Rogers, but I believe this is a tincture designed to preserve a severed unicorn horn.” His lips tightened even more. “I saw a fair bit of this at my last assignment.”
Exciting! Holley finally felt like a real agent!
It shouldn't have come as a surprise, and she supposed it wasn't one, not really. Jake had predicted it when he had come to see her at her office: the unicorn herd had moved because there was some sort of danger about. Not just a hapless tourist, not just a change in their grazing patterns, but someone seeking them out. Someone they considered a predator.
She had half hoped that perhaps it was some kind of predator. Bianca didn't know very much about magical creatures, or creatures of any kind for that matter, which was precisely the reason they had Jake in the first place. It hadn't seemed so far out of the realm of possibility that something could have moved into the area, started hunting. At least then they could've sent Jake and a few of the other animal experts from London out into the field to capture and relocate it.
Now they had a poacher on their hands. Bianca looked at the small bottle as Gil held it in the light, and then she rubbed at the spot between her brows, eyes closed, sighing softly.
When she opened her eyes again, Bianca's gaze landed on Holley, who looked she was trying very much not to smile. Bianca wished she could be more upset by that, but she knew the very same feeling. The first time she had successfully intercepted a coded message, she had stood in her Handler's office, trying and failing to look like she understood the gravity of the situation. She had, of course. The message had been awful. But she had been the one to decode it, and wasn't that exciting?
"Agent Shiftwell," Bianca adressed her, glancing back at the table and the contents of the package. "This is the first package like this you've seen?"
It seemed like a lot of specialist equipment, yes, but surely you needed the basics before you could get the rest. Whoever their poacher was, they must already be sitting upon some kind of an arsenal; they weren't unprepared.
Mim had…complicated feelings after waking up from the Hunger Games dream. On the one hand? Objectively terrible place. It managed to be even worse for Magicks and added in the whole ‘forcing people to kill for sport’ thing. Like the real world had so many shitty aspects, but on the plus side, it didn’t have that. Low bar to clear, but it made it.
But the complicated part was that Mim had sort of liked who she was there. Like, she was the exact same age. But she’d been incredibly high up in a resistance movement that was actually working to change the world instead of just sort of shouting about it on twitter. She’d had all this amazing responsibility, and she had been really good at it. Magic had been part of it. But most of it had just been…her. Actually focused on a goal that mattered and connected to people that shared that goal.
She wasn’t really sure what to do with that information. But she also wasn’t sure who to talk to. Martin was trying to pretend he was fine, but he was also super clearly not fine, and she didn’t want to bug him with this.
So, trip to Hatters. Time for some horribly ridiculous over the top coffee drink because sugar and caffeine solve most problems - or at least make you feel like you’ve solved them.
What she didn’t expect was to walk in and see her literal Dream Mentor and Entire Reason She Was Cool And Not In Prison sitting at a table. In Hatters. Like this was totally normal and not potentially the exact solution to her problem.
Immediately, she beelined out of the line and over to where the woman was sitting. “Hi, Bianca? My name is Mim. We knew each other in that Hunger Games dream, and you were really cool and totally influential for me there and I didn’t expect to see you here, so do you mind if I join you?”
Bianca had woken up and briefed all of her agents with the same message: act natural. React to it however you want, just don't be suspicious about it. Admittedly, a dream where they were all members of an underground, secretive resistance movement was the very last thing Bianca needed right now, it was also extremely easy to play off. How ridiculous it all sounded! Her, the leader of any kind of organisation? Why, she was just a lowly professor, not much up to organising anything more than a verb conjugation assignment.
It would blow over, just like every other Swynlake dream would blow over. Something else would happen to take its place, a scenario that was far more likely, and she wouldn't have to worry about it further. She had much bigger things to worry about besides - wards to care for, a potential poacher to find. Those really were concerning.
But Bianca still had to maintain her cover, and the best way to do that was to be present and visible. She needed to be exactly where one might expect her to be: in Hatter's, with a cup of tea and her laptop, getting ready for the next semester. Some agents might find it tedious to have to work a normal job as well as their role as an agent, but Bianca found that preparing for a class on the history of Yugoslavia and Soviet successor states since 1941 was in many ways a nice change of pace.
It wasn't uncommon for a student, or anyone for that matter, to approach her whilst she was working, so Bianca looked up from her notes on Lecture 2: Political Factors of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's creation with a polite smile. She immediately recognised the face, but not from her waking life.
"Of course," She nodded. "I remember. Well - I remember we knew each other." The rest she would be more humble about but she did agree she had been, as Mim put it, 'really cool'. "Please, take a seat." She agreed, nodding to the empty chair opposite her.
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