Midnight rising Chapter 5 - war footing

Jennifer drove the car to where David and Matthew where located, She saw Plucky on the ground knocked out cold. She was rather perplexed how Matthew found David, she was also upset that Plucky was very much knocked out thanks to Matthew and the sedative and she couldn't interrogate him on the spot as she usually does and won't be awake for another sixteen hours or so.

She also knew that Cassandra wouldn't be the slightest bit impressed with how the whole interception went down and how Matthew found out about the secret project Tristan and Micah where working on for her.

"How in the hell did you find us Matthew, it's not like you knew about this operation." Jennifer said indigently as she gave him a look which indicated she was rather displeased

"I didn't know you where in the middle of an interception operation Jennifer, I was down here for a totally different reason altogether"

"Which was?"

"I came to get this." Matthew says as he takes a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket and gives it to David, who is sitting in the front passenger seat.

"Hm, interesting looks like a group of names. All of which are connected with the resistance in some way, some of the names are from the order of archangels and some from the Komodo families and a few others I don't recognize, but why did Plucky  have this list? What's his end game?"

" I fear Maryann might be in the verge of another massive operation, one of which will make the Cardiff wars, the battle of Auckland and all the other fights and wars we have had against the midnight project in the past; look like a nice time at the park.
Plucky is a mercenary and assassin, he is an excommunicated member of the komodo families.  The komodo families got wind of Plucky's double dealing and got shot of him not without ripping him a few new holes and leaving him blind in one eye. They have such a low tolerance for bullshit it's unbelievable" Matthew explains as he holds Plucky body on the back seat.

"How do you know about the komodo families, I thought they where a myth?" asks Jennifer as she drives around a corner heading towards the Illicit information Bureau Headquarters?

"They are very much real and aren't myth, I met the leader Kona when I was in the resistance originally as he provides weapons in his other life as an illicit arms dealer. Cassandra with the help of the resistance provides the families with protection in exchange for allowing them access to weapons and allowing the resistance access to their territories in the red light district for human intelligence operations , they don't know about the covert cameras though and I fear if they found out I put them there in the first place Kona will slit my throat not before ripping my tongue out first." Matthew says with an edge on his words.

" I didn't know there where territories in the red light district" David wondered out loud

"Yep, there is. It was part of the treaty they signed years ago with the resistance. The vampire nation has twenty-five  percent, Kona and the komodo's the other  twenty-five percent and the rest split between the ghouls, werewolves and demons at first the lines where clearly defined. These days they meld into each other as the alliances formed and relationships developed" Matthew pointed out to the pair


David grabbed his mobile phone from out of his pocket, he looked at his messages and sighed as he looked though the messages, he discovers they are all from the same person and each one is getting increasingly angry.

"Matthew, I think you might want to take a look at these messages I got Cassandra, Including the one about you having your nuts in a vice when we get home, I think she knows about your little adventure and she's none too pleased"

"Oh dear, I think I am going to get into real hot water over this aren't I just? Matthew ponders

"Yep and we are not going to get involved, it's between you and Cassandra" Jennifer says as she pulls up at the front of the Illicit information Bureau and turns off the car.

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"What the hell where you thinking Matthew? Getting in the middle of an interception operation, are you asking for David to shoot you in the face? Tristan told me about what you where doing down there and the fact you had a top secret item in your possession" Cassandra says with a venom in her words.

"Hey I wasn't there to interfere, I there to get Intel off my own back David and Jennifer can vouch for that" Matthew says as the veins in his forehead start to throb as he's gets more upset.

"I can vouch for that, I have the list in my hands right here" David says as he lifts his arm up and reveals the list Matthew gave him in his hands.

David hands Cassandra the list and she looks at it, she has a wide eye expression on her face as she realizes what this list is and who's named on it.
Cassandra also realizing the implications of what might happen if the midnight project decides to act on this information makes her shiver with fear just a tad.

There was an unspoken code amongst members and allies of the resistance that all information regarding the resistance stays within the resistance and Cassandra knew there had been a security breach, but she wasn't quite sure were the leak occurred.

"Oh my god, Matthew this list is the list of members of the resistance, including Kona and the komodo's, Jean Claude and the vampire nation and all points in between, this is the allies list, a list of known associates who support the resistance. If Plucky has this you can be damned sure Maryann has a copy as well which means she's planning something major that will make all other operations look like a fun day out. We need to interrogate Plucky when the sedative wears off, no if's or but's about it." Cassandra says alarmed by what she has seen.

"You know Matthew said exactly the same thing to us, He feared that Maryann was planning something massive, something that will make all over fights look like a playtime at the zoo" David said worryingly.

"I know, we need to organize a meeting with all allies as soon as possible and as a matter of urgency. But now I need to know something  Matthew, how in the hell did you know i was creating a mutant sedative?" Cassandra says in a matter of fact way.

"Oh, I rang the house and got Tristan and I sort of threatened him as I knew about the chemical you were working on,  little did I realize though I was going to run into Dave and Jen while I was using it on Plucky and almost get a hole in my chest from Dave's gun" Matthew says as he rubs his head because he's starting to get a headache.

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Jennifer and David are in the interrogation chamber with Plucky.

He is shivering as the room he has been locked in has been freezing as they have turned off the heater and he is soaking wet as he's  has been water boarded for the last two hours prior.
the room was small and was dimly lit by one small light in the middle of the room.
He was chained to the back wall; arms aching each time he tried in vain to break the chains and escape.
He has a black eye and bruises all over his naked body as David and Jennifer have been taking it in turns beating on him trying to  get out of him the name of who sold him the list.

Both Jennifer and David have tried and failed several times to get the information out of him, they both are growing increasingly impatient which each passing moment, causing increasingly pain to Plucky as time goes on.

"I won't tell you again, where did you get the list? David growled

" I ... am..."

David smacks Plucky in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him mid sentence.

"We are losing patience with you Plucky, this will be all over if you just told us who sold you the list" Jennifer screams in his ear, then she bites it causing Plucky to wince in pain.

"I...am..not..telling" Plucky says breathlessly, trying to not show any more pain on his face than he has been. Jennifer looks at him angrily

"Well, I be damned. You've held out longer than I expected, but I hate to break it to you I am not going to be the one that breaks you in half" Jennifer says with a smirk as she unchains Plucky, he falls to the ground as his legs are weak from hours of torture.

David covers Plucky's head with a  small burlap sack and gets his gun out.. David's usual trick is to threaten some form of mock death, it usually get them to spill the beans on any situation

"You have thirty-seconds before I shoot..."

"Alright, all right. I'll tell you what I know, just don't hurt me anymore please" Plucky says in a whimper out loud to both Jennifer and David

Jennifer drops Plucky on the floor, he is still naked and he's still wearing the burlap sack that David put on his head. Plucky starts sobbing loudly, which causes Jennifer to smack him across the head violently

"Come on out with it child" Jennifer says aggressively

"The Chimera" Plucky says softly, he can feel his heart thumping out of his chest and he starts to cry under the sack

"The Chimera?" David asks as he isn't sure who they are

"Yes, the Chimera, its an arm of the werewolf nations. A band of illicit information bandits, selling information for a price on the black market.
They've hated the resistance for ages somehow the hacked a computer which was in the house of Jean Claude the leader of the vampire nation remotely, they found the list and sold it on to Maryann for two million frank marks, now can you take this off please its itching my nose" Plucky said as he tries to scratch his nose

"I should have known, the were's are behind it, I best ring Cassandra with the information" David says as he injects Plucky with more sedative in preparation to be dumped back into the red light district of old town

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There was a large number of people in the boardroom at the illicit information bureau Headquarters.

Cassandra, Janie and Spencer each called around all the allies to tell them there was an urgent meeting, all three of them hated it when something major required a meeting of the allies as it was highly unusual for all the allies to be at the same place at once,  Cassandra usually met them one on one at some dank and dirty bar.

But in this instance considering the gravity of the situation and the nature of the material stolen she had no choice but to get them all there at the same time; in the same spot. there was Jean Claude and Claudio his vampire muse representing the vampire nation, Kona from the komodo families, Susanna and Marie representing the radioactive army, Armin the leader of the order of archangels and lastly representing the Ghouls and demons society was Cheyenne and her doppelgänger Medusa

"I would like to bring this urgent meeting to order" Cassandra says as the people around the table quieten down to let her speak

"It has been brought to my attention that the resistance master allies list has been stolen, it was  returned by Matthew McGrath last night with assistance by Gothica and Hadron. It has also been brought to my attention that the werewolf nation is behind the theft of the list by way of their Chimera arm" Cassandra explained

"Your ex-husband back in the fold then? I don't trust him as far as I could throw him then and I still don't trust him now, why are you trusting him again?" says Kona knowing the history of what happened the first time when Matthew decided to cross the resistance

"I have stuff in place, if Matthew decides to piss me off. He'll pay he knows better anyway just ask him to show you the scars he's got from me from the last time he pissed me off" Cassandra says.

"Do we know where the breach came from?" asks Susanna

"Yes, apparently they remotely hacked Jean Claude's computer. Care to explain JC why in the hell you let this happen?" Cassandra questions Jean Claude, with a rather exasperated tone of voice

"I don't know how they did it, I have military grade security. Bloody buggers those werewolves are and if I find them Grrr!" Jean Claude growls as he slams his hands on the table in frustration Claudio tries and calms Jean Claude down but only succeeds in making him more annoyed.

"I bet you Maryann brought the list" ponders Medusa out loud

"She brought it for two million Frank marks, I've dumped Plucky Back into the red light district naked in front of the werewolf territories Headquarters, just so I can leave a statement." David says as he walks in the room, he grabs a cigarette out of his pocket he lights it up and takes a drag.

"You have got to be fucking with me Hadron, are you serious?" Kona says angrily after hearing what David just told them. Kona doesn't know David's name but he knows him by his code name

" I think what Hadron is trying to say is, we need to be on the front foot. He's one of my best operatives,  we need to be prepared for all out war. If thats what the midnight project wants thats what they are going to get"  Cassandra says with conviction in her voice

"David, what do you think about this? Is this a real threat?" Armin asks with an intrigued tone of voice.

"I think this is a major threat, midnight project might be on the verge of start full scale war larger than what we have seen before which will make the Cardiff wars look like a fun day out and please in future, call me hadron like everyone else Armin"  David says to his former boss.

"Well it's settled then, Jennifer tell Eric to recall Micah, Michael and Tristan from there previous assignments and get them up to speed, and tell Spencer and Janie to up surveillance of the red light district, tell them all that we might be on the verge of a full scale war if we can't find out what the project is up too soon" Cassandra says as she closes the meeting with the allies and walks out of the room.

End