Mission Briefing

"So, where are we going?" Evan asked as their vehicle cut through the air at an immense speed.

"A major funder for us called in, asked for our help with something. I was sent to investigate, and I figured the event would be a good learning experience for you. Low risk, with a huge possibility of you seeing more of our world. Name's Aaron McCarney."

"What's the problem?"

"A couple of his employees have gone missing. Some stuff's happening at an office in Barcelona, and he felt it was cause for concern. Of course, it being an office is just a front. In reality it's a research site, one that benefits the Templars greatly. Only reason he was able to get his hands on it, and I hope the only reason he wanted to."

"McCarney? Wasn't he some billionaire who got some criticism with some people for buying a church to use?"

Elias nodded. "People who made their judgement without knowing the full picture. He didn't buy it out of vanity or anything, but because it would be used as a good research facility for us. It's safer than anywhere else, and since he publicly allowed for religious officials to still use the building we can afford to provide security without raising too many questions from the public. Of course, the public doesn't know much about it."

Within minutes, they had arrived, touching down on a landing pad that had been constructed on the church during a series of improvements that the billionaire had made to the then unfinished structure.

"Do you know how he made his fortune?" Elias asked as they left the vehicle and headed down the platform towards the main body of the building.

"Tech, right?" Evan responded. "I know he makes phones and stuff."

"Implant research. Medical tech. His companies are the closest to perfecting the technology needed for things like artificial limbs. Stuff like that, it's good for us."

An elevator took them down to the heart of the building. Most of the floor space had been replaced by an office, the pews replaced by desks topped with files and computers. At the front of the room was a large office, one clearly designed to be McCarney's. As they approached it, the door swung open and out stepped the billionaire.

He was remarkably unremarkable. He had short dark hair, a chin covered lightly with stubble, and wrinkles on his face that suggested he was older than what was publicly believed. The only thing of note about him was that his nose was crooked, like it had been broken a few times.

"You're here," he said, leaning against the doorway. "Let's get to it."

He turned and led them back in to his office, walking around a wide desk and taking a seat on the other side, his silhouette absorbed by the figure of the chair that stood out against the light coming in through the windows.

"So, when the hell did we start recruiting Crimsons?"

"He's human. Why wouldn't I use him?" Elias responded.

I'm not going to pretend I understand how he could be, not with what I know of them. But it's not my job in our arrangement to know, so as long as you haven't just delivered me a trojan horse, I'll accept it for now. Only until I get the chance to read the report on him. Come to think of it, Demon and Angel power is nothing more than two sides of the same coin. I wonder if it would be worth trying to research Demonic power. If we could harness it…"

The billionaire trailed off, his mind absorbed by the new possibility that he had only just considered. Evan and Elias waited for a few moments for him to stop, before Elias gently reminded him why they were there.

"Right. Forgive me, my mind is always focused on work. I'm sure you know how it can be. Over the past two weeks, five of my employees have stopped showing up to work. No communication whatsoever, not just with us but the places they would often visit as part of their routines, too. Having spoken to their colleagues, they seemed happy, and I'd like to think I offer my workers good conditions, better than them going no communication on us out of nowhere, anyway. It couldn't have been some kind of serial killer, at least we don't think so. They had, have, nothing in common except working for the same company. Of the five, they were in at least three departments within this building.

So, we started thinking a bit more. Do you know who Enrique Alvarez is?"

"Not a clue," Evan answered. "Someone semi famous, I'd imagine?"

"He's the head of Alvarez International. Pretty big company that he inherited from his father, and made about ten times bigger. It's massive over here, and has some presence in Portugal and across Latin America. But I don't blame you for not knowing him. Outside of these places almost nobody uses his product, and why would they?" he asked with a laugh.

"Your point?" Elias asked.

"My point is that he is a competitor to me, and what's more he's basically declared a crusade against me and any other 'foreign influence in Spain' in the public eye. He wants no trace of me or others in this country, and he's willing to do almost anything to drive us out."

"So it's some kind of corporate dispute?" Evan asked. "I don't see how…"

"Dispute," Aaron laughed. "If it was that, you wouldn't be here. But, I did think so at first. Until we found this," he said, passing over a picture to Elias. "She's one of ours."

Burnt out candles filled the dark room in the picture, with blood covering seemingly everywhere else. A pentagram was carved into the very surface of the floor, with the naked corpse of a woman pinned to the wall with nails above it."

"So it wasn't him, I'm guessing?" Elias asked after a period of silence, passing the photo back to Aaron.

"You guess wrong. This is one of his buildings, a decrepit one, sure, but one of his nonetheless. We have a couple of your people working here, and they elected to ask you, to ask your headquarters for help. As far as we can tell, Alvarez was wrong. He says almost anything, but his actions prove that he is willing to do whatever it takes to crush me. Don't let that happen. Deal with the Demon threat here."