276 263: A Plague of Phantoms: Covert Machinations I

Iris

30 minutes earlier

[Chase, I'm in disguise and heading to the hotel. I hope this plan of yours is worth all this extra work.] I said through the mental link of the communication rings.

I was currently walking down the street leading to the hotel the American companies and soldiers were all staying at. Already borrowing the appearance of the spy I captured earlier as well as his uniform. While it fit me perfectly it was a little unnerving to borrow the body of a man, I had to remind myself almost constantly that there is not a dead snake in my pants.

[I do too.] Jane said. Her voice was thick with concern. She was always concerned lately, even though she rarely let it show.

[It will be. I know Beaufort, Thomas, and my witless brother are up to something. Based off the shit Beaufort's pulled so far, its probably trying to assassinate me. I mean they don't really have a choice if they want to keep Caldifax's backing.] Chase replied in a cocky tone that never failed to trigger me.

[Yeah, we know that already! So why do I have to take on the face of the spy and sneak into the hotel!] I snapped.

[Because I need info, specifically on the men in Logan's unit. Personal information, I want to freak them all out and make Beaufort worry about information leaks.] Chase replied.

[Ooooooh…I get it. Because you're a splicer he would think you don't have any information from America and if you suddenly start spouting people's personal information he'd fear a mole and tighten his circle of trust.] I exclaimed.

[Yep! A little paranoia never hurt anyone.] Chase replied, the deviousness in his voice concerned me. Or at least it felt like it should have, I felt surprisingly numb to it despite the shiver that crawled up my spine.

'I must be getting used to Chase's schemes…' I thought. That thought did concern me however. In the last few months I'd been getting lax at keeling Chase's grand ideas in check. That job has more or less fallen to Jane and Astrid.

I let out a sigh as I neared the hotel and mentally prepared myself to assume the role of the spy. There were two American soldiers that stood on either side of the hotel's door acting as guardsmen. I kept a neutral expression on my face as I strode past them and into the hotel. Neither spared me a second glance as I headed inside.

The inside of the hotel looked rather plain compared to what father and mother described them to be. They said the hotel that they stayed at during last year's Evo-cution was a lavish and extravagant building fit for royalty. This place was just a step above a hovel by those standards. Though in reality it was just basic probably if view from the perspective of a normie.

As I walked into the lobby I discreetly checked my surroundings, taking in as much as I could. There weren't many people inside the lobby. Mostly a couple of higher ranking members of the American military. I wasn't expecting to see many grunts, except those that were being ordered to guard various points in the hotel. So I wouldn't seem out of place I quickly decided to head towards the stairs to a higher floor. There were two guards standing in front of the doorway to the stairs. They both regarded me with a look of surprise as I approached and the soldier on the right held a hand up to stop me.

"Ned? What are you doing back so soon?" He asked. Ned Anders, that was the name of the spy who's appearance I was stealing. He was a low ranking Sargent in the army, the American version of the intelligence branch of the army if I had to guess. In his pockets I found his military ID as well as his room key, and a recorder similar to the one the other spy had. Except it was blank.

"I couldn't find my contact in the forest. I need to report back to command." I said, repressing the feeling of revulsion I had at hearing a man's voice instead of my own. One of the side effects of the modified version of Sin's family spell.

"Shit…you couldn't find Dreeble?" The guard on the left exclaimed. I nodded and moved my hair to the side to revel the bruise that the real Ned got from Rainbow Sparkle's tail.

"I was ambushed by a weird evo and just barely managed to get away." I said. Both soldier's eyes widened and they quickly stepped to the side.

"Hurry upstairs and report this to Sargent Reagan!" The guard on the right exclaimed. I nodded and started past them only to stop a couple steps later and looked back at the guards.

"What floor is Sargent Reagan on?" I asked. The soldiers both looked at me with concerned looks.

"It's the fifth floor, you might want to check in on the third floor and see the medics before reporting and get your head looked at." The right soldier said. I nodded and rubbed my head.

"Thanks, I'll do that." I replied then headed up the stairs. I marched up to the third floor and stepped through the door but not to head to get checked out by those medics but to snoop for a minute.

The third floor looked like a regular hotel floor. Only it was deserted. I didn't see anyone walking down the halls but heard several voices coming from a conference room down the hall. I resisted the urge to head towards the conference room I turned and headed down the other end of the hall.

"Rainbow…" I said softly. The Argonewt deactivated his active camouflage ability partially to revel his head. He'd been following me the entire time, using his camouflage to keep hidden from sight. Rainbow Sparkles was clinging to the ceiling and looking down at me.

"Yess myes ladyes?" Rainbow replied in a hushed tone.

"You are my eyes and ears. Make sure nobody sneaks up on me." I said softly. Rainbow Sparkle's tongue flicked out much like its komodo dragon base and nodded softly then activated its active camouflage ability to disappear completely.

"Yess myes ladyes. It goes withouts sayingss." Rainbow Sparkles replied.

Feeling secure I nodded and continued down the hallway, leaning close to the walls I pressed my ear to every door I passed to listen for sounds of occupation. Unfortunately most doors I passed had such sounds, even one that had the sounds of a couple celebrating…rather amorously. When I reached the end of the hall I saw that it had a corner and continued down another hallway. It seemed that the hallways circled around in an endless loop.

As I turned the corner I saw a soldier come walk out of a room a few room ahead of me. He wasn't your average grunt, his the bars on his uniform suggested that he was above lieutenant at least. I quickly ducked back around the corner before he saw me and watched as he closed and locked his room before heading down the hall.

'He looks important…' I thought as I watched him disappear around the corner on the other end of the hallway. I quickly approached the door and subtly casted a utility spell sigil. It was a spell passed down my family line that unlocked or locked doors called magic key. It created a transparent key appear in hand which I could use to unlock or lock five doors before it was destroyed.

I put the magic key into the key hole and the lock unlocked instantly. I quickly opened the door and rushed inside. The inside of the soldier's room was clean and neat and rather small. It looked like a basic hotel room with a single full sized bed, it didn't even have a comforter on it. The room looked to be in pristine condition like it hadn't even been slept in. If it wasn't for the bags set beside the door I wouldn't have thought anyone was staying there.

[Keep watch and warn me if anyone comes.] I told Rainbow Sparkles through our connection.

[Understoodses!] Rainbow Sparkles exclaimed.

I closed the door behind me and immediately started going through the soldier's luggage. I found a military ID with the soldier's name and rank on it. His name was Major Augusta Sterling of the Army. I continued to look through it and found nothing except his clothes. I was going to look through the rest of the room until I noticed that the space inside his suitcase and the size of the suitcase didn't match.

I frowned and ran my hand along the edge of the inside suitcase and found a recess. I hooked my nail inside the recess and lifted it to revel a false bottom to the suitcase. Inside was a gun, money, and documents inside the false bottom. I took out the documents and quickly looked them over.

'Deployment plans? The island's map? Hotel schematics…wait these schematics aren't for this hotel. It's the other hotels on the island. Deployment plans…does that mean they're planning to carry out attacks on those hotels soon or later in this week?' I thought. I frowned and peered over the documents again and noticed a group of names. 'Private Quinn, Private Topkin, Private Dreeble, Specialist Swanson, and Sargent Anders…wait that's the guy I'm impersonating. Are these the spies and their targets? Hmmm…I can use these documents…'

I quickly packed the suitcase back and made sure to put everything back how I found it or at least as close as I could remember then closed it and put it back. I did a quick walkthrough of the room looking for anything else I could use but found nothing. Not wanting to get caught in the room I rolled up the documents and tucked them down the back of my pants to hide them then quickly left the room. I thought about using the magic key to lock the room again to hide the fact that anyone had been inside but I realized that leaving it unlocked would cause suspicion and paranoia.

I quickly turned and headed down the hall. Glad nobody was down the next hallway when I rounded the corner. I refused to get complacent, even with Rainbow Sparkles watching after me I didn't want to be caught unawares. I made my way down the hallway with the conference room. I didn't need or want to find out what was in that room since I more or less guessed it was where the medics were located. I quickly snuck past that room and walked back into the stairwell, heading up to the fifth floor.

The moment I walked onto the fifth floor there were two guards stationed across from the doorway who saw me the instant I walked onto the floor. They frowned when they saw me and held a hand out like the ones from the floor below.

"Anders? Didn't Sargent Reagan just send you off to relieve Dreeble?" The guard on the left asked. I nodded and looked around suspiciously.

"I have something I need to report to the Sargent immediately." I said then leaned in closer and spoke in a softer voice. "It's for his ears only."

"I see…" The soldier on the right said then turned and motioned to me. "follow me."

I nodded and followed after the soldier. The both of them being stationed in front of the doorway to the stairwell put a kink in my plan of snooping around but meeting this Sargent and spreading some misinformation in the enemy ranks was one of Chase's missions. The soldier lead me to the conference room on this floor and knocked on the door.

"Enter." A deep voice said softly. The soldier opened the door and stepped inside in front of me. I followed in behind him.

This conference looked like a improvised war room a large conference table sat in the center of the room topped with files and reports. The wall opposite of me had a large map of the island taped to the wall with a multitude of pins and reports attached to it. There were twelve men soldiers inside the room. All the soldiers but one was rushing around and fiddling with reports. One soldier stood in front of the map with his back to me, seeming to take in the information, I guessed he was the Sargent I was supposed to report to.

"Sargent Reagan, Sargent Ned Anders has returned with a report!" The soldier announced.

The man in front of the map turned to face us and I swore he looked familiar. I couldn't place him however. Sargent Reagan frowned when he laid eyes on me.

"A report, already?" Sargent Reagan said then looked at the soldier that guided me here. "Dismissed."

The soldier saluted and then turned and left the room quickly. I noticed that there were quite a few eyes on me among the remaining soldiers in the room. Though most were at least pretending to still be busy.

"What's your report?" Sargent Reagan demanded. I looked at the other soldiers in the room then back at Reagan.

"It's your ears only." I said sternly. The Sargent frowned and crossed his arms.

"I'm not a captain or a Major, Ned. Just spit it out." Reagan commanded. I scowled and huffed.

"Fine, I went to the specified meeting point to relieve Dreeble but he wasn't there. I waited but when he didn't show I went looking for him…I found him…exiting that splicer's weird transport, with the one of the splicers." I said, hoping I wasn't taking too many liberties with Ned's character. Sargent Reagan's brows widened and he looked at me seriously.

"Do you realize what you are saying Ned! You're accusing Dreeble of collaborating with the enemy!" Sargent Reagan snapped.

"I'm not stupid! I know what I'm saying and I know what I saw. If that wasn't enough I was attacked by some weird evo as I was making my way back here!" I exclaimed and lifted my hair up to show the mark the real Anders had. "That's why I wanted to talk to you in private!"

Sargent Reagan groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked to have aged several years in that moment. I could see regret, resentment, and annoyance flash know his face.

"Gods above why couldn't Captain Sully be here to deal with this bullshit! Hoisting the responsibility of handling all the operations on a fucking Sargent! Godsdammit!" Reagan groaned and slammed his fist down onto the conference table, letting out a loud groan, he then turned and looked at the other soldiers. "…Send massagers to recall all surveillance units, there is a chance that we could all be compromised. Put an embargo on the Albino willow forest for the meantime!"

The soldiers in the room all started scrambling to carry out the Sargent's orders. A few even rushing out of the room and running at full speed. I was honestly impressed by the speed of their hustle.

"Wallace, you're in command! I'm heading to the Sadamas Center to report to Second Lieutenant Kingston! Anders with me!" Sargent Reagan announced and started to storm out of the conference room.

I followed after him and had to almost jog to keep pace with him as he hurried off the floor and down the stairs. As we reached the lobby I was hit by another feeling that the Sargent looked familiar. I still couldn't remember why, I kept searching my memories to see where I had seen him before but couldn't place him. While that was happening the sergeant and I were already outside and rushing down the sidewalk towards the Sadamas Center.

We were aboug halfway there when I was about to warn Chase what was coming via the manacite communication rings when Reagan suddenly grabbed my by my collar and dragged me into an alley. He pulled me deep into the alley and slammed be into the wall.

"Anders! What the fuck!" Sergeant Reagan hissed. I grabbed his wrists and expertly broke his hold then kicked him away from me. He stumbled back into the opposite wall and glared at me.

"What the hell is your problem?!" I snapped.

"I'm the fucking one that should be asking that! Why the hell did you report back that Dreeble looked like he was working with Sho'lajah Artifact Company! Who gives a fuck! Your mission was to eliminate Dreeble and then make contact with one of their members!" Reagan replied. I blinked and looked at the Sargent with a confused expression.

"I was what?!" I exclaimed. Reagan looked concerned then eyed the bride that was barely visible on my forehead.

"Shit! You did say you got attacked…do you….remember?" Reagan asked. While he did I saw his hand reach for the pistol strapped to his thigh.

"Firing a gun in a country where owning a firearm is illegal will only raise suspicion and alarm. People already know that we left together so it wouldn't be hard to piece together who killed me." I said confidently.

[Myes ladyes, you want me to killses?] Rainbow Sparkles asked.

[No, not yet.] I replied.

Sargent Reagan frowned and moved his hand from the pistol, he eyed me suspiciously and in that moment it suddenly dawned on me where I had seen him before. From Chase's memories, he was one of the American soldiers that fought with Chase. I frowned and crossed my arms.

Sargent Reagan muttered something softly but he switched to English so I couldn't fully understand him. Thinking quickly I nodded slowly as if agreeing with his statement. That made him frown and look at me seriously.

"You can't understand English." He said then frowned.

"Now would probably be a good time for you to remind me what my mission was." I said calmly, hoping to put the blame on temporary memory loss. He regarded me with a frown and stayed silent for several moments before speaking.

"Your mission, your real mission was to relieve Ian Dreeble, eliminate him and destroy all of his surveillance and then attempt to make contact with one of the members of Sho'lajah Artifact Company…you know why. If Dreeble is already in contact with the company then things aren't going to go great for us…" Reagan said then scratched his chin.

"Dreeble is dead." I said suddenly. Reagan frowned.

"But you just said…" Reagan said.

"I said what I thought would sow the most discontent…but before I say anything more…Rainbow if you would…" I said softly. Rainbow Sparkles deactivated his active camouflage ability to show he was clinging to the wall above Reagan.

"I suggestes you do nothings againsts my ladyes." Rainbow Sparkles hissed then shot his tongue out and it struck the ground beside Reagan with such force that it shattered the stone.

"Shit! A evo!" Reagan exclaimed as he jumped to the side and then glanced up at Rainbow then back at me.

"How…wait…did it say lady?" Reagan exclaimed.

"I am the ones asking the questions now. Why did you want to make contact with members of Sho'lajah Artifact Company?" I demanded. Reagan glanced up at Rainbow Sparkles then back down at me.

"You should know this…or rather the real Ned Anders should…pretty convincing disguise." Reagan replied. Rainbow Sparkles shot his tongue out again and shattered the stone at Reagan's feet.

"I said I'm asking the questions. Refuse to answer again and my evo will kill you without another thought." I said sternly. Reagan sighed and crossed his arms.

"I wanted to get in touch with Chase Kingston, to talk about defecting from the Zeonic States of America." Reagan replied.

"Defecting from the Zeonic States? Why?" I asked.

"That country…I'm sick of it, the hypocrisy, the hatred, the lying…" Reagan said.

"The lie that Logan killed the Ascended when really Chase stopped it and then used it as a bargaining tool to leave America." I interrupted. Reagan looked surprised at that statement.

"Yeah…" Reagan admitted then looked concerned.

"The real Ned Anders is still alive…for now." I said suddenly then turned and looked towards the mouth of the alley. "If what you say is true…then I'll let Chase make that determination…in the meantime we have a report to make to his no-good half brother Logan. Just know that my evo will be watching you and will know if you try and rat me out as a spy."

"I understand…but can I at least ask if the real Ned is safe?" Reagan asked. I nodded.

"He's safe and being watched and no harm will come to him as long as you do as I say." I confirmed. Reagan nodded.

"And you'll make it so I can talk to Chase?" Reagan asked.

"Well see…though just know that everyone at Sho'lajah Artifact Company owes Chase a great deal and very few of us have any love for Americans." I replied. Reagan seemed unfazed by that comment and instead said.

"If you know half of the stuff that happens to splicers there then I can understand that." Reagan replied.

"Hmmm...enough of that now Sargent, we have a report to make." I said. Reagan looked weary but nodded and took a step towards the alley's entrance. He glanced over his shoulder at Rainbow Sparkles only to catch him mid camouflage activation and saw his body disappear and blend into the wall.

I followed the Sargent out of the alley and we continued heading towards the Sadamas Center. I immediately activated my manacite communication ring and focused on Chase.

[CHASE! OHMYGOD! YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS!]