ALEXANDER WOLFFE
Mark Brook aka Wind Duster's Apartment, A Little While After the Last Wolffe Issue**
It took me a while, since the last time we just teleported here, but I finally found Mark's apartment. However, since it took a little longer than expected, I don't have the time I thought I would have to socialize. We have to get straight down to business.
I knock at the door, but after a moment of waiting I start to worry that Mark might not be home. If he's not home, Snipes is probably babysitting. And if snipes is babysitting, he's probably passed out on the couch, and if he is passed out, there's no way that door is gonna open. Regardless, I knock once more anyway. This time I can hear the locks being unlocked, so it looks good.
"It's been a while, Alex!" Someone says as Mark's door opens and I'm knocked off my feet into the wall behind me. I'm a little disoriented and fumble around trying to get up, and I'm unable to even sit-up until I can see straight. When my eyesight clears, a surprise awaits me. A very unpleasant surprise. No, not Mark or Snipes, but something far worse. "I thought I would tag along for this. It sounds like it will be...riveting," the Shadow, in his full nonphysical glory, hisses out with that classic wicked smile of his.
"Jeez," I mutter as I rub my head, "I hoped you were gone for good."
"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you? You still want to figure out why I'm doing this to you, don't you? I have just been spending some quality time with one of your good friend's is all." The Shadow pauses for a moment, looks back into Brooks' apartment, then turns back and grins maliciously at me. "Hope you don't mind the mess."
My eyes widen with realization. "...no..." I just barely manage to utter out. I charge straight through the Shadow, who dissipates when I do so, and into the Brook's Apartment. Blood covers everything. Snipes' body lays in a pool of crimson blood, with a frying pan to one side and a broken beer bottle to the other, directly in front of me. It looks as if every bone in his lower body had been obliterated. Then I look up to see twitching legs laying out of Daisy's room's doorway. The wall opposite of the legs had been blown away. Looks like it was caused by Mark's wind blasts. I make my way over to the hallway to see it is indeed Mark in his Wind Duster costume. "My god...what have you done!?" I shout at the Shadow.
"Me? No, no, no. The attacks are too precise, the blood is too centered around the bodies, and there isn't enough splash damage on anything for it to be me. This isn't my handiwork, Alex. It's yours." The Shadow whispers to me. I shake my head, not understanding how that could be possible. "And what are you gawking at now, you haven't even seen the best part yet." The Shadow comments, and points into Daisy's bedroom, chuckling as he does so.
"No. No, no, no, I won't do this again. No. I won't." I assure myself as I turn away from the hallway, kneel down, cover my mouth, then rub my eyes as I try to make sense of this all.
"Alex? Yoo-hoo. Alllllleeeeeeexxxxx? You alright, buddy? Alex?" Mark's familiar voice asks me. My eyes burst open and I shoot my head up to see Mark standing over me. I'm back outside his apartment door. The Shadow is right behind Mark, smiling at me, while I glare at him in complete rage. Mark glances behind him to see what I'm looking at, but turns back around unfazed, obviously being unable to see the Shadow. I can no longer see the Shadow either, so I take a deep breath, trying to regain my posture. "What's wrong?" Mark asks with concern.
"No-nothing. Just this, uh, this thing I have." I respond as I get back on my feet. "Is Daisy in there?" I question, pointing towards the door."
"Yeah. Yeah, she should be. Why?" Mark retorts.
"Can you just open the door to make sure everything looks alright in there?" I ask him. After a moment of hesitation he nods and unlocks the door. Everything looks fine. Good. I let out a loud sigh of relief and gather myself back together. Mark starts rambling on about stopping in to see Daisy and how his life has been recently, but the mission comes back into the forefront of my mind. "Mark, I need you to break me into CBTF headquarters." I interject, still standing outside the apartment door.
Mark's eyes widen in shock, he steps back outside, and closes the door. "Wh-what did you say?"
"I need you to break my into CBTF headquarters. Bring me up to the Director's floor, and then forget about it all." I respond.
"Are you crazy? There's no way I could. And even if I could, I wouldn't. Pfeifer scares me-" he tries to retort.
"Sorry, Mark. It wasn't a question." I put my hand on his head. Good thing I practiced mental influence earlier.
Mark looks up at my hand on his head with confusion, then says jokingly, "Oh.... I didn't know you leaned that way, Wolffe." He chuckles a second before seeing the look of deep concentration on my face. "Wait. What, what are you doing?" He questions innocently.
"You will sneak me into CBTF headquarters. You will get me to the Director's floor. You will say I'm, uh, a friend from college if anyone asks. And you will forget this entire incident as soon as I tell you to." I pause for a second, not sure if it worked. "Do you understand, Mark?"
"What are we still standing around here for? We gotta get to the headquarters right away." Mark responds as he starts heading out. I nod proudly, before glancing around one last time to make sure I don't see the Shadow anywhere.
CBTF Headquarters, At the Same Time as Above
Director Pfeifer sits back in his chair with a large smile on his face. "Well, you make sure you tell her I'm waiting for her to invite me back over for some of that fantastic broccoli casserole again." Pfeifer pauses. "And how's your boy doing, Coop?"
"He's fine. Growing into a smart and strong young man. Plays center on the varsity hockey team. Good grades, mostly As and a couple Bs." Captain Cooper crunches out a piece of gum and pops it into his mouth. "But c'mon, Morris. We both know you didn't order me here to ask for some of my wife's casserole... especially considering how much you hate talking about family members." Cooper raises his eyebrow for a second, but then continues, "So what do you need?"
After a moment of silence, Pfeifer sits far forward in his chair and leans on his desk. "We are onto something, Coop. We don't know anything for sure yet, all previous attempts at sending agents in have failed, but we've got drones on the way to see what they can confirm."
Cooper's eyes open wide, he also leans forward in his much smaller seat. "What did you find? Where!?"
"It's been an area of interest for a long time. But recent events have come up that led us to follow up on that interest. We believe it is a camp of carrier extremists, but we don't know for sure if it is or where it is exactly yet. And yes, that means I don't want you acting at all until we can confirm any of this. I've already got an asset prepared to act on my command, if need be. Am I clear on that?" The captain nods in agreement and the CBTF Director turns to the side to pull out a little slip of paper and pushes it towards Cooper. "They might be in the old state park. Kingville."
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**Wolffe is still several months back in the story-line from most of the rest of current 5CC
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