Nighttime Cleaners (IC)

[e_voyager]

Forte enters and stood by the chairs as the client  secured the door and  looked over his materials. Forte was now certain that this was the right place and the right person. He then handed over that letter of his instructions because of this and looked as one of the armor highlights armlets parts on his armor. A moment later he touched his chest plate which began to emit a low hum. Through these actions he made an electrical check that allowed him to sweep his immediate area for bugs as well as cause interference similar  to cell phone static in most listening / recording equipment. not he was ready to talk plainly. his casual attitude as all but gone ans his eyes took on the look of a seasoned professional.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Transphermi." he said still not sitting. "I am called Forte and  my employers said you have a project underway. The details of my part in it are to come form you." his attitude was almost military now. the look of a casual person was gone form his face. lines of joy replace by the look of some one who was here to do a job. ho much was cover and how much was real was still suspect but with contact made and identify computer the need for his cover person was over.

[Angel]

Khimara noticed the change in Forte's demeanor, but didn't mention it. No matter how they acted at first, everyone got right down to business once it was clear why both were here. He heard the hum of the armor, but decided not to ask about it until later. for now, he needed to brief Forte on the exact details of why he was here.

"You can sit down if you'd like. Forgive me if what I say isn't too clear," he said, knowing that even if there were no bugs in the room, saying anything outright was risky. "There are people in the world who view certain other people as, well, a stain on their lives. They would like nothing more than having that stain removed. Completely. I'm willing to help those people, but if I did it by myself...let's just say it wouldn't be particularly tidy or quick." He glanced at the profile Forte's employer had included. "Your employer clearly thinks you're capable of helping me, though I will still need to see if you're the right person. My first question is, are you willing to do this job now that you know the details?" He tilted his head just a bit as he posed the question.

[e_voyager]

Fortes sweep had confirmed that there was nothing in the room however there seen to be a narrow band of high frequency radio waves focused somewhere near the building. but that was fine his frequency should jam it.  Forte took the offered seat.

"thank you." he said his eye still emotionless. " yes but there are certain thing you should know. i'm not to keen on spectacles." his eyes seem to shimmer for a moment before going lifeless again  "business should be about money and accomplishing the task not about entertainment"

[Angel]

Khimara's eyes widened a bit behind his shades when Forte's eyes gleamed for that split second. This was a hard man to read, but that signal was clear as day.

"I couldn't agree with you more," he said plainly. "Which is exactly why I need people like you here." He looked at the profile again. "It should please you to know that I prefer hitmen to work alone on any job. You may need to work with others occasionally, though, but never more than one or two people at a time. I'm sure you understand. Payment will be based on what the client gives for the job. It will be split between myself, you, and anyone else you may happen to work with.

"I do have a few questions for you," he mentioned, almost casually. "From what you've said, I gather you're not in this job because you enjoy it. So why?" He leaned forward ever so slightly, curious.

[e_voyager]

" I'm impressed Mr. Transphermi" Forte truely was impressed. Very few clients realized that to him killing was more of a job then a pleasure. still he understood that sometimes his line of work need to be done. "Aside form that i was seemingly born to this career i also under stand that there are reason for it to be done: Political reasons, personal reasons; To stop a long war,  To prevent a war Or even to start a war that will prevent a worse tragedy. then there are my personal reasons as well." forte paused thinking about something his eyes focused yet unfocused in memory.

Oh yes he had his reasons for his continued work for the agency. Not all of them were personal though some of them were. Sometimes he would take and unauthorized vacation and they would send agents in to haunt him down. He sent most of them home alive a few not so much so. they  last vacation he'd gone  on ended when his younger brother was sent in. his brother had come ready for full out war yet they both knew that in the end forte would be victor it he really wanted to be free. it was there fifth attempt and forte normally returned in 3 attempts so the agency had gotten anxious..  it had taken him nearly and out to out flank his stalking younger sibling and to knock him out. later that day he arrived on the agency nearest check-in cover spot his sibling still knocked out and over his should his armor some what damaged and told the supervisor's via  secured link that if they ever pulled something like this again he'd hunt them all down kill them and leave the agency for good. they were not impressed and it was then that he received his orders for this job. they has said that his vacation had gone on long enough and that it was time for him to get back to work.

" but i am rambling. my only objection is when they want the job a publicly witness spectacle and that others that aren't part of the contract get hurt because of it. soldiers ands bodyguards are fine. they are part of the first of the job but some one like festival or parade goes hurt because of a bomb, missile attack or runaway vehicle? that is sloppy work and not worth doing."

[lucas marcone]

The city had come into view though it was still quite a ways away. The sound of the waves breaking on the hull just barely beat out the creaking of the wood. The salt in the air had collected around his eyes and mouth, he blinked it away. As he neared the port the light traffic could be heard, and his radio crackled.

"This is dock services, this area is for shipping and commercial craft only. the peronal craft is just south. Be prepared to pay to dock there."

"Aye," said Shaun" I'll be makin me way down there then."

He turned port then began to take down his sails in preperation for landing.

[Angel]

Khimara resisted the urge to smile. "Good. Because I wasn't planning on any public spectacles anyway. As the front of this building should imply, this is meant to be a place for people to go who want a job done quietly and cleanly. If someone wants a job done publicly, they can go ahead; I'm not going to be involved with someone who will probably get caught minutes after the job is complete." The smirk he'd been fighting snuck onto his face. This was turning out quite well for his first few potential employees. He turned his eyes down to re-read the more-than-impressive credentials Forte's employer had included.

"Hm. Well, judging from what your employers say, I have no reason to doubt your capabilities. But I'd feel better if I was to see them in person." He paused, working through his schedule in his head. "In six days' time, show up for your first assignment - a test run. You will most likely be working alone on the job you're given, and you will be paid for your services. Once the job is done, I'll inform you whether or not I want you working here. Do you have any questions or comments before we wrap this up?"

[e_voyager]

Forte nodded ready to stand. " yes that will be fine. is it safe assume you know how to contact me either directly or though the agency?" he asked. it seemed to him that this was to be a two part interview with first and assessment then and trial run. It seemed that the agency was renting him out for a long term assignment well that was fine. he would rent and apartment for his civilian cover while reserving a hotel room for his professional cover.  that is were he would set up local contact if asked for it.

[lucas marcone]

Later just off the docks


Shaun pulled out and looked at the note, paused then looked up. Putting the note away he hailed a cab. The ground was still slick from the previous rain. A cab pulled up and stopped with a squeek that signaled that the breaks needed work. Shaun got in.

"Where to?" The driver asked in a thick accent that shaun couldn't place.
"Black Sky Nighttime Cleaning Service." Shaun said.
"That's a bit away. There's closer ones." The cabby suggested.
"People say this one's the best. Got me favorite shirt all stained up ye know, never drink red wine inna white shirt."
"Fine by me." The cab sped off.

After about 20 minutes of driving the cab came to a rest out side the cleaners.

"That will be Thirty Fifty-six." Said the cabby. Shaun handed him a fourty Euro bill. "Keep the change." Shaun started for the door.

[Angel]

Khimara paused, looking over the bio Forte's employers had offered yet again. Finding nothing there, he shook the envelope, and a small slip of paper containing contact information provided by the agency fell into his hand.

"Yes," he answered with a mildly amused smirk, standing up as well. "In case there are any changes of plan, anticipated or otherwise, I'll let you know. Thank you for your time," he said, not so much bowing as nodding his head. Handshakes among assassins, even those you could semi-trust, were risky, according to his own judgment and experiences so far.

[e_voyager]

(Minutes earlier.)

"then i shall be on my way Mr. Khimara."

With a nod of respect Forte suited action to words and left the office. he did not tarry to spy on his employer nor did he try and plant any listing devices in the officer or near by. He believed that Mr. Khimara  was true to his beliefs and believed in what he was doing. Also he had mention that there would be others and there was no reason to believe he was the last interview of the night nor the first. there would be time between the interviews he was sure after all even armored everyday solutions had kept things tightly raps, during his time in that front for the agency he's only worked with 15 of the employees and they supposedly had a staff of hundreds of professional employees.

It was about fifteen minute after Forte had left that a cab arrived at the "Black Sky Nighttime Cleaning Service." but by then Forte was long gone and knew nothing of this.

[Angel]

After Forte left, Khimara had a couple minutes of free time. So he decided to use it to his advantage. Quickly, he pulled out the legal pad and jotted down:

Forte. Information given by employer suggests overqualification (a plus). Decent morals for those with his job. Put on the kind of assignments you would take if you could. Choose trial run victim carefully. At this he frowned a bit. The advertising for the test victims had given mixed results. A few of these people really deserved to die, but... well, you couldn't take a job like this without getting a few requests you were iffy about. He glanced at the one given to him by the gas company, frowning. Don't let what little moral you have get in the way... that's fine for the assassins you hire, but not for a guy like you. Still, he was tempted to put out a few hits of his own after these were done.

He set the pad aside, called Scylo to leave a message about his "talents" being needed for a new job ("Don't worry - nothing messy"), and waited for the next arrival. He'd been lost in thought for a while, there; it wouldn't be too long before someone else showed up.

[lucas marcone]

Shaun strode up to the door and opened it.

[Angel]

The door clicked, and Khimara's eyed flickered over to see the new entry. A brown otter, with (comparatively) the most normal attire of anyone who'd shown up thus far. Still, one could tell he wasn't a mistaken passerby; he smelled like sea air, so he couldn't have "just been in town", nor would he have thought to come here first. The cat stood, pushing himself up from his desk and making eye contact as well as one could when their eyes were so well hidden.

"Can I help you?" he asked, as normal as could be.

[lucas marcone]

"Me shirt, it has a stain-" Shaun was cut short by an angry cab driver. "You owe me money! This is no good!"  He said as he stormed up with his foot in the proverial door.

"That's forty it's more than enough!"
"Take your monopoly money! Give me some GREEN!"
"It's worth more than your pathetic currency! SRAM!"

their accents making it harder to understand eachother they continued to argue.

[Angel]

Khimara watched, at first only blinking with disbelief. Then as the arguing of the cab driver and the man who was either a misguided civilian or a masked-intentions applicant didn't end immediately, he grew impatient, drumming his claws on his desk and leaving little marks. Finally, with an angry, almost growled sigh, he opened a drawer and pulled out his wallet. Then, he got out from behind the desk and walked up to the two arguing men, putting his hand on the otter's shoulder and pulling him back a little and glaring at the cab driver.

Without waiting for him to say anything else, the feline reached up and whipped the Euro bill out of the cabbie's hand, shoved it into his own wallet, and pulled out forty American dollars to replace the international money.

"Here. Now get out." His tone was not just annoyed, as if he was speaking to a tantrum-y child, but edged on anger, indicating that the other man really shouldn't push it.

[lucas marcone]

The cabby spat an insult at both of the men in his native tongue, then turned and walked away. The cab rocked a bit as he sat in the driver seat. "Crazy americans." was all he said as the cab sped away.


"As I was sayin' me shirt be stained. I sincerely hope ye can treat it." Shaun kept his cover to feel the situation out.

[Angel]

Khimara hissed at the cabbie as he left, baring pointy teeth to make a point. Once he'd calmed down a bit, the otter spoke up, with a thick brogue and an innocuous statement. Khimara turned to face him, looking placid.

"I'm sorry, sir, but as a relatively new service, we're still going through the hiring process. We don't have enough manpower to open yet." He shrugged and gave a serious-looking smirk. "Seems like you came pretty far just to get your shirt cleaned though. If I may ask, how did you even find out about us?" It was a bit of an obvious question, but he'd made sure to pick his words carefully.

[lucas marcone]

"Oh? Your that new eh? Then I guess your advert in the mail was a bit early?" Shaun said. An obvious reply Shaun also had to choose his words carefully incase it happened to be a hoax.

[Angel]

Khimara's eyebrows raised, more for acting purposes than anything. "Hnh. I only sent out that ad to a few people. I don't suppose you still have it with you? I'd like to see it." He held out his hand and waited.

[lucas marcone]

Shaun handed him a couple of papers,  some with advertisements of similar companies others blank to allow for cupons. The letter was attached to one of the pages faceing inward. A quick glance by a normal shop keep would find it to be another blank page. Then again if suspicions were correct this was no normal shop keep.

[Angel]

Khimara shuffled through the papers, skimming both sides of each sheet carefully. Finally, he found his message, cleverly hidden. He smirked wider, his expression knowing and pleased. The otter was careful and streetwise. This was going well.

"Ah. I see. You're the one I was looking to hire, then?" he asked, his tone kept in such a way that Shaun would know that they both knew the real reason why they were here. "I'm Khimara Transphermi, and I assure you, I'm the one who sent this ad." He tapped his message with a claw as he said it. "So who might you be?"

[lucas marcone]

"Former Sgt. Damsey o' the army o' the republic o' Ireland, but that seems like something ye should already know isn't is? After all it was adressed to me specificly." He winked and grabbed a chair. "Hope ye don't mind. I just came in on my boat a while ago and I like to stand while I sail." He sat down. "So tell me ye had to know something of me to call me from the emerald isle. What have ye heard?"

[Angel]

Khimara smiled a true smile at last and moved back to his chair. "No, I don't mind. And as for what I know, well, I did know you were military, but I also found out you haven't lasted in other jobs for some reason. Every time you were hired to a position like the one I'm offering, though, you did well. Doesn't say why." He paused. "I looked up a few of the cases, and from what I can tell, most of your jobs involved people who deserved what was coming, more or less. Doesn't that make finding a steady job a little hard?" It was a rather heavy question for the start of an interview, but Damsey seemed like the kind who would give a straight answer. And it was fair to tell him why he'd been asked away from home.

[lucas marcone]

"I won't lie to ye, it makes it challanging , but as you well know there's plenty 'o scum that needs mopped up, and enough people that want it done." Then for a moment his face went from lighthearted to stone cold. "However I will NOT kill a decent man, understood?" He leaned back.

[Angel]

Khimara paled a bit at Shaun's change in demeanor, but then relaxed and nodded. "I understand. In fact, the motives of all our clients are questioned prior to accepting a job. We may take on a few...controversial cases from time to time, but motive plays an important part in taking on cases nonetheless. Rest assured, you won't have to take care of any problems you don't want to." It was true. Even Khimara had to draw the line somewhere. He didn't add, though, that a few of the jobs he'd agreed to take on weren't exactly the kind he'd hoped for. After all, there was no way you could run a completely moral hit agency.

"Speaking of problems, there are a few things you need to know. You may need to work with others sometimes, but never more than one or two people. I expect jobs to be carried out as efficiently as possible; nothing too messy left behind, or we both lose our jobs. Also, payment is based on what the client gives, and will be split between myself, you, and anyone you end up working with. Is that all right with you?" he asked, leaning a hair's breadth forward in anticipation.

[lucas marcone]

Shaun smiled "Good ta see that allowances for morals runs in th' family, Mr. Transper...Transerm...Sorry in all th' years I've worked for your father i never really learned ta pronounce th' name." Shaun stood up and streached a smidgion. "th' other stuff's well and good, no objections from me."

[Angel]

No surprise showed on Khimara's face, but he did smile in return while feeling just a bit dumb. The cat had never seen Shaun in person before today, but when hed read his name during the info search he'd done, it had sounded familiar somehow. So this was why his dad had bit back a laugh when he told him the people he was planning on hiring - he'd wasted time and simultaneously shown that Gareth had more of an influence on his tastes than he'd realized. He'd told his father not to get involved with this; not that he didn't respect him, but he wanted to handle this himself. Clearly, even when Gareth stayed out of Khimara's business, it didn't matter. It doesn't mean anything... don't let this bug you. Damsey seems like a nice guy anyway, he mentally reassured himself, standing as well.

"Just Khimara is fine, trust me. The last thing I want to do is capitalize on my father's work," he said. "Now, I'll need you to come back in ... one week, for a test run of your skills. I hope you understand; the other applicants have the same things scheduled, and I need to make the days as sporadic as time allows. You'll be paid, of course, but you'll also be under scrutiny - once the job is done, I'll tell you if I want you working here or not. Before we finish, is there anything I should know about, or any questions you have?"

[lucas marcone]

"I have no question fer ya Khi, though I will say ye might want to read yer fathers files, there's somethin' on there ye should know 'bout me that I feel uncomfortable talkin' 'bout." Shaun strode across the impressively preserved antique wooden floor. With his hand resting on the brass doorknob he said in passing over his shoulder " Ye can fine me on me boat down at th docks." Then he walked out.

The town was quiet save for the random car splashing in a pot hole or the late night bar crowd. Speaking of it was some time to last call and Shaun decided to have a drink before renting a motel room,he didn't feel like heading back to his ship tonight.

[Angel]

Khimara got a bit of a questioning look about checking his dad's files, but he nodded agreeably nonetheless as Shaun left. Once the otter was gone, he pulled out the legal pad again.

Shaun Damsey. Ex-military, but almost doesn't act like it. Moralistic; once again, give this one the jobs you would take yourself. He paused, and then begrudgingly added, Ask Dad about details. But he wouldn't do that yet; he had more people to interview, and trhere was the matter of customers... He sat back, put in a pair of iPod headphones, and let David Bowie and Trent Reznor keep him company till the next applicant came in.

"I'm afraid of Americans...I'm afraid of the world...I'm afraid I can't help it...I'm afraid I can't..."