THE SWEENEY - Log 1
Apr. 15th, 2026 03:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsA favour gets called in to locate a missing operative within London's magical criminal underworld.
"You know," The chipper voice said as soon as Kevin signed on to the encrypted call at his computer. "I think I might have preferred the grey. Made you rather more serious looking. This is a face I expect to try and upsell me at the jewelry section of Harrods."
"Always good to have your feedback, Sonya." Kevin said with a nod and a tilt of his drink. In a blink, his hair was now a deep grey, shot through with lines of silver. "That better?"
"Quite. The grey hair, smug look, brown liquor before ten AM. You're a picture of all the old men who both mentored and sexually harassed me throughout my career."
"It's a little early for sexual harassment, but I can give it a shot."
"Aren't you sweet? No, to business." She said with the tilt of her head and a viper quick smile. "I'm afraid, for you, I have a use for that favour you owe me. You see, I'm having a bit of a magic problem on the home front. Our point man has gone missing and our contacts are coming up empty. We're relatively certain he's still somewhere in London but that's about it."
"Ah." Kevin said, setting down his drink and pulling out his phone. "Give me a sec." He quickly texted Marie-Ange and Amanda to join him in the conference room. "I'm bringing in the boss and our... subject matter expert, I guess."
"Ooh, how delightfully mysterious." Sonya said.
Marie-Ange had most of a hot drink in the universal paper cup with paper sleeve that she was sipping when she came in. She paused, tilted her head, narrowed her eyes at Kevin's hair color and then tipped her cup at him. Shapeshifter antics. "Is it not very early in London? Am I doing maths wrong?"
"Oh no dear, it's later. It's almost when you should be drinking what Kevin is drinking." She said with a delightful smirk.
"Until we have the ability to regenerate our livers, none of us is drinking what Kevin is drinking," quipped Amanda as she came in on the heels of Sonya's comment. Then she registered the speaker. "Oh, bollocks, it's the government."
"Sonya has decided to cash in the favour that Snow Valley owes her for Spain. It involves magic and London, hence the consult." Kevin said, his hair snapping back to black with a quick shake of his head.
"That is correct." Sonya touched a button and her image on the screen was replaced by that of a skinny dark haired man in his mid-thirties. "This is Senior Intelligence Officer Alistaire Stuart. A whip smart ten year veteran of the SIS and uniquely, also trained by Kamar Taj. Obviously we've known about Kamar Taj for centuries and when Stuart's particular talent for magic appeared in his early twenties, we struck a deal with them to train him. Since then, he's been embedded within the magical aspects of London's criminal underworld as both an early warning system and... let's say an arbiter of checks and balances that separates the level of magic we're willing to tolerate from that world and the levels we aren't. Unfortunately, he's missing. Missed his normal check in, which means something happened within the last five days."
"Ah, he is a magic spy. So a possible cocktail of suspects. The magically active, the criminally active... any number of contacts who disagree with those balances." Marie-Ange proposed. "Do you have any strong suspicions? You mentioned a deal with Kamar Taj - what were the conditions of that deal?"
"They trained one of our own and we didn't officially share their existence with China. I think they know it, but a lot of international espionage orbits around polite fictions and unknowns." She said with a smile.
"And he's a company man, so, no chance he's signed up with someone on the Way, then, and gone silent?" Amanda was studying the image on the screen intently, knowing the answer to her own question. Several unpleasant consequences were coming to mind if something... permanent had happened to him.
"And if it becomes common knowledge he's missing, I assume there's some nasty people with magic abilities who are going to feel emboldened to challenge the status quo."
"Exactly, and like any intelligence professional, I do so hate people thinking for themselves. It makes things messy." Sonya said. "I would be surprised if any of the normal suspects were willing to risk taking him, and if it was just an assassination, I doubt they'd try to hide it. So, assuming he's alive, I need you to find him. And if he's not, I need you to find the unfortunate duckling who gets to face the full fury of His Majesty's SIS in general and myself in particular. Questions?"
"We would like copies of the usual information - social media, both real and covers, bank accounts, safe houses, favourite hotels. I know you have already done due diligence." Marie-Ange was sincere too, you don't get to be where Falsworth is without doing it, or having it done for you. "I would like to have a few people here look at that information see if they can discern anything interesting, and if we have to have Kevin do his particular unique tricks, having up to date information always helps."
"I'll send along the relevant files. We don't have much directly related to Kamar-Taj, so hopefully you have some inhouse expertise on that little wrinkle." Sonya said, tapping a few keys. "Unfortunately, thanks to their abilities, the magical underworld is considerably more opaque than we like, although much smaller than its boring, non-magical and oh so much easier to manage counterpart. Whatever has happened to Stuart, that's where the answers will be."
"Oh joy." Amanda sighed and then shrugged. "I might know which rocks will give us the most info, and we can pull the rest of the weird shite brigade, but this isn't a job for the teapots - we're going to need to call in some magic-leaning consultants."
"I do not like how you say consultants when you say that." Marie-Ange muttered, with the promise of "we may have an argument about this later, but not a serious one" in her tone. "The usual information then, once Ms Falsworth has provided it to the teapots, and us to the phone to find our consultants and I do not like it any more when I say it either."
"Sonya, we'll be on station shortly. Is there anything else we need? Did you get all your thinly veiled threats out there?"
"Oh my, Kevin." Sonya said with a bright smile. "I already knew you were divorced. You didn't need to confirm it. I'll be in touch for any further details." She said and cut the connection.
"I don't think I like her." Kevin said after a sip from his glass.
"I know I don't like her," was Amanda's addition as the screen cut out. She glanced at Marie-Ange. "You know I wouldn't suggest bringing Adam into this unless we really needed him," she said, by way of apology. "But he's better acquainted with the seedy side of London's occult than I am."
"Like I said. I hate how you say consultants in that tone of voice."
"You know," The chipper voice said as soon as Kevin signed on to the encrypted call at his computer. "I think I might have preferred the grey. Made you rather more serious looking. This is a face I expect to try and upsell me at the jewelry section of Harrods."
"Always good to have your feedback, Sonya." Kevin said with a nod and a tilt of his drink. In a blink, his hair was now a deep grey, shot through with lines of silver. "That better?"
"Quite. The grey hair, smug look, brown liquor before ten AM. You're a picture of all the old men who both mentored and sexually harassed me throughout my career."
"It's a little early for sexual harassment, but I can give it a shot."
"Aren't you sweet? No, to business." She said with the tilt of her head and a viper quick smile. "I'm afraid, for you, I have a use for that favour you owe me. You see, I'm having a bit of a magic problem on the home front. Our point man has gone missing and our contacts are coming up empty. We're relatively certain he's still somewhere in London but that's about it."
"Ah." Kevin said, setting down his drink and pulling out his phone. "Give me a sec." He quickly texted Marie-Ange and Amanda to join him in the conference room. "I'm bringing in the boss and our... subject matter expert, I guess."
"Ooh, how delightfully mysterious." Sonya said.
Marie-Ange had most of a hot drink in the universal paper cup with paper sleeve that she was sipping when she came in. She paused, tilted her head, narrowed her eyes at Kevin's hair color and then tipped her cup at him. Shapeshifter antics. "Is it not very early in London? Am I doing maths wrong?"
"Oh no dear, it's later. It's almost when you should be drinking what Kevin is drinking." She said with a delightful smirk.
"Until we have the ability to regenerate our livers, none of us is drinking what Kevin is drinking," quipped Amanda as she came in on the heels of Sonya's comment. Then she registered the speaker. "Oh, bollocks, it's the government."
"Sonya has decided to cash in the favour that Snow Valley owes her for Spain. It involves magic and London, hence the consult." Kevin said, his hair snapping back to black with a quick shake of his head.
"That is correct." Sonya touched a button and her image on the screen was replaced by that of a skinny dark haired man in his mid-thirties. "This is Senior Intelligence Officer Alistaire Stuart. A whip smart ten year veteran of the SIS and uniquely, also trained by Kamar Taj. Obviously we've known about Kamar Taj for centuries and when Stuart's particular talent for magic appeared in his early twenties, we struck a deal with them to train him. Since then, he's been embedded within the magical aspects of London's criminal underworld as both an early warning system and... let's say an arbiter of checks and balances that separates the level of magic we're willing to tolerate from that world and the levels we aren't. Unfortunately, he's missing. Missed his normal check in, which means something happened within the last five days."
"Ah, he is a magic spy. So a possible cocktail of suspects. The magically active, the criminally active... any number of contacts who disagree with those balances." Marie-Ange proposed. "Do you have any strong suspicions? You mentioned a deal with Kamar Taj - what were the conditions of that deal?"
"They trained one of our own and we didn't officially share their existence with China. I think they know it, but a lot of international espionage orbits around polite fictions and unknowns." She said with a smile.
"And he's a company man, so, no chance he's signed up with someone on the Way, then, and gone silent?" Amanda was studying the image on the screen intently, knowing the answer to her own question. Several unpleasant consequences were coming to mind if something... permanent had happened to him.
"And if it becomes common knowledge he's missing, I assume there's some nasty people with magic abilities who are going to feel emboldened to challenge the status quo."
"Exactly, and like any intelligence professional, I do so hate people thinking for themselves. It makes things messy." Sonya said. "I would be surprised if any of the normal suspects were willing to risk taking him, and if it was just an assassination, I doubt they'd try to hide it. So, assuming he's alive, I need you to find him. And if he's not, I need you to find the unfortunate duckling who gets to face the full fury of His Majesty's SIS in general and myself in particular. Questions?"
"We would like copies of the usual information - social media, both real and covers, bank accounts, safe houses, favourite hotels. I know you have already done due diligence." Marie-Ange was sincere too, you don't get to be where Falsworth is without doing it, or having it done for you. "I would like to have a few people here look at that information see if they can discern anything interesting, and if we have to have Kevin do his particular unique tricks, having up to date information always helps."
"I'll send along the relevant files. We don't have much directly related to Kamar-Taj, so hopefully you have some inhouse expertise on that little wrinkle." Sonya said, tapping a few keys. "Unfortunately, thanks to their abilities, the magical underworld is considerably more opaque than we like, although much smaller than its boring, non-magical and oh so much easier to manage counterpart. Whatever has happened to Stuart, that's where the answers will be."
"Oh joy." Amanda sighed and then shrugged. "I might know which rocks will give us the most info, and we can pull the rest of the weird shite brigade, but this isn't a job for the teapots - we're going to need to call in some magic-leaning consultants."
"I do not like how you say consultants when you say that." Marie-Ange muttered, with the promise of "we may have an argument about this later, but not a serious one" in her tone. "The usual information then, once Ms Falsworth has provided it to the teapots, and us to the phone to find our consultants and I do not like it any more when I say it either."
"Sonya, we'll be on station shortly. Is there anything else we need? Did you get all your thinly veiled threats out there?"
"Oh my, Kevin." Sonya said with a bright smile. "I already knew you were divorced. You didn't need to confirm it. I'll be in touch for any further details." She said and cut the connection.
"I don't think I like her." Kevin said after a sip from his glass.
"I know I don't like her," was Amanda's addition as the screen cut out. She glanced at Marie-Ange. "You know I wouldn't suggest bringing Adam into this unless we really needed him," she said, by way of apology. "But he's better acquainted with the seedy side of London's occult than I am."
"Like I said. I hate how you say consultants in that tone of voice."
no subject
Date: 2026-04-16 04:48 am (UTC)