«» Unlucky Thirteen «» — «» Jade In Khanate Chapter Twenty One «»
«» Section Thirteen in The Field «»
«» A.N – Had to split earlier chapter. Folks felt it was too long. Makes this old chap look new «»
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The doctor peers down gloomily at the man in the hospital bed. This is the man he is meant to repair? How can any man get himself so banged up on an archaeological mission? The man is a wreck and Section Thirteen expects him put the guy back together in secret and isolated from the rest of the hospital!
It is impossible! But Section Thirteen say this is one of their top staff and he bust himself up recovering some heavy data hidden in an ancient banner and they'd like him back the way he was or they'll be asking the doctor some hard questions. That's a diagnosis to make any doctor gloomy: fix the patient or we fix you. Section Thirteen has a name for getting what it wants; so he'd better be the surgeon who delivers. They're not folks to cross.
Section Thirteen has long been the doyen of the web of secret agencies protecting the States and the world from overshadowing threats. Lately it had fallen under shadow itself, with its very boss muttering about demons, about magic, about the occult and about far too many doomsdays. Twice, within a few months,Captain Augustus Black had been relieved of command.
The upheaval and uncertainty had been all too much for the chief agent of the department. Taggart McStone, Agent Tag, the longtime premier agent of Section Thirteen is used to them being in the lead, of them being at the head of everyonee. With all of that, there is no call to get civilians and their games distracting the agency from its serious work. He expected the best from Section Thirteen and expected better for himself.
Each time that Captain Black was unseated, Agent Tag anticipated that this would be the time he rose up to the throne himself. In his eyes there is nobody more suitable to inherit command of Section Thirteen than himself. His mind is clear on this matter. … … …
— « When I run Section Thirteen I'll return it to its proper course. Then we will crush all the espionage, all the global crime, all the warmongering and all of the evil masterminds. It'll be sad to climb up over the bones of Captain Black. He's my friend,. He's been my mentor and supporter for so long. He made me the man I am today. But it's myself, Taggart McStone who'll make me the man I'm going to be tomorrow. » —
Agent Tag is full of his yesterdays and tomorrows it is the todays that he cannot endure, that make him nearly physically sick. It's unbearable to him: that Captain Black leads a charmed life and rebounds from every setback stronger than before. Obsessing on magic or else even getting sacked via computer; these are all ranked as attacks instigated by Doctor Necrosis and no stain on Captain Augustus Black, his standing, reputation or track record.
Captain Black is lauded: for not only throwing off the attacks but also for rescuing agents out in danger and hitting back at Necrosis too. Agent Tag was there, on the scene, for one time that the brilliance shone out and he managed to reflect some of the glory onto himself. It sickens him, knowing it was really the Chan brat who took out one enemy and sent a revenge virus at another. Agent Tag broods. … … …
— «There is a right and proper way to run a Section, to be a winning agent like myself. It takes investment, training, technology and organisation. There is just no room or place at all for innovation, for mavericks. We don't need anyone who isn't a regular fit. » —
Agent Tag shifts awkwardly and clumsily, to lever up a hand mirror and stare at his own transformed face.
— « It's madness that an upstanding guy like me is passed over for an eccentric like Augustus. I don't care how much he's done for me! It just isn't right how his perverse style lucks it all out in one outstanding success after another. Doesn't he think anything of me? Showing me up like this! Kidnapping in a leading archaeologist and feather-bedding that spoilt runt of a niece, as if I'm worth nothing. » —
Agent Tag doesn't buy any of the phoney baloney magical riff that Black and his cronies spin. It doesn't matter to him if they want to hide the real potential of the artefacts they hunt under some fairytale or other. He knows better, he always keeps his feet solidly on the established track.
That has always been enough and more than enough to accelerate him to the top of his profession, after a full lifetime in enforcement. It always has been enough until that day, that one day, that one day of too many. Captain Augustus Black was on the track of the Dark Hand's sudden interest in historic artefacts. The sideswipe tactic was to chloroform in an old friend and antiquities expert. Taggart McStone has no good thoughts about this.
— « The world has gone mad. We all know how Captain Black loves to sneak in extra help by the backdoor, but surely even he had to see the fatal flaw in his last plan. Kidnap extra help fine. Kidnap an old friend fine. Find a chink brat crashing our security, blindsiding our best agents, stealing our transport and nearly rescuing the prisoner out from under our noses. I should have told Augustus right then to add the kid to the riverbed, she wasn't ever going to be anything but trouble. » —
Agent Tag heaves up the bulky weight of his arm and sends the hand mirror crashing and smashing against a wall.
— « Oh noooo they as good as pinned a medal on the runt for her daring. Okay! Okay! Not a problem. I was still the star and I knew everybody would know it was time for a change of boss. Imagine letting the nerd and the kid take up residence in a top secret base. Yes sir I was sure that was one lunacy too much for even the most loyal guys to tolerate. Oh noooo! The runt had to become everyone's little darling. » —
It is a bitter pill but Agent Tag could swallow that much (with difficulty) and grind his teeth in silence, even as he saw how the Jade urchin won over the whole department with her mix of audacity, daring, cheek and kindness. Yes Taggart McStone can bide his time and his peace so long as he stays The Agent. Yet so: there's no peace in his head.
— « Oh noooo I'm not even that much now. Even Kepler betrays me. Every invention he made, it was for me. I was his test pilot. I had all the gadgets to take out in the field and win. Along comes that chink urchin with her puppy dog eyes and I'm out in the cold. That jetpack was going to make me master of the sky. Look who gets to take it out first and bring down a Dark Hand Gang with it. Look who gets the pat on the back and one more star for Agent Zhenyu. Oh yes, I heard! They tell her she can't be an agent till she's older, but they've given her a code name and a file to keep track of her games. » —
Agent Tag stares miserably at a television mounted on the wall, one he cannot turn off or change. It shows all the mundane and surface news that ordinary folks get to see. It galls him how much he doesn't know for himself.
— « I'd sell every single Kepler patent for one look at those Agent Zhenyu files. Damn Black for classing them ultrasecret. If there was any justice in the world she ought to have died on her first mission. I even had a chance to clean her out when she sneaked away on my mission. That would never have made the news and I'd still be The Man. Okay. Okay old Augustus hasn't demoted me or anything but he knows, he knows. That chink brat has got me under a cloud. It isn't Agent Tag in the sun anymore; Agent Zhenyu is growing up like a weed and right in my light. » —
Agent Tag swears to himself, at the most harsh and burning memory of all his recent humiliations. He had been sent away in his microjet to quell Doctor Necrosis and the Jade chimp had stowed away, so well that he'd known nothing of her till she announced herself.
Okay, perhaps, it was Jackie Chan who knocked him down, but only because he was totally off guard at the time. Besides that any mission has its lapses and Taggart McStone is a master at glossing over any gaps in his ventures. Yet so, it undermines him totally to be upstaged by anyone and (when that anyone is a kid) he has no forgiveness for it.
He had come around propped against a wall and in the uniform of a Necrosis goon. He had used the technology of his wrist-monitor to tap into the security systems of Dr Necrosis' base. Then Agent Tag had seen events play out on the monitors and all without him.
Jackie Chan was no competitor to Tag's reputation: the guy was caught, strapped to a lab bench and about to be fried. Agent Tag knew he could rush in at the last second, save the day and be the hero for one more time. He was wrong beyond belief: Jade Chan sneaked in, wrecked the doomsday weapon, blinded the Doctor's executioner, drop-kicked the man into a coma.
Agent Tag (for all his haste) had only wrenched open the door of the Doctor's lab in time to have an already comatose Hoyle fall into his arms. To be sure, Agent Tag is no fool and he reported back and wrote up the mission as his ownself rescuing the Chans and foiling Dr Necrosis.
Just as Taggart McStone guessed, Jackie Chan hadn't the ego to challenge the report and the man kept Jade Chan quiet too. To be sure, Captain Black is one sharp blade who knows all his resources well and he'd given Agent Tag an inquisitorial glance after reading that report but hadn't chosen to officially challenge Agent Tag.
That is little comfort to Taggart McStone: to know his star has fallen and his chief only keeps up the pretence for fear of awkward questions, should the reality be known. To be sure, he'd always known that younger and better supported agents would supplant him in time. Yet so, he'd always planned to retire in glory, when he saw that speck growing on his horizon. His most fevered imagination could not have warned him that a schoolkid would be an overnight sensation and overturn his world in months.
— « Captain Black had just better not forget my track record. What has that runt of chink really done? It's just luck that she's saved so much museum junk from thieves. She's as much a crook as any of those! She's turned our vaults into a joke, into a lending library and the guys ignore it. Look at them: all they do is pump up the security and keep quiet. They should let me teach her manners! » —
Taggart McStone futilely attempts a karate chop and kick: imagining trashing Jade in martial arts practice.
— « Okay I've seen her in the dojo. Okay she is wiping out all the agents on the floor with her kicks but I could kill her flat in a second out in the field. Who would mind; what's a kid the less? So there's a whisper that she is the only one to get Kepler's time travel working and the two of them are as thick as thieves but why should I care, Section Twelve will give me all I need. Who cares that a schoolkid pulled together her uncles, the world's best wrestler and thief as a specialist team; it'll fall apart in seconds with her gone … yes … it'll all fall apart and get back to normal … with her gone. » —
Taggart McStone jabs roughly at the intercom that is set next to his bed and lets it be known he is ready to debrief. He gathers his thoughts as he waits.
— « Okay let's see what Captain Black thinks of me now. He can't deny I've gone beyond the call of duty here. Oh noooo he can't deny it or keep me out of the field, even if I won't be at my best for a while. I need to be back out there; I can show them I'm as good as any Chans. Oh yesss and they won't be pesterating me much longer. Can't deny those uncles are the best in their fields but how many times has the kid had to drag them out of a trap. Agent Zhenyu, she's the keystone, take her out and the world is mine again. Captain Black: say goodbye Jade Chan and welcome back Agent Tag. » —
That is as far as Taggart McStone's future plans go for now; to gain his next aims he has to focus on his latest mission and how he can make it sound good to Captain Black. That is a challenge enough to be a mission in its ownself. He had learnt that the Chan's were racing around in the pursuit of some more of the mysterious history that Section Thirteen puts so much store on lately. He had played his own game accordingly
That time Agent Tag had not turned his back and scoffed or run off on some conventional mission; instead of that he had done all he could to learn about the project. Taggart McStone had decided that, if he couldn't beat them he would join them, he would go out hunting the artefacts and bring them home better than the Chans ever could.
The Chans and Tohru had just returned from some mission to Spain, empty handed but claiming to have got valuable information. In their absolutely typical style they had plunged back into their abstruse world and their so-called researches. Taggart McStone knew he was an infant at this game, he had always flown on the shoulders of a whole team of backroom staff, so he had to go out and find his own expert.
Luckily for Agent Tag, Section Thirteen has the authority to sequestrate any personnel it wishes, however much of an imprisoned criminal the person happens to be. Armed with this power Taggart McStone had removed Daolon Wong from prison and installed Uncle's arch-rival in a Section Twelve safehouse. At Agent Tag's rank it was normal to use other departments resources as appropriate. It surely was not normal to use the arrangement to hide your actions from your own side but that was exactly what Taggart McStone did and worse.
He kept a close monitor on the Chan Clan's activities and, the moment they were airborne for the South China Seas and their next mission, he was at Rare Finds with Daolon Wong. It was no challenge for a man of Tag's abilities to break open Uncle's shop and no challenge for a scholar of Wong's abilities to break open Uncle's research. All the defensive spells that Uncle had woven around his valuables were useless: they were forged against magic and dark chi and purely overlooked mundane threats.
Tag has always been mortal and Wong is too (with his chi powers stolen away), so they slip beneath all of the protective charms. The irony is that, the very disarming of Daolon Wong is what has given him access to all of Uncle's treasures. Taggart McStone was insistent that Daolon Wong harrowed Uncle's tomes instantly but the dark chi scholar was drawn by the aroma of the Shadowlands
It led him to the photograph of Melvinworld with the three humans (two agents and one actor) plus Jade Chan. The girl wasn't human when the picture was taken and whatever humanity she had regained afterwards was rapidly fading away. Daolon Wong hardly needed his eldritch senses to tell him this: the picture was dominated by the Shadowlands: an oni banner, a fresh oni banner solely for Jade, filled one corner and the image was crowded with shadowkhan. There was one mutated leechkhan, a barefaced squidkhan and a slaughterous Jade Khan. What puzzled Daolon Wong was that the photograph was so acutely linked to otherworlds and so intimately linked to Jade Chan, yet he could detect no sense of animating spirit within Jade, as if her being had already fled.
It was a mystery and one that Daolon Wong would investigate later, when he had regained his powers. Before that however, he had to satisfy the fool mortal agent who could see no further than the solid flesh of his fingertips. The photograph had taught Daolon Wong one thing for certain: the banner that the plebeian sought was also a battery of chi power.
Daolon Wong and Taggart McStone both saw the oni banner as their goal and their hope but for very different reason. The agent expected power from having the banner and the sage expected power from draining the banner. The researches of Uncle showed the underhand pair exactly where to go; Taggart McStone knew the States better than any of the Chan Clan and saw a clear path to a banner that had escaped the Chan Clan entirely.
In an underground and illegal pit fighting den a crimelord imagined himself a modern Caligula and hung a flag above hsi throne accordingly. He never would have done so, if he'd known it would draw the ambitions of Agent Tag and an elite taskforce from Section Twelve. In no time at all every single pit fighter had been rendered into grave fodder and not a one of Caligula's guards was breathing. The Section Twelve detachment stood in the arena and dared any soul to make a twitch against their guns.
In total command of the situation Daolon Wong and Taggart McStone wended their way up to the quivering bulk of the terrified and toppled despot. Agent Tag ripped the banner out of its socket in the tyrant's throne and lifted it high in triumph. That was when the screaming began. Taggart McStone and Daolon Wong turned to stare down into the arena and saw all of the corps of SectionTwelve turned into corpses in mere minutes.
Agent Tag saw a gang of brutes garbed like the Ku Klux Klan (but in robes of black and red) while Daolon Wong knew it was leechkhan and squidkhan that were the threat and one he did not care to face. He had only himself to blame (even if he did not know it) as the touch of a dark chi mage against so sensitive a membrane as the photo of Melvinworld was more than enough to set alarms klaxoning through the Shadowrealms. The two tribes posed in the frame were most intimately affected: they came to investigate and defend Jade Khan's interests.
Daolon Wong was much the more experienced with shadowkhan and the supernatural altogether: he tried to make a clean escape but Agent Tag laid him low. Whatever music they had to face, the Section Thirteen operative was not going down alone. For all of that, a prone and inert Daolon Wong was overlooked by the attackers. Taggart McStone was far the less lucky: he was caught and he was stretched and he was left as a broken doll with all his limbs pulled from their sockets. Beyond that, his ribs were cracked, one arm snapped and an eye gone from his face, to say nothing of the plain blood and bruising.
It was in this predicament that Agent Tag had been forced to activate an emergency rescue beacon. It had been seen and responded to by Section Thirteen: that left the criminal facing justice, the agent facing rescue and many questions facing the pair of them in the near future. Daolon Wong was returned to prison and Taggart McStone was placed here:: trapped in a hospital bed and the despair of the medic forced to care for him, under impossible conditions. The very next impossible condition is going to be how to explain to Captain Black that Agent Tag had tried to do one better than the Chan Clan but got himself crippled and had purely embarrassed Section Thirteen beyond credibility, by losing an entire Loan Squad from SectionTwelve.
Taggart McStone groans to himself: all that loss and cost and nothing to show for it. Those bizarre attackers had left the banner in his hands, as if their only purpose was to teach him a lesson and the banner was of no concern to them. It wasn't at all how things had turned out though: a svelte lady, in a dark and slinky catsuit had sashayed up to Agent Tag (as he lay broken in the stadium) and plucked the banner away from him. The lass had mocked him by blowing a kiss off from her hand and towards him, even as she vanished away, with a hated name on her lips.
« Sorry, stoneface, Jade needs this more than you. »
That is all the past: all of the length of time that Jade Chan has been the leech draining his blood, the nightmare of Necrosis and the recent bad history of the raid. Right now Agent Tag is claiming anonymous sources leading him to the banner and overwhelming forces tearing him from the banner. Taggart McStone flinches at the disbelief and scorn in the eyes of Captain Augustus Black but holds to his lie and is startled to find his one-time friend not more upset at the loss of the banner. The reason why soon becomes clear and makes Agent Tag even more irate at the haunting influence of Jade Chan.
« Take it easy Taggart, you had some bad juju there for sure. But it's turned out okay. Somehow Jade got the J Team back in action and we've got two banners in the vault right now, thanks to that. Don't you worry either, I'll get you back out there; I know you're itching for action. »
Oh yes! Agent Tag is itching for action. He is itching to have a finger on the trigger and Jade Chan in his sights. It is lucky he doesn't know how and why Jade contacted Viper and raised the J Team even while she was trapped deep in the Shadowrealms and facing killing battles. It would be a sore kick in his ego if he learnt how she plays for the team, while he only plays the team for his own ends. Taggart McStone will never feel peace until he has paid the kid back for all the slights he feels, let alone the magic trumps he remains ignorant of. What would he say, if he knew how some murderous terrain had already struck Jade down!