A luxurious, well-kept office. A desk dominating the middle of the room, a small stack of papers on the green velvet covering the oaken wood. A wireless phone sat in it's charger, the interface glowing slightly.
The room was well-lit, and shelves of books and files lined the walls. Under the desk itself was a large red rug, keeping the desk from touching the concrete floor. Three men occupied the room, one seated at the desk, the other standing before it, pouring wine from an uncorked bottle into two glasses. The third stood at attention close by the door, blue eyes watching the two.
"I see the research is faring well," the scarred red eye murmured, looking over some papers from where he was seated. He grinned. "You may have lost your magic, but with this research, I'm sure we can figure things out soon enough."
The other man, who wore a black business suit with a red tie, grinned in satisfaction, placing the wine bottle down on the desk gently.
"Yes, the "prince" has proved to take remarkably well to the magics so far. Holding three different kinds at once now, and all our reports only say he is in mere agonizing pain." The grin widened. "I would say that would be well worth the rewards, wouldn't you?"
The red eyes sparked slightly. "I do have to wonder what the boy did to entice this out of you. Then again, Monsters have been a thorn in our side, one way or another. Don't try to kill him too fast. We only have one other viable test subject that we can do as we please with as it stands."
The Overwatch man's face darkened, his lip curling into a sneer, ruffling his thin moustache.
"That boy brought the Monsters to the surface in the first place. Not only that, but the fool allowed his own magic to be extracted from him in defense of the Monsters." He walked back to the red-eye, proffering a full wineglass to him. "He is a traitor to our race, and we must test our limits one way or the other. Why not use him for it?"
The scarred human took it, though didn't start drinking it right away. "True, but to make one truly suffer-you don't let them die, not just yet. His soul isn't strong enough to keep like ours can. Not that this death is going fast, but if you want to make him suffer-have him suffer long. Not that it isn't proving useful."
Blue eyes altered their gaze, as the other magical Human stood quietly elsewhere in the room, basically acting as a guard, though he knew it was all for show, honestly.
Deep green eyes narrowed in concentration as the Overwatch man took a sip of his drink.
"Hmm, you do make a fair point. We already have enough to begin injecting the subjects with magic, though some extra testing would not go amiss. I suppose I am just eager to finally have this underway. My people have dreamed of nothing else for centuries, and now that the dream is so close to becoming a reality…"
"But if you take it in haste now," the red eye chided. "You'll end up like we did. Our group got a little over confident, and tried to strike, and in doing so, we were taken down. Take it in stride, and you'll have your magic back, and the Monsters will be under your control-however you wish that to be."
"Not only the Monsters…" the green-eyed man murmured. "Once we have magic, people from all over the world will flock to us. They will beg us to grant them the power that we wield. We will take this world for our own, and crush the Monsters under our heel. And of course..." he took another sip of his drink. "We will help restore you and your people to the power you deserve."
"Not that it should be too difficult with an army. And once we're both settled, we shouldn't be in each other's way, either."
"Agreed. And with Monsters out of the way, well. It should be easy enough. It is fortunate you found us when you did."
"We were in a bit of a bind, but, this has given us a chance to recuperate, and on this side, we have few equals to cause us trouble."
"I doubt you will have much-"
There was a sudden knocking at the door and the Overwatch man scowled at the interruption.
"What is it?"
The door opened, and another man came in, saluting when he saw the two.
"Prophet, Overseer. I am sorry to disturb you, but… someone called Jacob is here. He was very insistent that he speak with you, and he claims to be one of our people."
"What- how did he find this place?" the Overseer demanded, his green eyes sparking dangerously. The new man flinched.
"Sir, I… I don't know! He was already here when I saw him… what do you want me to do with him?"
The red eye shook his head. "What say we let him in? I think we already know why he's here."
"I am surprised to see him developing a backbone…" the Overseer returned his attention to his subordinate. "Show him in. And then get me a full report from the guards, I want to know exactly why he got this far in without us knowing about it."
The other man saluted nervously and quickly exited. The Overseer strode back to his desk with an irritated sigh and put his glass down.
"I look forward to the day when that little man is no longer necessary. Dealing with him is tedious at best."
The red eye gave an amused snort. "I find some entertainment when speaking to him, at the very least," he stated idly while the blue eye took his gaze to the door expectantly.
After a few moments, the door opened, and Jacob appeared, closely followed by two guards. The short man's forehead was glistening with sweat, and he kept licking his lips to keep them moisturized, but he met the Overseer's gaze mostly unflinchingly.
"You can stay outside," the Overwatch leader told the two guards who had followed Jacob in. "We won't need you here, I think."
The men saluted, and followed his command, stepping outside and closing the door behind them.
"Greetings, Jacob," the Overseer began, a false smile on his face, "How can we-"
"Where is my daughter?" Jacob demanded with more force than either of the other men had ever heard from him before. "What did you do with my Jennifer?"
"Ah, you're speaking of the young lady," the red eye murmured with a grin. "Is that all for this surprise visit?"
Jacob turned his head to stare at the red eye incredulously.
"All? What else does there need to be? I delivered the strangers to you, I did what you asked! You said you would leave us alone after this!"
"Jacob," the Overseer murmured, returning his drink to his hand and swirling it gently. "You must understand… once someone has turned traitor, well. Betrayal can come easily to him. We require insurance that you will not turn on us as well."
Jacob's shock and horror were written plainly across his round face.
"You… you can't be serious…"
"We've had our fair share of backstabbing in some form or another. This keeps things tightly knit." The red eye grinned. "But, when it no longer matters, we'll speak of this again, I'm sure."
"I want to see her!"
"I'm afraid that is out of the question," the Overseer murmured silkily. "But she is alive, and safe… so long as you don't do anything… foolish."
"This… this wasn't part of our deal!" Jacob exclaimed, wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt. "You can't-"
The red eyes flashed. "You." He stepped forward. "Are in no position to bargain, interrogate, or make any sudden moves. I suggest leaving before you step too far and burn that shaky bridge that you're standing on."
"Jennifer's life is in your hands, Jacob," the Overseer said, his voice low and dangerous as he came to stand beside the otherworlder. "Would you truly be so callous as to throw away the life of the only family you have left?"
"I… I…" Jacob felt his throat closing down, words unable to escape it as fear flooded through him.
The blue-eye guard turned, and raised a hand in salute. Red eyes glanced to him. "Yes?"
"Shall I escort him out, Sirs?"
"Yes, do so," the Overseer glanced at the now-quivering Jacob. "I believe our compatriot has said all he needs to for today."
Jacob lowered his head, tears pricking at his eyes, his shoulders slumped in defeat.
The blue eye walked over, grabbing a shoulder roughly. "Move along," he muttered.
Jacob allowed himself to be pulled along numbly, shuffling his feet as despair threatened to crush him under its weight.
They walked along quietly for some time, before the blue eye glanced around, and then muttered: "Despite their methods, they're telling the truth about her."
"That they'll kill her if I set a foot wrong?" Jacob mumbled brokenly in response.
"That, but she's alive and well as of this morning," the blue eye stated quietly. "They haven't touched her since they took her."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"So that you know what you're working with," the blue eye muttered. "Sadly, not a lot. Keep your head down, for both of your sake's...they'll be watching you closely after that impressive show there."
"Not that impressive," Jacob kept his eyes glued to the floor as he spoke softly and bitterly. "I probably only made things worse."
The blue eye was dead silent for several long moments as his gaze darkened. "You didn't make it worse," he said with a bit of force.
Jacob made no response to that, just allowed the blue-eye to continue leading him through the complex.
As they reached the exit, the blue eye tightened his grip briefly. "I'm sorry that they tangled you into their thing. I can't make promises-not even going to attempt it, but...I'll try to keep an eye on her. Just...let things roll their course. I…" The blue eye fell silent. He had an idea-a last ditch plan, but he was almost certain that he'd fail.
He pushed Jacob forward. "Go. Don't come back here."
Jacob raised his head for a moment, and gave a small nod, before turning and exiting the base.
"Well, I must admit," the Overseer smiled, leaning back in his chair. "It was amusing to put that little man back in his place."
"He had a bit more guts than we had assumed," the red eye murmured, grinning a little. "But being raised on that technique-it's good to see how easily it can still work."
"Agreed." The Overseer's smile faded a little. "I am more concerned as to how he found this place. And why I received no report of his arrival. He will keep his mouth shut for his daughter's sake, I'm sure. But I don't see how he could have found us on his own."
"True. He's not the type for that." Crimson eyes narrowed. "And for you to receive no report is the far more worrying part of this. Who did you have as front entrance guards?"
"Let me check…" The Overseer opened a drawer in his desk and rummaged through files for a moment before the phone on his desk rang. He frowned and reached for it, bringing it up to his ear.
"What is it?" He was silent for a few moments as a voice spoke quickly on the other end of the line, before standing up with a start, his eyes wide in shock.
"Shut it down, shut everything down! I want everything on full lockdown! Put us on the highest alert, he does not leave the complex!"
The scarred man jumped to his feet. "What's wrong?" he demanded as he hurried over.
The Overseer slammed down the phone and hurried over to a cabinet on the far side of the room, opposite the door.
"We have to move quickly," he called, opening the cabinet and pulling a large pistol from it, checking it's ammunition. "The greatest thorn in our side has been spotted within the complex. If he is allowed to escape with the knowledge of where we are…"
The red eye clenched his fists. "If they can pin his location, I can stop him."
"You had better." The Overseer tossed another pistol towards the Red-eye. "Vigil is a Shifter, he can change his form to suit his needs. We will have to be fast to stop him."
The red eye nodded, catching it expertly. "They say the location, and he won't get anywhere."
"Good, let's go." The Overseer ran for the door as alarms began blaring and lights started to flash. "We are finally so close, I will not let this upstart ruin everything we have worked for!" With that, the two tore off, hunting down their intruder.
Author's Note: And hopefully, with this, Thrones will be back in control of the story come Monday! XP Less terror and dismay strike this story-what's with all those looks? What do you mean that was happening before I came and uploaded?