"Shadows two and five in position," Jameson's voice came into Dale's mind.
"Shadows three and four, ready at your command," Kelly replied mentally. She and Dale were leaning up against the short wall surrounding the roof of the building above the abduction point.
"Roger, target is about fifteen minutes out from position," Jazia's voice entered the mental conversation. The rock with his initials sitting in Dale's hand gave him access to the group thought network they used for communicating.
Kelly placed the rock into a pouch on her utility belt, equipped with all sorts of magical spy gadgets. "So," she began. "Seen any good movies recently?"
Dale smiled despite the anger her friendly question invoked. "I can't say I have. Been a little busy."
She nodded, brushing a few loose strands of black hair from her face. "Makes sense I guess. I can't even remember the last time I did something like go to the movies." She laughed, but Dale sensed a pang of sadness behind it.
"How did you come to join the Shadows anyway?"
Kelly looked away. "Oh. It's kind of a long story."
Dale pointed to his watch, "We have some time until our turn comes up."
"Oh, alright," she sighed. "I know Jamie mentioned I'm related to Jazia, but what exactly do you know about the situation?"
"Just that she's older than she looks and you're her niece."
"Well to tell you my story, we first have to explain a bit of Jazia's."
Dale waited while Kelly gathered her thoughts.
"Alright. Jazia is actually my great-grand aunt. About a hundred years ago, she got mixed up in some magical shenanigans which resulted in her being granted near immortality, but without the ability to age further. She has traveled the world many times over in her lifetime, and rumors have it that she's one of the founding members of the Shadows, choosing to lead a team in order to keep herself close to the action. Aunt J was one of those family members that lived on in legend through my grandparents, but I didn't meet her until I was eighteen, when I got into some… trouble."
He smiled. "What kind of trouble?"
Kelly smirked. "That's not important to the story." She shoved him gently. "No more stupid questions if you want me to finish."
"Whatever you say." Dale said, still grinning.
"So Aunt J, sorry, Jazia helped me out of a rough spot and then just disappeared. I figured it was a one time thing so I moved on in life and found work as an apprentice healer. Things were good for a long time there. I don't think I've ever been so happy as I was then. But then, well, then something awful happened which left me alone and broken. That's when Jazia came back into my life. She helped me pick up all the pieces of my life and then introduced me into the Shadows. I found peace here. I know it's not ideal, but I promise that the work we do is good. I finally feel like I'm making a difference, ya know?" Kelly finished her story, tears had begun to form at her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. Dale pretended not to notice. He always felt awkward in these types of situations. Comforting crying people was definitely not his strong suit.
"Anyways, that's why I'm here. Probably more of my life story than you asked for, but-"
"Not at all," Dale cut her off. "Thank you for sharing. Besides, it's nice to hear that not everyone was kidnapped and forced to join against their will."
"You accepted the mission. This wasn't against your will. Jeez. Just get over it will you? It's not like you had much of a life before this anyway." Kelly scoffed, clearly annoyed.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."
She rolled her eyes. "Just forget about it. We need to start prepping now."
Dale nodded without saying anything.
Without speaking, Kelly reached to the side and pulled the backpack to the front of them. She pulled out two bundles of rope, handing one to Dale and setting the other to the side. She then held out a sheathed sword. As he reached for it, she pulled back and stared him down for several seconds.
"No funny business right?" she said, her voice accusing.
"None. I've been warned repeatedly of the dangers of trying to leave without authorization. Besides, this mission is important." Dale lied, praying she wouldn't notice.
Kelly seemed convinced and handed him the blade. Moving to a crouching position, he attached it to his belt, which was significantly less full than his partner's. He glanced over to her to see her readying the potions.
Jazia's voice in their minds interrupted her motions. "Target is five minutes out. Shadow two and five, execute phase one."
Dale's mind ran through the plan as he and Kelly both increased their speed of readying their equipment. Jazia was using some kind of stealth artifact to follow their target, Maddox Fisk. He was out for his usual trip to a local dinner which he frequented while in town, his lunch schedule just like clockwork. His path from his apartment to the diner crossed through a shadier part of town. Jameson and Mateo were in charge of bringing the vehicle to the abduction point while Dale and Kelly were assigned to knock him out and get him into said vehicle. Jazia would then meet them at a different location in which they would be keeping Mr. Fisk for a time, preventing him from attending the fairy brooker meeting.
But if Dale had anything to do about it, that's not how things would turn out. There was a solid two minutes between when he and Kelly descended the building to when Jameson and Mateo would show up with the van in which he planned to make his escape, hopefully allowing this Maddox character to do the same. It would all depend on if he could get Kelly to give him one of the sleeping potions, which was seeming less and less likely given her misgivings about even handing him a sword.
"Target is one minute out, repeat, target is one minute out," Jazia replied.
Kelly looked at Dale as they faced the wall, separate ropes hooked onto their harnesses and anchored securely to the roof.
"Hey, I was just thinking. Shouldn't I have one of the sleeping potions, just in case?" he said, trying to sound mission focused.
The woman continued to look at him, her stare probing. A voice in the mental network giving them the thirty second warning broke her trance.
"Fine." she said simply, handing a small vial to him. "It'll knock you out if any touches your skin. Be careful."
Dale nodded as he placed it carefully in his pouch. Maybe his plan wasn't too hopeless after all. The two stood up, noticing their target coming down the sidewalk, only a few stories below. He had headphones on, making him entirely oblivious to the events coming.
Kelly gave one last doubtful look at Dale before stepping over the wall, slowly letting herself down. He followed suit, doing his best to match her pace.
With less noise that Dale thought possible, Kelly's feet hit the ground and she unhooked her harness, her experience in these types of missions obvious. Less gracefully, his own feet thudded against the sidewalk. Maddox, however, remained completely unaware of his own doom.
Dale stayed a few steps behind Kelly as began a brisk, yet casual walk towards the target. Her hand slipped into the pouch at her belt, returning with a small vial. If he was going to act, it had to be now.
She began to uncap the bottle, only a few feet behind Maddox, when Dale tackled her to the cement. A cry escaped her, causing their almost kidnapping victim to turn around.
"What's going on here?" he asked, pulling off the headphones.
"This creep just attacked me," Kelly said, putting convincing innocence into her voice.
Dale struggled to hold the woman down as she fought against him. "She's lying," he said between breaths. "We were sent to kidnap you Maddox. Get out of here while you can."
The man stared the two down, clearly unsure who to believe.
"You need to trust me. Run!" Dale shouted, still fighting Kelly. "Please."
Maddox continued to watch them, slowly backing away. After a few seconds, his glance fell to the spilled potion near Kelly's hand. His eyes widened in realization before he did a 180 and took off at a faster speed than Dale would have expected.
"You'll pay for this," Kelly snarled. "You've made a huge mistake."
"I guess we'll have to see about that," he replied, finally in enough control of the situation to risk grabbing for his own sleeping potion.
"You should have ran while you had the chance," a new voice said.
Shoot. Jazia had shown up. Dale didn't have time to respond as a heavy object hit him across the back of the head, blackness overtaking his vision.