"Here's a crazy thought. What if we all put our guns down?" Peter's handgun didn't lower an inch from the Dragon operative's face.

Florentine turned hers on the Templar. "Then all our guns would be down."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? So you can do your talking. What you're supposed to be good at, Illuminati." Joseph had been in this line of work for too long to reason with Illuminati.

"I have a name", Florentine huffed. "Let's start with names. I'm Florence."

"I know how names work with the Illuminati. I bet you're called Florence Nightingale. But you're not. Popular culture. A healer. Positive vibes," Peter didn't buy it. "Florentine, then", the Illuminati offered. Joe didn't buy that either. "You're not from Florence. Too pale."

"Florentine works," Peter shrugged. "I'm Peter. Really. Peter Vandenbergh." He might write off the Illuminati's use of false names as paranoia, but perhaps the Templars were naïve to let their operatives use real names. Either way, neither of these two would be able to pronounce his name correctly, and there were still callsigns as well. "They call me Flemmish."

Joe knew the name. "Flemmish. I've heard that a few times. You're a known man, Peter." Peter shrugged. "Not me. The name rotates a bit to keep you guys on your toes. You know how it is." He gestured at Florentine. She grinned. "He's actually just from Flanders", she assured Joe. "The Real Flemmish is actually Ukrainian. Funny how that goes."

The Dragon glanced from Templar to Illuminati and back again. "Very well. I'm Joseph. Joseph Pine." "Shovelly Joe", Florentine said. Joseph scowled. "Unfortunately so. Your people are responsible for that." "Want to clue me in here?" Peter prompted. "We uncovered the identity of a Dragon bigshot", Florentine explained. "Joseph Pine had murdered two people with a shovel. We put a subliminal reference to him in a popular sitcom as a warning to back off."

Now Joseph had to laugh. "Bigshot. Yeah right", he sniggered. "I haven't made it far, and thanks to my name being broadcast on worldwide television, I never will. You Illuminati with your Florence Nightingales and your Lincolns and your Livingstons. You Templars with your lions and your Holy this and Holy that. Even the Dragon has jaws and fangs and claws. Me, I'm forever named for a murder that wasn't mine. Those people had already been dead once, before my shovel got to them."

"So, Joe? Flor?" Peter tried again. "Yeah, yeah", Florentine consented. Joe hesitantly followed suit. It was that, or potentially turn them two against one. "But if we do this, we pool our resources. Looking at you, little Nightingale." Florentine nodded. She had no taste for killing other people. If she had to give up a few small Illuminati secrets, so be it. "After this if over, we walk away. No more gunplay", she said. "Goes double for you, Templar." "Hey, you pulled on me first", Peter pointed out. "I'm more worried about Joe here pressing a few buttons to see what happens." "Plenty of buttons have been pressed already", Joe assured him.

"Are we going to bicker again, or are we going to do this?" Florentine prompted. "Any ideas?" "There was a guardian of sorts at ground zero", Peter said. "The growth comes from somewhere underground, and this thing was wearing a security jacket. We're looking for an underground facility." "Shouldn't be too hard to find. I can get schematics for the entire town and any underground levels," Florentine said.

Joe cocked his shotgun and pulled back on the pump, producing a foreboding click-click sound. "Let's do this." Peter turned back in confusion. "Did you just throw away a perfectly good shell?" "I was making a statement."