A/N: Chapter 7 is here! Hooray! I'm getting heaps of views so I must be doing something right. Anyway, enjoy the chapter. Chapter 8 should be...soonish. About a week perhaps? Never mind. Enjoy!
Chapter 7
At the same moment, Vesper One was also making a phone call.
He sat in his plush office chair, casually swinging back and forth in his seat.
"So, you failed to catch Ian Kabra." He said with a deadly calm.
It had been a week since Damien had sent Luna Amato out to collect their potential mole, the next Vesper Three. During that time he had been enveloping himself with his father's notes on Archimedes. All the designs were fascinating, every mechanism was so intricate. Yet, Damien couldn't help but study the greatest design. The machina fini mundi. The Doomsday Device. This was the Vesper's best kept secret, something that he knew his father was so interested in, let alone the past generations of Vespers. The awe ended there however. Not one of his ancestors had accomplished the construction of this device. Even his father, who had suffered and died from the genetic physical disorder. A disorder that Damien Vesper himself had inherited. He would not be like his father, or anyone in the past generations who had tried to find the parts to the Doomsday Device. He would become successful, in the name of his father and his greatest ancestor, Damien Vesper the First.
But so far, he wasn't off to great start. It was fools like Luna Amato who contributed to his potential failure.
"There is a reason why you are Vesper Five." Damien said with the same, even calm into the phone.
"What—because I nearly shot you with a dart perhaps?" Luna mocked.
As if on cue, Vesper One's hand started to itch. It always seemed to irritate him when he felt frustrated. Which was one of those moments.
"No." He said through clenched teeth. "It's because you are old and simply useless."
"Being old is a good thing in my position." Vesper Five shot back. "No one can suspect a defenseless, old woman as a spy and a killer. Not even the Kabra boy, and he was trained well.
It became clear to Vesper One that Luna was greatly underestimating him. Sure, she was used to following orders from the former Vesper One, not himself. But one must respect a change in leadership, and Luna Amato was the worst person to respect him. Then he remembered there was in fact someone else who didn't exactly call out 'hail the chief.' But Damien wasn't in the mood to dwell on this person. He had other matters to attend to.
"Luna, the reason why I haven't either fired or killed you yet is because my father wanted you to be in the council of six. Even putting you at Vesper Six would have been a disgrace to his name, because that would look like my father's wishes come last in my priorities. But now that he's dead...well, there's nothing much he can do to stop me from doing anything I like to you." He paused to let that truth sink in.
"So, I want you to go after Ian Kabra again and this time you will not fail. Understood?"
"Yes...yes, I do." She said, her voice becoming more forced.
She finally understands her position. The irritation on his hand began to die.
"Good. I want him here before me in three days." Damien said.
He hung up and put the phone down on the desk. Spread out before him was the master design of the machina fini mundi. He marvelled at the complex design, all the gears and cogs, dimensions and individual parts. But the one part of the design he kept coming back to was the smallest. The ring. The ring would act as the final gear which really turned the machine on with full power. A small niche in the center of the design allowed for the ring to be inserted. There was only one problem. He didn't have it, the Cahills did. Damien needed to know who had it, so he could snatch it from them. The ring however, was not the only part of the design. As he examined the structure, he saw that it called for an astrolabe. Damien looked closer at the more complex parts, but couldn't recognize them. Only a scientist could be able to understand these parts. Which is why he would need a scientist in the council, to overlook the construction of the device, as well as spy on the Cahills.
Vesper One turned to a computer and opened a file containing a list of all the Vespers employed to him. He typed in the word 'scientist' in the search bar and scrolled through the list. Most of them seemed to be either chemists or physicists. A couple were meteorologists. Curious, Damien opened the files of both scientists. One appealed to him the most. Sandy Bancroft. He had forged his credentials and had become a meteorologist, always studying weather patterns and climate. This was what he was looking for. With the help of a few physicists, Sandy Bancroft could be able to operate the construction of the Doomsday Device, while Vesper One himself overlooked the project.
He was about to reach for his phone when his mobile rang. He pulled it out and looked at the number. He hadn't seen it before, hopefully it was just a wrong number.
"Gary's Electronics, how can we help?" He greeted, creating a false company in case it was a wrong number.
"You can drop the cover, Vesper One. It's me." Said the voice on the other end of the phone line.
Damien immediately recognized who the female british accent belonged to. I might actually have to deal with her after all. It was unmistakable who it was.
Isabel Kabra.
"Isabel, my little scorpion!" Damien said with a smile. "Out of prison already?"
"No, I'm still stuck here in this rotten place." Then, "Of course I'm out! What did you expect?" She roared. "And don't call me that either."
Damien felt his hand itch yet again. Isabel was just like Vesper Five, she didn't respect him as her leader.
"Where are you now?" He asked,
"I'm on a plane to London. I need to break into my house and grab a few things. Then I need to start developing my organization."
"What organization?" Damien asked in confusion.
"We talked about this when you saw me in prison! It's my organization, AidsWorksWonders."
Damien had only recalled suggesting something that would buy her way out of jail, not something of this extent. Yet it could be useful in some way. He decided not to dwell on it at the moment.
"Well it's good you rang me because I need to talk to you about your son."
Isabel snapped. "I don't care about my son! I disowned both Ian and Natalie recently. They're not considered them worthy to be my son and daughter anymore, they're worthless."
"Oh really?" Damien said. "Because your son will be the Vesper mole, our next Vesper Three."
Silence. He waited for her to say something.
"I cannot work with you if Ian is going to be in the council." She said sternly. "And that's final."
"Why not? You don't make the rules around here."
"Oh please, I'm well aware of that. But as your supposed Vesper Two, I should have a say in some things. And I do not want my idiot son to mess things up for me or for you."
Isabel continued. "I used to be a Vesper once, that was my maiden name after all before marrying Vikram. I saw how things worked. If you want the same system, then be sure not to employ Ian."
"But I'm not going to fail this time." Damien said. "That is what is different about my system."
"Good. Then don't make Ian Vesper Three. You will be sorry if you don't."
Damien argued. "But he's perfect for the job, he can—"
"Oh dear, it seems that the plane is descending. I have to turn my phone off. Goodbye, Damien Vesper." Then the connection cut off. Isabel had hung up on him.
Vesper One cursed. Vesper Two infuriated him even more than Luna Amato. She thought she could just do anything she pleased. Without his consention. Isabel would need to be informed about his regulations.
However, what she had said intrigued him. Little did he know what she had done to her darling children. Isabel wanted Ian to not be in the council. Fair enough too. The odds were stacking up against Ian Kabra. Vesper One minimized the Sandy Bancroft's profile and opened the list of potential moles. There, Ian Kabra and Sinead Starling came up.
After a moment's thought, he decided that Ian Kabra would not be the mole. He picked up the phone and dialed Luna's number. After she picked up, Vesper One gave his new orders.
"Change of plan." He said. "Get back here immediately. Ian Kabra will not be our mole."