The Beast Inside

The following is a list of individuals, artifacts, gadgets and events featured in the RolePlay 'fic, "The Beast Inside".

Warehouse Staff

 * Tyler Lepido
 * Nikki Nola
 * Leena
 * Aden Taylor
 * Mary Melinoe
 * Felix Draco
 * Mrs Frederic
 * Matt Sordens
 * Bri Rependata

Others

 * Joey Sweet - An unwilling Anthro-Con goer forced into a pantherine form
 * Samuel Conway - Head of the Pittsburg AnthroCon
 * Wolf Boy
 * Sleazy Guard
 * Edwin Heath - Head of the Church of St. Assassi and the main antagonist of the story
 * Twins

Artifacts and Gadgets

 * Fred Patten's Glasses: Owned by a noted artist in the Furry community, has the power to transform people into real anthropomorphic animals. It is the main artifact of the story.
 * Sabine: Sound-based firearms used as H.A.R.P.s replacement for the Teslas
 * Alfred Kinsey's Abacus: By sliding the various beads, one can influence the sexuality and sex drive of a person for a short time. It is the main artifact for Felix and Tyler's side of the story.
 * State vs Bonner Cap Gun: Releases a compressed bullet of air instead of rounds. Used by Tyler.
 * Unspecified Croquet Mallet: Requires moving on a weekly basis. Effects not specified.
 * Unspecified Magnetic Artifact: Recovered by Matt and Bri from Germany. It's only noted feature is that it is magnetic or has magnetism-related effects.

Plot
"It's your turn to handle the croquet mallet." Tyler said as he followed Nikki into Leena's office, "I moved it last week since you were at work.  It's your turn this time."

Nikki dropped herself into a office chair and cracked open her laptop, "I never said I wasn't going to do it, I just said that I wasn't going to do it now."

Shaking his head, Tyler meandered to his cot as Leena walked in with a tray of cinnamon rolls, "Good, you're here.  I have a mission for the two of you." Setting the plate down, she picked up the iPad as the consultants grabbed a gooey roll.

"Speaking of missions," Nikki asked swallowing a bite, "Where are Matt and Bri?"

Setting the iPad down, she shrugged, "They're in Saxony, Germany after a magentic artifact. On the other hand, I'm sending you to Pittsburg, namely Anthrocon."

"Anthrocon?" Tyler asked, "Isn't that where Furries meet yearly?  What could go wrong there?"

Leena flicked through some images on screen, "We have reports of hyper-realistic fursuits...and the people are claiming that they're not real suits."

Nikki raised an eyebrow as she finished, "Furries? Aren't they sex-obsessed people who want to be animals?"

Tyler shot a glare at her, "Really? There's more to it than that. They...well..." Nikki gave him a look, "There's more to it, okay?"

Leena, not taking sides, handed out the tickets, "Your plane leaves at noon."

Outside the Convention hall, Nikki looked at him, "I'm not seeing much more to these furries...from all that I've seen, it's rather messed up to me."

Tyler shook his head, "It's not that messed up...just give it a chance."

Walking in, they found themselves amoung the throngs of people of all ages wearing all kinds of manner of outfits ranging from collars, ears, tails, and complete fursuits. They had arrange a meeting with one of the affected victims in a unused conference room.

Entering the room, Tyler saw a anthromorphic male panther in a violet hoodie pulled up over his head and wearing a pair of acid wash slacks. While it looked okay at first glance, some seemed off on closer inspection.

"Tyler Lepido," Tyler extended a hand to him, "Historical Artifact Recovery Personal. We caught wind of the case and thought a historical artifact was involved."

The guy gave him weird look as he took Tyler's hand in his paw, "Joey Sweet. So, you think there some crazy juju involved with this?" he referred to his skin.

Tyler shifted back and forth, "Something like that...anyway, what exactly did happen?" Tyler still couldn't get over the paw...

Joey shrugged as he leaned against the wall, "I'm only here since my girlfriend runs a booth here. I'm not into this thing at all. I was heading to her booth when I felt a tug at my butt. When I show up, she comments on my fursuit, but I know I wasn't wearing one...until I saw that I had a paw, a freakin' PAW!  Do you know what that was like?"

Nikki, at the back of the room, shook her head, "I can't imagine." Walking up to Tyler, she asked, "Tyler, do you mind if I go talk to the head of this place, maybe he can shed some light on the situation."

Tyler shrugged as she walked out. Joey gave Tyler a look, "What's her problem?"

"She has...certain ideas on what Furries are." Tyler explained, "Anyway, have you been in contact with anything old or unusual recently? Have you smelled fudge in the last few hours?"

"Fudge? What does that have to do with THIS?" Joey asked.

Tyler shook his head, "Nothing..."

An hour later...

Meeting back up in the main floor space, Nikki and Tyler met up to compare notes.

"Other than getting laid every night, Joey wants out of his panther body." Tyler said as he went over his notes, "He has no clue what the hell happened to him. What do you have?"

Nikki shook her head, "Samuel Conway has nothing. Other than five other cases of the same symptoms, we have no leads whatsoever. Look, do you have anything from your origin sourcing?"

Tyler shrugged, "Fur. Lots and lots of fur." As he sighed, he felt a tug at the base of his spine. Looking behind him, he didn't see anything, but as he looked up, he saw Nikki...but as a voluptuous vixen.

"What the hell happened to you and why do you look like a fox?" Tyler hissed beneath his breath.

Nikki snipped back, "You tell me Leo!" Looking down at his hands, he saw that he had a pair of yellow paws. Looking up, he found his vision obscured by a mane of gold...a literal mane. He was a lion/human...and he had been affected....

A flapping noise was heard outside, followed by a familiar voice and curse word. "WHY IN THE NAME OF SKAIA AM I AN ANTHRO OSPREY? Who-ever did this is SO lucky God Tier outfits adapt to appearance."

Tyler took a deep breath, "Nikki, I hate to alarm you, but I think we now make 9 victims."

Nikki, wild eyed, glared at him, "It's a bit late for that! I am covered in fur, I have pointy ears, I have paws...and I have a tail? Dear lord...this is a nightmare."

"Actually..." Tyler purred, "I've always wondered what it be like to be plush."

Nikki kept her glare on him, "Shut up, I am freaking out over here! You are not allowed to enjoy this."

Tyler hid a laugh, "Look, I think I just heard Aden...I'm going to go look for him. While I'm gone, try to find what's triggering this." As he headed off, Tyler mumbled to himself, "Why would Aden be at a furry convention? Hell, why is he an osprey?"

As Tyler walked off, Nikki shut her eyes and tried to pull herself together. She had been using her abilities to figure out what triggered artifacts and acted as a radar for artifact activation. In Leena's terms, she was the radar, Tyler was the wikipedia, Bri was the gieger counter, and Matt was the x-ray.

As she began to extend her mental sweeps, she felt a bit weird knowing that she was reverse engineering herself to find the actication. She was used to watching YouTube for videos that artifacts were activated in, but never on herself!

When looked through at a person...that was the reading she was getting, and it wasn't much.

Ignoring all the comments on his 'life-like' fursuit, Tyler made his way out to parking lot of the convention center. Upon finding the Ospery, Tyler called out to him, "Aden, get down here. You have some explaining to do..."

The Space player dropped down. "Mary dragged me out here. Turns out she likes anthros. Who knew."

Tyler shrugged, "You're not the first guy who was dragged here...we met a panther with the same issue." That's when something caught him off, "Wait, you have no issue seeing me as a lion? Nevermind. Look, I have Nikki who is freaking out inside scanning for what activates the artifact. Find Mary and meet us in the cafeteria."

"Meh. Seen weirder." Aden shrugged as he followed. Mary, who was now a vixen as well, came with him.

Nikki's jaw slightly dropped at seeing Aden and Mary, "Really? Two foxes? God this is going to get confusing..." Regaining her composure, she shook her head, "Okay, I got a fix on the activation, but we're in for a challenge...what ever it is, the person just has to look through it. This means it could be anything from a spyglass to a pair of binoculars."

Aden simply sat down and began fiddling with his DS. "At least I'm an osprey and not some insect."

Tyler shuddered, "Perish the thought."

Anthro-con was a pretty regular stop for Felix since he started travelling. It was easy to blend in, there was usually something worthwhile to steal from hotel rooms or booths, and the number of attractive guys who thought 'cat-ears and body-paint' qualified as a costume were innumerable. Still, this one had much more promise than the last few. One of the objects was here. He hadn't been looking for this one, but it would be a nice snag. Although now he was beginning to wonder how many there were if one could exist specifically to make Furries real.

Prowling into the convention, letting just enough cat to show to make in inconspicuous, he wandered up to a sexy looking wolf in shorts and tank top and began to flirt. No harm in getting some action with some loot. He stopped and looked when he saw two foxes and a lion mumbling something about solving a case, but there were a lot of strange conversations going around, so he paid little mind. He continued on to the wolf-man and began to charm.

Felix could feel someone watching him, and turned to see a teen-turned-bird (Hawk? Falcon maybe? It was difficult to tell from a distance) staring at him intently. Making his excuses with the wolf-boy and apologizing for leaving so quickly, he fled into the crowd.

Why did he decide to run? It was just a hawk/falcon thing that had glanced at him for a few seconds. But there was something unsettling about the way he did it, like he knew something. Was he looking for the object too? Other thieves did exist that used those magic items, after all. Felix had met a few. And stolen from them. Maybe he was just being paranoid. He considered just going to his room and waiting until tomorrow to keep looking, but decided he may as well go to someone else's instead, and began to look for a sexy cat-boy to room with for the night.

Tyler paused to think, "Okay, if the person using this is a spectator, then we're going to need security footage..."

Aden quick-saved a dungeon, "I'm gonna put these eyes to use." Shutting his DS, he climbed up to a higher point and began looking around.

Tyler nodded as the avian took off, "Okay, I guess we head to the security room."

After a bit, he and the girls finally found the room market 'security'. Knocking on the door, a chubby 40-some guy with a bad comb-over walked out. The donut crumbs on his scruffy beard just re-enforced the stereotype.

Nikki stepped forward, "Excuse me, by chance could we take a look at the security footage of the last few days? It's important."

Wiping the powdered sugar on his black slacks, the guard shook his head, "No can do fox...er ma'am, I'm not allowed to let the public in." He then moved closer and began to slid his hand across her hindquarters, "But I'm sure we could work something out..."

In a heartbeat, Nikki grabbed his arm, spun him around and pinned the guard against the wall with her Sabine in hand, "Don't try that again. We're part of the Historical Artifact Recovery Personal. Think of us as the Smithsonian Special Forces. Now, about that footage?"

Aden smirked as he watched the incident. "Note to self: Don't make her mad." As he looked around from his perch, he pulled something from his pouch: A needle, thread, and a large amount of dark blue fabric. "Might as well finish this."

Tyler couldn't help but smile as the over-weight guard winced in pain, "Okay, okay, god...don't break my arm! Fine, the door's unlocked!"

Nikki notioned for Mary to follow her in as Tyler started to head off, "While the two go through the tapes, I'm going to go search the floor and see what I can find...and I test out these legs..."

Mary followed Nikki into the room, leaving the Guard outside. She was already irritated that she had to effectively re-learn how to walk upright. "If we find the person, can I punch them?"

Nikki nodded as she took a seat at the desk, "Gladly. Aren't foxes like the sluts of the furry world? I think I might sock him one too."

"Mostly, yeah. The guy will be lucky if I decide to not sic Aden on him."

As Tyler searched the floor, he found himself back outside. While looking around, he noticed a group of protesters across the street from the convention center. As he walked over, he noticed signs that ranged from 'Yiff in hell furfags' to much worse.

Great...Tyler thought, protesters against me...

Taking note of the name, 'Church of St. Assisi' and turned back to the convention, only to be pelted in the back of the head by a small rock.

Whirling around, Tyler found himself giving a small roar at the crowd who began yelling obscenities at him, most with references to hell.

"Who's in charge?" Tyler snapped as he marched up to the protesters.

A 50 year old bald man in a white button down and large glasses made his way to the front, "Edwin Heath, president of the St. Assisi's Church Board, and you sir are damned to hell if you keep wearing that damned fur outfit." He handed Tyler a pamphlet which he reluctantly accepted, "But it's not too late to save yourself. Repent, and I can promise a place for you in heaven."

Tyler shook his head, "Sorry, I'm a Lutheran, and tell your protesters to watch what they throw, I don't think assault and battery will do you much good in your in your crusade to save the furries."

As he walked back inside, Tyler heard Edwin yell to him, "Burn in Hell you heretic! Burn in hell!"

Looking through the crowd around the entrance to the convention, Felix noticed a group of protesters, no-doubt Christian nuts. There were always some. More interesting was the lion they were hurling their latest wave of abuse at. Maybe he needed consoling?

"Hey kitty, having Christian problems?" Felix walked up to the lion and tried to be as charming as possible. "They're here every time, just ignore them. How about you come with me and we can forget all about those mean words." Behind his back, he pulled out a small wooden abacus, one of the objects he'd managed to acquire in the last year, just in case leo-boy decided to be difficult.

Back in the Control room, Nikki had found the tapes of most of the transformations, "Here we go...now to look for the one person who keeps showing up...." It didn't take that long for the two foxy girls to find only a few people at each scene.

Tyler shifted back and forth, sure he was bi, but he had never been hit on before, "How about we walk and talk at the same time, I'm meeting some friends." He extended his hand, "The name's Tyler."

"I think not," Pulling out the abacus, he began to slide beads from one side to the other until the ratio was 9-1. "Let's see what Kinsey has to say about that." As he slid the last bead into place, the abacus glowed. "I'd say you're about a solid six now, don't you?"

Tyler noticed the abacus ''Kinsey? Alfred Kinsey? Who the hell is Alfred Kinsey?''

Tyler stammered, "Well...by no means am I 'People's Sexist Man Alive', but I'd think I'm higher than a six..."

"Of course you are, much, much higher. Want to go to your room and discuss it in more detail?" As Felix drew closer and closer, he began to release more pheromones. Due to an incident just a few months prior, that just happened to be marijuana fumes.

Tyler started to feel dizzy. He could've sworn that he had smelled that scent before at school, but then again, it came from the druggies...

"Could I at least call my friends real quick? Just to let them know..."

"If you must. Hurry back, I'll be waiting at your room." Just before the boy wandered off to find his friends, Felix swiped the card key from his pocket.

Tyler stumbled to a corner where he pulled out his Farnsworth. The other end jumped to life with Nikki and Mary on the other end.

"Okay girls, what do you have for me?"

Nikki shrugged, "We checked the tapes and found a few people at each of the sites, none of them carrying anything special, but here they are anyway." Mary pointed the Farnsworth at three slightly blurry pictures. The first was of a chubby woman in wearing a pair of cat ears, but it was the second that got him.

"Him" Tyler pointed out, "I know that guy, Edwin Heath. He's the council president of St. Assisi Catholic church. They're protesting outside...and on occasion tossing small stones..." Tyler rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ow..." Nikki said, pointing the Farnsworth back at her, "Think he's our guy?"

Tyler nodded, "The glasses are the artifact, without a doubt..." He thought back to his meet with him, "Fred Patten. The glasses belonged to Fred Patten. He's outside, get Aden and go get him."

Nikki paused, "What about you? Where will you be?"

Tyler blushed, "Well...you see, I kinda met a guy..."

Nikki glared at him, "See! This proves my point yet again! Furries are just the desperately sex-driven machines I knew they were."

"Coming from the slut of the animal kingdom..." Tyler grinned much to Nikki's anger, "Actually, he has an artifact. Some abacus that belonged to Alfred Kinsey, whoever that is. He's meeting me back at my room." He checked to make sure his cap gun was still in his pocket, but in doing so, he realized that his hotel key card was missing.

"That's why he said my room..." Tyler sneered under his breath, "Look, I have a pot-smoking furry with an ancient calculator to catch. Find me when your done."

With that, he hung up and headed for his hotel room.

Felix was meanwhile already at the room, trying to fit as much into his pack as he could. "Nothing. You'd expect someone to at least have a suitcase, but there's nothing. Just some silver ziploc bags and clothes. Might as well get something out of this, at least." He took of his shirt, revealing his slim physique and sat on the bed, his pack containing the abacus, a set of lockpicks and several stolen items from the convention lay to the side.

Mary left to fetch him. The search took little time as he happily walked up and smiled. "We found the guy."

"Good. Because he's got a knuckle sandwich with his name on it." Aden growled. "Also, I've got a present for you. You can get it when we're back to normal."

Nikki nodded, "Tyler ID'ed him: Edwin Heath, he's leading a protest outside. The artifact are the glasses he's wearing. Do the names Fred Patten or Alfred Kinsey mean anything to you?"

"Fred Patten..." Aden muttered. "Wasn't he a big deal in the furry fandom?"

Tyler wasn't surprised to find his door unlocked, but what he wasn't expecting was to hear the shower running.

Can this get any more creepy...Tyler thought at he sat on the bed. Knowing that the guy had at least one artifact, he decided to take a look at what the guy had in his bag...

The water was good, it was almost a week since he'd had a decent shower. Turning it off and donning a fluffy towel, he walked out of the small en suite and saw the lion sitting on the bed next to his things. Deciding to ignore it for now, he smiled at the teen and moved towards him. "Hope you don't mind, it's a long walk to my own room, and I figured I'd be naked soon anyway." He moved towards the lion, preparing to stroke his chest.

"Before you do," Tyler said, slipping off his denim coat, "Mind telling me who Alfred Kinsey is and how you got that abacus?" Tyler wasn't sure about what he was doing at this point, but if it meant getting that artifact, he was willing to toe the line.

Thinking quickly, he came up with the most convincing lie he could think of. "Mr. Kinsey was my high school math teacher. He gave it to me because I was his best student. It helps me concentrate. Now forget that. You invited me here for a reason." Letting one of his nails extend into a two centimeter long claw, he ran it down the boy's back.

Tyler shuddered, but had to remember that he was here to do a job. He pulled out the State vs. Bonner Cap Gun from the bundles of blankets where he had stashed it, "Okay, hate to break the rendezvous short, but I think I'm going to have to ask you to give me the Abacus.

"Shit." Pulling away quicker than a normal human should, Felix grabbed his clothes and managed to struggle on some pants. "What do you know about the abacus? I worked hard to get that." His features became slightly more slanted and his eyes turned a dark yellow.

Tyler raised an eyebrow, "Didn't it throw you a bit off when I gave the first name? Or the fact I'm holding a toy gun?" Tyler smiled coyly, "I'm going to guess that you have my wallet as well. If you open it up, you'll find a badge labeled H.A.R.P. Me and one of those foxes I was with work for the Historical Artifact Recovery Personal, like the CIA of the Smithsonian. We take artifacts that normal people shouldn't have."

"Besides the point," Nikki said as the three of them burst through the front door and headed for the crowd, "Aden, use your eyes and see if you can spot them, Mary, can you make a distraction?"

Aden nodded and looked around. "There he is, by his protesters, helping them pack up for the day."

"Depends; who do I distract?"

"Get the crowd to panic..." Nikki thought. Seeing one of the signs, she turned to Mary, "Looks like they hate furries. Just jump in there." Nikki was already drawing her Sabine and flipping out a silver bag.

"Easy." Within minutes, Mary had driven the protesters nuts.

"Artifacts? Is that what they are? I figured you asked about Kinsey because I mentioned the name earlier. As for the 'toy' gun, I've learned never to trust a firearm of any kind pointed at me." Looking grudgingly at the bag on the bed containing the abacus, he decided to not risk making a grab for it. The lion was too close to it, and probably had a good trigger finger.

Feeling his back pocket to make sure his cash and the stolen wallet were still there, he gave the 'agent' a small smile. "Sorry, but you're not taking me in. I'll get that 'artifact' back one day." Without another word, he pounced out an open window and landed harmlessly in the pool some floors below.

Tyler shrugged as he picked up the artifact and dropped it in the bag, causing a small shower of sparks, "Meh, I was going to let him go anyway...but the window? That seemed a bit desperate..."

Leaning out the window, he saw that the cat-boy was already hitting on a pair of twins. Shaking his head, he emptied the suit case to see if there were anymore artifacts.

Nikki was able to quickly find Edwin, but for an older man, he was putting on quiet a chase. Luckily, she was able to weave in and out of the crowd thanks to her sleek, agile, vixen frame.

You know, I could get used to this...I actually am liking this...

She eventually cornered Edwin in a sealed off alley, "Give us the glasses Edwin, I know that you're using them to turn people into furries."

A panicking Edwin tossed the remaining pamphlets at her, "You'll burn in hell with the rest of your kind! Don't you see how horrible this life is? Don't you want to repent and become pure again?"

Nikki cocked her head, "Wait...you were using the glasses to turn people into furries to show them how 'horrible' being a furry is? That's more messed up than furries themselves." Something then dawned on her, "You do have a plan to turn us back...right?"

Edwin cowered again, "Well, er...you see, I thought if you repented of your sins..."

Nikki groaned as she plucked the glasses off him, "It doesn't work like that." She dropped the glasses into the back, letting off a Roman Candle of sparks.

Feeling a force at her rear,  she looked into a nearby puddle and saw that she was fully human again.

"Next time, stick to picketing. All you have to worry about is putting someone's eye out."

As she rejoined Mary and Aden back at the plaza, she showed off the the bag, "Got them. Let's find Tyler and go home...anyone in the mood for a philly steak?"

As she said this, Tyler showed up with a bag of his own, "I thought that I'd find you guys here after I lost two pounds of hair. You will not believe what I had to go through to get this..."

Epilogue...
Later that night, staggering home from the twin's apartment with a fresh set of clothes and several pockets full of cash and food, Felix sat down on a park swing to go over his achievement.

Sure, he'd lost the abacus, but he'd learned some valuable information. There was an organisation dedicated to the retrival of these artifacts, so there must be a lot of them. They were endorsed by the govenment, so messing with them was a bad idea. And he had the I.D of one of their agents. Tyler Lepido...

"Hello." The sudden voice made him spin around, claws ready. The speaker was a middle aged African-American woman, dumpy looking but imposing. There was a definate sense of authority here. "Quite a show you put on today. The organisation I represent has come to understand you have quite a few talents we might find useful."

Coming to his senses, Felix managed to get over the initial shock of her popping out of nowhere. "You're with the harp thing? What do you want with me?"

"Not HARP, Mr. Grey, but another world of endless wonder."

Felix narrowed his eyes at the use of his surname, something he never revealed. "I'll need more than that, Mrs...?"

The woman gave a small knowing smile. "Frederic. You may call me Mrs. Frederic."

A few days later...
The group had returned to the B&B and were sharing their case with Bri and Matt who had just arrived home from Germany with their artifact.

"So let me get this straight," Matt said between bites of his cinnamon roll, "A guy who was against furries was using a furry based artifact to turn people into furries to show them how horrible being a furry was?"

Nikki nodded, "Messed up, right?"

"Anyway," Bri gestured to the abacus on the table, "How did you find Alfred Kinsey's Abacus Tyler? That sort of thing doesn't just lie around at conventions."

Tyler took a deep breath, "I...found a guy using it, we discussed the properties, and we went back to my room to discuss the details." Nikki gave him a raised eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

Matt looked it over, "You do realize that it can controll how attracted a person is to a certain sex by altering the beads, right?  Your lucky he didn't use it on you and try to charm you out of taking it from him." Tyler again took a deep breath, but now he didn't say anything.

Nikki broke the silence, "Someone remind me  why  we're here again?  I'd rather be trading tales as we shelve these things."

Leena removed the now empty cinnamon bun plate, "Actually, it was Mrs. Frederic who wanted to meet with you all."

"Indeed I did." The sudden voice of their superior made all of the agents spin towards the doorway. "I have an announcement for you all, we have a new agent joining the team." She stood aside and allowed a slim, dark haired teen to enter the room. Tyler looked stunned, and took a few seconds to gape at the new arrival while the rest of the agents greeted him.

"THAT'S THE GUY!" said Tyler, "The one who had the abacus!" The other agents looked from Felix to Tyler with wide eyes until Mrs. Frederic broke the awkward silence.

"Mr. Felix Draco displayed unique talents and already has a rather impressive artifact retrieval rate, and so the Regents have decided he shall be allowed to employ his skill for our benefit in exchange for a chance to study at the Warehouse. I do hope you'll make him feel welcome." She gave a meaningful look at Tyler during the last part of her speech, and he felt that it was directed squarely at him.

Felix strode over to the glaring agent and handed him back his wallet, giving him a quick wink and a polite nod to the rest of the agents as he walked out. "My room is at this Warehouse of yours, I've been told. I hope to get to know you all better soon."

As they heard the door close, Tyler couldn't help himself. "What the hell kind of name is 'Felix Draco' anyway?"

"The kind of name someone has when they want to remain anonymous and have a more than sketchy past, Agent Lepido. You'll do well to remember the Agent Draco has had some hard times too, and may not respond too kindly to hostility at his new home. Now, if you'll all exscuse me..." Mrs. Frederic left the room and the agents heard the front door close a second time.

Outside the B&B, Felix sat in the back of a Prius as Leena got in to drive him to the Warehouse. With supernaturally augamented hearing, he smiled as he heard Tyler open up his wallet. He gave himself a cheeky smile as the sound of the agent's dismayed "OH COME ON!" caused Leena to turn back to the building. She noticed the smile on his face and gave a small one of her own when she noticed the three $50 notes in his hand. Putting the car into drive, her and the new agent moved away from the bedsit and towards the Dakota badlands.