The Beginning of the End [OPEN to Company]

[Avian Morrison]

Mind is a battlefield
All hope is gone
Trouble to the right and left
Whose side you're on?
- Foo Fighters, “The Sky Is A Neighborhood”

In one hand, Avian held a thick folder that contained a few smaller folders, which held stapled or pinned or loose pages of paper. They appeared to be spilling out from the sides, but were in fact held tin place by the tight hold Avian’s hands kept on them.

Avian’s lips were pulled into a tight frown, sharper and more committed than usual. She walked into the conference room and let the door fall shut behind her.

In her other hand was a keyring, from which hung a key to an interrogation room.

She placed all items on a desk and sat down next to them. The occasions of the past few weeks had consumed her focus until the arrival of this day. At last, the secret project could be put into action.

They had been taking names.

The informant had confirmed her suspicions that morning. It was now time to dole out assignments.

“Take a seat, please,” she said as the selected agents began filing in.

[Alessandro Moretti]

Much to his chagrin, Alessandro hadn’t had much activity in the Company recently. At first he had assumed it was because of what he could only describe as his infamous reputation. True as it was Alessandro hadn’t been the most perfect agent throughout his whole career and though he always got the results that were expected of him, he didn’t always achieve those results in the most tactful or efficient manner. It was a fault of his and the Italian knew it. It wasn’t until recently, though, that the man had made a conscious effort to try and improve his standing as an agent.

It may not have seemed like it from the outside or had even been obvious but the Company was almost everything to the Italian – next to Alice, the Company was his life. It had given him everything he could have wanted and more. It had shown him what love was and in its own way, what it was to be a father – something Alessandro never thought he would be.

The last two – almost three – years had taken Alessandro out of his comfort zone and it was fear-inducing yet thrilling. He had come to terms that people – some people – were what others called ‘Evos’. They had powers. Though he knew this before, and had known it almost his entire life, he had stopped seeing most of them as monsters. They couldn’t control the curses bestowed upon them. It was how they reacted and controlled said curse that defined them and a lot of ‘Specials’ weren’t evil.

Alice. Felicia. Those were two.

As time passed, though, Alessandro had come to realize that most agents within the company hadn’t had much activity – a few assignments here and there, some observation, though mostly it was paperwork. Boring paperwork.

Alessandro had received a memo earlier in the morning telling him that he was required at the briefing room at the Company headquarters. Strange as it was, Alessandro wasn’t going to disobey a direct order from his superiors. This time his superior was Avian. Alessandro had met Avian a few times before. He recalled that Avian was the one who had helped him rebuild his life within the Company. She was the one who had him rehired and he was forever thankful of that. He respected it.

Alessandro entered the room and saw Avian standing firm holding a thick folder. He couldn’t tell from the distance what it contained though he could see it was not just one file. It was several files and folders each, seemingly, with their own purpose.

“Take a seat, please,” Avian spoke solemnly. Whatever was about to happen was serious. She had placed a few items onto a desk next to her; including the folder and what appeared to be a key. Alessandro couldn’t tell what it was for.

“ Questo è strano.” Alessandro spoke to nobody in particular. He had taken a seat at the back of the room next to a familiar-though-not-known face.

The Italian waited for the agents to sit, listening intently.