Dream: New Agents

Date: 11/13/2019

My name was Ashton Leo Vernon. Many knew me just as Al. I had been in college studying criminology for quite a few years. My best friend, InuShin Morimoto, was learning it all alongside me. We had reached the top of the class and were getting sent to train at Quantico. That's when things fell apart. Our class had been abducted on the way there. InuShin and I had barely managed to slip away unnoticed within the building our captors had taken us. We kept to the vents and backrooms. Eventually disguising ourselves as part of their task force guards. We worked our way towards security and ran into a man named William Lee Crawford. He looked maybe 32 at most. Just a few years older than myself. "You two need to come with me." He stated firmly and waved for us to follow him. We were hesitant but did as told. We were just trying to free our comrades not get mixed in this gang's disputes. The further we walked the more anxious I got. InuShin just flicked my arm to get me to calm down.  Crawford stopped at a door and opened it. Inside were security cameras of the whole building. He showed his badge to the men and they left. After a moment he locked the door and looked to the two of us. "You're lucky that I don't much care for this organization. If not for me you two escapees would have been found out and killed." He told us as he pointed at the camera showing our class tied up with bags over their heads. A couple of them seemed to be hurt. One seemed to be bleeding from somewhere on their arm. "Jeesh." I said under my breath. "You two can remove your helmets. I know who you are. Recruits Vernon and Morimoto." Crawford stated as he sat down in front of the screens. "If you want to get the other recruits out of here alive then you'll want to work with me." "What do you get out of it?" InuShin asked him. Crawford smirked, "I get to see this corrupt organization finally fall."  We ended up working with him. He led us through the building to our comrades safely. Through it all we eventually got our comrades out to safety. Some of them needed medical attention but none of it was fatal. Crawford ended up helping them put the organization members behind bars. Minus a couple smaller members who slipped away. It was many months later and I was working undercover with InuShin. We were tracking an informant for the FBI that had gone off the radar. Looking for what leads we could based on his last known location. InuShin and I were to be portraying tourist brothers who were traveling across Europe on vacation. "Do you think we'll be able to find him out here?" I asked quietly. We were back at the hotel and working on where to go next for our search. "Likely. Not so likely he'll be alive." InuShin told me with a grim expression as he typed away on his phone. "Guy's got a knack for trouble I've heard." "Lovely." I sighed and went back to flipping through the information our boss had given us. We didn't have much to work with. Anything we'd compiled recently was damn near as useless right now. I started going through the photos I'd taken on my camera and stopped when I saw him. Crawford was in one of the photos. He was also very clearly making eye contact in it. InuShin seemed to notice my freeze up as he looked my way. "What is it?" "I need to head to the front desk. I think I may have just got us a new lead." I told him and grabbed my phone. "Shouldn't I go with?" InuShin asked but I shook my head. "Keep an eye on things here. Something feels off about this. If I'm not up here, or I don't call you, in twenty you grab your shit and head to the embassy. Get out fast." I told him as I made sure I had everything I needed and headed off. The receptionist recognized Crawford immediately. She handed me an envelope saying he'd told her to hold onto it till his photographer showed up. In it was a key and an address. Along with a message. I nodded and thanked her before heading back to InuShin. "So what did you learn?" He asked me as I shut the door. "That Crawford has been keeping tabs on us for some time now. Apparently he wants to talk to us about a missing prince." I told him and showed him the message. "You go. I'll follow. You know how much I don't trust him." He told me. "I don't trust him much either but he may have a lead for us." I explained. I armed myself with a taser, a couple knives, and mace spray. InuShin consistently teased me for using non-lethal protection like that when I could legally carry a gun but I don't much like carrying lethal stuff. I didn't become a fed to become a killer. The night air was cold and calm. I had grabbed a cab a good distance before finally walking the last bit. I went up to the boathouse and knocked on the door. It opened wide just for Crawford to pull me inside with a playful grin.  "I knew you couldn't get enough of me." He said and winked at InuShin who was watching from a distance. "So what news do you have for me?" I asked him as he grabbed a couple beers and handed me one. I waved it away, "No offense but I'm totally sure I can trust you yet." He smirked and put the rejected beer back. "Smart man. By the way, have your guard dog come inside. It's cold out there and I need to get us to our last stop." I picked tapped on my phone and asked, "You hear that?" "Loud and clear." Came InuShin's voice from the other end. He sounded quite frustrated with all of this. When he finally joined us, Crawford took us off to through the water a good distance. He stopped us over by a larger boat and swapped keys with the guy running it. He waved us over and we got on the new boat. We went into the house part and saw a young woman sitting on the bed part. "I'm Kara Malone. Your lead." She told us with a nod, "But I'm only talking to one of you." She pointed at InuShin and grinned, "You can stay and chat with me right?" InuShin looked to me before just waving me out the room. "I can handle her. You deal with Crawford." And that I did. Crawford and I both had a cigarette while we waited for those two to be done. We chatted a bit before he came up to me and said something really ridiculous. "You know, Al, you ever wonder if the matrix was real?" Crawford looked genuinely curious. "I try not to think about that actually." I told him. Then my world seemed to fade away. I awoke after that.