July 25, 2005 – 14:15 (Manitoba Time)
"Tomorrow will be difficult, but I would be willing to meet with you in the evening, provided it's not at your Headquarters or anywhere near a CCTV. This is not a time where I should be seen by anyone on camera."
"I will give you the coordinates of a facility we sometimes used as an undisclosed location for meetings. Would that work?"
"If it's not in the London metropolitan area, it should be fine. Too many eyes in there."
Nancy gave her the coordinates, along with the meeting time, and Coralis entered them in her hologram.
"Yes, that'll work," said Coralis, seeing that the meeting place would be near Liverpool. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"BROS! Are you still at Sean's?" said Coralis to Erik and Henry, remembering that Sean was now near Manchester.
"Yes, we're still squatting there," said Henry.
"I will be meeting my MI6 contact tomorrow evening by Liverpool. Frank and I were supposed to head back to Montreal in the morning, but I'll need to take the next flight to the UK instead. Would it be fine if he stays there with you while I meet with Nancy? He's on vacation, and I don't want to be in Europe while he's on this side of the pond."
"Visiting the fam during the touristic season is also an awesome plan to lay low, sis. Of course, bring him over. Sean will be happy to see you," said Henry.
Frank woke up a few minutes later.
"Did you sleep?"
"No. Even if my brain would have let me sleep, my phone and telepathic links would have made me unable to."
"Damn, did anything happen while I was asleep? I swear I heard nothing," said Frank, sitting up as Coralis called for coffee and more food.
"Change of plan, that's what happened. I need to meet my MI6 contact near Liverpool tomorrow at 21:00, which is in 24 hours for now. Time difference, you know. Are you up to spend some vacation time near Manchester?"
"In other words, we will be going to where Erik and Henry are right now, right?"
"Yes, they're still at Sean's. It's best to avoid London at the moment, but we could take the next flight to Edinburg and take the train from there to Manchester."
"I'm off work for 2 weeks and was hoping to spend time with you. Travelling to the UK to see your family there sounds like a lovely idea to me."
Before they left their room to head to the airport, Dean stopped by to drop Liam, Sarah and Frank's luggage.
"Are you at Healing Moon?" said Coralis to Sebastian.
"Of course. You gave me the perfect excuse to stop there without me looking like an overbearing husband. I arrived here 2 hours ago."
Coralis opened a portal to where Sebastian stood and passed him Liam's and Sarah's suitcases.
"Thanks! Tell Stephanie that Frank will look for a new phone at the airport. If he can't find one or if we don't have time to check for that, he'll get a new one when we're back from the UK."
"You know, people have been asking why you now rank 3rd and stories about what happened at that compound are spreading. Liam told people here what happened in quite a lot of detail, he arrived before me. Stephanie got a few calls from the family, but couldn't talk much on the phone while at work. Did they call you?"
"Yeah, he is on the phone right now with Molly. Until he gets a new one, he'll use mine."
Coralis and Frank landed in Edinburg the next day in the early afternoon. Sean lived in a small house located right outside an elemental hub near Manchester. Along with Erik, he picked them up at the train station in the early evening.
"Welcome to the new Secret Posse central, brother!" said Henry to Frank when they arrived at their destination.
"How long did it take to scrub off the blood from under your fingernails, cous?" said Sean.
"Too long."
"You know, for a long time I thought that your intervention 14 years ago against Meozo's goon when they came at Julian was epic, but hearing about what you've been up to over the past few months, I realize that was merely you getting started," said Sean, distributing beers.
"It was epic for a 10-year-old," said Erik.
Coralis took off shortly after dinner to go to her meeting. She didn't think she'd be walking into a trap, but she felt a little uneasy about it. Her name was being talked about everywhere after her previous night's bloodshed, so she didn't know what to expect.
Hovering above the meeting place, she couldn't find an isolated corner to land. She had been sent to what looked like a small warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Seeing a few cameras on the rooftop, she spotted a tree on the backside and landed on a branch away from the camera range. After swapping her cloak for a hooded sweater and pulling the hood above her hand, she jumped down.
At 21:00 on the dot, she walked in. She entered a large room, with a round table surrounded by three chairs. She saw Nancy getting up, followed by a man in a suit she had never seen before.
"Blue Thunder, it's been a while since we haven't seen each other in person. Let me introduce you to Jack, one of my superiors," said Nancy, as the man with her walked to Coralis to shake her hand.
"It was quite the operation you uncovered less than 48 hours ago. I'm glad to finally get to meet with you."
"I believe they weren't expecting me either," said Coralis.
"I will admit, with everything I heard about you, I was expecting someone older, pictures do not do you justice. Forgive me for asking, but how old are you?" said Jack.
"As of today, I'm 24, but I believe the answer will change next week."
"During the past 2 days, we have received quite a lot of disturbing and contradicting reports stemming from what happened in what appeared to be a secret lab located in northern Saskatchewan," said Jack, as they sat, "including one tracking questionable funding received by this facility."
"Report of questionable fundings?" said Coralis, wondering if it came from Dimitri, knowing he was now working fiscal intel.
"Yes. Along with other evidence we received, it is making us question the official narrative of events. Out of 79 staff members recorded at the time you arrived there, nearly 60 were attributed to you, allegedly based on what was seen from the cameras, but we haven't seen the footage. Do you believe the number to be accurate?" said Nancy.
"I have been told that I killed over 50, so I'd say close enough."
"The official narrative tells us that the researches being conducted there were meant to improve national security. Would you say, based on what you witnessed, that they fit the given narrative? Or that they align with current perception and definition of witchcraft?" said Jack