MISSION MOONLARK, kotlc

3

"You wanted to see me- er, us, -Agent Leto?" Sophie asked, skidding to a stop in front of her boss.

"Thank you for coming. Please enter- the Collective would like to speak with you," Agent Leto instructed curtly.

Sophie glanced at her three friends behind her before tentatively opening the door.

And the Eternelia wing never ceased to amaze- high arched ceilings and gorgeous reflective windows that shined a spectrum of colors across the marble floor. Already in their seats, was the other four members of the Collective- Agent Wraith, Agent Squall, Agent Granite, and Agent Blur.

"At least we don't have to worry about Granite getting mad at us for being late to Cognate training," Fitz whispered, indicating their Mentor, who also happened to be a member of the Collective.

Agent Leto cleared his threat and the four of them fell silent.

"We appreciate you joining us here on such short notice," he began, settling into his seat in the center of the Collective. "I'm sure you are all rather confused."

Sophie wanted to snort her agreement- and then realized that probably wasn't a good idea in front of the Collective.

"It has been brought to our attention by a foreign agent, of an intercepted transmission that was supposedly trying to reach the Neverseen. Unfortunately, it was mostly unable to salvage and lost in our databases."

"However," Agent Wraith cut in. "We were able to pick up a few words. Lodestar, Criterion, Nightfall, and Legacy."

The four words sent chills down Sophie's spine. She was pretty sure half of them weren't even in English.

"Luckily, one of our senior members, Agent Tinker, was able to trace back the transmission from its starting point," Agent Squall continued. "And that's here- Paris, France."

"Which means, there must be Neverseen members- or a secret base -located there. We were unable to pin point the transmission to an exact longitude and latitude, but now that we know they're there, it... complicates things."

"Things?" Biana prompted.

"See, just a few days ago, we received a frantic help signal from one of our bases also located in Paris. Once the site was visited, the building was destroyed. We can safely assume that that was the Neverseen's doing- but there's more," Agent Blur admitted.

"The group of agents associated with the hideout was on a top secret assignment by the Collective ourselves, and that was retrieving two things: one, was a drug called soprodine. Two, was a special jewel called madgisidian."

Sophie gulped. More big words.

"Which means... the Neverseen are after the same thing," Agent Leto finished. "And we're sending you four on an assignment to successfully obtain the two objects."

"But why us? Why not older agents with more experience?" Biana piped up nervously.

"Because the Black Swan is struggling. Our bases are being compromised. We can't risk losing Alvuterre as well, and we only have the bare minimum of security as of right now. Your the closest thing we have to available agents."

"Go get ready. Meet us outside in negative four twenty-five till. Our sources report that both artifacts are still located in the Loamnore museum- and right now, we're also racing against the clock."