"The idea that these creatures might use items or magic to obscure themselves is no different than a criminal wearing a mask." – Former Attorney General

Kurt and 'Company' were sitting in Jay's office at the moment. After Kurt read the summons and the not-so-subtle threats on what would happen if he didn't show up, he brought the information to his boss. Naturally, that meant Anna was also dragged along but that was more out of her not wanting to be left alone.

Jay set down the letter after quickly reading through it. "Well, looks like they are shooting their load."

"Cough. Phrasing. Cough"

Lazily, Jay rolled his eyes at Val while she silently laughed at her own joke. "Yes, quite. Anyway, this might actually be good for us."

Kurt, who had face palmed at Jay's assessment and brought another hand into the mix with Val's quip, looked up. "How do you figure that?" He then leaned back as Kevin brought in coffee for everyone.

"Simply put, they are going to get a whole lot more than they bargained for." Jay said while accepting his drink. "Because the summons reads 'Kurt Rosk and any relevant business associates must present themselves'. What they likely meant was Val and Kristi. What they are going to get is you and me because of the contract I have in place with the Feds." He said before taking an appreciative sip.

"Are you going to be allowed to be there?" Kristi voiced her concern.

"It says that Kurt is entitled to legal counsel if he so wishes at his own expense." Jay pointed to a point in the letter that had all the addendums to the summons. "I will have you know that I am a lawyer as well as your boss."

Kurt stared at the grinning daemon. "Really? You are a lawyer?"

"Well not in this country, but yes. I really should get around to taking the BAR. Hmm." Jay once more answered flippantly.

"Pretty sure they mean a lawyer from this country and specifically this state." Kurt was certain that was what they meant.

Jay shrugged. "Then they should have said that. Besides, under the integration act, you are entitled to any form of legal representation from any realm. So, they are going to have to make a strong case to violate that bit of legislature."

"If you say so." Kurt muttered before taking a sip of his fantastic coffee and adjusting his position on Jay's horrible furniture.

"Eh, it's fine. Plus, we have a while yet, this summons isn't until after the new year." Jay once more tapped the date. "And it's not like the wards will let them do anything to your property anyway. "

Val put her hand on Kurt's thigh. "Just trust him. If he says it's nothing to worry about then it will be nothing to worry about."

Nodding to Val, Jay once more asserted that it would be fine, and they could easily deal with a government agency. He then suggested that they go back to relaxing and perhaps pay their gargoyle friend a little visit. He then promptly refused to give any information on the enchanter's guild or any follow-up to their recent raid.

*****

"Helloooooh… Hi!" Renee said, turning her greeting into something more familiar as Kurt and the girls entered the shop. "Good to see everything went mostly ok. I heard about a lot of things suddenly happening around the Order." She came around the counter to greet them.

"Yeah, looks like the guild won't be a problem for anyone around the Order pocket realm anymore." Kurt confirmed. "What happened here? We were… occupied elsewhere shortly after we left." He noted that Anna was sticking close to Val, trying to stay in her shadow or at least in arms reach.

Heinrich chose that moment to give his perspective while stepping out of his position near the door. "It was a fucking shit-show." Cursed the normally polite doorman turned security guard. "You guys leave, a bunch of goons hot on your tails, then they are followed by a good number of Order soldiers. Suddenly all the guild shops in the area went on lock down and their employees acted crazy."

"What kind of crazy?" Asked Kristi while inspecting what appeared to be new combat tops in the flectarn pattern.

"First, they locked up shop. Then they began shouting at everyone, including each other. It was some nonsense about some protocol and 'the contract' or the like." Heinrich made a funny voice while mimicking someone. "Then they got into a fight with anyone that came within twenty meters of their places."

Kurt looked at the girls, noting the grim looks on their faces. "Anyone seriously hurt?" He asked, hoping the answer wouldn't be too bad.

"Yeah, plenty of innocents when the fighting started and they were too close. I think the Order was on it within seconds, however. It was like they were waiting in the wings for something to happen." Heinrich actually sounded impressed. "I think the only dead were a few guilders that didn't see sense. The strange thing was it all suddenly stopped at one point."

"How suddenly?"

Renee answered this time. "Like someone flipped a switch. I saw the few guild folk in the store across the way drop like a puppet with its strings cut. Literally, just boneless rag doll."

Kurt would bet anything that was when Jay killed the guild leader in the Order. If she was the top of the pyramid in this area, it made sense that all the people reported up to her. He was about to comment on that when Heinrich added to his sister's story.

"Well, not every guilder." He said, pointing to the shop with its security gate still rolled down. "I saw a few look really confused before taking off."

The gargoyles filled them in on what had happened that day and on some other interesting tidbits. Apparently after the guild nonsense settled down there was a rush on the shop and Renee had made the call to sell off all the inventory that Kurt had brought in.

"I debated holding off, but people were willing to pay a premium and I though we might as well capitalize and get what we could. It was guaranteed money rather than speculation after such an event." She explained while looking sheepish. "I know it wasn't part of the plan, but I felt it was the right play at the time."

Kurt waved off her concerns. "Don't worry. I think you made the right call." He said. "I will get you some more stuff in the next couple days to restock. Have you gotten any more special orders?"

"OH!" Renee suddenly stood up completely straight. An action that caused Anna to flinch and duck behind Kristi at the sight of the suddenly much taller gargoyle. "I got this in last week. Completely forgot about it until you said 'special order' since Penny was the one to place it. I'm really sorry it took so long."

Returning to her normal half-crouched posture, Renee summoned several cardboard cases and placed them on the wood section of her counter, rather than the glass. Kurt leaned in as she set the final one down and had to tilt his head to read the label on the side of a box.

"Ahh, that three hundred blackout. I had completely forgotten about it, so no worries about the delay." He admitted while walking over to store the boxes in his ring.

Renee ruffled her wing tips together, a sign of nervousness. "Heh, kinda funny story. My cos… ah, supplier copied the info down wrong and might have snagged the wrong thing." She actually looked a little embarrassed about the situation.

Kurt was now curious; he had filled in the blanks on her 'supply chain' enough to know it was one of her family stealing it. "What did you get instead?"

Once more she summoned a box to the counter and turned it to face him. "He grabbed this. Apparently, he saw the word 'blackout' and just assumed." She tapped the label to emphasize her point.

Sure enough, right there on the box was the marking '8.6 blackout' but it was from a company other than Hornady. That little bit of info narrowed down that this was being acquired from a distributor rather than the manufacturer.

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"Then he came back with this." Renee then placed down a rifle.

It was a bolt action rifle, based on a Remington 700 action as far as Kurt could tell. He stepped closer and noticed it had a short barrel for its size, likely around fourteen inches. That made it look strange since it was in a synthetic wood stock that ran almost to the end of the barrel.

"Why did he bring you a rifle?" Val asked while coming up to his other side.

Renee sighed heavily. "Hells if I know. I told him that I needed a caliber for a specific gun, and he decided to bring me the gun in question." She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes while silently saying something under her breath.

While Renee was cursing her relatives and likely reconsidering her social circle, Kurt looked at the rifle. It was a semi-custom piece, as far as he could tell. The action was buttery smooth when he ran the bolt and he liked the magazine feed along with the look of the stock, so he did the only thing he could in the moment.

"I will take all that ammo and the gun too."

Renee quit her muttering and looked up at him shocked. "You don't have to." She managed after a few seconds of stunned silence. "I can…"

"Nope, it's fine." Kurt had already dismissed the rifle to his ring. "I like the look of it and would probably have bought it if you had it on the shelf." Seeing the look he was getting, he elaborated. "I have a thing for stocks that go all the way to the end of the barrel. That and it being chambered in a real thumper of a round gives me ideas."

"Ok, if you are sure…" She said, offering him one more chance to back out. When he didn't take it, she shrugged and put a bunch more ammo on the counter for him to then put in his ring.

Kurt happily took it all and then told her to take it from his cut of sales on his enchanted items. They then looked around for a bit more before buying a few more cases of ammunition and explosives. That she regularly stocked grenades made him wonder if there was a hard limit on what sort of explosives she could get.

"How about another special order?" He asked as his mind drifted to the raid on the enchanter's guild. "Can you get me some forty mil launchers and a bunch of HEDP?"

Drumming her talons on the counter, Renee thought for a moment. "What kind of launcher?"

"Stand alone, nothing under barrel."

"Single shot?"

"I would be open to both the single shot ones and the multi shot." He answered right away.

Renee started scribbling on a note pad while asking questions and then looked up. "How many?"

That made Kurt pause. He had originally wanted to just equip his team but then figured that it would be better to help out all of Jay's people. "Let's go three multi shot ones and six of whatever single shot you go with."

Nodding, Renee made note of his request and put her note pad away under her counter. "I will see what I can do. Give me a few days and I'll get ahold of Penny."

Once more, they thanked their friendly neighborhood arms dealer and snagged a few business cards on their way out the door. He figured he could at least share Renee's information with the other teams. At worst, they wouldn't call her and at best, she would be the official supplier of Jay's field offices.

While they walked back to the portal to Kurt's home, they chatted and got to know Anna a little more. He knew the girls had spent more time with her than him, which was surprising given their mutual interest in enchanting.

"So, what will you be doing?" Kristi asked. "I remember Penny giving you the onboarding treatment but never asked for what."

Anna seemed much more comfortable now that it was 'just them' and not in direct conversation with a stranger. "I will be an auxiliary agent. Apparently, they have a few already?"

"Oh, right. I forgot about Ra…" Kurt muttered. He should really check in on the guy and see how he was adapting to life in the Order.

"She mentioned him." Anna confirmed. "This will also help me get settled into a routine. I hope to find an apartment somewhere, so I don't have to keep abusing your generosity."

"You aren't abusing anything." Val said while reaching over to pat her on the shoulder. "It's not like we need that room and really all you are doing is helping us keep the fridge clear of leftovers."

Kurt laughed a little as he confirmed he didn't mind having her as a guest. "So have you started looking at places to live?" He was curious, more out of a wanting to help than a need to get rid of her.

"I have thought about living in the Order pocket realm." Anna waved her hand around them. "They have apartments to rent so I wouldn't be in the barracks. But I don't like the… staring." She muttered the last word as they passed a group of lizard folk. "If anyone found out…"

"What about on Earth?" Val offered a suggestion. "And don't worry about them. If it makes you uncomfortable then just stay with us."

Anna protested for a few futile moments, trying to say she didn't want to intrude and promised to stay out of sight. It seemed she was in a similar position to Kristi in regard to her self-confidence and hiding her true nature through ignorance. Apparently, she had let people assume she was some variety of the feline humanoids that lived on her pervious world. They quickly eased her worries, and she ended up returning to Val's question to change the topic.

"I would live there b-but I don't know where." She said. Her voice had a little hint of worry in it. "I don't know if I w-want to be a-alone. There isn't anything in walking d-distance…"

"Hmm, there is the portal to the Order and the one to the coffee shop is just down the hall. That would open up some options if you wanted to look for a place. I think there are several apartments in the area that are within a few minutes' walk." Kurt offered while trying to recall all the apartments on the upper floors of the old downtown buildings.

The conversation went on for a while. Mostly because the nature of the Order meant that they had to go through portals to get to certain areas and that created unnatural pauses and breaks in the conversation. Still, it was an enlightening talk regarding Anna.

The poor girl had been on her own for several years. That in itself wasn't bad, but it also meant she had no support network and was constantly in fear of someone discovering her nature as a hybrid. It was easy to tell that the stress had eaten at her over the years and that she was going to need some time to decompress. They just hoped that a safe place to stay and a mostly steady routine would help her get over a lot of her fears.

When they crossed the threshold of the portal and entered the hub attached to his home, Kurt noted that Val immediately pulled out her phone and began texting. She quickly typed out a message while they made their way into the house, surprising him once again with how fast she could type.

After she put the phone away, Val noticed and answered his unspoked question. "Texting Steve to see if we can bring a guest for a few games." She nodded to Anna.

"Do you play D&D?" Kurt asked her.

Anna looked utterly confused at the question. "What is D&D?"

"It's a role-playing game where you have a fake character and use story telling to have them interact in a fictional world." Val summed up the game from her perspective. She then summoned her rule book, character sheet, dice and mini figure from her ring. "You play with a group of people in a scenario made by the dungeon master, who helps direct the whole game."

"And this is fun?" Anna took the D10 from Val and looked at it, her eyes taking in each facet of the die.

"Sure is!" Kristi said before turning to Val. "How about we pull up some videos on YouTube so she can see while Kurt gets dinner ready?"

"Oh, I see. You guys get to go have fun while I slave away in the kitchen." Kurt said, his voice was filled with sarcasm.

Val, as usual, didn't miss a beat. "Do you want us to cook? I am sure we can figure out how to make something."

That brought back the memory of when they had tried to make him breakfast a few weeks ago. While he appreciated the gesture at the time, having both Kristi and Val in the kitchen was less teamwork and more of a competition. The fighting over resources was both intense and silent as they tried to hog everything from burners to cutting boards to make their food. Needless to say, the mess left behind was startling.

"On second thought, I love cooking for my beautiful girlfriends and our lovely guest." He said quickly while shooing them toward the door to the basement. "I will take care of everything, and dinner will be down shortly."

Val just laughed and pulled Anna along while talking about the different classes and races in the game. Kristi, however, stayed behind for a moment. "Do you want any help?" she asked earnestly.

Kurt waved her off. "Nah, I got it. Just making some fajitas with the meat I had marinating in the fridge."

Reaching out a hand, Kristi pulled him into a hug. "Thank you. We really do appreciate everything you do for us." She gave him a quick kiss. "Love you."

Smiling, Kurt let her go but noticed her tail still wrapped around his calf. "Love you too. I'll let you know when dinner is on the table."

Kristi smiled once again and slowly sauntered down the stairs while making eyes at him over her shoulder. He was pretty sure she put a little strut in her steps as her butt and tail swayed more than usual.

Smiling to himself, Kurt returned to the kitchen and began to pull out his ingredients while getting some pans on the stovetop. He was just chopping the bell pepper when his phone rang. Looking at it, he noticed it wasn't one of his saved contacts, but the number was a local one.

On a whim, he answered, fully prepared for a telemarketer. "Hello?"

A man's voice answered him. "Hello, is this Kurt?" The voice sounded familiar but was slightly distorted by the phone and he couldn't quite place who it belonged to.

"Yeeess…"

"Hey, this is Frank." The voice said and Kurt's mind immediately placed it. It was painfully obvious now that he had a name to associate with the voice.

"Oh, hey Frank. What can I do for you?" He asked while putting in one of his ear buds so he could keep cooking.

"Well, the other day, I was next door to the coffee shop, in that security company business, after noticing one of its employees. I had mentioned that I was looking to have something made and he recommended that I contact you."

"Feraz, you little shit…" Kurt mumbled. It was apparently loud enough for Frank to hear since he quickly started talking again.

"Oh, he didn't out you. He mentioned that there was a half elf in the area, and you are the only one I know."

"And how did you get my number?" Kurt asked while putting some tortilla on the griddle to warm. He wasn't exactly upset, just curious since not many people in town knew it.

Frank had the same tone as s kid who got caught doing something they weren't supposed to when he answered. "Well, I might have just pulled it from your customer account at the shop. Sorry."

"Dude, it's fine." He said while going back to stirring the veggies and steak together. "Will you be in on Saturday? I can swing by a bit before the game, and we can talk."

"Yes, I will be there from open to close."

"Great, see you some time in the afternoon then." Kurt said before saying goodbye and ending the call.

He briefly began to wonder what the wizard wanted but figured that there wasn't any way he could possibly guess. He also wasn't about to call him back and ask since recordings of phone calls had an odd way of making it into evidence files.

A few minutes later he was plating all the food and moving it over to the table. Kurt just put the conversation out of his mind and focused on what was really important as the three girls came trooping up the stairs.

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