CHAPTER SIX: The recruitment

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MAXWELL KENNER WAS BOTH UPSET AND EXTREMELY WORRIED ABOUT THE SITUATION THAT HE AND JACK HAD BEEN PUT IN—a large wooden box they had been put into a large wooden box.  Max wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a joke or just an insane coincidence. Jack, his best friend. Jack, who he had been in love with for practically their entire friendship.

"I swear to god, if you hurt him, it'll be the last thing you do! I'll rip you limb from limb!" Max yelled.

"Max? Max!" Jack called out worryingly.  "Are the boxes really necessary?"

Both Jack and Max let out an 'Ow' when the box that had been placed in was dropped. The sides fell, and both men examined where they were. "Cool place. How long have you been here?" Jack asked. Then turned to examine Max. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Annoyed," Max glared at the woman. "But otherwise uninjured. Or, well, no new injuries. You?"

Jack shrugged or tried to. "Fine. Hey, when this is all done—" he began, making a slight gesture.

"Hey!" One of the soldiers yelled out, hitting a crate. "You two aren't here to talk to each other."

"Well, that was rude," Max huffed, rolling his eyes.

"M-O-R-A?" Jack asked, catching sight of the object that the soldier had hit.

"Mora," the woman speaks. "The Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority."

"Come again?" Jack asked.
"Repeat that?" Max tilts his head as if he would hear better.

"We are the multilateral international organization responsible for securing and protecting the mythological world."

The soldiers released Jack and Max's wrists from their cuffs. Then stepped away.

"Come with me," the woman demanded.

Jack first walked over to Max. Then, carefully taking his chin, he turned his face to the side to check in the wound. The gauze was stained with blood, obviously, either Max had been hit during the fight, or, while he was unconscious, or in-the crate. Either way, Jack shot a glare to one of the soldiers.

"Come with me," the woman repeated, sounding angry.

Jack quickly took a hold of Max's hand, pulling him along. "Did you say 'the mythological world'?"

"Yes." She replied simply.

"Right. So, uh, Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monsyer, that kind of thing?" Jack asked.

"That kind of thing."

"Okay, so things that don't actually exist, you guys are responsible for. Got it," Jack nodded, sarcastically.

And as they rounded the corner, came upon a black horse, who neighed, moving to its back hooves, front ones kicking in the air momentarily. It breathed out fire.

"Holy shit!" Jack stumbled back, pushing Max behind him.

Then, a body, missing a head, the same green glowing handcuffs around its wrists, was lead out of a tent. Behind it, was a flaming pumpkin, on a glass case, being held by two soldiers. "If he knows anything, he ain't talking." A soldier says.

"All right. Horse back to the pen, body back to area 32. And get the pumpkin back in the cryo-vault stat." The woman who had abducted Jack and Max replied.

"Yes, director," the soldier walked off.

"What the hell was that?" Jack asked as he took a step forward and gestured to the leaving guards.

"The Horsemen. We're questioning all the usual suspects," she replied.

"Wait, wait, mythical creatures? Like, werewolves, vampires, and all that shit?" Max asked, disbelief. Before he had been ready to make jokes. Say how the woman was insane. And then he saw the Horsemen.

"The Headless Horsemen?" Jack exclaimed as she walked away. Jack pulled Max to follow. "Hey! What did that taser thing to do us?"

"It's not a taser. It's an Acquiescar," she says. "Just take a deep breathe and have a seat, Jack. Max."

Jack hesitated, looking back behind him and then back at the woman. He had pulled Max closer to him, not wanting for the he to stray to far, and get hurt. As he walked over to the table, he noticed the chair on the side of the table, and pulled it out, and placed it next to the other chair.

He gestured for Max to sit in it, before he sat in the other one, right next to Max. "What are we doing here?"

"Last night, at roughly eleven pm NPST; Red One, also known as Saint Nicholas of Myra, was abducted from the North Pole complex." She threw a device on the table. A hard drive. "The date you retrieved from the I-Triple-S was used to pinpoint the location, which had bene secure and classified for several hundred years."

Jack and Max ere silent. Jack went to open his mouth to speak, but shut it. He poked at the device on the table then the woman. And then back down at the device, his eyes drifted, moving forward. He brought up a hand, but the words seemed to get stuck in his throat. Max found himself in a similar process, but he had simply stared at the woman was if she was growing more heads the longer she spoke.

"Use your words," the woman tells Jack.

"Are you saying..." Jack looks up. "Santa Claus has been kidnapped?"

"Abducted," Max made a gesture. "Didn't you hear the several hundred years?" He grins with a joking tone.

"And you think we had something to do with it?" Jack asked.

"Mainly you," The woman says.

"Where is he?" A voice booms, angry. The sheets of the tent are pulled apart, there stands a large man. He was bald, wearing a red and green leather jacket. His eyes drifted to the table, looking at Jack and Max. "There's two of them?"

"Jack 'The Wolf' O'Malley, Maxwell 'Brawler Phantom'-"

"I really hate that name. It's so stupid. And doesn't make any sense." Max huffed.

"Kenner." The woman continued. Meet CALLUM Drift, the commander of the E.L.F."

Max covered his mouth to stop the laugh that was about to burst from his mouth.

"The E.L.F?" Jack asked.

"Turns out Jack here didn't know what he was doing. Somebody hired him to find the complex, and incredibly, he did." The woman explained to Callum.

"I mean, the name kinda makes sense."

"It's stupid," Max says.

"The 'Brawler' because how, you typically don't use weapons. You are just beating the shit out of them. And 'Phantom' because you never get caught."

"Hey! I asked you a question!" The tall man, Callum, yells in anger. He takes a step forward.

"You know, for an Elf, you seem to not be very, jolly and happy. You scratch seem more like a dwarf; Grumpy." Max grins.

"He doesn't know," The woman replied.

"I don't know." Jack says, but a slight confusion as to what they were speaking of. He wasn't paying attention to he man or the woman. He had bene staring at Max.

"Yes he does," Callum says.

"No, he doesn't."

"They always know something. Sometimes you just got to shake it out of 'em," Callum says.

"I'm not gonna like you. I can tell right away, out of everyone here, I like you the least."

"Okay, I generally had no clue what you are speaking of," Max says. "We were having a conversation," he gestured to himself and Jack.

"Who hired you to track down the Red One? Where is he?" The woman asked.

"Garcia," the man called.

To which a large figure exited the darkness, only to reveal a polar bear, standing on its hind legs, approaching them.

"What the-" Jack yelped, scrambling from his seat.

"What the fuck?!" Max screeched, knocking over the table.

"Yes, Chief?" The polar bear asked.

"This guy's not cooperating." Callum says.

"Ah," Garcia says. "Should I do the thing?"

"Im afraid we're gonna have to," Callum says.

"Cal, let's talk about this for a minute," Zoe extends a hand.

"There's nothing to talk about. You can't trust these guys. They are on the list."

"Like a hit list? Yeah, I've been-" Max begins.

"What list?" Jack asked.

"No! Not a hit list! Don't pretend like you don't know what list."

"Look, we are not any watch list. I know for a fact that-" Jack cut himself off. "You don't mean-"

"Yes, that list. You're on it. I checked. NL-Four, both of you."

"Are you telling me these clowns are Level Four Naughty Listers?" The polar bears asked.

"A level four Naughty Lister?" Jack asked in mockery.

"Oh, is that funny?" Callum moved forward

"Aren't elves supposed to be happy and shit?" Max continues to mock the taller one.

The polar bear roared, moving forward. The two men scramble back, Jack's hands held out in front of him. "Hey, hey, what are we doing here?"

"Get the fuck away!" Max yelled at the polar bears, pulling Jack a few steps back.

"I know this is killing you," Zoe tells Callum. "But you have to trust me. Dismembering this shit bag isn't gonna help. It would feel good, but it won't help."

"Dismembering?" Max asked.

"We're right here," Jack says.

"Shut up." Zoe and Callum demanded.

"What are you thinking?" Callum asked Zoe.

"We're gonna put them to work."

Max intertwined his fingers into Jack's.

"No, absolutely not," Callum shakes his head.

"Excuse me?" Jack calls out.

"You said you work for whoever pays you," Zoe speaks. "Today that's me."

"They're not telling us everything they know," Callum speaks. "Look at them."

"Okay, I am getting really tired of you speaking. I am a lot of things, but I'm not a lair. We. don't. know," Max punctuated.

"He is telling us everything he knows," Zoe says. "He just doesn't know who hired him."

"Well, I mean, how much are we talking here?" Jack asked.

"Garcia," the bald man says.

The polar bear growled, moving forward, his paw swiped Max away, making him fall onto the floor before Garcia wrapped his arms around Jack, lifting him up.

Jack groans in pain.

Max scrabbled to his feet, grabbing the chair and slamming it over the bear. Which, he had meant to slam it over the bear's head. But, was barely able to. The bear moved forward, a low growl escaping.

"Shit," Max muttered when the chair had a slight dent to it. But, the bear had turned, holding Jack with one arm now.

"Okay! I don't one who it was, but I can figure out where they are," Jack quickly says, as the bear had gone to swipe a paw at Max. "Or where they were last night."

"Let him go!" Max yelled at the polar bear.

Callum tilts his head, making the bear let go of Jack. Max rushed forward, immediately checking Jack for any broken or bruised ribs.

"Look, it is anonymous- I don't know who it is," Jack begins. "but in my line of work, I need insurance, you know, in case of billing issues, so I Trojan-horse a digital tracking bug into thier VPN."

"Are you saying-" the woman starts.

"Yeah. I can track the device."

"I suggest you do it," Callum demanded.

"Can we circle back on the whole paying me thing?"

"I know what they paid you. We'll double it." Zoe says.

"Triple."

"Garcia," Callum calls out.

Max began to push Jack backwards.

"All right, all right. Double's fine. It's Christmas," Jack grasped Max's arm, to pull him backwards.

"Wise choice." Zoe says.

Max raked a hand through his hair, now annoyed and stressed. Jack opened his mouth to speak to the woman, but paused in catching sights of the nervous Max. He grabbed a hold of Max's hand before the other man, and before he could begin to bite at the skin around his nail.

Max momentarily stared at thier joint hands. But, said nothing about it. He didn't want for Jack to recall he was holding his hand, and for him to let go of his hand. 

Callum raised an eyebrow at the two, rolling his eyes.
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