The Razorgirl's Five Hundred Suitors

[IamLEAM1983]

Introducing the lads to traditional spy games is one thing, finding someone who's got the lay of the modern-day spectrum of criminal and supernatural powers is another. All Archie can provide the Shieldies with, in the immediate, is everything a good rat knows. That might be enough for eavesdropping on mundanes, but the fact is, he hasn't had to face down immortals in about fifty years...

In comes Marianna Jameson, one of the few noteworthy references to come out of his painstakingly re-established connections with the country's letter agencies. With a road map like hers, anything he couldn't provide them with, she more than likely could.

Unfortunately for her, Archibald Holden's not one to believe in standard job interviews for those few types who weren't there during the city's one and only large vigilante round-up in recent memory. Raw talent needs to be shaped, but clear and present talent needs to be tested...

It just so happens that Shen Long, local benevolent Oriental dragon that he is, is experiencing a spate of trouble on behalf of the Five Hundred Dragons Triad, helmed by his former training comrade, Watatsumi. Pushing back one Wanderer and a few modern-day samurai just might do the trick.

First order of business: tear down the Dragons' flimsy Russian mask. Crime from the Caucasus isn't what it used to be since Lev Kirilov turned into a respectable Political Sciences teacher in Hope, and Anastasius Romanov is too focused on avant-garde performances to bother with nefarious schemes. This leaves Arch with the local Russian bears - figuratively and literally - who seem awfully interested on carving out an easily disposable niche in Sandhill...

Figuring out just how autonomous they really are, as well as the Dragons' plan for Hope, should allow him to figure out just what it is this Jameson woman is capable of. If they get to momentarily break foreign holds on the city's markets - two birds with one stone.

They're both fairly capable, in any case. What could possibly go wrong?

[Karl the Mad]

This is just the thing. Just. The. Thing.

Do you want to start, or shall I?

[IamLEAM1983]

Already started!