"An interagency summit?"
"Times are changing. The attack, the fall of the Soviet Socialist Republic. The new face of the enemy."
"The enemy's always looked the same; it's just the mundane world letting go of its funding for CIA that's presenting a problem. They don't realize the true threat. If the CIA loses its funding, Tetragrammaton goes with it."
Keepses, who probably knew a lot more than Moone about the true relationship between the secular and supernatural sister agencies, either didn't bother correcting Moone, knew as little as he did, or else Moone had actually guessed correctly. "Or restructures entirely. We don't need a separation in jurisdiction-- folklore is based around ethnicity and not nationality, which is one of the reasons that this summit will be a meeting between agencies."
"The whole fate of my old agency is up in the air."
Keepses shrugged. "You want to get to MacBeth, he'll be there."
"You act like I'm even capable of getting close. You know I'd be trekking straight on back to HQ of the very company that not only wants my head on a silver platter, but knows how to get it."
Keepses grinned. "You've always been slow. You haven't figured it out yet?"
Moone threw both arms in the air in a wide shrug.
"You can go in my place. In the mothman suit, and with my aura." Keepses gestured to a wicker-door closet on the far side of the room, behind which was visible the silhouette of a human-sized insect-winged suit. "The suit has a mask. Big flaming eyes, quite terrifying. They won't see your face, and they'll think you're me. It's the perfect cover to get to MacBeth."
"The aura scan is the only security they'll have there?" Moone asked pointedly, eyebrows raised and lids lowered.
"Sure, if you're under a NOC like me. My identity is officially separate from my legend, and having the mothman aura will be enough. The NOC list will be there, most likely, and provide verification enough."
Moone nodded, still unsure. "And, walking in with two auras wouldn't be suspicious?"
"You'd be walking in with three auras," Keepses corrected through tight lips almost pulled into a smirk. "Yours, plus Pontifex's, makes your own invisible, and mine on top. Three auras. But it will look, like one." Keepses illustrated this last sentence with a bobbing finger.
"And then, I'd have to detach Pontifex's aura to bestow it upon MacBeth. Then I would have two auras."
Keepses shrugged. "And by this point, either you'd be right or wrong about Gef, and MacBeth would be hearing you out either way." Pontifex had been standing unobtrusively nearby, hands behind his back and listening in for the past few minutes; Keepses turned to him now. "Would that work?"
Pontifex answered immediately, as if he'd already formulated an answer to the question. "Precisely the way you described- if you have the ability to grant your aura to others."
[He does, somehow. It is explained that Keepses keeps his aura, technically, otherwise people would be able to walk around aura-less; it's more of a clone of his aura.]
"The summit's an inevitable byproduct of the assassination and attack. That attack must have been caused for the purpose of the summit, the reason for the attack was to regain funding, or whatever, performed by a radical within the company, for the greater good of the agency."
[conversation about summit and potential perpetuation of Tetragrammaton leads to discussion about Moone's theory that Tetragrammaton may represent a threat to him, and that his boon would kick in against them, maybe once Secretary was killed and the summit became inevitable. Or maybe, Keepses ventures, realizing something and suddenly suspicious of Moone, the assassination of the Secretary represented a different part to play in Moone's boon.]
Keepses spoke slowly, deliberately, as if trying to work it out even as he spoke. "I know you, Moone. You're ruthless, deep down. When you need to be. Like me. They don't recruit those that don't have the guts to do [what needs to be done]. Maybe it's not Cloud's death that allowed you an exit from the agency. No. Not her death."
Moone, chilled, understood the implication immediately. "Keepses. It's Gef. Gef is the one who killed the Secretary. Gef is the bad guy here. I saw it with my own eyes."
Keepses nodded, considering, or pretending to. "And like you said, you're the only one who did. Sole witnesses' words can't always be trusted. Getting a second witness in would help matters considerably... Convenient, then, that Cloud died. Don't you think?"
In that moment, it was as if a silver veil had been placed in between them. In that moment, Keepses had turned from ally to enemy.
"I can't let you go to the summit," Keepses continued. "So your assassinating the Secretary was inadvertent, just your boon kicking in reflexively. That's fine. But that's where I'm letting the buck stop. [It'd be best for everyone if you stood down. Now.]"
"Listen to me, Keepses. If I killed the Secretary to escape, why would I go back there? I'm even more imprisoned on the run."
"End Tetragrammaton, and you wouldn't be," Keepses said, throwing up his arms. "On the run. Imprisoned. The summit, the whole fate of [the supernatural agencies] up in the air, is your one chance to get out for good. [But Moone-- Finn-- don't you ever stop to consider the cost? You can't even help it, at this point, can you? I may do what needs to be done, but this is a whole new level of low.]"
Moone, eyes wide, had to stop himself from scoffing. Keepses was trying to talk him down. Better than physical threat, which Moone would easily be able to escape; Keepses was smart enough for that. But he was still trying to talk him down from something Moone had no intention of doing, and so he met Keepses's resolve with one equally steely.
"I'm going, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
"Oh, isn't there?" Keepses produced a gun from [location,] and Moone raised his hands in a gesture of placation, a befuddled smirk on his face.
"You know you can't hurt me, Keepses. Especially not now, with my boon enhanced."
"I didn't say I would hurt you. I said I would stop you. Through any means necessary." Keepses wouldn't be able to harm Moone...
...but he would be able to kill the Pontifex easily. Moone's face fell as Keepses turned the gun on the Pontifex, who was still standing [where he'd been.] Acting quickly, Moone [kicked the stool out from underneath Keepses, right as the gun fired,] and tried to wrangle the gun away.
The Pontifex provided the aura boon, Moone's one way of getting into the summit. If Keepses killed the Pontifex, that also killed Moone's shot at accessing MacBeth and clearing his name.
[action continues, and goon squad, whom Keepses had contacted discretely upon suspicion of Moone, sweeps in- in confusion, though, Moone's boon can activate, and he and Pontifex sweep out of the room, Pontifex grabbing the Mothman suit. They fly away. Goon squad, seeing that Keepses had granted Moone some part of his aura, burns Keepses and his entire cell...? But then why would they let Mothman into the summit, if he's burned by this point? Eh. Maybe he doesn't get burned. Either way, we cut to Keepses's point of view somehow, even though we'd been keeping this fairly tight third-person limited.]
Keepses stood in the ashes of his burned empire. He had given Moone a way in. His plans. The man wasn't smart enough to come up with how to get into the summit himself; hadn't even known about the summit. But now he was [going there.] And it was Keepses's fault.
He squinted his eyes toward the sky in resolve.
And came up with another plan.
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