Chapter 23 - Spy Games

"Definitely not Benny," Al says. "He would mess it up. Benny, you stay with me, as a lookout." Hopefully, that job will satisfy him without causing him to make trouble or argue.

"Alice is definitely our best choice. Too bad Cody is still injured. Bev, maybe we can ask your brother. And for the last one... I don't know if I trust Hock with this plan, even if we could contact him."

Bev responds to Al's question. "It couldn't hurt to ask Brian if he'll help--but he's always too busy with football these days and never wants to do anything fun..."

"Tell him his new best friend Al is asking," Al suggests with a grin. "Nobody can say no to me!"

"Hey... maybe Brian can bring a pal? I mean... he has a football team-sized choice of pals, right?" he suggests.

"Or I could ask Nate Curtis... remember him? I bet he'd be up for spraying a wall... with all the pressure from his lawyer dad..."

It'd definitely be someone we could trust and we'd have tell them it could be dangerous... Johnny added. Solomon is more dangerous now that he was before and clearly willing to use that power.

He turned to Eddard, Um, is there anything that might help not get mind controlled? Like an herb or a ... a charm or something?

Bev laughs louder than she should at Al's crack about her being her brother's new best friend. "Hey, it's worth a shot, right?"

Her jealousy gets the better of her. Everyone always needs Brian's help... 'ask Brian'; 'go get Brain...' "I'll catch him after his afternoon two-a-day," she says to Al and Logan.

And if no one stops her, she'll hop on her bike and ride for the high school stadium. She'll watch the remainder of the practice, from the hillside overlooking the field, laying in the grass all sweating in her coat.

Then she'll approach him as he heads for the parking lot with his core group of friends. Her approach is going to he persuasive to start, asking as nicely as she can for his assistance.

Bev's spokes *tick, tick, tick* as she slow walks her bike toward further away from the lot. "I have a favor to ask," she says to her big brother.

"You saw I have friends now. They're pretty cool, mostly. Anyway, we have this thing going on with another group, and it's not too fair because they use adults and older kids, but, like, we're in a competition with them and we're supposed to paint these symbols around the town, and if there's anyway we're gonna win we're gonna need other people that are more capable than us to win. You see," she asks.

Just a little truth, and a little lie.

"Can you pah-LEASE help me out and help us do some painting? Please? Maybe you and a friend or two from the team?"

"You owe, from that time, with the rug," she says to headoff protest.

He gives an amused smirk. "You mean paint on walls? Ha! I knew your new friends were a bit crazy... Who are your rivals? he asks, intrigued. Maybe the mention of a competition strikes a chord with him.

OOC:

Hostile
Unfriendly
Uncooperative
>>Neutral<<
Cooperative
Friendly
Helpful

He is Neutral, if you get him to Cooperative he will help you - with a Friendly result or better, he will enlist a teammate too. Persuasion roll, each success/raise shifts the stance downwards one place.

He opposes with Spirit, but I will give him a -2 to his roll, as competition is an irresistible lure for him!

Bev wipes the sweat from her brow. I wonder if my sweat could short the batteries stuffed in my coat.

She pushes the intrusive thought aside and answers Brian. "They're, like, a rival club. Our clubs called Monster Hunters--I know lame right?--and they're, like the monsters, like Dracula, and Wolfman, and all that. We're seeing who can claim the most territory for our club, like in Risk."

With everything ready for their most ambitious project, the Hunters regroup. The magic symbols are ready, the locations scouted, the kit gathered and the crew briefed.

All that's left to do is perform the ritual. Easy, right? What could possibly go wrong?...