Even with Polina working to distract him, Oliver was on edge all of Sunday and well in to Monday. He had no way of knowing if the FBI agents believed their story, or if they had just given them more reason to be suspicious... Though a part of him felt that Agent Doe, while maybe not on their side, wasn't antagonistic towards them. Possibly even a bit sympathetic, and more likely to believe them... He hoped...

But thinking about Agent Doe... Just put him right back on edge.

She felt... different. Oliver didn't fully understand the extra sense he had developed since increasing his Spirit to 20, but he at least knew that it was 'tuned in' to magic in some way. Similar to how he perceived his magic when casting one of the spells he knew, he could feel a difference in her from how other people felt. Different from his friends and Poli... She definitely possessed something 'extra', somewhat similar to Eve- though she definitely wasn't a vampire.

What she was exactly, he couldn't be sure. But it was one more thing that worried him.

As he made his way towards Tyrone's office alongside Poli, Oliver caught himself checking his surroundings for people watching or following... But, when he found nothing out of place, instead of putting him at ease... it simply ratcheted up his paranoia by another step.

Surely it couldn't have been that easy to get the FBI off his back, right?

"Oli! Poli! Hell of a cook out, guys!" Tyrone exclaimed as he jumped up from his desk. Taking in the frown on Oliver's face, and the general sense of brooding that clung to him, he hurried across the room to the pair, his voice heavy with concern. "What happened? Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, for the most part." Poli replied for the two of them, a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "We're pretty sure, at least. Though we may be advancing our travel plans a bit... I'll explain everything once we clear out the 'dead stock', ok?"

Tyrone nodded in understanding- clearing out the dead stock was just their code for sending off the Commissions... and it was better to wait on the story until then, anyway, since the rest of the guys would be with them. No point having to explain things twice, right?

It only took a minute to reach the room and exchange quick greetings with their friends- though Oliver simply waved and went straight to firing off the Commissions without saying a word.

"Oh, shit... Something went wrong, didn't it?" Ed asked as the door closed behind them. "I haven't seen Oli in a funk like this since...

"Yeah, since then. "Gary nodded, knowing exactly what was unsaid- after Jess's betrayal, Oliver had been tense for weeks. Like he was waiting for things to somehow go wrong again.

Poli smiled gently at the friends; from the sounds of it, Ed and Gary weren't just worried... They wanted to help. "It's ok, guys. We just had a bit of a hiccup, you could say. The short version..."

"Ah... It turns out that my new friend, 'Lyn'... her actual name is Evelyn Hart. She usually goes by 'Eve'..."

"Eve... as in...?" Tyrone asked hesitantly, his eyes going wide.

"The pipsqueak that dragged T around like he was a kitten?" Ed snickered, earning him a punch to the arm from Gary.

"Not cool, bro. You know she was a vamp, and they have freaky powers."

"Yeah, her." Poli answered, struggling to suppress a snicker- Tyrone simply sighed at his friend's antics, though even he smiled at the joke.

"Ok, while Oli does his thing... It started right after the cookout. Oli had run out to grab some cleaning supplies that we were low on..."

"I seriously can't believe this..." Tyrone muttered in shock. "I mean, that is some movie level shit. Using part of her real name as her cover identity and bringing the FBI down on you two? That's... pretty dumb. Especially with her acting all hot for Oli."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"It's not dumb, really. Just ignorant." Marty chimed in with a thoughtful look on his face, consulting the notes he had been taking.

"Dumb, ignorant, same thing, right?" Gary asked with a shrug.

Seeing all eyes turned his way, Marty shook his head with a smile. "No, not really. Dumb implies a lack of intelligence; ignorance a lack of understanding."

"Stop being smug, smartass, and just explain what you mean." Ed snarked.

"Gladly." Marty grinned, throwing a wink at Oliver as he finally joined them. "Eve isn't really stupid. If you consider her continued success, and survival, she's actually pretty smart... Or at least reasonably clever."

"You see... She's smart enough to rely on her vampiric nature and abilities to survive for a hundred years despite being wanted in so many places..."

"But... she's woefully ignorant of more modern things. I mean, sure, she can use a cell phone or a computer- I'm fairly certain... But she hasn't really kept up on all the modern advances that have been made in recent decades."

"Particularly... surveillance. And tracking." Marty tapped his notes, his brow furrowed as another thought intruded. "And that doesn't even take in to account the fact that the government apparently has magic; something I'm fairly sure she only has a limited understanding of."

"How can a vampire not understand magic?" Tyrone asked, a bit skeptical- vampires were magical beings, right? How could they not-

"I imagine that, for her, the abilities she uses are more instinctive. Innate versus learned..." Seeing that he was losing a few of them, Marty quickly adjusted his explanation. "Ok, think of it like football."

"For Eve, she knows how to throw a football... But she doesn't really understand how the motion of the arm and hand translate into the rotation of the ball. She just does it... Oh, and for the purpose of this analogy, she also doesn't really know the rules of the game."

"She can throw the ball and hit people, and she's damn good at it, she just doesn't understand the why or the how of it."

"Or, another accurate explanation... Ed and Gary aren't dumb- they are straight A students, after all. But they are fairly ignorant of how to behave... and in matters of common sense..."

"Yeah, we love you too, Marty!"

"But, back to my point... Fifty years ago, if the FBI wanted to identify her... they would be using a grainy black-and-white photo taken by a professional-and expensive- camera system. But now?" Marty looked around, gesturing to his cell phone- which was turned off, as they all agreed before having discussions like this. "Everyone carries a high grade camera in their pockets, good enough you can count the wrinkles on someone's face from twenty feet away."

"Combine that with her being used to evading people using only her innate talents... and you get a person that is dangerous and difficult to capture, but easy to track. Hell, I doubt she really bothers to cover her tracks... if she ever thought to do it in the first place."

"Don't forget, she also has some type of System herself." Oliver added softly. "With it facilitating her growth, she likely doesn't think of most people as a threat- that's how I got the advantage on her, taking her by surprise."

"Yeah, I can see it..." Tyrone added, clapping Oliver on the back with a warm smile. "And I'm betting that the FBI agent- you said her name was Doe? Yeah, I'm betting she isn't too worried about you two. And she's probably busy chasing the crazy vamp..."

"Even with that, we're still thinking about taking a work trip." Poli threw out quickly. "They may not be watching us, or even care about us... But getting away for a bit sounds like a good idea. Let things blow over... and give Oli a chance to just cut loose without having to worry. Goodness knows, even I've been looking over my shoulder lately, worried that we'll get snatched up by an FBI raid or something..."

"Well!" Marty exclaimed, clapping his hands- and smiling brightly as a couple of his friends jumped in surprise. It was clear that dealing with all of this had put Oliver off... and if taking a little work trip would help Oli, then he was down to help them do it. "There's nothing better for easing the tension and relieving stress than a vacation, right?"

"Of course, I've also heard people say... that nothing will stress you out quite like planning a vacation..." He snickered, even as the others all groaned at the bad joke. "So, where do we start?"

"We start..." Oliver said with a small smile, his friend having succeeded in pushing back the funk that had fallen over him. "...by picking out which Bounty we want to take. Then we double check that we have everything we need- weapons, armor, food, all that good stuff... and Poli and I work out how we're going to handle things..."

"You make it sound like you two are going off to war or something!"

"Fuck, I hope so!" Oliver exclaimed, before suddenly looking embarrassed. "Err, I mean... not that I want to drag Poli into a war or anything... and maybe something not as violent or crazy-"

"It's ok, Oli." Polina chuckled as she leaned into him. "I know you're hoping for some excitement... but lets try not to dive straight into a war on our first trip, ok?"

While Ed and Gary made mock kissing noises at the couple, Tyrone and Marty shared a look, both turning to fresh pages in their notebooks.

"Oli reads off the Bounties and we write them down., swapping off as usual for our notes... You want the first one, T?"

"Sounds good, bro."

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