"Sometimes getting a bunch of strangers together and telling them to solve a problem is the best way to do team building." Sif talking to Tig about the sudden mixing of teams.

"So, this is it? It looks rather complicated." Tig said as he watched Kurt engrave another of the low-grade rings for Renee.

Val was also in the room while Kristi was helping Rupert settle in. "What did you expect it to look like?"

The possessed elf shrugged. "I don't know like casting spells onto something and the layers of spells interacting and creating an item."

Not knowing what to say, Val looked to Kurt for help. He happily answered the possessed elf. "That is a method but not the one I can use. It actually takes more time and energy but can lead to better effects or at least more specific effects in a limited space."

"What do you mean more specific?" Tig asked, latching on to the information.

Kurt liked the curious possessed, finding him to be completely without guile. "They can make items that only act under certain conditions or for certain people much easier than I can. They also tend to not need to hide the enchantments, since there isn't any engraving or inlay to see." Kurt explained as he placed the last ring on his new enchanting plate.

He activated the batteries and began to lay on the enchanting circles to pull the power into the rings. He had found with the low-grade items that he could do bulk runs of nearly twenty at a time. Which was nice since he now had the batteries to actually run it.

A few seconds later the light of the enchanting faded and he began inspecting the rings before placing them in the box for transport to Renee. He was glad he had finished for the day as he suddenly heard a thump followed by some muttered swearing and some splintering sounds.

Kurt looked up and out of the vault to see a few dwarves and two orcs wrangling a vault door down the stairs. "Oh shit. Hang on guys, I'm coming." He jogged up the stairs and helped the orc that was trying to hold together the wood frame that was coming apart.

They managed to get the vault door down the stairs and on the ground before the wooden shipping frame gave up the ghost. Once the crew said they had it from there, he stepped back and admired the vault door as they pulled away the wood packing.

The door was a black color, he assumed it was just bare, oiled steel since he didn't see any paint. It was also several inches thick with a series of locking bars that stuck out from every side. There was also a square pad in the middle of the door, next to a handle on the far side. He knew from talking with the designer that there was also a tiny hole in the middle of the door, behind the pad.

"Where is the lock?" Val asked as she and Tig moved out of the way and the installation team brought down a welder after firing up a generator.

"It's going to be a magical lock. I will engrave it myself and key it to certain people." Kurt explained. "I will also be adding the reinforcements to the door and the frame after they are done welding it in place."

Tig looked from him to the door as the crew settled it into its frame. "It's going to stick out like a sore thumb."

"Not by the time I am done with it." Kurt replied with a smirk. "Let's head back up and see how Rupert and Kristi are getting along."

"Don't we need to watch them?" Tig asked while eyeing the men with welding masks.

"Nah, I don't need my retina burned out by welding arc again and besides, if they try to open any of the lockers, the immolations traps will trigger, and they will be burned alive from the inside."

Kurt didn't miss the way the dwarves and orcs all looked at each other before hurriedly busying themselves in their work. All of them seemed to get the implied threat without actually needing to have it spelled out.

When they reached the kitchen, they saw Penny and Rupert sitting at the counter while Kristi poured coffee for them. They seemed to be chatting about something when Kristi looked up and smiled at him.

"Hey. Finish those rings already?" She asked and the other two turned around in their seats.

"Yeah, all done so Penny can drop them and the other things off to Renee." Kurt said and went to get his own cup of coffee.

"Why are you making all these rings and such?" Rupert asked. "Seems like a waste if you don't use them."

"Side project from Jay." Penny answered simply.

"And we should probably get going." Kristi said while looking at her phone. "We told Alec we would meet him there at ten."

With that, Penny said she would stay and make sure the work crew handled the door and got on their way. The rest of them loaded up into Kurt's car and went off to meet Alec. They were going to see if they could get a gun more suited to Rupert and his small stature besides a pistol.

*****

They arrived at the range just after Alec pulled in, once more in the panel van that he was so fond of. "Perfect timing I see." Said the dwarven arms dealer. "This is your friend I assume."

"Yeah. Rupert, this is Alec." Kurt said.

Alec stuck out his hand for a shake, which Rupert accepted. "Good to meet ya, now let's see what we can't help you with in the guns department."

A moment later the dwarf was opening the back of his van and sliding out a couple target stands that Kurt went to set up. When he came back, there was a table set out and Alec was putting several guns on it.

"So, I mean absolutely no offense when I comment on your height or reach, just a fact of life for you so we will work with what we got." Alec was saying while Rupert watched him pull everything out.

"That's fine." The halfling agreed. "I have a feeling you have had similar problems."

Alec nodded and cleared off the cases from the table. "Yeah, but dwarves average a bit over five foot tall, so you being around four and some change complicates things a bit more. I can at least manage a standard AR by collapsing the stock."

Kurt surveyed the table and found that Alec had brought quite the spread. There were several pistol caliber carbines with short barrels and collapsing stocks. There was also a few 'machine pistols' like the micro Uzi and a Glock with a chassis. He even saw a few more exotic guns like a P90 and a Vector.

"Alright, given them a heft and see what feels good." Alec said and had to pause as Kristi walked over and set her TP9 on the table. "Thanks, I was missing that one."

As Rupert went down the line and held each gun, they quickly noticed another problem. While they had thought about how his short arms wouldn't be able to reach the fore ends of the guns, they didn't take into account everything was shorter on Rupert.

He also had an issue with how long his neck was and coincidentally, how big his head was. Where Alec might be short, he didn't have any issues with cheek weld and how high optics could be. Rupert, on the other hand, was struggling with getting his eye behind some of the optics and had to adopt some unorthodox positions.

"Hmm, this might be more difficult than I first thought." Alec said.

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, it really is an issue with scale rather than just reach."

Rupert had sorted out the guns he liked the feel of and set them aside. "Can I try these?" He asked, completely ignoring the side bar conversation Alec was having with Kurt.

"Sure thing!" Alec said and brought out some ammunition and magazines.

Kurt walked over and saw that the halfling had picked out the TP9 that Kristi had, the Kriss Vector, a micro-Uzi and one of the short MP5's. He had at one point been looking at an MP7 but was discouraged when Alec explained the downside to the cartridge and its abysmal terminal performance.

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After testing each of them he narrowed it down to the TP9 and the MP5. His problem with the vector was the stiff controls and awkward layout. He also discarded the Uzi due to its complete lack of rail space for optics and lights.

"What do you think?" Kurt asked while Rupert deliberated.

"I think I can deal with the MP5." Rupert said while shouldering the gun again. "It's just… nine-millimeter isn't much." He went to fire a few more rounds through it.

Kurt looked at Alec. "Think your pet gunsmith could convert one to six-five for him?"

The dwarf shrugged. "Yeah, he could do it, but I don't know why you would."

"Why's that?" Kurt asked.

"Cause that round is rather niche. Sure, it penetrates great and fly's decent, but it has fuck all for actual terminal performance."

"AH, right-right." Kurt said and then an idea struck him. He quickly searched his ring for the gun he was after.

If it hadn't been for them moving all the equipment and things from his workroom, he might have forgotten about his little pet project. Thankfully they had decided to move the guns, magazines, enchanting goods and everything else into their rings to make moving lockers easier.

Kurt summoned his SP10 and looked at the magazine full of the seven-five FK cartridges. Alec also looked over with raised eyebrows and he just turned the magazine around so the dwarf could see. His eyebrows somehow found it within themselves to climb even higher on his forehead.

"Oh, Rupert!" Kurt called in a singsong voice. "I think I have one more to try."

Kurt passed the halfling the empty submachinegun and let him get a feel for it. He liked the short stock and found the short barrel to be manageable but not too short like the stocked pistols. He tilted the gun on its side to see the red tape still on it with '7.5' written in sharpie.

"What is this?" Rupert asked.

Kurt handed him the magazine. "Pet project I was working on but never really got around to using. Go give it a try and see how it shoots." He felt a little sad about not being the one to do the testing on it but also knew it was for a good cause. Besides, he had enough to work with in his other rifles.

Rupert walked back up to where he had been and inserted the stick magazine, ran the charging handle then brought the muzzle on target. CRACK. The shot he fired had a large fireball and a lot of report for such a little round.

"Hang on, put this on there." Kurt said and ran over with one of his enchanted silencers. After attaching it, he moved back, and they watched without the muzzle blast making them flinch.

The halfling ran through the twenty-five-round mag like a ticking clock. Every second, he fired a round, taking plenty of time to recover between shots and focusing on his target. Halfway through he knelt down and sent a few toward the steel target farther out at nearly one hundred yards.

At the end of it he dropped the magazine and went to set the gun on the table. "I like that but what can you tell me about the cartridge. I haven't seen this before."

Kurt gave him the rundown on the spicy little bottleneck cartridge and Alec added some information about bulk purchases and available loadings. After nearly half an hour of answering his questions, Rupert looked at his targets and the guns on the table.

"Kurt, how much would that cost? Or would I be better ordering one of my own?"

"Well, I can tell you that one is custom and took about nine months from when I gave the smith the parts to when I had a working model." Kurt explained. "I think you might be better off buying this one and I can make do with my other equipment."

"Are you sure?" Rupert said, looking very concerned. "I don't want to put you out if this is something special."

He just shrugged. "It's a tool. Sure, I'm a little bummed about it but it's probably better that you get something you are comfortable with and that actually puts down enemies."

The next question was obvious. "How much?" Rupert asked. "And how many magazines and all the parts? Oh, and one of the silencer things."

Kurt hadn't ever thought about how much he had into this gun. He didn't think to count his time as part of that since it wasn't like he needed it or lost money for not having it. Digging in his pocket, he pulled out his phone and opened the calculator app.

"Base gun was… and then the barrel blank… the molds for the magazines. Then the supplies for them…" Kurt ran down the list and eventually came to a conclusion that made him wince.

"How bad is it?" Asked Val, seeing his expression.

Alec laughed uproariously at his expression. "Oh, I have an idea, but he also had a lot of sunk cost just from the time of the people putting it all together."

Kurt gave his friend the universal hand gesture to tell someone they're number one. "Listen, I can sell it for cost of parts and assembly. I won't charge the extra stuff since I get to use that experience again and I still have the molds for the magazines."

"How much then?" Rupert looked worried.

"Let's call it seven thousand for the gun, all twenty magazines and the three cases of ammunition." Kurt began. "Then we can negotiate the silencer."

Rupert seemed to sigh in relief. "Oh, I thought it was going to be expensive."

The rest of the group all shared a look before Alec spoke up. "Ahem, hi yes. Quick question. Umm, what the fuck?" he said. "What do you mean not expensive? Seven grand for a sub gun is pricy."

"Not in Europe." Rupert said with a shake of his head. "That gets you a decent double barrel shotgun or hunting rifle over there, after licensing, storage equipment, club membership and all that."

"Oh, riiiiight." Kurt said. "I forgot about that."

"Yeah, so this is nothing and I was hoping you could introduce me to the gargoyle arms dealer you were talking about." Rupert said. "But I would happily pay for two silencers too. One for me and one for Tig."

Alec suddenly turned and slugged Kurt in the arm. "You cheatin bitch." He scoffed. "Two timing with some wannabe statue. What do they have that I can't sell ya?"

"Oww, fuck dude." Kurt cursed while rubbing at his bicep. "Why?" He might be angry if it wasn't for knowing Alec was just a little hurt that he was going to someone else.

"Answer the question." Alec said. "What can she get that I can't?"

Kristi summoned a crate of grenades. "Well, we bought these by the crate."

Val was suddenly holding belts of the new armor piercing ammo. "And she gets this pretty much from the factory floor."

"Oh, and she had all those thermal optics and night vision for super cheap." Kristi said.

Val smirked as she dismissed the belts of ammo. "It helps when she has 'alternate supply' methods."

For the entire exchange, Rupert looked like he wanted to back away slowly while Tig was watching with a toothy smile. It seemed that the possessed found this exchange to be the highlight of intrigue.

Alec's eyes bugged out of his head at the sight of the ordinance. "Ah, well I forgive you then. But only if I can get a couple belts of the 'A-one' stuff. For research purposes, of course."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yeah, 'research'. Whatever you say." He said and passed over a box of ammo while Kristi and Val stored their things.

While Kurt went to pick up the targets with Rupert and Tig, Alec packed away everything else with the help of the girls. They had just walked back up range when all their phones went off at once.

Val was first to pull hers out, dropping the folding table and making Alec dive after it so it wouldn't break open on the ground again. She quickly opened the display and frowned before looking curious.

"Sorry, Alec. We have to go. Boss's orders and all that."

Huffing a little after catching the table at an awkward angle he flashed a thumbs up. "Yeah, sure, no worries. Go off galivanting around, saving the world or whatever."

Kurt had stored his things away and climbed back into his car with the others. "So, what was it?" He said, completely ignoring his own phone and trusting the others to fill him in.

"We are going to be doing some joint training and planning for the next week." Val said, reading off her phone. "Apparently this is going to involve all three teams, guessing that you guys got the same message?"

Tig nodded. "Yes, indeed!" He was way to chipper after hearing the news. "We have the same instructions, and I think the Tacoma team will be joining us when we get to the Order."

They speculated about the nature of the mission while they drove back. None of them had any details or even guesses other than it would be big. If they needed all three teams plus whatever other assets were being diverted for them, this was a major operation.

*****

When both teams walked through the portal back to the Order, Penny and Radis were waiting for them. Other than a brief greeting, neither said much about what was happening while they led the teams down the hall a little way to a meeting room. When they reached the conference room, they found it wasn't only the field agent teams in there.

"Good, you're here." Jay said from his spot on the side of the room while talking with his aide, Kevin. "Have a seat and we can get started and answer the questions I am sure you have."

Kurt and Rupert parted ways. He went to sit in the three open seats between an orc and the Tacoma team while Rupert went to sit near his handler and the long row of strangers. As soon as they sat, Jay started again.

"Right, I will introduce everyone in a moment but first things first." The demon said and walked to the front. "Firstly, there is no audio or video recording of anything in this meeting, sterile notes only. Secondly, none of you are to say anything to anyone outside of this group."

A round of verbal affirmations and nods went around the room before he continued. "Leaders, please stand." Kurt, Rupert and Piper all stood up. "These are the team leads, they will have absolute command when on the ground."

After those introductions were done, Jay called for the next group to stand. "We have Bo-Kahn who will be running the reserve and recovery forces. He has committed five squads to this operation. Then we have Michael running the tech team and Surath is running divination. The handlers, please raise your hands, will be running the obfuscation rituals."

He paused for a moment, seeing that a few of them were taking notes. He also saw that the handlers were all taking notes so their teams could focus. "This will be a big operation, and it will be happening soon, as in within the next ten days. I know it's not a lot of time, but we need to do this in a very narrow window."

Kurt wanted to raise his hand, but Piper beat him to the punch. "Sir, what is the target exactly?"

Jay waved to Kevin who tapped on his computer while the projector sprang to life. The image showed a high-altitude picture of a large estate. It had a sprawling manor house and a fair number of outbuildings on a perfectly manicured property. The perimeter wall, pathways, major landscaping and buildings were all outlined in various colors with notation boxes on each.

"We will be hitting the 'Coven of the Wandering Sun' at their next enclave for inner members. We have good reason to believe that this will occur in the next two weeks. While this coven normally has most of the senior members living on premises, this is a rare opportunity to get the entire leadership structure in one fell swoop." Jay said.

There was some muttering that went around the table. Some of it swearing and some of it was concern but none of it was loud enough to interfere. Jay clicked over to the next slide and showed a timeline schedule with overlapping events.

"The purpose of this meeting is to outline responsibilities and expectations over the next several days. Consider yourselves all mandated as of now. Yes, you will be compensated for the extra time." The demon said, heading off the concerns. "Now, let's get through this so you can all go and make better use of your time."

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