Chapter 10, The Benefactor.

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There was a debriefing of course. The loss of the sword was not in my favour, and neither was the fact that Loki's body had disappeared without a trace. But I had defeated a god and stopped the world from being destroyed, and that was something to be rewarded. I got a promotion, and medals to pin on my dress uniform.

The socks that Huginn and Muninn had given me were confiscated and sent to a science lab to be studied. I spent days summoning Mjolnir in a controlled environment so it could be studied as well, but we never found a way to make it stay permanently, it always returned to where it came from.

"No one knows who Cassandra King truly is," Richard admitted. He had taken me out for coffee, he had wanted to discuss things with me that were technically speaking on a need-to-know basis, and his superiors felt I didn't need to know. Richard disagreed. I knew he was sticking his neck out for me, and I appreciated it.

"There is speculation she is part of a group called the "Druids of Avalon", although some people believe she might have been the Lady of the Lake herself. I'm not certain either way."

He took a sip of his coffee.

"We are still looking out for Beaumont, or Loki, for both descriptions you have given us, but there has been no sign of him. Of course, he could be wearing any face he'd like by now and even if we did see him we might not recognise him. Having said that, there are... rumours."

Richard leaned back in his chair.

"Sources tell us that the Illuminati may have captured Beaumont before you returned and are holding him in one of their institutions. But I have found nothing more substantial. If learn more, I'll let you know."

Time passed, and being an agent working for the Templars became my new normal. The pay wasn't bad and with the exception of certain missions that could only be completed during nighttime, it was almost a nine to five job with plenty of days off.

Richard dragged me out of my comfort zone and into the pub in Ealdwic, where I met his wife Anita and several other agents. Richard slowly became one of my best friends, we really got along.

While in theory there was a cold war between the three factions that fall under the umbrella of the Council of Venice (The Templars, the Illuminati and the Dragons) in the field we are only too happy to see another friendly face, and working together can make the difference between life and death.

I made friends with other agents from the other organisations while working together as well.

I became more confident in my abilities and more confident in my personal life. Jessie was slowly getting used to her mum's new job. Life was good and for a while, I was as happy as I thought I could ever be.

"There has been a development." Richard was sitting at my kitchen table. He had arrived a few minutes earlier with a team of security specialists in tow.

"What kind of development?"

I was eyeing the men milling through my home suspiciously, they'd better not be making a mess of the place.

"Remember when I told you that it was possible Beaumont was taken by the Illuminati?"

I sat up in my chair, Richard suddenly had my full attention.

"That rumour was not incorrect. We had confirmation this morning that Beaumont was indeed taken after your fight with him. The loss of the sword greatly weakened him. He was badly injured, and, I am afraid to say, quite insane. He was brought to a secure treatment ward of the Arkham State Hospital."

And now Richard was at my home with a team installing a grade of the art security system and inscribing magical warding runes on every surface they could.

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