TALES OF THE ARCANUM REPO MAN

File 1: Excalibur

A tall, dark, ruggedly handsome man parked his white and black MINI John Cooper Works vehicle in the underground garage and stepped out. His hands instinctively reached for a pack of cigarettes in his coat pocket, but then he remembered no smoking allowed on the premises due to a government ban. He cursed softly to himself and walked over to the elevator.

A few minutes later, the elevator chimed and the door opened with a whoosh! Standing in the cabin was a gorgeous woman in her mid-twenties with long, curly blonde hair. She was as tall as a model and wore a tight-fitting red blouse and a mini-skirt which hiked up to mid-thigh and showed off those long, slim legs made taller by her matching red stilettos. The woman gazed at him with her alluring blue eyes and smiled faintly as her heels clanked on the pavement. Clog-clog-clog!

The man nodded as she passed by, and then he entered the vacant cabin, which now smelled of strong perfume. He pressed the button for the sixth floor and jabbed the "close" button several times before the elevator door started to move.

As the door closed, a red sports car came into his view. He saw the same attractive lady smile at him from the driver's seat before she drove off. He shook his head at her flirtation and jammed the "close" button once more.

Thankfully, no one else waited for the ascending elevator, and soon the cabin reached his designated floor. He tapped his left foot impatiently while waiting for the cabin door to open with a chime. The man rushed into the lobby since he was late for a meeting with his boss.

A young looking receptionist with short, curly raven hair and a petite build sat behind the front desk. She noticed the newcomer immediately and pressed a button to buzz him in. "Good afternoon, Mister Agard. Director Wilkinson is waiting in his office," she said with her girlish voice.

"Thanks, Dorothy!" the man replied with a playful wink as he pushed open the door and entered the hallway. With rushed steps, he walked straight ahead until he reached the intersection and made a left turn. When he reached the end of the corridor, he stopped in front of the door and knocked loudly. Knock-knock!

"You're late!" the person yelled from inside.

The man opened the door and entered the office. As usual, several pieces of paper cluttered the director's desk. Also, the conference table stacked with piles of paper along with boxes and crates. The newcomer sat in the open seat before the director, a heavyset man in his late fifties who wore a brown bowtie over a cream-colored dress shirt with suspender belts pulling up his brown plaid pants. A matching suit jacket hung over the back of his chair. The visitor glanced at the sign on the desk; it read, "Director Winston Wilkinson, Arcanum Repository."

"I apologize for coming in late, sir. I went to catch a movie and had to turn off my pager in the theater," the younger man explained. "Besides, I thought my suspension runs for another two weeks?" he added with a quizzical expression.

The director opened the folder in front of him. It contained a dossier of Finley Viggio Agard, age 35, Retrieval Agent Rank S+. When Wilkinson took out the documents, the first was a black and white mug shot of the man sitting before him. Director Wilkinson adjusted his black-rimmed frames as he read the agent's last assignment. "Ah yes, you're the agent who failed to retrieve the Anode Emitter. The device activated and attracted enormous lightning bolts from the sky which struck several parts of the country simultaneously along with a passenger plane with 175 people onboard. We had to send long-range magic to destroy the black site and stop those terrorists from The Bright Dawn from further using the magical artifact for evil purposes."

Finley stared hard at his superior. "There were 500 civilian casualties on site," he growled.

Director Wilkinson waved his chubby hand dismissively. "They were collateral damage. Besides, those terrorists blended into Brightview Village, and we couldn't tell who were innocent bystanders. The Second Magister made the call under Article III of the Azurean Accord to nuke the village. The Council of Magisters reviewed the decision and gave its approval," he added. He raised his hand to forestall the agent's angry retort. "Enough! I'm putting you back on duty as of this moment."