Fight Club [Trixie]

[finn kylie nottingham]

@rivune

Finn never thought this day would actually come. In her experience of infiltrating organizations back in New York City, this was supposed to take a lot longer than it actually did. There were checks and tests that new members had to pass. She was clearly an expert at learning how to get by those things without actually committing a crime. Maintaining a semi-squeaky clean record kept her out of the watchful eyes of the Ministry. There had already been encounters with aurors and Obliviators while here, so they knew who she was and what she was doing. That didn’t mean an ex-auror was free from going rogue. She had seen that happen plenty of times back home, and she was sure it happened just as often here.

That aside, the infiltration process was…easy, to say the least. She had kept her identity apparently secret from these men over the last few months, even while uprooting their deals and deliveries, and now she was smack dab in the middle of one of their warehouses as a new recruit. Normally a disguise would have been used, but seeing as they hadn’t attacked her on sight when she approached about joining, it seemed like she was safe going forward as her regular self. The only thing that may have made a difference was having dyed her hair blonde and deciding to use the name Daisy. The boys here loved that for some reason. She just went along with it. In the end though, something as simple as that wouldn’t trick a hardened criminal, so it looked like everything would work in her favor. The rough appearance that many of her former coworkers, herself included, took up once becoming aurors definitely allowed them to slip into all sorts of places without being picked out easily. Finn had never intended for her taste in clothing or tattoos to allow her to pull these sorts of missions off, but she gladly accepted happy mistakes. Being seen as a shady character initially only made it fun when people really got to know her. That and seeing former classmates try to figure out exactly what had happened to her. Explaining her life since graduation was always an interesting time.

One of the higher-ups of the organization directed her to move some boxes in a side room – apparently they were getting ready for a delivery of sorts within the next few days. Finn’s plan was to continue to gain their trust and aid in these trips as much as possible. Learning the names of their buyers and where the product was being delivered to would help her case when he finally started leaking everything to the Ministry. She knew she would get at least a slap on the wrist for it all, but sabotaging and misleading the organization was easier to do from the inside than busting minor deliveries and deals. Entering the room, she had been sent to, there were crates stacked to the ceiling. Apparently she was to be extremely careful moving them, seeing as the product was ‘delicate’. Finn had a feeling that they were dragon eggs, but there were any number of magical substances that would go boom if disturbed too much. She was also to have help from another new recruit in a few minutes, once they arrived as well. So far, things looked like they were going smoothly.

[finn kylie nottingham]

@rivune

How the hell was she supposed to move these boxes delicately? The more Finn stared at the stacks in front of her, the more frustrated she got. Clearly they had taken the time to place them there for extended periods of storage time, but never thought how they would come out. Obviously they would with a little work, but putting two new, inexperienced members of the organization in there to un-wedge highly volatile crates of Merlin-knows-what was absolutely idiotic. It only served to remind her that she was on the right side of the law more often than not, and there was a reason that these types of people always ended up being caught. Stupid was as stupid did, and this right here was a shining example of it. Pacing back and forth in front of the stacks, Finn decided that she wouldn’t get to moving them until her ‘partner’ arrived. Playing nice for the time being would work. She still needed to buy trust, and having another new person with her would work as a failsafe in case she screwed up. She was smarter than everyone else in the warehouse, and knew how to fight her way out if they did decide to bring their brains to work one day. As far as she could tell though, it was going to be a while before any of them wizened up to who she was, and what she was doing there. They weren’t the sharpest tools in the toolshed.

The sound of nearing footsteps stole Finn’s attention, and she turned her head towards them, watching the person that matched them step into the room. She wasn’t sure why she had assumed that the other new recruit would be a buff, dim-witted, disgruntled man (probably because that was the rest of the crime organization), but instead her partner looked to be a girl her age. She approached, and introduced herself as Jane. “Daisy,” she returned the handshake, still regretting her choice in a fake name. Like hell she looked like a Daisy. “And please, take that title from me. I’ve always hated being picked out because of that,” Finn joked. Stepping to Jane’s side, she looked back up at the boxes. Now that they were both here, she supposed they should start moving them. “Well, I think we’re probably both clear on what needs to happen here. Any idea where we should start?”

[finn kylie nottingham]

@rivune

Finn was more than elated that Jane seemed to have her head on straight. After dealing with the idiots in the other room, she was thinking of pulling completely out of this case after doing what she needed to do. Having another person on the job with her would distract from quite a bit, and her earlier thoughts on the other woman still applied. The only caveat now was that she was smart. Hopefully that didn’t pose too many problems. Finn wasn’t flawless when it came to manipulation, especially when it was easier to book it instead of facing a problem head on. She had no obligations to be here. There was enough damning evidence gathered already. Pushing forward with it was simply her way of quenching her curiosity of what was in the box. “I find it hard to believe that anything these guys do is on purpose. Aside from what makes them money,” Finn responded. “It’s also easier to have a scapegoat to blame. We’re both new, so if anything goes wrong they can pin it on us.” The ironic part was that she was thinking the same thing about Jane. Finn didn’t respond as she asked what the point of moving the boxes was, in a magical sense. She figured it was because grunt work proved worthiness. Those that couldn’t handle it would be out in a hot second and probably memory wiped of everything. That would be the nice way to go about it. Jane’s whisper caused Finn to snort. “Or are we the morons for not noticing it sooner?” She knew from her own experience with the group, there were a few that were really stupid. Somehow they had secured higher level positions, and that made them the bosses. Whoever was really operating all of this was smart. Brilliant even. They would want to know what was going on constantly.

She continued thinking about this concept as Jane stepped towards the crates and levitated herself up to one of the stacks. That was certainly an interesting way to go about it. “An alarm?” Finn repeated. “I’d say the entire warehouse. If you’re going to open it, scan for sealing charms,” she offered without realizing how much it sounded like something an auror would say. Jane had made plenty of astute observations already though, so Finn hoped it would go unnoticed. “Why open it though? I’m sure we’ll figure out what is in there eventually.” Her cover didn’t have to be blown this fast. If anything, this Jane person was just another member testing her. That made sense, didn’t it? Regardless, Finn extracted her own wand. “So what are we moving first?” Anything to get away from the topic of opening the crates.

[go ahead and open that up]

[finn kylie nottingham]

@rivune

The idea to scan the crates apparently went over well in Jane’s head, because she grinned and immediately whipped out her wand to do so. This girl was certainly the go-getter, moving things along faster than Finn really wanted them to go. Unfortunately she was going to have to follow along; that was her cover this time, a follower instead of her native leadership role that everyone always threw her into. There were still times that she wondered why that was – seemingly because she always maintained a level-head while others either could not or did not. Playing the uneasy character this time would be easy mostly because Jane was making her that way on her own. Breaking into the crates, or at least disturbing them in a way that would make it seem like the two of them were meddling, could potentially blow her cover that she had worked long to build. Then Daisy the blonde American girl would have to go away for a while until the coast was clear or Finn could come up with a new fake identity. Thus was the world of undercover work.

During all of this thinking, Finn watched as Jane set herself up and began casting charms to scan the crates that they were being asked to move. It was an impressive feat to cover something that was possibly dangerous – she had heard stories of certain charms explosively deactivating safety measures put in place to keep curious eyes away. But it looked like there wasn’t anything around these boxes, seeing as Jane immediately silenced the crate and started to cut part of it out. Finn grimaced as she watched it occur, knowing full well that Jane wouldn’t be able to see her reactions to what was going on. Something apparently happened up there on the crate because the other woman sealed everything up and came back down to ground level, moving towards Finn and whispering that inside was a Chinese Fireball egg. She feigned surprise despite having a feeling that the smugglers were trying to hide dragon eggs somewhere in their storage facility. That was why she was there after all. “So now we start moving them, right?” Finn repeated her question from earlier, knowing that it had been ignored the first time. “If I was interested in dragon eggs, I would have been a dragonologist,” she paused, looking back up at the crates. “That probably means there’s at least an egg in each one…”

[finn kylie nottingham]

@rivune

There were too many ways this could go, and the last thing Finn wanted was for the pit bosses outside to come strolling on in while they had an open crate in front of them. She was sure she could take a few of them down before they knew what hit them, but the aftermath would prove it was her that had been the one digging around, assuming Jane hear was actually one of them. The way the other woman was digging around said she was either here for an ulterior motive or trying to trip Finn up as a test. The best rule here was to tread carefully, something she had learned over the years. It was easier on her to play stupid and react smartly, because in the end she was more intelligent than common criminals like this group.

The raised wand from Jane proved that the woman had something else going on here. Finn had her own wand still in her hand from earlier, but refused to raise it all the way up, preferring to keep it steady at her side, ready to cast a defensive spell if necessary. Jane said something about the Ministry not liking the crates and that she was here to stop that. Of course she was undercover too, but obviously with the Ministry go-ahead. Just her own luck running into one of them the first time she went back in. Before Finn could explain her own situation, which would probably sound more like pleading to not do anything since they appeared to be on the same side, Jane started to cast what sounded like ‘Expulso’, Finn’s own wand immediately going up to cast anything to lessen the impact. There was no way this wasn’t going to send her reeling backwards even with a defensive charm, especially at such a close distance. But the spell was never completed, instead Jane’s fist came right at her stomach, Finn taking the entirety of the punch and doubling over. Perfect, someone that wasn’t afraid to fight up close.

“Jesus, you think I’m actually with them?” she said through a gasp for air. This was going to hurt tomorrow for sure. But it would get worse if Jane didn’t believe her, and Finn wasn’t going to sit around and take it if that was the case. “Auror? Or freelancing? Just because I’m blonde right now doesn’t mean I haven’t been in your situation before.” That should be enough to give it away. Hopefully. She didn’t want to give all of her personal information out in case Jane flubbed this and ended up on the wrong side of the gang’s wands.

[finn kylie nottingham]

@rivune

So they were on the same side after all, even more so than Finn had thought. She had figured the girl was just an undercover auror, rookie at best, getting a little gung-ho about the organization she was about to single-handedly take down. Finn had made that mistake plenty of times before in her days as an auror, though she had never stumbled across someone else on her side in the process, like Jane here had. The other woman was quick to say that she wasn’t an auror though, wouldn’t be ‘caught dead with an Auror’s badge’, to be precise. That hurt a little. Finn nodded her head as Jane seemed to understand what was going on here. They were definitely working different sides of this, that much was clear. “No, it’s fine. This happens sometimes,” she said as she stood back up, stretching to try and get rid of the sting from the punch that was still lingering in her abdomen. It had been a while since she last got punched like that – tomorrow was going to hurt.

Jane seemed eager to pick back up where she left off though, albeit with less wand pointing and without fisticuffs. “I just wanted to put things back the way they were, and walk out of here,” Finn stated. “If they figure out we’re the ones that made the call or did the damage, these covers of ours will be useless forever. And I kind of like Daisy, personally.” Glancing back at the crates they had just been looking through, she let out a sigh. “How about we clean up here and try to waltz out without drawing any unwanted attention. That work?”