Personal Business| Geoffrey

Well, at least this should be interesting, Melanie thought to herself as she set outside the Magister of Mercury's office. She didn't work with him often, but recently she had been contacted by an anonymous third party with a few items of interest. The file she had been given was supposedly from the Magister himself, so she had assumed that it's information was important. After carefully looking it over, she had been left both intrigued and confused. What was she going to do about a cold case, specifically a mortal kidnapping? Then again, that was why she was here, getting answers.

Was Melanie supposed to look for a child that she had no idea how to locate, or was this matter much more solemn. It wouldn't be the first time that a grieving sibling had come to her or another one of her siblings for confirmation that a loved one wasn't coming home. Maybe the Magister had simply decided that it was time to end his suffering.

After a long wait, someone finally emerged from the Magister's office. A few moments later, the receptionist motioned for her to enter. Taking a breath to steady herself, Melanie pushed the door open to stand face to face with Geoffrey Di Mercurio, someone she had met before in passing but had never had personal dealings with. Whatever it was that he was calling her for now, it couldn't be good.

"Greetings Magister. Thank you for seeing me today." She said respectfully.

Geoffrey wondered why he hadn't done this sooner.  He felt so ashamed of himself, only waiting for so long a time to finally think about his missing younger brother, Thomas.  Oh, how forgetful he was! Thomas had disappeared from his life when he had been so young, so he had grown up not really remembering him, and when he did, it was with objectivity.  He hadn't felt any attachment.  That wasn't to say he hadn't loved his brother and he still cared about who Thomas Douglas was because the boy had been his kin, but it was natural that he would grow up not really thinking a lot about him besides when he told people about his siblings and when his mother broke into tears randomly.  In those moments Geoff would only be frightened for his mother, not Tom.

And that was just in the outside world.  His duties in Camp Jupiter, hooking up with his ex, the failure of a quest, discovering his ex was alive and having known that he'd failed her and heartbroken by the break-up, and his duties as a Magister made him totally forget about Tom altogether.  So why he was he remembering Tom now? Well, the thing he was he had sent his mother an Iris-message and she had been in tears, telling him that Tom's birthday was in two days.  Her grieving had hurt him so, and he wished he could do something on her behalf.  And then it hit him! Maybe...maybe he could discover where Tom was.  No wait--he'd have to discover if Tom was alive, and the perfect way to find out was to request that a child of Hades see if he was in the underworld.  That was the first step.  If Tom was still alive, Geoff would go through heaven and earth to find him, using his son-of-the-god-of-travel powers and restore him to his family.  He had failed Accalia, but he was determined not to fail anyone again, least of all his brother.

But again, first they'd have to find out whether he was alive or not.  Again, why the hell had he not been thinking about this sooner.  He felt so bad, thinking that he had failed Thomas in a way already by not doing this sooner when he did have the resources to.

Anyways, Geoff was sitting at his desk in his office, bracing himself for the meeting with Melanie Thorn, a daughter of Hades an an intelligence worker in the Garrison.  Truth be told, Geoff was not very nervous.  When he was in his magister mode, he was as official and professional as ever.  And all he needed to say was simple.  It was a really easy task that he had for the girl.

He glanced up from his desk when he heard someone enter.  When Melanie entered, Geoff summoned up a smile and gave her a nod of his head.  "Hello, Miss Thorn.  Please have a seat," he said, gesturing to the chairs at the desk, but across from where he was sitting.  "I should be the one to thank you for coming in, for I do have a favor to ask you.  As you already know, I am asking you to see if the soul of my long-lost brother is in the Underworld before I conduct a search for him...in this world."  Geoff heaved a sigh.  "As far as I'm aware, his name is Thomas Adam Douglas.  He was half-brother of mine, a mortal, I believe.  He was only a year younger than I was, and was two years-old when he was kidnapped by a stranger in a mall."  There was already a photograph of Thomas and him, the latest one he had of Thomas, which was when he was three years-old and Thomas was two, the age he had been when he disappeared.  Geoff slid it closer to Mel's part of the desk.  "He's the one in the red shirt."

  

"I see. There are only a few complications with this plan, which I do need to warn you about before we proceed." Melanie stated,picking up the picture as she spoke. The boys were cute, but very young. It would be hard for her to pinpoint Thomas like this. "First off, you need to realize that my father can be prone to lying. Normally this isn't an issue, but it can be." On the rare occasion that she did speak to Hades, he didn't generally lie, but he could be deceptive when he wanted to be.

"The other issue is with the search itself. I've used some aging software to begin mock ups for what your brother would look like now, but even if we do manage to find him, it'll be hard to confirm it. This will take enough resources and man power that we'll need to have Chancellor Hadley and Commander Craddock sign off on anything further. Confirmation in the underworld is one thing, a full scale search would be another." It was the sad truth that Melanie wasn't free to do whatever she wanted. If she could, she would've already started the search for Thomas. If anyone knew what it was like to lose a brother, it was Melanie. She would do almost anything to stop that heartache for someone else if she could.

"I'll leave now and report back soon, with your permission. It shouldn't take very long if Hades cooperates. I hope that you find peace, no matter what the outcome of this search is, Magister."

Geoff had understood that this was not going to be an easy task, not at all.  They were going to jump into the unknown and base most of their actions on assumptions, for absolutely nothing was known about his younger brother.  Therefore, he was prepared when Melanie told him that there were going to be complications.  In fact, it might prove to be futile, but at least he tried.  His heart sank at the thought of that, but what else could be done? His brother would remain missing just as he had always been and Geoff would continue to live his life.

He nodded.  "I understand," he said.  Hades wasn't the nicest god and Greek mythology and the history of the gods proved that.  One didn't need to look further than what Hades was the king and god of to know that he could have tricks up his sleeve.  Geoff was willing to gamble upon Hades' sincerity, though.  Chances were he'd actually help...even if he probably didn't much of a reason to, besides that his daughter was the one carrying out the task.  This made Geoff wonder what kind of a relationship Hades had with his children.  He didn't sound like a loving dad, but then again he might dote on his children while being unpleasant to others.  Who knows.  Again, a gamble.

The other issue was that his brother would not be recognizable given how much he aged--if he was alive, and that it would be hard to tell if it was actually Thomas.  Hell, Geoff didn't even know what his appearance was today assuming that he lived.  How could he expect Melanie or others too? Also, he knew that he'd have to follow protocol and have both the commander and chancellor to approve of his mission.  Geoff nodded once more.  "Of course.  Do whatever is necessary."

And it seemed that all that needed to be said to organize this mission had been spoken.  He smiled at her.  "Yes, you may.  Thank you for your time and effort in advance, Agent Thorn, and good luck."  He hadn't been expecting her to add that express her hope that he would have a peace of mind no matter what the outcome was.  Normally people didn't care about that and were only concerned about the objective aspects of jobs like thse, but he thought it was a thoughtful and kind thing to say, the thing that he needed to hear.  Yes, even if Thomas was dead or couldn't be found for whatever reason, he hoped that he would be able to take it without much pain.  He had told himself time and again that he ought not to be foolish enough to become emotional over an impossible endeavor that he knew didn't have a big chance of succeeding, but who knows, he might feel sad despite his common sense.  "Thank you for your well-wishes, too, Agent Thorn.  I hope that I would have the strength to get by if that were the case as well."

A few hours later Melanie found her way back to the Magisters office, slightly worn out but satisfied with her results. She had changed outfits before coming back, the dirty feeling of being in the underworld proving to be too much for her to handle. Her father had at least seemed sincere when he met her at the river for their brief meeting, even if she could barely stomach seeing him in person. It was too bad that her sister had been away on other business, or she would have delegated the task to her. Finally, the receptionist buzzed her through so that she was facing Geoffrey again.

" I have good news, I think." She started as soon as she was through the door. "Your brother was never admitted to the underworld, so he isn't dead." Alright, her wording was a little harsh, but she needed to get to the point. "We may be able to locate him if we are given the appropriate resources from the Chancellor, but I'm not sure how far she would be willing to go if we can't prove that he's a Demi-God. Which, is where the unexpected news comes in."

Pausing for a moment, she waited to let him process the information she had already laid out. It was more than too much, but she still had more to give. "Thomas may actually be a Demi-God."

A few hours had past after Melanie had left the office, and during that time Geoff had gone outside to get some fresh air and take a break.  He tried not to think too much about the mission he had dumped upon Mel, either.  But anyway, he went back to his office not so long before Mel entered with news for him, either.

Geoff's heart was beating quickly, but he did all he could do remain composed and would calmly listen to her, no matter what she had to report back to him.  It could be horrible and he'd just have to keep his cool.  However, his spirits lifted when she said the words "good news" and told him that Thomas wasn't dead after all. 

The impact of the news, of course, was huge.  So Thomas as still living, and his mother hadn't lost her son to death.  He was still within reach, even if his location was not yet known, but at least it was still possible to have him back again.  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.  "Thank the gods," Geoff said before opening them again to listen to what else she had to say.

However, his jaw dropped when he was told that Thomas might actually be a demigod.  WHAT?! Did that mean he was also a son of Mercury and wasn't his half-brother after all, but a full one?! Or did his mother dally with two gods?! "W-what?!" Geoff exclaimed.  "Thomas...a demigod?! How did you come to that speculation?"   

"First off, his name. The last name is an alias that a Demi-God was using at the time. I hadn't thought of it myself until I was in the meeting with Hades. Apparently there has been a son of Jupiter that's been missing for quite some time and, wouldn't you know, the ages match up." She said, leaning back into a chair.

"The good thing about this is that this officially puts him into my jurisdiction. It'll be much easier to get things done now. A son of Jupiter, kidnapped as a baby, is nothing to laugh at. We could have a serious problem on our hands." The thought that the egyptians could have someone with that much potential power was staggering. Who knew what could happen?"

Geoff wanted to faint.  He leaned his head back until he was staring at the ceiling.  "Jupiter," he murmured.  Right after having an affair with his father, Mercury, his mother had then made a baby with Jupiter.  JUPITER.  Thomas was Jupiter's son.  "Oh, gods, how could this be..." 

He looked at her again sharply when she gravely pointed out that a son of Jupiter, having been kidnapped from early in his life, was serious.  Geoff stared at her for a moment before registering what she meant.  "Yes," he said softly.  "Yes, that does sound fishy.  Now that we know he is a son of Jupiter, I know that he wasn't kidnapped out of plain mortal reasons.  It might be so, but there's also the possibility that...well, it involves mythology, too." 

"We'll look at every aspect once we get confirmation, Magister." She said with a reassuring nod. The situation was important and one that needed to be dealt with immediately. "I've already set up a meeting with the Commander to get permission to move forward. What I need from you now is to look in to who would accompany you on the quest to retrieve him, should it require one. If you don't wish to go yourself, my people can handle it. We can also assist if you want." Organizing these things took a considerable amount of Melanie's time, but it helped to get people safely to and from the island.

Geoff was so confused.  Naturally, he would be when he just learned that Thomas was a demigod, like him, and the son of the king of the heavens.  Had Thomas been kidnapped for reasons that didn't just involve regular mortal people, or maybe it was just a plain old kidnapping case in the human world? Whatever the case, Melanie was going to  figure it out.

His only task, now, was to decide who to take with him on the quest to seek Thomas if a quest was required.  Geoff realized that his task wasn't half as hard as hers.  Well, this was her job, but still, he felt gratitude and some guilt for burdening her with a task that was supposed to be his.  He still viewed it as mainly his problem and Geoff had a bad habit of feeling guilty when, in truth, he should be more carefree.

"Oh, no, that's fine, I would be more than willing to go on the quest myself.  I was the one who wanted it to happen, after all," Geoff said quickly.  He extended his hand toward Melanie's hand and just took her hand in his, giving it a squeeze.  "Thank you so much, Agent Thorn.  You've been a great help.  I can't express my gratitude enough, and I'm afraid I won't ever be able to."

"I've been in your shoes Magister. Once upon a time, I had a little brother myself. Granted he was lost at camp rather than as an infant, but the pain of not knowing is one that we should all bear together." Melanie was more than happy to help, especially if this could be that once in a blue moon whenever they actually succeeded in bringing a lost one home. His handshake was sincere, something she almost hadn't been expecting for some reason.

"I've already set the meeting with the Commander for an hour from now. I would try to get as many of your affairs in order before then. If he authorizes the missions, we may be able to leave as soon as tonight." She would never get used to the sinking feeling that came from taking an under trained person into the field, but this was a case where she wouldn't have much of a choice. Siblings never gave up, no matter what.

The story of Melanie's brother was nothing rare.  It occurred all to often with demigods, especially after that awful attack, but it was still sad nonetheless.  "I'm very sorry to hear that," he said sincerely when she spoke of her brother.

He nodded to what she said next.  "I will," he said when she told him to get as many of his affairs done as possible.  "And I believe that just you and I going on this mission will be enough."  He didn't really see the need to haul along a ton of people.  The resourceful agent and the decently fighting and fast son of Mercury should do.

"Agreed. We'll leave as soon as I can get clearance, but that may take a while. Just be ready and I'll let you know as soon as I do." Standing to leave, Melanie nodded politely towards the Magister and waited to see if he had anything else to discuss with her. She had a long day of paperwork and prep to get done, especially if they wanted this quest to take off any time soon.

Geoff nodded.  He supposed that they had said all that there need to be said.  "I'll go back to my work now, and I'll let you go back to your own business, too.  Once again, I thank you for your help."  He smiled and nodded in return, told his secretary to escort her out and accommodate the agent in anyway that she could, and then went back to looking at whatever he had been working on before.