agent cadmus

Desmond had never been on such a botched mission like this one, especially when a large number of Pantheon agents had been involved. He’d been deep into the cave with several Hermes agents, pondering over the puzzle that was only leading to a potential doom for him and many others. One of his biggest pet peeves was not only being deceived, but allowing himself to fall for such deception. Unlike many of the agents that had been able to escape the cave without major obstacles, he’d been one of the unlucky ones that had been lost in a lot of the chaos. As rocks flew, fires spread, and fumes were being inhaled and obscuring visions - Desmond was completely overwhelmed with shock. Being the quick thinker often meant snapping yourself out of whatever trance you’re in, allowing your brain power and survival instincts to kick in and save not only himself but as many people and important things as he could. When Desmond’s mind cleared amid all the chaos, the toxic fumes and cave filling with smoke caused his asthma to send him into a coughing fritz. Des fell to the ground, his hands slamming against the warm rocks as he attempted to allow his air ways to somewhat get whatever air it could. Rocks started to fall at an even faster rate as the flames were getting out of control. He could see others running away, and he pleaded with whatever breaths he could muster for assistance.  In the smokey field he could see someone look towards him, almost as if they planned to intervene. Desmond managed to get out a few more cries for help, and soon noticed the person start to run the other direction. Every curse word he could think of ran through his mind. Desmond knew how long he could make it before he passed out, which wasn’t much of a time frame. Adrenaline managed to kick in, and Desmond pulled a sweatrag that had been inside of his pocket. He wrapped it around his nose and mouth, pulling his reading/computer glasses from the side of his backpack to prevent as much smoke and debris from getting into his eyes. In a matter of seconds, he started moving as fast as he could towards the direction of the person who had decided to abandon him. Desmond knew he recognized the agent, but had a much harder time figuring out through the chaos and the potential death looming over him. He moved in the direction for what felt like hours, as the sounds of screams, fire, and falling rock/debris filled the air around him. He couldn’t die. Not before he took down his parents, which what had always been his main goal. Desmond could feel his legs moving faster, almost as if he was kicking into high-gear auto pilot. He was going to make it. “I have to almost be th-” A sharp pain came from the top of his head, immediately causing his entire world to go dark before he felt his body hitting the cave floor. In that moment before passing out, Desmond thought it had been over. This was his death. A botched mission and being abandoned by someone he thought he could trust due to their status in the Pantheon as agents.  Or so he thought. Desmond could hear sounds around him and began to slowly recover from the blurred vision as he awoke. He had been placed up against some surface, with an oxygen bottle being manually pumped into his nostrils and mouth. Someone had to have pulled him out, and within minutes he figured out there had two agents behind him that was strong enough to drag him to safety., ones that were actively looking for people to save. He felt pain all over his body, practically unable to move his right arm without a sharp pain kicking through. Desmond had made it, but still very shaken up. Desmond was too busy catching himself up to what had just happened, not dwelling too much on the thought of an agent leaving him. “ I got this..can you please just go away.” The agents listened to him, but before leaving him, hooked Desmond up to a breathing machine similar to one given to asthmatics.  Desmond heard a familiar voice talking to him, completely still dazzed over what had happened. He knew he looked terrible, but was very happy to be alive. “ Considering I just woke up, I don’t see how I can answer your question. Thought I was going to die.” He’d been breathing heavily, still trying to release the smoke that he inhaled. Not only were his words often interrupted by coughs, but it also hurt to talk. “ You were down there when the cave collapse. Did you not hear the one of many calls for help not only from myself but potentially other agents?” His southern Indian accent tended to kick in whenever he was stressed or angry, and he knew it had to be coming out now. “ I thought I was a fucking goner and I...I don’t know it just find it hard considering how sound carries inside a compact cave that...I was just left for a moment. Someone...saw me..and..decided to just run. Who the fuck would do that in this agency?”

“ Combustion is unlikely. Unless someone has something hot enough. Anything too hot would have already burned us to a crisp. I know your name is Icarus, but let’s not do any burning right now.” He was happy he’d been able to avoid the communicative line, and was happy to be on the end of the signal booster. Des hated unnecessary noise, and seeing as how there wasn’t much to currently report he knew the line would be random conversations and the consistent reports of nothing.  He actually suggested sending in test drones into the cave but apparently that idea had been quickly shot down for whatever reason. Within a matter of seconds of hearing the flirtatious comment, Des’ entire mind turned completely to static. “D-did you say handsome?” The words fell right out of his mouth, throwing him completely off guard. There were hardly times when people said something like that to him, and even then, it wasn’t a very common occurrence. Immediately his face started to feel a little warm, his shoulders slightly tensing up. “Y-yeah..crawling through sewers w-wasn’t the best.” Des’ eyes fell back to his tablet, giving him something to look to move on from his reaction. “ So your worst experience isn’t the omnipresent threat of danger, the potential dangerous, or the crazy encounters - but the distasteful food from an upscale diner.”  He chuckled as he did before, “You’re..interesting, Icar- West.” Des had rarely met agents that he wasn’t able to read right away,, as newer agents were more than often easier to spot. West’s worst experience wasn’t potentially dying but a bad case of a potential stomach virus.  He followed along with West’s words, choosing to be distracted by his IPad as they waited for other agents to begin filing in. A few other Hermes agents had gathered around him, sharing information that Des had been listening to but not participating in the discussion as he had nothing to add. Once they had been given the order to proceed, he quickly began looking around once more. “ Hey..” Many agents had probably started to realize what could be seen up ahead, and Des had chosen to stick around Des while lights from the agents started to illuminate the dark cavern in front of them. “That’s..not on any of the logged maps is it? The passage doesn’t look as if it was meant to be discovered.” With out hesitation, Des took a picture with his tablet while the light had been great - comparing the other images to other passageways within his photo folders. “ Yeah..if we are going by other weird hidden passage ways around the globe this is very similar to others. What’s the move here?” He asked, still having somewhat of a hard time making contact with the agent without reminding himself acting the way he did when he’d called him handsome previously.

“ Can’t say I’m enjoying this but for the sake of the greater good I’ll withhold my true opinion.” He sighed, picking up his feet to avoid the embarrassment of potentially falling or getting stuck over whatever residue had been stuck to the floors of the cave. “This isn’t the worst case of the elements with the Pantheon. We had to sneak through the sewers in England once. Rich assholes mansion on an island was connected. Let’s just say, there’s a reason the rats thrived during the plague.” His own humor had been out there, mostly due to his overall lack of a filter (he was also terrible at reading a room). “ I may look pissed all the time, but I like what we do..most of the time.” Desmond kept trying to imagine where exactly this key could be, and he knew it wouldn’t be easy ( at least not that part of the mission). Normally artifacts such as these always had some sort of symbols, paintings, carvings, etc. that let people within their cultures know where exactly to look. “This box must really be important to dwell this deep into a cave to hide a key.” He had an image of the box within his encrypted photo file folder, still amazed at the different places it’s been.”  He addressed his attention back towards West. “ Is this your most interesting mission, yet? And..do you see anything.” Again he was trying to make conversation, still deciding what were the best strings of words and statements to say. It was clear he was an expert at many things, but unfortunately, small talk was not.

“ Don’t recommend wearing a fedora.” Desmond has been on the internet long enough to know how wearing fedoras in a serious manner in the 21st century. “Went to university with a man who was obsessed with classic American films. Didn’t register well with everyone. He dropped out.” The story was always funny when others told it, mostly because Desmond usually skipped straight to the point. The story made him chuckle thinking about it - even though it was a pretty tragic story for the latter.   Desmond could tell West was a persistent person, one that could most likely walk into a room and make friends with anyone. He himself has never been that person and usually retracted to the furthest corner he could find and get invested into the digital world.  “You don’t like the agent name?” He was quite the opposite, as his new name provided him with a reminder of his new life to where it made it easier to avoid thinking about his old one. “ The agent name, I dunno, makes me feel..different?” These sort of talks weren’t his strong suite, and he tended to speak in a vague way that would leave certain people wanting further clarification. Desmond’s own parents didn’t even feel comfortable with him crying as a child and always passed him off to whichever caregiver had been around. “ But I don’t mind Des.” Peering down at the smartwatch on his arm allowed him to view his and the Pantheon’s research on what they were looking for, along with information that wasn’t confirmed but beneficial to know. “ Well. I know it’s late but welcome to the Pantheon.” There had been a tip to observe the walls of the cave, as ancient civilizations tended to love their secrets paths, openings, and passageways. As he sped read through pages of information to allow his mind to be refreshed, he thought about his rookie days in the Pantheon. It took months for him to get adjusted to the team, mostly because he’d been a man of few words. His eyes kept darting between his watch, the cave, and West. In another life he imagined himself being the confident, brave, and outgoing man that the other agent had been. Was he slightly attracted to West or just admired him? There was no denying he was handsome, but he tended to push these thoughts down rather than distracting him (and though he would never admit it, but his parents ‘refused’ to let him date until he was out of their home. Desmond figured it was because they would have much rather him date a woman, but even then, he was terrible at expressing these things. He walked a little behind West, shining his flashlight in a variety of directions while watching for any potential threats. “It smells like absolute shit down here.” Desmond hated strong scents due to his allergies and overall distaste of grotesque smells. “ Missions where we don’t have to move through miles of stench are my favorite. Much prefer places with more modern amenities.” His keen eyes were able to multi-task from the digital world to the real world, but that wouldn’t stop him from complaning.  Desmond figured that if West was trying to be somewhat social, maybe he could at least put in some effort. “So..have you enjoyed the Pantheon? I’m sure there’s been other upsides besides hours of cave surveying. I think they call people that explore caves a spelunker. That is resume worthy.”

He looked around as they prepared to finally venture into the cave, turning on the bright flashlight that could be recharged by one of his many battery packs. Desmond at times felt as if he was a walking computer and technology lab, which didn’t at all bother him. “I feel like I’m in Tomb Raider.” The man muttered to himself, his mind for some reason always comparing things to video games or ‘nerd things’ as a member of his crew would call it.  Desmond stood still for a few moments, looking at the extended hand of the agent. Desmond wasn’t the best at introductions, and honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if many agents didn’t know his actual name because he just went by  Agent Cadmus. There was also not many agents that could get past his so called ‘death look.’ And the more he thought about it, the more he realized he couldn’t remember the last time he shook someone’s hand. He shook West’s hands, for some reason feeling a nervous tightness in his chest.  “Desmond. Or Ag-Agent Cadmus. Guess call me whichever.  Sorry. Not used to really to casual introductions and conversations.  ” His eyes tended to be on the prize (or artifact in this case) unless he was talking about the mission or giving an order, which didn’t result in casual conversation. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, his mind and attention shifted primarily to missions. Desmond felt like he hid it very well, but the man had anxiety in many social situations. He’d never had many friends growing up or did things outside of  his education and whatever his parents threw him into.  “You haven’t been here very long I’m assuming." He sighed with another faint smile following, wondering how long until he either bored West to death or grew tired of the constant talks of artifacts and jargon pertaining to the digital world.  Desmond took a quick drink of water, his gaze turning towards the depths of the cave. “Anyways, you ready? It’s your lead. I’ll do my best to watch for things you may miss.” Most people didn’t really see how determined that the agent was when working on missions because of his often neutral expression on his face, but he felt as if he was more determined than a lot of the other agents. His work ethic, research, and commitment to the job proved it but had been overshadowed by the perception of others due to his more serious demeanor. 

Desmond had the fine ability of tuning others out, as that came with the years and years of often working in environments where the decibel level was higher than he wanted (where he preferred no sound at all). His focus and concentration was difficult to break, but he would still rather not have them even being tested. When he agreed to work for the Pantheon he had imagined there’d be bigger emphasis on mission focus rather than small talks and friendships. Even with his own team he wasn’t nearly as close with them as one would expect a crew to be. His experience with technology and cybersecurity was top notch, and the pressure he often placed on himself was well-hidden among his thoughts. One small mistake or error could not only mean death but a complete breach of their mission, data, and information. Desmond often desired silence because one moment of distraction could fall entirely on him.  People were aware of Desmond’s usual serious nature, often knowing what he was thinking solely from the glare he’d give others. There had been times when the agents were a little too loud, and a quick glare resulted in a smart and hurried hush from one of the agents who all seemed to glance at him from time to time. He wasn’t known for being the most talkative or approachable, but many agents were aware of his remarkable skillset. Desmond was constantly checking and rechecking the secure communications line, setting up a signal jammer through an audio frequency to prevent any form of external or internal breaching from outside sources. People didn’t realize that stations could easily be listened to if a person reaches the right channel or frequency. Once he realized the line was 100% secure, he rubbed away the sweat on his forehead. When he heard the agent next to him speak, his eyes immediately widened. He’d forgotten to connect the signal booster - and it was clear by the look on his face. Without saying a word, he quickly plugged in a white signal booster that was small, but was one of the most advanced signal boosters money could buy. When your parents own a major cybersecurity and information systems company, you knew how far technology could truly go no matter the size. “Good call.” Desmond plugged the booster into the laptop that connected the comms links. The booster was often utilized by many space programs to communicate with their astronauts. “ This is exactly why I really need to start making checklist.” Desmond said to himself, rubbing at the sides of his temples. “Thanks.” Desmond nodded with gratitude, not really knowing what else to say in the moment. He was terrible with casual conversation and usually relied on topics mainly focusing on the mission. He’d been able to put himself in the zone, but outside of that, he was just an socially awkward tech geek who spent more time around computers and codes than people. He hadn’t known much about the other agent, but clearly, he was more of a talker than Desmond. “ Let me ask, did you actually know the booster wasn’t connected because...most people usually don’t catch that.” The other agent probably heard more words spoken in that sentence than he’s heard Desmond speak as long as he’s known him. “ or just trying to make conversation?”