Okay. I posted a little bit, but I hope to add more. I want to include a scene which will begin to touch on 'the big picture'...Obsidian using his network of stolen information to do something really heinous.
Right now, Obsidian has primarily been doing damage control to divert Bond from his operation. I think there should be some real pay-off for the reader in not only does Bond stop Obsidian but also 'saves the day' by stopping something he's involved in that would cost lives.
So...does anyone have any ideas?\
BTW: I have no intention of Lissa dying. This would be another situation in which Obs plan is foiled. Don't ask me how she survives, though, cuz I don't know yet.
Okay. I posted a little bit, but I hope to add more. I want to include a scene which will begin to touch on 'the big picture'...Obsidian using his network of stolen information to do something really heinous.
Right now, Obsidian has primarily been doing damage control to divert Bond from his operation. I think there should be some real pay-off for the reader in not only does Bond stop Obsidian but also 'saves the day' by stopping something he's involved in that would cost lives.
So...does anyone have any ideas?\
BTW: I have no intention of Lissa dying. This would be another situation in which Obs plan is foiled. Don't ask me how she survives, though, cuz I don't know yet.
I'm still a bit confused as to who Prowess really is at this point... Is he a double-agent with intent to bring Bond down, or is he just doing this for the large sum of cash offered to him by Obsidian?
As for Lissa, I believe she can handle herself quite well! My suggestion would be that despite her being the sweet, delicate woman that Bond sees at the restaurant, she's no pushover, not by any means. We know she's a good driver... If there's ever a need for another car chase, I will happily volunteer!
Alternatively, we could have Bond take her back to headquarters, only for her to be taken by Prowess once Bond is out of sight. She could fight him off until Bond, sensing something is wrong, heads back in his Aston Martin to destroy the mole that set him up from the beginning...
However, I would suggest that before Lissa ends up dealing with Prowess, we could see some dialogue between Bond and Lissa at dinner, explaining why she ended up in Baba Yaga's slave trade. Perhaps she was taken from her parents at some point. She could explain what her fate would have been had Bond not showed up (Magnus, was it?).
These are all ideas I'm just throwing out there, no one is obligated to use them, of course. Then again, I still wish Prowess could have been an ally, but if everyone would prefer him to be one of Obsidian's goons, I have no complaints. In fact, I kind of like where the story is going--we could have a lot of fun with this.
nobody laughed at my bit about Bond's roster - I'm just wasted here, wasted....
*wanders off grumbling*
Sorry we didn't say so before, but that bit about the roster really was quite funny! Unfortunately, it seemed to have just got shuffled around in all the confusion...
My fellow Jedi, you must remember that as with what transpired on the set of LTK, the Dark Side of the Force is at work here... )
nobody laughed at my bit about Bond's roster - I'm just wasted here, wasted....
*wanders off grumbling*
Sorry we didn't say so before, but that bit about the roster really was quite funny! Unfortunately, it seemed to have just got shuffled around in all the confusion...
My fellow Jedi, you must remember that as with what transpired on the set of LTK, the Dark Side of the Force is at work here... )
I'm still a bit confused as to who Prowess really is at this point... Is he a double-agent with intent to bring Bond down, or is he just doing this for the large sum of cash offered to him by Obsidian?
As for Lissa, I believe she can handle herself quite well! My suggestion would be that despite her being the sweet, delicate woman that Bond sees at the restaurant, she's no pushover, not by any means. We know she's a good driver... If there's ever a need for another car chase, I will happily volunteer!
Alternatively, we could have Bond take her back to headquarters, only for her to be taken by Prowess once Bond is out of sight. She could fight him off until Bond, sensing something is wrong, heads back in his Aston Martin to destroy the mole that set him up from the beginning...
However, I would suggest that before Lissa ends up dealing with Prowess, we could see some dialogue between Bond and Lissa at dinner, explaining why she ended up in Baba Yaga's slave trade. Perhaps she was taken from her parents at some point. She could explain what her fate would have been had Bond not showed up (Magnus, was it?).
These are all ideas I'm just throwing out there, no one is obligated to use them, of course. Then again, I still wish Prowess could have been an ally, but if everyone would prefer him to be one of Obsidian's goons, I have no complaints. In fact, I kind of like where the story is going--we could have a lot of fun with this.
A word on character consistency:
Lissa was sold to Magnus at the age of 10 and has been working in sweatshops for the last 10-15 years. She has little experience of the world and most things are a source of wonder to her. I dont know where she learned to drive but we either need to:
I still wish Prowess could have been an ally, but if everyone would prefer him to be one of Obsidian's goons, I have no complaints. In fact, I kind of like where the story is going--we could have a lot of fun with this.
Sorry, Sly. I didn't mean to twist your character around. If we need to, we can change it. I figured Prowess was a good, established character who could have hacked into Bond's computer (my only other choice was Jari, but I felt Prowess presented more of a threat). If we need to, we can write in a whole new character, but I feel we already have a pallette of characters to work with:
Bond
Obsidian
Lissa
Daya
Cobra
Jari
Prowess
Baba Yaga
Adriana
I simply didn't see the need to add anymore
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
When I write my contribution I'm hoping to introduce a psychoanalyst called Albert Zimbardo - He is based in Washington DC but is involved in purchasing pieces of art painted by Andy Warhol -his dealing with a shady character pretending to be an art dealer in turn gets him the privileged position of Obsidian's latest therapist - all will be clearer.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Ok I'm just about to handwrite my contribution whilst eating my dinner - Then I will post tonight now the running order is back to its original. TTFN
Sounds good! I look forward to reading it. I'm not sure if I'll be able to add much more to my entry anytime soon, so perhaps someone else will be willing to follow-up on the Prowess/Lissa storyline at some point...or we can ditch it all together. I purposely wrote it to be a side-plot so it wouldn't interfere too much with the flow of ideas.
FYI: I made a slight modification to my entry. I figured with Baker dead, and MI6 onto VoxBrahma that Obsidian wouldn't want to use it anymore.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Ok I've started my contribution but haven't finished it. I will return to it tomorrow evening and finish it and then it will be back to you delicious.
I would finish it now but as I didn't get home from work until six and then there is the wife to deal with etc etc ...
The first thing Im going to do is write a plot summary of what we've got to date and then have a bit of a pow-pow with the rest of you about what needs to happen next.
I still wish Prowess could have been an ally, but if everyone would prefer him to be one of Obsidian's goons, I have no complaints. In fact, I kind of like where the story is going--we could have a lot of fun with this.
Sorry, Sly. I didn't mean to twist your character around. If we need to, we can change it. I figured Prowess was a good, established character who could have hacked into Bond's computer (my only other choice was Jari, but I felt Prowess presented more of a threat). If we need to, we can write in a whole new character, but I feel we already have a pallette of characters to work with:
Bond
Obsidian
Lissa
Daya
Cobra
Jari
Prowess
Baba Yaga
Adriana
I simply didn't see the need to add anymore
I agree on how we already have enough characters, so I can see where you're coming from. I just envisioned Prowess to be a sort of silly ally, a Jack Wade kind of character. I really didn't want him to be the mole... However, it does make sense that he would have been the one to plant the files in Bond's computer. Although I envisioned Cobra as being the culprit behind the planting of evidence, it would perhaps makes more sense if a true double-agent was behind it.
If you don't mind changing it back, that would be all right. However, if you feel that it makes more sense as it is, then it's probably better to leave it. To be honest, I originally thought he was going to be a one-off character we'd never see again. And from the looks of it, he's going to bungle the whole thing and definitely won't last long against Bond, anyway.
Lissa was sold to Magnus at the age of 10 and has been working in sweatshops for the last 10-15 years. She has little experience of the world and most things are a source of wonder to her. I dont know where she learned to drive but we either need to:
a) change her back story
b) make her abilities fit her current back story
Im OK with either as long as they make sense.
I see your point. Perhaps we can tweak her back story a bit. Maybe she attempted to escape in a car a couple times, but ended up at the mercy of Baba Yaga who didn't want her operation exposed. She could have been spared because her impressive coordination was deemed useful by Baba Yaga. She could have operated computers for Baba Yaga at one point or another.
If this is the case, perhaps we can change the sweatshop duties into technical duties. She may have been a computer operator (might be implausible--Bond's computer was just a touch screen, after all) or even an auto mechanic at one point. This would explain both her knowledge of computers and cars. Later, she was sold as a sex slave to Magnus, a very cruel fate, indeed. Bond was the one who rescued her from such a fate.
Whatever we do, I would suggest some sort of epilogue or even a suggestion at the end of the story that shows she is now on her own--a woman free to follow her own will.
By the way, I've already got a set of notes in my head about our future briefing session. Oh and scaramanga, your entry is shaping up nicely! I like the new doctor... Is this perhaps another doctor for Obsidian to permanently dismiss?
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
scaramanga, your entry is shaping up nicely! I like the new doctor... Is this perhaps another doctor for Obsidian to permanently dismiss?
I'm not sure whether he actually gets permanently dismissed -I'd like Bond to rescue him somehow and then for him to pass on vital information that may be useful when Bond is face to face with Obsidian.
anyway sorry for the delay in getting my bit added - things are really hectic at work at the mo and it is making things difficult for me to sit down and do this -but hey here I am.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Ok its in -not quite as good as I originally hoped but at least has Zimbardo on his way to Obsidian.
As I metioned before, I am writing a plot summary before I start any new material as there is a confusing number of storylines and plots at the moment. Once that's in I'll get some feedback from the group and then work out what to write next.
Please read the following and let me iknow if Ive left out anything important.
Bond travels to Urjala to track down Jonathan Carter, MI6’s Chief of Staff turned traitor and seller of British Intelligence. Bond finds Carter and his Russian girlfriend and kills them both. Before he dies Carter gives Bond three names - Mister X, Baba Yaga and The Mortar and Pestle. Bond goes to the Mortar and Pestle and meets Baba Yaga. She sends some goons after him in the car park who he defeats. He pursues Baba Yaga who drives a fast sports car. When he finally catches up with her there is a struggle and Bond is knocked out cold. He wakes up in the glassblower’s factory where he is tortured by a cruel Finn by the name of Seppo. After Baba Yaga leaves, Bond outwits Seppo and escapes into the cold night. He takes shelter in a nearby hut and meets Lissa, a sweat shop slave belonging to an evil man by the name of Magnus. Bond kills Magnus and promises to help Lissa escape. They spend the remainder of the night together and in the morning Lissa goes to Bond’s car and drives south to Helsinki. Bond crosses the lake to a hanger and uses a Cessner to fly back to England. Lissa meanwhile makes contact with an MI6 agent Jari Oksanen and together they manage to lose Baba Yaga who has been pursuing her since she left Urjala. Baba Yaga’s car hits a telegraph pole and Bond’s car self destructs. Jari takes Lissa to his home, makes contact with MI6 and discovers that Bond has made it safely back to England. Meanwhile Baba Yaga, who has survived the crash is revealed to be a much younger woman by the name of Adriana who uses the famous witch as a means of disguise. Jari, Lissa and Bond all travel to MI6 and meet with M. Carter’s activites are discussed and Tanner links him to a call centre in Delhi called VoxBrahma. Bond travels to India and makes contact with the beautiful and exotic Daya, MI6’s "man" in India. She tells him that VoxBrahma is run by an Australian by the name of Tom Baker. Bond is to meet Baker posing as a telecommunications investor called James Bryce from a company called Nutel. When they part Daya gives Bond a DVD of a Bollywood Musical called Darna Mana Hai starring Shilpa Shetty who is the spitting image of Daya.
We meet Max Obsidian aka Mister X for the first time in the middle of a hypnotherapy session with Dr Bakshi which ends abruptly when Max has a psychotic episode and beheads the other man. Max has had amnesia since the age of 15 when he witnessed the murder of his entire family, an experience that he has made him psychotic. His man servant Afrit announces that one of Max’s henchmen, a mercenary called Cobra, is waiting to see him. Max is given an update on what happened in Urjala and decides to use Bond to kill Baker who has outlived his usefulness. Cobra it turns out is Daya’s estranged brother. Max uses a threat against her life to maintain some control over Cobra. Max tells Cobra to keep an eye on Baker and kill him if he tells Bond too much. After Cobra leaves Max thinks about who he will use to remove Cobra who has also outlived his usefulnes.
Daya and Bond visit Baker and after drugging him they steal the contents of his safe and the hard drive from his computer. They interrogate Baker but just as he is about to reveal who Mister X is Baker is assassinated by Cobra.
Bond returns to the UK and is picked up at the airport by Jason Prowess, a CIA Agent. Back at MI6 headquarters an angry M shows him some top secret files found on Bond’s own computer which suggest that he has been leaking information. She throws a bundle of files at him including one which names Max Obsidian aka Mister X. This file had been modified from Bond’s own terminal and information about Max had been erased. M takes Bond into her office and explains that her earlier anger was for show because she feared that there was another mole in MI6. The corrupted files contain information on various independently wealthy men including some shipping magnates. Obsidian Snr was one of these men and he and his family were killed when he had a crisis of conscience and said no to Spectre who he had links to. M summons Q who shows Bond a highly explosive bullet which was found on Minos where Obsidian’s family was massacred, with the exception of Max Jnr. who survived. M tells Bond that he is to investigate Obsidian Jnr and also Adriana Valivova
In another part of the world Max Obsidian wakes up screaming after another nightmare about his past and is comforted by the Adriana who tells him to try to forget the past.
Back at Q Branch Q kits out Bond with an assault rifle with a jamming field that blocks scanning devices, and also contains a magnet, a door keypad decrypter and an inbuilt self-destruct. QW also gives him 5 of the same type of bullets that were used to kill Obsidian’s family.
Later that evening Special Agent Jason Prowess watches Bond and Lissa having dinner at the veeraswamy restaurant. He rings VoxBrahma and is connected to Cobra. Expecting Baker he is told that Baker is dead. Clearly Prowess is the other mole.
Prowess tells Cobra that he has a special glove that was used to extract skin cells from Bond’s hand when he picked him up from the airport. Prowess confirms that the incriminating computer files have been found by MI6 on Bond’s computer. Cobra instructs Prowess to kill Lissa after Bond has left on a mission. The skin cells and other DNA evidence will point to Bond as the murderer and his leaving the country will exacerbate his guilt. On top of this the hard drive that Bond and Daya retrieved from Baker’s computer will incriminate him further.
Meanwhile in Washington DC Dr Albert Zimbardo, an eminent psychiatrist and collector of modern art sets out from his offices to meet with a Hector Lopez who is brokering the sale of an original Andy Warhol painting. Lopez is Puerto Rican by birth and through his dealings with certain elements of the criminal underworld has managed to build a "respectable" import export business. Unknown to Albert Zimbardo Lopez is not meeting him to sell him a painting but to make him an offer he can't refuse. Three hours later a private Cessner is taking Zimbardo to a destination unknown. Albert is on his way to meet Max Obsidian who has chosen him to be his next therapist. Max may well be Zimbardo’s last patient.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Just tagged the synopsis as a spoiler so those not part of the writing team have the option not to read the synopsis - we don't want to give everything away so that nobody actually reads the final product apart from the writing team itself!
Great job, delicious! After reading your synopsis, I did find a couple inconsistencies. First of all, when Bond, Lissa, Jari and the rest have their first meeting at MI6, M claims to not know who 'Mister X' is. Yet once the files are found in Bond's computer, it seems MI6 knows that X is indeed Max Obsidian. I'll admit that I may have contributed to the inconsistency in the scene with M accusing Bond of being a traitor. It was suggested early on that MI6 should consider X and Obsidian to be two different entities until Bond finds out the truth. I would recommend making this change, since little would need to be edited to add this in, and it would close the plot hole we've made.
I don't see anything else right off the bat, except you are right that Lissa knows a bit too much about the world to believably be a sweatshop slave from birth. Again, I may have contributed to it, but she seems to be turning out a little bit like a cheesy Moore-era Bond Girl. :P
"Oh James, please help me!! ...Wait, never mind, I know kung fu!" )
Excellent job, delicious. And I too was confused as to why the 'planted' info on Bond's computer delivered such juicy dirt on Mister X, when it was most likely X's plan to hack into the computer to frame Bond.
I think Scaramanga1 is moving the story in the right direction in that we are now actually experiencing X 'doing something' other than laying around his palace. I feel this is a good opportunity to 1) reveal at least in part some of Obsidian's agenda as to the purpose of his identity theft network and 2) see Obsidian use some of his chameleon-like abilities.
Right now the only avenues of investigation for Bond are the clues found on Bond's computer (which I suspect we may have to modify a bit) and also the fact that someone murdered Baker to keep him silent. (Perhaps Daya is investigating this at this very moment).
I also feel it important to establish a role for Adriana - something to get her involved with the other characters. Obsidian has two henchmen: Adriana and Cobra. Currently, Cobra is charged with leading Bond off the scent and running interference for Obs. Perhaps a scene showing Adriana assisting with Obsidian's primary agenda would work well (remember the human-trafficking angle?) Adriana/Baba Yaga was the one running this, so maybe we need to see her get back to work.
An idea I was considering was of showing the inner workings of some of the 'smuggling centers' that Obsidian was using to create these 'moles' like Carter and Prowess: a brainwashing facility. I envisioned that there would be five of these facilities in different parts of the globe - the glass blowing facility in Urjala was the base for one of them - referred to within the operation as Crucible One through Crucible Five.
OK I have to say Im in a difficult position knowing what to write next.
One idea has occured to me which will mean modifying the scene where Bond meets Baker. During the meeting, Cobra we assume has a rifle with telescopic sights trained on Baker and presumably he can either hear the conversation or else knows how to read lips. However there is someone else in the room with Bond who is very important to Cobra - his sister Daya. What if, when she and Bond are interrogating Baker, Daya gets in the way of Cobra's line of sight or is too close to Baker for Cobra to shoot him without risking hitting her instead. Which means that Baker might reveal who Mister X is (or a clue/lead at least) before Cobra gets a clean shot off and does kill Baker. That way Bond and Daya will have a lead to Mister X. Bond could pass the clue (whatever it is) on to M and Q at MI6 but only he will figure it out later.
Currently Bond is having dinner with Lissa while being watched by Prowess who is planning to kill Lissa later on to further incriminate Bond. Does the group want Lissa to die or have a close shave? If Bond rescues Lissa from Prowess then Bond will probably end up killing or knocking Prowess out. Does the group want Prowess dead at Bond's hands?
Bond is a very experienced agent - the movie Bond would certainly know when someone was spying on him - perhaps Bond knows that Prowess is watching Lissa and him and to draw him out, takes Lissa home, says goodnight and then hangs around while Prowess breaks into Lissa's hotel room and stops him killing her.
Finally, because we need the clue that leads Bond to Mister X to be very hard for Bond to get, perhaps he gets one clue from Baker and a second clue from Prowess and together works out who Mister X is. So Bond would interrogate Prowess after subduring him in Lissa's room.
I need some feedback here before proceeding. I think I would like to write the scene where Bond realises that Prowess is spying on him and prevents him from hurting Lissa. But I'm open to suggestions.
OK I have to say Im in a difficult position knowing what to write next.
One idea has occured to me which will mean modifying the scene where Bond meets Baker. During the meeting, Cobra we assume has a rifle with telescopic sights trained on Baker and presumably he can either hear the conversation or else knows how to read lips. However there is someone else in the room with Bond who is very important to Cobra - his sister Daya. What if, when she and Bond are interrogating Baker, Daya gets in the way of Cobra's line of sight or is too close to Baker for Cobra to shoot him without risking hitting her instead. Which means that Baker might reveal who Mister X is (or a clue/lead at least) before Cobra gets a clean shot off and does kill Baker. That way Bond and Daya will have a lead to Mister X. Bond could pass the clue (whatever it is) on to M and Q at MI6 but only he will figure it out later.
This sounds like an excellent idea. This would add a very nice touch to an already great scene! Maybe we should make Baker lead Bond toward the Obsidian name instead of X. This will confuse him, since he doesn't know about 'Obsidian' at this point (or am I wrong here?). He will believe he is after two people, when they are really one. Although don't feel obligated to do this if it looks too easy for Bond.
Currently Bond is having dinner with Lissa while being watched by Prowess who is planning to kill Lissa later on to further incriminate Bond. Does the group want Lissa to die or have a close shave? If Bond rescues Lissa from Prowess then Bond will probably end up killing or knocking Prowess out. Does the group want Prowess dead at Bond's hands?
I definitely do not want to see Lissa die. Although we may want to show her more vulnerable side in this next scene. I would suggest making Prowess look rather incompetent on the job (I could see him as being a bit silly like Wint and Kidd, although not so strange :P ), thus bungling his mission, with Bond only having to knock him out in one blow. After Bond calls the Cavalry, Bond and Lissa... well, we know what Bond does with his woman after he's saved her life... :X :007)
Bond is a very experienced agent - the movie Bond would certainly know when someone was spying on him - perhaps Bond knows that Prowess is watching Lissa and him and to draw him out, takes Lissa home, says goodnight and then hangs around while Prowess breaks into Lissa's hotel room and stops him killing her.
Excellent idea. Bond would definitely be able to tell when something was up. Maybe we could have a dialogue scene with Bond and Lissa in MI6's car, while Bond notices the BMW following him. Bond knows that if he stops Prowess at the last second, it will look very incriminating for our mole...
Finally, because we need the clue that leads Bond to Mister X to be very hard for Bond to get, perhaps he gets one clue from Baker and a second clue from Prowess and together works out who Mister X is. So Bond would interrogate Prowess after subduing him in Lissa's room.
I like the idea. It adds a lot of complexity to the story. Do you think we should make the premise of "2 villains = 1 disguise master" seem just a bit obscure to the reader until Bond figures it out? That way, not only does it keep people guessing, but it's reader feel smart if they figure it out before they read it.
I need some feedback here before proceeding. I think I would like to write the scene where Bond realises that Prowess is spying on him and prevents him from hurting Lissa. But I'm open to suggestions.
Sounds great. I could see Bond looking out the window to see a familiar-looking man in dark blue BMW fumbling with binoculars and a cell phone. You know, I think the only way he could have gotten that car would be if Obsidian had given it to him, giving Bond another lead. Perhaps Bond should turn Prowess and the car over to M for investigation, in which they find more bits of juicy clues and evidence.
By the way, I'll go back and edit my entry about M accusing Bond, so that the file only shows Obsidian and not "Mr. X."
Excellent job, delicious. And I too was confused as to why the 'planted' info on Bond's computer delivered such juicy dirt on Mister X, when it was most likely X's plan to hack into the computer to frame Bond.
I think Scaramanga1 is moving the story in the right direction in that we are now actually experiencing X 'doing something' other than laying around his palace. I feel this is a good opportunity to 1) reveal at least in part some of Obsidian's agenda as to the purpose of his identity theft network and 2) see Obsidian use some of his chameleon-like abilities.
Excellent suggestion, daren. I believe you're right in that we need to start unraveling Obsidian/X's true plot.
Right now the only avenues of investigation for Bond are the clues found on Bond's computer (which I suspect we may have to modify a bit) and also the fact that someone murdered Baker to keep him silent. (Perhaps Daya is investigating this at this very moment).
Hmm... this is only a suggestion, but I think if Bond manages to stop Prowess and send him off for M to deal with first, this will give an excellent opportunity for investigation.
I also feel it important to establish a role for Adriana - something to get her involved with the other characters. Obsidian has two henchmen: Adriana and Cobra. Currently, Cobra is charged with leading Bond off the scent and running interference for Obs. Perhaps a scene showing Adriana assisting with Obsidian's primary agenda would work well (remember the human-trafficking angle?) Adriana/Baba Yaga was the one running this, so maybe we need to see her get back to work.
This is a good idea. What better way to show X's plot than by showing he and his girlfriend chatting about it, and perhaps while Adriana is in the process of making some sort of deadly device or gadget. Just in case she needs it... :v
An idea I was considering was of showing the inner workings of some of the 'smuggling centers' that Obsidian was using to create these 'moles' like Carter and Prowess: a brainwashing facility. I envisioned that there would be five of these facilities in different parts of the globe - the glass blowing facility in Urjala was the base for one of them - referred to within the operation as Crucible One through Crucible Five.
Brainwashing facilities? Sounds interesting. Although we'd need to show how Adriana does her brainwashing work here. Are the slaves given drugs to cause amnesia? Are they beaten into submission? Is the sex slave industry also X's operation, or is that just Adriana's side operation for extra cash? Maybe once Adriana believes that the slaves are no longer useful for espionage and whatnot, they are sold to the highest bidder... Although we'd have to be careful not to create a plothole, since we still don't seem to have agreed upon Lissa's background.
I just had an idea: what if Lissa was brainwashed into thinking she was a sweatshop worker, when she was actually at one time a brainwashed espionage agent for X? When Adriana saw that there was a chance Lissa could come to her senses and realize what was going on (and expose the entire operation), Adriana decided to somehow wipe her mind and sell her to be someone's private slave. This would explain her supposed background not matching her skills that seem to come out of nowhere. What do you think?
Sorry for the third post, but it all needed to be separated...
These are my modifications to the M's Office scene. This is what it looks like now. It corrects the plothole I created when I put Obsidian's alias into his MI6 file.
..."Just what the hell is that?" M demanded.
Bond opened the folder. Glancing over the papers, he saw files labeled "Operation Fairy's Wing," "Operation Seventh-Heaven" and "Operation Hawkeye," among other operations that Bond knew nothing about. There were also files on several persons Bond also knew nothing about: persons with names such as Yoshinori Tanaka, David Fox and a certain person named Max Obsidian. When looking at Obsidian's file, Bond had a feeling it was very closely related to what was going on, but he had no idea what the significance was.
"What are you talking about?" Bond asked. "What is all this?" He looked at Max Obsidian's file. It mentioned something about May 23, 1969 and something about the man's parents, but the rest had been blocked out with a black marker. Bond managed to make out through sloppy black ink that some of the original text had been replaced with a sort of cryptic gibberish. However Bond had seen messages in encrypted code before and this was not likely to be such an example. It didn't appear to be any sort of code with significance, in fact it looked like a computer glitch of some sort.
"We found those files in your computer."
"What?" Bond was shocked. "I have no idea what any of this is...
****
...M stared at the computer screen.
"And what's all this about Max Obsidian?" Bond insisted. He knew there was serious significance to this Obsidian character.
M stood up. "I've told you many times that I do not tolerate insubordination."...
Also I removed the reference to Operation Memoir, since no one seems to have any plans on using it (I can put it back if someone wants to use it). I hope this version makes more sense.
This is my modification to Golrush's scene with Baker. Golrush, can you let me know if you are Ok with this and if so it can be moved to the Novel 6 thread.
Bond nodded, and Baker swiveled his chair around 180 degrees and opened a drawer to retrieve some papers. No sooner was Baker’s back turned, Daya emptied a small plastic tube of clear liquid into Bryce’s coffee cup. He handed the papers to Bond who glanced over the first page as Baker took another noisy sip of coffee. He watched Bond reading through the second and third pages and said "As you can see, it’s all there in that document, and I trust you will feel more confident about employing our services now that you see our plan, and the. . ." Baker paused as if he had run out of breath. "the poten. . . the potential of. . . our. . ." His eyelids started falling and his face started to droop. "our plan is. . . blimey!" he groaned as he faded into unconsciousness.
"Right!" Bond said to Daya. "I guess it’s time to do your stuff."
She quickly moved over to the safe, which was tucked away behind a filing cabinet. It had a digital number keypad, with a small display above. She took the PDA from her handbag and also took out a small device which she plugged into the programming port of the safe. It connected wirelessly to the PDA and the software on the PDA was designed to very quickly try all possible combinations until it found the right one. It was very powerful software, and the PDA was a lot faster with more memory than standard models – it had been developed by Q Branch purely for this purpose.
Meanwhile Bond examined Baker’s computer. When he tried to use it, he found that it was password protected. He quickly unscrewed the cover of the computer’s tower and removed the hard drive. Q Branch would be able to retrieve the data.
After a minute the safe door was open. "That was easy." said Bond.
"It’s just a question of using the proper tool." Daya smiled. She looked as though she was rather proud of her fast work.
It took a little while to sift through the legitimate business documents, but eventually Bond opened a manila folder, and staring at him was a passport photo of Jonathan Carter. "Bingo." Bond whispered. In the folder was all of Carter’s personal information, details of his previous jobs and also copies of all the orders which were sent to him. Also in the folder were details of other MI6 agents who Bond had never seen before - Agents in Turkey, Greece, Italy and France. "This must be it, Baker was the man who had been controlling Carter." he said.
Meanwhile from a concealed position on a nearby rooftop Cobra was watching the meeting through telescopic sights. When he first saw Daya follow Bond into Baker’s office, fear washed through him in a cold flood and he took his finger off the rifle’s sensitive trigger. What was she doing there? Was she working for MI6 too or was she just a stooge? Whatever the case he had to be careful. He would never forgive himself if he accidentally shot her. The thought almost unmanned him and he closed his eyes for a moment and took a few deep breaths. It would be all right, he told himself. He could still do this. He just had to make sure that she wasn’t in his line of sight. If there was any doubt he just wouldn’t fire and Obsidian could go to hell. When Bond and Daya found the evidence that he had planted earlier he smiled to himself.
"So far, so good," he muttered to himself.
He kept on watching, waiting to see what Baker would do.
When Baker came to, he saw Bond and Daya standing, staring at him. Daya held a tiny Beretta 21 Bobcat pistol which she had concealed in her handbag. Baker looked at Bond and his eyes narrowed.
"I thought as much. You’re no investor. Who sent you?"
"I work for British Intelligence. The game’s up Baker. Or should I call you ‘Mister X’?"
"Mister X - me?"
Baker looked from Bond to Daya, back to Bond and then started laughing long and loud. When he recovered he shook his head with admiration.
"Oh he’s good, he’s really good. He wants me out of the way so he’s got your lot to do the job for him. I’ve gotta hand it to the ******* - that is sheer genius."
Bond looked speculatively at Baker and held up Carter’s photograph.
"We found this in your safe. Among other things."
Baker shrugged.
"So?"
"Do you know who he is?"
"Of course not. Wake up you bloody drongo! It was planted to make you think I’m your target."
"His name was Jonathan Carter. He was selling secrets until I tracked him down and killed him."
"Not to me he wasn’t."
"Perhaps. But at the very least he was using VoxBrahma to pass the information on."
Baker shrugged and grinned.
"We’ve all gotta make a living mate."
Bond stared at him, wondering if Baker was telling the truth. Baker sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his neck.
"I reckon we’ve got something in common mate. We’ve both been set up by the same guy. It looks to me like you’ve got yourself a choice. You can kill me and think you’ve got the guy you’re after or we can find a way to do some real business."
"Go on."
Baker picked up a small black statuette, a bust of one of the Hindu deities.
"Know what this is?"
Daya leaned forward and looked closely at it. As she did so she blocked Cobra’s line of sight to Baker.
"It’s Maya, goddess of illusion."
"Right on darlin’. But do you know what it’s made of?"
"It looks like volcanic glass. Obsidian."
Baker nodded.
"Right again. Obsidian it is. Funny stuff you know. It’s a form of glass but you can’t see through it. If you cut it in one direction it appears black, but if you cut it in another it’s grey. It was used in the Stone Age to make tools and it’s so sharp that it’s still used today to make surgical blades."
Bond looked impatiently at him.
"Thanks for the geology lesson."
Don’t mention it. When you’re digging for something it’s helpful to know the difference between say gold and iron pyrite."
"You mean Fool’s Gold?"
Baker winked and grinned.
"Absolutely. Now then, unless the pair of you are still going to kill me I reckon you probably need to have a bit of a chat with your bosses. So why don’t you run along and do just that and give me a bell when you’re ready to deal."
Bond shook his head.
"Nothing doing Baker. You’re coming with us. Right now."
"Afraid I might dob you in, eh?"
Daya stood up and moved toward the door, keeping the gun trained on Baker as she did so. Bond stood up and motioned Baker to do likewise. Suddenly there was a sound of glass breaking as if someone had thrown a stone into a window. Bond turned and looked at the small hole in the window. He looked back at Baker, who now had a neat, red hole in his forehead above his left eye, and a thin trickle of blood ran down his cheek. Bond crouched down and moved over to the window and looked out. There were at least three or four buildings from which the shot could have come. It was a sniper’s paradise out there – there was virtually no way of telling which of the forty windows had been used.
"Let’s get out of here, quickly." Bond said to Daya. They grabbed the documents and the hard drive from the computer and walked casually out of the office, said goodbye to the secretary and got into the waiting Mercedes-Benz and the chauffeur drove off.
"Well that was an interesting meeting." Daya said, looking concerned.
"I think we’ve been played for suckers this time." Bond replied. "He wasn’t Mister X – just another one of his invisible network of operators. Mister X set Baker up as a decoy so that we’d think that we had rubbed him out for good and leave."
"So it’s back to square one then." Daya shrugged.
"Not necessarily" Bond said as he looked at the hard drive. "This might contain some more reliable information."
I just had an idea: what if Lissa was brainwashed into thinking she was a sweatshop worker, when she was actually at one time a brainwashed espionage agent for X? When Adriana saw that there was a chance Lissa could come to her senses and realize what was going on (and expose the entire operation), Adriana decided to somehow wipe her mind and sell her to be someone's private slave. This would explain her supposed background not matching her skills that seem to come out of nowhere. What do you think?
I think this is a great idea.Not only does it obviously give Lissa more depth as a character,it also helps to underscore just how insidious Obsidian really is.This certainly shows us how Mr.X and his people will stop at nothing in order to meet their goals-including "erasing" the minds of those they consider threats to their existence.We should probably see this treatment in action on a character in at least one sequence within the story itself.
Comments
Right now, Obsidian has primarily been doing damage control to divert Bond from his operation. I think there should be some real pay-off for the reader in not only does Bond stop Obsidian but also 'saves the day' by stopping something he's involved in that would cost lives.
So...does anyone have any ideas?\
BTW: I have no intention of Lissa dying. This would be another situation in which Obs plan is foiled. Don't ask me how she survives, though, cuz I don't know yet.
As to Lissa's assassination attempt? Sure do. :x
*wanders off grumbling*
As for Lissa, I believe she can handle herself quite well! My suggestion would be that despite her being the sweet, delicate woman that Bond sees at the restaurant, she's no pushover, not by any means. We know she's a good driver... If there's ever a need for another car chase, I will happily volunteer!
Alternatively, we could have Bond take her back to headquarters, only for her to be taken by Prowess once Bond is out of sight. She could fight him off until Bond, sensing something is wrong, heads back in his Aston Martin to destroy the mole that set him up from the beginning...
However, I would suggest that before Lissa ends up dealing with Prowess, we could see some dialogue between Bond and Lissa at dinner, explaining why she ended up in Baba Yaga's slave trade. Perhaps she was taken from her parents at some point. She could explain what her fate would have been had Bond not showed up (Magnus, was it?).
These are all ideas I'm just throwing out there, no one is obligated to use them, of course. Then again, I still wish Prowess could have been an ally, but if everyone would prefer him to be one of Obsidian's goons, I have no complaints. In fact, I kind of like where the story is going--we could have a lot of fun with this.
Sorry we didn't say so before, but that bit about the roster really was quite funny! Unfortunately, it seemed to have just got shuffled around in all the confusion...
My fellow Jedi, you must remember that as with what transpired on the set of LTK, the Dark Side of the Force is at work here...
Ahhhhhhh....validation......B-)
A word on character consistency:
Lissa was sold to Magnus at the age of 10 and has been working in sweatshops for the last 10-15 years. She has little experience of the world and most things are a source of wonder to her. I dont know where she learned to drive but we either need to:
a) change her back story
b) make her abilities fit her current back story
Im OK with either as long as they make sense.
Sorry, Sly. I didn't mean to twist your character around. If we need to, we can change it. I figured Prowess was a good, established character who could have hacked into Bond's computer (my only other choice was Jari, but I felt Prowess presented more of a threat). If we need to, we can write in a whole new character, but I feel we already have a pallette of characters to work with:
Bond
Obsidian
Lissa
Daya
Cobra
Jari
Prowess
Baba Yaga
Adriana
I simply didn't see the need to add anymore
FYI: I made a slight modification to my entry. I figured with Baker dead, and MI6 onto VoxBrahma that Obsidian wouldn't want to use it anymore.
I would finish it now but as I didn't get home from work until six and then there is the wife to deal with etc etc ...
I agree on how we already have enough characters, so I can see where you're coming from. I just envisioned Prowess to be a sort of silly ally, a Jack Wade kind of character. I really didn't want him to be the mole... However, it does make sense that he would have been the one to plant the files in Bond's computer. Although I envisioned Cobra as being the culprit behind the planting of evidence, it would perhaps makes more sense if a true double-agent was behind it.
If you don't mind changing it back, that would be all right. However, if you feel that it makes more sense as it is, then it's probably better to leave it. To be honest, I originally thought he was going to be a one-off character we'd never see again. And from the looks of it, he's going to bungle the whole thing and definitely won't last long against Bond, anyway.
I see your point. Perhaps we can tweak her back story a bit. Maybe she attempted to escape in a car a couple times, but ended up at the mercy of Baba Yaga who didn't want her operation exposed. She could have been spared because her impressive coordination was deemed useful by Baba Yaga. She could have operated computers for Baba Yaga at one point or another.
If this is the case, perhaps we can change the sweatshop duties into technical duties. She may have been a computer operator (might be implausible--Bond's computer was just a touch screen, after all) or even an auto mechanic at one point. This would explain both her knowledge of computers and cars. Later, she was sold as a sex slave to Magnus, a very cruel fate, indeed. Bond was the one who rescued her from such a fate.
Whatever we do, I would suggest some sort of epilogue or even a suggestion at the end of the story that shows she is now on her own--a woman free to follow her own will.
By the way, I've already got a set of notes in my head about our future briefing session.
I'm not sure whether he actually gets permanently dismissed -I'd like Bond to rescue him somehow and then for him to pass on vital information that may be useful when Bond is face to face with Obsidian.
anyway sorry for the delay in getting my bit added - things are really hectic at work at the mo and it is making things difficult for me to sit down and do this -but hey here I am.
Now to continue with 007 -over to you delicious.
Memory of Death
The Past Belongs to Death
Please read the following and let me iknow if Ive left out anything important.
We meet Max Obsidian aka Mister X for the first time in the middle of a hypnotherapy session with Dr Bakshi which ends abruptly when Max has a psychotic episode and beheads the other man. Max has had amnesia since the age of 15 when he witnessed the murder of his entire family, an experience that he has made him psychotic. His man servant Afrit announces that one of Max’s henchmen, a mercenary called Cobra, is waiting to see him. Max is given an update on what happened in Urjala and decides to use Bond to kill Baker who has outlived his usefulness. Cobra it turns out is Daya’s estranged brother. Max uses a threat against her life to maintain some control over Cobra. Max tells Cobra to keep an eye on Baker and kill him if he tells Bond too much. After Cobra leaves Max thinks about who he will use to remove Cobra who has also outlived his usefulnes.
Daya and Bond visit Baker and after drugging him they steal the contents of his safe and the hard drive from his computer. They interrogate Baker but just as he is about to reveal who Mister X is Baker is assassinated by Cobra.
Bond returns to the UK and is picked up at the airport by Jason Prowess, a CIA Agent. Back at MI6 headquarters an angry M shows him some top secret files found on Bond’s own computer which suggest that he has been leaking information. She throws a bundle of files at him including one which names Max Obsidian aka Mister X. This file had been modified from Bond’s own terminal and information about Max had been erased. M takes Bond into her office and explains that her earlier anger was for show because she feared that there was another mole in MI6. The corrupted files contain information on various independently wealthy men including some shipping magnates. Obsidian Snr was one of these men and he and his family were killed when he had a crisis of conscience and said no to Spectre who he had links to. M summons Q who shows Bond a highly explosive bullet which was found on Minos where Obsidian’s family was massacred, with the exception of Max Jnr. who survived. M tells Bond that he is to investigate Obsidian Jnr and also Adriana Valivova
In another part of the world Max Obsidian wakes up screaming after another nightmare about his past and is comforted by the Adriana who tells him to try to forget the past.
Back at Q Branch Q kits out Bond with an assault rifle with a jamming field that blocks scanning devices, and also contains a magnet, a door keypad decrypter and an inbuilt self-destruct. QW also gives him 5 of the same type of bullets that were used to kill Obsidian’s family.
Later that evening Special Agent Jason Prowess watches Bond and Lissa having dinner at the veeraswamy restaurant. He rings VoxBrahma and is connected to Cobra. Expecting Baker he is told that Baker is dead. Clearly Prowess is the other mole.
Prowess tells Cobra that he has a special glove that was used to extract skin cells from Bond’s hand when he picked him up from the airport. Prowess confirms that the incriminating computer files have been found by MI6 on Bond’s computer. Cobra instructs Prowess to kill Lissa after Bond has left on a mission. The skin cells and other DNA evidence will point to Bond as the murderer and his leaving the country will exacerbate his guilt. On top of this the hard drive that Bond and Daya retrieved from Baker’s computer will incriminate him further.
Meanwhile in Washington DC Dr Albert Zimbardo, an eminent psychiatrist and collector of modern art sets out from his offices to meet with a Hector Lopez who is brokering the sale of an original Andy Warhol painting. Lopez is Puerto Rican by birth and through his dealings with certain elements of the criminal underworld has managed to build a "respectable" import export business. Unknown to Albert Zimbardo Lopez is not meeting him to sell him a painting but to make him an offer he can't refuse. Three hours later a private Cessner is taking Zimbardo to a destination unknown. Albert is on his way to meet Max Obsidian who has chosen him to be his next therapist. Max may well be Zimbardo’s last patient.
I don't see anything else right off the bat, except you are right that Lissa knows a bit too much about the world to believably be a sweatshop slave from birth. Again, I may have contributed to it, but she seems to be turning out a little bit like a cheesy Moore-era Bond Girl. :P
"Oh James, please help me!! ...Wait, never mind, I know kung fu!"
I think Scaramanga1 is moving the story in the right direction in that we are now actually experiencing X 'doing something' other than laying around his palace. I feel this is a good opportunity to 1) reveal at least in part some of Obsidian's agenda as to the purpose of his identity theft network and 2) see Obsidian use some of his chameleon-like abilities.
Right now the only avenues of investigation for Bond are the clues found on Bond's computer (which I suspect we may have to modify a bit) and also the fact that someone murdered Baker to keep him silent. (Perhaps Daya is investigating this at this very moment).
I also feel it important to establish a role for Adriana - something to get her involved with the other characters. Obsidian has two henchmen: Adriana and Cobra. Currently, Cobra is charged with leading Bond off the scent and running interference for Obs. Perhaps a scene showing Adriana assisting with Obsidian's primary agenda would work well (remember the human-trafficking angle?) Adriana/Baba Yaga was the one running this, so maybe we need to see her get back to work.
An idea I was considering was of showing the inner workings of some of the 'smuggling centers' that Obsidian was using to create these 'moles' like Carter and Prowess: a brainwashing facility. I envisioned that there would be five of these facilities in different parts of the globe - the glass blowing facility in Urjala was the base for one of them - referred to within the operation as Crucible One through Crucible Five.
One idea has occured to me which will mean modifying the scene where Bond meets Baker. During the meeting, Cobra we assume has a rifle with telescopic sights trained on Baker and presumably he can either hear the conversation or else knows how to read lips. However there is someone else in the room with Bond who is very important to Cobra - his sister Daya. What if, when she and Bond are interrogating Baker, Daya gets in the way of Cobra's line of sight or is too close to Baker for Cobra to shoot him without risking hitting her instead. Which means that Baker might reveal who Mister X is (or a clue/lead at least) before Cobra gets a clean shot off and does kill Baker. That way Bond and Daya will have a lead to Mister X. Bond could pass the clue (whatever it is) on to M and Q at MI6 but only he will figure it out later.
Currently Bond is having dinner with Lissa while being watched by Prowess who is planning to kill Lissa later on to further incriminate Bond. Does the group want Lissa to die or have a close shave? If Bond rescues Lissa from Prowess then Bond will probably end up killing or knocking Prowess out. Does the group want Prowess dead at Bond's hands?
Bond is a very experienced agent - the movie Bond would certainly know when someone was spying on him - perhaps Bond knows that Prowess is watching Lissa and him and to draw him out, takes Lissa home, says goodnight and then hangs around while Prowess breaks into Lissa's hotel room and stops him killing her.
Finally, because we need the clue that leads Bond to Mister X to be very hard for Bond to get, perhaps he gets one clue from Baker and a second clue from Prowess and together works out who Mister X is. So Bond would interrogate Prowess after subduring him in Lissa's room.
I need some feedback here before proceeding. I think I would like to write the scene where Bond realises that Prowess is spying on him and prevents him from hurting Lissa. But I'm open to suggestions.
This sounds like an excellent idea. This would add a very nice touch to an already great scene! Maybe we should make Baker lead Bond toward the Obsidian name instead of X. This will confuse him, since he doesn't know about 'Obsidian' at this point (or am I wrong here?). He will believe he is after two people, when they are really one. Although don't feel obligated to do this if it looks too easy for Bond.
I definitely do not want to see Lissa die. Although we may want to show her more vulnerable side in this next scene. I would suggest making Prowess look rather incompetent on the job (I could see him as being a bit silly like Wint and Kidd, although not so strange :P ), thus bungling his mission, with Bond only having to knock him out in one blow. After Bond calls the Cavalry, Bond and Lissa... well, we know what Bond does with his woman after he's saved her life... :X :007)
Excellent idea. Bond would definitely be able to tell when something was up. Maybe we could have a dialogue scene with Bond and Lissa in MI6's car, while Bond notices the BMW following him. Bond knows that if he stops Prowess at the last second, it will look very incriminating for our mole...
I like the idea. It adds a lot of complexity to the story. Do you think we should make the premise of "2 villains = 1 disguise master" seem just a bit obscure to the reader until Bond figures it out? That way, not only does it keep people guessing, but it's reader feel smart if they figure it out before they read it.
Sounds great. I could see Bond looking out the window to see a familiar-looking man in dark blue BMW fumbling with binoculars and a cell phone.
By the way, I'll go back and edit my entry about M accusing Bond, so that the file only shows Obsidian and not "Mr. X."
I'll be working on that shortly.
Excellent suggestion, daren. I believe you're right in that we need to start unraveling Obsidian/X's true plot.
Hmm... this is only a suggestion, but I think if Bond manages to stop Prowess and send him off for M to deal with first, this will give an excellent opportunity for investigation.
This is a good idea. What better way to show X's plot than by showing he and his girlfriend chatting about it, and perhaps while Adriana is in the process of making some sort of deadly device or gadget. Just in case she needs it... :v
Brainwashing facilities? Sounds interesting. Although we'd need to show how Adriana does her brainwashing work here. Are the slaves given drugs to cause amnesia? Are they beaten into submission? Is the sex slave industry also X's operation, or is that just Adriana's side operation for extra cash? Maybe once Adriana believes that the slaves are no longer useful for espionage and whatnot, they are sold to the highest bidder... Although we'd have to be careful not to create a plothole, since we still don't seem to have agreed upon Lissa's background.
I just had an idea: what if Lissa was brainwashed into thinking she was a sweatshop worker, when she was actually at one time a brainwashed espionage agent for X? When Adriana saw that there was a chance Lissa could come to her senses and realize what was going on (and expose the entire operation), Adriana decided to somehow wipe her mind and sell her to be someone's private slave. This would explain her supposed background not matching her skills that seem to come out of nowhere. What do you think?
These are my modifications to the M's Office scene. This is what it looks like now. It corrects the plothole I created when I put Obsidian's alias into his MI6 file.
Also I removed the reference to Operation Memoir, since no one seems to have any plans on using it (I can put it back if someone wants to use it). I hope this version makes more sense.
Bond nodded, and Baker swiveled his chair around 180 degrees and opened a drawer to retrieve some papers. No sooner was Baker’s back turned, Daya emptied a small plastic tube of clear liquid into Bryce’s coffee cup. He handed the papers to Bond who glanced over the first page as Baker took another noisy sip of coffee. He watched Bond reading through the second and third pages and said "As you can see, it’s all there in that document, and I trust you will feel more confident about employing our services now that you see our plan, and the. . ." Baker paused as if he had run out of breath. "the poten. . . the potential of. . . our. . ." His eyelids started falling and his face started to droop. "our plan is. . . blimey!" he groaned as he faded into unconsciousness.
"Right!" Bond said to Daya. "I guess it’s time to do your stuff."
She quickly moved over to the safe, which was tucked away behind a filing cabinet. It had a digital number keypad, with a small display above. She took the PDA from her handbag and also took out a small device which she plugged into the programming port of the safe. It connected wirelessly to the PDA and the software on the PDA was designed to very quickly try all possible combinations until it found the right one. It was very powerful software, and the PDA was a lot faster with more memory than standard models – it had been developed by Q Branch purely for this purpose.
Meanwhile Bond examined Baker’s computer. When he tried to use it, he found that it was password protected. He quickly unscrewed the cover of the computer’s tower and removed the hard drive. Q Branch would be able to retrieve the data.
After a minute the safe door was open. "That was easy." said Bond.
"It’s just a question of using the proper tool." Daya smiled. She looked as though she was rather proud of her fast work.
It took a little while to sift through the legitimate business documents, but eventually Bond opened a manila folder, and staring at him was a passport photo of Jonathan Carter. "Bingo." Bond whispered. In the folder was all of Carter’s personal information, details of his previous jobs and also copies of all the orders which were sent to him. Also in the folder were details of other MI6 agents who Bond had never seen before - Agents in Turkey, Greece, Italy and France. "This must be it, Baker was the man who had been controlling Carter." he said.
Meanwhile from a concealed position on a nearby rooftop Cobra was watching the meeting through telescopic sights. When he first saw Daya follow Bond into Baker’s office, fear washed through him in a cold flood and he took his finger off the rifle’s sensitive trigger. What was she doing there? Was she working for MI6 too or was she just a stooge? Whatever the case he had to be careful. He would never forgive himself if he accidentally shot her. The thought almost unmanned him and he closed his eyes for a moment and took a few deep breaths. It would be all right, he told himself. He could still do this. He just had to make sure that she wasn’t in his line of sight. If there was any doubt he just wouldn’t fire and Obsidian could go to hell. When Bond and Daya found the evidence that he had planted earlier he smiled to himself.
"So far, so good," he muttered to himself.
He kept on watching, waiting to see what Baker would do.
When Baker came to, he saw Bond and Daya standing, staring at him. Daya held a tiny Beretta 21 Bobcat pistol which she had concealed in her handbag. Baker looked at Bond and his eyes narrowed.
"I thought as much. You’re no investor. Who sent you?"
"I work for British Intelligence. The game’s up Baker. Or should I call you ‘Mister X’?"
"Mister X - me?"
Baker looked from Bond to Daya, back to Bond and then started laughing long and loud. When he recovered he shook his head with admiration.
"Oh he’s good, he’s really good. He wants me out of the way so he’s got your lot to do the job for him. I’ve gotta hand it to the ******* - that is sheer genius."
Bond looked speculatively at Baker and held up Carter’s photograph.
"We found this in your safe. Among other things."
Baker shrugged.
"So?"
"Do you know who he is?"
"Of course not. Wake up you bloody drongo! It was planted to make you think I’m your target."
"His name was Jonathan Carter. He was selling secrets until I tracked him down and killed him."
"Not to me he wasn’t."
"Perhaps. But at the very least he was using VoxBrahma to pass the information on."
Baker shrugged and grinned.
"We’ve all gotta make a living mate."
Bond stared at him, wondering if Baker was telling the truth. Baker sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his neck.
"I reckon we’ve got something in common mate. We’ve both been set up by the same guy. It looks to me like you’ve got yourself a choice. You can kill me and think you’ve got the guy you’re after or we can find a way to do some real business."
"Go on."
Baker picked up a small black statuette, a bust of one of the Hindu deities.
"Know what this is?"
Daya leaned forward and looked closely at it. As she did so she blocked Cobra’s line of sight to Baker.
"It’s Maya, goddess of illusion."
"Right on darlin’. But do you know what it’s made of?"
"It looks like volcanic glass. Obsidian."
Baker nodded.
"Right again. Obsidian it is. Funny stuff you know. It’s a form of glass but you can’t see through it. If you cut it in one direction it appears black, but if you cut it in another it’s grey. It was used in the Stone Age to make tools and it’s so sharp that it’s still used today to make surgical blades."
Bond looked impatiently at him.
"Thanks for the geology lesson."
Don’t mention it. When you’re digging for something it’s helpful to know the difference between say gold and iron pyrite."
"You mean Fool’s Gold?"
Baker winked and grinned.
"Absolutely. Now then, unless the pair of you are still going to kill me I reckon you probably need to have a bit of a chat with your bosses. So why don’t you run along and do just that and give me a bell when you’re ready to deal."
Bond shook his head.
"Nothing doing Baker. You’re coming with us. Right now."
"Afraid I might dob you in, eh?"
Daya stood up and moved toward the door, keeping the gun trained on Baker as she did so. Bond stood up and motioned Baker to do likewise. Suddenly there was a sound of glass breaking as if someone had thrown a stone into a window. Bond turned and looked at the small hole in the window. He looked back at Baker, who now had a neat, red hole in his forehead above his left eye, and a thin trickle of blood ran down his cheek. Bond crouched down and moved over to the window and looked out. There were at least three or four buildings from which the shot could have come. It was a sniper’s paradise out there – there was virtually no way of telling which of the forty windows had been used.
"Let’s get out of here, quickly." Bond said to Daya. They grabbed the documents and the hard drive from the computer and walked casually out of the office, said goodbye to the secretary and got into the waiting Mercedes-Benz and the chauffeur drove off.
"Well that was an interesting meeting." Daya said, looking concerned.
"I think we’ve been played for suckers this time." Bond replied. "He wasn’t Mister X – just another one of his invisible network of operators. Mister X set Baker up as a decoy so that we’d think that we had rubbed him out for good and leave."
"So it’s back to square one then." Daya shrugged.
"Not necessarily" Bond said as he looked at the hard drive. "This might contain some more reliable information."
I think this is a great idea.Not only does it obviously give Lissa more depth as a character,it also helps to underscore just how insidious Obsidian really is.This certainly shows us how Mr.X and his people will stop at nothing in order to meet their goals-including "erasing" the minds of those they consider threats to their existence.We should probably see this treatment in action on a character in at least one sequence within the story itself.