Emma Drake, Agent 008 in "Russian Hellfire" (pt. 1)

Meet Emma Drake, Agent 008

Last weekend I started a series on how I came to the decision to use "Magnum Fury" as my system of choice for a "James Bond"/Spy-thing. It was long, and ultimately pointless, really, and I had a change of heart about it, or at least how it was to be presented, so I nuked it.

What I really want to do is just simply recap the session. If I don't keep it short and to the point my chances of finishing it are drastically reduced, so I'm going to attempt to do so. There will probably be a minimum of mechanics, if any, and the prose will hopefully be sweet and to the point. First though, I will go ahead and quickly give you 008's stats for "Magnum Fury".

Elizabeth Debicki as 008

Name: Emma Drake (Agent 008)

Style: Smooth

Career: Spy

Drive: Duty

Flaw: Attraction

Muscle: 2

Moves: 4

Brains: 2

Wits: 3

Mouth: 3

Fists: 4

Knives: 3

Guns: 4

Tools: 2

Rides: 3

Talents: Sexy, Smoldering, Stunning

And now for, the session itself...

As Emma Drake set up the sniper rifle, she thought back to M's office. The mission was assassination. The place, Moscow. The target, Russian pop star Annuska Tarasovna, who has has a hit single across Europe "Reject Your Sugar". She and 003 met "innocently" enough in his cover identity as a music journalist and began a relationship. Now 003 is dead, killed by the KGB, lured into an ambush.

Julia Volkova as Annuska Tarasnova

MI-6 believes Tarasnova is working for the KGB and set 003 up. They want her taken out in retaliation to show the Russians that they can't act with impunity. They've received information Tarasovna is to conduct a large financial transaction at Sberbank in Moscow, no doubt her payoff for the job, at which time she will be vulnerable.

The plan is to set up a sniper position across the street, stage a "protest" in front of the bank, with police called when things get disruptive, to provide cover and a distraction. In the chaos after the escape is to occur by exiting the building and leaving in a phony police car arranged to be

parked out front.

As she finishes she sees the "protest" getting rowdy below. Through the scope, she spots the target approaching. She looks nervous and scared. Suddenly two large, dark sedans roar up to the sidewalk, forcing protesters to scatter. Three men leap out of the lead sedan and grab Annuska, throwing her in.

008 comes to a quick decision as the two cars pull away from the sidewalk. Acquiring the lead sedan as it raced down the street, Drake put a powerful .300 Winchester Magnum round from the Accuracy International AWM into its engine block. Quickly working the bolt, she compensated as the car skidded and slewed, putting two more rounds into both the front and rear tire, smoothly and methodically working back to the second car, putting the last two rounds of the AWM's 5-round magazine into is engine and front tire as well.

Without pausing to see the results of her work, 008 raced down the stairwell of the building, pulling her silenced Glock-19 from its shoulder holster on the run.

As she exited the building people were running and screaming, panicked by the gunfire and screeching automobiles. Drake sprinted down the street, dodging civilians as hardmen and their captive spilled from both vehicles. The men began grabbing weapons from under the jackets, looking about wildly in all directions, trying to find the source of the shots that had taken out both cars.

008 took cover behind a parked car on her side of the street and braced on the roof as she began rapid firing. The whispering Glock worked left to right, taking out the goons from the lead vehicle, including a spectacular headshot, over the shoulder of the captive girl, to the thug behind her who tried to use her as a shield.

As she swiveled the pistol to track on the four guys from the second car they had spotted her.

Their confusion had only been momentary before they scrambled for cover themselves behind another car that had squealed to a halt diagonally in the street during all the bedlam. Before she could lock onto the next target the four men began a hailstorm of return fire, forcing Drake to duck.

As she crouched behind the car, slugs peppered the body, broke out window glass, punched into the interior. This was no good. Two of them could keep her pinned down while the other two reloaded and advanced. She had to finish this quickly.

Popping up over hood, 008 began rapid firing the pistol, targeting the gas tank. The explosion rocked the street as the fuel tank erupted, blowing the four burning scarecrows in separate directions.

Emma trotted across the street as she dropped the clip from the Glock and rammed home a fresh one. Quickly scanning the four burning figures they were quite dead. Same for the three she had gunned down from the first car. She approached the girl, who crouched stunned and terrified in the street, knocked to ground from the force of the exploding car.

Despite the fear etched into her features she was even more beautiful in person than in the file photo Drake has studied. She was glad she hadn't killed her. Perhaps the smart thing to do, the safe thing to do would be to do so now. Complete the mission and go home. Some would even say duty demanded it. But she was a Double-Oh. With that came a certain amount of autonomy. The ability to change the mission parameters as needed if she saw fit. In her eyes, duty demanded THAT as well.

Instead of playing it safe, of taking the quick and easy way out, she was going to do her duty as she saw it and follow through to the end. That was what duty demanded.

008 held out a hand to her and said in flawless Russian. "You need to come with me. It's not safe here.". She could see the doubt in Tarasnova's eyes, but she took the offered hand as Drake helped her up.

She didn't know for sure who the bad guys were. They looked and moved like KGB. In any case the mission had changed now. Instead of eliminating Tarasnova, Drake needed to find out why she had been targeted by what had appeared to be her own people.

Okay, so I guess I couldn't keep the fiction short. But I am enjoying the writing. This seems like a good place to stop, as this was also the end of my first scene and first session, so I'll post this while I start work on the next. Until next time...

Not 007, but close...