KRAKEN

The other night, I asked Leo for more information regarding ARC before we met up with them. He'd already told me a bit more than I've posted on here, but I'll just summarize all of it right here. Essentially, ARC is a group which deals with the paranormal (or the "anomalous," as they call it). They generally do so through being very secretive, while simultaneously trying to help people with supernatural problems by telling them what's going on and dealing with threats as directly as they can. I imagine it's a tricky balancing act, and one that explains why they were willing to contact me (albeit under a pseudonym, of which they apparently have many) rather than just leaving me be.

According to Leo, ARC is basically trustworthy, and will dispose of the watch as safely and completely as possible. I am going to take Leo's word for it, given how much more experience with them he's had than I have.

After that, we went to the meeting spot we'd arranged with Robin, taking the box with us. It was hefty, but I didn't mind, since we were taking it there to rid ourselves of that watch, and Leo helped carry it. 

"Hey, Leo," Robin said. She was short and chubby, with red hair in a messy ponytail and three black huggie earrings in each ear, and dressed in a Duran Duran T-shirt, jean shorts, and sneakers. She turned to me. "So. You're Addie, then, yeah?"

I nodded.

"Sick."

With that, she took us to ARC headquarters and showed us to the meeting room.

"There aren't as many higher-ups as advertised, unfortunately," Robin said when we got there. "Sorry about that. We're really busy investigating something right now, and this is more of a side project, really..."
The agent, a very tall, somewhat broadly built woman in a suit, with long, dark brown hair tied back into a high ponytail, cleared her throat and turned to me. "Hey, kid. I'm Daisy Krenson. I wish I could pay you for the box, but I can't confirm that it contains what you say it does. That said, if you don't mind, we could always take it off your hands for free." 

Leo and I handed it over. I would have paid her to take the thing that impersonated my great-grandpa's watch, if I were more certain ARC could deal with it properly.

Then Daisy heard a knock at the door. She went over and asked who it was, but rather than answering, the person at the door just opened it with a crowbar.

There were two intruders. One of them was a large, scarred man who wore a dirty brown coat, while the other, much skinnier than his partner, wore glasses and a tan jacket.
 
The man in the coat drew a knife and made a cut on his arm. A bird crawled out, which I... definitely wouldn't have expected before the past few months, and flew towards Robin. She threw a knife at it, piercing it and knocking it out of the air.

"Who the hell are you, anyways?" the big guy demanded.
Robin laughed. "I'm an intern."

Meanwhile, the skinny guy was wrestling unsuccessfully with Daisy, but the big guy shoved the skinny guy away to personally slam Daisy's head into the wall. Daisy retaliated by kicking his legs out from under him.

I glanced at Leo. His eyes were wide, and he was still.

Seeing how overwhelmed Leo was, I finally asked, "What's going on here?"
"Well," Daisy said before punching the skinny guy, "We're under attack."
I looked around frantically. I had no idea what to do. I did, however, notice that the intruders had been moving towards the box, or at least trying to. At about that same time, the skinny guy recovered and dove towards the box. I tried to stop him, but once he had gotten his hands on it, he opened some sort of portal and walked through, taking the box with him. His muscular friend scrambled away from the commotion and went in behind him, adding, "KRAKEN is victorious!"

The four of us were now in varying stages of recuperation from what had just happened. Sourly, Robin said, "For once, he's right."
"...KRAKEN?" I asked.
"Yeah, they're this group of nobodies. They're basically demon-worshiping fascists with superpowers."
"Officially speaking, they're a group of servants to various anomalies who share an unknown goal and work together to accomplish it. But, uh, Robin's explanation works just as well," Daisy said. "I'm surprised they were able to either evade or incapacitate our security well enough to get in. Though we do suffer from a lack of funding, more than our Midwest pals..."
"Well," Leo said, "either way, we got totally screwed over by KRAKEN, they took the box and headed off for the Screaming Tower... what the hell just happened?"
Robin replied, "We don't know much about KRAKEN, but we know they're very bad at their job. Not anymore, it would seem."
"And now we're trying to stop them?" Leo asked.
"And they're trying to stop us."

I still have no idea what's happening, but suffice it to say that I'm as confused and horrified as you might expect from an ordinary person after that series of events. Worst of all, I have no idea what KRAKEN could possibly want with that watch.