It had been a full week now since her last mission. And during that week she of course couldn't go outside. That was fine for now though. Elisabeth had all the comforts she needed in the secret facility. All to keep little old her, and whatever she dealt with, locked away. A Victorian style she was comfortable with, combined with some modern luxuries. Like a television set, audio set, central heating, adjustable lights, and a mini bar. Though she only had these luxuries because the humans knew that if she really wanted, she could escape. So they kept her comfortable to keep her more compliant. A decent arrangement for both sides.

The vampiress had not been informed of her new 'partner' arriving tonight, so she was doing what she was usually doing after she woke up. Taking a very long bath in a Japanese styled onsen. Up to two hours at times. Some classical music was softly playing in the background.

Suddenly the intercom sounded. She would have visitors in ten minutes, and had to get ready. With a soft growl the woman got up, glaring at the small speaker. "This better be about me getting a special breakfast..." She spoke, walking to the closet to get herself a towel. Ten minutes later, and Elizabeth was sitting in the living room in a Victorian dress. Still angry with whatever was so important to disturb her bath, but also a little bit curious. As maybe it was a new mission. After all, it had been a week since she had been outside.

Gerry was confused. He wasn't normally the sort of man to be confused, so this was a strange experience for him. Being the sort of person capable of both meticulous planning and off-the-cuff improvisation, he was usually ready for anything. That did not appear to be the case in this instance, however. Even after a lifetime of training, and four tours in the middle east, Gerald Thompson had no idea what was going on. The confusion was getting to him, and he began going through various nervous ticks as he waited. No one had told him anything, and he hadn't been able to find out anything. All he was told, was "new assignment". The operative eventually broke down, and found himself an over-stuffed leather chair. He pulled the nice glass coffee table over and drew his weapon. He was still carrying the M9 he had been issued for his deployments to the middle east. He had been considering the switch to a Sig Sauer, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. For now, the Beretta served him just fine.

Given the amount of time he had waited, the man figured he had some more time, and he began detail stripping his sidearm. It was the only way to keep himself sane for the moment. The confusion running through his head was about five minutes from triggering a flashback to the last time he was confused. He pushed that thought away, though, no need to bring it closer. Gerry focused on laying out all the pieces in the proper order. Every one of them was spotless and all the moving parts were lightly oiled. It was a beautiful machine, and he'd never had it function any way but flawlessly, thanks to a meticulous maintenance routine.

Just as he set out the last piece, someone finally showed up. "What the fuck?" whoever was taking him to the next waiting area obviously wasn't a field type. Gerry looked up and smiled.

"Machines are beautiful, aren't they?" he asked, beginning the process of putting it back together. It took no time at all, and the operator was ready to go, no sign that he had ever been there.

"Sorry about the wait. The only person actually qualified to take you where you're going was in a briefing." explained the agent leading the way.

"I'm not surprised." was Gerry's reply. "Did my clearance go through?" he then asked, figuring it was probably related to that.

"Couldn't tell you." the agent responded. Gerald sighed. They finished the trip in silence, with the agent leaving Gerry outside an office. The glass was all frosted and he couldn't see in, but that was normal. What wasn't normal, was the number of security doors they had to get through to make it here. He hadn't counted the number of steel entry doors, either. That was interesting. But most interesting of all, had to be the elevator ride. It hadn't been very fun, after a silent and rather lethal bout of flatulence on his part, but most notably, it had been a lot longer than he thought it should have been. Then, the office door opened, and Gerry glanced past to realize what he had suspected. They hadn't gone up. They had gone down. The sensation had definitely felt weird, considering the button the agent leading the way had pressed. And now he was starting to understand. Whatever this assignment was, it was going to be important.

"Agent Thompson? Nice to meet you. I'm the Operations Director down here." Gerry shook the man's hand and smiled, noting that he hadn't actually given a name. And he didn't see a nameplate on his desk either. This was a secretive place. "Come on in, I've got some things to go over."

"If it's more paperwork I'm going to throw something." Gerry threatened. "I didn't ask for this assignment, I don't see why I should need all these goddamn forms." he took a seat without being invited, and stared the man across from him in the eyes, daring him to pull out a form, or even something to read.

"It's not paperwork. It's facts." promised the director. "Your new clearance is good." he handed over an envelope. "You'll want to report to the quartermaster soon, they've got some things for you." the man behind the desk added. "And now, on to your assignment. Someone has evaluated your performance in the field very recently, and we're re-tasking you to force protection. This time, however, we feel you'll do better in our specialist division..." the director trailed off, and Gerald took a moment to open the envelope and swap out his new security tag. "You know what, why don't I just take you to meet your new partner, your file says you like to jump right in."

"I haven't jumped in too long. Lead the way." Gerry responded calmly, his right hand hooking into his belt as they got up. The operations director turned around and opened a door in the back of his office. It lead to a rather comfortable looking room, obviously designed for more social functions. There were massive bookcases lining the walls, and several couches arranged in a kind of circle. The kind of place old people might gather with some friends to drink and tell stories all night.

"Welcome to the rabbit hole, Gerry." the man said, and he pulled a book from one of the shelves that lined the wall. The whole wall rotated backward on the opposite corner, revealing another door. The operator raised an eyebrow and followed the director's lead. They walked through that door into a rather fancy hallway.

"This is fucked. Is this what taxpayers are paying for?" Gerry asked, more confused now, and wondering why the hell this even existed. They stopped at the door at the end of the hall, while the man in charge paused to knock.

"Get ready to meet your new partner." he said, having ignored the operator's question. Gerry was half-tempted to draw his sidearm just in case. He was a spook, and this place had "get the fuck out" written all over it...

"You may enter." Elizabeth spoke. And a moment later the door opened. At the same time as he opened the door, the director took something out of his pocket. A small device with two buttons on it. One was green and the other was red. He stepped inside first, looking rather serious as he did.

Elizabeth's interest only showed when Gerry walked in though. A slight grin appeared on her lips as she stood, her blood red eyes staring at the man like a predator would it's prey. "My my...is it my birthday by any chance? I didn't think you'd ever let me have such a...tasty looking present." She spoke. Then suddenly with unnatural speed she moved towards him, stopping just she was standing in front of him. The furniture hadn't proven much of a hindrance it seemed. Though the woman was smart enough to not attack unless told to. That device the director was carrying could put her in the kind of pain one would not want to experience twice. "Do tell me I can suck him dry~"

The director held up the button, keeping a very close eye on Elizabeth. "He isn't your food, Elizabeth. He's your new partner." The vampiress sighed disappointedly, then slowly walked back to where she had been sitting before. "Gerry, meet Elizabeth Báthory. You might have heard of her from old legends. She is currently one of two supernatural creatures working for our agency. Though the other one is stationed in another country and is far less...difficult to deal with."

That was about as 'jumping into it' as you could get. Straight to the facts of what was going on. Though as the two agents before Gerry, the director expected the man to first be in disbelief, even after what he had just experienced himself.

Gerry was still confused when they walked into a room that looked like it came out of a history book. And then there was a rather terrifying-looking woman licking her lips and going on about her birthday the moment the operator walked into the room. Then she pulled off a stunt he didn't think was possible, going from zero to a million miles an hour, and back to zero in the space of no more than twenty feet, give or take ten. He was too busy fumbling for his weapon to bother gauging distance. Most wouldn't call his desperate grab fumbling, but considering the speed with which the woman moved, it looked pretty clumsy in comparison. He didn't even bother drawing the thing as he was introduced to the woman properly. The director explained a little bit of what was going on, and Gerald took a few steps back. "You're telling me that my partner is The Bloody Lady of Csejte? You expect me to believe that crap? What the fuck is this? Buddy, I did four tours in the middle east. I've been blown up twice. Don't fuck with me. What the hell is going on here." His usual demeanor was gone, now that weird shit was happening.

He didn't even notice his sidearm appearing in his hand, it just happened. "Explain this shit." he demanded of both of them. The secrecy made it almost believable, but he knew people who would fuck with him like this, and he was tired of it. Elaborate jokes were't funny any more. Making up shit about vampires being real was just dumb. The special effects were pretty good, he had to admit, but the decor and the get-up on the lady were a bit overkill. You'd think a vampire would be smart enough to dress normally. He still wouldn't believe it though. The operator glanced back and forth, waiting for someone to tell him who had set this up and why they were doing it. "Is someone going to explain the joke? Did you not get the speech on playing jokes on me?"

Evidently they hadn't. They would have gotten their laughs in quicker, before he started freaking out. Now it was too late for that. That couldn't mean they were serious though, could it? There was no way that this woman was the same one that had murdered so many people so long ago. It sounded like crap to him. Just an excuse to dress up and fuck with the guy who had minor PTSD flair ups every once in a while. He'd give them a chance to explain themselves though, if they were going to even try. If they wouldn't, he could show himself out, and Gerry looked forward to doing just that. He didn't need this kind of weird shit in his life. Make-believe and jedi mind powers and all that crap wasn't real, especially not to someone who had gotten by on grit and guts and very real firepower for so long...

The director remained unfazed by Gerry's ranting, as his reaction was to be inspected. Though he was worried about something else. Not his or her safety, but Gerry's. The organization wasn't keeping Elizabeth locked up. They had an arrangement which made her compliant, that was all. "Gerry, for your own safety I recommend that you put the gun down--" He spoke in a serious tone. Though Elizabeth interrupted him. "Oh I don't mind. Go ahead, shoot me. It will ruin my dress, but at least I get to have quite a fine meal." The director sighed, looking Gerry straight in the eyes. "Look, I don't want to loose another officer here. As hard as it is to believe, she is the real deal. And she's only the start of what your new assignment will hold. So why don't you go into the hall and cool down before this escalates." The director was actually a pretty down to earth guy, but he was merciless when it came to his job. And if this kept up, he would have no choice but to 'discharge' Gerry from this job. Which amounted to locking the man up in these living quarters with Elizabeth and letting her do her thing. The risk of information leaking out was too great to just let him go to another government job again.

Gerry looked at the operations director like he was completely retarded, and then took a step out into the hall. This was certainly about to escalate, that was for damn sure. He didn't put the gun away, though, that wasn't happening. The operator waited for his new boss to show up and close the door, and then he gave the man a very serious look over. "You've read my file. I know you have. Why are you trying to fuck me around like this? Why do you have a secure area tricked out like some fucking victorian mansion or some shit, and why are you telling me that you've got a fucking vampire from the fucking dark ages in there?" the agent wasn't sure what to think. His boss was convinced that this shit was real, so he supposed it was his job as a good soldier to go with it, but it just seemed too fucked up.

"Actually, fuck that. Let's say you're not fucking me around. Why, the fuck, does the CIA, have a goddamn vampire on the fucking payroll? What do we need with a vampire? You've got strings all over the fucking place, you don't need a fucking monster like that. What does she even do? Rot in her fucking coffin? You don't let her do homeland security, do you? Explain some of this shit. What the fuck have I been assigned to do." politeness had gone out the window. Gerald was happy to do his job, but he couldn't do it with his boss making up shit about monsters with women playing dress-up in expensive government facilities. That, and he didn't understand what his job was. He didn't have access to this part of the building, and if what he was seeing here was real, he would be down here to fetch his partner somewhat regularly. And how the fuck was he supposed to do that? She already showed some indication that she would rather eat him. And if she was a vampire, how was he supposed to function as a team with her? This shit didn't make any fucking sense at all. Who came up with this crap? It sounded like a bad movie.

Gerry pushed himself into his operations mindset despite all the bullshit. He could do his job, he didn't have to believe this crap. He'd listen to what the boss man had to say, and he'd go back to doing paperwork and research while he waited for another deployment...

At least no one was dead yet. That was a better start than when they first decided to try out putting Elizabeth to work for them. Outside the director motioned towards the other end of the hallway, close to the door. "I will explain everything, but let's first go somewhere a little more private." He spoke. Even most people working in the supernatural division didn't know the full story behind it all. Most had no clue how they had obtained someone like her. Inside, the man sat down behind his desk, grabbing a file and pushing it to the other end of the desk.

"I'll start at the beginning. Enclosed are some documents detailing how Elizabeth was found. But the gist of it is that it was an archaeologist. The poor man thought he had found the true secret resting place of the infamous bloody lady and would be famous. What he didn't know was that Elizabeth was still alive. Our organization already existed for a century or so by then, so it was easy to secure the square mile surrounding the tomb. However when we entered the tomb to subdue her, it turned into a bloodbath. Normal bullets took far too long to severely injure her, and she had a soldier with her. More on him later, by the way. We finally managed to hurt her enough that she had to retreat into her coffin. But by then eight agents had already been killed. In the years that followed we tried to find a way to permanently destroy her, but found none. So instead we locked her up as best as we could. Yet even that she managed to escape from. This was just before I got this job. And it was up to me to find a solution. Though receiving a lot of flak from the few higher-ups that know about her, I tried for a different approach. Making a deal with the devil, sort of speaking. She was like an unstoppable force, but could still be reasoned with. And since she had lot all of her possessions I offered her a comfortable life where she would get everything she needed. In return, Elizabeth works for us. As for the man I mentioned. We now know he is her familiar and that his name is Colton Beckett. Whenever she calls for him, he will be there. Even if it seems impossible. He comes wearing either medieval armor and a sword, or a suit similar to what I'm wearing. I'd like to tell you more about him, but that's about all we know as well. He's reliable though."

"Lastly," The man started, taking the device with two buttons on it out of his pocket again. "This is a safety measure. There is a small device planted into her neck, which can release silver nitrate into her bloodstream. The green button gives her a 'warning' dose, the red button a dose that could be compared to sticking needles all over your body. However this is not a device to be abused. It can't kill her, and one of the arrangements we had to make with her is that if someone specifically intends to harm her, she can do with them whatever she wants. Which usually amounts to her sucking them dry."

The director then took another file from one of his drawers and laid that out on the table as well. "As for your new job, you're teamed up with the bloody lady for a reason. One, our agents have determined that you are qualified to deal with someone like her. And two, we can't let her go out alone for obvious reasons. The new job will consist of dealing with the supernatural. Mostly hostile supernatural beings. Which is also a reason why we have her. Humans can handle the supernatural with the right equipment, since she started working for us the number of agents we lose has gone down by about 70%, since she seemingly can't die." The man took a deep breath and looked at Gerry for a few moments, wondering if any of this made sense. And if so, if he believed anything of what was being said. "You can read more details in the files, but that's the short explanation of what is going on here, and what your new assignment is."

Apparently they had to go back to the director's desk to get everything explained. Gerry went along with it for the moment. He snapped up the file when it was offered to him, and then listened intently to what he was sure was horseshit. He got the origin story, and was informed that she was pretty well unstoppable. Great. They had a deal with an unstoppable devil who could literally go rogue at any given instant. The director showed off his little remote control, apparently it was a kind of shock collar. Gerry liked how he didn't get one, in the most ironic way anyone could like something. But he pushed that thought aside when it was time to snatch up the next file.

He listened while he collected the papers, learning that apparently he was one of the few qualified to operate across from her, but how someone qualified for that, he didn't know. Being on all those force-protection operations probably helped. But he didn't strike him as the man for the job. Then the actual assignment was explained. "So what? I go fight zombies and werewolves and shit? You know you sound retarded, right? No offense, sir, but I'm having a hard time believing any of this shit. You've read my file. Kit me up, send me out. I'll believe it when it tries to kill me." the operator chuckled. He didn't expect it to happen, but he was almost hoping it might. If the United States of America really needed defending from the supernatural, he supposed he was down, but he would need some kind of proof. He would probably need to watch a horde of zombies eat some poor bastard, and then have that fucker get up and try to eat him before any of it became real. Or something like that. Maybe it would never be real. But he had a handle on himself now, and Gerald was feeling a bit more confident.

"All right, let's try this again." he decided, standing up and holstering his sidearm. If the woman really was a vampire that would make for an interesting job. If not, she'd probably wind up dead, especially if she insisted on going on operations dressed like she was now. He waited for the director to lead the way. If he was going to go fight beside this woman, he wanted to know where her head was at. Like any job that involved life and death, he couldn't work with people if their head was in the wrong place. There was a reason some of the new guys never came back, especially on his jobs...

Elizabeth sighed as the man stormed out. "Newbies...so predictable." She spoke amusedly. A moment later the woman stood up, deciding she wanted a drink. Medical blood was like tap water compared to a 300 dollar bottle of wine when drank straight from the body. But at least it was something to drink, compared to just the occasional criminal they needed to get rid of. She was already sitting again, tea cup filled with blood in hand, as the two decided to return. No gun in the new guy's hand this time, which was a bit of a shame.

"And here I was hoping he would return with his gun in his hand." She mused with a grin. Sure, most of what she was saying was indeed true. But she was smart enough to not let this one guy endanger her decently comfortable life. Her 'outburst' from before was more her way of a joke. To 'tease' the new agent a little. As, if she did anything more that annoying device in her neck would cause her pain again. "Care to join me for a drink this time, or are we going to throw another tantrum and storm out the room?" She was still teasing. Mostly because it was fun to 'tease' people that weren't accustomed to the supernatural yet.

Gerry chuckled when the woman who might have been a vampire joked about his tantrum, "You're a sick fuck, you know that?" he replied, shaking his head, "I don't drink." he added when she invited him to join her. Drinking altered the mind, resulted in a state that could not be called operational readiness. It didn't help that he'd been sober for a year now, after a battle with alcoholism. The Taliban could do that sort of thing to a person. And times like these were tempting, but the operator refused to give in. His determination was what made him so good, he wasn't going to lose everything over something that would not calm his nerves anyway.

"Nice to meet you Liz." Gerry added after a moment, "You can call me Gerry. You don't look too high-speed, but I suppose if you're still alive, you can't be too bad." he smirked and took a seat, holding out his hand for his new partner to shake. If she ripped his arm off, he'd pump her full of lead so fast he wouldn't be too worried about repercussions. Even off-hand Gerald was convinced he was the very best. He gave the director a moment to clear out, figuring the man didn't need to hear the results of this interview, and if he did, well, the man had to understand. Field agents tended not to fuck around, and this sort of thing was important.

"So... Let's say... We're on a mission, and someone gets lit up. This person, they're like... The objective, let's say. But we lit them up, and now they're dead. What's your next move..." Gerry raised an eyebrow, interested to see what the vampire had to say. He was ready to walk away if she said anything about calling it in, and hoping she'd say something, anything, that wasn't that. While the director probably wouldn't be impressed if he was listening to all this, that man had to understand better that most how this sort of thing had to go. It was the team first, always...

"Whomever mentioned alcohol? I was talking about coffee or tea." Elizabeth spoke with a grin. For human standards she probably was a sick fuck. But she saw that more as a compliment than an insult. The man rambled about something to do with high speeds before holding his hand out. She didn't reach out to shake it though. A lady like her didn't shake hands. At most she would hold her hand out for him to kiss, but that was an old fashioned thing so she doubted he would do that.

After a slightly annoyed expression from him he asked about a scenario, as if to test her. And Elizabeth did see that as insulting. She had been working for this division for a good hundred years or so, yet this newbie was testing her? "Boy, I've worked for CIA for longer than you're even alive, I think I'd have an idea of how to handle myself." She spoke in a slightly annoyed tone. "If the target is dead, intentional or not, the next step is to regroup and secure safety and extraction for the team. Truthfully I'd rather return right away, but then my arrangement would be compromised. So you can rest assured that I will actually work as a team. Or to be more precise, you're ranked above me in this division, so you're the one giving the orders. After one or two trial runs of course." Humans often had to rely on the element of surprise against the supernatural. So as little time as possible should be wasted.

The director had stayed with them. Not to listen in, but because Gerry hadn't received his shock collar controller yet, for lack of better words. It would be handed to him together with the other equipment they had for him at the armory. And Elizabeth was too dangerous to not carry one with you when you were with her. "Now a question for you then, Gerry." Elizabeth spoke, taking another sip from her cup. "Say, the situation on a mission changes drastically. For instance the target is far more dangerous than expected, or the target isn't there, but something else is. What would be your next course of action?" Most newbies she had seen would go for the 'retreat to a safe location and call it in' tactic. But usually in this line of work, hesitating like that could mean death or the target getting away.

Gerry shook his head when the supposed vampire when she quipped about the beverage he was being offered. Then he shook it again when she refused to shake his hand. He was about to give up when she gave him shit for trying to find out where her head was at. She said something about securing extraction and all that jazz. "You'd call it in, wouldn't you?" he shook his head, he got the impression that this woman was a little too by-the-book for him. She claimed she could work as a team though, that would be nice. And suddenly it was apparently her turn to find out where his head was at. He shrugged and took a deep breath, answering truthfully.

"If the objective is too much, you call up your FAC, and you tell them to stack warthogs every thousand feet and line up for gun runs. Unless you've got F-18's on station. Then you get them to drop a two-thousand pound JDAM on it. Or, if you're lucky, you'll have a Spooky or two in the air, and they can just rain down hell until the target fucks off. If they aren't there, you go look for 'em. And you deal with whatever is there." he shrugged. "If it shoots at you, put fire on it until it dies or fucks off. If it fucks off, run it down. Pretty simple shit. And if someone fucks up, you don't fucking call it in..." the last sentence he uttered a little quieter. He wasn't sure if the director could hear it or not, but he didn't much care. The operator stood up and moved to leave.

"Let's go get my new kit." he suggested to the man in charge, heading for the door. Even if the director had heard what he said, even if he knew exactly what was going through his head when he said it, the man wouldn't do anything. What would he do, anyway? By-the-book was nice, but the field didn't allow for that, and sometimes, even when it did, it wasn't the right way to go. Gerry didn't like the book, anyway. Books were heavy, and in a hostile environment, heavy was bad...

"Calling it in? You really haven't been briefed about how we operate here, do you?" She spoke, chuckling softly. "It doesn't matter how we complete a mission, as long as we don't start destroying entire buildings. We don't really work with a lot of paperwork here, for obvious reasons. So even if a target unintentionally dies, it doesn't really matter."

After the man had answered her question, the director decided to chime in to give some more info. "No FAC, Warthogs or heavy explosives. We're a secret organization remember? Even we couldn't cover it up if we started pumping buildings full of lead, or dropped bombs on them. Casualties is one thing, levelling a whole block is a whole different story." Elizabeth nodded at that. "But don't worry, Gerry. You're only the new guy, it's only expected that you rely on what you're used to. Instead of a bomb, you have me though. Just as effective, far more precise." Elizabeth didn't look like it, of course, but the supernatural beings that knew of her would rather deal with Warthogs than her.

Then the director and Gerry left to get him his new gear. Which would include an earpiece, a selection of weapons he could choose from ranging from simple pistols to light machine guns, a shock collar controller, and even keys to a car. They had other things, of course, but that was the basic gear everyone would get. Elizabeth in the mean time turned on the TV. It was 7 pm, and her favourite show was on.

Gerry shrugged when he got lectured on how things worked around here. But when the director told him he didn't get an FAC, the operator looked wounded. He raised an eyebrow when Elizabeth started talking again. "Why am I partnered with the equivalent of a two thousand pound JDAM?" he demanded of the man in charge. If she was serious about that quip, he wanted out. How was he supposed to control that? It wasn't like he was needed at all. Put a headset on her and set her out. The fact that he was needed at all worried him. He shook his head, and looked like he had shaken it off. It was something to contemplate later, in the dark. For now, it seemed it was time to collect his new kit.

They got to the place, and he was given the usual sheet. He picked out what he needed, signed the form, returned it, and then whenever he went on an operation, this things would be there, waiting, magazines pre-bombed just the way he liked them. The earpiece he tried out right away, and he kept it, Gerry wasn't going to lose it, and it was the sort of thing that could be useful anytime. He pocketed the keys and controller as well, figuring those would be things to hold onto. Mostly he supposed he had to pick out weapons again. It was a fairly typical arrangement. The agent picked a sidearm, kitting out an M9 to his field specifications, and then he began looking through the extensive collection of primary weapons. They had everything military grade, from twenty-twos to fifties and anything and everything in between. He swore to himself, wondering what would be any good against the supernatural. He didn't know, he had to admit, he had no clue, so he fell back on his operational favourites. He picked through their collection of Kalashnikov rifles and selected one of those, along with the shortest of the M16 variants they had on hand. Depending on the operation, he would have to choose. And then, because he was always prepared, he picked out a pair of sub-machine guns as well. The man running the armoury gave him a look. Gerry returned it. After a moment the other man shook his head and threw his hands up in the air, admitting defeat. Some operators were clearly too prepared in his mind.

Not caring, Gerald filled out his sheet properly, adding notes to make sure they didn't screw up his set-up. The last thing he needed was to go into battle with a weapon that wasn't set up for his muscle memory. It was always workable, of course, but it wouldn't be smooth, and it wouldn't be pleasant. Operations that didn't go smoothly got on the evening news. He pushed the sheet through the slot with a smile, nodding to the man who had to deal with all this crap, before turning to leave. It was almost eight, and he was stressed out from all the weird shit, he needed a drink...

(Damn, 4 days already...)

The director smirked, shaking his head. "First rule for this division. Don't always believe what you hear or see. I wouldn't call her just as effective as a bomb. But if she was given half an hour or so, she could kill just as many enemies and be unharmed again the next day. Your main job is to be Elizabeth's 'collar', keeping her in check when need be. Though that doesn't mean you get to just sit in a van and give her directions. The past has proven we need someone in the field directly with her. I never said this job isn't dangerous, but you are currently the only man we know of that is qualified to deal with her and this job." The two left soon after, going to the armoury. On their way there though, a very peculiar person walked by in the direction of Elizabeth's living quarters. He was wearing medieval-looking armour and a sword, of all things. Though he didn't say a word and kept on walking to his destination.

After Gerry had everything set at the armoury there was nothing left to be done today. Tomorrow though, they would already be sent on a first assignment. "Tomorrow will be your first assignment." The director started as they walked through the door. "I assigned you a small office which has all the basic office supplies. You can use it however you want. Paperwork isn't an issue, but it is a good place to review case files or the like. I've left a case file for tomorrow, and a file on Elizabeth there for you. Read it when you feel like it, as long as it's done before tomorrow evening, 7 pm. Which reminds me, because of Elizabeth all your missions will be in the evening or night, so try not to be too tired tomorrow."

((you're lucky I'm patient :P))

Gerry just about flipped when he discovered his first assignment was the next day. Or night, rather. First they tell him he's just an over-qualified, glorified dog-collar for the supernatural equivalent of a two thousand pound JDAM, and now they tell him that he gets to start work the next night. Without even knowing his new partner. He had no real idea where her head was at. It seemed pretty clear that no one around here would rat on anyone else, which he liked, but he couldn't get into the headspace, not just yet. The operator decided to pay his new office a visit. He had time, he supposed. And after being informed that he had more crap to read, he at least needed to grab that stuff. So he took a wander over to his new workspace and grabbed anything in there that looked like it needed reading. You never could tell when something might come in handy. Then he sighed and shook his head, looking forward to getting home.

"Fuck my partner, fuck my boss, and fuck this place. I'm going home." he declared to no one in particular. He was done with this building until tomorrow evening at 1900, which had to be the time he'd get his briefing. He had to have the papers read by then, at least, and he wasn't going to show up if he had a night operation, so the agent assumed that showing up then with everything in order would be acceptable. And if it wasn't acceptable, he supposed someone would call him and get him to show up. And if they didn't, well, he'd show up when he did, and someone could shit on him for it later. He knew they wouldn't do it before the operation. With that, he started to find his way out of the maze of a building. This new floor was terrible, in his opinion. It was much nicer working somewhere where he didn't need a hundred secret codes to go to the bathroom. But that was life, and he was in his car headed home soon enough.

"Holy shit, bud..." he said to himself, shaking his head and chuckling. "Fuck those guys. I don't believe any of that bullshit. I guess it's my job though... Fucking shitty..." he would hold tight to his beliefs even as he accepted what he was being told. Until these supernatural beings that claimed to be real actually showed up, he didn't plan on believing in any of them. He believed in real things, like people, hard work, determination, and strength. Not made-up fairy that were supposed to also be super weapons. "You know you've spent too long as a spook when..." he chuckled to himself as he pulled into his driveway. It looked like it was going to be a long night of reading...

The files Sarpedon had picked up were indeed the correct ones, as his small office didn't really have any other files yet. Though both were also pretty thin. Elizabeth's file only gave basic information though. As even the organization didn't know a lot about her. Apart from her photo and name and such, there was also a section about what she could do. There was the usual. Better senses, faster and stronger than a human. Capable of regeneration most wounds within a day or two. Her nails were more like claws. But also things that differed depending on what fiction had told you. She could walk on walls and ceilings, had a suggestive ability to 'charm' humans, and even had a familiar. The page after that was one about said familiar. It had a photo of the man clad in medieval gear that had walked by them earlier. Though there was even less information about this guy than about Elizabeth. Just that he was seemingly unkillable as well, that he could seemingly 'appear' anywhere, even if they locked him inside somewhere, and that he was never far away from his mistress. His name was posted at the top of the page.

The file about the case they would be doing the next day, but there still wasn't a lot to read through. The mission was about arresting a dozen or so researchers and finding leads on who they were working for. According to the file they were currently researching 'portals'. According to the information so far, these 'portals' were meant to connect to another dimension which the file called 'the void'. Though the researchers themselves didn't know about this name or what this other dimension would bring. Hence the research. However Gerry did get access to that information, of course. The last paper was about this 'void' realm. It was an 'in between' dimension, sort of speaking. A 'space' between different dimensions, not an actual dimension itself. The danger lied in trying to connect to the void directly. As a portal couldn't open in there, only pass through. So instead said portal would become unstable and connect itself to one of the other real dimensions. Possible dimensions named that it could connect to were 'spirit dimension', 'time dimension' and even 'hell' and 'heaven'. Information about these other dimensions was only referenced with file numbers though, so if Gerry wanted to know more about those he would have to ask for the files on them. Though the advise given was to bring not just normal bullets, but also blessed bullets and warpstone ones. Apparently the supernatural was still affected by bullets. Just different kinds of bullets.

Gerry wasn't too impressed by the information he was being given. He'd gotten into his house and taken all of his files to his little office corner of his bedroom. The reading had started was not promising. The files were light. It was never good when the files were light. There wasn't much in the way of specifics. Nothing said shit show like a lack of specifics. There were some details on his partner, and they were nice, but he didn't much care what she could do. The operator read it anyway, though. He figured it couldn't hurt. He didn't learn much, other than what he supposed he already knew. But he wasn't sure if you could actually know something, if it was only ever believed to be fiction. He shrugged it off, the agent wasn't worried about this crap. He cared even less about the armoured guy, he looked stupid, hopefully he didn't act it. When he finished that file, he shook his head, wondering what the hell these people were thinking. "Next their going to tell me that this has been going on for centuries." he muttered to himself. The files got tossed into his desk as he finished them, and the last one to go was the one on the mission.

It seemed simple enough. They were looking for high value targets. They were supposed to arrest them. He wasn't sure that would happen. "He said he read my file. How the fuck am I qualified for this shit?" he asked himself. Gerry could vividly remember the last time he tried to arrest someone. They had died. But he shrugged that off too. There had to be hard copies of their research, and he'd rely on that. No one would put this stuff on the internet, so there had to be filing cabinets full of stuff. That could all be collected and air-lifted out or something. Then he grimaced. They didn't get air support. He swore to himself, wondering how they would extract high-value targets without air support.

"And how the fuck are we going to get there?" still confused, he scanned the rest of the file. "Sounds like a load of shit. I bet its just a bunch of terrorists fucking about." he chuckled, they wouldn't be doing much of anything pretty quick. Then he noticed the note at the bottom of the file. He frowned. "Why don't we just make bullets out of gold or diamonds? Why the fuck is that even a thing?" he shook his head. Apparently he needed fancy bullets. Hopefully the armoury got that memo, he wasn't going to deal with it now. The operator shook his head and tossed all of the papers into a drawer. "Fuck it. I'm done." He got up and starting getting ready to go to bed. He'd deal with anything that came up, as it came up. He had sleep to catch up on...

Elizabeth, too, received a copy of the case file for the next night. She skimmed through it all and sighed, shaking her head a little. "This is child's play...though I guess it's a good way to see how the newbie handles the supernatural." She spoke out loud. Suddenly Colton stepped out from the shadows and nodded slightly. "If you say so mistress. Would you like me to hold back to test him a little more?" After thinking about it for a few seconds the vampiress nodded. "Go ahead. After all, if he can't handle sending a few rather weak creatures from the spirit world, back through the portal he won't be up for this job for very long." The file didn't say anything about such creatures, but if scientists were experimenting with dimensional portals they would also most likely have allowed a spirit or two into the human world. Even unknowingly, as some spirits could camouflage themselves quite well.

After reading through the file the woman stood and walked to the door leading outside. You'd expect it to be locked, but locked doors had never stopped her before. So there was no point. It was purely her agreement with the CIA, and not wanting to go into another 20 year hibernation to recover after having to fight them, that kept her there. She walked to the armoury, ignoring the anyone she encountered on her way, and tapped on the window. "I'm here to make a request." She spoke. The man almost dropped his cup of coffee when he heard Elizabeth's voice behind him, quickly turning around and staring at the woman. "What are you doing here?" "I just told you. I want to make a request. Instead of the regular bullets meant for Gerry, can you exchange them for rubber ones? Leave the warpstone and silver ones as is, but I get the feeling that those scientists would be rather valuable for the CIA. And Gerry is rather trigger happy." She grinned slightly, turning to leave for the door again. "Well, I don't mind either way. But this new guy interests me." "It's rare for you to show interest in any human. Why him?" The man spoke, finding it a bit suspicious. "I'm just wondering if he can grow enough to live up to his potential."

With that Elizabeth left again, heading for her quarters to take another bath, since her previous one had been interrupted about half an hour before she actually wanted to step out.

The alarm blared loudly, like an air raid siren. Gerry was out of bed in an instant, shutting the thing off. He was half-dressed by the time he made it across his bedroom, and fully dressed before he reached the kitchen that was just down a short hallway. The operator seemed to run his whole life with brutal efficiency. It explained the lack of connections, and also his keen abilities in the field. Nothing was ever switched off with this man. He got his breakfast together while he got ready to go, and despite his completely disorganized appearance, the agent was actually almost a full hour ahead of schedule. He did all of his deliberately, wanting to have time to wait before the mission started. Time to wait was good time. So the man looked like he was doing six different things very badly all at once, when in reality, he was actually running at peak efficiency, getting everything good to go with time to spare. He had taken care of just about everything beforehand, but obviously he couldn't do everything. What little he needed to do was easily done concurrently, however, and Gerry made good use of that.

In under fifteen minutes he was dressed and presentable. He had also eaten breakfast, and geared up as much as he could with what he had at home. Something that most people might take an hour or more to do. Something that most people never considered. Figuring he was good to go, the man headed out to his car. It was evening, but thanks to his adaptability, he was running like it was morning. And that was good, since he'd be on night operations for the foreseeable future. Undaunted, he headed straight for the armoury hidden deep below his office. While he didn't know how they were getting to the target, he did know that they would be doing it with weapons readied, since this was a dangerous operation. But what operation wasn't dangerous? Even the simplest exercise could go drastically wrong in an instant. Gerry didn't plan on messing around.

And indeed he didn't. The agent had his car parked and was booking it down to his new office long before he was required to be there. He figured there would probably be time allotted to getting ready, but his goal was to turn that time into waiting time. Or even move up the mission. Whatever worked for the man in charge. So he wasn't casually strolling when he arrived at the quartermaster. He ran a hand over his head, as he waited, irritably rubbing at his freshly clipped scalp. The man in charge of issuing gear showed up eventually. It was probably only a two minute wait, but that was too long for the operator. He pushed his way in and started grabbing kit off the walls. He was not here to wait around to be served. "No tracers. I'm rocking the UMP45. I want a mark three tactical vest, and the mark two chest rig. Don't fuck me around on that, I want the mark two." he was very particular about his combat gear. The soldier had clearly done this before. Someone showed up to bomb up magazines for him while he loaded up, and the man laughed when he saw what was going on. "Are you loading rubber bullets into that fucking magazine?" he asked. He shrugged on his tactical vest as he looked over the assistant's shoulder at the black rubber capped cartridges being bombed-up into his magazines. The other man didn't answer right away.

"Who told you to do that? Who's trying to get me killed? That's bullshit. Empty those and put fucking black talons in there." he stared the assistant down until the other man started to move. Then immediately regretted his decision. Black talon rounds had projectiles that were the same colour as the rubber bullets he had been trying to avoid. He shook his head and hoped no one tried to fuck him around. The agent had a mission to complete, but he was starting to wonder if he was supposed to fail. "No frag vest. We're running light on this one." he insisted, waving away someone who'd brought out hard body armour. He liked the stuff, but he wasn't worried about being shot, he was more worried about the supernatural stuff that apparently didn't even need guns. It sounded like crap, but he supposed that not having a vest would at least keep him on his toes. And it wasn't like he was completely unprotected. Gerry was always wearing a vest of some kind. And with that in mind, he loaded up his tactical vest with the various things he liked to have on him when he went hunting for high value targets. And then his chest rig showed up. He didn't have time to check the magazines. He just gritted his teeth and strapped the thing on. If someone wanted him dead, he supposed he would find out when the target got back up the first time...