Xavier immediately began running as the bullets began firing, pausing at the doorway, and turned as he yelled with a promise towards the firing pistol, and the screams of the mad man, "You're dead motherfucker! You're so fucking fucked! When I get my hands on you, even ghouls will find you ugly motherfucker!" He would have continued if not for the burst of rounds hitting the wall not four inches from him, reminding him that he was defenseless against him as he hauled ass again, ignoring the throbbing of his wrist and the burning of his chest from sobbing and screaming so much.

Now that everyone was recovered at the drop ship, everyone found that their weapons were recovered, with Bolt personally handing weapons back. "Let's get back to your base. We have some mourning to do and I'd like to meet your leader in person."

Everyone was flown as quickly to the base as possible. Center was very attentive as he debriefed. After the debriefing, a funeral service was to be held as Lazar Golubic's photo was posted on the Memorial Wall. "Today we have lost an ally and a friend in which we will call our greatest failure. As a band of soldiers, we will still press on for truth and justice for our own and those who depend on us. The being who has done this will be our target. We will follow the ends of reality to get his head on a pole! He can run from us, but he cannot hide from us! As ParaCom, we will never be too weak to find the Head of Death and PUT! HIM! DOWN! LIKE A MANGY DOG! Not even monsters, not even magic, not even might can stop us. If it bleeds...it can be killed! And now, a moment of silence as we properly cremate the body."

Lazar's remains were to be cremated. The dissected body was placed on tinder and set aflame. After the body was reduced to ash, all ashes were placed in an urn that was locked and securely tight. It was not porcelain, but tungsten carbide. Lazar Golubic was inscribed on the urn and placed on a shelf on the wall, below the photograph. All ParaCom operatives were expected to salute their fallen comrade. Center stoically showed a feeling that he failed. He vowed to never allow this to happen again. "Never again" were the final words from Center.

A funeral dinner was held with kebabs from the dead Roc. The body was cleaned and properly cooked after the autopsy and scavenging. The giant bird was indeed found to be edible. The bar and eatery hosted the funeral dinner for all operatives to partake. This was not celebration, but mourning.

Will had, solemnly, saluted to Lazar at the cremation. He couldn't even avenge his sister or brother. He died a non dignified death with dignity: Being dissected. It made Wills' heart ache, but for once, he was reminded of what Alcohol was good for. Drowning out your sorrows. He was in regular ParaCom attire as he chugged down another mug of beer and taking a bite out of the Roc kebab. All of his thoughts of it being a chicken were true: It tasted like chicken. A faint smile formed on his face, but it disappeared. 'Never again.' Yeah. Never again.

ParaCom will come. They will see. They will destroy.
If it bleeds; It can be killed. That was the ParaCom way.

Will chugged down another mug of beer.

Xavier's voice was the loudest among the pledges to avenge Lazar, and again to never again have it happen before hitting the gym, blowing off steam with the loudest punches there on his punching bag there. Nothing, he didn't do a dam thing, and because of it, Lazar was tortured for it. Eventually his blows upon the giant bag stopped some of the paracom staff, making them look at him as his body drenched entirely in sweat. His thoughts distracted him that he didn't care how much his body begged him to stop, his chest burning and tightening before he stopped after a few hours, panting before heading to the bar, stripping himself of his shirt. Underneath it, his hard body glisten with sweat, showing off what few scars he had, a line running down from chest to waist, along with other lines to show off a pre-six pack. He sat himself down in the bar, panting as he grabbed himself a beer, popping it open as he took a giant gulp of it, looking around the room to see William there.

Kiril dropped, slamming his fists into the ground, and proceeded to do pushups. Muscles bulged under his pale skin, blood pumped through his pulsing veins and sweat glistened in the dim sunlight as the team's new heavy exercised. Today was a big day: finaly, Paracom had accepted him to service, finaly giving an opportunity to fight in the avangarde of mankind's forces. He had been nothing at first, a civie wimp - and now he was eve more than a soldier. A cold-blooded warrior with nerves of steel, Kiril fought like ten men and recovered faster than a lizard grew its tail back; never letting emotions get ahead of him, the russian had one goal, and every step he took towards it would be filled with the perfection of a spotless mind.

His new team, on the other hand, would be overwhelmed by greif and anger. Kiril had been taught of Lazar Golubik's death, and Paracom feared that such a gruesome experience would take its toll on their condition, making them subject to irrational behavior and dire mistakes. While most had faith in them, a failsave had to be provided. This is where Kiril would come to play: even other recruits could be shocked and affected by this in some manner, but he wuld remain unmoved; calm and collected. He would be their "bodyguard", keeping the situation under control no matter what.

But there was another small detail that kept bugging him; something the impeccably calm soldier was worried about. Aside from protecting Paracom's field operatives, Kiril had also been asked of a certain favor: if they meet Lazar's killer, shoot him before the team gets their hand on him. They could want him to suffer, but his superiors were against any risk, demanding immediate elemination.

Could he really go against his team?

-

Center would reply in a stern and fair manner, "We need all the help we can get to defeat the supernatural menace. This isn't a war a single country can defeat. If we were this divided, the paranormals would enslave us within a week. Also, after the dinner, we will have promotions. You'll be included so be sharp."

Once the dinner was completed and over, William, Xavier, Goliath, and Charles were called for promotions. "I have called you for your hard work and heroism. I will promote all of you to the next ranks. William Burkley, Xavier Otienio Northway, and Goliath Gath, you will all be promoted to Sergeant. Your code names will be Assassin, Hunter, and Crash respectively. Reasons for the code names is because of first, William's efficient killing, Xavier's calculation and methods, and Goliath's power will make the enemy crash and burn. Charles Luz, you have been promoted to Squaddie. Be confident and feel well about yourselves. Remember, your kinsfolk are counting on you."

As Center was about to dismiss the group, he had received a call from Bulgaria. "Hello? What is this? Oh I'll get to the matter right away. Please hold." He turned to the promoted group. Goliath, I have something special from a Bulgarian official. Everyone else is dismissed. As soon all but Goliath was dismissed, Center would tell Goliath of what entailed. "From your background, I believe we can make a deal. If you do exceptionally well in ParaCom in performance and professionalism, you won't have to go back to prison. You'll be completely absolved of whatever crimes you might have committed. After all, whatever happens in the past stays in the past." Center was ready to tell Goliath of the Bulgarian official and have the official involved in cementing the deal.

Charles put out his cigarette, taking another out of his pack and lighting it. He then brought the pup up and set her down on the table making sure she wasn't injured or anything. She had a bushy coat with an almost white base ranging closer to a creamy yellow. Her back was golden and her hind end had a few black spot here and there. "What do I name you?" Charles had never had a pet as a child and he wasn't sure what a conventional name for a Jackal would be. "Anubis?" He said drunkenly at the puppy seeing if she would respond. She was finding the table fascinatingly scary, running from edge to edge trying to figure out how the thing was even standing up. He took a deep drink of the Bourbon he had got from the bartender, the sweet pain it caused was worth the money he had to cough up.

"Kali?" He said a crazy light reaching his eyes? The pup was having none of it and she just sat there starring at her new master, head on paws. "Well, help me out here..." He took a deep drag of his smoke and another idea rose to his mind, a story his mother had told him as small boy. "Sampson?" The puppies eyes lit up and she began waging her tail and biting at his hand wrapped around the bottle. He chuckled under his breath. "So... you're a Christian Jackle huh?" He laughed deeply when the pup jumped down onto his lap and began stretching out to take a nap, apparently no longer questioning the integrity of the table.

-

"Assassin, huh?" He mused after being dismissed. Will WAS a stealthy bastard. He wondered what Laz's codename would be. Scalpel? Patient? Surgeon? William's mind was still focused on the horrific scene in the previous mission. He sighed, putting a palm to his forehead. He needed another drink. Or something to do. Xav had a machete, so he probably knew how to use it.

He looked for Xav, thinking about trading tips on how to wield blades.

"Oh no. I was contacted by a Bulgarian official. I'm patching him through." Center patched Goliath to the Bulgarian official via video and speakerphone. "Your officer is correct. If you do exceptionally well in the ParaCom project, the Bulgarian government is BOTH able and willing to absolve you and render your life sentences null. You will be as free as a bird with the deal." The Bulgarian man even spoke in Bulgarian and even cemented the promise further. "It will be worth it. Center is a trustworthy man. There is no strings attached whatsoever. Besides, ParaCom will give you a huge paycheck at the end of the month. I don't think I need to say more. I'll give you a minute or so to discuss with Center."

Center kept his cool during the exchange. He knew that Goliath would be a brave solider with plenty of potential. It would be pointless to see it all go to waste. Also, due to UN backings and investments, ParaCom practically has the tigers by their tails. "In ParaCom, whatever happens in the past stays in the past, Leave it all behind with an exceptional performance and see this as a second chance and an easy ticket to freedom. The official even proved it was real. They can't chicken out because ParaCom, just as with every other nation, has Bulgaria by its balls! It's impossible for them to back out of the deal."

-

Xavier nodded when informed about of his promotion, and codename as he wondered what Dilana wasn't promoted. So he walked up to central, saluting quickly as he asked, "Sir, quick question, why wasn't Dilana promoted sir? She did just as much as the rest of us." He turned around when hearing footsteps coming to him, seeing Will come up as Xav tilted his head at him as he walked toward him, calling out, "What's up Assassin?"

"Hey, Hunter." Will smirked, a sharp tooth shown. "Wanna trade tips on how to handle a blade, or spar?" His smirk turned into a smile Helps to know and practice how to slice and dice those monster bastards to bits." When the two words 'Monster bastards' were said, Will's smile dropped. He sighed and put his hands in his pockets. ParaCom's third loss. Lazar. They were doing so well, then the knock out gas...

He shook his head, snapping out of it. "You up for it, Xav?"

"Oh thank you for reminding me, Hunter. I'll call her up soon." Center then called Dilana for her promotion. As soon as Dilana came to Center, she too would be promoted to Sergeant. "I hereby promote you to Sergeant. I will code name you Nightingale from here on." Four sergeants for every specialty would be a winning strategy. Center was confident that the group would handle the new recruits coming in with discretion.

Xavier nodded, turning to Will with a raised brow, wondering why he's so interested. He's know that Assassin has had a sort of obsession with knives, though he didn't usually mind to it. After shaking himself back into reality, The Hunter nods, walking over to him as he answers, "Why not, got nothing better today. Might as wel do both, aye Assassin?"

"Aye." Will started walking to the ring, with Xavier in tow. "You can call me Will in base, Xav. Assassin is for the battlefield." As he got there, he reminisced about when Gath and Charles had fought. It was natural, as Gath was aggressive and half drunk at the time.

He took out a combat knife and a whetting stone, blunting the edge so no permanent wounds would be left on Xav. "Better do the same. I don't wanna have my head hacked off."

-

Xav nodded slowly, slipping off his Paracom jacket to revel his wife beat before pulling out his curved blade, along with his whet stone as he complimented, "Good thinking Will." He carefully began dulling the blade, slowly doing so by blunting it a bit as he grumbled, "Took me hours to get it just right dammit, you're paying for this Burkley."

Teresina, Medici
Barracks
The light over her bunk was just bright enough to read by, but not bright enough to bother anyone else currently in the area. Teresina gently turned the pages in her book as she read through it, a book on ancient monsters of the night. The book wouldn’t likely lend her any information on how to truly fight these creatures they were facing in this war. She took a deep breath and sat up slowly setting the book down in her lap as she took out her Iphone and scrolled through the social networks she had signed up on. No one has messaged her, no comments nothing. That was just the way she wanted it though. With little effort she slid off the top bunk she had chosen and grabbed a towel out of her footlocker. With a swaying stride she walked on soft feet and headed towards the shower room.

Ilsa, Strauser
Gym
The trip here had been a long one and Ilsa wanted to unwind a bit after such a flight. As soon as she had gotten everything put away in her foot locker she had dressed up in a pair of lycra work out shorts and a sports bra. With water bottle in hand and towel over her shoulder she entered the gym. She was wearing a pair of low top nikes that were black with bright neon pink stripes across them. She didn’t seem to notice anyone else in the area as she went straight for the pull up bar and tossed her towel over one end and her water bottle on the floor. After a minute or so of stretching she does a little hop and grabs the bar under handed. Without much strain she starts pulling up easily over and over, her chin lifting easily over the bar repeatedly. The muscles along her back began to strain as well as her biceps and forearms once she reached the thirteenth pull up, but still she kept going sweat starting to bead on her skin.