Dimitri woke with a start as his phone began to buzz loudly on his night stand. The hunter rubbed his reddened eyes and tiredly turned to grab his phone to check the time and see who it was that was calling. One squinting glance at the screen was all it took to cause his heart to sink. It had barely been twenty minutes since he'd gone to sleep, worse still was the fact that the number on the screen was privatized. That usually meant that one of his employers was on the line. Dimitri exhaled loudly through his nostrils and debated just letting the phone continue to buzz. It was a nice thought, but he knew that the next call would be from his father if he failed to answer. He slowly drew his thumb across the screen and pressed the phone to his ear, "[color=00746b][b]This is Cromwell.[/b][/color]".

A woman's voice responded, "[b][color=0072bc]Mister Cromwell, I hope that i'm not currently interrupting anything important.[/color][/b]", "[b][color=00746b]Does sleep count?[/color][/b]" He shot back somewhat tersely. Dimitri's brows furrowed a bit as he waited to see how the caller would respond to the deviation from the formal tone he usually used with his employers. "[b][color=0072bc]Uh-*ahem* We have a new set of orders for you.[/color][/b]", Dimitri rubbed his face with his free hand and inwardly groaned, having hoped that when he was told that he would receive his next mission within the next seventy-two hours that it would have been the next day at the least, "[color=00746b][b]Understood. I'm assuming that it must be something important if you people are calling me instead of just sending the information like you usually do.[/b][/color]". There was a shuffling sound on the other end of the line, as if the woman was looking for a specific note or file, "[b][color=0072bc]You assume correctly. We're sending to out to apprehend a witch that has been causing a bit of an uproar across homeland. Apparently this one has been publicly making use of her abilities. Reports say that she hasn't used them for anything particularly malicious, however it's starting to cause public opinion to sway the wrong way, not to mention it's beginning to rile up other Magus.[/color][/b]". Dimitri swung his feet over his bed and sat up a little straighter, "[b][color=00746b]Sounds problematic. Why hasn't she already been apprehended?[/color][/b]" "[b][color=0072bc]This one is somewhat of a nomad. We've attempted to intercept her as she moves across the nation, however she either manages to slip away unnoticed or put up enough of a fight to escape custody from local authorities or government agents. We would send out our specialists to handle the matter, however with the media already lying in wait for anything that even implies that we're hunting benevolent witches, we can't afford to be tied to this.[/color][/b]", "[b][color=00746b]So you're sending a licensed hunter that's just in it for the money instead of an actual agent.[/color][/b]". 

Dimitri swore he could hear the woman stifle a chuckle, "[b][color=0072bc]More or less. We've reason to believe that this witch is in your area. How you choose to approach the situation is up to you, but we would prefer it if you eliminated this witch. A total of fifty thousand homeland credits will be deposited into your account upon mission completion. Additional details along with a photo of the witch are being sent to you now.[/color][/b], "[b][color=00746b]Understood.[/color][/b]". As the hunter hung up he felt a coldness begin to creep into his stomach, though the reason as to why escaped him. Another buzz brought Dimitri's attention to the screen just as the picture was brought up. Dimitri almost dropped his phone as he made out the picture of Theodora. The photo was blurry and taken from an extremely odd angle, but it was definitely the witch who had come to his aid earlier. The coldness in his belly was no longer just coldness; it was a solid ball of ice.