Benji shrugged. “It was lonely but it beat being an experiment or dead.” He said not wanting her to feel sorry for him or anything. “Sparks huh? I wonder what inspired that name.” He said smiling and feeling somewhat honored that she had used one of his nicknames in her alias. “I've mostly stuck to changing my last name otherwise it gets too confusing for me. It wasn't all bad, I had a few adventures. I was running, full wolf, in Washington and got spotted by some campers. I guess they got a blurry photo of me, thought I was Big Foot and I ended up in a tabloid. I might still have copy of one at my motel you know if you want an autograph.” He said as they left the tunnel through the cave and ended up back in the forest. “Of course I'd prefer to have all my adventures with you.” He added then laughed at Paon's snoring. The guy was a bit heavier than he looked, Benji didn't have the strength Willa did but he could manage Paon alright. “So did you want a normal breakfast cause I could always catch us a deer or some rabbits.” He offered looking around the forest. They were near the edge of the forest, not too far from the city. “We could always drop Paon off at my motel, leave him a note to call us when he's slept it off.” Benji offered. “Maybe find some trouble to get into in the city if your not up for a werewolf style breakfast.” He added in case she didn't want to eat whatever wild animal he could catch. -------------------------------------------------------- Charlie felt a lot better that Maren seemed to share his concerns about the treatment of the supernaturals. At least he wasn't alone in his doubts. It was good to see she had a sense of humor about the witch or Wicca thing. It would be difficult for him to work with someone who was easily offended or lacked a sense of humor, not to mention how dull that would make the work day. “It's good to hear I'm not the only one a bit freaked out by it all.” He said, though the word torture made him feel uncomfortable. He didn't want to think about it that way, it made it sound evil mad scientists stuff. He cheered up when she mentioned donuts though. “You're awesome, I love donuts.” He said cheering up as she left. The fact that the office paid for food and coffee was great, although his parents had money Charlie hated having to ask them for it. He preferred to pay for his own expenses and paying for school took most of his paycheck. His office door was closed for maybe five minutes before their was a sharp knock twice and a tall, gaunt man in his early fifties entered the room. “Good Morning Mr. Novak, as Mr. Right is currently busy you will be training with me today. I am Dr. West.” He said with a toothy smile that didn't reach his eyes and low authoritative voice. Charlie immediately stood up from his chair and felt like he was a teenager being summoned to the principals office. Dr. West was a good six inches taller than Charlie and had the posture of a military man. From what Charlie had heard West had been employed as a scientist by the military for several years before working in these labs. Dr. West had short dark hair peppered with gray and was slicked back. His eyes were cold and the color of gunmetal, his skin was pale and his features were sharp and angular. Dr. West made Charlie feel uneasy. “Dr. West it's a pleasure to met you. I've heard great things.” Charlie said offering a handshake to the man. In truth what Charlie had heard from the others who had worked with Dr. West was that he was like a mad scientist from bad movie. “You can call me Charlie.” He added smiling. “Follow me, Mr. Novak.” He said ignoring Charlie's outstretched hand, turning quickly and heading towards the area where they kept subjects. Charlie quickly followed a step behind him. “I have connects who would be very interested in your work on body armor. Another raid or two and we should have plenty of hides for you and new creatures to test your process out on. I believe incorporating an element of Phoenix would make the armor fireproof.” “Yeah that sounds...good.” Charlie answered as he remembered all the different ingredients, parts of living creatures, that it would require. “You sound unsure, having second thoughts Mr. Novak?” Dr. West asked. “You've never wondered about it all? Some of them look like people, I just don't want to end up committing any ethics violations.” Charlie responded carefully, avoiding the unnerving looks Dr. West gave him. To this question however, Dr. West simply laughed. “They may look like people but they certainly are not. They're not even animals. They are monsters just as vicious and abhorrent as those in the movies.” Dr. West said as he lead Charlie to room where through the thick glass wall they could see a fully transformed werewolf in chains and an armored man near the door with a high powered cattle prod. Charlie could guess how they encouraged the werewolf to transform. “Take this creature, a werewolf, while it appears human this is what it truly is. A creature of rage and violence, worse than a rabid animal, it would tare us both to shreds without a hint of remorse if it could. These things aren't like animals, they kill for enjoyment and if the human race is to survive we must keep them under control.” Dr. West spoke every word with cold detachment as they continue to walk and look at the monsters raging in their cages. “The only good that can come from monsters is to use them as we do here. To create things to better the lives of humanity. The stories of myth and legend come from bits of truth. Sirens and Mermaids luring sailors to their deaths, Dragons destroying whole villages and roasting men alive, fairies stealing children, witches curses, demons destroying lives. This is what we are dealing with here, Mr. Novak, evil and we use what they can offer for good while protecting humanity from their vicious ways.” Dr. West continued to explain until he stopped at a containment room near end of the long hallway. He gave Charlie a shove towards the glass just as a harpy threw itself at the glass. Charlie quickly jumped back in fear and fell on his ass as he did. “What the hell?” He asked as he scrambled back to his feet. “You see Mr. Novak? Your first instinct is to fear them. It is ingrained in us all as a survival instinct that these creatures are dangerous. Do you understand now Mr. Novak, what we work with, what they really are?” Dr. West asked him. “Yeah, I guess I do.” He said as starred the monster in the cage before him. Dr. West made a good point, all over the world there were stories of these creatures killing or tormenting humans. If that didn't come from a place of truth then why would these stories persist worldwide. Maybe this is what all supernaturals grew into; killers. “Good. You can't think of them as people. That's the kind of wooly headed liberal thinking that leads to getting eaten. You don't want to end up eaten do you Mr. Novak?” Dr. West asked with an unsettling grin. Riling up the subjects just before the tour had been a fantastic idea, and Dr. West was sure that he had quelled many of Charlie's doubts. “Well I did put on my resume that I was open to new experiences.” Charlie snarked with a slight grin as he was starting to feel more comfortable around his colleague. Sure Dr. West still gave him the creeps but if they were going to work together Charlie felt he needed to relax some. “Excellent then I would like you assist me in extracting the hide from the werewolf we saw earlier.” Dr. West said as they headed back up the hallway. Charlie only nodded, he knew to be successful at his job he needed to have a mindset more like Dr. West, he needed to numb himself to these experiences. It was several hours before Charlie made it back to his office, he'd gotten to know Dr. West a little better and Charlie felt like he'd done a pretty good job today. During the procedure he had thrown up twice but Dr. West told him he'd get used to it eventually and then the rest of the day they worked on perfecting his body armor more. West had assured him that it would go a long way towards helping protect soldiers and that he could pitch it to the military for him. Charlie felt a lot better knowing how his work could help save lives. He stopped by Maren's desk to see if there were still donuts left. “Hey how's your day going?” He asked. "I feel like I've been here twice as long as I actually have. Got a lot done though."