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[i]6:05 AM[/i]

	Elise was awake twenty-five minutes before her alarm clock. She shifted beneath the sheets and rolled onto her back. When she opened her eyes, she was greeted by a foreign ceiling. She blinked a few times before her brain could remind her that she wasn't in her apartment anymore. [i]Home sweet home.[/i] She thought before rolling herself out of bed.

	Fifteen minutes later, Elise was stepping out of the apartment and into the streets of Harbor Gateway North. She turned right and began her morning jog. It took her down a few blocks, to the left, and towards what was now the base of operations for the Federal Agency of Metahuman Affairs. After the incident, the major outpost for FAMA in LA had been the first target of many gangs. Located on the outskirts of Downtown LA, the building had suffered quite a bit of damage. The skyscraper next door was the only one to blame, besides the two deltahumans at the center of the earthquakes. As well equipped and staffed as it had been even after the incident, it hadn't lasted long.

	So now Elise found herself stationed only a five minute jog away from the new [img=https://harborgatewaynorth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/prologis-warehouse.jpg]outpost[/img] in Harbor Gateway North, along with the portion of the refugees from other regions of LA that managed to get themselves to safety. She didn't even give the building a glance as she passed by. She'd see it in a few hours. Instead, she headed North towards the 105 highway. The National Guard, with the help of FAMA and any remaining police forces, had set its sight on southern LA the moment they arrived. With it's focus on the Port of Los Angeles, the Guard soon pushed it's region of operations all of the way up to the 105, over to the border of LA County and Orange County, and followed along the 105 to Hawthorne and Manhattan Beach. With this region of LA under it's protection, the Guard had access to supply shipments coming into the Port and the Long Beach Airport. Originally it's sights were set on the LAX, but of course it too had been one of the first major connections in and out of LA to fall to the chaos.

	Elise soon came to a stop on the top of the tallest hill in Athens. She looked out over the intersection of the 105 and the 110, and pulled a pair of binoculars from her jacket's pocket as she caught her breath. Looking through the instrument, she found herself peering at the largest North station of the Guard. This intersection was key to their operation, too. The 110 offered direct access to Downtown Los Angeles, with only a fifteen minute drive through hostile districts to get there. As battered as downtown LA was, it was still a valuable asset. Why, you might ask? Well, to put it simply, it was home to the epicenter of the Los Angeles Metro. If the Guard could get it's hands on it, it could travel through the ~500 square miles of LA with ease.

	As great of an idea as it seemed, Elise thought that it was a lost cause. While the Guard managed to get the green line running again along with half of the blue line, to protect each line of the LA Metro would spread it's forces too thin. Even with FAMA's agents and the police, it wouldn't be enough to hold it. Why waste time focusing on the metro, when they could continue to advance north until all of LA was under it's protection? Why stop at the 105? Eli certainly didn't let it stop her. In the few assignments that Eli was given since the earthquakes, she'd made it all of the way to the looted and burnt neighborhoods of Beverly Hills and back without much interference. If the Guard really was LA's [i]knight in shining armor[/i], wouldn't they just keep fighting their way North?

	It was too early for these kind of thoughts. Eli had other things to think about, at the moment. With a frown, she pocketed the nocs once more before turning back. This time she ran to keep herself focused on the area around her instead of in her head. There was too much to think about now. She just wanted a few minutes of peace before her troubles and LA's troubles took control of her mind. She made it back to her apartment in ten minutes, and only let her thoughts run loose while she showered off the sweat.

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[i]8:00 AM[/i]

	Back outside of FAMA's new headquarters, Elise took a breath to focus herself before she made her way inside. She entered the building and stepped right into the short security screening line. Before she passed through the metal detector, Elise removed her FAMA issued handgun and placed it in the bin along with her cell. Which, surprisingly, had lasted her through the incident and over the past few months. She flashed her badge as she stepped through, and gathered her possessions before she headed towards her division's offices.

	Today she would be meeting her new partner, Henry J. Olin. As her first official partner in weeks, Elise was excited to be paired with such an experienced agent. The guy had been an agent of RAVEN, had operated as a special ops agent in the infamous Operation Desert Shield, and she'd even read that he was one of the few survivors of Verthaven and emerged a decorated war hero in his file. He was quite popular among the students of the FAMA training academy, so this was a huge sign that Eli was getting somewhere in the organization. With Henry as her partner, there was no way that she'd be sent on small, serum bust errands again. Even the guy's description was enough to convince her that she was being taken more seriously. The other agents would definitely back off now that she was being partnered with a nine foot tall, deltahuman with the weight of a semi. She was basically being partnered with the Hulk, but in lizard form. Even with his massive stature, Eli had a lot of respect for him because of his record alone.

	This was a huge opportunity for Elise to learn from an expert, and she was ready to advance in her training just by going on missions with him. She entered the office area with her chin held high, and headed straight for her new base of operations to meet with Henry. Well, base of operations as in, their own fairly large office with two desks and computers attached. It was a formal way to meet each other, but the space would be where Eli and maybe even Henry did most of her investigations before they would take their operations to the streets.

	Without wasting any time, Eli already set herself down at her desk and began to pull up the files that interested her most. If Henry agreed with her, they could set out within the same day to get started. She kept herself busy like this until her new partner finally arrived. As soon as he approached, Elise stood to her feet and stepped towards him. She surprisingly found it easy to ignore his size, and cleared her throat so that her voice would be clear as she reached a hand out towards him.

[color=E5D0FF]"Agent Olin, it's very nice to meet you. I'm not sure if you're one to drop the formalities, but you can just call me Wessex."[/color] She smiled up at the giant man, and resisted the urge to word vomit every detail of his past operations and how impressed she was by him. She wasn't one to immediately admit her respect for someone, but it was incredibly tempting to do so to the infamous Dragonfly. Instead, she chose to greet him like she would with any other agent. A human approach would make it much easier to gain respect from Olin, in her opinion. The guy was probably tired of being reminded of his past. Now she just had to wait for his reaction, and hope that their partnership would blossom.