Arcturus.'s Story

Arturus was the first to make the 32,000 foot jump to the surface, armed with a silenced Vector and a silenced USP-45. An Israili militia outpost was their target, reecently made contact with a small faction of god knows what. Arc was still getting used to this whole supernatural side of the world, but it didn't bother him. S.C.I.O.N. paid his bills, and that's all he was worried about at this point.

They landed half a click south of the encampment, covered by the pitch black night. Arc took point, leading him and two others through a small patch of trees, emerging five minutes later near a fence. Two patrol guards were fairly close. Instead of raising an alarm and killing them, he let them pass.

"Alright, cut it J"

His second took out a small pair of bolt cutters, and chopped a human sized hole through the fence.

Arc took a look around, the outpost was fairly light on personnel, then he heard the trucks. 3 at 2:00 heading into the barracks, 2 at 12, 2 at 10:00, two trucks incoming, estimate 4 in each vehicle. thankfully, smoke grenades were a great distraction. The three made their way through the fence, and tossed a smoke about 15 yards to their left, drawing the attention of the patrols long enough for them to slip inside the barracks undetected. Three inside, headshots finished them quickly. Now, the real fun began. Arc threw another smoke from the door, his sqadmates throwing two stun grenades, all in different directions. Now that the soldiers were good and confused, the three of them exited the barracks, easily dispaching the heavily confused guards, then burning the place to the ground.

Their walk back to the LZ was silent.

Arcturus arrived back at camp before daybreak, and had managed to sneak into the kitchen before anyone had noticed his late night dissapearance, except, of course, the staff. They usually didn't say much to Arc, but that was mostly based on the fact that he wouldn't say much back. The only one he had any sort of an acquaintance-ship with would've been Rafael, Arc thought they had some similarities. He poured himself a small glass of milk, and proceeded to his room. His path was temporarily blocked by a young wolf dashing past. He paid no attention, and continued on his way, he had work to do, his gun was dirty.

Rafael holstered the luger and shrugged. "Trust me when I say this, there are far worse things that can run free..." he turns to leave
"Oh, and doctor, if you ever want to see a real demon" he would motion to Kora, "You need only ask" he walked down to the kitchen and made his way to the freezer. Taking out a hot pocket he caught a shadow out of the corner of his eye. "Good to see you back, Arcturus." Putting the frozen ball of heart attack in to the microwave, he would turn and lean against the counter.

He didn't need to eat, being immortal, such things were not mandatory. How ever he had gotten in to the habit of having one the little frozen treats due to their varied flavors and he didn't have to worry about their negative health effects. He had found that during his...extended stay in life, he had to enjoy the little things in order to keep it down. His spine shivered the last time it had made its existence known. He felt his mind slip and he started to see flash backs of jungle trees and...No, he couldn't have a flash back now. He didn't need the questions it would bring, and didn't need to explain they story behind it. What brought him back to reality was the sharp Ding of the microwave.

Walking back to his room he bit the end off and smiled. Bacon, egg, and cheese was his favorite.

Alihambra reappeared in the hallway, mostly due to boredom and the group of people. Hearing Jonahs and Liams repeated questions, he leaned up against the wall and spoke. "The lobo there is Kora, Nordic wolf, big family, Dr. Oren here is a vampiro, Montana is our spy master, by the way, shes coming your way." he would get up and move out of the She-wolfs way. "I take it you already met Val, shes a Succubus, so you might want to keep an eye on her; Arcturus is...well Arcturus." he would motion to the bulk of the group. "Theirs my self, Rafael Alihambra aka the resident sorcerer, and last but not least, we have our dear Kate Opal...who if memory serves is the only one here older then my self....Oh, there is Wiseman as well. Kind of a introvert, side affect of being an Elder Vampiro"

He would put his gaze on Jonah, "Trust me Nino, you don't need to worry about using a barrier, as scary as she looks, Kora is in control, she just likes to piss Dr. Oren off." he would turn to Liam, "Sure, you could take her, its obvious you two are not children, not regular ones anyway; but Kora comes from a large and influential clan of Nordic Lycans, you mess with her, and her family eats you alive. "

All four twisted paw-feet had left the ground as the werewolf pounced, with considerable speed for its size.

It was while it was in the air that the chair impacted with the side of the beast's head.

For the most part, Kora was very hard to repel, and the impact caused the piece of furniture to collapsed into splinters against her skull...but reflexively the creature turned her head and squeezed her eyes shut, avoiding any shards of timber flying into them. In the moment it took her to open again her quarry had disappeared from her line of sight...

And it was at that point that Montana had jammed the device against the muscles of her stomach.

The whole large animal convulsed violently and collapsed onto the floor with a thud that shook the surface a little. Its paws twitched a couple of times, like a sleeping dog, before it came to lie motionless on the floor.

Oren regarded the whole thing with the general look of disapproval, but had little to say on the matter. Honestly it served Kora right if she was going to act up when she was required for research. Research was one of SCION's major responsibilities within the supernatural world, as she felt it was timely to remind Arcturus when he began mouthing off about such things.

"Well unless you feel confident that you can take on creatures without any kind of information on how they tick, then yes, you do need 'more fucking experiments'. And if you do feel confident in that, then it would just make you typical of the arrogant variety of human that kept getting found in about three to five different parts splattered across remote crossroads and woodland clearings all across Europe for years." Oren muttered, taking out her notebook once again and glancing at a watch that she'd pulled from her pocket. Ten seconds. Eleven. Twelve.

"This would be a pretty shitty field trip if you ask me" she'd muttered more to herself than anyone else. It took only several seconds for Val to again grow uninterested in the scene playing out before her and decide to head to her own room this time.

After pushing herself off of the wall she was leaning on Valerie would walk over towards the two boys she had given a tour to earlier and sarcastically remark "Welcome to SCION, we hope you enjoy your stay!" in the voice of a stewardess before approaching Arcturus and gently plucking the cigarette out of his mouth so that she could take a few puffs from the cancer stick herself and then hold it back up to his mouth for him to grab or let fall to the floor if so chooses.
"Thank you kindly." she'd say to the Canadian with a wink and a smile before feigning a Southern accent laced with sarcasm as she turned and began walking towards her condominium. "Yall have fun now ya hear?"

Arcturus just looked her in the eyes as she held the cigarette out, and watched it fall for a moment before catching it with his two fingers. he brought it back into his mouth as she winked at him, faked a southern accent, and walked away. It seemed as though she liked him, which was great, considering he needed a favour. He quietly brushed past the others, and continued to puff the last bit of his cigarette as he made his way into Val's room.

"I need an M14, silenced, with a holo sight if you could." before he made his way back into his room, removing his personal dossier, and beginning the report of last nights mission. The report would be easy, black-ink, not so much. of course, SCION had their own report, which would probably be much further blacked than his, but still, black-ops reports were definitely not his strong point.

He slid his dossier file back in the drawer and locked it. There were things in there that even the people (if you can even call them that) wouldn't want to see, and did not need to know. He spent about 45 minutes on it. He set the report on his desk once it was finished, to let the ink dry. The last word triggered a flashback. He began seeing a particularly bloody night, one of his first nights in JTF2


"OPERATION VIPER"
Sept 22, 2001.
Zabul, A.


*Kicked in the door, Infant beheaded, Woman hanging from celing, Sound of a knife, chewing, black bag, car, crying, yelling, Cleaver sounds in the distance, bright light, Israili Accent "You'll make good meat, boy", blood, knife slips into hand from sleeve, tie wire cut, bag cut, whispers "Kill them all" to himself, disembowelment, grabs AK, kicks out door, 7 headshots, screaming, young girls in cage, naked, mixed race, males in separate cage, organ processor, meat grinder, children running, 9 more headshots.*

He came back into reality. He remembered it well. Got himself kidnapped on purpose by an organ trafficker who was believed to be assisting is the funding of the Taliban. They were selling organs of children and young adults, selling fleshmeat, sex slaves. Something in him snapped that night, he killed every single non-prisoner in there. The guards didn't get it too bad, but the the butchers. Cut every single finger and toe off, cut arm veins and hung them from the feet until the bled out. Killed the kids working the proccessors and grinders. He never recovered from that bloodlust since.

Arc made his way into the kitchen for some food. A few hot dogs would do. He grabbed four, threw them in the nuke, grabbed a jar of mayonaise, took anunbelivably large scoop, and threw it on the plate as he took the dogs out. He sat in the living room, removed his respirator, and began eating. He could tell from the onlookers he was enjoying his meal far too much. Having a couch to sit on was a fairly now concept, but it was definitely enjoyable. Once finished, he headed back into his room to finish his report. It looked like someone had moved it. Not a big deal, it wasn't something that needed to remain secret. He slid his drawer open, without unlocking it. Something wasn't right. His ;ast mission, previous to his switch to SCION. The assassination on Kofi Annan during the peace talks in Syria. Paid 3,000,00 dollars to continue the war, and allow the UN to step in and take down the Assad government. Someone knew, and it wouldn't be long before he found out who. People around here liked to talk.

Arcturus finished blacking out his latest report, leaving only untraceable information on the page, before putting it back in his dossier, locking his drawer, and locking his room on the way out. Fel had made her way down the hall towards Kora, to help heal her he'd assumed. His eyes met Montana's for a moment. Arc was curious as to his abilities with a silenced weapon, and his ability to play into a squad setting, the man was no doubt talented on his own, but sometimes, that wasn't everything. He whispered to the man in passing.

"Meet me in the courtyard, 1200h."

Arc then walked away from the situation, making his way to The Old One's office, to see what was on his plate for the next mission. No doubt it would be another black ops mission, he'd been receiving most of them lately, which didn't surprise him, the others weren't as used to squad work as he was, and he wasn't as used to assassinations as they were. He knocked on the door twice, once, then twice, more softly. No response. He must be with Kate. It was of no great importance, The Old One would simply come to Arc later on.

He made his way down to the shooting range, when his phone rang. His old LT, this should be good.

" You feel like serving your country for one last mission?" He asked as though Arc might've said no. The reality was, that Arc still owed him a favor.

"Where, when, whats the mission?" Arc responded coldly.

"The boys are being briefed now. 1200hrs. We'll have you back in time for supper tomorrow, if all goes as planned. Bz" Brazil,it was clear that the rest was was something to remain secret, He was sensing fear in the mans voice, as though something major was going to happen. Biological warfare was the most likely, especially from the god damn Brazilians.

"I'm in. Meet me 1k south of my current location, I'm bringing along a few faces of my own." Arc was fully aware they would trace the call, it was the military after all, and it wasn't like SCION would really miss him, not for just a few hours.

He made his way inside, and went to find Montana and Rafael. He thought they might enjoy something a little more human, and less like a damn horror movie. Then again, this could very well end up being a horror movie.

He found Montana and Rafael rather quickly, and posed the question.

"Care to join me in dissapearing for a day? Bring a gun, something small and quiet, and shoots fast, this could get ugly, and I'd rather not bring anyone back dead. It's not absolutely necessary, but I thought you two might like to see what a human war's like nowadays." Arc himself would be bringing his Vector, which he loved oh so dearly. The boys would probably be given support weapons, and would more than likely be sticking back. He left his friends to think on the matter, The Old One would need to be informed of his leaving, but the rest of the people here didn't need to know.

He made his way back to The Old Ones office, and knocked, before opening the door. "I'll be gone for about 24hrs. My country needs me, they wouldn't have called if it wasn't something major. Brazil, but that's all they could tell me over the phone. Anyone asking about my whereabouts cannot be informed.

"...Isaid I'm fine..." Kora mumbled, shrugging the support off as she rose to her feet, leaning against the wall. She paused there to clear her head before setting her gaze on Montana.

"Not that I don't appreciate your concern, but I have been training to force changes since I was five or six. I can manage."

She straightened up, made her way over to the sink in the smashed-up kitchen, and poured a glass of water. Well, a plastic cup. They didn't tend to keep too much that was easily broken for...well mostly for that reason entirely.

"...getting freakin' tazed on the other hand is not something I'm quite as adapted to. Not that I hold a grudge or anything. Unless it's Oren. Then it becomes funny."


She downed a glass of water in one gulp, clearing the rather unpleasant taste of blood that tended to follow a transformation. You did not tend to bleed too much, Oren had gone one about how the blood vessels massively constricted during a shift, however, when you had a set of fangs bursting through your gumline, it did tend to leave that nasty taste on your mouth.

"I'm not going to the infirmary. Spent all morning in research. Had enough being poked and prodded by people in white coats to last me a while. I swear every time that leech looks at me she's picturing a dissection session and I don't doubt she'd do it. Vamps. They give me the creeps. Like reptiles." she paused, casting a glance in Stride's direction.
"Uh, no offence intended."


She was about to speak again, when the SCION intercom flared suddenly into life. The speaker system had been set up for remote access...where the 'remote' was was less clear, but the voice, that of a female speaking calmly and clearly, but with a chipper enough tone, broadcast out.

"Good morning agents of SCION, I do hope you're all well. A new case has come to our attention. Please will all field-cleared staff, medical dept, and research convene in the meeting room immediately."


Kora gazed up at the small speaker with narrowed eyes.
"It's like you do this on purpose. Am I really expected to swan into a staff briefing in a table cloth? Is this where my life has led me?"

"I wanted to show you-" He was cut off by the rather loud accountant. ""While it would be childishly amusing to skip such a meeting I think we should show our faces, no?" Rafael would shrug his shoulders in agreement and fallow the women down the hall. He was slightly taken back by the woman's burst of speed and found himself instinctively making chase. He only slowed as Arc waved him down and spoke. "Care to join me in disappearing for a day? Bring a gun, something small and quiet, and shoots fast, this could get ugly, and I'd rather not bring anyone back dead. It's not absolutely necessary, but I thought you two might like to see what a human war's like nowadays." Rafael stopped and spoke with a slight smile. "As much as i would like to join you, I believe we have been called in to a meeting, any other time, sure." He would turn and continue up the hall to the meeting room.

Upon entering said room, he found himself looking not only at the small group of SCION agents he already knew, but a few new faces as well. “Well, they get younger every year.” He would nod to the notably younger looking agents in the room and take a seat at the back of the room. He would turn the empty seat in front of him around and rest his loafers on it. Bringing the brim of his hat down over to his face to make it seem like he was going to take a nap.

He was in actuality using his senses to take note of the new auras in the room and took to sending out a mass probe that would reach out and touch each of the three new agents in the room. He counted a Fallen girl he had only seen in the infirmary once before. A newly turned Lycanthrope with a rather…heated aura around her and lastly he felt an aura he hadn’t felt in over 700 years. “A Medusa? Hmm…this should be interesting” he thought internally and brought his head back up. Setting his eyes on the board at the front of the room he let a small chuckle escape his lips.

Liam finished making his call, and went over to Jonah to help get their stuff into the room. He took both their backpacks to get them settled, and then decided to investigate the room. Mainly, wondering if there were any monitoring devices, but he was also wondering how old it was and what everything would originally look like. Jonah had this annoying habit of changing things without saying anything (like turning a closet into a condensed hallway with several rooms without taking up any additional space), and it could get a bit annoying at times.

Jonah had more questions as Liam returned, but the announcement apparently put everything else on hold. Not wanting to miss anything, the two rushed immediately there, Jonah forgetting to put the dufflebag with all of his various collected objects in their room with the rest of their stuff. Jonah had collected a large variety of magical objects during their search for a way to reverse the curse.

Jonah and Liam rushed in to try and take some seats close by. For a moment, they thought they were the most casually dressed, until Val came in. Jonah took the opportunity. "Hey Liam, bring back any memories".

Liam blushed in reference to the old prank, when Jonah locked him outside their hotel room in just a towel. "Jonah, please never bring that up, or else. I have ammo too".

Jonah shot him a glare as they took their seats. Still, he took out his phone, to check for any texts. Nothing yet. He looked around at the others.

This would be their first step on the path to revenge, against the demons, and the witch.

An announcement cut over the intercom, requesting all personnel into a meeting. It wouldn't be the first time Arc had left a meeting early, and certainly wouldn't be his last. He made his way into the room, grabbed his old JTF2 uniform, suited up, grabbed a large backpack, put his Vector, his USP, a few concussion grenades, and made his way to the room. He leaned against the back wall, next to the door, making it clear to the higher ups that he would not be staying for the night.

Several new faces were in the room. Arc didn't like new faces, hard to trust people when you don't even know what they are. His eyes met those of a younger woman, she didn't seem too happy to be here. Although the cloaked figure really caught his eye. He heard all the rumors, but he didn't care for what others said about her, he wanted to know himself. The stats said she was a fallen angel, works in the infirmary. Arc had never really spent much time there, so he'd never really met her.

Arc texted his LT.

" 2h, we've got a meeting, I can't just bail. Should be over sometime soon. "

He walked further into the room, looking for a place to sit. Against his better judgement, he sat next to Fel. She had definetely piqued his interests, and he wanted to know what made her tick. But that was a conversation for later.

Fel watched Kora for a long moment, as if trying to decide if healing the woman against her wishes was the right thing to do. Kora's pain was like a beacon to Fel, the desire to relieve it growing with ever passing second. It was when the booming voice over the loud speaker chimed in Fel made her decision.

She quickly removed her glove revealing a scarred hand with a missing index finger. Reaching out she touched Kora on the shoulder despite the woman's protest after all if a mission was coming then they would need the woman at her full strength.
The process took less than a second as Fel's powers worked to repair any damage that Kora had caused herself during the transformation process. All the while a soothing sensation would pass over the werewolf leaving her momentarily feeling content. The sensation was different for everyone maybe it was the feeling of a favorite blanket on a cold winter's day, the taste of a comforting food, or the smell of a carnival.

As soon as Fel's hand left Kora the woman would full back to normal, well as normal as the angry werewolf was anyways. It was during this moment Fel moved behind Montana least be on the receiving end of one of Kora's famous doctor punches.
Hiding behind Montana always made Fel feel safe, knowing that the man would protect her from just about anything that life tried to throw at her (including an angry werewolf). Once Fel had put her glove back on and she was certain that any danger had passed she tugged on Montana's sleeve.

Her voice was soft but there was a hint of tenderness in it as she address Montana. "Ready to go?"
She would walk with Montana towards the meeting room before deciding on the taking a seat with open spots on either side.
To her surprise a man she knew very little of aside from the name sat next to her. The scars on the side of the man's face made her instantly feel for Arcturus. After all they reminded her a bit of her own.

--------------------------------------
Crystal was confused as agents ushered her into the meeting room, hadn't they said she wasn't ready? The confusion slowly turned into excitement, all the tests, combat training, and preparation over the last month had paid off and they were finally sending her into the field.

Then as all the people starting coming in the panic started setting in, their were so many people, so many supernatural agents. Pushing down her inward panic Crystal decided to focus on her hatred, the hatred for every dam supernatural creature in the room.

/Stupid agency putting me in a room full of killers, I'll show them that I have more culture then these supernatural soldiers of death./

What was even more stupid was that Crystal had to be on the look out for her new trainer. The agents had called the woman her future pack leader, but Crystal refused to think of anyways that way. Thinking of it that way would be to accept what she now was, and that was not something she was ready to do.

Crystal was some animal that needed a pack.

Such a strange proposition. Montana could venture to make a few guesses, educated ones at that having extensively read every employees file with a meticulous eye. He didn't however. He didn't make any reply beyond a questioning look either. Montana's first plunge into violence was war, a bloody conflict in jungles thick with paranoia and crimson rain, but his baptism was spec ops and espionage. He would need more information then that. Much more. He understood members had their side projects, unfinished business and old promises, but these were things he was rarely privy too. If it wasn't in their files, he didn't pry.

Unless he was asked to partake.

Kora's reply drew his gaze away from the other mortals retreating form, he followed her movements, nodding earnestly when she spoke. All fair points to him. All made sense in their context and all could be attributed to her and not many others. Still, he would have taken her to the infirmary regardless if Fel hadn't shown up. Tried to at least. Broken ribs and whatnot.

"Well of course not Stride." His voice didn't miss a beat, or sound even slightly offended, or strained. "I'd never take an employee of your stature as anything less then your stalwarts, I only..took your offer for help at face value I suppose." His mouth stayed in its serious line, but his eyes, they smiled in a decidedly mischievous manner.

Then, the loudspeaker, an announcement. Base wide, briefing. Precisely why he wanted Kora taken care of, thank goodwill for Fel's timely arrival. He imagined she'd find clothes en rout.

"After you." He replied.

Montana excused himself from their presence and escorted Fel to the meeting, he stayed close to her side, matched her stride, and never strayed from his position beside her. When they entered the room, he opted to stand behind Fel rather then sit. His hands wrapped around the alloy, and stayed there. Like everyone else he was interested, and like the veterans he watched the newcomers with a trained eye. He would hold counsel after the meeting, mission depending. Misters Wiseman and Alihambra numbering among the veterans he spoke with, as well as Miss Valentine and Miss Opal. Mission depending.

Speaking of veterans to speak with, the normally stoic Arcturus had taken a seat next to Fel and himself. Interesting. From what he knew about his fellow, Arcturus preferred to stay on the outskirts where he could observe the group.

"Good morning agents of SCION, I do hope you're all well. A new case has come to our attention. Please will all field-cleared staff, medical dept, and research convene in the meeting room immediately."


Issac's eyes opened only after he was a stride out of his room, he had been resting in one of the many rooms in the building far away from all of the action. He was on auto pilot , his mind still lost the haze of sleep, but thankfully his feet knew where to walk. He wasn't exactly dressed for a meeting , let alone a briefing. Fatigues and a OD green tee made the combat veteran look like bum. His relatively short hair stuck up in that tell tale way while the glassed over look on his un-shaved-face completed the look, in fact aside from his pace , the knife riding scout carry and perhaps the dropleg holster his sidearm rested in, he looked out of place.

The field operative found the meeting room in decent time and managed to slide in among the growing crowd, he quickly claimed a corner covering the room as a whole and the door before crossing his arms and letting his chin sink to his chest , eyes falling shut.

' never run when you can walk, never walk when you can stand, never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lay down, and never be awake when you can sleep....' His units old mantra floated about his mind. Even though his eyes where closed he'd be paying attention for the sounds of authority entering the room, only then would he pay more than half attention, shifting from the lazy guy in the corner to the soldier he was.

Kora was not exactly thrilled to be walking into a staff meeting wearing only a singular piece of fabric that was designed for adorning pieces of furniture, but if nothing else, a life of being known as part of the lycanthrope nobility had led to a sense of confidence in most situations, and the woman walked into the meeting room in a tablecloth with a total lack of concern.

She dropped into a seat and turned it in the direction of the head of the table, where three of the higher ranking officials within SCION were seated. She knew who they were. Pretty much everyone knew who they were, agents of SCION who had proved themselves sufficiently in the field that they were called upon to strategize instead of put their hides on the line in the field. You didn't get into a top spot just by showing up of course. All of them were pretty well-known and talked about, and, from at least Kora's point of view, envied just a bit. Of course, she was not about to admit such a thing because, if nothing else, two were vampires.


A neatly-dressed woman of japanese origin sat at one side, her hair tied back and a laptop sat in front of her. Aiko Wakahisa, also going by 'Yokai', a vampress originating from the Edo period, and one of SCION's most successful spies and intel gatherers. She had contacts, leads, and people to lean on for details almost everywhere, and any shady activity that was known about tended to reach her ears before most anyone else's. So the frown on her pallid face meant that things were going to get interesting.

Leofric Wyndham. What you might call and old fashioned fellow, in that he was in the 21st century still wearing a regimental jacket draped over his shoulders. Of course, he didn't look a day over thirty. Vampirism did that to you. Still, he had been leading armies before half those present had even been born so, you had to assume hat the dark-haired man knew what he was talking about to some degree, and his record as a commander spoke for itself. He cast a glance at Kora and smirked.
"Lovely dress Norrevinter. Very avaunt-garde."

Saffiya Elmessiri, 'Sekhmet'. A lore expert. A magic user, and a werecat. The egyptian woman non-chalantly toyed with one of the talismans that hung round her neck as she looked over a set of a few print-outs and scratched down a few notes, symbols and numbers, onto a notepad. Looking for a pattern, no doubt.

Behind them the blue moon of SCION was projeted up on the wall, along with the silent promise that they were being watched by the organization's enigmatic benefactor, and it was this disembodied voice that spoke up.

"Good morning everyone. Thank you for coming. I hope you're all well. I see we have a few new faces here, and would like to welcome our new trainees, Crystal, Jonah, and Liam. Welcome to SCION, the three of you.

Now, onto business. A matter has arisen that requires the organization's attention. Miss Wakahisa, I believe you've compiled a report?"


The vampress nodded and rose to her feet, pressing a key on her laptop that caused the moon projection to snap to the picture of a map, the twisted lines of roads and streets indicating some kind of built up area.
"A contact in the North Yorkshire constabulary contacted me yesterday about a string of brutal murders that have been taking place around York, England. And by brutal, I mean that half of the victims tend to be missing by the time they're actually found. The press have become aware of one or two, but the force are keeping the whole thing at a low level on account of the large number of visitors arriving for the city's viking festival."

Had Kora been a wolf at the time, her ears would have pricked up, and she sat forward in her seat. Aiko had little concern for that, spoke further.

"This was of little concern to us, until in the early hours of yesterday a body was reported in that our contact describes as an 'unknown creature'. My informant in the police is very familiar with most common cryptid species, but has no idea of the origin."

She cast her dark gaze upwards.
"Dr Kovalenko, have you gotten any data from the sample you received."

Oren had materialized in the doorway, some notes in one hand and what remained of the green vial in the other.
"It's blood." the hungarian biologist responded.
"But unlike any other sample I have examined before."

She walked over the table to roll the sealed vial into the middle.
"The colour is from biliverdin, a bile pigment in the plasma. This is similar to skinks of the genus prasinohaema. The blood cells inside it...the structure has almost entirely broken down...but what I have seen of it is...unusual, to say the least. It bears resemblance to no existing species." she paused a moment.
"Including all cryptid blood samples on record. This is...new."

Alexander glanced towards the speaker as the announcement came over, Such a broad request of personal had him wondering what the powers that be had in store for them. Draining the last drops of his meal he followed Kate out of the room and down the Hallways. As he entered the meeting room he found himself a seat, eyeing the room full of people. His interest was certainly peaking by now though no one would be able to tell. His gaze finally settled upon the three officials and the logo that hid their benefactor.

Upon hearing a voice of greeting he paid rather little attention only taking interest in the names of the three new recruits, two he had spotted earlier but had not said anything to. Still now would not be the time for introductions as he focused on the vampress that stood up. Mrs Wakahisa was your safe bet for having the most Intel when a new assignment was being handed out, her information network was vast.

Taking the information in keenly he began to make mental notes, as undoubtedly everyone else would. Drumming his fingers across across his leg he was impressed when he noticed Oren appear in room and present her findings. " Efficient as always Dr Kovalenko" he said more thinking out loud then anything else, a new species would certainly require attention and one with a growing kill count certainly could justify the level of response that could possibly be mustered just by the people in the room. The key word being could. " Forgive my interruption Mrs Wakahisa... but a string of murders with an unidentified corpse... there are a lot of us in here for just that?" It seemed to Alexander that Dr Kovalenko and couple of other boots on the ground could suffice for now to research what they had available and to keep on eye on the festival. His mind wondering what the three people and one unknown voice had in store for them

Unlike some of her company, Stride had chosen to sit in the near center of the room, blending within the crowd of her fellow recruits fairly comfortably. Allowed her to get a decent view, or so was her logic- and, besides, it wasn’t like she was stealing anyone’s claimed seat or anything like that. First come, first serve and all. The gorgon eyed the trio at the front for a few moments from her position, regarding them with interest, before slipping her hood smoothly off her head and beginning to hum a few bars of “Hotel California” under her breath as she waited.

A sign of Stride’s own respect, however unnoticable.

She spent a few minutes like this, occasionally glancing about to catch sight of any familiar faces. There were quite a few around her- one of which being a certain newly turned werewolf, much to her surprise- although, as the presentation began, the woman quickly halted in her actions. She rested her forearms upon the table before her, gaze turning towards the trio of speakers at the front of the room, and, quieting herself, began to listen with interest. The mention of the viking festival hardly caught any of her interest- although she was vaguely aware that Kora would certainly be eager about the mission now- but the topic of “brutal murders” and an “unknown creature” had drawn her attention soon enough.

While Stride’s scientific knowledge admittedly needed to be brushed up on, the idea of going on a hunt for an unidentified…thing was fascinating. Tracking it down...properly identifying it...Although Stride doubted that they would want for the thing to be killed rather than contained, it would certainly be an adventure.

Through the commentary that a few others provided, the fighter remained silent, fingers curled over her lips as she listened. The second speaker- the vampire, “Alexander”- was admittedly right, much to her chagrin. The entire base had gathered at the meeting, and Stride doubted that each one of SCION’s members would be sent away on the sole mission. Would leave things too open, and she doubted that the higher ups would be...less than wise about that fact.

Stride mulled about whether or not the opportunity of volunteering was to be offered or not, then pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She could only hope, really; after all, it was entirely up to the heads what happened next.

Once again, Stride found herself continuing her little song, only to stop shortly afterward.

"Well I'm glad the prospect of a human police force in possession of a non-human corpse is not a concern to you, Mr Wiseman." Leo remarked drily from where he was sat back in his chair.
"But that's not the concern. Saffiya has reviewed the crime scene photographs forwarded to us, and believes that there may be a sort of ritual aspect to the killings."

The egyptian woman cleared her throat, and nodded over to Aiko, who snapped the projection to a...rather gruesome scene.

"Two bodies, both young males, discovered in the foundations of the ancient roman baths beneath the streets of York. The area is beneath a public house, but no voices or stuggles were heard during the night, and the door was locked when the keeper opened up and discovered the scene.

The bodies had both had their throats cut and were laid out with several different items. Burned salt dough, the skull of a goat, and a knot of sheepskin soaked in something that's proved to be goat's milk. The previous bodies were discovered with bone amulets placed in their hands and red ochre on their arms and faces." she explained, at which point the werecat spoke up.

"None of this is an accident. These are all hallmarks of Lupercalia, and ancient roman, and pre-roman ceremony. 'The feast of the wolf' that takes place on the ides of February. It was originally to honour some kind of ancient wolf-deity, and came to represent the lupa, the wolf who raised Romulus and Remus in the name of the god Mars." Saffiya explained.
"It existed as some kind of animal cult in roman Britannia. The romans mostly did away with the human sacrifice aspect of the festival, but some of the occupying romans in the north of England continued to carry out the killings on the natives to honour the wolf-god. That and the state of the bodies seems to point to a werewolf-related killing, but the fact that it is not only continuing, but also becoming progressively more ritualistic in nature might point to something more widespread and dangerous taking place within the city. Black magic can't be ruled out at this point, which is why we're taking this extremely seriously. Large scale human sacrifice in the context of magic is...extremely dangerous."

Leo then began to explain the brief in itself.

"We need three teams to cover this little problem. We've established a property in the city to use as a base and from there you can cover your responsibilities. First, Oren, you will be visiting the local morgue where the bodies have been sent awaiting autopsy. Your name is Lauren Drake and you are a forensic pathologist sent by the coroner to conduct the autopsies and compile a report for the investigation. The official paperwork is going to get lost somewhere in transit so, once you have gotten the data on the unknown body, you are to write any anomalies off to a medical condition and ensure the body is improperly stored.

Two field operatives are to accompany Oren in the guise of her assistants to make sure this all goes ahead without a hitch.

The second team we need you to keep an eye on the festivities, try to blend in, and keep an eye out for any signs of cryptid activity there. You never know when a group may have some sort of nasty plan, especially when large numbers are gathered.

The third, we need you to start talking to the cryptid population of the city. Someone out there knows something. Start with the werewolf population and work your way out.

So."

He paused.

"Anyone here especially keen, or are we going to have to start telling you where to go?"