What goes bump in the night

A small smile parted the lips of the blindfolded man in the now-empty conference room. It would seem his gifts were not required this time . . . thankfully. He left back through the door which he had come from, and both doors shut simultaneously.


"I see you have made your choice. Geist will direct you to the armory, I have something that I must attend to."


Shepard turned on his heels and walked down one side of the hallway they were in, it opened up into an olden-style wooden corridor. The other end of the hallway led to a large pair of double doors, with the acrid scent of burning and electricity behind it.
 
Haiku dropped Lucky unceremoniously onto a bed in the infirmary. "....this is the odd one isn't it? The luckiest guy in the world?" She eyed him critically. "Looks pretty useless in a fight. Is Shepard getting desperate or something?"
 
Geist nodded to Shepard again and began walking down the hallway he had come, taking a rather maze-like route to the armory including going through several elevators both up and down. When they finally reached their destination he walked quietly up behind a short figure who was obviously engrossed in his work on some manner of weapon. " Good evening my diminutive friend", he whispered a mere inch from his little friends ear.
 
The little figure jumped about a foot in the air, spinning around on his chair to look behind him. He was only about 2-1/2 feet tall, with a beard that must have been roughly half that. His ears were oddly shaped, and his nose was rather stubby. A small pair of glasses, with lenses the shape of crescent moons, rested in front of his eyes.


"Ah Geist! I was told to expect you and--"


He peered around the cloaked figure


"The newcomers, I assume? Please, right this way."


He leapt off the large stool he had been sitting on, making his diminutive height even more apparent. The area around them was filled with all manner of workbenches and enclosed glass cases. Some holding marvelous feats of technology, and others holding things that were . . . well quite frankly were rather sorcerous in nature.


"Here we hold the tools to assist every agent of the PDA in their missions. From mundane to magical, technology to alchemy. I am Xans, the director of our technological and armory departments."


Around the area were a couple people working on different experiments, they seemed to be human, at least on the surface.


"I myself have been hard at work on a few tools after looking at your dossiers. For instance . . ."


He motioned to a glass container behind him


"Whichever one of you is Adrian might see an old friend in here."


Within was Adrian's blade, seemingly reforged with such perfection that it looked as if it had never been broken. The container was at the wall of the room, and seemed in perfect condition . . . though what appeared to be a two-ton slab of metal was suspended above it.
 
Adrian walked forward in apparent amazement. His eyes were fixed upon his blade. "...How...how is this possible? Did you reforge it? No...it appears...different. What did you do, Xans...and what is this obelisk for?" He said, referring to the metal slab.
 
"This."


Xans tapped the glass once, and the giant slab of metal dropped on the Blade. However . . . the slab split in two when it collided with the surface, and fell to either side. The blade was surrounded by small pieces of rubble, but was completely unharmed.


"It has been alchemically reinforced. No metal of the 'normal' world will be able to shatter it."


He opened the case with another tap, and handed the blade to Adrian. It still weighed the same, but seemed to hold a new sheen, as if it would never dull
 
Adrian was equal parts astonished and ecstatic. He brandished the blade, testing its feel. Sure enough, it was almost exactly like it had been less than a day ago. The weight was the same, and it swung just as he remembered, but it was definitely an extremely strong sword now. He couldn't wait to test it out, and sheathed it with a satisfied grin. "I owe you, Xans. This blade is very important to me. Thank you."
 
Haiku had made her way down from the infirmary and had stepped in as Adrian had swung his sword. She eyed it critically, recognizing the immense value of this sword. Plus, it was shiny and shiny things were a weakness for her. It took her a moment to even register how many other people were in the room. She grunted and straightened her back as she walked forward towards Xans.


"Did you fix the crack in the handle of my scimitar?" Haiku was all business now; these scimitars had been specially made for her alone, commissioned by her father. The crack was something she desperately wanted to be fixed without destroying all the unique properties of the scimitar.


After asking the question, she glanced around vaguely at the others. Ah yes there was Muerte, the one with the stench of death rolling off of him. Neimanassa, the odd were-mutation-cat was looking around timidly. Tequoia, the odd shaman-like girl who could summon a spirit bear. Samuel, or Dr. Gray, with his "odd" hands. Vojta, the partially vampire creature. And Adrian, the one wielding the sword, who was also missing his left arm entirely. Her eyes were friendly towards the fellow human; however when turned on the others, they were not so kind. She thought little of these beings, some of them being the very creatures that they hunted. But she kept her thoughts to herself as she looked back impatiently at the gnome.


"Xans? An answer please?"
 
The little gnome looked up at the impatient woman, she had barely given him any time to answer.


"Yes, I left Crom in charge of them while I was busy. He should be back over there."


He made a motion with his hand, gesturing to a young human dressed in a lab coat.


"Now, if we may continue . . ."


Xans started to walk through and explain a few different functions of the armory. Most of it was utilizing materials into useful gadgets and ammunition, such as silver bullets, or grenades that exploded into wooden splinters. However, they also utilized materials not present in the natural world . . . such as oricalcum or black ice.


------------------------------


Sarisa looked over the young man who had been described as 'the anomaly' amongst the higher-ups. He looked perfectly ordinary right now, no different from any other human, and yet all twelve cases of agents trying to contact him had ended in cataclysmic failure.


"Sarisa."


The elf jumped as Shepard entered the infirmary


"Has he awoken yet?"


"No . . . not exactly . . ."


Shepard's eyes narrowed


"What do you mean, 'Not exactly'? Either he woke up or he didn't."


"He didn't truly regain consciousness . . . but something else did. There's something inside him . . . it was like a gray cloud."


If the commander was taken aback, he didn't show it.


"I see. You may leave Sarisa, I wish to speak to this man in private."


The elf gave a short bow before leaving. As soon as the doors were shut, Shepard turned to look at the young man.


"If you can hear me right now, I would like to speak personally. This goes for the man standing in front of me, or whatever else may be living within him."
 
*EEEEEAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!* A loud, jaw-wrenching yawn emerged from the chasm that was the mans mouth. streching, he began to sit up. "Well, note to self, dont fly by Condor"
 
Geist knew that some of the recruits had one more stop to make. " Alright Muerte, Vojta, Neimi" he said pointing to each individual as he said their name. " You three come with me" he turned and started making his way down to Leceel's "sanctum."
 
Neimi cocked her head to the side in a confused manner then followed Geist in his new body. The same smell came off this body as the other; she figured that's how she would tell if it was this "Geist" or not.


----------


Haiku turned to Crom, an impatient look on the side of her face that was not covered in metal. "....where is my scimitar?" Part of her wondered what the newbies thought of the metallic half of her face. The normal response was mixed with curiosity and slight fear of the unknown. Who knows how these beings would respond to her?
 
Adrian barely spared the woman a glance (he didn't want to be rude by staring) but it had been enough to notice her mask. He wondered how she had gotten it, but also how she dealt with it. It obviously wasn't as impairing as his missing arm, but to Adrian this was no different. He suddenly felt more determined than ever to fight at 100%, one-armed or not.


Samuel had a fairly different reaction to Haiku than Adrian did. For one, he didn't realize it but he was staring at her face with a mixed expression of intrigue and sadness. Like Adrian, he was curious how she had gotten it, but was also conflicted: depending on her reason for wearing it, he may be able to help her...but what would she think of him if she knew what his powers were, if she didn't already know? The wringing of his hands sped up a bit at the thought.
 
Haiku realized that one of them was staring at her, the odd one with the "hands" called Samuel. In a split second, she had turned on her own piercing stare, looking directly into his eyes. This being was staring at her why? There was some intrigue there and also....sadness? Sadness clicked in her brain as pity and it made her narrow her eyes.
 
Muerte said nothing as he silently followed the 'man' in front of him. He was mildly curious as to what purpose they had been singled out for . . . then it hit him. He was not entirely certain, but all three of them shared qualities that made them . . . not human. The russian was part vampire, the woman was a werecat, and he was only half-alive. Well then . . . what was this place they were heading to?


----------------------


Shepard's eyes narrowed at the obviously carefree young man


"Good morning sunshine. Do you know where you are right now?"


He crossed his hands over his cane, leaning forward slightly
 
"Well," he begins, "I thought I was on a beach." Making a deliberate show of observing his surroundings, he continues, "This is obviously no longer the case. If I may ask, where are we?"
 
Samuel blinked in surprise as he noticed two things: one, he was staring (how horribly impolite!) and two, his stare had been returned with a rather piercing glare to it. He blushed furiously and lowered his gaze in apparent self-disgust.
 
Shepard spoke after a brief period of silence.


"You are currently on an island within the bermuda triangle, it has remained unnamed and is not present on any map. This facility is the headquarters of the Paranormal Defense Agency, of which I am the director. We have tried to contact you numerous times before without success, so I am going to take this unique opportunity you 'luck' seems to have given us."
 
Haiku nodded; same reaction as always. One icy glare normally made them look away quickly. She turned an inquisitive gaze on the one-armed Russian; she could not remember from her file-skimming how he had lost his arm. In order not to stare, she observed him in glances while glaring at Crom.


"Crom. Scimitar. Now."
 
Adrian had been watching Vojta leave when his periferal vision caught Samuel lower his head. Suddenly he was aware that he was being obvserved...by who? After casually scanning the room, he noticed that the masked young lady kept glancing her way. He waited until she glanced at him again and gave her a taunting wink that said Caught you looking!
 
The flesh that showed on her face reddened slightly as she about-faced, stealing another glance backwards. This one was....of interest. He seemed like he could handle himself in a fight, even minus an arm.


"Crom!" Haiku grabbed the little man's shoulder and turned him to face her. "Where. Is. My. Scimitar?" With each word, she got closer and more in his face.
 
Adrian laughed jovially at her reaction. Most people that are observing believe themselves unnoticed by whatever they are viewing, but those with proper training (like him) can tell when they're being watched.
 
Shepard raised a single eyebrow at the man's . . . well his complete lack of surprise.


"I have a proposal for you. This organization was created for the purpose of protecting the natural world from the preternatural. I understand you have . . . complications with your daily life. We can offer you a secure abode, that should prevent a majority of incidents, in exchange for your help."


--------------


"Here, here!"


The young scientist quickly opened a panel and pulled out the ornate sheathe, the blade in perfect condition
 
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