Welcome to Gaia! ::

'Wait, you saw into my memories?!' he exclaimed, standing firmly and angered. 'No, no. It's okay.' he loosened up. 'There's nothing you could have done. It was me. My memories flooded out of my mind, and into anyone else's mind around me. It's happened before, when I was in the barracks, all the guys would wake up pissed in their bunks, because they had been so afraid of the daemons in my mind, that invaded their dreams, and made them have nightmares. Then I started 'sleeping' in the Generator room.' he said, stopping his anger.

He felt her pain in the leg, and lifted her hand from her leg. 'Don't do that. I saw Riddick, the Necromonger idea of pain for another pain, isn't that bright.' He stared her in the eyes. 'Trust me.' He let loose her hand. 'Sorry, but there isn't much you can hide from me...'

He grabbed her hand. 'I got an idea.' he said, leading her out into the hall. 'Let's go topside and dance!' he finished, dragging her to the security station. 'Krii'Ouse, and if you don't belive me... here's a 'shocking' experience.'

'Dammit, Tele-Man.' the voice replied through the intercom, sounding as if a small surge was running through his nerves.

The door opened, and he held her close as he went into the chute, almost hugging her. They lifted from the ground, and floated to the top and out the hatch. 'Pretty coo, huh?' he asked. He knelt down, after she started towards the storage room door, regaing his stamina. Such a load wasn't very easy for him, and he had to use a lot of energy. 'Let's go.'

OOC: To Hunter's!!!

Will sighed in boredom as he went through the pile of papers covering his desk. Who would have thought being the leader of an illegal, underground paramilitary group dedicated to the extermination of supernatural threats would mean that my greatest challenge would be the neverending fight to get through these mountains of paperwork? Leadership certainly isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

He'd dismissed the two Hunters that he'd been talking to and finished patching Justin up a little while ago, and was just taking a few minutes to catch up on some paper work. The first order of business was a requisition request from Dr. Hunter. Hmmm, she feels that we're getting low on pharmacueticals, especially painkillers and anasthetics. Well, just comes with the territory of stitching people up from claw wounds, bite wounds, severe burns, gunshot wounds, broken bones... Gah, the list of injuries we have in a month alone is nearly endless! No matter how good we might be, we're dealing with creatures that far surpass human limitations. Injuries are garunteed to happen. We should be getting a new shipment of medical supplies from our suppliers in two weeks, she can restock the medical room then. Until those supplies come though, she'll just have to make do with what we have on hand.

Writing a note to talk to the doctor and reassure her that they weren't going to run out of needed supplies before they could be replaced, he flipped through a few pieces of paper before coming to the next issue that needed his attention. Reports from other Hunter groups across New York state are coming in. Small groups of werewolves are migrating to the city. Eight from Albany, twenty-three from Westchester, eleven from Greenwich, thirty from Buffalo, a couple dozen crossed over from Jersey... Crap, that's over ninety new werewolves coming into the city! Something is up, but what? Evidence suggests that the migrating groups may be part of the Lycanthrope cult of moon worshippers, the Lunites, or Children of the Moon. What are the Lunartics up to now? Better have people keep an eye out on the normal werewolf meeting places.

Next came an accquisition report from the gunsmith, Ricardo Alverez. Some Sig Sauers, a few Galills, a couple of converted AR-15's, a crate of.... WHAT?! How did that maniac get a hold of a crate full of Heckler & Koch XM-18's?! They're not even out in service for the U.S. military yet, they're still in the test and production phase, so how did he... You know what, I really don't want to know.

Sighing in exasperation over his gunsmith's... enthusiasim for accquiring powerful, exotic, and illegal firearms of all kinds, Will turned back to the other paper work on his desk. Contemplating the endless mounds of printed paper was far safer than wondering what Ricardo had pulled off this time. Ah, excellent. Marcus, Ricardo, and Uncle have completed work on the weapon I specially commissioned. They call it the Hellbringer Axe. Very nice, can't wait to try it out on the field.

More papers were quickly went through and read. Requests for room assignments... granted. Daichi wants upgraded UV lasers in the lightshow systems... granted. And Hunter is looking for a new bartender. Hmmmm, didn't I hear something about Skiaska working as a bartender for a while? Yes, says here in the file she gave me that she has over a years wroth of experience. I'll run it by Hunter, but I don't think that he'll have any trouble with giving her the job.

Stretching his arms, Will yawned and rose from his seat, walking over to his office door. He'd managed to get a lot done in a short amount of time, and he needed a break. Still working out the kinks in his neck, back, and arms, he started up the ladder to Hunter's. A few drinks and a little dancing would do him good.

She ran as fast as she could, tripping over her own feet as she kept glancing back to see who or what was chasing her through the shadows. She went sprawling and clamored back to her feet again, not wanting the thing on her tail to gain even an inch on her. But she couldn't see what followed her, only the nothingness like what she was running on. She tripped again, but this time on something unseen on the ground. She fell and kept on falling as though the ground ceased to exist.

She was suddenly in a training room with others, each bearing a bold, red tattoo on their upper right arm, each with an X and a number. There were spaces empty, showing signs of those who had not been able to endure training. She was suddenly kocked to the ground by a person far larger than her.

"Get up." it told her, androgenous in a white lapcoat and shadowed face. "Get up, you unwanted wretch." It hauled her up again, grabbing her untattooed arm hard enough to bruise. It threw her at the feet of one of the other children, another girl with the number 11 on her arm. "Continue the drill, b***h. We don't have time to worry about untrainable idiots like yourself." The figure walked away. It turned back and smiled cruely. "If you don't train, the shadows will get you one day, and one day soon." It walked off, lauging cruelly.

Shadows suddenly came up from the floor, engulfing her, cutting off any screams she might have had. She fought as best as she could, but she couldn't remember how to use her powers. She couldn't remember how to fight. Just before it pulled her under, she saw all the children, all of them. Some had the bloody faces and mangled bodies of the dead, and all of them, whole or dead, watched her with expressionless faces as she was pulled down.

She sat up, breathing hard. Her chest heaved with the effort of supplying lungs with oxygen, and she felt lightheaded from the effort. She clutched at her lungs and heart, desperatly trying to calm down. Her eyes were opened wide with fear and surprise as her labored breathing soon began to slow. She pulled off her shoes and stuffed her socks into her shoes. She put them on the ground next to her bed and fell back, looking up at the ceiling, her eyes still fearful and her breathing still a tad faster and heavier than normal.

"It was just a dream." she told herself before turning onto her side to go back to sleep. "Just a dream..."

Will was frowning as he climbed down the ladder into Haven. He'd just sent Len, Lydia, Krii'Ouse, and Skiaska out on some scouting missions. They'd collect information on the activicties of the Children of the Moon and report them back to him. But in the meantime, he had to start the process of getting the Hunters ready for war.

Walking into the upper level security room and up to Jack and Diaz, the two guards on duty, he spoke to them with a voice radiating command. "You two, call Kingston on the intercom and let him know that I want all Hunter guards to report to my office at 0700 for a briefing. This is top priority."

Out of reflex, Jack saluted as Will walked off. "Sir, yes sir!"

From the security station, he walked into the kitchen to find Cookie, a large, well muscled African American man in his late forties stirring a pot of stew. "Hey, Cookie, that smells great. Listen, I'm going to need you to start making up some dehydrated field rations for all of the Hunters. You know, just something quick to eat if we can't take a break while out in the field for a while. Jerky would probably be best."

"Sure thing, Billy, I'll get right on it!"

His next stop was the library. The elderly Chinese sorceror that the Hunters jokingly called "Uncle" could usually be found there researching a new spell or something. He wasn't disappointed, as he found Uncle hunched over a dusty tome of arcane knowledge. Walking over to him, Will cleared his throat to get the older man's attention. When Uncle looked up, Will spoke. "Uncle, I need you to prepare some magical charms and spell scrolls, the sort that can be activated by saying a single activation word or short phrase. They need to be geared towards destroying lycanthropes, and they need to be easy enough to handle and use that somebody with absolutely no magical training can use them. Understand?"

The older man nodded in understanding. "Aiyaaah, I understand. Lycanthropes are beings of dark magic, and magic must defeat magic. I must do research! And one more thing! Don't call me Uncle!"

Jackson just chuckled and shook his head as he retreated from the room. "Whatever you say... Uncle."

"Aiyaaaah! No respect! No respect for your elders!"

Laughing merrily, Will walked down the stairs to the lower level and soon found himself in the medical room, Dr. Gail Hunter looking up from some papers on her desk to grace him with a smile. He got straight to the point. "Doc, your medical supplies should be here tomorrow. I need you to spend the next week organizing and stocking the medical room, getting it ready to treat a whole bunch of both lightly injured and seriously wounded paitents. Also, I need you to teach all of the guards, Marcus, Ricardo, Cookie, Daichi, and Hunter basic first aid and emergency medical techniques. Keep me updated on your progress with the tasks I've given you."

Before she could say anything he'd already departed, this time headed for the gunsmith's room. Ricardo Alverez, their Hispanic, genius gunsmith, could always be found there whenever he wasn't eating or on the firing range trying out a firearm; he even slept on a cot in the corner of the workshop! As expected, Ricardo was hard at work, cackling maniacally as he tinkered with what appeared to be a semi-automatic elephant gun, something that probably didn't even exist until the mad genius had concocted the design. Ricardo was unparallelled at what he did, but his unhealthy passion for firearms and weaponry of all types still managed to slightly creep William out. At least he wasn't cooing lovingly to a customized automatic shotgun, like he had been the last time Will was in here.

Rather than disturb Ricardo's "creative process", Will just left a list of weapons and some instructions for Ricardo to take care of. Slipping past the occupied gunsmith, and into the weapon and armor smith's workshop. Marcus Smith was a former native of London, who was an accomplished blacksmith and also a fine tailor. William had saved him from vampires a few years ago, and now the Englishman provided the New York Hunters with their archaic weapons, armor, and their hunting outfits. When he saw William come in, Marcus wordlessly reached inside a chest and brought out a wrapped bundle. Without hesitation he pulled the cloth away, and Will's eyes lit up.

Cradled in Marcus' hands was an enormous, double bladed battle axe with a pair of serrated spear tips and a nozzle at the top end, a small fuel tank at he bottom end, and heavily marked with magical runes and enchantments. Months ago, upon becoming leader of the Hunters in this region, William had commissioned the creation of a special weapon for himself, a weapon effective against all known types of supernatural enemy. It had taken the combined efforts of Marcus, Ricardo, and Uncle, but the gleaming weapon that Marcus was holding seemed to be well worth the work put into it and the waiting for it. Delicately taking it from Marcus, Will hefted the axe to get a feel for it then gave it a few experimental swings.

As Will got accustomed to his new weapon, Marcus began explaining it's features. "This is the Hellbringer Axe. It has a titanium alloy shaft with silver plating. The axe blades are made of a silver and steel alloy with pure silver on the flat sides of the blades. The one spear tip is made of cold iron and the other is made of red iron, making them effective against most demon types. Housed in the shaft and nestled on the end between the spear tips is a small, lightweight flamethrower, capable fo throwing a two foot wide stream of flame nearly thirty feet for up to ten straight minutes. The fuel canister screws into the bottom of the axe's shaft, and has been reinforced to that you won't break it by smashing it into something and it can't be punctured by anything short of a 13mm, full metal jacketed, armor piercing, teflon coated bullet. Finally, it's been enchanted and blessed so that it's near impossible to break or for the blades to go dull, and so that it'll deal magical damage as well as physical damage to any supernatural foes. So, what do you think Will?"

It's a thing of beauty, Marcus. Listen, I need you to start making a bunch of weapons made out of silver. I'll need at least fifteen silver daggers, fifteen various melee weapons made out of silver, and a bunch of silver arrows and crossbow bolts made by the end of the week. Can you do it?"

"You know that I can."

"Good, then I'll leave you to your work."

Wiedling his new weapon, Jackson returned to his office. Although he'd gotten the preparations rolling, he'd still need to deal with a lot of paperwork. Why me?

Skiaska and Krii'Ouse climb down the ladder and through the security room. 'I'll be in the med room.' Krii'ouse told Skiaska, which she already knew, and would have been obvious to anyone as to why. His back was bleeding profusely.

'Damn, I really liked this coat.' he whined. He walked to the med lab, and found Gail there. 'Hey doc, wanna patch me up, please?' he asked her. Half an hour passed in the med lab, and Gail stitched Krii'Ouse up after injecting his back with pain-killers.

'There you go, Sethe.' she said. Gail was the only person in Haven who had Krii'Ouse's permission to call him Sethe.

'Thanks, doc.' he replied. He headed out for William's office.

Krii'Ouse came up to the three: Skiaska, William, and the third one whom he did not know. 'Hi, I'm Sethe. Preferably Krii'Ouse. It's a name I gave myself upon the culmination of my powers.' he explained and introduced.

'That bloody Lycan slashed up my coat, man.' he complained. 'Dag, I guess I need a new one. Third one this month, I think.' Krii'Ouse finished. 'I deeply resent that remark, Skiaska. You know I hate daemons and devils.' he said to her, calming himself as he spoke.

'So anyways. This Lycan was pretty young, but still beat me up fairly bad. I'll be taking that suggestion about silver blades now, William. Make sure their like my daisho, please?'

Will whistled in awe as he looked at the damage done by Alex's invention. "Very good Alex! And excellent timing as well, you couldn't have possibly had these things ready at a better time. I want you and Ricardo to make as many of these as possible while also working on the other things on the list I left in Ricardo's shop. I also want you to look into the possibility of making a silver gas grnade, using fine silver dust and compressed gas grenade canisters. Just be careful when working with Ricardo, he has a few screws loose. Trust me on this, if he starts singing a lullaby to an M-16 or anything like that, get the hell outta dodge."

Just then Skiaska came in, giving her report. Will just nodded grimly. "This is bad, the Lunites are notorious for training their children and child soldiers for their cause from a very young age. This confirms to me that the bloody Lunartics are indeed here in force. From now on Skiaska, if you absolutely HAVE to engage a lycan in combat while scoiuting try to kill them with a ranged weapon first. Don't get in close with them if you can avoid it. I just hope Krii'Ouse is alright."

In answr to his statement, Krii'Ouse came into the room. He was still standing and not too badly off, but seemed to have been slightly humbled. It was in a somewhat contrite voice that Krii'Ouse conceded that silver weapons might be a good idea after all. Jackson smiled, trying to soothe his friend's pride. "I'm glad that you were able to see my point, although I wish that it didn't have to be so graphically displayed to you. I've already got Marcus hard and work, and I know that he's going to make at least one daisho set out of silver. Since he forged your cold iron blades, you should be equally happy with these ones. Now go get some rest, and I don't want you going scouting until Gail says you're fit for duty again. You're all doing great work, so get some rest for now so you'll be fresh to work some more tomorrow. Time might be short but that's no reason for you guys to ignore your health. Now if you'll excuse me, I have paperwork to get back to. Lucky me, eh?"

With that he was off through the halls again. As he passed by the medical room, he saw Kerrigan standing there with what appeared to be a gash in her cheek. Dr. Hunter wasn't anywhere to be seen, meaning that she'd probably gone to the supply room to get some more bandages. Stepping into the room, Will grabbed a piece of gauze and held it softly to Kerrigan's wound. "Here," he said in a gentle voice, "let me help you with that."

As William walked in and applied some fresh gauze to her wound, she grimaced, looking away from him with a soft growl, "s**t, that stings..." She had finally gotten it to at least stop bleeding, which was a start. Looking back at William, she gace him as much of a smile as she could muster, "It just needs stitching, ill be fine, oh fearless leader." The last thing she wanted was to worry him, she knew that was probably the last thing he needed at the moment.

Her eyes were heavy with exhaustion as she stood and walked over to one of the counters, hopping up on it so that she was sitting facing him. He looked tired, worried and worn out, just generally exhausted. "Hey," she siad in a comforting voice as she smiled at him, "Are you alright? You look worried about something. Is it anything i can help with?" She tilted her head to the side slightly as she looked at him, her voice gentle, and hopefully soothing.