Space bend by itself as a great tear was opened into the void. And the only thing that travelled in it's wake is a great indesign. A creature of tentacles, flesh, and tendrils that, while by itself wasn't dangerous. It's warped mind and it's usage of it's tendrils has led to the deaths of thousands of Star Systems. It was an abomination the likes of which Earth has never seen before, a gigantic space creature that has it's sights set into the Earth for hundreds of years.

And it is dying.

A whole part of it's body has split off it's main form. Drifting slowly into the moon, the creature could only scream from whatever orifices it has. But all it's screaming could only produce nothing. At least in it's immediate surroundings, down on the Blue Planet the riots that has broken out all over the planet intensified as more and more people, from the highest politicians to the lowest of the beggars, fall into madness. It was utter and complete pandemonium.

And that lack of coherency was promptly broken by multiple moving figures that appeared suddenly from the void. Almost as if these things have travelled a great distance in a shockingly short amount of time. The objects maneuvered around the maddened animal. Prepared it's arsenal of Plasma Autocannons, Enchanted Railguns, Shielded Nuclear Missiles, and various other contraptions that would take hours to describe, and fired onto the beast. It is becoming clearer and clearer as the beast fought back with what little remaining assets it has. Great globs of acid and cursed Spikes were thrown, only to be deflected by the energy barriers these objects possesses on it's frame. At one time, the beast could throw thousands of projectiles and overwhelm the barrier, but it was too tired and weakened by the prolonged fight that the rounds slowly drifted the creature into the moon. A crash was imminent, and both the creature and the living beings present inside the moving objects knew it, it was only a matter of time before it crashed. Creating a massive scar on the grey satellite and continuing it's helpless writhing. Even as nuclear missile after nuclear missile were lobbed into the creature until days have gone by.

The death of the creature was a torturous one, the many mages present in the spaceships having to rotate shifts in order to prevent utter madness from engulfing the entire crew. With deities assisting their great efforts by expending any mana reserves they had onto their chants and spells. Robotic Assistants, once nearly indirectly causing human extinction, now computing firing solutions and coordinating with the more fleshy members of the crew as inventories were expended and more were transferred in via portals from supply bases on Earth. It was a great undertaking, all in an effort to prevent the creature from killing all life on Earth. But it paid off, decades of research, reverse engineering, secret field trials and training has all led to this moment.

And everyone cheered as the Abomination led out one last cry before it involuntarily separated itself into many different pieces. The moon, already scarred more in these couple of days than it's entire lifetime, finally gave in to the creature, partly cracking as chunks upon chunks of moon rock flew out. The spaceships having to execute emergency maneuvers to prevent collision. But in the end, after all efforts, after all that blood, sweat and tears. The abomination is dead.

One of the Robots, a Blue Haired woman wearing nothing but it's own 'skin', could only look in awe at the sight. She was one of the few surviving Androids that could see and record the event in real time. It was a bizarre, yet beautiful sight. The moon cracking apart like that, perhaps forming a small dust ring around the Earth as the decades flow by, she felt... elated of course, but also felt like a great weight has been lifted off of her shoulders. Now, she feels that she can choose her own course in life, make some friends. And even learn from the many, many mistakes she will make in her long life.

She silently smiled at that thought, a great abomination died so that she may lived. Not a bad tradeoff all things concerned.

---

---

The plane finally landed. All this time on sleeping mode, being rudely awakened by the waitress, only to say no to the admittedly gracious but incompatible meal she could offer was over. Servomotors across her head moved as she could only look to the window seat to the left of her. There it is! Germany! The great green countryside broken up by the metropolis as her eye lenses focused and zoomed in. She is happy that the announcement had broken her sleep, and also not happy that she didn't just shut down. Would've saved the trouble from the waitress constantly pestering her with the meal offers. Not that she'd blame her, everyone was looking at her the moment she boarded the plane, and she expects everyone to be looking at her still the moment she lived her life here for the next month of two.

She is, after all, literally a new intelligent species on the block.

---

The passport was stamped by the confused Orc. The moment he looked at her limbs and artificially constructed face. The questions were thrown immediately, who is she, what is she doing here, how was she born, what facility were you born in, the hundreds of question about herself that she has been expecting everytime she met someone not of her own.

And she responded in a prompt manner, and in German to, significantly softening the Orc's apprehension and easing up the tension. The moment she's confident that the Orc will let her through. He stamped her passport and let her in, the two cases carrying her items were quickly picked up, and a black car with an Elf waving at her the moment she exited the International terminal took her to the only place that mattered to her right now.

Frankfurt on the Main. That great city in the Main river. She could only ask questions to the driver, fortunately a German as well on the History, the Foods, and the various sites and important buildings she should know. This is a big city after all, she wouldn't wanna miss living in Frankfurt by nosing in on her case and returning to her Apartment Block just like that. That'll be too boring and definitely not what she needed right now.

The office was also an unexpected sight. While great, imposing OMR offices purpose built isn't really uncommon in America (she remembered the LA office, a great skyscraper and a massive complex of interlinked city blocks in the heart of South Central Los Angeles), most offices were sheltered in, just a small building with some small office space on the surface, with a gigantic complex lurking below. The OMR's Frankfurt office stood out the moment she saw it. A great building that towered over her but not nearly high enough to become a Skyscraper, just a very large building off of the downtown area with many office workers and agents going in and out. She was promptly brought in and was asked to wait in a conference room. An office boy brought her drinks, she could only nod and thank him but didn't drink the water at all.

All of her silent waiting paid off when a further unexpected sight entered the office room. A lady wearing a white buttoned up shirt and matching black pencil skirt, accompanied by very long hair and white socks.

"Guten Tag Miss Amanda Duvais. I am so happy to greet you! Please, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Madeleine Disir. I will be your Secretary working from today and I will be more than happy to be your guide towards this Great German City! Of course, what do you expect from some 500 year old Demon who has travelled all of Germany, nothing less!"

Amanda already liked her already.

"Yes yes! Well, hello Madeleine. As you can see from the notice I'm an Android. I am sure that you have so many questions about me, how do I operate, where I was born, how the hell the OMR kept my species a secret for so long. Please, I'm more than happy to share!"

"Oh nonsense madam." Madeleine smiled as she declined the offer. "I think I will keep my questions for myself until we finish the roundup of all agents assigned into the task, I'm sure they will be even more surprised than I am when they meet you, the notice to me mentioned your full info, but I am not sure what the other agents were given info on, it's very well possible that all agents under you didn't even know that you're an Artificial Lifeform! I think it's best suited for them to ask the questions and let me take the backseat for once, I've seen many things in my life, but seeing fellow living beings in genuine shock always, always impresses me."

"Oh, well, then so be it! So when is the first agent coming? I've been told that they are quite literally sourced from all over the world?"

"Well, I'm not sure, my supervisor told me that they should arrive in 2 to 6 hours, but there are many agents and they are all over the place. It could be very well in the night when we meet the full team, maybe even longer! I highly suggest that we get comfortable and maybe order dinner should this prove to be too long."

13K could only nod at the Demonic Lifeform's suggestion. "I like your idea, and I will ask what food this city's famous for and maybe order up. But first? How about a short game of show and tell? I've never met a German Demon in my life and you've never met an Android I'm willing to bet. Don't worry, we'll focus on OMR topics and less on our lives, what do you think?"

"Oh, I would be more than happy to oblige."

---

Faye sighed heavily, both annoyed and bored as she sat upside down, dangling her legs on the air on one of the first class cabins from the train to Frankfurt. Having boarded the train seven hours ago, she knew there was still about three and a half hours until they arrived and yet, she had already exhausted every single option she had to distract and entertain herself. Having already wandered the entire train a dozen times and being called attention by the train staff at least twice as much, she was now stuck inside her cabin after being threatened to be thrown out of the train in the next stop. Sure, she knew that there would be plenty of new things to see and do on Frankfurt, but the amount of time she had to spend in that iron cage called train was almost making her regret that decision already... For a person that most of the times could go wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted due to her abilities, having to spend so much time just to get somewhere else was a... new experience. If she had already visited Germany before, opening a portal would be simple, but since she had never left the UK in her entire life until now, she had no choice but to travel like normal people do...

"This sucks..." Faye said, straightening herself up and sitting in a normal position again, mindlessly grabbing one of the chocolate covered cereal bars she had snatched from the waitress when she came to deliver her food a while ago and taking a bite.

"I wonder how will be the people I will be working with..." she asked herself with a mischievous smile on her face as she gave another bite on the cereal bar.

"... Six years ago, when the event which became known as The Shattering..."

After the second bite though, the sweet taste suddenly gave way to a bitter one, as unwanted memories about what happened six years ago were summoned by the voice coming from the television on the cabin right next to hers.

Even though it was six years ago, Faye still remembers how she felt back then. She was only twelve when it happened. At that age, she was mostly oblivious to what was happening on the moon, but that didn't prevent her from feeling the terrible wave of magic washing all over the earth. It wasn't just dark magic, it was something much, much worse. Even though it was thousands of kilometers away from Faye, she could still feel it's magic power and how utterly undescribable it was. Even normal people were being affected by it's magic, but Faye, who was already incredibly sensitive to magic, almost had her mind broken at that time.

Faye's smile faded, with her eyes becoming lost in the distance for a second as she felt the shivers, summoned by the mere memory of being in contact with that creature's power. It took a few seconds for Faye to recover herself. With the memory gone once more, Faye could now hear clearly the voice coming from the other cabin's television, talking about The Shattering while mentioning one of the monuments that were made to honor the fallen and the bravery of those who fought to defend the Earth.

Fortunately, much for both the staff's relief, the passenger on the cabin changed the channel and lowered the volume just before Faye was about to blink the candy foil wrapper from her cereal bar into the power outlet where the television was connected to, which would cause a small short-circuit and turn off the television for good.

With a small 'accident' potentially avoided, the boredom Faye was feeling a while ago soon returned as there were still three hourst of tavel left.

---

Immediately upon arriving in Frankfurt and disembarking, Faye was greeted by an OMR agent, a middle aged man in a black suit, holding a small whiteboard with her name written on it.

"Miss Faye, I presume." the man asked as Faye approached him, speaking in english, which was a relief for Faye, whose german was... passable at best.

"Hey there! You must be from the OMR, right?" Faye said with a cheerful smile, waving amicably to him.

"It turns out that I really didn't need to bring this..." the agent said, looking to the small whiteboard with a chuckle. While his superiors did say the person he was going to be escorting was impossible to miss, he wasn't expecting her to be so... 'unique'. Thankfully, he was given a few pointers on how to 'deal' with her.

"Yes, my name is Ferdinand. I was told to wait for your arrival and offer to take you to our headquarters." the agent said to her, introducing himself in a formal tone with a small cumpriment.

"Thank you! That really makes things easier! My German isn't that good and it's my first time coming to Germany so I was afraid that I would have to find the place by myself!" she said with a small chuckle.

"Oh! Before we go, could we make a small stop on our way there? I reeeally want to buy some sweets. The cereal bars from the train weren't that good... Too much cereal and too little chocolate!" she said, sticking her tongue out as she complained about the cereal bars she most definitely wasn't 'given' by the waitress on the train.

"... I guess we have enough time for a small stop. I must ask you to not delay too much though, as I was informed that some of your teammates are already present and waiting for your arrival." Ferdinand said, pointing to a small gray sedan that was parked just outside the station.

"Really? I was told that there would be people from all around the world and many different races. I'm really looking forward to knowing who I will be working with!" Faye said, excitedly as she followed Ferdinand before entering the car.

After having bought a bar of chocolate, which Faye began to nibble straight away, they continued their way to the OMR headquarters, arriving on the building only a few minutes later than it was expected. Having mentioned her teammates proved to be the correct option to keep Faye's interest and make her go directly to their destination instead of wanting to wander around the city, potentially get lost and end up gods know where. Ferdinand had been warned about how eccentric Faye was, but he was surprised that she was much less troublesome than he expected her to be. Something which would be soon proven to be a special case on the following weeks...

---

Faye's entrance on the conference room was where her teammates would be waiting for her was... 'unique' to say the least. After Ferdinand left her on the entrance of the entrance of the building and Faye preseting herself on the reception, she was told to go to a certain conference room to wait. The problem was that Faye was too distracted looking around at the interior of the building and amazed by how many differnt races she could find working for the OMR that she didn't pay attention to the number of the conference room that the receptionist said and instead simply began entering random rooms, interrupting a number of possibly important or even confidential reunions, resulting in complaints, surprised and even angry expressions as she began blinking from room to room, until she finally found one that seemed to be the correct one.

"Oh hey! I think I'm in right place this time... right? At least I think I am, judging by how no one is looking at me like they're constipated... or angry, I don't know. Some of the old guys on the previous conference room really looked like they were constipated." Faye said, just as she blinked inside the room.

"Anyways! I'm Faye Hayward. It's a pleasure to meet you." she said, introducing herself with a smile and a small bow.

The lodge is huge about a kilometer wide by a kilometer and a half long. Just a little over a thousand shaman and shamaness were stuffed into the massive wood post, buckskin leather and pendleton blanket made structure. And it's more then enough for what they needed to do. In the center of the circular structure sat the 20 eldest currently serving shaman. And they lead the chanting of the Great Sundance ritual. In the third line out a younger Michael Crane, tomahawk on the ground in front of him, and handdrum in hand. He sang and beat his drum along with the others in the lodge. They could look up and see the moon through the open ceiling of the lodge above. They could just make out the silver of great ships far far away. So tiny are they though.

But their song and the ritual start. As a ball of the soul of all things, magic, begins to form above the lodge. And then like a beam of blue light. It rockets skyward, the beam projected up and up, producing a strengthening effect for several dozen ships high high above.

They would sing and dance and drum until the world shook, this plane and many others shocked as the moon, broke!

But soon, a young man comes running in from outside. The beast had died! It had fallen! The joint forces of the world had won!

The lodge is silent for a time as the gathered exchange looks.

It's Micheal who breaks the silence. He surges to his feet and lets out a war whoop of joy. Soon trills, other cries and more drum beats follows as they celebrate the victory.



Michael comes awake from the nap on the plane to Germany with a snort. And a grumble, as Manabozho the trickster of the Iroquoian peoples eeps and jumps back having just about to have taken a sharpie to Micheal's face. Micheal makes a grab for the god. Who jumps back and then runs back to first class at a decent clip.

The Cree Shaman groans and stretches, "Darned gods." He sighs softly and rubs his face. Looking up and down the aisle of the middle class section of the plane he's on. Elves, dwarves, orcs, one really odd looking goblin party way down the way, dressed in bright tie-dye clothing. Humans all up and down too. And atleast six spirits chilling on the plane. Connected to this or that passenger. He hums and shakes himself, nodding to the side. The flight attendant nods back thinking the gesture is for her, but it's really for the young child spirit who's standing there looking at him expectantly, just wanting some attention.

There's a ding shortly after. And the PA system starts up, "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, dieties and that techni-color sea in between. We will begin our approach to Frankfurt, Germany and the Flughafen Frankfurt am Main airport. Please observe all precautions. And be prepared to take your seats again. The attendants will be by shortly to gather garbage and any other items. Thank you for flying with us and welcome to Germany."

About 45 minutes later Micheal Crane, Canadian Indigenous Shaman and Reserve member of the OMR is retrieving his baggage. As he's grabbing a duffle bag suddenly he feels three entities approaching.

The people around him part as he pulls the tomahawk from his bag. The runes on it flaring into bright blue white flame. And a rune for lightning, is carved into the air in front of him. But soon the rune flickers and gutters away as Raven, the East Coast God of mischief, Whiskeyjack or Wisakechak from his own Cree Nations and Manabozho of the Anishinaabe, Ojibwe and Algonquian peoples are gathered about him. As one the three gods are grinning ear to ear. Raven's mismatched black and grey feather get up on a thin boyish form. Whiskeyjack's late middle aged heavily creased face on the body of a teen, and the joyful face of Manabozho at odds with the body of a women that she wears. Micheal groans, "What the hell are you three doing here?" Whiskeyjack grinning, "Wanted to make sure our best friend is okay."

Michael groans, "Well come on. We got to get to OMR headquarters. See what these moniyew want of us." The three gods cheer and follow in Micheal's wake.

It takes them some time to get there but soon the quartet are marching into the OMR building, "Great..." Micheal says under his breath as the Three Gods suddenly race off. He looks about, "Now who do I talk too."

At the time, when it seemed the world was about to end Dura watched as the fleet fought to slay the best. Watched as many ships were destroyed and inevitably the personnel on board where killed. Watched as a chunk of the beast was removed, and watched as the beast was slain. Her and many other medics like her had been recruited or volunteered to join the fight. To keep as many of the injured alive as possible.

This was the darkest time in her life, she hated watching and not being able to help, she hated no knowing if she herself would come out of this alive, if her ship would be the next to go down. If they would succeed, if they would save the planet. She could only patch people up as her own ship took damage. It was the one thing she was good at. Many people died in the fight and to this day she still feels guilty that she was one of the few who survived.



Dura had been stationed in Germany since the time she had joined the OMR. It had been a rather uneventful time. Mostly working in the facilities Clinic until she was deployed on various missions. Those were few and far between however most missions didn't require a field medic, much to her disappointment. It was only the longer missions she ever got sent out on, the ones where getting back to base or a hospital was risky if not impossible should someone become critically wounded. Which meant that she had long periods of utter boredom.

She has been informed that she was chosen for this particular mission about a week in advance which only made her extra antsy to get started. Per-planning all the materials she would need even though she wasn't entirely sure what the mission would entail. By the time the day of the meeting actually arrived she had already compiled a list of various supplies, as well as bothered anyone she could think of the the files on the other members of the team "for medical purposes". Yes this was partially for medical reasons but mostly to satiate her own curiosity until the time came. The Orc female had poured over the little bit of information she could get so intensely she had memorized them almost completely and put names to faces, aka pictures, fairly quickly.

Dura was doing a last look at the files before she glanced at the clock and realized she was supposed to be in the conference room in a couple minutes. "Shit." She muttered as she gathered up the files and put them in a neat pile on her bed. Luckily the living quarters weren't to far from where she needed to go. She fast walked toward the building she needed to be in, many of the other agents barely able to avoid the Orc as her long strides carried her at a decent speed to the room. She did however come crashing into one agent who happened to be carrying a rather large stack of papers and books. The smaller human had come around a corner at breakneck pace and the two collided causing the materials to scatter on the floor, as well as the poor smaller male. The poor boy couldn't have been older than his early 20's.

"Oh my bad, here let me help you out." Dura said reaching for the male who was now on the floor to help him up. She did a quick scan to make sure he wasn't hurt as she pulled him up to his feet. She then leaned down to help pick up the scattered materials. The two managed to gather them all up, the whole time the other agent muttering apologies. Dura just laughed it off. "No big deal, now I can blame me being late on this unfortunate mishap." She winked at him and hurried off intent on not being too late. Though she was sure she would be the last to arrive at this point.

The Android woman could only grin widely as she sees the new arrivals into the office. Quite an eclectic mix of peoples from seemingly different backgrounds. She noticed the Orc, the Native American, and that crazy teleporting lady all arriving seemingly at the same time. And she only smiled and waved in greetings to the entire group.

"Hello there!" She greeted the group, smiling widely and being as warm as possible. "Welcome! Welcome to the case! I'm sure that most of you here have travelled far and wide, and honestly I did too, but how was you journey? I hope you didn't encounter any problems right? I encountered some in my journeys, but not enough to cause significant problems."

"Hmm. I guess we should start things with introductions then. Madeleine, is it okay if I unclothed myself for them? I think they don't see me really well with my clothes on, would give them an idea of what my species is and we can start breaking ice right then."

The Demon woman could only shrug. "I certainly don't mind, but I'm not sure about the rest of the group though."

"Oh don't worry about it, I don't have much of anything underneath these clothes."

Much to the shock of the group. Amanda immediately unclothed herself, unfastening her shirt and skirt, putting them neatly in the chair where she was sitting, and revealed the mechanisms behind her arms and legs. Everyone could clearly see that she was a mechanical being, the servomotors whining very quietly as she twirled by herself and showed herself off to everyone. "I'm not sure if they showed you my origins. But my name is Unit 13K, but you can call me Amanda if you prefer a more human name. I was born in the Cleveland Manufacturing Hub in 1967 and became an OMR agent by 1985, I was formerly a labourer working in secret OMR facilities where the Spaceships were built, but our species staged a work strike after we realized that the organisation was planning for our disassembly after all of this was done. Worked out in the end, but man, that was a scary time for all of us, we were just in the mid hundreds numbers wide and there is legit fear among our members that the OMR is going to retake the facility by force. Thank goodness none of that happened."

"Anyway, I was then assigned as a junior agent until 1992, and then I was thankfully promoted to Senior Agent, handled my first case of a Murder Mystery in Los Angeles before quickly solving that and now... well, now I'm here! With all of you wonderful people. I sincerely hope that my appearance and mannerisms didn't shock you, I know that most Americans I've met are shocked to hear that living, sentient robots are now a thing, and questions based on the movie Terminator was always asked to all of us. Spoilers, no, we don't intend to take over the world and bring about the robot apocalypse."

Amanda realized that she was going on a bit of a tangent. "Sorry for that little tangent. Anyway, do you have questions you'd like to ask of me? If not, then maybe we can rotate and introduce ourselves to each other."

Another sleepless night and another slow morning. Sleep deprivation, although annoying, never had any serious lasting effects on him. The worst part always seemed to be trying to get back up and be motivated for the day. 05:30, the red numbers glared at him from his bed side clock. He didn’t even bother setting an alarm, he already knew he wasn’t going to sleep very well. That shadow that seemed to be forever stuck to him always lingered in the back of his mind.

With a deep breath the older looking man sat up and began to get ready for the day, staying in bed and starring at the ceiling wouldn’t help him. It took him about 15 minutes to throw on some clean clothes and wash his face. The hotel that the OMR was letting him use was fancy but out of the way. He had arrived in Germany the day before by plane, he was in northern Scotland tending to his home when he received the message. As some mortals say duty calls.

Ross was well knew quite well where the meeting was at and what time but wanted to go for a walk first. It had been nearly 2 or 3 hundred years since he was hear last and the changes, like all the old places he has seen, were many. The amount of change that has happened in just 6 years was unheard of. The end of the cold war, new countries, and new technology being shared after they had survived the shattering. It was a golden era of prosperity and growth.

The space command had many long term goals that were being brought up, from repairing the moon to terraforming other planets. Ross could only hope that his initiative would gain favor and be considered for voting by the end of the year. A proposition to continue to build the planets defense force against extra-terrestrial threats. The eldritch horror is likely not the only one or the last one. On top of that the amount of cults and threats pertaining to the beast almost tripled among the population within the last three years alone. Ross knew that the influence that thing held over the planet was still strong and wouldn’t be easy to get rid of.

His wandering thoughts eventually cleared up when he realized where he had stopped. Quickly Ross realized that he had walked a bit further than he wanted to. Before him was a memorial, Stark white rectangular pillars held black stone sheets. Each one engraved with many names, their ages, and where they were from. It nearly took up a city block and was very well cared for. Clean and organized, Ross slowly stepped through it quietly looking at the names.

The stone pathways that navigated the art piece were engraved with quotes in different languages. The only one he really paid attention to read, “They fought together as Brothers and Sisters-in-arms. They died together and now they sleep side by side. To them we have a solemn obligation.” It was nice, the pillars where erected in a way that it drowned out a lot of the noise of the surrounding city.

It wasn’t too long before the man was back on the street heading for the OMR office building. Time had slipped away from him while looking over the names of those at the memorial. There was one last stop he wanted to make before going to work. A small market a few blocks from the office he was told about by the staff. Starting the odd conversation or asking around as to what was the best area for a quick snack. Ross was able to purchase a few sausages and some candy that he was quick to stash in his interior coat pockets. German sausages of any kind were always something to be enjoyed. The man didn’t have much of a sweet tooth but he also knew it was good for bribing certain creatures.

The office was rather busy with many different beings coming and going. To him it was a security risk but he was sure they had precautions for it. After getting the room number ad directions for it from the reception desk, Ross wasted little time going to the room. Walking with a military presence and with purpose most stayed out of his way. It didn’t help that he also looked upset as well.

The sight he was greeted with when he came in was rather nice. Strangers abound but one familiar face that was taking of her clothes at the front of the group. The android he remembered as the one who saved him after the battle. Amanda Duvais, it was a name he was unable to get when he woke up in the hospital how strange that they would be meeting here once more. The others in the room looked interesting.

When asked to go about introductions he spoke up first in a deep but calm voice, “Ullross Vallath, you lot can call me Ross. Former Captain and squadron leader in the RAF and OMR, Served as an Instructor and combat pilot in the battle of the shattering.” His tone didn’t change but his posture tightened up slightly when he mentioned the shattering. “Currently Specialize in occult studies and investigation.” Ross would not say more after this and instead waited for the others.

---

Despite having started her day at 6:00 AM in the morning every day for the past few years, Astfridur had not grown accustomed to the early start at all. When her morning alarm began to blare, it was slept off its nightstand and across the room, its cable yanked from the outlet. The grumbling woman wanted to bury her face in her pillows and go back to sleep, but she new she couldn't do that. Today was far too important to skip out on it. Besides, her work ethic wouldn't let her miss a day of work, not if she could help it.

She rolled out of bed and stumbled her way over to the window, pulling the curtains apart and letting the sunlight pour into the room, nearly blinding herself for a few moments and increasing her morning frustrations. "Oh hell..." She took a moment to look over the city of Frankfurt, and couldn't help but scoff. It was a beautiful city, she would never deny that, and she enjoyed it thoroughly and was glad to be stationed here, but right now she couldn't be bothered. The mood would leave her eventually, or she'd make it. There was no way she was going to let someone see her fit into the grumpy dwarf stereotype, she would die before that happened.

She spent the next hour getting herself together for the day. Showered, dressed, teeth brushed, hair braided and ponytail wrapped. By the time she had finished, most of her grumpiness had left her, fading away with her sleepiness. Besides, it was hard to be entirely angry after soaking in hot water for awhile. But the thing that removed any trace of crankiness left in her body was the sound of paws skittering against the floor and the soft mewl of her cat. "Good morning, Sindre." She cooed softly and knelt down to pet the cat. "I'm gonna be gone awhile, so we'll eat together. Don't give your sitters a hard time." She flicked the cat's nose gently, and in response the feline playfully bit her finger, eliciting a chuckle from Astfridur. "Love you too."

After a hearty breakfast and a bit more playing with the cat, Astfridur was out her door and on her way to the OMR office. It wasn't far from where she lived, just a short train ride away, and it wasn't one she minded. She could relax a little before she got swept up in her work, not that that was terrible either. She loved her work, but sometimes she found herself too wrapped up in it, whether it be in the lab or in the field. If it was something she'd come up with in the lab, it would be all she could think about for days, if not weeks, a new discovery or progress made on an examination or experiment was always something exciting for her, and she especially loved slapping something together with her hands. If it was for a field mission, like today, then she was anxious. Not out of worry, but excitement. Field work was always fun, and this mission seemed like it would be the best of both worlds.

When she arrived at the OMR building, she wasted no time in skittering past her coworkers, giving a small nod or a quick greeting to everyone she recognized as she walked by. She headed directly for the room she'd be meeting her team in, shoving the door open before stepping inside. She'd entered just in time to hear the introduction of Ross, mostly catching the bit of his participation in The Shattering. She couldn't help but whistle out loud. "Oi, this mission must be something of a real shit show if we got people with accolades like tha-" As she looked around the room, her speech paused. Gone was her semi-snarky entrance, replaced by bewilderment and curiosity as she stared upon the mechanical girl in the room. She didn't quite know what to say, and so the only thing that left her mouth was a soft "Huh."

-Vancouver-

Avi’s flight had been delayed by an hour, as there was a bad storm over the Rockies. He had been sitting in the Vancouver International Airport for a while now and was getting quite bored. He had come back to his hometown to visit his parents, as he hadn’t seen them in two years. They were aware that he worked for the OMR, but didn’t exactly no what his job was. Truth be told he had been undercover in Mexico for the past two years, trying to expose a group trafficking in banned magical ingredients. While it had been a long case, it did end in the arrest of most of the group’s leaders.

Yet, even after doing such a good job with his previous assignment, the OMR already had need of Avi again. It had only been a week and a half of free time for Avi before he was contacted again. Avi leaned back in his chair, looking over the brief fax he had been sent. He was needed in Germany, in regards to stopping weapons smuggling. The mission was in his usual wheel house, plus he was fluent in German, as it was one of the first languages he mastered in high school.

What was different this time is that he would be working with a full team on this assignment. Usually the only person Avi had to keep in contact with was his handler. Avi wondered about who he would be working with, as he knew the OMR employed all kinds of people, with representation from almost every species. Avi thought it would be cool if he could work with a deity, as he had never actually met one.

Avi was considering getting a frozen yogurt cup, when the PA system announced that his flight was now boarding. Avi placed the fax back into his carry on bag and started to walk toward the boarding area. The flight to Frankfurt would apparently take about ten and a half hours, time Avi could make use of. He had considered either bringing a book to read or to practise up on his German, but he was really mentally tired after his time in Mexico, so he decided to use that time to sleep.

-Frankfurt-

Avi awoke at about an hour out from his destination. For a second he forgot where he was, reaching for the wand hidden in his jacket. Another second later, he remembered what was happening. He let go of the wand, technically an item he wasn’t allowed to bring on a plane, the illusory invisibility spell still active. The spell in question was strong enough that no one during his previous assignment even knew he had a wand on him. Avi was always taking a risk by bringing his wand on his person, but he always felt more secure knowing it was there.

By the time the plane landed, Avi had drank some sugary cola and was now fully awake. He disembarked the plane and made his way over to baggage handling. Avi had packed light, all of his clothes contained in his carry on. What he did grab was a sealed briefcase that housed his knife and gun. As an OMR agent he was allowed to bring it on a plane, but it had to stay in the cargo bay sealed.

Avi picked up the brief case and headed over to the front of the airport. Waiting there was an Elf in a suit with a sign that read: Xaviron Mosley. Avi walked over to the man, remembering his cover story that he was an appraiser of magical items from Canada. As Avi approached the Elf he gave him a quick nod, the Elf recognizing who he was. Avi was led outside the airport to a small black car, one without any OMR markings.

As Avi entered the car, the Elf turned to him, speaking in English, “Coffee?”

Avi waved his hand, “No, can’t stand the stuff.”

“Alright then,” the Elf said, taking a sip of the coffee instead.

The Elven chauffeur drove from the airport into the heart of downtown Frankfurt, the radio playing some German pop the Elf sung along to. Soon Avi could see the OMR office, a tall building he had previously only seen in files. The Elf drove right up to the front of the building, still singing in German. Without saying anything, Avi got out of the car, which promptly drove away, presumably to pick someone else up.

Avi entered the building. Waiting in the front was a Dwarf dressed in a turtleneck and sport jacket. “Good day sir, how can I help you?” he asked in German.

Avi replied quickly, his German not at all rusty, “I am an OMR agent, here for a briefing.”

Pulling out his ID, Avi let the Dwarf scan it before being signalled that he could go deeper into the building. Avi made his way up the stairs, pulling the fax out of his bag to recheck what room he was supposed to go to. Upon confirming the room number, Avi began a brisk stride to get to it. The delay on his flight, mixed with the sudden abruptness of leaving Vancouver, meant that there was a good chance that he would be late for the meeting.

Upon finding the room, Avi heard talking coming from within. With the faintest of movements, Avi nudged the door open, slinking his way inside, hopefully unnoticed. Inside was a menagerie of different races, but what caught Avi’s eye was a woman taking off her clothes. Avi had heard that Europeans were more liberal but this was taking it a bit far. But Avi quickly saw the point as she revealed that she had gears and mechanisms for a body.

Avi had heard rumours that the OMR had artificial beings, but he never thought that they would be so life like. The robot, or Amanda she called herself, began to explain her origins. Avi was a little bit shocked that the OMR had been making artificial beings for nearly his whole time alive. And apparently they had rights? It was a lot to take in, even for a Canadian, as she made her joke about Americans expecting a robot apocalypse.

The next person to speak was named Ross, apparently having served during the Shattering. Avi was always amazed whenever he met a survivor of that battle as he had heard the stories of soldiers dying by the thousands to take out the Abomination. Seemingly echoing Avi’s thoughts about the Shattering was a Dwarf who wondered why this mission would require such a legendary warrior.

Rather then dwell on why people like Amanda and Ross would be needed on the team, Avi decided to introduce himself to them, “Xaviron Mosley. Illusions, appraisal, and intelligence. First time on a team like this.”

He had decided to speak in English, as even though they were in Germany, he was unsure if everyone present was fluent.

Micheal had gotten some directions from a well meaning OMR agent in the foyer. He'd waited of course for the others who arrived just right ahead of him to enter first. And he's standing at the rear of the group slightly to the left, his duffle bag over his shoulder. He smiles, "Good medicine."

The reveal though is astonishing, "A living machine." Micheal's eyes wide as he observes. The initial shock broken when standing up from behind a drape Whiskeyjack mutters, "Damn! new reason to a hard life. She's all hard." Micheal growls, "I swear. I will bind you if I have too." He then turns to the rest, "My apologies. I have a trio of hitchhikers with me. usually I'd charge gas money but I came by plane." He turns to the grinning god with a stern look, "How did you get in here anyway?" Whiskeyjack grins, "There's a door, and it's not my fault if no one is paying attention to the guy in the headdress." He shrugs and gives a really good impression of the cheshire cat right then. And all Micheal can do is shrug in apology.

"But seriously, that incredible eh? And the rest of us. Quite a crew here. Makes you wonder what's we're all going to be able to bring to the table." He idly begins to flip his tomahawk in hand, almost casual in it's movements, "Hello everyone." He finally finishes with, a big grin on his face. He's about to ask for information on what is going to happen when his gaze fell on Ullross or Ross. His eyes narrowed, and gleamed. Staring right at a tall dark formless mass hovering about him. He'd seen free spirits that could walk and move and interact. He'd seen gods not quite ready to manifest. And he'd faced dark spirits, malicious and angry. But this thing hovering over Ross, is something else. For a moment he grips the handle of his tomahawk tightly, then reigns in his reactions, not a good time to react.

He gulps then looks about, regaining his composure, "Micheal Crane, pîhtokahânapiwiýin among the Shamans of Canada and the United States. Don't expect me to speak much German. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Dura waited patiently for the others to arrive. She knew the basics of pretty much everyone on the team from the files she had plucked but seeing them all in person was a different thing all together. She wasn't too shocked by the reveal of the android but still the question entered her mind, though she didn't vocalize it. The concern however was plastered on her face for a split second and gone before anyone who wasn't looking at her noticed. "How the hell am I supposed to patch up an android in the field? Hope we have a stellar mechanic. I do not know the first thing about sentient robot bodies."

Dura's attention went to the others who introduced themselves. She recognized the man who introduced himself as Ross. He had come to her some time ago to see if she could help with his sleep issues and though that wasn't really her area of expertise she had been able to recommend a few things to try out. After a few others introduced themselves Dura cleared her throat to do the same.

"Dura Mor, I will be your licensed Field Medic for this mission. Served in the German armed forces for several years before being recommended to join the OMR ranks about a year after The Shattering. Served on one of the many ships during the battle as a medic. Your health is my concern." Her voice was loud and thick with a German accent. She attempted to sound more formal than she usually was. She knew she looked more like she was here for muscle than anything else, after all her rough exterior didn't exactly scream delicate medical knowledge. She spent a lot of time observing the others. She tried not to judge anyone based on appearance but from what she had seen so far many of them seemed less fighters and more espionage or specialist types. So maybe the mission would be less head on and more information gathering. If that was the case that would make her life pretty easy. Maybe she wouldn't have to worry too much about severe wounds.

---

Faye was surprised when she saw the other people who would be working with her arriving. She was expecting it to be a very diverse team, but wasn't expecting it to be that diverse. With the arrival of the new agents though, the normally full of energy and cheerful Faye stopped for a moment, almost as if taking in the amount of information that was suddenly provided. Due to her magic sensitivity, the moment a few of the agents entered the room, she felt that there was something going on with a few of them. It was different from the usual magic item that some people carried with them, either for protection, convenience or maybe vanity, Faye was accustomed in feeling those trinkets and items from normal people and due to how common it was, she most of the times ignored it... Unless the item had a particularly powerful magic or if it was some kind of dark or negative magic. Unlike that type of feeling though, the way their own magic felt and the magic in the air was reacting to a few of the agents was certainly worthy of a closer investigation.

The first one that drew her attention was Michael or better, not Michael himself, but the teenager that entered the room with him. His magic and the way it behaved itself were clearly different than normal people. It wasn't even a matter of intensity, but it was the magic itself, it's origin and how it behaved. Looking at him with a curious expression, Faye approached the teenager, leaning forward almost enough so the boy could clearly see her different colored eyes and the glint of wild magic on them as she tilted her head as she looked at him, almost as if studying the boy for a moment. After a brief moment, she gave a step back, looking at him with a mischievous, almost a bit smug smile before it changed to a kind and amused expression.

"I wonder how many stories do you have to tell... How many years have you lived... I would love to hear them sometime." she said with a kind smile before she walked away, turning her attention to the others.

Before she could continue her small inspection of the members though, one of the women who were first in the room when Faye arrived spoke up. Giving a small wave towards the demon woman when the other woman mentioned that her name was Madeleine. When she mentioned unclothing herself though, Faye was a bit surprised. What perhaps was most interesting on her reaction to the woman's words though was that she wasn't embarrassed or anything. Instead, her confusion was more regarding the reason for her to uncloth herself though.
When she did though, Faye was really surprised by what she saw. Completely ignoring the parts that she 'didn't' see on the woman though, Faye was just really amazed and curious when she saw that the woman was in fact, an android.

"Wow! That is so cool!" Faye said, suddenly blinking nearby the android woman, whom introduced herself as Unit 13K, or Amanda. The entire time Amanda was explaining about her origin and what she was though, Faye was either circling around her or straight up blinking, inspecting the motors on her joints and how her body was made. While Faye did filter most of the boring stuff, she did catch most of the important stuff.

"Hey! I have a few questions if you don't mind!" Faye said after blinking back to her place as she raised a hand.

"So... Did you really work on spaceships? I heard a lot of stories about them but never saw one. Well... I've never been to space either, but I imagine zero gravity must be really fun... Do you guys need to eat and rest too or you need only to recharge or something? Oh! Can you guys change parts if you feel like it? Like, it would be fun to be a bit taller..." she said, looking to herself and then to the really tall orc woman, whom, much to Faye's surprise, after introducing herself as Dura, would also say that she had worked on the ships when The Shattering happened. After she stopped for a moment, she realized that there were still other people to introduce themselves and her questions could probably be left to be answered afterwards.

"Oop! Sorry! I wont interrupt everyone's introduction! It's just that it's the first time I saw someone like Amanda so I was a bit curious. When we have some free time, I would love to hear your answers to all those questions, by the way!" Faye said, whispering the last part to Amanda with a mischievous wink.

Just after Amanda introduced herself though, a dwarf woman who was mentioning something about being a tough mission before Amanda introduced herself, let out a small 'huh', surprised by Amanda's metallic body. Faye on the other hand, was surprised by the small dwarf.

"Oh my! You're so cute and adorable!! Can I hug you?" Faye said, blinking near the dwarf woman and starting to move herself almost as if she was going to hug her before she replied, but the way the dwarf woman looked at her made her hold herself, clearly fighting her urge to just hug her.

As the others continued to introduce themselves though, she did her best to behave herself and hear them without interrupting. That didn't save them from her small 'investigation' when she found someone interesting though, like, for example, Ullross. His magic also felt a bit different, although it was not like the teenager that came with Michael, it was still undeniably different from how normal people were. What did draw her attention though was that she could feel another... strange feeling of magic with him. It was faint, but it was undeniably there and Faye could feel a certain discomfort whenever she tried to feel that magic. It wasn't powerful, but the discomfort immediately made her think about dark magic. Not only that, but Ullross' magic reacted... strangely with it. It was almost as if it was being swallowed, disappearing into that faint, strange magic. Faye never saw anything like that before, but she couldn't chase away the feeling that there was something off with it. Not in a good way.

"There is... something... with you. It's a different magic... It 'feels' uncomfortable. I don't like it." Faye said to Ullross, with a serious expression as she looked at him, with a rather concerned look.

Faye was surprised that there were so many interesting people on the team. She was expecting to be at least a few boring people but they looked mostly fine for now. One of them, the next one to introduce himself did look really boring though... Xaviron's choice of clothes were much like his introduction, extremely monochromatic and rather boring on Faye's eyes, whose fashion style couldn't be more different from Xaviron.

Before Faye could notice though, a brief silence filled the room.

"What? It's my turn now?" she asked, a bit surprised with her thoughts about the other agents being interrupted.

"I am Faye Hayward, youngest daughter of the Hayward family. I was just recruited for the OMR, so I don't have any previous experience with such things. That said, I also came to the OMR in order to make a few tests regarding my blood, my powers and be registered." she said.

"My older sister insisted that it was probably a good idea to tell this to my co-workers before I came here, but I don't think it's something that incredible or strange, seeing the people we have reunited here today, right?" Faye said, with a mischievous smile as she clearly glanced at a few members such as the teenager that came with Michael, Ullross and even Amanda herself.

"Anyways, I am Half-Fae. My powers and my fae blood were discovered after I disappeared for a month in a certain park in England. My family always say it was only for a month, but the time I spent with the fairies felt like much longer, at least according to the perception of time I had when I was five..." Faye explained, clearly getting offtrack.

"I can, quite obviously, blink, but I can also open portals. It's like teleportation but with a few caveats. My blood also explains why I can feel the flow of magic, both natural, of people or items. The OMR said that the reason why I can use my blink ability so naturally without getting my magic exhausted is due to my blood, which is one of the reasons why I was recruited." she continued.

"As I said before, I don't have experience in being an OMR agent or anything of the sort, but I always a very active girl and my physical isn't bad. Besides, not only my abilities could prove to be useful but I can also help quite a lot in tracking anything related to magic. So I will be under your care." she finished with a smile and a small bow before she began to go back to her place.

The moment she finished though and looked at the people present, her eyes met with a man who haven't introduced himself yet. While she didn't notice him before, the very moment she paid more attention to him her smile disappeared and the color on her face clearly drained a bit. He was 'the same' as Ullross, but unlike him, the 'thing' that man had inside of himself was much, much darker and clearly much more harmful to him than what Ullross' had. Even though it was in a much lower intensity, she knew exactly what it was. She had already felt that magic before on the day of The Shattering. While it wasn't even near the intensity of what she felt on that day, it was still very impactful to her. The very nature of that thing's magic repelled her own. It was suffocating, it made her feel incredibly uncomfortable, almost as if her skin was tingling. Besides that, the memories of what she felt on the day of The Shattering came back once more, making that small encounter even worse for Faye.

"You're... similar to Ullross but... Why... do you have this inside you?!" she muttered, trembling a bit, nervously giving a few steps back, increasing the distance between them. The clear change in Faye's behavior and how silent she suddenly became made it obvious that there was something very wrong.

“SIGMUNDR! Your late!” The booming voice of Odin rang out through the mead hall. Stirred from his slumber, the Dragon Deity raised his head off the table. “For what?” Sigmundr asked, still half asleep, and feeling a little worse for wear. “You said you would take the mission in Frankfurt. It’s time you get back in the game, Old Friend.” The dragon trapped in human form stood up. Pushing up off the table, shakily. ”That’s Tomorrow.” “It’s today.” Sigmundr looked at his phone and his heart sank. Odin was right. ”Fuck.” “Bags are packed,” Odin handed Sigmundr his weapon case and a duffel bag. “And Heimdall should be ready to transport you just about...” Odin checked his watch. ”Oh no. I’ve told you...” There was a flash of light and the Bifrost opened up.

Travelling through the Bifrost was not a pleasant experience. The closest way anyone has come to describing it was being turned inside out by your butthole and then being dragged through a hole the size of a drinking straw.
Sigmundr popped out, outside the OMR building in Frankfurt, vomiting.
Getting up, after he had emptied his guts. Sigmundr stood up and walked inside. Politely and quietly entered the meeting room and watched the introductions until he was addressed by the half fae.

Unbuttoning his shirt, he pulled aside the fabric to reveal a black scar. It’s dark colour contrasted on his tan skin. It looked darker than black. Almost as if it was sucking the light in. ”I assume your talking about this.” He said tapping the scar. ”No one came away from the abomination without scars. It just decided to leave a little souvenir inside me.” He began buttoning up his shirt again. ”Sigmundr.” He said almost matter of factlly to introduce himself.

Amanda was so fascinated with everyone's reaction to her appearance. On one hand, she loves the various reactions of the peoples she met. She sees that the Red Haired woman was particularly interested and was talking her mouth off, asking questions about her previous job and how it feels like to be inside a spaceship, and a smattering of other questions she didn't really focused on, as that woman rapidly switched again to observing and commenting about the other agents present as well.

What a weird woman. Amanda thought, noting the fact that she outed herself as the youngest agent in the group. Just 18 on top of that, I think I might wanna be her mentor. She has great potential but obviously needs guidance.

"Miss... Faye Hayward right?" Amanda responded to the rapidly moving woman. "Do you really want to move around or do you want me to answer your questions? Yeah, the robot questions."

That seemed to get her attention, Amanda noted the changed reaction of Faye once she responded. "Alright, so, first of all, the assembly lines are still an undisclosed facility, but I can tell you that work is... hard, but worth it. We have to move reactor parts, whole engines, and a crapton of other things for assembly. But we Androids formed bonds while doing such things, and the friendships we all made after work's finished lasted even to this day."

"Secondly, unfortunately the Spaceships have artificial gravity, so no zero gravity while you're on it. The spacewalks outside the spaceships are fun though, not gonna lie. Partly inspired me to take Snowboarding as a hobby. Believe it or not."

"Thirdly, nope, no eating for me. I'm powered by a reactor core that's due for replacement in 2035. So a long, long time away in the future. Fourthly, yes, I do 'sleep', I can shutdown my core components after I'm strapped into my resting station, my Personality Core will slowly go haywire over the days if I don't sleep daily, kinda like how a human can get even more annoying if they don't sleep? Yeah, something like that. And Fifthly, yes, I can replace my parts and even disassemble them myself if given the equipment."

"Does that answer your question?" Amanda finished. But just as she was about to hear the reply from Faye, she turned her attention to Dura's question.

"Well, you don't have to, hopefully at least. My torso." She outlined her chest. "Can handle Autocannon fire for 25 seconds before breaking, and my hands are made from a special alloy designed to lift super heavy objects. So if something can destroy me, you'd better run for your lives already."

"Anyway, I guess I'll take a backseat and let you all introduce yourselves and mingle for a little while, still got some agents that haven't arrived yet. You can come here and ask me any questions you have, what my job is, what my abilities are, do I have some magical affinity. That's a hard no for that last question by the way."

She put her clothes back on after that. But soon after approached Faye as she was observing the dragon agent intently. "Hey uhh, Faye right? Can you come here for a moment? I wanna talk to you about your abilities and stuff, it might be useful if we start outlining strategies right now rather than deep in a firefight or something."

There was a standard method to arriving late to an important meeting, one tailored towards making as little fuss as possible while also showing everyone how contrite you were. Open the door as little as possible while squeezing yourself through the gap, close it behind you as quietly as you can before looking over your shoulder to see if anyone was looking at you; everyone was looking at you. Smile sheepishly and mouth an apology before tiptoeing over to an empty chair at the back of the room and hide your shame by slouching as far down in your seat as possible.

It was just the done thing.

Morgana, however, didn’t do any of that. One didn’t become a researcher in a department which specialised in challenging the preconceived notions of the world by doing the done thing after all. The door of the meeting room swung open as she strode in, the brim of her oversized witches hat bouncing with each step.

“Sorry I’m late, did I miss anything important? No? Great.”

The researcher walked further into the room, ignoring everyone else for the time being as she claimed a chair for herself, only turning her attention to everyone else once that was done. It seemed they had gathered quite the eclectic group for this mission, people are all colours and creeds and walks of life; it must have been some problem they were being called in to deal with. The fact they had bothered to call in a lab rat like herself was interesting enough, but the layers and layers of wards and magical circles on her person were practically abuzz at the amount of magical energy present in this room.

No small timers these. How interesting.

---

A robot. An actual robot was standing before them, and showing off her mechanical body at that. Astfridur was at a loss of words, and found herself just staring for a moment. Her curiosity, both personal and scientific were starting to rise, and she found herself with quite a few questions to ask, but the red-headed woman had beat her to it, firing questions at Amanda left and right. They were good questions, though. Questions she might have asked herself when she was younger. She couldn't fault the girl for asking questions, but she would admit, the amount of speech and the speed of which she did so was giving her a bit of a head ache. She should have stopped for some coffee first.

"Hug...me?" The question caught Astfridur off guard by the question. Cute? She could see it. Adorable? Well, she put in her best effort. But a hug? What? "No, you can't hug me, I'm not a child!" She could feel her inner grump rearing its head, but she did her best to hide it. Her response came out less like growl and more like an annoyed pout. The girl had so much energy that she supposed she should be happy that she was asked, she might have very well just been hugged, and god knows how embarrassing that would have been. She already looked like she was fighting the urge to do it anyway. "But we can shake hands, that's a good way to start a business relationship."

Faye's introduction was nearly as intriguing as Amanda's was, for different reasons of course. She was so young, and here she was, with the rest of them. In fact, a look around the room told her that a lot of their group were on the young side. Young people joining the OMR wasn't surprising. Wherever there was a military organization, there would always be young people enlisting, but they must have been pretty talented for their age to be in this room.

"I am Astfridur Rumnaheim," She introduced herself, speaking aloud for the whole room, turning her head to get a good look at everyone as she did so. "Metallurgist, engineer and field scientist for the OMR, I've been here for a long time, more than five years. I guess my rank is that of a Petty Officer, second class, but I'm not really a soldier. Scientist first, soldier second. But that isn't to say I don't know my way around a good scrap, and I can kick ass when I want."

"Mostly, I run experiments, analyze, identify and characterize materials, but minerals and ores are my specialty. I know my way around some machines and technology, to a degree." If she were to take a look at Amanda, she doubted she'd be able to know or do much about her. "My magic isn't quite as cool as being able to blink through space, but I'm pretty proud of it. I think it represents me pretty well! As long as I can make contact with the earth, through a medium or my own flesh, I can make it do what I want. Geokinesis, if you will. Don't matter if it's sand, rock, or dirt. I ask, and it responds."

"In any case, I'm happy to meet you all, and I look forward to working with you! So, let's do our best, and get everyone home in one piece, eh?" She flashed the entire room a rather toothy grin and then moved to take a seat, hopping onto an empty chair and falling back into the rest. She kicked her legs back and forth, waiting to listen to anyone else's introductions or, well, anything they had to say.

Michael gazed about the room at the assembled people. Appears to be quite the interesting group. All of them standing out to members of the OMR in some way. Quite interesting really. Why they would call up an unofficial and reserve member like him is curious. Perhaps they needed his skills. Ah well it'd come out in the open eventually. Michael took himself off to the side. Easily addressed but not too far away as to play the loner. It also afforded him an interesting view.

That being the byplay between Whiskeyjack and one Faye Hayward. See the trickster god is used to being overlooked, it's how he does some of his best work. In fact all the trickster gods work better that way. So for the teenaged looking god to suddenly have someone besides Michael walk up, look him over and speak to him. Well Whiskeyjack is taken quite a back. In fact again it takes him abit to regain his balance. Then the god walks right up to Faye and with a slightly affronted tone to be honest atleast at first starts to spin a tale.

"The story goes that it was Oymantiou who was here first. Along side others like Uranus and other creator gods. They made the world. From highest peak to lowest gorge. Light, dark, cold and warm. They did it all. But it was Oymantiou who made the first man you know. From clay and mud and sticks and berries. He formed the shape of the first man. And when Oymantiou breathed life into this first man. He named him Wesakechak. Meaning First-born. And you know what. I was right there to see it." Whiskeyjack grins. "You wanted to know stories. I have many." The trickster chuckles then dances away pulling a handdrum from the air and begins a Round Dance beat. Singing and dancing about the outer edge of the room.

Michael sighs and shrugs if he gets any looks, "He's harmless." Said moments before Whiskeyjack manages to break a coffee table. The shaman grins "Kinda?"

The tall man watched as more people began to stroll in. stepping towards the far wall and scanning those that stepped in. a short and stout dwarf that had a mechanical outlook to her. She had begun to call out the possible danger or severity of the mission when she cut herself off. “Been a while since I have seen a speechless dwarf.” He commented with a smile.

The next he saw was a human or elf? Maybe both? Tall and lanky. Illusions, appraisal, and Intel, at least with this one it looks like it could do well at disappearing into a crowd. A lot better than he could, Ross tried to keep his exploits in the OMR and RAF secret but it wouldn’t take much for someone to look him up and give him away.

The shaman seemed interested in Amanda as well, even the trickster mentioned it. The man toyed with an old tomahawk but Ross wasn’t too worried. So far only a few of those that were here looked to have any combat experience, “Micheal Crane.” The shaman introduced himself. The one that followed him looked familiar but still gave off the feel of a deity. His travels took him too many places over the last thousand years and ever so gradually faces became blurred.

The orc was at least familiar, locking eyes with her for a moment and nodding. The slight acknowledgement was all he would give her. A few years ago he came to her looking for help with his sleep. By that time he already knew he wouldn’t be able to change his form anytime soon. Still, her presence was good not only would it be moral support for the others but she could be useful if it came to hearts and minds. Sometimes having someone help an enemy or someone we were trying to befriend could gleam more information from them.

This fay would prove to be quite perceptive, not only approaching him without any worry but she was able to accurately detect the magic that was connected to him. “That’s Dave don’t mind him. He’s just a hitchhiker or parasite that latched on after we killed the leviathan.” The gloom that surrounded him darkened for a moment as if the dark form understood him insulting it. Honestly no one could tell him what the thing was and it wouldn’t communicate with even the oldest seer’s. It was something impossibly old and entirely too strange for some of them to even comprehend. Regardless they all agreed that whatever it was, was the reason he couldn’t shift and was attached to his soul.

The small colorful girl trailed off to another that had snuck in while he was talking. The energy this one gave off made him have to think. This one was also familiar and was also giving off the same feel as the other deity that came with the shaman. He knew the man was there during the battle but he wasn’t sure as to what form he could have taken. He was sure they would be able to talk about their origins later.

Amanda spoke up again and answered a few of the myriad of questions the others berated her with. Ross wasn’t too curious he was well aware of the capabilities of the mechanical race. This didn’t lessen the interest he had for them but his words were more personal and this was simply not the place for it.

As he was contemplating where he should stand another female with a pointy hat and flowing clothes walked in. she had a bit of arrogance in her body language. A specialist for sure in what field he could only guess as the glyphs and wards imbued on her person reacted to the magic in the air. A strange one for sure but didn’t look to be too much of the approachable type. Not like him, Ross has been called stoic and intimidating in the past but this one seemed more annoyed or superior to the others. That kind of attitude was useful as long as it was directed correctly to a given task.

The dwarf seemed to break away from her stupor when the fay girl called her cute and asked if she could hug her. She continued with offering a hand shake then introduced herself. The last name sounded familiar but he would find out later as to why. While she explained what she was here for it dawned on him that he had not given a more specific role and now that most of the others had done so made him feel off. At least the dwarf and her ability’s seemed very useful with what they could be dealing with.

The deity that came with the shaman soon began to speak of creation stories when he was asked. The shaman did not seem too concerned by him but due to the general feel of the deity Ross could only assume that he was some sort of trickster spirit. He came to this conclusion by the way it spoke and then broke a coffee table.

“For those of you curious I suppose I should also be more forthcoming with my information.” Ross spoke with a loud enough voice to only just be loud enough for everyone to hear. “I am a senior field agent with the OMR in the European sector, it should be noted that Amanda is still the team leader and therefore outranks me. My specific mission parameters other than what we are all here for is one. Keep you lot from dying, not to be confused with Dura who is here to keep you all alive. I assure you there is a difference.” He paused for a moment then continued. “And two. I am responsible for containing or destroying any occult magic or cult items that we come across that has ties to the leviathan. If you find anything like this do not touch it and report it to me immediately.”

The man seemed to be satisfied but before finding a seat spoke again, “and for all those that it might matter to I am a Dragon and have been watching the mortal races grow for a very long time. So if my methods seem old or barbaric at least you know why.” Ross found a seat near the wall and continued to look about the room before settling on the trickster that was still singing and dancing around the room.

---

Much to Faye's surprise, the teenager that came with Michael was more talkative than Faye herself assumed he would be. As he began telling a short story, Faye listened to him intently and in silence, paying close attention in his words. When he finished, mentioning that he had many stories to tell, Faye opened a mischievous, but amused smile as he conjured a hand drum and began dancing away.

"He is very interesting. In a way most people... most humans rarely are. In a way, he is similar to some of the Faes I met when I was a child." she said, looking to Michael with a mischievous smile as he mentioned that he was 'mostly' harmless.

Turning her attention towards the Dwarf woman, the way she reacted to Faye's request did tell her that she made the correct choice in holding herself back a bit. Still, it was a bit disappointing for her that there wouldn't be a hug. Especially with how adorable she was, which was an undeniable fact, no matter what she said.

"Oh no! I didn't mean to call you a child or anything. It's just that you're so cute that I really want to hug you!" Faye said with a giggle.

"Well... A handshake will suffice for now!" Faye said with a smile as she shook Astfridur's hand. The last part of Faye's reply was probably a bad omen of what could happen if Astfridur indeed ended up letting Faye pamper her.

Amanda's replies to Faye and everyone else's questions were truly interesting but unfortunately for Amanda herself, they only made Faye think about even more questions. That said, she tried to hold her curiosity at least for now as Amanda was answering the ones she had already made. While the fact that she didn't eat wasn't much of a surprise, it still made Faye think about how terrible it could be to never have eaten chocolate dipped strawberies, chocolate cakes or other sweets. Even though Amanda mentioned that there was no zero gravity inside of the spaceships, knowing that the people who worked there could indeed experience zero gravity when going outside and most importantly, having Amanda's confirmation that it was indeed fun did open a smile on Faye's face though.

"Zero gravity is the best thing about space! I don't understand why someone would want to go there just to feel as if they were on Earth. Still, it's not that bad, since you can go outside. Talking about it, it is really as fun as I assumed it would be then!" she said excitedly.

"Disassembling yourself does sound a little bit scary when you mention it like that... Still, with the amount of cool stuff one might me able to do with it, being a bit scary wouldn't matter that much... As long as it doesn't hurt of course. Which it doesn't... right?" Faye replied, giving a bit more thought on how Amanda worded the fact that she could change 'parts'.

Faye's small 'investigation' of the other members did yield some results though. Ullross, whom Faye had talked with just a bit ago regarding the 'thing' he had on him mentioned that it was 'Dave' as he called. While Faye wasn't much surprised by how he described it as a 'parasite', the moment he mentioned that he appeared after the leviathan died did make her give a step back, a bit alarmed.

"That's why I had such a bad feeling coming from it. It's weak... but it's definitely not a good thing if it came from the leviathan." Faye mentioned to Ullross before she trailed away again.

---

Faye knew very well how rude her reaction was, especially after the man, whom introduced himself as Sigmundr, explained his circumstances and why she felt such power inside him. That said, she simply couldn't avoid reacting the way she did. Not only feeling that magic again made her think about the terrible experience she went through in the day of The Shattering, but the nature of that magic itself affected Faye's own magic. Even though the initial shock was already passing, anyone could see that it still would take her a bit more to recover her composure and go back to her bright, happy self.

"I-I will be fine. I'm sorry... It's just..." Faye said to Amanda when she got closer to her, asking if she was okay.

"I was just a bit... surprised. That is all... I'm sorry for being rude, Sigmundr." she said, with a small apologetic bow towards Sigmundr, even though she still seemed to be a bit unmfortable.

"Even though the fragment's magic isn't particularly intense, being so close to it is enough to make very uncomfortable and to make me remember what I felt on the day of The Shattering..." Faye said with a short explanation to Sigmundr, before turning to Amanda.

"My... abilities? Sure. If you have any questions, you can ask me." She said to Amanda. Having walked away from Sigmundr made her feel a bit better, but she was still somewhat uncomfortable. As she had said herself, while not unbearable, it would still take her some time to get used to it.

Amanda was pretty sure everyone was here at this point. The moment she saw Sigmundr and Morgana enter in, now she is definitely sure. She was told that the current team composition consisted of 9 members, with a possibility for more, nonetheless, she is sure that she can start the briefing right now.

But not before she has to get a few words with Faye first. She has gotten her attention for once, and she feels that this is going to be the few times she will actually listen to her for once.

"Faye. I have to ask, but you have the ability to create portals right? As long as you have that place in your memory, you can teleport us or make a portal towards that place, right? I heard it from your biodata, I just want to make things sure."

Getting a nod from Faye. She then continued. "Well, if so, I am wondering if you wanna be a sort of wing-girl for me. Well, a Wing-Girl for everyone but especially for me. Since I have no magical abilities of my own, I was always paired with someone with a proficient ability in the magical arts, and I was thinking about making you my personal partner for this mission. I have a good feeling that we will be involved in some very intense firefights if the potential actors of these weapons shipments are anything to come by, and I hope that you're willing to lend me a hand should the time comes."

"I was thinking about shouting some orders to you, like 'teleport me to x or y' to reposition me in some better position so that I can finish off some aggressors, assuming we're in a fight. And 'take us outta here!' being a catchall term for creating a portal back to someplace you deem safe. You ok with that right? I'll come back to you, but I have a briefing to start, so answer once I'm finished with the briefing."

Nodding to Faye and smiling. The Android clapped her hand multiple times towards the group, garnering everyone's attention. "Alright everyone, I'm pretty sure that everyone's here, so welcome! welcome welcome welcome to this case, the case of 'how in the world did Germany became the center of the European Arms smuggling industry,' trust me, I'm still trying to come up with a good Case name for this."

"Alright, so I guess a rollcall is in order. But there's myself, Sigmundr, Ullross Vallath, Faye Hayward, Morgana Faith, Micheal Crane, Astfridur Rumnaheim, Dura Mor, and Xaviron Mosley. Just call yourself out in case I didn't get someone's name."

Counting everyone's presence, Amanda promptly smiled and motioned at her secretary. "Alright then! Madelaine, do you have the presentation slides ready as I requested?"

The female demon nodded and went towards the projector, inserting a slide and turning the machine on, the first image was a photo of a warehouse busted, showing multiple Soviet weaponry lying around.

"Alright, so this was the first piece of evidence shown in 1993. A typical customs raid on a warehouse in Hamburg, a suspicious shipment manifest was found originating from St Petersburg, claiming to be carrying potatoes but for an unclear distributor. Police raided and found out it was a shipment of guns and heavy weapons. Later it was found out that there were already 5 containers that already left to god knows where, and this trend continues to this day."

"I also need to note that there is high suspicion among the OMR that some form of Portal/Teleportation spell is being used nowadays for their arms shipments."

Madeleine then puts another slide on the projector. This time showing a bunch of bullet points. "Alright, so our objective is, 1) Find out who is responsible for smuggling all these weapons, 2) Stop the weapons shipments by intercepting already in progress deliveries should we found them, 3) Find out the objective of the group and why they need this many weapons, and 4) Maybe put a stop to their objectives, because so many weapons being collected is highly unusual and reeks of some malicious activity."

Another slide was put on, this time showing pictures of Guys in motorbikes, Skinheads, and even some pictures of men and women carrying weapons. "There are three main recipients of these weapons shipments. Firstly, the militant branch of the Satudarah Motorbike Club, they're using it for extortion and other criminal activities such as heat for Drug Smuggling, secondly, various Neo-Nazi groups, you can guess why they need these guns in the first place, and thirdly, the Revolutionary Cells in the Frankfurt am Main area. Probably planning some form of a last hurrah after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Don't really know why the group is funneling these military weapons to these three groups, seems ideologically incompatible with each other, might be the point of this, but still..."

Madeleine then puts in another slide, this time showing a man in a hooded form talking with some Bikers. "This one was captured in the back view CCTV of a Gas Station somewhere in Central Germany. We suspect that this is the guy that is running this whole weapons smuggling operation. Until further notice, we will call him Mr X. If you know Mr X or have any info on him, please inform me on this. We don't know much, but we do know that he keeps his identity to himself and only to himself, even uses a voice changer spell by the sound of it too."

The lights then was turned back on. Amanda seemed to be communicating with the room itself to turn the lights off during the presentation, and now nodding, turning the lights back on. "So, do you have any questions? I think that, considering your skillsets, we might have a well balanced team for handling this case, we have people with heat, we have specialists in magic spells and investigators, and of course, a woman with a special ability to teleport and make portals should things go horribly wrong."

Just as the Android was smiling though. Her face frowned immediately, it seems that something just happened that made her very unhappy. "Alright, I think we have to keep the questions of the case to some short bursts, I just got a notice that the German Police have found another warehouse stock with weapons, and it's in the outskirts of Frankfurt. If you've got questions, better do it now."

Micheal pushed off the table he's leaning on and grabs Whiskeyjack by the back of the neck as he dances by. Leaning in to look the god in the eyes, "Stop...for now. Later you can be silly but we need to get serious." The young-looking god pouts a little and nods, going to sit on a couch for now. And yes he does very much sulk and pout where he sits.

Micheal walks up closer to watch the presentation. He hums softly, one of his hands pressed to his cheek as he watches and listens. He hums. Weapons shipments...illegal weapons shipments. Sure not good juju, but why would the OMR...all the groups getting these weapons and ultimate Mr. X. "How cliche..." He said outloud, not realizing he did so. And casually reached out and smacked Whiskeyjacks hand as the god tried to reach out from behind Micheal to play with the projector. A second later Micheal did the same thing for Raven who reached a slightly feathered hand over too. And then a THIRD time when Manabozho did the same thing.

Micheal shook his head, "I have a trio of kids following me..." To which Manabozho grumped out, "Hey!"

Micheal nods, "Well I'll do my best to help out. Not sure what my skill set will help with." He grins, "But I'll help." He shrugs and nods, "So what next then?"