When it comes to monster hunting, there is one name that almost everyone knows, Dorian Gray. Yes, that Dorian Gray. Though, her great-great-grandfather had perished a few decades ago, he had made sure that the legacy he began continued on. You see, when a mortal man is left to live out the life of an immortal, they learn a thing or two that most mortals don't get the chance to learn and what he learned disgusted him. Humans, despite what they wanted to believe, were the bottom of the food chain and were quite often food for the bigger, scarier things that go bump in the night. Vampire, werewolves, demons, and ghouls. It was all real. Witches and Fae, too, out there luring children to their demise so they could be eaten up like little snacks. Disgusting creatures, one and all. So, upon learning all these things existed, he took it upon himself to hunt them. 

It was easy for Dorian to hunt them. He was immortal. As long as that blasted picture was tucked away and out of sight, it didn't matter how much people burned him, stabbed him, ripped his head off, he just kept coming back. Eventually, he began to learn ways that were more effective to killing the creatures. He kept logs, designed weapons, experimented. Eventually he began to gather a following of like minded people who joined him in hunting and learned the best ways to take out the monsters, and so the family business was begun. 

The Gray's Men for Hire. You've got a problem? Well we have a solution! From demon possessions to ghost banishing, we cover it all. Monster harassing your town, call the Grays! We'll handle it before he can blink an eye. Gray's Men for Hire, call today!

It was quite the lucrative business. They had a monopoly on it, for the most part. There were smaller businesses that tried to cover small aspects of what they did but there was no other business that covered things as small as ghost hauntings to things as large as monster slayings and the great news, they didn't ever have to advertise once. Their name was what was whispered in the shadows when trouble came and it was kept in the family. Now it was Lucia, Lucy, Gray's turn, better know as Wings because she was the best damn pilot this family had ever seen.

When Wings got the call from her coordinator to tell her what was taking place in the hanger, well things took a change. Originally, Wings was going to go on this expedition but a few of her higher ups had talked her out of it. She wasn't ready. She knew she was still unstable, that was clear as she rode the elevator down to base level, her back up against the wall and her phone out as she skimmed through the phones of her and James on it. She was lost in her thoughts and took a moment to eventually notice the ding of the elevator to tell her they had arrived on their designated floor. It was only when the doors opened did Wings look up from her phone, her face locked in an expressionless mask while inside rage blazed behind those green eyes. 

She straightened from the wall and stepped out of the elevator, tugging her arms behind her back in a parade rest. Hanger D6, she was told. So she took the short time to get to the proper hanger to gather herself and bring the rage down to a manageable level so she wouldn't end up ripping Alan's head off for this mess. She should have know the moment he heard the name Cerberus that he would have jumped at the chance to get his poisonous little hands on the mutt. Cerberus did not just elude James. He eluded all of them, time and time again and the bastard just wouldn't fucking [i]die[/i]. 

She stepped up the hanger and the pilot noticed her. “He's inside,” he said as he went about doing the checklist needed before take off. She gave him a nod before she stepped into the seating area. Her eyes fell on Alan sitting in the chair with his bag in his lap like the plane was going to take off any second. She took a deep sigh before she stepped up to the seat and leaned against it, her eyes remained locked on Alan. When he said he was going to go with them, she dragged a hand along her face with a groan. 

“Charles is coming on this hunt, Alan. You know full well that the two of you-” she stopped when he gave her condolences for her loss, her lips tightening in a thin line. She gave a deep sigh as she ran her hand through her short blond hair. “Fine,” she groaned before started to dial a number on her phone. “I'm going to make some arrangements. No way I'm going to leave you and Charles in the same group alone without me.” She muttered to herself a little, “and maybe some help.” 

Someone on the other line answered quickly and before they could say anything, she began talking. “Change of plans, I'll be coming on the hunt and get a hold of Heather. We'll need her as well.” Before the voice on the other side of the line could protest, she hung up and slid her phone in her pocket. She looked down at Alan with a bit of a frown before she crossed her arms and rested her hip on the chair's headrest. “Is that the seat you're going to take?” 

Her phone lit up in her pocket and without looking at it, she silenced it. She knew who it was, most likely her mother telling her she needed to skip this hunt. She wasn't wrong. People in Wing's head space tended to rely more on emotions and logic when logic was the thing most needed to succeed, however, she really couldn't just leave those two alone in the small group. They'd probably end up killing each other before they even made it to Idaho. 

The problem wasn't so much Alan, more Charles. He was a hotheaded and very expressive person who made it very clear that he didn't like what Alan did. Torture and slaughter, was what he called it. Charles was one of those people who joined to protect the human race but felt that the monsters deserved some kind of peace upon death. He hated what Alan did. 

She sat down in the chair next to Alan right by the aisle. She leaned the chair back and kicked her feet up. Normally she wouldn't allow anyone to fly her to her hunts, ever but that gave a picture of just the type of mindset she was currently in. She didn't want the responsibility of flying them to their destination. She wanted that time to get ready mentally. They were going where James was last known to be, probably dead, to hunt the beast he was obsessed with. Her breath caught for a moment as she thought of her lost lover before she pushed through the lunch that was forming in her throat, refusing to allow herself to be seen as anything but prepared for this hunt. She even went as far as to painfully scrape her teeth along her tongue as she kept her eyes closed like she was trying to take a casual nap. She was in boss mode now. Bosses weren't allowed to suffer loss. 

So there they remained until the others assigned to the hunt found their way there. Charles showed up next, his large duffle bag hung against his back. He was a large man, obviously someone who spent a lot of time in the gym. His arms were covered in tattoos and he wore military greens. His hair was cut short and he had a nasty scare that went across his forehead and curved along by his left eye. That was given to him before he joined they Grays, the reason he was honorably released from the military. He stepped into the plane, saw Lucy in the chair with her eyes closed and her arms behind her back and Alan in the chair next to her. His eyes narrowed on the man for a moment but he didn't dare make a sound before he took a seat across the aisle from Wings. 

Heather came in next, speaking to another man as they approached. “Yeah, Wings called me in last second. Not sure what's going on but ya know, if Wings calls it in, it's serious.” They stepped into the plain and Heather stopped speaking, seeing the scene before them. She saw Charles sitting in his seat, playing on his phone, Lucy across the way from him, and Alan in the seat next to her. “Oh,” she said as she walked up and took a seat just in front of Charles, turning around to look at them like she was back in high school and they were all in the bus ready to go on a field trip. “That explains it then.” 

Heather was someone you wouldn't expect to be a hunter. She was small looking with large breasts and wide hips. In this group, she looked like she would be the cheerleader but she was probably one of the more skilled hunters in the group. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail behind her head and she had a small bag on her hip that she now placed in her lap. The man who accompanied her was another relatively large man, though not nearly as large as Charles. He was taller but it was obvious that one of his legs was a prosthetic by the slight hitch he had each time he took a step with his left leg. He dropped down into the seat across the aisle from Heather, releasing a low laugh. 

“No wonder boss lady decided to join.” He looked back at Alan. “Yo Pox. What brought you out of that lab of yours? Was it cause of Cerberus?” Heather sent a kick to his chair, causing him to rock slowly before he looked over at her. “What?” He asked before he saw her nodding towards Wings who was still keeping her eyes closed like she was sound asleep. Heather gave him a scolding look and he flinched before he reached back and rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn't thought about James being lost to the cause. Hunters die every day, they just don't usually have such a strong connection like he and Lucy had. 

Before things could get anymore tense, the pilot poked his head in and did a head count. “four, five. Looks good. Wings, you flying or am I?” Lucy cracked an eye open and leaned her head forward an inch before looked at the man. She gave a shrug before she closed her eyes again and let her head thump back on the seat headrest. 

“I'll leave it up to you.” The pilot nodded once before he climbed in and closed the door. 

“Alright, can do.” He locked the door before he headed towards the cockpit. Heather turned her eyes on Lucy with a fierce frown on her face. She really was down bad then huh? Better them get going then. 

Before long, the plane was pulling out of the hanger and making its way down the runway. They were underway. Lucy turned her head to look out the window, her green eyes fierce as the ground disappeared out from under them. I'm coming for you beast. Prepare yourself. 

[hr]

Before they could get going, The Morrigan stepped up to the ruins of the office building, her eyes scanning the rubble. A small frown crossed her face as she searched and searched. “Damnit, how deep did it fall?” She gave a wave of her hand a large chunk of the rubble was cast to the side like a large hand had pushed it over. Still not finding what she was looking for, she waved her hand again, another large chunk of ruins pushed to the side, this time exposing a the corner of the safe Anand had stored a lot of their items in before the building crumbled. “There,” she cheered before she raised her hand, the safe rising up from the rubble. It had survived the collapse of the building, just as she had expected. It didn't even seem to be very damaged. 

She brought the safe around to them and set it on the ground before stepping up and opening the thing. The safe was one of those large ones that stood at six feet and easily four feet wide. Inside were the weapons she couldn't store in the bags but wanted to make sure survived the building collapsing. Magical items of her own creation and some not, potions and, most importantly, ingredients. That's what she wanted most out of this safe. She needed her ingredients so they could restore Macha's arm and gain full function of their arm again. 

She stepped up to the safe and peered inside, grabbing items out as they went. She belted a gleaming sword to her hip before she started to grab as many ingredients as she could, packing them away on bags and pouches that one could have sworn weren't there a moment ago. 

When Mal made a comment about having punched Huggin in the face, Morrigan gave a small laugh. “He allowed that because he doesn't touch what's mine. He knows better. Speaking of which, take your pick. Take as much as you can carry. No point in wasting it.” She stepped away from the safe to give them room to take a look in. “Both of you are welcome to whatever in inside.” She sorted the items in her bags a moment and before anyone could even blink, the bags and pouches were once more gone. 

After they got what they wanted out of the safe, she backed them up from it before giving her fingers a snap. There was a loud popping sound and then the safe burst into white hot flames. “No point in leaving those for others to find. A lot of that could really do some damage.” She turned from the safe and peered around them, pondering on where to go next. 

Ever since they found themselves trying to bring Macha back under control, the Morrigan had a running theme in her head. Was she still suited to run the city? They had been thinking about it for awhile now but never so fiercely. Now that they looked at the leveled city, watching as people began to finally come out of hiding to evaluate and rebuild, she wondered if it was time they took their leave. She looked at the two men that now accompanied them and she took a deep breath before running her hand through her messy curls on her head. Well, if she was going to give up control, she was going to have to appoint someone strong enough to take her place and hold it. There was only one person in this city that could do that. She groaned slightly. She knew where they needed to go next but she didn't like it. 

“Come on, we need to go see someone.” She began to lead the way away from the crumbled buildings, Huggin floating very closely behind them as they went. “This person we're going to go see, have respect. She's almost as old as us and if she wanted to, she could eat you and I wouldn't be able to do much about it without tearing down another part of the city. I rather [i]not[/i] do that. So be on your best behavior.” 

Eventually they came to the darker parts of the city, the parts of the city even the police didn't want to enter. The people there watched them go, whispering behind their backs as they went along. They came to a door and gave a good three rasps before a viewing window opened. Golden yellow eyes peered out from the hole and locked on Mal first before they dropped down to see Morrigan standing there. There was commotion before the door and it opened in a rush. “Phantom Queen, welcome,” said a reptilian man, his scales glinting in the little light behind him. 

“Thank you, Gunter.” Morrigan said as she raised a hand up to his cheek and giving him a sweet pat. She led the way pass him into the building“If she home? Or do we have to wait for her to come home?” 

The man watched Mal intently as he responded to Morrigan. “She is just now finishing up a bath. I will go fetch her. Should only be a moment.” Gunter scurried pass her and disappeared into the shadows. The room they were in was a wide room with very little light. The floor was dirt except for where there were intricate carpets placed haphazardly around. There was a short table in the middle of the rugs and a silken cloth draped over the table. Just beyond the table was a small love seat and the Morrigan made her way there, taking a seat. She patted the spot next to her as she waited for Gunter to return with his mistress. Morrigan set Huggin up so he was sitting on the ground right before her, his head leaning back and in her lap. He would be waking up soon and she was sure he would be thankful to not be floating in the air next to the couch. 

Taniwha were not typically seen in the states, however, much like gods, ancient beasts tend to relocate from time to time and as they grew older, the more intelligent they grew. This particular Taniwha found her way into Morrigan's territory about a decade ago, resulting in a very fierce battle of sea and sky between her and the Morrigan. However, they came to an agreement after they had fought for two days with no sign of the battle coming to a closing any time soon. She could remain in her city, if she kept to herself and didn't cause trouble. A fast friendship developed between the two not long after and Morrigan was sure to come visit from time to time, though this may be the last time she came for a casual visit. 

There came a soft rumbling from down the hall that only grew louder as a large Naga came slithering into the room. It scales were a beautiful red color along her back and her belly scoots were a black. She had long gills that ran along the side of her neck and her hands were webbed but other than those signs, one would find it hard to recognize that she was a water serpent. 

Her long body curled in on itself as she came to settle on the other side of the room from the Morrigan and her group. Her eyes were fierce as kept them locked on the Morrigan. “Quite the battle that happened yesterday. I am pleased to know you are all well.” Her eyes moved to Mal for a moment then to Huggin was was slowly waking up, his grogginess coming out in a quiet shuffle of annoyance. 

“Speaking of that,” Morrigan lead, “I want to give you the city.”