Despite what many people believed, the Templar organization could trace its roots back to Ancient Babylon. Through the centuries they had cemented their grip on Europe, parts of South America and many places in Africa, but North America? Their grip had never been as tenuous as it was now.

They had rested on their laurels, refusing to play the game in America. There had always been a need for the Templars, so they hadn't thought it was necessary. But it was a new day here in America, corporations like Titan bribed—lobbied politicians, craving power and wealth by any means necessary. It hadn't mattered which side of the aisle they were on, Titan and corporations like it were pulling the right strings, changing the culture in ways that the Templars couldn't.

Sue exhaled slowly and looked at the paperwork that was currently on her desk, she had never quite known how much of Russell's work was simply benign paperwork. Once upon a time he was a rising star and hitching herself to that rising star had made sense. She should have left the moment that the decision was made to give his daughter away. He had been put in an impossible position, and Russell had made a gamble on one of the factions and had lost. He should have bet on Lawrence. His faction wanted to modernize the Templars, they had been the ones that had pushed to allow female Templars in the first place and though it had taken them time they had managed to get it done. The hardliners of course would never trust Russell because of Charlie's status even though he had given her to them. To them Russell's only course of action was to destroy both twins.

An impossible situation, and he had picked the worst of all options. Allowing them to experiment on his daughter. He had interfered too much, Charlie hadn't been raised like the other assets, she had been given privileges that they hadn't and just like America, Titan had stolen her from right underneath their noses. Charlie was untouchable now, ever since that stunt she had pulled in Indonesia. The world was watching her, which meant that they were watching the Templars as well.

Sue flipped through a recent report and frowned as she scanned the document, "Shadows?" It had been a request made by the base in Baton Rouge. It was rare that they would be requesting help, especially for something as benign as shadows. Unfortunately, she didn't quite have the manpower to fill out the request.

After the debacle that was the Charlie situation, the base was on its last legs, there were rumors that they were planning to close down the base and many of her best agents had already transferred out. She could have turned it around, if she hadn't been forced to share her power with William. She needed a win, she needed to prove that she could turn this base around before they finally shuttered it.

William would suggest sending Finn, but she knew Finn wasn't capable of handling this situation. Quinn had been the person she would have gone to handle this, but Quinn was in Europe finally getting the recognition that she was due. She hadn't spoken to her protege in nearly three years. She was proud of her, Quinn had scratched and clawed her way through several promotions, taking on increasingly more difficult cases. Putting in a request to make her take something as benign as shadows was insulting.

But the Baton Rouge branch was fairly competent, which made this current request even more mysterious. There was something that they clearly weren't saying in the message. Whatever it was they were hiding she knew Quinn would be interested in it, at least if Quinn actually stopped to think about it, without throwing the request in the trash. She had trained Quinn, and if she could see through this then Quinn would as well. It wouldn't hurt to make the request; Quinn and her team could always turn it down.

Sue could only hope that Quinn would take it, her presence in the States would give her some breathing room till she could finally take control of this base. She'd need to get rid of William first, but she could finally return this base back to its former glory.

~ O ~

"You okay?"

Quinn turned her head slightly so she could look up at Sam there was a look of concern on his features and she was tempted to simply brush him off. But it was Sam, he'd come with her when she had transferred to Belgium. He'd been with her as she had risen through the ranks, and had finally been promoted high enough to have her own team. He was her Second-in-Command. They had done battle together, they had bled together, they had lost people together. And she knew he could probably guess what was going through her head. "This wasn't the homecoming I expected."

"You weren't expecting a homecoming because you didn't want to come home, but now that we've got a job to do." Sam reminded her nudging her gently. "And you can't forget what your grandfather said."

Quinn kept her face neutral at Sam's comment. "My father is a barely a blip on the radar these days. From what I understand Master Commander Sue and Seneschal Schuester are sharing the duties to run the base. It was Sue that made the request and despite my anger at my father she did train me, and it's a favor I can call in later."

"I can't imagine that Sue and Will are sharing power well. I've heard that most of Sue's people have been transferred out because the base is closing down. This is probably her last play. Still it's odd that Baton Rouge is requesting help to begin with, they're subjugation teams are nearly as good as the worst European teams, which is pretty damn good. No wonder your grandfather is worried—"

"We shouldn't concern ourselves with the workings of the Council, we're not there yet." Quinn murmurs to him as she turns to look at the few members of her team that she had brought along. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go home."

Sam nodded as he followed Quinn, "I promised my family I'd see them before we head back, I mean it's just shadows, nothing we haven't handled before."

"We shouldn't get overconfident."

Sam turned to look at Joe who was doing an inventory of all their weapons, raising a brow. "No one is getting over confident, but they are shadows. I mean on the list of all the shit we've dealt with I'd rather be dealing with this then a nightwalker."

Quinn rolled her eyes it was the only thing she could do given the situation and moved to check on Mercedes, America was lacking in exorcists, which was an odd situation because they were needed desperately. She didn't even know it was a classification that you could attain in the Templars, nor was she aware that certain demons had verses in the bible that would make them weak. Having an exorcist someone who could recite the entire bible or various other sacred scriptures had saved her neck more times than she could count. It didn't hurt that Mercedes had also specialized in medicine. No one knew more about wounds inflicted by demons than Mercedes did. "Do you think it's an isolated incident or the work of some demon, it's not like shadows are native to America."

Mercedes shrugged her shoulders, "Airplanes, ships, it's not the 1800s anymore Quinn, people are mobile makes sense that the monsters are global as well. I'm surprised it's taken this long, but you dealt with a revenant of all things in Argentina. This isn't anything new. Still it could be some demon of some sort. I'm finding all literature about it. Just in case." Mercedes watched as Quinn nodded, she was fidgeting which meant she had a lot on her mind. "What are you more concerned about? Heading back to your old stomping grounds, or bumping into your ex?"

Quinn narrowed her eyes and turned to Sam who immediately looked away, he always did have a big mouth. "Former, I didn't even think about Finn, he wasn't on the list of people that I wanted to avoid. I outrank him now, so even if he did have a problem, he knows better than to start anything." She runs a hand through her hair, deciding to change the subject. "I think since I'm here, I can maybe try and squeeze a dinner out of my sister once we head up to New York, though I imagine I'll be paying for it again because she's cheap and maybe while I'm there, I'll check out a show that I've wanted to see. I think we can take a small break before we head back."

"Finished," Joe said closing the last case and looking up at Quinn. He frowns for a moment and opens his mouth as if he has something to say before shaking his head.

"Joe." Quinn snapped in an exasperated tone. "Please, let us know what you're thinking."

"Something doesn't feel right about this situation. We're based out of Europe, and we know that America has plenty of special ops division teams. While I'm not overconfident, Sam has a point. They're shadows, they're a menace and they can be deadly, but their greatest weakness is light. But they requested you, our track record has been excellent on your leadership but we're not the best team, and it's not as if we didn't have other pressing cases."

Quinn hesitates for a moment; her father had explained the situation to her in the strictest of confidence. Neither Joe or Mercedes had a high enough rank to bring them into a discussion about the civil war that was brewing in the upper echelons of the Templar ranks. "Damage control," Quinn lies.

"Damage control?" Mercedes said frowning.

Quinn points to her face, "My twin is currently the biggest thorn in the Templar's side right now. Her recent surge in popularity is the reason why we've been getting higher profile cases, to get my face out there. It's why they've been on our asses about uniforms." Quinn lies with ease. It was mostly true; their cases had been high profile and it was probably due to Charlie's attention. "I also took this case because it was a favor to my mentor."

Sam shrugged his shoulders before Joe could ask anymore questions, "It's a good thing for us. We get the best cases, the ones that have a lot of attention. We get promoted, because we're generally successful. Which means we make more money. So, it shouldn't matter if the world is watching. I have faith in you Quinn." Sam said slapping her on the shoulder.

She swatted his hand away, and looked at her chosen team for this mission and steadied her breathing. Sam wasn't wrong, people—important people were watching and judging her. She straightens up. "We ready to head out?" She asks keeping her voice steady. When she's met with sharp nods she relaxes, they'd done this a million times. They were her team, a team that she'd hand-picked, not only for this mission, but for her own small department. This wasn't going to be any different.