The Chinook descended as it approached the Nimrod, a refurbished American battlecruiser. The Exodus Battalion had acquired it from the US military when it was decommissioned several years ago. The turrets had been removed and a landing pad for helicopters had been installed. The Nimrod was possibly the Battalion's biggest asset. It not only acted as a mobile HQ in remote countries, it doubled as a secure transport for captured 'specimens'.

They landed on the deck and the crew began to tie down the aircraft to the deck with multiple thick straps. Ivy stepped off and took a deep breath of the salty sea air. A few passing crew greeted her casually, but most were busy with their work. She watched them unload the iron coffin containing their latest acquisition before her mobile rang.

Glancing at the number, she answered the phone. "What do you want Ben?"

"I guess you avoided a barbecue then?" he said musingly.

"It could have been worse. Why did I get this assignment by myself?" she said with a tone of frustration.

Ben hesitated before answering. "There was no-one else who could get there soon enough. We didn't want to spend another eight months tracking it."

His excuse was hardly convincing, since they established a Japanese branch a few years ago. She decided it was pointless to press it further as prying information out of Ben was as difficult as beheading a vampire with a butter knife. "So how did you get get in contact with Dinah?"

Again, Ben paused for moment too suspiciously long. "Upper management organised that. The boys in the Public Relations department said it would be a good idea."

'Why do they suddenly care?' she thought.

"Anyway," Ben said in a cheerier tone, eager to change the subject. "We're sending you to Los Angelos. The Nimrod has to resupply before coming home, and we have a few errands for you to run in Califonia."

She groaned. 'Come on Ben, I've got the new season of Game of Thrones and a couch calling my name. Can't you send some American shmuck to do you shit-kicking?" she replied angrily, frustrated at the delayed return home.

"Sorry Ivy. Give me a call when you're on the road," he said before hanging up.

"Son of a..." Ivy fumed, barely refraining from throwing the phone into the grey sea. Another few weeks before she could finally sleep in her own bed again. The travelling life was not all it was cracked up to be.

Midnight. A storm was rolling over the Californian swamp. A gentle rain fell while thunder and lightning menaced the storm clouds above. A snake slithered through the mud, stopping every so often to smell for it's next meal. A frog was nearby, just a few feet away. Even in the rain, the snake could sense the frog's heartbeat. It creeped closer and closer, preparing to strike.

A single bolt of lightning struck down from the heavens. The mud, and frog, erupted, sending the snake sailing ungracefully through the air. The burst of super-heated sludge flew in every direction. The small soggy crater billowed steam where the lightning struck. After a few moments the bubbling of mud and the sizzling from the rain, the ground began to heave. Instead of a hole, the ground began to grow into a mound. It moved with an eerie rhythm, as if breathing, and growing larger with each breath.

Finally, with one last surge, a humanoid figure pulled itself to its feet. The creature was twice the size of a large man and stood slightly stooped over. The hot mud covering it quickly dried and began to crack and fall off with each movement. With a throaty growl, it stretched it's limbs as if waking from a long car trip.

The snake, having recovered from the explosion, slid towards the intruder that had blown up its meal. It saw the snake and reached down, offering its hand for the snake to climb on. With the utmost care, the giant picked up the snake and studied it curiously. The snake and giant stared at each other, as if engaged in a silent, yet intimate conversation. With a grunt, it put the snake on its shoulder where the snake wrapped itself around its neck where a thick noose hung like a necklace.

"Born on a Monday..." the beast grumbled as it set off through the swamp.

After docking in Los Angelos, Ivy visited a local Hunter safehouse for supplies. The safehouse was an apartment building's basement in a particularly crappy part of the city. Although the apartment block looked like a neglected ghetto, the safehouse was the equivalent of Fort Nox. Reinforced walls, a biometric scanner access that opened a door that would put a lot of bank vaults to shame. One thing that always bothered Ivy was the huge amount of resources the Exodus Battalion had at hand. Hunting certainly was not a money-making enterprise, yet they somehow had the funds to warrant this kind of expenditure. Perhaps she shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, she thought, as she entered the high-tech vault.

The fluorescent lights flickered lazily to life, revealing the room beyond. Ivy was incredibly surprised to see that the room was almost completely bare! There were several scattered boxes, some empty, lying all around the room. A large table sat in the middle of the room with a few lone weapons and three crates of ammunition. These safehouses were usually better stocked than this, filled with weapons and ingredients for spells and fending off various creatures. It didn't appear to have been ransacked, just simply never restocked. Ivy spotted a lockbox on the wall which usually contained keys for stored vehicles. Inside was a single set of keys hanging from one of the several hooks. A tag on the keys told her the address where the vehicle was stored, a lockup a few miles away. Pocketing the keys, she spent a little while rummaging through what little remained in the safehouse before heading out, locking the door behind her.

The Battalion didn't have a big presence in the United States, because many of the Hunters there were unwilling to join an 'organisation' and were proud of their traditional, freelance roots. Many were also swayed by the famous Winchester brothers, who were defiantly against the corporate ways of the Exodus Battalion. Since then, the Winchesters had been the figurehead of Hunters in the States and had literally been through hell and back, most recently being the credit for bringing down the Leviathans. Their stories were so remarkable, even some Hunters didn't believe them. With that said, the brothers had fallen off the radar some time ago. After the angels lost their wings and fell from heaven, there was a lot more commotion these days and any news of the Winchesters was drowned out. Since then, nobody had really heard from them.

A few hours later, Ivy was driving a light blue station wagon that looked like it had been taken straight from the seventies. It certainly didn't suit her sense of style, but it drove well. She glanced at her GPS she had mounted on the dashboard with bluetac. Her 'little black box' had been with her for a long time. The screen was dirty and chipped and the mount had broken, but it had saved her ass more times than she cared to remember, so it carried a sense of sentimental value. The small, slightly flickering screen was guiding her to a small town in the north of the state. What lay there she had no clue, but the storm clouds on the horizon didn't make her feel welcome.

The storm made the road pitch black well before night even fell. The road was dark and the rain made it hard to see. Ivy drove slowly, lights on high beam. As she rounded a corner, something on the side of the road caught her eye. Pulling out a torch of her knapsack, she aimed it off to the side of the road. Through her rain-streaked window, she could make out that the roadside barrier had been ripped off its posts. Concerned, she pulled over and put her hazard lights on. From her knapsack, she removed a cheap plastic rain poncho with a hood from it's pocket-sized plastic pouch and put it over her blue blouse and brown jeans.

Rain pelted the yellow poncho loudly as she pulled the hood up to cover her head. Although it was barely a shower, it was heavy enough to make standing in it unpleasant. The road barrier had a car-sized chunk taken out of it and tire tread marks in the mud in front of it. Shining the flashlight down the embankment, Ivy tried to make out any sign of life. There was a faint light at the bottom of the hill, but her flashlight wasn't strong enough to piece the gloom of the treeline.

Ivy began to descend the embankment in order to get closer. Her combat boots were well suited to the soft mud, but the embankment was steep enough that water was flowing down it like a waterfall. It swept her feet out from under her and she fell head-first with a scream. She tumbled a good ten or so meters down the hill until she finally hit the bottom. The swampy ground was soft, but laden with debris. Ivy groaned as she picked herself up. On her hands and knees she fumbled for her light in the darkness. Just as she found it half buried in mud, a deep moan echoed through the sound of rain. She froze, listening for the noise again. Cleaning off the flashlight was a futile effort as all she managed was to spread the mud around, but it was good enough to cast a little light. The dim tail lights of a car were visible just ahead. As she approached, she noticed the driver's side door was open and a figure was hunched next to a tree.

Ivy heard the moan again. It was deep, deeper than it should have been. The figure shifted and she could see the size of the silhouette. It was bigger than any normal human, perhaps twice so, and it was cradling something in it's arms. She pulled her pistol from its belt holster, and aimed it at the figure.

Cautiously, she called out, "Hey! Nice and slow now, turn around."

With a deep, slightly surprised huff, the figure turned slowly and stepped forward. Ivy took a step back in surprise as it stepped into the light of her flashlight. The hulking man was easily twice her size and his skin a pale grey-blue. His eyes were pale, yet sparkling with an inhuman energy and stitches and bruises covered his neck all around. He wore a tattered shirt and vest and in his arms he cradled a woman. She was limp and blood was dripping from a head wound. The creature lay the woman down gently in front of Ivy before looking up at her, an almost pleading look on his grotesque face.

"Help her," his voice crackled deeply. Speaking was something that was clearly difficult for him to do, but to Ivy, it hinted at a hidden intelligence beneath his monstrous appearance.

The creature stepped away from the woman, sensing her distrust. Ivy cautiously approached, gun trained on him at all times. She knelt down and felt the woman's pulse, but couldn't find one, nor was she breathing.

"She's dead," Ivy said nonchalantly, after all, it wasn't the first time she'd been presented with a body.

The creature on the other hand, seemed distraught. He bellowed loudly in despair and punched a nearby tree, shattering it completely. Surprised by his sudden outburst, Ivy took several steps back. Then, as quickly as it began it was over and the creature sighed, almost as if it was saddened. It approached the woman's lifeless corpse and placed a hand over her face running it down her body.

"Sor...ry," Ivy didn't expect the apology.

Cautiously, she reapproached. "What's your name?"

As if noticing her for the first time, the creature stood at full hight and faced her. It towered well above the herself tall woman. "Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday," it said with almost perfect clarity, as if it was rehearsed. Grundy stepped over the body carefully and approached Ivy, inspecting her. It clearly saw her drawn weapon pointed towards him, but if he knew what it was, he wasn't afraid. Ivy took a step back again, but one of Grundy's steps were three of hers.

As she stepped back, Ivy tripped in the mud and fell backwards. With unnatural speed, Grundy closed the gap between them and caught her with one of his huge hands. He didn't grab her, he simply held her to stop her falling backwards. She looked at the giant above her and saw a kindness in his eyes, shrouded in power and darkness.

"Why are you here?" she asked, no longer afraid.

With an angry huff, he lifted her so that she was back on her feet. He was about to answer when a bright light shone onto the pair from the top of the embankment. With an angry growl, Grundy squinted at the light, hand raised to shield his eyes before looking back at Ivy accusingly. Surprised by the light herself, Ivy saw the distinctive red and blue flashing glow of a police car. With amazing speed, the beast turned and fled into the gloom of the swamp, his thundering steps lost in the heavy rain as ivy stared after him.

A shout from above brought Ivy back to reality. She climbed back up the soggy embankment with a great deal of difficulty. Waiting at the top was a lone police officer. He was wearing a plastic raincoat and a wide brimmed hat that distinguished him as a county officer.

"Good evening, ma'am," he said politely. "I'm going to need to ask you some questions."

"There's been an accident, a car drove off the road and the driver has been killed."

"Please wait here a moment, I'm going to need a statement from you," he said as he turned away and called the accident in over his radio.

Within half an hour an ambulance and tow truck had arrived and Ivy had given a statement. She left out any mention of the hulking Grundy. She was soon back on the road, soaking wet and muddy. Whatever Grundy was, it was going to take more than Ivy had to bring him down. Still, she couldn't shake the thought of the beast actually caring about the woman in the car. Maybe it wasn't as violent as it appeared to be.

Either way, Ivy had a feeling she'd be hearing from him soon.