"No."

Elder Bespoke was usually a patient man. He usually listened to what the general magical population had to say about the way the country was being run. He usually gave the detectives, bounty hunters, bodyguards and assorted other staff the jobs they applied for.

Usually.

But the dark haired girl in front of him was trying his patience. For the past week she had repeatedly attempted to convince him to give the 'Tanith Low' case to her, claiming that Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain were amateurs that 'would mess everything up'.

"In all due respect, Elder," the girl began again, and Ghastly felt his spirits sink even lower. Would she never give up? "I feel that my skills and those of my partners are better suited to the case in question, and that we have the contacts to actually track down the Remnant. Something Cain and Pleasant have failed to do for the past two months."

Ghastly sighed. "Slaughter, for the last time, I have already given the job to Skulduggery and Valkyrie. To reassign it now would be unfair, and quite frankly stupid." It was the same thing he had been saying for the past week.

Slaughter's trademark scowl deepened drastically as she absorbed this insult. "Very well then," she said stiffly, obviously disappointed and bitter. "Thank you for seeing me, Elder." She leaned heavily on her crutches to lift herself out of the chair she had been sitting on, maneuvering herself out of the room with difficulty. Ghastly listened as the now familiar click of her crutches echoed off the walls of the Roarhaven Sanctuary.

Ghastly sighed. He was really regretting taking this job.

"How was it?"

Slaughter frowned as she threw herself down on the couch, dropping her crutches on the ground noisily. "Ghastly Bespoke is an evil, biased man who should not be Elder. Otherwise, it went fine, Mac! He's giving the job to the dynamo duo, and everyone's skipping off into the sunset!"

Her mentor, Mac, shook his head from where he sat in his wheelchair beside the crackling fire. "Slaughter, there is a chance you simply weren't the best choice for the-"

Slaughter's withering glare forced his sentence to die in his throat. "Mac. Please, spare me the patronizing. I am, and always will be, superior in every way to Cain. And Pleasant," she added as an afterthought. "You're saying a dead guy and an amateur sidekick playing at being a detective is better then you, me, and a teenage werewolf?"

Mac shrugged. "You're forgetting the fact, Slaughter, that Skulduggery can't die, and Valkyrie can actually do magic. And neither of them have to worry about turning into a wolf and ripping people's faces off."

Slaughter scowled from her sprawl on the couch. "Y'know, mentor's are supposed to be supportive."

"Mac doesn't do supportive," The teenage werewolf in question, Amanda, chipped in helpfully from the kitchen, where she was doing God's knows what. Possibly something explosive. "You musta realized that by now, Ter."

"Don't call me that."

"Call you what, Ter?"

Slaughter sat up suddenly. "Lightbulb!" she exclaimed. "Who says we have to go through the Sanctuary?" she asked quickly, not allowing Mac to interrupt her. "We could, I dunno, go ourselves, deprogram Low, return her to the Sanctuary, and then, well-" Slaughter shrugged. "We'll... be... better... detectives... then.. Pleasant?"

"Underpants Gnomes much?" Amanda quipped from the kitchen.

Slaughter ignored her. "It could work! We could be like, bounty hunters or something!"

Mac shook his head. "Would. Not. Work. Telling you now, Ter, it wouldn't work."

Slaughter shrugged. "Do one impossible thing every day."

Mac wheeled his chair out towards the kitchen. "Yeah, Ter, but this is about sixty impossible things. Number one, hunt down Tanith Low. Number two, sneak up on her. Number three, stop that Texas guy from just digging away. Number four, fight them. Number five, subdue them. Number six-"

Slaughter grimaced, and got up from the couch. "Why must you destroy each and every one of my lightbulb moments?"

Mac shrugged. "I have a huge ego, Ter. You should know that by now."

Graceful Shadows- I was in hospital, I couldn't update, sorry! I hope this makes up for it, even though it's really crappy. Oh well.

Unforgiven Knight- Haven't decided whether or not to kill off Unforgiven, sorry!

Jade Midnight- Please don't kill me, this is about a minute later then I promised. Of course, I'm wasting more time explaining why I'm wasting time... XD

Again, I apologize for the crappy chapter, everybody! I'm introducing one, maybe two, characters every chapter, so in this one you meet Mac and Slaughter! (And, to a lesser extent, Amanda. She'll have a larger part in the next chapter)