Wolf and Red: Monster Hunters
Thirteen
From Soldier of the Fantastic #134
It really shouldn't be that surprising that ancient, monster infested ruins are under big cities.
Humanity builds on ruins over and over again. And the same location that makes us go 'This would be a good spot for a town' can appeal to monsters too. Several major cities including New York, New Orleans and Vancouver have known ruins under 'em.
If you're going underground and you don't know if there's monster infested ruins, assume there is and take precautions. Including explosives if you need to close off something quick and dirty.
"No more rabid animal attacks?" Red checked.
"Nothing in the news," Mimi noted. "And Smith hasn't called us again."
Wolf nodded as she said grimly, "Well, hopefully someone else has to deal with it next time. The sewers were awful..."
They were relaxing at home after the sewer craziness. They were camped out in their New Westminister base, catching up on mail and work related stuff.
"You remember Dolores? From the Butchers?" Wolf asked.
"Yeah? She seemed competent," Red offered.
"She's keeping the Vancouver Hunter team going, apparently. Going to rename them though," Wolf noted.
"Yeah, Bishop's Butchers never really sounded good," Mimi said mildly.
"She also sent us an offer," Wolf added.
"She wants YOU to go work for HER after you two saved their asses?" Mimi blinked then burst out laughing.
"Well, she's got nerve," Red conceded.
"So, shopping for another bounty?" Mimi wondered.
"We've got enough cash, I think we can take a few days out," Wolf shook her head. "Those tunnels were nasty."
"Agreed. Plus we need to restock ammo and go over the weapons," Red said, giving a look at their assistant and gofer, Mimi.
"Yeah, yeah," Mimi nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Monster Hunters International generally didn't micro manage their field teams. On the other hand, they did get news if a team is nearly destroyed...
"Bishop's Butchers?" Earl Harbinger noted.
"Wasn't John Bishop a bit of a asshole?" Julie Shackleford replied, having heard of the man mostly second hand.
"Yeah, but that doesn't bar you from being a good Hunter," Earl noted.
Julie read the report, "They were killed by a mob of rabid animals?"
"Not the most glorious way to go," Earl agreed.
"And getting rescued by freelancers too," Julie noted.
MHI didn't really approve of freelance Monster Hunters. They were (usually) untrained, gun happy idiots who were as big a threat to each other and innocent bystanders than monsters. MHI recruited folks who had monster encounters, trained the hell out of them, and only then let them go out into the field.
"Actually, Wolf and Red are competant," Earl replied.
"Seriously?" Julie looked dubious.
"Mind you, they're both a kind of monster themselves," Earl added.
"That's not in the file," Julie said, surprised.
"We don't put everything in the files since we got infiltrated, once," Earl offered blandly. He continued, "Wolf's a were of some kind... never seen her tranform though. Red is apparently ageless, though fuck knows why."
"Shit," Julie blinked.
"Yeah. Tried to recruit them for MHI, but they refused," Earl admitted.
"Why?" Julie frowned.
"They've had bad run ins with the US govt and related," Earl said, "they don't want to come into the country at all."
Julie nodded reluctantly, "Ok, well, I don't blame them."
"Anyway, one of Butcher's people, Dolores Clark, wants to keep the team going. She's asking for any available recruits," Earl read.
"What happened to the other two survivors?" Julie asked.
"Both quit," Earl said dryly.
"Well, we'll see who we can send...," Julie mused.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
'Mr Smith,' the official the Wolf and Red dealt with, was actually named Smith, funnily enough. Jackson Smith was a career bureaucrat, now pushing the late forties. When he had been much younger, he'd run into... a critter, and was let into the secrets around monsters. Sadly, he now seemed stuck dealing with such things.
"Jackson, is the coyote attacks in Stanley Park connected to whatever was happening in the sewers?" Mayor Lee asked. This session of the Vancouver City Council was being held off the record, so they could discuss such things.
"No, as far as we know it's stupid people feeding them, and the coyotes losing fear of man," Smith replied.
"Ah," Mayor Lee nodded.
"Any further sightings in the sewers?" Smith addressed the head of Sanitation.
"No, but my workers are understandably nervous," Mr Anson replied. "Could the workers get a temporary police escort, until we're sure its safe?"
"Oh hell no," the police chief said. Chief Gibson continued, "We're not qualified to fight monsters, and my men won't go in there."
'Chicken shits,' Smith thought but didn't say aloud.
"So we pay Hunters to do it," Mayor Lee said, not sounding very happy with that idea. Hunters were expensive.
"Well, Bishop's Butchers have disbanded," Smith noted, "so Vancouver no longer has an official Monster Hunters Inc team."
"There's Wolf and Red," Chief Gibson pointed out.
"They're just two people," Smith pointed out, "and an assistant. They can't escort everyone going into the sewers." He continued, "There is a team out in Mission, we can see if they want some added work."
"Clear it with Mission's Mayor first," Mayor Lee ordered, "we don't want them thinking we're taking their team."
"Right," Smith nodded.
"Any other monster related business?" Mayor Lee asked. When no one spoke up he continued, "Meeting over."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"So... who inherits the assets?" Dolores Clark asked, the young woman talking to the Butcher's official lawyer.
"As long as you maintain the team," adjusting his tie Alex Amann said, "you get the SUV the team bought, the headquarters and equipment."
"And the discretionary funds?" Dolores checked.
"Split between the three survivors," Alex said.
Dolores made a face, "Damn."
"That was part of the contract you all signed," Alex reminded her.
"Yeah, yeah," Dolores nodded reluctantly.
Alex added, "Wills, etc etc will be handled seperately, of course."
Dolores then asked him, "Would you object to continuing to be the team's lawyer after we finish re-organizing?"
Alex nodded, "Certainly. The money has generally been pretty good."
"Thanks, I'll be in touch," Dolores told him.
Dolores left the office frowning thoughtfully. Hopefully Monster Hunters would get back to her quickly about new recruits... it was too bad her two teammates had chickened out. Over a random wild animal attack, of all things!
The team SUV waited at the curb, and Dolores looked at the ugly team logo on the side. 'First chance I get, I'm changing that.' she thought.
Of course first she had to come up with a new name...
To be continued...
Notes: This is (I think) the first time I've had canon Monster Hunter Inc characters in this fanfic. Heh. I don't think Julie and Earl normally deal with 'standard' personnel stuff, but a field team did nearly get wiped out.
Fleshing out Mr Smith a bit. Might keep Dolores around, depending on how I feel.