“So, what’s the plan?”

    Jessica found herself the in the cactus infested office room once again. The commander sat across the table from her, expecting a well thought out plan. Jessica could barely keep her eyes open. She couldn’t go to sleep last night knowing this would be her last chance in a long time to reclaim her desired missions. There was only one thing on her mind.

    “How are you not tired?” she genuinely asked out of curiosity.

    The commander creased his eyebrows in disappointed but played along, “I’m the commander, Jessica. I have to be alert at all times,” he explained. “Do you or don’t you have a plan?”

    “Right,” Jessica said, pulling herself up in her seat. “First step is to gather intelligence. Going to talk to the previous team about what happened last night. Then run a search algorithm to pull up people who have entered the city in the past two months. While that aggregates results, I will be asking the locals if they have seen anyone new or anything suspicious.”

    “That sounds like a good plan,” agreed the commander. He leaned over to his telecom and said, “send Seohyun in, please.”

    Jessica turned around to see another woman enter the room. She held herself with a lot of confidence and professionalism. Entering the room she saluted the commander. No one except the new agents did that. She stood just to the right of Jessica, who she greeted with a nod.

    “Jessica, this is Seohyun,” introduced the commander. “She’s new, but shows a lot of promise in intelligence gathering. She can help with a search algorithm to track and locate potential subjects.”

    “Uh, sure,” accepted Jessica, who only looked at the new recruit with unease. 

     The commander noticed the lack of confidence and reassured Jessica, “don’t worry. She’s purely meant to help with gathering intelligence. In no way is she to go in the field. She’s not ready. Both of you are dismissed.”

    Jessica stood up from her seat, facing the new recruit. Before she headed towards the door, the commander stopped her to say, “don’t forget to bring Yoona with you.”

    As she left the office, Jessica groaned loud enough to make a statement with the commander whose only reply was, “shut the door behind you.”

    Jessica headed for the elevator across the lobby. Seohyun followed behind her, absentmindedly. Once they were inside the elevator, Jessica turned to her new recruit with glaring eyes.

    “You’ll strain your eyes if you do that too much,” warned Seohyun.

    Jessica was taken aback at the comment but didn’t know how to respond without force so she chose to ignore it.

    “Are you just gonna follow me around all day?” asked Jessica, annoyed.

    “You’re my team lead now. I’m actually not quite sure what to do.” said Seohyun, innocently. “Should I leave until you call me?”

    Jessica sighed.

    “No. Can you get started on the search algorithm?” she asked.

    “Sure, what do you need?”

    “I need to find who entered the city in the last two months. We’re looking for werewolves so I’ll need to be able to track them. Can you do that?”

    “Sure, not a problem,” assured Seohyun. “Um… but where do I do it from and am I able to access anything or do I have to hack into databases.”

    “Didn’t they teach you anything in orientation?” asked Jessica. 

    “I thought I was going to get orientation at the office they sent me.”

    The elevator stopped and Jessica got off, Seohyun following behind her. Jessica was going to head to the infirmary to talk to Yoona and her team, but decided it might be best to lead Seohyun to the computer labs to get the search started. 

    “What?” exclaimed Jessica. “Do you even know what you’re doing?”

    “No. But I was told to help you.”

    They reached the computer shortly after. Only three stations were offered in the room, despite it’s size. However, an endless amount of screens were at their disposal, including a large one to project information to a large group.

    “Here, you can use these computers,” explained Jessica. “We have basic access to some databases due to our contract with the government. Anything more you’ll have to hack into. I’m told these computers run on the best servers with the best hardware so you should have everything you need.”

    Seohyun walked into the room in awe. She sat down only to be mesmerized at what she had at her disposal. When she booted up the computer, she couldn’t contain her excitement. A gleeful smile crept across her face. Jessica, on the other hand, was displeased at the current individual occupying one of the computer stations.

    “Hello,” said the individual, looking up at the two who just entered.

    “Hello,” Seohyun greeted. “I’m Seohyun, I’m new here.”

    The individual stood up and offered her hand.

    “I’m Yuri. Nice to meet you.” She turned her attention to Jessica with her hand still out. “Sorry, I didn’t get to introduce myself the other day. Jessica, right?”

    Jessica, upset at her encounter with Taeyeon and Sunny, carried over her anger towards Yuri. She walked by the woman to help Seohyun with the computers.

    “Is this everything you need?” asked Jessica, her back facing Yuri who returned to her seat.

    Seohyun, feeling a bit awkward at the interaction between the two other woman, managed to say, “this will do.”

    “Look, I can’t apologize for what Taeyeon or Sunny said to you,” Yuri started, turning her chair to face Jessica’s back. “I only ask that you understand where they are coming from. You have your reasons for thinking that werewolves are monsters, but those two are a little stubborn in their ways.” Yuri smiled a bit, thinking about her two short friends.

    When Jessica remained quiet and unmoving, Yuri continued, “Personally, I agree with you. Werewolves are dangerous creatures. They walk among us like any other human but turn into savage beasts who can’t be controlled. Monster is just one word to describe them.”

    Jessica turned around to see a despondent woman forcing a smile on her face. In front of Jessica was a woman who she could sympathize with, who wouldn’t accuse her of being the bad person. Someone who experienced the worst case scenario and understood why they were dangerous.

    “Thanks,” was all the gratitude Jessica gave Yuri for understanding before turning back to Seohyun. Yuri smiled knowing Jessica wasn’t all bad and returned to her work.

    “You were at least briefed on the mission right?” Jessica asked Seohyun.

    After a pause where Seohyun attempted to focus on the mission again, she responded, “we’re looking for werewolves.”

    “That’s what I told you,” said Jessica, her eyebrows creased in worry.

    “Was that not a briefing?” Seohyun genuinely asked.

    Jessica sighed, unsure if she was gonna be able to do it.

    “Don’t worry,” assured Seohyun. “I might not be sure on how things are run here, but I’m good at what I do.”

    Upon hearing their exchange, Yuri interjected, “I can help by giving you a rough orientation, but I’ll need your help in return.”

    Seohyun looked pass Jessica to see Yuri happily offering to help her. Before she could accept Yuri’s offer, she glanced over at Jessica who was giving her a warning glare.

    “Uh… that would be great,” Seohyun said, hesitating. “But, I should start on this assignment first. What do you need help with?”

    “That’s fine. A kelpie was caught by some fisherman and they’re claiming it’s a mermaid so I need to track it down before anything bad happens but all I have is a blog post.”

    Before they could continue with their conversation, Jessica rolled her eyes in annoyance. She had better things to do.

    “Start that search, now,” she commanded. “And call me when its done. I have to go.”

    “Good luck,” wished Seohyun as she turned back to Yuri. “What’s a kelpie?”

    “Kelpie live in the water. They are the combination of a horse and fish, but can transform themselves into beautiful mermaids. That’s how they draw in their prey…” Jessica heard Yuri explain to Seohyun as she walked away from the computer lab.