A Shadow Descends on Ontario

PROLOGUE

A trio of the NPPMF Security Company's ATV's drove through the rough trail through the cold, cold Canadian wilderness, as the first chills of Autumn set in. Their mission today was to have face-to-face contact with one of the Iroquois's foresters, who lived in a remote cabin out here in the woods. One week had passed and she had not made any radio contact, or any form of communication.

The grunts were well fed and well equipped, wearing climate appropriate camouflage, gear and carrying weapons. They parked their ATV's and carried their arms. The bigger, brawnier leader carried a Beretta and the map on a hand held device; one man carried an M4 Carbine with a laser sight and flashlight, while the squad's girl carried a SPAS12 Shotgun, also with flashlight.

"Central, this is Echo Team, we've reached the cabin, over." He used the handheld to communicate with a figure back in the Iroquois town.

"Copy Echo Team, over. Confirm presence of Forester Lillie Rosa?"

"Negative Central. Cabin looks abandoned, no one's been here a week. Investigating. Will update, over."

"Copy Echo Team, Central standing by."

The fire team proceed cautiously around the perimeter, calling out the Forester. No answer came, but the area seemed a bit dark, and chilly, and their coats didn't seem to do much to keep out the cold. The lead checked his handheld for the time and was surprised that it was still early afternoon, but the temperature was beginning to drop rapidly.

The Rifleman kept a lookout of the perimeter, flexing his arms and keeping his trigger finger frosty. "Damn, didn't know it was this cold up in Canada this time of year. Hey, you guys heard why they called us up to check on one of their foresters?" He spoke, and his breath condensed in front of him. He was curious as to why the peaceful Iroquois needed private security, but money was money.

Shotgun Girl looked in through a window, but it was fogged over, making visibility extremely difficult inside the cabin. "Can't see a thing through any of the windows. We'll have to knock." She rejoined the leader at the cabin's entrance.

The lead had a gut feeling, and it was a feeling he disliked. He went to the cabin's front door to knock... the door slowly creaked open. The smell of death wafted from inside. He gestured silently, the rifleman to overwatch from outside, while Shotgun Girl took a position to breach. The leader counted down with his fingers... 3... 2... 1...

The door was discreetly opened, and Shotgun Girl went in first, followed by the leader, scanning and sweeping the large cabin. It was... empty and dark, an unnatural sensation, like their flashlights could barely pierce through the shadows, despite the fact the sun shone outside. The cabin showed signs of a struggle; books and maps were strewn about, torn and shredded. Buckshot riddled the log walls and floors, making deep marks, but there were no signs of blood.

Team Leader found the double-barreled shotgun on the ground, the barrels snapped- snapped in half. There were unspent shells on the floor, meaning Rosa didn't get more than few shots off.

Shotgun Girl gestured  to the Cabin bedroom... but when she opened the door, she came face to face with a pair of evil yellow eyes, standing at a terrifying height. And then, darkness...

= = = = =

The next thing they knew, Shotgun Girl had to be confined to the infirmary, in restraints. The Team Leader was sweating bullets and still shaking, and the Rifleman, the rookie of the group, was talking about something 'awful, something that moved in the dark, darkness so deep it hurt my eyes'. Over the radio, Central recorded ominous static, followed by gunshots and the team screaming. Their HUD cameras recorded only darkness after entering the cabin... but when the image showed those two eyes, however brief it was, was absolutely haunting. Anyone who watched the video quickly fell ill, or suffered shakes.

Something out there had scared a Security Team badly, and no one could tell what it was. The Iroquois elder and chieftain, shown the video, remained composed and stoic, despite fear trying to creep into them. No mortal weapons could harm this unnatural being.

The elder woman raised the option of a young woman steeped in the arts of the shaman, one "Medicine Woman" who might have insight into the happenings.

The chieftain meanwhile, told the security team of an occult warrior, "The Ronin", whose blade could cut down demons and evil spirits; surely such a warrior would greatly aid them.

The Lost may not have paid much attention to the reports he had read, if it weren't for that footage. That damnable footage. He still felt unwell, and this was with his unique body. It was commendable that echo team's operator was able to send him the report to him at all. However, all NPPMF security contractors had been explicitly ordered send reports regarding irregulars to Jonathan Javian directly. Furthermore, there were a strict gag orders regarding irregulars, and the fact that The New Path was actively seeking them out.

Of course, information about the "Medicine Woman", and "The Ronin" also reached his desk. The entire matter had become infinately interesting, and it obviously warranted a personal appearance from The Lost himself. The black helicopter never actually touched down. It just flew close enough to the open road for Javian to safely jump out. He landed with a heavy thud, still not feeling at a hundred percent. He was wearing a pinstripe suit and really nice shoes. He had the silver pin of The New Path compass on his lapel. He stood up as the helicopter climbed back up into the sky and his ride pulled up. It was a very plain and inconspicuous town car. A man in a black suit and wearing the same pin as Javian's got out of the back and held the door open for him. He quickly got in and they made their way towards the location they were told they'd find the one known as Medicine Woman.

The Ronin was also a high priority. There just wasn't enough time to leisurely go out and personally meet both of them. Whatever that creature was, it was unknown- and The Lost hated not knowing. It sounded like The Ronin had the solution to the problem, but it sounded like Medicine Woman would have an explanation. So The Lost was more interested in her. He instead sent agents to politely request The Ronin's assistance in this matter. They were authorized to offer a reasonable payment as incentive. Transportation and rations would be covered as well. He'd want her out here as fast as possible, so a helicopter would be prepared if necessary.

He'd extend a similar offer to Medicine Woman, but personally. As soon as they pulled to a stop, he got out of the car and took in the area.

"So this is where she's supposed to be?" he asked for confirmation.

"All of the Intel we gathered on Medicine Woman makes this the best lead we've got on her," the driver answered. Nodding, Javian straightened out his suit, then strove forward, ready to finally meet this wise mystic.

Web Information led to the less opulent neighborhoods of Los Angeles. A burgeoning hub of metahuman activity, Ronin's haunts were these select side roads and alleys, where criminals and lowlifes have long since wised up and moved away from. A local office of the security company handled Javian's request, and they mobilize to find the hero. The Intel team find her Deep Web media account, and arrange a meet.

When they find Ronin to be a young girl rather than some big burly samurai, they were skeptical- but her swords- and the shuriken in the ground in front of them- were real enough.

The footage of the ... thing... in the dark, was far more convincing than any explanation of the situation. When Diana only slightly flinched at the sight of the darkness, they knew they found someone with experience with the supernatural.

"Seems like you've got a problem."

"We hear you are the solution. We're willing to pay your rate." No more needed to be said, as Diana agreed to get on a company flight to Canada.

PLANE TO CANADA

Diana takes a seat in the back of the company cargo plane, with a fresh batch of security personnel to reinforce the situation on the ground. The flight would take awhile, so Diana takes this chance to power nap at the front end of the passenger compartment. The other personnel knew better than to talk to "contractors", and for the most part also wanted to catch some shut eye before landing in cold, cold Canada.

"So. Anybody heard the about the situation down there?" One of the guys asked.

"We're dealing with an Irregular. That's all you and I need to know." Their bearded, bald team leader with the scar said, satisfying everyone's curiosity.

The personnel nodded quietly, murmuring to the person next to them. Any situation involving Irregulars was bound to be... unpleasant. They all go back to their naps.  Except maybe for Chester.

"Hey Sarge. What's with the Samurai guy?" Chester was a younger member, straight out of the U.S. marine corps. He pointed towards Diana, resting at the end of the compartment with lights off.

"You've got me. Probably a contractor." The sergeant looked too, but preferred to keep socialization with a one-time contractor to a minimum.

Chester of course, was not the Sarge. "Check this out." He addresses Diana directly, so that everyone could hear him. "Hey! Tough guy! what's with the loner crap?! Why don't you come on over here and sit with the real men!"

The others were now piqued. Diana said nothing and leaned forward to give them a good look at the Samurai Guy. The troops all stared, and a few chuckled.

"Uhh... oh..." Chester - 0, Diana -1.

"Real smooth, Chester." One of the female grunts complimented him.

"Shut up."

Diana went back to her power nap, wondering when they'd arrive.

Seeing a weapon drawn on him didn't seem to phase Javian much. He remained completely undaunted and continued to smile pleasantly. Though he did stop in his tracks, as requested. He kept his hands visible, but didn't raise them up in the air. He wasn't carrying anything and didn't seem to have any weapons on him. At least there were none that could be seen.

"I'm Jonathan Javian. It's a pleasure to meet you," he spoke as if the bow was not there. Despite his jovial demeanor, his mind was furiously calculating all of his options, and thinking up contingency plan, after contingency plan for the situation.

"I've come to the area to seek the wisdom and aid of the one known as Medicine Woman," he choose his words carefully. If things went over well, he'd go on to explain the situation regarding the Iroquois forester. He'd be concise and sincere, but he'd explain all the important information regarding the situation.

"I have the footage in question on my phone... but I have to warn you, I got very sick when I first watched it," he explained, but didn't reach for his phone right away.

Eventually, Ronin's plan would land. Several indistinct trucks would be prepared to take them and their cargo from the airport to the base camp setup near the operation area.

"Excuse me, Ronin. I'm Soothsayer 01. I'm part of your support team. Would you be willing to wear this equipment? This little guy would let us track you through GPS. This over here would monitor your basic health readings. This earpiece would let you listen to our com line, and this is so we can ear you. It's meant to be attached to clothing or armor near the neck. If you have your own communication equipment, we can help you tune it to our frequency," Soothsayer 01 always had the difficult job of trying to get irregulars to work together with the team. He'd be willing to help her get the equipment on, or just explain how.

The base camp was a rather humble base camp. It probably couldn't support more than two squads. Maybe less.

Once off the plane it was onto a truck. Then, once off the truck Diana was conversing with a comms-liaison. They explained how they wanted to provide technical assistance. Diana took the devices, but consulted her own mobile device. She swipe-unlocks the mobile.

"Cortana. Can I tune into their frequency?" She asked.

"You'll need a radio app for that. Would you like to download one now?" The virtual assistant offered.

"That'll be useful. Please do so." Diana replied.

"Downloading. Download complete. The radio app can be used even without an internet connection. Will you need anything else?" Cortana worked quickly, putting a radio on Diana's phone, her internet connection holding up even out here.

"This is good." Diana took a few steps away, syncing her helmet with her phone. "Can you hear me then?"

Soothsayer listened in on his headpiece gave Diana a thumbs up. Maybe this one would not be so bad. Diana heads to the "contractors" tent-barracks to get into full gear as Ronin. Diana wonders if they got anyone else for this mission.

Javian's eyes remained at eye level, but his peripherals were taking everything about her in. Her, and as much of his surroundings as he could. Despite his seemingly jovial nature, he was constantly updating his combat awareness, taking in as much data as his eyes and other senses could collect to supplement the data already in his memory. He was constantly updating his mental image of the world around him and calculating how inaccurate some of the outdated data was becoming with each passing second. Normally, he'd casually glance around to keep as much of his data up to date, but at the moment it was more important to maintain his gaze on the woman in front of him.

Even while his mind constantly worked on keeping his combat awareness in check, he did not miss a beat in their conversation.

"I was told you were an expert with the situation we're dealing with. You see my security firm was hired to locate a missing Iroquois forester. The initial investigation led to an irregular incident," he explained good junk of the situation as concisely as possible. He didn't want her arms getting tired while holding that arrow knocked.

"The footage I mentioned seems to depict an irregular creature attacking my men. The event drove one of the insane, and anyone who watches the video seems to suffer from a mysterious illness. I myself was among the afflicted for a time," he went on to explain a bit more.

"I'd like to hire you as a specialist for the next attempt to handle the situation," he decided to spell it out for her, just encase she didn't understand already. Javian himself was a prideful man, but he wasn't particularly interested in this little pissing contest. He wasn't even thoroughly convinced that arrow could even hurt him, though his paranoid nature would have him try to avoid it anyway. Just encase it's an irregular arrow.

If this Medicine Woman was willing to agree to help, he'd ask her when she'd be available and they could work out the details on the way. He'd offer a reasonable fee for her services, and provide transportation and rations for the operation. They'd travel by helicopter and then truck and end up at the same base camp as Ronin.

(OOC: Unless you have any qualms you'd like to bring up in character, we can skip to the base camp with Ronin.)

At the camp, the relief team's sergeant would approach Ronin.

"On behalf of the NPPMF, I'd like to thank you for agreeing to accompany us in this mission. It's company policy to defer to special contractors such as yourself when dealing with irregular situations. If you've got leadership skills and experience leading a squad, we're willing to officially consider you our squad leader. In which case, I will be acting as you're assistant squad leader," he spoke in a clear cut tone and held himself with unwavering poise.

Diana turned to the sergeant speaking to her, just as she was equipping her helmet.

"...It's too dangerous even for you. It's better if I did it myself..." Diana took a closer look at the soldier standing before her, reading him. He was tough, and stubborn, and wasn't going to take an answer like that. She sighed.

"...But if you're going to insist, then you should find yourself some silver weapons. Or bullets. Also, I think I spied some wolfsbane on the campus grounds. Gather up as much as you can. We'll need wolfsbane extract." She instructed, explaining the items necessary for this mission. She implied a specific kind of enemy, and wondered if they'd catch on.

IROQUOIS CAMPUS

Tense was an massive understatement to describe the atmosphere on the campus grounds. For mutual safety, the local community had begun setting up tents and sheltering in the gym. Fear was becoming endemic, as people were mongering rumors of beasts in the night, brazen like never before. One mother recounted how the same wolf spied her home several nights in a row; another teacher spoke of how he came face to face with a fearsomely intelligent pack, digging at his fence.

The truly worst stories were the missing people. Aside from Lili Rosa, several more souls had gone missing.

Worse still, the nightfall came with a mournful howl of wolves from the woods not that far from the campus. A tense silence gripped the camp, as the elder people began to gather in the longhouse. A great council was going to be held.

A solution was desperately needed. That was what The New Path hoped to have brought.

"Please, follow me," Javian would have led Medicine Woman to his car. Then the car would have brought them to a clearing where his helicopter had landed. The helicopter would lead them straight to the base camp. During the travel, Javian would have explained in further detail what was going on. At least as much as he knew, which was quite limited.

"You haven't asked for any kind of compensation for your help. Just the same, I'd like to offer you the usual contractor fee. It's also become standard practice to cover rations and travel expenses," he'd ask to while in transit, but he wouldn't insist if she turned him down.

Arriving at camp, he'd lead her to where Ronin and Viking squad were waiting and introduce them.

"I see, silver huh? That actually works? I'll get the men to gather wolfsbane," Sergeant Logan Bjornson responed to Ronin a little before Javian and Medcine Woman replied. He turned and gave the order to the others.

"This is what wolfsbane looks like," Soothsayer 01 told the other team members, holding up his smart phone.

"It's too late to prepare silver ammo, but we do insist anyway," Bjornson added, looking to Ronin. Specialist or no, there was no way he'd let such a young girl march into the fray alone.

Soothsayer called up Bjornson and Ronin, as well as Javian and Medicine Woman. "Sarge, Ronin. The Chief, elders and people are holding a council in the longhouse. I think They'll want to see you."

Diana listened to the message and affirmed. She went onto campus grounds and sure enough, the tent-longhouse was being set up and people were coming to gather. As was custom, times of great called for a council, and Diana was received with some skepticism. She was a sword wielding cyber samurai, dwarfed by a big scary viking soldier with a gun.

The Chief of the Iroquois called the meet to order. "Please, settle down everyone. We are going to discuss matters with the security."

Some people were understandably agitated. "It's the wolves! They're possessed I tell you!"

"No, it's the Wild Witch! She's real! unnatural things are afoot here!" An older woman who still believed in witches said.

A more secular man offered a third opinion. "...Witches? Possessed wolves? Are you blind? It's Just poachers, they're trying to scare us off our land."

"Your expertise would be greatly appreciated. However time was of the essence. My men will at least give you a few extra hands," Javian would respond to Medicine Woman.

Naturally, Jonathan Javian would go to join the council meeting when invited. He would of course wait for his turn to speak. As he did so, he looked over to Ronin. So this was the other specialist? It was good to know that she decided to come along. If she happened to look over to him, he'd shoot her a friendly smile and give her a nod to acknowledge her. This meeting was not exactly the place for pleasantries and introductions, though.