Story

It is the year 2247, and mankind has evolved with technology but we are not alone. Animals have evolved as well over the years. Some have even gone so far as to become beasts of legend of times long past. Any creature that you can imagine is real in this realm of reality. We are at war. Only humans born with a special alternate gene can combat these beasts. These few are known as the Gifted. The Gifted are recruited by the agency once their Gift is awoken and they can absorb the powers of these monsters to fight to keep human-kind safe though not all is perfect. The Agency considers the Gifted to be equally or more dangerous than the monsters they hunt and therefore their treatment of the Gifted is slave-like. Can the Gifted succeed at their quest and maintain a reasonable balance with the Agency or will they try to break free of their chains to gain true freedom?

Eden Warden stood in the training room. Her lean body was travelling very fast. Although she was being tested, the woman refused to crack under the pressure. Her test was one of intelligence and strategy. Not to mention she was servery limited in what she was allowed to do. No bullets for her shot gun, her sword was broken in two. Leaving the bit of magic she knew how to even use. Of coarse her patience with the magical arts was zero to none, she was able to pick up at least something. Or so she was supposed to prove. Of coarse going in, Eden figured she was going to fail any how. Seeing as how when she borrowed magic from a creature, she tended to still use bullets.

Her long wavy brown hair was tied, braided and rolled into a bun against her head. There were a few strands out to frame her heart shaped face. Her skin was tanned on the darker side, although even. Well, for the most part. Eden had vitiligo, meaning parts of her body quiet literally had light spots. Including half of her face. Everything else about her was perfectly healthy, including her skin. It was simply appearance. Her eyes were a moss green. Complimenting the earth tones of her lean body. Her clothing was simple. A skin tight green catsuit used for the simulation, along with a pair of boots.

Eden sadly, was cheating slightly during the simulation. She had been given a fae to touch. But instead of using the powers the fairy possessed, Eden instead was turning it into energy. Creating weapons to compensate for her broken ones. She moved quickly towards her target, lunging forwards for the final hit when suddenly the simulation faded. Eden looked up to a set of windows where her supervisors were seated. The room was now a basic white room. It was quite large.

"You fail Subject 36" One of the women spoke after a pause. Gaining an annoyed look from Eden. The door opened to her left. Her rude queue to leave and allow the next person entry. Eden walked out into a changing room. One where she was to take off the catsuit. She began to do. An irritated look played on her face while she changed into real clothing... Another white catsuit and a pair of matching boots. She wore accents of brown as a belt, laces, and choker. Her outfit was very plain yes, but being gifted she was told what to wear rather than choosing herself. Glancing up towards a clock, she realized how late she was running. Eden was supposed to meet her partner about twenty minutes ago. On her way though, she had a surprise test.

They were supposed to be heading on a mission. One she hoped her partner was briefed on. At that second she heard a second pair of footsteps in the dressing room. The Gifted were scene as property, so separating men from woman was assumed as unnecessary in order to save room. "Another Magic simulation." Eden said to her partner before anything else. Obviously she was frustrated. She had not even turned to look at him just yet. Instead she slipped her arm into the suit, zipping it the rest of the way before reaching up to let her hair down. Her hair fell lower than her rear, but still had its wavy silky texture as she pulled it out of her braid.

Thane was patient. Thank God that he was. Not only was Eden late, but he couldn't get mad at her for being late. She'd been called in for a surprise simulation test. They were designed to see how well you handled being a host or in other words how strong your Gift was. They were annoying as a rooster crowing in your ear every morning for a week. The only upside he could see from this was that he'd been called in twice last week. He failed once, because he used his natural Gift -the first ability one steals from a beast- instead of the simulation Gift that you're required to use for the programmed tests that they gave out at random.

He had been going over the file for the monsters that they were suppose to hunt down in Brooklyn for the past fifteen minutes and decided to just go wait for her in the changing area outside the simulation room. Thane Segeris was an above average height chocolate skinned male. He had long black wavy hair that fell just to his shoulder blades and the bottom fourth of his hair was dyed blonde. It made for a striking appearance. His eyes were a beautiful shade of honey brown and his right eye had a scar that went through the edge of his eyebrow and stopped a few centimeters under his eye. He was looking rugged in the face since he hadn't shaved in two weeks and had a dark untamed gruff going on.

His body was lean and toned. He was strong just not overly so. Speed and agility were his forte, along with his mastery over his magical Gifts. Thane was known as a prodigy even among the Gifted, thought that didn't amount to much other than more work for him and his partner. While his partner's normal outfit was obviously designed to accentuate her curves and be practical, somewhat, his own was a little more extravagant. Admittedly, Thane liked his outfit. It just looked cool to him.

Just as he arrived it seemed Eden was finishing up, and from her reaction she was obviously frustrated. "Calm down, it's alright. I take it you failed again since you're this annoyed?" He'd tried to give her a bit of advice on how to deal with these things. Just show the administrators what they wanted to see and you'd pass. They didn't have an eye for any real talent but they could certainly gauge how well a Gifted could use their Gift.

Eden was finally finished undoing her braid. Letting her hair fall around her body. It was interesting. The two partners were opposites. He wore black while she wore white. Her outfit was basic, while his was more complex. Even their personalities clashed at times. He was more patient while Eden was more likely to bash someone's face in. Literally. She has done it before on a couple of occasions.

"Yeah. I was given a fairy." It was insulting really. Fairies were supposed to be stupid easy to control. But Eden was just more physical. "My objective was to take down an ogre. I used the magic to enhance my body and create a sword. On the bright side I almost got it before they stopped the simulation on me." She told him. Picking up her bag and throwing it over her shoulder.

"I'm sorry I was late, and now i'm taking my fail out on you." Her mood was lightly better after he had told her to calm down. It was funny, sometimes she just needed to be told to do something. And most of the time it was her partner giving the commands when it came to her mood.

There was a reason why they were always testing Eden with magic. The first creature she had even touched was a Lich. An undead wizard. Meaning they believed Eden to be a powder keg of magical energy. Hell, maybe she was.

"Where are we going?"

Thane listened to her story and winced a little when she said that she'd been given a fairy to beat an ogre. Not that it was hard, but Eden just wouldn't use a fairy's power the way the administrators would want her to use it. "That's a clever and practical idea for us on the field, but you had to know they wanted you to use the fairy's magic? You should've put the dumb ogre to sleep." Not that he was chastising her, but there was another reason why they had these tests so frequently. These simulations also determined your rank within the Agency. Altogether there were probably only about fifty Gifted that were contracted by the Agency. Any other gifted that emerged were to be hunted and killed immediately, by them.

It was a hard truth that Thane struggled with. The only time when new Gifted were allowed in was if one of them died within the agency. That could mean they were terminated for whatever reason or they'd been killed out on the field. It was a harsh life, though admittedly they got whatever they wanted or needed. In return they were pretty much slaves to the Agency. Currently Thane was ranked seventh within their rankings -meaning that there were six others that were considered to be stronger than him- which was both good and bad. The higher your rank the more responsibility you had and the harder the jobs you obtained. It also meant that you were that much closer to possibly being declared a true threat. It was like straddling on a thin rope above a canyon.

He'd never asked Eden what her rank was because he didn't care, nor did he tell her or boast about his. He would had she decided to ask, but so far she hadn't so he just didn't bring it up. The Gifted did have reputations among one another although they rarely ran into each other since they all shifted areas on a monthly schedule. Each set of Gifted were given an area in which they accepted the missions for and depending on how strong the partners were, they may or may not be required to fight certain monsters. Right now, he and Eden had the New York region which actually covered several states in that area, so they did quite a bit of traveling.

Thane laughed his partner's comment off, "You're not taking anything out on me, you're just frustrated. I understand." Since the New York region was the true base of operations all results came here and were sent back out to the other regions when they'd been compiled. He walked over and gave his partner a pat on the shoulder, "I know how strong you are. I'm the one who's out on the field with you every mission, so don't worry. My opinion is the only one that really matters, and there's no way I work with anyone else," he told her with a smile.

"We're headed to Brooklyn. Supposedly there's a group of Gargoyles on the loose. Shouldn't take too long, but they haven't given me an accurate number in the dossier, so I can't say how many we're up against," he admitted.

"But they told me to kill it within a minute! I give up. Damn egg heads. They don't take real life accounts into consideration. I want to read the story of an orge kidnapping a fairy, and a fairy who actually will allow me to see her without a fight." Eden complained. She knew it would not get her anywhere, and she was over thinking the simulation. When it came down it it, maybe one of these days she would actually take Thane's advice going into one of those tests. Then again, there was a reason Eden was rated forty-seven out f fifty.

She was dangerously low on the count. The top ten were closely watched to be sure their powers would never go overboard. While on the other hand, the bottom ten were scene as expendable. If a gifted was found to be more powerful than Eden, she could be terminated to allow the new recruit entry. It was a possibly she faced each time they went out on the field. In truth, it was probably Thane who wold be forced into doing it. She thought of talking with him about her rank a few times. Since in the past months it was getting lower and lower. But the good agents tried not to bring such things up. It was mere gossip, similar to religion and politics in their world.

She felt the hand on her shoulder and smiled. Turning her head slightly. The left side she was looking at him with would appear normal. Olive tanned skin. That of an Italian women. Which was where her ancestors were from. She turned to face him the rest of the way. Showing her right eye. There was a large white spot there that appeared as if someone had ripped the tan right from her face leaving milky white skin. Similar patches were all over her body. Oddly enough, other people were more uncomfortable about her small feature than she was. "You are right my friend. Thank you. You are the only one to bring me back to this world from my moods."

"Gargoyles.. I feel there is an outbreak every other month. Although they are such an easy creation for young wizards, can we really be surprised..." Eden thought out loud. She of coarse still needed to grab a few things from her locker, or maybe Thane had thought ahead and grabbed her storage device. One of the interesting devices they were given was a dematerlizer. In other words, it was a device that broke down items on a molecular level to allow storage. Like weapons and medical supplies. It also doubled as a holophone.. Or rather as disguised as one.Depending on who you spoke to.

"Do I need anything?" Probably a silly question. The agency had apartments set up for the agents. Supposedly with everything they needed also. Still, she had not been at the briefing. "We will probably find out smaller details once we are there."

Thane laughed at the woman's complaints. They were warranted but they would fall on deaf ears. The most he could really do for her was allow her to say what she needed to say to get it off her chest. The Agency didn't care how any of them felt, all they cared about was your performance in the test and how well you did your job. Admittedly, Thane had been a little worried for her though. She'd failed quite a few of the simulations over the past few months. It made him wonder what her ranking was. If she was too low, things could be bad for them, but on the other hand he was almost too high himself. The biggest difference was, if she was too low and they wanted her terminated he'd have to do it. Since he was on the opposite end of the spectrum, it was likely that if they wanted to get rid of him, they'd target both of them since partners tended to bond from their work, which meant she was in as much danger as he was. On top of that, they would send one of the top three and their partner to do it. Needless to say, the system was flawed in many ways.

Her smile was comforting. Even though she had vitilago, Thane had never been disturbed by that. To be honest he'd always thought she was beautiful, inside and out. They'd been working together now for some years, so he could say that with confidence, but he had never openly told her that. He'd been with the Agency since he was twelve and they'd been partners almost the entire time. Maybe one day, when the time and mood was right, but for now they had more pressing matters.

Casually the male dismissed her gratitude, "No need to thank me. You're my partner and we're friends right?" He gave her another smile before the conversation shifted back to work. "Yeah I agree, I've fought more than my share of gargoyles in this lifetime. I just hate that they don't burn. My phoenix flames don't work on them and it's sad," he said with an actors pout. Thane's natural Gift had been that of a phoenix. It was the only set of powers that a Gifted could never forget. At the moment, Thane was carrying five but he could probably hold another five if he wanted. He was just picky.

Reaching into his side pocket hidden beneath the sleeve over his left leg he pulled out Eden's storage device and held it out to her, "I thought you might need this," he told her as he shook his head teasingly. "Will is at the drop off site and he'll give us another briefing so don't worry about having missed the first one. I'm sure he'll say all the same things and then some."

Will was their guardian. He was responsible for the two of them and he turned in their mission reports. He also was the one who decided whether or not either of them became a threat or needed to be replaced. He was an older man. Stern and stiff. Thane had never been able to tell how he felt about them. He'd always hoped that they could get close to him so that they could feel a bit safer but it still hadn't happened.

She smiled as he mentioned fire not burning gargoyles. More so at his pout. Most creatures did burn, but since gargoyles were made of stone, they were not effected. And their hits hurt also. There hasn't really been a sure way to kill them quickly. Each set of partners sort of had their own way. Her own natural gift was masked. It had not come out just yet. And it may never come out. But sadly in the organizition without a natural ability, you were expendable. Eden though was brillent when it came to lore. Or anything that it would take the normal human a moment to think of. Math, science, literature, history. She just seemed to know things. So maybe the powder keg deal was true.

"Thank you. I can always count on you Thane." She said to him. Strapping the device to her wrist and pulling her sleeve back down. In truth, she enjoyed being around Thane. Probably more than she should have. But relationships n the agency were impossible. Their were always eyes on them. Whither that be cameras or Will. Even the devices they used had a gps in it, and recording device. It was a hard life to get used to, but after a while one sort of forgot about it.

"We probably should not keep the man waiting... again. I am sure he wants to spout information at us. Or sit and stare." Eden said to her partner. Wrapping her arm around his and pulling him forward slightly towards the door. Of coarse she let go as the door to the simulation slammed opened and another agent stepped out. Eden eyed the other agent real quick before continuing the way out of the dressing room and down the stark white halls. The place appeared to be a hospital. Without the sunlight of coarse. They were underground at this point. A skyscraper sat above them. Hiding the agency as an office building. The drop off site was on the top of the building where the parking deck for cars were. They were in the future, cars flew! The partners stepped into the elevator leading to the top of the building. Eden was quiet for a moment as the doors shut.

Her arm covered the device on her wrist for a moment. "I need to ask something of you when we are alone. Preferably at diner tonight." Will's cooking was horrible, and neither one of them wanted to cook after a long day, so they tend to go out more than anything. "It is just something lingering on my mind."

"If we don't have each other, then we'd have nothing." He replied with a smile but also with a heavy heart. He knew that each pair had to rely on each other for survival, support, and friendship. You had to be an everything to your partner so it was rare that partners didn't get along, but not unheard of. But usually if you didn't like your partner you either requested a trade with someone else or you killed them yourself and had them replaced. It was a sad way to be rid of someone but it had happened numerous times over the history of the Agency.

He pulled up his left sleeve and looked at his storage device, which were plainly dubbed SDP's -storage device phones- by the Agency. It was only 5:25 so they had five minutes to make it up to the top floor before one of them had a ringing SDP. Just as he was checking the time, Eden seemed to know that it was time to get a move on. "Yeah, lets get going." Allowing his partner to take his arm they made a move toward the door but she quickly let go when it flew open and another agent made his way in. Thane ignored the agent and kept walking. Who it was had no importance to him.

They made their way down the well lit hallway until they reached the elevator. Once they were inside Thane calmly said, "Drop Zone," and the elevator began to move. It was about a two minute ride because of how tall the building was, so they had some time to burn. Then as his partner spoke he raised an eyebrow slightly wondering what was bothering her, "Yeah, of course. Where do you wanna go for dinner? I think I'll want something nice after fighting a horde of gargoyles," he added with a chuckle. Thane absolutely hated fighting gargoyles.

"I'm sorry those damn mages won't stop creating them. You think after we took a bunch of them out last time they would learn. But tradition is tradition I guess." The agency had several contracts with organizations of creatures. Everything from vampire covens, to small elven town, to even the mage's circle. Although the agency and mage's circle seemed to continually be at ends with each other. For instance their neglect when it came to gargoyles. They would probably be out there for a while cleaning up something again that could have been avoided.

"Its been a while since we went to Brooklyn. What about that place we went to last time? That Will hated. I forget the name, but he said it was unhealthy and bad for us." Eden was trying to think of the name as the doors opened. Standing by the elevator was the older male Will. He seemed angry.. or maybe serious. Eden could not tell between the two when it came to him.

"Lombari's Pizza. That was it. Hello Will." Eden said to both the men. Of coarse Will would probably ope out of eating pizza. Leaving just Thane and her. Will had a disappointing look on his face. In his hand was a data pad. Probably with her results listed on it. He did not say anything though right away though. Which Eden was not sure if she was scared of his lectures or his silence.

"Yeah I guess. . . but still, if I see any oblivious mages around I promise I'm going to roast em' alive! Stupid gargoyles and mages always making them and letting them do whatever they want. . ." he replied in an almost childish mumble as he trailed off towards the end. Thane had ran into mages, vampires, werewolves and elves before. None of them were rude to him per say -probably because he showed them the respect they wanted to be shown- though all of them tried to stay away from the Gifted and the agency in general. Probably because the agency was viewed as being brutal and unnecessary, but while this was true, it was also true that it was the one good thing about them. They were protectors of humans because the other races didn't give a damn about them in the long run. A superiority complex.

Placing a hand on his chin in thought, he soon shrugged when he decided he couldn't remember. "I dunno," he said as they walked out of the door to meet an unhappy looking William Payne. Then Eden suddenly remembered the name, "Ah yeah, Lombardi's. That was some good pizza. Good evening William." Will looked at the two with a stern face and checked his SDP, "Good evening you two. You were almost late again. You two love to try my patience don't you?" Thane threw his hands up, "No we don't actually. We were a minute early, so technically we weren't late," he pleaded. "I said almost."

Letting his hands fall to his sides again Thane looked at Eden then back at Will, "You know she had a simulation test so I had to wait for her to finish." Will's eyes narrowed as he snapped back, "And that concerns you in what way? She is not a child, she can take care of herself. You know you should have reported to me and we would have waited for her arrival." Clenching his fist together, Thane was obviously irritated. He hated when the old man acted like this, but knowing that this fight wasn't going to get them anywhere he gave up. "Of course Sir William. I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Empty words of course and the older man knew it from the unconvinced look on his face. Eden was his first priority and that certainly wasn't going to change now.

Looking down at the data pad the balding grey haired man tapped the chip implant on the right side of his face that brought up a pair of virtual reading glasses, "Your assignment tonight is to head to Brooklyn and track down the groups of errant gargoyles and destroy them. There is supposedly four separate groups operating on their own independent of one another. I don't know if this is true or not but you two will investigate this upon your arrival. I don't know how many are in each group all we know is that they've been launching attacks on people in packs, and from the sounds of it, they've been well coordinated attacks."

This was a bit troubling. Usually they had to track down just a few rogue gargoyles but now they were attacking people in packs? There was no way they were operating alone. He looked at Eden with a puzzled look on his face. They would talk about it on the ride over but this was troubling news.

William continued when it looked like their attention was back on him, "There is a penthouse for you two to stay at in Brooklyn for the duration of the mission. The address is already programmed into your ride. Call me when you finish the mission, otherwise don't bother me." Thane looked at the old man unfazed by his attitude. He was always like this, though neither of them knew why. Or at least he didn't.

"Well let's go," he told his partner as he walked ahead and got on the left side of the silver auto-car. There was no steering wheel in these, they drove themselves, all you had to do was enter a destination and then wait. Luckily theirs was a luxury model so it was a comfortable ride to be sure.

Eden had stayed quiet while the two men argued. She thought it best to not say a word against William. Mainly because he was too good at throwing things back in others faces. Like Thane waiting for Eden just now. It was a silly thing. Many partners grew close, and it was odd to be away from each other. They were matched up on personality, skill and a few other factors. After all, they tried their best to avoid partners killing each other. Instead she simply stood there. Arms crossed behind her back. Nearly biting her tongue to keep from sticking up to William. After all, he would be her death sentence eventually. All it took was a signature.

They were briefed again. Eden took in all the information, and found it quite disturbing. The stone creatures were fairly mindless beings. Well, not completely mindless at least. Eden had to wonder if the mages were trying some new things to take their land back. Over centuries now the mages have laid claim over the land that New York now settled on. Even though the humans had been there longer. Or so written history went. There was no way to prove the mage's story. Nor was it easy to move a couple of million people. She noticed the look Thane had given her, but instead of looking back, she kept her eyes on William. Still not saying a thing. He probably already emailed them the files.

As the briefing came to an end, they both headed towards the luxury automobile. Thane has secured the left while Eden got into the right side. The seats were made of plush leather, and the decor inside was a dark wood and steel. It was a very comfortable vehicle for the ride. Once the door had closed, the car took off. Merging into the traffic and driving off. From Washington to Brooklyn, it would take about an hour. Give or take heavy traffic. It was expected though. After all, this was New York.

"They are attacking in groups." Eden said to her parnter. Trying to simply wrap her head around it. It was amazing, yes worrisome at the same time. Not that she would tell Thane her interest. He would just thing she was crazy. Which she may have been. "What do you think about this?" She finally asked. Wanting his input.

They had an hour to discuss things over. That's how long this trip was. Listening to Eden as she spoke he'd hoped that she would shed some insight as to what this was, "I don't understand the minds of mages and I certainly haven't seen any gargoyles who could rationally think and coordinate." He pressed a finger to his forehead, "I honestly can't say. My guess would probably be something like the mages have placed some sort of device or something that allows them to communicate with the stones and tell them what to do. Other than that I can only think of one scary thought. . ." Thane paused for a moment as his thought formed in his own head, "Maybe they somehow found a way to put a mind or conscience inside of the beasts."

Looking at the ground again as he crossed his right leg over his left, he wondered what other options there were. "What do you think Eden?" She was smarter than him he felt, so maybe she could think of something that he couldn't. It was still highly troublesome no matter what they thought of, but it would be nice to have a few things to look out for before starting their investigation. His honey brown eyes went to his partner as his right arm rested in his lap while his left rested on top of it. His mind was racing.

Eden listened to his possibles. A few thoughts ran threw her own head. Many matching the ideas of his own. "A device? I wouldn't think so. I think that may be far too technological for them. They tend to live in the dark ages after all." She was not dismissing the idea, merely thinking it threw. Mages and alchemists were two completely different sectors as far as they were concerned. Mages more on the dark arts side, while alchemists more on the inventing side. If it were an alchemist, it would be easy. They tended to mark their experiments. Although something even crazier crossed her mind. Mainly when Thane mentioned it.

"What if they literally put a brain inside of the things?" She asked. It was a strange question, and explanation. She could see the face Thane was giving her. "Here me out. We know Mages hate humans, and their gargoyles are normally useless against us. Annoying, but useless. What if someone, anyone really, were to take the brain of a human and put it inside one of those things." It was crazy, Eden was crazy. But somehow she just seemed to come up with these things. As if she were reading minds.

"If done right. Not that I know what is the right way. Theoretically a human's mind is so versatile, it would not be the first crazy experiment done with them. It was proves fifty years ago when that witch was killing people to raise the dead. Practicing necromancy." She looked to her partner, who seemed to not want her to go into any more detail. "Should I stop?"

He listened to Eden's thoughts and nodded. She had a point, mages avoided technology like the plague feeling everything that technology could do they could do with their magic. "True. It was just a thought though," he said realizing the slim possibility of the first option. Oh well, at least that limited it down the his second idea or something even worse, which was bad news in and of itself. He sighed aloud as the thought of something worse than implanting a conscious came to mind.

Then his mouth dropped when she mentioned that they could have put a live brain into the things. Not because he was squeamish but because he hated the thought of having to fight smart gargoyles. They were his least favorite of all the monsters they fought. As she explained the details the realization that this could actually happen almost made him want to cry figuratively and literally to an extent.

"No you can continue," he said gaining his composure. "The thought of having to fight groups of these things that can adapt on the fly and use tactics we've never seen before is actually somewhat frightening. They're already strong and pretty fast, we'd have to be on our A game fighting these things in packs." This was worrisome. More than he'd originally thought. Eden usually had a knack for being right about things, and if she was right about this, they would have a big problem on their hands in no time.

"We always bring our A-game no matter what the problem is. Except simulations. Those can go to hell." Eden said. It was nothing new how she hated the preprogrammed rooms. In fact, most of the agents did. It was similar to tests they took in high school. Annoying but needed. She took a moment to look out the window as Thane spoke. North America now was similar to New York two hundred years ago. The entire county was a large city. except a few strips of protected land. It was an engineering masterpiece, and a toxic prison at the same time. The forests of olden time seemed so far away now. Eden had still never truly scene a forest without a skyline in the background. But neither had most of their generation or parents generation.

"There is still no way to prove it until we cut the skull of one of those things open. I'll have to get some new weapons too. Something hot enough to break them." She said, mainly to herself more than Thane. It was a reminder. She looked around the car suddenly. Noticing something odd. "There is no surveillance in this car. Or if there is, its hidden." She shrugged at the sudden realization.

"Remember what I mentioned earlier? About speaking with you." She had turned to look at him. "My ranking in the agency ha recently fallen drastically. I'm number forty-seven now from thirty-eight. And I think they may wish to replace me soon. I wanted to let you know." She did not want it to come as a surprise for him if he was asked to do the deed. In truth, everyone knew who was in the top ten. Maybe not what order after the top three, but they were well known.

Thane laughed at the woman's comment. She had always had a knack for speaking her mind in any situation, it was part of the reason that he liked being around her so much. The world had changed so much over the past two decades that it was nearly run by a computer network. Computers decided everything, from how adept you were at which jobs to which people you were most compatible with. It was both convenient and sad. People had reduced themselves to allowing machines to make most of their life's decisions for them. If there was anything that Thane didn't like about this world, it was that.

He shrugged as she said they'd have to open up one of those things to be sure but it was something that he'd worry about when the time came. He hated gargoyles with a furious passion. After she mentioned it, the dark skinned male looked around the car and confirmed that she was right and nodded. "Apparently not."

Then his face turned grim as she explained what it was that she wanted to talk about earlier. He sighed and seemed to visibly relax a bit as he did, "I had a feeling that you were slipping a bit in the rankings," he said. Then after a short pause he smiled, "You don't have to worry about it, if they come to take you out, then they'll have to deal with number seven," he said with a smile and a wink. She would know he wasn't being cocky but trying to reaffirm her. If they came for her they'd have to come for him and with someone from the top three at that. It would be a bloody fight, but both of them were war-tested and battle-scarred so it wasn't something that he was really concerned about.

There was one thing about being in the top ten that no one said anything about because they weren't allowed to. Once you reached the top ten, you were only allowed into the top three if you manged to take out someone of the top three. Which meant requesting a battle against one of them which took place in a simulation room where you couldn't run away. Only one agent was allowed to walk out of that room alive, so the top three were not just strong, they were blood-stained. There was a reason that Thane had never gone above rank four, and it wasn't because he couldn't.

It honestly made Eden nervous. Why would they send them in a car with no surveillance. It could be they were being set up, or simply it was the last car left. The luxury models tended to not have the surveillance most of the time. Thinking it threw helped her to calm slightly. It was a number or reasons. New car and they just did not have the equipment. The organization did go threw a lot of them.

A smile came upon her face as he mentioned protecting her. Of coarse like any warrior, she did not wish for him to risk his life. Besides, if it came down to it, they could just activate the chip in her head and render her useless. They found though the top three normally enjoyed causing pain to others. And to keep them around for as long as possible, the agency allowed them to hunt. It was an honer spot among the agency, but one Eden wanted nothing to do with.

"number seven huh?" She said to Thane after a bit of silence. "How the hell did get you for a partner?" it was a rhetorical question of coarse. But still one she had to ask. "Thank you Thane. I should probably find a way to raise my ranking..."

He was glad to her smile, though the subject was a little more on the tense side. He laughed at her as she wondered how they became partners, "Well I wasn't number seven when we first paired up," he replied to her rhetoric. He thought back on their earlier years and how much they didn't get along at first. Him being a bit of a hothead in his youth and mellowing out tremendously as he aged. Not to mention he was cocky and extremely rude for a long time, until he'd been brought back to earth, so to speak. The memory made his smile reminiscently, as he looked at his his partner whom he'd grown to care so much for. Looking at them now, you'd never have any idea that they almost weren't partners for long.

"You can help your rankings a little by learning to listen to me," he told her with an exaggerated wink. "But don't worry about it. Like I said, they can't get rid of you without getting rid of me unless they shut us down. If they send agents at us, they'll only be mad because they'll have to raise our ranks." He was saying that in a positive light, though he was sure that they both knew that even if they survived a fight with another pair of agents they'd likely get shut down the next time if her ranking dropped down again.

Deciding it was best to change topics, Thane did just that, "So what do you say about sleeping with me tonight? We should cuddle. . ." He didn't know how she'd take him teasing her like that. The two of them had never slept together before but from time to time he did play around with her about it. Thane could never lust after her, she was too close to him for that and he found her to be more attractive than to look at her so basely. It would be an insult to her in his mind. There was a high regard and tons of respect for Eden, and he respected her body as much as any other part of her.

"All I have to do it listen to you? I don't know if this is possible then." She said with a small smirk. It was interesting really. While he had learned to mellow out, Eden had become more stubborn since being partnered with the man. Or maybe she had always been that way. Either way she had learned to truly enjoy being with him. It was rare when they were not together after all. Eden crossed her legs as the car sped up. They got onto a high way lane. Here the cars moved faster, so it would make the trip feel like it was going faster. Even if it was the same time.

She heard his teasing, and rose her brow. This one of the few times she actually caught his teasing. Normally he could have her blushing red in seconds. But only if he were able to caught her off guard. Eden did not even think he was using it to deviate from the conversation. "Yes, of coarse." She said bluntly back to him. "Just cuddling, or the type of cuddling children think their parents do." It was not unheard of for agents to be in relationships. Though it was frowned upon. Much like any sort of free will they pretended to have.

Eden looked at Thane. He was handsome, very handsome. It was not like she hadn't thought about it. After all, every woman still had wants. It was just difficult with the situation they found themselves in.

"Figured as much," he said matching her smirk. She hadn't changed much over the years. She may have been a little more stubborn now than she was at first but that was only because of her rebellious side. Eden had no quarrels with showing how she felt about the agency and their methods or maybe it was just that she didn't do a good job of hiding it. Thane hadn't figured out which one it was quite yet, nor did he really care. His mind drifted back to the mission for a moment as they got onto the 'highway' which was more of just a faster lane than a real highway since vehicles didn't use roads anymore just air lanes. He was honestly troubled a bit at the prospect of what could be going on with the mages and their beasts. He just didn't show it. He didn't wnat Eden to know how he was feeling. When they were younger he'd almost lost his life to a gargoyle when they had first been partners. But at the time he still only had one ability. Since then he'd slowly overcome that trauma.

To his surprise the woman didn't start blushing but instead challenged him back. Smirking mischievously he shrugged and slid over and put his arm around her, "Which would you prefer," he asked smoothly. He leaned in close enough that their noses could touch and their lips were just barely not touching. "What is it that you want?" Truth be told, Thane was still a virgin and knew very little about sex but they were informed of it. Some agents were even born from parents that were both agents before them. Thane wasn't one of those but there were a few within the agency and two were in the top three right now. It seemed that the those gifted were expected to be stronger than those that simply gained the gene but that didn't mean they wanted agents reproducing with one another.

As they sat there staring into each others eyes Thane could feel his heartbeat picking up. Eden had always been attractive to him, but he'd never really thought about having a relationship with her. She wasn't necessarily like a sister to him but he was scared to lose her, so he'd never really wanted to initiate anything with her. The man was scared to lose his partner and was willing to go to any lengths to ensure that it didn't happen. Even risking his own life. But because of that Thane had avoided making any sincere advances on her.

Eden held her gaze with Thane as slid his arm around her shoulder. Her heart beat sped up as she found herself getting nervous. His lip barely touched her own, yet she could feel his breath as he spoke. She was honestly terrible at the flirting side of relationships. Always become too embarrassed to keep it going. Although this was one of the rare opportune times she was able to keep it going on her side. Thane of coarse was always wonderful. Eden did have to wonder he some small part of him enjoyed seeing her uncomfortable.

She opened her mouth slightly to speak when suddenly the car jerked to the side, avoiding another from the opposite lane. It moved the unbalanced couple just enough to send Eden toppling on top of Thane. Hitting her forehead against his, not to mention her lips against his. The car moved back into the lane. Leaving the couple in a now awkward situation. It took Eden just seconds to realize what happened, and even longer to realize the position she was now in. Thane had his back to the seat with Eden on top of him. She was nestled between his legs and on top of his chest. It was then Eden blushed. The lighter parts of her skin turned a bright red. But still it was Thane. The one person in this entire world she could trust.

"Now even the car is getting impatient with us."

The two of them were obviously unprepared for the sudden jerk that sent them sprawling to the other end of the car. The way that they landed was somewhat ideal though as Thane's eyes met those of his partner's as a brief unexpected kiss was exchanged and it even left Thane a little flushed. His heart pounded against his chest as he felt Eden's chest against his, their pelvis bones making unintentional contact, though not necessarily unwanted. Their faces were even closer now than they had been when he was teasing the woman earlier. 'Is this what she wants?' That was the first thought that crossed his mind as his arms slid around her thin waistline. A grin slipped onto his lips as he saw her glowing red. She really was a beautiful woman especially when she was embarrassed.

But instead of proceeding any further he lifted the woman gently and helped her to get seated comfortably again. 'Not now. The timing's not right.' His gaze probably reflected his thoughts, but this would be a distraction if they got too intimate before this mission. Once they were both back in their seats comfortably with a bit of space between them Thane smiled, "It seems that the car wanted to see some action," he announced teasingly. "Maybe tonight we can. . . Explore things in more depth but we shouldn't be too loose before this mission. I'm sad to say that there's too many unknown variables and we have to be at the top of our game remember?" He already knew that they would be on the same page before she answered but he was still curious about things.

The two of them discussed various mission details as they approached their penthouse where they would be dropped off first. "I don't think we should waste much time once we arrive. Let's check out the accommodations quickly then we should start the investigation. I'd much rather be done with these Gargoyles as swiftly as possible you know?"

Eden allowed to be moved by Thane. As she was positioned back in her seat. Her face slowly started to calm down as t returned to its proper shade. Or at least close enough. Once properly reddened it did not fade quickly. "It would seem so." She commented back. Eden could not help but smile. He was lightening the mood. Eden loved that about him. Always being sure she was comfortable. Even in the littlest ways possible.

"You're right." Eden said. The conversation quickly turned back to mission details. Which was fine. It was their job after all.The car slowed down as it pulled off of the highway. Meaning they were nearing their destination. Eden could not help by look out the window. Pretending maybe she would see the cause to this trouble. But no use. There was only darkness as the sun had set and the lights from the city cast shadows. Part of her had to wonder if they really needed to work tonight, but the other half knew not to argue with Thane about such things. Even though he was fun to challenge, he did lay down their plan for the night just seconds before her gaze set to the window.

"I agree. Hopefully this wont turn into something we end up spending more than a month on." Not that Eden was in a rush, but after a mission, they did get a couple of days off. Mainly from jet-lag, or other recovery needs. The car turned a couple of more times before it pulled into the parking lot of the apartment the Agency rented out. They owned a few rooms on the top floor. Meaning they had a suite. The couple would just need to grab the key and check in. The car stopped itself just long enough for Thane and Eden to get out, grab anything they needed, then took off to find a parking spot.

Eden headed in just behind Thane. Catching up as they reached the desk and got the key for the room and stepped into the elevator.

"I certainly hope not. But it seems your brain may be our best weapon in this case, so I'll be relying on that knowledge of yours Eden," he told her with clear confidence in her. They'd been working together for so long, Thane knew how intelligent Eden was, and it had lead to the success of many of their missions. Thane enjoyed his fighting, it was a role that suited and agreed with him, but not to say he wasn't smart. He was intelligent, but he was more on the clever or cunning side. Eden was like an encyclopedia at times, to the point that Thane was sure she had a Genius level IQ. She seemed to have a vast amount of knowledge held in her brain, and it was extremely impressive. So for him, it wasn't uncommon for him to lean on her judgement and knowledge in a situations then follow his gut to make decisions. It had worked for them so far.

Maybe if they got enough time after this mission the two of them could spend some good quality time together doing some bonding. But that would only be if they had time before the assignment shift.

Once they arrived Thane exited the vehicle first and helped Eden out as they quickly made their way into their new housing and checked in at the desk. They were handed one key and made their way to the elevator. "Looks like we're two floors from the top at the end of the hall, so we should have a good view at the city but I doubt we'll be able to see anything from the suite." The dark skinned male was mainly talking to himself more than Eden. Thinking aloud. It would be a few minutes before they reached the top. Over the past few centuries, humanity had figured out how to make every building into a large skyscraper, with most building having one hundred stories or more. It was simple commonplace now.

Looking to his partner Thane asked, "Where do you think it would be best to start?"