A Devil In Jersey (Frankie, Evadne, and Theeson)

[Frankie Guidicini]

Time: 6:30 p.m.
Date: October 23, 2008
Place: Pine Barrens, New Jersey
Status: Closed to Frankie, Evadne, and Theeson

It was an hour drive from the BPRD in Trenton to the forested area in southern New Jersey known as Pine Barrens. The ride was better than it would have been if Red and Abe were there -- instead of riding in the back of a garbage truck Frankie, Evadne, and Theeson got to ride in the back of a waste disposal van. Frankie was team leader of this little trio -- Her first time doing so in the states. She wasn't nervous. She had a hell of a lot more experience than this required.

"Alright. Here's the situation. Listen up." Frankie said to Evadne and Theeson. She was clad in her usual mission/assignment attire: what could be described as a form-fitting leather jumpsuit that almost seamlessly encased her entire body (Along the arms and legs were strategically placed slits rimmed with black plastic) and adorning her feet were heel-less boots. It was enough to get the job done, maybe with her looking slightly like a dominatrix, and let the blood be slicked away on the leather. "This past week the reported Jersey Devil has been up to some mischief. Capsized a boat, mauled a park jeep, and broken into storage facilities. Things haven't gotten too serious yet, but the fishermen in the boat could have drowned, and if the Devil can tear the hell out of a jeep, imagine what it can do to a human.
"The terrain is mostly the usual national park, but there is the Batsto river nearby where most of the sightings have occurred. I believe that is your area, Theeson. Our mission is to get in there, find the Jersey Devil or whatever it is that's causing this mess, and bring an end to this ruckus, or if possible, capture the Devil. The Bureau's info on the creature is that it's supposed to have wings, but it can also appear to be a child, so be wary. So far, it's just known as an urban myth, but I think people in our line of business know how urban myths materialize in the worst way."

As Frankie finished speaking the van pulled to a stop and the back doors were opened. A prep team had arrived ahead of them to clear and tape off the area as well as ready the equipment. "Any questions?" Frankie asked.

[Evadne Taylor]

Brow arching, Evadne adjusted her form fitting top and looked over at Frankie as she stopped talking. Normally, Evadne and Frankie didn't work together, and Evande really had begun to think it had something to do with their strong willed personalities. Perhaps the Bureau had thought the two of them would clash too much and perhaps would fight for position of team leader. Of course.... Evadne didn't actually care one bit if she were team leader or not - she was more about just being sure whatever job she was on was completed.

Sliding out of the back of the van, Evadne tossed her long pleated hair back over her shoulders and peered into the van, her gaze catching Frankie's as she made sure her handgun was loaded. "Are we done talking?" She asked, her lips turning into a smirk of sorts. "Because I'm ready to get this over with already."

(OCC - Sorry it took so long to reply to this - I so didn't see it. haha)

[Frankie Guidicini]

Frankie let out a barely audible sigh. The vampire and her were alike in certain aspects, especially in their dispositions. But Frankie thought Evadne could be too disrespectful at times. Disrespect could lead to carelessness which led to accidents which led to bodies piling up. Frankie did not respond to Evadne, instead following her from the van. "Come on, Carlile." She bade Theeson.

The prep team had already cleared out any campers or night fishermen -- they could just lead to casualties. Several suits were standing around a set perimeter that encased the public access points to the park.

"What do we have?" Frankie asked one of the suits.

"A perimeter of four square miles so far. Civilians have been cleared from the park. We talked to the reporting officer Michael Jenkins, and there has been no activity as of late except for some loud splashing by the river around 1800 hours."

Frankie turned to Theeson and Evadne. "I think our best bet is the river. We'll use headlamps for light, that way our hands will be free, which'll be good for you and your handgun, Evadne." She looked specifically at Theeson. "Since it's a nice, wet environment, we'll be in your arena, Carlile. I don't know if you can detect life in the water, but if you feel anything odd, give us a heads up." A case on wheels was brought forth and opened, revealing flashlights and headlamps. Frankie grabbed a headlamp, strapped it on her head and clicked it on before tucking another flashlight in her belt for security. "Let's go."

((OOC: No problem! ))

[theesoncarlile]

For some people, a road trip sounds like a bundle of fun, but to some people it can be a personal hell. If you stick two girls with almost the exact same personality in the car, you tend to get quite a bit of conflict, but if you throw a total weirdo in the middle you never know what can happen. In this case, awkward silence was really the only thing that met the three girls during that one hour spent together in the car. Luckily, Ms.Carlile had discovered(and bought) something wonderful! A waterproof, weatherproof, retard-proof mp3 player! So, throughout that entire trip she kept to herself, trying her best to keep herself from poking at the other two girls. All she did was sit herself in the middle of them, and listen to her favorite songs....Oh, and drink a butt-load of water. In fact, she downed at least 5 of the many water bottles provided for her alone. Everything was fine until the silence was interrupted. Half the time Frankie was speaking she had been zoned out listening to her music, then she heard her name and tuned in on the conversation right away. Ripping the headphones from her ears, she pretended that she had been paying attention the whole time. She was pretty good at it too! Then seemingly out of no where, Evadne snapped at Frankie. The sudden outburst made Theeson's glance wander over to the other girl. Uh oh, this was NOT a good sign. ' This is going to get nasty ' She thought to herself

At last the vampire left the vehicle and Frankie was soon to follow, beaconing for her to follow. Eagerly, she did just so. The soles of her all terrain compatible boots made a squishing sound as she stepped into a very strange hole in the shape of a Very strange foot print. Raising a brow she looked down at her feet, but kept her mouth shut. Looking back to Frankie and Evadne she took a deep breath and made her way back over to them. Rubbing her gloved hands together, she silently placed herself between the girls. There wouldn't be a cat fight on her watch, unless She started of course, that was okay. Listening in on the conversation, she nodded at the thought of the river. " Trust me, if I find or feel something out of place, you'll know right away " She assured Frankie. ' Liar ' She labeled herself in her head thinking about the foot print. She would tell her later... definitely, yeah, of course!

Shivering at the thought of how cold the water would be, Theeson crossed her arms and ran her hands up and down over the scuba suit like fabric that made up her suit. She took one of the flashlights and placed it securely in one of her belt loops, and when she got a hold of one of the headlamps she smiled and put it on her head. Of course, she had to wear it in an at least somewhat fashionable manner. " Ready " She spoke at last, looking up at her teammates. Wow, she felt short

[Frankie Guidicini]

Frankie walked ahead first, and after the three had made it away from the edge of the perimeter and any possible prying eyes, like park rangers, Frankie slowly ejected her bones. They lined the outside of her arms and down the front of her knees. A bone spar slide out of the back of each of her feet from the heel, and from the back of each hand was a thorn-shaped bone that was perfect for gutting...If it was called for. "With your headlamps, look for any glare on the water that might entail eyes, or in the trees for that matter." She said softly.

There was a slight descent down to the river, and Frankie's bone spurs helped steady her on the uneven terrain. She held her arms stiffly at her sides in preparation. After a few moments of silence, Frankie cast her headlamp on the ground and found tracks. "Look." She bade softly. "The mud isn't dry, so these are relatively fresh. But..." She leaned down closer to inspect them. "They look more like...huge wolf-ish tracks."

[Evadne Taylor]

Evande's nose wrinkled when she was handed the headlamp and she looked over at Frankie and ... what was her name? Theeson. Something. Surely they weren't actually expected to use such old gear?! What the hell had happened to Night Vision Goggles?! They didn't draw attention! They weren't a beacon that basically screamed 'Hey! Free Food!' to what ever it was that they were actually hunting.

She didn't say anything though, but she was sure that both women knew what she was thinking. She didn't care though! They should have been thinking the EXACT same thing. But they were both crazy if they actually thought that she was going to be walking in the back of the group. Let one of them be the chow. As much as she enjoyed some of the other agents company (which wasn't saying a lot, because... Well it just wasn't), she wasn't about to put herself at risk because someone had been stupid.

Honestly not caring if she was being rude, Evadne pushed her way past Theeson and followed silently behind Frankie. She really wished that they had night vision goggles. It just made more sense. Whatever though. They had a mission to focus on - night vision goggles or not. She shook her head, wondering why she was so concerned about the damn goggles when she herself had night vision. Oh yeah, the other two fools were still using the headlamps - that's why.

Seeing the Frankie had come to a stop, and was leaning over looking at something, Evadne moved so she was standing beside her and looked down at the tracks. "Great," She muttered. "A big wolf like creature that's probably seen your lights." she motioned toward the headlamps the women were wearing and shook her head.

[fuzzy]

After about an hour of searching, Terry finally found the three BPRD agents searching the base of the lake. Judging by the amount of spine-like protrusions jutting from the one in the lead, he decided that having Frankie along couldn't hurt. He couldn't recognize the other two agents, though, he would need to meet them face-to-face. Terry started jogging toward them, the distance quickly being eaten up by his long, loping stride. As he was running to meet them, he saw flashes of light periodically turn his way. Headlamps? Did the BPRD cut funding recently? Night vision is much more practical, not that he really needed it. He was only blind in complete darkness, and the moon gave off more than enough light for him to see by.

Terry had seen Frankie fight before, and was in no hurry to sneak up on her; so when he got close enough for the three agents to hear him, he gave a subdued greeting, not wishing to be loud, for fear this "Jersey Devil" would hear him. Finally getting close enough, Terry scoped out the group. Frankie looked to be the leader, he groaned, what was the BPRD thinking? They paired up Frankie with Evadne? He didn't know who the third was, and made a mental note to find out as soon as possible. This mission was a fight waiting to happen, and it seemed like he stumbled right in upon it, with Evadne mentioning something about the use of headlamps. Terry already suspected that vampires and lycanthropes didn't get along very well, so he tried his best to make himself look like something other than homeless. He straightened out his vest and ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to appear too disheveled, though after spending an entire day out in the open, it was pretty much impossible. Even with his premature greeting, at his appearance, they all jumped slightly, Evadne glaring at him as if it were his fault, Frankie looking relieved, and the other agent was confused.

"Um...I see Manning didn't tell you he sent me to scope out the situation before you would get here." Terry said quickly, scratching his beard, he really should have trimmed it before he left. "I'm Terry, and you are?" he added, somewhat after the fact for the one he didn't know. She didn't get a chance to reply, however because once he looked down, what he saw took priority over waiting for a response, a giant wolf print. "Sorry about the false alarm here, but I think that might have been me" he admitted, gesturing at the print "I don't really remember where I scouted, but it looks to be the right size." He looked up, and Evadne was glaring at him, this was going to be a long mission...

[Frankie Guidicini]

Frankie attempted to ignore Evadne's comments, because she was sure she heard something moving. It wasn't her fault that they were sent with headlamps. And besides, if the light attracted the Jersey Devil or whatever it was, well, then they wouldn't have so spend so much time finding the blasted thing, would they?

Frankie tensed up as she heard Terry's greeting, and then relaxed slightly, realizing it was a fellow agent. Frankie nodded curtly at Terry. "He didn't. Blasted bureaucrats..." She murmured under her breath. "Frankie, I'm the leader for this assignment." She would let Evadne and Theeson introduce themselves; she wasn't their mother.

Frankie looked down at the print again and then back at the lycanthrope. "Good. It doesn't provide a question I need an answer to. Did you find or see anything while you were scouting?" She could be seen as unfeeling and even cold in her business manner, but she did not want to make friends in the middle of a national park while there was a supernatural beast on the prowl.

[fuzzy]

>>>"He didn't. Blasted bureaucrats..."<<<

Terry nodded in agreement before he could catch himself, he didn't like eavesdropping in on things he wasn't supposed to hear, accidentally or on purpose. Frankie introduced herself and got right down to business, which Terry admired, now here was an agent who knew what she was doing.

"I'm in pretty much the same boat as you are, actually. Apparently Manning doesn't know that I don't know that much about scouting out an area. I'm not fooling myself about my job, you point me at something, and I punch it until it stops moving. What I did find out was that this beast is a hell of a lot better at hiding than I am at searching, though I did find a boat on the east side of the lake, completely torn to shreds. Since that's really our only lead, I think we should check it out again, you might find something that I missed."

[Evadne Taylor]

Evadne glared at Terry thinking that he was truly lucky that she hadn't shot him. She'd heard him approaching and she'd managed to draw her gun and aim it in his direction before he made his presence known. Stupid male. Not only that, but he hadn't exactly been the quietest on his approach.

She shoved her gun back in it's holster and crossed her arms, her gaze slowly moving over the shadows that surrounded them. It really didn't surprise her that Manning had neglected to tell that he'd sent Terry off before them. Too bad that Terry didn't seem to have any clue as to what he was doing.

Footprint? Complete evidence to his lack of investigative skills.

Moron.

Evadne slowly turned her cool gaze back to Terry with a lofted brow. She needed to address something before they even touched the subject of the boat he'd found. "So he didn't know that you lack the skills he required for this mission.... And you neglected to inform him? Wonderful. So what exactly can you do?"

[fuzzy]

With Frankie out of the way, Terry turned his attention on the other one, Evadne. For some reason, he felt odd when he looked at her, and all of his hair tried to stand on end. Then he realized...vampire. His golden eyes gleamed and his hand shot into his pocket, fingering his rosary. Terry did not like vampires. By the time she was finished talking, Terry realized that he was softly growling at her, he cut off immediately and coughed.

"Well, I let him know that I might not be the best choice for the job, but he made some crack about me 'making friends with the local wildlife', and I kind of left after hearing that. I really just think he wanted me out of the building for a while, as I was getting in his hair." Terry continued, "As to what I can do, I've explained that already." He took on an equally abrasive tone with Evadne, knowing that the only way to deal with these types of people was to either stand up to them, or submit. Terry was not a submissive person. "I hit things, normally until they either start screaming or stop moving." He cracked his knuckles. "Now, can we get down to business?"

[Frankie Guidicini]

Great. Great. Now Evadne was copping an attitude with the new guy. Frankie spat up a litlte slow reacting acid to the ejection of her thorns while the two spoke, and they finished just as she was about to step in. She absentmindedly wondered if backhanding either of them into consciousness would benefit her. She decided against it.

"We're supposed to be a team, people. So let's shut up and get this over with." Frankie turned to Terry. "Take us to the boat."

[Evadne Taylor]

Had Terry actually growled at her? If they weren't on a mission, she might have laughed right in his face. No, strike that - she would have laughed right in his face before she smacked the living crap out of him. She put up with a lot of things - well more like 'tolerated' - but she was so not about to put up with a testy Werewolf. Maybe she should have checked to see if there had been a tranquilizer gun back in the van, now that would have come in handy.

Despite her personality, Evadne knew that now was not the time to handle Terry. She flashed him a sugary-sweet smile and turned her attention to Frankie. Her expression became serious and she nodded slowly, agreeing with the other woman. They were suppose to be a team, and well, in Evadne's opinion there wouldn't be a problem if people didn't go around making asinine decisions and so forth.

Looking over at Terry again, she arched an eyebrow. "Is it far from here?" she asked, figuring it was a valid question. Theeson was such a small thing and honestly it surprised Evadne that she was even on this hu - mission.

[fuzzy]

>>>"Take us to the boat."<<<

Terry shook himself, snapping out of his one-way staring contest with Evadne. He closed his eyes, visualizing a picture of the lake, and pinpointing the location of the boat as he remembered it. He started walking off in the direction of the boat when Evadne's voice broke the silence.

>>>"Is it far from here?<<< Terry turned around, so she can be civil, he thought as he tried to remember exactly where they were now. "Not too far, If we follow the lake in this direction, we'll probably get there in just under an hour if we take it at an easy run, but that might be noisy, and getting this thing's attention before we're ready for it probably isn't the best idea." He awaited group input and Frankie's OK, after all, he wasn't the group leader, and he knew it.

[Frankie Guidicini]

Under an hour? Frankie internally groaned. The time it would take for them to get there would probably give whatever had smashed up the boat even more time to run off -- or kill/maim/destroy something else. "I think out headlamps attract enough attention already." She said, letting out a sigh. She contemplated the options. Go to the boat and possibly waste time, or...what else were they going to do?

"Let's get going to the boat and try to be as fast and quiet as possible." Frankie sounded a bit demanding, but she was in a foul mood what with the wolf-boy and the frosty vampire having already rubbed each other the wrong way. Theeson was being really quiet, and Frankie just didn't see any good endings to this situation that would lead to them catching the Devil -- Unless they had a massive amount of stupid luck.