A special mission

Headmistress Swift does not answer you right away. The beautiful intstructor massages healing ointment over the last of your injuries and closes the jar of resotorative cream. She sighs.

"Paisley holds the line against monsters around the world." As she speaks she is opening a travel bag and arranging clothing for you to wear. A field uniform, not your specimen clothing. "From jungle to arctic to beneath the sea, our girls are the warriors who protect civilization and our only goal is to succeed in that protection, no matter the price. But sometimes, certain elements within our ranks are...overzealous."

"Like Frankenstein?" you ask.

"No, he sought power for himself. I am talking about radicals who go to far in their service to the cause. Are you familiar with Gemma Black?"

Of course you are familiar with her name. She was one of the greatest monster hunters in the history of Paisley, racking up impressive kills and filling the academy's trophy room. Then she disappeared. No trace. No comment from the Academy.

"But she didn't disappear," says Miss Swift. "She formed our secret operations division, working with the most skilled hunters to try to find the source of the supernatural monsters and finally put a stop to them. She found the source. She tracked the monster's magical forces to a lost temple hidden in the jungles of Peru. Inside, she found a portal to their terrible realm. With a team of our best, she departed to destroy the portal forever. That was two years ago. Two weeks ago the portal grew in size, sucking the temple and half a mile of surrounding jungle into its vortex. We need someone to go through and find out what is happening."

"Someone expendable," you say, realizing why you were chosen.

"Yes," she admits. "But also someone of the greatest abilities. Someone who might actually succeed and return to us."

After the way you have been treated by Paisley, you are hardly inclined to go along with this proposal. On the other hand, being some sort of pitiful fucktoy for monsters or fighting them in the arena until you are killed by one of them is hardly a good life.

"What do I get for this?"

"If you succeed," says Miss Swift, "freedom and monetary compensation. You will have a place here or you can leave us forever if that is what you choose. Your pups and your mate will be-"

"Returned to the island," you say. "They don't belong here. They belong with their pack."

She nods, seeing the fire burning in your eyes. "Whatever you need."

"There's something else," you say. "Before I go in there, I want..."