[NOTE: For additional context, see "Heirs to the Hadeanstar". This serves as a prequel of sorts to that scene. The link to that piece is here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25715959/]


West Des Moines, Iowa / April 25th / 2:55 P.M.


For Wes Romero, simply being inside this office was an unreal experience. A half-decade had passed since his graduation from Perihelion, and in that time, the young man had grown considerably. At twenty-three, both Wes and his colleague Olivia Loren Scholz had served the United States government as registered monster hunters for five years. As the Duumvirate, Wes and Loren were heads of Hadeanstar, an elite paramilitary contingent composed of preeminent huntsmen from all over the Western world. Tasked with safeguarding the American homeland and its NATO allies from emergent supernatural threats, many responsibilities rested upon them. Now they had returned to Perihelion in order to help choose their eventual successors with this coming semester. Watching the students file out the entryway, Loren Scholz was ostensibly contemplating. The grey-furred mink of noble birth had amassed seven leather-bound dossiers in a single, large pile now separating her from Wes. Six were black, but one was a solid, portentous red. The red folder on top was twice as thick as the rest, but they were each emblazoned with the same owl hieroglyph they both intimately recognized.

“Pardon me for asking, but what difference does it make what we think, Loren? I don’t want to be rude,” the pine marten admitted, adjusting his military cap as he sat with mounting impatience, “but the Cognoscenti will do what they’ve always done. These dossiers are proof of that. They’ve since made up their minds, and only now seek to make it seem collaborative.”

“You, my friend, are far too cynical for your own good,” the mink said without turning from her birds-eye view of the student body, “This should be an exciting time for you. We’re here to pass the torch, after all.”

“Frankly, it’s asinine. Why ask us what new color we’d use to paint the house only after they’ve finished painting it? Aside from that, I know what kind of students they’ll want comprising the roster anyway. None of this will come as a surprise.”

Moving away from the window, the mink took a seat across from the marten and said, “We both know that isn’t true. If they didn’t value our input, Wes, I doubt they’d bother with this much pretense. You know as well as I do that those near the top aren’t typically fond of wasting valuable time.”

The young woman then took the thickest folder off the stack and deftly slid it to her compatriot. Like always, Loren’s movement was graceful and effortless. Standing in her tasteful, beige sweater and powder blue skirt combination, she could not have been more of a visual contrast to the modest, minimalistic farm boy she’d served with these past five years.

“Besides, you might be surprised to learn who they’ve chosen to lead these new recruits.”

With a furrowed brow, Wes took one last look at that enigmatic sigil emblazoned in red and opened the file. Upon seeing the contents therein, Wes Romero was visibly perplexed.”

“Rausch?”

Grinning with validation, the mink said, “That’s right.”

“Varik Rausch? The Cognoscenti has deemed Varik Rausch fit for leadership?”

“As I said, what you find here might prove surprising. It was for me, in any case. Varik certainly wasn’t my first choice for the upcoming Duumvirate.”

Thumbing through myriad pages of charts, graphs and psychobabble, he remarked, “He’s definitely got the aptitude for this position. I remember watching him outperform his peers at Camp Waxing Crescent six years ago. Sure, Varik wasn’t my first choice, but despite his appearance, he’s not some ne’er-do-well who can’t affect positive change. No, having the guy join Hadeanstar isn’t misguided thinking. They’re traditionalists though. Why choose a wild card like Varik Rausch to help lead these kids? Why him and not somebody they’d have better luck controlling?”

With a wry smile emerging, the young woman asked, “Somebody like my brother?”

“Exactly! An obvious choice. Somebody like your brother, Lance, for instance. Lance or Rainy Bruder to take up the mantle—ah, there she is,” Wes exclaimed with satisfaction, “I knew it! The sharpshooting valedictorian herself: Rainy Rebekah Bruder. I knew she was bound to show up in these files eventually. Makes sense they’d want her to replace us.”

The aristocratic mink sighed, neatly spread the other six dossiers across the conference table and noted, “Although, she wasn’t my first choice either, Rainy is still a remarkable girl whose skills will make an invaluable asset to this team. My only concern is that Lance wasn’t properly considered if only for his last name.”

“You think they still care about optics at this point?”

“Wes, they cannot have both a Scholz and a Bruder for the Duumvirate. They simply can’t. If they ever tried as much, the Cognoscenti would be accused of nepotism. Our families formed this school and launched Blutmond, too. No, a choice like that would only stir unrest among the ranks.”

“Let me ask you this, Ollie,” he said, a steady finger placed atop a single name within the thickest folder. “Of all the kids you’ve seen from this year’s crop, which of them was your first choice?”

“Only one name came to mind.”

“Mikah Sprinkle,” they both said in unison.

The marten let loose a small laugh and said, “He was mine, too. Says here they want him near Denver on special assignment. I don’t know what plans they’ve got in store for Mikah, but they must be vital if they’re also keeping the kid on reserve.” Glancing once more at the large stack of dossiers, the marten sighed and said, “This’ll likely take us hours to fully analyze. You do realize that, right?”

“Lucky for you,” said the grey-furred mink, flipping open another file with a determined look, “you’ll have help.”

---

I want to use this time to thank the ever-fabulous  Crocdragon for this commission! He did all the work you see here, and he should be credited for all his hard work and effort. I appreciate the chance to have worked with him once more, and I hope to do so in the near future!


art is ©  Crocdragon

Varik Rausch and Rainy Bruder are ©  nazcapilot