B.E.A.S.T. Story: Long Day, No Break

Chapter 2 Inspector Shay and Agent Ezekiel

Phantom walked straight to the coffee room first to see if there was anyone there who could assist him on the job. As he was walking by, he was lost in his thoughts and couldn't get out of them, felt like a thousand needles endlessly poking him. He tried to forget the random voices that he imagined, but the words were stuck in his mind like glue and were on repeat.

Not only that, but ever since the paperwork keeps getting bigger and bigger for Phantom, for some reason, not many people have been showing up to work lately. It has been quiet around BEAST for like over a year now, and only a handful of staff members have been showing up. No one around knows why, except for on a mission or working on different hours. Phantom has seen a few agents, Inspectors and other personnel walking around the building occasionally but hasn't seen a single Hunter for months. He tried to talk to someone about this but everyone around was clueless as he was. He even tried asking his bosses, but they hadn't been heard from in ages, apart from Dustcloak, who was always locked up in his lab, doing some weird necromancing stuff every time he went past his lab.

"What's been going on here lately? Why is no one showing up lately?" Muttered Phantom to himself. "Hr.....ok. After getting this job, I'm going to have a word with Duskcloak about this. Even though he hates me for leaving without permission and will probably make me do the floors.... Again." Mutter Phantom, making air quotes as he walks down the corridors. "However, I really need to know what's going on around here and if anyone knows, its him. But first, let's focus on finding a partner and get this stakeout on the way."

Phantom walked into the break room, hoping to find a colleague, only to realise that it was still under maintenance after yesterday's ogre attack.
That day, Phantom was taking a lunch break, having his nice homemade lemon tea, and enjoying himself until Ezekiel barged in with a massive, smelly ogre, crashing into Headquarters behind him. He and Ezekiel fought it, taking it down by themselves, but it destroyed half of the break room, so now the agents have to get their coffee and eat somewhere else.
Phantom looked around and found no one in the room, so he left and looked elsewhere. Then, just as he was about to leave, he saw someone in the corner of the room working on the laptop with their hood over their head.

"Hmm...Never change" Chuckled Phantom, as he approached them, avoiding some tools that the janitors had left on the floor. "Hey Shay, doing ok?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I'm fine. I guess..." said Shay, looking like a strung-out college student. "What 'cha need?" Shay kept her focus on the screen as her left ear lifted a little, to listen to Phantom.

Inspector Shay's, short for Saisonshei. She is also a skin-changer and a teenage computer genius; she can use her computers fast and hack into any computer system she wants. She has a mix of native Navajo skin tone, with dark brown hair in a braided style about halfway down her body, blue eyes that can kind of fade into an ice blue colour, a thin scar across her left eye and eyelid and a few freckles on her face. When she is in human form, she wears an oversized hoodie, a graphic tee shirt underneath, Adidas sweatpants, fuzzy graphic socks and sneakers.

"I have a case about a person who's been selling mystical drugs somewhere in Chinatown not far from here and I was wondering if you wanna join me on a stakeout", said Phantom, sounding a bit tired.

"Really!" said Shay with amusement. She looked at Phantom to see if he was serious and then went back to her computer, quickly finishing up her work. She was very excited to finally be going on a mission. "Oh, what skins do you want me to bring? An American shepherd with brown and white fur, a grey feathery pigeon, oh... or a giant hawk!"

"Just something that people won't notice out of the blue...... I guess," Phantom nodded, thinking about what they needed for a stakeout. "I'll just grab a few knives from my desks very quickly, my marks, get the keys to one of the Organization vehicles, and I will be ready to meet you at the headquarters fort once you sorted out your stuff."

"My tech, actually!" Shay pointed out to Phantom. "But it sounds like a plan. I'll meet you there in five minutes."

"No worries. Catch you there, mate." Phantom gave Shay a thumbs-up as he turned around and walked out of the break room, making his way to the armoury to get a few things.

"Ok Seeya! Right, so my primary skin is a cat, a mouse and a wolf skin. I can pass as a husky or malamute, but they are...." Shay muttering to herself, mentally checking off her animal skin list, grabbing what she might be needing for the mission, and packing it into her bag. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she started heading to the front of the Agency. But as she enters the hallway out of the coffee room, Ezekiel accidentally bumps into Shay as she walks out of the entrance and falls on the floor.

"Pardon me, Inspector. I didn't see you coming," said Ezekiel, helping Shay back up.

Agent Ezekiel is a new agent who joined about seven or eight months ago and is a pretty good mate, too. He joined B.E.A.S.T. because he wanted to get revenge on the necromancers who murdered his family, and by joining us, he will get intel of where they are. He is a half-Elf with pale, skinny skin, dark green eyes, ink-black hair that can't hide his pointed ears, and a small amount of stubble. He wears black tinted tea-shade glasses on his nose, a tall black top hat, dark clothes, and a long duster. He has Cinimancy magic, which is a type of smoke magic in which he can manipulate and control smoke from his pipe and the right set of tobacco. He can turn his smoke into solid form of anything that he wants.... Well, mostly, anyway, from weapons, objects and animal familiars.

"Ooof! That's ok, is it just me being too short? Or maybe I'm starting to go blind", Shay huffed looking up at Ezekiel. "Anyway, Phantom and I are going out on a stakeout mission. All I know is that a person is selling unnatural drugs somewhere not far from here. You could come along if you wanted to, but you're probably still recovering a bit from the ogre attack."

"Well, I am tall, and I do need these glasses to see, really sorry about that,", nodded Ezekiel taking his glasses off to clean them with his jacket, then replacing them onto the bridge of his nose. "And sure, I still have a bit more power left in me to tag along, if you'll have me inspector? Though I don't know what you would need for the mission."

"Neither do I, but The Phantom will brief us more once we meet him at the front outside."

"Then I guess we shouldn't keep him waiting", said Ezekiel, lifting his arm up and making a 'after you' pose.

Shay smiled and moved past Ezekiel as he followed down the hallway. The two of them walked through the office building, talking about how their day was and joking with one another until they reached the front entrance door, and Ezekiel ran up to the door.

"After you, madam", said Ezekiel, being a gentleman and opening the door to let Shay pass.

"Thank you", said Shay, walking past Ezekiel.

"Yeah! Are we ready, or what?" shouted Phantom

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