Well, things are turning to shit as always. It feels like it’s the only constant in my miserable life these days. Not enough that Theodor’s mumbling about some eldritch being making its way into our reality. No, the freaking Inquisitor herself was coming here.

That crazy bitch.

And of course, right at that moment, the doorbell rang. I froze, staring at the door in apprehension. Theodor stumbled from his room, staring at me with his dead, empty eyes.

“What’s going on?” he asked in a tired voice.

I ignored him and answered the door.

“I presume you’ve been informed about my arrival,” a cold female voice sounded from the intercom.

“Yes. I have.”

With that, I opened the door and a few moments later I found myself face to face with her. Marcia looked anything but normal. I could tell right away this was a cold, calculating woman. Her face was as if carved from marble. No emotions, nothing at all. Her clothes comprised a plain, dark robe. Her eyes were light blue and long platinum hair surrounded her face. She might have been beautiful once, but now there was nothing to her. The first word that came to my mind when I looked at her was empty.

“Exterminator 7D11087,” she said in a monotone, almost bored voice.

“I’m Exterminator 2A00114, Marcia Loggia. I presume you’re aware that I’m here to take over command of all operations in this area. As of now, you and Exterminator 4B98344, as well as... that thing you’re keeping around are under my command.”

“Thing?” I asked.

The moment the word escaped my mouth, her face changed to anger.

“You’re not to interrupt me, Exterminator 7D11087. You talk only when I tell you so. Is that understood?”

I grumbled something to myself and right away, a man I presumed to be her partner stepped up to the door. I hadn’t seen him before, but I could tell right away that he wasn’t normal either. He was quiet, didn’t say a word, and was clad in plain dark clothes, similar to hers. What made me shiver was the mask he was wearing. The only thing I could make out of his face were the eyes. They were bloodshot slits, and when they focused on me, I couldn’t help but take a step back. Marcia raised her arm and bode him to step back.

“At ease.”

It was all she said, but the man instantly returned to his prior position.

“As I said. From now on, I’m in charge. I’ve been informed that certain operations here have gone out of hand and some actions taken here might have gone against protocol.”

As she said this, I saw the hint of a smile on her face. The bitch was enjoying this.

“This will change from now on. Are we understood, Exterminator 7D11087?”

I nodded.

“Good. You learn fast. How’s Exterminator 4B98344’s condition? I was informed she suffered injuries during your last incident.”

Again, I nodded, but this time, she waited for me to explain myself.

“Yes. That’s correct. Because of our encounter with an A-class organism, she used all of her mental powers. As a result, she received massive damage to both her body and mind.”

“Interesting. A mentalist like her failing like this.”

I was about to speak up again when Theodor walked up to us.

“So, what’s going on here?” he asked.

Marcia’s face turned angry again.

“I presume that’s the thing I’ve been informed about. I’ve never heard of exterminators keeping pets like this.”

“Who are you calling a pet, bitch?” Theodor snapped at her.

In an instant, her partner was about to rush Theodor. I quickly pushed myself in front of him.

“Stop it! This is not important right now. Mar- I mean, Exterminator 2A00114, with all due respect, but I believe we’ve got bigger-“

I was cut off when she shrieked and I felt a powerful surge of mental energy wash over me. Great, another freaking mentalist. I should’ve known there was more to that bitch.

“Exterminator 7D11087,” she began, her words dripping with condescension. “I’m well aware of your theory that another incident of similar or worse magnitude is coming. However, I assure you, Headquarters has sent me here for that exact reason.”

I bit my lip in anger.

“Exterminator 2A00114. Excuse me if I may speak up again. What we think is going to happen here is beyond A-class. Theodor suspects we have an S-class organism coming.”

“Nonsense,” she said coldly. “No such thing as S-class organisms exists.”

Theodor laughed and shook his head, but didn’t say a thing. Now the brief smile on her face was back.

“Either way. Exterminator 3B66901 and I were sent here to take over operations. You are now under my direct command. For now, I’m going to let your transgressions slide. Should you approach me in this manner again, however, I have no problem replacing you.”

Her eyes went from me to Theodor. For a few moments, they came to rest on him. They were all but empty, but for a moment I could’ve sworn their light blue turned a tad bit darker. I could almost hear her thoughts, and I knew what she was thinking. She wanted to get rid of him. No, get rid of this abomination that went against Headquarters’ doctrine. Shit, this was going to get ugly. Theodor, however, turned around and made his way back inside.

“Understood,” I finally said.

Without another word, she turned around.

“We’ll see to finding a new base of operations. For now, you’re to remain here, given Exterminator 4B98344’s condition and... failure.”

She said the last word in a voice of pure and utter contempt.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“In case of an incident, we’ll contact you.”

With that, she and her partner went on their way. Once she was gone, I threw the door and rubbed my temples.

“All right, who the fuck’s that bitch?” Theodor asked.

“Our new boss, it seems,” I said in a slightly joking, slightly annoyed way.

“Well, isn’t that great?”

It was at this moment that I hit up Headquarters myself.

“All right, so what’s the deal with all of this? Are we still on leave? What about Exterminator 2A00114? What about-?”

“Exterminator 7D11087,” I was cut off. “As we stated before, all operations in you are will be taken over by Exterminator 2A00114. You are to follow her orders. That is all.”

With that, the connection was cut.

“Fucking shit!” I cursed.

“What now?” Theodor asked.

“Don’t you get it? They are cutting us out. That bitch is going to take over. And I know what she’s going to do. Shit’s brewing and they need a scapegoat for their fuck up. That’s why she’s here!”

Theodor gave a frustrated laugh.

“And of course, they plan on blaming it all on us. That comes as a real surprise, Dylan.”

I turned, but he’d already vanished, not caring about any of this. I cursed at myself before I walked into the storage room and rummaged through the box the medical personnel had left for us. After going through it for a while, I popped two of their emergency healing contraptions. Burning heat surged through my body. I was in terrible pain as the healing of muscles and bones was exhilarated. I cringed, shook and almost crashed to the floor. Once it was over, though, I could breathe without pain for the first time in more than a week. Shit, that stuff really did the trick.

Turns out, I was just in time. The next day, after I’d gotten up, I received a phone call.

“Exterminator 7D11087, a new signature has appeared. The data is being transferred to you as we speak. Make your way to the location right away.”

Isn’t that great?

“Theodor, we’ve got work to do,” I called out to him.

As I waited for him to emerge from his room, I checked the data. A C-class creature, confirmed to be a remnant of our last incident. I stared at the phone. This was fucking bullshit. There was no way a freaking C-class creature could hide its presence for this long! She knew this was bullshit, and I was sure she knew I was aware of it. Fun times, fun fucking times!

Well, there was nothing I could do about it. So I stocked up on weapons and protective armor, handed Theodor his trusty combat knife, and with that, we were on our merry way. I could tell Theodor still wasn’t himself. He seemed shaky, skittish, and still looked tired as hell. As I stared at him, I wondered how long it had been since he’d last slept. Great, I’m on my way to meet up with some power tripping bitch and her freak of a lapdog and the only one on my side is this guy. Nothing can go wrong at all.

Marcia was already pissed when we arrived at the location, an abandoned building complex.

“You are well aware that any call requires immediate action! How did it take you so long to make your way here?”

I bit my tongue and swallowed the insult that I almost spat at her.

“We’re sorry, Exterminator 2A00114. As you’re aware, we still haven’t recuperated from our last incident. We had to make sure to come prepared to assist you to the best of our abilities.”

She stared at me for a moment, and I could see the condescending look she gave me.

“At least you came prepared, then. Now get going and handle the extermination.”

“Wait. You’re sending us in alone? There’s no way we can handle a C-class incident in any satisfactory manner. What if something were to-“

“Exterminator 7D11087, are you refusing orders?”

Theodor pulled out his combat knife and started on his way to enter the abandoned complex.

“Fuck it,” he said in a low voice.

Yeah, that’s great. That’s just fucking great!

The briefing had told us that the creature was a humanoid type, most like a shapeshifter who’d created its lair here. As I hurried after Theodor, Marcia and her partner came after me, but, of course, they didn’t enter the complex itself. Those fuckers wouldn’t do a thing.

I ripped out my gun the moment I set foot inside. The iron smell of blood was heavy in the air, and I saw the two dead bodies in a corner. Then I heard something nearby. I pointed my gun and was about to press the trigger when a wounded man stumbled towards me. For a moment I was about to shoot, but then I saw his pleading eyes and the blood on his body.

“Get the hell out of here,” I yelled at him and the man dragged himself past me.

Now where are you, you fucker?

Theodor had already moved on and made his way to the next room. And yet, I had a bad feeling about this. It almost felt like I was being watched by something. My eyes scanned the room, but nothing was there. Then I heard the sound of claws on metal, and a moment later, something descended upon me from the ceiling. I threw myself back and barely avoided the creature’s surprise attack. Its twisted mouth opened wide as it giggled at me. I raised the gun, but my body was still weak and in an instant the thing rushed me and batted the gun aside.

“Fuck,” I cursed in pain.

Right at that moment, Theodor was back, combat knife in hand. The creature had wanted to attack me, but before it could, Theodor was upon it. It blocked his attack with one of its clawed arms, but the combat knife sunk deep into it. Flesh and muscles tore, then bone, before the arm was sliced off.

“Back away, Dylan, that fucker’s mine!”

He dodged an attack by the creature’s second arm. Then his hand closed around it, twisted it and tore at it. The thing screeched in pain as Theodor ripped its second arm clean off. Then he plunged the combat knife deep into its body. There was no hint of his usual grin. No, his face showed no emotions at all.

Suddenly, my phone went wild, notifying me of a second creature. How the fuck did a second signature appeared here just now? No, I realized it must’ve been here all along. They must’ve suppressed it. That fucking bitch! She knew all along there was more than one creature here. I glanced back at her, but I saw no change to her cold, emotionless stare. My eyes darted through the room and a moment later, I saw the fucker. It burst from the doorway and charged right at Theodor. Not going to happen, I thought as I lit the fucker up. Bullets trailed towards it, but only a few of them hit. It didn’t do a damn thing, and for a moment, I wished I still had some of the explosive ammunition left.

Right away, the fucker focused on me. Its claws scratched over the ground before it propelled itself forward. I could barely dodge the onslaught that followed, and a moment later, I felt a sharp pain in my left arm. The fucker had torn right through my protective armor. A long black tongue lolled from its mouth and it grinned at my pain. Two more appendages burst from the creature’s back and it released an ear shattering screech. It was about to rush me, but in that instant, it noticed Marcia. Its expression changed from anticipation to fear. At that moment, I saw my chance and shot again. This time, the bullets hit, and this time, the fucker was hurting. I’d expected it to attack me, but it rushed back to where it had come from.

“Oh no, you’re not getting away,” I cursed, already holding a grenade in my hand, but before I could activate it, Theodor hurried after the creature.

This time, I saw the slightest hint of a grin on his face as he threw himself at it. His combat knife came down on the thing’s back and brought it to a stagger. Then Theodor pushed it to the ground, and I could see how he thrust his hand deep into the creature’s body. I saw him twist his arm before he tore. Blood and guts sprouted from the thing’s body. Again and again, he rammed his hands into the thing while screaming incoherently.

“Theodor,” I said, stepping up to him and putting my hand on his shoulder. “It’s dead. We’re done here.”

For a moment, he just stared at me. His face was still tired, and the grin I’d seen before had long since vanished. Without another word, he got up, and we made our way outside. Marcia was still there, but her partner was gone and so was the man I’d sent outside.

“Where’s the survivor?”

“We’re following protocol.”

“Wait, what are you-?”

“To the book,” she cut me off.

Then her head jerked towards Theodor and came to rest on his blood covered body.

“Why didn’t we get confirmation of the second creature?” I spoke up.

Marcia didn’t react. She had only eyes for Theodor, and her face distorted in a mixture of anger and disgust.

“Exterminator 2A00114, why was there no information about the secondary signature?” I asked again, this time louder.

“There was no confirmation of a second signature,” she said in a trembling voice as she turned back to me.

“Let me ask you, Exterminator 7D11087. Why is a thing like this allowed to be here? Why hasn’t it been exterminated?”

“This thing’s named Theodor, and he’s been a valuable asset until now. Exterminator 4B98344 got confirmation from Headquarters that-“

“Until now,” she cut me off.

At this moment, her partner reappeared.

“Call the clean-up crews,” she instructed him.

The man nodded and hit a few buttons on his phone.

“This incident is over. You can return to your base of operations. As for Theodor,” she said with a grin. “I’ll get in contact with Headquarters. There might be a need to ask for special permission.”

With that, she and her partner turned around and left. As I stared after them, I couldn’t help but curse again.

Fuck monsters and fuck special permission.