Julius walked into one of the hangers at the Vancouver airport, his favourite trench coat now replaced with an oversized white fur winter coat that had come from a dire polar bear that was further enchanted to resist arctic conditions. He really, really hated the cold.

Inside the BPA private hanger, Thirty men and women, or if Julius was being accurate, thirty werewolves, were mulling around, each and every one of them heavily armed with grenades, assault rifles and enough explosives to take out a small town.

Julius scanned the group until he spied on the man in charge.

"Dick Tracy," Julius called out.

Dick turned to face him and walked over to him. Dick was huge at almost seven feet tall, black, bald, and with a body like an Olympic weight lifter, the man that looked like he could wrestle a bear for fun.

"Julius Flamel," Dick growled.

"Dick Tracy," Julius said.

Almost at the same time, both men smiled as they embraced each other like brothers.

"Good to see you, man," Julius said. 'How's the harem?"

"They're doing fi --" Dick paused. "Are you talking about my family, or are you talking about my team."

"The team," Julius said, smiling.

"You can't keep calling the wolves my harem. It's derogatory and bad for team morale." Dick chastised.

Julius tried to think of a snarky comeback but couldn't. It was hard to argue with Dick without sounding like an idiot or an asshole, or both.

"Fine, I'm sorry. Did you guys get my dinner?" Julius asked, trying to change the subject.

Dick rolls his eyes but pulls out a large bowl of French onion soup.

"I have no idea how you get the foundation to do this shit for you," Dick commented.

"I'm the only remaining founding member of the BPA still alive. It comes with a lot of perks, including the massive paycheck." Julius bragged.

"So favouritism," Dick said, smiling.

"The world runs on favouritism, Dick." Julius counted as he dug into his soup.

Dick sat across from him, pulling out an MRE and eating the entire contents of the packet like it was a rice crispy square.

"Ok, seriously, How's the family? I haven't seen them in, what a year now?"

"They’re good. Shelia says hi. And Miranda's pregnant again." Dick said, smiling as he talked about his family.

"I have no idea how you manage to have four wives at the same time," Julius said.

"It's a werelion thing," Dick shrugged. "It takes a lot of love, a lot of commitment, and most importantly, you need to listen to your wives."

"I'll be honest, that sounds like the most stressful full-time job in the world. I'll stick to fighting hordes of monsters any day of the week." Julius said.

"That is why I joined the BPA. Much less stressful, and it pays better than being a househusband. By the way, your godson is still wondering when uncle Julius is coming over again."

"Soon, I want to swing by Italy and bring the family some gelato. I would have done it early, but I haven't been able to take any time off of late."

Dicks cheery mood seemed to die a little at that comment.

"Speaking of work. What's the plan, Julius?" Dick asked.

"We’ll be leaving as soon as everyone is done eating. We’re going to be taking a plane to cold foot airport. Then we’re using dogsleds to carry us deeper in.

"Any word on what we should be expecting?" Dick asked

"Not a clue. The Americans aren't talking, so we're going in blind."

Dick signed but nodded.

"Alright then. Right now, I have thirty lycanthropes, all werewolves. We also got a shitload of flamethrowers and explosives. That should keep the odds pretty much even against whatever’s coming our way. Also, your new recruit."

Julius choked on a mouthful of hot soup. "I'm sorry, what?! What recruit? I'm not supposed to have a new partner, let alone an untrained greenhorn who has no field experience."

Dick looked at him as if he were the crazy one.

"I got all the paperwork here. She showed up an hour before you did, one Ramona Vasquez." Dick said

Julius froze then he screamed.

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!!!" Julius screamed.

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Ramona's life was great. After the Mathias incident, as she was calling the incident, she had been afraid that she would be thrown in prison. Instead, a representative from the BPA offered her the chance of a lifetime, so she joined the BPA as an indentured Junior Agent for five years.

It was that or prison, and who wouldn't join the BPA? It didn't seem like much of a choice to her. She had been told she would be attached to the agent she had met, Julius. It would be his job to teach her everything she needed to know about the job.

She had been flown to the Vancouver airport, where she met Dick. Dick had her working with the rest of his team, whom he called his wolves. Ramona and the wolves had been moving heavy crates onto the plane. The other wolves had to work in teams of two to move the heavy boxes, but she could pick up two boxes at once with ease that had turned everyone's head as she effortlessly outdid them.

She couldn't tell what was more exhilarating, being stronger than everyone here, starting out on an adventure, or the lusty looks some of the wolves were giving her. When Julius finally arrived and greeted Dick, Ramona stopped what she was doing and went over to greet him.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!!!" Julius screamed as she approached.

"Hello sir-s, Ramona Vasquez reporting for duty," She said as a knot of nervous excitement roiled in her stomach.

Dick and Julius turned to look at her. Julius was scowling at her as if he were trying to set her on fire with his mind. Could he actually do that?' It would be really cool if he could. Maybe she should ask him to show her some magic stuff.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as Julius started talking.

"Why the fuck are you here?! Better yet, how the fuck are you here?! I arrested you three days ago!" Julius asked harshly.

"Um," Ramona started, confused at his confusion. "I was offered a job and then flown out here?"

Why was he asking her that question? Shouldn't he know why she was here? He couldn't be that bad of an agent, could he?

"What's the problem? It’s not like we haven’t worked with criminals before. Hell, half my wolves have a rap sheet." Dick said, also confused by Julius' confusion.

"She’s a civilian, Dick! Until three days ago, she was a high school graduate.” Julius said.

Dick looked at him, confused.

"Wait, what?" Dick asked. "You are telling me that the BPA sent us an eighteen-year-old?! That's crazy!"

"Thank you," Julius said.

“Hey, I have super strength now.” Ramona protested as she felt her cheeks redden in embarrassment.

She had had enough of people picking on her all her life, and she wasn't going to let anyone, not even Julius walk all over her.

“And I have magic! I can talk to plants and can make them grow huge. My garden has strawberries the size of pumpkins right now and flowers as tall as my house." Ramona boasted, a fire in her eyes. "What can you do?.”

An uncomfortable silence descended onto the room as Dick and the wolves all stared at her like she just poked a dragon. Julius just stared her dead in the eye. Why was he staring at her? It was creepy. Ramona broke eye contact after an unconformably long time in order to get away from Julius' eyes.

"I'm going to go call Daphne and find out how this happened," Julius said icily as he stomped off to go make a call.

Somehow Ramona felt like she had lost that argument, but she didn't know how. But it felt like she had somehow just killed the mood, and the anger she had been feeling just kinda fizzled out.

"Whose Daphne?" Ramona asked Dick.

"She is one of the BPA's board members," Dick said. "The board is in charge of the bureaucratic and field operations of the BPA. in short, she is our boss."

"Do we like her?" Ramona asked.

"Yes," Dick responded.

"Cut the shit, Baker! Where is Daphne?!" Julius yelled.

"Um, who's Julius talking to?" Ramona asked again.

"What do mean Daphne is in Washington?" Julius asked.

"He is another one of the BPA Board members and one Julius," Dick growled.

"Do we like him?" she asked

"Fuck no." Dick spat.

"What do you mean you sent her here?! … She has no training, no idea what she's doing, and oh yeah, she's a child, you fat dumbass!" Julius continued to yell into his phone.

And Ramona's anger came roaring back with a vengeance.

"What the hell is his problem with me!?" Ramona asked, exasperated.

She honestly considered just picking Julius up and seeing how far she could throw him. But ultimately decided against it. Instead, she turned back to Dick.

"I just can't figure him out. When we met, he saved my life and made sure I got to the hospital. Now he can't seem to stand me!" Ramona ranted.

Dick let out a long, patient sigh before he started talking.

"Look, I understand where your coming from. You've just had your entire worldview shattered with the paranormal and whatnot. However, right now, you need to put yourself in Julius' shoes and see where he is coming from."

Ramona didn't say anything, mostly because she wasn't sure how to respond to that statement, but she did her best to pay attention to Dicks words.

"First off, his most recent mission with you and Mathias went less than ideal."

"What?!" Ramona protested. "But I thought that mission went great."

"For starters, Mathias had information regarding a potential alien attack on earth. Julius was going to arrest and interrogate him when you killed him if aliens are planning to attack earth; in other words, you killed a potential BPA informant while Julius was attempting to arrest him."

"Oh," she said. "oh."

Ramona felt her heart sink into her stomach as she realized what she might have just done. She hadn't known any of that, yet now she felt incredibly guilty at the thought that more people might get hurt because she had to get back at Mathias.

"On top of that, Mathias killed a dozen kids, and you left a nurse so brain-damaged after you slammed him into the wall that he can no longer remember his own kids. All while making a very public display of the paranormal in public. So you can understand why Julius is none too plused to have you along. Especially as he's the one held responsible for everything that happened." Dick said.

Ramona nodded dejectedly as she listened to Dicks explanation. From that perspective, she could honestly see why Julius didn't like her. In his shoes, she might have felt the same way.

"I guess you're right. He's not much older than me, but he already has so many responsibilities."

"Ummm," Dick mumbled.

Ramona looked at Dick.

"What?"

"Julius is a little over a hundred years old," Dick said with a shrug.

"Wait!! He's a hundred years old?! How?! Your telling me the guy who looks barely thirty is old enough to be my great-grandfather?!" Ramona asked, bewildered.

"It's a long story and not one Julius would be happy with me sharing. He's had his fair share of childhood trauma. And a lot of regular trauma, now that I think about it."

"Are we just glossing over the fact that my boss is immortal? He's not a vampire, is he?"

"No," Dick said.

"Thank god," Ramona said.

Dick signed.

"The point I was trying to make. Is that Julius has been doing this job for almost eighty years, and during that time, he's lost a lot of people, friends, family, and loved ones. Some died on the jobs, others from diseases or accidents, but many just died of old age. At this point, he's a little gun shy of getting close to anyone because he knows that he's going to have to watch them die too. That's why he doesn't want a new partner no matter who it is, so try and cut him at least a little slack."

Ramona pondered everything Dick had said as Julius walked up to them.

"Well, according to Baker, your ability to kill a Katakan vampire justifies him placing you on a low-threat mission. So I can't get rid of you, but let me make things clear. You will do exactly as you are told at all times. I tell you to jump. You jump. I tell you to run. You run. I tell you to shut up and sit still. You do what I say and are very lucky, and you might live through this. Put my people at risk, and I will put a bullet in you. Do you understand!" Julius said in a cold, stern voice.

"Yes, sir," Ramona responded with absolute determination in her voice.

Julius looked at her, a little surprised. Then Julius paused, then looked at Dick accusingly. Dick did his best to look as innocent as possible under Julius' glare.

"We're going to talk later," Julius promised Dick. "I've got one more phone call to make. We leave in ten minutes. Anyone not on the plane by then isn't coming, so grab your shit."

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Julius flipped out his phone as he needed to make one last call before he got on the flight. Julius and Dick had just spent the last three hours running Ramona through the basics of what she needed to know going forwards. Now he needed to cover his own ass when this entire mission went bust.

"Hi, Julius. Did you miss me?" Remi's dreamy voice came out of his phone as his call was answered before the first ring had even finished.

"Hi, Remi. I was wondering if you could help me with a problem."

"Really?!" Remi's voice jumped up an octave at his words. "I'd love to. How can I help."

"Baker is up to something, and I don't know what. I was hoping you might hack into his computers and find out what he's up to?" he asked sweetly.

"Hmmm. tell me you love me, and ill do it!" Remi responded.

"I love you," Julius said.

Immediately his phone shorted out. He pulled out a spare, seeing Remi had already left him hundreds of text messages on his phone.

Julius smiled at Remi's enthusiasm before boarding the plane and leaving for Alaska to find out what had attacked the research station.