The low hum of fans turning as they pull out stale air breaks the silence of the warehouse that we're in. I'm standing in the middle of the training centre, an empty warehouse adjusted to my specifications. We can barely hear the factories outside even though they're pretty damn noisy, the double plated glass and the insulated and thickened walls effectively killing most of the noise. This is the training ground for us, for my team. This is where we come and hone our skills in the knowledge that if we get it wrong in the field it might be out last mistake.

The woman in front of me shifts, seemingly impatient at my silence. I still say nothing, looking her over and what she's chosen to wear tonight. She's dressed for actual training which means a simple white shirt, a pair of track bottoms - or at least I think that's what you call those things - and a pair of trainers. She's tied her blond hair back into a single pony tail, neat and tidy and she doesn't have any jewellry on currently. Nice and professional. Not bad for a start, that's all she has on her. Oh yeah, 4 and a half feet of cold steel held in her left hand too. That might be tricky, the left hand that is.

I break the silence at last, speaking. "Katherine Green. Clan Toreador. Seems like your interested in joining up as a Deputy. Miss Montgomery vouches that you can actually use what your carrying with you. But that isn't enough. So we're going to go through a little bit of an exam if you wish, a little test. At the end of which I'll decide if you can join us. Probationally."

She nods to all this, waiting for me to go on, looking for all the world relaxed. These Toreador are good at hiding their emotions, at least in their faces. But that grip on her sword is slightly too tight, her entire stance slightly too rigid. She's worried, tense. I don't blame her. "I take it you've been told what I expect of my Deputies. If you work with me, you're on call 24 hours a day. You don't get time off for good behaviour nor are you ever really off duty. You make a mistake you answer to me. You mess up once too many times or even just once in a big way and I'll stake you myself. Do you understand that?"

Again a nod. Interesting. I'd have expected her to say something by now, I guess she's either too scared to say so or she doesn't want to try if her voice is in control. Or of course she thinks I'm talking too much once more. I guess I do that a lot. At least so I've been told.

"Alright then, show me what you have. Hit me." I nod to her sword and wait for her, not even going into a stance just yet. I can tell she's somewhat surprised, having expected me to shed some of the stuff I'm wearing. I'm decked out in my usual outfit. Trenchcoat, shirt, jeans, boots and of course the flack jacket. That and the various weapons of course. A heavy load, certainly enough to slow me down in here. I don't explain though, waiting for her.

She's good, good enough to push the surprise aside for now and come at me. She isn't dumb either, not going for a straight all out attack, instead testing me defences for now. I don't bother with the first feint, not moving till she comes at me again with an actual stab for my body. I side-step this one and watch as she pivots, swinging the sword upwards to slash at me. I switch tactics now, grabbing hold of the blade with my hand and stopping it before I twist, kicking her in the side ribs. It breaks her grip, throwing her away from me and I toss the sword in the air, grabbing hold of it with my other hand. The one that doesn't feel like I've put it in a blender.

She rolls with the fall, coming up smoothly. But her face isn't smooth anymore, instead it's filled with anger. And then she speaks. Her voice is most likely quite pleasant to listen to when it's not filled with anger, cultured certainly, a trace of an accent that I can't place beyond American. Not native to here whatever the case. "That wasn't fair. You grabbed my sword."

I raise an eyebrow, walking over to her and then twisting the sword, slamming it straight into the crack in the floor. I say nothing for a moment before I speak again, meeting her gaze calmly. "There is nothing fair in war or battle. You don't have rules or codes of conduct. Winners write the history and the losers are normally dead. Or worse."

I watch her open her mouth before shutting it, forcing herself to take a breath she doesn't need. And then slowly she reaches for the sword, pulling it out of the crack and looking it over, checking to see if it's damaged. I use that time to heal my hand, not adding anything. It's because I'm healing my hand, pushing my blood to the wound and forcing it there that I nearly get hit. I barely have a moment of warning, barely enough time to side-step again the blade that whistles towards my chest. But this time she doesn't slow down or give me time to recover, instead pushing her advantage, boosting her speed. She's faster than I am in moments, faster than any normal human could be, faster than I ever am. Not surprising then she gets the sword to my neck pretty soon, not trying to push it past but resting it there, hard enough to have drawn blood in another. She has nothing to say either, instead looking at me, the anger in her blue eyes still burning.

I raise my arm and push the sword aside, there's a slight amount of hesistation in the begning before at last she lets it go. I say nothing of that, nodding. "Well done. You know how to channel your anger and to listen. Now tell me, why the sword."

She says nothing for a moment, gathering her thoughts I'd say as she steps back from me, not really certain why I asked that question. "It's an elegant weapon sir and one that I was trained in by my sire. It's also a more effective weapon against our kind and lacks the inherent problems of firearms. There is less that might go wrong with them that would be outside the control of oneself and the sword is a quieter weapon, one that requires a greater amount of skill than most others forms."

I say nothing, listening to her words before correcting her out of habit. "Not more skill nor training, just a different type." I watch her nod, though I'm quite sure she's not convinced. It doesn't matter. "Tell me, of the weapons that you've seen in this building, if you were told to take down a Sabbat pack, which one would you use?"

No hesitation this time. "The grenades before coming in closer to deal with them with my sword. I can move faster than most handguns can re-cycle and in the smoke and confusion my attack would go unnoticed for a greater length of time."

Interesting answer. Not a bad one either, though there is no real "correct" answer. There never is in our work, just wrong answers. "Very well. Tell me of all the weapons you've seen here, which do you think is the best?"

"I don't think I understand your question."

"Which weapon would you consider the one that is most likely to save your life."

She frowns, looking at me quietly, still not understanding what I mean. I watch her think it through, at last asking "What type of situation are you talking about?"

I smile slightly, murmuring "Any."

I can see I'm really throwing her off with this, watching her think go through the theory that she knows to be true, all the wods about defensive and offensive situations, the rules and not understanding what I want. At last she tries an answer, shaking her head as if to say she isn't happy with it. "My body?" Hesistant and uncertain, at least she gives an answer.

"No. Close but not close enough. Your mind. In any situation, in any battle there will come a time when you need to think, when all the training in the world will not be enough and your head is all that really matters, when you need to change tactics or find a new way around things. Nothing I or anyone else in the world can teach you will prepare you for all the eventualities that you'll ever meet. And the only thing that can make up for that deficit is you. This." I reach out, tapping her forehead gently "Is your greatest asset. Your greatest weapon. Without that you'll be nothing more than a mindless drone like one of the Prince's ghouls. And no use to me or anyone else." I shut up then, watching her.

She says nothing for a long moment, digesting the information and the speech before at last nodding to me. "Good. Alright, I'll expect to see you here tomorrow at the same time. Pick up the envelope from the ghoul at the door, it's got details in there that I'll expect you to have read. The moment you walk out of that door your on duty and I expect you to act like any other Deputy. You don't have the right of destruction and you won't till I decide otherwise. If you find anyone breaking the Masquerade you follow S.O.P. and you drag them back in. Alive. That includes Sabbat too if possible, they can't talk if they're dead. If you've decided to change your mind, I suggest you tell me now."

"Is this it? I mean… I thought you were here to test me?"

"That's it. I've done the initial test. The rest will be gone through during your probationary period. You know how to fight, you know how to control your anger, you aren't wedded to that sword of yours and you can think. You've also got a good recommendation. The rest of it what you lack can be taught to you. You'll do for now."

Nothing, no words,nothing from her till at last she nods and mumurs a polite goodbye before walking out to get changed and put her sword away. I turn to watch her go before I start searching for a cigar. "Those things are going to kill you you know." A gentle, cultured and slightly amused voice calls out to me from the top right, from the staircase leading to the observation booth we had built in here. I have to smile. I know what she means. They leave a way too distinctive scent for people to track me by. But hell, I have to die sometime I guess and anyhow, I ain't giving this up for a group of would be Kindred killers. I find the case, drawing a cigar out before removing a box of matches to smoke.

"You know, I remember you using the same tactics on me the first time we met. Same grab of the sword, same kick. You have something against swords?" Again that slightly amused tone as she walks down to come closer.

"Not really. Just don't see a reason for them in my case. And it works. And if you hadn't decided to swing the sword at my head for no reason I'd have actually talked to you you know."

"No reason? I seem to recall it being about half an hour to sunrise and a man coming into my mausoleum. We were in the middle of a graveyard. Random luck? I highly doubted it."

I chuckle quietly, getting the cigar to draw properly before I try to say anything else, turning to face her fully. "It was luck. So what do you think?"

She changes topics with me without a beat, growing more serious "Smart. Fast. A bit slow on her recovery and she leads with her right foot. She's got potential though. If she can learn to control that temper of hers."

I nod and smile slightly at Sandy, drawing once more on the cigar and letting out the smoke slowly, speaking slowly "Reminds me of a lady that didn't mention that she was alao currently pursued by a mortal hunter."

She smiles with me at that, murmuring "Well, perhaps the lady might have if you hadn't called her "Woman" in the most degratory tone possible." Sobering up she looks at me and then my hand "How is it?"

"Healed."

A slight nod from her before she looks around us once more, taking the place in before speaking, most of the humour and amusement gone from her voice "John, how much of a chance do we really stand? What do you really think?"

I blink, looking to her and meeting her gaze. I hadn't expected the question from her, not really. She's all confidence, all brazen battle and a love for life that I could never match. To have her ask it, I guess it must really be worrying her. So I don't give her the answer I'd give the Prince or any of the other Deputies. I give her the truth.

"Right now? With the way things stand? Maybe a 50-50 chance of holding the city. In another 2 weeks or so? I don't know. Truth be told Sandy, I can't really tell. The Sabbat know too much about us I think, too much that we just haven't had the time to change. On the other hand, we don't know enough about them, not enough for me to be comfortable about. This Archon… I don't even know if it's a he or she… I don't know if they're sending us token support or… well… Bell." I have to smile slightly at the last, sharing the slight humour at the thought of Theo Bell deciding to stay in this city with us with her. No, we're not important enough to have him stationed here. "Too many variables and too many unknowns. I can't really give you an estimate." I shrug at this, really just stating the truth.

"We've got a good team Sandy. Cox, Green and Silten will work out quite well I think. Silten especially knows his job. He's been around the block a few times. And even the Warlock isn't bad." Alright, I don't like them but at least I have to be fair to him. "The two Brujah are certainly willing to help once more when things start heating up, it's not often that they get to breakthings and get paid to do it. Castlerock for all his posturing and words has already offered his help and actually given some. Anne's good at her job as Keeper, she's listened and she's actually impltemented what I've suggested and hell, she's thought of a few thing I haven't. The rest of the clans will drop into step when the Sabbat attack" I smile tightly at that one, a brief thought of exactly what I'd do to them if they didn't flashing through my mind. I'm not sure if it's distaste at the methods that twists the smile or the thought that I would actually use them if I had to. "Even the damn Tremere." Sore point. She knows it. I asked them, then I reasoned, then I threatened. I'm not going to pleade. If they want to play lone wolf and not tell me where their damn Chantry is then to hell with them. I've already told the Prince I ain't going to be responsible if I can't get men to them in time, heck time isn't even the problem. They'll go down, sooner or later. It's losing the chance to actually damage the Sabbat that I'm pissed about. But I can't change that, still, it's a sore point. "We've got a fighting chance Sandy. And that's all you can ever hope for really."

She smiles at me and steps forward to place a hand on my arm to steady herself, placing a kiss on my cheek. I pause at that, looking at her face as she murmurs softly, dropping back onto her heels. "Thank you Johnathan. I knew you'd tell me the truth. I'm sure you'll pull us through this."

I blink at this, looking at her. I don't want to tell her that I'm not sure she's right on that, that I'll pull us through. I can't. I'm the boss and the leader and I have to be seen to believe because you don't tell your troops how bad things might get after you just raised their spirits. And so I don' say anything. "I have to go Johnathan. I just wanted to see how she worked out. I have a date with LuMierre, there's this dress that he says would fit me just fine and he's been so nice to make sure that the shop stayed open just for me." She gives me this smile over her shoulder, the perfect pose, just enough to take away a man's breath as she walks away before turning back and walking out of the door. I watch her leave silently, drawing on the cigar before I put it out.

I turn around and silently let the trench drop. I have a bit of time left and so I walk to the centre of the warehouse, closing my eyes. I begin to move, slowly at first, letting each step flow into the next, letting my body move as it wishes, forgetting about the rest as I lose myself within the forms.