Xander pulled up to the address given to him in the note from the man Tristan Lanorus. Xander found a cheap apartment to stay at, but he didn't tell anyone where he was staying. Once he checked his mail there was a letter from Tristan for him. The letter said that there was a very good job opportunity for a man of his talents. The letter instructed him to go to the address he was at now. He was there at 18:00 (6:00) sharp, and he wondered if it was the wrong building.

He looked at the number on the letter and then the number of the three-story building. He was definitely at the right place. Xander took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it with his zippo. He took a long drag of it and let out the smoke slowly. He knew this was a job interview, but he wondered why it was in a ratty old building like the one in front of him. Xander made sure the 9 MM handgun was loaded and stowed it back in his holster. It felt good having a gun strapped to his side again. He shrugged to himself and walked up to the door opening it. Xander had all the credentials the letter told him to bring.

"Don't forget guys, Tristan has been recruiting people of late. So keep your ears open for someone coming in." Alex had said those same things after every show and he intended to keep it that way. No use in nearing shooting someone like with Tiara. However, Alex did feel better with the combat grade shotgun at his feet leaning against the couch.

Lucia looked over at Thrill from her book, "Well Thrill, maybe we could hear better if you turned down that bloody box you call a television!" She hated her voice when it got loud, so shrilly sounding to her. 'I just wish I could keep that commanding voice Thrill does when he yells.' Sighing lightly in defeat as she already knew Thrill wouldn't turn down the T.V.

Xander looked up from his computer screen and glanced from Lady, to Thrill quickly. Neither of them would give up eachothers arguements it seemed. Well, that was just how the world worked he assumed. Maybe one of them will decide to go to sleep soon, though he had never seen Lady sleep just avoid sunlight. Though she was alergic so it made sense.

The noise assualted Jake's hears, all of it coming from the two earphones which were blaring out Mudvayne as to drown out the sounds of his two arguing comrades. Perhaps if he closed his eyes he could stop thinking about them.

Alex picked up his shotgun and casually laid it over his knees. He was glad of his position to the door now. It would have to open all the way for the person on the other side to see him sitting on the couch. He made sure it had a shell and pumped it just incase it was some unwanted visitor.

Xander walked into the building surprised that it looked hell of a lot better inside than out. Well it would make sense as a cover. He opened the door all the way and saw a guy arguing with a shotgun laying on his lap. He was arguing with some girl who seemed to be reading beforehand. Xander quickly reached for his 9 MM but stopped just milimeters away from grabbing it. He quickly surveyed the room and decided not to piss them off letting his hand drop to his side.

"Hey I'm here to see Alex Sheppard." He said as he slowly walked into the room. "I'm Xander McKenney. Here for an interview." Xander had to yell over the two arguing people, but he didn't let down his guard. His hand didn't seem like it, but it was ready to whip out the 9 MM at a moments notice. He was always the fastest drawing his handgun in his squad.

Alex sighed slightly as almost everything happened at once. Joker had rolled to the side of the door the moment the door handle had turned to had whiped out a glock, Wiz was cowering behind his computer, and Lady was reading her book again....then again she never jumped like the others did. "Yea? I'm Alex. Take a seat dude, though if you're armed I suggest you make it visible now rather then hide it. We won't try and take it from you but, I do ask you set it on the table as we talk."

Thrill rose and flipped the T.V. off before he headed over towards the poker table he enjoyed using for these meetings. Xander's head looked over at the new comer and then to Joker who still sat tense. "Thrill, Joker is still wearing his headphones, tell him to put the gun away before he fills our recruit with holes."

Alex glanced over at his friend who, sure enough, still held the gun pointed at the new guy as if about to blow his head off. Sighing heavily the man walked over and tapped Joker's shoulder so he would turn the music off and put the gun down. "God, you're gonna fucking kill someone idiot." Muttering more Alex went to the table and sat before kicking out another chair from under the table. "Have a seat."

Xander gazed at everyone in the room. He quickly assessed the situation and decided they seemed like a pretty good unit. He was surprised the woman was just sitting there reading a book. Xander could tell Alex was the team leader and decided to take his advice as he slowly took out his 9MM handgun and ejected the clip and the bullet in the chamber. He caught the bullet as it reached the top of its arc. He sat down at the poker table across from Alex and put the gun and clip right in front of him.

"Well Tristan Lanorus sent me here to be interviewed by you." He said calmly keeping an eye on the others in the room. The one called Joker seemed to be a little bit of a hothead. The one that was cowering behind the chair when he entered must've been the computer expert. He couldn't tell shit about the woman who was still reading. His finger tapped his 9MM which was unloaded and not very useful to him. He was fast with his handgun, but by the time he had it loaded he'd be gunned down. It was a bad habit of his to assess the situation.

Alex nodded at his mention of Tristan, "Yea, he sent us another recruit recently too. This is really mainly a formality, we just want to make sure we arn't hiring someone with no skill whatso ever. So, before I start asking you questions about your past how about you tell me what makes you qaulified to join us; What kind of training have you've received; and why you want to join our team." Alex looked around the room to make sure people were getting back into their jobs.

He noticed Wiz climbing back into his chair and looking thoughtfully at the keys in order to find out any information about the guy that he could; Joker had gone back to listening to music, but was watching the door as well; and Lady continued to read her book. "Also just to give you a heads up, I'm gonna need your education level and school, if you can give one a SS would be helpful to."

Xander nodded and played around with the bullet in his hand. "Well let's see I've been trained in the U.S. Marine Force Recon." He said with a hint of pride, but not that much. "I've been trained as a rifleman and also close range combat." He said placed the bullet on the table. "Why do I think I deserve to be in this team?" He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well it's evident that I need the money, but really having another person with experience in battle situations'd be good." He didn't want to sound like too much of an asshole.

"I went through four years of college at Boston College starting in 1995 and ending 1999. I was a Criminal Justice major." He said glancing at the guy at the computer. "My SS is 247-184-2241. Also just to let you know I ave a little bit of a medical history." He said trying to keep his face as unreadable as possible. "Would it be bold of me to ask what type of missions you do?"

Alex smiled faintly, well this man most definately has the training we look for. "To bold? No, I think I can answer that question without getting in trouble." Glancing over at Lady who was now giving him a warning look, clearly telling him not to say to much into Tristan's plans. "We deal worldwide as a special task force that deals with high threat situations. For the most part we protect clients of Mr. Lanorus, as well as deal with people who get to close to information he wants to remain hidden. We also deal with the people who cause problems for him, typically he'll just send someone to silence them, however some of the people we silence have some influence in the world so he sends us in to past any...interference that may arise."

The stream of typing from Wiz ended shortly after Alex finished speaking, so he had everything recorded. "Now, you mentioned medical training? What level would you put yourself at? Something close to a field medic? Or just the medical training most special ops members receive?"

Xander nodded listening to Sheppard. "I understand." He said remembering how he did the same exact thing for the U.S. government. It was a part of his life no matter how hard he tried to pretend it wasn't. He was a natural born killer and nothing could change that. "I'm familiar with missions like the ones you do."

Xander looked at the guy at the computer and almost laughed. "Well I just have the basic medical training." He said as he looked at the girl who just gave Sheppard the warning look. He then turned back to the guy at the computer. "If you look at my medical history you'll find a medical condition of mine." He knew they'd find out about his lung cancer sooner or later. He decided to get it out in the open at the beginning.

Wiz looked up at the new guy in a considering way, "Oh, you mean your lung cancer? I had wondered if you would tell us. Well, I guess that just means we'll make sure we get some good life insurance on you." He gave a breif laugh before looking back at his computer screen thoughtfully.

Alex blinked at Xander for a moment, "Lung cancer? Physically does that cripple you much right now? Or is it not that far along yet? Sorry, I don't know that much when it comes down to those types of things. I hope it's not too physically trying of you, I would hate to lose you because of that."

(Sorry, my post are kind of lacking and I haven't actually looked at your desc cause I've been hurrying to try and get this done with. I'll look at it soon so I know more about Xander.)

((Okay sorry for my short posts.))

Xander laughed as he listened to the guy at the computer. "Yeah get your moneys worth." He said as he turned back to Alex, and grinned at him. "The cancer isn't that far along. It can cause some serious fits of coughing, but that's only if I smoke." He said blinking his eyes and smiling at Alex.

"I can take anything you can dish out." Xander was getting to like these guys. "I'll be useful as long as I don't smoke." He said laughing. "I haven't had a smoke for the past month or so." Xander wondered how long it'd last. "What else do you need to know?"

"Well then, we'll just have to make sure you don't start smoking then." Alex looked over at Wiz who shrugged slightly, not really having much to ask this time it seemed; then his eyes went to Lady who nodded thoughtfully--so she approved of him did she?; and then to Joker who just glanced at the man and shrugged. "Well I think I just need to know what kind of weapons you've handled and if you need to know anything you can ask it. We'll fill you in on what we are allowed to tell you."

(Dreadfully short.)

(sorry I didn't give you much to work with...)

Xander tapped his finger thoughtfully on the table. "I have experience with most assault rifles. Also the MP-5 submachine gun and the 9MM handgun." He said as he thought about any others. "That's about it." He said looking around the room again. He thought about what he wanted to know. "How much is the salary?" He asked smiling. "I need money to live even though I don't know how much time I've got." He said still smiling. "Also would it be possible to get some info. on the team?"

"Hmm, payroll is not something I deal with that often. Tristan usually covers that, but he provides medical to us and I'd say that you would start at say....sixty to seventy thousand a year, or something." In truth, he had no idea how much money was funded to them. He just had it sent to a private account and took cash out when he needed it.
"What kind of info are you interested in getting? I mean, that is a rather vague question, so do you have something particular in mind right now?"

Xander shrugged, "I just want some basic specs.; expertise, military history if any, codenames, etc." He said smiling. $60,000 a year wasn't bad at all. He'd have to talk to Tristan about that. "I'm guessing you're the leader of the team." He said looking at Alex. If he was accepted into the team, he'd want to have as much intel about who he was working with. He'd be satisfied if they didn't tell him anything.

"Well, I guess I can tell you a bit about the team. I'm Alex Sheppard, I'm the squad leader of squad Alpha, which is made up of the people around you. We are the elites of the LI SRU. My codename is Thrill. I served in the US Marines for one tour. I then joined LI SRU and began to train under another Ex-marine. When our employer moved to this city he moved us in as well and I was given command in this sector."
Alex twisted in his chair to look over at Joker who was still staring intently Xander. "That man is Jacob Brinkerhoff, he served in the US Army as a Green Beret and then after joining our branch in Mexico and being one of the few survivors of a bombing on their HQ he was promoted and moved here. He's a heavy weapons specailist and second in command. His codename is Joker."
Then turning towards Wiz, Alex paused to collect what he wanted to say before continuing, "That man over there is Xander Wixted, he is an expert hacker and has proved himself countless times in the field. He handles most of our tech and information. His codename is Wiz."
Finally he looked over at Lady,"That is Lucia, she's a mystery to us all really. She's supposed to be research and espionage, but she's pretty handy with a firearm. I don't know much about her, we call her Lady."
He was about to close his mouth when he remember one last person, "Oh yes, another recruit name Tiara Vinake. Shes a hand to hand specialist, and we're training her to get used to fire arms. Her codename is Newbie for the time being."

Xander nodded to each of the members of the team as Sheppard announced them. He looked at Joker for a while, knowing that the Green Berets and the Force Recon didn't mix easily. "Good to meet you all." He said as he leaned back on his chair and smiled. "It seems this is going to be a lot of fun." He said feeling the total opposite. Sure he needed the money, but he hated killing. He'd kill if he had to, and that's what counted. He looked back at Joker. "It'll be a pleasure serving with an ex-Green Beret." Xander leaned back pushing the front two legs off the ground. He faced Lady, "Hmmm, I've had a runin with people like you Lady." He said as he stared at her. "From the way you look I'd say you're pretty young, but that'd be misjudging you wouldn't it? How old are you Lady?" He asked staring at her, Xander tried to read her face, but he couldn't discern anything.

Jake frowned at the man openly before turning away without a word and looking at the door as if expecting something to jump in at any time. He had no intention of putting up a nice front with anyone who didn't deserve to have it put up.

Lady looked calmly at the man who addressed her, actually looking for the first time. "It's not proper to ask a lady her age. Don't you know that? If you didn't you may want to learn about the type of question to ask and when to ask them, otherwise you might end up with your throat slit for saying the wrong thing." By her tone she was issuing a warning, though a warning about enemies killing him or his allies wasn't spoken aloud. "Also, just to calm any nerves you may have about this job. We don't do a ton of killing, sure every so often we do have to kill someone. More often it's protecting things though, or just going to a place to scare someone to do what Mr. Lanorus wants them to do." Let him think she was just talking or that she had gone into his mind, honestly she didn't care.

Xander nodded, "I didn't mean any disrespect Lucia." He looked at Sheppard. "Sorry about that I was out of line." He was still thinking about what Lucia said. He didn't care if she was a mindreader, and it was understandable if they were interviewing people. Much better than other lie detecting methods. "I don't want to sound disrespectful or anything, but are there anymore questions?" He asked honestly. He didn't have anything that couldn't be done the next day, but he started to feel a migraine forming. Xander didn't have any aspirin with him, so he was starting to feel kinda shitty. "Ummm, do you happen to have any aspirin?"

Alex looked at him for a moment in a considering sort of way, "Um, well training will start three days from now, be here by five in the evening alright?" He looked back at the table to think for a moment, "Oh asprin? Yea, I think we have some around here somewhere."

Jake looked back for a moment before reaching onto the cabnet that held his guns, "Here, next time try being prepared for this kinda thing. If you plan on talking to Lady you should always have a few of these to take, or a bullet to plant in your brain." He strode over calmly, only pausing by Wiz who gave him a glass of water, and set a pill bottle down on the table along with the water. "I think we're done here though, you can leave if you want.

Alex heard Joker give a comment he should have waited for Alex to say, but he kept his mouth shut. Something was wrong, why was Tristan suddenly recruiting people? All they had done in this city is sit around and waste money gambling, so why was he getting more members? It didn't make any sense and one thing Alex new from experance, people didn't like wasting money for no reason....was Tristan planning something? He'd have to have his men gather some informa- could he even trust his men....they could be spies just to keep an eye on him.

Xander nodded thanks and popped two aspirin into his mouth swallowing them with the glass of water. "I'll keep that in mind next time." He said laughing. He could feel the aspirin starting to kick in. "Thanks for the aspirin." He stayed sitting down at the table. He had a feeling Sheppard was supposed to say that they didn't have anymore questions for him. "I feel like staying for a little while longer, maybe get to know you guys." He took out his wallet and checked how much money he had left. "It's been a while since I've gambled." He grinned and took his 9MM off the table and slammed the clip in. He turned the safety on, and holstered it. "So what do you guys say? Feel like gambling?"

Alex glanced up for a minute still thinking, "Gambling? Uh...okay. Cards okay with you?" Out of the corner of his eye he caught Lady moving towards the card deck and Wiz turning off his computer along with Joker pulling chairs over. "I hope you're okay with playing poker cause that is what our game of choice is." Looking back down at the table he waited calmly for the others to set up and hadn't even noticed they had started until five cards were infront of him.

Xander smiled at Sheppard. "I don't mind poker at all." He said as he picked up the five cards and started to set them up. He had the worst luck ever. He only had a pair of fives. "Who's betting first?" He asked as he thought about what move to make. He then looked at Lady. He smiled at her as well. He knew she could be reading their minds, but he didn't mind. It made the game more interesting to him. He'd see how good his luck was next round. He hoped his bad luck would end with the first game.

Alex looked at his cards in disgust, though he doubted it showed on his face, only a pair of 9s hardly a winning hand. Rather then passing the bet though he tossed three bucks into the middle. If you don't have a good hand you may as well bluff.

Wiz beamed down at his cards happily, he was sure he had this game wrapped up already. Three aces weren't the best hand, but they were nothing to put off either. The though Thrill did put some money into the middle....did he have a good hand too? Hesitently Wiz matched Thrill's bet. "I call."

Jake barely even glanced down at his hand before matching the money in the pot with his own. Thrill bluffed to often for his own good, odds were he was doing the same now.

Lady openned her purse and took out a few bills before putting three in the middle and looking over at the new man. "Do you gamble often Mr. McKenney?" She didn't imply if she ment the game or perhaps the gamble he took upon opening those doors and coming into this interview.

Xander looked at Lady and shrugged. "I gambled a lot in the Marines. Never quite stopped since then." He left it to be interpreted by Lady. He knew he didn't have anything, but he'd might as well take a chance. "I'll call." He threw in the three dollars. Xander'd see how his luck was. "How about you Lady? Do you gamble often?" Xander thought he probably had the worst hand. He didn't know the team that much, but he knew how to read some moves. He guessed Wiz had a good hand, and he wanted to see if he could outwit the guy, which would be pretty hard.

Lady only smiled for a moment while looking over at Xander, "Oh, no I hardly gamble. Then again though I don't call what I do gambling cause I always have the skill to back it up." She calmly looked over at Thrill who was now giving the draw out to the people who asked. "I'll take two cards Thrill." Taking the cards on the table she smiled without even looking at them and looked calmly over at Xander. "Your turn."

(This is five card draw just so you know.)

((Cool! I like five card draw.))

Xander smiled and looked at his hand for a second and discarded two cards leaving the pair of fives. "I'll take two as well." He took his two cards, and watched Lady warily. He looked at them quickly, and placed them in his hand. "So what do you do for a living other than this Lady?" He just had the pair of fives. He'd wait to fold, just in case the others didn't have any good cards. He thought Alex might've been bluffing.

Alex set down two cards before drawing two from the deck. 'Hmm, well three nines...that's not a horrible hand at all.' His eyes went over to Jake and then Wiz with a slight smile on his lips before he pushed it away calmly. 'Now, I just have to get Wiz to fold.

Jake looked at his cards with no emotion on his face. His eyes were cold as he gazed around the room before he calmly began to fiddle with his small buck knife.

Lady's face wore the mask of a friendly smile as she calmly chatted with this Xander fellow. She would continue playing with his mind, but for now she could as well answer his questions. "I do some driving, though I hardly need it for a living. We are paid well."

Xander smiled and folded. "It's gotta be pretty good pay." He said observing how Alex was acting. Alex wasn't an amateur at all, and he couldn't read him. "What's your favorite kind of food Lady? By the way you look I'd have to say some expensive food, maybe sushi? Nah you're more into certain kinds of meat right?" He asked as he waited for something to happen. He could tell Wiz was confident, but did he have something to beat Alex? He grinned as he waited to see who'd chicken out first.