So, in the aftermath of our disaster of a first assignment, "Houska" officially named Team Sigma as Agents, which gave us access to training equipment and the relaxation facilities afforded to most other personnel while we awaited reassignment.

  Intermingling with the other Agents in these spaces opened our eyes to how the everyday personnel viewed us.

  At this point we were 13 and a half maybe 14, I could never keep track, but it began to show when the adult personnel looked down on us, treating us like kids.

  If we were using any of the machines in the gym, we were accused of taking up space and told to leave.

  The same happened with the TV in the break room which had game consoles on it, like back at 919

  Most days we would ignore them and they'd take it in the spirit it was meant, other days there would be scuffles between team Sigma and the more forceful employees, followed by staff inquiries that usually led to one of us being held in solitary, which I took gladly on behalf of my team, no matter which of us did the thing.

  After what happened with Love the last time, they locked her up, I was glad to take the punishment for her.

  Speaking of Love, she was recovering from her assault remarkably well, I like to think that having a support system so close at hand with words of encouragement and positive intimacy both platonic and non was the driving force behind her recovery.

  Her body had also begun to retain some resilience from the previous exertions of her strength, so bones didn't break so often and the insta-splint feature in her undersuit became more of a hindrance than anything because it activates every time a portion of her body exerts PSI over a certain threshold which the creators of the suit deemed to be the point of limb breakage.

  It was nearly a week before we were finally given an assignment, and rather than a guard position like last time, we were assigned to an extermination mission led by our new handler, Agent Singleton, who we were due to meet in the mess hall around noon.

  It was a Thursday and that meant the mess served chicken twists.

  Like curly fries but made with breaded chicken

  We had no idea why twists and not just nuggets, but they were as good as any other Lunchroom food.

  Once we had all loaded up on Chicken twists, waffle fries, and barbecue sauce, Agent Singleton flagged us down from his table, he wore fatigues that showcased Houska's (and Trigram's) color palette.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  He looked in his early 20s with brown hair, blue eyes, and 5 o'clock shadow. Looking at him, I couldn't help but wonder how long he'd been at this.

  We all sat down, and he got right to it, "Hey everyone, my name is Agent Norman Singleton, I'll be your handler for this mission, and I hope you'll find me more palatable than your previous handler."

  Wolf Grumbled as she shoved chicken twists into her mouth, "Amyun wuhd be behtr thn Shrb."

  Agent Singleton responded with a confused smile, "I'll pretend I understood that."

  I, who had gotten used to hearing my squad talk with their mouths full, translated, "She said anyone would be better than...that guy."

  Singleton nodded, his initial awkwardness fading away as he saw we were engaging with him, "Anyway the briefing for this mission is...well...brief...as it's pretty clear that the higher-ups are pranking me."

  I blink between bites of chicken, "what do you mean?"

  He pulls out a folder and takes out photos of what looks like someone dressed like a clown holding a bloody human head in its arms like a baby, walking through the woods.

  "I think the images speak for themselves; we deal with legitimate supernatural threats not some sort of kids prank."

  This photo was followed by another and another, of, what to the outside observer seemed like various people dressed as Clowns congregating around the woods, I looked up at my squad who all nodded at me, we all thought the same thing.

  "Corpus Corydonus," we say in unison, Love turns to Singleton, "No see what you've got here is a Klounh infestation."

  "I mean yeah but why do you say it like that's not what's on the photo?"

  Love sighs, "Do you have a pen?"

  Singleton hands her a pen and she writes the word down on the photo "Klounh"

  Singleton looks at the "....and that's pronounced..."

  Love rolls her eyes, "Like Clown?"

  Singleton blinked, "So Klounh is pronounced like Clown, so when you refer to a Klounh, you sound like you're saying clown?"

  We all nod, "I think he gets it." Says Edge, we all laugh and so does Singleton, "Alright...gotcha...so these things are real? Like those aren't just clowns?"

  Edge shakes his head, "There's never a clear way to see whether they are or not from a distance, but look at what they're doing...not exactly normal behavior, where were these taken?"

  Singleton nodded, "Crested Butte in Colorado...looks like we're going on a trip after all."

  And like that we packed up, getting ready to go, we were in high spirits as we had been worried, we wouldn't get another chance at our true calling.

  Edge was reading out the dossier he had compiled on Klounhs, handing out papers to each of us.

  On Klounhs

  Species name: Corpus Corydonus

  First known account: 2400 BC

  Last known account: 1997 AD

  Defining morphology: Klounhs are colorful and resemble Clowns in most respects, however, their colorful vestments are in actuality a very loose layer of extremely discolored flesh, the same could be said for their nose, which is also noticeably swollen, these membranes are full, usually with a varying amount of light reflecting powder that appears glitter-like when shown to the layman, also within this membrane are small strands of dried muscle fibers that appear, once more, to the layman, streamers.

  This powder and strips of muscle fiber are a waste product that is produced by the parasitic life form that inhabits the Klounh's throat and can cause sepsis when introduced into human mucus membranes.

  The parasite itself is Long and chitinous, it is similar in structure to a massive Bobbit worm, with a singular stinger instead of jaws, this creature strikes from within the Klounh's throat fast enough as to be invisible to the naked eye, implanting venom, it is unknown if this venom is how they procreate or not.

  Known weaknesses: Fire, damage to the heart, removal of the parasite, destruction of the nest or "big top"

  Edge's advice: Kill it with fire.