Serah's day could have been better. Lurking outside a decaying, condemned apartment block in Oakland California, in the middle of the night, was anything but a good time. But she had a job to do, and a decently well paying job it was. Usually, anyway. This particular mission was basically a favor for a Tradition-mate, and while there was no actual money changing hands, it was always good to be owed a favor from a reality hacker.<br/><br/>As a skilled assassin (among other things) and member of two of the Traditions that made up the Council of the Nine Mystic Traditions, Serah Kavanah's skills were held in high regard. The fact that the Traditions she was a member of were not usually known for assassination was... a mixed blessing. She was often underestimated, even if the senior members of the Council treated her as troubleshooter and general problem solver. Still, it meant she wasn't<em>constantly</em>harried with quests, missions, and requests for favors. Just often.<br/><br/>This particular favor was probably worth it, though. A fellow Virtual Adept had contacted her with an offer: take care of one of the pawns of the vampire that was trying a hostile takeover/protection racket of said Traditionmate's little company, and be owed one favor. Nothing to it, she said: in, dust a vamp, out. In Serah's experience, a client being so sure of ease was a sign there was more going on than was appearent.<br/><br/>In any event, tracking down the pawn had been easy: a little info from her Traditionmate, some Entropy and Correspondence magic, and she knew exactly where he'd be tonight. The only problem was she was unable to figure out when, exactly, he'd be there. Or why, for that matter. Hence the stakeout.<br/><br/>She'd be waiting around since sunset, and aside from a graffiti artist creeping in to hone his skills on the building's already abused walls, nothing exciting had happened. She was reaching the point where re-checking her calculations to make sure she'd didn't invert a sign or something was starting to look downright fun when a car slowing to a stop nearby caught her attention. It was a big, dark sedan and the occupant, dressed in dark clothing and something face-obscuring, hustled out and down the stairs to the building's basement entrance, leaving the car running. Serah heard the door down there creak open.<br/><br/>Looks like things were about to get interesting...