Lisa O'Connor felt like she was floating on clouds. First woman ever to be accepted into the ERU! She could hardly believe it herself. Her she was, after a brief welcoming ceremony, being greeted and welcomed by her new colleagues. She could see the looks in their eyes, they didn't think she could pull it off. She's show them.<br/>What Lisa didn't know, two events put her where she was today. Someone had an interest in seeing her be accpeted into the ERU, someone willing to pull strings to see it happen.<br/><br/>A couple of months earlier.<br/>Carl Barker, in full dress uniform, strode across the training grounds. He had been asked to attend the tryouts of new potential ERU recruits by the man that had once trained him. "Viscious Vic" had been the man in charge of the ERU training for several decades now, he had been the one training Carl once. He was extremly tough on the trainees, but once Carl had completed training they had become good friends. Carl was curious to see why the old man had asked him to come here today.<br/>"Vic!" Carl shouted as he saw the old man, "how are you?"<br/>They exchanged pleasantries, then Carl got right to the point.<br/>"So, why did you ask me here? Got someone special for me?"<br/>The old man nodded.<br/>"Yeah, I guess you could say that..." The old man seemed a bit embarassed, and he seemed hesitant, wich immediatly got Carl suspicious. Vic never hesitated.<br/>"God, Vic! You are asking me to have a look at<em>her</em>, aren't you?"<br/>"Well, I guess I am," Vic replied, still looking embarassed.<br/>Lisa O'Connor had been big news a couple of days ago. First woman to ever try out for the ERU, wich made the feminists cheer and celebrate. Now they were putting preasure on the department to actually give her a job in the ERU, wich was preposterous to Carl.<br/>"I believe you just recently said you'd be caught dead before you allowed a woman into the ERU, didn't you Vic?" The old man shrugged.<br/>"I know I did, and I still feel that way. But this...this isn't an ordinary girl. I think she could actually do the job." This made Carl take notice.<br/>"Really? How's she doing in the trials?"<br/>"She finishes last," Vic said, wich emediatly made Carl start protesting again but Vic cut him off. "Let me finish. Yeah, she comes in last in the physical portions of the tests, but were you expecting anything else? And it's not like the guys are leaving her in the dust, she usually finishes a second or two after the rest of them. Think about it for a second, how impressive that is. These guys she's competing against, they are no average Joes. They are perfect physical specimens, and she's still holding her own." Carl scratched his chin, thinking about what Vic said.<br/>"Yes, I have to admit it is rather impressive. The other portions of the tests?"<br/>"Oh, she's excelling there. She's an excellent marksman, she do well on written tests and she got some first aid training too. She's a really bright kid, that one. So what I'm saying is that if the ERU is ever going to have a female officer, it better be her, someone you could count on." Carl nodded.<br/>"I see where you are coming from, Old Man, but you know she won't be picked up, right? 10 applicants this time, but only three openings. The feminists can cry and moan as much as they want, it's not going to happen."<br/>"I know," Vic said with a sigh. "I just feel bad for the kid, she's truly one in a million. So, you want to meet her?" Carl nodded.<br/>Their meeting was brief, they shook hands and Carl asked her a few polite questions. What Lisa didn't know at the time was that this was a meeting that would change her life forever...