[ WP ] Hurricanes are acctually powerful wind elementals that the world governments exterminate in secret . Your team has been tasked with destroying the near landfall hurricane Mathew .

The screeching howl of a Klaxon alarm did little to soothe my pre-mission nerves. I'd been doing this job for 10 years and the butterflies showed up in my stomach every fucking time that damned siren went ballistic. We were operating on a dangerous delay this time, the Floridians have always been a stubborn bunch when it came to evacuations, and this time was no different. 
 
 `` Earth to Richard, come in Richard!'' 
 
 The sudden voice roused me from my thoughts. I flicked my eyes up from examining the floor tiles for the hundredth time and set my gaze upon Stephen, our newest recruit. His sandy blonde hair had fallen down over his eyes again, no matter how many times they told him to keep it clean cut, the orders were ignored. But then again, we did n't really follow what you would call standard military procedure. 
 
 `` We're gon na miss the briefing if we do n't get going, Rich! Come on!'' 
 
 I did n't bother to reply, save for a slight nod. Stephen turned on a dime and shot off down the hall towards the briefing room. I followed... eventually, after looking over the tiled floor one more time. 
 
 -- - 
 
 Homo est Deus. Man above Gods. It was our motto, in Latin of course. See, as it turned out, the ancient Greeks and Romans had been right all along. Their pantheon of Gods was actually real, and they did n't enjoy listening to the leaders of the world now that their so called'Age of Immortals' had ended. So the UN got everyone together to fix the problem. The solution was us, the Deity Management and Control Agency, or D.M.C.A. for short. Conveniently enough it's the same acronym of some copyright act, so anyone who tries to dig too deep just finds a bunch of shit about people getting their asses sued off for pirating music. 
 
 My department is the Weather Control unit. Every major'natural' disaster can be traced back to one of _them_ deciding to kill a bunch of humans for sport. Sadly we ca n't manage everything all at the same time, and most of our efforts are spent cleaning up the aftermath. Tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes, that sort of thing. Our specialty is hurricanes. If the general public had any idea that the reason every hurricane really has a name is because they're actually pissed off Wind Elementals thrown at us by Zeus as a joke, it would n't end well. So we made up a bunch of facts about pressure differentials and water currents to keep everyone else occupied. 
 
 -- - 
 
 I filed into the briefing room, where Stephen had been kind enough to save me a seat. He was a good kid, though I did my best not to get attached. This job tends to have a high mortality rate. Instead, I focused my attention on the projection screen, showing the radar images of a particularly nasty looking Cat-3 Elemental we'd dubbed Matthew. Without missing a beat, our commander strode out of his office once I'd taken a seat. Former US Army General Michael Alberts II, though we all affectionately called him Commander Mars. 
 
 `` As you are all well aware, Matthew is set to make landfall on the coast of Florida by the end of the day. If we do not control him, we can expect major damage and loss of life throughout the lower part of the peninsula, potentially moving upwards into the lower east coast of the continental United States.'' 
 
 The projection changed to display our plan of attack. We followed the same setup as the Greeks, a phalanx of soldiers to bear the brunt of the attack as two side groups flank from the sides to strike the Elemental where it hurts. 
 
 `` Strike teams Alpha, Bravo and Charlie, head to the launch bay and prepare for Operation Goliath. You know the drill, ladies and gentlemen. We draw the line in the sand, and stop him when he hits the coast. Dismissed.'' 
 
 The General turned on his heel and left the room, returning to mission control to oversee operations. We filed out towards the launch bay, and Stephen caught up with me again in the crowd of soldiers. 
 
 `` A Category Three! That's the biggest I've ever been up against before, Rich!'' 
 
 Despite the hair across his face I could see the excitement in his eyes, and I could n't help but crack a smile. First one of the day, probably the last until the mission was complete. 
 
 `` Just wait. Zeus keeps screwing with the sun and it'll get hot enough next year for a few Cat-5's. Mark my words.'' 
 
 -- -
