**Somewhere very different**
The briefing office is a small, sterile room, despite all its attempts to look different. Someone from the Psychological Health department decided that fake plants on shelves and scenery paintings would make people feel more at home.
It is hard for Sam to feel at home when he knows that somewhere under his feet the Arc keeps locked God knows what sorts of monsters. But he doesn't show his unease with this place, or his impatience to be sent on a mission.
The other person in the room is Violet—a sharp woman in a sharp purple suit. This isn't her real name, but the real names of people in Purple rank—the administrators—are secret.
She sits at a table and reads an ebook without a visible care in the world, and Sam follows that example of indifference. Instead of a book, though, he inspects the guns hidden under his jacket. They are already perfectly clean and ready, but it never hurts to check again.
