You were always a hyperactive kid. Ever since you were a child you were instructed to take Epilin. You’ve also been instructed to try and stay away from caffeine. School was a breeze. You were especially good with computers. After scoring a phenomenal 1510 on your SAT you were picked up by MIT. However, you frequently had bouts of depression. Your friends tried to attribute this to any number of things; "you work too hard", "You should change your diet", "You should just pick up a guy and have sex with him". You actually took their advice. It may perk you up a little, but it never really changed anything.

Right after graduating though, you were given dozens of job offers, but the one that attracted you the most was Sunburst Enterprises (kind of like Blizzard and Sierra). Sunburst specialized in computer games and that is one of your favorite hobbies (perhaps the only one). Sunburst Enterprises is headquartered in New York City right in the heart of the Big Apple. It was like a dream come true. After years of hard work, you finally have the life you wanted. Before you left, your friends threw you a surprise going away party. You got a lot of gifts. Well…a lot of them were gag gifts (edible underwear, a pet turd and a t-shirt which listed the reasons "Why computers are better then men"). Among the gifts however, was a plain card. It was like a credit card or bank card with a magnetic strip on the back except that there was no writing or design on it other than a holographic silhouette of a spider. Efforts to find out who sent to you failed. No one knows who gave it to you, let alone what the card does. For fun, you’ve tried swiping the card in bank machines and other devices that reads magnetic strips, but nothing happens (the card just gets rejected).

When you arrived in the city you had a devil of a time finding a place to stay. The apartments were either too riche or really scummy. As luck would have it though, Tony, your new boss, had an uncle who had a sister in-law who had a cousin who had a friend who was about to put a place up for rent. It was a fantastic place. It wasn’t very big, and it took a while to get used to that cat smell, but it was close to work and within walking distance of Central Park. You set up a routine for yourself. Every Tuesday and Thursday, you would go (hiking, jogging, biking, roller blading?). On those days, you would see the same people. Old men gathering to play chess, a bag lady fishing through the garbage baskets and the odd street vendor.

Lestor is the most laidback of your co-workers. He is a chubby black man of 25 with afro hair that is cut in a hair style that was popular in the early 90’s (shaven on the sides with a flat top). He seems to perpetually have a soft drink or a chocolate bar in his hands and his desk is littered with soda-pop cans all nicely arranged on top of his monitor. Contrary to Jason, Lestor is very softspoken and slouches a lot when working. Lestor usually wears old baggy jeans and some old t-shirt with the logo of some basketball team or other. As a sharp contrast to his ensemble, Lestor always wears a pair of new sneakers which could easily be worth one week’s salary.

Tony is your boss. He seems to be a typical New York Italian with the big gold chains and the greasy plied back hair. He has this tendency to wink at people while giving them the gun salute. Despite the little annoyances, Tony is a good guy to know. To date, he has been able to get all of you box seats at Shea stadium, passes to popular nightclubs and movie premieres as well free lunches at some well known restaurants. You always wondered where he gets this stuff and you all tease him about some possible "Mafioso" connections.

Angie is a second cousin of Tony and she works as security in the lobby. You have no idea what exactly she does because she is always yacking on the phone. However whenever she sees you she looks up and gives you a friendly smile, even when she seems engrossed in her phone conversations.

Mira settles into her new place of work and her new home. Sunburst Enterprises is a largely parental organization with lots of benefits. The company seems to go out of its way to make its workers comfortable and "well adjusted". Mira is given a list of actions to do which are not exactly work related. One of those tasks, is to visit the company physician who changes Mira’s Epilin prescription to a newer more advanced drug "Grepilin".

After having settled in, Mira volunteers (by luck of the draw) to stay late after work to help Tony polish up a rush job. Tony, wants to reward Mira by taking her out to dinner and then dancing afterwards. Mira, at first reluctant, agrees. Later in the night, at a club called "The Spiral Lounge", Mira is left alone while Tony is busy being the "social butterfly". A handsome young Italian, approaches Mira and introduces himself as Michael, a fellow co-worker and a cousin of Tony’s. Tony, gets heavily inebriated that night and Michael volunteers to bring Mira home. Mira agrees and the two of them take a cab ride to Mira’s place. Micheal says goodnight to Mira and asks to call upon her again sometime. The two part ways amicably.

Mira enters her apartment horrified to find an intruder. The intruder jumps on Mira and drags her into the bedroom. He begins beating her and tearing off her clothes in a attempt to rape her. Mira undergoes a strange metamorphosis. She suddenly grows in strength and size and flings her attacker off her. The intruder, now terrified tries to escape but Mira chases him around the apartment until she kills him by raking him. The cops arrive to find Mira alone in the corner with her clothes torn, her apartment a mess and a dead intruder.

The police bring Mira to the police station. They ask her some routine questions (IE, "Where were you before you returned home?", "Who were you with?", "What time was it?" etc…and let her return home. Later, the investigating detective, Lieutenant Albrecht, phones Mira to ask her some more questions about Micheal. He then says that there is no person called Micheal who works at Sunburst Enterprises. Mira calls up Tony to ask if Micheal is his cousin but Tony replies that he has never heard of him.

Mira prepares a quick breakfast and heads out to catch the bus to go to work. She’s late, but Tony told her before on the phone that it’s okay (especially considering what happened last night). At the bus stop, some young street kid tries to pick up Mira. Mira tells him to buzz off and the kid quickly goes silent. On the bus, Mira takes a window seat and notices the bag lady from central park watching the bus go by, although she seems to be watching Mira specifically. Later, at the office, Mira does a quick search of Sunburst Enterprises phone directory trying to locate anyone named Micheal. She doesn’t find anything. Officer Albrecht calls. He says that he would like to meet Mira for lunch. He says that it is important and to try and leave Sunburst Enterprises as quietly as possible.

Mira hops in a taxi and arrives at the pub to find the detective in the crowded pub waiting for her. Officer Albrecht thanks Mira for meeting him like this and explains that by meeting Mira in person like this is a breach of protocol. He suggests the hamburger platter and Mira agrees. He then asks Mira if she had ever met her intruder and "would-be rapist" before last night and that if Mira ever uses drugs. Mira responds ‘no’ to both questions finding them a little bit ridiculous. Officer Albrecht then pulls from a brown envelope, a series of surveillance photographs of a crack-house somewhere in Greenich Village. The photographs were taken a couple of days ago and in one of them, it clearly shows Mira leaving the crack-house. Albrecht says that the crack-house is also frequented by the person Mira killed last night. Mira says that the picture can’t be of her. She only arrived in New York last week. Officer Albrecht assumed that the photos must be doctored saying that he found them on his desk this morning when he came into work. He finds that very suspicious. Albrecht theorizes that someone is going out of their way to make Mira’s murder in self-defense look like a settling of accounts. Albrecht then asks if Mira knows anyone who would go to such lengths to frame Mira. Mira responds saying that there was a lot of competition between her and her other classmates during her college years, but she can’t think of anyone who would be out to get her like this. The food comes and Mira finds the burgers extremely tasty. She asks the waitress to have another one "to go". Albrecht and Mira part company. Albrecht gives Mira his calling card and to "keep an eye open". Mira returns to work and is later called into Mr. Fredrick Arnott’s office.

Mr. Arnott is the toupee wearing VP of Marketing for Sunburst Enterprises. Also in Mr. Arnott’s office is Mr. William Stone, the aging chief of security. The two of them express sympathy over Mira’s terrible ordeal of last night. Mr. Arnott repeats the company slogan of ‘making sure our employees are well adjusted’. After asking Mira if she has any house insurance (to which Mira says no, since she only moved here last week), Mr. Arnott hits a buzzer. Through a side door, a small "geeky" looking man comes in. Mr. Arnott introduces the man as their insurance agent, Mr. Peter Mayer. Mr. Mayer, is supposed to return home with Mira after work and catalog everything that was either stolen or damaged at Mira’s apartment. Mr. Arnott says that the company will replace/fix all those items free of charge. He then says that he has registered Mira for a self-defense class, that it is supposed to start tomorrow, and that she also has an appointment next week with the company psychiatrist. It is pointed out that Mira isn’t obligated to go but that it is strongly recommended that she does. Mira is a little bit overwhelmed by all this, thinking that she feels like Tom Cruise’s character in "The Firm". Mr. Mayer accompanies Mira back to her place. He doesn’t talk much. He just walks around the apartment and takes notes. He then informs Mira that he’ll return here tomorrow at 10:00 with a few workers.

After he leaves, Mira gets to work on her computer. After fixing it (It wasn’t overtly damaged), Mira nukes her hamburger in the microwave, but still feels pekish after consuming it. From a nearby restaurant, Mira orders a steak, some ribs and another hamburger. Sifting through the internet and hacking into Sunburst Enterprises database, Mira discovers some interesting information;

1. Sunburst Enterprises was acquired by the Pentex Corp. approximately 9 months ago in a quiet merger (Sunburst is still Sunburst though).
2. several employees at Sunburst have made insurance claims for the drug Grepelin. Those same employees have either left the company or are presently on extended leave, all within the last 9 months. Mira quickly flushes the rest of her Grepelin pills down the toilet.

Mira goes to sleep and dreams of being a wolf and running through the streets of New York. She confronts another wolf (a black female) and gets into a fight with her. The fight is broken up by someone throwing a shoe at them. Mira wakes up to the sound of someone knocking on her door. It is Mr. Mayer, who has brought with him a literal platoon of carpenters and construction workers. They immediately get to work on Mira’s appartement. Mira can’t stand the noise, and leaves.

She eats a hearty breakfast/lunch at a nearby restaurant (Mira eats 28 sausages). She then goes for a jog in central park where she spies Tony arguing with the same bag lady that was staring at Mira yesterday when she was on the bus. Mira tries to sneak up on them to listen in on their conversation but only catches the tail end of it. Tony and the bag lady part ways and Mira chases after Tony. Mira asks what that was all about and Tony just brushes it off saying it was nothing. Tony then invites Mira to join him and his friends at the Spiral Lounge that evening. Mira says okay and Tony says he’ll pick her up around 10:00. Mira continues on her jog, but gets very sick. The sausages come back up and Mira feels very dizzy. She sits on a park bench to try and recuperate. The bag lady sits next to Mira and douses her with water from a rag she soaked in the nearby fountain. The water droplets make Mira feel better and she thanks the bag lady who calls herself "Mother". The two of them exchange words, but the conversation is kind of surreal. Mother seems to talk on another level.

Mira returns home to find her apartment completely changed. It is refurbished, clean and looks totally brand new. Even the toilet has been replaced with a newer "silent flush" type. Mira doesn’t like this. She suspects that her place is bugged just like in the movie "The Firm". The phone rings. A pleasant woman on the other end introduces herself as Mira’s self-defense instructor and is wondering if Mira plans on showing up to class. Mira only answers that she might. After hanging up the phone, Mire unscrews the receiver to, sure enough, find a bug.

Mira packs a gym bag and heads off to that self-defense class Sunburst Enterprises enrolled her in. The building is an old run-down community center. Mira has to pass through some turnstiles at the entrance. The turnstiles are the old type (the ones where you have to shove your full weight into your hips to push). However, Mira is surprised when the turnstile she goes through turns with relative ease. In the elevator, she heads up to the third floor, but when she is about to push the elevator button marked ‘3’, the button gets highlighted. This strikes Mira as odd.

After reaching the woman’s locker room and finding a suitable locker to place her valuables, Mira heads out into the gymnasium where she is greeted by Sally, the young female instructor wearing a designer jump suit. Seated on the floor are four other woman of various ages and ethnic origin. Sally is about to start the class when another woman enters the gymnasium. She has a punk hair-do, loads of mascara and a ‘gothy’ dress. Her face is riddled with multiple piercings. She is very crass and plops herself down on the mat with the other students. Sally doesn’t seem to have this newcomer on her checklist and asks her name. The goth girl responds "Ginger…Ginger Spice." The other woman look at each other with raised eyebrows. Sally on the other hand, happily pencils her in. Sally begins the class by having everyone introduce themselves. She asks Ginger to start. Ginger responds by lifting up her tank top to expose a chest with multiple contusions and lacerations. "That is why I’m here!" she says. The other woman gasp and seem a bit revolted. Sally, quickly says "ooookay" and pushes the introductions right along. Afterwards, Sally begins actually teaching. She shows the woman some typical maneuvers and then asks for the class to pair up so that they can practice on each other. Mira gets paired up with Ginger. However, Ginger is a bit too aggressive and punches Mira in the stomach. Mira gets the wind knocked out of her and collapses to the ground. Mira feels herself about to change and fights to control herself. Sally rushes over to Mira and asks what happened. Ginger says it was an accident, but Mira says otherwise. Ginger, grabs her backback and leaves saying "This class sucks!". When Mira feels fit to stand, she excuses herself and goes to the locker room with the intent of encountering Ginger. By now though, the pain of being punched in the stomach had started to subside. Checking herself, Mira was surprised to see that no welts had formed. After briefly considering chasing after Ginger, Mira returned to class.

After the class was over, Mira left the community center and heads off to the grocery store. She purchases about $85 worth of meat. She returns home and starts to cook and play with her computer. Remembering the bug she found in her phone earlier, Mira checks her computer to see if it has been tampered with. Sure enough, someone had removed the casing to her tower. Mira removes the casing to see what was done to her computer. Someone had placed a small fieldbus node card in her processing unit. Mira has never seen this type of card before. It is small and it looks very high tech and top of the line. She notes the card has a Pentex engraving on it. She surmises that it was probably installed to allow someone remote access to her computer. Mira boots up her computer to see if any of her software has been tampered with. No tampering is evident. Mira accomplishes the task of cooking and playing with her computer with great ease. All her appliances seem to work perfectly. When she later turns on the faucet in her bathtub to prepare a bubble bath, she doesn’t need to adjust the knobs to get the right water temperature. If that wasn’t strange enough, Mira sensed the water rushing through the pipes in a way she never sensed them before. It was like "an animal running through the pipes, gently roaring along the way". In the bath, Mira relaxed and had a vision.

The square bathroom tiles seem to take shape of tall buildings, all interconnected with walkway tubes and passageways. Mira felt like she was about to walk through it when the phone rang. Mira jolted out of her trance and quickly donned a bathrobe to go out and answer the phone. It was Tony, who was just confirming about their night plans. Tony said he would come by car to pick Mira and advised Mira to watch out for his car through her window.

Tony came by as planned. Mira locked up her apartment and noticed that their was a full moon out tonight. Two polyester clad guys and a woman were accompanying Tony. Tony introduced everyone to Mira. They seemed nice enough, but any conversation always ended up with them bantering and arguing with each other (Brooklyn style). After passing by in front of the Spiral Lounge three times, Tony finally found parking.

Their next obstacle was actually getting into the club. The bouncer passed them by and did the typical "choosy" thing. Mira voiced her objections at this flagrant act of selecting clienteles. The bouncer who at first didn’t seem to care actually listened to her. Tony eased things by whispering to the bouncer that Mira is from out of town and he is trying to show her a good time. The bouncer ended up being sympathetic and led them inside but not before this huge gaudy Cadillac driven by a huge black man pulled up and a troupe of "gangsta" people being led by a man dressed like Lou Bega paraded out. The woman with Tony’s group made some snide remark and the "Lou Bega" character overheard it and glared at her. For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence before then the man smiled an evil grin and proceeded on inside the club. Later inside, Tony met up with a few more of his "Night at the Roxberry" pals along with their catty female tag alongs.

Mira met them all but clearly felt out of place. She made a mental note to herself to never do this again. Being bored, Mira thought about Micheal, and wondered if the mystery man would be here tonight. Mira climbed up the spiral balcony which overlooks the dance floor. By carefully scanning her surroundings, Mira spotted Micheal all by himself at one of the watering holes. She climbed back down, just in time to see Micheal get up and disappear behind a curtain fashioned from strings of glass beads. Mira couldn’t follow because the entranceway was blocked by the huge Cadillac driver that Mira and Tony’s group saw earlier. Mira tried to haggle and cajole the big black man but he was not impressed and kept telling Mira to get lost. Mira, was insistent and refused to leave the entrance, figuring Micheal will come back out eventually. Micheal did come out, but didn’t notice Mira. He simply headed straight for the front door of the Spiral Lounge to leave. Mira decided to follow.

Outside, Mira kept a safe distance from her mark. Micheal glanced around himself a couple of times and made a phone call on his cellular. Mira was too far to listen in. After walking east for a couple of blocks, Micheal turned northwards. Mira continued to follow despite the fact that she was now walking in an unsafe neighborhood.

Some of the locals stared after Mira, probably thinking that Mira is crazy to be walking alone in these streets at night. Suddenly a big white mini-van came to a screeching halt just beside Mira startling her. Three black hoods jumped out and grabbed Mira. Mira made a feeble attempt to get away, but she was wearing heels. The gang threw her into the mini-van and hog tied her with duct tape. Mira metamorphed and changed into a the ravenous war beast like she did the night with her house intruder. This surprised the gang who immediately backed off. Effortlessly, Mira tore away at her bindings.

One of the kidnappers ran to the front to get a pistol from the glove compartment while another grabbed a bat. The third kidnapper just sat their catatonic with fear. Mira noticed that the driver was none other than the same huge black man Mira encountered earlier at the spiral lounge. The baseball weilding gangsta rapped Mira on the head a few times but this did nothing but annoy her, she yanked the bat from his hands. The black teen that ran to the front managed to get a pistol and fired it at Mira. By now, the mini-van was swerving all over the road. Mira leaped up to the front and tore into the shooter, spreading blood and guts all over the front dash and onto the driver. Panicking, the kidnapper that attacked Mira with the baseball bat, jumped out of the rear doors of the mini-van. He was then run over by another car. The driver yelled at the third gangsta who was still in shock. Mira turned her gaze towards the frightened teen and grabbed him. In one swoop she threw him out the back doors.

The driver, at that point, lost control of the mini-van. The vehicle careened off some parked cars and catapulted itself into the air and came crashing down on its side. Everyone was incapacitated except for Mira who barely had any bumps and bruises. With everything still now, Mira grabbed the driver and pulled him into the back tearing through his buckled safety belt. She then ripped him apart spraying the entire back of the crumpled mini-van with his innards. After Mira was satisfied with her kill, she exited out the back and ran into the night.

Mira continued to run for about a half and hour. The experience was strange, yet exciting. Common sense and instinct had reached a kind of harmonious balance. Mira's heart pulsed with the heart of the city and she took in all the sights and sounds with a new perspective. Cars which swerved out of the way seemed more like metal steers. Normally they are harmless but when in stampeding groups, they are dangerous. Street lamps seemed more like branchless trees, forever casting the glow of their one good eye to illuminate everything. The steam cascading upwards from the sewers seemed like an animal, just waking up from an underground hibernation and feeling the surface air for the first time. The term "concrete jungle" took on a new meaning for Mira. Life here is indeed not unlike the eternal cycle one would see in the ecology of the Serengeti.

There are hunters and there are prey, and there are many automatons who go about their day to day life without making anything great about themselves. In this moment of moonlight bliss, Mira felt like the hunter, having bested her would be kidnappers. Their blood still dripped from her mouth. Mira stopped running at the foot of a bridge, the stagnant water smell nipped at her nostrils. Such a smell would even warn the most imperceptive of men that the river water is not safe to drink. Mira, still retaining control of her human conscience remarked at how clear her olfactory senses had become and wondered if she could use it to track down Micheal. Crouching down, Mira instantaneously shapeshifted into the form of a wolf. In this form, her sense of smell increased even further. Mira began sniffing, hoping to catch Micheal's scent, but she was now too far from where she last saw Micheal. So Mira began to backtrack. Along the way, she encountered a drug pusher intimidating some kids. The pusher was roughing up one of them, demanding some money that was owed to him. Mira approached and growled. The pusher, threw a granola bar at Mira hoping to distract her. Everyone thought Mira was just a stray dog but one of the kids insisted that Mira was a wolf. The pusher continued to intimidate one of the kids. Mira took the opportunity to sneak around the pusher and bite him in the ankle. Unfortunately, Mira's bite didn't pierce the tough leather of the pusher's boots. The pusher spun around and tried to kick Mira. Mira sidestepped, dodging the blow. The pusher then reached inside his jacket (a gun perhaps?) but Mira was too quick. She jumped and bit into the pusher's right arm, sending him sprawling onto a parked car and rolling onto the ground. The pusher screamed for help, but the other kids took this opportunity to run away. Satisfied that she had the upper hand in the situation, Mira backed off leaving the pusher alone clutching at his injured forearm. Mira continued backtracking, trying to catch Micheal's scent but this proved to be an impossible task. The city assailed Mira with all kinds of smells and finding the scent of one particular person was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. So Mira decided to return home.

When she reached the front steps of her appartment complex, Mira detected a distinct pungent smell. It seemed to start at her home and trail off towards Central Park. Mira was curious and decided to follow this new scent. In the park, things were different. The sights, sounds and smells became eerie, unfamiliar and disturbing. Mira summoned up the courage to continue on. From out of the bushes a large stripped wolf bounded out to block Mira's path. It growled a warning, telling Mira that she was not welcome here. Mira was about to back off when yet another wolf entered. This creature was small and grey colored with a white goatee. It grey wolf dismissed the larger one telling it to stand down. The grey wolf introduced herself as "Mother" and the said that the large brown wolf was called "Watcher". Mother said that Mira's coming was foreseen. Mira was confused, but Mother said that all things will be explained in due time. Mother took Mira to the fountain and asked her to gaze into it. Mira stared and saw the fountain in a way she never saw it before. The water had these "fairy sprites" dancing in and about the fountain, making a shrieking noise that Mira heard once before when she was filling her bathtub with water earlier this evening. Mother explained to Mira that these were "spirits". All life, even those inanimate objects (whether man-made or not) have spirits within them. Mother taught Mira about Gaia and the triat and how Mira is one of Gaia's children. Mira listened in stunned surprise and awe as Mother told the myth of the the Wyld, the Weaver and the Wyrm. Mira suspected that Pentex was an "evil" enterprise, but she had no idea that it was a proponent of something so mystical and so sinister. Mira was also surprised to hear that Tony was himself a Garou and that he was partially responsible for bringing Mira into New York.

Mira says that the Wyrm is using Pentex to bring in Garou that haven't undergone the change yet. They specifically target those mortals who take the drug Epilin because it inhibits the werewolf from changing. Mira said that the company doctor changed her prescription. "Yes", Mother said. "They did so to make you more complacent, so that when the time comes, they will take you away like they have done to so many others and you will be powerless to resist. Yes, you too are targeted by the Wyrm to become one of its minions." Mother continued, saying that Pentex acquired Sunburst Enterprises only recently and that they do not know that Tony (who was already working there) is a werewolf. Tony, in fear of his life, wanted to quit, but Mother refused to let him, saying that after years of only beating away at top soil, they now have a chance at dealing a heavy blow and damaging Pentex at the very roots. "But Tony is scared and doesn't want to do this alone." Mother explained. "That's where you come in." Mira's immediate thoughts was that this was all way above her head, but Mira assured her that all of this was foretold. Mira was then specifically told to not repeat any of this to anyone. Mother also explained about the Rite of Passage and that Mira will undergo it if she finds her totem spirit. Mother promised to teach Mira more, but it was getting late and Mira departed Mother's presence but not before being warned again about the need for secrecy. "As far as they know," Mother said, "you haven't undergone the change. They hope to recruit you and make you one of them. Our plan is to let them and hopefully you can lead us to the and perhaps rescue the other Garou that were captured against their wills."