Chapter Text
The dark elevator rumbles quietly as it slowly plummets downwards past what seems like endless floors of nothingness. Sublevel 3 was a storage warehouse. So was 4. And 5. No surprise that 6 was as well. 7 was some sort of garden room, which was a nice surprise. Then 8 rolled in with another giant cement space stacked high with supplies reserved to brutalising creatures of so-called myth. By the time she reaches sublevel 10 Beth Chapel is seriously reconsidering this job offer.
As she exits the elevator and two heavily armed agents enter, she has to give herself a friendly reminder that she’s not been hired to do any of that. She’s not a field agent, she’s a researcher, and this is what she’s studied her whole life to become. Right. It’s just that, being a researcher at a super secret government organisation in Colorado means abandoning her life in small town Nebraska to chase a dream that may well get her killed.
The more she thinks about it the more this seems like a super bad, just the worst, very terrible idea.
Taking a deep breath Beth tucks her worries into the back of her brain and begins to attempt to navigate the floor she’s been designated to. Sublevel 10 seems to be exactly what she expected. There are various rooms that hold massive creatures, thrashing and roaring as scientists peer at them from glass windows and take notes. There are a few offices scattered about, and at the end of the hall, Beth finds her solace. A massive library, home to all sorts of ancient texts and informative field guides on how to handle creatures from the smallest goblin to the horrific frog monsters that seem to be plaguing everyone as of late. Away from all the noise and ruckus of the rest of the B.P.R.D., Beth is finally starting to feel like maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
After a few hours of rummaging through the seemingly endless library and researching her particular case regarding a farm in eastern Oregon, which is losing livestock every night due to giant bats, Beth stumbles upon an old and ragged looking pamphlet. It’s hidden between the pages of a book on the logistics of creatures that feast on blood, and it seems positively ancient. The faded front reads Everything a new recruit needs to know and well, being a new recruit, Beth feels this pamphlet will give her facts she needs to know. Flipping open the pamphlet Beth finds a grainy photo of a spectacled man beside a small demonic creature, paired with the words WELCOME TO THE BUREAU OF PARANORMAL RESEARCH AND DEFENCE! In blocky letters.
The following blurb details how proud she should be to be a member of the leading investigators into the paranormal, and the only sanctioned government agency to look into the matter. It then goes into the bare basics of what each floor is, what each warehouse holds, and how apparently, there’s actually an old woman on sublevel 7 that takes care of some of the more docile creatures. Sublevel 10 is the main research floor but also apparently holds several meeting rooms, and sublevel 1 was the medbay. The rest was mostly basic information Beth already knew; how to tell hostile vs. docile, what weapons are effective against different beasts, and the range of the B.P.R.D.’s jurisdiction (Which was basically anywhere really, there’s a severe lack of agents trained to deal with the paranormal in the world).
Somewhere into the small end paragraph about safety measures Beth is startled by an amused huff. She lifts her head to find herself facing an agent. He’s the first person she’s seen in the library other than herself and it takes her a moment to register that he’s another human being and not a giant vampiric creature of the night from one of the books.
“Where’d you find that?” the agent asks, gesturing to the pamphlet in Beth’s hands.
“Oh! In one of the books. Someone must’ve left it in the pages.” Beth explains quickly, and the agent nods sagely as if he knows something Beth doesn’t, which irritates her mildly.
“You do know those pamphlets went out of print in like, 1985 right? The floorplan is entirely wrong. We moved from Connecticut to Colorado to cut costs last year.” He has a smug look on his face as he crosses his arms and takes another glance at the pamphlet.
“I… oh. Well it’s still good to be informed.” Beth retorts with an indignant huff, trying her best to square her shoulders to match his stance.
The other agent just shrugs and wanders into the stacks, without another word, which Beth thinks is more than a little rude. But, she reasons, he probably didn’t come here to conversate. Instead of worrying about the strange interaction anymore, she returns to skimming books, sliding the old pamphlet back into the pages where it had previously rested with a sigh. She still has a long day ahead of her.
The next time the mystery agent shows up in the library it’s a week later. Beth’s research and proceeding gameplan on how to deal with the bat creatures had been a resounding success. She’s now knee deep in a case of a penanggalan in Peru, which is odd in its own right because those are usually native to Malaysia. This has led Beth to believe a penanggalan might not be the real culprit at all. She’s searching a shelf for books on recent sightings of chupacabra in Peru to see if they fit the bill, when she hears an obnoxiously loud crash a few rows away.
Hopping down from her ladder, Beth navigates her way through the rows of shelves only to find the same agent from before sat on the floor amongst a pile of scattered books. He grumbles to himself before he starts slowly scooping up the fallen volumes, his back to Beth. She watches him amusedly for just a moment before she speaks.
“Are you alright?”
The agent startles at her voice, scrambling to his feet in surprise.
“Do you like, live here or something? Jesus.” He huffs, running a hand through his hair.
“I work here. I live in an apartment in town.” Beth explains, with only a little too much sarcasm.
“So what, are you the librarian or something?” The other agent asks, entirely ignoring her tone.
“No, just a researcher. I make all the plans and try to make sure the agents are safe, you know? Aren’t you a researcher as well?”
“What? No, no. I’m a field agent. I just come down here to read… some specific books.” He says with a shake of his head, gesturing the the books still scattered around his feet.
“Specific books?”
“My dad worked here before me. Wrote a few books about the job is all.”
“Oh! Who’s your dad, do you think I’ve heard of him?”
The agent ducks his head awkwardly, and Beth thinks it’s the first time she’s seen him exhibit any emotion other than ‘grumpy’.
“He’s uh, Rex Tyler.” He murmurs quietly and Beth feels her jaw drop.
“Rex Tyler as in the chemistry genius Rex Tyler? As in entirely rewrote the way we do safe capture and transport of creatures Rex Tyler? He made the-”
“Perfect anaesthetic formula yeah yeah yeah, I’ve heard it a million times over.”
Back to grumpy then.
“So that makes you Rick Tyler, right? He credited you in a few of his works. I read a few back in college, they’re crazy complicated but really informative.” Beth tries to keep the excitement out of her voice but she can’t help it. Rick’s father is a legend in B.P.R.D. history.
"Thanks, I guess?"
"Do you think I could meet him?"
Rick's gaze flickers to the floor for a moment and he seems almost… sad. Beth immediately tries to cover for herself, worried that she's said something wrong.
"Or I mean, I don't, I don't mean to seem rude! It's just that he's so brilliant that I'd just love to talk to him. I understand he's probably very busy so if he doesn't have time I'd totally get it."
Rick forces a solemn chuckle as he shakes his head, still staring at the floor refusing to make eye contact.
"You can't meet him. He and my mom died in a job when I was ten, so. Uh. Yeah."
Beth feels the air leave her lungs as she stares at Rick. He suddenly seems so much more vulnerable, a single book clutched to his chest, the golden letters of his fathers name printed on the title shining through the gaps between his fingers.
"Oh, my… I'm so sorry. Genuinely. I mean I didn't know him, but from what I read he really was a brilliant man. I had no idea…"
Rick just shrugs halfheartedly, bending over to continue picking up books.
"It's fine. It was years ago, doesn't affect me as much as it used to."
"Rick, that doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt. I mean, they were your parents."
Rick looks up at that, a flicker of confusion on his face for just a moment.
"That was so weird."
"What?"
"Hearing my actual name at work. Usually people just call me Agent Tyler, or the likes. I don't think anyone in this building has ever even considered calling me by my first name. I'd probably punch them if they did honestly."
"I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it-"
"No, no it's okay. You didn't know, you're new here. You are new here right? I mean I came to the library a lot before and never saw anyone else here, so I'm assuming you're new."
"Yes! Yes, I'm new, I just came in last week. I’m the newest on the research team, Beth Chapel.”
Now it’s time for Rick’s jaw to drop, eyes wide.
“You’re the one who planned the attack on the bats!? I’ve been a field agent since I was 18 and never have I had a plan run so smoothly. Usually we just vaguely take notes on the plan and do our own thing but your plan was actually good! It actually madesense!”
Beth stumbles over her words, completely and utterly speechless.
“Are you… You’re serious?”
“Yes I’m serious. I’d say I spend about ninety-nine percent of my life being serious, you’ll learn that pretty quick. But the idea to trap the bats in the old barn and then burn it down? Brilliant! It completely negated the possibility of any injury or vampiric curses while also attending to the bats natural weakness to fire. It was perfect.”
Beth feels herself swell with pride at that, grinning as she walks over to pick up a fallen book and hand it to Rick.
“Well I’m glad it worked so well, Agent Tyler. Now, do you need help cleaning up these books or can I get back to researching for my next flawless plan?”
Rick wrinkles his nose and shakes his head softly, which Beth thinks is only a little cute, something she tucks away into the back of her brain to evaluate later.
“I revoke my previous statement.” Rick admits, beginning to scoop up a few books with his free hand. “Hearing you call me Agent Tyler is way weirder than hearing you call me Rick. You’re officially the only person in this place that gets first name privileges.”
“What an honour.” Beth dramatically puts a hand on her heart, and Rick laughs. It’s a sound Beth thinks she could get used to hearing around the library.
After they manage to get Rick’s dad's books properly stacked and on a cart, Rick decides to stay for a while. He drags another armchair up beside Beth’s usual seat and watches over her shoulder as she types up plans, flips through books, and scans online articles. When she explains the case to him he shakes his head and points to a line on the page, his brow furrowed.
“Not only are penanggalaans rare outside of southeast Asia, but they also feast exclusively on blood. I fought one once, nasty thing, but it never once fully ate anyone. This is reports of cannibalism, which implies something carnivorous. Judging by the description I’m not thinking it’s a chupacabra, I’m thinking it’s probably a pishtaco.”
Beth facepalms so quickly it makes Rick jump a few feet out of his chair.
“How could I have missed it! You’re entirely right, I thought there was something off with the descriptions all being humanoid… I need to get some more books, I’ll be right back.” Beth gets up to leave and Rick starts to stand as well, tapping his thumbs together awkwardly.
“I could help, if you want? I know this library pretty well and y’know, two are better than one or whatever they say…”
“Yes! Of course, any help is appreciated.” Beth says with a warm smile and Rick gives her a nod before they both split up into the library to go find the necessary sources. It seems as though, one week into the job, Beth has found herself a research partner.