EPF Operative Castle

[REWORKING WIP]

Castle's strength of character and physical fitness meant she did exceptionally well when she joined the military right out of highschool-- very much against her father's wishes. She climbed ranks quickly, enough that it began catching the attention of some important people. Among these were recruiters for EPF, and these were the ones that ultimately got to her first. And even after joining EPF, she continued to climb ranks, eventually catching the attention of Agent Bishop, himself. Throughout the history of EPF, a handful of truly exceptional soldiers have received training from Bishop. He's a busy man, so it's only reserved for those who have already shown to be highly above average. Cardinal Castle became one of those few.

Only a handful of years in as part of EPF, and Castle found herself in charge of her own squad. Her true test would be mere months later, when the Triceraton invasion took the entirety of the world off-guard. Castle led her team in a gambit to rescue civilians that were being herded onto Triceraton ships. When one began taking off sooner than anticipated, she threw herself aboard and just managed to avoid being detected. It seemed the Triceratons did not account for humans being unable to handle their atmosphere, because Castle's helmet just barely kept her breathing enough. The civilians, when she found them, were not so lucky. Stuck on a ship, short on breath and having failed to save anyone, she was determined to make it back, but despairing.

That was when she found him, a civilian in a suit who was clearly having trouble thinking straight in the unforgiving atmosphere. That was the extra push she needed, and she dragged him along determined more than anything to save them both. They were found, and a long fight to make it out began-- turned out, Mr Civilian could fight decently well, and took a punch like a champ. As they traded turns saving each other, she found herself getting attached. Then, amidst a nasty confrontation with a very strong Triceraton, she realized why he wasn't going down so easily: he was an alien disguised as a human! If her life didn't depend on the alien's help, she'd have killed them right then and there. They fought on, regardless.

Something about surviving against desperate odds alongside someone makes it hard to see them as an enemy, though. By the time they made it to safety on solid ground, Castle couldn't help but see the alien as an ally, and a good fighter, at that. She knew she had pull in EPF, and she had a crazy idea. She submitted the alien to EPF custody as was protocol, but then immediately began work to convince Bishop to let her take them on as a member of her squad. It took months and months of hard work, and the promise that if this backfired she would be ruining her career and possibly serving time, but she managed to pull it off.

Since then the alien, Ritter, has been a loyal member of her squad for years. They're an invaluable asset, and also a close friend of hers. She taught them everything she knows about fighting, and everything they asked about human culture. She still hates aliens, but this one is hers. It's honestly easy to forget, sometimes, that Ritter's not human. Following the events of Turtles Forever, a renewed focus was put on protecting their earth from interdimensional threats, and Castle was put in charge of that branch.