[August, 2022]
"Still, though, capturing a ghoul is no easy feat. You should be proud of yourself." Ayako said in between bites of her lunch.
"Was it really that big of a deal, though?" Cyrus asked the 'water magic' user. "Now that I think about it, the thing wasn't really all that powerful."
"That's because you got to it early. Trust me, if that thing managed to roam around for a full day, then it would've been a disaster."
At the moment, Cyrus and Ayako were both sitting outside a local deli while enjoying their lunch break. Basking in the open air while chowing down on a couple of sandwiches and ice-cold drinks. A few days had passed since the ghoul incident, and it was safe to say that Cyrus and the other three sorcerers whom he was with at the time were the talk of the station. Which was something that the young 'tree magic' user wasn't expecting.
Over the last few days, people whom he had only seen or spoken to in passing were now coming up to him at random times to ask him about the experience. Even some of the older agents who never got the chance to see that kind of cryptid for themselves.
Although it was a bit overwhelming at first, Cyrus quickly got used to all of the newfound attention and was now just taking it all in stride. Luckily for him, most of the excitement died down after the first couple of days. However, he would be lying if he said that he didn't at least somewhat enjoy having his skills acknowledged by his peers.
"I'm just glad that no one got hurt." The young man then said. "It got kind of scary there for a second. But we all made it out just fine in the end."
"I guess it's a good thing that you were partnered up with Freddy and those other two. I don't know anything about that rookie on Sebastian's team, but I do know that Chief Chandler's niece is some kind of physical freak of nature."
"You got that right. McKenna spent most of the time fighting the ghoul hand-to-hand. If I didn't know how strong she was, I would've thought that she had some kind of death wish."
"Can't argue with you there."
The two spent the next few minutes in comfortable silence while they finished their meals. Once they were done, they took the opportunity to take their sweet time getting back to the station. The duo had already dispatched a C-rank cryptid that was causing trouble in the next city over. So with their newfound free time, Ayako saw fit to add a bit of goofing off to their schedule before heading back to work.
"Do you mind if we make a quick stop?" Cyrus asked his partner as the two made their way to the car.
"To where?"
"My mom's shop isn't too far away from here. She was complaining that we hadn't seen each other in a while. And since we're already close by, I thought we might as well pay her a visit."
"Sure." Ayako shrugged. "I don't see why not."
"Thanks."
-(o)-
About twenty minutes after leaving the deli, the duo found themselves standing in front of "Cynthia's World of Flowers", the shop that the 'tree magic' user's mother owned. It was a rather nice-looking place from what Ayako could tell. A large, white brick building with an array of what looked to be exotic plants decorating the walls outside the entrance. Exactly the kind of place you would expect to sell expensive and decorative plant life all year round.
Ayako still found it hilarious that Cyrus's family owned a place like this, especially when it came to the kind of magic that he had. It was almost like the universe was playing some sort of cosmic joke on her young partner. But she guessed that the only way it could've been funnier is if they had a Christmas tree business or something like that. Still, though, the place was nice to look at, and the owner obviously knew how to advertise.
When they finally entered the building, the woman was met with a sight similar to the one outside. Except on the interior of the building, there was a multitude of even more extravagant-looking flowers lining the walls around the main lobby. Some of which she had never even seen before. As for Cyrus, his reaction was a lot more subdued. Which makes sense, considering he spent a significant amount of time inside these walls over the years.
"Welcome to Cynthia's World of Flowers! How may we help yo- oh, Cyrus!" A female voice caught the duo's attention.
The two agents looked to their right, where the presumed owner was coming out to the main lobby from the door behind the counter. And from the entrance emerged an average-sized woman who looked to be in her mid-forties.
She had pale skin, silky red hair that was wrapped in a neat bun near the top of her head, emerald green eyes the same color as her son's, and a series of light brown freckles scattered across her cheeks. The woman was wearing a simple white button-up shirt with a long red skirt that came down to her ankles and a pair of black flats on her feet. However, the most notable feature about her appearance, in Ayako's opinion, was the not-so-small blue rose tattoo that framed the left side of her face. One that went all the way down to the lower part of her ear.
"Hey, Mom!" Cyrus greeted the woman with a lazy wave. "How's it going?"
"Pretty good." The woman replied while giving the man a warm smile. "I just got done with a wedding arrangement, so now I'm just waiting on the buyer to show up and take it off my hands."
"Cool."
The woman then turned her attention towards Ayako. "And I'm assuming that you must be my son's partner. Ayako Watanabe, if I remember correctly?"
"Yes, ma'am, that's me!" Ayako smiled back. No point in not being a little bit extra polite to her partner's mother. "It's nice to finally meet you!"
"Likewise." The woman then walked around the counter to shake the 'water magic' user's hand. "Thanks for helping my son out with all this magic stuff. I'm sure that you've been a big help to him ever since he got his powers."
You could almost hear the record scratch in Ayako's head after hearing those words. Whatever she thought the woman was about to say, that was certainly not on the list. The senior agent then turned towards her partner and gave him a quizzical look, to which the young man just shrugged.
"What?" The young man asked.
"You told your parents that you were a sorcerer?"
"Was I not supposed to?"
"No, it's not that. It's just...most first-gens usually keep it a secret."
"Really?"
"I'll admit that my son having superpowers threw me for quite a loop when he told us." Cynthia then added. "At first, I thought that the car accident made him suddenly go crazy. And let me tell you, I almost lost my mind when my husband and I watched him make a tree in the palm of his hand right in front of us. But, after he explained everything he knew to us, I got over it."
"Wow...." Was all that Ayako could say in response. Granted, since she came from a family of sorcerers, she never had to deal with explaining the world of magic and cryptids to any of her relatives. But the fact that the freckle-faced woman was so cool about it was definitely a surprise.
"I still think Dad's reaction was kind of disappointing." Cyrus said with a laugh. "All he did was say 'That's interesting.' before going back to reading his book."
"Well, you know how your father is."
"True."
The three spent the next few minutes chit-chatting and catching up. It had been a few weeks since the young 'tree magic' user had seen either of his parents face-to-face, so Cynthia was curious about all that he had been up to in that time. Of course, she was more than a bit worried after hearing about the whole ghoul situation a few days ago, but Cyrus was quick to reassure her that he was perfectly fine.
After about ten minutes of talking, Cynthia seemed to remember something important before dashing off to the back of the shop. She then reappeared about a minute later, holding a medium-sized cardboard box in her hands and handing it over to Cyrus.
"What's this?" The young man asked with genuine curiosity.
"Seeds for some sequoioideae trees." The woman replied. "Since you need them to use your powers, I thought it would be a good idea for you to have some. There are a few hundred in there, so that should be enough to last a while. I'll admit, it was a pain in the ass to get this many this time of year."
"Seriously? Thanks, Mom! I appreciate it!"
"What kind of tree?" Ayako, who had no clue what the hell the woman just said, asked for clarification.
"Redwoods." Cyrus quickly told her. "You know those giant trees in California that you see all over parks? They're some of the strongest and most durable that you can find in North America. And they're way tougher than the oak trees that I usually use."
One could almost see the gears turning in Cyrus's head regarding how he was going to use these. He was planning on experimenting with more variations of trees now that he had better control over his magic, and now he had a bunch of new seeds to play around with. He knew that his magic further enhanced the native properties of whatever trees he was using. So, he was more than interested in seeing what he could do with these.
"Cool..."
"Anyways..." The young man then said. "We were just dropping by to say hello. We have to get back before our boss realizes that we're slacking off. Sorry for just dropping in on you out of the blue like this."
"No worries." Cynthia nodded in understanding. "I was just about to start watering all the flowers here in the lobby when you showed up."
"Oh, I can help with that!" Ayako clapped her hands together.
"You can?"
"Sure."
Without so much as a word, the 'water magic' user raised her right hand into the air. Cyrus and Cynthia then watched as a large ball of water materialized into existence right above them. The magical creation spun around a few times before Ayako used her powers to disperse all of the magically enhanced water across the lobby of the shop in a way that evenly covered all of the plants that were out on display. In a few seconds flat, all of the flowers were watered, and the soil surrounding them was evenly saturated.
"Yup...still can't get used to stuff like that...." Cynthia held back her amazement at what she had just witnessed. "Thank you, Ms. Watanabe! You just saved me thirty minutes of having to do all of that myself."
"No problem, ma'am!"
"Anyways, I'll see you later, Mom. Have a good one!"
"Be safe out there." Was all that the freckled-faced woman said before the two agents left the building.
With that, Cyrus and Ayako made their way back to the station. Hoping that the rest of their day would be filled with nothing but rest and relaxation before being able to clock out and head home.
-(o)-
*Thud!*
Was the sound of Maria's back hitting the floor for the fourth time in the last two minutes. The raven-haired teen doesn't know how she ended up lucky enough to be Skylar Murphy's sparring partner for their squad's hand-to-hand combat training. But right now, she was wondering how exactly she was going to make it through the rest of the afternoon without receiving any more potential bruises.
"You okay, rookie?" Skylar extended his hand to help the young woman up.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Maria replied while accepting the kind gesture. Pretending not to still be reeling from the previous take-down.
"And here I thought your run-in with that ghoul would've made your fighting skills better!" Sebastian laughed while he took a break on the sidelines.
"I guess not." The raven-haired teen answered.
"C'mon, Conley, lay off the girl." Skylar said with a bit of a chuckle. "She's barely been with us for half a year. It's not like that's enough time to turn anyone into an elite fighter."
"True, true...."
'She has a point, but still....' Maria thought to herself.
The young woman was more than self-aware enough to know that her lack of physical prowess was an issue that she needed to work on going forward. And she was actually trying to improve on that front whenever she got the chance. Well, whenever she had time in between work and her gaming sessions. But there was only so much that she could do on her own.
Watching that McKenna girl fight a ghoul barehanded only reinforced the idea that she was seriously lacking in experience. And experience was what she was going to need whenever she finally tracked down the one who killed her father.
Ever since Maria had gotten that file from her Vice Captain, the woman had been doing some research into the illustrious group known as the Inquisitors. Obviously, there wasn't a lot of info on them outside of the chat rooms and blog posts that sorcerers posted online. But from what she could gather, she knew that their kind were all freak athletes, even by sorcerer standards. On top of that, plenty of them had the skills and tech to go toe-to-toe with someone like her and come out victorious.
It was only a matter of time before she confronted one of them in person, and Maria was not about to let her chance at getting revenge slip from her hands just because she wasn't skilled enough to handle herself in a fight.
"Anywhos..." Sebastian then brought the woman out of her thoughts. "We're stuck here for the next half an hour. So let's try and get our rookie here up to fighting form. After all, the only way to get better at subduing a criminal is hands-on practice."
"Fine." Maria said as she got back into her fighting stance. "I'm ready."
-(o)-
It was times like these that left Zoe Chandler truly annoyed.
Sure, the woman knew that special requests like this were not exactly uncommon. But usually, only the agents in places like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. had to deal with stuff like this. Hell, the only time she ever had ever to deal with them was when her Deputy Chief was sent out on some ghost mission by the Commissioner.
Stuff like that was to be expected. But this, this was just ridiculous. Seriously, did they really expect her to be okay with sending four of her youngest agents out for an entire week with only a few days' notice?
"You wanted to see us, Chief?" Valerie asked the woman with a voice of genuine curiosity.
At the moment, the four young sorcerers who handled the ghoul situation were all gathered in the Chief's office after being told by their superiors to come see her. And they were all patiently waiting to hear what the woman had to say.
"Apparently..." Chief Chandler began after a heavy sigh. "The four of you have been requested to pull bodyguard duty for a couple of VIPs next week."
"Really?" Cyrus tilted his head in confusion. He didn't even know that the DPA did stuff like that.
"Yes."
"For who?" Freddy followed up.
"Evan and Elizabeth MacNamara. The son and daughter of the DPA Commissioner."
"Oh, I've heard of them before!" Valerie then said. "Uncle Lucas mentioned them a couple of times. I think the son is some kind of super-genius hacker or programmer or whatever."
'I guess they must be younger siblings of that singer that Mom always listens to.' Maria thought to herself.
Everyone and their grandma knew who Elaine MacNamara was. The woman was always in the headlines for winning a Grammy or playing a role in some new movie. As well as being the daughter of the current head of the DPA. This was actually the first time the 'beast magic' user had heard of her having any siblings, though.
"Aside from my husband, Evan is probably the smartest person that I've ever met. The guy graduated from college when he was fifteen and has been scouted by a lot of big tech companies over the last couple of years. But he's chosen not to work for any of them for some reason. And Elizabeth is an up-and-coming fashion designer. I hear that she's gotten a lot of attention ever since her sister started exclusively wearing her work during her performances. The two of them and Elaine are all that Eugene used to talk about before moving to DPA Headquarters."
"Neat." Freddy nodded with an impressed look on his face.
'Great...so a couple of crazy-talented and no doubt spoiled rich kids....' Maria couldn't help but think to herself.
The woman never got along with people like that, ever. Kids who grew up with a silver spoon in their mouths always had an ego and thought that they were God's gift to the world. And to make it even more annoying, people like that always seemed to have perfect lives for some reason.
Maria knew that jealousy wasn't a pretty thing, but it was hard not to feel that way when you consider what she had to go through growing up. Their family wasn't exactly well-off after leaving Mexico and moving to the U.S.. And just when things were getting good, her father was killed. Which caused her and her mother to grow up barely above the poverty line until she was able to land this job. So, hearing about two rich kids who apparently had fantastic upbringings made her feel a type of way.
"So what exactly does 'bodyguard duty' entail?" Cyrus then asked the brunette woman. "Are we just going to be watching over them just in case? Or is there some kind of threat that we need to watch out for?"
"The former." The Chief replied. "It goes without saying that the children of the DPA Commissioner are some pretty high-value targets for anyone looking to cause some chaos. But luckily for you guys, there aren't any malicious actors stalking them that we know about. You'll pretty much be there just to keep lookout in the event that someone tries to attack them, but that shouldn't happen. Apparently, Evan is going to some work function that's taking place at the beach, and their father just wanted them to have some extra protection."
"Sounds like a nice and easy job to me!" Freddy grinned. He was definitely looking forward to something like that.
"And since this is a last-minute arrangement, the twins offered to cover the cost of your hotel rooms. So, on top of having to follow the two of them around for a few days, you get to spend your downtime in some nice accommodations."
"This almost sounds too good to be true." Cyrus added. "So what's the catch?"
"Yeah...." Valerie then spoke up. "There's got to be a downside to this whole deal."
Chief Chandler contemplated whether or not she should tell the group this next part. Especially since most of what she was about to say was unconfirmed information. But, in her opinion, it was better for them to be as prepared as possible just in case. Especially since she also received some special instructions from her boss regarding the matter.
"Although I can't confirm any of this...the twins have a bit of a reputation for their less-than-ideal personalities."
"This ought to be good." Maria finally spoke up for the first time during this conversation.
"You didn't hear this from me, but Evan has gained a bit of notoriety for being a total party boy. He was living in Miami up until last year, and I hear that he likes to get wild and crazy whenever possible. As for Elizabeth, she's known for being a bit stuck-up and rude. And I know for a fact that she has a real talent for rubbing people the wrong way for no real reason at all. Granted, they weren't like that the last time I ran into them, but that was a few years ago."
'Just like I thought.' The 'beast magic' user internally groaned.
"Aside from the normal stuff you'd expect from this kind of gig, the Commissioner would greatly appreciate it if you guys could try and keep the two of them from doing something stupid. It would be bad if they were caught on camera acting like fools."
"So...basically we're just babysitting?" Freddy scowled.
"I won't exactly argue with you on that. But look at it this way..." The Chief then sent a quick glance towards her niece. "If you four manage to get on the twins' good side during this job, that kind of relationship will do wonders for your careers as agents moving forward."
'That's a good point!' Valerie thought as the gears began turning in her head. This was actually a great opportunity for her. If she managed to impress Commissioner MacNamara's kids during this job, they might put in a good word for her to their father. Or better yet, she could somehow get an awesome new assignment out of this.
Their sister currently has a few agents as bodyguards, and they all get to travel the world with her whenever she's on tour. And an assignment like that not only comes with a sweet pay raise, but it's the kind that could give her a lot of visibility and chances to prove herself as a capable agent with a lot of potential.
This just might be the lucky break that Valerie was looking for. A chance for her to fast-track her way into becoming a top agent, or even better.
A few seconds ago, the tall blonde wasn't all too thrilled about doing this gig, but now she was more than motivated to make sure that she gave it her all. Killing cryptids may have been what she was best at, but buttering up the son and daughter of the person whose job she was trying to take was exactly what she needed.
Cyrus's voice suddenly brought Valerie out of her growing machinations. "So, when do we start this gig?"
"Sunday afternoon at around one o'clock." The Chief replied. "The four of you are going to be meeting the twins at their house. And then from there, you're all going straight to the hotel. If any of you have something planned for next week, I suggest you tell me now."
The four teenagers looked around to see if there were any objections, but apparently none of them had any pressing matters coming in the next few days that would've caused them to miss out on this week-long excursion. Which actually might have been a good thing. Although this was technically a work trip, none of them really wanted to miss the chance to have a bit of fun at the beach. Especially since they all knew that they were going to get paid extra for their trouble, as was the standard for times when agents had to go out of town for an extended period of time.
'Can't exactly turn down free money, can I?' Maria thought. 'I told my mom that I'd help cover some of her bills this month.'
"Excellent!" The Chief then stood up from her desk. "I'll let Eugene know that all of you are on board and are ready to go. And since I know that all of you are going to try and find a chance to goof off whenever you're not actually working, do me a favor and try to make our station look good. My performance review is coming up next month and I really don't need you guys fucking up and making me look bad."
"Yes, ma'am!" The four junior agents said in unison.
And with that, the meeting was adjourned. The group wasted no time getting back to their regular duties and began making the necessary preparations for their trip. Although it was still a few days away, they all wanted to make sure that everything was good to go for when it came time to leave.
-(o)-
Info Card: MacNamara Family
One of the nine families that serves as a major faction in American sorcerer society. Although they are much smaller compared to most of the other major families, the MacNamaras are the wealthiest by a large margin. Along with being the most famous outside of sorcerer society.
Aside from their powerful 'wind magic', the MacNamaras are also known for being pioneers and the world's foremost experts in the mystical art of enchanting. All members of this family are taught the skill around the time they awaken their powers and train rigorously in it until they can be considered experts.
In addition, members of this family are known for being remarkably talented in many different fields of expertise. So much so that most of their individual members have net worths well within the millions.
Notable Members: Ezekiel MacNamara (Family Head), Eugene MacNamara, Elaine MacNamara, Ethan MacNamara, Elijah Owens-MacNamara
Fun Fact: Currently, Ezekiel MacNamara is listed as the third wealthiest person in the United States of America with a net worth of over $192 billion. However, this figure is known to be inaccurate as of 2022.