[September, 2022]
"Alright...and...done!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she stood up from her stool. "Go check it out in the mirror."
Evan did as he was told and walked in front of the large, full-length mirror that was positioned on the other side of his sister's "design studio". The 'wind magic' user took a second to check himself out as he inspected his new tuxedo. After several long looks and a few half-twirls, the young man gave his sister a satisfied smile.
"Perfect!" He said with a bright smile and a thumbs-up.
"Of course it is." Elizabeth countered with a roll of her eyes. "I am the one who made it after all."
Evan whispered under his breath. "And people think I'm the obnoxious one."
"What was that?"
"Don't worry about it."
The MacNamara twins were putting the finishing touches on the outfits that they were going to wear to the fundraiser. Even though neither of the two wanted to be there, they had to make sure that they made a good impression on those who would be in attendance. And that impression was going to start with how well they presented themselves to others. Their family had a reputation to maintain after all.
Luckily, the twins had been to their fair share of formal events and parties like this in the past. So, they had more than enough experience when it came to navigating through this kind of scenario. That being said, Evan and Elizabeth were still expecting their mother to burst through the door and try to get them sorted out at any moment.
"So, how do I look?" Elizabeth then asked her brother, while giving him a full view of the dress she had created for the event.
"Um...aren't we a little bit too old to be matching?" The 'wind magic' user said with an unimpressed glare.
Elizabeth's dress was a turquoise empire gown with short sleeves and a skirt that came all the way down to her ankles. The look was completed with a jet-black belt made from onyx and matching shoes. The 'earth magic' user's attire matched perfectly with her brother's suit, which was a black tuxedo with a turquoise collar and bowtie, accompanied by a white shirt. Combined, the two ensembles together were meant to look like two halves of the same set.
"It was the only fabric that I had left to work with. And if you want to be upset, blame yourself. If you hadn't put on so much weight over the last year, I wouldn't have had to improvise like that."
"Still though, this isn't really my color."
"Well, deal with it."
Even rolled his eyes and was getting ready to give the woman a sarcastic comeback, but he was stopped by the sound of his and Elizabeth's phones going off at the same time.
-(o)-
Crow: I feel like we should've asked this before, but when do you two want us to come by and pick you up?
Dumbbell: Oh man, that completely slipped my mind.
Dumbbell: My bad.
Computer Chip: Around 7:30 pm should be good. That'll give us enough time to be there by 8:30 pm.
Tree: Doesn't the fundraiser start a 8:00 pm?
Spool: Yes...
Spool: But we're showing up late on purpose.
Snake: Why?
Spool: Typically, at events like these, you're supposed to be "fashionably late".
Dumbbell: Why?
Computer Chip: No clue.
Computer Chip: It's just something we always did. I guess it's to make an entrance or something.
Crow: Whatever you say.
Spool: Anyways, we'll be ready by 7:30 pm.
Tree: Cool
Dumbbell: See you guys on Friday!
Computer Chip: Can't wait!
-(o)-
"You know that Valerie girl has the hots for you, right?" Elizabeth said to her brother immediately after putting her phone down on her desk.
Surprisingly, Evan wasn't expecting the young woman to say something like that without warning. Although his sister tried to downplay her bluntness in the presence of others, she always turned it up a notch when around family.
"You think so?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh, please...it's obvious as hell. And I know that you already know too, so stop playing dumb."
A slight bit of redness appeared on Evan's cheeks as he nervously scratched his face. "Okay, I noticed. So what?"
At the risk of bringing up old wounds that neither one of them really wanted to talk about, Elizabeth felt that it was her responsibility to remind her brother of past mistakes. Mistakes that Evan wasn't likely to forget about anytime soon. It was honestly kind of annoying in her opinion. Her brother was a certified genius who managed to accomplish way more than her in their short, nineteen years of life, but still somehow managed to act irresponsibly at the most ridiculous of times. And those times always involved a pretty girl for some reason.
"I just want to make sure that you don't try anything dumb while we're at this party. Because we both know how you get when some pretty blonde bitch is within arm's reach of you."
"Oh my god!" Evan threw his hands up in frustration. "I get it! Jesus fucking Christ, how long are you going to hold that shit over me?! Seriously, I don't need you, Elaine, and Dad reminding me of my mistakes every thirty minutes. I'm not that kind of person anymore!"
"Okay, okay..." Elizabeth threw her hand up defensively. "My bad."
Evan, however, was not about to let that comment go without some pushback. "Besides, don't even stand there and pretend that you weren't eyeballing Cyrus the whole time we were at the beach!"
Now it was Elizabeth's turn to blush. "W-what? No, I wasn't!"
"Yeah right! I even saw you snap a picture of him in his swimsuit when you thought no one was looking. Actually, you took a few photos of him trying while you were trying to be slick."
"That is...not true!"
"Oh yeah? Then let me see your phone!"
"Hell no!"
"What, did you share them with those loser friends of yours from school? Or...do you rub one out to his pictures before bed like the creepy little stalker that you pretend not to be?"
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"
Suddenly, the danger level in the room spiked when various pieces of decorative rocks and stone statues that Elizabeth had lying around began to float in the air. Despite this obviously threatening posture, Evan was feeling confident enough to keep prodding.
"I'm honestly kind of surprised. I didn't think he was your type! Usually, you only go creeping after losers with no future and a criminal record. I mean, those are the only guys that give you any sort of attention. But I guess you're trying to switch it up this time around, huh? Especially after that whole mess with Lewis. Tell me, is it the freckles that do it for you or what?"
The floating rocks then suddenly formed a spinning ring that circled Elizabeth's body.
"I don't want to hear that shit from a know-it-all who can't control himself around the nearest bitch with a pretty face and big ass! And isn't that Valerie girl a little too buff for you? I guess you're also switching it up, huh?"
"Oh, you really want to fight me, huh?" Evan smiled as a ball of wind the size of a basketball formed in the palm of his hand. "Fine, let's do it!"
The mana waves that the two were pushing out began to resonate across the house. If any sorcerers were present, then they would've felt it from all the way down the street. Even then, the power that the twins were emanating began to shake all of the objects in the room, forcing several rolls of fabric and sewing equipment to fall on the ground.
The two stared at each other for a good fifteen seconds before they relented and powered down. The last thing either of them wanted to do was ruin their clothes before the day of the fundraiser. Besides, a fight between them, no matter how big or small, would no doubt end up destroying the entire house. So it was best to simply let cooler minds prevail...for now.
"Take off my suit and get out of my studio!" A now very annoyed Elizabeth told her brother while pointing at the door.
"You don't get to tell me what to do!" Evan replied while flipping the woman off.
"Yes, I do, I'm older than you!"
"Is that supposed to mean something?"
The two continued to bicker for the better part of five minutes before finally parting ways. Thankfully, this time around, an argument between the two didn't result in something being broken or torn apart. Needless to say, the MacNamara twins didn't speak to each other for the rest of the day.
-(o)-
"Alright, alright, everyone settle down!" Chief Chandler announced upon entering the room.
In the main conference room of Station Nine, forty agents were gathered and waiting for their boss to begin the meeting. Among them were Cyrus, Valerie, Maria, and Freddy, who were all sitting towards the back of the room near the window. As well as some of the more experienced agents, such as Ayako, Skylar, Sebastian, and Robin.
"First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for actually being here on time, because God knows that's a difficult task for some of you." The brunette woman joked before continuing. "As all of you know, everyone here is going to be a part of the security detail for the big fundraiser in a few days. I feel like I don't need to say this, but we need to make sure that this event goes off without issue. A lot of important people are going to be there."
"Where's the fundraiser going to be at anyway?" One of the agents in the middle of the pack abruptly asked the woman.
Chief Chandler grabbed the remote control on the desk behind her and turned on the overhead projector. An image of a large, three-story building then appeared on the screen at the front of the room. A building that looked to be rather old, thanks to its early nineteenth-century design.
"This year's fundraiser will be taking place at the Durst Opera House. It's a concert venue that doubles as a ballroom. The building may look old, but it has been recently renovated. It's also pretty far away from the main part of the city, so we won't really need to worry about civilians stumbling upon us."
The Chief then spent the next few minutes going over the general schedule and plan for how the night was supposed to play out. There were three main parts of the fundraiser that everyone needed to be aware of. The first was the "pre-party", while the second was the auction, and the third was the banquet.
The pre-party was exactly what it sounded like; it was the hour or so before the auction began that guests would spend mingling with each other.
The second, also known as the main event, was the auction. This was the time period when the showrunners were going to auction off whatever valuable cryptids, eggs, and other items that people wanted to sell.
The final event was going to be the banquet, which was basically when people were going to be doing a lot more mingling and chatting before filling their stomachs and heading home for the night.
"So it's a total snooze-fest..." Sebastian groaned outwardly, earning a few laughs from the people around him.
"Yes." Chief Chandler replied in between a few laughs of her own. "Most of you haven't been to events like these before, but I can tell you from personal experience that they do tend to be a rather dull affair. The main point of all this is technically to raise some extra money for the country's sorcerer academies and to give some of the more notable students some exposure. But it always ends up turning into a bunch of rich people standing around and trying to compare bank accounts and assets."
"Sounds like that party my dad took me to when he got promoted." Cyrus whispered to Freddy in a low tone. However, he was still loud enough for Valerie and Maria to hear him. "It was basically the same setup."
"Hey, it could be worse." Freddy answered with a smirk.
With that out of the way, the Chief began going over the security plan in detail. In short, the whole operation was broken down into three levels. Outer perimeter, inner perimeter, and inside the building.
The outer perimeter was going to cover the entire block and had the most personnel assigned to it. Everyone assigned there were basically going to be in roaming parties for the entire night. The inner perimeter was the area immediately outside of the opera house where those assigned were going to be posted at specified points along the outer walls of the building. Finally, the agents inside the building were going to be posted at certain points in the hallways and rooms.
Chief Chandler wasted no time in giving everyone their assignments. As expected, some agents were happy with where they would be placed, while others groaned in dissatisfaction. After running through all the names on the list, the Chief then gave out the few special assignments that were going to be doing different jobs during the event.
"Murphy, Conley, and Watanabe, you all will be assigned to the storage area for the items that will be auctioned off later in the evening. Sorry, but you three are going to be there the entire night."
"Lame..." Sebastian folded his arms across his chest.
"But on the bright side, you're going to be right next to the kitchen. So you might get the chance to grab a few snacks when no one is looking."
"It is what it is." Skylar shrugged. Besides, there was no point in arguing with their boss's decisions.
At least Ayako was able to put a positive spin on this situation. "Hey, it's better than getting hounded by all those asshole guests who're gonna try to hound us just because of who our families are."
"That's a good point." Cyrus nodded in agreement with his partner.
The fact that those three were going to be away from the main party was probably a good thing for them. The last thing they needed while trying to do their jobs was someone badgering them in an attempt to curry favor with a big sorcerer family. So, putting all three of them directly out of sight was a smart move by the Chief.
"Now, for McKenna, Ortega, Price, and Moore...although you four are doing bodyguard duty for Commissioner MacNamara's kids, you're still technically a part of the inner security team. So don't think that you're going to have it easy, you all are basically doing double duty."
"Sucks to suck!" One of the women in the APS shouted from across the room, earning a few laughs from the others.
"You four have the lovely job of making sure that nothing bad happens to those two. Needless to say, they're going to attract a lot of attention, so I need you to be extra vigilant. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for anyone looking to do something stupid."
"You can count on us, boss!" Valerie gave the woman a confident thumbs-up.
"What she said!" Freddy backed up the tall blonde with a smile.
With all that out of the way, Chief Chandler reviewed her notes one last time to make sure that she covered everything that she needed to. All of the major talking points that she wanted to discuss seemed to have been addressed, and everyone knew where they were supposed to be. All that was left was to answer any questions that her subordinates wanted to ask. So, the woman opened the floor for anyone to get whatever they needed to off their chest.
"Are there any VIPs we need to be wary of?" Robin was the first to raise her hand. The Vice Captain of the APS was going to be a part of the inner perimeter team. Because of her bird-type cryptids, she was an obvious choice to use as a set of eyes in the sky.
"Yes." The Chief answered before directing everyone's attention toward the projector. A set of pictures and descriptions of notable guests then appeared on the screen. "I'd say that there are four people that you guys should at least be aware of for this event. The first of whom is Alyssa Blair. She's the niece of Thomas Blair, our current Secretary of Agriculture. Her uncle's a major government official, and she comes from a big family. She's coming as her family's main representative so I would recommend that you don't piss her off."
The four junior agents had all met the woman before during their trip to the beach. Alyssa Blair was a very nice woman, based on their impressions of her, so it was hard for them to imagine her getting angry at anyone. Then again, they didn't know the woman all that well, so their assessments of her might've been a bit biased.
"The second is Samantha Conley." The Chief continued. "She's a businesswoman and biologist who's made quite a name for herself. She runs a company that specializes in cloning pets and other animals for rich people. One of the racehorses that her lab created just won the Kentucky Derby, so you're definitely going to be seeing her around."
The image on the screen was of a woman who looked to be in her mid-forties with dark brown hair, matching eyes, and fair skin. Maria instantly recognized the woman because she had written a paper on her company during her sophomore year of high school. Based on what the young 'beast magic' user remembered about her, Samantha Conley had caught quite a bit of flak since her company had a lot of questions surrounding its ethical practices at the time. But now, it seems that none of that was an issue anymore. Actually seeing her in person might be interesting.
"You know her?" Skylar looked to Sebastian with a curious look on his face.
All the bearded man could do was shrug. "Never met her before in my life. I have heard of her, though. She's one of my dad's cousins, as far as I know, I never bother to keep track of our family tree like that."
Sebastian did have a point. When it came to those who came from the bigger families in sorcerer society, trying to keep track of everyone who was related to them was a total chore. Unless someone went out of their way to distinguish themselves, there was no point in knowing who everyone was.
"The third person is probably the most notable, and that would be Senator Thomas Rudd."
The screen then showed the image of a man in a suit with pale skin, blue eyes, a long beard, and a shaved head. Cyrus recognized the man because of all the campaign photos he had seen of him a couple of years ago. Thomas Rudd was one of the senators from North Carolina. The guy was famous for spearheading education reforms across the country and was supposedly eyeballing a seat in the cabinet. Surprisingly, Cyrus's father was an old college classmate of his.
"Although he's not a sorcerer himself, the Senator's been aware of our existence for quite some time and has taken a special interest in the sorcerer academies. But that's mostly because his daughter attends one of the academies. I don't really know anything about the guy, so if you run into him for whatever reason, just make sure that you are polite."
"Sounds easy enough."
"The last person is going to be my husband, Lucas."
'Wait, what?!' Valerie looked up from her phone the moment she heard the man's name. The tall blonde had no clue that her uncle was going to be back in town for the event. It's been months since she last saw the man. 'Well, shit...it'll be nice to see him again though. I wonder how long he's going to be here.''
The screen then switched over to the image of a man in his late twenties. He was of half-Asian descent with jet-black hair, pale skin, a chiseled face, and was wearing a pair of custom glasses with orange lenses.
"I didn't know the boss was a cougar." One of the regular agents whispered to another with a smirk on her face. Valerie had to fight back the urge to laugh at that comment.
"Some of you already know this, but Lucas works as a professor at MIT. He's also spearheading a project that plans to create a new line of prosthetics for amputees. You're definitely going to see him floating around throughout the night. For the love of God, don't try to be slick and ask him embarrassing things about me. I promise you I'll find out, and you're going to regret it."
Everyone couldn't help but laugh at the woman's words. Mainly because they all knew she wasn't joking. They all knew damn well that their boss was more than capable of making their lives hell if they pissed her off for any reason. So, everyone decided to just avoid her husband at all costs throughout the night. There was no point in taking unnecessary risks.
Seeing as that was the last piece of information that the Chief needed to put out, the woman saw no point in keeping everyone here any longer, so she dismissed them and allowed them to go back to their sections.
"Does anyone else think that this is going to suck?" Freddy asked the other junior agents as they all made their way toward the door.
"Oh, definitely." Valerie said without missing a beat.
"Mhmm." Maria hummed in her usual stoic tone.
"You think so?" Cyrus looked to the others.
"Of course!" Valerie waved her hand. "All we're going to be doing is following the twins around and blending in with the furniture. It's gonna be a total drag."
Although Cyrus did agree with that statement, he tried to find a positive spin to put on their situation. "Hey, it could be worse. We could be doing perimeter security. At least inside there will be food and air conditioning."
"Good point." Freddy conceded.
"How long is this going to go on for again?" Maria asked, speaking up for the first time all day.
"Until after midnight." Valerie replied. "We're going to be there all night."
"At least we get the next day off, though."
"You got that right!"
The four junior agents continued chatting amongst themselves before eventually parting ways. They all still had some work that needed to be done before the end of the day, and no one wanted to be in the building longer than what they needed to.
-(o)-
"Well, well, well..." Mikayla chuckled as she watched the chaos unfold around her.
The cave that served as the Iznana trio's base of operations was buzzing with activity as their subordinates finished the preparations for the big night. The trucks were being fueled up, the cryptids were being moved, weapons were being prepped, and supplies were being distributed among the operatives. As of this moment, everything was proceeding exactly as it should have been.
"Tomorrow's the big night." Hannah said with a slight twinge of nervousness in her voice. "All of our hard work has come down to this."
"Kind of hard to believe, huh?" The 'bone magic' user replied.
"Yeah...."
"Fortunately, I was able to confirm that the items we're after will be there." Aaron interjected.
Hannah nodded. "I'm glad we were able to get a guy on the inside. That made our jobs a whole lot easier."
"Too bad for him that his wife is already dead."
"Eh..." The 'ice magic' user shrugged. "She should've done a better job at being compliant. I wouldn't have had to put her on ice if she kept her mouth shut. Besides, it's not like it really matters. I was gonna kill the guy once we got what we needed anyway. Can't have a loose end like that walking around."
"Oooh, I can already see the zeroes in my bank account once we hand off all the stuff we get to the boss!" Mikayla was practically drooling at the thought of getting paid.
After all the trouble that the group had gone through over the past few months, it was all going to be worth it when the dust finally settled.
Overall, their mission was a simple one. Get in, grab the items that their boss wanted, and get out. Any extracurricular activities on their part were entirely unnecessary. Time and execution were going to be the biggest factors of this whole operation. Well, aside from the opposing force of DPA agents and various other sorcerers that were going to be in attendance. Sorcerers who were no doubt going to be skilled and powerful in their own right.
That shouldn't be too much of a problem, though. After all, they had enough sleeping gas in stock to fill the entire building in a matter of minutes. Once that stuff was circulating through the ventilation system, they were guaranteed to cut down the amount of resistance they were going to be facing by a significant margin. And anyone who wasn't immediately affected by the gas could be dealt with by the horde of cryptids that they were going to release in the middle of all the confusion. The plan wasn't exactly bulletproof, but it was more than effective for what they needed to accomplish.
The sound of a loud roar then caught the trio's attention. It was coming from the large snake-like cryptid that was currently being loaded onto one of the trucks. The thing was a rather magnificent specimen, all things considered. Large, with rainbow scales, piercing yellow eyes, and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth that looked like they could cut through a car with little effort.
'I still don't even know what kind of cryptid that is.' Hannah thought to herself as their minions pushed the cage into the lead-lined trailer. The group happened to stumble upon this beast about a month ago, thanks to a tip they got from one of their collaborators. And its ferociousness was something to behold, especially since it killed one of the 'ice magic' user's minions during its capture. 'No matter, it should still get the job done. That's all that matters.'
Despite her trepidation, Hannah was confident that the heist was going to be successful. Then again, there was simply no other option for it to be anything but that. Her future as an Iznana operative hinged on the results of this operation. And there was no way that she was going to fail after everything she and her two partners went through to get here. All of the hard work, the time, the effort, and the lives they've taken all came down to this.
'Once we succeed here, the boss will finally know just how valuable we are. She'll have no choice but to make us official members. And once we are, our lives will be set.'
That's really what this all came down to for the young woman. Becoming a certified Iznana member would mean a life of comfort and luxury that she had never known before. A life where she, her brother, and her best friend would never have to worry about where their next meal came from. It was the kind of life they had dreamed about for years. And their dreams were finally within arm's reach.
'Everything changes after tomorrow.' Was the last thing Hannah told herself before leaving the observation deck of the cave and returning to her office alongside her two partners.