"Alright, alright, everyone sit down and shut up!" Chief Chandler addressed the assembled group of agents shortly after walking into the station's main conference room. "We have a lot to discuss, so quiet down and pay attention!"
Just like with the fundraiser, the group of agents who either volunteered or were assigned to the upcoming raid had all gathered to be briefed on the details of the upcoming operation. Out of the roughly two hundred agents that were on the roster, a little under fifty were currently present. This included Cyrus, Maria, Valerie, Ayako, Sebastian, and Skylar. All of whom had been selected to take part in this operation due to their specific skill sets and experience.
It didn't take long before everyone finally settled down and got quiet. And once she had the full attention of everyone in the room, Chief Chandler immediately began going down her list of items to discuss.
"Alright, first and foremost…as some of you already know, Deputy Chief Mubele will no longer be leading this operation." The brunette woman announced with a very dissatisfied look on her face. "He was called away by the Commissioner to take part in an emergency operation somewhere in the western part of the country."
"Typical…" One of the unnamed agents rolled her eyes.
"This really is a regular thing, huh?" Valerie whispered to Maria. To the blonde, it seemed like the guy was always being called away on special missions. But the timing of this one seemed way too inconvenient for them.
"Because of this sudden change, Vice-Captain Stillwater will be given operational authority for the mission." The Chief then clarified.
Robin, who was currently standing off to the side with her arms folded across her chest while leaning up against a wall, simply nodded her head in understanding. This certainly wasn't her first time being in charge of a raid mission. So, she was the best choice of those whom the station had available. Well, aside from Chief Chandler and Agent Winters.
Although she wouldn't admit it out loud, Maria was happy to hear this. Robin was particularly skilled at handling and coordinating big groups of people on account of both her magic and her control over her large flock of bird-type cryptids. So, at least in her opinion, she was perfect for this.
With that quick announcement out of the way, Chief Chandler then went on to give the general rundown about how this operation was going to go.
For starters, four different locations served as the identified targets for the raid.
The first was an old textile warehouse located in Concord, the city just northwest of Charlotte. According to their latest intel, this was the Iznana cell's new main base of operations. The building had just recently been bought, in cash, from the previous owners. On top fo that, quite a few of the group's members, including Mikayla Dempsey, had been seen going in an out of the building during late hours when no one was in the area.
"Thanks to the efforts of Vice-Captain Stillwater and Agent Conley, we've been able to scope the place out quite a bit. Stillwater has been keeping one of her companions in the area to gather as much intel as possible without getting caught. And it appears as though they just finished sprucing the place up." The Chief then said while directing everyone's attention to the image on the screen in front of them.
Robin and Sebastian had been spending most of their time keeping an eye on the place over the course of the station's investigation. Honestly, it was the main reason why the two of them had barely gotten any sleep over the last few weeks. Their natural affinity for reconnaissance was too valuable to keep them out of the field for something like this.
The second location that Chief Chandler showed on the screen was one that ended up getting Cyrus's undivided attention. And for good reason.
Just like the first location, this one was another warehouse, albeit a much smaller one. One that they've decided to call "the garage" for simplicity's sake. This garage was located a few miles outside of Charlotte in a relatively small area. It was a simple two-story brick building nestled between a few others of similar design. And from the looks of it, the area appeared to be a bit old. Honestly, the place could be called more of a storage facility than anything else.
"This location is where we believe the leaders of the group routinely hold their meetings." Chief Chandler then added. "All three of our key personnel have been seen coming through here at various points during our investigation. And they're the only ones that we've seen in the area. We were able to dig up some old blueprints, and we believe that this is where Agent Moore was being held during his captivity."
Ayako, Maria, Sebastian, and Valerie all looked at Cyrus after hearing that. And to his credit, the young 'tree magic' user kept a calm expression on his face. If what the Chief was saying was the truth, then they were all now fully aware of just how close Cyrus had been to them during the month that he was gone.
'Damn, that's so frustrating!' Ayako thought to herself while gazing at the picture of the garage on the screen. To think that her partner was barely a half-hour drive away from them this whole time left a sour taste in her mouth.
The third location was, of course, Mikayla's laundromat. A place that Maria had personally been to not too long ago.
And last, but not least, the final location that was on the agenda. This was quite different from the other two, though. Instead of another warehouse, what the group of agents got was a rented out office building near Raleigh. One that was not too far from a distribution yard where hundreds of shipping containers were currently stored.
From what the investigation conducted by the agents at the Raleigh station had dug up, this location was more than likely where the Iznana cell funneled their illegal goods and merchandise before sending them off to God knows where.
With everyone now aware of the target locations, Chief Chandler quickly gave them the rundown on how she wanted things to go.
In short, the operation was going to be a multi-pronged attack conducted simultaneously by both Station Nine and Station Seventeen. All four locations were going to be hit on the same day, at the same time, by broth groups to maximize the amount of damage that could be done to the Iznana operatives that were currently plaguing their state. Station Seventeen, led by Deputy-Chief MacNamara, would handle the office building and the surrounding area, while Station Nine handled the other three locations.
"And that's how we plan on handling this." Robin then said after instructing the group on the overall plan. "Any questions?"
"Yeah!" One of the younger agents from the APS raised his hand. "Is there anyone in particular that we're supposed to look out for?"
"Yes." Robin nodded before pressing the remote that she was holding and directing their attention back to the monitor. The moment she did that, three faces appeared on the screen. Faces that Cyrus, Valerie, and Maria quickly recognized.
"These three here are the ones that we've identified as the leaders of the group." Chief Chandler then spoke before pointing at the first image on the screen.
"First up is Hannah Donovan, also known as Frost, the leader of the group. An 'ice magic' user. According to the intel that we got from Agent Moore and the two goons that we captured during the fundraiser fiasco, she's the one who answers directly to the higher-ups."
"Higher-ups? Like who?" One of the other agents asked.
"Iznana's newest Branch Head." The Chief replied. "And before you ask me, no, we don't know who they are. All we know is that this person took over sometime after Mubele killed the last one and has been keeping a low profile ever since. We're actually hoping to find out more about this person once this operation is over and done with."
Cyrus immediately got uncomfortable and subconsciously began to stir in his seat. He knew exactly who Hannah and the others answered to. And the fact that he was currently in the middle of a deal with the woman in question was not lost on him. The freckle-faced teen really wanted to tell the others who the new Iznana Branch Head was, but he somehow managed to keep his nerve and stay quiet. Now wasn't the right time for all of that, especially with everything that was going on. But soon, he would be able to let everyone else know who they would surely be going after next.
Chief Chandler proceeded to give a quick rundown on everything they knew about Hannah before moving on to the next person on the screen. A certain dark-haired man with blue eyes and a cold expression written on his face.
"Next up is Aaron Donovan, Hannah's younger brother. This one's a 'fire magic' user who possesses the McKenna family's purple flame technique. We don't know much about him, but we have good reason to believe that, like his sister, he changed his identity sometime in the past few years. For his day job, he works for one of the local construction companies. However, we don't know much outside of that. He's probably the most dangerous one in the entire group. And based on his actions during the fundraiser and Agent Price's death, he's not afraid to use his abilities when necessary."
Valerie scowled at the image of Aaron on the screen. She already knew that the two of them were going to cross paths during the upcoming operation, and she wasn't about to have a repeat of what happened last time. Thanks to Evan, she had narrowly avoided getting turned to ash by the raven-haired guy during their last fight. And now, she was fully prepared to deal with him the next time they clashed.
"And finally…" Chief Chandler then declared. "Is Mikayla Dempsey. This one uses 'bone magic', which is a mutation of 'body magic' as far as we can tell. She's the 'money man' for the group and runs the laundromat here in town that we believe to be a front that helps her recycle and clean up their money. From what we were able to dig up on her, she ran away from home a few years ago while living out in California with her parents. She basically went off the grid until she opened up her shop here in town a couple of years ago."
Maria simply nodded at this information. Sebastian and Robin already confirmed that Mikayla was indeed an Iznana member a couple of weeks ago after one of her Vice-Captain's companions spotted her at the main warehouse with some of the other goons. The 'beast magic' user was a bit sad to see that her assumptions were correct. But, there was no point in feeling bad for the woman who was effectively responsible for getting one of her friends killed.
After a few more minutes of questions and answers about what they had discussed so far, it was now time for Chief Chandler to move on to the next topic of conversation regarding this operation.
"Alright, now that all of you are up to speed, it's time to talk about who will be doing what."
"Such as?" Sebastian then asked, presumably for everyone else in attendance.
"For starters, like I already said, the Raleigh station will be taking care of the office building since it's so close to them. So, that only leaves three locations for us to deal with. However, since the main warehouse seems to be where the majority of their operatives go, we'll be focusing most of our firepower there. With that in mind, we're also going to be isolating the three leaders of the group from the others. We want to keep them separated and catch them on their heels. And because of that, I'm assigning specific teams to go after them."
"Make sense." Skylar Murphy nodded in understanding. Getting the main guys away from the rest of the group would make things easier for them in the long run.
Everyone in the room grew tense as they all waited to hear who would be tasked with going after which target. Thankfully, Chief Chandler was courteous enough not to keep everyone waiting.
"First up, Agents Moore and Murphy will be the ones to deal with going after Frost." The brunette woman announced.
"What?!" Ayako blurted out almost instinctively upon hearing the news. At the same time, a few of the other agents began to whisper amongst themselves at the declaration.
"Moore has already dealt with her directly and knows the most about her and how she uses her powers. And Murphy will be a good complement to him when fighting someone with 'ice magic'. Plus, Moore's new overdrive skill isn't good for large crowds of people, and I want to avoid any extra hassle."
'This is perfect!' Cyrus did his best to fight back the smile that threatened to appear on his lips. This was actually better than perfect; it was exactly what he wanted. The Chief had given him a golden opportunity. One where he would get the chance to deal with Hannah without any unnecessary interruptions.
"Sounds good to me!" Skylar smiled before turning his attention to Cyrus. "Hope you can keep up with me, rookie!"
"You won't have to worry about that." Cyrus replied in a calm tone.
A few seats away, Ayako frowned at what she had just heard. The fact that she wasn't going to be the one paired with Cyrus during the operation didn't sit right with her. Granted, she could see the logic that the Chief was working with when making up this kind of plan. This Hannah girl used 'ice magic', which meant that she had the attribute advantage over Ayako. In all honesty, fighting against someone like that wasn't a good idea. And Skylar's 'earth magic' was much better suited for it.
The whole thing still had the 'water magic' user pretty upset, though.
"Alright, next up!" Chief Chandler then said, just before cutting a quick glance at her niece. "Agents McKenna and Watanabe will be the ones who go after Aaron Donovan."
"Really?" Valerie raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Yes." The brunette woman replied, more so to the group than anything else. "Watanabe's our strongest 'water magic' user that we have available. And McKenna's high resistance to 'fire magic' and natural durability will give her the edge against someone with that kind of firepower."
"Sounds like the boss just wants to keep the family problems as an internal matter." One of the agents in the back of the conference room whispered to another, only to receive a slight nod in return.
"I can get behind that." Ayako folded her arms across her chest before directing her attention toward Valerie. "I look forward to working with you."
"Same here! Let's make sure that we take this asshole down for good!" Valerie shot back with a confident smile and thumbs up.
"And last but not least, Conley and Ortega will be dealing with Mikayal Dempsey." Robin then announced while looking at her two subordinates.
Sebastian had no problem with this arrangement. "Considering that her magic is limited in terms of range and versatility, I doubt that she'd be too much of a challenge."
"True, but do keep in mind that she's the one we most frequently observed going in and out of their main base of operations. We also know that she's armed most of the time she's out and about. So, don't just assume that she'll be an easy target."
"Understood."
A few seats away, Maria simply nodded as she accepted her assignment. Out of everyone, she and Sebastian probably had the easiest individual target out of everyone else. However, that didn't mean that she was going to take this lightly. Mikayla was still an Iznana operative after all, which meant that she was dangerous. Any carelessness on her part when trying to take her down might actually be the death of her.
"I would very much prefer if you guys try to take them in alive, especially Hannah Donovan. This group is only one piece of a much larger puzzle that we need to unravel. And the more information we can extract from them later on, the better."
'As if…' Cyrus mentally scoffed at the Chief's words. As far as he was concerned, Hannah was as good as dead the moment he laid eyes on her. And whatever information she had on Iznana was effectively irrelevant now that Elaine had basically cut her off. The Chief may want her taken in custody for questioning, but Cyrus knew good and well that the 'ice magic' user wasn't going to make it that far.
Hannah Donovan was going down, one and for all. It was only a matter of time.
With that part of the briefing now out of the way, Chief Chandler spent the rest of the time assigning the other agents to what teams they were going to be on, along with the projected schedule for the raid. For now, there wasn't a specific date for when the party would begin. Instead, they were going to wait and observe all of the Iznana members that they were aware of until as many of them as possible were gathered together in one place.
Once these rogue sorcerers were sufficiently packed together, that's when the operation would begin. So, until that time came, all agents were tasked with training, sharpening their skills, and keeping an ear to the ground for when the word got put out. Because once they were given the green light, that's when the real fun would begin.
'Count your days, bitch.' Cyrus thought to himself while quickly making his way down the hallway right after the briefing was over with. 'You and your little group are going to pay for what you did to Freddy. And promise that I'm going to make you suffer.'