[Three Months Later, May 2022]
The last few months of Maria Ortega's life could only be described as a living hell.
Ever since she first arrived at the DPA compound, it had been nothing but non-stop training and drills for the young 'beast magic' user. All just to get her up to speed with the rest of the crew. It honestly didn't even make that much sense to her. Special units in normal militaries usually required months, possibly even years, of special training to get them to where they needed to be. But for some reason, the Anti-Personnel Squad decided to compress that timetable to even more ridiculous levels.
Apparently, their captain, Jean-Jacques Mubele, thought that long training regimens were a waste of time. And those who didn't have what it takes wouldn't even make it past the first couple of weeks anyway. Maria had heard plenty of stories about the man known as "The Thundergod" being a total maniac. But now, she had pretty much confirmed all of those rumors for herself.
The first few weeks of this nonsense were nothing but intense physical training sessions. Primarily with the goal of getting her body in the shape that it needed to be for the job. And in that time, Maria was absolutely certain that she didn't go a full twenty minutes without sweating. Sure, physical strength was never her strong suit. After all, Maria had never so much as even stepped foot inside a gym before joining the team. But what she had to go through was definitely meant to drive her insane.
What followed was nothing but magical combat exercises and classes. Everything from tracking down targets to being able to identify different types of magic-based explosives. All while getting randomly attacked by her superiors at inconsistent intervals to keep her on her toes. The absolute worst of which came from her teammate, Skylar Owens. An 'earth magic' user who probably didn't even know what the word "chill" meant.
To be honest, the 'beast magic' user couldn't even remember the last time she got more than four hours of sleep.
Naturally, Maria considered quitting at least more than a dozen times. No one would've faulted her for it, it was good to know your limits after all. But something inside her refused to let her do it. What it was, she didn't really know. Maybe it was her goal driving her forward. Or some misplaced sense of pride that she wasn't aware that she ever had. Either way, the young woman somehow managed to survive the training with all her limbs intact.
Including that godforsaken obstacle course. A nifty little piece of what she assumed to be actual hell, somehow created by Captain Mubele using unknown means. Maria still hadn't met the man yet, however, part of her wanted to give the guy an earful for all the nonsense that she had to go through just to be a part of his team.
However, all of that was officially over now. Maria had completed her training and was now a full-fledged member of the team. Well, almost. The young woman still had yet to go out on an actual mission. Something that she was admittedly looking forward to for some unknown reason. But at the very least, she no longer had to be at the office at some godforsaken hour just to get beat up by her superiors until it was time for lunch.
"Alright, rookie, let's see what you got!" Sebastian said confidently as the two sorcerers were standing at opposite ends of their team's training area.
"Okay." Maria replied in her typically stoic fashion while getting into her preferred fighting stance before activating her powers. "Come on out, Asmodeus!"
Sebastian watched as a large snake with green and silver scales and red eyes, along with a crested crown at the top of its head, materialized into existence right out of Maria's body. The creature was twenty feet long from end to end and looked absolutely menacing.
'She's going with her crested cobra, huh? It looks like she's actually taking this seriously.'
The snake-like cryptid was one of the creatures that Maria currently had under her control. One that was created a few years ago after the young woman found a normal garden snake in the woods behind her apartment and decided to bond with it. Unlike most 'beast magic' users who could only create and control two or three of these cryptids, Maria was able to control ten. Something that only the most talented of their kind were able to do. But as of right now, she only possessed seven.
'He's only using one of his dogs this time.' The young woman said to herself while getting ready to attack. 'I'll try to use speed to my advantage to throw him off.'
The two sized each other up for another couple of seconds before Maria finally decided to make her move. "Just like we planned, boy. Go!"
Immediately, the snake-cryptid launched itself forward, making a beeline right for Sebastian as Maria followed in step behind it. Her strategy was simple. Use her companion as a shield to hide her moves while using that lack of sight to get the drop on her opponent.
Sebastian was easily able to see through the woman's intentions, however. And although he was certainly impressed with the idea, it was going to take a lot more than that to get the better of him.
"Hang tight, Athos. I'll handle this myself for the time being." The man then said before he too launched himself forward. His hellhound obeyed his command and stayed put where it was.
In a matter of seconds, both sides collided in the middle of the training area. Upon first contact, Sebastian used his body reinforcement technique to leap over the snake. Clearing the creature by a good three feet before landing right behind it and his opponent. Maria was, of course, surprised by this, but managed to keep her composure enough to throw a punch at Sebastian as soon as he landed.
The man was quick to counter by side-stepping the attack and retaliating with a punch of his own. Which landed directly on the right side of Maria's face. In response, Asmodeus turned itself around and attacked the person who dared to lay a hand on its master. But the man was too quick for it and easily dodged.
Maria was able to recover quickly enough to go back on the offensive just before unleashing a flurry of well-executed punches on her opponent. Despite her being able to land a few hits, none of them were able to do any real damage. Hoping to at the very least keep the man on his toes, the woman continued to go to town on the man. But it was clear that she was outmatched when it came to a matter of hand-to-hand combat.
*POW!*
The sound of Sebastian landing yet another solid hit on Maria's left flank echoed throughout the training area. And the force of the strike caused the woman to buckle and drop to her knees. That punch almost completely knocked the wind out of her. But the young woman was able to keep her cool and recover from it.
Seeing that her current strategy wasn't going to work the way that she wanted to, Maria decided to turn things up a notch and call out another one of her companions.
"Come on out, Ayala!"
Once those words came out of her mouth, a gigantic pink and blue eel the same size as Asmodeus appeared in front of her. Unlike the woman's other companion, this one had smooth and slippery skin. Along with a large, spiky blue fin that stretched its entire length.
'Oh, now this is getting fun!' Sebastian smiled as he avoided an attack from the newly formed eel. The man decided to back off from his attack to give his teammate some time to breathe. While also giving himself some time to come up with a new plan.
However, Maria Ortega was never one to waste an opportunity. The woman immediately commanded her two beasts to attack the man from both sides, to which they happily obliged. In a matter of seconds, Sebastian found himself ducking and dodging every which way to avoid getting injured by either of the two serpents. For a moment, it looked like Maria finally had the upper hand. However, the more experienced of the two agents was better able to make the best of this situation.
'You left yourself wide open, rookie!' Sebastian thought to himself. "Athos!"
A few yards behind Maria, the man's companion instantly got onto its feet and dashed towards the woman. Closing the distance between the two in a matter of seconds.
'Shit!' The woman mentally cursed as she got into a fighting stance and called upon one of her serpents. "Asmodeus!"
The green snake stopped its ongoing assault on Sebastian and immediately went to defend its master. Placing itself between Maria and the hellhound just in time to keep the woman from receiving an overgrown paw to the face.
On the other end of the battlefield, Sebastian finally had the opening that he was waiting for. In one fluid motion, the man backflipped out of the way of the eel's tail and jumped a good ten feet into the air. He then extended his palm out to Maria before focusing his sights on the junior agent.
"Mana burst!"
A large ball of pure mana exploded out of the man's hand at a high rate of speed. More than fast enough to completely zoom past the eel and hit Maria in the back, causing the woman to once again drop to the ground in pain. Sensing that their master was in trouble, Asmodeus and Ayala rushed to the woman's aid. However, neither of the two creatures was fast enough to stop what happened next.
Before Maria even had the chance to get back onto her feet, Sebastian was right on top of her. The man then grabbed the woman's left arm and twisted it behind her back while forcing her back onto the ground. While at the same time, his hellhound leapt into the air and delivered a devastating right paw to Asmodeus's head. Forcing the creature onto the ground and knocking it out completely.
This caused the snake to disappear back into its owner's body, as cryptids who are under the control of a 'beast magic' user usually do when they become incapacitated.
"You give up?" Sebastian taunted the woman who was now completely at his mercy.
"I give..." Maria answered in an annoyed tone. She knew when she was beat. And even though her eel was still close by, the thing probably wouldn't be fast enough to save her from getting her shoulder pulled out of its socket.
"Good!" The senior agent said with a smile before releasing his hold on Maria and standing back up. At the same time, the two remaining cryptids backed off from the two and retreated a few feet away. "You've definitely improved, rookie. You're lasting longer now than you did when you first joined us."
"Thanks." The woman answered stoically. Taking a few seconds to make sure that her arm was okay.
"But...you're still relying on defense a bit too much. And your companions always rush to your side the moment that they feel you're in danger. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but that also leaves them open for an attack."
Maria looked off to the side where Ayala was glaring at Sebastian. Admittedly, the guy had a point. Her companions always came to her side when things looked even the least bit dangerous. Although it was something that she appreciated, she wasn't going to argue that it did leave them wide open for an attack. If Sebastian was actually trying to hurt her, they might've gotten caught in the crossfire.
Just then, a voice from the door on the other side of the training area caught their attention. "The goofball may have a point, but it's practically instinctual for our companions to try and help us in a pinch."
The two agents turned their heads to see their Vice-Captain, Robin Stillwater, walking up to them. With yet another one of her odd-looking bird cryptids perched on her left shoulder. The woman had been watching the sparring match between the two but chose not to make her presence known until it was over.
"The younger ones in my flock always do it, and it takes a while to get them to break that habit."
"What's up, sis?" Sebastian greeted the woman.
"Hello, ma'am." Maria also greeted the woman who was in charge of her.
"Just checking up on the two of you." Robin replied. "I was chatting with Ayako and her new partner and decided to see how things were going while I was down here."
"Cool."
"You doing alright, Ortega?"
"I'm fine, ma'am." The hazel-eyed teen said calmly.
"Good, good."
"The rookie here has gotten pretty good. She could still use some work, but in my humble opinion, I think that she's finally ready to go out on a real job."
Robin glanced over at Maria. "Are you?"
"I think so." Maria answered. She genuinely believed that she was finally ready to actually do her job. After all the training she's done over the last few months, she was more prepared to go out and get some actual experience. Plus, it sounded a lot better than being stuck inside the station all day.
"Excellent!" Robin clapped her hands together. "It just so happens that Chief Chandler gave us a new assignment. One that I think that you two would be perfect for."
"Oh?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."
"We just got word of an emergency on the other side of the city. Our informant in the police department told us that some high schooler who recently awakened his powers beat up some of his classmates. I already sent Skylar and Benjamin to handle clean-up, but the two of you need to go track this guy down and bring him here so we can calm him down."
"Great...another teenager drunk on his own power." Sebastian made no attempt to hide his annoyance.
"Is this a frequent occurrence?" Maria asked, genuinely curious. She hadn't encountered any other sorcerers around her age when she was still in high school. Which wasn't all that surprising considering how few of them there actually were in the world. At best, there are only around a couple of thousand in each state. And most of them either worked for the DPA or kept their abilities hidden away for safety reasons. So hearing about one just randomly popping up like this was pretty interesting.
"Not really. But it happens from time to time. Let me guess, he's still learning how to use his magic and went overboard?"
"That's what it looks like." Robin replied. "We don't have him in the database, so he probably activated his powers in the last couple of weeks."
"How fun."
"Head upstairs and suit up. I'll give you the full brief once you two are ready to go."
"Sounds like a plan!"
"Yes, ma'am."
With that, Robin made her exit, leaving Maria and Sebastian to recall their respective companions back into their bodies before making their way over to the locker room.
"So, you ready for your first job?" Sebastian looked at Maria with a grin on his face.
The woman shot him a blank stare before answering. "I guess we'll find out."
"Has anyone ever told you that you have the emotional range of a box of crackers?"
"Yes." Maria tried to suppress a scowl. "You have...many times...."
"Is that right?" The black haired man tried to feign ignorance. "Anyways, try not to be too nervous. Jobs like this aren't really that hard. Just be ready for anything that comes your way and keep a cool head."
"Understood." The young woman said with a nod.
And just like that, Maria Ortega was about to embark on her first-ever real mission. Although her nerves were starting to get the better of her, she would rather die before letting something like that show on her face. Especially in front of her partner. But even though a part of her was certainly anxious about what she was walking into, another part of her was excited.
'Alright, let's do this.' Maria tried to mentally psyche herself up as she and Sebastian entered the locker room. Ready to show everyone what she was made of.
-(o)-
Character Profile: Sebastian
Name: Sebastian James Conley
Alias: N/A
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Birthday: June 9th
Birthplace: Wichita, KS
Height: 73in
Weight: 195lbs
Hair: Black
Eyes: Grey
Race: White
Magic: Beast (Canine)
Occupation: DPA Agent
Stat Chart: B
-Physical Strength - 4
-Intelligence - 2.5
-Magic Amount - 4
-Magical Control - 4
-Magic Sensing - 4.5
-Special - N/A
Fun Fact:
-Loves redheads.