When it came time for her first real mission, Maria was nervous as all hell.
Yes, that was the best way that she could describe her feelings at the moment. There was literally no other way to put it. Even with all the training, studying, and preparations, the raven-haired teen felt like there was a whirlpool forming in her stomach.
She couldn't help but wonder if it was like this for every agent on the team. Or just DPA agents in general.
Maria couldn't imagine someone like Sebastian being nervous about his first mission. The guy seemed way too grounded for something like that.
From what he told her, the older 'beast magic' user voluntarily joined the Anti-Personnel Squad a few years into his career after transferring from the Topeka station in Kansas. Which meant that he came into the situation fully prepared for what he was getting into with a lot of experience under his belt. Unlike her. And for someone as skilled as that, who wasn't "special" by any means, it meant that he was hardcore long before being brought into the squad.
Back to Maria herself, the woman was going over her mental checklist for what felt like the thousandth time in the last ten minutes. Making sure that she was all set and ready to go. It acted as some sort of calming ritual for her. Obviously, not as calming as getting in a few rounds on one of her mobile games. But enough to make sure that she wouldn't go insane from the nervousness that was no doubt pouring out of her at the moment.
"Alright, so here's the plan, rookie." Sebastian started as the duo was en route to their destination. "Let me do most of the talking. We still don't exactly know what we're walking into, but it's best to keep this kid from going off the deep end."
"Got it." The woman simply nodded.
"And if it turns out that this guy is hostile, I'll be in charge of putting hands on him while you worry about capturing him."
"Understood."
"You got your anti-mana cuffs, right?"
Maria held up the object in question. A set of high-tech-looking handcuffs that looked more like shackles than anything else. "Right here."
"Your taser? Not that it will do us any good if this guy turns out to have 'lightning magic'."
"Here." The woman then pulled her pistol-shaped taser out of its holster.
"Your positive attitude?"
Maria briefly checked her pockets before realizing what the man said. The raven-haired teen then shot the guy a blank stare. It was clear that she wasn't in the mood for jokes.
Sebastian couldn't help but chuckle. "What?"
"Nothing."
The duo spent the rest of the car ride in mildly uncomfortable silence before arriving at the designated location, a warehouse a couple of miles away from a shipping plant. One that didn't appear to have anybody hanging around it. This was the starting point of their excursion, seeing as it was the last known location of the kid in question. So they were going to have to work from here to find the guy before things got too out of hand.
"God, I hope this doesn't take too long." Sebastian groaned as he looked at his scanner. Jobs like this were always a pain in the ass. He much preferred the ones where a random sorcerer was just wreaking havoc in the middle of a factory. Or when a couple of rowdy teenagers got into a magical fight after school to settle their differences.
Hoping to make this as quick as possible, the senior agent summoned one of his hellhounds out of his body. Porthos, if Maria guessed correctly.
"See if you can pick up his scent for me, boy." The man then ordered his companion. "The scanner says that he's in the area, so he shouldn't be too far away."
The hellhound did as any other dog would do and began sniffing around the area in hopes of finding their target's scent. Unlike normal dogs, canine cryptids had the ability to sniff out a person's mana. Similar to how you would do ordinary smells.
It only took a few seconds before the beast was able to pick up the scent. And not a moment later, the creature sprinted off in the direction of their target. Getting up to roughly twenty-five miles an hour in only a few strides.
'And here comes the fun part....' Maria internally sighed as both she and Sebastian began running behind the creature. Fortunately for the two of them, speeds like this were more than manageable for enhanced humans such as themselves, thanks to their body reinforcement technique. Even someone like her had no trouble keeping up.
The pursuit through the block of warehouses lasted roughly five minutes before the group finally came upon their target. Stopping not too far away from their original location at an abandoned building a few blocks away from the nearest populated area. From the looks of it, the place used to be an abandoned shopping center. One that was scheduled for demolition, judging by the signs scattered all over the place.
"Alright, just remember to let me do the talking." Sebastian said as the duo slowly walked towards their objective.
From where they were, Maria could already sense the guy's mana. Which was enough to make him a solid C-rank sorcerer, if nothing else. Pretty average compared to what she's encountered in the past.
In only a few short steps, the two agents entered the building. There, they were met with the sight of a young man, probably no more than fifteen years old, sitting up against a brick wall with his head down and his knees tucked into his chest. He has short blonde hair and a few bruises on his left arm.
"Excuse me." The senior agent called out. Forcing the boy to look up with a fearful expression on his face.
"Wh-who are you?" The teenager asked them.
"How's it going? My name is Sebastian Conley, and this here is my partner, Maria Ortega. I can assure you that we're not here to harm you. Quite the opposite, actually."
"What do you mean?"
Although Maria chose to stay silent. She was ready to call upon one of her companions just in case things went bad.
"A couple of hours ago, you got into a fight with some guys from your school, right?"
The teenager suddenly became more guarded. "Y-yeah...."
"And let me guess...in the middle of all that, you experienced something strange happen. Something that you can't really explain? Something magical?"
"H-how do you know that?"
"Our boss told us about it." Sebastian replied cautiously. "You see, mister..."
"Zack."
"Well, Zack...what you experienced back there is what we call magic."
"Magic?"
"Yeah. Magic is what happens when people like you and me manifest awesome abilities. Just like the one you used back there to get those guys off of you."
The teenager, Zack as he was now known, slowly stood up. It was obvious to see that the guy was starting to get uncomfortable. And the last thing anyone here needed was an untrained sorcerer acting erratically.
"Hey, hey, don't worry. Like I said, we're not here to hurt you. And you're not in any trouble. We just want to talk and help you out."
"Okay...I'm...I'm listening."
"Good." Sebastian smiled at the kid. "To make a long story short, you are what's known as a sorcerer. A human who possesses extraordinary abilities. One that has the power to control and manipulate what we call mana."
"What?" Zack's face scrunched in confusion. "A sorcerer? Mana? Like in anime or something?"
"Pretty much."
"I don't believe you."
"Understandable." The senior agent nodded in agreement. "I can see why you'd have a hard time believing something like that. It is the kind of stuff that you only here about in cartoons and comic books, right? But tell me this, ever since what happened back at your school went down, you've been experiencing something weird happening to your body, right? Your muscles feel lighter, your senses are a bit sharper, and you have this weird buzzing feeling in the back of your skull that got stronger as soon as we got close to you."
The kid's eyes widened for a brief moment. Probably because everything Sebastian was telling him was the truth. Of course it was, Maria had experienced the exact same thing when she finally got her powers. It was what all sorcerers went through when they awakened.
"Who are you people, really?"
"We're agents from the DPA. The Department of Paranormal Activity. A government agency that's designed to help out people like you and us."
"Like Men in Black or something?"
"Yeah, pretty much!"
'At least this kid has good taste in movies.' Maria mentally remarked. 'At least he didn't say something lame like Fairy Tail.'
"Then why haven't I heard about you before?"
"Because what we do is a secret. Only awesome people like you are allowed to know that we exist!"
"Okay..."
"So, Zack...do you mind telling us what happened back there?"
The boy shifted around for a second, as if trying to decide whether or not it was a good idea to tell the two agents about what he had just gone through. But after a few seconds, he chose to explain his side of the story.
"Some...some assholes from my school tried picking a fight with me because I messed up the grading curve for our last test. They followed me when I was on my way home after school got out and jumped me in the park. I tried fighting back, but they outnumbered me. I don't really know what happened, but while I was getting kicked, I felt a heat inside of my chest. Next thing I saw was a bunch of fire appear out of nowhere. After that, I just punched one of the guys and ran off."
"Make sense." Maria said. Judging from the report that they had gotten before getting dispatched, one of the kids who tried to jump him had a broken jaw, and two others had burns all over their hands. But hey, at least now they could verify that the kid has 'fire magic'.
"You said I'm not in trouble, right? I-I didn't mean to do that to them. Sure, I wanted to hurt them for what they did to me, but I didn't try to kill anyone!"
"Hey, hey, it's alright." Sebastian replied. "We know, we've all been there before. Stuff like that happens."
"So what happens now?"
"We just need to take you back to our office with us. There, our boss can have a chat with you and your parents about your new abilities. Don't worry about those other guys, we'll sort that mess out and they won't even remember what happened."
"Am I being arrested? Are you cops or something?"
"Of course not! We just want to make sure that you get somewhere safe."
"What if I don't want to come with you?"
Something told Maria that this wasn't about to go as well as they had hoped. Not that she could blame the kid. After all, two complete strangers suddenly appearing in front of you and talking about magic and stuff like that would make any rational person more than a bit apprehensive.
"If you don't want to, that's perfectly fine. But it would be in your best interests to do so."
"W-why?"
"We can help you get control of your powers. So that you won't have any more accidents like the one you just had. Our agency specializes in training guys like you who are new to magic to make sure that you don't harm yourself or anyone else."
The kid was silent for a few seconds as he mulled over his options. Obviously, he still wasn't sure whether or not he could take Sebastian's words at face value or not. For a brief moment, he looked like he was about to just sprint out of the building. But his expression quickly changed before looking Maria right in the eyes.
"You guys said you were...sorcerers too, right?"
"We sure are!"
"Then, can you show me your powers. Just so that I can see that you're telling the truth."
Sebastian didn't hesitate to agree. "Sure, kid. Why not?" The man then looked back at Maria. Signaling her to do something.
The young woman wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to do here. But she guessed that her superior wanted her to show off her powers a bit. Maria wasn't too sure about this, but if it meant that the kid was going to stay calm, then it was worth the hassle.
Deciding to keep it simple, Maria chose to erect a mana barrier around her body. Quickly forming a near-perfect sphere of silver magical power that surrounded her entire form. Thanks to her large mana reserves, she could create one of this size. Unlike Cyrus, who only had enough to make a single barrier in front of him.
"Oh my god." The kid looked at the girl with wonder. Rubbing his eyes a couple of times to make sure that what he was seeing was actually the truth.
"Believe us now?" Sebastian gave the kid a smirk.
"Yeah...I do."
"So, you wanna come with us? You can call your parents on the way to the office. I'm sure that they'll want to know what's going on, too. I'll give you the address once we're in the car."
Of course, the boy was still a bit apprehensive about this entire thing. But it wasn't like he had a whole lot of options at the moment. It was either go peacefully with the two of them or try and make a break for it. Something that he had a feeling wouldn't end well for him.
"Sure. Why not?"
And just like that, Maria's first mission turned out to be a success. Dramatically underwhelming than what she thought it was going to be. But a success nonetheless.
-(o)-
[An Hour Later]
Once they were back at the station, Maria and Sebastian wasted no time in handing Zack off to Chief Chandler. Who was currently having what was sure to be an interesting conversation with the boy and his parents. From what she knew, talks like that were always a pain in the ass, especially for those who were first-generation sorcerers. The 'beast magic' user was glad that she never had to deal with that kind of thing on account of her father being a seasoned sorcerer long before she was even born.
"So rookie, how'd you like your first ever mission?" Robin asked the raven-haired teen while scrolling through some files on her computer.
"Not what I expected." Maria answered honestly.
The elder agent looked at her in surprise before piecing together what she could've meant. "Let me guess, you thought that it was going to be more exciting? You went out there expecting a fight, huh?"
Maria felt a bit embarrassed after hearing that. Mainly because that was exactly what she was thinking.
"Pretty much."
"Don't worry, rookie. You'll have plenty of chances in the future to crack a few skulls."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah! Charlotte has the third-highest sorcerer population in this part of the country, if you include the surrounding areas. Right after New Orleans and Atlanta. We hardly go a month without one of our own causing some kind of chaos in the area. Most of the time, it's either an accident or a misunderstanding. But there's no shortage of sorcerers actually committing crimes out there."
"I see."
"Anyway, you're good to head home for the day. Since it was your first outing, Sebastian decided to be nice and do the report for both of you. Which is good since he usually puts it off until I have to come find him."
"Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow."
"You too."
And with that, Maria made her exit. But not before taking a few minutes to get her workspace in order, before finally heading out the door. All in all, today was a learning experience for her. The 'beast magic' user was certain that she wouldn't have been able to talk the kid, Zack, down like her partner did. Her people skills were...less than desirable, to say the least. Something that her mother never failed to mention when given the chance. Maybe this was her chance to finally get to work on that.
As the woman entered the elevator, Maria felt a sudden jolt of mana from inside her body. A familiar sensation that was starting to become more and more frequent over the last few months. It came from the spot where her companions were stored, and she knew exactly what was going on.
"You again?" The woman said aloud, placing her hand over her sternum. Her face immediately shifted from normal to extremely annoyed in the blink of an eye. "I thought I told you to stop causing a ruckus?"
Another jolt of mana surged through her body, apparently signaling some kind of response.
"Fine, I'll let you out later after I go home and eat. But only for an hour. The last time I let you have some freedom, you almost exposed me and destroyed someone's car."
Who or whatever she was talking to seemed satisfied enough with the answer to stop making a fuss, much to the young woman's relief.
With that out of the way, Maria began the short journey home. Happily looking forward to kicking her feet up and logging in some much-needed hours on the new video game that she had bought a few weeks ago.
-(o)-
Character Profile: Robin
Name: Robin Grace Stillwater
Alias: N/A
Gender: Female
Age: 30
Birthday: July 8th
Birthplace: Stillwater, OK
Height: 66in
Weight: 149lbs
Hair: Black
Eyes: Grey
Race: Native American/White
Magic: Beast (Avain)
Occupation: DPA Agent, Cryptid Breeder
Stat Chart: A(+)
-Physical Strength - 3
-Intelligence - 4
-Magic Amount - 4
-Magical Control - 5
-Magic Sensing - 5
-Special - 5+
Fun Fact:
-Has a collection of gemstones valued at $300,000 (Refuses to sell any of them).