Chapter 1
The Day That Jellyfish Man and Pink Lady met Green Lightning Lady and the Prince of Dirt.
In the northeast corner of an abandoned courtyard stood several ancient trees. Surrounding them were three massive holly bushes. Tonight, there were four.
The fourth one was grumpy and impatient. Special Agent Rosemary McNamara was not having a fun time having to crouch down and lie perfectly still to pull off the disguise. She scanned the courtyard from her vantage point. Her partner, Special Agent Harrison Danvers, was perched on the wall next to the dimly lit staircase that led into the courtyard, disguised as a beetle. I really should have paid more attention in shapeshifting class. Must be a lot more comfortable.
The trade was to take place tonight. Assuming the sellers were still alive of course. Their kind of group had neither the planning nor the resources to operate for long.
The old building was dimly lit and with the cloudy sky seeming reluctant to allow them any moonlight; the buyers had clearly been forced to set up lighting runes on the walls. Guess not everyone can see perfectly in the dark. The supplier’s team was late. That in itself worried her. If they were so inept as to miss the appointed drop time, it would be much better if they didn’t show up at all.
Suddenly, there was a screech of rubber, shattering the peaceful silence of the courtyard. It looked like the morons were finally here. Her suspicions were confirmed a few moments later as a man holding a briefcase walked into the courtyard through the unlocked gate. Four men were behind him. She watched as they walked to the center. Her eyes flicked to the second floor where a woman stood guard. The woman was looking out of a window, taking care not to be seen.
Three men emerged from the darkness shrouding the stairs, one of them with another briefcase in hand. They walked up to the suppliers.
Briefcase man one looked at the three buyers. The other men tensed behind him.
“You got the goods?” asked briefcase man two.
Frowning, briefcase man one nodded. Simultaneously, they let go of the cases and they started floating across the courtyard.
Then the lighting runes all went out. A figure appeared in the center of the courtyard. Several cries of pain ensued as the men on the two sides of the courtyard were taken off their feet and rapidly introduced to the opposite wall. The figure, a man, immediately reached out with little tendrils of force. Well, someone wanted to crash the party. Damn
Rose watched it all unfold quietly. She couldn’t really do anything but watch. Her orders were pretty clear: Do not give away the hard earned intel by being careless unless their lives were in any kind of immediate danger. The two of them could not do much but watch as the hapless amateurs were beaten. At least no one has noticed that two Special Agents are present.
Her eyes once again flicked to the upper floor where a green shield flickered into existence. Then a lightning bolt was blasted in that direction. An arc of white light impacted the acid green dome with a loud hiss. The shield shattered on impact and the woman collapsed.
Meanwhile, the men on the ground got up. They fired spells across the courtyard blindly, aiming to hit something using the highly dangerous spray and pray technique.
Her partner flew frantically towards her doing aerial acrobatics that a beetle shouldn’t have been capable of. He ducked around one last fireball as he reached the tree beside her, quickly transforming into a lizard and scampering up to a vantage point.
She shifted restlessy. Unlike Harry she couldn’t move without arousing suspicion. Holly bushes aren’t meant to move after all. But now there wasn’t much choice. She started to slowly shuffle backwards. The darkness would cover her well enough. Besides, most of them are busy with the light show.
Suddenly the darkness surrounding her intensified to an absolute pitch black. Harry. He's transformed I guess. Muttering the relevant spell under her breath she ducked behind a tree as quickly as she could.
Harry was behind the tree next to her. He gave her a questioning glance. She motioned to her communicator. Understanding immediately, he erected a silencing ward around them. She dialed the direct line to her supervisor, who picked up in a matter of seconds.
“Eagle, this is Prickle, location tainted. Interference by a third party. Severe spellfire. Cases may be lost. Should we report back or attempt to intercept the cases?” she said rapidly.
“Prickle, tag the two traders. We have enough intel on both of them to mount a recovery op later. And don’t let them see you if you can afford it. Wings can provide cover," came the orders in the usual dull monotone.
“There’s too much spellfire. The attacker broke up the trade and it looks like he’s going for the cases."
“Change of plans. Recover the cases. Tag anyone you can.” The line went dead.
“We have to get the cases and tag anyone we can,” Rose informed, turning to her partner, who nodded.
“Fine, I’ll see if I can draw the new guy away. You grab the cases and start tagging," he said taking down the silencing ward around them. Putting a silencing spell on his feet, he charged into the middle of the courtyard.
She continued to watch for a bit, waiting for the perfect opportunity. The new guy doesn't seem to be able to see in the dark. But you can never be too careful . One of the traders threw a fireball at the newcomer, who instantly sidestepped and shoved him aside using a blast of air before gesturing at the ground causing the cobblestones to shift as the Earth erupted around the man wrapping around him and dragging him down. Dirt manipulation. That’s new.
She moved out of her hiding spot taking care to cover her bright red hair in a glamour. She began to silently tag the unconscious traders. As she searched for the cases she turned to look as Harry punched the dirt king and grabbed one of the cases, tagging the man and transforming into an eagle before flying away.
The dazed dirt man got up and clapped his hands. A jellyfish fell out of the air with a “SPLAT!”. Ouch. That was like twenty feet. The man grabbed the fallen case and took off into the air running for the edge of the courtyard.
Harry transformed back and scrambled after the man, gaining momentum, and with a blast of wind, he catapulted himself twenty feet into the air. Keeping one hand aimed at his feet to maintain the air cushion, he flew at the man.
Rose turned back to the task at hand. She remembered to cast a wide area anti-teleport spell just to be sure no one could make a quick escape. Should’ve done that earlier. Hope no one teleported away with the cases.
Then the damned lights came back on. She instantly turned to the second floor and saw a woman run straight out of the window, green lightning flashing from her palms. Well, it looks like we have another one joining the party.
The woman didn’t seem to have been affected by the lightning. If anything she was right royally pissed off about it. She started blasting green lightning all over the place, arcs of green energy breaking cobblestones and sending up showers of dirt. Dirt king allowed himself to fall from the sky and promptly slid into the ground, which gave away like quicksand at his touch. Deciding that staying on the ground was a bad idea, Rose floated up. She almost didn't see the green lightning as it flashed at her , missing her narrowly. Crap. Can’t lose focus. The damn lights are back on. Time for some drastic action. She lifted her hands and pink energy flared to life around her glowing with power, the glamour on her hair collapsing.
She saw Harry out of the corner of her eye falling to the ground. Wait, why? Oh, that stupid maneuver of his. Oops. Should’ve told him I was gonna put up a ward. Lightning flashed again. Keep it together girl. Come on.
The woman charged straight at her blasting a series of energy blasts mixed in with the occasional fireball and lightning strike. Her shield managed to hold although the power on the spells pushed her back till she was right up against the wall.
Rose played on the defensive, carefully analyzing her opponents' patterns. The woman held nothing back as she launched spell after spell. She’s either learned a fancy spell set very recently or she’s very powerful.
She risked another glance at Harry as the woman’s shield fizzled out due to the sheer amount of power being directed towards her offensive spells. Harry had gotten back on his feet. A blue shield was flickering into existence along on one arm and a ball of lightning was held in his other palm.
She turned back to her fight, deciding that it was time for some offense. She blasted off a few spells of her own, slipping in a few nasty surprises. Her volley hit the woman’s green shield, breaking it down piece by piece as each pink curse hit the shield like a bright pink bullet. She pressed forward, seizing the advantage, firing volley after volley. The lightning lady was pushed back having to erect shield after shield to cover herself from the onslaught. Rose took a moment to catch her breath and the woman went on the offensive again. A wall of fire flew at her. Cursing, Rose flew up but miscalculated the angle hitting the wall with a thud. Pain flared across her back.
Luckily for her, at that moment the prince of dirt made his grand reappearance and the lightning lady, spotting the briefcase clutched in his hands, charged towards him screaming in rage.
Rose took a moment to regain her bearings. She spotted the other case and moved to secure it, staggering slightly, as the pain in her lower back intensified. She spared a glance towards Harry and caught him looking at her worriedly. She gave him a small nod and a weak smile.
He nodded before pointing his arms skyward. A wind tore through the courtyard and the temperature dropped alarmingly. The already cloudy skies opened up drenching them all in ice cold rain. A storm. Of course that’s exactly what he’d do. Show off.
“Prickle, grab the case and get the hell out of here as fast as you can,” he shouted as soon as the soon was going full tilt. It was beginning to move the ancient oak trees in the corner.
“Not going to happen without you,” Rose shot back. Noble git.
She clasped the briefcase in her hand and turned to the lightning lady and dirt king exchanging volleys of black and green. She had to put them out of commission. The storm was only slowing the fight down.
She unleashed one of her specialties. Launching three spells in quick succession, she sandwiched a particularly nasty entrail expelling curse and bracketed it between two lightning bolts. Then she fired off a wide area fire spell behind which she hid an organ rupturing curse. The stakeout-ruining gatecrasher disappeared into the ground as the spell volley hurtled towards them. The green lightning lady, however, was not so lucky.
The now severely depleted opponent put up a hasty shield, knowing that she couldn’t dodge the three successive spells. Her shield took significant damage, large spidery cracks appearing across the surface, but held through the first onslaught. The ring of fire was too much for her shield, however, and melted right through. Before she could erect another, the bright pink organ rupturing curse slammed right into her chest. The woman cast a some sort of charm on herself but the effort clearly burned the last of her very depleted energy reserves as she fell to the ground, unconscious.
Rose smiled to herself. One down. One to go. She heard a shout and turned to see a black ball of energy headed for her. She hastily erected a shield but it was too late. The curse slammed into her chest opening up a long gash. Pain erupted across her whole torso as blood flowed freely, soaking her blouse. She dispelled her anti teleportation ward fighting to stay conscious. She saw Harry turn towards her. A bright blue light erupted across the courtyard. She felt a pair of strong arms gently scoop her up as everything went black.
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