11:47 AM September 13th 2026

Industrial Park District Near the Port of New York

“When you asked for a consultant…?” Sam turned to Frank with a grimace, “What exactly did you request?” Frank raised inquisitive eyebrows as he glanced between the dejected young warlock and Agent Wattkins thinly disguised attempt to maintain her professionalism.

“I requested a Warlock of the Archivist – ” He started and Sam’s head drooped as she spoke over him.

“Of course, you did.” She sighed as he continued the sentence she had spoken over.

“ – in case the cause of the event was a known phenomenon or item.” Sighing, Sam rubbed the bridge of her nose and felt the familiar pain of ‘dealing with Kyle’s shenanigans’ beginning behind her eyes. Rubbing her eyes lightly for good measure while her hand was up there anyway, Sam Squared her shoulders and spoke. “Get ready. We’ll be going in momentarily.”

Kyle raised his head from the steering wheel when he felt his sister’s aura approaching him. He knew he was being childish, but it honestly hadn’t occurred to him that his sister would be here. Having his older sister as one of the agents on the scene when he had his first solo acquisition? Nah. That wasn’t – that was going to seem like so much nepotism. It wasn’t a good look for his career.

“Hey, Shrimp.” Her voice was quiet enough that the other agents couldn’t hear. He hadn’t thought his shoulders could droop any further, but then she brought up her derogatory nickname for him.

“Could we not make fun of my being shorter than everyone in the family but Dad in front of all the other agents?” It was an old conflict. One she relished and rubbed in any chance she got. “You’re just going to be calling attention to how freakishly tall you are.”

“I’m sorry.” His sister amended softly. “That wasn’t professional of me.” With a groan, Kyle got out of the armored vehicle as the Magicorps soldier escorting him looked up from rummaging through the gear in the back of the vehicle pretending not to listen in and failing horribly. The two siblings shared a suppressed smile.

“You shouldn’t be here Sam.” Kyle soberly scolded as he walked briskly around to the rear hatch to help sort through gear. “These kinds of arcane levels have to be from an artifact or an organic source. It’s too dangerous.” He didn’t add the words ‘for you’ to his sentence. They were implied.

“Yeah. It’s unlikely it’s from technology. But the suddenness with which the release happened smacks of technology.” The older sibling studiously ignored her younger brother’s attempt to be protective of her while Gleipnir bristled silently at her waist. “Hush, Gleipnir. Kyle’s just being a brother, he’s not insulting yours or my abilities.”

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“Well, he was rude even if that wasn’t his intention.” Gleipnir’s words had the usual effect when he spoke, and Kyle rolled his eyes at the ancient magic sentient item who always took his role as Sam’s protector too seriously.

“Stop.” It was a sudden crisp order he gave to the soldier pulling gear out of the armored vehicle’s rear storage. “Err…Private? No, Lieutenant Jones.” The soldier halted with a pained look on his face.

“Sir?” The soldier’s face blanked at the address.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake Kyle, he’s a Specialist. And quit fucking with them by pretending you don’t know their ranks.” She turned to Specialist Jones and pointed at the pile of gear he was organizing. “What my brother was about to tell you is that we don’t need most of that stuff.”

“Yeah.” Kyle scruffed his hair with another wince. “Leave the bulky containment equipment in the car until we ascertain what we’re dealing with. I can guarantee that we’ll need something bigger than what we’ve brought to transport it anyway. I mean, just look at the size of the vehicle they were transporting it in and how it has deformed the walls of the cargo compartment.”

“Oh. Yes, Sir.” The soldier replied and obediently looked at the truck hundreds of feet away. He began putting the gear away.

“Leave out the portable magic collectors. Activate a spare one in the vehicle in addition to the onboard one, we don’t want our ride transmuting into a monster on us. And toss us the personal shield collectors. Put one on yourself too.” Kyle was knowledgeable enough and had ridden along enough on consultations and artifact collections that he knew what he was doing.

“Good call Kyle.” Sam offered a rare compliment to her baby brother as she caught the shielding device and strapped it on one wrist. Her brother and the soldier did the same. “Don’t activate these until we’re closer. It will prolong their use.”

“I know that, Mom.” Snark. It was Kyle’s native language.

“Yeah. But Specialist Jones didn’t.” She added peeved. They were already getting on each other’s nerves. “Make sure you activate the sensor but not the collector until Kyle or I tell you. They’ll interfere with our readings once they’re on. Ignis Promethi.”

Sam activated the Prometheus sensors on the techno-magic devices by placing two fingers on the half-heart-shaped arrow that was the symbol of Prometheus and spoke the activation spell. The enchantment flared to life and the large clear crystal glowed purple within. Her words were echoed by the two men with her. Kyle frowned as he grabbed a fourth personal collector and offered it to Sam.

“For your partner?” She gave an ‘Ugh’ and nodded. He tossed it to her.

“I’d rather let her use the FBI standard-issue gear.” She snorted derisively. “But the museum’s work better in high AMD areas.” They turned and began heading back to the group of waiting agents. There was a cluster of them around Alex and Frank. Their bearing and the conspiratorial looks on their faces combined with the way they were speaking to each other behind the occasional hand seemed...Sam narrowed her eyes as she saw what was going on.

“Well,” Specialist Jones commented, “Those people are clearly gossiping about you two.”

“Yes,” Kyle answered with a thoughtful smile. “I guess we shouldn’t disappoint them.” He turned to his sister and for the first time since she read that article this morning, her mood lifted. Maybe she couldn’t beat some kindness into her coworkers, but as much as her brother might annoy her, he always had her back.

Samantha Wattkins grinned evilly.