Present day...

“This way,” Alex gestured for Amanda to walk through the next set of doors.

In the following room there was a metallic table. Laid out on it were some hand-held scanners.

Alex gestured to the table. “Your weapons please, knives as well.”

Amanda took a knife from a strap at her ankle, and a revolver from the holster around her hips. She placed them both on the table.

Alex studied her. So this was the firestarter. The woman was shorter than Alex had expected, about 5’1 – 5’2 tops even in her low-heeled paddock boots. The hair colour was unmistakable though. It was that vibrant copper that was common among powerful witches, especially firestarters.

Once Amanda had unloaded her weapons, Alex took the metal scanner and ran it all over her. It beeped when it got to her left ankle. Alex lifted the leg of Amanda’s jeans to reveal a metal flask.

“I can’t keep that?” Amanda asked “It’s not a weapon.”

“Sorry” Alex shook her head. "No liquids that aren’t in a sealed and approved container."

Once Alex had finished with the metal scanner she commenced with a through pat down. She didn’t find anything else.

“She’s clean” Alex told the old man.

He nodded. “Right, just a few questions to check your identity.”

The old man asked her about her full name, her powers, her birth date, how many siblings she had, her mother’s maiden name, and a few other things that would have required a thorough background check to be familiar with. Nothing that would have been impossible to use to impersonate her but enough that it would have required some effort. Once he was done he sent her through to the next room to wait for the others to be processed.

Alex walked back into the first room. “Who’s next?” she asked.

“I’ll go” Indi stepped forward.

Alex smiled. They walked into the second room. Alex searched her same as she had Amanda but didn’t find anything. Then the old man stepped forward to ask his questions.

“What’s your full legal name?”

“Indigo Adams.”

“No middle name?”

Indi shook her head.

“Power?”

“Shield.”

“You’re half vampire?” he asked peering at her closely.

Indi nodded.

“You didn’t bring a blood supply?”

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“I don’t drink blood, I mostly stick to rare steak.”

“Your brother does though?”

Indi nodded uncomfortable with direction of questioning.

“Are you married?”

“Yes.”

“How long have you been married?”

“A little over ten years” Indi smiled softly as she glanced back at the doors where Falco and the others waited their turn.

“Have you ever killed anybody?”

“What!?” Indi’s eyes widened in surprise. “No.”

“It’s just routine questions.” he assured her, then added “Thank you” and gestured her towards the next door.

Falco volunteered to go next. He placed his gun on the table then waited patiently.

This time Alex watched while Mark conducted the search. She tried to remember what it had said about this one in the file. He was a marine, that much she could remember. He certainly looked built for it, with a height of about 6’2 and a large muscular chest. His blonde hair was shaved right to the scalp in a neat buzz cut. His posture was tense too, as if he was prepared for anything. He was quite the contrast to the woman they’d just processed.

“Looks like you forgot something” Mark said holding up a short hunting knife he’d just pulled off Falco. It had been strapped to his calf.

Mark placed it on the table with the other weapons.

“That knife was a gift from my brother, you’d better not lose it” Falco warned him.

Mark ignored him and continued searching.

“Anything else?” the old man asked.

Mark shook his head and the questioning began.

“What’s your brother’s name?”

“Luka.”

“Are you married?”

Falco nodded “to the woman whom you just talked to”. His eyebrows knitted together in wonder at the question.

“Do you have children?”

Falco raised an eyebrow “If you just interviewed my wife and you asked her these questions wouldn’t my answer be the same as hers?”

“We don’t ask everyone the same questions, and sometimes people remarry” the old man replied.

Falco seemed to relax slightly “I have one daughter.”

“Parents alive?”

Falco narrowed his eyes again “Last time I checked.”

“Good” the old man replied and he pointed Falco towards the next room.

Sirius was next and Alex’s eyes opened wide when she saw him. He was even bigger than the marine. His clothes added to the effect too. Falco had been clean-shaven and dressed in casual jeans and plain white t-shirt. This guy had shaggy unevenly cut black hair and was wearing a long dark overcoat.

Sirius opened his coat to remove his weapons. Alex’s mouth wasn’t the only one to drop. Lining the inside of the coat was enough fire power to take over a small country, not to mention the pocketfuls of enchanted items, and tiny bottles of who knew what.

“We’re going to need a bigger table” Alex murmured once she’d gotten over the initial surprise. What had the file said about this guy? That he ran a transport business. The authorities had him figured for some kind of smuggler? Low volume though, not worth pursuing. Well, smuggling would explain the firepower.

“Ookay... perhaps you could just give us the coat.” Mark suggested.

“I’d prefer to keep it if you don’t mind, it can come in handy.”

By the time Sirius had finished emptying his overcoat and Mark had thoroughly examined its countless hidden pockets to ensure nothing had been missed, the old man had become quite impatient. Eventually Mark was 88% sure he’d found everything. He'd double checked and found some extra pockets already, but the old man had started tapping his foot impatiently so Mark decided to call it. If the coat was charmed and it turned out there was more stuff in there, well, they should've hired someone more equipped to do this, that or pay him a better wage. He gave a nod at the old man who finally got to run through his questions, and which he did rapidly.

Kass volunteered to go next. She stepped into the room and handed over two guns. Alex recognised her easily. This was the Telekinetic. Red hair again, only not as bright and coppery as the firestarter. This one was more of a strawberry blonde and she had her hair cut quite short, only a few inches in length. She was taller and thinner than Amanda with a younger looking face. She was dressed in a white blouse, pencil skirt and heels. She didn’t look threatening at all, but Alex had read her file. This one had history, more so than any of the others. Even worse, there were several years where they had nothing on her.

Tucked up Kass's skirt against her left thigh Alex located another gun. A flick-knife was found loosely sewed to the front center of her bra so that it could be easily ripped in cases of emergency.

Kass hesitated briefly when the old man asked about children, but otherwise she answered clearly and simply, giving no more detail than what he asked for.

The old man sighed and looked tiredly at the doors. “Three left.” he mumbled.