“Alright, here’s the play.”

Julia drummed her fingers impatiently while she committed notes to memory, as did Angela next to her, and Joey was doing her eidetic thing again. Levine was speaking now and had pulled a personal best on getting information on one Rick Waterson, whose records were squeaky clean, other than a listing for security consultation for Magitech industries, and other than that, nothing. She drummed her fingers on her knee while Drenar asked pointed questions.

“Let’s not overthink this, guys,” Julia states, after having run out of patience one gunfight ago. “We go down to Jersey, pick up Rick’s wife and daughter, and zoom out of there. Piece of cake, twenty minutes, in and out.”

“Except for one problem. They–meaning Magitech industries, and who I presume are probably Talons operatives–know Rick is missing,” Drenar states calmly. “We are not trying to attract attention on this one, which is why half the team is going in on the extract, half the team is on reserve. Angela, seriously, your chest is glowing again, what’s up with that?”

“You mean, I didn’t explain this one?” she asked.

“You didn’t,” Julia interjected. “Look, the clocks’ ticking guys, in more ways than one. So let’s just go do this, and then we get Rick’s information, in a way that doesn’t involve batting him around, like a cat would bat around at a rat.”

“In Jersey, there’s rats bigger than cats,” Nick muttered. Angela elbows him and he doesn’t even flinch. “No seriously, you’ve never seen gilded rats? They’re big, and they’re docile. Until you accidentally hurt one, then your ass is a corpse.”

“Ahem,” Levine interjected. “We’re taking Rick with us. This is the only way to keep the extraction subjects in a calm mindset. If we’re lucky, we get them back here without any fuss.”

“Don’t count on it. The Ravagers are on the move. And Amaranth, you still haven’t explained how you play into this,” Drenar added with an accusatory tone.

"How about, we wait to deal with this crisis first? I think the urgency stack favors helping a father protect his family," Amaranth interjects. "Sorry Joey, I know you all didn't plan on this, but I think my bit might be related if what I suspect is going on is true."

“You went on one date, and the world went to shit, Drenar. That might be your sign on how fragile things are,” Julia states deadpan. She can hear that frown emerging on his face.

“Me going on dates does not make me a harbinger of the apocalypse.”

“Nope, just more crazy stuff involving dragons, dragon science, and our perennial favorite murderers, the Talons!” Joey chimed in. “And the Ravagers, too. By the way, you should make them kill on sight, if they show up.”

“Why?”

“Just trust me on this. Levine?” Joey asks as she shoots a glance his way.

“It’s your call, Drenar. But if we engage hostiles, be mindful the Ravagers are run by Davos Renshrak, and this suggests they are working with the Talons,” Levine answers to her query. “They have a track record of brutality.”

Julia can see the calm expression get torn off his face violently. “You mean the man who caused my father’s death, and battered my mother to the verge of death? Yeah, that asshole is kill-on-sight, and not for my own reasons for despising him.” He turns to face the rest of them. “The priority is the safety of Rick’s family. I doubt there’s going to be trouble, but you never know. Anyone who takes a shot at them, don’t hesitate to answer the threat definitively.”

“Great. Looks like Matilda is getting swapped out for something a little lighter.” Julia is already in motion with an autobow, compact and light, for the close quarters. “Seriously, let’s just do this, before more weird stuff goes on.”

“Weirder than getting pulled into the aether at random? Nah, I don’t think I’m topping that one for a while. And will someone please tell me why Angela keeps giving off this glowing aura?” Drenar asks impatiently.

“It uh…the crystal started humming, and lit up,” Angela answers anxiously. If she’s anxious, Julia figures, it’s out of whack, even for them. “It started at random when you and Joey went out. It started doing that superpower thing, where I get crystalline scales.”

“Question is, are you still good to go?” Julia asks. The idea that her bestie, who has fought side by side with her numerous times, is anathema to her existence. Angela nods firmly–nothing can stop her, it seems.

“I’m good. Let’s get this done.”

“Alright, bring Rick in,” Drenar calls out and is already prepping equipment, while Nick and Levine get the teleportal dialed in. “This should be a simple in and out, we’re taking one-time-use pads with us, just in case this gets dicey. Joey, you’re with me, Angela, Julia, and Nick on team one, along with Rick. Team two, be ready to come in swinging.”

“Jersey’s not that bad, Drenar,” Kelly sighs. “Look, why would we think that the entirety of the Talons’ army would come after Rick’s family? For all they know, he’s dead and buried.”

“I’m not leaving it to chance, Kelly.” Drenar’s calm tone has returned, if not for his own sake, then for the sake of the team.

Julia had been initially worried about Kelly’s enthusiasm for joining the Luminaires–but, Drenar had been willing to hear her out. They both had been keeping a close eye on her, especially in the wake of her father’s death. Still, she can’t help but worry. Kelly hasn’t been tested like the rest of them, even Jackie has seen some combat, and James is no longer a slouch with his basic mage combat and tactical acumen. Drenar continues and glances at Julia. “Not that I want to add to the drama, but, your mom should be on standby. She’s briefing the Valkyries right now.”

“I know. Well, at least if this goes to shit like usual, we’ll be well-armed and armored this time. I don’t feel like fighting through two secret underwater fortresses in a lifetime underequipped.”

******

“I hate Jersey. It smells like garbage.” The fact that Rick lives right next to a veil-free zone, means this should be an easy in and out, and they quickly notify SAF of the situation with a flash of their badge. Julia can’t help but notice that SAF is more keen on helping them here than back at home, and Levine does the talking quickly, along with Nick. They’re only a few blocks away from Rick’s apartment, and he’s protected in subtle body armor, but no weapons.

“Hey, I live here, and no, it doesn’t. You’re just used to the great whole lotta nothing in–where the hell were we?” Rick asks.

“Colorado,” Julia answers him. This guy must have been bounced around a lot for him to not know where he ended up. “You still haven’t answered what happened to you. As far as I know, only Drenar has been popping in and out of the aether. And it’s tied to his weird ability.”

“It’s not weird. It’s my blink,” he answers.

“No, it needs a snazzy name. Like aether jump! Hah! It has a name now, I am queen of the ability naming thingy!” Julia declares.

“I like Aether Strike,” Joey comments.

“Sounds like me jumping between realities to stab murderous Kin in the back. Not exactly something I’d like to give much thought to,” Drenar sighs. He tries to not add to a body count, which she finds admirable.

She’s grown quite comfortable in putting killers in the ground, as awful as that sounded. Drenar glances at Rick. “So, you picked up that mana crystal, and then got shanghaied to the Aether.”

“I should have been annihilated. The void bubble is uh…pretty total in its destruction,” Rick answered shakily. “I ended up one other place, but um…we’ll talk after I’m sure that my continued existence doesn’t cause my family harm.”

“Admirable. Jeez. it’s like half the Talons treat this like a day job, and are affably evil,” Julia interjects.

“Security contractor,” he insists. She continues to insist on cracking her knuckles to let him know he’s full of shit. He glances down the block, and motions for them to stop. He must be very wary of his thoughts, with Joey around and not getting much out of him other than what he’s saying. “Okay, so a few things,” Rick says hurriedly. “Don’t tell my wife where I work.”

“Where do you work Rick? You haven’t answered that one,” Drenar states calmly, even as his hand keeps drifting to his weapon. The street is mostly empty in the veil-free zone, and once they hit the threshold for a small utility tunnel, he motions for everyone to stow their gear, so that no one outside the veil sees anything unusual.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Rick sighs. “I told you. Magitech industries. I’m a security contractor.”

“No, the real story. You want me to trust you, and this is not, in fact, some ruse by the Talons?” Drenar again insists, but Julia shakes her head. She’s got an idea on this one.

“I told you–”

“Drenar, we can sort that out later. Tell me about your wife and kid, Rick,” Julia says after Drenar makes that subtle motion of his to let her take the lead. Rick scratches at his short hair after their weapons are concealed, and the armor tucked away in regular civilian wear. She’s glad this armor can deploy in seconds, should a crisis emerge. “We could use some information on them, just in case.”

“Alright. My wife’s Marlene, my daughter is Abigail. She’s seven. I had a kid quite young. She’s mine and Marlene’s world,” he states with passion. “She loves dragons. Got pictures of them everywhere.”

“Uh…can she draw one of me?” Julia asks. Rick stares at her blankly. “We have like, a bunch of dragons on our team. It’s Team Dragon! We also do dragon science!”

“Please don’t advertise the dragon science,” Angela sighs, and rubs at her coat uneasily. “I keep feeling my danger sense going into overdrive, and I’m wondering if I’m just being jumpy.”

“I’ll scout out,” Nick offers before flinging in a small drone into the air, that quickly takes off and shimmers with a refractory coating that makes it blend into the night sky. He puts his phone on his wrist with an armband, keeps it affixed, and makes a low grunt a moment later, as they continue onward. “Alright, the coast is clear, but the lights are on. When were you supposed to be home?”

“Hours ago,” Rick grunts. “Front door should be fine.”

“Levine, take team two, run them to the other side of the block,” Drenar relays into his arcanlink. “Looks like the coast is clear for now.”

A moment later, they’re approaching the two-story apartment, and Julia can hear the hum of a TV and low commotion. Someone fretting, talking to someone in a low tone. She taps Rick, and smiles. “So, anything we should know? Is your wife prone to shooting through doors, blasting people as they come inside?

“No,” he states with an eye roll. He grabs his keys and opens the door gently–and is instantly pulled inside, to the sound of curses, and his yowling protests.

“The hell, where have you been Rick, it’s two in the morning, and I’ve been worried sick–”

“Marlene, I’m just–”

Julia nudges past the frame to see a tall woman with dark brown hair and hazel eyes laying into him, still cursing. “No, don’t you dare pull that! You’ve been gone for hours, didn’t call, I put Abigail in bed, she’s worried, your work called–”

“If I may miss, Rick’s with us,” Julia interjects and slides in. The presumable wife gasps and tries to grab a coat rack, but Drenar eases it down with telekinetics. Julia continues without skipping a beat. “We found Rick and brought him home. It’s a long story. It’s so long, that we really should sit down and talk. He’s not in trouble, we’re the Luminaires.”

“The who?” she asks, looking like a storm is brewing in her eyes, then screams at Rick. “You’ve been gone one day, and you bring some floozy old enough to be jailbait? Your ass is dead, Rick!”

“Marlene, I almost died today!” he shouted. “Let me get a word out, please!”

“Oh, you did. And it’s gonna be followed by lots more words like ‘Sorry’ and ‘I’m an idiot’ before we even come close to that! And again, who are you people?” Marlene demanded, hands on her hips and looking more upset than apprehensive.

“We’re the good guys.” Julia shows them the insignia on her jacket. “You remember hearing a couple of months ago, about the attack at Asqualia?” Marlene nods animatedly. “We’re the people that put the Talons out of commission. We’re the Luminaires.”

“Oh-kay…” she trails off, then looks at Rick, a little less angrily at least. That’s at least one beating averted for this poor guy, who is having the worst day in his life, most likely. “But, why is he with you?”

“Rick has had an…interesting day, and we found him. Uh, in a magical teleport accident. He’s lucky to be alive,” Drenar answers. Can we come in?” Even though he’s not got the whole story either. “I’m Drenar, this is Julia.” he introduces the rest of them, and Nick is frowning, too focused on the drone feed.

“Still not hearing why big shot heroes are here at our house,” Marlene growls, while motioning to Rick. “are you going to tell me what this is about?”

“We can, but not here. Marlene, we need to go. It’s not safe here,” he answers. “We need to get Abigail and go. They have a safe house for us to talk.”

“Can we just…Rick, what did you do?” his wife gasps.

“I don’t know, Marlene. I just don’t know.” He slumps and lowers his chin down to his chest. “Today was supposed to be just another normal day. It has been anything but.”

“Can I just…you guys want coffee? Can we do that, first?” Marlene asks. “You guys made this trip out here, but why aren’t we safe?”

“Uh…I may have accidentally found a keystone fragment that could lead to the discovery of a long-entrapped goddess residing in the aether,” Rick said uneasily. Julia sighed, this guy could not read a room.

“Richard cut the bullshit. Just say you did something illegal, and you got busted for it,” his wife sighs.

“How about that coffee first, then we need to run?” Drenar states impatiently. Marlene regards him for a few seconds, then waves them in.

“Don’t mind the mess,” Marlene calls out as they walk through. Julia doesn’t really note much of a mess, this house is quaint, with well-loved furniture, and a few kids' toys left out on the living room floor. They walk to the tiled kitchen with bright-colored accents, a kitchen island, and pans hanging in a hooked linkage in the ceiling. It’s small, but well laid out to maximize the space. The fridge is covered in kids’ artwork. Before she can pay attention, there’s a call of a small child’s voice.

“Dad, you’re home!” A little girl with brown hair and bright green eyes bounds down the stairs and wraps herself around Rick. all the apprehension melts off his face, and he smiles as she holds her tightly.

“Hey munchin, I’m home. I had to take a long way home today, I uh, kind of missed my flight,” he adds with a laugh. “Guys, this is Abigail, my daughter. These young people are the Luminaires. They uh, they helped fight off some bad people a while ago.”

“Oh you did?” she asked with wide eyes. “Did you fight dragons?”

“A few,” Julia half-answered. Never mind that the most deadly dragon of them all was leading the Talons. “I’m a dragon, too! Well, half.”

“Oh, my!” she beams, and squeals with delight. “What color are your scales?!”

“Well, mine are gold, with some black and teal feathers,” she explains, and an emergent smile forms. “Drenar is silver and blue–the messy-haired kid over there,” she points, and he frowns. “Angela has silver scales and seafoam feathers. Nick’s a big green guy, like your stuffy.”

“My hair’s not messy. Also, time’s ticking guys,” Drenar adds calmly. Julia promptly ignores that and focuses on the girl in a long-sleeved pajama set, holding onto a stuffed green dragon that did look like Nick’s Hinterland form.

“Oh my gosh, dragon superheroes!” Abigail squeals, while Drenar and the others talk. Just as well, because moving this family is not going to be pleasant. “Have you flown? Dad says his boss flies a lot! And she’s big and scary!”

“I’ve flown, and not all dragons are scary,” Julia assures her. “Wish I could show you, but the house is too tiny. I only just became one, myself. I had to wait a while.”

“Ooh, I know, I could sketch it!” she said with glee. “I’ll go get my pencils!”

She darts over to a small console with a bunch of papers and other art supplies and rummages for a minute. Julia sighs contentedly, she wished that her mother had been willing to share this at a much earlier age. Before everything started falling apart for her and Drenar. He was sitting at the table, explaining very calmly the risks, and Marlene looked shocked, but, not panicking.

Drenar’s got that impact. He knows how to get through to people, even when things are awful, all around them. He’s faced awful things his whole life, almost. Even the dark parts of him, that almost took him from her.

She sighs softly at that wayward thought. He’s fighting for all of them, now. And the world might very well be riding on their shoulders, combined

But this girl needs assurances, not grim tidings. She walks over to the fridge, and sees a bunch of really detailed dragon sketches. She smiles, such pretty artwork–

Her blood freezes when she sees one on the far right, and her mouth gapes open for a second. She steps closer and puts her hand to the page. It’s a massive, midnight-blue scaled dragon, with a red feather crest and feathered wings, and ruby red eyes. Under it, Abigail had scrawled ‘Dad’s scary lady boss! Rawr!’

“Uh…guys…” she trails off, but no one’s paying attention. This is bad news.

Abigail bounces back, one missing tooth accenting her grin. “Ooh, you like my art?!”

“It’s…pretty,” she says with an edged smile. She hopes it’s not who she thinks it is. After all, how many Siberian Hellkites could there be in the world? Dear Fates, tell me that isn’t Val.

Abigail follows her gaze, she pulls the artwork off, and snaps the fridge magnet back in place. “She’s my favorite! Dad talks about her, says that she might be scary sometimes, but she’s got a good heart, buried waaaaay down!” she says with a giggle. “Not all dark-scaled dragons are evil, or so he tells me!”

“That’s…that’s great.” She’s got this sinking feeling this is about to be an awkward reveal. She knows it’s coming, because, how else could this get more screwed up? Nick is frowning and tapping at his phone in the distance, but Abigail puts the big dragon artwork under her nose, practically. “And uh, who is this, exactly?”

“My dad’s boss. He guards her door! She doesn’t like it when people snoop on her stuff, and he works in a big underground cavern, protecting her special things!”

{Joey, we have a problem.} She sends the mental alarm bell directly to her, and even though she’s in her human form, she swears her ears perk up, all the same. She walks over to her, frowning.

“Okay, Julia how big a problem do we–oh crap.” Her eyes light with recognition at that image. “Um, tell me that’s not who I think it is.”

“It’s my daddy’s boss, Val! She’s the bestest girl dragon, she’s super strong and fast!” Abigail beams. “You said a bad word though, she might not like that if you heard it.”

“Yes, absolutely. Abigail, I think we need to pack for a little dragon camping trip, can you lead me up to your room?” Julia asks with a nervous smile. She looks to Joey, who is trying not to freak out, either.

{Val is Rick’s boss. We’re in deep trouble.} Joey nods while trying not to let on that this is bad news, and quickly relays a note to Drenar, while she follows Abigail upstairs–to pack and get the hell out of here, as fast as possible. “So, Abigail, I need you to pack this bag with your favorite clothes, and maybe a stuffed doll that’s your favorite,” she assures her. “Your dad’s boss might be mad at him for disappearing. So we have to–”

“She’s a big softie. It’s the demon in her that makes her bad.” The change in tone in Abigail freezes Julia's thoughts mid-sentence. Abigail's' eyes are bright–almost like Angela’s eyes, and her expression dims while holding her stuffy dragon tightly. “They did bad things to her. Awful things they did to little girls. The little crystals said it. The ones people say can’t talk. But I hear them.”

She ignores the pending crisis. She ignores the fact that mana can’t talk. She ignores her danger sense going into overdrive. There is something new at work, and she puts a reassuring hand on Abigail's shoulder.

“What bad things?” she hears the commotion downstairs as Nick calls out that something is going on up the street.

“They put the monsters inside her.”