[A Few Miles South of Chicago, Illinois (May 2023)]
In the shadow of the early morning rays of the American Midwest, an abandoned building looked as though a war had been fought inside of it.
Chunks of broken concrete littered the floor in all directions. Several of the surrounding walls had been scorched black, and old pillars had been reduced to piles of barely recognizable rubble. All while the remains of some nearby wooden beams smoldered in the early morning darkness, sending thin trails of smoke toward the broken windows above.
At the center of the destruction, Roberto Santiago, a young man with olive skin, short black hair, and deep brown eyes, lay face-first against the dusty concrete floor. His arms were stretched behind him, while his wrists were pinned firmly beneath the shoes of the woman sitting on top of him.
A pale-skinned woman in her mid-twenties, whom many would recognize as Qamari Vuur, brushed a stray strand of her shoulder-length red hair away from her face and smiled.
"Well…" The woman said brightly. "I believe that makes me the winner!"
Roberto groaned before staring up at the woman currently using his back as a chair. "Get off me!"
"No."
"Seriously."
"Nope!"
"You're crushing me!"
Qamari leaned forward slightly, deliberately shifting more of her weight onto his upper back. The woman didn't appreciate the man casually trying to imply that she was overweight. Such a thought was practically unthinkable. After all, she spent hours every day making sure that her figure was picture perfect.
Roberto immediately stopped complaining.
"That's better." She said.
A few yards away, Tristan Murphy stood against one of the few pillars that hadn't been destroyed by the earlier chaos. The man was on the tall side, possessing a rather husky build compared to that of other sorcerers. And his neatly cut brown hair, manicured moustache, and cool blue eyes gave him the kind of military-style appearance that many in his family were known for. His arms were folded across his chest, and his expression remained as calm and unreadable as ever.
He had been watching this little humiliation ritual in silence ever since the fight ended.
Qamari glanced over at her partner to catch his attention. "Tristan?"
"Hm?" The 'earth magic' user replied.
"Did I win?"
Tristan looked at the wreckage surrounding them, then at Roberto. "Yeah, you definitely won. You could've done without all the extra property damage, though."
"See?" Qamari said cheerfully. "Official confirmation!"
Roberto gritted his teeth. "This is such bullshit!"
Qamari's smile widened. "Careful now, little boy."
"No, fuck you! You said whoever won gets to make the rules. That doesn't mean you just get to-"
Qamari pressed down again, forcing Roberto's face to flatten against the floor. They've been like this for the better part of five minutes, and the young man was starting to lose feeling in his hands.
"Quiet."
A muffled curse came from beneath her.
Qamari sighed dramatically. "Honestly, Mr. Gangbanger…you really need to learn when to stop pressing your luck. You're only going to make things worse for yourself."
The redheaded woman then looked down at her clothes. Her once-impeccable outfit was now covered in dust, ash, and streaks of soot. One sleeve had been singed, and there was a small tear near the hem of the other. This wouldn't do at all, especially since she had spent over an hour preparing this outfit before going into work this morning.
It was a nice one too, one with a grey plaid coat and matching shorts, paired with a frilly white blouse underneath to really make it stand out. And that was to say nothing of the tailored brown flats she was wearing on her feet, a pair she had custom-made to handle the rigours of her job as a DPA agent.
To anyone who knew her, Qamari was a woman of impeccable taste when it came to fashion. She was a firm believer in the idea of "look good, feel good". And whenever she walked into the office in the morning, she made sure that everyone knew that she was just as glamorous as she was dangerous.
"And besides…." She continued. "You got my outfit dirty."
"Man, fuck you and your trashy-ass outfit! Your clothes getting dirty isn't my fault!" Roberto shouted.
"It most certainly is, especially since you ran away from us for half an hour."
"Because you were chasing me!"
"Of course we were."
"That's not a defense!"
"It wasn't supposed to be."
Tristan closed his eyes for a moment, he could already tell that his was going to be a long morning.
For the past two days, Qamari and Tristan had been tracking Roberto through the southern side of Chicago and the surrounding areas in hopes of finally pinning him down. The eighteen-year-old had only recently awakened to his powers a few months earlier, but he'd already learned enough to become a serious nuisance in the area.
The boy was a user of 'fire magic', the kind that was powerful, volatile, and difficult to control when in the wrong hands.
Unfortunately, Roberto had decided to use his newfound abilities during a series of robberies and arsons committed alongside several members of the Folk Nation, the street gang that he was apparently a member of. The damage had been spreading across the area, and eventually the Chicago station had been ordered to intervene once it was confirmed that a sorcerer was the cause of all the trouble.
Qamari and Tristan had been assigned to the case. And earlier that morning, they'd finally cornered him after he left a meeting with some of his hooligan friends.
Naturally, Roberto had tried to escape through the abandoned industrial district after being confronted by the two agents. But the duo had steadily cut off every route available to him until he'd been forced into the building. And after a brief confrontation, Qamari had proposed a deal.
A fight.
Winner makes the rules.
Roberto had foolishly accepted the deal. Clearly, he was confident in his abilities despite still being a fledgling sorcerer with no functional knowledge of sorcerer society. Too confident, if Tristan had anything to say about it. But neither he nor any of the other gang members he ran around with before understood one important fact about Qamari's magic.
She didn't merely create fire, she could control it.
Just like her father, Quincy, and her brother, Quintin, Qamari had the rare magical ability of being able to control fire that she herself did not create, even flames created by other sorcerers. It was the Vuur family's, a branch of the McKenna family, claim to fame in sorcerer society. A skill that only Claire McKenna herself possessed, aside from the three of them.
Roberto had discovered that fact roughly ten seconds into the fight when his fire had turned against him. And a few minutes later, he had been on the floor with his face in the concrete, which is why Qamari was now sitting triumphantly on his back.
"Okay, little gangbanger…" The redhead then said. "Let's discuss your options."
"I already know my options." Roberto replied with no small amount of annoyance in his voice.
"Do you?" Qamari quirked an eyebrow at the boy.
"Yes."
"Go on."
"Man…just let me go!"
"Sorry. No can do."
"You're a fucking asshole!"
"You know what? I like you!" Qamari then laughed. "You've got spirit! And you actually have a pretty cute face now that I'm getting a good look at you. Too bad that you're a total loser, though."
"I hate you."
"That's okay." The woman leaned back slightly, which only added more pressure onto the boy's back. "Now, first things first. You are under arrest."
Roberto went quiet.
"Not only are you an active member of an organized criminal gang." Qamari continued. "You were involved in multiple armed robberies, several acts of arson, and at least three incidents involving magical property damage that have taken place in the last three weeks."
"I didn't do all of that."
"But you did enough of it."
Roberto muttered something under his breath.
Qamari raised an eyebrow in response. "What was that?"
"Nothing."
"No, no, you definitely said something. Come on, don't be a little bitch, spill it!"
"I said you're annoying." The newly awakened sorcerer answered.
Qamari shrugged. "I've been called worse."
"You're a stuck-up-"
The redheaded woman pressed her weight down again, which caused Roberto to stop before he could finish whatever he was about to say.
"Go on. Finish that sentence. I dare you…" Qamari said pleasantly.
Silence.
"That's what I thought."
Tristan, who was now tired of watching this nonsense, finally pushed himself away from the pillar. "Qamari."
"Yes?"
"Get to the point. It's too early in the morning for all these games, and I still haven't had breakfast yet."
"Fine, fine." Qamari smiled at her partner and looked down at Roberto. "So…the way I see it, you have two choices available to you right now."
Roberto frowned at the woman, but listened anyway. After all, it wasn't like he could do anything else.
"First choice: you keep fighting us, get taken into custody, and spend a very unpleasant amount of time dealing with the legal system. And since you're an awakened sorcerer with a confirmed criminal history, you're more than likely going to end up going to a very unpleasant place called Area 53."
Roberto remained silent. He was still new to all of this magic stuff. Hell, he only just recently found out a month ago that other people like him exist in the world. But he had a feeling that he didn't want to end up in whatever specially made prison these people had ready for him if he was convicted for his crimes.
"Second choice…" Qamari continued. "You cooperate with us."
Roberto snorted. "Cooperate how?"
"By agreeing to join the DPA."
There was a pause.
Roberto blinked. "What?"
Qamari smiled. "You heard me."
"You're joking."
"Nope."
"You want me to join your little group of magical government lapdogs?"
"Correct!" Qamari replied. "Oh, and we're definitely not some 'little group'. We actually have more power and authority than most government agencies."
Roberto stared at the floor as though perhaps the answer might be written in the dust. Then he laughed. "You've gotta be kidding me."
Tristan shook his head at what he was hearing. He already knew that this was a possibility, but that didn't mean that he liked it. "This is a bad idea."
"See?" Roberto said. "Even your partner thinks it's stupid."
"I didn't say stupid."
"You said bad idea."
"Yes, I did. There's a distinct difference." The 'earth magic' user said.
Qamari ignored the both of them before continuing her sales pitch.
"Anyways…our station is short-handed these days." The redhead then explained. "And we've been trying to recruit more people to come work for us since no one wants to live in this part of the country. You're young, you've already awakened, and you've managed to develop a decent amount of control in only a few months."
"But I lost."
"You did."
"Badly."
"Very badly."
"Then why the hell would you want me?" The boy then asked.
"Because losing one fight doesn't mean you're useless."
Roberto glanced back at her.
Qamari's expression had become somewhat more serious.
"You've got potential." She said. "It's raw, reckless, and you've got a terrible attitude, but it's there. And it's something that we can make use of."
"Gee. Thanks."
"You're welcome!"
Roberto stared ahead.
He didn't like this. He didn't like this Qamari person. He didn't like Tristan. And he certainly didn't like the idea of wearing a government badge and spending his days working alongside the people who had just hunted him down. But there was one problem with all of this.
He'd lost.
And if he refused, the alternative was a jail cell. Or something worse.
He looked toward Tristan. The older agent's expression hadn't changed.
"You really think I should do this?"
Tristan shrugged. "I think that your options are rather limited."
"That's helpful."
"Look at it this way…you could go to prison…" The 'earth magic' user continued. "Or you can join the DPA, get your record cleared, receive proper training, learn how to control your abilities, and get paid."
Roberto frowned. "You're seriously comparing this to prison?"
"Yes."
"That's messed up."
"Probably." Tristan paused for a moment before continuing. "But for what it's worth, joining the DPA is probably way better than spending the next several years as a low-level gang member."
Roberto's jaw tightened. "You don't know anything about my life!"
"No, I don't." Tristan said. "But I know what happens to people who stay in that life."
That silenced Roberto. And for several seconds, the only sound was the faint crackle of a few dying flames that hadn't been put out yet.
Roberto hated admitting it, but he understood what the guy was trying to tell him. He'd joined the Folk Nation because it had been the only world he knew. His friends were there. His life was there. And it was all he had to keep himself safe in the shitty neighborhood that he grew up in.
But now?
His magic had changed everything.
But the DPA, or whatever it was called, had found him.
They could arrest him. They could take him away. And, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he wasn't sure what would happen if he kept running. He knew that testing his luck against these government dogs would end up badly for him. And he wasn't sure as to whether or not he was willing to risk it.
Finally, Roberto sighed. "Fine."
Qamari's eyes lit up. "Fine?"
"Yeah…."
"You're agreeing?"
"Yes…."
"To everything?"
Roberto grimaced. "I'll join your little government agency or whatever it's called."
Qamari threw her fist into the air in satisfaction. "Yes!"
Tristan stared at his partner with an unenthusiastic expression. Even after working together as part of Chicago's APS for the past two years, he still had no clue how the woman could be so chipper all the time. Especially this early in the day.
"This is great!" The redheaded woman grinned.
"It might not be."
"Oh, come on, Tristan. Don't rain on my parade."
"You're recruiting an eighteen-year-old gang member who was committing arson just last night"
"Former gang member."
Roberto gave the woman a confused expression as Qamari pointed at him.
"Exactly. Former." She leaned closer. "Which means there's one more condition for this deal."
Roberto groaned. "What?"
"You're done with the Folk Nation. Completely."
The boy's expression hardened.
"No more running with them. No more robberies. No more arson. And no more talking to your old associates. All of that is finished. As of today, you're leaving all of that behind for good."
Roberto looked away. "You're telling me to abandon my friends?"
"Yes. Yes, I am!"
The young man clenched his fists. For a moment, he looked ready to argue again. Then he remembered the burned-out building around him.
His own flames.
The fight.
The way Qamari had turned his magic against him.
He slowly relaxed. "Fine…."
Qamari smiled. "Good choice."
A moment later, the woman finally stood up, and Roberto immediately rolled onto his side and rubbed his wrists.
Qamari quickly dusted herself off, inspecting her clothes with a grimace. "Oh, by the way, you're going to pay for the damage done to my clothes."
Roberto glared at her. "You can't be serious?"
"I am."
"You're the one who destroyed half the building!"
"No, you destroyed half the building with all that fire you decided to make. I simply made better use of them."
"How?"
"By doing it stylishly!"
Tristan sighed as he began walking out of the room. "Alright, I'm done with this. We're leaving."
With that, the three of them made their way outside the building.
The morning air was cool compared to the heat still lingering inside the ruined building. Pale sunlight was beginning to appear beyond the horizon, casting a faint golden glow over the surrounding streets.
Their vehicle waited nearby.
Roberto stopped when he saw it. "So that's it?"
Qamari opened the passenger door. "That's it!"
"I don't get to go home?"
"Not today."
"What about-?"
"Don't worry, we'll arrange for someone to collect whatever you need. We have a few overnight rooms that we use whenever we need them. And they're much more comfortable than a holding cell."
"My friends-"
"You're done with them, remember? Whatever you want to say to them doesn't matter anymore."
Roberto frowned. He knew she was right, he just hated it. Either way, he knew that he was going to have to deal with it and accept whatever his life was about to become when he joined these guys and their organization. Now that he thought about it, this wasn't all that different from when he was first initiated into the Folk Nation. Even right down to the part where he got his ass kicked before joining.
Tristan opened the rear door. "Get in."
Roberto hesitated. Then he climbed inside.
"You know what, I change my mind. Sorry, Tristan, but you drive like a grandma, and I want to get back to the station as soon as possible." Qamari walked around toward the driver's side, smiling to herself. "This is going to be fun!"
Tristan shrugged, got into the vehicle, and looked over at her. "Why?"
"Because my father is going to be so happy!"
Tristan's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure about that?"
"Of course I am!"
Roberto looked between them. "So what, is your dad the one in charge or something?"
Qamari's grin became even wider.
"That's right!" She declared as she started the engine. "He's our station Chief. The one who runs the show in this part of the state. I can't wait to tell him that we brought in a new recruit!"
Tristan stared through the windshield. "I don't think he's going to be as excited as you think."
Qamari waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, he'll be thrilled. Trust me."
"He might arrest you instead."
"Don't be so dramatic."
"He's going to ask why you recruited an alleged arsonist from a gang that we were supposed to bring in."
"Former arsonist."
"That's not better."
Qamari simply laughed at her partner's comments. She always enjoyed messing with Tristan whenever she could. The guy was way too serious all the time. Then again, from what she's heard, most of the guys in the Murphy family were like that. Which made sense since so many of them have military backgrounds.
Roberto sank into the back seat, staring silently out the window as Chicago slowly began to wake around them.
A few hours ago, he'd been just another gang member running from the law. Now, he was apparently on his way to becoming a government employee. He wasn't sure whether he'd made the smartest decision of his life or the dumbest. But there was no turning back.
Qamari pulled the car onto the road. "Welcome to the DPA, Roberto! You're going to love it!"
Roberto groaned. "This is going to suck, isn't it?"
Tristan looked at him through the rearview mirror. "Probably."
Qamari laughed as the vehicle disappeared into the morning traffic, carrying three very different sorcerers toward the Chicago DPA station and whatever waited for them there.
-(o)-
Character Profile: Qamari
Name: Qamari Katherine Vuur
Alias: N/A
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Birthday: January 22nd
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
Height: 68in.
Weight: 138lbs.
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue
Race: White
Magic: Fire
Occupation: DPA Agent, Fashion Model
Stat Chart: A(+)
-Physical Strength - 3
-Intelligence - 3.5
-Magic Amount - 5
-Magical Control - 4
-Magic Sensing - 4.5
-Special - 3
Fun Fact:
-Favorite food is red velvet cake.
-Favorite sport is basketball.
-Alma Mater: Harry S. Truman College (AAS).
-Favorite movie is Brave.
-Once got arrested after knocking out a bouncer at a nightclub after a Cubs game (Charges were dropped).
-Younger sister of Quintin Vuur.
-(o)-
Character Profile: Tristan
Name: Tristan Dalton Murphy
Alias: N/A
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Birthday: October 14th
Birthplace: Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States of America
Height: 73in.
Weight: 242lbs.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Race: White/Native American
Magic: Earth
Occupation: DPA Agent
Stat Chart: A
-Physical Strength - 4
-Intelligence - 3
-Magic Amount - 4.5
-Magical Control - 4.5
-Magic Sensing - 4
-Special - N/A
Fun Fact:
-Alma Mater: University of Chicago (BS)
-Favorite food is bison burgers.
-Favorite hobby is fly-fishing.
-Once took down a bison barehanded after being dared by his cousins.
-(o)-
Character Profile: Roberto
Name: Roberto Omar Santiago Ibarra
Alias: N/A
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Birthday: July 24th
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
Height: 67in.
Weight: 151lbs.
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Race: Hispanic
Magic: Fire
Occupation: Folk Nation Gang Member (Former), DPA Agent (Pending)
Stat Chart: C
-Physical Strength - 2
-Intelligence - 2
-Magic Amount - 3
-Magical Control - 2.5
-Magic Sensing - 2
-Special - N/A
Fun Fact:
-Favorite food is pizza.
-Joined the Folk Nation at the age of 14.
-Has stolen seven cars in the last three months.