Case File

It had been a pretty quiet day, and I was taking advantage of it to get some paperwork done when I got The Call.

“Massive Magic outburst at the Hotel MAcDonald.”

“How long ago?” I asked as I got my coat.

“Two hours, maybe less.”

“Dam. Hope we’re not late for the party.”

By the time I got there, the rest of the squad was already there. Anderson, who had made the call, was pointing up at the top of the old hotel.

“Top floor, honeymoon suite.” he said.

“Peachy.” I said, and I led the squad inside. Besides Anderson, whose specialty was magic detection, I had Conners, who was our shield generator; Paterson, who could make walls (and all other inanimate objects) talk; pretty Ross, who was the team’s teleporter and the reason why the rest of the squad beat me here; and me, who had a particular ability to get people to like and trust me, which made me point man when it came to dealing with the public at large.

No, we dont wear costumes, or have codenames, or belong to an organization with initials.

But when magic is being abused, we’re there to stop it.

It didn’t take me long to convince the manager to let us go up to the honeymoon suite. Sometimes, being rather charming helps ....

We were still in the elevator when Anderson said, “Whatever it was, its gone now.”

I sighed. I hated it when we were too late.

“Well, lets go up, and see what the damage was.”

We get to the suite, and open the door.

There had been one hell of a party in here, that was for sure, but the only ones in the room were us. No sign of the happy couple, or anybody else.

“Paterson, you’re up. Find out what happened here.”

Moments later, he was saying, “Oh ... God ...”

“Give us the projection, Patterson.”

A wall lit up, and a replay of the events of the last couple of hours were displayed on it.

Before it was half-way done Ross was in the bathroom throwing up, and I wasnt far from feeling like joining her.

But, lucky me, I’m the one who has to make the reports, so I have to swallow my bile, and do my best to present what we learned.

As far as the reading went, things started off normally with the newlywed couple entering the suite kissing each other. Then a man appeared, and took control of the couple. He forced the man to put on his bride’s outfit, and submit sexually to him, while the bride was forced to watch while naked, and masterbating.

I dont know what else the bastard planned to do to them, but he must have set up a ward that we tripped coming up, because he teleported out with the couple just before we arrived.

Which means he’s not done with them.

Which means we got to find them, and fast.

I called it in, and then I turned to Anderson. “Any chance we can trace him?”

He shook his head.

“All right. We’ll have to do it the old fashioned way. I’ll go talk to the manager of the hotel, see if I can get a guest list of the wedding. The rest of you, get what you can here and then get out before the city cops show up.”

I figured that I’d use some ordinary detective work, and the best place to start would be with the victim’s friends and family. Magical attacks, just like more mundane crimes, tend to be committed by someone who knows the victim well, and this one felt very personal, so someone who has a serious grudge against either the bride, the groom, or both.

So I went back down to talk to the manager of the hotel, and hopefully start making a list of potential suspects.

All I could hope for is that the bride and groom survive until I found them ...

I went down, and charmed the manager into giving me the room number of the maid of honor, who I figured would know who attended the wedding if anybody did, and then I went to her room.

Once there, I used my charm to get her to talk about the guests, and she mentioned that the best man had been acting strangely throughout the whole thing. He had apparently been a rival for the affections of the bride, and there had been hints he was less than pleased at having a front-row seat of the marriage.

I got an address for him, and notified my team I was following a lead. I didn’t want them with me until I was sure, because it was possible that their magic talents set off the ward that had been around the honeymoon suite. My talent was so small it was not likely to do so if I was by myself, so our perp wouldn’t be able to rabbit again.

Ten minutes later, I was at the address, and the rest of my team was in position. I decided for the straightforward approach, and knocked on the door.

Not surprisingly, there was no answer.

I sighed, and pulled out a crystal out of a pouch, and used it to feel for signs of magic. This one wasn’t as good as what Anderson could do naturally, but it worked.

“Oh, yeah, this is definitely the place ...”

I pulled out another little crystal out of the pouch and gave it a tap. This one was basically a magic version of an EMP, and it would render all magic in the area useless. I placed the crystal at the door, pulled out a gun, and took a breath while counting down from ten.

The crystal went off.

I kicked in the door, and went in gun first. I heard shouting and thumping noises coming from what I assumed was a bedroom, and ran for the noise.

I was not prepared for what I saw.

Our perp must have carried on where he had left off in the honeymoon suite, as the groom was wearing a white corset, white hose attached by garters, lace heels, and makeup, while the bride looked like she had just grabbed the robe she was wearing.

But the perp was no longer in charge.

In fact, he was being held by the throat by the groom, who looked very ready to keep squeezing....

“Put him down, please.” I said,

He looked back at me, and I could see both the rage in his eyes and the shakiness in his voice as he said, “You have any idea what’s he’s done to me, to us? What he made us do?”

“I can make a few guesses. But he will be punished, I promise you.”

“Why shouldn’t I just take care of that, right now?”

“Because of what it would do to you. He’s not worth becoming a murderer for.”

For a moment, I wasn’t sure if he was going to agree with me, but then he looked at the man he was holding, and glowered.

“He’s right. You’re not worth it.” He said, and threw him down.

I quickly went to the perp and put a pair of mystical handcuffs on him. Once magic came back in this vicinity in a minute he wouldn’t be able to cast a spell to get away.

Once he was secured, I pulled out a phone and paged my teammates, and waited for the anti-magic spell to expire. While I was waiting, I looked over the bride and groom, just to get some ideas how much damage had been done.

Fortunately, a minute later the team arrived, and they had brought O'Brien, who was a healer. She went to take care of the bride and groom, and we prepared to leave her behind while we took the perp into custody. I wished I could say something comforting to his victims, but I left that job for O’Brien who was more than capable of helping them recover from this, as much as a person could.

For me, once our perp was in lockup, my job would be to write up the report, and then prepare for the next case.

Its not always a fun job, but we stopped a bad man today, and I would rely on the good feeling that gave me to give me the strength I would need for the next case, whatever it would be.

As long as I can, as long as I am needed, I will do my best to serve and protect against those who abuse magic.

Although I will always hope that one day we won't be needed anymore ...

End.