"There he is!" Valerie almost shouted as she ran forward down the hallway to give Cyrus a hug. "Good to have you back!"
"Nice to see you too." The young 'tree magic' user said while trying not to get crushed by the blonde's impressive strength. Seriously, for someone who couldn't properly control her own mana, she was way stronger than she looked.
"Man, look at you. You got bigger!"
Valerie further emphasized her point by grabbing Cyrus's left arm and pinching his bicep beneath her fingers. In her eyes, the guy looked a lot different than the last time she had seen him in person. Back when they went to visit him at his parents' house, he was barely a twig. Now, he had filled out a bit. If the guy wasn't one of her coworkers, she might have been tempted to try to make a move on him.
Okay, that was a lie. But either way, Valerie certainly appreciated the new look that he had going on. And the fact that he now has his new hairstyle going for him definitely made him a nice piece of eye candy in her eyes. Not that she would ever admit that out loud.
Was that weird to say? Maybe. Was it going to stop her from taking a few choice glances at him when he wasn't looking? Absolutely not.
"I did. Nick and Reyna's treatment helped me out a lot." Cyrus replied to the woman's comment. He made sure to hide the fact that he didn't enjoy the woman touching him like that to avoid any unnecessary drama.
"Oh yeah, Evan told me about that! Something about them using their magics together to speed up the recovery process. Man…that must be nice."
"It is. You should try it sometime."
Maria, who had been standing next to Valerie, finally decided to speak up. She, too, was glad to see her fellow rookie agent back in the office after being away for so long. With everything that had happened, it felt like she hadn't seen him in forever. But it was nice to see him in good condition.
"You doing alright?" The raven-haired teen asked Cyrus in her trademark stoic tone of voice.
"I'd like to think that I am." The young man responded.
"So, word on the street is that you're going to be on the raid team."
Cyrus simply nodded at Valerie's comment. "It's still up in the air right now. Chief Chandler and Deputy Chief Mubele want to test my skills sometime later to see if I can handle it."
"Make sense."
"So, how have you guys been since I've been gone?"
"Training day and night."
"Same." Maria echoed Valerie's sentiment.
Based on what Cyrus remembered from the few group chat conversations he had with his friends during his rehab, the two junior agents had spent most of their time working on their skills in preparation for the raid. He didn't know all the details about what they had to do since he was so wrapped up in his own thing, but he was curious to see how far they had progressed while he was gone.
"Well, I can't wait to see the results. I heard that you've been practicing total armament." Cyrus then looked to Valerie.
"I have!" The tall blonde shot back with a wide smile. "I'm going to need it when I face down Aaron."
"Did you guys ever find out who he is and why he has your family's magic?"
"No." Valerie shook her head. "Aunt Zoe has a couple of theories, but she couldn't confirm them. All we know is that he's related to us somehow. And none of my relatives has been able to give us any clues. Even my grandmother has no clue."
"Man, that's weird."
'It's odd that they still haven't figured it out.' Maria quietly thought to herself. Big sorcerer families were usually really good at keeping track of their own family trees. To think that there was a mystery McKenna running around that no one could account for was strange to say the least. Of course, the possibility that Aaron wasn't related to her fellow junior agent was still on the table. But, considering how impossibly rare purple flames were in the world, it wasn't a likely possibility.
"For real…. Don't worry, though. I'll make sure to beat the answers out of him when I catch him!" Valerie then said.
"I don't doubt it." Cyrus agreed with a slight chuckle. "Anyways…I need to go meet up with Ayako. I'll catch you guys later."
"Cool." Maria said in a cool tone as the young man began to walk past her and the blonde.
"See you later!" Valerie said with a friendly wave.
As she watched the young 'tree magic' user round the corner, Maria couldn't help but wonder if everything was truly alright with Cyrus. It was only a little over a month since his release from the hands of those Iznana thugs, and he was already back at work. It wasn't exactly the ideal kind of situation for someone like that to be in.
She herself needed a lot of time to recover from her father's death, along with a ton of therapy. So the young 'beast magic' user had a pretty good idea as to what she was talking about. And she had a sneaking suspicion that Cyrus was just putting on a front to keep everyone from asking him any annoying questions. Not that she could really blame him for that.
The woman decided that it was best to just keep an eye on him in case something happened. After all, the last thing anyone around here wanted was for him to go off the deep end for any reason.
-(o)-
[Later That Evening, Hannah and Aaron's Apartment, Charlotte, NC, December 2022]
Hannah couldn't help but let out a dramatic sigh as she lazily scrolled through her phone while sitting on the sofa in the living room of her apartment. Yet another dull and uneventful day had passed for the 'ice magic' user. And to be honest, she was starting to get sick of it. Even with all of her Iznana-related business going on, she still barely had anything to do. And that small detail was starting to grate on her nerves the longer it went on.
"What's up with you?" Aaron asked his sister after walking into the living room while also scrolling through his phone.
"Nothing." Hannah replied in a tone that very much contradicted her response.
The stoic 'fire magic' user could tell that the woman was lying. So, he decided to just bite the bullet and see what was wrong with her. "No, seriously, what's the problem?"
"It's just…the Boss went radio silent on me again."
"That's it?"
"What do you mean, 'that's it'?" Hannah gave the man an annoyed look.
"Doesn't really seem like that big of a deal to me." Aaron shrugged in response. "Besides, she has that show in England pretty soon, right? She's probably just getting ready for that."
"She's never been like this before, though. Even when she was on tour, she always made sure to check in with me."
In Hannah's defense, their resident Iznana Branch Head had a well-established habit of being a very hands-on leader. And that was true for everyone who worked under her. Back before she officially became one of the woman's lieutenants, the 'wind magic' user actively kept tabs on her and called her at random times to get an update on how she and her partners were doing. But these days, Hannah felt like she was only doing the bare minimum of keeping tabs on how she was holding up.
"You do know that means that she doesn't feel the need to hold your hand anymore, right?" Aaron then said as he sat himself down on the other end of the sofa.
"Yeah…I guess so…."
Something about this still didn't sit right with Hannah, though. She didn't know why, but the lack of communication from their boss felt like a bad sign for some reason. Maybe it was just her nerves messing with her mind, or something else entirely. And at the risk of sounding like a child who needed their parents' permission to do even the simplest thing, Hannah really wanted to know why she was getting less and less attention from the woman these days.
"Sorry, I've just been a bit anxious lately." Hannah then said to her brother before letting out a soft sigh. "Everything's been running so smoothly for us that it's hard not to feel a bit antsy."
"I know what you mean." Aaron nodded in agreement. "We're basically just supervising these days. Hell, neither Quintin nor Reyna have even asked me to go procure any new prisoners for them in a while, now that I think about it."
"And Mikayla already has the new hideout up and running."
On the bright side, the fact that their new hideout was now operational was a positive, at least in Hannah's opinion. Ever since they had to abandon their old spot in the cave after the fundraiser raid, they had been having a bit of trouble keeping track of all their minions around the state. But now that they had a new headquarters to work out of, it meant that keeping their operations organized was a lot easier.
The new place was an old textile factory near Concord. One that was all but abandoned before Mikayla used a chunk of their operations budget to buy the place from the previous owner. And although it wasn't nearly as glamorous as the boss's secret headquarters in South Carolina, it was more than perfect for what they needed it for. Plus, the fact that it was far away from any prying eyes was an added bonus.
"To be honest, I prefer this over the alternative." Aaron then said in a calm tone as he grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned the channel on the television. "Having more free time is never a bad thing."
"Still, though…."
In all honesty, Hannah was just bored. The kind of boredom that made you want to go out and do something stupid just to have a bit of excitement in your life. The type of boredom that she had barely experienced over the last few years. And the kind that, in her totally rational opinion, could only be properly satiated by having her way with some fresh meat in her playroom to keep herself busy.
At that moment, Aaron looked to his right towards a nearby shelf to glance at one of the framed photos on the top level. The photo, one from about ten years ago, depicted him, his sister, and their parents standing on Venice Beach while holding some half-melted snowcones in their hands. They had taken it during summer vacation that year, and Aaron could still remember nearly every detail of that day. Even that same night, when a random dog peed on his shoes while they were out exploring the town.
"It's too bad that Mom and Dad aren't here. But knowing them, they'd be disappointed in what our lives turned into." The raven-haired teen then said in a slightly somber tone.
Hannah couldn't help but chuckle at that. "No kidding! Could you imagine what they'd do to us if they found out that we work for Iznana? Man…I still remember how Dad used to try to convince us to work for the DPA when we got old enough. We're basically doing the exact opposite of what he wanted."
"Don't forget how much Mom wanted us to go to college and become doctors."
Suddenly, Aaron's mind flashed back to the night their lives had changed forever. Even now, he could vividly see their old family home going up in flames. And the trio of masked women with long ponytails, aiming their spells at their mother, while their father tried his hardest to fight them off, as the rest of them escaped into the trees. It was a night that he would never forget for as long as he lived. And that went double for the people who decided to show up and ruin their lives for whatever pretty reason they were sent after them.
"I miss them…."
"Me too…."
The room was silent for a brief few seconds before Aaron decided to say what had been on his mind, which was a thought that had been on his mind ever since their little vacation at the resort a few months ago.
"I want to kill that McKenna bitch." The young man said without even the slightest bit of remorse in his voice. "I know it wouldn't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but it would be nice to give those assholes a taste of their own medicine."
"It would be nice, wouldn't it?" Hannah simply nodded in response. She knew exactly how her brother felt, more than anyone else ever would. And she'd be lying if she said that the same thought hadn't crossed her mind at least once. "But doing something like that is too risky. Especially without making sure that we could get away with it cleanly."
"Yeah, I know."
The woman then decided to change topics. She wasn't in the mood to relive their shared childhood trauma while she was still irritated over how little attention their boss was giving her.
"Honestly, I'm tempted to go try and find Cyrus and link up with him again. I know where he lives since we still have his wallet and ID. But even that would be too reckless." The strawberry-blonde sorcerer then said.
"You're seriously obsessed with this guy, aren't you?"
"Of course I am!" Hannah sat up and looked the man right in the eyes. "He was my best toy ever! Plus, he's kinda hot. The freckles and green eyes really do it for me, too. And don't even me started on how well he-"
"Nope!" Aaron held his hands up in an "x" shape to stop the woman from listing off all of the degenerate things she did to their most recent target while he was still under her care. "Sorry, but I'm not in the mood for any of the weird shit today."
Hannah rolled her eyes and scoffed. "You were just talking about wanting to kill that McKenna girl. But somehow I'm the weird one?!"
"Yes."
"Y'know what? Since we're on the subject, have you ever thought about finally getting a girlfriend?"
Aaron immediately rolled his eyes after hearing that. "This shit again?"
"Come on, Aaron! You've been single your entire life! Plus, you're still a virgin! Don't you ever want to put yourself out there and live a little? Find a cute girl, take her out on fun dates, and spend some quality time with her, or something?"
"Not my thing." The 'fire magic' denied without any hesitation in his voice.
"You only say that because you've never actually tried it before."
"And I don't plan on it anytime soon."
"What if I find you a nice escort to take you out sometime? Y'know, most places offer the whole girlfriend experience thing these days. You can get a good feeling of what the real thing is like without any of the extra hassle!"
"I'm about to cook dinner. What do you want?" The emo 'fire magic' user quickly tried to deflect topics. This was not the type of conversation that he wanted to have right now. After all, he already had a long day at work and just wanted to relax before it was time for him to go to sleep.
"Breakfast." Hannah replied. "But that's not important right now. C'mon, man, I'm trying to be a nice and supportive older sister here!"
"This is your definition of nice and supportive? Trying to get your brother to bang some random hooker just to get some life experience?"
Hannah briefly hesitated before responding. When he said it out loud like that, it really did sound pretty messed up now that she thought about it. "W-well….at least it's something."
"Can we talk about this some other time? I'm really not in the mood for it today. I have a long day of work ahead of me tomorrow."
"Fine, whatever. Killjoy…."
"What?"
"Nothing." Hannah casually waved off. "Anyways, you can go ahead and get started on dinner. I need to make a few calls to some of our guys before it gets too late."
"Cool."
And with that particular disaster avoided, Aaron immediately started making dinner while Hannah did her bi-weekly check-in calls with the rest of her underlings. The woman still had an odd feeling concerning everything that was going on with the boss. But she decided to just listen to her brother and not worry over it too much. After all, why should she? She was a trusted member of the boss's inner circle and well on her way to becoming a power player in Iznana. There really wasn't any reason for her to get stressed out over it.
So, with her mind now somewhat cleared of her nerves, the 'ice magic' user chose to just relax and enjoy the rest of her evening. There was plenty of time for her to worry about business at a later time. But for now, she was just going to kick her feet up and enjoy some of her brother's cooking. All while wondering when the next time she would be able to have a bit of fun with her new favorite freckle-faced toy.