[Unknown Location, One Day after Margarette Davidson Incident]
"Margarette was captured by the DPA yesterday morning." Hannah Donovan said in between bites of her spaghetti carbonara.
Her brother, Aaron, cut her a glance from across the table. "She's still alive?"
"For now." Hannah replied calmly. "I told the Boss about this, and she's sending someone over to handle our little loose end before she starts talking."
"Good."
"Seriously." Mikayla breathed a sigh of relief. "That idiot knows way too much. I was hoping that those DPA agents would've killed her when I sent in that anonymous tip. But I guess things can't go your way all the time, huh?"
"In any case, this won't put any dents in our plans. She was expendable anyway. If she was dumb enough to kill her boyfriend at the drop of a hat, then she obviously wasn't worth our time."
"It's a shame, though. That chick was good at capturing people for us. But there's no use crying about it now."
The trio of criminals went back to eating their lunch before discussing the plan for their latest venture. Things had been going very well for them over the last few days. And they were only a month or so away from the culmination of their latest scheme. Although losing one of their underlings was undoubtedly an issue, their entire operation was still ahead of pace. And the loss of one criminal wasn't going to stop them. A lot was riding on them executing their boss's desires, and Hannah was certainly not about to let anything get in the way of her success.
-(o)-
A couple of days after the Margarette Davidson situation, Maria had slipped back into her normal routine alongside Sebastian. Nothing of note that required the Anti-Personnel Squad's attention had come up. So the group was just passing the time with a bit of on-the-spot training and a lot of lounging around.
At the moment, Maria was watching a sparring match between Sebastian and her other teammate, Skylar Murphy. An average-sized individual with auburn hair, brown eyes, and an athletic build. The guy was from one of the biggest sorcerer families in the country, one that typically chose military service over working for the DPA. And it showed in the way that he expertly handled a taller and faster opponent like Sebastian.
As the two continued bouncing around the boxing ring at speeds that would make a normal human's head turn, the sound of Maria's phone going off caught her attention. The 'beast magic' user quickly pulled the device out of her pocket, only to see that Vice-Captain Stillwater was the one who messaged her.
-(o)-
Eagle: Come to my office. I got something for you.
Viper: Got it. Otw.
-(o)-
Without so much as a word, the raven-haired woman left the training area in search of her boss. She had no clue what the woman had for her, but it had to be something important enough to cut into her training time.
-(o)-
Not even a minute later, Maria was inside Stillwater's office. One that she shared with Captain Mubele whenever he was actually here. The young woman barely got her feet into the doorway before the senior agent waved a manila folder in the air and beckoned for her to take it.
"Here." Stillwater said with a serious expression on her face.
"What's this?" Maria asked as she took the folder.
"Some info I was able to dig up about your father's case."
Now that certainly piqued the raven-haired woman's interest. Her Vice-Captain was well aware of the fact that Maria was hell-bent on learning the truth about what happened to her father. And the woman had indeed offered to help her out with this endeavor whenever she had the time. However, Maria certainly wasn't expecting something like this so soon. After all, the police had investigated the case for almost a year and weren't able to dig up anything of value in that time. So the idea that Stillwater was able to find something after only a few months was curious, to say the least.
"Most of the information is stuff that you probably already knew. However, from what I was able to gather, I think I might have a clue as to who killed your father." The senior agent continued.
"You do?"
"I'm not entirely sure about it, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but the bullet that he was shot with was no ordinary round."
"It wasn't?" Maria quirked an eyebrow after hearing this.
"No." Stillwater said with a serious face. "I double checked with the Chief just to make sure, and she confirmed my suspicions. The bullet that he was hit with was made specifically for taking down sorcerers. And there's only one group that I know of that uses them."
"Who?"
"Inquisitors."
"You mean those sorcerer hunters?" Maria immediately questioned, making sure that she was on the same page as the woman in front of her. "Are you telling me that my father was shot by one of them?"
"Like I said, I'm not one hundred percent sure. But they're the only ones that use that kind of ammo."
Even with this new information presented to her, this didn't make any sense in Maria's head. Her father rarely ever used his magic outside of their house. He was just as secretive about his abilities as anyone else. Hell, he even drilled it into Maria's head the moment her powers awakened about how crucial it was that she refrain from using them in public places. The possibility that this group even knew about him in that regard was slim at best.
Then again, Inquisitors were a group that the DPA didn't have much information on. It was common knowledge that they had a way to track down sorcerers that came up on their radar. But the likelihood of her father slipping up that badly was slim.
'I wonder if this has anything to do with what Mom told me about the family that I have back in Mexico.' Maria pondered for a brief moment. This was certainly something that she needed to look into. But for now, she was simply going to remain calm and approach this the right way. "Thank you for this. I really appreciate it."
"Look...I don't want to be that guy, but I feel the need to tell you this. Be careful about where you stick your nose while you're looking around for this stuff. If this clue is any indication, then you might be running into some pretty dangerous people. I understand how important this is to you, but please try not to end up dead as a result of this."
"I'll keep that in mind." Was all that Maria could respond with.
Suddenly, the door to the office opened up. Revealing a tall woman with blue eyes and a muscular build. Her long, silky blonde hair was fashioned into a ponytail that came all the way down to her lower back. And her button-up shirt looked like it might be a size too small for her body based on the way that it was clinging to her biceps.
"Hey, Stillwater, you in here?!" The new arrival practically shouted.
"McKenna? What's up?" The Vice-Captain replied.
"Aunt- Chief's looking for you. She says she needs to see you in her office and that it has something to do with your Captain. She would've sent you a text, but her phone's charging right now."
"Got it, I'll head over there right now."
"Cool. Anyway, catch you later!" The muscular blonde said before exiting the office and shutting the door behind her.
"Who was that?" Maria asked out of general curiosity, more than anything else. She had been here for months and hadn't seen that woman before. Then again, she mostly spent her time in the station with her team. So it wasn't exactly surprising that there were a few people she still hadn't met yet.
"Valerie McKenna." Stillwater replied as she looked around her desk for something. "She's Chief Chandler's niece. I'm surprised you haven't seen her before. I think she got here about a month before you did, but she's been taking out cryptids like it's nobody's business. By herself, even."
"Oh."
"Anyways, we'll talk about this later. Something about this case doesn't sit right with me."
"Understood."
And just like that, the Vice-Captain exited the office. Leaving Maria with a lot to think about concerning the mystery that she was determined to solve, no matter what.
-(o)-
Later that night, Maria was busy reading over the information inside the folder that her boss had given her. Poring over each and every detail as if her very life depended on it. Although most of the folder's contents weren't exactly new information to the young woman, the few new pieces that she came across were more than enough for her to hang onto.
For starters, the bullet that pierced her father's skull was partially made up of mercury, a metal that is dozens of times more dangerous for sorcerers than it is for regular humans. For some unknown reason, if someone like her were to even touch the stuff, they would immediately begin to suffer the effects of mercury poisoning. And ingesting it was basically a one-way ticket to an early grave. Bullets like these were basically made for ending the lives of sorcerers. So much so that even being hit by one in the shoulder or the arm was enough to kill you in barely a couple of hours.
That detail alone was enough to know that the person who pulled the trigger definitely knew that her father was a sorcerer. And that their one goal was to kill him, no matter what.
The second major detail that Maria latched onto was the idea that whoever killed her father was a trained sniper, one who was very good at what they did.
Given the angle of the bullet's approach and the fact that neither she nor anyone around her heard any type of gun being fired showed that the gunman was very far away when they pulled the trigger. So far away that none of the nearby structures surrounding the shopping mall would've made any kind of sense as a possible vantage point. Hell, the only building close by with enough elevation was at the complete opposite end of the area.
'So...I'm looking for a trained sniper that has access to sorcerer-killing bullets that may or may not be a member of an organization so secretive that the DPA barely has any idea as to where they are or where they operate.' Maria said to herself as she threw her head back in frustration.
The raven-haired woman already knew that this wasn't going to be easy. But just stating that small bit of information to herself was enough to make her want to slam her head into her desk. This whole situation left her with even more questions than she had before. And they were the kind of questions that she knew she wasn't going to get an answer to anytime soon.
"I think that I'll just end here for tonight and pick up whenever I get some more info." The woman sighed in defeat. Closing the folder before standing up from her seat, and grabbing her phone.
Maria proceeded to spend the rest of her night blazing away at one of her mobile games before passing out in her bed. Peacefully sleeping away her troubles as the moon glided across the night sky. Dreaming of a time when her life was much simpler and happier. Hoping that she would one day be able to finally bring an end to the mystery that had alluded her and her mother for the better part of six years.