Washington DC, 7:00 pm.

While the city lights lit up the city, deep within an underground bunker, Adrian was sitting calmly next to a familiar young man.

"What are you in for?"

Adrian asked while taking a sip of the whiskey that was in front of him.

The young man stared at the high ranking officer who didn’t look even a little bit perturbed wondering how he could remain calm and even drink alcohol when they were facing a life or death situation.

Seeing the mix of confusion, panic and hesitance on the young man’s face, Adrian lowered his glass, the ice inside making an audible clink as he stared the young man in the eye-

"Steven, there’s no reason to panic. I know who you are and your connections, you were one of the men that was duped by Robert..."

Hearing about his past, the young man, Steven, also the only one who survived that day in the junkyard. After that event, he was given honors and awarded various merits though mostly in secret.

With all that has happened, Steven was trying to transfer out of the mystic division but he found himself getting shoved deeper in the FMC. Then, out of nowhere, a big event happened.

He was simply minding his own business that day, taking a day off, he went out to a strip club in LA, one where he could get some "special services".

There was this hot latina chick who he had his eyes on for a while and just when he was about to close a special service deal-

Men in black stormed the club and Steven was dragged away by his colleagues and the next thing he knew- he was brought to DC through a special underground mystic pathway.

He was detained but the reasons were not given, simply shoved into an empty room before being transferred to his current cell with his former boss.

"I don’t know"

Steven answered truthfully, he didn’t know what he was in for nor what kind of shit he got himself into.

"What were you doing before?"

Adrian though was not convinced, he pressed Steven who did his best to stay silent but-

"He was at a strip club, minutes away from getting a special happy ending service"

The one to spill the beans was a man dressed in a full suit who entered their cell calmly.

"What’s this? Thought you intelligence guys were focused on oversea’s missions"

"Not when there are internal threats"

"That’s the DHS’s job"

"We have many branches because one can’t handle all and in case of any division getting compromised"

The two leaders started to argue, Steven didn’t even dare to speak and even though he was pissed at the director talking about his private affairs. Speaking up now won’t do him any good, whatever it is they got him in for- silence would always save him... even if it’s just a few years.

"Kellin Kain- familiar with that name?"

The director who entered asked, Adrian didn’t know about the man but Steven did-

Though he tried to maintain a poker face, the director already knew of his history and the fact that he was saying it here-

"The Emperor’s been dead for years now, you’re not going to tell me that he’s actually alive and is working for FMC secretly are you?"

Steven could already see through why the name of his superior and mentor was brought up. But he didn’t believe a single thing the director was trying to imply.

After all, Steven was there when Kellin died, he was there during the funeral and although he never found his mentor’s son. Since Kellin requested for his son to be ignored, Steven respected his wish.

"Nope, he’s really dead but his daughter isn’t"

The director said casually but Kellin erupted-

"BULLSHIT! He doesn’t have a daughter! He only has one son that went missing!"

The eruption of Steven made Adrian sigh while the director smirked as he waved his hand calling for the people behind him who placed a black suitcase on the table.

The suitcase contained stacks of papers which the director presented to Steven.

"Maybe this could change your mind"

The documents detailed the first life of Kellin Kain, his lover Yarah and the secret daughter, Kyla who even Kellin did not know about.

Steven read through the documents and finally reached a certain document-

"This is..."

"A witch who works with Damian Dixon, now he calls himself Richard Rex, the witch was seen together with another witch taking Kyla from her room to another location"

The photo shows Kyla in her underwear lying down on her bed in shock as two women stood before her bed.

Others would have winced at the photo that was obviously taken secretly but Steven was already numb to such things. He had taken his own fair share of candid photos, sometimes he even crawled through sewers and starved for days just to get a perfect shot.

In such a situation, instead of lust, he only felt annoyed whenever he finally got a shot no matter what state it was in.

"That man, Damien... no Richard... he’s in Japan?"

The information presented to him revealed that Richard had recently relocated to Japan and had started a group that goes "Witch Hunting".

A profile detailing how he was manipulated and used by a witch, had his lover abused by Robert and was made to watch as his lover was gunned down.

The story of Damien was quite sorrowful but who doesn’t have one or two sob stories?

There were kids in the middle east who had to watch their parents die, Steven himself was there to see such executions and sometimes do them himself.

There were wives who would receive welfare calls from their husbands only to get visited by two officers the next morning with not so great news.

Steven had experienced all of this and knew that the world was not some kind place that rewards good deeds.

A good man could get shot by accident and the killer would get away because the attack was an "accident".

As sad as Richard’s story was, Steven found no reason for him to kidnap Kyla-

But his thoughts changed when he got to a file that contained Kellin’s information that was not released to anyone.

Classified documents that showed what Kellin’s job was and what happened to him after.

"This... why would he go for Kyla?"

"Kellin’s an important asset and we’ve already gotten hold of his most important items. Though... maybe the records of his methods or a secret superweapon he created was hidden in the container... Kellin’s dead but the rules of magic could allow his daughter to access anything he doesn’t want others to see"

"How..."

"I don’t know much about magic but I’m assuming it has something to do with sacrifice-"

*BAM*

Steven stood up, his eyes burning with fury as he asked-

"Where is Kyla?"

"Unaccounted for"

After Kyla was kidnapped, she was never seen again, almost disappearing completely.

Even during his attack on Robert, Kyla was not present. When Richard transferred to Japan, Kyla was also not there.

If the attack on Robert was excused with "too dangerous for a civilian", Kyla not being with Richard’s group in Japan had no excuse.

Given the circumstances, since Kyla had not appeared with Richard’s group in Japan and records show that Richard seemed to have slowly grown stronger after Kyla vanished-

"Is he still in Japan?"

"That is unknown"

The director called for his people once more and they brought in a tablet, from there Steven was able to go through the most recent information about the current state of the world.

"Things started to shift the moment Richard entered the mystical world, from starting a company that uses ghosts for money, and now causing an uproar in the UK. Moreover, the spread of information that even we can’t control..."

The director stopped talking and Steven continued on-

"The man who was labeled a threat long before he became a mystic himself, a man who created a tool that could destroy our entire information infrastructure- now he has power that turned him into some superhero-like being... it’s like a combination of B*tman and S*perm*an"

Steven compared Richard to superheroes who were known for their genius and invincibility respectively. But unlike the heroes who only have one or ther other, Richard had both.

At this time, Adrian chuckled as he snuck in his comment-

"More like H*mel*nder and Ir*nm*n"

Again a comparison but this time it was between a genocidal superhuman and an empathetic genius. A weird combination but as the only one in the room who had actually met Richard- Adrian believed that his analogy was more accurate.

"Are you willing to speak?"

"Tell me what you plan to do with the kid first"

"Nothing, just giving him information and letting him go"

"..."

Adrian could already tell what the damned bastard before him was planning and he could also see that Steven had seen through it as well but-

"I don’t care, if you give me weapons that could take them down-"

"Steven, this is not that simple-"

"I DON’T CARE!"

Steven was not going to listen to his superior and made Adrian shut up by screaming. Something that he would not do normally but this wasn’t a "normal situation".

"They started a witch hunt, I’m going to participate"

Hearing his declaration, the CIA director smiled while Adrian could only sigh and hope that things don’t escalate even more than it already did.