Reid landed on the steps of the Brimton Council and nearly collapsed.
His gravity magji cut out the moment his feet touched stone, the reserves he'd been burning through since his escape from the hospital finally hitting empty. His legs buckled and he caught himself on the railing, fingers wrapping around cold iron as the world tilted and then slowly righted itself. Blood from the gash on his forehead had dried into a dark line down the left side of his face. His suit jacket was torn at both shoulders from punching through ceilings, and the cuts on his arms were still weeping through the fabric.
Reid straightened himself up as much as his body would allow and walked through the front doors. The Council Hall in Brimton was smaller than what he'd heard. Marble floors, high ceilings, the faint hum of protective barriers layered into the architecture. Staff moved through the corridors. A few heads turned as Reid entered, and he could see the worry and concern in their eyes. Bloody magjistar walking into the Council Hall in the middle of the afternoon. That wasn't normal.
"I need to speak with the Council. Now." Reid told the woman behind the front desk. His voice was steady despite everything. Steadiness was a skill he'd practiced longer than his gravity magji.
"Sir, the Council is currently in session regarding..."
"Multiple Peacekeepers have been hospitalized. Active magjistars have been attacked and crippled in the magji district. The attackers are still in the city. If you want to explain to your superiors why you made me wait while rogue magjistars are terrorizing Brimton's citizens, by all means, keep talking." Reid let the blood on his face do the rest of the convincing.
The woman called a fairie.
…
The Council chamber in Brimton seated seven. Not all of them were present when Reid was escorted in, but the ones who mattered were. The Head of Security, a broad woman named Maren Voss with close-cropped grey hair. The Head of Peacekeeping, a lean man named Callum Thresh who was already looking through reports. And the Head of Magji Affairs, an older woman named Delia Santos whose expression hadn't changed since Reid walked in.
Two other seats were occupied by Council members Reid didn't recognize. The remaining two were empty.
"Mr. Calloway." Maren spoke first. "You requested an emergency audience. Given the state of you, I'm inclined to listen. Speak."
"Possibly two hours ago, a magjistar named Baxter Rudd entered the magji district accompanied by two rogue magjistars. They attacked my girlfriend, Sable Moreau, at Lilac & Rye cafe during brunch. The attack was unprovoked and brutal. Sable is currently in critical condition at St. Elara's with multiple fractures, a destroyed knee, and it is unknown if she will awaken again without the aid of a Star Clan member or a healing magji tool."
Reid paused to let that land.
"The responding Peacekeepers engaged the two rogue magjistars and were defeated. Six Peacekeepers were hospitalized. The attackers escaped the district with Baxter Rudd."
"We received the reports from St. Elara's." Callum confirmed, his face grim. "Continue."
"Myself and four other magjistars went to St. Elara's after learning of Sable's condition. While we were there, we discovered from the Peacekeepers and Sable's friends that Baxter Rudd was the one who orchestrated the attack. Before we could relay this information to the authorities, the two rogue magjistars attacked the hospital directly."
"They attacked the hospital?" Maren's eyebrows rose.
"They blew through the wall of the Peacekeeper ward. The panda-masked one was... different from the earlier encounter. Stronger. She had some sort of enhancement active. Visible mahna aura, increased muscle mass, and speed that none of us could match. She went through my entire group in seconds. Greer Holston, Dante Cross, Pria Vasani, and Lowell Tate are all currently incapacitated with severe injuries. I was the only one who managed to escape." Reid touched the gash on his forehead. "Barely."
Silence held the room for a few beats. Delia Santos leaned forward in her seat.
"Mr. Calloway. You said this Baxter Rudd orchestrated these attacks. What is his relationship to you and the others who were targeted?"
Here it was. The question Reid knew was coming and had prepared for.
"We grew up together. Went to the same magjistar school, took cases together for years. We had a falling out some time ago. He and I had a rivalry that got out of hand. Words were exchanged, things escalated, and eventually Baxter left. I hadn't heard from him in over a year until today."
"A falling out," Delia repeated. Her tone was flat. "And this falling out was severe enough that he hired rogue magjistars to cripple five people and assault a squad of Peacekeepers?"
"Baxter has always been an unstable person. He never handled conflict well. I believe that the isolation of being away from the community pushed him further. I don't know where he found these mercenaries or how he's paying them, but the fact remains that he has, and they're still in this city."
"You're leaving something out." Delia's eyes hadn't blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"Mr. Calloway, I've been on this Council for nineteen years. I've heard from hundreds of people who've walked through those doors asking for help. The ones who tell me everything rarely sit as straight as you do." She folded her hands. "A rivalry that got out of hand doesn't produce this level of retaliation. Not after a year of silence. Something happened between your group and Mr. Rudd that goes beyond words being exchanged. If I look into this, and I will, am I going to find something that changes the context of what you've told me?"
Reid held her gaze.
"You might find that Baxter Rudd was not a well-liked person in this community. That he had difficulties maintaining relationships because of his personality. That people distanced themselves from him for reasons that had nothing to do with me. If that context changes whether or not you're willing to protect the magjistars in your city from rogue mercenaries attacking hospitals, then I've misjudged the priorities of this Council."
The gambit was transparent and they both knew it. Reid was daring her to say that the victims deserved it. That the context of why Baxter was angry mattered more than the fact that Peacekeepers were in hospital beds and registered magjistars had been crippled in broad daylight. The truth was that regardless of what Reid and his friends had done to Baxter, what Baxter was doing now was still a crime.
Maren cut in before Delia could respond.
"The context of Mr. Calloway's relationship with the attacker is something we can investigate after the immediate threat is dealt with. Right now, we have two unidentified rogue magjistars operating inside our city who have already demonstrated they're willing to attack Peacekeepers and assault a hospital. That alone warrants a response."
"Agreed," Callum nodded. "I've already pulled the reports from both incidents. Whatever issues Mr. Rudd has with Mr. Calloway's group, those mercenaries fought through our people without breaking a sweat. That's a security concern regardless of motivation."
"Motivation matters," Delia insisted. "If we're going to mobilize resources, I want to understand what we're mobilizing against and why. Mercenaries of this caliber don't come cheap. Someone is funding this. Someone with resources. And if Mr. Calloway's 'falling out' is the root cause, then understanding it helps us predict their next move."
"Their next move is me." Reid said it plainly. "Baxter told Sable that she was first and I was last. He's working through our group one by one. He's already gotten five out of six. I'm the only one left."
This shifted the energy in the room. The two unnamed Council members who had been silent exchanged glances. This situation had a clear trajectory and a clear endpoint, and if they didn't act, a sixth magjistar was going to end up in a hospital bed.
"Callum. What do we have available?" Maren turned to the Head of Peacekeeping.
"I can have two full squads within the hour. If we pull from the eastern part of the city, we can add another squad of higher-grade Peacekeepers. That gives us roughly thirty bodies with proper equipment."
"Do it." Maren ordered.
"I want investigators assigned to this as well," Delia added. "I want to know who these mercenaries are, where they came from, and who's bankrolling this. And I want a full background on Baxter Rudd and his history with Mr. Calloway's group. All of it."
Maren nodded. "Granted. Mr. Calloway, you'll remain under Council protection until this is resolved. We'll assign a personal detail to you."
"Thank you." Reid allowed himself to exhale. It was the first full breath he'd taken since flying through the roof of St. Elara's.
"Don't thank me yet," Maren said. "If Delia's investigation turns up something you should have told us today, this conversation will go very differently next time."
Reid nodded once. He could deal with next time when next time arrived. Right now, the city was about to mobilize against Baxter and his hired muscle. Thirty Peacekeepers, investigators, a personal security detail. The entire weight of Brimton's Council coming down on three people, one of whom was an out-of-shape hermit and the other two were mercenaries who, no matter how strong they were, couldn't fight an entire city.
As Reid was escorted out of the chamber by two Peacekeepers assigned as his temporary guard, he smirked.
He'd gotten someone else to fight his battle for him.
"One more thing, Maren." Delia spoke once the doors closed behind Reid.
"What is it?"
"The Peacekeeper reports describe the panda-masked attacker as being able to drain mahna through physical contact. In the hospital encounter, she demonstrated physical strength that overpowered a stone magji user, outpaced a smoke magji user, and shattered a barrier specialist's defenses, all within seconds. And Mr. Calloway's gravity magji, could only slow her down."
Maren was quiet for a moment.
"What are you suggesting?"
"I'm suggesting that thirty Peacekeepers might not be enough. And I'm suggesting that whatever Mr. Calloway isn't telling us about why this is happening might be the most important piece of information we don't have."
"Noted." Maren's voice was clipped. "We respond to the threat first. We investigate the cause second. That's how this works."
"That's how it's always worked," Delia said to the empty chamber. "And it's never once been the right order."