how not to do interworld contact | Glowfic Constellation

The front door opens at the same time as two holes are torn in the wall. There are a lot of people visible. A lot of people and one cat. The cat doesn't have a collar. One of the people shows them a badge. It's not a familiar badge.

"You two," she points to Elvira and her handler, "are under arrest. Please drop your wards and set all enchanted items on the floor."

He draws himself up, though he does stop pointing his gun at anyone. "I'm an agent of the American government. You have serious illegal magical activity and a renegade mage in this building. I have been attempting to contain them. I suggest you render assistance, and help me contact my superiors."

That sure seems like the (local, presumably) government. And he was not actually appointed her mission handler, he doesn't have the authority to tell her to fight the government once they're definitely declared as such, if he decides to do that.

She drops any magical efforts. They didn't tell her to get on the ground, so she goes for no-sudden movements. Kneels carefully, so it's clearer that she's acknowledging. Hands down and visible and away from her body.

Someone goes to put bracelets on Elvira.

The one with the badge stays where she is. "How would we contact your superiors?" she asks.

She gives no resistance.

She wonders somewhat about the question - actual renegade mages rather obviously wouldn't try to get anyone to call the police, so she's pretty sure that was indeed a field mage, so presumably from the locals' opinion he just attacked something of theirs and is now talking about nonexistent renegade mages. But maybe they think he's talking about something else, or there actually happened to also be a renegade in the building (someone tried to do that odd thing with the cold, and if they were a field mage too it would have made much more sense for them to try to fight her).

Or they don't want to argue with the gun-holding mage-controller says-he's-CIA-agent till they've gotten him handled, that could be it.

"I'll need a working phone or an internet connection."

"Okay. I can have someone bring something like that. And how would your superiors get here if you contacted them?"

What a bizarre question. But of course if this is some nothing country they might not be equipped to deal with such a serious situation.

"I assume if you needed support with such a serious situation, someone could be delegated, once everything is sorted out."

He isn't giving much concern to what they're doing with the mage. Of course people might want to be sure the mage is properly contained, even if he's had her under control.

She is in fact finding what they're doing somewhat of surprise - they've obviously not just decided to let her carry on under his authority, but they haven't put their own collar on her, or even separated her from him so that her collar would lock her down in response to distance from any controls.

Haven't even demanded (or asked) that he rescind all permissions or anything. (She also doesn't seem to see anyone with a shockstick, but maybe they just use something different here. Haven't so much as kicked or backhanded her, not even yelled at.)

Foreign police procedures are, obviously, the not-your-business kind of thing. She continues being still and cooperative.

"I mean, would they fly, would we need to clear space for them to land? Would they teleport into this hallway? Just how many mages could they capture if they came in force?"

"I presume the details can be worked out between agencies. Maybe they have someone in driving distance, I wouldn't know."

And then some horror. "Is this a known situation? How many are there?"

"I just need to know your people's capabilities so I know whether to call them in now or wait until we're stronger," the cop says. For an ambush, to destroy this threat to the imperial peace, she doesn't say.

The lady sitting in the hallway is still sitting in the hallway and looks confused about that for a moment before she gets it.

He has no idea what that's supposed to mean. Maybe it's some weird local police jargon.

"I assure you, we are fully capable of dealing with renegade mages." And there can't be too many of them anyway can there, or they would have killed him already and stolen the mage.

She is looking down and giving no outward sign of how attentive she is to the conversation.

Those are indeed rather odd questions. Possibly given that she's a field mage and he's mentioned the CIA, they think he's got a team around, and he hasn't noticed that's what they think. "Or wait until we're stronger"? That doesn't make sense in that interpretation either; the reason to wait until you're stronger to call someone would be if you wanted to fight them, in which case why would you tell them that's what you were doing.

She keeps listening. (She wonders meanwhile what the idea of these bracelets is. They're not acting as a collar, obviously, she'd have noticed; they don't come with chains so they're not going to be good restraints. Trackers? Some magic or tech they use here?)

...it occurs to him that if they have some den of renegade mages here -

"Additionally, I believe these renegades may be responsible for sabotaging my teleport. My government will take that very seriously."

That doesn't make sense on several levels even if there are renegades here, from 'you really can't do that at this range' to 'if they could, why would they do that'. She obviously doesn't volunteer this input.

"Sabotaged your teleport? How could that happen?" the cop asks. She sounds suitably alarmed and serious.

"I'm not in that division. Our routine trip was hijacked to drop us here. Might not just be a coincidence.

Maybe the field mage'll know something about all the details." He jerks an indication at Elvira.