"This is bullshit."
"No, this is government work," Kovak replied as he checked his spare magazines for the tenth time that morning.
Carl sighed. "The difference being…?"
"Government work is very formal, serious bullshit. It's bullshit with a bow tie."
"No, I think this is just plain old bullshit," Carl said dourly, turning back to look out over the plaza. "Why the hell do we have to dick around with this thing? It never works."
"Because, Carl, that was paid for by the Yeeew-nited States Government, and we wouldn't want to waste taxpayer money, right?"
"But it's a fucking thermal camera. During the day."
Kovak turned away from his scope to look at Carl. "Would you stop bitching? They need field trials, so they're getting field trials."
Carl twisted the new spotting scope around on it's bipod so Kovak could see the screen. "You see this shit? 'Menu Setup?' I'm trying to get it to work and POTUS is on in twenty minutes. We're trying to protect the fucking President here. We don't have time for this shit."
Kovak shrugged as best he could while lying on his belly. "Hey, man, I just work here."
Their radio earbuds chirped. "Team Two. You have that scope working yet?"
"Almost," growled Carl as he resumed twiddling with the knobs.
"Hurry up, goddamit. POTUS is on the podium in twenty."
Carl's jaw ratcheted a few notches tighter.
Kovak left Carl to his new toy, and turned back to his rifle. He played the 40 power scope over the nearby rooftops and windows, looking for anything unusual. Occasionally someone would radio him, asking him to look at a suspicious spot from his angle, but otherwise it was dull. And educational- he was learning quite a few new words from Carl as the agent struggled with the new spotting scope.
The time passed slowly under the hot Californian sun.
**********
Bernadette Von Bugle, Death Eater, watched the milling crowds from the rooftops. Small figures scurried about behind the stage, doing whatever muggles did- all the fretting and scampering and work to mimic what a wizard could manage with a simple voice enhancement charm.
She allowed herself a moment- just a moment- to relish the sensation of power; hovering over so many fools scrambling to mimic the power she had been born with, completely ignorant of her existence.
Enough of that. There was a mission to finish.
**********
"Got it!"
Carl hooted with tangible relief and keyed his mike button. "Command, this is Team Two, our scope is active."
"Good," the commander replied gruffly. "POTUS is about to take the stage. Teams, check in."
Kovak slowly played his crosshairs over the windows along either side of the plaza, watching for the slightest hint of movement. Most of those rooms had been checked by local police and FBI agents, but that didn't mean a shooter couldn't be in one of them.
"…Team Five here."
There was a deafening roar from the crowd as the President took the podium.
"Team Six? Check in."
For a long second there was only the raucous noise of the crowd as the President waved greetings. Then another. Kovak felt the hair on the back of his neck rise, that familiar Marine intuition whispering urgently. He chambered a round.
"Team Six, copy?"
"Bogey, northeast near the stage," Carl's voice in his earpiece. Kovak swung his crosshairs over the crowd at the far corner of the plaza.
"Nothing there!" Kovak exclaimed.
"Team Four, nothing-"
"He's there!" Carl nearly shouted. "Some kind of active camofl- bogey's moving west!"
Kovak felt reality start to slow as adrenaline flushed his system. Secret Service suits were shoving their way through the crowd towards the northeast corner of the plaza, but the invisible man was already in pistol range of the President-
"WHERE!" Kovak demanded.
"Big speaker, four feet to the left, three feet in fronGUN GUN GU-"
Kovak was barely aware of taking up the last ounce of pressure on the trigger.
**********
Her wand extended towards the podium, Bernadette had just formed the first syllable- Av- when the thirty-ought-six slug ripped through her abdomen. She was dead before she hit the ground.
**********
Kovak saw a spray of blood fly out from seemingly empty air. Carl was still on his new scope, scanning the crowd- "Tango DOWN, Tango DOWN-" as he searched for more invisible threats. Kovak could hear President Wheeler's surprised stuttering through the microphone of one of the secret service agents who had pancaked him to the floor of the podium. Agent Benson was screaming for paramedics- he had found Team Six.
By the end of the day, the government had the body of Bernadette Von Bulge, and her unicorn-haired, eleven-inch willow wand in custody. Two days later, the Chief of the Secret Service silently handed the President a CIA analysis that concluded that the prototype thermal optic spotting scope had not penetrated an active-camouflage system, but a magical invisibility spell.
The Muggle War had begun.