Chapter One: On-Duty…and Glad of It

Author note: This story is part of the Magical Flashpoint Side Story series. It follows "Magical Heritage" and comes before "Be Strong and Very Courageous".

It's Halloween time again and my inner geek is cackling in glee! Hang on tight, ya'll, we're heading back into JLI and Avengers territory. For full costume descriptions, please check out "Samhaine" for everyone sans Sam and "Samhaine, Redux" for Sam's costume. Hope you enjoy reading just as much as I enjoyed writing.

Although all original characters belong to me, I do not own Flashpoint, Harry Potter, Narnia, or Merlin. I also do not own the Avengers or Justice League International.

Blue Beetle snarled in fury, struggling furiously to get at his target. The weapon in his hand gleamed, its edge hungry for blood. Sapphire narrowed beneath broad yellow goggles as the hero's opponent forced him back, just as determined to keep his best friend away from his target.

Booster Gold didn't dare even glance over his shoulder at Agent Max Coulson for fear of giving Beetle an opening to get past his defenses. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have had any issues; his suit did have superstrength built in, which just added to his natural strength; but Beetle was fighting like an obsessed madman.

"Beetle, stand down!" Booster yelled above the tumult. "It's Max, stand down!"

His friend didn't respond, save to fight even harder against Booster's hold. Beneath his goggles, his eyes were glazed over and it was clear he only had one thought in his mind. Get Max. Booster gritted his teeth, forcing his friend back another step even as he calculated the best way to disarm the other hero.

Around him, he could hear Cap rapping out orders to their teammates, struggling to reverse the ambush they were trapped in without harming innocents. Max chipped in grimly from time to time, though he let the Captain handle most of the work; Captain America had more experience with clawing back from lousy odds than Agent Coulson did.

"Muggle scum!" Beetle snarled abruptly, "Let me go!"

It was beyond eerie to hear those words from his non-magical friend; Booster shuddered at both the words and the venom imbued in them. Then he cocked his head and volleyed, "Actually, Beetle, now that you mention it, I actually do have magic."

Beetle stilled for an instant, his eyes widening in shock and the glaze starting to give way. Mentally, Booster urged his friend to break free even as his sister hissed in fury, sending another arrow into the ground. And, for one precious second, the Blue and the Gold looked over at the shimmering violet barrier between their team and the horde trying to kill them.

Then Beetle howled with renewed fury and launched himself at Max, halted only by his best friend's lightning quick response: a fist straight to the blue hero's jaw, taking him out of the fight – for good.

Regret shone in Booster's eyes as he dragged Blue Beetle to the back of the group and out of the way. But as he looked over his shoulder at his equally grim uncle, the regret faded away.

After all, Clark Lane would never forgive himself if he hurt his father's boss, Sergeant Gregory Parker, even if he was being mind controlled at the time.

3 hours earlier

It was Halloween time again and a certain SRU team was extremely relieved to be on duty. Even better from their perspective was the distinct lack of any invitations from His Honor's office; without Loki dangling His Honor's family in front of his nose, the mayor was less than interested in any more Team One shenanigans at his annual Halloween party. Frankly, the feeling was mutual; Team One was looking forward to a calmer Halloween – one without superheroes, supervillians, magic, or any combination thereof.

Due to an odd quirk of scheduling, although Team One was on duty, they were the secondary team for the shift. As the SRU's top team, they weren't often relegated to backup status, but none of them minded the promise of a slower shift. Oh, they might well get bored as the shift dragged on, but for the moment, the group was quite content to play second fiddle to Team Three.

Greg Parker settled into his usual spot in the briefing room, tackling his thankfully smaller than normal stack of paperwork. Once he finished it up, he planned on joining his guys in the workout room – as a bonus, he hoped very much to catch Ed in the act of coming to harass him about his workout. His team needed a laugh or two and Eddie was usually game to banter, even when caught off guard.

The Sergeant smirked to himself as he worked, absently planning out the best possible timing for his minor prank. Less than an hour later, the last of the paperwork was set neatly in the 'done' stack and Greg took it out to Winnie; the two of them shared brief grins as Winnie promised to send Ed the signal that Greg was still working once Parker was in position. Greg headed for the locker room and hustled into his workout clothes, slipping back up the ramp and giving Winnie a 'go' signal.

The pair had to wait for a few minutes, but then Winnie straightened up, clearly responding to Ed in the workout room. Greg felt his smirk reappear as he sidled sideways and prepared to look as though he'd just been walking up the ramp. Winnie's head jerked towards the briefing room – Greg could almost see his team leader's resigned sigh and he heard Wordy teasing Ed. Less than thirty seconds later, Winnie's eyes cut to him in a subtle motion and Greg started walking.

He strode up the ramp and nearly walked right into Eddie as the latter slid out of the workout room – the two men were forced to dodge around each other to prevent a collision. Mentally, Greg applauded the superior prankster in this scenario – from behind him, he could hear Winnie giggling. Minx. But the Sergeant was no slouch either; once the hasty, awkward dodging was done, he reapplied his smirk and bestowed it on his team leader, who caught on at once.

"Fancy meeting you here, Eddie," Greg teased.

"Done with paperwork already, Boss?" Ed drawled, doing his best to pretend he hadn't been caught off guard.

"As a matter of fact, I am," Parker confirmed, his smirk growing. Tilting his head at the workout room, he mock-questioned, "Room for one more in there?"

"Always," Ed confirmed, his eyes glinting in amusement. "But I'm going to get you for this one, Greg."

"Get me for what?" Greg inquired innocently as he headed for an exercise bike.

In the background, the rest of Team One snickered.

Wordy leaned back a bit as he ran on one of the workout room's elliptical trainers. A mischievous smile appeared, glinting in his eyes as well. "So, Sarge," he began, waiting for his boss to look up. "Who're the kids going as tonight?"

"You have to guess?" Ed jabbed at once. "Three guess for all three of 'em and the last two don't count."

"Did they go with Clark?" Jules interjected, leaning forward on her exercise bike.

Ed tossed a grin over his shoulder. "Clark asked if they wanted to go with him," the team leader confirmed. "They said yes almost before he was done askin'."

Laughter rose from his teammates. "So, Clark and Sarge's nipotes headed for the Halloween party at the high school?" Sam clarified.

"That's affirmative," the Boss agreed. "Wordy, what about your girls?"

Wordy hiked one shoulder in a shrug. "Lilly's got a new friend in her class," he reported. "Parents sent Lilly an invite; when Shelley called, they said her sisters were welcome too, so they headed there."

"What costumes?" Lou questioned, curiosity shining.

Wordy laughed. "You guys won't believe this – I sure didn't – but Lilly found out her friend is into superheroes and came to me begging to wear her costume from that Halloween two years ago."

Comprehension shone on the Sarge's face. "So that's why you came looking for those costumes," he mused out loud. "Did they fit?"

A nod. "Shelley was shocked," Wordy related. "Then I reminded her where your kids got them in the first place."

"So all the kids are wearing their superhero costumes?" Spike's tone was surprised and just a bit incredulous, particularly for the teenagers – he would've thought the chaos last Halloween was more than enough incentive to find new costumes.

The two fathers and one uncle traded looks, then, almost as one, turned towards the bomb tech and replied, "Yes."

"Oy vey," Spike muttered under his breath. If he ever wore his costume again, it would be much too soon. A glance over at Lou earned the tech a nod of agreement – Lou couldn't imagine wearing his costume again either.

"Any warrants on tap?" Sam broke in, his voice hopeful.

"Not for us, Sam," Sarge parried regretfully. "Team Three's primary this shift, remember?"

Sam's shoulders slumped at the gentle reminder. "Copy," he replied glumly.

Ed twisted around to peer at his fellow sniper. "What's up?" came the direct inquiry.

The blond met his team leader's gaze, fidgeting even as he kept running on his treadmill. "I don't know," he admitted. "Just a bad feeling."

Blue eyes narrowed and the tall, lanky constable briefly flicked his eyes around the workout room. "Anyone else?" he questioned.

Wordy hiked one shoulder. "Ed, it's Halloween," he pointed out. "Something crazy almost always happens today."

Ed grimaced; Wordy had a point – Halloween tended to be one of the craziest days of the year for law enforcement. Aside from the usual sources of trouble on a day-to-day basis were those folks who seemed to think Halloween gave them a waiver to do whatever they pleased, regardless of who got hurt in the process. Egging, toilet papering, smashing pumpkins, and even the real 'geniuses' who were low enough to steal candy from trick or treating kids. Before he'd joined the SRU, there had been one Halloween when an idiot tried to do that to Clark; he'd had the cuffs on before the jerk could blink.

That said, Sam wasn't the type to get jumpy for no reason. Plus, Ed had a creepy, crawly, 'something is wrong' feeling himself. And an itchy sensation, right between his shoulder blades, that just wouldn't go away. As if something was missing, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Discreetly, the team leader glanced around at his team, noticing a faint tension around all of them. Silently, he came to his conclusion. Something was wrong…now he just had to figure out what.

The brunet head that poked into their workout room was both familiar and unfamiliar. Their newest Auror liaison was a half-blood and therefore more comfortable with the tech world than either of his two predecessors had been. Of course, he was still a wizard, which meant he didn't have the first clue of how tech law enforcement worked. But Auror Giles Onasi wasn't letting his inexperience slow him down; he dropped by SRU headquarters as often as he could get away with, quietly shadowing the techies he was now working with and learning as much about technology as the team could teach him. As yet, the Auror had only called them in once, but, judging by the wizard's expression, he was about to make it twice.

With a half-shy, half-uncertain expression, Onasi called, "Perhaps I might have a moment of your time, Sergeant Parker?"

Parker straightened, hazel meeting hazel. "Just me or is this a call?" he questioned, keeping his tone nonjudgmental.

Onasi frowned, thinking the question over for a moment. Then he sighed and tilted his head towards the briefing room. "A call," he confirmed.

Team One streamed off the exercise equipment, heading past the Auror and into the briefing room. By the time Onasi recovered from his surprise at how quickly the techies could move when they needed to, he was alone with an amused Parker, with six pairs of equally amused eyes watching from the briefing room.

"Still getting the hang of it?" the Sergeant inquired, steering the younger man towards his team.

"I guess so," came the rueful reply.

Parker smiled with a mix of sympathy and encouragement. "You'll get there," he promised. Then they were in the briefing room and the negotiator's expression turned business-like. "What do we got?"

Though the Auror was caught off guard again, he recovered his composure after a startled blink. "Well…" he began, running a hand through his hair as he searched for the right explanation. "From what I've heard, you already know some wizards like to play pranks on unsuspecting Muggles, particularly on days like Halloween."

Grumbles of agreement rose. Ed's eyes narrowed. "Have we got another nut attacking Halloween parties?"

"Or did Loki get away again?" Lou tacked on.

A quick negative head shake. "As far as I know, 'Loki' is under lock and key," Onasi returned. "He's been sentenced to McKean for repeated breaches of the Statute of Secrecy." The Auror shifted his weight, then began to pace back and forth, his hands emphasizing his words. "No, we always have a few troublemakers this time of year. Most of its small stuff, shrinking keys, casting fear wards to keep Muggle children away from some of the houses, even a few drunken idiots who smash pumpkins."

Snickers rose at the last; Sam quipped, "Sounds familiar," under his breath to Jules, who covered her laugh with a quick cough.

"We've got an exception this year?" Parker queried, frowning thoughtfully.

A nod. "To say the least. Last year, they ran amuck in Paris, came almost as close as Loki did to breaching the Statute of Secrecy. Only reason they didn't go to prison was 'cause they all got away."

"And now they're here," Ed hissed, stiffening.

The second nod was glum. "We wouldn't even know, but one of 'em got cold feet. Turned himself in an hour ago."

"Why?" Sam demanded sharply. "He's done this before, what's different this time?"

The Auror winced. "This year the gang's leader decided to um…up the ante."

"Meaning?" the Sergeant pressed, feeling the hair on the back of his neck go up.

Onasi drew in a bracing breath. "The gang's going after a Muggle high school's Halloween party."

"Where?" Lou barked, beating his teammates to the punch by nanoseconds.

"Um…I wrote it down," the brunet admitted sheepishly, digging in the pocket of his dragonhide jacket and coming up with a small bundle of parchment. He sorted through it for several seconds, then offered one sheet to Sergeant Parker.

As soon as Parker saw the school name, he froze, his face paling. "Eddie," he whispered, holding out the parchment.

Ed snatched the page, going just as pale as his boss as soon as he saw it. "Clark."