Another Author's note: Shortly after the Avengers save New York Fury comes clean and tells the team that Agent Coulson Lived and he is reinstated as the Avengers' handler. Therefore Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D never exist.
Chapter Three: Hello Manhattan
Ez woke up and stretched, his first official day in Manhattan started now. He put on a pot of tea then went to take a shower. The team and Ez would be posing as muggle agents today as they checked out the crime scenes, so Ez pulled on a black trousers and a blue button up shirt. He slipped a silver stud in his ear and fixed his hair. He grabbed a cup of tea and popped over to the American Department of Ministries (ADM). He entered his office and realized he was the first one there, sitting down at his desk he opened the case file. The five victims of the cursed objects ranged from white to black, old to young, and male to female. There was no pattern and no specific reason why they were given the objects. They lived all over New York and they targeted different places, one targeted his work place and another the subway. Ez was still poring over the details of the case when Sara entered the office.
"Good morning Caelum you're here early," Sara greeted in shock usually she was the only one who got here this early.
"Good morning Sara. I am probably still on European time. I am not usually and early riser," Ez replied flipping another page in the file.
"You know the sad thing is that muggle police didn't even really start looking into the case until the fourth victim of the object shot up Stark Industries."
"Stark Industries? Why would that effect what the police did?"
"Stark Industries is owned by Tony Stark. Probably the richest playboy in the world, oh and he also happens to be the Avengers own Iron Man."
"Avengers? Iron Man," Ez said confused. It all sound vaguely familiar but Ez was not sure why.
"You hear about the alien attack," Dyson asked stepping into the office followed by Axel.
"Yes I have heard it mentioned."
"Well Stark Tower, Tony's house, was where the Norse god Loki opened up the portal that allowed the aliens through. The avengers; Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, all fought and took down Loki and his army of aliens," Axel informed him.
"Stark Tower has been rebuilt and renamed Avengers Tower. All the avengers either live there or spend large amounts of time there," Dyson added.
"Huh so the probability of avoiding S.H.I.E.L.D. on this mission," Ez asked.
"Next to none. So far we have stayed under their radar but it will not be long before they find out something strange is going on," Sara replied.
"Great well let's get started. First up the Subway where High School Senior Brittany White set off a small bomb killing herself and thirty two others," Ez said reaching for the first portkey, which happened to be a key on a key ring. The others grabbed their stuff and touched the portkey. They landed in the Wizards station of the subway, it was just a small room with a small platform and a fireplace. They walked through the magical barrier and into the muggle section. They could not search the actual subway car but they could feel around the platform where it happened. Reaching the platform Ez closed his eyes and focused on the area around him, he ignored the feel of his companions' magic and focused on the trails of magic around them. There were so many threads of magic, Ez ignored all light magic but there was still a lot left to choose from. Focusing harder Ez concentrated on angry dark magic but there was still too much left to choose from, focusing even harder he found a strand of dark angry magic that was in the form of a constant spell instead of coming from an aura. Latching on to it he was disappointed to find he didn't recognize who cast the magic. Opening his eyes he saw his team was watching him. They had already checked everything out this little outing was for him.
"I do not recognize the caster but I found the strain of magic," Ez informed them.
"Impressive we were here weeks ago and could barely pick up the strand," Axel said squinting at Ez.
"Right. Well come on we have plenty of more places to visit," Ez said turning away from their scrutiny. One portkey and a few flashes of badges later they were in the home of Brittany White talking to her parents. Since her parents had already met the rest of the team Ez was introduced as a British specialist. Ez found the same strand of magic throughout the house that he had found at the Subway Station. He was standing in Brittany's bedroom where the magic was the strongest. Ez looked around and saw a happy white American teen who was a cheerleader and collected butterfly jewelry.
"Her grandmother got her started collecting them," Mr. White informed Ez pointing at all the jewelry.
"She has some beautiful pieces," Ez replied.
"They used to go around from store to pawn shop buying everything with a butterfly on it," Mr. White continued. He paused before saying, "They said you were a British expert. Does this have to do with the terrorist attacks that happened over their a few years ago?"
"We do not know but that is what I am here to find out," Ez said turning and smiling at Mr. White.
They left the Whites' house and headed to the second place of attack a park on the other side of New York.
"The magic strand type is the same; black, angry, and spell form but the caster is different. Someone else cast the spell," Ez said looking around the park. The man who had shot up the park was an off duty cop named Brian Sanchez, a Hispanic male in his late forties.
"How old are you Caelum," Sara asked.
"I am nineteen."
"Nineteen and you can find a fade stand of magic in a park surrounded by two wizards and a witch, and that's not counting the number of witches and wizards in the park right now," Axel asked in disbelief.
"There are four wizards and seven witches located in this park right now besides you three," Ez informed them heading to a rundown bathroom so they could portkey to Mr. Sanchez's house. The magic was contained in one spot in Mr. Sanchez's house, on a shelf where a lot of sport memorabilia was located. Studding the shelf Ez noticed that there was an empty football holder.
"Are all the people who were compelled collectors," Ez asked thinking back to the butterfly jewelry.
"Yes the third person Dr. Mike Nixion collected old books, the fourth Allen Dranger collected guns, and the fifth Brenda Smith collected coins," Sara said. Dr. Nixion had gassed one of the largest pharmacies in New York killing hundreds of workers. Allen Dranger worked as and engineer in Stark Industries and had snuck a gun in via his tool bag. Brenda Smith had shot up and airport never reaching security, she had just walked through the doors pulled out an automatic weapon and open fired. While it was not unusual for Dr. Nixion to know how to chemically kill a whole building full of people or for Allen Dranger to own a gun, how did Brittany White know how to make a bomb and records show Brenda Smith was one of the few people in New York who did not own a gun. So the compulsion charm not only compelled its victim to kill themselves and a large amount of people but to also research and plan the killings. That was a complex piece of magic, it would take someone with a large amount of power to cast it and they had different people casting the spell.
Arriving at the pharmaceutical company where Dr. Nixion had worked Ez found a new strand of magic which meant a new caster, at Nixion's apartment they found an empty glass case that had obviously held a book not too long ago. They portkeyed to a place not too far from Stark Industries. The guards recognized the team not including Ez so flashing badges they got through quickly. They had just reached Allen Dranger's desk in the engineering department when two people approached them. A tall read headed woman in a smart business suit and an average heighted man in jeans a graphic t-shirt and a suit jacket, Ez slightly noticed the man's chest seemed to be glowing. Leaving his team to deal with those two Ez closed his eyes and focused on the magic around them.
"Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts," Sara greeted stepping forward to shake their hands.
"Ms. Gringley It is a pleasure to see you again," Pepper replied shaking Sara's hand.
"Ms. Gringley your team was here a couple of weeks ago can I ask why you all are back," Tony asked ignoring the offered hand.
"Well Mr. Stark we have a specialist from the British Agency who has just joined us on this case and we are taking him around to all the crime scenes and letting him get a look around," Sara replied.
Ez gasped as he found the strand of magic that he was looking for and realized he recognized the caster's magic. Everyone turned to look at him and Ez schooled his face into a blank mask.
"Hello I am Agent Caelum Black," Ez said.
"What do you specialize in Mr. Black," Tony asked peering at Ez.
"Agent Black specializes in homegrown terrorist," Axel answered for Ez.
Tony roamed his eyes over Ez and raised an eyebrow, "are you not to young to have investigated those attacks in England?"
"I did not investigate them I lived through the one of the school attacks and I made terrorist my specialty when I joined the agency."
"Right," Tony said still checking Ez out.
"Right well I do not believe we will learn anything here. Team shall we head to Mr. Dranger's house," Ez asked turning his back on Tony who took the chance to check out Ez's butt.
"Sure Agent Black just follow us," Dyson said heading for the exit. Once they were back at the portkey spot the team turned and faced Ez.
"So what was the gasp for," Sara asked.
"The caster of this spell I recognized. One Fenrir Greyback. Which does not make sense considering he is not smart enough to cast this spell not to mention nowhere near powerful enough." The team was silent as they visited Dranger's house, then the airport, and finally Mrs. Smith's house. Once they were back in the office at ADM they started to go over what Ez had discovered. Congering a clear board Ez directed a pen to write down what they said.
"So all five victims were collectors and frequently visited pawn shops. A different cursed object for each victim with a different caster placing the spell. The only caster we recognize is the fourth one Greyback. The spell compels them to research and plan along with murder. The only two cursed objects we have are a Butterfly necklace and an old book, which were found at the only two scenes where anyone trying to collect them could have been hurt after the cursed muggle had died. Fire from the bomb and any leftover gas from Dr. Nixion's experiment," Ez said watching the pen write it all down.
"How about we all go home and think over what we know. Standing around here staring at the board is not going to help us think," Axel recommended. They all agreed and went home.
Ez found an owl with a letter tied to its foot waiting on him when he popped into his apartment.