"But, reports have shown that a new organization is now in play. This one is called Alpha, and they are an independent faction. While they do not expressly believe in the gods or in their guidance, they also don't cooperate with demons. They are the very definition of the phrase 'chaotic neutral.'Even though they are currently on the fence, we strongly believe that in the near future, they might tend towards the darkness."
Alex took all this in, imbiding every bit of information at the speed of light. Mina was actively watching him and gauging his reaction to every thing she said. As expected, Alex had a question;
"And Angelia? Where does she stand? Because she obviously doesn't belong to you, or any of the other organizations."
"Very astute. There's a fourth unofficial faction that's separate- they're called the wanderers. These agents are kind of like spies. They're fully integrated into the ordinary society and live amongst muggles as normal people."
Alex cocked his head to the side; "Like Angelia?"
She nodded; "Yes. Like Angelia."
That made sense. No wonder she had been all hot and bothered that day when they had met. The poor girl had been trying to stay lowkey, and Alex had very nearly blown her cover in the most flamboyant way. No wonder she assumed he worked for some organization with the way he came onto her.
"And now, the time has come for the moment of truth mister Alex."
"Excuse me?"
"Come join us. We've shown you the cards on the table so you can know the truth about the available options for people like us..."
For the first time, the Stephen guy in the dark shades spoke up;
"This invitation does not come to any kind of mage. It's considered a real honor to be asked to join The Guardians."
Alex was impressed that Stephen had been able to say that without any kind of vitriol. But he was even more impressed by this organization. He was like an ant that had lost its way, and was in desperate need of a guiding light.
Truth was, he had already made up his mind. But for dramatic purposes, he pretended to put the matter into consideration.
After a pretty tense couple of awkward silent minutes, he finally made his decision known;
"Your pitch was pretty good. But that has nothing to do with my decision to acceptyour invitation."
Mina almost appeared to be glad for a second there, until Alex gave his condition;
"But I have one condition, I will only comewith if and only if you recruit both Scarlett and Eliana."
Mina was a bit embarrassed. Stephen however found the opportunity he had been looking for to show Alex that he was not such a hotshot;
"No. I'm afraid that's not going to happen. We only recruit mages who are prodigies. Your muggle friends can not join the organization."
Alex clapped back; "I'm not talking to you mister dark shades. I'm talking to your boss." To Mina, he said; "You don't have to worry about them Mina. I assure you, both siblings are genuises."
...........
As it turned out, Alex had not been exaggerating at all when he said Scarlett and Eliana did have exceptional talent for magic. Of course, seeing that their gifts were latent, they could not hope to perform on the same level as mages who had been practicing for years. Nonethless, it was more than obvious that the potential was there, and that was more than enough to get them in.
Mina saw this for herself with her own two eyes.
Alex had invited her and Stephen into the apartement after a very interesting seventeen minute conversation that had ended with him agreeing to come on board with them. With his new guests in the living room, he had to go and fish out the siblings who had been hiding. Scarlett and Eliana had been expecting Alex to 'finish' the intruders with some demonstration of his powers.
But when he presented them to Mina, (and Mina only, leaving Stephen out of the loop), they were both very surprised.
"Uhmm Alex? What's going on? Who are these people? And why are they in our home?"
Alex wanted to reassure her that it was okay, but Mina beat him to it. Taking the initiative, she stepped forward in that same professional capacity and stretched out her arm for a handshake;
"Apologies for intruding in your home miss. Alex has told me a lot about you and your sister..."
Scarlett replied coldly; "I'm afraid I can't say the same about you."
"Fair enough. I'll get right to it then..."
Mina went on to repeat the whole speech about mages and the different organization. She told them expressly that they were here for Alex, but he had made it clear that he was not joining without the two sisters.
"...he tells me you're both prodigies. Now while I don't think he's lying, for official purposes, I have to vet you and ascertain this for sure. Do you understand?"
Scarlett understood alright. But that definitely not mean she wanted to make things easy for them. This was not how she thought her saturday would go. Instead of being flat out rude, she pulled Alex aside and whispered in his ear;
"Alex, I'm not sure about this. You know I and my sister only just escaped the New Order by a hair's length. I'm not exactly keen on getting involved with another organization! Please, tell me you understand...?"
Alex understood. She still had post traumatic stress disorder from her dealings with the New Order. So, it was a given that she would feel some type of way about this. Still, she was willing to trust him to do this. His reassurance was all she needed. And he gave it to her in full measure.
Three minutes later, both she and Eliana sat on the couch in the living room, facing the intense lady called Mina. Mina did exactly what she said she was going to do. She conducted some preliminary tests on the two sisters to determine just what levels they were on the spectrum.
She was not disappointed at all. After conducting some spiritual power tests, the results came back favorable- for both of them. Just as Alex had said. With that same blank expression on her face, she put down her tools and buttoned her jacket before finally declaring the results aloud.
"Well, this is certainly unexpected. We came looking for one prodigy, and ended up with three actual genuises."
Alex said nothing. He already knew the results. But Eliana was the curious one;
"Wait, does that mean we passed?"
Mina nodded curtly. "More than that actually. It seems the both of you are top tier potentials who rank very highly on the sprectrum. If I were to assign ranks, I would be right to say that---" she pointed at Scarlett first;
"You are a B ranking prodigy..." then at Eliana; "And would be an A rank, the very top of the food chain."
Eliana gasped.
"I know you two have a lot of questions, and hopefully they will all be anwered in due time- depending how things go. But we have to go now. However, we'll be in touch mister Alex. Here's a card with our address, feel free to reach out whenever."
With the business of the day handled, Mina and Stephen left the three of them to their thoughts and exited the apartment. As far as surprises went, that was certainly a big one. An awkward silence prevailed for a few seconds after the two strangers left.
Eliana noisily sank into the couch, and broke the ice;
"Well, well, one thing about you Alex, stuff certainly goes down whenever you're involved! That's for sure!"
She was not wrong. Not at all.
Forty eight hours later, after discussing it with the two sisters, Alex took them to the location on the address that had been given to them. Having spent a decent portion of her time in the hospital, dreaming about adventure and drama like this, Eliana was fully on board for this. Scarlett, having been in the deep end before, was not as excited as the younger one.
All through the way there, Eliana teased her all the way, telling her she was getting old and stuff. Alex did not dare to laugh, seeing that he was supposed to be on her side and not make fun of her. The car ride was an enjoyable one- at least for everyone except Scarlett who was sulking like a baby.