Lucerose looked at Isaac with excitement in his eyes. He released his hand from the handshake, then swept his hair over his shoulder, his eyes glancing to Misodre.
"It wouldn't be wise to kill you here, you're lucky to have picked a prison for your battleground, Misodre." Lucerose looked down on them. Misodre silently seethed with rage. Lucerose took a phone from his pocket and dialed in a few numbers. "Send in the stealth team. I need three guys protecting Prozac…" Lucerose trailed off as he looked at Misodre. "And the purple haired kid is around my skill level, be very cautious with them." Lucerose hung up the phone and held up his wand. Lucerose created 4 portals behind himself, and 12 witches emerged in total. Each of them wore a hooded black cloak and ski mask, with one exception. One of the witches had on a plague doctor mask, a gray fedora, and a white trench coat. "Return them to their cell." Lucerose ordered as Viperstrike released Misodre from its grasp. Just as he did, the wand Isaac kicked to the side vanished from sight, to the immediate concern of Isaac.
"Hey wait a minute, that wand is gone!" Isaac pointed at the blank space.
"Oh no need to worry, my dear protege. One can deactivate the effects of their magic whenever they please, thus deactivating the wand's presence and returning it to the user. But I assure you, even with the ability to recall their wand, even Misodre is smart enough to know how futile it would be." Lucerose smugly looked back at Misodre, whose young face was still filled with rage. When they looked at Isaac, however, Misodre's face changed to sheer amazement and confusion.
"It's not just that he caught me off guard… despite not knowing even a spec of magic before today, he could comprehend a spell book well enough to put me down like that. That sheer potential and intelligence… is nothing short… of beautiful." Misodre thought as they gazed at Isaac. From the visiting room of the prison, Travis exited, his hands up, surrendering himself.
"You and Misodre, return to where you should be during this time of night. Understand the two of you are under watchful eyes." a muffled voice from one of the plague doctor mask-wearing stealth team members ordered. "I'll see to it that the security footage is manipulated." They explained, beginning to walk away.
"Oh, and one more thing before you go." Lucerose walked over to the stealth team commander. "Report to the Coven that I need Isaac Prozac out of this dump as soon as possible." Lucerose ordered.
"As you wish, Sir Serpentime." they nodded. "Stealth team! Vanish!" They commanded. Each of the Stealth Force members disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Farewell, now." Lucerose said, disappearing into a portal. Misodre looked at Isaac for a moment. Their amethyst eyes revealed a nervous state of mind. The two delinquents returned to their respective cells, Travis escorting them.
In the days following the confrontation, Isaac was growing bored. No attacks were waged against him, but no information was gained either. Misodre spent most days sequestered in their cell, and so did Isaac. As Isaac laid in the bed of his cell, just one thought occupied his mind. The Arsonist had almost become a secondary concern to the existence of magic, of Witchcraft, of holding a flame of power within his hand.
"It couldn't have been a dream or hallucination." Isaac thought aloud, staring at the ceiling. "Misodre hasn't made a single move, and I'm under the protection of that Stealth Force, that's an undeniable reality." Isaac continued to reason. He clenched his fist in frustration. "And even still, it's been a week since that damn Lucerose decided he'd be keeping his little eyes perched over me, and he hasn't done shit." Isaac silently seethed as he laid down. A guard approached his cell and looked down at him.
"Mr Prozac…" the guard began, his voice filled with a sense of both disappointment and bewilderment. "Come with me please." the guard directed. Isaac obliged, similarly confused. He was directed away from the cell block and into a room where both the head warden of the prison and the judge who assigned his sentence awaited at a table. At the head of the table, Isaac was surprised to see Lucerose waiting with playful anticipation. The guard left the room and left the four of them alone.
The warden, a middle aged man with the body of someone who's smoked a pack of cigarettes and drank a case of beer each day, appeared displeased. The judge, an older man with a wizened expression, seemed more accepting of the matter.
"Well, just aren't you one lucky son of a bitch?" The warden asked, his voice scarred by chain smoking. Isaac's focus was still on Lucerose's presence in the room. "Judge, you take this, I don't even know what's going on here."
"Very well." The judge agreed in a posh British accent, one which Isaac had not recognized in his hearing. "It appears you know this pink clad gentleman, Mr Prozac. Well, he has requested that we release you from this prison, and given that you appear to be a strong and… noble young man, and given the… lack of severity of your crime, it appears that this request is one that we can meet." The judge calmly explained.
"Okay… so you're saying I'm free?" Isaac asked.
"Well, not this second. We have some paperwork we need to sort out, and we'll have to find a suitable reason for your release, but you will, within the week, be… free." The judge said with an almost accelerating sense of disapproval. "And it seems you have some things to discuss with Mr Serpentime. I'll leave the two of you to it." The judge left the room and the warden followed.
"Ah, there you are Isaac, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Lucerose said with an overly friendly tone, rolling over to Isaac in a rolling chair.
"I was starting to think you'd waver on your promise. Though I'm surprised, you seem to have quite a bit of authority, ordering those guys around."
"That's what we call power, Isaac, commanding others to suit your own goals." Lucerose explained with a smile. "This power is something that we, with the Witch Society, are able to command quite easily."
"Witch… Society?" Isaac thought aloud. He thought back to the witches who Lucerose had ordered to keep Misodre under a watchful eye.
"Oh my, how very rude of me to not explain such a crucial element of this new world you're stepping into. Well, to put it simply, it's a secret society which the vast majority of Witches answer to, and the group which I act on behalf of. Of course, there's people like Misodre and whatever group they work alongside, who work against the Witch Society. I just happened to be looking into this operation when I encountered you." Isaac scoffed at Lucerose's explanation.
"You know I really don't give a shit about your little magic politics." Isaac complained. Lucerose chuckled.
"You may not be interested in them, but they very well may be interested in you, aspiring witch."
"Oh I'm sure they will be, what with this 'power' that you speak of." Isaac stared daggers into Lucerose.
"Please, there's no need to view me as so exploitative, I simply seek to make you my apprentice. Besides, I'm sure you have some goals of your own you'd like to achieve as a witch, don't you?"
"You'd be right. The Arsonist, they're a terrorist who's been running rampant for about a year now. Buildings and houses alike all over the city, burned in the wake of this menace. Investigators are strong-armed by local gangsters, covering for the bastard…" Isaac explained, looking down at the table. He slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "Such a thing is an abomination to Justice! That which separates man from beast, the ability to resolve and to prevent man's cruelty to man is Justice!" Isaac appeared truly furious, to a degree which nearly frightened Lucerose. "As such, I'll do whatever I can to secure and protect it. And it all starts with The Arsonist. With Witchcraft at my side, I'll remove their anonymity and expose their crimes to the world!" Isaac declared.
Lucerose was amazed by Isaac's resolve, like a child watching fireworks. Even during the heat of his battle against Misodre, Isaac had been calm and composed, and yet, the man who stood before him now radiated a fiery aura of rage and fury simply at the thought of The Arsonist. Lucerose smirked at Isaac and stood up to make eye contact with him. He grabbed Isaac's hand and squeezed it tightly.
"I can't wait until I get to teach you." Lucerose spoke excitedly. Isaac looked at him with a confused expression, but then smirked at Lucerose.
"I can't wait either." He confidently proclaimed.
Fear marked Misodre's young face as they hid in the bed of their cell, late at night and unable to sleep. Their purple hair was greasy from a lack of showering. They knew that if they were to use their magic for even a second, the Stealth Force would eliminate him swiftly and cleanly. He was no different from a non witch, in that sense. Misodre had not only the Stealth Force to fear, however. Misodre shuddered as they detected a presence within their cell, just a gentle footstep. They looked up and saw a man glaring down with deep azure hair tied up in a high ponytail.
"Misodre…" the presence began. Misodre meekly raised their head.
"Sir…" Misodre mumbled, shaken with fear.
"I understand that you've exposed your position to the enemy. That is not a good thing, Misodre." the man explained.
"Do you intend to kill me?" they tiredly sighed.
"I have no such intention, and neither does The Arsonist. However, you are a loose thread, one which Lucerose Serpentime will use to find us."
"So what do you intend that I do? I can't hide forever after all."
"There will be no need to hide. Surrender yourself to him once you are released from this prison, pretend to comply with his investigation. I will deal with him afterwards." the man ordered. He turned his back to Misodre and approached the cell door. "We'll be in touch over these remaining two weeks of your sentence to oil out the details."
"I understand, boss Lunello." Misodre weakly nodded.
"Good. Now farewell." Lunello vanished from Misodre's sight. They covered themself with the thin blanket which surrounded them. A wide grin spread across their face. Misodre chuckled weakly.
"How wonderful. How absolutely wonderful." they whispered.