Detroit, Michigan. (August 1994)

Lightning crackled overhead of a dark night sky, as rain pounded down on a paradise that was once known as the Motor City of Detroit, Michigan. In an era long past, Detroit had once been a City full of great wealth and jobs where everyone went to build Cars. The best ones on the market too. But a massive exodus from the cities had caused the City to fall into sharp decline. What was left was everyone who couldn't get out. It became a city that was full of crime and corruption. Perfect place for lowlifes and places where even the Police would never go.

Inside a 1994 Blue Ford Taurus, one such, Danny Coughlin was sipping a cup of coffee and keeping his eyes focused on the empty streets. And also throwing a small ball stuffed with corn into the air and back into his hand. The Rain was pounding the car. But not to an extension that it would flood the whole city. Although, Danny quietly wished that it did. 

Detroit was a shit show and only a moron would deny it. But Danny, a man in his 40s was a man on a mission in the City. He was looking for any signs of movement. Nighttime was magic time for him. And for any other person up to no good for that matter. 

His gut feeling would prove to be true as he saw a shadow by the street light. Wearing a Hood, but Danny couldn't see his face. Danny put his Coffee cup down and examined the scene. Which was a little difficult due to the blurriness of the water over the windshield. And without thinking, Danny had gotten out of his car and into the rain. Not caring if he got wet at all. The other guy under the streetlight clearly didn't care about getting wet either. 

"You want to stay dry, go under an awning." Coughlin suggested. 

The Hooded Man jumped. "Oh, Shit!" He yelled when Coughlin went up.

"Did I jump you?" Coughlin asked. "Sorry. Didn't mean to." He quickly said. 

The Hooded Man had recovered from his surprise. "What are you doing out here, old man?" He asked. "This ain't a good time to be out. Especially in Detroit." 

"I'm 44." Coughlin said. 

"What?" The Hooded Man asked.

"I'm 44! That's not fucking old!" Coughlin clarified. "That's... Mid at best!"   

"It's old to some people." The Hooded replied. "Either way. This ain't a good time to be out." 

"For some people. Not me." Coughlin said as he pulled out an F.B.I badge. And it made the Hooded Man stare at the badge. "Yeah. This is an F.B.I Badge. And this-" He put a hand on his 9mm Pistol. "Is a 9mm Pistol that's in my back pocket. And unless you want me to pump this fucking lead into your body, so much of it that you'll be shitting it out every time you use the toilet for the next 5 months. You're going to tell me who your buyer is for crack or whatever drug you're selling!" He demanded. 

"Dude. This isn't a drug meeting." The Hooded Man suddenly said. "And I've no real shit with the Feds. I'm just a lookout. And we're not dealing drugs. It's... different." 

"Weapons?" Coughlin asked. 

"I don't know, damnit." The Hooded Man answered. "Look. I'm just a spotter." 

"Spotter?" Coughlin asked.

"Yeah. It's a lookout-" The Hooded Man started to say.

"I know what it is." Coughlin interrupted. "And unless you want to spend a Fucking Night in the Penn, go home. And tell me where whatever the fuck you're spotting for is going down." He demanded. 

"It's in that building. Old and Abandoned. Then again, everything in this fucking neighborhood is old and abandoned." The Hooded Man answered not wanting to waste Coughlin's time. 

Lightning boomed overhead. And Danny could see the overhead building that the Hooded Man was referring to. "That building?" He asked. 

"Yeah." The Hooded Man answered. 

"Alright." Coughlin said. And he patted the guy on the arm. "Now get out of here. And go home." 

"This never happened." The Hooded Man said starting to walk away. 

Coughlin looked back at the building. Until he heard what felt like a wisp in the wind. He turned back to see where the Hooded Man was walking away. But he was suddenly gone. "Hey!" He yelled seeing that strange. But then he shrugged. 

In many other cases, Coughlin should've waited for backup before checking. But he did radio it in. "This is Agent Coughlin. Checking out a building on 7th. Old Abandoned Warehouse. Found a Spotter." He reported. "Going in." 

"You know the routine, Danny. Report what you see and get out." Danny heard his superiors on the other line.

Danny turned off the radio. "Yeah... Fuck you too." He said to himself as he opened the door making it creak open. He hoped that nobody inside would be able to see it. And he quickly took cover in the darkness staying out of the dimly lit lights with lightbulbs overhead that felt like they were about to go out. 

Up ahead, Danny could hear the sounds of footsteps and talking. All it was was noise to Danny that he couldn't understand. "Sounds like a perfect place for a hideout for some illegal shit." He thought as he looked up at the rotting wood above his head that made up the second floor. And the cracked and faded brick walls. But Danny did find it strange that there wasn't anything except a couple of small empty crates. "What the hell?" He asked picking up a crate and looking inside. He also had his 9mm Pistol by his side. But there was nothing in the Warehouse but just a couple of empty crates. From a simple glance it didn't look like anything suspicious but an abandoned Warehouse. And for Danny, it would be enough to leave empty handed and go elsewhere.

But this was Danny Coughlin. His experience in fighting in the Jungles of Vietnam and the Vietcong taught him that everything was not as it seemed at first glance. So he started to go towards the stairs to the next floor when he slammed into something in the middle of the room. He started to grab what was in front of him, and it felt like... "is that... cloth?" He grabbed it and took it off to reveal a giant crate hidden underneath the cloth that was invisible at first glance. "This doesn't look like cammo..." He said. And he took a look inside revealing to be something glowing. "Are these explosives?" 

"Hey! What was that swish?" Danny heard a voice above him. It sounded menacing.  

"Shit." Danny whispered and decided to take the Invisible Cloth and threw it on him. He began moving towards a corner. And he could see a group of Humans start to move downstairs. They were at first glance, dressed like Gangsters. But Danny found it strange that none of them bore any guns. He also silenced his radio just to be safe. 

"Anything?" One of the Gangsters asked.

Another Gangster looked around. "Nope. All clear." He answered. But then he noticed the big crate exposed. "Hey! Why doesn't this crate have an invisibility cloak on it?" 

"Wind or that type of shit?" The other Gangster asked. "How should I fucking know?" 

"Oh, great. Now if some fucking No Mag wants to come in they can just show up and take a look." The Second Gangster complained. 

"Okay, calm down, asshole. I'll just do this." The First Gangster pulled out what looked like a wooden stick and swished it around making the crate disappear.  

Danny's eyes widened.

"Okay? Problem solved." The First Gangster said.

"I swear, we put all of the Cloaks on." The Second Gangster sighed. 

"You're being fucking paranoid. Next thing you know, you're the next Crooked Man." The First Gangster shot back. "Anyway. We ship these things out tomorrow and we get paid. You know how many Galleons we'll get on these? Fucking millions." And they both started to walk upstairs.  

"Millions?" Danny asked. "Millions on explosives? What are you up to, you sons of a bitch?" And he took out his radio to report. "This is Agent Coughlin, I've got reason to suspect some Arms Dealers. I'm at the warehouse. And I'm about to have a conversation with some people." 

Danny continued on to the Second Floor. The stairs creaking before his feet. He walked right up to what looked like an old office door. And he could hear the voices before, but now it was far more clearer. "I want those explosives shipped off. You know what to do. And make sure no one knows about this or its your heads. And not just your money." A Menacing Voice ordered. 

"You'll get it, boss." Danny could hear the First Gangster say. 

That was all Danny needed to hear. He kicked down the door. "F.B.I! DON'T MOVE!" He yelled pointing his gun at the Gangsters. Now there were at least 5 Gangsters in front of him. 

But none of the Gangsters looked deterred, rather they just looked confused. 

"Think you're in the wrong place, pal." The First Gangster said while sitting behind a desk. 

"Oh there's no such fucking thing as the wrong place with me." Danny shot back. 

"He's a No Mag." The Second Gangster noticed.

"So... no M.A.C.U.S.A?" A Third Gangster asked.

"He's a No Mag! It's fucking implied." A Fourth Gangster scolded.

That was when the Fifth Gangster was sitting on a couch and just petting his stick. 

"We've got no quarrel with the No Mag. This doesn't concern you." The First Gangster insisted to Danny. 

But Danny was not a man to go quietly. "Do you know what F.B.I stands for?" He asked. 

"Fucking Big Idiot?" The Third Gangster asked. And that caused everyone to laugh.

"Federal Bureau of Investigation." Danny corrected. "So yeah, Arms Dealing concerns me. Who's this for anyway? Russia? North Korea? China?" He interrogated. 

"He is so a No Mag." The Fourth Gangster noted. 

"And what's this No Mag shit about?" Danny also asked.

The Gangsters said nothing. "Don't make me start shooting you assholes, because I will." Danny threatened.

The First Gangster was noticing the situation. "He is a No Mag, so no one's going to notice him gone." He drew out his stick that started to glow. "Fuck it." And he started to shoot something out of his stick. It wasn't just a stick. It was a Magic Wand. "Expulso!"  

Danny ducked out of the way and back towards the door, returning fire from his pistol as he ran down the stairs. 

"Don't let him get away!" The First Gangster yelled. 

Danny ran for the doors. "Agent Coughlin! I've got shots fired! Send backup now!" He yelled on his Radio. But as he looked upward, he could see that at least 3 Gangsters were blocking the door. Danny shot off a few more bullets. How they got ahead of him, he didn't have time to find out. His military instincts taking over. He crouched behind a pillar. 

"Diffindo!" One Gangster shot. It sliced off a piece of the pillar that Danny was covering behind in two, and it forced Danny to crouch. It was clear that this was above Danny's paygrade. There were at least a bunch of Gangsters who were using Magic. And Danny was on his own with a pistol. 

"Flipendo!" Danny had suddenly heard something to his right. The Fifth Gangster was now right next to his right. And it shot Danny into another pillar. And dislodging his pistol from his hand and slammed Danny into the wall. 

"Fuck!" Danny yelled. He reached out for his pistol quickly, shooting a gangster in the foot. The Fifth Gangster went down and crouched in pain. 

"Let's blow him up!" The Fourth Gangster yelled.

"No! We blow him up! We blow everything up!" The First Gangster reminded. 

Another spell was casted in front of Danny. And Danny returned fire. Shooting off two more bullets. But none of them hitting. He emptied out his ammo clip and readied a new one. "You'd better be here soon!" Danny yelled on his radio. He took a look outside and could see another Gangster reading a spell. Danny took it as his time to shoot the Fourth Gangster in the head. "Think of a spell for that!" He taunted. 

The First Gangster grit his teeth. "That was bad move, No Mag!" He yelled.

Danny shot his pistol again and the remaining Gangsters took cover. "Fuck you!" He yelled.

"All you had to do was step aside and not get involved. Just like every other No Mag in this Fucking Bullshit of a Country." The First Gangster informed. 

"Well, this Fucking Bullshit of a Country is my home." Danny shot back. 

"You ain't stopped shit with us, No Mag! We've got other friends in high places!" The Second Gangster bragged. 

Danny had enough of these assholes. He got up and aimed his pistol.

"Wait-" One of the Gangster started to yell.

"Fuck you!" Danny repeated as he shot his pistol but hit one of the Explosives which made it blow up. And tossing the whole building into an inferno.

By the time Danny had gotten back up. Which was about 15 seconds, his vision blurry and he was now getting flashbacks of when his squad ran into a landmine in Nam. He then got up and took a look at the now burning building. Fire on the pillars and some of the stone. He also noticed the smashed up and burning crates. Next to him, the Fifth Gangster was now a skeleton and the look as if he was screaming for someone to help him. "Holy Fucking Shit." He said. 

The remaining Gangsters all looked in stunned silence and were coughing up smoke. 

"Shit. Shit. Shit. SHIT!" The First Gangster yelled. 

"The Crooked Man is going to kill us." The Second Gangster said in very big alarm. "Maybe we should burn with this building." 

"Yeah, but at least we'll be able to run from the Crooked Man. Let's get out of here!" The Third Gangster suggested. And all three started to apparate away. Vanishing into Thin Air.

"Hey!" Danny yelled. But everyone was long gone now. This day was the strangest in all of Danny's career as an F.B.I Agent. Whoever those guys were were obviously carrying a strange power. Magic. They were using Magic. But what were those explosives they were after? And why would Magic Users transport explosives? And who was this Crooked Man? It left Danny with more questions than answers. And them using Magic.