In Pursuit

In Pursuit
Chapter 1: Identifying Mark

Dr. Karin Airbourne sat in a normal, white office that overlooked a busy boulevard on London. She wore normal clothes and had normal books (well, if you could call psychology books normal) on a normal bookshelf, but the facts remained the same: Dr. Karin Airbourne was not a doctor. Nor was she normal, but far from it. She was a witch and a very special one at that. Agent Airbounse was an Unspeakable who did undercover work for the Ministry. She was there tracking a certain someone by the name of Amanda Mancini, that is, if she was still using that name. But there was only one name for that type: Mary Sue.

In fact, Karin Airbourne knew very little about why she had been sent on this mission, but knew all she needed about Mary Sues. No one knew where the title had come from, it had just always been there. She'd learned that they were all beautiful, they were all popular... They were perfect, making them utter freaks and menaces to society: seducing the opposite sex, using their great (yet unnatural) powers for reasons beyond comprehension... She knew they hung out constantly in their regular hotspots: clubs, raves, dances, places populated by celebrities, you know the drill. It had been confirmed that it was indeed a girl they were looking for (A mere girl? Karin had thought,) though no other real information had been given.

The Ministry's only source had been a greasy teen who had said over and over that Mancini was his 'saviour'. Ministry Officials had concluded that they had a code three Mary Sue (telepathic/hypnotic abilities). The boy was admitted to a 'special center' where he could get help and recover from the attack. Victims tended to go into a sort of high for a few hours after they came into contact with their attacker,only to fall into a severe depression afterwards. Sometimes they went insane. Unfortunately, it seemed the witness was one of the more severe cases, he'd been kicking and yelling 'They couldn't help me! She did! Thank The Writer!' Karin shook her head sadly as the poor thing rambled on about the Mary Sue cult god. The poor boy probably wouldn't make it. It reminded her of a vampire case they'd had many years back, where it'd never finish off it's victims. The vampire would just visit them often enough to keep them in a weak, maniputable state. But then again, comparing a vampire to a Mary Sue was ludicrous.

Or was it? They had no idea what they were up against.

"Just track it down," the cheif, Thomas Quicksilver, had told her. That was all she had been willing to do.

Now she was disguised as a psychiatric doctor, on the lookout for infected muggles so they could recieve help, and have their memory modified. There had been very few who had even come to the office and none of them had been under the influence of a Mary Sue.

"What an outdated mission post," Karin thought while listening a man rant unendingly about his wife.

Not long after, about 5:30, she locked the doors and disapparated from her muggle office to her ministry one. Now, the office of an Unspeakable is different from that of other ministry members. Unspeakables didn't have any other immediate family. That was so they wouldn't hurt anyone if they were killed on a mission. She walked through a door that connected her office to her bedroom. But not before picking up the envelope from her desk. Sitting on her bed, she ripped it open and and sighed heavily as she read it. It was yet another assignment, along with her post as a shrink.

The Raving Loon was one of the most popular clubs in London. It was known for it's bi-annual twenty four hour raves that took place in the spring, and in the fall. Thankfully, the spring fest had just passed and Karin wouldn't have to attend. Unfortunately, she'd have to hang around the pub for that Mary Sue.

Sure, she thought. Like that's going to work.

After a short nap, a shower, and having thoroughly dissected her closet, she finally found a dress and a pair of shoes that would be suitable for a club. Normally, being young and single as she was, she would have enjoyed partying and wearing tight imitation snakeskin. Now definitly wasn't one of those times, but work came before play and Karin didn't have many choices.

Besides, the party scene hadn't been that horrible. Sure, she'd danced enough to make her regret wearing those heels, but it had been unsuccesfull. She hadn't seen any busty femmes surrounded by men who were chatting her up. There hadn't been any stunningly beautiful women at all. . She left at midnight, feeling dissapointed.

Or was she relieved? Afterall, did she really want to deal with a freak so... freaky that the Ministry was after her? Snort. No.

But Karin Airbourne always hated it when she spoke too soon. While walking through an alley that would have brought her to a safe place to disapparate, one couldn't help but notice the rather obvious young couple that were snogging heavily up against the wall. Karin realized she must have been staring, because suddenly the man sharply turned his head and told her off. His lady-friend gigged and shushed him. Karin winced and kept walking.

"Stop Siri," she unintentionally heard the girl laugh, "The sun'll be up soon. We've been out way too late."

Karin snorted, and tried not to laugh. Maybe it was true that blonds were just naturally dumber... or maybe it was just that man's personal preference to have his women not too bright. Karin wasn't sure what exactly what was going in that woman's head, but it was obviously wasn't much. She had left the pub at 12:00, and it was no later then 12:10.

Then again, maybe they'd been using those illegal muggle drugs...

Karin almost had a heart attack when she looked down at her watch and saw it was quarter to six a.m. Even the eastern side of the sky was beginning to turn yellowy orange. Karin quickly pressed her back against to the walls of the alley, hiding in the shadows, pushing the woman's school-girl giggles out of her mind as she thought the situation through.

Anyone else would have thought they'd lost track of time, or maybe that they'd have gone loony. Maybe some would have gone so far to blame it on faulty time travel. But Agent Karin Airbourne wasn't just 'anyone else'. She was a trained Unspeakable. The strange effect wasn't caused by mental problems, time travel, or even global warming (as it seemed that most muggles blamed weather problems on it.) No, the woman was a Mary Sue. The blonde hair, the blue eyes, that annoying attempt at an alluring giggle: it was a shame she didn't realise it sooner. The sunrise confirmed it. Not just any sunrise, a plot hole. Karin knew she had to take action before that man found himself too deep...

Taking a deep breath, she strode proffesionally towards them, ignoring the angry look that the dark haired man was giving her.

"Do you mind?" He emphasized nastily.

"Identification please," Karin answered simply.

"Why should we show you?" He spat back, and trying to hide her annoyance, she pulled out a piece of parchment and her wand.

"Identify" The man's eyes widened in surprise. He had obviously not realized that she was a witch. Meanwhile, she pressed her wand against the parchment. Immediately, writing began to appear in mauve ink as if it was being written by an invisible quill... And on it, faulty informations were provided, which of course, was the privilege of being an Unspeakable.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were an Auror too..." He said sheepishly as he nodded to his woman and they both pulled out their wands and identified themselves. Sirius Black and Madison Hatter, both Aurors. "But want do you want with us? Maddy and I, we have't done anything wrong."

However, Karen hadn't been listening. She'd been skimming over the 'identifying marks' section of their profiles. Now, she wasn't able to tell if Black had a tatoo of the Canis Major constellation on the back of his shoulder, but he definetly didn't have a 'deadened, hollow look' in his eyes. An alarm was sounding inside her brain when Karin read that Hatter had a 'heart shaped birthmark' above her (pierced) navel.

"I need see your abdomen," she said, folding the parchment and putting it back into her purse.

"What?!" The woman answered in disgusted surprise.

"For identification purposes. Your belly button." Looking violated, 'Maddy' Hatter lifted the stomach of her shirt , and there it was. The mark of the Mary Sue, and that was all she needed to know.

"That will be all," The agent said, lifting her chin in superiority and pulling out her wand. "Mary Sue, you are now under arrest."

"NO!" Black hollered. "You can't!! You've got the wrong person! Her name is Madison Hatter, not this Mary Sue broad-" He didn't finish, because before he saw it coming, he'd fallen on the floor and hit by a full-body-bind. Hatter's reaction, however, was a very different one. She had turned bright scarlet with anger.

"Why," she began in a slow, menacing tone, "does everyone say I'm a Mary Sue? Just because I'm pretty you accuse me of being unnatural? You know what?" The madwoman began to advance. "My life isn't perfect. My family all hated me, and used to hurt me. They died and as an orphan I had to live with Lily-"

Thud.

Tied up and unconcious on the floor was how Karin Airbourne like her Mary Sues best. Karin turned around and walked towards Sirius Black, who was looking up at her paralysed and horrified.

"I'm very sorry to have to do this," she put gently, raising her wand. "but your girlfriend, I'm afraid, wasn't even human. She was a Mary Sue, an evil creature that lures men in and.. then.. well... " She drifted off. "Well, no one was ever sane enough to give reliable information after their encounter. Finite Incantem." The effect of the body bind curse fell away, and Black gasped as Airbourne pointed her wand at him. "Obliviate."

The man's eyes glazed over, and she made her way back to the creature, pulling out a compact mirror from her purse. As she opened it, the visage of a burly looking man appeared where her reflection should have been. "Quicksilver, I got one."

"Is it hers?"

"No, but one just the same. She could be useful for information. Come pick her up. "

"On our way." With that, she snapped the mirror shut and put it away. After she dragged the unconcious she-thing to the side of the alley, she noticed that her companion, Sirius Black, had dissapeared. It surprised her, afterall, they tended to be a bit baffled after they'd had their memory wiped. He should have been able to leave so quickly in that amount of time.

Karin knew of all the country's Aurors. It was a requirement for her profession. She didn't remember anything about a Sirius Black.... She made a mental note to herself to check his records and NOT to let anything about him slip to the chief.