The Licensed Mage

9 Teamwork

        Raven did a double take between Claire and Elizabeth, “She has a PhD in all that?”

        “And many others but they’re the ones she’s currently using. I’ve always just called her a magician researcher and artifact engineer.”

        Claire turned around and walked off towards the fridge as Raven continued to stare at her, “Why does she have a PhD in all that?”

        She shrugged her shoulders as she yanked open the fridge, “She’s smart, she likes to learn new things, and she gets bored easily. Soda?”

        She holds out a can and Raven shakes his head as he tries taking Elizabeth in. She walks back up beside him silently laughing at his bewildered look as she pops the can open, “This is what I meant by her ‘feeding frenzy’ too.”

        Smiling into her can Raven turned to stare at her. She chuckled as she explained, “When she works, she gets into the zone. You know, like tunnel vision? She’ll work for 24 hours straight with no food or water or contact from anyone. So, in order to ‘recharge’ and let off steam she’ll watch TV for hours on end, also tunnel vision.”

        He pawed at his pocket intending to grab a cigarette but instead crossed his arms as he remembered the non-smoking rule, “Then what hope do we have of getting anything out of her?”

        Claire opened her mouth to answer but before she could the TV flicked off and the woman in question stood and walked towards a closet in the wall, “You have every hope, just as soon as I’m done.”

        She threw the doors opened and went through the hanging clothes as she pulled on some slacks and a clean top. She threw her dirty tank into the hamper inside the closet and shut the doors, grabbing her lab coat hanging on a nearby peg. She buttoned it closed and went to the mirror above the kitchen sink, adjusting her hair back into a tight bun. She didn’t acknowledge Claire and Raven standing there until after she set her frozen pizza onto the counter and flicked her hand over it causing it to glow and cook as she finally turned to them.

        Raven had a glimpsed of the genius mad scientist she was when she first turned to them but as she focused on Claire her face quickly turned into a smile as she ran to hug her friend. The two of them were quickly laughing and squealing as they hugged. Raven rolled his eyes at the noise.

        Elizabeth held Claire’s hands as she studied her friend, “Where have you been? It’s been too long. How are things? You never contact me anymore. What are you doing here?”

        Before Claire could answer Elizabeth turned and her eyes fell on Raven. She gave a quiet whistle as she studied the brooding man beside Claire, “Who is this?”

        Claire hurried with the introduction before Elizabeth jumped to conclusions, “Liz, this is my new partner Detective Raven Black. From the new Joint Task Force they’re creating?”

        “Oh,” the ding behind her indicated that her pizza was done and Liz quickly went and tore herself a piece, “I heard they were doing that. I also heard they were sending one of us over to get the ball rolling but I had no idea it was you. Pizza?”

        She held up a slice and offered it to the two of them but Claire quickly declined. Raven was about to but his growling stomach told him otherwise and he quickly grabbed two slices. Both he and Liz chowed down the slices before it could grow cold. Liz offered him another slice as she saw him eyeing the rest of the pizza and gave the rest to him as she turned to Claire.

        “So what can I do for the new partners of the Joint Task Force?”

        Raven shoved pizza in his mouth, preventing himself from making a retort at the partner comment as Claire explained, “We’re here on a case. Our victim was burnt to a crisp and there’s evidence indicating it was an artifact.”