Naturalist Uprising

The Naturalist Uprising took place four years after the end of the Great Power War. Jackson was the leader of the Magic Team at this time, and this was perhaps the most defining period of his leadership. The Naturalist Uprising was an internal power-struggle that stemmed from the Global Security Department's distrust of those with supernatural abilities. They sought to disband the Magic Council and put an end to the Magic Team. With over half of his team captured, Jackson had to rally with only Nolan, Bennett, Melissa, and Bob in order to stop the plans of James Kather, the very man he appointed to head of the GSD.

Wake-Up Call
It began early one morning at about 3pm. The team's new protocol was that there would always be at least five members of the team on active duty, meaning they would stay at the base ready to respond to any emergencies. Jackson was sleeping peacefully, snuggled up with Kate in his quarters of the base. Then the alarm started going off. "Please be a false alarm. Please be a false alarm..." muttered Kate. Jackson was hoping for the same thing, but had a feeling it wasn't. Ty Lee soon had Harvey and her pillow pressed against her ears attempting to shut out the noise. All doubt was removed from Jackson's mind when Melissa started knocking on the door. Jackson hit the button on the nightstand and the door opened.

"Jackson, Kate, urgent call. Big bank robbery."

"That's not our department," said Jackson.

"It's EW National," replied Melissa.

"Oh, shit."

"And it's turned into a standoff."

Jackson turned on the light, and he and Kate got up and started grabbing their gear. Bob, Firespear, and Troy both slumped down the hall away from their comfy beds. "Bob, set our warpgate up to take us to the nearest one to the bank that's still open at this hour. Use the override code on one if you have to. Everyone gear up, I want us ready in three minutes." He slipped on his shoes and started to head out the door following Kate. "You know you're not actually on duty right now. You can go back to sleep," he reminded Kate.

"Well, I'm up now, so I might as well go. Plus, I'd rather be with you."

Jackson smiled. Then he looked to Ty Lee, squinting to block the light. "You gonna sit this one out, little one?" Ty Lee simply nodded and pulled Harvey in close. "Alright, then. You watch over her," he said to the little chao.

Jackson walked over to the warpgate. Bob was finishing the setup. "All good to go, boss," he announced.

"Good, then let's roll!" replied Jackson as he jumped through the warpgate, followed by the other five members. They came out about 2 blocks form Electronic World National Bank. "What's their position, Melissa?"

"They've got five or six guys with hostages on level 3, two guys in the database, and three in the safes."

"Alright. Firespear, give Kate a lift so she has a clear shot at the guys with the hostages. Kate, use sleeper darts and don't fire until I give the command. Once she's taken down two of them, Firespear sweep in and make sure they don't kill any hostages. How you two finish the rest of them off is up to you. Just try to avoid anything fatal if you can."

"You got it," replied Firespear. She turned into a dragon and lifted Kate up to the nearby buildings.

"Bob, get to a security terminal. See if you can shut down the database before they drain any accounts. They're probably pretty close to hacking the system by now. Melissa, go with him there and then take down the guys in there. Troy, you're with me. We're going after the guys in the safes. Bob, if you can also work some computer magic to get us in there without them noticing, that would be great."

"You got it, boss!" replied Bob. The four approached the bank on foot and then split up into two groups.

Bob quickly found a security terminal, used a laser cutter to open up the lower section, and went to work on hacking the system. "Alright, it won't be too long before the hackers in the database see what I'm doing and try to counter it. Melissa, get there and grab their attention." Melissa turned and started running down the hall when she saw the two men round the corner.

"Bob!" she yelled as she ducked behind a large potted plant. One of the men was firebending at her while the other was shooting a gun.

"Get back!" Yelled Bob. Melissa leapt back, and Bob formed a shield in front of them, blocking the gun shots and fire blasts. He maintained the shield with one hand and continued hacking the system with the other. "Hurry, take them out! I can't hold it like this for too long." Melissa closed her eyes for a second. She opened them and her already blue irises glowed with a deep ocean blue color. She telepathically lifted the guards and bashed their heads together, knocking them both unconscious.

"Nice work," said Bob. "I'm almost through. Stay here in case anyone else shows up."

Jackson and Troy neared the vaults. Jackson spoke into his wrist communicator, "What does it look like, Kate?"

"I've got them in my sights. Five of them Oh! It looks like they're a bit distracted, something just happened."

"Take a shot now!"

Kate fired. One of the robbers fell to the ground and another shortly after. Before the remaining 3 could react, Firespear swept in through the glass and let out some fireballs. Careful not to hit the hostages, she steered the captors away, giving Kate some clean shots. Two more men fell to the ground, stunned, and Firespear held the last one in her clutches. "All clear, babe."

"Thanks, Kate." He shut off the com.

"When are you two going to get married already?"

"It's only a matter of time."

"You know, I was skeptical at first, but you two are truly good for each other."

"Coming from you, that means a lot. Alright, back to business, you want to each take one and then let whoever is quicker take the third?"

"Sounds good to me," replied Troy.

Signs of Corruption
The next day, a bill was submitted to the Magic Council by the Global Security Department for a new law that would require all citizens of Power World with supernatural abilities to register as such for the sake of security. (This would constitute about 1/6 of the people in Magic Castle, 1/20 of the people in Electronic World, 1/14 of the people in Animal Kingdom, and 1/17 people in Invisible Isle.)