Zanzibar the Magician - Unleashed

9 || FORT JAY

New York's Army Day recruitment drive - "Defend Your Country - Enlist Now" - was bringing in eager young recruits to the headquarters of the First Army, the Second Corps Area and the 16th Infantry on Grovenors Island. Pearl Harbor, continual Japanese advancement and their numerous victories in the war, was a turning point for enlistment from the metropolitan north-east.

The island was a hive of activity largely due to a number of temporary buildings being constructed. These were to accommodate the growing numbers of military personnel, including medical staff who were arriving on the island daily. 

Orders were shouted, various personnel were directed, all engaged in a unified effort to make the island operational. Vehicles - some with their gears crunching - transported their cargo of building materials to the various construction sites on the island. 

Crouched between a Ford Stakebed truck, and a Dodge Power Wagon jeep, two non-military individuals watched the comings and goings of the base. 

Zee groaned. As suspected, there was no hope a tuxedoed gal and blue-costumed hero were going to cross any expanse without being noticed. The magician told Jim to keep a lookout while she tried to hone in on any 'un-American' activity within the buildings. 

Focusing her mystical senses, they reached out, primed, probing, ready to latch on to the most minute trace of sortilege elsewhere on the island. Zee's practical self reasoned if Natsumi was in the vicinity, she would likely be housed within a building where perhaps the least amount of staff milled through.

A tingle erupted in Zee's hands then spread upwards, flowing through her entire body. A connection was formed as Natsumi's general location was revealed. It seemed she'd dared to secrete herself in Fort Jay, the administrative centre on the island. Zee's lips curved in a superlative smile. 

"Found her!" she whispered over her shoulder to Jim.

"Good, because it seems we too, have been found," came the Irishman's reply.

"Hey! You there!"  

Zee spun on her hunkers as a voice bellowed across the yard. Two soldiers were running towards them, thankfully unarmed, but still posing a threat to their mission.

"Stay back," Jim advised, placing a protective arm out to usher the magician behind him. 

As the two men reached the back of the truck, Jim swung a crippling right hook, knocking the leading man to the ground. Jim quickly turned and threw a punch at the second man, but he ducked, and hit the Irishman in the gut with an uppercut punch.

Winded a little, Jim staggered back but quickly regained his footing and came in with another jab.

As the man received a sock to the jaw, snapping his head to his left, his eyes rested on Zee. Momentarily surprised to realise it was a woman who wore the tux, the soldier's eyes widened, and a grin started to spread. Jim saw his opportunity, and landed another punch to the soldier's jaw. This time, the man crumpled with the ridiculous semi-smirk frozen on his face.

The first soldier was still on the ground, a little stunned, and nursing his chin. Jim was about to hit him again when Zee stepped in front. 

"Allow me," she said. With a flick of her fingers and a hasty spell tumbling from her lips, the soldier was rendered unconscious.

Jim stared at Zee, dumbfounded. "Well, if I'd known you could do that I would've let you take them both."

Zee grinned. "Tricks of the trade, Jim, but not always the best option." She looked him up and down, then issued a comrade-like slap to his arm. "Good form, by the way. You box, I take it?"

Jim shrugged, a proud smile playing on his lips. "Well, I did back home, yes."

Zee nodded. "Right, we need to hide these two - they'll be out for a little while. And you need to put on one of their uniforms. I think the bigger of the two may fit you better."

Jim's eyebrows almost met his hairline. "And you? Are you goin' to..."

Zee rolled her eyes. "Of course not. Step aside."

The magician knelt and placed her hand on the first man's chest. The air around her arm became displaced, warped, and a ripple ran up her sleeve. Jim watched, bug-eyed as the tuxedo gave way to a soldier's uniform, the effect spreading over Zee's entire body, altering her raiment.

But that was not all. Zee was no longer the dark-haired beauty with mocha eyes and full, inviting lips. She had become the soldier; a dirty-blond, with short back and sides, blue eyes and a square jaw.

Jim staggered back. "Go way outta that!" he exclaimed.

"Relax, it is merely a disguise taken from the subject."

"Is that what you call it?" Jim could not quite shake an uncomfortable feeling seeing Zee as a man, an individual nowhere near as pleasing to the eye.

"I shape-shift, that is all. Now put his uniform on over your costume," she said, pointing to the other soldier. "We won't have much time before the spell breaks. And, we really don't want our two friends here waking up and setting off the alarms." 

"Well, at least not until we bag our suspect."

"Correct," Zee agreed. "Hurry, then."

With considerable ease, the two investigators moved through the area without so much as a second look. So many were busy with offloading materials from trucks, working on the temp buildings, and two soldiers walking through the grounds were commonplace. 

Fortunately, more work was going on in the fort, albeit to a lesser degree than the rest of the base. Again this aided in the ruse. Once inside, the magician relied on her mystic senses as the signature of another magic drew her further into the garrison. Fort Jay was massive, comprising of four large buildings in square formation surrounding an expanse of grass with trees and shrubs, all protected behind a high wall. 

The two imposters respectfully saluted any higher-ranked personnel they encountered and were allowed to proceed without question. 

Zee's in-built magical compass led them to the centre of the fort - the landscaped area. Puzzled at first, she scanned the gardens.

"What's wrong?" Jim asked, wholly baffled himself.

"She's here."

"Where? I can't see anything other than grass and leaves."

"Look!" Zee pointed.

A large sycamore stood sentinel in the grounds. The Irishman was straining to see anything out of the ordinary, but then, a distortion occurred against the bark. A portal, camouflaged against the trunk of the enormous tree.

"She hasn't!" he whispered, somewhat disbelieving.

"Oh, yes, she has. Very clever, Miss Natsumi," Zee commented, "masking your presence while all continues around you as normal. The perfect element of surprise."

"Where will it lead?"

Zee grinned, already her innards were tingling; a precursor of her magic surging to the surface. She started forward. "Let's find out, shall we?"