Deep down underground somewhere in Central California, the surface of which was a giant flat land with vast fields of automatic farming and wind farms. Josephine Wong walked an office guarded by two tall and stoic agents, whose power, though hidden and suppressed by their intentive control, was enough to make a normal civilian or even the most vicious animal in the wild flee in fear without knowing for sure why.

“I am here to see the Commissioner.” Josephine Wong raised her hand at the two agents guarding the office, showing them a ring with a special symbol on it.

“Welcome, Ms. Wong. The Commissioner has been waiting for you.” the agent on the left showed Josephine Wong the door.

When Josephine Wong walked through the abnormally thick door made of metal and dense crystal, she saw two men and one woman were already inside of the office, who all turned to look at her when she came in.

“Commissioner.” Josephine Wong nodded at the man sitting behind a wide and luxurious looking table with a ferret sitting on the side: “I am here to talk about the proposal for the resolution of the situation in San Francisco.”

“There is no proposal. There’s only a decision.” the other man in the room sitting on the other side of the table stood up and said to Josephine Wong while tidying his suit made of some kind of enchanted silk: “The Commissioner just agreed to our plan. My dear long time friend and partner, a member of the Great Mage of Seattle, Paige Williamson, would be the one wielding the stone of negation to cleanse the paranormal corruption in San Francisco. And in term relieving you from the undue burden of dealing with a catastrophe of such a scale for a newly appointed liaison for the Division.”

“I’d appreciate your concern more if it had come at a better time or had you shared some of your prized intel with me before my appointment, Tamil.” Josephine Wong looked at Tamil Brooke with her eyes narrowed, then turned to the Commissioner: “Commissioner, you promised me three days for the demo of site cleansing. We still have one day for it to be done.”

“But from what I know, your agents had basically wasted two days not accomplishing anything. All they did was put a bunch of wooden stakes in the ground, like some kind of premature exorcism ritual.” Paige Williamson was the other woman in the room, in a red and white robe and her hair braided showing some kind of royal style: “Or worse, mistaking the ground and the corrupted soil as the root of the paranormal pollution.”

“Our people are doing exactly what they are supposed to do. And I have full faith in them in completing the job at hand.” Josephine Wong said: “We don’t need to utilize a crude and violent solution, with an artifact basically no one really knows how to use.”

“Maybe YOU don’t know how to use the Stone of Negation.” Paige Williamson shook her head: “Which wouldn’t be a surprise to me. The education of Grant Academy can be a bit … too focused on practicality and not enough on the intricacies of advanced laws and principles of magic and power and the complexities that come with them.” 

“Save your pomposity for the high society parties.” Josephine Wong waved her hand to shut Paige Williamson up and leaned in on the Commissioner: “Commissioner, please hold off the decision for now. I won’t mind if they start preparing right away, but please don’t greenlight the usage of the stone until three days are due.”

“That sounds like a reasonable request. What do you say Tamil? Paige?” the Commissioner asked.

“We don’t have much time to waste. The stone must be prepped before use, and the longer we wait, the harder it becomes for us to use the stone to heal the event.” Paige Williamson went to Josephine Wong’s side and said: “What Ms. Wong is doing here is letting her ego get in the way of a speedy resolution of the problem in San Francisco. And we can’t afford to let this doomed to be fruitless effort for a non-solution delay our plan just so that you can say sorry to us at the last minute, to which you just wholeheartedly agreed.”

“Our solution will work, without having to subject all people, civilians and power wielders alike to the potentially catastrophic side effects of the stone. We are advised by top experts in cleansing this paranormal pollution, and I am personally assured that the cleanse would be done in time, without any unwanted consequences.” Josephine Wong scoffed and said: “And forgive me for being blunt - none of us in the room has actually dealt with the full scale power of the Stone of Negation. Even you, Ms. Williamson, being taught to complexify relatively simpler mechanisms of magic does not mean you have what it takes to wield that kind of power, if anything it makes you more unfit, with your inflated ego and the conceit that comes with it.”

“People have always done things for the first time throughout history.” Paige Williamson said: “And I am an actual expert in manipulating complex and intricate magical energy, and I lead a team of highly esteemed individuals with similar expertise. May I know who your advising expert is? Have they any publications?”

“I don’t think you or Mr. Brooke there will like the names of my experts. And yes, as a published expert of magical power manipulation myself - I trust my experts’ abilities.” Josephine Wong answered with a slightly snide tone: “And I think even a non-powered civilian would know that you don’t solve a house rat problem with bulldozers.”

“Commissioner, with all due respect to the Division and all departments, but Ms. Wong here is clearly motivated by her ego and self interest and was trying to save face by dragging the solution to the very last minute.” Tamil Brooke said.

“Alright! Enough!” the Commissioner raised his voice: “I’ve made my promise to Josephine, and as the Commissioner I don’t intend to break my word. So Josephine, you can have your deadline, and the stone will not be greenlit until the deadline, or when you concede.”

Tamil Brooke and Paige Williamson tried to say something: “Commissioner, this is preposterous...”

“And I will prepare the final order to prepare the stone and have it on standby.” the Commissioner continued: “The second we’re past Josephine’s deadline, you will have access to the stone. This is my final decision, and we shall see tomorrow.”

“Understood. Thank you Commissioner.” Josephine Wong nodded and exhaled in relief.

“Don’t thank me. Your expert better be right.” the Commissioner waved his hand at them and signaled them to leave his office.