While Duffy kept her promise to work with the Avengers, graciously being called part of the team, whether she wanted to accept the title or not, she still felt a sense of obligation to her people. It meant checking in on Abhaya's family, her widowed husband, and her daughter that were both grieving the loss. It was difficult to think that the girl would have to be entering her fourth year at Ilvermorny after losing her mother, but Duffy had faith that Ilvermorny would accommodate her and all of the students that had been affected by the attack on New York City.
However, there seemed to be a stir within the wizarding world, a curiosity that was piqued, especially by the likes of Duncan as more questions came to his mind after the experience. There were No-Majs that were enhanced with abilities that went beyond some of their magic. Such as Bruce and his ability to turn into the Hulk, as it reminded the two of lycanthropy quite a bit. Of course, werewolves had no choice but to change under the full moon, but Bruce sometimes didn't have control over the Hulk and it was something that had plagued his life.
But Duncan was on to something and he made a discovery that he wanted to bring to her attention, even if she had turned down the position of Head Auror. She wasn't exactly tied to MACUSA anymore as an employee, she was just a resource for them to call upon if needed and right now, Duncan needed her.
"I was going through these documented cases," Duncan told her, " in the filing office and look at all these cases of No-Maj-borns."
The two were hunched over her coffee table in Duffy's apartment as Duncan arrived unannounced that afternoon, showing up as Duffy was preparing to leave and head over to Andrew's apartment to speak with him. However, when she opened the door after he knocked, he came barrelling in with a stack of files that he needed her to see.
"Yes, Duncan, there have been plenty of cases of them, we tend to have a much bigger population than other countries, we're bound to have more of them here in the States," she told him, " myself included, remember?"
"No, you don't understand, Duffy," he said, " these No-Maj-borns are different."
"In what way?"
"You know the Quill of Acceptance, correct?"
Duffy remembered back from her schooling, the discussion of the Quill of Acceptance that was in place of every country. It was a quill with the special properties that would write down the name of every child born with magical abilities, allowing them to be sorted to the appropriate magical schools within their country.
"Yes, of course, what about it?"
"Well, these No-Maj-Born profiles were placed off to the side inside the filing area, not with the others. None of these No-Maj-Borns even have wand permit numbers. I had to look them up and it got even crazier, their names were never written down by the Quill of Acceptance, their names are not written down in the Books of Admittance. From Ilvermorny and all around, their names don't show up, it was like they didn't exist, but we have profiles of them."
"I don't get it, Duncan, " she said, shaking her head in confusion, " what are you trying to say? Are they No-Maj-Borns or not?"
"I don't know," he replied, " because they've all shown signs of magical properties or at least, abnormalities that set them apart from regular No-Majs. Most of them have incidents where MACUSA had to get involved for a cleanup or an obliviation task, but none of these files has any records of them after that. Meaning, they didn't fall under the...responsibilities of MACUSA. They weren't considered witches or wizards...or any magical creature of that sort...not even half-breeds."
"So what the hell are they? Are they like Bruce or Steve?" she asked. "Are they enhanced by serums or radiation? Stuff like that?"
"No," Duncan shook his head, " I don't think so. Some of them have their incidents written down from very young ages, most of them around the time of puberty. I don't think they were all involved in gamma rays and serums that young. I think it's something else, Duffy, I think there's an entire line of humans that have been flying under the radar of our noses for so long. They're not magic and they're not artificially enhanced, it's natural, but it's not magical blood."
Lifting up some of the files in her hands, Duffy looked them over, before looking up with a bewildered look. "What the hell are we dealing with then? If MACUSA couldn't keep up with them, where did they go? How could people that cause these incidences just disappear and never be heard from again?"
"Maybe they are heard from, but maybe they're like us in some ways," Duncan suggested, " maybe they're capable of cleaning up after themselves and hiding their tracks so no one can figure them out. We've been doing it for centuries, what if they've been doing it too? I mean, I guess we can't rule it out as impossible because we've been doing it and look how much the No-Maj know about other things that the wizarding world has missed out on. We could have multiple worlds and realms all running at the same time, hidden from each other on this planet."
Gripping the sides of her head, Duffy squeezed her eyes shut, trying to process everything that he was throwing at her all at once.
"Sweet Salem, Duncan, I haven't even had my afternoon coffee and already you're making me suffer through the existential crises of the day!"
"Tough shit, honey, you better get used to it, you wanted to work with the Avengers, this is shit you better start getting used to hearing. There's no telling what's going to be thrown your way. I'm only trying to prepare you for what might be coming eventually. Right now, I have a feeling that these people are in hiding for a reason, we just have to figure out what the reason is."
"Great, just great, I-"
Suddenly, Duffy's cell phone went off, interrupting the conversation. She excused herself as Duncan rolled his eyes and told her to take it. But as she peered down at the screen, she could see it was the alarm she had made for herself, a usual reminder throughout the day so she didn't forget when she had plans.
"Shit, I'm going to be running late," she said hopping up, " look, Duncan, there is just something I have to do and when I'm finished with all of that, we will get back to this, I promise."
"Are you actually leaving me right now, woman?! I present to you all this fascinating information and you're going to just leave me off like that?!"
He looked over to see Duffy slipping on her jacket before she turned to him and nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. But just remember, this is your fault because you invited yourself over. I had plans."
"I just made a discovery of another possible underground world here and you have plans?!"
"Love you!" Duffy called over her shoulder as she walked out of her apartment. " Bye!"
Duncan was left, sitting on her couch, with all the files sprawled out on the table before him, left in a daze that he had been so easily abandoned during such a breakthrough, but at the same time, he couldn't really be surprised. Duffy was as unpredictable as they came and he above all people should have been used to it by then.
"Well, while you're gone," he said, even though he was the only one left in the room, " I'm going to try and come up with names for my new discovery of people. Now let's see...deviants? Metahumans! No, that sounds stupid, um...the Abby Normals?! No, it's getting worse. The Freaks of Nature? Monsters?"
Meanwhile, across town, Duffy arrived in seconds outside of Andrew's apartment and while she hadn't exactly run all the way there, she found herself short of breath. Her heart was pounding in her chest, long before she even knocked on the door. But as her knuckles hit the wood, she tried to think over what she was going to say to him, especially considering they hadn't really spoken since she left him at the restaurant after the proposal had gone wrong. There was part of her that was hoping that he wasn't home, simply because she felt like she was going to pass out from the weight of anxiety that was perched on her shoulders.
However, she could hear the sounds of movement from behind the door and seconds later, Andrew opened it, looking more than surprised to see her standing there across the threshold.
"Duffy?!" he exclaimed, looking beyond relieved to see her. "You're alright?!"
She had more or less been expecting him to be angry with her, simply because she didn't return any of his calls or texts, nor had she made contact right away after the Chitauri attack. But she was just as relieved to see that he was alright as he didn't seem to suffer from even a scratch. But there was no anger, only relief as he pulled her right into a hug.
"I've been so worried," he told her, holding onto her tightly. "You didn't answer my calls or texts and I figured you just wanted some space. But after the attack, I just wanted to make sure you were okay but every time I went to your apartment you weren't there...God, Duffy, I thought something terrible happened to you. I went to all the hospitals in the area, thinking you had been hurt, but none of them reported you being there. Where have you been-"
Suddenly, he stopped himself and shook his head, clearly not happy with his own question as he pulled away from the hug and moved his hands to hold the sides of Duffy's face.
"No, you know what, that can wait. All I want to know right now is that you're alright? Are you okay?"
Obviously, she was physically sound as she was standing right in front of him with no problem whatsoever, however, she knew that Andrew wasn't asking that. He was asking her if she was emotionally okay if she was mentally alright at the time. And while he had no idea that she had been caught up in the mix of everything that had gone down in the city, she managed to give a nod of her head.
Because in a lot of ways, Duffy was alright, she knew that. Everything as crazy as it had all been had turned out for the better, she just felt like she had some unfinished business with Andrew.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she told him," I got caught up with my job and the mess of it all, but I'm fine. I just...how are you, are you okay?"
Andrew stared at her, the bags under his eyes making it extremely clear that he had probably gotten no amount of sleep since she left him at the restaurant. He looked exhausted, but he wasn't going to plague her with those thoughts as he nodded his head.
"You know," she said looking down at her feet, " I'm really sorry about that night, Andy, I just-"
"No, you don't have to apologise, Duffy, I completely understand. And you know what, if you don't want to get married for whatever reason, I'll stop asking. I promise. I don't have to marry you to know that I want to be with you. So I won't ask ever again..."
"Alright, well, if you're not going to ask, will you at least answer?"
His brow furrowed in confusion as he stared at her, unsure of what she was actually trying to say.
"I don't understand, you need an answer for what?"
"Well," Duffy said, peering up at him for a brief second, " I guess I would need an answer if I asked you to marry me."
"What?"
"Will you marry me, Andrew?"