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Tina and Graves had been camped outside the warehouse for hours. More recently they'd been joined by most of the aurors working for MCUSA as well as President Picquery.
Earlier that day they'd received an anonymous tip, carried by owl, informing them of the magical creature smuggling operation being conducted there. When Mr. Graves gave Tina the assignment, she asked him to come along and help her out. Not necessarily because she needed it but because he seemed like he did. He'd only been back for a few weeks and she supposed he had the right to be a little distant given that not a single one of his coworkers had noticed he wasn't his self during the Grindelwald fiasco. That didn't change the fact that she knew how it felt to be an outsider and couldn't stand to leave someone else in that position.
After a few hours staking the place out, they heard a loud ruckus coming from inside. There were a few flashes of different colored light, clearly spells being thrown back and forth and then it all stopped. They tried to enter the warehouse hoping that maybe the duel inside had weakened some of the defenses. They were not so lucky. So Tina kept watch while Graves apparated back to MCUSA to get backup.
Now MCUSA had the place surrounded and there were aurors creating a perimeter of shields. They were pretty far away from the city so there was a fairly low chance of any no-maj witnessing anything they couldn't explain. They had to be sure of course that none of them would wander up from any of the nearby beaches.
Once they were relatively sure that they were protected, they started raining down hell on that warehouse. They were making progress but it was slow. Suddenly though a rather malnourished looking house elf appeared with a crack right in front of the president herself. "Wands down!" she said, with her wand pressed to her neck to amplify her voice. Everyone immediately ceased their onslaught.
"Madam president," the elf said, curtsying. "My master would like me to inform you that he has a hostage," the elf halted there, clearly uncomfortable with this task.
"Go on," Picquery commanded.
"Master says that if you let him and his men go, he will not kill the hostage. And he also said to give you this." The elf held in her hand something that Tina hadn't noticed before. At first glance it might have looked like a grasshopper to anyone else but Tina recognized it immediately.
"Picket!" said Tina running forward. "Picket is that you?!" Picket scurried away from the elf, jumping on to Tina's arm. He was chittering loudly and anxiously. Tina didn't need to speak bowtruckle to know what he was saying.
"What is this?" asked Picquery.
"This is Picket. He belongs to Newt Scamander," she said. "That anonymous tip! It must have been from him! We have to get him out of there!"
"Ms. Goldstein! Keep it together. We will treat this just as we would treat any other hostage situation," said the president calmly. As soon as she finished speaking though, a loud, echoing scream erupted from the building.
Tina looked on in horror. Her hand came up to cover her mouth and her eyes filled with tears. But then she felt a hand on her shoulder pulling her back, away from the front of the group.
"Goldstein, listen. You're stronger than this by far. Don't let this stop you from fighting. We're going to get in there and get him out," Graves said. He was right of course, but Tina was still surprised at his words. He could see her confusion so he continued. "I'm behind you all the way. I owe that man my life. It if wasn't for him, Grindelwald may never have been caught. I might never have been found," he said, by way of explanation. Of course Picket would choose that moment to recognize Graves and leap onto his face. Spindly fingers were attempting to claw out his eyes but Tina pulled the bowtruckle away before any damage could be done.
"Picket, it's okay! That's the real Mr. Graves, not Grindelwald," she explained. Picket blew a raspberry at Graves anyways, just for good measure. Graves just rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's get back up there." Tina straightened her shoulders and took a few deep breaths before marching back up to President Picquery.
Another scream punctured the silence. Graves looked over at Tina. A fierce, angry determination had taken the place of her previous expression. Good, Graves thought. They'll be sorry they messed with her sweetheart.
All the aurors were working on ways to get into the building when Tina suddenly had a revelation. She realized that the house elf had been able to apparate in and out of the building with ease meaning that the criminals had likely not put up any barriers that could block house elves. She shared this idea with Graves who shared it with the president.
"Of course Ms. Goldstein. Good thinking. But what will we have a house elf do once they've gotten inside?"
"I'm not sure mam," Tina said disheartened. What would a house elf be able to do? Another moment of inspiration struck her! "They could let out the creatures, the ones being trafficked. Open all the cages and create enough chaos that we could probably get in without them noticing."
This sounded like a splendid idea to everyone except Picquery. "You want me to agree to letting loose a pack of who knows what kind or how many magical creatures?"
"Once we break their barriers down we can put up our own to keep all the creatures inside the building."
"I suppose that could work. We'll just have to deal with them later. I'll need most of my aurors to remain outside to create and hold the barriers. Can the two of you handle getting in and out alone?" asked the president.
Tina and Graves shared a look. They were both willing to risk it in order to help Newt. "We can handle it," Graves answered.
By the time they got into the building, things were not pretty. They expected to find chaos but instead they found a string of dead traffickers and no creatures to be seen. They continued through the warehouse, checking every room on their way and finding more of the same. Dead traffickers, no creatures. Finally they reached the largest area of the warehouse. Various cages of all shapes and sizes filled the floor, all of them empty. And in the middle of the room all the creatures were gathered. Graves was aghast, much more so than Tina. Why would all these different species be huddled together in the same room peacefully? How could they be? Tina had a suspicion.
They made their way to the center of the group. The creatures let them pass easily. In the center they found one Newt Scamander. Unconscious Tina hoped, and not dead, but she wasn't sure. There was a Hippogriff's head laid over his chest as if it was waiting for him to wake up. Tina didn't dare to approach. She knew that Hippogriff's were temperamental. Thankfully, as soon as it noticed the humans, it slowly rose from its position and backed away, allowing them to get closer to Newt.
Tina nearly ran the last few steps and landed ungracefully at Newt's side. "Newt," she called, feeling for a pulse and looking for the rise and fall of his chest. Picket jumped off her shoulder and stood on Newt's chest. His heart was beating and he was breathing okay. "Newt, wake up," said again, taking his face in her hands.
As if he was swimming up through a great ocean, Newt's eyes opened very slowly. He groaned in pain and his eyelids pressed tightly together. The second time he opened them, he took stock of his surroundings. The first thing he saw was Tina's face right above him. Newt smiled just a little, but then his head rolled to the side and he saw another face he recognized. This time, he did not smile. He tried to sit up, obviously not aware enough to realize that the man he was looking at could not possibly be Gellert Grindelwald. The panic was clear on Newt's face so Graves scooted back and raised his hands in the air but he was not quick enough to appease the injured man who stiffened in pain before he could rise more than an inch off the ground. Tina eased him back down. "Easy Newt. It's just Mr. Graves. The real Mr. Graves. Remember in my letter I told you we found him?" Newt nodded his head a little, eyes clenched shut again.
"Oh, sorry," Newt said breathlessly.
"Quite alright Mr. Scamander. Not even the worst reaction I've seen in the last few weeks," Graves said with a chuckle.
"Newt you have to tell me what they did," said Tina.
"They just used a few impact spells, pushed me around . . . " the rest was mumbling that Tina could not understand.
"What was that?" she asked to clarify what she assumed was the reason for all the screaming they heard earlier.
Newt huffed in annoyance. "Cruciatus curse. Just a few times," he admitted.
"Well it's a good thing they're all dead or I might just have to kill them myself." Newt, with his beautiful Hufflepuff soul, had the gall to look mildly uncomfortable at that. He didn't realize they were all dead, they couldn't have all deserved to die. And he wasn't comfortable with Tina wanting to kill people just for him. "Oh stop it," she said when she saw his face. "You'd feel the same if you were me." Newt wasn't sure he could argue with that so he let it go for now.
She felt the back of his head and down his neck for any injuries, he didn't protest loudly until she reached his shoulder area. She pressed gently on either side of his collarbone and he responded.
"Ahh, ahh --" he let out.
"Oh! I'm sorry I just need to figure out if it's safe to move you," she said, pushing back his hair.
"Let's just say, everything below my neck hurts. Which probably means that my spine isn't damaged at all. Think it's probably quite safe," Newt said.
"You know you're probably right," replied Tina, her accent getting stronger with her sarcasm. She reached into her coat and pulled out a flask. "Here drink some of this. It'll help," she said, tilting some of the contents into Newt's mouth. He sputtered and made a face at the taste.
"What sort of potion is that?" he asked between coughs.
"Whiskey," she said, like the answer should be obvious. Graves laughed loudly at that and Tina looked at him in amazement. She'd never heard him laugh. It was contagious and soon all three of them were laughing, albeit Newt's was much more subdued.
Eventually they all calmed down enough to help Newt sit up. Tina asked Newt what they should do about all the loose creatures.
"Oh, yes, my wand?" he asked looking around.
"Got it!" Graves shouted, it had rolled underneath one of the cages but he retrieved it and handed it to Newt.
"Good, now here in my pocket," he said, patting his chest. Tina reached into the inside pocket of his waistcoat and pulled out a suitcase, the size of a box of cigarettes.
"Engorgio!"
The suitcase became normal sized again and Newt said, "Now just open it and stand back." She did as she was told and both she and Graves looked on in amazement as each of the creatures, lumbered, scurried, crawled, and slithered inside. "Can I have some more of that whiskey?" asked Newt. Tina and Graves just laughed as they helped him up and carried him out of the warehouse.
"Maybe after you see a real healer," said Tina. Newt just groaned.