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Within the Apple Ch 16 FULL
🕑 Added 2024-01-03 19:39:51 +0000 UTCChapter 16
The Rig, PRT ENE HQ
“Sirs, Ma’am, we have… airborne contacts inbound?”
Emily Piggot turned and glared at the trooper, decidedly unhappy with the questioning tone in his report.
“You don’t sound particularly certain of yourself, Trooper,” She growled.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am, it’s just… you should see this.”
She exchanged a glance with Armsmaster, who appeared mildly curious in his own somewhat subdued way.
“Fine,” She said, getting up as she heard the whine of his armor servos respond as he did the same.
They made their way to the Rig’s operations center, where the feeds from all the early warning systems ultimately ended up.
“What’s the issue,” Emily demanded.
“On the main screen, Ma’am. Picked them up a couple minutes ago when they separated from the clutter of the city.”
She turned her attention to the screen and couldn’t quite help her jaw dropping for a moment before she just felt a tension headache coming on.
“Parahumans, I swear…” She ground out, rubbing her temples. “Someone let Legend know that his appointment appears to be arriving.”
“Yes Ma’am!”
Armsmaster stared at the screen, unmoving for a long moment, “I would estimate that must be Magus’ Apprentice.”
“You think?” Emily snapped sarcasticly.
Magus was easily recognizable on the screen, his normal armor and lack of a mask made it child’s play to identify him, of course. His… companion… however was something else entirely.
Dressed like a stereotypical witch, with a wide brimmed and tall pointed hat, flowing robes in black lined with green and silver, and riding a damned broom!...Emily just… couldn’t.
“Fascinating,” Armsmaster admitted after a moment. “Magus’ tech is…”
He shook his head, sighing, “If I hadn’t seen him make his communications repeater, I honestly would not believe it to be tech at all. It’s more like Dauntless’ empowerments than anything else.”
“Is it just me, or is his apprentice also not wearing a mask?” Emily asked hesitantly.
“So it would appear,” Armsmaster admitted slowly.
“Regardless,” Emily got herself back together, becoming all business once more. “Prepare to receive our… guests.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
*****
Xander smiled as he spotted the flash of lights from the helipad, and gestured to Taylor as she guided the broom alongside him, looking at less unsteady than she had when they started… though that didn’t mean much, he had to admit, considering just how terrified she’d started out as.
“Head for the helipad,” He told her.
“A… alright.” Taylor said shakily.
“Nice and easy, just like we practiced.” He said, amused by it all.
“You can stop laughing at me anytime, you know.”
“I know, and I will, as soon as I stop finding it funny.”
She shot him a death glare, but the motion of her head translated to the broom and she had to struggle to stop the wobbling that kicked off, all the while Xander just kept laughing.
“You’re a horrible teacher,” She growled as she steadied out.
“Hey, you just learned to recover from a rhythmic vibration pretty well,” Xander shrugged as he slowed and started to descend to the pad.
“That’s not teaching!” She snapped at him, “That’s just laughing at me while I figure it out for myself!”
“Tell someone how do something a thousand times, chances are they’ll forget it, show them a dozen times and they’ll probably be ok at it,” Xander said as his boots touched down, “but let them do it once, in earnest, and they’ll never forget it.”
Taylor practically snarled at him as she struggled to dismount the broom he’d provided her, one of a few he’d made up mostly to show the kids at Xavier’s a Quidditch Match, managing to slip and almost fall on her ass as she did. She recovered at the last second, though, and held onto the broom to steady herself while she pat down her rumpled robes amid hiding glares at him.
He ignored those, instead greeting the PRT troopers who were there to greet him.
“Sir,” The lead trooper said, his tone strained from behind the visored helmet he wore, “Ma’am. You’re expected, I’ll show you to the conference room.”
“Perfect, thank you,” Xander chuckled. “Come along, Apprentice, stop playing with your broomstick in public, it’s not polite.”
Taylor, who’d been struggling with how to carry the bulky flying device nodded along before she froze, expression turning incandescent as his wording filtered in. In an instant she’d snatched the broom up in both hands, lifting it over her head and brought it down right at Xander’s own.
“Protego,” He said, lifting one hand, without turning around.
Taylor’s scream of rage as the broom bounced off was the final straw for the troopers, who all, to a man… and woman… had to grab rails as they tried valiantly to stifle their laughter as they watched it all.
*****
Legend wiped the sleep from his eyes as he made his way to the conference room, wishing that he’d had more time to nap but glad to be getting to the reason for his visit as quickly as possible.
He found Armsmaster, Miss Militia, and Director Piggot waiting for him as he entered.
“Magus isn’t here yet?” He asked, looking around.
“No, he and his… Apprentice, apparently, just landed on the helipad,” Emily told him sourly.
Legend blinked, he’d not expected the young man to bring along his apprentice, but he didn’t see why that would bother Emily as much as she appeared to be. He glanced over at Miss Militia, “Am I missing something?”
Miss Militia sighed, “They flew in…”
“Right… I mean, of course, we knew he could fly.”
“His apprentice flew in on a broom, dressed like a witch.”
Legend just stared at her for a long moment before his mind caught up to him and he closed his jaw, sighing.
“Of course. Why was I even surprised?”
“I’m sure I have no idea,” Emily said, sighing herself, “but they should be here momentarily.”
True to her word, a Trooper appeared within the minute, with the pair in question following along. Legend found himself staring at the trooper for a moment, reading something just a little off in the man’s body language, but unable to place it through all the armor and tactical gear.
He shrugged it off, stepping forward and extending his hand, “It’s good to meet you again, Magus.”
“And you, Legend,” Magus said, shaking it, “This is Apprentice.”
Legend shifted his gaze to the young girl in the witches costume, without a mask he noted with some concern.
“A pleasure to meet you as well… um, do you have a name yet?” He asked uncertainly.
“She is Apprentice, until she’s skilled enough to make her own costume,” Magus said firmly. “She can choose her own cape name then.”
Ah,Legend thought he saw what was going on. The irate glares the young lady was shooting at Magus seemingly confirmed it. She didn’t pick the costume, and doesn’t seem to appreciate it. I bet she works extra hard at whatever skills she needs to make a proper one.
It was a tactic he’d heard discussed, but never seen among Capes, because most Parahuman’s didn’t have normal learning curves which made any sort of formal training pointless.
“Well, the ensemble looks fetching you, Apprentice,” Legend smiled.
It actually did, once you got passed the humor of the stereotypical look. The robes were gleaming black with silver and green highlights, and an coat of arms he didn’t recognize on the breast. The hat was humorously oversized, he supposed, but it seemed to almost have a life of its own and along with her flowing hair, framed the young lady’s face quite neatly.
Her face…
Legend blinked, something bothering him for a moment before he shrugged it off as unimportant. There were things to be done.
“I had hoped to speak with you in private,” He confided.
“Of course,” Magus nodded, “I was thinking that perhaps Apprentice might get a tour, maybe meet some of the wards if they’re available?”
Legend nodded to Miss Militia, who stepped forward.
“I believe that can be arranged.”
“Excellent,” Magus smiled. “She’s not ready for field work yet, but it’s always good to get a feel for the people who are doing the work you’re about to get into. Apprentice, are you alright to go with Miss Militia?”
The young lady nodded, “Of course.”
“Let’s go, then,” Miss Militia told her. “Vista is on site at the moment, though I’m not certain of the other Wards. We’ll check the roster on the way.”
They vanished out of the conference room, leaving the four remaining to watch after them for a moment before Magus settled into a chair and leaned back comfortably.
“Shall we get down to it, then?” He asked with a cheeky grin.
Legend sighed, but nodded.
“Let’s.”
*****
Xander watched as Miss Militia led Taylor out to take the tour of the facility, leaving him with Legend, Armsmaster, and the local Director, Emily Piggot.
“Well, such company,” He grinned, taking a seat and casually putting his feet up on the table. “I’m honored.”
“I assume you know why I wanted to speak with you further,” Legend said, taking a seat across from him without commenting on where he’d placed his boots.
“I can guess,” Xander nodded, “and in furtherance of that subject, I made some calls when I got back, reached out to some contacts I have. Specialists, Generalists, that sort of thing.”
Legend stared for a moment, feeling the confusion from his companions, but leaving it be for the moment.
“Dare I ask?” He said finally.
“Nothing to be too worried about, really, just some certified Geniuses on the multi-versal stage,” Xander said, his lips turning up as he saw both Director Piggot and Armsmaster shift and straighten up. “You won’t know the names, but or… well, you might actually…”
Xander chuckled, thinking of his discovery of the old comic book companies that had gone under after Cape action became the nightly news instead of a fantasy retreat. Like in his own world, DC and Marvel had existed here on Bet, but it had been cut off long before the later versions of characters took root.
Outwardly he just shrugged, “They’ll have a peek at things from the outside, but I’ve expressly forbid them sending any help for the moment.”
“I see that your lack of concern with your identity extends to other things as well,” Legend said tensely.
“You’re from another dimension?” Armsmaster asked sharply.
Xander nodded, “Been through several, was heading home when I made the mistake of using this one as a mid point. You guys have problems.”
“I think the people in this room are aware of that,” Piggot said sharply.
Xander chuckled as Legend visibly grimaced.
“So sure of that, are you?” He asked her. “I’m sorry, Director, but you don’t have a clue. Even the Endbringers are barely the tip of the iceberg.”
He knew he had their attention there, while Legend merely looked resigned, Armsmaster and Piggot were leaning forward with intense looks.
“What do you mean by that, Mr Magus?” Piggot demanded in a hard voice.
“Before you answer that,” Legend spoke up, “I should mention that this information is highly classified, and if you listen to what he’s about to say, you’ll both be bound by those rules as your members of the PRT and Protectorate, respectively.”
That caused them to both consider it, and Xander let them think it over. He wasn’t about to let local rules tie his wrists, but he knew that the locals themselves didn’t have that option.
“How highly are we talking,” Piggot asked suspiciously.
“Presidential access and higher,” Legend said dryly.
“Higher?” Piggot shifted, stiffening. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
Xander snorted, “You think they’re going to trust a politician with information he probably can’t do anything about anyway? If there’s not some cabal sitting over the President by this point, you lot have one of the most honest superhero worlds I’ve ever encountered. Trust me, I’ve seen it before, it’s pretty much inevitable. If you’re lucky, your local cabal is at least pretending to be the good guys.”
He looked over at Legend evenly, eyes narrowing as he scanned the thoughts running through front of the man’s mind.
“If you’re not, they’re probably looting the planet and looking for a way out,” He said, not breaking his gaze with the Parahuman.
After a long moment he nodded and settled back.
“In the latter, case, though,” He grinned, “I wish them the best of luck, because getting out is a hell of a lot harder than getting in.”
*****
Miss Militia found herself rather impressed with the young parahuman she was escorting.
Apprentice was sharp, polite, highly observant, and unless she missed her guess, eager. All good hallmarks for a young parahuman, with few of the warning signs that she’d come to recognize that would indicate their heading down a bad path.
Apprentice was young, though, clearly Ward age… and she reminded Hannah of someone, and it took a while for her to connect the dots.
Taylor Hebert, Hannah realized with that sense of relief that you felt when something was gnawing at your brain and you finally realized what it was.
Apprentice looked very much like the poor girl Hannah had seen in the hospital not long ago. Briefly, she considered warning the Heberts that there was a look-a-like Parahuman out there, particularly one who didn’t wear a mask, but a second later she shook her head.
No one would ever mistake the two for one another, superficial resemblance aside.
“Are you alright?” Apprentice asked, looking at her with concern.
“I’m fine,” Hannah smiled, waving off the concern, “Just had something bugging me and it took a bit to figure things out. What do you think of the Rig so far?”
“I mean, it’s pretty awesome,” Apprentice said with a grin. “the force field and bridge are amazing to see from the city, of course, but from the inside it’s even better somehow.”
“Well, we do appreciate the security,” Hannah admitted as they reached a security door and she hit the buzzer to announce them to the Wards within. “This is the Ward’s facilities here on the Rig. We have larger and more comfortable ones at PRT HQ in the city, of course, but we try to cycle the wards through the Rig often enough for them to be comfortable with security here.”
“That makes sense,” Apprentice said as they waited for the door to open. She frowned, eyeing it after a moment, “Is it broke?”
“No, just on a delay so anyone inside can put their masks on or leave,” Hannah assured her just as the door shuddered and began to slide open. “See?”
“Cool.”
They walked into the, admittedly cramped version of the Ward’s Room here on the Rig. Hannah noticed that only Vista was present, being one of the few of the Wards who could easily make it to the Rig without being observed that wasn’t much of a surprise however.
“Vista, how are you today?” She greeted the young Shaker.
“All good, Miss M,” Vista replied as she glanced curiously past her. “Who’s this?”
“This is Apprentice,” Hannah told her, “Magus apparently found her and took her under his wing.”
“Apprentice?” Vista asked dubiously, “I mean, it’s not the worst name ever, not by a longshot, but I don’t think it’ll grow well with you.”
Apprentice rolled her eyes, “It’s only until I complete my studies, or get to a point where I can work on my own I guess. Then I get to pick my own name. Magus has this whole thing about teaching, I guess.”
“He’s teaching you? Cool, I guess, what? Tactics and stuff?” Vista asked curiously.
Apprentice shook her head, “Power use.”
That took both Vista and Hannah aback.
“Power use? How’s that work? Parahumans rarely have the same sorts of powers,” Vista objected. “What can he teach you?”
“We have the same power set,” Apprentice said, “identical, or as close as I can tell.”
“Are you perhaps related… no, sorry,” Hannah held up a hand, “I should not have asked that, but you took me by surprise.”
“It’s alright, and no,” Apprentice shook her head, “Magus is… not from around here. We have no relation to one another, besides teacher and student.”
“That’s just weird,” Vista said, flopping down into an old but comfortable couch. “Never heard of identical powersets before, how about you, Miss M?”
“Related ones, certainly, but nothing identical, no.” Hannah admitted, but then went on to shrug, “With cape weirdness, though, there’s always a first time.”
Vista nodded, clearly trying to look wiser than her years… and mostly succeeding, “ain’t that the truth. So, Apprentice, you like to do anything cool?”
*****
Armsmaster stared for a long moment, the silence in the room settling around them before he finally opted to speak.
“What do you mean by that, it being harder to get out than in?” He demanded finally.
Magus grimaced, “To answer that you need to have a wider view of the universe than most people have, though you lot here at least know that other dimensions exist, so that helps.”
“If you’re not from Bet, as this seems to be indicating,” Piggot said, frowning, “where are you from? Aleph?”
“Farther out, much farther out,” Magus responded. “Think of the multiverse like a tree, an infinitely massive tree, with an infinite number of infinitely large branches… I could keep going, but that will do for our purposes here. Bet is a single leaf at the very tip of one of those branches, Aleph is the next leaf over. With me?”
Director Piggot nodded slowly along with Armsmaster and Legend, it wasn’t a difficult concept to hold in your head.
“In this example, I’m from a different leaf on a very different branch,” Xander said. “There are, as I said, infinite branches, and they’re all infinitely large. Moving leaf to leaf is actually pretty common, and stupidly easy once you learn how, some people manage to do it accidentally… moving branch to branch, though, that gets a lot harder, energy levels are much harder to deal with, causing all kinds of variables that can be… unhealthy.”
“Unhealthy how?” Armsmaster leaned in curiously.
“English doesn’t have the words to describe it, exactly,” Magus responded, “I just call it explosive decompression of the soul.”
Armsmaster couldn’t quite suppress the flinch he felt run through his body at that wording.
“That sounds… unpleasant,” Legend said mildly.
Magus laughed, “And generally not survivable. As a rule, moving branch to branch requires a methodical approach, similar to how divers surface slowly to allow their bodies to adjust… there are exceptions, but they’re not really understood well because of how rare the exceptions are, and I’m speaking as one of the exceptions.”
He sighed, shaking his head, “Honestly I still don’t know if I’m the original me, or if I died and somehow came back.”
“That… sounds concerning.”
Magus just shrugged, “Honestly at this point I’ve internalized it, and it’s not that important for our current situation anyway.”
“What is our current situation,” Director Piggot leaned in again, apparently trying to get he conversation back on track.
“Ever hear the song Hotel California?” Magus asked with a grin, confusing Armsmaster but apparently he was the only one in the room.
Legend just slumped, while Director Piggot stiffened and sat up straight in what his HUD told him was blatant alarm.
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
“Afraid not,” Magus shook his head, “I dropped in, intending just to use this world as a rest stop before heading on home… but I found out pretty quickly that I can’t get out. No one can.”
“We’ve had people move to Earth Bet,” Piggot frowned.
“Yeah, one leaf over? Not hard, I could pop over there easily enough,” Magus said. “The leaf isn’t blocked, the branch is.”
“How many universes on the branch,” Legend asked.
“Infinite,” Magus shrugged. “It’s a small infinity, but it’s still infinite. Math is weird that way.”
Piggot shook her head, “You’re saying that someone blocked off… an infinite number of parallel worlds… to do what? Who even has that kind of power?”
“More of a what than a who, as for why?” Magus shrugged, “Don’t know yet. Haven’t seen anything like it before, if I’m being honest. Definitely dealing with a non-human intelligence, though, something without the limitations of three dimensional creatures. Layman’s terms? Lot of people would call it a Cthuloid Intelligence, based on what I saw with the Simurgh. It’s definitely multi-dimensional, it has to be to build that bitch, and that means that it doesn’t have much in common with those of us who live on a single leaf. We have more in common with ants, that an intelligence like this would have with us.”
“Well if that isn’t comforting,” Piggot said sarcastically.
“Horrors from beyond aren’t meant to provide comfort,” Magus chuckled.
“You said you called people for help,” Legend interjected, looking thoughtful. “Do you really think they can? Help, I mean?”
“Reed is… what you would call a Tinker of the highest order,” Magus said. “If he sets his mind to a problem… he solves it. This is a guy who actually made a device to transport people to the afterlife and back in order to recover a lost friend. He’ll team with up with Stephen, who is more in my area of expertise but on the same level as Reed, Sorcerer Supreme and all that. They’ll start by probing the barrier from the other side, and let me know what they find. There’s another group who will start doing the same from a slightly different direction… They arguably aren’t quite to the same level of brilliance, but they have a lot more resources.”
Magus sighed, visibly grimacing, “And then there’s my girlfriend.”
The three representatives of the PRT and Protectorate exchanged confused looks.
“Do I want to know why you seem less apprehensive about two groups of genius tinkers than you do your girlfriend?” Emily asked, sounding like she didn’t want the answer.
“Wednesday comes from a clan of people who…” Magus shrugged, “They’ve been in contact with multiple Outer Horrors, and actually maintain good relations with many to this day. That’s incredibly useful considering your situation, but it also means that she may choose to show up here in person. If that happens… well, you’ll see.”
“Why am I feeling nervous suddenly?” Legend asked as he closed his eyes.
“Because any people who can converse with outer horrors aren’t exactly… normal,” Magus told him. “Her Clan are widely considered to be… the most terrifying people on my world, and that’s when they’re being nice and polite.”
He paused, considering that, “Actually, the nice and polite bit is part of what makes them scary. Serial killers are easier to understand, and that makes them less frightening overall. That said, they’re also experts in dealing with outer horrors and the like, so…”
He just shrugged.
“If she shows up, I’ll try and keep her from doing more than scaring the piss out of people,” Magus promised, “but all bets are off if she encounters some of your more… colorful types.”
“Such as?” Piggot demanded, eyes narrowing.
“Well, she’d probably take offense at the Slaughterhouse Nine just on general principles,” Magus said. “Not that they kill people, but that they’re so gauche about it. Heartbreaker, as another example?”
He shivered, “I might pop up there and just kill the fucker before she can get to him, honestly. He’d deserve everything she did to him, but the rest of you don’t need those nightmares.”
“It is strongly discouraged for anyone to go after Heartbreaker,” Legend said through gritted teeth. “We don’t need more capes under his control.”
“I can block mind control,” Magus said casually. “And anyone trying to control Wednesday’s mind would make the Darwin Awards create a whole new category just for them.”
“Officially I have to strongly advise against it despite that,” Legend said firmly, before he shrugged, “unofficially, those are not targets I would shed tears over.”
“Yeah well, on the other side of the equation,” Magus sighed, “I really don’t want to see what happens if Wednesday meets that Hero you have, what’s her name? Mouse something?”
“Mouse Protector?” Armsmaster stiffened, “Why?”
“Personality clash,” Magus said, “from what I’ve read, Mouse Protector runs the Joke Hero template. Her irreverence and general positive outlook on life could easily set Wednesday off and initiate a prank war on scales none of us here want to contemplate.”
*****
Taylor shifted uncomfortably, but tried not to show it as she chatted with Vista. It wasn’t Vista making her uncomfortable, the younger girl was chatting pleasantly and Taylor found her really interesting as she went on about her activities with the wards and, if she was reading between the lines correctly, on her own.
Does the Protectorate know about some of these stories? Taylor wondered as Vista said something about Hookwolf before stopping and quickly shifting topic to a… safer topic?
“How about you?” Vista asked, “Had any cool adventures?”
She shook her head, “No, I’m not allowed to go out on my own. Dad and Magus both put that boot down pretty hard. I just started learning how to use my powers a couple days ago too, and they’re pretty weird.”
“Yeah, powers are strange,” Vista agreed. “When I first triggered I accidentally turned my house into a parking garage. It took mom eight minutes to get from the kitchen to the bathroom across the living room.”
“Wow, ok, I just blew up my computer,” Taylor admitted. “Magus says that spatial expansion is tricky magic, so he won’t teach it to me yet.”
Vista turned and stared at her, “Wait… you can expand space too?”
“I mean, I guess?” Taylor said with a shrug. “I can’t right now, but apparently Magus can and he says he can teach me.”
“Oh that’s bullshit,” Vista grumped. “Someone needs to take the grab bag from him and beat him upside the head with it.”
Taylor looked at the younger girl bemusedly, “I… guess?”
Vista sulked a bit, but shook her head, “Ignore me, just felt like the thing to say. So you can do expanded space too?”
“Yeah, supposedly,” Taylor confirmed, “but I have to be taught how first.”
She withdrew her wand from where it rested on her belt, “Like Magus, my power is a blaster/shaker one that can be used to create other effects.”
She waved the wand casually at the couch the pair were sitting on, “Leviosa.”
“Wha… whoa!” Vista squealed as the couch floated easily up into the air, slowly spun around to take in the whole room, the settled back down. “So cool! You just pulled a Rune!”
“A what? No, rune stuff is for later,” Taylor shook her head, “He won’t teach me how to work with runes yet.”
“No, no, Rune? Parahuman with the Empire?” Vista prodded.
“Oh, yeah, right. Forgot about her,” Taylor admitted. “She levitates stuff?”
“Yeah, and controls it to ride around on,” Vista said. “She can transport Empire troops, or even send her stuff flying into things like a missile.”
“Huh, yeah that’s not the same as this,” Taylor admitted, “I can just kinda make things slowly float.”
“Oh. Well, still pretty cool,” Vista said, patting her shoulder.
“I mean, when I learn more I guess I’ll be able to teleport and use blaster powers and all the stuff Magus does,” Taylor said, “but most of his tricks seem to be from his use of rune magic.”
Vista looked at her, almost sadly, “Not you too?”
“What?”
“The Magic thing, you know it’s kinda weird, right?” Vista asked cautiously.
Taylor sighed, this was a reaction she had known was coming.
“Honestly, powers may as well be magic,” She said, “We can’t really explain any of them, you know, right? Why not use a perfectly good word that already exists to describe it?”
Vista looked skeptical, but didn’t seem to have anything to say to counter that.
“I guess,” She said after a moment. “I’m pretty sure that some things powers do have been explained scientifically, though.”
“Probably, Taylor shrugged. “Magus says that Magic and Technology often overlap in their own ways. I’m not sure that what he means by magic is what we think when we use the word, though.”
“Really? I mean, what else could he mean?”
Taylor thought about it, recalling her mother’s discussions on the meaning of language and how it could change almost without anyone really noticing. She decided to use one of her mother’s favorite techniques for when she was teaching.
“What do you think magic is defined as?” She asked Vista seriously.
“Well, duh, obviously it’s… umm….” Vista stopped and screwed up her face as she thought about it. “I mean, it’s Magic.”
Taylor chuckled, “Yes, but what is magic?”
“Well… it’s like, supernatural stuff right?”
“Powers would seem to be rather supernatural,” Taylor countered.
Vista shook her head, “That can’t be right. I just don’t know the right words, I mean why would I? I’ve never studied magic.”
“Exactly,” Taylor said, “Which means that the first thing you have to do is determine proper definitions. You can’t have a discussion when the different people involved are using different meanings for the same word. It’s the first responsibility of discussion. You’d be shocked how often people argue themselves blue in the face without ever even realizing that they’re notusing the same definition of a key word as the other person in the argument.”
“But that’s stupid!”
Taylor just looked at her, arching an eyebrow, until she slumped.
“Yeah, ok, people are idiots. I get it.”
“Yeah, they probably are, but my mom used to say that this wasn’t about people being stupid, but more that we all have a tendency to assume that our experience is obviouslythe same as everyone elses.”
“That’s even dumber.” Vista rolled her eyes.
“That’s just people being people, or that’s what mom used to say,” Taylor said, a hint of sadness in her tone as she recalled the lessons shared from before her mother’s death.
Vista seemed to catch on to her shift on tone, but opted not to say anything more, which Taylor was grateful for.
“Well,” She said instead, “What definition does Magus use then?”
*****
“Prank war.”
Armsmaster’s voice was so flat as to have descended into the second dimension, something that Xander found utterly fascinating.
“Better to call it that than what bystanders would likely call it,” Xander responded, attempting… and failing… to match the two-dimensional tone. “Wednesday and her brother used to play a game when they were growing up. It was called, is there a God?... He once confidently informed me, no, there isn’t.”
The more than slightly incredulous looks on their faces amused Xander to the point of chuckling, and he waved off their disbelief.
“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” he said. “Her father will try to keep her back, at least until they know which horror has setup shop here anyway.”
“Understandable,” Legend said with a shake of his head. “Few parents would want their children thrown into this level of risk.”
Xander laughed at him.
“That wouldn’t be his concern,” Xander assured the blue and silver clad Hero, “He’d be more worried about her breaking the locals before the horror could manage it. You’re the locals, just so you know.”
Piggot rubbed her temples, masking a groan.
“She sounds like a Villain,” Armsmaster said stoically.
Xander shrugged, waggling his hand in front of him, “You wouldn’t be the first to call her and her clan something similar. They’re… neither hero nor villain, they refuse any and all titles of that nature. Most people, you can fit in a box, some people are harder to categorize…”
“And this clan are from the latter group, I presume?” Legend asked.
“No, they blew the box to smithereens and defied anyone to try and build it around them again,” Xander said grimly. “Have you ever imagined… being free?”
“This is a free country, young man,” Piggot started, only for Xander to cut her off.
“No it’s not. Freedom is harsh, it doesn’t come with any protections,” He told her coldly. “Freedom of speech protects your freedom, by taking the freedom to act against you for speaking away from someone else. The same holds true for any freedom gifted by law and man. The price of your freedom is alwayssomeone else’s freedom. For the Clan, that’s not how they live. They live… free. The speak, act, and live as they choose… and accept that others can do the same, and deal with conflicts in the old way of handling things. There’s none of this civilized bullshit when they’re around.”
He sighed, “It’s hard to explain, honestly, but they live in a somehow controlled anarchy. It shouldn’t work, it wouldn’t work for anyone else, but somehow they make it work. But when it comes into contact with normal society… well, things get… tense.”
Xander shook his head again, “We don’t need to worry about them just yet, thankfully, and it’s unlikely that you’ll have to deal with the Clan as a whole anyway. Unless this horror you have here is a lot more interesting than I think it is, they won’t be curious enough to swing by.”
Legend looked disturbed by what he’d been told, but set it aside for the moment as Armsmaster spoke up.
“What do you know about this… horror?” The Tinker asked, his tone flat and not conveying much of his own thoughts on the conversation.
“not much yet,” Xander admitted. “I know you had at least two…”
“had?” Piggot leaned in sharply while Legend sat up a little straighter.
“Had.” Xander confirmed. “One is dead. Not sure how that happened, just that a local managed to off the sucker.”
“A local?” Armsmaster asked sharply, “A local, by that you mean a human?”
Xander just nodded.
“If a human managed to kill one of the horrors, as you call them,” The Tinker went on, “Then we know they can be killed, and that means the Endbringers…”
Xander held up a hand, “Anything can be killed, as long as it can be said to be alive… and a few things that can’t, could be offed too, now that I think about it. But don’t get too excited. I don’t know the circumstance, nor the method. Just that it happened. That leaves us with at least one left, however, and possibly a third or… maybe more.”
Legend looked concerned, “More?”
“You guys have some weird stuff going on,” Xander said, “Superheroes and Villains aren’t exactly uncommon, but your powers showing up seems to coincide with the arrival of the horrors from what I found out. That normally wouldn’t be all that odd, since when a threat like this moves in, the local pantheons normally will start empowering champions to prepare for the war to dislodge the threat…”
“Why am I sensing a but here?” Piggot demanded.
“But, I can’t find any sign of the local pantheons,” Xander admitted. “And that’s… concerning. Usually there would be at least someone tasked with checking in on a visitor like myself, particularly one who has been tossing around power and who actively tried to contact them.”
He didn’t add that he’d checked with Myx, asking the Imp to facilitate contact as well to no avail.
“While I haven’t been able to check the entire branch, obviously,” Xander continued dryly, “there’s no sign of the Pantheons anywhere that I have checked. Which means either they’re deep in hiding, or they were offedessentially simultaneously when the horrors showed up. Frankly, both options are bad.”
Armsmaster grunted, “Third option. They never existed.”
“Armsmaster,” Legend chided warningly, but Xander just waved him off.
“No, they existed. That much I can find evidence of,” He sighed. “Besides, every universe has pantheons. They’re the first line of defense against exactly this sort of situation.”
“Gods,” Armsmaster snorted derisively. “I do not believe in such things.”
“Gods, powerful beings who gains power from worship,” Xander shrugged, “really, we’re just back into Clarke’s turf at this point. It’s all just semantics past a certain point, and whether they’re Gods or not is largely just a point of philosophy that has no practical value.”
“That… is certainly one way to look at things,” Legend admitted.
Xander just waved one hand casually, “What makes a God? I mean, really, define God.”
“The creator of… everything?” Legend offered uncertainly.
“The One Above All,” Xander nodded, “To use one of His titles. But no, that’s not a God. Arguable, that is God, but not a God, if you get the difference. There’s some complicated history there, but suffice to say that Allah, Jehovah, Elohim, El Roi… and countless other names gathered over eternity, isn’t a God. Gods exist within the universe, the One Above All created the multiverse… You can prove and disprove the existence of Gods, they are part of nature, the creator isn’t. He, she, it… exists beyond our frame of reference. The creator cannot be proven, disproven, or defined.”
“Convenient,” Armsmaster snorted.
Xander smiled, “Depends on what side of the argument you’re on, I suppose. In a real way, it renders the creator… irrelevant, which I suspect was His intent, or a tiny part of it. In this case, though, we’re speaking of the Pantheons. They’re… Gods, but not God, again, if you get the difference. The Pantheons gain power from worship, which is the key thing that separates them from Parahumans or other Meta types.”
“Jesus Christ,” Piggot snarled, suddenly understanding his implication, “you’re implying the existence of creatures that, what, have no upper limit to their power. As long as they can get more worshippers they can get stronger?”
“Exactly,” Xander confirmed. “Their power can wane, even vanish, but they’d still be decently powerful parahumans by your standards. Brutes with some other abilities depending on their domain, but nothing world breaking. With their cults fully built, however? Well, they’re tasked with defending universesfor a reason.”
He sighed, frowning, “Most universes don’t need them for long, and maintaining cults is tiresome work so they generally allow them to wane until needed. By rights, we should be seeing signs of the cults of Old Gods popping up all over the place right now as they gather strength to fight off the horror…”
“The only major cults I know of are the Fallen,” Legend offered. “worshipping the Endbringers.”
Xander snorted, rolling his eyes, “Those things aren’t Gods, not if the angel bitch is representative at least. I can’t quite guarantee that they aren’t gathering power from their followers, though.”
The three in the room with him shifted uncomfortably at that thought.
“I may need to advise Eidolon to increase efforts to take the Cults down,” Legend said after a moment, “just to be safe.”
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Xander offered. “Anyone worshipping those things are just asking to be coopted to some other nefarious type anyway. It’s generally a bad idea to worship anyone, to be frank. The God doesn’t need it, and the gods who do… well, they can be capricious sons of bitches at the best of times.”
“I’ll bring it up with him,” Legend said firmly, “though I would like some confirmation. You said that you found evidence of the local… Pantheons?”
Xander nodded slowly, “Yes… and it’s concerning.”
*****
“I thought you said that you hadn’t found any traces,” Armsmaster countered him. “Now you claim that you did?”
Xander paused, considering what he’d said, and finally nodded with a shrug, “Fair point. I meant that I couldn’t find any sign of them currently, there is however evidence of their existence in the past.”
“What sort of evidence?”
“Well, the obvious stuff would be the mythology they left behind,” Xander said, “the expected pantheons are there, Norse, Olympus, Hindu, as well as the American Pantheons. However, while I was hunting down some components I needed for my trip home I spent a little time looking into things and found this.”
He reached to one side, startling the others in the room as his hand vanished into mid air, and plucked a small golden ring from seemingly nowhere. He dropped the ring on the table, getting a curious look from Legend, a clearly paranoid one from the Director, and an intense stare from Armsmaster as the Tinker leaned in.
“What is it?”
“Draupnir,” Xander replied. “I went on a quick walkabout after Australia. Grabbed a few odds and ends I needed, then hopped up to Scotland to look for any of my kind.”
“Your kind?” Piggot asked sharply.
“Wizards,” He winked at her with a grin before he settled out, “Didn’t find any, which wasn’t a surprise really. The Endbringers would have scared the piss out of Wizards back home, and that attack on London would have certainlysent them running. I didn’t find any trace that they existed, however, so I’m guessing that they never existed.”
“But this… Draupnir… existed?” Armsmaster asked, one hand half extended to reach for the ring.
Xander nodded, reaching out to cup the ring briefly before sliding it across the table to where Armsmaster caught it and held it up. “Feel free to study it. It’s a crude version of the Philosopher’s Stone, can’t do the Elixer, but it can create gold. Eight new rings, identical to the one your holding, will drip from the original on every ninth day.”
Armsmaster casually hefted the ring, considering the weight that his armor was reporting to him as he accessed the cost of Gold at the moment.
“That’s nearly two thousand dollars in gold every day,” Armsmaster said, shocked.
“All for the low low cost of some of your magic, and a portion of your life,” Xander winked, chuckling as Armsmaster dropped the ring back to the table immediately. “Don’t worry, you can’t initiate it, but there is always a cost to greed. Magic just makes the cost obvious. If you like, I can initiate it for a week for you to study.”
The other three at the table looked at each other uncomfortably.
“That won’t cost you part of your life?” Legend asked hesitantly.
“There are ways to compensate,” Xander said, “but also it’s only one day per ring. Losing eight days off the end of my natural life isn’t much of a cost to provide you with some evidence. The trap is in the long term.”
“I see,” Armsmaster said hesitantly reaching for the ring again. “The temptation would be great indeed.”
“It’s not meant for humans,” Xander told him. “Gods are eternal, and they gain power with age as well as followers. For them, it’s not a price, it’s the primary benefit. The Gold is just a side bonus.”
“Right… so they were here,” Piggot said, moving the conversation back on track, though she was clearly shaken by what was being revealed. “Supposing that we believe you… where did they go?”
“That’s the question isn’t it?” Xander said, spreading his fingers as he waved his hands, “I don’t know. Maybe they went into hiding, but if they’d done that I would expect some of their braver members to be forming cults, as I said. Ares, Thor, Heracles… a few others here and there, they’d be the vanguard looking to regain strength in order to fight. So maybe they ran? But, again, while many of the Gods are venal cowards, not all of them are. That leaves one option…”
“They were killed.”
Xander nodded to her, “that’s the only thing that makes sense. Which means that whatever we’re dealing with, it’s dangerous.”
“That, I believe we could figure out on our own,” Piggot said dryly. “The question I have is just how do you suggest we proceed?”
“Right now? I don’t.” Xander told her firmly. “We’re in the intelligence gathering stage, Director. We move too soon, get noticed by something that can gank entire pantheons? There’s no victory down that path. There’s nothing we can do until we have better information.”
Piggot grumbled as she settled her corpulent body back into the large office chair, eying him for a moment before she nodded.
“Well, you’re not as stupid as most parahumans, at least.”
Legend and Armsmaster both shot her looks that left Xander struggling to hold in his laughter.
*****
Wards Room
“How does he define Magic?” Taylor repeated the question that Vista had presented her with, “Well Magus actually has a simple definition for it, believe it or not.”
“Really?” Vista said, sounding unconvinced. “How can you have a simple definition for something that doesn’t seem to be… well, definable?”
“Magus told me that the magic isn’t in the spell…”
Vista blinked behind her visor, “Huh? That makes no sense.”
“No, it really does,” Taylor said excitedly, leaning forward eagerly. “Think about it for a moment… what’s the difference between a fireball made by magic and one from, say, a flamethrower?”
“Uh… I don’t know?” Vista shrugged.
“There isn’t a difference,” Taylor told her. “They’re both fire, at their core. Sometimes a magical fireball can have… extras attached to it, but the fireis just fire. Like a taser or a magical lightning bolt… it’s just electricity, right?”
“Right…” Vista drawled slowly. “So?”
“So the magic isn’t in the spell itself, it comes before that,” Taylor said, an eager smile spreading as her expressive lips split her face. “According to Magus, the magic is in the moment when mind… or consciousness… meets the universe, and the universe submits.”
She withdrew a wand from her sleeve, casually flicking it at a chair as she spoke. “Leviosa.”
The chair lifted into the air, slowly rotating in place.
“I don’t know what’s making it float,” She admitted, “There’s dozens of ways you can do it with physics, but whatever method it uses to float isn’t magic. Magic is when I tell the universe how things are going to be, and the universe agreeswith me.”
Vista frowned, “But… isn’t that how Parahuman powers work?”
“Is it?” Taylor asked with a half smile now.
Vista did a double take before glaring at her, “Oh you stinker.”
Taylor’s laughter echoed through the room.
*****
Xander sighed as he rose to his feet, “I’m going to keep looking into this, and I’ll keep you apprised of anything I find.”
Legend got up as well, “Thank you for your help, Magus. I’ll have a PRT Agent escort you to… your Apprentice?”
“Just call her Apprentice,” Xander smirked, “It irritates her.”
“That’s a good thing?” Legend asked, amused, as he came around the table.
“Motivation is a grand thing for the young.”
Legend snorted, “You don’t seem that old yourself, you realize.”
“I’m older than I look,” Xander shrugged, “but really it’s not the years, it’s the mileage.”
Legend sighed, “Isn’t that the truth.”
“Oh, right,” Xander paused on his way out, turning and coming back. He reached across the table and scooped up the ring. A moment in his hand, a glow emerging from between his fingers, and he dropped it back down. “Nine days from now.”
Armsmaster nodded, eyes on the ring, “Thank you.”
Xander nodded to each of them in turn, “I’ll take my leave, but I expect we’ll be seeing each other around.”
“No doubt,” Legend nodded. “thank you for your time.”
*****
