55Disclaimer is in chapter 1. So apparently Tenhawk has resumed posting fanfiction on one of his own sites ( t . evancurrie . ca ) and on (username tenhawk).
Junkyard, Sunnydale California.
Wednesday Addams watched the sun as it set over the sea with a distasteful expression on her face. She didn't like California much, it was too cheery a place for her taste. Too warm, too inviting. Sunnydale was, if anything, even worse than most of the state in that regard, but at least it had the excuse of being a trap baited with honey, and the underbelly of the town was much more pleasant to her way of thinking.
She had to wait for nightfall, however, before any of the more interesting denizens showed themselves, which made for long days as she looked over the projects that Alexander had left in his wake after the encounter with the Hell Goddess, Glorificus.
That Alexander had, by all accounts, either killed or banished the bitch to the ether was yet another feat in his growing legend that she found herself rather taken by.
He had come so far from the little gawky eleven year old she had met so many years earlier.
Now, if he would only get home where he belongs.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar, and welcome, sound. She got up smoothly and walked, unhurried, across the room to pick up the Spellphone where it rested on the nearby desk.
"Alexander."
"Wens," Xander smiled back at her from the screen of the device. "Lovely to see you as always."
She merely stared for a moment, lips pursed, "May I assume that you're calling to inform me that you're ready to make the next jump?"
Xander grimaced, shaking his head slightly, "Got a problem there."
"Alexander…"
"Not my doing," Xander defended himself. "Some local extradimensional horror has turned this section of the multiverse into his own little playground. Looks like a Hotel California situation. I've got Myx looking into it, and will call in some favors, but for now I can't get out."
Wednesday glowered for a moment before relenting, "Have you identified the horror in question? The Clan knows several…"
"None I'm familiar with, but I haven't seen it yet either," Xander confessed. "Just one of its tools. An eleven foot tall bitch pretending to be an Angel, apparently likes twisting people's minds and using them like suicide bombers. Helps that she's apparently a pre-cog."
Wednesday hummed, "Disturbing."
Of all the things that the Clan despised, mind control of any kind was among those that topped the list. Violations of free will were the one unforgiveable crime in the eyes of the Addamses.
"She's one of three, at the moment," Xander went on. "City destroyers. The local defenders do what they can, but they lose a quarter of their forces just to push them back, and I'm pretty convinced that they're allowing themselves to be pushed back."
"That would be unsustainable," Wednesday said, "What of the local Pantheons?"
"No sign of them."
Wednesday nodded, "Give me your coordinates."
Batcave.
Batman turned just slightly as a familiar, yet rarely heard, sound reached his ears.
He crossed the rough hewn floor of the cave to retrieve the magical device and snapped it open.
"What is it?" he snapped, looking into the face of the man on the other side of the conversation.
"Ran into a concerning situation," Alexander Magus said in clipped terms.
"Details."
Four Freedoms Plaza, Formerly Avengers Tower, Formerly Stark Tower
"Hey stretch! The magic gizmo is buzzing."
Reed Richards looked up from his work, then casually reached his arm out over twenty feet to pick up the device he'd forgotten was even in the room. Returning to his research, Reed casually flipped the device open and spoke without looking at it.
"What is it, Magus? I expected you to be home by now."
"So did I," Magus told him. "Ran into something concerning, and I seem to be stuck here."
"Stuck?" Reed looked up and over, "Stuck how?"
"Cthuloid horror has apparently warded off an entire branch of creation with metaphysical wards. You can get into this universe, but you can't get out."
Reed paused, then carefully put all of his research into a point where he could safely pause it. Magus said nothing while he worked, which he always appreciated from the other man, and when Reed was done he looked back over seriously.
"I'll be requiring details."
"I'll give you what I can, but I want you to bring Strange in on this."
Reed grimaced, "Magic…"
"What's my name, Stretch?"
Brockton Bay.
Xander closed his spellphone with a click and looked out over the ocean beyond the bayhead, considering what he knew and what he didn't.
He couldn't ask any of his friends to come into this universe as it stood. With the sorts of powers being thrown around, he wouldn't even be comfortable asking Superman for help. The enemy here was using something so close to magic that Xander wasn't certain it wouldn't affect Superman just as it would a normal human, or close enough to be lethal.
That said, alerting them to the threat was a requirement.
The likes of Wayne Enterprises, the Justice League, Reed Richards, and Stephen Strange would be able to find out a hell of a lot without showing up in person.
In the meantime, however, he supposed he would just have to keep poking around… well, that and train his cute little apprentice.
With his calls made, Xander stepped out of the little expanded area space he'd made in the old abandoned super-tanker and enjoyed the feel of the sun on his face for a moment before turning back to the city.
The endbringer fight, such as it was, had been something of an eye opener. Whatever the locals were dealing with, it was clear that they were outmatched. He'd seen a few Cthuloid horrors in his day, you didn't exactly have much choice about that when hanging with Superheroes, let alone Wednesday, or even just living in Sunnydale.
What he was looking at here, however, seemed beyond the norm in a significant way. The Simurgh was well beyond the power level these people should be dealing with. Honesty, he wasn't certain that even the DC or Marvel universes, despite their higher power levels, would be able to handle the threat, so there was basically no chance for the locals with their more limited power levels.
Which makes me wonder about the locals… so far I've only seen two of them close enough to analyze, but I'm not sure Taylor should count or not since she appears to have magic.
That didn't make a lot of sense either, however, so he didn't know what the hell was going on. That a local would have magic wasn't that crazy, but the way she seemed to have 'triggered' in keeping with the local way of gaining powers made Taylor a puzzle in more than one aspect.
What he'd learned from the Wards was something else again.
I'll need to examine more Parahumans to determine if it's the norm here or not, but Kid Win certainly seemed to have a Planar Contract.
On its own, that wasn't all that odd. Plenty of heroes in the universes he'd come from acquired their powers in similar ways. Shazam, Doctor Fate, The Phoenix, many others… they all had that in common. A supe with a contract that allowed for inventing crazy tech was unusual, but he'd seen and heard of a few linked to God's like Hephaestus.
However, the implication of an entire class of Tinker type Parahumans left him rather puzzled.
There can't be that many Gods of the Forge kicking around, and last I checked they tended to prefer a single Avatar at any given time… Not to mention that those types of Gods are big on the whole standing on your own two legs thing, they wouldn't just givepeople plans with no context. Defeats the whole point of having an Avatar in the first place.
A War God might do things this way, but they weren't as chaotic as what he was seeing. They liked their armies, and while not every War God was all about discipline they didn't tolerate the sort of near pure chaos he was looking at.
Xander sighed as he stepped up to the edge of the deck and over the side, letting his flight harness take over as he lifted off and headed in toward town.
Hebert Home.
A knock at the door caused Taylor to jump to her feet, school and most non-critical businesses were taking a day off after the Endbringer attack, so she'd been lucky enough to avoid school for one more day.
"I've got it," She called out to her father.
At the door she paused only briefly to check who was there before she unlocked it and pulled it open.
"Magus!"
"hello my cute little apprentice," Magus said with a tip of his head, "Mind if I come in?"
"Of course," She stepped aside, "Please come on in."
Magus paused, mid step, then sighed.
"Ok, I know you mean well, and this probably isn't a problem locally," He said, "But just in case, I have to insist that you neverinvite anyone into your home again."
Taylor stared.
"What."
Magus sighed, stepping past her, "There are things out there that are… not friendly… some of them can only cross the thresholds of your home if you invite them. It's actually a good bit of advice when it comes to dealing with all manner of supernatural types. An invitation can actually cripple your defenses against them."
"I… see?" Taylor said, clearly confused.
"Vampires, for example."
"Vampires are real!?"
Magus shrugged, "Locally, not that I've seen, but I haven't been here long and they definitely existed in the last three universes I've been to."
"Vampires are what now?" Danny asked, stepping into the room with a bemused look on his face.
"Magus says that Vampires are real and need to be invited in before they can come into your home," Taylor explained. "He was annoyed when I asked him to come in."
Danny looked curiously to Magus who simply nodded.
"It's not just Vampires either, a lot of supernatural and other similar creatures have similar limitations," Magus informed him. "It's just good practice not to incidentally lower your protections."
"Huh. And are there Vampires here?" Danny asked skeptically.
"Not that I've seen so far," Xander admitted. "but I haven't looked really thoroughly so…"
"Hmm…" Danny nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I certainly hope that there aren't any, but I don't see the harm in taking simple precautions. You say inviting people in is a problem?"
Magus nodded, "Back home we generally just smile and step aside, anyone who makes a big deal about being old fashioned and such is automatically under suspicion."
"Can't say I've ever run into anyone like that," Danny chuckled, "though there are a couple Parahumans with unusual… let's say OCD type behaviors… that I've heard of. Back in the day, Marquis had a code of personal honor that tread into those lines, actually, and then there's Accord in Boston, plus a few others."
Magus nodded, "Interesting."
Taylor smirked at him, "You don't think they're Vampires do you?"
The young man just chuckled, "Not likely, no. Parahuman abilities have things in common with Magic, but it's not quite a perfect match."
"They do?" Taylor perked up, "Like what?"
"Powers read almost identical to magic use, aside from one thing," Magus said, with consideration, "the emotional content has been stripped from them, assuming it ever existed."
Taylor frowned, "And that's… important?"
"That's impossible," Xander told her firmly. "Magic and emotion are inextricably tied together. Seeing magic without emotion is… creepy, honestly, like the first time I saw a zombie. Just… wrong."
Taylor stared at him.
The first time?
"At any rate, that's enough about that," Magus said as he fished out his spellphone, "Time to get back to your training."
The Rig, PRT ENE HQ.
Legend was tired, not so much from the flight in from New York but more from the fact that he hadn't had any downtime since the End Bringer Alarms had gone off, and before that he'd been coming up on the end of a triple due to the Elite getting into a Tiff with the Adepts over some territory in the Borough.
The Alarms going off put an end to that disagreement, for the moment at least. Both groups respected the Endbringer Truce, though neither had sent anyone to help this time around. Legend expected that they would be back at it within the week at least, but he'd take his breaks where he could get them for the moment.
His thoughts were entirely on the new… well, Parahuman might not be right, but it would have to do, he supposed. Magus.
Note to self, better try to keep the Adepts away from him for the moment, no telling what would happen if they met.
Magus' file was interesting, if annoying, reading. All the more so because Legend was quite certain that it was completely and farcically wrong, though absolutely no fault of the Local PRT or Protectorate personnel.
"Legend, Sir." The PRT Agent at the helipad greeted him professionally as he landed lightly there and nodded back. "Is something going down?"
"No, Agent, just something came that required a high level Protectorate response," Legend said wearily, "Administrative, not combat."
The Agent relaxed marginally, "I'll call ahead and let the Director know you're here."
"Thank you," Legend said, walking past and easily making his way off the pad, down the stairs, and into the Rig proper.
By the time he made it to the Administrative offices of the renovated oil rig, Director Piggot was waiting for him, with her Deputy Director, Armsmaster, and Miss Militia accompanying her.
"Director," He nodded as he stepped into the office.
"Legend," Piggot said evenly, her expression clearly showing that she was bracing for the worst. "What brings you to Brocton Bay?"
"In a word?" Legend asked, amused, "Magus."
That set off a series of confused looks between the four even as Legend took the distraction as time to settle into a decent looking office chair and let some of the strain off his bones.
"Pardon," Armsmaster said, "while I admit that Magus is a skilled tinker and apparently a very versatile parahuman, I'm confused as to what would attract the Triumvirate's attention to him."
"During the battle with the Simurgh, you of course know that he was able to block her song," Legend said, getting nods from the two Parahuman's present and looks of surprise from Director Piggot and Deputy Director Rennick. He directed his attention to them briefly, to explain, "Immediately upon arrival, Magus sensed her scream even though it wasn't audible, and erected a barrier to hold it off. He covered the entire Brockton Bay detached force, protecting them and those closest from her scream."
"Well," Piggot said, "I suppose I can see why that would have gotten your attention."
"Certainly, though that alone wouldn't have precipitated a visit this soon," Legend admitted. "We can expect almost a year before we need to deal with the Simurgh again, after all. No, it was his actions during the fight and some of what he said after that brings me here."
"And what might those be?" Piggot asked.
"Some of it is classified," Legend told her apologetically, "but during the fight he was able to essentially blind the Simurgh, leading to her lashing out randomly before she… seems to have suffered some sort of panic attack that left all of us, Magus included, both confused and concerned. We're trying to figure out what scared the Simurgh so badly, which has vastly upped our priority."
"The… Simurgh had a panic attack?" Rennick asked, like he wasn't sure what any of the words coming from his mouth actually meant.
"That would indeed fit with her reactions," Armsmaster admitted reluctantly, "though I can't say I would ever have assumed that."
"Nor did anyone else," Legend said wearily. "Watchdog is still tearing through the footage, trying to figure out what she was looking at that last minute before she fled. Whatever it was, it seems to have freaked her out. Thinker analysis is always spotty when it comes to the Simurgh, or any Endbringer honestly, but Watchdog has a soft confirmation that she wasn't faking."
"Well, that's not comforting," Piggot said dryly. "And it has something to do with Magus? I can't say that I'm happy about having someone who's piqued the Simurgh's interest in my city."
"We're not sure he has," Legend shook his head, "No, he seems to have triggered the response, but she doesn't seem to even know he exists… which is part of what interests us, obviously."
"When you say she doesn't seem to know he exists," Armsmaster said slowly.
"Literally," Legend confirmed. "His shield blanked his presence entirely as far as he, or we, can confirm. She knew something was there, but no idea who or what. That led to increasingly erratic attacks, aimed vaguely at the center of his field until he began setting up similar fields all around the battlefield…"
"Blinding her, effectively speaking," Armsmaster said, head cocking slightly to one side. "Her actions shifted from erratic to… yes, I see. Panicked might be accurate. "Curious."
"Intensely so," Legend confirmed. "He confirmed that he would be here in your town, for some time at least. Apparently he has located an… Apprentice."
That caused the others in the room to shift, their focus becoming puzzled.
"Apprentice?" Armsmaster asked, "Magus is training someone in… in what? His building method is focused primarily on the application of his blaster/shaker power set, or so he said?"
"He claims that he located someone with an identical power set," Legend said, hands up. "I know how it sounds, but that's what he claimed."
"Fascinating," Armsmaster admitted. "Unlikely, but if so…"
Legend nodded, "We'll see. I don't suppose any of you have a way to contact him?"
Miss Militia nodded, "We have his contact number, and PHO handle. He's provided both to law enforcement, in case he was needed to testify."
"Excellent," Legend said, "That will make things easier. Could you ask him to come in, tell him that I'm here to chat."
"Of course."
"Thank you."
Hebert Home.
Taylor was reading up on some base magical theory, clearly more absorbed in it than Xander had ever been despite his love of the subject. Books and reading had always been more of a chore for him, and he'd leaned heavily on Hermione, Wednesday, and Willow to get him over that particular hump.
Thankfully, it didn't seem like Taylor would need such a crutch… She was practically inhaling knowledge, which had its own risk of course, but at least he could be certain that she wouldn't have issues with the theory.
He was chatting idly with Danny when a yelp from Taylor caused both of them to turn sharply.
"Taylor? What's wrong?" Danny asked, getting to his feet.
"I think I got an alert?" She said, sounding confused as Xander made his way over and checked over her shoulder.
"Huh, yeah. Hang on," He said, taking the device from her and opening up the message. "Ah, It's from Miss Militia, seems like Legend is in town and wants to chat."
"Legend."
Xander nodded absently as he tapped out a reply.
"Wants to talk with you."
"Ayup. Wanna come with?" Xander asked, looking down at her.
Taylor's eyes widened, "What?"
"You having hearing problems?" Xander asked, amused.
"I might, cause it sounded like you asked if I wanted to come with you to meet LEGEND."
"Good, your hearing checks out," Xander said calmly as he sent the message and handed the device back. "Might be able to get you in to meet the wards."
"I don't have a costume!"
"Oh please," Xander chuckled, "You really think I can't rig something up for you? Try again."
"But… but… it's Legend!"
Xander looked over to Danny, who was honestly looking like he was trying to keep from laughing at his daughter's reaction. "Is that a reason here?"
"No, not really," He said.
"There you go."
"Are… are we going to," Taylor looked confused. "I mean, do we drive there? Take the bus?"
Xander laughed at her, "I could apparate us, but actually I was thinking about teaching you to use a broom."
Taylor just stared in mute confusion, while Danny snorted.
"Her mother and I tried to teach her that and I can tell you, it's a lost cause."
"Dad!"
"I was talking about how to fly on one, actually."
That changed the dynamic in the room in an instant, leaving Danny now uncomfortable and nervous while Taylor had a mix of excitement and confusion.
"Fly? On a broom? Really?"