Chapter 12

Charmcaster awoke to something she did not expect; and that was finding herself lying against a concrete wall with her arms confined by some shiny cuffs. Without thinking, she quickly tried to break out of them with her magic; however, she found that whatever she did only drained her more until she was almost hazed over.

Wondering what had happened and how she had ended up like this, she knew her questions would be answered when she saw Nelson walk into the room where she was being held. She instantly realized that she was in SOS territory again, likely in Nelson's dwelling. The realization made her skin crawl. "Ah, look who finally awoke," Nelson sneered.

Charmcaster struggled to speak, "H-how did you...?" "Get you here?" Nelson asked, "Well, it wasn't necessarily easy, I'll grant you that. Had to tranquilize everyone else. We left them alive in order to set a trap. As for your magic?" He nodded to a corner, and in stepped a person that was supposed to be dead: Michael Morningstar.

Getting some reserve energy back, Charmcaster spluttered, "I saw you fly into space! You died!" "That's the nice thing about having part-alien DNA," Michael replied coldly, "You can manage something like that. The good thing about is that I finally discovered my alien powers." He then stretched out his hand to a piece of meat laying on a nearby table, and shot a golden bolt out of his hand and caught the piece of meat with it, and after he retracted, the meat was now basically charcoal.

"That was a mere demonstration," Michael continued, "When I absorb things like that, I gain their energy. Something like that does nothing for me. Human energy... that gives me much power. It doesn't last, so I am looking for another solution. Meanwhile, I've basically become the SOS's main weapon."

"We can basically just wait for them to come in themselves and have our friend here destroy them," Nelson added, "And meanwhile, you and your friends are a slightly more difficult matter. So, we needed a different plan. We got one when the old man decided to show up last night. We had Michael here go back up to the Plumber station, wreck the forces, and steal some tech. We came back with this device-which draws energy from humans and other beings that use magic. It was apparently intended for Anodites, but as you can see, it has worked quite nicely for you."

"When Ben finds out, he's going to kill you," Charmcaster spat, "And all of your friends." "I'd like to see him try to kill me," Michael smirked, cracking his knuckles. "Besides, that's exactly the point," Nelson continued, "We want him to come here so we can take care of him for once and for all. He won't be able to defeat Michael. You might've been able to, if you hadn't been caught."

"You will regret this," Charmcaster guaranteed, "Just like everything else you've done." "Me?" Nelson raised his eyebrows, "I don't know why you're accusing me of stuff that I wasn't responsible for. You were with the Brotherhood, remember? Blame them." Then he turned away, and concluded, "I think it's time for us to make our exit. We have a war to fight on two different fronts."

As they left and slammed the door, memories came flooding to Charmcaster, who realized that she was alone in the company of the gangs for the first time since she killed the Brotherhood. She recalled the first time she had come here, and how she had been taken in by the person named Martin. In hindsight, years later, he hadn't been the nicest person-but he was as nice as she knew. And he had agreed to be her caretaker...

(A/N: Flashbacks in italics)

"She's awake, Martin," Reg commented as he noticed her looking around, "We need to discuss this now." "Where did you find her again?" the one called Martin asked. "In the middle of the alley," Reg replied, "Never seen anything like it. We don't have abandonments like this in the gangs because we don't have families, and no one would head this far into our territory just to drop their kid off. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was teleported here or something."

"Good thing you know better, then," Reg's companion smirked, rolling his eyes at the concept. "You're lucky it wasn't a trap," Martin noted, "Those other guys from the SOS do some crazy stuff sometimes." "That's what I was trying to tell him!" Reg's companion broke in. "Shut up, Rod," Reg retorted.

"So why did you guys take her in anyway?" Martin asked curiously. "Well, for one thing, I didn't want to leave her wailing there all night," Reg replied, "And also... I was wondering if maybe you would want to take her in."

Silence reigned for a few seconds. "What would make you think I'd want her?" Martin asked, with an edge of anger. "You both appear to have suffered loss recently," Reg pointed out, "She was screaming for her dad last night in her sleep. Maybe you could help each other."

"I don't know how Todd would take it," Martin commented, "He's pretty uptight. He probably wouldn't want anyone to have any distractions." "That's the thing," Reg replied cautiously, looking over in Charmcaster's direction, "We already talked to him about it. He's alright with this..." Then the two both leaned in and began talking to Martin in whispers. Charmcaster couldn't make out a word they were saying.

Eventually Martin broke away from them, appearing horrified. "And you want to..." he began, but the other two both glared at him, making him not finish his original sentence, instead finishing with, "Cold-hearted bastards." Then they both leaned in and talked in whispers again. Once they broke away, Martin remained silent, appearing to be thinking to himself. The other two stood, apparently waiting for an answer of some sort.

"Fine," he finally snapped, "I'll do it."

It was only now that Charmcaster realized just what the goons had been talking about-and just how early on they had been planning to use her as a decoy/distraction with no actual regard for her life. Or her dignity. Despite that, she was still thankful to Martin for his raising her for much of her earlier years and at least not treating her like nothing. Unfortunately, he had not lasted. However, she did not want to remember that... or much else, either. She instead decided to try and put herself back to sleep and wait for Ben to come rescue her.