The Hunters and the Prey - Chapter Thirty-Five
Author: Milady Dragon
Ianto was having a hard time, because he wanted to cry at the poor little girl hugging Phil as if she never wanted to let go…but he was also furious at what this village had done to an innocent child.
He wondered how long she'd been living underneath that gazebo. Thank Gods it wasn't winter; she never would have survived on her own, with only her dragon to watch out for her. And, if they hadn't come looking for Mordo, chances were they would have never known about her.
It was only because Mordo had wanted to get revenge on the Dark One that they'd discovered Crystal and Lockjaw.
In that moment, as he was getting to his feet, Ianto realized that there was one thing that would keep Phil in the position of Grand Master after Hydra was gone: it was having a cause. And this…this little girl, who'd been rejected by her birth family simply because she was Void, this was the cause that would do it. It was far too close to Phil's own past, and the last thing he'd want was for it to happen to another child. Ianto knew his friend would move every heaven and every hell in order to keep this from occurring ever again.
"You live here," Stephen growled. He was glaring at Mordo, who was simply smirking at his former friend's ire. "You live here, and you let this happen?"
"She's Void." Mordo shrugged. "Unnatural. And this village has had its fair share of pain caused by Void Wizards." His smirk failed, in favor of a glare at Phil, who didn't even seem to notice, as he was too busy comforting Crystal.
Which appeared to irritate Mordo even more.
"She is a child," Stephen spat. "An innocent."
Ianto had to wonder how many children had suffered the same fate because of this village's fear of Voids. He shivered at that thought. "This will also be brought before the Quorum," he promised. "You will surrender to us for immediate return to Gateway."
Mordo laughed at that. "I seriously doubt that, Grand Master."
With that, the Great Wizard had his wand out, but Stephen was faster. With a single Word of Power, red bands shot from the Grand Master's fingers to encircle Mordo, trapping his arms against his body and keeping him from using his wand to cast any sort of spell. Secondary magic did the same for Mordo's dragon, who'd leapt to his Wizard's aid.
That didn't mean that Mordo was defenseless.
A brilliant golden glow flared up from the man's eyes, and Ianto instantly had his own wand out, in order to deflect the curse that Mordo had just cast at Stephen. He really hadn't needed the wand; Ianto was the most powerful curse breaker ever seen, and his magic easily picked the components of the Blinding curse apart before it could reach his fellow Grand Master.
Before he could add his own Binding magic to Stephen's, black bands of pure Void joined the red, two smaller strands covering Mordo's mouth and eyes. Ianto turned; Phil stood there, Crystal in his arms, his eyes black smoke as he brought the Void to bear against the man who'd railed against it. "You scoffed at the Void having a heartbeat," he murmured almost disinterestedly. "Would you like to hear it, Mordo? I can open a Void Point right now and toss you in it so fast you'd have no time to react. I'm quite sure it wouldn't mind holding onto you until your trial."
With a sudden flash of insight, Ianto knew that this was the Dark One. This was the legendary dark Wizard staring out at the world through Phil Coulson's Void-obscured eyes. He could see the anger, the sheer rage at what he saw as a horrible injustice, his power rising to counteract that injustice. The Cardinal Wizard realized that Phil would have razed the village to the ground again in a heartbeat because it had hurt one small, frightened, child.
He should have been afraid.
But he wasn't.
Instead, there was a part of himself that wanted to lash out as well. To make Mordo and this village pay for what they'd done. Children were special; they were the future, and what happened to them in the present would only taint that future. Could this village's indifference have created a new Dark One, if Crystal had managed to survive?
Yes, this was the cause that Phil needed. And Ianto wasn't at all afraid that his friend would go too far.
Because Phil Coulson wasn't the Dark One any longer. This anger wasn't motivated by his parents' words; it was there for a truly righteous reason. And not a single member of the Quorum would condemn him for it.
However, at the moment they were surrounded by villagers who were becoming more and more terrified. They needed to gain control of the situation and, for Ianto to be able to do that, he really needed to get Phil out of there, and to take Crystal and Lockjaw out of the line of fire.
At least Crystal didn't seem to be afraid of what she was seeing Phil do. That boded well for her integration into the Coulson family…and he was going to see that was exactly that happened. Phil had done wonderfully with Daisy; Ianto could only imagine what he'd do with a child that matched his own magic.
"Phil," he called softly, "perhaps you might wish to take Crystal and Lockjaw home."
The Void immediately vanished from his friend's eyes; however, the black bands binding Mordo remained. "There's a lot to be done here," Phil pointed out, lifting Crystal a little higher in his arms. She was clutching at him, as if she wasn't about to let go anytime soon.
"Stephen and I can handle that," the Cardinal Wizard assured him. "Crystal doesn't need to be here to see it."
Phil nodded. He turned to the little girl. "Would you like to go home with me?"
"Can I?" Crystal asked shyly. "I'd really like to."
One more thing on Ianto's list: to make the adoption that Phil was obviously going to apply for go smoothly. That would mean he'd have to find Crystal's biological parents. Ianto thought there wouldn't be any issue with getting them to sign away their parental rights in front of either a notary or a magistrate.
After all, there would be one there as soon as Ianto could summon one, if just for the charges he planned on leveling against every single villager.
"Of course you can." Phil gave her such a sweet smile, it wiped away any left-over sign of the Dark One in his face. "How would you feel about having an older sister?"
"Yes, please!"
That single, awestruck exclamation had Phil hugging her tightly. "Then, let's go." He turned smiling eyes on Ianto. "You might want to collect Myfanwy before she decides to go back to Shield Keep with us."
Ianto laughed. "I'm certain she wouldn't mind all that much, actually. She and Lola seem to have become fast friends."
Myfanwy huffed at that, her amusement golden and warm through their connection. She gave Lockjaw, who was belly up on the grass under hers and Lola's affections – Agamotto hadn't joined them, but Ianto could tell he was equally happy to make the acquaintance of a new dragon – a lick across the muzzle and then rejoined Ianto, leaning into his side happily. Lola helped Lockjaw up, cuddling the smaller dragon to her as if she didn't want to let him out of her grasp. After all, Lockjaw had been through so much, even the Wizard could tell he was starving for more than just food.
"Hold on tight," Phil told Crystal, as their two dragons stood close, "I'm going to use magic to get us home."
Crystal's eyes went even wider as her too-thin arms wrapped around the Void Wizard's neck. "I can learn how to do that too?"
"Yes, sweetheart, you can."
With that promise, Phil triggered the Teleport artifact he carried with him, and the small group vanished in a flash of black-tinted magic.
The Void that had been binding Mordo faded away, as if it had never existed. Ianto stepped in, using his own magic to help Stephen keep the other Wizard under control. "We'll take him back to the Quorum," he said, "and then we can handle things here."
"You will release Master Mordo immediately," one of the villages proclaimed.
Ianto wanted to laugh in the man's face. He was older, his hair gray, and he held himself with a pomposity that shouted the fact that he believed himself to be better than Ianto and Stephen, simply because he ran things around there.
Instead, the Cardinal Wizard said, "No. Mordo has committed crimes within the Wizard's Guild, and he will be held accountable."
"In fact," Stephen chimed in, "after we place Mordo into custody, we will be approaching the local Baronial Court and laying charges against your village for what we've discovered today. So, don't be surprised when the magistrates arrive."
That had the villagers muttering and whispering amongst themselves. "We've done nothing wrong!" someone from the back of the crowd denied.
"It's called 'child abuse'," Ianto answered. "And I'm certain the investigation will reveal that the child we just found isn't the only one you've done this to."
"It's an abomination!" another person shouted out. "We don't need that thing around here, tainting our village!"
Ianto couldn't help the anger from leaking out into his words. "Not only will the magistrates be here, but someone from the Wizard's Guild will, as well. Abusing a magical child carries with it a punishment through the Guild as well, especially to the parents of said child."
"And don't think you can hide who Crystal's birth parents from us," Stephen added. "There are spells we can use to trace her to them."
"And when we find out," Ianto continued, "we will first make certain that any parental rights they had will be stripped away."
"And secondly," Stephen went on, "we shall be performing an Infertility curse, because if they do this to one child, what will they do to another magical child born to them?"
Now, that caused an outrage that had Ianto believing that some of the gathered crowd might actually attack. So Ianto decided to give them another hard truth.
"Magic runs in families. Which means that Crystal's parents are more than likely to give birth to another Void Wizard. And that means they'll do the same to that other child."
Really, Crystal was a little too young to have been Tested properly, so it made him wonder if her parents had already had one Void child, and had gotten rid of that one as well. It would make sense, and it would be how they might have realized that Crystal herself was Void before the official Testing.
Or, there was someone who was during unauthorized Testing. It would be something else to look into when the investigations took place. It might have even been Mordo, which would make the most sense.
They were going to be busy here. He and Stephen were going to have to find people they could trust to send along with the magistrates. And, if they could dig out Hydra from the Quorum, Phil could choose someone to represent Void Order, since it had been a Void child who'd been hurt.
There was a muffled sound of outrage from the bound Mordo. He could hear everything Ianto and Stephen were saying. "Perhaps we should get Mordo back to Gateway," Ianto suggested. He really wasn't liking the look of the crowd and, while he had faith in his and Stephen's abilities, he really had no desire to take on an entire village of people with his magic. It would end up being fodder for all sorts of rumors, and that wasn't at all what the Wizard's Guild needed.
The villagers were definitely getting restless. With a flick of the Deep Ways, Ianto had a Shield up around him and Stephen and their prisoner. "Would you mind opening a portal, Stephen?"
"Not at all." With a swirl of his free wrist, the golden flare of the Great Wizard's personal portal appeared in the air in front of them, growing until it was large enough to step through. Within its opening, Ianto could make out the Quorum Hall; a young Wizard, most likely a Novice, was staring at them in shock.
"After you." Stephen waved Ianto through.
With Myfanwy at his side, Ianto walked into the portal, giving the staring Novice a single, raised eyebrow. "I take it you've never seen a Portal spell before."
The Novice shook her head, stunned speechless.
Ianto despaired sometimes of the caliber of their Novices.
"Well, you have now, " he said, as Stephen came through, shoving Mordo in front of him. Their prisoner, not being able to see where he was going because of Ianto's magic, stumbled a little as his feet hit the stone of the hall's floor.
"I'll get him and his dragon down to the cells," his friend volunteered. A new red band took the place of Ianto's own Binding magic, letting the Cardinal Wizard relax his hold. "You know, we're going to have to enchant more if we keep bringing in prisoners like this." With that parting shot, Stephen was dragging Mordo out of the hall, although he did stop just outside the door to say he'd be around in the morning.
The Novice had made her escape while Ianto had been paying attention to Stephen. Myfanwy was laughing, both aloud and in his head, and he couldn't help the smile as he rubbed her head. "Let's go home."
Together, Wizard and dragon left the Guild Hall. He knew Stephen hadn't been wrong; there weren't that many cells, and once they cleared up the remaining Hydra members…if they allowed themselves to be taken alive, of course. Well, once they got Werner von Strucker out of the country, that would be one less cell occupied, but Ianto was aware it would be a little while before that was done. Maybe Eirlys wouldn't mind taking him into the Baronial dungeons temporarily, if Ianto asked.
He sighed. There was so much to do. The three of them were going to be busy for a while, yet. And now Phil had the possibility of a new daughter in the mix. They would need to meet again tomorrow, perhaps at Shield Keep this time. All of this needed to be done sooner rather than later, if they were hoping to get things back to normal quickly.
Deciding to take the easy way home, Ianto triggered his own Teleport spell, appearing within his casting chamber. He was tired, and he doubted that Jack would be home that night, what with the new lead on Hydra. It wouldn't be the first time they'd slept apart; but he still didn't have to like it.
At some point, Ianto was going to have to reschedule his meeting with Baroness Anwen. He was still hoping she'd be amenable to get the rest of Torchwood's artifacts and documents transferred to the Quorum Archive. He would have to explain why he was delayed, and perhaps she'd understand. This Hydra mess simply took precedence over his own plans.
He trudged up the stairs and into the main house, where he could hear voices in the sitting room. Curious, Ianto made his way down the hallway and stopped just outside the open entry, the smile tugging it his lips despite his irritation at not being alone.
Daisy Coulson and her friends had made themselves at home.
If he was going to be taking Novices again, Ianto would have to get used to that sort of thing happening.
"Ianto!" Daisy exclaimed, noticing him. That had every member of her little gang turning toward the Wizard, and his smile grew.
"Daisy," he greeted her. Myfanwy squeezed past him, heading toward the dragons that were laying on the floor in front of the fireplace. She was eagerly welcomed into their ranks, Scarlet, Wanda's dragon, making room for her between herself and Knight, Trip's dragon. Myfanwy settled down into the offered spot, sighing happily.
Daisy stood. "We found something." She handed him a rolled up parchment; as she wasn't using gloves to hold it, it was most likely a copy of whatever they'd found in the Archives.
He accepted it, a little surprised they'd discovered something so quickly. Ianto had thought it would have taken longer, but then there were seven of them and they made a good team. Even Wanda and Pietro, as new as they were to the group, had been accepted into their ranks easily and apparently worked well within the assembly of Novices despite being mere students currently.
He unrolled the scroll. On it were words written in the ancient Wizard's language; without having to be prompted, Daisy handed the spectacles over, Ianto putting them on so he could read what the parchment said. They really needed to start up courses on the old language, it wouldn't hurt if Wizards had their own way of writing once more.
It was a list of spells, spells that matched closely what was currently on the Winter Soldier's arm.
But, what was the giveaway, was the sketch of the arm itself.
It was almost a direct match.
"Well done," he congratulated them.
There was a chorus of thanks from the gathered young ones. Ianto really was impressed. These were, indeed, their future, and he couldn't have been more confident in whatever the future these children brought into being.
"I'm going to look this over." He would, once he was in bed. He'd need something to distract himself from Jack's absence. "In the meantime, you should all get some rest."
No one really protested, which was telling.
"Daisy." He turned to the ringleader of their little band. "You might want to head back to Shield Keep, Your father will want to speak to you as soon as possible."
"I was wondering why he wasn't with you." She was curious; her face gave it away, and her dragon would have done the same if he'd needed the confirmation.
"Something happened. Nothing bad, I promise," he swore, when her expression turned concerned, "but he really does need you at home now." He wasn't going to speak about Crystal, knowing that Phil would want to do that himself.
"So much for your plan to stay at the dormitory tonight," Trip said teasingly.
"I'll be back in the morning," she said. "We do have lessons, after all, and I know Dad would pitch a fit if we all skived off."
"And he's not even our father," Jemma laughed.
"He does take our education quite seriously," Leo added.
Lincoln shrugged. "He's kinda our Dad, though…only one that didn't contribute to conception."
"Ew, no." Daisy looked a little grossed out. "That's my Dad. It's bad enough that I know him and Clint are sleeping together. I don't need to even consider him wildcatting around and spreading his manly seed back when he was younger."
Ianto couldn't help the full belly laugh that had him leaning against the wall in support.
"Besides," Trip put in, "that would mean you and Lincoln are brother and sister, which is an entirely new level of gross."
Ianto laughed harder, just from the expressions on both Daisy and Lincoln's faces. It felt good to let go like that.
"Go home, the lot of you," he snorted. "You are all very bad for my dignity."
Everyone got up to leave, bright smiles and laugher following them along with their dragons; Myfanwy was looking just a little put out at losing her dragon pile so soon. However, as Pietro passed by, Ianto touched him on the shoulder. "Please come by tomorrow morning. We have something to discuss, you and I."
Pepper had rather helpfully sent him the young man's academic record. But then, she had a vested interest in Ianto taking on a Novice and she wasn't afraid to goose things along.
From the pleased expression on his usually somber face, Pietro was guessing what Ianto wanted to talk about. He nodded and then followed his friends out of the door.
Ianto was heading toward his and Jack's bedroom, scroll in hand, when he heard a loud shout of sheer happiness outside, followed by some cheering.
Smiling, he made his way upstairs, to get ready for bed and to peruse the rather interesting scroll those rather brilliant children had brought him.