Disclaimer: I own nothing here you recognise (and depending on what fandom drew your interest to this fic, I may not own some things you don't recognise); you know how it goes.
Feedback: Always appreciated
AN: The second part of this chapter; in the end, it felt more sensible to get both of these up at once to deal with the team introductions ASAP
The Guardians of Magic
Once their last member introduced himself, at least half the people in the warehouse looked at the now-identified Merlin with wide-eyed stares of shock at his name, and those who weren't outright shocked were clearly surprised at this identification. Dave, Harry and Ginny were the most obviously shocked, but the only person to show no reaction was the image of Doctor Strange, who simply smiled and nodded as the rest of the group looked at the young man in the brown jacket as he looked uncertainly around at them.
"Is there… something about my name I didn't know?" he asked.
"Something about- you're kidding me, right?" Dave looked at the now-introduced Merlin incredulously.
"Your name is renowned in what I presume are many worlds as the most famous wizard to have ever lived," Vision observed with a cool smile.
"…Seriously?" the now-named Merlin looked at Vision in surprise. "Someone with my name-?"
"Do you live in Camelot?"
"…Yes," Merlin said cautiously. "I'm… well, I'm Prince Arthur's manservant-"
"Wait a- Prince Arthur?" Billy asked in surprise. "I thought he was raised in secret until-"
"As I mentioned previously," Doctor Strange put in with a smile, "the exact details of the myths can change across the various worlds. In the world that this version of Merlin originates from, he came to Camelot less than a year ago while Uther is still king and Arthur is prince regent; the tales you are familiar with do not apply."
"OK…" Dave said, looking at the now-named Merlin with a new sense of awe. "This is… that's just… I mean, wow."
"Wow?" Merlin looked curiously at Dave.
"You remember how I said I'm meant to be the heir to the most powerful sorcerer on my world?" Dave said, giving Merlin an awkward grin. "That was you."
"Me?"
"Well, the you in my world, anyway, but… I mean, equivalent thing, right?" Dave shrugged.
"And you have… well, you're quite famous back in our world too," Harry put in with his own tentative smile as he indicated himself and Ginny. "I mean, I haven't looked up the history in depth, but to be fair our own history teacher is a bit boring, and the fact that everyone knowsyour name after several centuries has to be a good thing…"
"The point," Doctor Strange said, looking firmly around the room at the assembled guardians, "is that Merlin is indeed the man you all recognise as the most famous and powerful wizard who has ever lived; he simply has not reached the age that you are more familiar with."
"And… you seriously think that was a good call?" Merlin looked sceptically at Doctor Strange. "If I'm meant to be so great in the future-?"
"I repeat my earlier point about balance; the true Doctor Strange could not control who this spell pulled in to act against the Empirikuul, simply assert that it pulled in those who it was felt could do it," Strange looked firmly at Merlin. "If you doubt my abilities, look inside."
"Look inside what-?"
Paige's question was cut short when the door to the trailer opened with a wave of Strange's hand, the projected wizard smiling casually at the group of assembled magic-users around him.
"If you wish to see what else you have on offer through my efforts," the projection of the doctor said with a smile, "please step in and look around."
"What are you- whoa," Nick said, stepping inside the trailer and looking back at the others with a smile. "You need to see this; I don't know what he did, but it looks like Doctor Strange did… well, it's impressive."
Exchanging glances, the others followed Nick into the trailer, but each of them soon understood what the cop had meant when he complimented the interior. A few of them could only speculate as to the spells required to do something like this, but it was clear that the interior of the trailer had been significantly expanded beyond what it was on the outside. Nick could recognise the books, cabinets and weapons racks of his own trailer around the door, but from there the whole area expanded in a manner that even the more experienced magic-users in the ground found impressive. Those with experience compared the interior to the halls of a large castle, with further books and artefacts laid out around the room. The sheer scale of the design would have been impressive on its own, but it was when individuals started to recognise some of the items gathered in the hall that they all became particularly impressed.
"Is that… my cloak?" Harry began, still holding his wand as he walked over to pick up a strange-looking silvery cloak that was lying draped over a broomstick. "And my broom?"
"Broomsticks are a thing in your world?" Paige looked at the young wizard with a slight smile.
"Not just any broomstick," Ginny put in with a brief smile. "The Nimbus Two Thousand is one of the best, and Harry's a really good flyer; he helped win a Quidditch game even when the entire opposing team were using the Two Thousand and Ones."
"To be fair, Malfoy is an arrogant idiot who isn't nearly as good as he thinks he is," Harry put in with a brief smile.
"School rival?" Mildred looked at Harry with a slight smile.
"Draco Malfoy," Harry said with a bitter edge to his voice. "His family's rich and act like they're better than everyone else because they have a long history in the wizarding world, when he still ends up scoring worse than Hermione in every class even when she just learned about magic before starting school."
"You have someone like that?" Kenzi looked curiously at Mildred.
"Probably… Ethel Hallow," Mildred replied with a slightly saddened expression. "I know I sabotaged her potion, so she has a reason not to like me, but she always goes on about how I don't belong, and then asks me for help only to act like it never happened afterwards…"
"Tough break," Kenzi reached over to give the younger girl a one-armed hug. "Still, thanks for affirming why I didn't bother with school after a while."
"Uh… is there a reason that cloak's a big deal?" Dave looked over at Harry, who was still holding the cloak in his hands with a smile.
"It was my dad's," Harry replied as he adjusted his grip on the cloak. "And as for the big deal about it…"
He pulled the cloak on, and suddenly Harry was just a bodyless head, grinning around the room.
"Whoa!" Tommy looked over the now-vanished teen with a smile. "An invisibility cloak?"
"That's a real thing?" Willow put in. "I mean, we had an invisible student at school a couple of years ago, but that was just something she couldn't control…"
"Yeah, this is real," Harry nodded at Willow as he took the cloak off. "I'm still solid when wearing it, but as far as I know nobody can see me when I'm wearing this unless I let them know I'm there; I've used this to sneak around school more than a few times."
"Could be useful," Nick nodded in approval at the cloak.
"And how about this?" Paige put in, holding up a thick brown book with a distinctive sigil on the cover.
"What is that?" Emma asked.
"The Book of Shadows," Paige replied, before her gaze shifted to where the projection of Doctor Strange had moved to the middle of the chamber. "Although I'm not sure what it's doing here…"
"You know as well as I do that no evil could have brought this book here, Miss Matthews," Strange informed her. "It will be returned to your family as soon as everything here is concluded."
"That book's important to you?" Wanda asked curiously.
"It's part of my family's legacy," Paige explained. "It's our Book of Shadows; my mom's family have basically been recording spells, potions and demons in it for the last few centuries in preparation for my sisters and I getting our powers."
"And the part about how nothing evil could have brought it here?" Dave asked.
"The Book has a spell on it that ensures that nothing evil can touch it," Paige explained. "I mean, there was apparently a demon who managed to steal the Book by taking it into some kind of pocket dimension inside our house once, but that aside it's pretty hard for anyone to take it if they've got evil intentions…"
"Cool," Mildred smiled at Paige.
"Does that happen often?" Willow asked. "People trying to steal the Book, I mean?"
"My sisters and I are pretty famous back home, so we've got a few enemies who'd like to get access to everything in that Book," Paige said with a slight smile. "We're known as the Charmed Ones."
"Charmed Ones?" Angel asked.
"Basically one of our ancestors made a prophecy a few centuries back that her descendants would eventually include three sisters who would become the most powerful witches to ever live," Paige explained. "My older sisters Prue, Piper and Phoebe eventually fulfilled the prophecy, but after Prue was killed by a demon last year… well, I was their half-sister from an old affair my mom had around the time their dad left, so I had to…
"You took her place?" Billy looked uncertainly at Paige. "Wasn't that… I mean…?"
"It was a bit rough, but… well, we made it work," Paige shrugged after a moment's thought. "I mean, I'm still working on feeling like I'm as good a witch as Prue was, but it helps that nobody expected me to be her exactly, and the whole dynamic had to change anyway since she was the oldest one and I'm obviously younger…"
"Good," Billy nodded at her. "I get that it's not the same, but I had a few rough moments with foster families after… well, my mom abandoned me."
"Abandoned you?" Mildred looked at Billy in shock.
"She had… well, she had some issues and she felt I was better off away from her," Billy shrugged, even as he looked awkwardly around the room in a manner that made it clear he wasn't telling them everything. "I finally got placed with a good family, and from there… well…"
He trailed off for a moment before he looked awkwardly over at Strange, indicating the stone-like chamber around them. "Look, if you brought me here, you… know what I can do, right?"
"I do," Strange nodded.
"So… if I have to show what I can do, I'm not going to… damage anything, right?"
"This interior has been designed to protect you all from detection by the Empirikuul, Billy Batson," Strange answered with a reassuring smile. "No magic within here can be detected outside, and nothing you do here can damage the structure unless you deliberately attack it."
"Good," Billy smiled.
"What's the big deal?" Kenzi looked at the teenager with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously, kid, not saying you're not a nice enough guy, but what do you actually do that merits a place on this table, and what makes you think it can damage this place?"
"You asked," Billy nodded at her with a smile. "Shazam!"
Instantly a bolt of brilliant white lighting seemed to erupt from the ceiling to strike Billy as he stood in the middle of the room. The rest of the assembled group called out in shock, but their reaction shifted to a different kind of shock when the lightning faded to reveal that Billy had been replaced by a handsome man at least twice Billy's age, wearing a strange red suit with a short white cape and a bright yellow lightning-bolt glowing in the middle of his chest.
"…hello salty goodness," Kenzi said, staring in wide-mouthed awe at the figure.
"Uh… I'm fairly sure that is still Billy, Kenz," Bo looked warningly at her friend.
"Yeah, it's me," the figure in red nodded at the succubus with an awkward smile as he waved a hand at his body. "Billy, I mean; I just… I have all this when I'm like this."
"All wha-?" Willow began before the figure in red began hovering a few feet in the air, lightning crackling from his fingers as he looked around the group with a smile.
"Wow…" Kenzi grinned, before her face blanched as she turned away. "Oh God; I'm perving on a kid…"
"Yeah, this is… well, it's complicated," the now-adult Billy shrugged, to his credit looking just as unnerved by Kenzi's comments as she was. "Long story short, I was chosen to be the champion of this ancient wizard in my world, although I'll admit that I was basically his last shot to choose one after an old candidate broke in and stole this mystical prison containing the demons who represented the Seven Deadly Sins-"
"The Seven Deadly Sins?" Paige looked at him in surprise. "They were actual demons in your world?"
"They weren't in yours?" the man in red looked curiously at Paige.
"I… my sisters got infected with some of them before I met them, but they were more like a kind of disease or weapon; they weren't dangerous on their own…" Paige waved her hand awkwardly.
"Interesting," the man with the lightning symbol nodded, before he gave a thoughtful nod. "Huh, so that's how it works…"
"How what works?" Harry asked.
"Sorry; side-effect of this change is that I have a bit of a personality shift when I'm focused on what I'm doing," the older Billy explained with a shrug. "I was basically just me as an adult at first, but I've… well, as I became more heroic, I guess I ended up tapping into the more subtle parts of this whole thing."
"More subtle?" Emma looked curiously at the man who had been a boy not so long ago. "What do you mean?"
"Well… you know how I said that name to change?" the man in red explained, waving at himself.
"You mean 'Shazam'?" Mildred asked.
"Yeah," the adult Billy nodded at her. "Every time I say the name, I'm essentially invoking the powers of the six beings who granted the wizard a portion of their own power to appoint a champion; the Wisdom of Solomon, the Strength of Hercules, the Stamina of Atlas, the Power of Zeus, the Courage of Achilles and the Speed of Mercury."
"Cool," Willow nodded at him. "So… we call you 'Shazam' when you're like this?"
"It works," the now-named Shazam nodded at the red-haired witch. "I can't say it myself without changing back, but it's a good way to distinguish which me you're dealing with or who you need."
"You are empowered by Zeus and Mercury?" the Vision looked at Shazam in surprise. "Those are from two different religions."
"The Romans did basically steal the Greek gods when forming their own pantheon-" Willow pointed out.
"Still a difference or two in there," Dave pointed out.
"Hey, I didn't make the rules; I just got chosen for the spell," Shazam explained with a smile.
"Yeah, mythology's never quite what the public think it is," Nick observed, giving the red-clad hero a nod. "So lightning and flight aside, I take it you're also stronger and faster like this?"
"Not sure how strong and fast, but I've been known to match lightning when I'm pushing myself and I've managed to deliver a few pretty powerful punches when I have to," Shazam explained. "There's just never been a reason to test the exact weight I can lift, and… well, I don't exactly have the means to really test myself."
"Yeah, it's probably hard to find something heavy for a guy with the power of Hercules," Tommy noted. "And hey, at least I'm not the only one who needs to change to do anything."
"You change too?" Shazam looked at the green-clad teenager.
"Not quite like you, but it's similar," Tommy explained, hesitating for a moment before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small grey object with a golden coin in its centre. "Look, my friends and I are bound by a rule that we're not to reveal our powers to anybody, but considering the exceptional circumstances going on right now… can I trust you'll keep the secret?"
Once Tommy received a nod from everyone, he gave a brief smile before he assumed a serious expression and held the grey object out in front of him. "It's Morphin' Time! Dragonzord!"
There was a flash of green light and Tommy was replaced by a figure wearing a skintight green and white outfit with a full-head helmet and some kind of golden armour on the upper part of his chest, brandishing a strange dagger in a combat stance.
"Not bad," Angel looked thoughtfully at the green-clad hero.
"Thanks," Tommy said, sheathing his dagger and taking off his helmet. "Back in my world, I'm part of a team called the Power Rangers; we defend Earth from an evil witch called Rita Repulsa with the power of our Power Coins, which are in our morphers here."
"Cool," Harry grinned at the young man in green before he took on a more confused stare. "Uh… is that a gun?"
"Blade Blaster, but yeah," Tommy nodded. "Is that a problem?"
"Not a problem, just… if you're on this team, shouldn't you be using something…?" Harry trailed off awkwardly.
"Tommy Oliver's powers are essentially technology powered by magic," Strange answered for the young wizard. "It is an unusual combination, but there are more worlds where such things occur than you might believe."
"Huh," Harry said, before he turned to look at the Vision. "So is that kind of like you? I mean, you… no offence, but you're obvious not exactly human-"
"My own origin is… complicated," the Vision answered, indicating the yellow gem in his forehead. "To put it simply, my initial creation owes a great deal to this stone, which is one of the most powerful objects in our universe, but my physical body is the product of highly advanced technology using the most remarkable elements in my world."
"Advanced technology?" Dave repeated with a cautious smile. "So… you're kind of a robot?"
"I prefer the term 'synthezoid', but that is essentially correct," the Vision nodded.
"OK, so you're a robot partially powered by a stone that's the most powerful thing in your universe?" Bo looked at him in surprise.
"One of them," the Vision corrected. "As explained by another of our teammates, this is the Mind Stone, one of six Stones created in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang from six singularities that existed before our universe, personifying one of the essential aspects of existence in our universe."
"…That sounds cool," Dave nodded tentatively at him. "Not sure what kind of power that translates into, but it sounds pretty cool."
"It also gave me my own powers," Wanda put in, raising her hands to generate a new red glow. "I was exposed to it as part of… unconventional experiments… and… well, here I am."
"What kind of powers?" Ginny asked.
"She can manipulate the physical structure of objects and also influence the minds of others to limited degrees," the Vision said. "Wanda and I are each still learning our capabilities, but we recently assisted in preventing a potentially world-ending event caused by… a very dangerous individual."
"Gotcha," Shazam nodded at the two before he turned to Strange. "Which raises the question of why bringing us together in a team could ever make sense when we're basically all newbies."
"Newbies?" Bo looked at Shazam in surprise.
"Hey, no offence intended to anyone, but… seriously, have any of us been doing this for more than a year?" Shazam looked around the group. "And by 'doing this', I mean we've been actively using powers to protect people from the things that go bump in the night or the equivalent thereof?"
"Uh… I've been fighting vampires and demons for almost three years, but I just started doing any actual magic myself last year…" Willow put in.
"And obviously I've been a vampire for centuries, but since the curse… I've only really tried to do more than deal with my guilt for the last few years, and even then you should probably knock a few months off that for what I did while I was soulless again," Angel said.
"Fair enough," Nick nodded at the two before he looked at the others. "And the rest of you? Less than a year sounds about right?"
"Just moved to Storeybrooke on my last birthday," Emma affirmed.
"Only started studying magic a few months back," Dave nodded.
"The other Rangers have been active for a few months but I only joined them some weeks ago," Tommy said.
"I'm close to finishing my second year at Hogwarts, but… well, I'm not exactly ready to fight on a regular basis…" Harry said.
"We'll give you some leeway given your age and reputation," Nick nodded at Harry in understanding.
"I only moved to Camelot and started actively using my powers a few months ago," Merlin put in.
"I've been fighting evil with my sisters for over a year, but I haven't exactly done much on my own, so I don't think I throw off the numbers that much," Paige said.
"And Wanda and I only made our 'public debut' in the last few days," Vision said.
"OK, so that confirms it; we're all pretty new at this," Bo said, before she turned to glare at Strange. "Which means we'd greatly appreciate some answers from the genius who decided that it was a good idea to oppose a universe-conquering army of magic-haters by bringing together a group of rookies who've literally never worked together before?"
"As I have previously stated," Strange looked around the group, "even the true Doctor Strange could not answer that question beyond affirming that this is the result that felt right according to the spell-"
"Hey, screw the spell, Doc; we need answers-!" Kenzi stormed over towards the projection, only for Strange to hold up a hand in a halting gesture.
"And I cannot give you those answers as I am," Strange affirmed, as he looked apologetically around the room. "But now I feel that you have all established who each of you are and what you can do; I can do nothing more at this time but hamper your own independence."
"What-?" Mildred began, before Strange was surrounded by a green glow and suddenly vanished, leaving the assembled heroes standing around the chamber, looking at each other with various awkward expressions.
