Chapter 5: Magna

The next few days were as routine as routine could get; school, baseball practice, and Tyler's infatuation with Chelsea growing more and more. He still wouldn't admit it, not even to Jennifer or his mom because he knew that if he spilled it to someone, it would blow up in his face. The only person who Tyler thought would have even a remote possibility of knowing was Raven, due to the fact that she was psychic, but apparently she hadn't said anything. Yet.

Friday's baseball practice was easy as it was just a quick team meeting and time to grab their uniforms. Ben received number 20, Eddie got number 16, and Tyler was to don the number 44.

No way, Tyler thought as he examined the yellow numbers on the back of the jersey. He stared off into space as another bad memory flooded its way into his mind.

Tethered by his arms to a lattice, Tyler dangled, waiting for whatever was going to come. The only lights in the place he was in were focused on him. Everywhere else was dark and shrouded in shadows. The sound of foot steps on the metallic floor caught Tyler's attention and he raised his head to see who it was.

"Hello Zero Four Four," The on comer said in a voice that had an deep Welsh accent. The person tapped some sort of baton or cane leisurely on their shoe. "It's cold in here isn't it?"

Shivering, Tyler shook his head no.

"Hmph. I see you still have some defiance within you, Zero Four Four," the person said, then leaned in closely so Tyler could get a good look.

The person was an older man with neatly cut silvery hair, gold rimmed glasses, and dark eyes behind the lenses.

"Wh-what do y-you want with-th me?" Tyler asked.

The man stepped back and laughed. "It's simple. I am here to make you a highly skilled assassin that can take a beating before he succumbs. I am here to make you extraordinary in every way. You be able to single handedly fight a battalion of soldiers and infiltrate even the most secure of locations. And that will happen all before you turn eighteen. Once you become an adult, your power will be limitless, Tyler. You are truly unique in every way."

Tyler had never heard someone call him by his actual name. Anyone who addressed him called him by his designation number.

"B-but I d-don't want to f-fight," Tyler quietly said.

The man scoffed, then grabbed his cane and swung it hard. The metal stick impacted into Tyler ribs and his dangling body swayed violently. Tyler yelled in pain as throbbing seemed to vibrate throughout his body, with the epicenter being in his ribs. The force of the blow caused him to cough up blood that trickled from the corners of his mouth. Tyler hung his head, opened his mouth, and let the flow of blood stream down to the floor. His breathing became labored, but he knew that nothing was broken. His skeletal structure was coated with a special polymer that make them virtually unbreakable.

"You don't want to fight, eh? You don't have a choice, Zero Four Four. I built you. You're nothing more than my own toy. If you won't do what you're ordered to, then I will erase you and start over. I, Doctor Jean-Luc Dupont, can kill you, boy."

Just then, something boiled within Tyler. Tyler tilted his eyes up, focusing them on the man. A surge of rage began to brew and with all of his strength, Tyler tugged on the tethers, stretching them to nearly the breaking point. "Maybe you can get rid of me, but all I know is that if I die, you're coming with me so you can't do this ever again!"

Dr. Dupont pressed a button on his cane and a surge of electricity charged the tethers and sent five thousand volts into Tyler body. Blue sparks encompassed Tyler body, but whatever was driving him was alowing him to withstand the voltage. Dupont pressed the button again, upping the voltage.

"I. Will. Stop. You." Tyler said through gritted teeth. "I. Will. Survive. I Will..."

Before he could finish, Tyler passed out and dangled lifeless.

Dr. Dupont hit another button on his cane. "You'll never stop me, Zero Four Four. But apparently I have trained you better than I thought."

"Tyler? Tyler!" Eddie yelled. "You alright, man?"

Tyler blinked quickly and noticed both Ben and Eddie staring at him with strange looks.

"Uh, yeah. I'm good." Tyler said, coming back to reality.

"You sure? You look like you saw a ghost or something," Ben added in, noticing that the far off look was all to familiar since Ben was, like Raven, a psychic.

"Yeah. Must've been daydreaming I guess." Tyler responded.

"Well, okay. I'm gonna go find Chelse. See you guys in a bit," Ben noted and walked off in search of his girlfriend.

"Well, hey, we're all gonna go to the Chill Grill pretty soon. You down?" Eddie asked Tyler. "Rae's dad owns it."

Tyler thought for a moment. Mom was gone on a business trip to Vancouver, B.C. and it would be nice to hang with some people. "Sounds cool, man."

"Alright then my brotha'. Lets bounce."

Raven shook her head as she emerged from another vision. "Whoa," she whispered as a few kids who were still at school on that cloudy Friday afternoon started to head out.

"Rae, did you have another vision?" Chelsea asked with some concern in her voice.

Raven furrowed her brow. She did have a vision, but it was something from the past, and it had nothing to do with her.

"Yeah, Chelse. But it wasn't like one of my normal visions where–"

"We get into some mischief?" Chelsea asked.

Raven cocked her eyebrow. "We don't get into mischief. And who in the heck uses that word anyway? We don't do anything that any normal teenager wouldn't do."

"Uh, Rae? I don't really know any others who constantly pose as someone else or do strange things just to change the future even though your visions usually happen exactly as you see them anyway."

"Uh, anyway, Chelse. My vision was of something in the past." Raven said. "But nothing in our past. It was of Tyler."

Chelsea's face seemed to light up. "What was it about?"

Raven shrugged. "I dunno. It was him as a little kid and it looked like he was in trouble. But that was all I saw. And girl, when I mentioned Tyler, your face lit up like a light bulb."

"It did not. I'm just bright." Chelsea explained, though Raven didn't buy any of it.

"Girl, you ain't bright.. I-I mean, you're bright, but not the way you, you know what I mean." Raven corrected. "Besides, you're with Ben."

"I know, and he's great and all." Chelsea meekly said. "But things seem like they're changing. Back when I kissed him when Ranye Bow came to our school, he was so sweet and I gave him some art and poems, just things to show I loved him and he'd do the same. Now, though, we don't really do that anymore."

After spending some time with his new friends at the restaurant that Raven's father owned, Tyler, along with Jennifer made their way home. High above the Friday evening San Francisco sky, ominous clouds rolled and boiled as a storm was beginning to brew. Off in the distance, a crack of thunder roared, dwarfing all of the sounds of the evening rush of autos and people. Large raindrops began to fall from the sky and within moments, everything was drenched.

Soon, Tyler and Jennifer made it to his house. Tyler opened the door to his room–the garage door–and the two walked in, shutting the door behind them.

"Hey Tyler?" Jennifer began as she tossed her backpack and jacket to the floor. "You like Chelsea, don't you?"

Where did that come from? He wondered, but Jennifer continued. "I know you do and don't try to deny it. I saw how your eyes lit up when she talked back at the restaurant and when I first introduced you to her.

"I've known you for a while and it's as clear as day that you like her. A lot."

Tyler slumped his shoulders. He thought he did a pretty good job at hiding certain feelings, but it obviously wasn't good enough. "Well, it's not like I could... you know... ever be with her. She's with Ben."

"True. But they're not married are they?"

Tyler cocked his eyebrow, wondering where she was going with this.

"Not too long ago, Chelly told me that things between her and Ben were"–Jennifer searched for the right word–"iffy. And you and Chelly would make a cute couple.

"Well, I'm gonna head on home. Talk to you later."

Tyler opened the door and walked her outside to the middle of the street. Just as quickly as the rain had started, it had stopped leaving the environment with that fresh smell that reminded the two of back home in Seattle. Suddenly, Tyler felt something, like static charging along his skin.

"Jay? Hang on. Something doesn't feel... right." Tyler quietly said.

Besides his mom, Jennifer was the only other person he had told about his true background. And she knew that when he said something was odd, it more often then naught was. Then, she too began to feel strange, as if a charge was materializing causing the fine hairs on her body to stand on end.

High above them, clouds swirled and roiled. Tyler looked up and noticed that the swirling was happening directly above Jennifer and him. Just then, bolts of lightning energized and shot from the epicenter of the swirling clouds. Before Tyler could react, even blink an eye, he and his best friend were engulfed within the energy, leaving no trace behind as the lightning bolt winked out of existence.

"Tyler? What the hell just happened?" Jennifer asked. "And where the hell are we?"

"Got me, Jay," Tyler noted.

The two examined their surroundings, only to find that there was nothing to examine. All they could see was wispy fog at their feet and more fog surrounding them. The floor, if that's what it could be determined, seemed solid since they were standing.

"Well," Tyler said after a quiet moment, "are we dead or something?"

"Quite the contrary," a rumbling voice, as low as thunder, boomed.

"You said you wanted to see what I did before we met, right Jay?"

Jennifer nodded her head nervously.

"Well keep your eyes open, stay behind me, and you'll get a first hand look see." Tyler whispered. He then went into a martial arts ready position and yelled, "Show yourself!"

"Your caution is noted, Tyler McGinnis and Jennifer Wallace, but you are in no danger." The voice rumbled.

Jennifer trembled and she knew Tyler was scared too, yet somehow he wasn't outwardly showing it.

"Who are you?" she asked, trying to feed off some of the courage Tyler was showing.

"Who am I? I am Magnus, keeper of the Sacred Powers of the Universe. You have been selected to receive these powers to protect your world."

Tyler stood straight and stoic, and Jennifer took up position next to him. "Seriously," Jennifer huffed, "this has to be some kind of joke or something. Sacred Powers of the Universe? What kind of crap is this?"

"Your suspicion is valid, young Wallace. However, this is not the crap you speak of." The voice thundered.

"Cloud man's right, Jay. I've been through some mess in my life and for some reason, I believe the guy. Maybe I'm losin' it, but I believe him." Tyler mused, then asked. "Why us?"

There was no answer. Instead, a mahogany colored pedestal rose from the "floor" before the two. On the pedestal sat two odd, but beautiful stones, one with a shiny black luster etched with platinum. The other stone was a brilliant cerulean blue marbleized with lines of red and gold.

"You know what?" Jennifer exclaimed. "This is crazy. This like some freaky Matrix crap. I'd very much like to leave."

Tyler shot her a look. He understood where she was coming from. In fact, something in his mind was telling him that this was all pointless, just a dream. But his heart told him that everything here was very real. And his mom always said that he should follow his heart, not to mention that all those corny Disney movies that he watched when he was younger had the same message.

"Very well young Wallace. You are granted to leave," Magnus finally said.

"Good," she snapped. "Is there some kind of pill or something I gotta do?"

"No." The voice responded and with that, Jennifer disappeared.

"What did you do with her?" Tyler demanded.

"Fear not. She is fine and back in your realm." Magnus said. "Getting back to the matter, because young Wallace opted not to take her Stone of Serenity, you will have to take both stones. Or, you can opt to leave, like your friend chose to."

Tyler took a deep breath and reached his hand out to the two stones. As soon as he extended his hand, the two stones began to glow, responding to Tyler in a way he couldn't understand. Yet, somehow he felt as if a great power was beginning to manifest within. Soon, a surge went though him and he blacked out.

"And now, young McGinnis. You are Magna Man." Magnus said.