It was right before the arrival that Jason felt something amiss. The flow of prana was disturbed in the transfer sequence, snatching two more strays on the way, so to speak. They were certainly deliberate and latched themselves on Saber, the others too felt it. So the second they arrived at the destination, everyone but Saber and Berserker leveled their weapons at the two intruders.
The weeping intruders against Saber that were. One of them was a small boy; another was a woman with a pair of translucent wings.
"Mordred! Oh, Mordred…...!"
The horned helm of Saber was dissembled and became a part of his body armor, revealing a young man with shaggy blond hair and refreshing green eyes. He put his arms around the intruders, bewildered.
"Mo, mother? Modron? How…?"
Sheathing his own sword, Jason waved his left hand for others to follow his semi-relaxation. Archer clicked his tongue and closed the golden gates. Lancer and Caster dispersed their Noble Phantasm, Rider and Assassin stayed their hands for now.
*CLAP!*
Jason readied the offensive magic in the temple by clapping instead. Surprised at the torrent of prana and sound, the woman and boyish girl(and yes, Jason knew Modron was a feminine name) turned around to face him. The whole place hummed in the subtle murderous intent, macabre air crawling up on their flesh. In reality, their souls would be decomposed by curse into oblivion that was the random number particles and leave their body to be his research subjects if they tried ever so much to harm him or his allies directly or indirectly.
"Lady Morgan le Fay, I assume." said Jason lifting a daring eyebrow.
Morgan gave him a courteous bow.
"Aye. I apologize for the rude entrance and greet you, O' magician of the third truth. I am Morgan le Fay, a disgraced owner of the British Isle and mother of your Saber."
She wore a golden mask. her hair was braided like a gache. So Jason could not see her face, but he read the strained tension from her posture. The grace she had about her was not able to stay hidden when she moved even with her violet robe and golden breastplate on the robe. Her prana was of fairies', it made her wings when she did not hide it deliberately.
When she said herself to be disgraced, she didn't seem to feel indignation or suppress it. She seemed… resigned and grieving at the same time, it puzzled him. It was strange to see her like that. It was, after all, Morgan le Fay, the witch who was believed to give birth to Mordred as a tool to dethrone King Arthur. But there was no hidden ferocity or insidiousness. Revelation was quiet, too.
"And this is my daughter and second child, Mordron. She disguised herself as a boy to hide her sex and took her brother's name for safeguarding her true name."
Mordron bowed to Jason.
"Salutation, milord. I thank you for bringing my big brother back even though it was not to benefit us."
The girl's hair had same shade of blond of Mordred. Her tunic and pants were violet like her mother's robe. Her bow was as courteous as mother's, her gratitude was surprisingly genuine as well. It almost made Jason dumbfounded. Almost. He did not forget they were trespassers.
"I can't say I welcome you yet, ladies, but I greet you as the master of this humble abode. I am Jason Atlasia. Now, what intention do you harbor for the trespassing?"
Morgan swallowed hard. She knew she would meet a horrible end along with her daughter if she spoke a wrong word. This place, the temple, was the death trap and fortress, even as it was an unfinished work. His son would not be able to help, for Ruler kept watch on his movement. She could feel it, one wrong move before a sure doom.
Her Marble Phantasm as a fay was too feeble to overlap an unfinished work which seemed to be the half cooked Reality Marble. Who would have known it was possible? Hell, Merlin himself wouldn't believe it unless he saw it himself. Either Atlasia was a powerful mage, or he was a higher being who was developing a Marble Phantasm.
"I assure you we have no ill will. Neither we had intention to trespass on your temple in the first place."
"Mother and I just wanted to meet my brother again. We only follow his soul, the soul that is of the white dragon with tender heart." added Mordron.
Without any indication of what he thought of them, Jason's brain collected any sign of falsehood from the signal the bound field sent: Their breath, heartbeat, Od pulse, Mana resonance and spiritron wavelength of which Laplace was monitoring. It did not take even a nanosecond to conclude they were not lying. It was not Jason they came after, it was Saber. He berated himself after 0.2 seconds of reflection on the careless Zero Sail that lacked basic measure to prevent any interruption or disturbance. He had become lax in the cautious principle. It was unbecoming of an alchemist. Even as a former Robin, he should have known better.
"I see." nodded Jason, "For that I will not punish you, but you are to be confined in the one of guest rooms for now. Laplace will monitor you. After we finish our business, I and Saber will come for you and we will talk. You can stay with Saber after the talk if you answer my questions, or you can leave after some time to catch up with him. Do you accept it?"
"Oh, of course, we accept. I appreciate it." widened her eyes under the mask, Morgan nodded.
"Thank you, milord! How generous of you!" Mordron raised the head, face brightened at that.
Indeed, it was a quite generous offer compared to the general reaction for trespassing the workshop from a magus. They could thank the Batman for his morality.
Jason sent them to a room as he had said with a flick of a finger. One moment they were there, the next they were gone.
He turned around to face heroes.
"Sorry for the delay, everyone. As you heard, I am Jason Makarov Todd Atlasia. I called out for heroes to help me out for emergency of Human Order. Thank you for answering my call, otherwise I'm afraid I can not handle the upcoming storm. But don't be too stiff for the said emergency either. It is rare opportunity to experience the modern era after all. If the world at large were not concern of my family, neither I would be so pressing for greater good of the world. As it is, though there will be some ground rules for our discretion. But rules can wait for now. I would like to know you, befriend you and vice versa."
"Hoh, you are not as dull as we thought. You realize and acknowledge your family, a handful of trivial strangers, is more significant for you than the world. What a pitiful hero you are." smirked Archer crossing his arms, "Be grateful for gracing you with our presence, none other than the king of heroes, Gilgamesh, to guide you through this uphill."
"Of course, Your Majesty." bowed Jason with smile on his face, for he knew Archer was not belittling him. He felt no scorn from the golden king, but slight approval underneath the unsaid remark: 'Then again all humans are just as pathetic.'
Clearing his throat, Saber came forward.
"As you already know, I am Mordred. I know I am infamous for my treason, but it was not all about me." He beat his cuirass with the right hand, "I will prove you, my master, that I am a knight with honor."
"Of that, I have the faith in you as my Servant." nodded Jason, "How history was written for whom by who and all that jazz aside, I pegged you as more complicated case. But since I am raised to be a paranoid son of a bitch, you have to try and maintain the trust we are to build."
Recognizing the chance and warning Jason offered, Saber smiled.
Lancer stepped aside and stood next Saber.
"The name's Cú Chulainn. I'm not picky about order I obey but," he smiled a feral smile, "the harsher the battle is, the merrier."
"Oh, that's a relief." Jason mirrored his smile, "I won't need to find the battlefield for you because powerful enemies will find and challenge us."
"Hah, good then! I'm glad to come."
Suddenly there was Caster who linked her arm in Jason's.
"And here is your good wife, Tamamo no Mae! Nice to meet you, master(hubby)!"
Taken aback by her forwardness, Jason drew back a bit. He couldn't go far because of their linked arms.
"Uh, yes, nice to meet you too…?"
He frowned a little.
'I swear, for a moment, I heard her call me 'hubby'. Have I misheard her?'
Assassin came forward out of nowhere and separated her from Jason.
"That is enough, Magus. Thy display of affection is botherende Contractor."
He dragged the struggling, whining Caster away from Jason effortlessly.
"Ooooohhh, why? How? I am a Caster! I'm supposed to be strong against Assassins!"
Lancer chuckled at her antics.
Jason glanced at him with the raised eyebrows.
"Is she right? Are Casters supposed to be strong against Assassins?"
"Nope." it was Rider who answered, "That lass is exaggerating. Sure, Casters are generally good at detecting Assassins, but that's more matter of who against whom."
He applied a match to his pipe tobacco.
"'Lass' my ass. You are not a Scottish, Rider." snorted Jason.
Smirking Rider blew smoke rings.
"Ah, so you know who I am!"
"There are fucking portraits, you know. And your redcoat with flintlock guns is a dead giveaway, Sir Francis Drake."
"Hehehe. Not bad, kid, not bat at all." Drake grinned at Jason, holding the pipe between the teeth, "When you need works that's too dirty for other worshipful heroes done, bring them to me and consider it done."
Jason looked sharply at him. Rider's grin now had a sharp edge with crooked, knowing glints.
After moments, Jason nodded with a solemn gratitude.
"And that is the Assassin at the Boundary and messenger of the will of Heavens from the pit of the deep valley." Ruler introduced Assassin to Jason in his stead, "He is Hassan-i Sabbah himself."
"That's strange." frowned Jason, "He called himself 'The Old Man of the Mountain' when he was summoned, but The Old Man of the Mountain I know is not Hassan-i Sabbah. It's Rashid ad-Din Sinan."
"You can tell he is truthful however, right?" Ruler smiled faintly.
"Yes, and it gall me to no end." crossing his arms, he frowned more heavily. "I get the feeling whatever prompts me to call you out is in part of his history, not to mention the Order Crisis with Alaya sanctioned red alert."
He sighed.
"Anyway, what about Berserker? I can not discern his true name."
She cringed.
"Sorry, master, I can not see it, too. It seems he has a Noble Phantasm to conceal his identity."
"No need to be sorry about it." shrugged Jason, "It just means we will have a hidden edge against enemies. Berserker, put away your concealing Noble Phantasm for moments."
Berserker did as he was told by dispersing the black mist.
"Oh my, he, he is…..." Ruler breathed in shock, covering her mouth with the hands, "He is Lancelot du lac. Why dose someone like him become a Berserker?"
"What?!" Mordred cried out in disbelieving horror. "What did you say? Lancelot? Did you just call 'Berserker' Lancelot!?"
Saber run up to Berserker, almost shoving past Rider. When he stood right in front of Berserker and removed Berserker's helm, the horror on his face bled to loathing and sorrow.
"Fuck…... It really is you…..."
Saber squeezed his eyes shut, and their was fire of righteous fury in there when he opened them again.
"Oh, why? Why are always you that pay the price of their heartless deed? You don't deserve it! You don't have to suffer in their stead! Damn it, it was not even your fault in the first place!"
Right then and there, looking at Berserker with unseeing eyes and Saber in grieving rage, Jason knew there were severely wrong in the picture, the fatal error in the written legends, histories and even in the mythos. Alaya sanctioned red alert, indeed.
[Postscript]
Wow, what happened? There was big increase in fav, fel and re. Thanks so much for response!
You are correct about who is who, I applaud you for the erudite knowledge about the Fate lore! Even though I will change some of heroes' stories(be that as it is of Servants or DC heroes) to fit the plot with the Multiverse theory, I endeavor to retain their characters and personalities. So I recommend to do not expect every one of things to be the same with canons.
Corny as shit, you said. Hmm, I admit it sounds Corny, but then again you missed the hint why Jason want to preserve the world. It was mixture of Atlasia's obsession for Magnum Opus and Jason's lingering love for his family. I already implied that Jason is not returned as Jason Peter Todd the dead Robin several times. Change of his true name was not just the change of one's label, it was change of the one's existence and presence. There was not only the appearance of spiritron pattern in Jason(Chapter 4), also fierce overworking on building workshop that was unlike him(Chapter 6).
And Gods in DC universe, they are Divine Spirits alright. Gods did not become Divine Spirits because of the deterioration of the Age of Gods. It was because of Sephyr Invasion in which Sephyr slaughtered Gods and was destroyed by the holy sword of the star(probably Excalibur). Fate/EXTELLA will help you to understand it. So, yeah, Gods in DC universe are Divine Spirits in this stroy.
As for Gaia, Gaia the Deterrent Force and Gaia the Goddess are two different entities. The way I see it, Gaia the Goddess is akin to Tiamat of Sumerian mythos.
Hmm, I hope these settled your doubts and questions. Enjoy your days!