The Wizard and the Void - Chapter Twenty-Seven

Author: Milady Dragon

The Quorum House was in Gateway – because of course it was, since that was where pretty much everything regarding magic began when magic had returned to the world – and Pepper had always thought the building extremely gauche. It had once been the original Baronial residence, dating back from the rebuilding of the city, but that first Baron, Dafydd Jones, had given up the place almost immediately, moving into the Wizard's Tower; he'd been a Cardinal Wizard, and the current Grand Master's cousin who had died without family and had named Ianto's daughter his heir. Eirlys had managed to gain her own heirs the old-fashioned way, by getting married and carrying them herself.

Unlike her fathers, who'd used magic to conceive. Eirlys was the first and only child born of two men in the entire world.

The residence had been remodeled to include the large chamber where the Wizards of all three Orders met. The entire Quorum wasn't often called, but this was an issue that needed a consensus. It was a risk airing Hydra's plot out to everyone who could be gathered at such short notice, simply because they still didn't know if anyone else was involved, but they needed to move quickly in getting Pierce and Malick replaced. The Void Order couldn't remain leaderless for long.

The meeting chamber took up the entire rear of the House. It had been built to resemble a traditional amphitheater, rows of benches rising up around a central dais where three seats had been placed, one for each Grand Master. It was all marble and gold and truly hideous…and she lived with Tony Stark, so she knew the meaning of the word. This honestly put anything Tony had in his own home to shame.

Pepper made her way down toward the front of the chamber, where the benches for the various Heads of Order would sit. There were six benches, one for each region of the world, the seats for the Western Lands to the right of the ones for the United Kingdom, which now included the Kingdom of Albion now that they'd accepted magic after several decades of bloody purges.

To the left were the benches for the Eastern Empires. Pepper had never been there, but she was on a first-name basis with the Heads of Order, as she was with the rest, and she quite liked them. But then, Pepper did try to get along with everyone, until they proved to be idiots.

She wasn't always disappointed, but it did happen.

Radiating outward from the six benches were the seats for the Masters and, in descending order of education, beyond those were the newly-minted junior Masters, and finally the Novices. The Novices were just a rank higher from regular students, having been chosen by a teaching Master for more advanced lessons, and didn't get any sort of vote in the Quorum even though they were always required to attend. Ostensibly it was to prepare them for the time when they would be a part of the process. Regular students, of course, did not attend, as they were considered too immature. Pepper could absolutely agree. Sometimes it was hard enough to get the Novices to cooperate. If students were involved nothing would ever get done.

As her eyes scanned the crowd she could see Novices Jemma and Leo, in a group with Daisy and two other young men; Pepper recognized them as Antoine Triplett and Lincoln Campbell. She couldn't help but smile, as this was the perfect example of all three Orders getting along. Hopefully, someday, that would be the norm instead of the exception.

Dragons didn't often come to the Quorum, as the less-well trained ones tended to be a distraction. Which was why there was a single large room connecting to the hallway outside the chamber for the obligatory dragon piles, where the familiars could wait in comfort while their Wizards were busy being pedantic, which was an excellent way to describe their meetings. Pepper always thought that was just adorable, but necessary. Dragons did tend to get bored, so giving them their own place was only the smart thing to do. There were also times when a Wizard would get…overwrought, as it were, and the dragon would break into the chamber in their defense, but that was pretty unusual.

A single chime sounded within the chamber, signaling the beginning of the Quorum. People starting filing toward their seats. Mistress Maria joined her, face stern and unyielding, and Pepper knew she wasn't at all happy with what was going to happen today.

She just didn't understand the Great Wizard's hostility toward Phil. Alright, that wasn't exactly true, because she was very much aware of Phil's past misdeeds. But he'd proven himself, at least in everyone else's eyes, so Pepper wasn't at all sure why Mistress Maria was holding out. It had most likely to do with her beliefs about Voids and Cardinals, and the fact that there didn't seem to be any consequences for what the Dark One had done. Why didn't she understand that Phil had been punishing himself all these years since he'd reformed?

And why couldn't Mistress Maria grasp that what was going on with Phil now was also a form of punishment?

If what everyone thought was true, then Phil was about to live forever, and he hadn't done anything to cause it. The Void had chosen him for some sort of reason…and Pepper suspected it was because of those very early misdeeds that the magic was also punishing him. He'd been killed, and then sent back by the Void, and now he was being forced into becoming the balance to Ianto. However, while Ianto had someone to be with for his eternity, Phil would lose everyone. Even Clint, eventually, although the Elf would live a lot longer than a human. Daisy would be gone as well, and Phil would lose the daughter he loved more than anything.

It wasn't fair.

But it was what the universe had decreed for him.

And Pepper would try to be the best friend she could.

Once everyone was settled, Ianto and Stephen made their appearance. Stephen took the center chair on the dais, while Ianto took the one on the right; the left-hand one remained empty, and would until a new Grand Master of Voids was appointed.

She really, really hoped it was going to be Phil on that seat.

Stephen called the Quorum to order. "I'm sure by now," he began, his voice carrying to every corner of the chamber, the acoustics in the hall perfectly balanced, "you've heard the rumors swirling around about Grand Master Alexander Pierce and Master Gideon Malick. As you can see," he waved toward the empty seat next to him, and then toward Pepper and Mistress Maria, "both men are conspicuous by their absence. We have called this Quorum to set the record straight. Both Grand Master Ianto and myself have been aware of what was happening almost from the beginning, and will call on the help of witnesses throughout these proceedings. We will have them speak, then we will accept any questions you may have."

There was a soft murmur throughout the room, as Stephen rose from his chair. "I would like to invite our first witness to come forward."

Pepper knew that would be Phil, even before the Wizard appeared in her peripheral vision. He was dressed somberly, with black overtunic and trousers, and a deep blue undertunic that had silver embroidery at cuffs and high collar. She could recognize the runes within the filigree, which meant there was magic woven within the threads…but then, that would have been expected in a higher-level Wizard of any order.

His face was calm, and he bowed to Stephen formally, coming to stand just a single step down from the Great Wizard. He turned, facing the crowd, and anyone not familiar with him would have thought he was perfectly collected standing there. Pepper knew better, though; knew that he was unsettled by the attention by the twitching of his fingers, and what reaction he was going to get from what he was about to say.

"For the record," Stephen said, "please state your name and affiliation."

"Phillip Coulson. Master Wizard, Void Order."

"Thank you, Master Phillip. Please, start at the beginning."

Phil's words were composed and measured as he explained being approached by John Garrett about joining the cabal known as Hydra. He very carefully left out the threat of blackmail over his past; Pepper knew that it had been decided between Phil and the two Grand Masters to leave the Dark One out of it for now. They were hoping it wouldn't come up, but Pepper doubted they would be so lucky, especially when Ianto and Stephen put Phil up for the vacant Grand Master seat. At the very least, they were expecting Mistress Maria to speak up. After all, she'd made her opinion perfectly clear. And if not her, then there was the very real possibility that Pierce still had someone within the Quorum, and that he would have instructed that person to spill Phil's secrets if something ever happened.

When he got to the part where Garrett revealed their plan, the uproar echoed around Pepper like a storm front; up until that moment, it had been so silent a pin dropping could have been heard, as the gathering listened, rapt, to Phil's story. The Void Wizard, back straight, stood and waited for the noise to die back down, and then he continued.

Pepper had heard it before, but it still struck her painfully. That these Wizards could have done what they had, in an attempt to do the impossible, it would have bordered on the absurd if it wasn't for the horror of it all. The steady tone of Phil's words somehow made it worse, if that was possible.

There was another roar of outrage when Phil named the Void Wizards involved, as well as their Novices. They had to have friends among the gathered Wizards, and the shock of knowing that there were those among them that would have concocted such a plan, it didn't seem real.

He described the struggle, and Novice Raina's hypnotic voice, and then the Vibranium chain that had killed him. Only then did his voice falter, because he was admitting that he'd died…and yet, he was standing there, explaining events, and Pepper was quite surprised there wasn't yet another outburst from the other Wizards when he spoke of dying, and then coming back to life, explaining the Void and that it had been the one to send him back. That the Void had done what those rogue Wizards had not – although it wasn't a Void version of the Deathless it had created.

It was a Void counterpart to Grand Master Ianto.

Perhaps it was because each and every one of the people in this chamber had been raised with the balance. It was the primary lesson given to everyone, but to a Wizard it wasn't just an abstract; it was a very real thing. They lived and died by the balance between Void and Cardinal, the Greats balancing the two other Orders as if dancing on the edge of a two-headed coin, with one head the light and the other the dark. Life and Death. It was a part of their lives, as a Wizard.

It was what had caused the Great Order to believe themselves just that much better than the other orders. It didn't help that they outnumbered the Voids and Cardinals two to one.

Phil finished the story with the closing of the Void Point, and the reason it had been necessary. He left out finding Sir Steven within the Void, simply because none of them had any idea what that actually meant as yet, and even if the Paladin would wake up. Tony had called in someone to help but, while Doctor Bruce Banner was a gifted physician and magical theorist, the Cardinal Wizard wasn't sure that was what was needed. Pepper thought they needed someone with knowledge of the Void…like Phil. However, this hadn't been the time to burden her friend with just one more thing. He had enough to deal with.

There was a hushed murmur through the Quorum, this time Pepper was certain it was more from the Voids than the other orders. What Phil had just claimed meant that he was literally the most powerful Wizard of the Voids, and it wasn't because he'd somehow been chosen to become immortal; it was because he had that power, to control the Void so completely that he could affect a Void Point to the extreme of closing the crack in the walls of the world forever. No one else could do that. It was a challenge to the others of Void Order that they couldn't possibly meet. It was a sound of awe and jealousy and wonder. And it had been accomplished by a man no one had really ever given a second glance at, because Phil hadn't wanted anyone to notice him, to even consider him as someone important.

Those days were over now.

When the story was complete, the silence in the room was nearly stifling. Stephen once again stood, thanked Phil for his service, and then dismissed him. It was a sign that everyone's shock was total in that no one attempted to stop him from going back to his seat by demanding answers to the questions Pepper knew they had to have. She could pretty much guarantee that, once that shock was over, the questions would come.

One by one, witnesses came forward to tell their stories. Baron Nicholas was next, recounting how Phil had contacted him immediately after Garrett had left, to inform him of Hydra, and of his actions afterward. Clint testified to his part in events; Natasha did not, but then she was still out there, trying to find leads to the missing Hydra cabal members.

Then, Daisy stood in front of the Quorum.

She seemed to have learned her composure from her father, but that didn't mean she wasn't emotional. She described being kidnapped, awakening with her magic suppressed by the power of the Void Point. She talked about her escape, naming the Winter Knight as the one who was her guard after that attempt. When she got to the point where she'd seen her Dad, dead, that was when she lost whatever control she had, tears running down her face. Pepper stood and passed over a handkerchief, which the young woman accepted gratefully, wiping her eyes.

Daisy finished with the Void Point and the teleport back to the Keep. This time it was Ianto who did the thanking, dismissing her from testifying.

With her leaving the dais, Ianto stood, his turn to address the Quorum. They'd decided that Pepper wouldn't testify, mainly because she'd seen much of what the others had reported, and if anyone had questions about her involvement they would be answered once the Grand Masters called for any.

"You have heard the witnesses," the Grand Cardinal Wizard said. "Does anyone have something they would like to ask them, to clarify their evidence for you?"

There were no questions. Really, there couldn't be any, not about the case at least. The evidence was incontrovertible.

"We seem to have a rot within our ranks," his soft accent making his words sound even more grave than they normally would have. "This cabal attempted to do something that they had no right to: to create something that only the universe could create. With that goal in mind, they attempted to coerce one of our most powerful members into doing their bidding by kidnapping his daughter. They managed to murder him using a metal that has been banned in every country in the world. It had the effect of proving that the balance has already been corrected, but it could have ended so much worse. These are deeds we cannot ignore. I hereby call the vote to expel those members of the Wizard Orders who have become Hydra and to join forces to bring them to justice."

Stephen stood.

Pepper was on her feet before she could even register it, but then her vote had really been a foregone conclusion.

In the end, there was only one way the vote could have gone.