A Bad Choice
When I filled out a CYOA out of boredom, I never expected a ROB to take that as an invitation and drop me in it. Oh god, I really should have picked something that made me harder to kill! To make matters worse, I wasn't just dropped in, oh no, now I have the god damn Nazi's chasing me for my powers!
And we're back. Before we begin, I'd like to be clear that, while I don't plan for any outright crossovers, having long learnt my lesson in that regard, I will be including nods to other series and playing around with the concepts of alternative worlds and the connections between said worlds. What do I mean by that? Well, you'll have to wait and see! Until then, enjoy!
Chapter 5
I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden sound and nearly blasted the source with a blast of fire. However, before I could, my brain caught up with what was stood before me and stalled, the fireball in my hand going out in the process. They were small, with light gray skin, batlike ears and tennis ball sized eyes. One was apparently female, with a tomato sized nose and brown eyes, while the other was male, with green eyes and a thin, pencil-like nose. Both were wearing clean tea towels worn like togas in the same colours as my costume and stamped with the Elemental circle surrounded by stars.
"Em…wut?"
"Welcome Master Theo!" said the two House Elves with a bow and a curtsy.
It was at that point that I realized I was stood with my arm up as if to blast them, although now I just looked like an idiot. I quickly put my arm down and shook my head violently. The I pinched myself and double checked my Occlumency. Nope, the House Elves were still there. At the risk of repeating myself, em…wut?!
"Um, at the risk of sounding stupid, you two are House Elves, right?" I asked, my brain still not having properly rebooted.
Both elves nodded, their ears flapping.
"Dobby and Winky are House Elves," said the male, "We'ze been given to Master Theo by Lady ROB. Lady ROB said it was to good a chance to miss."
I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. Of course, what other reason could there be for House Elves to put in an appearance than because the ROB found it funny? Its what I'd do if I was writing this story after all.
"I see," I said, "So, is it just you two or…?"
"House Elves be assigned to all of Master Theo's properties," said Dobby, "But Dobby and Winky are Masters main Elveses."
I blinked as the image of me unleashing an army of House Elves on the world momentarily floated into my mind before I quickly banished it.
"Riiiight," I said slowly, "So, I take it that you two are fully capable of following my orders then?"
My answer was a rapid head nod from both.
"Alright," I said again, my mind already spinning as I put things together and altered my plans, "Dobby, your job is to get Canary's triil and the bullshit surrounding it blown up and preventing her from getting railroaded. I don't care how you do it, but she WILL NOT get Caged. If she does, get her out and take her to one of my properties out of the country. I would prefer that not happen though, so do everything you can to get hre either declared innocent or, better yet, the case thrown out. Can you do that?"
"Yes Master!" said Dobby and vanished with a pop.
I pushed away the thought that I'd just signed some poor schmucks death warrant for their sanity in favour of turning to Winky.
"Winky, your jobs a bit easier, so feel free to help Dobby if he needs it and keep up your normal tasks. I need you to keep an eye on Dinah Alcott. When Coil makes his play for her, you are to keep her safe, no matter what. If possible try to do it in such a way that he can't simply get rid of the timeline."
"Yes Master," she said and vanished as well.
Doing my best to avoid imagining Coil being brained with a frying pan (and no, I don't know why that image came to mind) in favour of exploring the house. It was decently large, with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large sitting room, a dining room and a large and fully stocked kitchen. It didn't take me long to figure out that water and gas would be provided by runes, so they weren't connected, although we would still need electricity. It was certainly a lot nicer than our flat and even had a large basement I could turn into a lab or training room if needed. As expected for a place named after Ravenclaw, it was done in blues and bronzes.
Exploration done, I headed back to the main hall and Apperated back to my bedroom.
"I'm home!" I called as I walked out of my room...only to find Kayden boxing up stuff in the kitchen, "Um…"
"Hey Theo, did you have a good day?" she asked.
I nodded.
"Yep, beat up some Nazis and met the Dallon sisters," I said, "What are you doing?"
"Packing," said Kayden, "Your right about this place not being safe."
I tilted my head on one side and raised an eyebrow.
"Some of Max's goons have been sniffing around the building," said Kayden, "And I've done some research. Apparently, this building is owned by a company I know for a fact is a front for the E88 which, thinking about it, makes sense considering it was Max who got this place for me when he was trying to keep me sweet."
I nodded.
"Fair enough," I said, "But let me deal with the packing."
Kayden frowned.
"Why? What are you planning?" she asked.
"Well, lets just say I've got more help than I thought," I said, "Winky?"
CRACK!
"Master Theo called Winky?" asked the little Elf as Kayden nearly jumped out of her skin at her sudden appearance.
"I need you to pack up all our stuff," I said.
Winky nodded and snapped her fingers. She vanished, and everything started vanishing and neatly packed into boxes that popped into existence.
"Theo…"
"Shes a House Elf," I said, "Apparently, my powers come with a lot more baggage than I thought."
"Shes a Master construct?" asked Kayden carefully.
I paused.
"Lets go with yes for now," I said, "I'll give you some books that'll do a better job than I could later. For now, all you need to know is that both Dobby and Winky are powerful Movers, Strangers and Shakers who basically look after my properties and act as servants."
Kayden took a deep breath.
"Alright, but why are they from Harry Potter?"
I tripped over the edge of the rug.
So apparently the Harry Potter books exist on Bet. They were one of many imports from Aleph and never really caught on over here. Oh, they had a cult following, but the adventures of Harry and his friends never caught the public's imagination like they had in my old world, or even Aleph. This...could make things weird.
Of course, it also made explaining some of my skills a lot easier, although there was no way in hell I was introducing myself as a Wizard, even if I did have more claim to the title than Myrridin. I think. For all I knew, he could actually be Har…NOPE, not finishing that thought! I would NOT tempt either Fate or the ROB to actually make that happen!
Anyway, with that done, Kayden headed downstairs to talk to the landlord about us moving out while I started stacking up the boxes. I could just have Winky pop them over or do it myself, but that would attract way to much attention. True, the Fidelius would keep anyone from fingering me as a Cape, but it still wasn't worth the risk.
Fortunately, the Landlord was a plump, cheery fellow who, while a little sad to see some of his residence move out on such short notice, was happy to call a van hire and help us bring our stuff down. Fortunately, we didn't actually have that much stuff packed as the house was already furnished, so we didn't bother taking any of the stuff from the apartment. Most of it was second hand and a little crap anyway.
Once we were all loaded up, we hopped into the van and drove off. As we did, I spotted a few young men with shaved heads watching us go. Guess that Max now knew we were headed somewhere out of his potential to control. Eh, that wasn't a problem.
We arrived back at Ravenclaw House in good time, attracting a fair amount of attention from the neighbours as we pulled up and started unloading. It was about that time that I realized that someone upstairs may have it out for me. Why? Well, our neighbours were the Dallons on one side and the Alcotts on the other. Well, at least that would make keeping an eye on Dinah easy for Winky!
It didn't take long for a curious looking Vicky to come floating over, followed by a slightly sullen looking Amy.
"Hi, are you moving in?" asked the beaming blonde.
"No, we're carrying boxes inside for fun," I drawled.
Vicky's grin faulted slightly.
"Oh, haha," she said, crossing her arms under her bust, "Just what we need, another smart ass. You'll get on great with Amy."
"Eh, I'm fine with that," said Amy with a shrug, "So, I'm sure you know who we are, might we know your name?"
I grinned and stuck out my hand, shifting the box in my hand onto one shoulder.
"Theo Anders," I said, "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," said Vicky, shaking my hand with a grin and nearly dislocating my shoulder, "Victoria Dallon. You can call me Vicky."
I only managed to keep from getting yanked of my feet with an application of Air and Earthbending to keep me grounded. Once she let me go, Amy stepped up, looking slightly annoyed. Actually, that seemed to be standard practice for her.
"Sorry about her," she said, "My sister doesnt know her own strength sometimes."
"Love you too sis," said Vicky, sticking her tongue out.
Amy rolled her eyes and shook my hand. As she did, I noticed for the first time that her eyes were a rather unusual shade of green, albeit darkened by tiredness and stress. I had to wonder what they looked like if she wasn't so worn down.
"Nice to meet you," she said.
I admit, I was a little curious as to what would happen when Amy touched me. I'm almost certain that she had to have got a good look on the roof the other day since I'd been in the recovery position when I'd come to and I'm almost certain she'd recognize my biology. The question was, would the Fidelius keep her from making the connection or would it count as me revealing the secret? Or would there be some bizarre interaction between her Shard and my Magic that would result in her head exploding or her undergoing a Second Trigger or something?
Fortunately, nothing particularly crazy happened and she just let my hand go and turned away
"So, do you need a hand?" asked Vicky.
"Not sure, let me ask," I said, "Kayden, do we need a hand?"
Kayden stuck her head out of the door and frowned slightly when she spotted the two heroines. It was a little amusing to think that a former villain now lived next door to a family of heroes. I'd have to make damn sure that everyone knew that Purity had turned over a new leaf as soon as possible.
"Sure, if they don't mind," she said, "I need to see to Aster anyway. Shes getting fussy."
"Right ho," I said.
I turned back to the sisters and jabbed a thumb at the van.
"Grab a box and bring it inside," I said "I'll sort out what goes where later."
"K!" said Vicky and grabbed two boxes from the back of the truck.
Boxes I knew were full of books and were heavy enough that I would have trouble lifting them without help from Magic. God damn Brutes.
With the extra help, it didn't take long to finish unloading the van and led to the rest of the Dallon clan emerging to see what was going on, which in turn led to Brandish and Purity having a polite conversation. It was...odd to say the least. Odd or not, so long as no one got blasted, I was fine with it.
The next couple of days were spent settling into Ravenclaw house and practicing potion brewing. Well, I practiced brewing potions, Kayden decided to head out on patrol and ended up blasting a number of E88 goons who thought it was a good idea to corner and try to beat up a black woman and her young son. Apparently, they had thought that Kaydens arrival was good for them, right before she reduced them all to quivering lumps of pain and left them hanging from a lamp post in a very public message that she was no longer affiliated with the E88 in any way. The PHO boards were currently going more than a little crazy over it and I imagine that the PRT and Empire weren't much better. Kaiser especially was probably spitting nails.
But that wasn't really what I was interested in, not when I had some things to get between brewing potions. I had no intention of allowing the PRT to paint me as a Villain if I ever clashed with them for whatever reason (read, Armsmaster being a dick), so I went out while waiting for one of my potions to finish simmering and bought some cameras that had been designed by Dragon and were basically indestructible gopros that could be mounted to a helmet. Mine was added to the side of my mask, hidden under my hood and a few Notice Me Not charms. I had no doubt I'd get plenty of awesome footage. Like seeing Lung getting the crap kicked out of him by a newby with a swarm of bugs.
Yep, I was currently holding position high above the Docks where I knew the ABB were meeting to deal with some upstarts thanks to a helpful goon I'd beaten up earlier. I didn't intend to step in to help Taylor since beating someone like Lung would only be useful for improving her confidence. Of course, if something changed and it looked like she'd get seriously hurt, I'd step in, but this fight was hers.
I'd already spotted her, lurking in the shadows with the help of my Dragon forms enhanced vision. I haven't used this power much since it wasn't really that helpful, despite being absurdly powerful. Honestly, the best useage for it was probably either stealth work or if I ever needed to completely wipe out an entire population. And yes, I know thats rather odd, but consider this. My Dragon form was stealthier than Imp at full power if I wanted to, yet could also transform the entirety of Brockton Bay into a frozen wasteland if I so desired, on top of being able to make everyone in the area deliriously happy as they froze to death, create illusions powerful enough to physically affect the victim and control the growth of plant life to the point that I could turn the city into an orchard, garden or rainforest as easily as I could freeze it. And that was before considering my explosive fairy dust. Apparently, the fact my forms Rank 9 wasn't simply the change itself, but rather every power within the form. I would never, ever tell anyone just how powerful my Dragon form was. If I did, I'd be nuked by some paranoid idiot.
Anyway, the fight going on below was mostly going the same as canon, with Taylor getting him in the eye with her pepper spray and then having her bugs bite Lung like crazy, which seemed to really piss him off. I frowned. My vision was currently better than an owls, but I couldn't see any sign of the Undersiders. If they didn't hurry up, Taylor was gonna…
My thoughts were cut of by a roar as Lung pounced at Taylor, fist drawn back to crush her.
"NO!" I shouted, twisting in the air to dive.
However, before I could, there was a loud CRACK and Lung went flying back with a flash of red light. I froze, eyes going wide. How did...that wasn't Taylors power! I might have thought that she'd Triggered with a different power somehow, but I hadn't taken that option, so the only things that could change was things that I changed. The Undersiders not showing up was one thing that could have changed because of me, but not Taylors power. Plus, she'd clearly been using her bug powers throughout the entire fight. I looked away from Lung, who was slowly shrinking back to Human form, apparently completely unconscious, and back to Taylor, who looked like she was gaping behind her mask. Hmm, thats interesting.
After a moment's thought, I shifted back to Human form, drew my wand and cast a quick diagnostic charm. It wasn't really meant to be used at a range like this, but it still worked fine. It certainly worked well enough to let me know that Lung had been Stunned. It was sloppy and overpowered to a ridiculous degree, to the point that he wouldn't be waking up at all for about a week without intervention, but Stunned nonetheless. I frowned and turned my wand on Taylor. The results I got back made my eyes widen in shock.
She not only had a Magical Core, but registered as a Half-blood to my spell. That meant that at least one of her Parents HAD to be capable of Magic. However, I knew that there wasn't a Magical world on Bet because the deeds and other information I had access to made it clear that, although Magic was present, there were no users. So, with that in mind, how could Taylor register as a Half-Blood? This bore investigating.
That would have to wait for now though as Armsmaster had just arrived. I smirked slightly as I reached into my pocket, pulling out a sheaf of black paper and another camera. A flex of my power shaped the paper into a bird with the camera hidden inside. It flew down and landed near Taylor in the perfect place to get the perfect video of Armsmaster convincing Taylor to give up the credit for Lungs defeat. It could come in handy in the future.
Thanks to its small size and colour, neither of the Capes below noticed it as they talked. It didn't take long for Armsmaster to send Taylor on her way. I recalled my construct and tucked the camera away.
"Alright, next job, talk to Taylor," I muttered.
I turned and flew down in the direction Taylor had gone, dropping into the alleyway she'd disappeared into. I dropped down behind her, making her jump and spin around, her eyes wide and visible thanks to her lack of mask.
"Whoo boy, this aint gonna end well," I muttered, "Whatever."
I sighed, before grinning and raising a hand.
"Yo, that was quite the impressive fight back there," I said, "Names Avatar. Nice to meet you!"
"I...what?" said Taylor, looking slightly taken aback.
"Your fight with Lung," I said, "Being able to beat him alone on any night is an impressive feat, let alone your first."
Taylor frowned.
"You were watching?" she asked.
"Only the last bit," I said, "I would have got involved, but you seemed to have it well in hand."
"Um, thank you?" she said, shifting awkwardly.
"So, what did Armsy want?" I asked, "He make the offer to join the Wards?"
Taylor winced slightly.
"Um, yes," she said.
"And I bet you turned him down, right?"
Taylor stared at me, before nodding slowly. I grinned.
"Good for you," I said, "Trust me, joining the Wards is probably the worst thing you could do if you actually want to be a Hero. Their so wrapped up in red tape, its a miracle that the Protectorate ever manages to help anyone!"
Taylor looked a little taken aback at that.
"Um, OK?" she said.
I grinned, before reaching into my pocket.
"That said, if your gonna go solo, you might need these."
I held up a camera, still in its box, and a burner phone.
"Having video evidence of what you get up to might well save your neck one day," I said, "It just takes one mistake to get labeled as a Villain, so don't let it happen. The phone will let you contact the authorities if you need help. Its also got my number programed into it, so you can call me."
Taylor frowned.
"You'd do that?" she asked.
I shrugged.
"We're both new and both independent heroes," I said, "If we don't help each other, who will? The PRT is more interested in getting as many Capes as they can or protecting what they have, New Wave is lacking in active work, other than Glory Girl and Panacea and any one of the Gangs would be happy to either kill or recruit us. I've got my Step-mother as back up, but you don't even have that. With that in mind, why wouldn't I want to help you?"
Taylor hesitated for a moment longer, before she slowly took the offered items.
"Thank you," she said.
I grinned.
"Don't mention it," I said, "And don't forget to call if you need anything."
I waved and Apperated away with a loud crack.
Taylor jumped as Avatar abruptly vanished, leaving her standing alone with her mask in one hand and the boxed camera and phone in the other. That had been...odd, not to mention nerve wracking. The sudden appearance of the dark clad Cape she didn't recognize had been scary, especially when she'd already taken her mask off. However, he hasn't said anything about it and introduced himself as another new Hero, one she recognized from PHO as having debuted the day before saving a girl from a group of Nazis. That alone was good enough to get him in a lot of peoples good books since his obviously high quality costume and caucasian skin colour precluded him from the ABB and Merchants and the girl he'd saved had said that he was a good and pretty funny guy.
Even so, the offer of help and gifts had been rather unexpected.
Taylor looked down at the boxed camera and phone and, for a brief moment, considered tossing the latter. Ever since her Mothers death, cell phones had been persona non grata in the Hebert households, but she forced herself to stop. Avatar was right after all. She'd been forced to fight Lung because she didn't have a way to get in contact with anyone, if she'd had a phone, she might have been able to call for help. She wasn't to sure about the camera though.
She was well aware that it didn't take much for the PRT to get the wrong impression of a new Cape in the first few months, but Armsmaster knew she was a Hero, so that wouldn't happen...right?
Despite herself, her mind couldn't help but think about the fact he'd been willing to take advantage of her beating Lung like that and take the credit for it all the way home and, that night, her dreams were full of her being declared a Villain to keep her quiet.
Welp, there we go, this is finally done. Sorry for the wait, but a combination of work kicking my ass, the heat doing my muse in had made focusing on this a pain in the neck
Yes, Theo now has House Elves! Its important to point out that neither Dobby nor Winky are the same characters as the ones from HP, they just look, act and are generally identical to them. Normally, I wouldn't need to make that differentiation, but, well, considering what I have planned, its important.
As I said up top, I will be including nods to crossovers and they will come in the form of four characters from each series. The Avatar ones won't be appearing until later and will mostly be of a Spiritual nature, but the HP ones will have an actual effect on the Physical plain. We've seen two characters who've been affected by them, so can you guess who I have in mind? One of them should be obvious, the others will need more time.
A reminder, HARRY POTTER IS NOT POPULAR ON BET! Its present and sells, but in the same way that DC and Marvel don't really have much presence, neither does HP. Is that clear? I hope so because I won't be addressing it again.
If your wondering why Taylor was so quick to accept the stuff from Theo, its because she was so taken aback she didn't think to refuse. Besides, their both Heroes and Heroes are supposed to look out for each other! Right? Hehe.
Anyway, time for me to sign out. Don't forget to leave a review!
