Chapter 10-

Partner Swap (No, not like that)

Summery:

Magnus, Ezekiel and Jake search for information,

Jake leaves them alone for a minute just to get something to eat

Jake really should have known better

*****UPDATE******

So I thought I was done with this chapter…

Then I realized that the next part will be super long and the first little blip would fit better here, so I added it at the end…

Sorry!

_Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus_

"…and we're in!" Ezekiel exclaimed clicking a few last buttons

"What? Really!?" Magnus asked, amazed, looking over his shoulder at the screen

He gave a delighted laugh, slipping his arm around Ezekiel, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek

Ezekiel blushed

"You are absolutely AMAZING sweetheart!"

"I know" he said with a smirk

"Right, so, what are we looking for, what's this Jace dude look like?"

"Uhh…I don't have a photo of him…

Just a second…

Ah,

Here, this is from his show, he's the smirking blond guy"

Ezekiel glanced at the picture, Jake leaning over to see the photo too.

"That's Alec's brother? Man not much family resemblance is there?" Jake muttered

Magnus shrugged

"He's adopted. Alec's parents took him in. He's rather obnoxious, but he's Alec's family, and I absolutely adore Alec's other brother and Sister…

We really have to find him,

It would devastate all of them should something happen to him."

"Of course, we'll find him" Ezekiel assured

"Actually, just a sec…"

He got his phone out, sending out a quick text to Cassie

His phone made a quick chime

"Yes!

Right, so, Cassie just sent me this program of mine from back home… it's a kind of facial recognition system…

It'll take a bit to download, but when it does we should be able to find him, no problem."

Magnus grins, shaking his head

"Amazing…" He exclaimed, leaning over, kissing his cheek again

Jake chuckled

"Yeah, he's somethin' else" he said with a smirk

Ezekiel grinned

"Thanks"

Jake shrugged

"Well, you are…

Though this time I actually mean that as a compliment"

"Hey!"

Jake chuckled, shaking his head; he rested his hand on Ezekiel's shoulder, squeezing lightly, before glancing over towards Magnus, sobering slightly

"I'm real sorry you all got mixed up in this…

Wish we coulda kept you out of it"

Magnus shook his head

"Darling, none of this is your fault; you're not the psychotic universe hopping warlock/supervillian in training…

You're just trying to stop him.

It seems that this Lidan has had designs on me from the beginning of this.

At least with you here we have a shot;

Otherwise we wouldn't know what the hell was going on…

I mean, I'm good, and I think Alec, Raphael, Simon and I can solve just about anything,

But really,

There is no way we'd be prepared to go up against the equivalent of a delusional supernaturally powered Bond villain without you."

Ezekiel gave a quick laugh at the description

Jake gave him a friendly smile

"Well then, glad we could help"

Ezekiel nodded

"Yeah, well, I'm glad we're on this side working with THIS Magnus…

Warlock Magnus is terrifying!"

Jake grinned

"Aww…but he 'quite likes you, Ezekiel Jones'" he teased

"Hey! He was flirting with you too…"

Magnus snickered

"Oh, I don't know…I kinda like him."

"Of course you do, he's a more intimidating, overdramatic, borderline villain-ish version of you!"

"It is a bit disillusioning though"

"What?"

"Apparently I'm the normal boring version of Magnus…" he fake pouted

"Yeah, I don't think anyone would ever say you were boring" Ezekiel laughed shaking his head

"Or normal" Jake teased, with a bit of a smirk

Magnus laughed, shrugging slightly

He kinda had him there

They settled into companionable silence for a few minutes, each seemingly lost in their own thoughts

He'd noticed that Jake really seemed to be warming up…

Maybe he finally realized that he wasn't actually after Ezekiel,

Or maybe he was just caught up in the whole Ezekiel telling Warlock Magnus that they were a couple

Magnus hadn't missed the quick look of surprise,

Or the kind of considering looks he'd been sending towards Ezekiel since…

Magnus hadn't, Ezekiel was totally clueless.

Once they had this all sorted he really needed to figure a way to get those two to talk.

"Hey, I know this is really important, but I don't think any of us have had anything to eat since this morning…

While that's finishing up I'm just gonna run out and grab us something."

Ezekiel nodded gratefully

"Wonderful idea, thank you dear."

He shrugged giving a bit of a smile

"Eh, no problem…

Be right back"

They sat for a bit watching the download click away,

Ezekiel glanced over at Magnus

"Hey, so…I kinda wanted to ask you, how are you really doing with all this?

I mean, I know you've been joking and you seem to be taking the whole crazy other universe, magic is real, doppelganger, thing really well…

But I kind of get the feeling that, even if you weren't, no one would really know."

Magnus smiled warmly, shaking his head

"Honestly, I really don't know how I'm taking it…

It is completely insane, and if I stop to really think about everything I'd probably end up having a panic attack or something;

Generally crazy is kind of my wheelhouse, but this is a whole universe away from my brand of crazy,

Literally…

I have a feeling when this is all over it may end with me actually checking myself in for a psych evaluation.

But, I don't have time for any of that:

There are people in danger,

Who will almost certainly die if we don't figure this out…

One of which is Alexander's brother.

None of the craziness matters, not when there are lives on the line.

So I am just approaching this the same as I would any case.

Focus on the suspect

Find the evidence

Solve the case

I know how to do that.

It's the best I can do at this point."

He finished with a shrug

He laughed, shaking his head slightly

"God I can only imagine what Simon and Raph would say if they knew all the craziness…"

He trailed off, eyes going wide

"Oh my god…"

Magnus got out his phone, frantically hitting Raphael's number

Voicemail…

"no, no…no…no…"

He hit Simon's number, shaking slightly

Voicemail…

"What?" Ezekiel asked concerned

"I-I, t-they were at the convention, investigating… well I told them to, I think Simon was just wanting to go back, but they were there…

I-I got distracted with the other universe thing and the other Magnus thing and I just was too distracted and I never called them when we found out about Lidan,

I never warned them…

And now both their phones are off and I haven't heard from them since yesterday morning.

Raph never came home, but the night before they'd stayed at Simon's so I just thought that's what they did and…

Oh my god…" he trailed off shaking his head,

"Okay, the program just finished…

We think we know what happened with Jace, send me that picture of them, we'll find them,

Track them around the event"

Magnus nodded, pulling up the picture, sending it to him

"God…If something happened to them.

And I didn't even notice they were missing…" he trailed off shaking his head again

Ezekiel reached over, putting his hand on his shoulder

"Hey, It's okay, alright?

You said it yourself, he won't hurt anyone till tomorrow night, when he can use the feather…

If he has them, they are still okay, we still have time.

We will find them, all of them,

But in order to do that we need you to be able to focus, to investigate and solve the case, Right?" he asked, locking eyes with Magnus

Magnus nodded,

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath

He opened his eyes, he seemed oddly blank, almost cold

The look reminded Ezekiel of Warlock Magnus

"Okay, let's find them"

Ezekiel booted up the program, imputing the photo with Simon and Raphael…

In a matter of seconds it pulled up a feed with them walking through the convention, Simon bounding about happily, Raphael resignedly following along.

They wandered from booth to booth, Simon chattering away

At one point Simon took Raphaels hand and lead him through the event and down a hallway,

He tried a few doors before finding one unlocked and pulling him in…

Magnus gave a bit of a weak smile, but it froze when a few minutes later Lidan himself, came along the same hallway, arguing with three other men.

Ezekiel gasped when they went into the same room as Raphael and Simon had…

Magnus leaned forward

"Is there any footage from that room?"

Ezekiel shook his head, then paused

"Wait, there isn't any from the security feeds, but it looks like someone else had another camera set up in there on a separate server, looks like the footage is fed directly to the cloud,

It's automatically transmitted to a phone when the camera's tripped…

The phone is registered to Lidan Campbell.

He knew they were in there.

I can get access to the footage"

He typed quickly, the screen jumped to the room… they saw Simon and Raphael enter the room, talk for a moment and kiss…

Then the door opens,

Simon and Raph duck behind a rack of costumes, staying out of sight…

The men argue, it escalates,

Then Lidan raises his hand

Magnus gasps as a cloud of Red and orange smoke erupts, enveloping the three man, they disappear

On the screen he sees Lidan freeze, then turn to where Simon and Raphael are hiding, he raises his hand, and the cloud envelopes them as well.

When it dissipates, there is no one in the room but Lidan

"I thought you said he wasn't that powerful? That seems pretty powerful to me" Magnus says quietly

Ezekiel shrugs

"That's what Cassie said, and I think she'd be right, she tends to know about everything…

I don't really have much experience with warlocks, maybe that isn't really much of anything to them"

"Well it is here"

"I know I –"

Magnus cut him off, shaking his head; he stood up beginning to pace the floor, he closed his eyes going over everything, letting it all fall into place…

"You know what? I don't care…he has powers, other suspects have guns, bombs, or poison or whatever else…

The type of weapon doesn't matter,

He's armed, that's that.

He took them, he knew they were in the room, he saw them on camera, he picked that room intentionally, he had his keys, there were seven other empty offices on that hall he could have used.

He recognized them from my office, I saw it on his expression, and in that satisfied smirk, which, if I get close enough, I am going to knock right off his smug, arrogant face.

Me being here is not a coincidence,

He went to Warlock Magnus's party, he wouldn't so much as give him the time of day, he said as much…

He wouldn't have noticed the man…

When he came to my office he looked verging on star struck.

He'd said he had read all about me, then qualified that with my cases…

I think he knew all about Warlock Magnus, obviously enough to know that he had a ring that allows people to traverse dimensions…

But he'd mentioned my cases as well.

Specifically the bank case.

He talked about how we'd uncovered the trafficking ring and how amazing it was that we tracked them to the warehouse…

He'd known details of the property.

It's back on the market now…"

"What's the address?"

"1032 Lasette way"

Ezekiel nodded, typing faster than Magnus could follow

"It was purchased four days ago-

By 'Quest Dynamics' , but I don't even have to look too far to know it's a dummy corporation

The records say they paid in cash"

Magnus continued to pace

"For whatever reason, he is after me, he is fixated on me…

I don't know why, I don't really care,

What I do know is he bought the property from a case I worked months ago, and I'd be willing to bet that he knows I'd find a trail back to it…

I realize it's a trap, but it is probably where he is keeping the hostages, including Raphael, Simon and Jace.

He may know that I realize he is the one behind all this, but I don't think he realizes I know quite this much…If he's investigated me enough he will think I'll go in on my own…

Especially since the only back up he knows I have are his current hostages.

He knows there are four of us on the case, but he doesn't know who the fourth is…"

He trailed off, raising his eyebrow at Ezekiel

Ezekiel groaned

"Oh, man…I take it back; I wish I was working with Warlock Magnus…

I think he's saner" he muttered

30 minutes later

"Hey guys, sorry it took so long, there was a bit of a lin-" Jake stopped, glancing around the empty office…

Before zeroing in on a note taped to the computer screen

We found where he has them…

He has Raphael and Simon too

I am getting them back.

Call Alexander, tell him it's at the warehouse where we found Simon.

If we hurry I think we can get the jump on him

Be careful,

He's more powerful than we thought.

Jake shook his head

"Oh, hell…"

_Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec_

Okay, Magnus has to be alright…

He has to be…

He'd only left him not even two hours ago, how much trouble could he get in in that amount of time?

Hell, now he's the delusional one…

It's Magnus

There is no limit to the amount of trouble.

Alec screeched to a stop in front of Magnus's agency, bounding up to the door, pushing it open

"What the hell are you doing, where is Magnus?" He demanded, drawing his weapon

Jake froze, dropping the papers he was rifling through

"Uh…this isn't what it looks like" he said unconvincingly

"It damn sure better not be. Cause what it looks like is Magnus is missing and a suspicious person, who has been lying to us for two days is ransacking his office.

So please, tell me exactly what it is,

The truth"

He groaned

"Damnit I knew I shouldn't of left them alone…" he muttered

"Who?"

Jake rolled his eyes

"Oh, Magnus and Ezekiel…

They were looking into trying to find footage of your brother leaving with Lidan,

Ezekiel was downloading a program from home and it was taking a while and none of us had had anything to eat since this morning, so I just ran down the road for a bit…

It took longer than I thought, but I wasn't even gone an hour…

I came back and I found this note" he finished, nodding to the paper on the table

"Ezekiel had your number, I didn't, so I was trying to find a way to call you or find out where the hell that warehouse is"

Alec moved forward cautiously, quickly reading over the letter before looking back at Jake, putting away his weapon

"Do you know where he means?"

Alec nodded

"Yeah, I know…come on"

They rushed to Alec's car, hurrying in.

Jake quickly hit the call button for Cassie

"Hey so do yo-"

"Cas, no time…

Ezekiel and Magnus took off after Lidan by themselves.

They said he's a lot more powerful than we thought, we need to move fast, where's umm… our new partner?" He asked glancing over at Alec

He couldn't even begin to explain the two Magnus's thing to him right now, he'd be liable to wreak the car.

Thankfully Cassie was quick on it

"He left a few minutes ago,

said he may just have to find a way to join in the fun himself…

I don't actually know what he meant by that and I was kinda afraid to ask.

It's just me and Jenkins here now,

Is there anything we can do?"

He thought, then nodded

"Yeah, we think we know the right location, but I want to be sure…

You know how the thing Lidan stole has a tracker, is there any way you can maybe try to pinpoint exactly where it is?"

She thought, shaking her head slightly

"I-I don't know I can try, but that's a bit more in Zeke's skill set, I'll see what I can find, and send you anything I get"

He nodded, gratefully

"Thanks Cass"

"Don't thank me, just get them back safely"

Jake gave a slight smile

"Come on, It's Zeke, you know he's already working something.

If anyone can figure this out it'd be him"

She nodded once more, and then the screen went black

He glanced over at Alec

"Hey, sorry, I-I really shouldn't of left them alone…

I thought it'd just be a half hour, figured even a trouble magnet like Ezekiel could stay out of danger for that long"

Alec shook his head

"Yeah, well, you didn't factor in Magnus,

I swear, he has an innate knack for getting into the craziest, most dangerous situations possible,

Hell, ones that don't even seem possible"

"Ezekiel's worse"

"Uh uh, I doubt it; that man is going to give me a heart attack before I'm 35, I just know it"

"How old are you now?"

"34"

Jake gave a short laugh,

"Yeah, I get that:

One time, Ezekiel managed to stumble onto the main suspect on a case we were working on and distracted him with a storybook"

Alec raised his eyebrow

"Yeah, has he ever broken into a bank during a hostage situation armed with only an eyeliner and lipgloss?"

Jake gave him a somewhat shocked look

"What!? No who would do that?!"

"Magnus"

Jake shook his head slightly

"Okay, you win, Magnus is way more trouble than Ezekiel"

"Somehow it doesn't feel like I 'won' there" he muttered

Jake chuckled

Man, Ezekiel may be a bit of a handful, but at least he wasn't 'take on a violent criminal with nothing more than a lot of attitude and a few cosmetics,' over the top.

No wonder Magnus was so ridiculously eye-catching

You needed that much pretty to cover the lunacy

_Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus_

They arrived at the warehouse just as the first stars appear.

They make their way closer, using the overgrown brush and couple of scraggly trees for cover.

As they near the building Magnus stills, catching just a hint of movement.

He caught Ezekiel's arm, pulling him to a stop and quickly ducking behind the nearest tree.

They watched Ladin emerge from the door, cautiously glancing around, before pulling the door shut, locking it, then heading over to his car parked near the entrance. They wait till the car pulls out and they could no longer see it before beginning there trek again.

"This is insane" Ezekiel muttered, shaking his head

"Says the universe hopping, magic hunting librarian, to the fake psychic, about the megalomaniac warlock?"

He shrugged

"Fair enough"

They worked their way around the building, checking for signs of the hostages

Peering through one window Magnus spotted them,

There where nine altogether, they were all laid out, looking like they were asleep, at least he really hoped they were just asleep.

He could see a few of them well enough to see they were breathing at least

They made their way back around to the door.

Magnus began to get out his lock pics but Ezekiel waved him off with a bit of a wink. He moved ahead of him, retrieving his pic, slipping it in and popping the lock all seemingly in one movement. Magnus rolled his eyes slightly, but gave his an appreciative nod.

Creeping warehouse Magnus couldn't stake the feeling that something was off...

He felt the prickly sensation of eyes on him. Cautiously he looked around, scanning the room.

It looked much the same as it had during the bank case...

Wait...

It was exactly the same...

That wasn't right. The warehouse was cleared out. He knew it was. He looked around again, spotting the crates from the base...

They were open just as they had been that night,

Same place

Same position

The contents strewn about exactly like they had been...

Magnus got a sinking feeling.

He caught Ezekiel's arm, stilling him.

He looked back in confusion

"This isn't right...

This room is exactly how it was the last time I was hear,

Every last thing is in the same place...

These crates were cleared out months ago.

We need to get out of here, now..."

He nodded, they turned back,

Suddenly the lights came on disorienting them. They looked around frantically, trying to get their eyes to adjust

A somewhat ominous chuckle broke through the silence.

"Very good, I was wondering how long it'd take you to figure it out.

So nice of you to join me, and to bring the librarian too?

Much more efficient, saved me a trip"

Magnus and Ezekiel turned to face Lidan,

"So glad I could be of help" Magnus sniped sarcastically,

Lidan approached with that slightly unhinged smile

"I was surprised it took you this long to figure it out. Kind of disappointed, really, I thought you were smarter than that"

Magnus moved slightly in front of Ezekiel, putting on a somewhat bored, unimpressed look

"Oh, it didn't, the illusion of you leaving was somewhat convincing, I guess...

Though you made it about an inch too tall and it didn't look as plain and forgettable as you,

So that kinda tipped me off.

And really? The best you could do for the room was just to recreate how it looked the first time I was here?

Seriously?

That's just pathetic" he finished giving a completely unimpressed look

Lidan sneers

"You didn't figure it out"

Magnus scoffed

"Yeah, I did, I was just getting sick of a pathetic obnoxious sorry excuse of a warlock playing super villain screwing with me.

You're not worth the time, or the effort.

So, out with it, why are you so set on me?

What, Magnus from your universe wouldn't give you the time of day so you thought you'd try with another one?

Like you're any less forgettable here."

His smirk faltered for a moment, before coming back,

"Oh, I'll be memorable...

After tomorrow I'll be the most powerful being in this universe...

No one will be a match for me"

Ezekiel gave a bark of a laugh

"Dude I think this is the part of the villain speech where you cackle menacingly"

Lidan glares

"It'll work, you'll see"

"Why are you so sure? None of the other artifacts you stole work right…

Your plan didn't go how you thought: the charm just confused people, that's really helpful...

The other two are supposed to make you more charming and dynamic-

Clearly those failed miserably...

Magnus is right, you're totally forgettable

Plus, while you were going around stealing artifacts you really should have looked for one for intelligence, as clearly you're an idiot."

"I am not; I found a way to become the most powerful being in the universe"

"Oh please! you ran away to a universe devoid of magic,

And you still couldn't cut it with just your powers, you had to steal artifacts, which no self respecting warlock would ever stoop to.

As if that isn't enough proof of your stupidity, you snuck into the home of one of the most powerful beings in our universe and stole a magical piece of jewelry, and after meeting the guy, I kinda think he's fairly attached to his jewelry"

Lidan scoffed

"Ha, Magnus Bane wouldn't just talk to a librarian"

Ezekiel smirked

"He did with me,

Actually he likes me, even said as much.

Said I was smart, handsome and has a nice accent. Not really my type, but it's flattering, just the same.

I don't think it means much though, he seems to hit on everyone..."

He glanced at Lidan, condescendingly then shrugged

"Well, almost everyone"

"Face it Lidan, none of your 'plan' if you can even call it that, has went how you wanted…

The artifacts don't work, and Neither Magnus wants anything to do with you,

You're just as much of a failure in this universe as in ours."

Lidan's smile gets a bit sharper

"Oh, they work…

Not in the way I thought they would, but they work…

And after I have taken enough of them even Magnus Bane will know who I am"

"At midnight I can try the feather, It may not be able to do everything it can in our universe, but It should be able to take the abilities of at least two people…"

"You were never going to use it on them…

It was us you wanted the entire time.

So what are you going to do with the others you've taken?" Magnus asked

Lidan waived his hand dismissively

"Oh, they're irreverent. I just needed them to get your attention,

I'll leave them here. Eventually your friend the detective will find them...

They'll be alive, comatose, but alive.

You two are the ones I need...

Once I absorb the essences of a psychic and a librarian, no one will be a match for me.

Or it doesn't work…and I still have the feather, and I'll just keep you two around until I've absorbed enough power from Artifacts to take your abilities myself…"

"You destroyed the artifacts, after they didn't work.

It wasn't planned, you just lost your temper and smashed the charm when it didn't work how it was supposed to…But something unexpected happened

Breaking it released something, the magic in it, and you found you could absorb it…

That's why you're more powerful than we thought you were originally.

The charm and the talisman, you destroyed them and absorbed the power from them. You were going to with the feather as well, but You want to try it when it'd be most powerful, just in case…

Once you have that you intend to use Magnus's ring to jump back to the other universe, swipe more artifacts to gain more power"

"Hmm… maybe you are smarter than I thought; though you do tend to overestimate your abilities, assuming you'll be able to get out of it…

I think this was one time too many for that…

And lucky me, I don't even have to wait to go to the other universe for another artifact to absorb," He turned focusing on Ezekiel,

"You were nice enough to bring one right to me"

He raised his hand it shimmers orange,

The Janis compass materializes in his hand

"this will do quite nicely…

Plus, really can't have people being able to follow me through universes"

He slams it down on the cement floor, it shatters

A gold shimmering vapor seems to emanate from the shards

Lidan extends his hand, the vapor trails up, reaching his hand and he seems to glow for just a moment before it dissipates

He looks back up at them

Waiving his hand, binding them

"Now, we best get moving, I have a lot to get ready"

He raised his hand and the brilliant orange and red cloud envelopes them

_End Of Chapter Notes_

Yeah, I know Lidan using the same warehouse is a bit convenient, but maybe he's not quite as stupid as they believe,

Or he is and he thinks Magnus won't figure it out

Anyways, it gets everyone where we need them, so I'm going with it…

Home stretch…

The next two chapters I have pretty well worked out,

And I have tomorrow off, so I think I may be able to finish both of them then…

What do you guys thinks so far?