Disclaimer is in chapter 1. So apparently Tenhawk has resumed posting fanfiction on one of his own sites ( t . evancurrie . ca ) and on patre on (username tenhawk).
The Rig.
"Please tell me this report is a joke," Emily Piggot groaned, looking over to where Assault was grinning like a loon, her heart dropping as she saw the grim look on Battery's face beside him.
"Not a bit of it," Assault said cheerfully, clearly far too happy. She was going to have to find a reason to put him on punishment duty, she could tell that already.
Armsmaster's lips were a thin line as he considered the report, no doubt remembering his time as a Ward under the eccentric teachings of Myrddin.
"And you're certain that he believes it," Emily pressed, "It's not just an affectation?"
"As sure as I can be," Assault confirmed with a nod, "I may not have Armsmaster's lie detector, but I am a fair judge of body language and the like…:"
Emily nodded sourly, knowing that was true. Of all her people, in fact, he was probably the best judge of people. And that included both Protectorate and PRT agents.
"That is… disturbing," She admitted wearily.
"On the bright side, he's heroically inclined, cheerful, and relatively restrained in his actions," Assault offered up. "Both occasions he engaged with criminals he used non-lethal means to end the fight basically before it could even get started."
"There is that," She conceded.
That was something an outlier among most Parahumans, she knew, and was almost always a sign of someone with significant training and experience under their belt. Young triggers were prone to excess, and that tended to show in how hard they were on their collars… and anyone or anything in the immediate vicinity.
Still, if Assault was right, this was a potential live grenade in her lap. Mental issues were basically par for the course with Parahumans, one reason why she did not trust them… not even the best of them… They were people who had broken when put to the test.
No amount of powers could put that back together.
You couldn't unscramble eggs.
"For the moment I want you to back off recruitment attempts," She said, "We'll use an official hands-off approach, monitor and evaluate. You said that he indicated that he didn't plan to be in town for long?"
"That was what he said," Assault nodded with a grin, "Something about getting home to his girlfriends."
Not going to ask. I know he wants me to, but I'm not, Emily thought sourly as she just nodded. "Good, maybe he'll be out of my hair before he can cause trouble."
Fat chance of that in this town.
She did take a little bit of pleasure in the obviously disappointed look on Assault's face when she ignored the bait he'd dangled out there.
"Believing that powers are magic isn't all that crazy," Miss Militia said diplomatically. "I know that it seems silly, but for anyone not prone to doing the research, it's an easy answer…"
"No."
Everyone at the table looked over to where Battery was seated.
"Have something to add?" Emily asked, curious as to what the heroine might have to say. She'd been quiet thus far, letting her husband do the talking as she was wont to do, but Emily knew that she was one of the more stable and normal heroes she had in the roster.
"It's not something he came up with because he doesn't understand science," She said with a shake of her head. "His story is too in depth, he was dropping little hints and details that he didn't need to for his story. Talking about the genetic, molecular, and atomic structure and how that affected magic."
"She's right," Assault nodded.
"More than that, the way he was talking… it was like he had access to research that I know doesn't exist," Battery said, her face a mask of confusion and concern. "He practically said that he'd learned his magic from someone else."
"That isn't how powers work," Miss Militia said.
"Exactly," Battery said, "but he believed it. Magus… his trigger must have broken him. The only thing I can think is that he built a whole new reality up around his powers. I've never even heard of anything like this before, Director."
Emily groaned, leaning back as she thought longingly of a cold beer that she could never again touch.
"Careful interactions, then," She ordered. "Don't push him, don't try to prove him wrong… that might make him snap… Colin, I'm looking at you."
Armsmaster looked up as most of the others hid their snickers. Assault didn't bother.
"Understood, Director," He said firmly.
"Let's just all hope that he gets the hell out of this city before he runs into Hookwolf… with his attitude toward the Empire," Emily shuddered. "He might not be inclined to hold back as he has thus far."
"Not sure I'm feeling all that bad for Hookwolf if that's the case," Assault chuckled. "From what he said, if he's telling the truth, I'm pretty sure he'll be able to run circles around that thug."
"I couldn't care less about Hookwolf," Emily snapped. "What worries me is the Empire's reaction if Magus does something permanent, and the likely collateral damage if he lets loose. I'll wager a month's pay that those stun bolts aren't the only blaster tricks in his quiver, and what little I know of magic users in fiction… if that's what he based his mental state on… fireballs and other bits of siege warfare are the least of what we might expect."
Assault at least had the decency to wince at that.
She took some pleasure in that, pitifully little though it might have been.
Xander idly sat on the superstructure of the old rusted out ship.
He'd made it sort of his home in the bay since being introduced to it after his race with Glory Girl. The days since then had been spent hopping around the planet, carefully so as not to splinch himself or wind up otherwise… indisposed. For all that, though, he'd secured the materials he needed for the next jump toward home.
Now, however, he had to wait for Mixy to get back to him with information about the rather odd situation this particular dimensional branch was in. In the meantime, he'd opted to remain close to his arrival point just in case it turned out to be important.
It shouldn't, really, but it was as good a place as any and he found the local cape culture fascinating and really was hoping for a bit of a dust up with the local New England Nazi party.
New England Nazis, Xander thought with a grin, I hate New England Nazis. I wonder if I can get an old cop car and catch them on a bridge?
Making a mental note to try and set that up if he had a chance, Xander shifted his thoughts over to the world in general.
He'd had more time to research, and what he found wasn't looking good in the least.
Whoever had barred off the local dimensional branch, they sure as hell weren't operating under standard Pantheon rules or any even remotely recognizable variation of such. The Old Gods were assholes to the Nth degree, but they weren't this level of evil. Cities being destroyed wholesale, or worse in the case of the Simurgh, appeared to actually just be the tip of the iceberg.
He had gotten Willow to run some analysis of the data he'd sent back, all public information pulled from the local library, and her findings were pretty grim.
Civilization didn't have much more than a few decades, as best they could determine. The inexorable pressure of the Endbringers was just the most obvious push to extinction, but not even remotely close to the most powerful one. The general weight of Super Villains actually seemed to outweigh the Endbringers efforts, slowly driving humanity to desperation.
At some point, he knew, the human race would snap.
Collectively, people could only take so much before they threw out civilization and went for the throat of the perceived threat.
The problem here was that the perceived threat wasn't really something that humans could deal with. The Endbringers and other so called 'S' Class threats were all but untouchable, or at least they were widely perceived to be. Xander himself was withholding any judgement there until he had a shot at a few of them himself.
No, the only target that humanity would be able to shift the blame over to would be, inevitably, the Parahumans themselves.
The rumblings of that were already starting, he'd easily found various anti-parahuman groups on the internet, making noises and generally trying to recruit. The only thing holding them back, for the moment, was that the usual places that they would get their recruits… were already Parahuman led gangs.
Locally, the E88 was a perfect example. Most of them would be perfect human-supremacist recruits, but the Parahumans leading them kept the rank and file from going over to that side of things.
For as long as it lasts, at least.
It actually made him reluctant to just straight up annihilate the local Nazi Supers, as much as that galled. Granted, one local gang wasn't going to have any real significant effect, so Xander didn't really think it would matter… but in the big picture?
Yeah, taking out the Parahuman gang leaders would probably hasten the end of the world.
This place is so fucked up.
He got to his feet, walking out of the old bridge of the Supertanker and onto the deck. It made a good place to setup his temporary home, all the comforts he'd come to expect… minus a good local internet connection for the moment, so he was still relying on the cheap phone, along with pretty solid security since no one came out that way even normally… let alone once he'd dropped some wards on the beast.
For now, though, he was feeling like stretching a bit.
So he lifted off the deck and headed in toward the city, glancing over to the massive Oil Rig that was sitting in the middle of the bay as he flew by. He'd come to learn that was the local Hall of Justice or whatever they wanted to call it.
It's no Watchtower, but it does have a presence, I'll give them that.
No one there seemed to notice him, which wasn't a surprise. Xander knew that his detection profile was pretty low for most common and even uncommon tracking methods. If they were able to track him, well they didn't seem inclined to bother him, so he ignored them as well and headed into the city.
It was a quiet night, as things went, and he wasn't really looking for trouble anyway so he just flew and enjoyed the night air. A couple distant gunshots could be heard, but nothing that repeated so he left them to the cops.
School had just gotten back in, something Xander had learned from Glory Girl in DMs, which was keeping her and the other young heroes… and, he presumed, at least some of the younger villains as well… off the streets at night.
So he didn't have anyone to share the airspace with as he flew out over the rougher part of town, heading toward the downtown core.
Over a particularly rundown section of the city, however, Xander felt a twinge in his core and pulled up to a stop.
What the hell was…
He turned slowly, looking for the source of the magical surge he'd just felt. It almost struck him like a surge of… accidental magic?
I think it was this way…
Xander eased forward again, flying through the air over the city until he recognized what looked like a school sliding under him.
This place has seen better…
Xander's thoughts were cut off by an explosive surge of magic that hammered into his Occlumency shields and knocked him right from the sky. He crashed into the rooftop of the school, rolling more on instinct than consciously to absorb the impact, and came up to his knees as his mind was assault by imagery he could barely make out through the blinding pain.
Before he could focus on it, though, Xander felt another wash of power and the imagery vanished entirely.
Entirely.
Not just from his mind, but from his memory. He was only barely able to lock down his mind enough to remember that he'd seen something at all.
Then, it was over and he rested there on his hands and knees for a long moment before vomiting this supper all over the school roof and slumping over to the side to avoid the mess.
What the ever loving fuck was that?
Xander groaned after a few moments, rolling off his back to his knees again and then pushing himself up to his feet.
Whatever had just hit him was like nothing he'd ever experienced. Part Legilimens assault combined with a sheer explosive flush of raw magic that had a deep emotional element to it.
Despair.
Someone around here is in a bad way.
Xander flicked his wand out, swishing it about him as he cast revelio to see what could be seen. The school was empty… almost.
One person in there, not moving. I think I found my source.
Xander walked over to the edge of the building, stiffly trying to work out the bruises he'd just picked up, and glanced down briefly from the rooftop before dropping off and letting his flight pack slow the fall to allow him to land softly in front of the stairs that led up to the front of the school.
He paused, checking the name over the doors.
Winslow.
Up the stairs he went, waving his wand negligently at the doors as he approached.
"Alohamora."
The doors popped open instantly, swinging clear of his path as he strode in.
Another revelio showed that the person was one floor up, so he took the first flight of stairs and quickly made his way to the wide corridor where his spell told him his target would be.
Empty?
The corridor was clean, ish at least, no sign of anyone. Just rows of lockers and classrooms further down.
Must be in a classroom.
"Revelio," He whispered again, swishing the wand ahead of him.
Xander stumbled to a stop when the spell revealed the person, not in a classroom, but in one of the lockers.
"Jesus, it's almost midnight. Don't tell me someone got locked in a locker all day and no one fucking bothered to let them out?" He swore, striding forward.
The lock was secured, a common padlock and not a challenge for an alohamora. The lock clattered to the ground as Xander pulled the door open and had to lunge in to catch the body as it fell out. He grunted under the weight, but it was the smell that nearly did him in as he gagged.
Oh Merlin's left nut, what is that stench? Am I too late? Did someone die in a fucking locker before the holidays and no one noticed the smell today?
He didn't think that was the case, since the revelio shouldn't have shown a body. Quickly he put a bubblehead charm over himself, then eased the body down onto the floor. A quick check showed that it was a young girl, maybe mid teens. Skinny, with thick wave hair that was the only part of her that was well maintained.
The smell wasn't coming from her, he noticed with some relief, but rather from the filth she'd been packed into the locker with. Rotting refuse, filled with maggots and other insects, and the likes of which he didn't want to identify.
Absently he put a bubblehead over her as well, figuring that if anyone needed some fresh air it would be that girl in that moment.
Xander surveyed the situation for a moment, casting a quick spell to determine that she wasn't about to die immediately on him, then began taking stock.
First things first then, Xander decided as he fished out his cheap smartphone and dialed.
"911, what is the emergency?"
"Name's Magus," He said in clipped tones. "Just pulled a girl out of a locker in some school. Place called Winslow. She's in a bad way."
"Yes sir, is she bleeding or in immediate danger?"
"Not sure, the locker was filled with… look, get some cops down here to bag and tag this shit. She was packed in with filth the likes of which I've never seen. I'm going to get her to the closest hospital, can you give me directions?"
"Sir, it's better to keep her in place."
Xander looked down, noting the shudders and occasionally jerking motions.
"No, I think she's seizing. I can fly and keep her stable, I just need directions."
"Are… are you a cape?"
"By your definitions, yes," Xander answered.
"Very well, Brockton Bay General is reasonably close, do you need street directions or…"
"Cardinal directions will be fine." Xander said, muffling the mic for a moment as he waved his wand at the girl. "Mobilicorpus."
She floated up off the ground swinging around to follow him as he headed for the stairs.
"Understood, Go directly west from your current location. The hospital is three miles away, it will be well lit and an officer will be waiting for you by the front doors."
"Roger that," Xander said as he headed out. "You'll want everything in that locker bagged, and the officer meeting us to have bags for her clothes as well. Her locker was locked from the outside when I got here, I had to pick it open. Someone put her in there."
"I understand. I am going to transfer you to the PRT, but before I do are there any other Capes in the area?"
"None that I'm aware of."
"Very good, transferring now."
Xander barely listened as he stepped out into the open air and looked up before lifting into the sky, the young girl in tow.
Brockton Bay General.
Amy Dallon glanced up as she noticed a commotion in the air, doctors and nurses moving quickly to the ER entrance, along with security and a pair of BBPD officers who were moving at a quick job.
"What's going on?" She snagged a nurse.
"Cape just called in a victim at Winslow," The nurse said, "he's bringing her here, so we've got a call out to the PRT just in case while security sets up just to be safe."
Panacea nodded grimly, understanding the commotion.
A cape inbound with someone who'd been hurt could be the most innocent thing in the world, or it could be an opening move in some sort of attack on the hospital. It was unlikely, but with the Merchants in town? It just didn't pay to take chances.
"Any ID on the Cape?" She asked, moving along with the group.
"Magus," The nurse answered. "never heard of him but…"
"I have," Panacea said thoughtfully. "If it's him, we're probably fine. I'm going to call my sister."
The nurse looked grateful, but kept moving while Panacea paused to pull out her phone.
"Vicky… no, not ready to go home yet. That Cape you met, Magus?" She said, "He's bringing someone in. They're hurt is all I know. If you're in the area, we could use some support in case this is more than it seems. Thanks."
With that done, she hung up and then followed the commotion down to the ER.
Finding a hospital at night, from the air, was harder than it seemed.
There were lots of larger buildings down there, all of them well lit it seemed, and telling them apart wasn't really what his gear was designed for. Xander pushed on, though, sweeping the streets for anything he could really pin as the hospital right up until he felt a familiar tingle run along his occlumency shields.
Looking up he spotted Glory Girl flying in fast, heading right for him.
"Magus, are you ok?" She asked, sliding to a stop a dozen feet or so off, suddenly holding her nose. "Oh god, what is that stench?"
He nodded to the girl, "Someone thought it was a laugh riot to lock her in a school locker with rotten filth and maggots. Where's the hospital."
"This way," Glory nodded to the left, then turned and dove for the deck as he followed.
Hospital security and police were waiting, hands on their sidearms as the pair landed, but seeing Glory Girl seemed to get them to relax. Orderlies rushed out with a gurney along with two nurses and a doctor, while the police held back to allow them to work.
"How long has she been like this?"
"No idea," Magus said. "I found her like this just minutes ago, but the school was locked up, so maybe all day?"
"Fucking Winslow," The doctor swore, grimacing as he waved off as much of the smell as he could, checking her vitals. "I don't see any injuries, we'll need to get her for a full check, stat!"
"I can help…"
They all turned to the speaker, the hooded girl approaching as she spoke, one hand outstretched.
"Hold on," The doctor waved her back. "I want to pull blood first, and take photos. Officer?"
"Yes, Doctor."
"This is a criminal matter, by the books let's get it all documented before we let Panacea do her thing. Qiuckly now."
"You've got it. Ralph, bring up the polaroid!"
Xander slumped into one of the waiting room seats, not wanting to run off before the cops had time to talk to him. He doubted that the courts would consider second hand reports from some unknown super powered vigilante to be convincing evidence after all.
That and he was both worried about the girl… and very, very, curious.
Was that accidental magic? It felt… close, but…
Xander didn't know, and that was bugging the hell out of him.
The emotional content of the burst of magic had felt right. That kind of despair? That would drive a magical child to any number of outburst, not one of them good. However… he hadn't seen any evidence of that. If she'd experienced a burst of accidental magic, why wasn't the locker fucking obliterated? Or turned into butterflies, or soap bubbles, or fucking anything other than a locker that could still hold her?
Hell, why not just apparate out if she's magical?
Accidental apparition was hardly unusual, though it did require a decent level of power potential… but given the blast he'd taken when whatever it was happened, she should have the power to spare and then some.
It all added up to a bunch of questions that Xander really wanted the answers to, so he had more than one reason to be hanging around and waiting.
"Tough night?"
Xander looked up at the voice and nodded amiably as Glory Girl joined him.
"Other than the smell? Not especially," He told her. "I've seen worse things, trust me… hell, I've seen worse things from the Good Guys once in a while."
She grimaced, "Yeah. I've not been at this for long, but some of the stuff people do… best not to think about it too much, I guess. At least you got rid of the smell, god I don't understand how it could smell that bad out in the open air from dozens of feet apart."
"Scourgify works miracle for getting rid of filth," Xander nodded, "but yeah it was pretty bad. I probably would have lost my lunch if I hadn't earlier… and if I'd not put a bubble head up right quick."
She looked at him, blinking, "Scourgify? Bubble Head?"
"Cleaning charm and kind of exactly what it sounds like, a bubble of clean air that surrounds your head," Xander shrugged.
"You have the weirdest damn powers…" She shook her head.
He laughed, "You ain't seen…"
He trailed off, his focus shifting as he saw a uniformed officer approaching alongside a woman in a costume.
The American Flag bandana over her lower face is a nice touch.
"Alexander Magus?" The woman asked, smiling under the bandana. "I'm Miss Militia."
"I'm sure you are," Xander nodded politely to her before turning his focus to the officer, "Ready to take my statement?"
He nodded, "Yes sir. Magus, is it?"
"Alexander Magus, if you want the full effect," Xander grinned, "Not my real name, but honestly you wouldn't find that anywhere in your records anyway, so it hardly matters."
"We never ask a Cape their real name," Miss Militia offered.
Xander looked quizzically at her for a moment before Glory Girl spoke up.
"Miss Militia is the second in command of the local Protectorate Office," the cheerleader clad heroine offered, amused.
"Oh, the local super cops, right," Xander nodded to the woman. "Sorry, while I have looked into some of the locals, I've focused mostly on the likely threats. As for asking my real name, well I do understand the whole secret identity deal, but it's not a concern for me honestly. I only use the nom-de-plume because I've gotten used to it. These days it's as much my real name as my birth one."
"I see," She said slowly, despite clearly not really understanding.
"If I could get your statement," The Officer said, "then you'll be free to get back to the Cape talk without interruptions."
Xander chuckled, "Sorry to waste any of your time, officer. Honestly I don't have a lot to add to what you know. I was flying over that section of town when something caught my attention… really, I couldn't exactly tell you what it was either."
He wasn't lying about that, the initial tug on his magic and the results that followed were completely beyond his experience. Enough so that Xander wasn't comfortable passing it on until he understood more for himself.
"A thinker power?" Miss Militia asked.
"Not… as such," Xander shook his head. "More of a hunch, though it may have been linked to my powers. Just… a bad feeling."
"I think we've all had those," The Officer said wryly. "Don't need to be able to shoot lasers from my eyeballs for that."
"Exactly," Xander nodded. "Whatever it was, I've learned to pay attention to it when I feel that way. So I checked the area with my powers and found one person in the school. At this time of night, that was suspicious."
The officer nodded, but Miss Militia cocked her head slightly.
"How did you check with your powers?" She asked, sounding rather curious.
"Huh? Oh, here," Xander flicked his wand into his hand and switched it casually at the nearest wall, "Hominum Revelio."
They all turned and slowly gaped as they could see ghostly images of people walking around and working on the other side of the wall.
"That's… handy," The officer said with a shake of his head.
"It can be, yes," Xander canceled the spell. "Seeing the person inside, I decided to check things out. When I got close, I found her in the locker covered in… well…"
"Yeah," The officer nodded, taking notes. "We bagged her clothes, and the responding officers called in their report from the school. Rotting used tampons were among the recognizable bits from what I understand. We're running blood, but it looks like someone just dumped some bins from the bathrooms in there, complete with used toilet paper and other unmentionables."
"Lovely." Xander just shook his head, disgusted by it all.
"When blood samples come back we could be looking at bioterrorism charges, among other things," Miss Militia said wearily. "This town… sometimes…"
"Yeah," The officer said. "Alright, after that?"
"Got her out of there, called you guys. You know the rest."
The officer closed the notebook, "Alright. Thanks for the statement, this will help. I wish all capes waited around to tell us what they saw."
Xander rolled his eyes, "I know the kinds. Well meaning, sometimes, but ignorant. Here…"
He flipped through his phone and opened it up to show the contact number, "You can call me on this, at least until I invest in a better phone… but I'll try to keep the number. Otherwise, I've got an account on PHO you can send messages to."
The officer nodded and quickly jotted the number down, "Would you be willing to testify in court?"
"If you need it, yes."
"That will help a lot," The officer promised. "Just the fact that you've offered will give the DA a hell of a hammer to bring down on any suspects we pull in."
"I'll be around for a while longer," Xander said, "so contact me if you need anything."
"Will do, thank you, sir."
Xander nodded as the officer left, then looked back to the costumed heroine.
"Did you need something?"
"No, it's just policy to have PRT or Protectorate present when the police are talking to unaffiliated or unknown parahumans," She told him with a smile that crinkled her eyes. "Primarily for the security of the police."
Xander nodded, "Fair, I suppose."
He looked down the hall, in the direction the girl he'd rescued had been taken, "What about her?"
"We identified her, her father called in a missing persons earlier." Militia answered. "So we have a squad car picking him up. Panacea has done her bit, with his permission over the phone, so she should be fine now. Just sleeping off the shock of it all, I think."
"Panacea's that good?"
"My sister is the best," Glory Girl said proudly.
Miss Militia smiled again, "As much as that might seem like bragging, she's not wrong. Generally, if you're breathing when Panacea reaches you… and sometimes even if you're not… you'll be up and moving in nothing short of miraculous time."
"healing powers," Xander shook his head. "rare indeed."
And he wasn't exaggerating. Few were the healers in any world he'd encountered in his travels.
"Oh, a power you don't have?" Glory Girl smirked at him.
"Oh, I can heal," Xander countered. "I just never trained much beyond battlefield medicine."
"What? Seriously?" She pouted at him. "It's not fair."
Xander just rolled his eyes as Miss Militia chuckled at the teenager.
"Evaluate the situation, stop the bleeding, stabilize the patient… then get them to someone who knows what the hell they're doing," Xander said. "That's the extent of my healing abilities. I can patch someone up decently if the injury is straightforward, or outright heal minor things like abrasions, but mostly it's just keep them alive until a real doc can see them. Everyone in this kind of lifestyle needs that training, Glory."
She just rolled her eyes, "Bah. I bet you could just tinker up something to do it for you."
"You're a Tinker?"
"I would call myself more of an Artificer, to be honest," Xander shrugged. "Making a healing device isn't… impossible…"
"Ha, I knew it."
He sighed, "BUT, it's generally too much trouble to be worth the effort. Potions are more effective, cheaper, and easier to make by far."
"Potions."
Both of the women said the word at the same time, one scoffing and the other somewhat… flat toned.
"I told you, Glory, I'm a Wizard," Xander grinned. "We are a tricksy bunch."
"You're impossible."
"No, merely improbable."