Disclaimer: I own nothing here you recognise (and depending on what fandom drew your interest to this fic, I may not own some things you don't recognise); you know how it goes.
Feedback: Always appreciated
AN: A couple of appearances by more unconventional realities in this chapter; I'll clarify where everything came from at the end, but if I told you the source now it would spoil the shock factor.
The Guardians of Magic
Nick knew that he had been dealing with unconventional circumstances since he learned about his Grimm heritage, but this was definitely something far more twisted than even some of the more 'primitive' wesen he had dealt with back in Portland. He could just about understand how some wesen cultures didn't want to throw away their old traditions, even if he didn't approve of what they were doing, but the scale of the Empirikuul campaign was beyond anything he'd ever faced before. Moments like his confrontation with Oleg Stark made it clear that he was just as much at risk as the people he was trying to help, but there was a difference between being attacked by criminals and being essentially arrested by an anti-magic empire.
When he regained consciousness to find himself strapped to a chair in front of a group of figures sitting in shadow behind a table, Nick wondered if he should feel disappointed at how far the Empirikuul were taking this campaign of theirs. He could just about understand the fear of magic that had inspired their efforts in the first place, but attacking whole worlds because of what they might do was far too extreme, and their current look seemed like they just wanted to make a dramatic impression. The current confrontation felt like they were basically relying on all kinds of over-the-top clichés to make a statement, even when it was something as basic as this.
"So," the figure who was apparently sitting in the centre of the table said, "how does a Grimm end up working with a vampire, a succubus, and assorted witches?"
"You know about my family?" Nick looked at the figure in surprise.
"We have recruited a few associates from your part of the multiverse," the figure said, a critical edge to his voice.
"You recruited?" Nick looked at them in surprise. "I thought you hated all magic? Why would you recruit anyone in my family?"
"Your family present an interesting grey area, since your natural abilities are focused exclusively on stopping other supernatural beings," another man observed. "Since the goals of the Grimms traditionally align with ours, we have compromised in the past… although that leaves us curious as to how you can justify betraying what you are meant to stand for by fighting alongside these beings?"
"Is that why I'm here?" Nick glared at the speaker, hoping he gave a suitable impression despite his current state of confinement. "You thought I'd be willing to help you?"
"At the very least we were curious to learn your justification for betraying your calling," another shaded figure observed. "Your family's whole purpose is to protect the innocent from wesen, and many of them have been willing to expand that remit to include the creatures of other worlds; why would you choose otherwise?"
"I don't," Nick countered, already disgusted with these people. "I'm choosing to act as a cop by protecting the innocent-"
"Innocent?" a third figure snorted. "Do you even know what magic does to people?"
"I know that not all people who wield magic are going to fall back on the same old stereotypes you're obviously relying on-"
"Every world that has succumbed to magic is held back," one of the shadowed figures said with the kind of cool tone of authority that meant Nick was already sure he wouldn't be able to persuade this guy to stand down. "Even in the simplest cases, reliance on magic stops the locals pursuing the full potential of science; one world has others explicitly acknowledge that magic cannot allow people to travel to beyond their planet so they just don't bother."
"That doesn't mean magic has to be bad-"
"In those cases, it may just be an inconvenience, but what about worlds where the influence of magic forces the people to submit to beings of power that treat us all as nothing more than a means of sustenance?"
"You can't make that kind of sweeping statement-"
"We have seen it happen in many worlds," the man who appeared to be the leader of this group stated, hands clasped in front of him as he looked at Nick under his hood. "We are basing our actions on experience; so many worlds have fallen into complacency as they accept the limitations of magic rather than the opportunities of science. Is it not better to encourage humanity to progress and prevent the rise of the threats empowered by magic than react to them after the fact?"
"I mighthave been able to get behind that idea if you're sure there's going to be a danger from the people you're targeting, but you can't condemn someone because of what they might do."
"Is not prevention better than cure?"
"Stopping someone being infected by a disease isn't the same as killing-"
"It is exactly the same," the apparent leader said in a firm tone. "The influence of magic has ruined so many worlds through encouraging a desire for power that cannot be controlled; it is inevitable-"
"People can make choices," Nick cut that particular argument off. "Giving people power is a risk in any situation, but magic isn't automatically any more dangerous than any other kind of power. You can't just decide that someone will abuse power if they get it; what happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'?"
"We prefer not to take that risk-"
"Which is where we differ," Nick retorted. "In my view, you have to at least give people a chance to do the right thing rather than decide they're guilty right off the bat just because of what they are!"
"Do you even know what your new acquaintances are capable of?" another man said. "One world where dangerous men granted the power of one of the most dangerous artefacts in their universe to a terrified child, and another where a wizard was arrogant enough to give his powers to a child simply to correct his own mistakes. There are so many other worlds where power has left people forced to deal with burdens that they were unable to face-"
"I never said that the rest of the group are perfect, but them making mistakes is just them being human," Nick cut him off. "Things might have gone wrong, but I know that nobody I'm working with has knowingly hurt others just because they want to hurt people."
"In time they will all fall to the corruption of magic; we merely seek to stop the inevitable," the leader said firmly. "We have saved a kingdom from eternal winter by killing the queen who could not control her powers over winter, we have prevented soldiers on both sides of Earth's Second World War from using magic that would unleash monsters from higher dimensions, we have ensured that cursed mummies of great power have never been awoken we have contained genies and fairies who would have been used to cast dangerous wishes, our intervention has ensured that families have been spared the burden of dangerous legacies, we have supported campaigns to discourage dangerous magic-"
"Yeah, and maybe it all sounds good when you focus on that, but what about the people who would have used magic to stop that kind of thing without you getting involved?" Nick countered.
"They would only make things worse through their inexperience and their inability to give up their power; we know what has to be done-"
"Yeah, because God forbid the idea that other people might have their own plans about how to deal with that kind of thing that don't involve killing people because it's the easy option?" Nick protested. "Maybe I'm learning how to do things back home, but I do know that you can't just assume your ways are always going to work, particularly not when you might be facing something new."
"Our methods have always worked-"
"Because you don't give anyone a chance to do anything else," Nick interrupted. "You can't just decide to kill someone the moment they do something you don't approve of-"
"Do you not investigate wesen activity to prevent them committing crimes?" another man said. "Crimes that they only commit because of what they are?"
"Only if I'm sure what they're going to do would hurt innocent people," Nick retorted. "I don't just assume that someone's a criminal because I know they're wesen, and I have wesen friends who I trust would never do anything to hurt others."
"Do you ever think that you give your trust too easily to those who may not deserve it?" another female speaker said. "Even now, you have come to us fighting alongside people whom you know nothing about, unaware of the scale of the impact magic has had on their lives. There are children in your group who have been faced with terrors no child should have to endure, and even your adult associates have been deprived of any chance to be normal because of their perceived 'responsibilities' that amount to little more than an egotistical belief that they 'must' fight others like themselves. Is it not a good thing to take that responsibility away from those who shouldn't have to face it? We only seek to eliminate the burdens imposed by magic-"
"What gives you the right to make that kind of choice for other worlds?"
"What gives your 'allies' the right to make decisions that can affect their worlds simply because they have power?"
"And you think that we do that?" Nick yelled indignantly. "Nobody has set out to 'control' the world; most of my team has only ever fought to protect people!"
"But they still hurt other innocent people in the process-"
"When we face the kind of threats we face in the lives we've chosen, people are going to get hurt even if we do everything perfectly; that's not something that would just happen solely because magic is involved," Nick countered, refusing to accept that criticism of his team (he had no idea when he'd started thinking about the Guardians that way, or even if it was accurate, but he'd focus on trying to debate with these guys and analyse everything later). "If you're going to condemn Tommy for what he did when he was under a spell or blame Bo for not knowing how to control her appetite-"
"We're not monsters, Detective; we can hardly blame the child for being a victim of parental neglect, and we certainly don't blame the witch's victim" the first figure said, actually having the nerve to sound hurt at Nick's assumption. "We blame the perversions of nature that leave a child with such appetites in the first place, and the society that would force a young man to fight in place of more qualified people even after such a horrific experience."
"And what are you doing to them now?" Nick glared at the speaker. "Because I'm sure you'll understand if I doubt you're being kind to the people you're 'defending' when we're being held captive in the first place."
"We can sympathise with their circumstances and condemn their actions," the speaker said dismissively. "On that topic, if you wish to see them, you're welcome to do so."
Nick held his tongue, not wanting to show any obvious sign of weakness or curiosity about the fate of his teammates, but it was clear that these people were perfectly fine with showing him their fate anyway. As the leader gave a dismissive wave of his hand, a wall fell away to reveal the other Guardians, all of them strapped down in some kind of elaborate chair with straps around their arms, legs and chests, arranged around a large grey cylinder of some sort.
Nick was particularly disturbed to see that Billy had been returned to his normal form, wondering how these people could justify hurting a child, even if he also wondered at the power needed to keep Merlin and Dave trapped given what they should be capable of. He was relieved to see that Vision seemed to still be 'intact' (he hoped it didn't make him sound prejudiced to be worried that the Empirikuul might have decided to try and take the artificial member of their team apart), but the synthezoid was clearly just as trapped as the rest. There were people standing around the tank and the chairs, and Nick was fairly sure he recognised most of them as the people he and the others had fought earlier, but he chose to focus on the chairs keeping his new allies trapped. Something sparked around the straps that made Nick think there was kind of force field in play that stopped some of them escaping through the use of their powers. If these people knew anything about Vision and Paige in particular, Nick guessed that they were currently dealing with something more than just straps, but there had to be some way to turn those things off…
Nick jumped back in shock as something emerged from the top of the cylinder, which he now realised must be some kind of tank. The long worm-like shape put him in mind of an eel or a snake before he saw the suckers on one side of it, and quickly evaluated his theory.
"What is that?" he yelled.
"It was known in its native reality as a 'Despair Squid'," one of the other figures said with an amused tone to their voice. "The product of accelerated evolution on a distant planet, it evolved the unique ability to subject its prey to hallucinations that would compel them to commit suicide by presenting them with nightmares where they have become everything they oppose."
"And you're making them see-?" Nick turned to glare at the hooded figures.
"Oh, it is much more than mere nightmares, Burkhardt," the lead figure cut him off with a satisfied grin. "By augmenting the Despair Squid with genetic samples taken from certain time-sensitive individuals we have encountered in our campaign, this particular Squid not only makes people relive their greatest mistakes, but even allows them to witness their future errors."
"What?" Nick yelled in horror. "You're making them-!"
"See why it is the right thing that they should eliminate themselves," another man said with a grin. "After all, if they die now they will never commit their future sins."
"Of course, some of them already have a chequered past at best, and in a few cases it's harder to predict their futures for reasons we can't be clear on, but there's nothing wrong with ensuring they realise what they have to do," the lead figure put in. "I'm sure that once you have seen the true extent of their crimes, you will be all too willing to join our cause."
"…See their crimes?" Nick looked sceptically at the robed figures. "And how am I meant to do that?"
"With my assistance," a voice said. The speaker had a distinguished British accent with traits of a German accent, and Nick turned his head to see a man in a wheelchair entering the room. The new arrival was a scrawny figure, wearing a suit that seemed a size too big for him. The once-white shirt and frayed lapels gave the impression that the suit hadn't even been cleaned for a while, and the man's bald head seemed as though it was just a bit too big for his body. There was a malevolent smirk on his face as he looked at Nick, before glancing over to the trapped Guardians around the tank. "I take it that these are the intruders you have been dealing with?"
"They are," one of the hooded figures said. "You have your instructions, Professor."
"Naturally," the man said, looking at Nick with a twisted little grin. The bald man placed the forefinger and middle finger of one hand against his temples while stretching his other hand out towards Nick-
-Wanda screamed in agony as she focused her powers on Vision, the synthezoid's body disintegrating even as the woman in red was clearly on the verge of breaking down in tears-
-People begging Wanda to 'free' them while she ran through the streets alongside two children-
-A boy who Nick somehow 'sensed' was Dave being laughed at by other children as he stood in front of an old shop, a wet stain on his crotch-
-Dave lounging around while brooms and other domestic tools cleaned the large room-
-Billy (in his child form) trapping police in an old shop while he ran into the police car-
-The transformed Billy firing a blast of lightning that sent a bus skidding off the road-
-Paige confronting an unshaven man with a wide-eyed expression, yelling about how the other man was 'evil'; the vision jumped to another image of this man talking in despair; "I can't be good; I won't be evil; what do you want from me?"-
-Paige and two other women talking with men in black suits about their plans for a 'Utopia'-
-Paige and those same women facing two younger blondes, one of the blondes talking about how Paige and her sisters had 'failed'-
-Merlin giving some kind of gourd full of liquid to a dark-haired woman in a green dress, who fell to the ground with a pained expression on her face as she looked at Merlin in a betrayed manner-
-Merlin holding back from a man dressed as a knight, various small acts pushing that man further away when all he wanted was to be trusted-
-A series of images of Angel, always wearing old-fashioned clothing and with noticeably longer hair, standing over various dead bodies, a satisfied expression on his face-
-Angel with a cruel expression duelling with a teenage blonde girl-
-Angel facing a teenage boy in a room full of people wearing what Nick could only think of as improvised suicide vests-
-A blonde girl, seemingly Emma, growing up with various foster parents, always alone, always on the outside-
-Emma wearing a dark outfit, ranting about her plans for greater power-
-Tommy in his transformed state, towering over trees and mountains, fighting some kind of giant robot-
-Tommy wearing some kind of red suit (Nick didn't know how he knew that was Tommy; he just knew it), standing in an arena filled with robots as a figure in black with gold armour stood in the middle of an arena-
-Tommy wearing a black suit, facing a kind of robot even as he yelled at his opponent to stop-
-Bo, in a series of images, standing over dead bodies with varying degrees of horror on her face-
-Bo watching as Kenzi walked into some bright light-
-Vision facing a more robotic-looking being, a sense of fear about the synthezoid even as he faced this other-
-Vision being attacked by two creatures more twisted than any wesen Nick had faced, Wanda looking on helplessly-
"NO!" Nick yelled, suddenly feeling himself back in his body, the trapped Guardians still behind the bald man in the wheelchair.
"Thank you for your service, Professor Xavier," the hooded figure said to the bald man. "You will be returned to your world shortly."
"Always a pleasure to assist," the bald man nodded at the cloaked figure before he turned and rolled out of the room, leaving the hooded figures to stare at Nick.
"Who…" Nick began, after taking a moment to collect himself. "Who… was that guy?"
"An associate," the masked leader said. "He comes from a world where the Nazi party as you know them won their war, and then ensured that anyone with the potential power to oppose them was eliminated. Professor Xavier is a telepath of considerable power and resources even without his abilities, who made a deal with the party to identify other such superhumans in exchange for his own liberty."
"Oh God…" Nick said, looking at the door that the man had just departed through before he turned to look incredulously at the masked figures. "You are working with a Nazi and you have to ask why we're against you?"
"Obviously we disapprove of the political situation in Xavier's world, but all such powers are kept under strict control; his methods are extreme, but so long as he keeps our secrets he is allowed to maintain dual authority in our party and on his world." The way the robed figure was so nonchalant about the whole issue just left Nick feeling even more sickened at the whole situation. "It's ultimately similar to what has been termed 'Operation Paperclip'; Nazi scientists were recruited by the Allies after the war was over to facilitate-"
"You are working with active Nazis-!"
"To stop serious threats to the multiverse," another speaker cut in, looking at Nick in a manner that exposed his glaring eyes under his hood. "Compromise is necessary to prevent the greater danger of magic sweeping over the multiverse… and as you have seen yourself, even your colleagues cannot be trusted with their power."
"They… they made mistakes-"
"And magic makes it easier for their mistakes to have greater consequences on a larger scale," the first speaker said, with the kind of cool certainty that Nick was familiar with from facing more fanatical criminals in his career. "If there was no magic, Tommy Oliver would not have been subject to various cases of brainwashing, so many people would be alive if 'Angel' had never become a vampire, Dave Stutler would not have been forced to endure humiliation-"
"What is your point?" Nick yelled.
"My point, Detective Burkhardt," the man said with a firm tone, "is that we do not seek to harm the innocent, despite what you seem to believe; we seek to protect them from facing the kind of burden and horror that so many of your friends have endured. If you truly object to our methods, we would welcome your insight into how we can help others using… shall we say, less extreme methods… but you must understand that magic has ruined so many lives even when it is 'meant' to be used for good."
"Can you honestly say their lives would have been worse if magic did not exist?" another figure said. "Billy Batson would have certainly found closure regarding his issues with his mother with or without magic, Dave Stutler could have won over the girl he liked without magic interfering, Paige Matthews would have likely never been separated from her family, Bo would have never had to endure those years of terrified wanderings…"
"In the end, you know we're right," the first figure said. "Magic only makes everyone's lives harder; we seek to make it simpler for everyone… and if you want to help people, the best way to do that is to join us."
Nick could only glare in outrage at this statement, even as he found himself forced to acknowledge one point; whatever he thought about the way they coped with the burden of their magical powers, his friends' lives were harder because of magic.
If there was some way to make things better… if the Empirikuul could do something to ensure that nobody would have to deal with that kind of crap ever again… if Nick and the others could help them find a more compassionate way to do things…
AN 2: To answer the most obvious potential questions;
The Despair Squid originated from the TV series 'Red Dwarf'; the show might be a comedy, but viewed the right way certain elements can be particularly dark, and the Despair Squid seemed like a good candidate for this method of torture, with the right 'modifications'.
The version of Charles Xavier depicted here originates from the Chaos Engine novel trilogy, which depicts Doctor Doom, Magneto and the Red Skull each attempting to create their 'perfect world' using a flawed Cosmic Cube. The Charles Xavier of the Red Skull's world was basically a Nazi agent who used his powers to identify other mutants for the Nazi party in exchange for his own continued freedom (fortunately, he didn't have as much training in his telepathy as his prime counterpart, allowing the prime Jean Grey to stop him when she realised who and what he was).