Jebest4781: This was quite good and enjoyed how it went so far. Can't wait to see what'll be done next here.
Also gonna wonder what things Virgil would do for Amanda Waller, both on normal orders or going out of his way to curry a number of favors under his belt.

Re: He has enough nuance to understand that what she does is a "necessary evil". As for what he'd do for her to get "Favors" to use later, he'd probably avoid committing any War Crimes, but he certainly isn't above something like a False Flag operation; assuming it doesn't cause another repeat of what happened with The Boss.

sglenn3232: Hey do you even know what's going on in your own story not being an a** but you have way to much going on

Re: The DCU is a big universe, what can I say~
That, and the only way he can be "ready in time" for July 4th, 2010 is for him to endure much suffering. If he doesn't, he wouldn't be able to keep pace with his "peers".

superpierce: great chapter surprised to learn Carolina knows Wonder Woman I thought due to her being a black ops operative that she wouldn't encounter her or any less subtle heroes.

Re: Technically she's a "mercenary" in a joint venture between a PMC and an "international special forces" unit. Because of that, she was able to make "connections" with organizations like A.R.G.U.S. where she could meet someone like Wonder Woman.

UndeadLord22: ...I feel like there was a Jojo reference somewhere in this chapter, and i cant tell which was it

Re: It was the dialogue about the "ripples", verbatim~

Raidentensho: very nice. so 'Will' is a possible candidate under the 'Melt'. though, finding artifacts own his own via telemetry mage-sight from aura vibrations, is it possible that will lead to another arc and a subplot unraveled? also wonder if the nerds' projects 'Will' set them on will lead to the 'Gad Cubes' from "Gad Guard" and him also having one. figured why not have a heavy metal brute as a back-up partner if he is still going to use his bow. looking forward to more. this will be epic. until then, later!

Re: Well, it isn't so much that he'll become an "Avatar" of The Melt, but just that his "affinity" for the Earth Element is quite strong; if the Parliament of Stones took actual notice of him, that would be a bit of a problem… As for Gad Guard, can't say I've ever watched it, but ever since I heard the "computer chips are rocks we taught how to think" comparison, I couldn't help but compare the Core of a Golem and a Microchip.

fallendemon248: I dont why but I think vergil should be a little afraid whos to say wonder woman isnt looking for her "D*** of the Day" I just thought he was getting along too well... so you never know.

Re: As far as the two of them go, I feel like she'd find his honesty "refreshing", since most of the time she has to wring the truth out of someone with the Lasso of Truth…
The fact that Virgil is in a disguise, means he can afford to get interpersonal with Wonder Woman since it won't let it backslide into his private life, which he segregates from his "work life".

*FETCH QUEST*

Honestly, this whole thing at Argus feels like I'm level grinding in an RPG. The fact that half the stuff coming out of Sebastian's mouth sounds like something you'd hear a hardcore LARPer in a school-set campaign say only furthers this sentiment.

"Incanted Casting: As the name suggests, it's a method for casting spells through the recitation of particular words. Anyone can use it regardless of ability, but recent findings have shown that this spellcasting method offers a poor 'conversion rate' on the user's magic power, and you're vulnerable to attacks mid-chant."

"Pardon me, but, it never seemed like Zatara had that sort of problem."

"Yes, well, Giovanni Zatara has the benefit of coming from a privileged bloodline. The efficacy of his own conversion rate is quite substantial regardless of whether he verbally incants his spells or not, and the fact that he's a showman during his day job is another contributing factor to this habit," Sebastian answered. "Your own conversion rate is rather mediocre, an oddity for someone from a magical bloodline, but it isn't completely unheard of for 'The Spark' to skip a generation every once in a while. Just like how it isn't unheard of for 'The Spark' to re-emerge after skipping a generation."

"The Spark? With a capital letter?"

"The Spark' simply refers to that 'special something', a… 'knack' for manipulating Mana, which could be something tangible or just a 'genetic predisposition'," Sebastian explained with a wave. "With time, you'll be able to improve your conversion rate, though eventually you will hit a glass ceiling in your development."

I decided to just roll with it, thankful there was a 'logical explanation' for my conversion rate being 'mediocre' despite 'William Descartes' coming from a magical bloodline.

" . . . So learning this 'Nonverbal' Incantation would basically take out the 'middle man' between my thoughts, my mouth, and the surrounding world to squeeze more magic out of the 'MP' I exert?"

"Yes, exactly. Not only will it improve your conversion rate, it also won't clue in your opponent to what spell you intend to cast next. In fact, with a little reverse psychology, you can trick an enemy into using a Water-type defense against what you project to be a Fire-type attack spell, when in actuality you're preparing an Earth-type magic which a Water spell isn't equipped to block."

. . . See what I mean?

*FETCH QUEST*

For the next two days, instead of the typical day-long lecture/practice format I'd gotten used to, Argus had me reinforcing what I'd already become acquainted with in my mind.

As a continuation of further reinforcing my understanding, I began to delve into low-level Ice Magic. Ice Magic, as it turns out, is fairly popular as you manipulate water particles while reducing heat in the surrounding air. Anything from freezing bodies of water to something as pedestrian as cooling your beverage to ideal drinking temperature were possible, while 'the real sick fucks' could freeze a person from the inside out if they were able to bypass the target's magical resistance.

Lightning Magic, as I was told, was far more advanced and radically dangerous for a novice to attempt. Mess up Ice Magic, and the worst you'll get is a little frostbite; mess up Lightning Magic and you'll get electrocuted. And considering it only takes 6 milliamps to kill, it was understandable why lightning-related fatalities were common even amongst magical families. Sometimes a high-ranking family would go as far as to mutilate the body of a loved one to conceal the real cause of death behind the tried and true 'magic beast attack' excuse.

Practice-wise, I alternated between 'Incanted Casting' and 'Silent Casting' so I wouldn't fall prey to what was contextually a bad habit. A great deal of Silent Casting was banishing all unnecessary thought from the forefront of your mind so you wouldn't try to 'cram two spells into a single 'spell slot'', which at best would only dilute the power of the original spell, while at worst causing a horrendous backfiring. Allegedly the younger Homo Magi in the equivalent to sports fighting competitions would create long flowery script for their spells to try and turn Incanted Casting into something 'elegant' instead of admitting to certain levels of mediocrity.

For me, this was just more 'workplace training'…

*FETCH QUEST*

A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters
December 7, 09:05 EST

"So what's on the docket for today?" I asked, given we were heading in a different direction than I had during the previous week.

"We've collated the data based on how-efficient you are at which types of spells, and I now believe it's time for your 'rite of passage' as it were," Sebastian hummed. "Today, we'll be making a trip to our very own 'Ollivanders'."

"Ollivanders… Ollivanders… That name sounds familiar, but if it's some sort of reference, I'm not getting it."

"Ollivander was the name of the wand merchant from Harry Potter who gave the titular character his first wand. Originally the area was dubbed the 'Magical Foci Crafting & Development Institute', but 'Ollivanders' is less wordy… and as you've no doubt become aware, many of the researchers here are either soft or hardcore 'nerds'," Sebastian chuckled. "Of course, you kind of have to be in order to believe in something as-readily-discounted as 'magic'."

"Oh, so that's why… So I assume this in of itself is insufficient?" I ask holding up my ring.

"That Ring-Wand of yours is impressively-made, I can tell that much even at a glance. However, what that Foci gained in subtlety, was a trade-off for reduced efficiency," Sebastian stated. "You can think of it as a 'Holdout Pistol'. A good tool when used correctly, but it shouldn't be your go-to. Treat the wand you're about to receive as your 'Iron Persuader'."

Made sense. 'The right tool for the job' and all that.

*FETCH QUEST*

The 'Magical Foci Crafting & Development Institute', a wooden plaque bolted above the door reading Ollivanders in stylized script, looked like any high-tech lab attempting to study the mysteries of the arcane using mundane sciences. I could tell at a glance that a lot of the wood paneling was 'after-market', probably to make the place feel more 'homey', but the wide array of tools I saw from lathes to engravers, to 3D printers and laser cutters, all of them segregated by transparent plastic curtains, made this the sort of place that'd have Athena drooling at the sight of it. It was definitely the sort of place that used modern manufacturing techniques to fabricate Foci, at least by looks alone.

I had no idea how long Argus had been studying magic comprehensively for, but they definitely had their shit together where the wands were concerned. In fact if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought the Foci proudly displayed in glass cases were Harry Potter paraphernalia and not 'the Real McCoy'.

"Oliver! I got a live one for you!" Sebastian called out.

"Well, at least you stopped calling me 'Ollivander'…" the man on the far side of the room hummed from within a glass-walled office, his door askew. All things considered, the guy resembled a Woodshop Teacher with a wizard's beard instead of a proper wizard; that or an improperly-dressed wizard. "So the kiddo needs a wand, then?"

"That's right. We've got some good data off of him, but he'll need a proper Foci if he's going to advance to the next level. I'm curious what will resonate with him."

"Well, I'm sure we all would too…" Oliver hummed, giving me a once-over. "Alright, then, follow me to the back room and we'll see what ticks."

The man guiding me out of his office and into a room further back, I found myself in a large storeroom with floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with all manner of things; branches from all kinds of trees, crystals, gemstones, feathers, claws, strands of hair, miscellaneous organic fibers, you name it. All things considered, 'Ollivanders' storehouse looked like a CostCo for random magical stuff. Argus certainly didn't cheap out when it came to their procurement of magical supplies, and I wondered what they made on a regular basis that they could get the greenlight to accrue so much… stuff.

"So… When it comes to making Wands, we've got a little bit of everything back here; anything you can't find here, we can requisition from Mr. Faust or Dr. Mist's private collections on an as-needed basis," Oliver began as he guided me farther toward the back, behind another partition.

Sitting against the back wall was a machine shaped like an old pinball cabinet clad in a dull green metal with a vertically oriented ergonomic handle like one of those 'Manliness Detectors' at the carnival. On the far side of the machine where the scoreboard would've gone was a glass enclosure featuring a large cyan-colored crystal protruding from a stony geode with wire coiled around it like an electromagnet. Above the window was a series of inert lights with the one on the right being the largest. In place of the actual pinballing area was an opened metal door above a vacant slot resembling the housing for a very large AA battery.

"This right here's a testing rig the boys and I whipped up a while back to see what materials best 'resonate' with a new Magi wanting a custom-made Wand to the best possible specifications. Basically, you'll hold the handle and act like the 'battery', the Wand Wood and Core materials will be tested in the middle of the circuit like a 'resistor'," he said pulling out what looked like an old-style fuse with a piece of wood connected to each end by the same kind of wire, from a nearby shelf of similar old-style fuse-like tubes, "and at the end of the circuit is a Magic Crystal used to visually appraise the potency of a Homo Magi's magic when channeled through a specific material. The brighter the light, the less 'resistance' there is to a material, so the better a wand material it'll be to a specific person. It's one thing to trust an analogue assessment like 'how bright' something is, so we use electronic sensors for a more scientific approach," he said pointing to an old but still-functional computer off to the side. "For the testing itself, we aren't looking for volume as much as we're looking for quality, so the lights on top of the viewing window will shone three red bulbs before the final green one, which means the testing for that individual material has been completed."

"I see… I see…"

All things considered, it looked like the McGuffin from a cyberpunk-themed Dungeons & Dragons questline…

"So… How long does this usually take?" I asked noticing the nearby stool, and the trio of scuff marks on the floor surrounding a painted pair of shoeprints in front of the machine.

"Well, if you think of it like Edison trying to figure out what material makes a good lightbulb filament…"

"Wait, didn't that guy try out more than six thousand possible materials?" I asked warily, looking back at the rows and rows of storage shelves around me with a sudden sense of dread.

"Yes, well… if you want Argus to make you a good wand, you'll just have to put in a little overtime," Oliver shrugged. "Similar to Harry Potter if you've ever read the books or seen the movies, the wands we make here consist of a specific type of wood surrounding a core of magical substance. Unlike in Harry Potter where the wands are quasi-sentient and there's 'only one right answer', in the real world they're just tools, like a magnifying glass focusing the sun's rays; barring the magical implements that are explicitly sentient or quasi-sentient," he amended. "For that reason, we won't make you test our entire selection, only as many as it takes for you to find a material you're comfortable trusting your life with."

"Sooo… test woods until I practically blind myself, and then test cores, until I practically blind myself…" I say somewhere between a statement and a question I already know the answer to.

"You'll probably wanna grab the stool," Oliver hummed. "No radio or TV back here. It screws with the testing phase, and some of the materials here are a little… finnicky around electromagnetic fields."

"Joy."

*FETCH QUEST*

And did thusly the ill omen cometh to pass, for I indeed requireth the stool of upon sitting~

But no, in all honesty, this exercise to follow was boring as hell. Grab the implement, channel the stuff through the whatsit, wait for the doohicky to light up all the way, swap out the whatsit for the next whatsit, rinse, repeat. And God forbid I let my mind wander and flub up the process halfway through cause then I'd have to repeat the process for the same material twice!

Fortunately, thank God, there was a little wiggle room for idle chitchat as Oliver swapped out the 'fuses' following each successful test. Like…

"So, I gotta ask… What's the deal with the fake beard?"

"It helps me get grants ahead of the other departments if I look more 'wizardy'."

Or…

"So do those fancy twigs on display out front actually work?"

"Some do, some don't, though admittedly, a few of the bean counters buy them as display pieces regardless~"

And…

"So why're you doing this busywork with me instead of having fun out front?"

"Well, to be honest, my hands aren't really good for it anymore, so I basically teach 'Magical Woodshop' and let the young blood do the delicate stuff. Lotta art majors~"

As well as…

"Where the hell'd you get something like that?"

"You do not wanna know..."

That last one got asked a lot, with varying results. Basically whenever something visibly interesting in the 'fuse cases' caught my eye.

But of course, all the idle chitchat in the world couldn't help a monotonous, menial task feel any less menial or monotonous if it was so utterly and completely mind-numbing you felt yourself getting dumber…

*FETCH QUEST*

"Remind me again… What number material am I on now?" I asked what felt like an eternity later.

"Kid. Do you really wanna know the answer to that question?"

"No, I guess not…"

I suppose there was some solace to be found in that I'd already reached the 'halfway point'. After having tested a few dozen varieties of wood from across the globe, Oliver and I had happened upon Desert Ironwood, which made the magic crystal behind the window shine like a car's high beams right into my face. Not only did it make the room's shadows stretch out incredibly long, it was also by far the brightest 'reaction' of any of the woods I'd tested; most everything else made the thing shine as dimly as sunlight through cloud cover.

The wood itself, as I learned from the 'Magical Woodshop' teacher, was native to the southwestern United States and extreme northwestern Mexico in the Baja California Peninsula and Sonoran Desert. Due to its considerable hardness and density, both processing and treatment of this type of wood was very difficult, limiting its commercial uses to the artisanal fields, such as durable wooden sculptures as well as knife handles. The sample I'd tested in the machine had a lovely 'marbling' of darkest-brown amidst much lighter browns; that I wasn't even 'a woodshop kinda guy' and could still appreciate the aesthetic qualities of the piece, spoke volumes of its tangible beauty.

While there were still many varieties of wood we could've tested in this way, I opted out, saying I had 'a good feeling' about the Desert Ironwood. In the event I ever required a replacement wand, we could simply discount the woods I'd already tested and see if anything out of the stock I hadn't turned out to be better-suited toward my needs. Best case scenario I find something even better than the Desert Ironwood; worst case I simply learn the Desert Ironwood was definitively the best-case scenario; and by then I might be more-adept at magic to the point that the testing took almost no time at all~

After that, came testing for the core material, which was admittedly more-diverse than the variety of wand woods; which of course, was when my current hell had truly begun.

I mean sure, some of the 'fuses' held materials that were visually interesting and their individual stories entertaining… but after a while my mind became numbed to even that. And you just know a task has to be boring if even fantastical stuff like Unicorn Hair, Dragon Heartstring, and even Phoenix Feather can bore you to tears.

I almost didn't notice Oliver telling me that the next material we were testing was exceptionally rare, the last of their stock, and that if by some off-chance it was 'the one' they'd have to procure new samples.

Boy would my boredom disappear quickly.

*FETCH QUEST*

While the mundanity of testing for compatible wand materials was mind-numbing, at the very least the actual manufacture of the wand promised to be more exciting.

With my soon-to-be new wand's Core material set to the side in its protective casing, a fine branch of Desert Ironwood set aside from their climate-controlled storage, I was shown a number of computer-generated templates I could have my wand based upon. Since the craftsmen at 'Ollivanders' were using modern tools for the majority of the actual shaping, thanks to computer-assisted drafting, I could have my wand be as simple or as-ornate as I pleased and at record time without any sacrifice to quality.

While the templates with lots of engravings certainly made it look 'magic-y', and such things would be sure to intimidate those that judged on outward appearance, in my own mind I could only imagine that such frivolities would serve to weaken the wood. And considering the fact that the Desert Ironwood was revered precisely for its artisanal purposes, the piece of stock I'd been given quite, quite beautiful, I decided on a more simplified shape. The handle would be sized to fit my hand in the present and as I grew, while the shaft, unadorned, would taper into a dull tip.

The actual shaping of the wood would take longer than normal because of the wood's density, but given how much time I'd lost in that back room seeing what would work and what wouldn't, I didn't really mind it as long as I got something phenomenal.

And speaking of which…

"HOLY SHIT! I LOST THAT MUCH TIME!?"

Huh, no wonder I was so hungry…

"Elegant in its simplicity… Excellent choice," Oliver smiled, fake-but-convincing beard back upon his face as he gave the template I'd chosen a final once-over. "And I have to say, the materials that resonated with you… You couldn't have found a better pairing if you'd tried~ I mean… Technically you could have, but it'd take maybe another day if you wanted to stress test absolutely everything."

"OOF! No thanks," I shuddered, shying away from the door to the back storage area. "So… what's so-special about that feather anyway? With how-bright that crystal got after you plugged it into the testing rig, I felt like Frieza getting hit by Krillin's [Solar Flare] at point-blank."

The feather in question, which one of the artisans was using a pair of tweezers to slowly braid the Barbs around the Rachis to make its profile as small as possible, was as black as a thundercloud in the dead of night, shaped like the feather of a bird of prey, and flashed purple when the light hit it 'just right'. Other than the 'purple' and the faintest hint of ozone smell, it looked like any other feather a bird would cast off.

"Ah, well, the story about that particular sample is actually rather interesting," Oliver said leading me into his office, the sound of the shop outside muffled almost entirely as soon as the door closed. "If you're up for a little light reading while we recalibrate our woodworking tools, you can learn all about it in this file," he said bringing something up on his computer monitor before spinning it and the mouse around to face me. "I actually prefer to educate the recipient of a wand where it literally 'came from', like a sommelier regaling you on the history of a fine vintage, because I feel like it 'enhances the flavor' and appreciation for the craft itself. If you feel like your wand is something rare and precious, you're less-likely to accidentally sit on it becuase you've stuffed it into your back pocket like a phone you can replace with a trip to the store."

"Well… I don't see why not," I admitted, since any sort of paranormal history, as long as there was any measure of veracity behind it, tended to be beyond fascinating; like that thing with Naked Snake and Tikhogornyj.

And boy would I have a hard time with something like that if I went up against it someday…

The file itself contained pictures, maps, and what resembled an intelligence debrief. Once you peeled away all the gov-speak and quasi-science-babble about 'cryptids', it read something like this…

Long ago, the negative emotions of warring tribes attracted a Dark Spirit to their lands. That dark spirit, glutting itself upon their resentment, beset further conflict. A young Hunter, looking in from the outside, pleaded with a Shaman for assistance. The Shaman, with the guidance of ancient Spirits, crafted a magic arrow from the roar of a thunderclap and the glimmer of falling stars on a moonless night. Upon its completion, the young Hunter was told that he need only be patient, that he would know, in the depths of his soul, when the time to loose this sacred weapon was right.

Thusly the young Hunter did wait upon a mountaintop overlooking the plains between the two warring tribes. As the Dark Spirit could move faster than any animal, the young Hunter had to wait for it to feed amidst the tumult of conflict before taking his shot. The Thunderbird's feather broke the illusion the Dark Spirit had concealed it with, revealing the truth to everyone, the Thunderbolt Iron arrowhead turning the Dark Spirit to stone. The statue in turn was buried in the earth, and a sapling placed over it not only to mark a new time of peace, but to shield the Dark Spirit from those that would wish to free it.

Skip ahead to the modern day, and amoral land developers were attempting to convert the land into a tacky strip mall. Over the course of the land-clearing, supernatural impediments delayed construction, and the superstitious workers grew afraid. When the Sacred Tree was meant to be bulldozed, the land developers wanting to strip the natural beauty of the land completely bare, no-one wanted to attempt usurping the Sacred Tree from all the old stories, which stood at the very center of the paranormal phenomena. The land developer on the end of his rope after so many delays and humiliated by what should've been a simple 'land flip', mounted the bulldozer himself with a- "If you want something done right you gotta do it yourself." -mentality.

The moment the bulldozer struck the Sacred Tree, countless bolts of lightning rained down from a completely tranquil and clear sky, Nature's Wrath unleashed in full until all that was left of the bulldozer was a ruined half-melted pile of scrap. Once the corpse of the developer had been removed, the whole thing attributed to "some kind of electrical fire" since the meteorological data meant it was "impossible" for so-many lightning strikes to have occurred in that timeframe, A.R.G.U.S. agents from the paranormal branch were sent in to investigate. What was discovered were the crumbled remains of the petrified Dark Spirit, long-depleted of its essence by the growth of the Sacred Tree, as well as the Thunderbird Feather. The Sacred Tree itself could not be saved, but even the wood clutched onto some small measure of divinity.

"This… reads like the opening prologue to an urban fantasy novel…" I hummed.

"Yeah, a lot of this stuff really does," Oliver chuckled. "Oh, and by the way…" he said conspiratorially into my ear. "The Desert Ironwood we're using now… is actually from that very same tree~" he said with a smile only a master craftsman could bare.

"Hold on, didn't the last guy who tried upending the tree get turned into charcoal?"

"He did, though the agents on-site were able to assess that the danger had in of itself passed, and since the tree itself was so-gravely wounded before the bulldozer finally stopped moving, Doctor Mist had us collect as much of the sacred wood as possible, so that way it could be given new life here."

"And you didn't think to use Plant Magic to heal it?"

"That kind of decision's a little far above my paygrade…" Oliver admitted. "Also, we didn't have any 'Chloromages' who were comfortable mucking about on Native American land."

"Well, I mean… At the very least I'll try not to use the wand for evil."

Maybe not a wholly altruistic 'good', but I definitely wouldn't be a massive dick about it.

*FETCH QUEST*

Now knowing the Lore of where my wand "came from", the manufacturing process to follow felt like stepping through the television screen into a really interesting episode of How It's Made.

When the Desert Ironwood was loaded into the Auto Lathe, I waited with baited breath as the material was shaved away, hair-thin sliver by hair-thin sliver, into an exact duplicate of the computer-assisted drafting I'd selected. It took time because of how robust the material was, but watching the shavings accumulate, watching it come closer to my chosen vision of the Foci I'd use to keep those girls safe… It was like waiting out the calendar for a much-awaited birthday.

Next came the delicate sanding to smooth off all the rough edges. This was done by hand by master craftsman, the Foci looking even further refined. A great deal of sandpaper was exhausted, but by the time the final polish had been completed, that thing practically gleamed under the artificial lighting, its 'marbling' visible for all to see.

Though I was well aware they'd have to hollow out the interior somehow to make room for the Core Material, it still didn't prevent the heart attack I almost had when the rear-most part of the handle before its secondary bevel was cut through with some kind of heated monofilament wire, which produced a hair-thin cut. Then came the drilling to very exacting dimensions using high-spec drill bits of ascending size, which would allow the Thunderbird Feather to rest snugly within the handle of the wand. That in of itself was less heart attack-inducing, though also less-exciting than watching the auto-lathe at work.

Following that came the insertion of the core material, which in its post-braiding state resembled a fat, shiny needle. Once the Core had been successfully inserted, the pommel, which had had a hole of its own drilled into, was meticulously positioned back into place, producing no delineation of the Desert Ironwood's wood grain. The Foci held carefully in place by clamps, a young man with a fancy rune-adorned wand stepped up to the plate, and casting a bit of magic bound the pommel back onto the handle of the wand, now looking like it'd never been split in the first place.

Next came the wrapping of the handle between the two bevels, which in of itself I didn't ask for, but understood the need for a firm grip that wouldn't succumb to the oil from my hands. Instead of a conventional material like rubber or cloth, instead the craftsman assigned that task used what appeared to be snake skin, its coloration similar to that of the Desert Ironwood in its 'darkest-brown to lightest-brown'. Once the tail end of the wrapping was affixed beneath itself, it looked like a snake had coiled itself to the handle before being squashed flat, the scale pattern quite beautiful, yet at the same time ominous.

The end result was a gorgeous-looking wand measuring at 11.8 inches; or 30 centimeters for those that use the metric system. The shaft of the wand was robust compared to some of the "prettier" wands, tapering off into a dull tip, and while it wouldn't be stabbing anyone to death any time soon, it could definitely cause some damage if it hit something wet and squishy.

"Beautiful…" I gasped as I, and everyone else apparently, released the breaths we'd been holding. "Although… I don't recall asking for snake skin."

"Yes, well, given where the Wood and the Core came from, I figured, why not make it 'three for three'," Oliver shrugged.

"What, you mean the snake that this skin came from lived in that Sacred Tree?" I asked only half-skeptically.

"More like the magical snake the skin came from was native to the American southwest," Oliver replied. "Not only does the wrapping conduct magic, grant you a firmer grip, and match the Desert Ironwood beautifully, it also prevents people from detecting the wand with magic as long as you're actively concealing it."

"Wait, then shouldn't more wands be made with this?" I questioned.

"If only it were that simple," a new voice said with a hum as the doors to the room opened. "I came across that sample purely by accident, since even in death, the skin of that particular magi-fauna would continue to blend into its surroundings, even in death, and by the time it was rendered visible, the skin would be completely useless in crafting."

Looking over my shoulder, wand still in hand, I beheld a dark-skinned man whose attire made him look infinitely more-magical than Sebastian Faust's more pedestrian-looking attire. Clad in a black catsuit from the neck down, the entirety of his upper body and small bands below his knees were covered in fluorescent green tribal markings consisting of lots of triangles, curves, and zig-zagging patterns; the red mantle he wore was also covered in tribal markings, these black but in simpler-looking waving lines.

"I assume you're an associate of Sebastian's and not a random evil wizard that just-so-happened to wander in?" I inquired.

"You are more or less correct," the dark-skinned man replied. "My name is Nommo Balewa, but nowadays I go by 'Doctor Mist'."

"Ohhh, right… Sebastian mentioned you."

"I'm sure he did. So," he said eyeing the implement in my hand. "It seems like you have your first proper wand."

"Ohhhh yeahhhh…" I hummed, still captivated by its beauty. Or at least the part of me that was still a humongous nerd, was.

"Mind if I look at it?" he asked holding out his hand.

My response, while not something that would make Gollum turn green with envy, was still very protective as I leapt back and cradled my new 'Thunderbird Core Wand' to my chest, eyeing the man warily.

"Ha hah! Good on you! I can tell that you and that wand will be a very good match for one another~" Doctor Mist grinned widely at my response. "Well, go on now, give it a spin, let these fine men and women see the fruits of their labor."

Nodding my head, I planted my feet, leveled my breathing, and closed my eyes. Peering inward and feeling my remaining magic swirl within me, I treated the wand not as a simple tool to be waved about while LARPing about in a silly outfit, but an extension of my own body no more separate from the hand that held it than the arm attached to my own shoulder.

A sentiment to which I was immediately rewarded.

It wasn't as overly-dramatic as Harry Potter's spotlight, rustling wind, and dramatic music. Instead, it was a slight trembling of the room. Nothing nearly as powerful as an earthquake that would make people in an underground bunker lose their collective shit, but a perceptible quivering of the room itself, barely noticeable from the hall outside.

" . . . Well that certainly wasn't ominous," Doctor Most hummed poignantly as I took in a sharp breath.

"Young man… How do you feel…?" Oliver asked, the other craftsman hovering about excitedly at another job well done.

"It was fascinating. Mind-blowing. And I'm also a bit thirsty."

"And just like that, the magic is gone…"

*FETCH QUEST*

A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters
December 7, 16:07 EST

After that finally ended, I went and got myself some damn food since I'd missed out on lunch in all of the excitement, as well as the quote/unquote "excitement" that preceded it.

Make no mistake, I was thrilled to have a legit Foci to sling around magic with, and maybe the part of me that was beginning to realize I was a mercenary was eager to have a new toy to play with, but honestly, I think I was most-eager to see the looks on Zatanna and M'gann's faces when I got to show it off. Zatanna in that we'd have more to "talk shop" about, and M'gann because magic-users were a big deal on her planet and it was so rewarding to please the excitable extraterrestrial.

Not that I planned to become a costumed crimefighter wholesale or anything, but at the very least, I was always happy to have options.

Of course, thinking deeper on it, if the "any sufficiently advanced technology" thing was quite literal, would I even be able to use my magic while wearing the Nanosuit? Snake and his predecessors dealt with the paranormal during the highlights of their respective careers, but I just had an inkling I'd have an easier time slinging magic around with the Sneaking Suit instead, based on prior experience. I'd likely have to test for that in the future, but since receiving what passes for an informalized formal education in the arcane arts, I at least have a better understanding of magic over those that have never actually used magic. I wasn't an arrogant person, but even I could rightly claim to know more about a subject in practice that another had only touched upon in theory.

Back to the food! Since the lunch rush had ended, there wasn't any dedicated staff in the kitchen serving anything and only one guy bored out of his skull reading a magazine in the corner, so I just assumed it was up to me to use my own judgement as I made use of the facilities.

By the time I actually got to the fridge, my stamina was at an all-time low now that I was no longer preoccupied, so instead of opting for anything fancy, I just made what equated to a Dagwood Sandwich with anything and everything I could get my hands on that didn't need any extra prep. It wasn't pretty, not like in the newspaper comics, but after all the calories I'd burned converting willpower into magic, what it looked like, was the farthest thing from my stomach-rumbling consideration.

With my appetite sufficiently sated, my next plan was to go to the Danger Room and sling spells around with my new wand until the end of the day to make up for all the time I'd lost channeling magic into random magical crap and practicing my foreign obscenities while doing that. It wasn't that I didn't already know how to spew profanities in Spanish, Russian, and/or French; the tricky part was getting the words to roll off my tongue convincingly so no-one would think it was a language I'd picked up only a couple months ago. All things considered, I'm amazed no-one called me out on the sheer atrocity that was my French accent.

Or at least it was… until a bag of chocolate chips fell out of a pantry and onto the nearby counter with a chocolatey *whump* which caught my attention.

'You know what… I'm gonna spoil myself a little while I'm at it~' I decided. Setting aside the final vestiges of my Dagwood Sandwich, I got to work whipping up some home-made chocolate chip cookies because damn it, I deserved to pamper myself a little!

*FETCH QUEST*

After getting the flour, baking soda, salt, butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, chocolate chips, and some nuts ready, I let a bit of laziness seep into me for a change and just used magic for all the prep work. Combining, beating, stirring, rounding, I did it all with magic like something out of Harry Potter. Since it was all stuff I'd done the mundane way in the past, I had a pretty clear image in my head of how everything should move about and be measured, so it was surprisingly easy.

I must've looked utterly ridiculous flouncing about with my wand and speaking gibberish, but damn it if I wasn't having a helluva good time just taking the Easy Route for once~ The only downside I supposed was I'd only be able to do this in settings where everyone knew about magic and/or that I had it… The Fortune Hunters had likely come across the arcane in their travels and the Moxxi family had secrets of their own they were good at hiding, but there was no fucking way I'd trust someone like Tina not to shout it out from the rooftops that I was legit magic.

Loading my trays of cookies into the oven since I had no idea how much willpower/mana it'd actually take to bake the cookies the required temperature at the appropriate timelapse, I made to wash my hands when a startled- "WHOA?!" -escaped my lips. I assumed they'd snuck up on me with some kind of low-level magic I was too-distracted to look out for, because when I turned around, there were a collection of scientists with portable high school science lab equipment in their hands, staring at me like a specimen under a microscope from the other side of the counter.

"Magically-prepared cookie dough…"

"Fascinating…"

"Just think of the…"

*FETCH QUEST*

12 minutes later…

"Man, this fucking sucks…" I grumbled as one of my freshly-baked cookies was lit on fire to do a calorie test.

The only 'justice' in sight was that the guy who did it lost his eyebrows, and a good chunk of his hair, for his temerity. Elsewhere, the nerds were running chemical analyses, studying samples under a microscope, just about anything stereotypically 'scientific' they could do with a sample size of a full batch of cookies.

And that's the story of why I learned never to prepare or manipulate foodstuffs with magic while science nerds are around…!

*FETCH QUEST*

After using a little magic to sleight-of-hand some of my cookies onto my personage, I ran into Sebastian out in the hallway.

" . . . Science nerds burn your food, I take it?"

"That obvious?" I grumbled, jostling a paltry seven cookies in a zip-loc bag.

"I can smell the burning hair," he said as the door to the mess hall closed shut, an orange plume of firelight illuminating the eating space momentarily. "So, it seems like you've gotten your first wand. And very high-quality it seems~"

"Yeah… I don't know if it's the 'hardware' or something in the 'software', but it feels like just having this thing makes it easier for me to do magic," I say turning the Foci over in my hand.

"Well, that is it's intended purpose," the dapper man replied. "Anywho, I hear you have a rare Thunderbird feather in that wand, so I thought I'd teach you a few appropriate spells."

"Oh? Like what?"

*FETCH QUEST*

The 'like what', as it turned out, were low-level Lightning Magic spells, which apparently I could now safely use because of the Thunderbird feather in my Wand would insulate me from any sort of backfire. Allegedly…!

I decided to learn a spell for channeling electricity away from my heart just to be safe… which apparently was on the night's curriculum in the form of the [Shock Protection] spell; though it in of itself was more of a technique than an actually incanted spell. I'd still get burned and shit, but at least I couldn't be fatally electrocuted as long as I used [Shock Protection] in advance like "Support Magic" in an RPG.

Not that it was the sort of thing you wanted to stress test by fiddling around with silverware and electrical sockets.

Next on the lecture was [Shock Sense], a spell for sensing electricity. Originally it was a spell used to help Homo Magi find Fulgurites for use in magic rituals, as well as detect the use or approach of Lightning spells from enemy magi. In the modern day however, it could be used to detect electrical wiring in machines and walls, surveilance devices in particular.

I don't know if it was because of the Wand or because of the Venom I'd gotten splashed in my eyes that one time, but when I actually did manage to use it, the world looked like [Eagle Vision] from Assassin's Creed; everything turned monochrome with wires and other light sources highlighted in gold, and while I couldn't see outside the room I was currently in, apparently that would change as I grew more-competent with [Shock Sense]'s use...

The last spell we talked about, at least in theory, was [Shock Redirect]. The next logical advancement of [Shock Protection], the user not only protected their body from electricity, but also used their own "meridians" or whatever as a conduit to release it in another direction.

I immediately akinned it to Iroh's "Lightning Redirection" from Avatar: The Last Airbender. And just like Zuko had been taught by Iroh, I was told the theory, but did not have lightning shot at me for actual practice.

There were spells the more tech-savvy Homo Magi could use to charge phones or power other electrical devices. However, if you did it wrong, and the margin for error was incredibly small with modern-day electronics, the [Charge Battery] spell could easily change into [Short Circuit] and all you'd have to show for it was an extra-crispy cellular phone or tablet.

And this wasn't just hearsay, this was verified fact. Captain Marvel once made a show of charging people's phones in the pseudo-infamous- "Your Phone's Charged" -incident at one of his meet-and-greets, and while it worked for a few of them, one guy who was just walking on by minding his own business got his phone completely slagged… and then the League's public affairs officer had to smooth the whole thing over.

Not that I personally cared for such flippant displays of magical power, but even I can admit it was funny as hell when Sebastian showed me that clip~ Actually made Captain Marvel seem a lot more… 'human', honestly, instead of what appeared to be a giant magical man-child empowered by Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury…

*FETCH QUEST*

A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters
December 8, 08:40 EST

"I'm sorry, I must've had something funny in my ear from yesterday's trip to Magic CostCo. Can you run that by me again?" I asked Doctor Mist as he sat across from me that morning.

"Today, you're going to summon a Familiar."

" . . . Okay see, it still sounds ludicrous, even if you say it a second time," I tell him. "Am I being Punk'd? Are you all 'hazing the new guy' with a Dungeons & Dragons bit?"

"No, no, I'm being completely serious," Doctor Mist replied. "It's a very low-level spell, minimal risk, and you can't summon anything that could actually kill you if it came to a fight. By the same metric, the stable that you can draw from is pretty narrow to most 'Pet-Class' Familiars like you see in popular media. Magical families with a lot of money and resources could either capture a magical beast and attempt to enslave it, or attempt to summon one across space-time for the same end. However, those run the risk of whatever gets brought in 'breaking containment' and killing you outright, if not completely rebuffing magical indoctrination altogether."

" . . . So basically Dungeons & Dragons."

"The over/under between that or Harry Potter being used as a 'metric' is actually pretty even," Doctor Mist conceded good-naturedly.

*FETCH QUEST*

A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters: Familiar Acquisition, Assessment & Utilization Bureau
December 8, 09:04 EST

Compared to the 'Magical Foci Crafting & Development Institute' which felt like a well-funded Triple-A development studio, the 'Familiar Acquisition, Assessment & Utilization Bureau' was little more than a broom closet.

It wasn't literally the size of a broom closet, but it definitely felt more cluttered than the lecture hall I'd been working in before. The walls were either lined with shelves of books, stacks of books, stacks of boxes, was minimalistic in luxuries, and the whole place smelled like a pet shop. The only true element of luxury to be found was the perfectly-round circle engraved in the floor; likely to increase the ease of drawing "summoning circles" or whatever you used an engraved circle in the floor for…

When the room's occupants turned to face us, the "pet shop smell" made a great deal more sense… The four of them wore lab coats but were largely unassuming and uninteresting; the sort of people you'd pass by on the street and not give a second thought for. What did make them distinctive were what I assumed to be the Familiars they had on-hand.

The mousy woman on the far left looking up from a book bad a rotund calico cat curled in her lap. The lanky man standing against the nearby wall, a book in his hands, was standing next to a roost with a sleepy-looking barn owl atop it. Standing next to him was a large jock-like figure with a leather falconer's gauntlet on his arm, feeding what I assumed were discarded laboratory mice from another research branch to a large brown falcon with wicked-looking talons. Sitting in the other corner and talking to his was a scrawny-looking unashamedly Goth guy with a large green snake draped around his neck like a scarf.

For simplicity's sake, I decided to call them "Cat", "Owl", "Hawk", and "Snake".

"Ah! Doctor Mist!" Cat squeaked getting to her feet, dropping the cate inelegantly. "Wh-What a pleasant surprise!"

"I take it he's the new blood?" Owl questioned.

"Yes. He just received his wand from 'Ollivanders', and he's a fast learner, so I think its important he get another vital wizard's tool, at least while he's here," Doctor Mist replied.

"I'll start recording the data," Hawk replied, setting his familiar down on a roost before picking up a notebook and paper.

" . . . For a department summoning animals through space-time, I'd have thought you'd be a little more…" I groused for the least-insulting adjective.

"Better-funded?" Snake offered dryly. "Sorry to disappoint you, but after that whole fiasco with Acoustic Kitty back in the sixties, any department trying to utilize pets as a Field Asset don't really get taken… seriously anymore."

"The fuck is 'Acoustic Kitty'?" I found myself asking incredulously.

"25,000,000-dollar cyborg cat with a listening device, radio transmitter, battery pack, and cerebral overrides," Cat answered. "Poor guy got hit by a taxi on his first deployment in Soviet Russia…" she said morosely, clutching her familiar tighter.

" . . . Life really is stranger than fiction," I conceded. "How much would that have been in today's money?" I asked, dreading the answer as soon as it came out of my mouth.

"More than two-hundred thirty-five million…"

"Best money the CIA ever spent," Snake replied sarcastically.

"It could only have happened in the 60s," Hawk chuckled.

"Well, as long as you don't try and train me to move short distances, I think we'll get along just fine," I hummed. "So… Where do I start?"

"First, you gotta fill this," Hawk said tossing me a large geode with a cyan-colored crystal protruding from the top. "This Beacon Crystal will act as, well… a beacon to guide whatever familiar you summon across the expanse of space-time."

"Do I need to worry about summoning anything from Mars, or Venus?" I asked holding the magic crystal.

You'd think it was a stupid question, but with something as wildly-unpredictable as magic, there technically weren't any 'dumb questions', only 'stupid answers'.

"Nothing we or the other departments have summoned would indicate that to be the case. At least thus far," Cat replied. "Anything that's been summoned is largely terrestrial in nature, since Mars has its own magical environment, and Venus is largely lifeless as far as we can actually tell."

"I see," I hummed, sitting on the ground and crossing my legs as I got to work on the crystal.

*FETCH QUEST*

When it came to filling a vessel with Magic, I found during the course of yesterday's quote/unquote "excitement", that the best psychosomatic trigger for me was to imagine emptying my lungs to fill a party balloon. If I hadn't spent a quarter of the day stress-testing magical random crap, I'd have never come across the method which, had I not, I'd have probably spent sixteen hours on that hellish task alone.

I guess necessity really was the mother of invention…

"Okay, I think I've filled the Beacon Crystal, what next?" I asked turning the other cheek from it.

"Now, we need you to eat this," Owl said handing me a suspicious-looking white-and-brown mushroom with a wide saucer-shaped cap and a thin stalk, while Cat wrapped the crystal in a blackout curtain so none of us would see spots for the rest of the day.

"Sooo… You want me to eat a magic mushroom."

"For SCIENCE!" Hawk grinned excitedly.

" . . . And how long would this make me trip balls for, exactly?"

"Not sure."

" . . . It won't make be explode or anything, will it?"

"Not unless there happens to be a giant hamster wheel nearby," Snake chuckled.

"Poor Hamburg," Owl lamented, me following his gaze to see a blood-spattered cage and a hamster wheel that looked like a cherry bomb had gone off inside it.

" . . . You fucking kept that thing?"

"It's so we never forget," Cat replied sheepishly.

"And why exactly, should I not think you guys are just hazing me?"

"The 'Mushroom of Finding' as we colloquially call it, basically 'leaves you open' for your would-be Familiar to find," Owl explained. "Once you're in the necessary trance, the 'barriers' you use to conceal yourself, at least on a magical or spiritual level, will die down."

"You're basically 'baring yourself' or 'laying your heart bare' before the universe, and the magic of the ritual will truly be able to read your 'inner self'," Snake said making air quotes.

"It's a similar technique to what Satanic Cults use to invite demons in, although since Humans possess a little thing called 'reason', they have to fill the Black Sabbath or other equivalent days with sex, drugs, and violence so they lose their 'reason' and open themselves up to demonic possession," Hawk stated.

"You aren't just looking for any random Familiar, you're looking for a being that reflects your 'innermost self', a true partner," Cat concluded.

"Uhhhh…" I hummed, taking a small step back from them. "I need an adult."

"Huh…?" she blinked. "Oh God, no!" Cat squealed with a red face, which she held up her cat to smother.

"No-no-no, we do not do that here!" Hawk sputtered out with an equally red face.

"Though if he's seen the 'Harem' of Water Nymphs the other department conjured up, I can understand why he'd think that when the word 'partner' got thrown around," Snake said with a dry smile.

"Oh god, they do what with Water Nymphs here?!"

"I mean, they make them wear cosplay, but I don't know for certain they do anything overtly sexual with them," Snake waved dismissively. "That sort of thing makes it hard to ask the board for grant money. That or very easy depending on who you ask," he chuckled darkly.

"God, I cannot believe I'm fucking hearing this from legitimate scientists…" I grumbled, turning over the literal magic mushroom in my hand. ' . . . Whatever I'm getting out of that 'Loot Cave' had better damn well be worth it…!' I thought to myself as I downed it in one bite. " . . . *HIC!*… Uhhhhhhmn…"

*FETCH QUEST*

A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters
December 8, 12:34 EST

"So, how are things going with William?" Diana questioned as she and Carolina meandered down one of the Argus hallways.

"They're going well, all things considered," Carolina shrugged. "Nothing's broken containment, so we haven't had to haul ass topside. He hasn't burned off his own eyebrows or anything. Honestly, I'm surprised there hasn't been some sort of backlash from the Justice League over this."

"Well, to be fair, Magic is something that belongs to everyone, not just the Justice League, the magical families, or any one country," Diana returned. "The only time what Argus is doing would be a problem is if they started acting unscrupulously."

"Like when the government actively poisoned industrial grade alcohol during the Prohibition era?"

"Something similar," Diana hummed, aware of the history from a distance than through first-hand experience. "So I understand William is summoning a Familiar today. I always did find the practice fascinating, though it wasn't something we actively studied on Themyscira. Normally the spellcasters that live there were content with finding something to bond with instead of dragging from their own home."

"Well, hopefully he won't wind up summoning anything… dangerous," she hummed, recalling the Bicorn she and Diana had had to put down the first time they met at Argus.

"Well, that is what we're going to find out, aren't we?" Diana asked. "I believe we are here," she said finding herself before the door with the ostentatious name plate over the top of it.

"I temper my sense of decency in expectation," Carolina said as she drew her sidearm and rushed into the door. Nothing overtly dangerous made itself known, though for some reason the four researchers were giggling on occasion, and- "Ohhhh, what the fuck, guys…!"

Her eyes landing on 'Will', she was treated to the sight of him staring off into space with his eyes rolled halfway up into his head, slack-jawed and repeatedly raising and setting down his feet upon the first step of a stepstool as though he were stair-climbing in place.

"Why is William climbing the stairway to heaven?" Diana asked, recalling how similar trances back on Themyscira celebrating festivals to some of the… rowdier deities, were described once the revellers 'came down'.

"And how long has he been like this?!" Carolina demanded.

*SNRK* "Three hours~!" Hawk chuckled trying to contain his laughter.

"No matter how many times this happens, this never stops being funny~" Owl grinned, Cat looking like the one that ate the canary.

" . . . Wha' the hell…? Why'm I on a stepstool…?" 'Will' questioned as a sliver of focus came back into his hazy eyes.

"Oh look, he's finally coming down," Snake hummed dryly while Hawk lifted him off the stepstool by the armpits and stood him in front of the now-completed summoning circle. It was a five-pointed star with a few runes, and in the center was the Beacon Crystal, still swaddled in its blackout curtain, the radiant light peeking out from the folds.

"Will, if you can understand me, I need you to *snrk* take out your wand, point it in the air, read *hrk* this incantation, and then twirl your wand above your head before *hah* pointing forward," Cat said holding up a large whiteboard with writing on it, struggling to keep a straight face as clearing crimson eyes panned over the words.

'William', groggily withdrawing his Thunderbird wand from his sleeve, drunkenly eyed the incantation presented and rolled them silently off his tongue before speaking them aloud.

"My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe! My divine, beautiful, wise and powerful servant, heed my call! I wish and assert from the very bottom of my heart, answer my guidance and appear!"

The four researchers in their sub-par room bursting out in a fit of laughter, much to Diana's confusion but to Carolina's consternation, when his wand arm fell forward, that inside joke died on their lips as the Beacon Crystal began to emit a high-pitched whine intermingled with the crackling of ice underfoot. The crystal rattling and the light shining from the crystal intensified in its brightness, the blackout curtains beginning to burn away and flood the room with light, anything not bolted down beginning to float.

"OH MY GOD, I'M COMING DOWWWN!" 'William' cried drunkenly as Carolina tackled him to the floor. Diana leaping forward in an attempt to smother the explosion, was greeted by an omni-directional hail of golf ball-sized shrapnel that peppered the entire room, the four researchers shielding their familiars from the blast even as they yowled and hollered in pain.

*FETCH QUEST*

Elsewhen, a few moments prior…

"Remind me again… how long has he been tripping balls?" Sebastian questioned as he and Doctor Mist walked toward the room William had last entered.

"A few hours, last time I checked," Doctor Mist replied. "Whatever 'vision quest' he's going on, it must hint at a rather unique Familiar, though I do of course worry as to its nature, since that particular summoning ritual was explicitly concocted as a low-risk/low-reward option for Familiar Summoning."

"Maybe that was just a very strong mushroom?"

"The possibility does exist and that I'm just worrying over nothing."

The next moment however, the door before them burst like someone'd fired off a breaching charge, a thick plume of smoke spilling out into the hallway. Sebastian drawing forth his wand and Doctor Mist his arcane energies, the two flanked the door before leaping in, Sebastian dispelling the smoke while Doctor Mist readied a powerful blast of flame.

Diana hurrying away the coughing and wheezing researchers and their familiars, the two magi immediately noticed the golf ball-sized shards of crystal peppering the walls and ceiling, annihilating anything that wasn't made of metal and looking like someone had fired a blast of grapeshot from the room below.

Carolina groaning as crystal chunks rolled off of her fatigues, Virgil who seemed to be coming to, laid her carefully to the side before peering attentively at the smoking summoning circle, the silhouette of a rotund lump visible through the haze.

The sound of rustling feathers echoing in the din as the rotund lump got to its feet and turned around, after several moments passed, what had been summoned made no aggressive movements, leaving Sebastian and Doctor Mist to observe what their latest student had summoned. What waddled forward into William's waiting arms from out of the smoke was what appeared to be some sort of… chicken pig…?

The creature was rotund and squat, covered in short brown fur and possessive of six stubby legs with wide paws. Folded upon its back were a quartet of iridescent bird wings, though what was most surprising was its complete and utter lack of a proper head or even face. It was maybe half the size of a full-grown pig, trilling and cooing affectionately as William carefully reached out to stroke the spot atop its non-face. Its wings fluttering as it leaned into his hand, the creature crawled into his lap like an affectionate house pet a moment later.

"What manner of creature is that?" Diana asked curiously poking her head into the room.

"WHOA!" Carolina cried out in shock.

"What? What?!" William yelped.

"What the hell is that thing!?" she yelled pointing at the thing in the teenager's lap.

"This? He's my Familiar," the Louisianna-native answered defensively.

"Where's his face?!" the Freelancer cried, the rotund creature burying its non-face into William's stomach prompting him to place his hands where its ears might've been.

"I think he's somewhat sensitive about that…" he said in a chastising tone, the other researchers poking their heads into the room with a mix of shock and awe on their faces.

*FETCH QUEST*

Well… either that magic mushroom Cat, Owl, Hawk, and Snake made me eat had gone very, very bad, or was in fact very good at… whatever the hell it was magic mushrooms did.

According to Sebastian and Doctor Mist, the type of summoning magic I'd used would've been the equivalent of a "1st Level conjuration spell" if we were using Dungeons & Dragons as a measuring stick. The fact that I'd summoned… whatever it was that I'd summoned, utterly baffled the Familiar Acquisition, Assessment & Utilization Bureau since it was far from the western variety of Familiar that were typically called forth by this ritual.

After running the creature's description through a database, a more-flattering way of saying they typed no face, six limbs, wings onto a Google search engine, what had turned up was that this creature was a DiJiang, a mountain patron god in Chinese mythology, and one of the mythical beasts featured in the Chinese classic text "Classic of Mountains and Seas". Other versions depicted the DiJiang as a divine bird, notably related if not identical to a personification of Hundun, a legendary faceless being of primal chaos.

Now, the only "primal chaos" I was aware of was the great "cosmic soup" from Greek legend about the creation of the universe. Whether it was because of all the oddities I'd seen in my relatively short time on this Earth, or simply the fact that this waddling dumpling was my summoned Familiar, I couldn't help but think how adorable he was~ Sure, I couldn't understand what he was saying, but through the "Master/Servant Bond" as it was called, I was able to understand his feelings. Hence why I knew he was self-conscious about not having a proper head or face…

Of course, I couldn't just go on calling him "Familiar" -the word sounded like a racial slur in this context-, and I was probably butchering the pronunciation for DiJiang, so I decided it'd be appropriate to give him a more mundane name for whenever I took him on walks.

Under disguise, of course! Maybe a squat, short-legged variety of dog like a Dachshund, Basset Hound, or a Welsch Corgi…?

Learning that my Familiar either self-identified as a male or was a male, definitely helped in granting the little guy a name. Initially I tried a few of them out at random, but he either didn't like them, or already had a name of his own before I'd summoned him. That being the case, I decided to use the ever-reliable Google search engine and sort through them alphabetically to see what he liked.

And that's the story of how I met Morris, the adorable Chinese dumpling with a fondness for singing and dancing~

*FETCH QUEST*

AN:
Yes, that Morris~ When I saw Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, I couldn't help but fall in love with the little guy~

Of course, I didn't have Morris appear "just because", there's a deeper meaning behind this being his summoned Familiar, but I'll leave that to the readers to interpret~

P.S.

My Beta, Spaceman, has come out with a Young Justice story recently, titled Young Justice: Doom and Rebirth. It's a collab, with him as the main writer and me offering some content of my own, and it's kinda meta like a self-aware "Power Fantasy". Most of his prior works are short ones, mostly centered around the "Halloween World" episode of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, and while he isn't as articulate in his writing style as I am, his ideas are rather interesting, so it's just a matter of him getting the practice in to refine his technique as I have. My most-recent works have been all the better for his Soundboarding, so it's also been fun as hell to return the favor while having the freedom to "fast burn" a harem into shape.

Give it a read when you get the chance, though admittedly it'll take a while for my own contributions to appear, so make sure to keep it on your radar, give a little constructive criticism and maybe some positive reinforcement every once in a while.

Until next time!