Chapter 9

I floated amidst a sea of stars once again, the void of my soul and the Grimoire combined into the same place. I felt… drained. Tired in a way that I hadn't felt in years.

"You're really determined to get us killed, ain't ya?"

My eyes drifted over to the real Mak as he seemed to be typing away at a computer. "What are you up to now?"

Mak tsked and typed some more. "Making notes on how you could improve. Your biggest thing right now is fundamentals. You have a lot of power to throw around, but because you're spreading yourself so thin, your control is shit. You leak mana like a sieve when you if you had an ounce more control, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"What mess? I didn't stop the bomb?"

"You did, but you got caught in the blast and you're nearly depleted of mana. Like I said, more control and you could have just teleported away from the blast, but between all the shadow jumping, magecraft, and illusions, you ate through a bunch of your mana way too quick."

"Excuse me for not being perfect after having these powers for only a week," I muttered sarcastically.

"That excuse only goes so far. What happens when you've had these powers for a month, a year, a decade?"

"We both know this world doesn't have a decade." The looming threat that I'd been doing my best to ignore reared it's ugly head. For all that I was adjusting to life in Brockton Bay, I didn't have very long, objectively speaking.

Mak nodded grimly and waved a hand. An image of Scion appeared within my dreamscape. "Yeah, he's gonna be one tough bastard. You've got plenty of time, relatively speaking, to master your abilities and go up against him. Start small." He reached up into the heavens and plucked a pair of twinkling stars and hurled them at me.

I caught them, one echoing with the power of clairvoyance and the other that of something called 'librariormancy'. I eyed them both, weighed the potential benefits, then shook my head and let them drift back into the void. "I have enough powers for the moment. Shouldn't go adding more. And besides, I gotta save up." I glanced toward what looked like the center of the dreamscape, a brilliant, blazing sun emitting enough light to illuminate and outshine all the other stars there. "I'll definitely need that when I have the power saved."

Mak gave me an approving nod. "Smart choice. You'd probably have it already if you'd taken the time to save up. Then again, maybe you'd be dead before you could grab it… Anyway, I'll leave you to it man. I approve mostly of how you've been living our life, but please for the love of God, go get out some more. You have friends now, so make some time for them and don't die a shut-in like me."

"I'll do my best. Thanks." I clapped him on the back and he gave me a fleeting smile before light consumed me and-
/

Monday, February 14, 2011

My body felt like it was on fire as my eyes snapped open. The smell of antiseptic and bleach filled my nose and I knew that I was either in the hospital or an infirmary. I sat up and glanced around, noting the bare metal walls of the Rig. Infirmary it was. I looked down at my body and saw numerous bandages and wraps around me, the herbal scent of medicine coming off of some. I flexed slightly and felt the familiar pain of burns all over my torso, making me hiss slightly at the influx of fresh agony.

I started to drag myself from the bed when Miss Militia's now familiar voice spoke up from the corner of the room. "I'd stay put until the doctor clears you."

I froze, having not even noticed her presence. "Hey MM, what uh… Whatcha doing lurking over there?"

MM did her eye-smile thing and set a book to the side. "Watching over you. I'm a noctis cape, I don't need to sleep. Director Piggot figured that you'd be at your most vulnerable now and that Coil might try something."

Made sense. "How long have I been out?"

"A couple of days. Panacea took a look at you and healed up the worst of your injuries, left some light burns to in her words 'teach you a lesson about running off and leaving her to deal with a bunch of unconscious mercenaries and a panicking hospital.' There was something else wrong with you though, Panacea reported that you were perfectly healthy physically, so we're not sure why you didn't wake up until now…"

Mana drain probably. "I must have overused my powers or something and taxed my mind more than it could handle."

"Powers have done stranger things," she agreed.

I felt a jolt of panic as I began to process everything that had happened. "Oh shi-oot, what happened with the bomb? Did I get it far enough away?"

"You did," she assured me. "More than far enough away in fact. An explosive like that loses a lot of it's bite when not in an enclosed space, but nice work regardless. You'll be going through some proper bomb disposal courses later though. Much safer than the stunt you pulled." She gave me a curious look. "So how long could you teleport?"

I felt a twinge of guilt, but reminded myself that I had been sandbagging for good reason. "A while. Didn't really feel the need to broadcast it, but it was a life or death situation so…" I trailed off and shrugged.

"I'm glad to see that you listened to my advice about hiding powers, because while it's good that you had a hidden ace up your sleeve to get one over on Coil, if you had hidden that ability and let innocents die… well lets just say that would lead to a very different conversation right now."

I nodded in understanding. "I get'cha. Any updates on Coil anyway?"

That earned another smile, though this one was tinged with a vicious satisfaction. "Coil didn't count on a Tinker getting his hands on your hacked earpiece so quickly. Armsmaster backtracked the signal and led a raid on what looks like one of Coil's main operation centers. He'd already evacuated most everything, but we captured about half a dozen mercenaries and a dozen more support staff who were lagging behind along with a decent amount of drugs and weapons. It's a small consolation prize compared to an injured hero and a ruined debut, but…" She sighed slightly and shook her head. "Have to take wins where we can in this city."

"Amen," I agreed. "One last hole for him to hide in. So what's the next step?"

"The next step is for you to finish recovering, then go speak to the PR department and Director Piggot. We've already put a positive spin on what happened, officially you were testing the Protectorate's abilities and proving yourself as a valuable asset. Unofficially, there's a lot of speculation online about secret Master powers and plots to discredit you. I wouldn't worry too much about it, it will blow over soon."

"No, I meant what's the next step for dealing with Coil."

"Ah. Nothing."

"Nothing? MM, he threatened to blow up a hospital!"

"Yes and now we know from extensive analysis of his base that he has access to at least fifty mercenaries with military-grade equipment and training. Pushing him is what got you injured to begin with, we can't afford to antagonize him more. We'll consolidate our defenses, get his moles out of the PRT, and wait for an opportunity to strike back. Armsmaster is especially displeased and is reviewing IT's sweep of our internal network personally, not to mention planting some nasty surprises for any infiltrators with the help of an out of town friend."

"Ma'am, we're making a huge mistake if we give Coil time to plan. That's his whole power!"

"If we commit resources to pursuing and eliminating Coil, then we risk overreaching and giving Kaiser or Lung the chance to claim more territory," Miss Militia said sternly. "A lot of this was covered in your supplemental lessons, remember?"

Yeah and I'd considered it a waste of time. I liked the principle of the PRT, not necessarily their every action and policy. "Miss Militia-"

"This isn't up for debate. Just sit back for the moment and relax. You did well, but it's time to ease into proper hero work, not this mess of backroom politics and shadow conspiracies you've gotten yourself thrown into." She laid a firm hand on my shoulder and pushed me back into a sitting position. "Recover and then we'll talk some more. Your first patrol will be later this week. We have faith in you."

She left after that, leaving me stewing in my own anger and impotence. I put my trust in the PRT and now they were just going to sit back and allow Coil to consolidate his forces and strike back?! Unacceptable. I thought that with the addition of a powerful new hero the Protectorate might try and be more proactive, but they were still more concerned with holding onto the status quo than-

I've only been with them a week. I can be patient when it comes to the other gangs. Not with Coil though.

I scrolled idly through PHO for a while until an older doctor as well as Troopers Cole and Smith entered, the small buzzer giving me time to throw on a half-mask. "Hey there Magus," Cole greeted me. "Doc here is gonna check you over and give you the greenlight, then me and Smith will take you back home. You're on R&R until all the damage is fully healed."

The nondescript man approached and peeled away layers of bandages to examine the partially healed burns on my torso. "You're lucky young man," he muttered, eyes critically examining the damage. "Panacea was on hand to fix the worst of the damage and whatever material they made your costume out of must have been something."

Heh, tinker-tech fabric enhanced with magecraft had made me more than a little bullet proof. Nice to see it helped with bombs too. I made a note to invest some more resources and time into the next iteration. "So am I clear to head home uh… Doctor…?"

"Mhmm," the older man grunted. "I'm Doctor Felix, but everyone here just calls me Doc. You heroes and your fancy antics… I should have taken that job over at Brockton General, but nooooo, I just had to want a more exciting end to my career," he grumbled to himself. "I'll prescribe you some painkillers and extra burn ointment. You should be cleared for field work again in a few days, but until then, relax and don't do anything strenuous."

"Yes sir," I lyingly agreed. "I'll just… catch up on t.v or something."

He gave me a sharp look at my tone, but nodded grudgingly. "Good to meet ya, Magus. Keep up the good work. I know some of the staff over at Memorial and they're grateful to ya. Asked me to pass on their thanks. I hope I don't see you again any time soon."

He left rather brusquely after that, leaving me feeling slightly amused and offended in equal measure. Smith was quick to give me a reassuring thumbs up. "Don't mind Doc, he's just grumpy cause he has to deal with some pretty gnarly injuries. You ever seen what Hookwolf can do to a non-Brute? It's pretty bad."

I grimaced at the mental image. "I can only imagine. So you guys are gonna be my babysitters then?"

"We're just going to escort you back to your residence," Cole said with the barest shrug. "And we'll be on call if you need a ride back to the Rig or to HQ."

"Appreciate it."

I followed and was quickly driven in a plain car back to the Overlook. That earned me a small look of confusion from Smith as we pulled up. "Don't Protectorate heroes get a pretty good paycheck? Why this place?"

"Cheap," I replied simply. I took off my half mask and at the same time blurred my face with a minor illusion. "Thank you gentlemen. I'll be seeing you all in a few days."

I marched back into the Overlook, trading a small nod with the concierge, and entered my room. I let all illusions drop and focused upon my mana, drawing it out slowly and allowing it to begin healing my injuries. The PRT had never asked if my healing worked on myself, they'd just assumed it was similar to most other healers in that it was limited to others. That gave me some wiggle room, time to get things done.

Coil was going down. I'd been approaching the situation like a cape. I wasn't a cape. I was a goddamn mage, a user of the mystic arts.

And I had so many more options than what I'd shown the PRT.

I approached the window of my suite and opened it, letting out a small twittering cry for aid. Within moments, a few birds perched themselves upon my windowsill. "Spirit Guardian, protector of the land! How can we winged ones help you?"

"I need you all to find someone," I projected an image of Coil, both in costume and out. "He is a very bad man. I believe he'll be underground, but he'll have many dangerous looking humans with him." Another projection of the standard uniform of Coil's mercenaries appeared. "He wishes to hurt this city. Your aid would be appreciated, my small friends."

"We hear and obey, Guardian!"

The birds flew off, already chirping and I grinned to myself. I hadn't thought the Spirit Guardian power would be useful for much other than boosting my mana pool, but inner Mak had helpfully pointed out that even the city was full of animals of all kinds.

Next I made a phone call.

"Mak!" Lisa sounded equal parts relieved, shocked, and worried the moment she picked up. "I saw the news, what the hell happened and where have you been?!"

"Made a bit too much of a nuisance of myself in Coil's book, so he tried to either ruin my reputation early or get me killed, probably both at the same time if it had gone his way. He didn't account for some of my abilities."

"No kidding. You're a goddamned freak of nature with those powers of yours. So what do you need little old me for?"

"I need to know where a PRT agent lived. Or… he might have just been a consultant for them. Either way, he had pretty close ties, I can only imagine that he had some kind of address on file for them."

I heard a sharp intake of breath over the line. "You want Coil's address I'm guessing?"

"Yup."

"That's dangerous information you're asking for. I really should be charging you for this."

"A promise of dealing with Coil isn't enough?" I asked with faux innocence. "What else could I do to repay you?"

"Why do you even want to know that in the first place? No way he's still there."

"I want to see if I can find any clues or leads. I know he probably destroyed any important evidence, but… Well I need to at least try."

"You're lying."

I grimaced at being called out. Thinkers… "I need a sample of his DNA. Blood would be best, but even just a little bit of hair or flakes of skin would help."

"Why do you- Do you have some kind of ranged power you can use to hit him from far away if you have DNA?"

"Eh, basically. I'm going to put a curse or two on him. Could do it without the DNA, but it'll be more effective with some."

"A curse? Goddamn, you are like Myrrdin, aren't you?" I heard Lisa laughing with disbelief over the line. "Is that why you call yourself 'Magus', cause you genuinely think you're using magic?"

"Something like that…"

"You're crazy. But most capes are, so…" I heard her sigh and then the clacking of a keyboard. "Name?"

"Thomas Calvert."

"Hm. Looks like they've been amping their security, but that's mostly against bugs being placed in the system. Outside hacking is still mostly viable… Give me a couple of hours, I'll text you the address once I have it."

"Thanks Lisa. Send me a bill for your time." I hung up and began to focus more of my attention on treating my burns.

Within an hour the pain was gone, like it was never there. I meditated some until I felt my magical reserves had been restored, then made myself invisible and went out into the city. It was an average day for Brockton Bay, which meant a bit chilly and gray, but it was actually the kind of weather I preferred. I began to pace restlessly through the city, eyes watching, eager to find some kind of crime to vent my mounting frustration on.

I got lucky. Within another hour, I spotted a girl running from a group of jocks, the duct tape in their hands and jeering calls not painting the best picture. It sent a swell of pity through my guts for the girl and a surge of anger that high schoolers could be so cruel. She tripped and fell, rolling with the impact, but it was letting the jocks closer. I stopped thinking and acted.

Magus was meant to be a hero to inspire and maybe one day, lead. But I wasn't acting as Magus right now. I made myself into a figure of living darkness and shadow, hidden beneath a green cloak. Reminiscent of Eidolon, but drawing more inspiration from The Spectre.

I coalesced into being in front of the girl and made a small motion with my hand. "Behind me, now."

Flinching at my sudden arrival, she did as I asked and put me between herself and the group of rapidly approaching jocks. They stopped at my sudden arrival, paling in shock and fear, but one brave one stepped up. "Uh sir, I know how this looks, but she stole my uh… phone. We just wanted to get it back."

I could practically smell the utter bullshit. "Really now?" I looked at the girl and she had a look of fear and resignation on her face. Glasses, curly hair… a suspicion was forming already, one I didn't like, but I pushed that aside for the moment. "May I examine the contents of your pockets and backpack?"

"I'm no thief," the girl muttered, but did as I asked, revealing only a wallet, set of keys, and textbooks, but no phone.

"It appears that you're chasing the wrong girl," I growled menacingly, lending my voice a reverberating quality. "Leave."

The group of jocks scampered away quickly after that and I examined the girl. "Are you alright?"

"Just some scrapes when I fell," she said quietly, tucking her hands away into her hoodie's pockets. "Thank you. Guess I'm lucky you were around." She adjusted her glasses and gave me a once over. "You're really stealing Eidolon's look there."

I shrugged. "He's a good hero. May I see your hands?"

She cautiously pulled them out and I stretched out a shadowy claw and muttered a brief incantation. Golden light spread over her scraped palms and within moments they were healed. A look of wonder spread across her face. "T-Thank you. Are you a hero?"

"Yes. Not one you'd know though. First day out."

"Guess I'm on a roll then. I should buy a lottery ticket," she said with a trace of humor.

"Maybe," I agreed. "Why were they chasing you?"

She shrugged. "Girl at school paid them. I think they were going to tie me to a pole or something."

Ah shit…

"I'm sorry to hear that. Can you give me any names? I have friends amongst law enforcement. I could try to get them to stop."

She shuffled a bit. "N-No, it's fine, I can deal with it on my own."

I could see the desire to blurt it all out just on the tip of her tongue, but I had more than a suspicion as to her identity. Too many attempts to change her situation and a lack of action from the authorities had beaten down her will to even try. "Young lady, what they were trying to do was assault at best. The fact someone paid them to do it makes it even worse. I believe I can help you, but I require names first."

She gathered herself and nodded firmly. "Okay. Their names are Emma Barnes, Sophia Hess, and Maddison Clements." She unslung her backpack and drew out a notebook. "I've been keeping track of all their activities. Would that help?"

"It would indeed." I took it carefully. "Can I have your name as well, Ms…?

"Hebert, Taylor Hebert."

Not so much a surprise at that point, but it was still the confirmation I needed. "Any relation to Daniel Hebert?"

"Y-Yeah, my dad. How do you…?"

"He's fairly famous in some circles," I said, leaving out that those circles mostly consisted of people who had read her story and generally came to the conclusion that he was a middling if not outright awful parent. "Do you require an escort home?"

"No no, this part of the Docks is fine," she ducked her head shyly. "I'll be fine. Thank you again uh…"

"Kage," I supplied helpfully. "Be well, Ms. Hebert."

I melted back into the shadows leaving a dumbstruck protagonist standing around for a minute before she began her walk back home with a definite skip in her step. I felt myself smile despite myself, though a new lingering question made it's way into my mind.

How the hell am I going to deal with Shadow Stalker?

I decided that was a future me problem and continued a vague patrol of the Docks area until I received a text with an address from Lisa. I made my way to the given address and teleported directly in by looking through an outside window. I remained silent for a moment, waiting for any kind of alarm or hidden enemies, then placed a hand on the floorboards and began scanning the place with magecraft. No overt traps here, the place was completely mundane so as to sell Calvert's illusion of normalcy. There was nothing damning though. The place had been gone over with a fine toothed comb, no electronics left, no papers, no clothing, nothing to overtly trace back to Calvert.

But hairs were a bit harder to get rid of completely. I found four while searching the bathroom, remnants from shaving based on the size. It was rather difficult to contain my absolute glee at the find as I teleported back to the Overlook and walked up my scrying pool.

I gazed into its depths and watched Calvert for a bit as he went about his planning. He was looking increasingly frustrated and I grinned to myself as I knew it was only about to get worse.

I placed one of the hairs I'd found into a bowl, then cut the palm of my hand and dribbled a bit in. Blood had power, that held true in basically every form of magic. I allowed mana to course through me and into the bowl as I began to mutter in pseudo-Latin, my language of choice when 'studying' magecraft. The hair along with my blood began to sizzle and boil before vaporizing into mist. I watched in satisfaction as Coil began to furiously try and scratch an itch on his back that he just couldn't quite reach.

Petty maybe, but I needed to make sure it worked without wasting too much power.

I looked at the three remaining hairs and grinned viciously.
/

A/N: Mak tries to be a good and pleasant kind of guy, but much like me, he's got a bit of a petty vengeful streak. Hope this demonstrates that while he genuinely wants to work with the PRT/ Protectorate, he isn't above circumventing them if he really thinks he needs to. I also hope everyone is having a splendid weekend and continues to do so. Also FF continues to screw with my formatting, making me need to back track and re-add italics and bolding. Any suggestions to fix? This wasn't a problem with my previous story or even the earlier chapters of this one.