Got the Grimoire, Chapter 65

Chapter 65

The PRT was already on the scene, a pair of large vans covering the entrance of the hospital with confoam sprayers, both the handheld variety and the vehicle mounted ones. In addition, I spotted a blur making it’s way around the building at regular intervals. Velocity.

“What’s the situation?” I asked the trooper with a squad leader’s badge on one shoulder.

“Magus.” The trooper gave me a small nod. “At least four hostile parahumans. Positive I.D from the database, looks like a group of villains just out of Boston.”

I felt a sinking feeling. “The Teeth?”

“No, thank God.” My relief was quickly washed away by his next words. “Semi-nomadic group called ‘The Travelers’. They were in Boston for a while, but got into some trouble with Accord and his Ambassadors. Split town rather than stick around. We don’t have much to go on, just-”

“We have enough,” I said grimly, cutting off the trooper. “Expect two high-level Blasters that can cause mass casualties. One can generate a star-like construct, the other can turn basically any object he touches into a supersonic projectile. One Mover/ Shaker who can swap any two objects of relatively similar mass with each other, including people. Final one poses as a Changer, but is actually a projection based Master.”

“...Thinker shit?”

“Thinker shit. They have hostages?”

“Yes. At least a dozen, if not more. They’re in a stand-off inside with Glory Girl. We believe they’re attempting to abduct Panacea. It wouldn’t be the first such instance.”

Noelle.

Goddammit all, I’d kind of forgotten about the Travelers with all the other stuff going down in Brockton Bay. While they’d played a somewhat prominent role in a post-Leviathan Brockton Bay, they hadn’t appeared in the city yet, probably because I’d taken care of Coil before he could bring them here. They’d still ended up running from Boston though, not that I could blame them from what files the PRT had on Accord. They must have chosen Brockton Bay specifically for Panacea. Her greater biokinetic powers were unknown, but the fact she was the world’s best healer still must have given them some kind of hope. 

“You have an earpiece?”

“Yessir.” He offered me one off of his belt. “Channel five is being used for the Protectorate.”

I fitted the piece into my ear and dialed to the correct frequency. “Console, this is Magus reporting in. I’ve been given an overview of the situation, where do you want me?”

“Glad to have you, Magus,” a calm voice said. I recognized him as one of the operators that the PRT had trained to run the Console. “You’re the second member of the Protectorate on the scene. Dauntless and Armsmaster are both inbound, but Assault and Battery are being kept in reserve.”

“Triumph?”

“Out of town today. Can you contact any other friendly capes for assistance?”

I glanced at Crystal and raised an eyebrow, noting that she was already speaking furiously on her own phone. “Laserdream is here already. Highly probable that the rest of New Wave will be present shortly.”

“Acknowledged. Tell them not to act rashly. While the Travelers aren’t known as a particularly violent group, we cannot discount the destructive nature of their abilities. Civilian casualties are unacceptable at this stage.”

“How is Glory Girl keeping them at bay then?”

“She and Panacea locked themselves in one of the smaller hospital rooms. It would be difficult for either of the Travelers two ranged threats to get in without potentially hurting Panacea and Genesis is too large to fit into the space. The Travelers are attempting to coerce the two out through other means.”

So a three-way standoff with multiple civilians in the way. Lovely.

I was more than a little tempted to force my way in and end the situation quickly. Nothing the Travelers had up their sleeves could really hurt me (I hoped. Jury was still out on Sundancer), but I was leery of just how much collateral damage Ballistic and Trickster could cause before I put them down. I knew that if even a civilian got hurt because villains were after her, Amy’s persecution complex would go into overdrive. No one wanted to deal with that mess of issues.

The crack of a gunshot split the air and a bullet bounced off the road next to my foot. I glanced up and saw Trickster hanging out of a window.

“I think that’s enough capes! Call off your reinforcements or I’ll start shooting someone a little less bulletproof!” he called down.

“What, you don’t want me to skedaddle too?” I asked innocently.

He laughed, just a hint of derangement in it. Or maybe I was just imagining things. “I know you’re a Trump of some kind, it wouldn’t surprise me if you had Stranger powers in your arsenal. No, you can stay right where I can see you. Any funny business and my associates and I start playing less friendly.”

“No need for that,” I said placatingly. I pressed my earpiece, manipulating sound as I did so to make sure Trickster couldn’t hear. “Console, have any other heroes headed this way hold back out of sight. This guy is a lunatic and might start shooting any minute if we don’t at least try and pretend to play along.”

“Acknowledged. You have full authorization from the Director to attack or initiate negotiations. She just says not to make any promises that you can’t keep.”

“I’ll do my best,” I said grimly. “Magus out.” I looked up at Trickster. “Alright, no more heroes headed this way. So what do you want exactly?”

“My friends and I just need to borrow the services of Panacea for a bit,” Trickster said with false cheer. “I promise that we don’t mean the little lady any harm. All goes well and she’ll be back home in time for dinner.”

“Forgive me if I don’t believe your words, Trickster.”

“Ah, so my reputation precedes me then, does it?”

“More like the trail of bodies.”

His face twisted into an expression of regret for just the briefest of moments before returning to a lazy smile. “Those were just a series of rather unfortunate circumstances, none of them truly our fault. In point of fact, Panacea might just be able to help us fix that little problem. Isn’t that what she does? Save lives?”

“Not at gunpoint. You really want help with your ‘little’ problem, then make an appointment like everyone else.”

“I’m afraid things are on a bit more of a time crunch than that,” he said with almost genuine regret. “Were it so easy to fix our problems, then we wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.”

“I’ll give you exactly one opportunity to stand down. Do that and I’ll do everything in my power to fix your issue.”

He squinted at me, suspicion in his eyes. “Why do I get the feeling that you know exactly what our issue is?”

“Thinker shit.”

“Thinkers…” he muttered to himself. “I hate you all.” He considered my proposal, but then shook his head. “I’m sorry, but while you may be reasonable, I’ve heard less than stellar things about your Director. We’ve gone too far in this scenario.”

I set my jaw and allowed a faint aura of power to begin emanating from me. “Don’t make me do this.”

His eyes hardened and I knew instinctively what was coming. “Ballistic!” he barked.

An entire window exploded into a hail of razor sharp fragments, each and every one accelerated past the sound barrier with a crack of displaced air. It would have shredded the entire team of PRT troopers at my back.

Luckily I’d been training with opponents that moved far quicker than normal. My instincts and training took over as I threw up a barrier of hardened air, turning aside the deadly projectiles. I spotted a figure leaning out from where the window had shattered itself, and had to throw up another barrier as a handful of ball bearings were shotgunned across the front of the building.

“Watch it!” I snapped. “You’re going to get someone killed.”

“That’s the idea,” Trickster sneered. “Sundancer!”

I wasn’t sure if it was trust in her team leader or extra time spent in a city like Boston, but Sundancer’s reservations on hurting others seemed to be gone. Or maybe I just didn’t count. Her star flickered to life in front of me, the asphalt instantly liquefying beneath it. The heat struck my wards and a month, hell even a week previous, and it might have hurt me badly if not outright kill me. But I’d been preparing for a fight against the likes of Behemoth during that time. The heat rebounded off of my protective fields and I strode forward toward it before smothering it with my own power, forcibly snuffing out the small sun.

Trickster looked truly baffled for a moment, clearly not used to dealing with a cape that could tank his two heavy hitters. Between one heartbeat and the next, I took the chance to fold space and appear in front of him, making him flinch and take a step back. I peered at him curiously, sensing a faint sense of… wrongness. I combed through my catalogue of abilities before finally settling on the ever reliable Lunatic Eyes and viewing Trickster’s brainwaves. For lack of a better word, they were utterly twisted.

I fought the urge to curse. I’d forgotten that he was a Ziz-bomb. I reached out metaphysical tendrils of psychic influence when I was suddenly bowled over from the side, a mass of flailing tentacles encircling me and cutting me off from Trickster, but failing to harm me.

“Out of my way,” I snapped. With barely a thought I turned the air around me into golden flame.

One of the best parts about magic is just how controllable it could be to a skilled user. The flames of Order didn’t burn any of the structure around us, instead eating away at the projection that Genesis had formed. The nightmare ripped straight from Lovecraft’s dreams, screamed and then vanished as my power ate away at it.

It served it’s purpose as a distraction though. I let out a curse as I realized that Trickster was gone. I closed my eyes and allowed my metaphysical senses to snake through the hospital before I found a pair of familiar shadows. Then I stepped through a patch of darkness in the lee of the hospital wall, passed through the endless cold dark of the Shadow realm, then out from Amy Dallon’s shadow into the real world once again.

“Hey girls- Oof!”

Victoria’s fist took me right in the gut and sent me staggering backwards, most of the kinetic energy absorbed my mystical protections. Enough power was still leftover to make me cough and splutter, even as Vicky backed up, embarrassed surprise written across her features.

Amy’s face brightened the second I actually appeared, before falling into a more cautious expression. “Hand.”

“Amy-”

“Hand.”

I rolled my eyes, but in a world of Strangers and Changers, couldn’t fault her. I extended one hand, allowing the illusion covering me to fade. I only looked like I was wearing my costume when I was actually just wearing the casual clothes I’d had on before getting the alert.

Amy took my hand for only a second before nodding with relief. “It’s him, Vicky.” She squinted at me. “Why didn’t you teleport straight to me like you just did? We could hear you in a standoff with those villains.”

I opened my mouth to make a snappy comeback and then faltered. “Because… I’m an idiot?”

“Yeah, you really are sometimes. Can we go home now?”

Trickster’s annoying voice cut in. “Not just yet, Panacea. We still have need of your services.”

My attention shifted and I froze as I saw that Trickster had his pistol aimed at the temple of some young boy he’d grabbed on his way to the hospital room. “You don’t want to do that.”

“No, I don’t,” he agreed. “But I will if it gets me what I want. You’re seriously being overdramatic, it’s not like I want the entire world coming after me or anything, once we’re all done with Panacea’s powers, I’ll let her go.” He shoved the barrel of the gun against the side of the kid’s head. “But I’m done asking nicely.”

“Trickster,” I said slowly. “Krouse. I swear, you hurt a hair on that little guy’s head and I will not just end you, but all the rest of the Travelers.” I bared my teeth in a grim approximation of a smile. “Including Noelle.”

His face twitched and his expression grew even more serious. “One more word out of you and I kill the kid,” he snapped. His gaze went to Amy. “What do you say, Panacea? All I’m asking is for you to do your job.

“She isn’t going anywhere with you, creep!” Vicky snarled, stepping in between them. Her aura was at full blast, but even that wasn’t enough to make Trickster back down.

“I’m going to count down from three,” he said with deadly calm. “One.”

I cast out a net of mental energy and zeroed in on the Simugh’s influence. His mind was like a pretzel with how she’d shaped him, but in the end I had the guidance of Raziel and a stronger power.

Trickster blinked rapidly. “What… What the hell did you just do to me?” he asked slowly.

“I un-Zizzed you. You’re welcome,” I said with satisfaction.

Vicky glanced at me, confusion making itself plain on her face. “He was a Simurgh-bomb?”

“Big time.” I turned my attention onto Trickster. “Krouse. Really think about what you’ve been doing all this time. It’s not you, not entirely at least. You’ve been under her sway since you arrived on this Earth. More brutal. Less forgiving. Willing to go so far as to sell a friend into slavery to get your way. I know you might not be the best of people, but that seems a little extreme for someone who just gained powers, doesn’t it?”

The gun in his hand faltered as Trickster actually considered my words now that the outside influence was gone. “She didn’t control everything,” he whispered. “I’d still burn the world for Noelle.”

“But you don’t have to. You’ve been going about this in the most confrontational way possible when you had any number of other options. My previous offer is still there. Stand down and I’ll make sure to help Noelle,” I promised.

Sweat beaded his forehead, the gun shook, and then finally lowered. Vicky quickly darted across the room and pulled the boy away while I took the chance to disarm Trickster and slap a pair of cuffs on him.

“Where is she at? I’ll go to her right now.”

“Center of the Trainyard, with the last member of our group. Big van. Careful, she’s hungry. Haven’t had a chance to feed her in a while,” he said quietly, almost a mumble. Definitely coming down from an adrenaline high.

“I’ll take care of it. Panacea?”

Amy took my cue and stepped forward to lay a hand against a patch of exposed skin on Trickster’s neck. He slumped unconscious. Then she kicked him viciously.

“Bastard!” she snarled.

“Take it easy, Ames,” I soothed. “He was a victim too.” I activated my earpiece. “Magus to Console, Trickster and Genesis are neutralized. Any status updates on Sundancer and Ballistic?”

“Both withdrew after you neutralized their powers and defeated Genesis,” Console replied promptly. “Director Piggot has decided not to send pursuit teams at this time due to the rather dangerous nature of their abilities.”

“Roger that. I’m going to be taking care of a burgeoning S-class threat. Be back in a minute.”

“Wait, Magus-”

The rest was cut off as I yanked out the earbud and tossed it onto a table. Someone would find it. Or not. I didn’t really care at that point. I was just grumpy from having my date interrupted and annoyed at myself for forgetting important details.

Crystal burst through the door a moment later, eyes glittering with power, but they quickly softened when she saw her two cousins safe and sound. “Thank God you guys are okay,” she said tiredly, pulling them both into a hug. “Mom would kill me if I let anything bad happen to you two.”

“We’re fine, cuz,” Amy said placatingly, patting her back. “Not our first rodeo.”

“This kind of crap shouldn’t happen at all,” Crystal grumbled. “You shouldn’t be used to it.”

“Part of being me.”

“Good thing you guys were nearby,” Vicky added. “Where’s everyone else?”

“On their way. Carol and Mark are pissed by the way. Today is supposed to be your guys’ day off!”

“I know, but I was super bored and healing people at least takes up time.”

Translation: She didn’t have anything else to do and felt guilty about just taking some time to herself. We’ll need to keep working on that.

She is a noble soul. It is not always easy to teach such a one to care for themselves as they do others, Raziel observed.

Yeah, well I can damn well try.

“Alright ladies, I got to deal with a different, but related situation. You good to keep an eye on them?” I asked Crystal.

“Of course. I’ll buy us more smoothies when you get back.”

I grinned. “Sounds like a plan. Be back in just a sec.”

I found the nearest open window and took off into the sky.

I had a Mother of Monsters to cure.
***

A/N: Apologies again for the delay. I love having friends visit, but it's havoc on my writing schedule. Aaaannnnd I have another one visiting this upcoming weekend. We'll see how that affects the next chapter. Anyways, sorry again, hope y'all enjoy and I'll catch you later.