Mage Among Superheroes

With Haste cast on most of us and the majority of the Mod Squad goons stumbling around on Grease or Slowed, I had expected us to clean them up swiftly. Even with one of them crashing through the wall, it shouldn’t have been particularly troublesome.

Sorority was the closest, being the one most inclined for melee besides Fluffy. Since she had multiple locations, it seemed sensible that she would randomly be closest as well. One of her rushed towards the large cyborg man who had smashed the wall, and I saw another moving in as backup out of caution. That should have been enough, but the first was struck directly by a laser beam coming from the man’s outstretched arm, and despite skilled maneuvering Sorority wasn’t able to break away from the targeting.

Her instantaneous back and forth movements would have thrown me off and I was processing things at the same level of Haste. The only good thing was that Haste meant that the duration the beam had been focused on Sorority was relatively less, so it took a longer amount of our relative time for Energy Ward to be drained.

Long enough that Sorority reached her target and ducked into a leg sweep. However, I was even more surprised at what happened next. The man’s leg kicked forward at a speed I found difficult to follow even with Haste active. The instant before his metal foot collided with Sorority’s head, she disappeared.

And the cyborg man didn’t seem even slightly surprised. With the slightest shift, he locked his laser onto the next closest target- Sorority again, but with the shared Energy Ward her defenses would likely run out soon.

All of that had happened quickly, even for those of us using Haste. Most of us were focused elsewhere, but I’d been preparing mana. I just hadn’t wanted to hit Sorority, and while my practice with Chain Lightning was going well the Mod Squad wasn’t particularly weak to Lightning. Sonic Lance was a nicely powerful spell that was also not problematic in its scope. As soon as I released the mana… I saw the shimmer of a barrier.

Ugh, did this guy have everything?

One of the guy’s eyes focused on me- the other still pointed at Sorority. He didn’t even lift his other arm, and I had a laser beam targeted right at the center of my chest. Fortunately, I’d stayed back near cover and ducked down before it ate through too much of my Energy Ward.

From my new angle I mostly saw Kick and Fluffy taking out more of the weaker guys. Shockfire was unfortunately not Hasted, so he was a bit slower- until Midnight got to him, bringing him up to speed.

I was only behind cover for a moment before I slipped out the other side. I was preparing a much larger amount of mana for the barrier. Even if Chain Lightning wasn’t particularly good against these cyborgs, I didn’t think it was really much worse than on normal people. And if it hit the barrier, I could test the total power at stake.

When my head peeked out the other side, I saw the final member of the battle I had forgotten about. Jerome had been sensible enough to stay in cover, but Rob had been knocked flying out of his captor’s hands into the middle of the room. And that very same circular robot was now charging towards the cyborg lieutenant or whatever rank the Mod Squad guy had. I didn’t recognize him from any dossier, as Iron Shell was supposed to be the only exceptional figure by our knowledge.

A ball of light fired out from Rob’s core… landing on the barrier. It would be slightly annoying for the cyborg, but not really blinding. Sorority’s second body had disappeared, and I saw a black spot on one of the others. Maybe multiple. Did each body share damage? I guess sharing buffs probably came with that sort of weakness.

The cyborg guy changed his target to Rob, and fortunately for our little plastic friend Jerome’s energy ward did something for him. It protected him long enough for him to gather one more point of mana, launching another Light spell. I didn’t see that it would act any different, but apparently Jerome’s little robot buddy was quite clever. Because while I felt the spell going towards his foe, I didn’t see anything. Not until the light appeared, inside the barrier on his eyes.

Ohh! It wasn’t light until it arrived so the barrier that could block lasers wouldn’t stop it! I needed to remember that. Obviously I would be throwing light at people’s eyes, too. And if it was invisible until arrival, I didn’t have to worry about people dodging it so much.

The cyborg guy unexpectedly being actually blinded was a good opportunity for me to throw a ton of lightning at him. Unfortunately, the barrier was slightly better than the AEGIS that Doctor Doomsday handed out to every minion and withstood the full force of the spell. Which was… fair enough, actually. Most of the rest of the Mod Squad was lacking in that regard, so one guy having such defenses was just annoying, not unexpected.

I was preparing to charge in and try to use my staff to finish of the barrier- it couldn’t have unlimited durability, and a good Dispel should help. However, I was once again stunned by the processing speed of the guy. And this time, I was surprised by his tactics. He threw himself forward, and for a single instant I thought he was trying to dodge my Chain Lightning after the fact- but I’d only launched it after he was blind to begin with.

Instead, he landed on Rob. He had good spatial awareness, because his fingers snapped down on the little guy even though he should be blind- or at least looking through a high intensity light which should pretty much ruin even adaptive eye replacements. Then he yanked Rob off the ground- an action the little cleaning robot had literally no way to resist. He seemed to crush Rob against his chest, and then Rob was gone in a twinkle of light.

Some profanity from out front indicated Jerome had felt something wrong, but it wasn’t quite so bad as I would have anticipated for a familiar being disintegrated. Not that I’d experienced it, but… I had at least a solid idea.

Then the cyborg guy shoved his hands on the ground, sending himself flying backwards out of the opening he came in. I couldn’t see most of the rest of what happened. All I determined was that Shockfire filled up the back alley with fire, and then a few moments later everything was over.

I rushed out, making sure to take a glance at the rest of the Mod Squad members. They seemed adequately restrained or unconscious, at least for a bit. I looked outside to see… nothing but an empty alleyway and Shockfire.

“What the hell was that?” Shockfire said. “He just disappeared! With a whole van!”

I furrowed my brow. “Not invisibility, right?”

Shockfire shook his head. “I would have melted it. And I don’t feel any of the electronics in him now.”

“Well, teleportation then,” I suggested.

“What, so the Mod Squad can just teleport now?”

I shrugged. “Bunvorixians can probably do it. I don’t know about personal teleportation, but Celmothians have an extremely reliable planetary network of teleporters. I think the military might have more.”

“... That’s a huge step up from lasers and hidden blades,” Shockfire grumbled.

“I would posit the big guy had something in his chest,” I said. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go talk to Jerome about his familiar.”

It didn’t take long for Haste to wear off so I could more easily speak to Jerome, but I started as soon as possible to begin with. “Jerome. Don’t panic. Does Rob suddenly feel… further away?”

He looked up at me, panicked. “He’s just… gone!”

“Don’t worry,” I assured him. “You might feel empty or numb where your link normally is, but that just represents a great distance. If… something worse had happened, it would not feel that way.”

“... You’re kinda terrible at reassuring people.”

“I would expect so,” I agreed. “Even so, you will find him and we will get him back.”

“How?”

“Come with us.”

-----

Jerome had to be blindfolded as we brought him with us to a secure area, because he didn’t have the clearance. However, with my word and his mother’s position in the Brigade it was easy enough to convince the relevant people to allow him access to a particular room. Especially since the only thing of value in the room was technically mine. Probably.

“This is… your Scrying Orb, yeah?” Jerome asked. “So… you’re going to Scry Rob for me?”

“Nope,” I shook my head. “I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t work.”

“Then… what?” he asked.

“You’ve been training, right? And studying and stuff.”

“Obviously,” he said. “Every day.”

“And you just engaged in battle. What level are you now?” I asked.

“Uh… 17.”

“That’s very good, actually.” He’d been 15 during the last progress report, and I was fairly certain we could have finagled this to work at that level. But this was much better. “The first thing you’re going to do is purchase Scrying.”

“Can I even cast that?” Jerome asked.

“It’s exactly at your fatigue limit,” I said. “It should also be easier with your previous experience with Scrying related things, and your connection to Rob.” Calculator would want to be here for this, but the recording would have to do. It was better than waiting. In the worst case scenario, making an attempt now would start the process of Jerome improving his technique and recovering mana. “You have the points, right?”

“Yeah,” Jerome nodded. “I kept a lot in reserve to be honest. It’s just nice to learn stuff without, you know?”

“I’m sure it’s more normal from your perspective,” I agreed. “But we don’t want to wait, here.”

He bit his lip. “Yeah. I purchased it. What do I do now?”

“Gather mana. Steady your concentration, because this is at your fatigue limit. This thing here,” I gestured to the huge cube of artificial diamond. “Will help channel the ability.”

Power swirled within the object as Jerome’s mana flowed into it. “Something is… fighting me.”

“Just focus on Rob,” I said. “Don’t let it pull you away.”

A moment later, our little cleaning friend appeared. He was on a shelf among various other bits and pieces being stored, upside down. When he finished coming into view, he suddenly began beeping, his wheels spinning and turning back and forth.

“Rob!” Jerome stepped forward- and the image faded as he collapsed to his knees. I caught his shoulder, stopping him from falling forward.

Mixing emotional responses with fatigue limits wasn’t exactly a recipe for success, but I couldn’t blame him. He was still a kid.

A few moments later, he shook his head as his consciousness returned. “... I lost it, huh.”

“Indeed. But you should be able to do one more, right?” I asked. “Before you do, take a short break. And try to remember any extra information you got. Was there… a direction?” Scrying didn’t normally give that sort of information, but Familiars made things different.

“Umm… that way?” He gestured vaguely. “Sorry, I…”

I pat him on the shoulder. “It’s alright. Just sit down for a few moments. We’ll do it again, and you’ll get some information our super smart guy can use to pin them down. Then we’ll storm their base with a bunch of tough guys and rescue Rob.”

Jerome did as I suggested, and a few minutes later- I had to force him to be methodical and wait longer than he wished- the images were appearing again.

“This thing is being annoying,” said an unfamiliar woman. Just a random member of the Mod Squad, as far as I could tell. She and a man were fumbling around with Rob, their eyes currently covered in blinding light. “Boss told us not to break it because it’s weird, but we can at least take out its battery.”

The little robot’s wheels were spinning and his vacuum was whirring. The two toppled over as Grease suddenly appeared beneath their feet. Then the screwdriver they were trying to use began banging them on the head, a tiny little ghostly hand holding it.

“I know you’re very invested in watching a cleaning robot take down full adults,” I said to Jerome. “But if you could try to point to Rob’s location? Include the vertical component, if possible.”

“Uh, right.” That snapped Jerome out of his daze, though I suspected he wasn’t enjoying the comedy of the moment as much as he might in the future. “There, I think?” he said, holding out his arm, slowly repositioning it. “I just… don’t know where we are or anything so I don’t know if that will help.”

“Trust me,” I said. “It will.”

Unfortunately, the battle of Rob ended in his loss. That was what happened when a little cleaning robot went up against two humans with arms and legs- and cyborg enhancements. Though given all those advantages, I doubted they would be spreading word about their victory. They managed to open Rob up and pop out his battery, but the image didn’t fade. Jerome kept watching even after they walked away, until the spell ended with his little buddy in several pieces on the floor. But those were all pieces that could be put back… or cheaply replaced.

Not that Jerome probably felt better because of that. I was going to punch several people in the face for making my apprentice cry.