Mage Among Superheroes

Over the course of the next week Scrying attempts remained much the same, with Handface occasionally throwing off my attempts before we could get much information. Other than that it was usually the same dingy warehouse with little information. We had one number but little to tell us if ‘96’ was the whole thing or just part. But figuring that out wasn’t my job, I just aimed Calculator at things while trying to puzzle out how he was gaining information. Focusing on the spell while at the same time looking for small details was difficult. Upgrades would expand the range and efficiency of the spell, but it would still take focus. Unfortunately, that wasn’t something I could just upgrade with points.

Except I could. There were spells specifically for that purpose. It was just that Enhance Mind was one of those things with loose functionality. It had a moderate mana cost and it made thinking ‘better’ for a while. It was difficult to measure something like that, and generally became useful if a mage had extra mana. Or if they were spending a long day studying and were fine with using most of their regenerated mana on the task. It was a fourth level spell, and thus took two-thirds of the regeneration. That meant I simply couldn’t keep it up along with Translation… though I was hoping not to need the latter soon enough. I could get by speaking English just fine, but I was still missing some nuance. Having the option to speak other languages was also very useful.

“What are you thinking about?” Calculator asked.

“Thinking,” I replied.

A few moments of silence followed. “Am I to interpret that as you not wanting to be interrupted, or were you thinking about thinking?”

“Yes, the second,” I nodded. “I have the potential to get some magic that would enhance someone’s cognitive abilities. I feel that it would help in situations like this, where my concentration is occupied.”

“That’s- hold that thought. Clockwise turn.”

I did so, and caught another glimpse of the person walking past. “Dang, missed his face.” My Scrying was almost about to fade away, so there wasn’t much chance of catching them passing by again.

Calculator waved the tablet in his hand, “I think I might have gotten it. Let’s review the footage.”

“... I kind of forgot you were recording all of this. Or rather, that it’s possible.” I understood technology enough to know what it could do, but I still wasn’t used to it all.

Calculator grinned, “I doubt any of this could be used in a court, but it’s good enough for us to know whatever we learn.” He tapped a few times, “Here we are.” The sound of the room and our occasional comments played back as well as a partial representation of the image shown in the mirror. Then he paused. “There, got it. That good enough?”

It was a three-quarters view of the face. A little blurry, but distinct enough. “I think so. The connection will be pretty weak at first, though. If they have a strong will they might just throw me off. It could take some time to get familiar with them for it to work consistently.”

“I guess we can pencil that in for tomorrow then,” Calculator frowned. “I’d like to get a look at this new guy while he’s around the warehouse though.”

“So… why are we not then?”

“Because you can only use Scrying once per day.” He looked at me, his expression shifting into a frown. “Did you not say that?”

“I probably did. It only works on an individual once per day, more or less.”

“...but you can actually do it more than once per day,” I could see the gears turning inside his head, “An erroneous assumption on my part from incomplete information.”

“I still can’t do it constantly,” I cautioned. “If I do it again I’ll be basically drained of mana. Then it’s like two hours before I could do it once more… and if I only use Scrying I’ll never get better at anything.” I wanted to bring that up just in case he forgot.

“I remember,” he nodded. “The Power Brigade understands that supers are people too, and that they can be run ragged just like anyone else. But since you brought it up, I’ll assume you are willing to give this a shot right now?”

“That’s right. I just need to also have opportunities for training, or actual missions.”

“There will be more of the latter once your team isn’t in danger of randomly being sniped.” He pressed a few buttons on his tablet. “I sent you the picture so that I can be ready to record.”

I took out my phone, opening up the photo. Then I began to concentrate, slowly drawing out the mana. My maximum was twenty-three and I would be twenty-two in twenty minutes… but that was actually much less than doing something similar in a fight which would only last a couple minutes. It would just leave me nearly tapped out, approximately with three points after regeneration.

Minion #1 appeared to be the muscle type. He was a bit taller and bulkier than myself, which made him significantly bigger than the average human. Nothing alarming, though I would prefer to stay out of melee combat with him if I didn’t have the use of magic. As the mists began to fade away and his movements were revealed, it was clear it was working. And despite the tenuous connection… I didn’t really feel any kickback.

One of the first things Minion #1 did was walk into a small room with a half dozen others, mostly unmasked. Calculator made appreciative noises as I focused on each of them for a moment.

“Boss is still being paranoid,” Minion #1 commented. “Thinks he’s being watched.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Minion #2 replied. “We haven’t spotted anyone, and if they had a super spying on us we would have been taken out a week ago.”

“I don’t know about that,” Minion #3- a woman- shook her head. “But I’d probably bet on that thing being on the fritz rather than anything else. That’s stolen super tech put together by a woman who wears a rat mask.”

Another voice entered the scene, along with a vaguely familiar profile. “It’s better than walking around with your face visible for everyone to see,” commented the new man. “Speaking of which…”

“Oh come on!” said Minion #2, “We’re in the base! It’s stuffy in here!”

“Yeah,” said Minion #3, “Look, Swarm, I don’t know how Rodentia got you so hooked on the rat head thing, but it’s not for us.”

The man walked forward until he was right between Minions #2 and #3. “Because I’m not revealing my identity in a way that’s easily compromised by one screw up.” Then he split in two, leaning towards both of them. He whispered something that made them pull back, but I wasn’t able to hear it. Unfortunately I had to listen and watch from Minion #1’s position. Both Minion #2 and #3 took a step back though, their faces turning into grimaces. “Just think about that, hmm?”

“What about him?” Minion #2 complained.

“This man?” Swarm pulled himself back together. “He’s…” Swarm leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Boyan Dimov.” Then he pulled back. “See?”

Minion #1 remained still for a moment, then shrugged. “I do not understand why my name is supposed to be scary? Are you afraid of your own names?”

Minion #3 rolled her eyes, “Of course not! It’s the meaning behind that! Swarm probably knows all about us.”

“Of course he knows. We work for Supervillains.” Minion #1 shrugged. “Did you think they were going to respect your anonymity?”

The scene rapidly became less interesting as the Super apparently called Swarm left the others behind and Minion #1 began pulling stuff out of a fridge and making himself a sandwich. Soon enough the Scrying faded away.

“Well then,” Calculator nodded happily. “That was revealing. Got a name and a few faces, and different targets for your Scrying. Plus a good look at Swarm. He’s not in our records… aside from the incident with you at the docks. At least we have some images of his build now. Can you scry him tomorrow?”

“Unfortunately not. I would need a connection. A name or face would work, something that resonates with the person on a deeper level. The mask does nothing, and a general build size…” I shook my head. “If we get a longer conversation with him talking, though, it might be enough to start working at the cracks, but it’s not nearly so good as having something real. Pseudonyms, even those accepted by their owners, intentionally distance identity.”

“That’s fine,” Calculator said. “I have so much to look into already.” He looked me over. “You should go sit down. You’re looking pale.”

I nodded. “It’s basically the same as an all out fight. A bit slower, but just as much energy. And now it will take a long time to recover.”

“We’re working on that,” Calculator admitted. “Speaking of which, we’ve arranged for you to meet with some people over the course of the next week. We can’t be certain any will be able to help, but do your best to work with them, alright?”

-----

“You’ve gotta, like, feel the energy of the cosmos, man,” said the long haired man with strangely tinted glasses.

“... I need mana though,” I retorted.

“Call it whatever you want. Just feel it flow through you. Breathe it in.”

I took a deep breath. “I’m pretty sure that’s just drug-infused smoke.” I know I had been told to work with these people, but this guy wasn’t ‘vibing’ with me.

“That too, man,” he breathed deeply. “Just feel it.”

At least I wasn’t paying for my time with this guy. The Power Brigade had thrown several things my way, including a couple supers with magic-adjacent powers. I could feel them doing stuff, but none of it was applicable to myself. There had also been general advice about meditation, but I couldn’t tell any difference. But there was always the next person to try out.

-----

I was beginning to become far too acquainted with basements, but this one was at least not filled with smoke. Instead it was full of comfy bookshelves covered in books… and little statues.

The woman who opened the door had hair hanging in front of her face, rendering it barely visible in the shadows. “Mage?” she asked. Her eyes flicked to Midnight on my shoulder.

“Did the mask give it away?” I asked.

“Plus I don’t usually receive supers at home.” She waved me inside, “Come on in. I’m Rose. I heard from Great Girl you’ve been having trouble with recovering mana.” She looked around the room, “Uh, though it looks like this, I do have a doctorate in Supernatural Studies. No guarantees, obviously.”

“Are these games?” I asked.

“On that side? Yeah. Actually, it’s not as crazy as it seems. You’re from a type-F world, right? So some of this might match up.”

“I haven’t found anything,” I commented.

“Sure but you’ve been here for what, a month? Less than two.” She sat down at a small table that barely seemed sized to fit one person, “Please, sit.” The chair held my weight, at least. “So, Great Girl didn’t go into detail, but she said you recover mana naturally, but not as quick as you would like.” She pulled out a binder full of various different types of paper, some properly attached to the rings and some haphazardly slid in between various pieces. “I was thinking we could find some similarities to what you might know. So, based on your knowledge, what options would you have available to you in your world?”

“Waiting,” I said. “It recovers at a constant rate, whether awake or asleep.”

“That doesn’t narrow things down much,” Rose shook her head. “No other methods?”

“No good ones,” I said.

“I will need you to elaborate. Nothing effective, or…?”

“Nothing morally acceptable,” I clarified. “There were mentions of blood magic, but for obvious reasons that was not available to students.”

“I see. Anything else?”

“There were expensive potions, but they required resources from my world. And I was not an alchemist, so even if I could find them the chances of replicating the right mixtures would be minimal.”

“I see. Liquified mana, or some equivalent…” she looked to Midnight. “Here’s an important question. This cat is your familiar?”

“I am a Celmothian,” Midnight explained tiredly.

“Oh! That might be important. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the term.”

“I’m extraterrestrial,” Midnight explained. “But I should be from this world. I recover mana the same though.”

Rose snapped her fingers, “See? Important. Are you able to transfer mana between the two of you?”

I looked at Midnight, then shook my head. “No.”

“And you don’t know of any other recovery methods besides blood magic or expensive potions?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Then it sounds like… someone was hiding information from you,” Rose declared.

I frowned, “... Master Uvithar was very open with sharing his library.”

Rose held up her hand. “It wouldn’t necessarily be your master. I’m trying to remember… you have a level?” I nodded. “Were there higher level mages in your world?”

“Yes. Some archmages were very high level.”

“What was their capacity compared to yours?”

“About five times?” I tilted my head.

“And their efficiency using mana?”

“... It varies based on many factors.”

“How fast could they theoretically run out, if going at full power?”

“... A minute?” I postulated. They could have spells at around twentieth level, costing the same amount of mana each if they didn’t have extra ranks. It would take longer to gather that much, and much care was necessary to target precisely. Unless they were truly reckless.

“I see. What about stories of great battles with them? How long did they last?”

“... sometimes seconds,” I admitted. “But it could stretch on for half an hour if they were more conservative.”

“Here’s where I have to ask you if that was realistic. How accurate were the latter stories… and does that fit with what you know?”

My mind went to some tables. Assuming they spent a large number of points making one spell very efficient and used it constantly… it didn’t add up. Even if they were casting high efficiency spells of around 6th level, they could do about thirty things. That was nowhere close to filling even ten minutes. Granted, I wouldn’t expect a full intensity battle to last that long… but I would expect them to last about a quarter that long. “Not really. Could be exaggerated.”

“Maybe. Or they had other methods.” She tapped her hand on the binder of papers. “We’ll be exploring for compatibility and feasibility.”

Well, at least she had notes.