Mage Among Superheroes

The recent discovery with crystallized mana was especially useful for Midnight. Not only did he have a lower total mana capacity, but he needed to use his mana to deal with some mundane life details. Back on Celmoth they had ways to transport whatever they needed, usually by designing them to be carried by mouth or to attach onto somewhere. Midnight wasn’t sure about old technology, but modern stuff tended to activate with a swipe of the paw or simple buttons without requiring manual manipulation like door knobs or handles. Celmothians didn’t have fingers, after all.

Since Earth wasn’t exactly made for him to function, he had to improvise. That hadn’t gone so well at first, but he’d learned how to deal with human stuff… and he had magic. Mage’s Reach let him make hands, and though it cost several points of mana it would last for a good ten minutes. Or he could use much less mana for something quick. Storage was also important, given the hands thing. He did have a little bandolier with pouches to store stuff, but once again had to retrieve things with magic. So mostly that stored mana crystals. The small ones at least seemed quite efficient in terms of input and output, and he could absorb them without having to pull them out.

As he entered the elevator a large man loomed over him, bending down close. His voice was… surprisingly cutesy. “Are you lost, little kitty?”

“I’m a person,” Midnight responded as he turned to the buttons behind him, pressing his paw against some of those used for the smaller people.

The man coughed and straightened up. “Uh, sorry.”

“Apology accepted. Nobody really knows about us Celmothians, and we look basically like cats.” Even wearing clothing or accessories of some sort just made people think he was a cat with an odd owner.

After a short but awkward elevator ride, Midnight stepped out and made his way outside of an apartment. Specifically, Izzy’s. He tapped on the door enough to simulate a knock, and she opened a few moments later.

“Good day, Izzy, how are you doing?”

“... Fine, I guess. I found a job, actually. Running deliveries around and all that, which was basically what I did before. Apparently I could get more if I had a driver’s license, but cars are expensive and not really made for people my size.”

“There are modifications that can be made, I believe,” Midnight said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t recommend you to the Power Brigade, because the pay is quite good. But I don’t think that would be good for either you or Turlough.”

“I get it. Besides, I’m not really interested in the whole mercenary thing. I know why Turlough wants to fight, but I don’t really need to risk myself to achieve growth.” Izzy shrugged, “And I’m not really interested in protecting people. They have that pretty well handled anyway.”

“New Bay could always use more,” Midnight commented. “On that topic, however, you came to this world through a portal with plant monsters, right? You saved a mom and kid, didn’t you? Dark skin?”

“Yeah, I did,” Izzy nodded. “It’s not like I’ll just let people get hurt in front of me… but things like that are rare, right?”

“Not as rare as they should be,” Midnight replied. “The point is that we know them. I would like to provide my thanks for saving Jerome and Tylissa, and Turlough would as well whenever you next meet.” Midnight was pretty sure that wouldn’t be for a while, but he didn’t think anyone was content with exactly how things had ended up.

“Oh, well, I was glad to do it,” Izzy said. “Like I said, I couldn’t just let people get hurt in front of me.”

“The kid is Turlough’s apprentice here,” Midnight said. “Which is interesting. Did you hear that people have been gaining class abilities in this world? They seem to be missing some part of things, but those thugs that attacked us were using paladin abilities.”

“Huh. I didn’t really think about it,” Izzy admitted. “I don’t know why that would be happening. Then again, I don’t know why people have weird powers here and not classes like normal.”

“Because every world has a different normal,” Midnight said. “Well then, I have to be going.” He walked over to Izzy’s leg and bapped her, casting Translation. “That should last you for a few hours.”

“Thanks. I should finish learning the language soon, so you won’t have to come over all the time…”

“It is not a problem,” Midnight said. “And I would like to think we are friends, so I would like to visit sometimes regardless.”

“... Yeah. That would be fine.”

-----

“Under repair!” Called a voice from up above. I could see Khithae clinging to the ceiling, and she turned her head towards me. “Oh, Turlough!” She waved with the tool in her hand.

“Hello,” I waved back. “I thought it might be you. How’s it going?”

“About the same. Which is good. One moment!” She turned back to what she was working on, fiddling around with it a few moments. Then she made her way down. “All fixed.” She tilted her head, “What is that look?”

“You used mana,” I said straightforwardly.

“That… magic thing?” she asked. “I don’t think I… well, I thought maybe…” she didn’t have lips to purse in thought, but she could tap a finger on her jaw. “I thought it was a minor power?”

“It is a power,” I said. “Probably. But it’s the way from my world. You know lots of people have developed things like class abilities lately?” She probably didn’t, but I explained the basics.

“That… makes sense,” she nodded. “There was a portal right at the bottom of Western Luxury Apartments. And I got close to one of those… wyverns.”

“I’m glad Midnight was there to save you from that. So… what spells do you know?”

“... None?”

“Well you did something up there.”

“Ah, that. Well, I can sort of… reattach things?”

“Like Repair?” I asked. “I suppose you wouldn’t know what the name is, huh?” I thought for a few moments. “How much can it do?”

“It can only fix small damage, a little bit at a time. But it is not the same as gluing something together.”

“That should be it, then,” I nodded. “Want to try to learn other spells?”

“Can I?” she asked.

“You should be able to. Jerome learned a lot.”

“Okay, uh… I guess I have some time since I finished here more quickly than normal.”

“Let’s start with something simple then. Shield, since it’s safe and easily visible. Try to feel for my mana usage.” I went slow, taking some time to gather the mana and release it. “Did you feel that?” She nodded, “Now you try it.”

So she did. I could feel her gathering mana, but something was odd. It didn’t feel like it was forming into the Shield spell… or anything. She continued to gather mana, her brow furrowing.

“Maybe you should uh-”

Before I could get anything across, she’d gathered far more mana than Shield needed, and then released it. There was a sort of booming pop around her, a shockwave of undirected magic. Precisely because it was undirected it couldn’t do much more than rustle my clothes and make a loud noise, but the expenditure of the mana caused Khithae to pass out. I leapt forward to try to catch her so she didn’t hit the ground wrong.

Was this my fault? I suppose I hadn’t been terribly cautious in my instructions, but Jerome hadn’t had any problems. Was he particularly good? Normally magic from my world was learned with points so I didn’t have reference for whether casting something on the first attempt was good, but it seemed reasonable. Yet clearly that hadn’t worked out for Khithae.

-----

After getting Khithae checked out by Doctor Martinez, it seemed she was probably alright. “You know,” he said. “Even if you say it’s safe, I have to say that passing out is usually a bad sign. It’s not great for people.”

“I know,” I nodded. “But it should be… mostly fine.” Even the ‘new’ book didn’t mention long term side effects from passing out due to mana exhaustion. It just reiterated the part about hurting yourself during the process.

“I have something I would like to try,” Doctor Martinez said.

“What’s that?”

“I’ve rarely gotten to scan you while you had mana. If I could pick up something now, I might be more helpful.”

“I thought you tried that before… at some point,” I pondered. It could have been months.

“Just because I couldn’t do it before doesn’t mean I can’t learn to do it. A poor super it is who doesn’t try to improve their own powers.”

I nodded, “Sure, go ahead.”

Doctor Martinez stepped forward, a plane of energy sliding through me like some sort of sci-fi scanner in a movie. I hadn’t actually seen a movie, but some things referenced clips from movies for how powers worked on a vague level, and I watched those. Fictional movies wouldn’t be totally accurate, but that didn’t mean some parts weren’t helpful.

“Yes, I think I sense something,” Doctor Martinez nodded, swapping back and forth between Khithae and myself. “It’s not exactly clear, though.” He sighed, “Well, I think that’s as much as I should do for now. Have to be ready for other patients. On a related note, I don’t believe Khithae here had powers before? Not on record, anyway.”

“This might be part of the whole new thing,” I said. “After the portals.”

“Ah yes, I heard about that. Well,” he shrugged, “If she does have a power, remind her to mention it if it can help improve her work. She can potentially up her pay scale.”

That… was a good plan. Western Luxury Apartments wasn’t exactly the best place to stay, and while in some ways it was preferable to Extra’s housing it was still not great. More money would be good for her, and if she could do magical repair it would probably be good. Before that, I had to figure out why the magic hadn’t worked. I’d have to warn her to not use too much mana before we attempted anything else, of course.

-----

Going back to something as ‘mundane’ as firearms training was actually quite relaxing after all the magic I got up to. We hadn’t learned much about Handface in the last few days, which was kind of disappointing. At least, I hadn’t. Calculator seemed as if he was getting information somehow, and when it became relevant I should hear about it. Tracking other people in his group had also failed to some extent, though we ended up at slightly different positions in the flooded tunnels at least.

With mana crystals being something I could make now, I needed a gun less- but it would always be useful to have something I could use quickly and with basically no effort. It might not have enough power to take out most supers- depending on various factors- but it could at least distract them. And it was better than trying to get a sword or something where I’d have to fight people up close. It was technically possible with the spells I had, but I didn’t really want to. And even if I were going to fight up close, I would prefer to weaken someone from afar before they got to me.

After the class was over, Zorphax took me aside. “How’s it going Turlough?”

“Things are good,” I said. “Why?”

“What about with your halfling friend?” he asked.

“... I think we are not friends right now,” I admitted.

“Sorry to hear that,” he said. “I heard a few things, and of course I saw your reunion. Lot of old feelings involved. Now, I’m not saying you should talk about it with me. In fact, I don’t know if I’d be much help. But there are some people you should talk to. People whose job it is to help you talk through feelings.”

“I think I am alright…” I said. “Is this one of those ‘professionals’ Midnight mentioned?”

“They could definitely be called that. You work for the Power Brigade, right? This should be covered. In fact… I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned it.”

“They might have,” I said. “But now that I hear more people talking about it, maybe I should look into it?”

“You really should. It’s good for everyone, helps those who aren’t doing so good do better, and keeps those who are doing good on track.”

He espoused some more benefits there might be, like dealing with old anger. I didn’t really get angry, but something had upset Midnight and maybe there was a time I had not been thinking so clearly, so maybe I would talk to someone to make him feel better. Yes, that seemed reasonable.