Traveling Magic Shop Part 27 (Patreon)

"Shit!" Hero cursed when he walked out of the game room and saw a naked white skinned girl with black stripes.

"Relax, it's not the Siberian," Myst told Hero as Alexandria flew out of the game room.

Alexandria glanced between the girl that had the Siberian's black and white stripes, the shopkeeper and William Manton. "Explain!"

"Copycat has the ability to copy powers and shut them down," Myst explained as she gestured toward Taylor, trying to imply that she was leaving with the shop when the time came. "The Siberian was a projection."

"I'm going to kill you!" Manton ranted, glaring at Taylor.

The Emma shaped projection lifted Manton off the ground and shook him like a ragdoll. "No threatening my master."

"You stole her!" Manton snapped as Legend walked out of the game room.

"You were eating people!" Taylor argued, glad that her projection wasn't as insane as the original.

"Enough!" Myst snapped as he gestured and hit Manton with a sleep spell, dropping him unconscious. "We can worry about the lunatic later. When you walked outside, could you sense Jack?" he asked Taylor, wanting to make sure Jack died before he could kick start the apocalypse.

Taylor shook her head. "No, just Mannequin, Hatchet Face, and Shatterbird."

"How close-" Alexandria turned to look at Legend when his phone started to play The Imperial March, letting them know that Eidolon was calling. "I thought you were going to change the ringtone?"

"Later," Legend replied as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit the talk button. "Trouble?"

"The Nine are in town," Eidolon warned him. "I was in the middle of a fight with Lung and Crawler when they were suddenly covered in metal and launched into Orbit."

"Did you see who was responsible?" Legend asked, surprised that someone had managed to eject the two villains from the planet.

"No," Eidolon admitted, rather annoyed that they'd lost two capes that might have been able to survive against Scion for a couple of seconds. "One second everything was fine and the next, they were covered in scrap metal and being flung into the sky. By the time I swapped to a power to deal with magnetism they were already gone."

"We captured Manton and the Siberian is contained, at least currently," Legend told him.

"How?" Eidolon asked in disbelief.

"Trump," Legend replied. "If you can find the rest of the Nine, take them out. We know that Mannequin, Shatterbird, and Hatchet Face are in the city, no word on Jack, Burnscar, or Bonesaw yet, but they're probably around."

"I'll keep my eyes out," Eidolon assured him and ended the call, annoyed that someone had managed to kill Crawler when he'd been forced to leave that shit alive because of how useful he might be against Scion.

"Crawler and Lung are dead," Legend offered as he checked the alert that had just popped up on his phone about the Nine being sighted in Brockton Bay. "Someone wrapped them with scrap metal and threw them into orbit."

"Yes!" Vicky cheered, ecstatic that they'd be able to start cleaning up the ABB without Lung to protect them.

Amy shook her head, knowing that Lung's death would let the Empire expand into the docks and would cause a lot of trouble before things stabilized. "That's going to cause a mess."

"We've got bigger problems than a local gang," Alexandria told them. "How long can you keep Manton contained?"

"Long enough for you to catch the rest of his gang," Myst cut in.

Legend checked the next message and stared at the contents, shocked that a new cape might have managed to kill Jack, assuming it wasn't one of his tricks.

"What's up?" Hero asked.

"Jack might be dead. Someone that looked like him picked a fight with a new cape and the guy shot him, at least according to one of the wards," Legend explained.

'How the hell? Riley's modifications should have kept him from dying to a simple gunshot,' Burnscar mused, trying to ignore the fact that two thirds of the Triumvirate were in the room with her and having a hard time not pissing herself in fear.

"That should make dealing with the rest of them a lot easier," Myst mused, a touch surprised that Contessa hadn't been running a path to keep him alive.

"How long will the Siberian's master remain unconscious?" Alexandria asked. "We need to transport him to the birdcage."

Myst glanced at Manton who was sprawled on the floor. "At least an hour, assuming you don't shake him awake."

Hero sighed when he realized that Rebecca had no intention of putting Manton in the ground where he belonged.

"We'll get…" Alexandria trailed off as Hero dashed forward and stomped on Manton's face, crushing the man's head like an egg thanks to the brute rating his costume provided. "Seriously?"

"The Siberian ripped me in half, I'm not risking him escaping," Hero replied, feeling a bit guilty about killing someone in front of a group of teenagers. 'Sorry, but I couldn't take the risk.'

"I can't blame you, he was a flight risk," Rose offered.

'Should I have told them?' Taylor asked herself as she let her projection vanish, trying to sell the illusion that she couldn't permanently copy powers. 'No, they'd want to stick me in a gilded cage.'

"She's right, I doubt the Birdcage could have stopped the Siberian," Legend told Rebecca, glad that Hero had dealt with the problem rather than leaving him alive to escape. 'It's not like we could have pointed Manton at Scion anyway.'

"Are you going to need help with the Nine?" Vicky asked, wanting to help make a difference.

"No," Amy scolded her sister. "We're not getting near any of the Nine."

"We can help," Vicky argued.

"Your sister's right, the Nine are dangerous," Legend warned her. "Eidolon should be able to find them if they're in the city."

"Should I get a mop?" Myst asked, glad that none of the kids had thrown up. 'Westeros, Star Trek and Worm, what's next, Star Wars or My Hero Academia shit? We're going to need better defenses.'

"I'll call a clean up crew," Legend said as he selected Director Pigot's contact number from his list.

"Thanks," Myst replied, looking forward to having a nice quiet 'vacation' when he got done with Worm.

Director Pigot checked her caller ID then answered the call. "Director Pigot speaking, I have Armsmaster in the room, do I need to ask him to leave?"

"No, go ahead and put me on speaker, he needs to hear this," Legend told her as he headed for the door, figuring it would save him a call.

"How can we help?" Armsmaster asked once the Director set the phone on her desk.

"I need a clean up crew for a dead cape at the local magic shop and I need information on Jack Slash's possible death," Legend told her as he walked outside.

"Who died?" Pigot asked, hoping it wasn't one of hers.

"Several villains, including Crawler, Lung and the cape we think was responsible for creating the Siberian," Legend replied.

"Someone created the Siberian?" Armsmaster asked.

"Recent evidence suggests that she was a projection. What can you tell me about Jack's death?"

"He got into a confrontation with three capes and two of my wards witnessed him using his power before one of the capes put several large holes through his head and chest with some type of tinkertech blaster. We think two of the capes are Leet and Uber but we don't have any proof and Jack had a kill order so we didn't press."

"And the third cape?" Legend asked.

"He was identified as Void Cowboy and had a cowboy themed costume," Pigot explained.

"Any relation to the PHO user?" Legend asked, thinking about the user that was rather famous for going off on tirades then getting banned for a couple of weeks or months.

"Apparently," Pigot admitted.

"Small world," Legend mused as a text from Eidolon popped up on his phone.

Armsmaster finished reading a report on his heads up display. "You might want to check the boards, Frosty_Bitch just posted a video of Shatterbird killing herself with shards of glass over downtown."

"I'll take a look," Legend replied as he read the text from Eidolon, "I just got a text from Eidolon, he picked up a thinker power that let him confirm that most of the Nine are dead."

"Most?" Armsmaster asked.

"He couldn't find Burnscar or Bonesaw but the rest are dead or in space in Crawler's case, he also confirmed that Lung was dead," Legend told them, not sure why he wasn't able to find Bonesaw and Burnscar.

"That's the best news I've heard in years," Pigot admitted. "Do you know why they came to the Bay?"

"Not a clue, I'm just glad that we were already in the area," Legend replied, relieved that he could stop worrying about the Siberian and the rest of the Nine slaughtering people and vanishing before they could do anything about it.

"I'll send a clean up crew to the shop," Pigot replied, relieved that the capes had actually managed to deal with shit before it became her problem. "What can you tell me about the Siberian's controller?"

"Not much," Legend admitted, not actually sure why Manton had lost his mind. "He looked and smelled homeless which makes sense if he's been following the Nine around for the last decade." He glanced at the beat up van with an open door that was parked across the street. "There's also a beat up van that might be involved."

"I'll send a team for the body and a team to check the van," Pigot told him.

"I'll grab a scanner," Armsmaster offered.

"I'd appreciate it, they had a couple of tinkers in the Nine so there's a chance that the van is trapped," Legend replied, fairly sure the Nine hadn't actually known that the Siberian was a projection, but unwilling to rule it out.

"I'll be there in ten," Armsmaster told him.

"Take your time," Legend replied. "I'll stop by later, I have some questions for the cape that found him."

"See if you can keep them there," Pigot said.

"I'll try," Legend replied then ended the call.

0o0o0

Hookwolf glared at the white haired old man in a purple costume with the questionable looking metal helmet that had interrupted the meeting he was having with his boys in the warehouse where he was discussing the upcoming dog fights they were going to hold. "You have a death wish, don't you?"

"I watched the birth of that vile movement, I'll live to see the end of it," Magneto replied as he glanced around the room at the people covered in the symbols of a political movement that should have died seventy years ago.

"I can't see that happening," one of the empire thugs said as he waved his gun at the strange cape.

Magneto turned to look at the young man with several tattoos on his neck. "My friend Charles is always telling me that we can be better, that we can choose to see the best in people. Out of respect for his dream, I'll give everyone here one chance, walk away, find a decent hobby and try to be a better person."

"Or?" Hookwolf asked.

"I'll kill every single one of you," Magneto replied honestly.

Hookwolf laughed at the old man then looked around at his crew. "Does anyone want to leave?"

Magneto glanced over the group of fifty odd people that were shouting that they weren't going anywhere, rather amused when one of the guys near the back took a picture of the group then slipped out the back door while the group was distracted.

"You heard them," Hookwolf replied. "What are you going to do about it?"

Magneto smiled as he ripped all the iron out of Hookwolf's blood, turning him into something that resembled chunky salsa.

"Fuck!" one gang member shouted, shocked that he'd managed to kill Hookwolf without any visible effort or warning.

"Did you know that your blood has iron in it?" Magneto asked with a smirk as he used his power to rip the iron out of everyone's blood, causing the gang members to explode as the iron was ripped out of them. He glanced at the corpses then floated toward the exit.

"Why did I just sense fifty three people die near you?" Emma Frost asked over the communicator.

"I found a group of Nazis," Magneto replied as he headed toward the location of the portal that he'd been flying towards when he'd spotted a couple of idiots with swastikas walking into a warehouse.

"You're going to explain things to Charles if he asks," Frost complained, not having the least amount of sympathy for them.

"He'll forgive me, he always does," Magneto replied, not particularly worried about Charles' opinion on the value of life when it came to Nazis.

"You can argue later, we've got seven minutes to get back to the portal before it closes," Wolverine warned them.

"I'm almost there," Frost replied.

"I'll be there," Magneto replied as he increased his speed.

0o0o0

Taylor sighed as she closed the front door and realized that her father was going to expect actual answers now that they were home. "Can we do this in the morning? I've had a long day and I just want to grab a shower, put some earplugs in, and crank the music so I can't hear anything I'm not supposed to."

Danny glanced at Annette. "What do you think?"

"I'm alive and I've had enough caffeine to wake the dead," Annette replied, causing Danny to twitch. "How long have you had powers?"

"Last week, I finally snapped while I was trying to fix a broken spy camera so I could catch Sophia in the act," Taylor admitted, glossing over the entire mess that went into her trigger event and how she'd been ready to kill Sophia after finding out that she was a ward.

"I thought things were improving?" Danny asked.

"It never stops and none of the teachers care," Taylor complained.

"I might have a solution," Annette mused.

"What's that?" Taylor asked, wondering what her mother would come up with.

"Is Purity still in the Bay?" Annette asked thoughtfully.

"As far as I know, why?" Taylor asked.

"Because her power would be perfect for destroying the school, you'd just need to make sure the building is empty," Annette suggested, already less than pleased about the bits and pieces she'd heard about her daughter's problems with the school and knowing it was going to get worse when she got all of the details out of her.

Danny shook his head. "The city can't afford to build a replacement and I doubt they've kept up the insurance on it."

"They legally have to," Annette argued.

"Only on paper," Danny muttered, fairly sure they were cutting corners.

Taylor shrugged. "I'll just call in sick the last two days then I'll be going to Arcadia and I'll never have to deal with Winslow again. Besides, the shopkeeper has a plan that should make sure Blackwell never gets to work in education again, that's enough revenge."

"The best revenge is living a good life," Danny told her.

"The best revenge is a dish served cold," Annette argued, unwilling to let the people that helped torture her daughter walk away without getting a pound of flesh.

"How do your powers work?" Danny asked.

Taylor whispered a spell to create a bubble of silence around them so that no one that was spying on them would be able to hear the conversation on the off chance that someone from the PRT followed them home from the shop. "I don't know what rank the PRT would give me but I'm a high end trump and a low end tinker and I probably have a thinker rank because I can mentally control my drones."

"Do you have a workshop?" Annette asked.

Taylor shook her head. "I've been using the basement."

"We'll have to check the vents," Annette mused. "How long can you keep the powers you copy?"

"As long as they're in range, if I can touch them, I can keep their powers permanently," Taylor admitted.

"Is that why you made sure to shake Alexandria and Legend's hands before we left?" Danny asked.

"One of the reasons," Taylor admitted. "Alexandria's power should let me survive running around as an independant cape and Legend's powers would come in useful if I ever need the firepower."

"How many powers can you keep?" Annette asked.

"I don't know," Taylor admitted. "Myst didn't mention a limit and he checked my power to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with it."

"What's the deal with the shopkeeper?" Danny asked.

"He's probably a genie or some type of warlock that can give people magic," Taylor replied, not actually sure what his deal was as she hadn't been able to get a straight answer out of Rose and Harry had just told her that he was the shopkeeper which hadn't really explained anything. "He's tied to the shop and the shop jumps between dimensions every week or two which means he'll probably be gone by the end of the year."

"How much do you owe him?" Danny asked.

"Technically? Nothing, everything is paid up front. Realistically, he sold us a scroll to bring people back from the dead, how much is that worth?" Taylor asked.

"More than we can pay," Danny admitted as he pulled Annette into a hug. "And you should probably grab a shower and some earplugs, we can cover the rest in the morning."

Taylor smiled when she saw her father's goofy smile, something that had been missing since her mother's death. "Make sure you drink the cider first," she told them then headed for her room, happy to have her mother back but trying not to think about what they were going to be doing once they got back to their bedroom. 'At least I hope they wait until they get to their room.'

0o0o0

Harry glanced up from the chicken casserole that he was checking on when Rose walked up the stairs carrying her camera and the adventure book. "Did you get any decent pictures?"

"No, but I got a lot of indecent ones," Rose replied cheerfully as she walked over and set the camera on the end table then flopped down on the couch.

"Anything you're willing to share?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Only because she gave me permission to share with you, she makes an awesome bunny girl," Rose replied with a smile as she opened the adventure book and started reading, wanting to finish Riley's adventure now that the PRT goons were gone.

"What about Amy?" Harry asked as he closed the oven so it wouldn't lose heat.

"I think she's holding out for you to shape shift into her sister to model with her," Rose replied.

Harry shook his head. "I'm starting to think she needs therapy."

"Probably, but I'm not going to complain," Rose replied as she finished reading the last couple of lines of the book, causing a red haired teenage Riley to appear in the middle of the room wearing dark purple panties, a black leather belt with a sword and sheath tied to it, and a silk lace up corset that was sheer enough that it wasn't hiding much of anything. "Riley?"

"In the flesh," Riley replied with a grin as she looked around the apartment, looking forward to learning more magic now that she had access to a decent magic shop. "I thought you said I'd be done in a year?"

"Everyone else finished their adventure in a year," Rose replied as she studied the busty redhead with a white streak in her hair that looked fifteen or sixteen but could probably pass for eighteen with some makeup and the right clothes given her height and figure. "I'm surprised that you didn't reset back to twelve or blonde."

"It probably has to do with the gene splices I used to give myself powers," Riley mused, slightly annoyed that she couldn't read their minds.

Rose nodded. "The story talks about some of your experiments and some of your mistakes, I just wasn't expecting things to stick."

"I'll probably need to grab a lab and run some tests or talk Panacea into checking my biology to make sure everything is stable now that I'm back," Riley admitted.

"Mistakes?" Harry asked.

"Grabbing DNA from Sabertooth caused a lot of aggression in test subjects and trying to grab shape changing left me blue without the shape changing but that might have been because of the regeneration I picked up from Logan."

"What type of powers did you end up with?" Harry asked as he walked over.

"Regeneration from Logan, Telekinesis and Telepathy from a sexy redhead that has questionable taste in boyfriends and I had to get creative when I realized that I didn't have any magic to start with so I borrowed some of Illyana's blood and picked up a copy of her sword and some of her magic," Riley replied smugly.

"Questionable taste in boyfriends?" Rose asked.

"Jean likes drama," Riley replied with a grin.

Rose grinned. "Sounds like you were having fun."

"It would have been perfect if it wasn't for the government assassins, they really don't like it when you figure out how to turn normal people into healthy mutants with decent powers," Riley complained.

"How much magic did you pick up?" Harry asked.

"I picked up a couple of basic spells from Doctor Strange and I can open portals between dimensions and generate a shield I can use to block attacks but he wasn't particularly interested in training an apprentice while he was dealing with a bunch of dark witches and demons," Riley complained, a bit annoyed that she hadn't been able to pick up more spells. “Still, I was promised the chance to be a magic girl and I certainly pulled it off.”

"How long until the casserole is done?" Rose asked.

Harry glanced at the timer he'd set. "Three minutes?"

"Okay, let's grab some food then we can head down to the section with the books and figure out where we need to start," Rose suggested.

"Works for me," Riley agreed, trying to stay happy, but already missing her friends terribly.

Harry blinked when a doorway of light appeared behind Riley and three identical blondes stepped out. "What's going on?"

"We had a date with Riley, she's not getting out of it that easily," the girls said at the same time.

"How did you get here?" Riley asked.

"We borrowed Logan's rolodex," one of the girls replied.

"I'm glad that you're here," Riley told them, rushing to hug them. She wasn't actually sure what Logan's rolodex had to do with anything but that wasn’t important, the girls had promised she wouldn’t ever be alone again and they’d kept their word.

0o0o0