Haze & Chaos - The Hunt Part 1
Previous | Introduction | Next
Master Post - Patreon
The Hunt (April 8th, 2025)
“Alright then!” Will said with excitement as he and Barry entered Antares’ office on Sky Fortress Camelot through a void door. “Good lord, I can’t wait to go to Japan! Why didn’t you tell me Blood-Wraith liked Hero Infinity X, Barry? That anime’s the bee’s knees."
“Wait, didn’t I?” he wondered as they approached Antares’ desk, with the Lt. Colonel finishing writing something down. “I don’t know, my memory is all over the place in The Void Era. Anyways, that’s why I was so pushy for you to get him the DVD boxset.”
Will chuckled with a smile and placed some papers on the desk. “Pretty sure you didn’t, but no worries. Alright, Antares, here’s the documents you asked for from Stephen and Animus–thankfully they were in the neighborhood for Blood’s birthday. What do you want to talk about?”
Antares finished his paperwork with a signing of his signature and took the documents, quickly skimming through them. He was not looking forward to having to break the news to Will… “So about that, Specialist… erm, change of plans, you’re not going to Japan.” He could see Will’s positive expression instantly change to confusion and felt bad.
“Oh, okay… Um, what happened? Is everything alright?”
“Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with February or that little incident you were involved in with Gerri on St. Patrick’s Day. Marcus called in an update on the Jun situation and it looks like… It’s a little complicated, but just know that he’s here, in America, right now and we need you to go over to Red River.”
Barry patted Will on the shoulder as his friend exhaled through his nose. “Well hey, you’ll get to see Bethany, Reynard, Jack, and Satsuki! Why not head to Japan on your own time? You have void magic now after all.”
Will groaned a little as he slouched his shoulders. “I mean yeah, but it’s the principle… and that means–” he shuddered a little. “That means that criminal, Nobu, is in town…” Antares’ nodding did not help his worry.
“Don’t worry, Will, Ryota’s already on the case,” Antares assured, causing Will’s expression to lighten up. “Swing by General Aalders’ office before you go tell Sam the news, as he has some documents relating to this situation he wants you to look at.”
“Alright then,” Will said as he stretched a little. “Let’s go…”
“It is what it is, Will,” Haze pointed out, reading his emotions.
“Will,” Antares called out before him and Barry left. “I’ll find something for us to do in Japan, because I was looking forward to going to, ha.”
“Thanks, Antares.”
It was a bummer that he could not go to Japan, but duty called and Will needed to answer. Stopping by the general’s office, he and Barry were greeted by the presence of General Lundberg and Senator Ripper, who both gave Will their condolences. And while a trip to Japan would have been sublime after the chaos that was the court case against the now deceased Laurence Duckenfield, Senator Ripper was honored to have Will back in New Hampshire and Red River City to kick some ass and show the bad guys who the boss was. And as an aside, Lundberg informed Will that Milford Henley, a key member of The League, was currently at M.A.I.G. headquarters. Everyone was being more open with Will about The League, and Milford was looking to meet Will in person given that the Specialist was in consideration to join The League–and the fact that he was also Professor Marcel’s reincarnation was a contributing factor. Will had to admit that getting the opportunity to meet a high-ranking member of The League was more important than a vacation thinly veiled as a mission.
As the two entered Gateway Room 3B to open a doorway back to the house, they were approached by Nosmirc. “Boys, glad I could catch you before you head out!” he said as he took off his tophat.
“Good to see you again, Nosmirc,” Barry said as he shook his hand. “What’s up?”
“I just figured I’d let you two know that my daughter, Jessica, is out and about in Red River at the moment, and you should keep an eye out for her–I bet she could help you with the Jun situation.”
Will nodded as he focused and magically moved his previous void door to the nearest door frame. He was starting to realize that there was more to Nosmirc than what everyone was telling him, but elected not to bring it up at the moment “Really? You know, I’ve been meaning to ask her how things were going on her end back in September.”
Barry stroked his chin, wondering why Nosmirc had brought her up in the first place. “Well, we’ll keep an eye out for her. Anything else you wanted to mention?”
“Yes, actually,” he answered as he put his hand on Will’s shoulder to indicate to him to hold up for a second. “Will, would you like to try learning some of my special void spells? To help out with your base spells? I think it’d be a boon to your Zasiel Spell, and that might also come in handy for this mission.”
Will was a little hesitant given what Mads had cautioned him about Nosmirc’s spells, but he was willing to go behind his void patron’s back given what he was learning on his own time. “I’ll think about it, Nosmirc–your lessons have definitely been helping, but Jun is a bit of a tricky situation…”
Nosmirc said nothing, but smiled. “Fair enough, Will, fair enough.”
“You know me, I got Azure Spider, and Mayhem’s been hanging around more often–we’re making good progress on our magic. Anyways, better go tell Sam and the others the news.”
“Best of luck to you, Will,” Norsmirc said as the two left through the void door. He then glanced over to see Mads leaning on a wall with his arms crossed in a somewhat relaxed manner, albeit there was an underlying tension that Nosmirc knew the cause of. “How long were you there?”
“Long enough. Crimson, what are you doing? What did we say in regards to our agreement?” The area around them had steadily shifted into a plane of existence of dulled color where they could speak freely without anyone else hearing them.
Before Nosmirc would have been a little intimidated, but now he was feeling a bit more confident. “Mads, I think I’ve proven that I’m serious about my convictions in spades, so I think I have the right to start teaching him some of my spells.”
Mads groaned as he stepped over and leaned up against the frame Will had used, the essence of an agitated snake permeating him. “And you think your spells are going to solve everything and not cause problems when he finds out who you are?”
Nosmirc was not impressed with his bravado, looking down on him from the 12th dimension. “So, have you and Grave gotten a hold of Goo yet?” This visibly annoyed Mads, with Nosmirc shaking his head. “You’re getting on my case when you weren’t even his void patron to begin with–you’re standing in for The Goolubber God and myself while everything is all sorted out given his messy reincarnation during The Epoch-Modernity Transition and the chaos with his departure from Heaven–”
“Hey–HEY! YOU CAUSED THAT, BUDDY! NOT ME–”
Nosmirc groaned in frustration. “I wasn’t saying you did–and oh gee, thanks for reminding me! As if I don’t already lose sleep over the Mt. Hermon Incident–”
“Incident?! That’s putting it a bit lightly, don’t you think?!”
Nosmirc had a feeling an argument would occur soon enough, and stuttered gibberish as he marched over to Mads. “Look, KID, I’ve been at this longer than you, and I know for a fact that Will needs to start practicing his actual void magic!”
Mads felt his blood boil over that insult. “OH YEAH, because you and Edwin went over so well!”
“EDWIN IS NOT MY VOIDCALLER!” Nosmirc shouted, briefly showing the form of a horrific, utterly enraged Crimson God. The outburst startled Mads and caused him to back up a little bit. After taking a moment to calm down, Nosmirc went and retrieved his hat. “With all due respect to you, Grave, and Orion–there’s going to be a lot of chaos in the near future, and I want Will to be ready. He needs all the help he can get, him and his friends.”
Mads was a little shaken, but composed himself. “Wow, that’s a step up from the hedonist you used to be back during your Eternal Order days…” There was no comment in return, but he knew Nosmirc acknowledged him regardless. “So, are you going to tell Will who you actually are or what? He’s starting to learn more than what either of us are teaching him…”
Nosmirc thought about it for a second before summoning a red, crystalline door. “If he asks, I’ll tell him…”
“And you’ll be truthful about it?”
“Of course, he’s my voidcaller after all–”
“You’re going to have to deal with Goo and her distrust of you–you know that, right?”
“I know…” And before he stepped into his office at The Dark Divers Guild, he had one more thing to say. “Mads, stop letting The Zombie God in–You’re being reckless and she’s going to cause nothing but trouble. I have no idea why she’s so fixated on Will at the moment, but we need to make sure she stays out.” Mads would not say anything as the door shut and vanished, as he was not sure what to say–Nosmirc had a point.
Back at the house, Will had paused just before the front steps to show Barry something. “Look at this–whenever I dealt with Jun before he never used any magic, but I had heard he was using elektromancy back in Japan. It looks like the source of it is a… electricity devil named Voltage Tessla–goes by ‘Volt…’”
That had certainly caught Barry’s interest, humming with the usual curious-sounding electrical noises. “Perhaps I should bring Vapor 6 along… if Antares and Marcus don’t mind.”
“I don’t think they’ll mind,” Will replied as they approached the front steps. He saw Orion peaking through the window, only to quickly step away. “Haha, there’s my boy.”
Sam was at the dining table with Kyu organizing their papers and passports, unaware of the news Will was about to give them. “Boyo, there you are!” she warmly greeted him as he and Barry entered through the front door. “So, everything all good to go for the Japan trip?”
Will had an awkward smile as he saw Orion sitting on the couch looking a little anxious–the boy must have sensed what he was going to say ahead of time. “Bad news–there was a change of plans, so we’re heading to Red River instead.”
“Oh…” the disappointment in the room was palpable as Sam slouched in her chair.
“What happened that caused such a drastic change of plans?” Kyu inquired as he drank some of his tea. “What, is Jun over here or something?”
“Yeah,” Will bluntly stated.
Kyu exhaled, nodded, and shifted through some papers. “Huh, well then…” Will then handed him the documents he had been given, and he took a second to skim through them. “I see… Well, I guess you better get over there, Specialist.”
Will chuckled at Kyu’s cheeky attitude, which never failed to make him smile. “Kyu, can you do some digging on the stuff in the document? I want to know why Nobu is potentially messing with Perkele and Valentin.”
“Sure thing, Will–I’ll look into it…” he said as he finished the rest of his tea. “Right now, actually.” With his papers collected, Kyu began to head up stairs. “You know, I joined the Brigade to do some field work, not just spend all day on my computer doing research for you guys…”
“Let Antares know you want to head out some time,” Barry interjected. “I’m sure he can find something interesting for you to do.”
Kyu smiled as he continued up the stairs. “Good point, Barry.”
“So I take it you and mom are going to have to deal with more Eternal Order nonsense?” Orion remarked as he unpaused his game, with upbeat rock music filling the room.
Will nodded as stepped over to see what level he was playing. “Yeah… hopefully we can get Jun to actually talk to us for once.”
"Be careful, Mom, Dad–I can sense this mission is going to be a little chaotic.”
“Hey, Boyo?” Sam put in. “Since you have void magic and can take us there easily, can we still go to Japan some time? I’m dying to go there after all the stuff you told me about it.”
Will smiled. “Don’t worry, Antares is on it–he wanted to go too. But yeah, we’ve got to hop on over to M.A.I.G.” he said with a sigh, then snapped his fingers, causing the front door to turn into a void door.
“That’s so cool that you can just snap your fingers and cast simple void spells now,” Sam complimented as she stood up and turned into Morrigan.
“I know, right?”
“Keep at it and you’ll be able to do all sorts of crazy things,” Barry added. “I think you should talk to Animus sometime given his insight with The Lost Zell God.”
Will nodded as he opened the door into the War Room. “Definitely, if that’s the case…”
“Oh, Dad?” Orion cut in before they left. “Mayhem and Randalph are already there.”
“Ah, good… WAIT, Sam, should we get a sitter?”
“Um…” She was unsure given that she had no idea how long they would be gone. “Probably?”
“Oh ho, allow me!” Randalph said as he walked over, with some of the others he had been talking to appearing startled by the void door’s appearance.
“Hey, Randalph!” Will greeted. “Everything okay there…?” he asked as he pointed towards the big table.
Oh yes, aside from the obvious–don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on things here…” He then gave a nervous chuckle. “Good luck with Jun.”
“Right…” Will said as he, Sam, and Barry entered the War Room, closing the door behind them with it vanishing into nothingness.
Next: Part 2
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
The Hunt (April 8th, 2025)
“Alright then!” Will said with excitement as he and Barry entered Antares’ office on Sky Fortress Camelot through a void door. “Good lord, I can’t wait to go to Japan! Why didn’t you tell me Blood-Wraith liked Hero Infinity X, Barry? That anime’s the bee’s knees."
“Wait, didn’t I?” he wondered as they approached Antares’ desk, with the Lt. Colonel finishing writing something down. “I don’t know, my memory is all over the place in The Void Era. Anyways, that’s why I was so pushy for you to get him the DVD boxset.”
Will chuckled with a smile and placed some papers on the desk. “Pretty sure you didn’t, but no worries. Alright, Antares, here’s the documents you asked for from Stephen and Animus–thankfully they were in the neighborhood for Blood’s birthday. What do you want to talk about?”
Antares finished his paperwork with a signing of his signature and took the documents, quickly skimming through them. He was not looking forward to having to break the news to Will… “So about that, Specialist… erm, change of plans, you’re not going to Japan.” He could see Will’s positive expression instantly change to confusion and felt bad.
“Oh, okay… Um, what happened? Is everything alright?”
“Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with February or that little incident you were involved in with Gerri on St. Patrick’s Day. Marcus called in an update on the Jun situation and it looks like… It’s a little complicated, but just know that he’s here, in America, right now and we need you to go over to Red River.”
Barry patted Will on the shoulder as his friend exhaled through his nose. “Well hey, you’ll get to see Bethany, Reynard, Jack, and Satsuki! Why not head to Japan on your own time? You have void magic now after all.”
Will groaned a little as he slouched his shoulders. “I mean yeah, but it’s the principle… and that means–” he shuddered a little. “That means that criminal, Nobu, is in town…” Antares’ nodding did not help his worry.
“Don’t worry, Will, Ryota’s already on the case,” Antares assured, causing Will’s expression to lighten up. “Swing by General Aalders’ office before you go tell Sam the news, as he has some documents relating to this situation he wants you to look at.”
“Alright then,” Will said as he stretched a little. “Let’s go…”
“It is what it is, Will,” Haze pointed out, reading his emotions.
“Will,” Antares called out before him and Barry left. “I’ll find something for us to do in Japan, because I was looking forward to going to, ha.”
“Thanks, Antares.”
It was a bummer that he could not go to Japan, but duty called and Will needed to answer. Stopping by the general’s office, he and Barry were greeted by the presence of General Lundberg and Senator Ripper, who both gave Will their condolences. And while a trip to Japan would have been sublime after the chaos that was the court case against the now deceased Laurence Duckenfield, Senator Ripper was honored to have Will back in New Hampshire and Red River City to kick some ass and show the bad guys who the boss was. And as an aside, Lundberg informed Will that Milford Henley, a key member of The League, was currently at M.A.I.G. headquarters. Everyone was being more open with Will about The League, and Milford was looking to meet Will in person given that the Specialist was in consideration to join The League–and the fact that he was also Professor Marcel’s reincarnation was a contributing factor. Will had to admit that getting the opportunity to meet a high-ranking member of The League was more important than a vacation thinly veiled as a mission.
As the two entered Gateway Room 3B to open a doorway back to the house, they were approached by Nosmirc. “Boys, glad I could catch you before you head out!” he said as he took off his tophat.
“Good to see you again, Nosmirc,” Barry said as he shook his hand. “What’s up?”
“I just figured I’d let you two know that my daughter, Jessica, is out and about in Red River at the moment, and you should keep an eye out for her–I bet she could help you with the Jun situation.”
Will nodded as he focused and magically moved his previous void door to the nearest door frame. He was starting to realize that there was more to Nosmirc than what everyone was telling him, but elected not to bring it up at the moment “Really? You know, I’ve been meaning to ask her how things were going on her end back in September.”
Barry stroked his chin, wondering why Nosmirc had brought her up in the first place. “Well, we’ll keep an eye out for her. Anything else you wanted to mention?”
“Yes, actually,” he answered as he put his hand on Will’s shoulder to indicate to him to hold up for a second. “Will, would you like to try learning some of my special void spells? To help out with your base spells? I think it’d be a boon to your Zasiel Spell, and that might also come in handy for this mission.”
Will was a little hesitant given what Mads had cautioned him about Nosmirc’s spells, but he was willing to go behind his void patron’s back given what he was learning on his own time. “I’ll think about it, Nosmirc–your lessons have definitely been helping, but Jun is a bit of a tricky situation…”
Nosmirc said nothing, but smiled. “Fair enough, Will, fair enough.”
“You know me, I got Azure Spider, and Mayhem’s been hanging around more often–we’re making good progress on our magic. Anyways, better go tell Sam and the others the news.”
“Best of luck to you, Will,” Norsmirc said as the two left through the void door. He then glanced over to see Mads leaning on a wall with his arms crossed in a somewhat relaxed manner, albeit there was an underlying tension that Nosmirc knew the cause of. “How long were you there?”
“Long enough. Crimson, what are you doing? What did we say in regards to our agreement?” The area around them had steadily shifted into a plane of existence of dulled color where they could speak freely without anyone else hearing them.
Before Nosmirc would have been a little intimidated, but now he was feeling a bit more confident. “Mads, I think I’ve proven that I’m serious about my convictions in spades, so I think I have the right to start teaching him some of my spells.”
Mads groaned as he stepped over and leaned up against the frame Will had used, the essence of an agitated snake permeating him. “And you think your spells are going to solve everything and not cause problems when he finds out who you are?”
Nosmirc was not impressed with his bravado, looking down on him from the 12th dimension. “So, have you and Grave gotten a hold of Goo yet?” This visibly annoyed Mads, with Nosmirc shaking his head. “You’re getting on my case when you weren’t even his void patron to begin with–you’re standing in for The Goolubber God and myself while everything is all sorted out given his messy reincarnation during The Epoch-Modernity Transition and the chaos with his departure from Heaven–”
“Hey–HEY! YOU CAUSED THAT, BUDDY! NOT ME–”
Nosmirc groaned in frustration. “I wasn’t saying you did–and oh gee, thanks for reminding me! As if I don’t already lose sleep over the Mt. Hermon Incident–”
“Incident?! That’s putting it a bit lightly, don’t you think?!”
Nosmirc had a feeling an argument would occur soon enough, and stuttered gibberish as he marched over to Mads. “Look, KID, I’ve been at this longer than you, and I know for a fact that Will needs to start practicing his actual void magic!”
Mads felt his blood boil over that insult. “OH YEAH, because you and Edwin went over so well!”
“EDWIN IS NOT MY VOIDCALLER!” Nosmirc shouted, briefly showing the form of a horrific, utterly enraged Crimson God. The outburst startled Mads and caused him to back up a little bit. After taking a moment to calm down, Nosmirc went and retrieved his hat. “With all due respect to you, Grave, and Orion–there’s going to be a lot of chaos in the near future, and I want Will to be ready. He needs all the help he can get, him and his friends.”
Mads was a little shaken, but composed himself. “Wow, that’s a step up from the hedonist you used to be back during your Eternal Order days…” There was no comment in return, but he knew Nosmirc acknowledged him regardless. “So, are you going to tell Will who you actually are or what? He’s starting to learn more than what either of us are teaching him…”
Nosmirc thought about it for a second before summoning a red, crystalline door. “If he asks, I’ll tell him…”
“And you’ll be truthful about it?”
“Of course, he’s my voidcaller after all–”
“You’re going to have to deal with Goo and her distrust of you–you know that, right?”
“I know…” And before he stepped into his office at The Dark Divers Guild, he had one more thing to say. “Mads, stop letting The Zombie God in–You’re being reckless and she’s going to cause nothing but trouble. I have no idea why she’s so fixated on Will at the moment, but we need to make sure she stays out.” Mads would not say anything as the door shut and vanished, as he was not sure what to say–Nosmirc had a point.
Back at the house, Will had paused just before the front steps to show Barry something. “Look at this–whenever I dealt with Jun before he never used any magic, but I had heard he was using elektromancy back in Japan. It looks like the source of it is a… electricity devil named Voltage Tessla–goes by ‘Volt…’”
That had certainly caught Barry’s interest, humming with the usual curious-sounding electrical noises. “Perhaps I should bring Vapor 6 along… if Antares and Marcus don’t mind.”
“I don’t think they’ll mind,” Will replied as they approached the front steps. He saw Orion peaking through the window, only to quickly step away. “Haha, there’s my boy.”
Sam was at the dining table with Kyu organizing their papers and passports, unaware of the news Will was about to give them. “Boyo, there you are!” she warmly greeted him as he and Barry entered through the front door. “So, everything all good to go for the Japan trip?”
Will had an awkward smile as he saw Orion sitting on the couch looking a little anxious–the boy must have sensed what he was going to say ahead of time. “Bad news–there was a change of plans, so we’re heading to Red River instead.”
“Oh…” the disappointment in the room was palpable as Sam slouched in her chair.
“What happened that caused such a drastic change of plans?” Kyu inquired as he drank some of his tea. “What, is Jun over here or something?”
“Yeah,” Will bluntly stated.
Kyu exhaled, nodded, and shifted through some papers. “Huh, well then…” Will then handed him the documents he had been given, and he took a second to skim through them. “I see… Well, I guess you better get over there, Specialist.”
Will chuckled at Kyu’s cheeky attitude, which never failed to make him smile. “Kyu, can you do some digging on the stuff in the document? I want to know why Nobu is potentially messing with Perkele and Valentin.”
“Sure thing, Will–I’ll look into it…” he said as he finished the rest of his tea. “Right now, actually.” With his papers collected, Kyu began to head up stairs. “You know, I joined the Brigade to do some field work, not just spend all day on my computer doing research for you guys…”
“Let Antares know you want to head out some time,” Barry interjected. “I’m sure he can find something interesting for you to do.”
Kyu smiled as he continued up the stairs. “Good point, Barry.”
“So I take it you and mom are going to have to deal with more Eternal Order nonsense?” Orion remarked as he unpaused his game, with upbeat rock music filling the room.
Will nodded as stepped over to see what level he was playing. “Yeah… hopefully we can get Jun to actually talk to us for once.”
"Be careful, Mom, Dad–I can sense this mission is going to be a little chaotic.”
“Hey, Boyo?” Sam put in. “Since you have void magic and can take us there easily, can we still go to Japan some time? I’m dying to go there after all the stuff you told me about it.”
Will smiled. “Don’t worry, Antares is on it–he wanted to go too. But yeah, we’ve got to hop on over to M.A.I.G.” he said with a sigh, then snapped his fingers, causing the front door to turn into a void door.
“That’s so cool that you can just snap your fingers and cast simple void spells now,” Sam complimented as she stood up and turned into Morrigan.
“I know, right?”
“Keep at it and you’ll be able to do all sorts of crazy things,” Barry added. “I think you should talk to Animus sometime given his insight with The Lost Zell God.”
Will nodded as he opened the door into the War Room. “Definitely, if that’s the case…”
“Oh, Dad?” Orion cut in before they left. “Mayhem and Randalph are already there.”
“Ah, good… WAIT, Sam, should we get a sitter?”
“Um…” She was unsure given that she had no idea how long they would be gone. “Probably?”
“Oh ho, allow me!” Randalph said as he walked over, with some of the others he had been talking to appearing startled by the void door’s appearance.
“Hey, Randalph!” Will greeted. “Everything okay there…?” he asked as he pointed towards the big table.
Oh yes, aside from the obvious–don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on things here…” He then gave a nervous chuckle. “Good luck with Jun.”
“Right…” Will said as he, Sam, and Barry entered the War Room, closing the door behind them with it vanishing into nothingness.
Next: Part 2
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Comments
Post a Comment