Haze & Chaos - Retaliation Part 12
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“Sco-Scott Cottonwood,” Kenneth choked out like he had seen the reaper himself.
Scotty gave Kenneth a good pat on the back that threw off the man’s balance, and the force of the ‘pat’ was certainly not friendly as Scotty maintained his fake smile. “Heard you were in a rough patch, Sir Stainthorpe–policies not passing, public backlash… but hey we all hit rough patches every now and then, don’t we, Kenneth?”
Leaving Scotty to menace his foe, Abraham focused on Laurence and the lawyers. “What is the meaning of this!? Both parties agreed to not give any public presentations–AND GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY CLIENT,” he barked as he shoved a dumbfounded lawyer who had tried to manhandle Will away. “How any of you passed the bar exam is beyond me as this constitutes assault!”
“It would be pertinent to know that this rabble-rousing extremist–” Laurence started to say.
“EXCUSE ME, ASSHOLE?!” Will roared with Abraham standing in front of him to block his view of Laurence.
“That degenerate touched me first!” Laurence barked.
Abraham gave Laurence the most evil eye imaginable, ready to rip into him–but then the brown-haired man stepped up to address him. “Sir? Laurence started this by slandering Will and America, and multiple people were recording him, including my girlfriend…”
“Thank you, mister…”
“Dale Duesenberry, sir,” he replied with a handshake and a smile.
“Hogwash, as it proves nothing and says everything towards the guilt of Mr. Ford,” Laurence said with a scowl.
Abraham reintensified his glare and flared his nostrils. “Mr. Duckenfield, I suggest you leave now, as the first hearing is tomorrow, and I will not have you heckling my clients–lest I decide to abandon my restraint and contact the police for causing a public disturbance.”
Laurence’s offended expression, soaked in self-importance, did not fade as he turned to his lawyers. “Let us depart from this blight on bureaucracy–these degenerate Yanks will have their day of reckoning…”
“DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT!” Someone from the crowd hollered as they threw a wad of trash at him, splattering Laurence with the filthy remains of a thrown out hotdog.
“FOUL DISSIDENT!!!” Laurence screeched as he tried to wipe off the ketchup and mustard, with the crowd laughing.
And apparently something utterly terrifying had been said to Kenneth, as he snapped his fingers to summon a repulsive-looking portal, and rushed Laurence and the others into it while exclaiming “QUICKLY!” through gritted teeth. The crowd cheered as the awful men vanished.
“To those who recorded all of that–could you come over here to speak to me real quickly?” Abraham announced as he started to walk over to a picnic table. “Ah yes, very good, right over here–thank you,” he said as four people followed him.
Scotty nodded as he stroked his bearded chin to collect his thoughts. “Nope, you definitely have some weasels in the coup, Will–thanks for shooting me the call, Sarah.”
“No prob, Scott,” she replied as she took a seat on a bench, taking a breath to calm down.
“Scotty, Sarah–you two know each other?” Morrigan asked as she reverted back to being Sam.
Scotty adjusted his belt and cleared his throat. “Zara was taking care of something in The Uncity a while ago and just so happened to stumble upon her–figured we’d stay in contact with her given that she’s your friend and whatnot… is Will going to be okay?”
Pace took a second to observe Will not really doing anything and nodded. “Yeah, he’s just a little shook up is all.”
“Will, you should’ve listened to us,” Liam chided, then leaned back as his friend’s neck continued to vent smoke. “Was it really worth the stress?”
Will growled, but it faded as the smoke from his neck gradually weakened. “No, but I’m not going to let that bastard shit-talk me…”
“Can’t fault him there,” Dale put in. “Nice to meet you, Will–I have a friend in Red River who told me about the whole thing that went down in September.”
Will was surprised by this, and getting a good look at Dale could tell Will that he was more of a casual individual than a mage or artist. “Really now?” he inquired as he shook hands.
“Officer Corey Forscythe was busy helping with the evacuation efforts and heard about what you had been up to.”
“Ah, I see–well since you’re in the know, I’ve dealt with way worse, but this has easily been the most frustrating…”
Dale nodded, feeling Will’s distress from the way he slouched following the handshake. “No doubt about it… Uh, what’s with that weird suit you're wearing? It feels like it’s watching me…”
“Jeez, Haze, you were pretty quiet just now…” Sam remarked as she crossed her arms with a subtle smile.
“Did you want me to cause trouble?” He asked as he brought Will’s hand up. “Laurence and Kenneth stink of foul magic, and it was probably for the best that I didn't pipe up with my snark… even though I really wanted to. And then there’s what Abraham told us–”
“Mm-hm, inderdaad,” Abraham cut in as he put his phone away. “Will, what were you thinking?” he asked with a subtle chuckle, betraying the seriousness he wanted to convey. “If the enemy is making a mistake, don’t correct them.”
Will sighed and shrugged. “I know, I know… it’s just–”
“No, he has a point, Will,” Haze pointed out. “A big reason Milosh lost The Eternal Church ten years ago was because he was being an idiot–all Barna and Dunja had to do was outplay him.” The others nodded in acceptance, with Sam giving him a weird look, as she had not expected him to mention something like that.
“Alright, I guess…”
Abraham shook his head and patted Will on the shoulder. “You carried over a lot of traits from your past life, Will. I don’t think Laurence will be dumb enough to pull something else, but let’s not push it. Pace, can you keep an eye on Will?”
“Sure thing,” he answered as he put his hands in his pockets. “Look after him until you're done writing down what happened?”
“If you could–Will, I want you back at the suite by around dinner time, ideally 4 o’clock. And no more shenanigans. If you see any sign of trouble, just walk away…”
“Assuming it doesn’t require me to… err…” Will wanted to throw in a caveat to be clever, but stopped when he noticed Abraham’s expression was not changing. “Loud and clear, Abraham.”
“Alright then,” he said as he clapped his hands together. “We’ll definitely be discussing this later, ha. Tot ziens voor nu.”
Will nodded as Abraham began to walk away, only for him to realize something. “Abraham, how did you know what was up?”
“Wendelin had a feeling and suggested I head down to Central Park–and Scotty just so happened to be here and was insistent on waiting for the right moment,” he finished with a sigh.
Dale shrugged and started to walk away too. “Huh, strange. If you guys need another witness, just give me a shout,” he said as he went to his girlfriend.
“Sure thing,” Will called out before turning back to the group. “So now what do we do?”
Scotty looked around for an idea. Going for a walk in the forest was tempting, but he also wondered if there were any shops Will would be interested in. “How about we see if there’s any hobby shops around?”
“Ooh, that’d be fun,” Sarah-belle said as she stood up. “Earth shops are so cool because they’re not including every single dang universe.”
Sam laughed at that. “Sarah, a shop can’t include every universe…”
“I know, it’s just that’s what it feels like–Earth shops have to focus on one universe given the obvious.”
“Let’s go visit Card Stock Shock,” Liam suggested. “They’ve got all sorts of trading card and TTRPG stuff.”
“You little nerd,” Pace said as he shook Liam by the shoulder. “Let’s roll.”
As the group started walking, Scotty still felt a little heated and wanted to get some of the frustration off his chest. “Would you guys believe even after the Audoan Wars we still weren’t done with all of that nonsense back on my Earth?”
“Absolutely,” Haze answered. “I mean jeez, just look at me after I escaped Shadowland–do I need to bring up all of the trouble I got into with Ryota?” This made Sam and Will chuckle.
“Things are never just done even after they’re done,” Scotty continued.
“Truer things were never said,” Pace interjected.
Scotty took his hat off to scratch his hair as they made their way over the crosswalk and chuckled. “Given that Britain was fairly complacent with Audoin’s nonsense, letting in Rambert and Kenneth, people all over the world were pretty mad at them–madder than a bull who’s getting cross over you going near his heifers. We actually had a movement… ‘movement’ of nutters called the ABNM–the Abolish Britain Now Movement–nearly started another war given that they were gaining way too much traction. Thankfully the Azoth Mages were able to put a stop to it.”
“Wow, that's…” Will started to say.
“Not to throw you Earthlings under the bus, but I’m not surprised,” Sarah-belle put in, looking a little guilty afterwards.
“No no, you’re in the right, Sarah,” Scotty reassured. “If you ask me, it was peak… oh what do they call it? Modern problems? First world problems?” he wondered with a laugh.
That made Pace also laugh. “Well that’s a way to put it!”
“You know what I mean,” Scotty rebuttaled. “It was a mess and a half, and we believe it was prompted by Audoin’s residual magic–I mean, those ABNM nutcases openly referred to themselves as ‘extremists.’ Who actually does that?”
“No one, as an extremist never actually considers themself an extremist,” Will stated with certainty as they turned the corner. “Just like how a villain never refers to themselves as evil–it’s why The Eternal Order doesn’t refer to themselves as something like ‘The League of Evil.’”
The conversation from that point onward trailed off into more mundane things given that the group was entering more populated areas, and especially for when they made it the hobby shop. It was a quaint and cozy little place that was a treat for any nerd, such as Will and Liam. Sarah-belle took control of the conversation as they meandered around the shop, talking about the aftermath of The Tyrant War for her community, the search for Morrigan, and how all of that chaos motivated her to want to join The ULTRAMagic Guild eventually. She was making progress with her alchemy, and may have even been showing potential for void magic as noted by Will. As Liam picked up some wargaming miniatures (with Pace teasing him a little… then promptly buying a set that resembled alien insects mixed with dinosaurs), Sam encouraged Sarah-belle to look into her potential, with Liam agreeing. Will could sense the potential in her, but had to admit his perception was clouded for some reason as he picked up a trio of deck packs for the card game he preferred to play.
Before heading back out, Will wrote down a personal recommendation for Sarah-belle and told her to take it to Blood-Wraith. While he felt a little awkward doing so, he wanted to recommend her to Queen Dunja, given all the help she had provided him back during the Future Squad mission. If anyone could figure it out, it was definitely her. Sarah-belle was incredibly grateful and made a mental note of Morrigan’s choice in partner–realizing that he was truly the one for her good friend. The time with Gore Bloodblade was awful and something she never wanted to experience ever again. Figuring they should return to the suite before anything else chaotic happened, Liam agreed to take Will and Sam back to the Nightstar while Pace and Scotty made sure Sarah-belle made her way back to her apartment block safe and sound. Scotty would further swing by Charon’s office afterwards to let him know what had happened.
Back at the suite, Antonio welcomed the two back and sat them down in the living room with Quincy. “Jeez, Will, you’re pretty much a trouble magnet at this point,” Antonio remarked.
“Yeah, I keep doing that, don’t I?” Will replied as set his deck packs on the coffee table and started opening them.
“Ooh, what do you get, Will?” Quincy asked as he leaned in to look at the shiny foil gleaming in rainbow colors in the light.
“My favorite deck… um… well it’s the one with the space dragons that goes for one turn kills–”
“Will!” Lionel said as he wandered over with Caelan. “We heard you got into trouble…”
“Crikey, Will, was that really necessary?” said the ghost boy.
Will could see Wendelin and Anton stepping over to them. “Well I mean he was shit-talking me…”
“Bugger it all… Well you are a Yank, and you lot certainly don’t take no crap sitting down. No wonder so much trouble comes from your neck of the woods…”
“Hm?”
“Yeah, what do you mean by that, Caelan?” Antonio wondered. “We definitely get into trouble, but does it go that far?”
He glanced towards Anton and Wendelin, nodding in acknowledgment of them. “Caerwyn Briggs–have you heard of him?” The group seemed a little confused. “He’s King Specter’s right hand man, and came from our Earth.”
“No doubt relating to The Feblandstan Trials, ja?” Wendelin inquired, with Caelan nodding. “Will, mein Freund, you didn’t need to secure our victory even further, ha.”
That made Will laugh. “Well then that was his karma…” His tone was a little awkward, however, given that he knew he should not have confronted Laurence. “We’re not in trouble, are we?”
“Not at all,” Anton reassured him as he leaned on the wall. “If anything, Laurence made himself look even worse by pulling that little stunt–certainly something I would have advised against if I was still in the business of being a success advisor. I think it’s safe to say that evil is its own worst enemy.”
“True that, Anton!” Lionel said with an enthusiasm that Will would have had. “Evil cannot create, it can only corrupt and destroy!"
“You’re preaching to the choir on that one,” Sam said with a smile.
Antonio nodded as he set down one of Will’s trading cards. “You know, me and the boys weren’t that type of mafioso, but someone like Laurence would’ve definitely deserved being taken out–given the works, if you know what I mean.”
“Wow,” said Lionel, a little surprised. “You’d really do that ‘an offer he can’t refuse’ stuff?”
Antonio shrugged, then leaned back in his chair. “Push comes to shove? It was pretty cutthroat back then, and you didn’t always get by by being nice, sadly. The boss was always one who felt he had to keep the crime world away from the public, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t get his hands dirty if he had to. He was gunning for a lot of the big names like Al Capone, Paul Kelly, Vito Genovese–he hated all of them, and could have taken them all out given some of the supernatural stuff we were poking our noses into.” Antonio then looked over at Will and noticed him and Quincy were also a bit surprised. “Don’t worry, guys–Salvo was a good man at the end of the day. He would’ve had the boys up first thing in the morning to fix the roof.”
“Well I’m learning a lot here,” Lionel stated as he went to look at Will’s cards. “So hey, the trial’s tomorrow? Are we all ready to go? Just note, Will, that if Laurence pulls anything I’ll have my fire and ice magic ready to go!”
“Thanks, Lionel,” Will said as he put one of the rare cards forward so he could look at it, which immediately caught his eye given its fantastical, futuristic aesthetic.
“Kein Grund zur Sorge, Lionel,” Wendelin reassured him. “I am anticipating foul play and have a plan in mind should such trouble occur.”
Anton groaned and cracked his neck. “I do not have a good feeling… be careful, all of you.” Abraham then emerged from the other room to go over what he had found out, his findings catching the interest of the group, but hilariously not alleviating Anton’s concern.
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ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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“Sco-Scott Cottonwood,” Kenneth choked out like he had seen the reaper himself.
Scotty gave Kenneth a good pat on the back that threw off the man’s balance, and the force of the ‘pat’ was certainly not friendly as Scotty maintained his fake smile. “Heard you were in a rough patch, Sir Stainthorpe–policies not passing, public backlash… but hey we all hit rough patches every now and then, don’t we, Kenneth?”
Leaving Scotty to menace his foe, Abraham focused on Laurence and the lawyers. “What is the meaning of this!? Both parties agreed to not give any public presentations–AND GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY CLIENT,” he barked as he shoved a dumbfounded lawyer who had tried to manhandle Will away. “How any of you passed the bar exam is beyond me as this constitutes assault!”
“It would be pertinent to know that this rabble-rousing extremist–” Laurence started to say.
“EXCUSE ME, ASSHOLE?!” Will roared with Abraham standing in front of him to block his view of Laurence.
“That degenerate touched me first!” Laurence barked.
Abraham gave Laurence the most evil eye imaginable, ready to rip into him–but then the brown-haired man stepped up to address him. “Sir? Laurence started this by slandering Will and America, and multiple people were recording him, including my girlfriend…”
“Thank you, mister…”
“Dale Duesenberry, sir,” he replied with a handshake and a smile.
“Hogwash, as it proves nothing and says everything towards the guilt of Mr. Ford,” Laurence said with a scowl.
Abraham reintensified his glare and flared his nostrils. “Mr. Duckenfield, I suggest you leave now, as the first hearing is tomorrow, and I will not have you heckling my clients–lest I decide to abandon my restraint and contact the police for causing a public disturbance.”
Laurence’s offended expression, soaked in self-importance, did not fade as he turned to his lawyers. “Let us depart from this blight on bureaucracy–these degenerate Yanks will have their day of reckoning…”
“DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT!” Someone from the crowd hollered as they threw a wad of trash at him, splattering Laurence with the filthy remains of a thrown out hotdog.
“FOUL DISSIDENT!!!” Laurence screeched as he tried to wipe off the ketchup and mustard, with the crowd laughing.
And apparently something utterly terrifying had been said to Kenneth, as he snapped his fingers to summon a repulsive-looking portal, and rushed Laurence and the others into it while exclaiming “QUICKLY!” through gritted teeth. The crowd cheered as the awful men vanished.
“To those who recorded all of that–could you come over here to speak to me real quickly?” Abraham announced as he started to walk over to a picnic table. “Ah yes, very good, right over here–thank you,” he said as four people followed him.
Scotty nodded as he stroked his bearded chin to collect his thoughts. “Nope, you definitely have some weasels in the coup, Will–thanks for shooting me the call, Sarah.”
“No prob, Scott,” she replied as she took a seat on a bench, taking a breath to calm down.
“Scotty, Sarah–you two know each other?” Morrigan asked as she reverted back to being Sam.
Scotty adjusted his belt and cleared his throat. “Zara was taking care of something in The Uncity a while ago and just so happened to stumble upon her–figured we’d stay in contact with her given that she’s your friend and whatnot… is Will going to be okay?”
Pace took a second to observe Will not really doing anything and nodded. “Yeah, he’s just a little shook up is all.”
“Will, you should’ve listened to us,” Liam chided, then leaned back as his friend’s neck continued to vent smoke. “Was it really worth the stress?”
Will growled, but it faded as the smoke from his neck gradually weakened. “No, but I’m not going to let that bastard shit-talk me…”
“Can’t fault him there,” Dale put in. “Nice to meet you, Will–I have a friend in Red River who told me about the whole thing that went down in September.”
Will was surprised by this, and getting a good look at Dale could tell Will that he was more of a casual individual than a mage or artist. “Really now?” he inquired as he shook hands.
“Officer Corey Forscythe was busy helping with the evacuation efforts and heard about what you had been up to.”
“Ah, I see–well since you’re in the know, I’ve dealt with way worse, but this has easily been the most frustrating…”
Dale nodded, feeling Will’s distress from the way he slouched following the handshake. “No doubt about it… Uh, what’s with that weird suit you're wearing? It feels like it’s watching me…”
“Jeez, Haze, you were pretty quiet just now…” Sam remarked as she crossed her arms with a subtle smile.
“Did you want me to cause trouble?” He asked as he brought Will’s hand up. “Laurence and Kenneth stink of foul magic, and it was probably for the best that I didn't pipe up with my snark… even though I really wanted to. And then there’s what Abraham told us–”
“Mm-hm, inderdaad,” Abraham cut in as he put his phone away. “Will, what were you thinking?” he asked with a subtle chuckle, betraying the seriousness he wanted to convey. “If the enemy is making a mistake, don’t correct them.”
Will sighed and shrugged. “I know, I know… it’s just–”
“No, he has a point, Will,” Haze pointed out. “A big reason Milosh lost The Eternal Church ten years ago was because he was being an idiot–all Barna and Dunja had to do was outplay him.” The others nodded in acceptance, with Sam giving him a weird look, as she had not expected him to mention something like that.
“Alright, I guess…”
Abraham shook his head and patted Will on the shoulder. “You carried over a lot of traits from your past life, Will. I don’t think Laurence will be dumb enough to pull something else, but let’s not push it. Pace, can you keep an eye on Will?”
“Sure thing,” he answered as he put his hands in his pockets. “Look after him until you're done writing down what happened?”
“If you could–Will, I want you back at the suite by around dinner time, ideally 4 o’clock. And no more shenanigans. If you see any sign of trouble, just walk away…”
“Assuming it doesn’t require me to… err…” Will wanted to throw in a caveat to be clever, but stopped when he noticed Abraham’s expression was not changing. “Loud and clear, Abraham.”
“Alright then,” he said as he clapped his hands together. “We’ll definitely be discussing this later, ha. Tot ziens voor nu.”
Will nodded as Abraham began to walk away, only for him to realize something. “Abraham, how did you know what was up?”
“Wendelin had a feeling and suggested I head down to Central Park–and Scotty just so happened to be here and was insistent on waiting for the right moment,” he finished with a sigh.
Dale shrugged and started to walk away too. “Huh, strange. If you guys need another witness, just give me a shout,” he said as he went to his girlfriend.
“Sure thing,” Will called out before turning back to the group. “So now what do we do?”
Scotty looked around for an idea. Going for a walk in the forest was tempting, but he also wondered if there were any shops Will would be interested in. “How about we see if there’s any hobby shops around?”
“Ooh, that’d be fun,” Sarah-belle said as she stood up. “Earth shops are so cool because they’re not including every single dang universe.”
Sam laughed at that. “Sarah, a shop can’t include every universe…”
“I know, it’s just that’s what it feels like–Earth shops have to focus on one universe given the obvious.”
“Let’s go visit Card Stock Shock,” Liam suggested. “They’ve got all sorts of trading card and TTRPG stuff.”
“You little nerd,” Pace said as he shook Liam by the shoulder. “Let’s roll.”
As the group started walking, Scotty still felt a little heated and wanted to get some of the frustration off his chest. “Would you guys believe even after the Audoan Wars we still weren’t done with all of that nonsense back on my Earth?”
“Absolutely,” Haze answered. “I mean jeez, just look at me after I escaped Shadowland–do I need to bring up all of the trouble I got into with Ryota?” This made Sam and Will chuckle.
“Things are never just done even after they’re done,” Scotty continued.
“Truer things were never said,” Pace interjected.
Scotty took his hat off to scratch his hair as they made their way over the crosswalk and chuckled. “Given that Britain was fairly complacent with Audoin’s nonsense, letting in Rambert and Kenneth, people all over the world were pretty mad at them–madder than a bull who’s getting cross over you going near his heifers. We actually had a movement… ‘movement’ of nutters called the ABNM–the Abolish Britain Now Movement–nearly started another war given that they were gaining way too much traction. Thankfully the Azoth Mages were able to put a stop to it.”
“Wow, that's…” Will started to say.
“Not to throw you Earthlings under the bus, but I’m not surprised,” Sarah-belle put in, looking a little guilty afterwards.
“No no, you’re in the right, Sarah,” Scotty reassured. “If you ask me, it was peak… oh what do they call it? Modern problems? First world problems?” he wondered with a laugh.
That made Pace also laugh. “Well that’s a way to put it!”
“You know what I mean,” Scotty rebuttaled. “It was a mess and a half, and we believe it was prompted by Audoin’s residual magic–I mean, those ABNM nutcases openly referred to themselves as ‘extremists.’ Who actually does that?”
“No one, as an extremist never actually considers themself an extremist,” Will stated with certainty as they turned the corner. “Just like how a villain never refers to themselves as evil–it’s why The Eternal Order doesn’t refer to themselves as something like ‘The League of Evil.’”
The conversation from that point onward trailed off into more mundane things given that the group was entering more populated areas, and especially for when they made it the hobby shop. It was a quaint and cozy little place that was a treat for any nerd, such as Will and Liam. Sarah-belle took control of the conversation as they meandered around the shop, talking about the aftermath of The Tyrant War for her community, the search for Morrigan, and how all of that chaos motivated her to want to join The ULTRAMagic Guild eventually. She was making progress with her alchemy, and may have even been showing potential for void magic as noted by Will. As Liam picked up some wargaming miniatures (with Pace teasing him a little… then promptly buying a set that resembled alien insects mixed with dinosaurs), Sam encouraged Sarah-belle to look into her potential, with Liam agreeing. Will could sense the potential in her, but had to admit his perception was clouded for some reason as he picked up a trio of deck packs for the card game he preferred to play.
Before heading back out, Will wrote down a personal recommendation for Sarah-belle and told her to take it to Blood-Wraith. While he felt a little awkward doing so, he wanted to recommend her to Queen Dunja, given all the help she had provided him back during the Future Squad mission. If anyone could figure it out, it was definitely her. Sarah-belle was incredibly grateful and made a mental note of Morrigan’s choice in partner–realizing that he was truly the one for her good friend. The time with Gore Bloodblade was awful and something she never wanted to experience ever again. Figuring they should return to the suite before anything else chaotic happened, Liam agreed to take Will and Sam back to the Nightstar while Pace and Scotty made sure Sarah-belle made her way back to her apartment block safe and sound. Scotty would further swing by Charon’s office afterwards to let him know what had happened.
Back at the suite, Antonio welcomed the two back and sat them down in the living room with Quincy. “Jeez, Will, you’re pretty much a trouble magnet at this point,” Antonio remarked.
“Yeah, I keep doing that, don’t I?” Will replied as set his deck packs on the coffee table and started opening them.
“Ooh, what do you get, Will?” Quincy asked as he leaned in to look at the shiny foil gleaming in rainbow colors in the light.
“My favorite deck… um… well it’s the one with the space dragons that goes for one turn kills–”
“Will!” Lionel said as he wandered over with Caelan. “We heard you got into trouble…”
“Crikey, Will, was that really necessary?” said the ghost boy.
Will could see Wendelin and Anton stepping over to them. “Well I mean he was shit-talking me…”
“Bugger it all… Well you are a Yank, and you lot certainly don’t take no crap sitting down. No wonder so much trouble comes from your neck of the woods…”
“Hm?”
“Yeah, what do you mean by that, Caelan?” Antonio wondered. “We definitely get into trouble, but does it go that far?”
He glanced towards Anton and Wendelin, nodding in acknowledgment of them. “Caerwyn Briggs–have you heard of him?” The group seemed a little confused. “He’s King Specter’s right hand man, and came from our Earth.”
“No doubt relating to The Feblandstan Trials, ja?” Wendelin inquired, with Caelan nodding. “Will, mein Freund, you didn’t need to secure our victory even further, ha.”
That made Will laugh. “Well then that was his karma…” His tone was a little awkward, however, given that he knew he should not have confronted Laurence. “We’re not in trouble, are we?”
“Not at all,” Anton reassured him as he leaned on the wall. “If anything, Laurence made himself look even worse by pulling that little stunt–certainly something I would have advised against if I was still in the business of being a success advisor. I think it’s safe to say that evil is its own worst enemy.”
“True that, Anton!” Lionel said with an enthusiasm that Will would have had. “Evil cannot create, it can only corrupt and destroy!"
“You’re preaching to the choir on that one,” Sam said with a smile.
Antonio nodded as he set down one of Will’s trading cards. “You know, me and the boys weren’t that type of mafioso, but someone like Laurence would’ve definitely deserved being taken out–given the works, if you know what I mean.”
“Wow,” said Lionel, a little surprised. “You’d really do that ‘an offer he can’t refuse’ stuff?”
Antonio shrugged, then leaned back in his chair. “Push comes to shove? It was pretty cutthroat back then, and you didn’t always get by by being nice, sadly. The boss was always one who felt he had to keep the crime world away from the public, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t get his hands dirty if he had to. He was gunning for a lot of the big names like Al Capone, Paul Kelly, Vito Genovese–he hated all of them, and could have taken them all out given some of the supernatural stuff we were poking our noses into.” Antonio then looked over at Will and noticed him and Quincy were also a bit surprised. “Don’t worry, guys–Salvo was a good man at the end of the day. He would’ve had the boys up first thing in the morning to fix the roof.”
“Well I’m learning a lot here,” Lionel stated as he went to look at Will’s cards. “So hey, the trial’s tomorrow? Are we all ready to go? Just note, Will, that if Laurence pulls anything I’ll have my fire and ice magic ready to go!”
“Thanks, Lionel,” Will said as he put one of the rare cards forward so he could look at it, which immediately caught his eye given its fantastical, futuristic aesthetic.
“Kein Grund zur Sorge, Lionel,” Wendelin reassured him. “I am anticipating foul play and have a plan in mind should such trouble occur.”
Anton groaned and cracked his neck. “I do not have a good feeling… be careful, all of you.” Abraham then emerged from the other room to go over what he had found out, his findings catching the interest of the group, but hilariously not alleviating Anton’s concern.
Next:
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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