Mage Dissolution

by Christopher George

  That didn’t work. I didn’t think it would, but it was worth a shot. At least they hadn’t fired at me. As that thought occurred to me a shot rang off my forehead. I had spoken too soon. My shield absorbed the shot easily, but it had hurt a little. A telekinetic thread quickly downed the soldier who had fired. I brought my hand sweeping back in a wide arc.

  “Who’s next?”

  The only hope I had was for them not to all open up shooting at once. I’d already modified my shield so that all my strength was in the front arc, but I wasn’t sure that it would be able to take a sustained fire burst without something getting through. With the shield this size I wasn’t sure I’d be able to guarantee nothing getting through. The attempted headshot before that changed things dramatically. It had shown me that at this scope my shield would not long protect us. I was vulnerable here, my friends were vulnerable. If I wasn’t careful someone was going to get killed.

  “Tell them to stand down,” I hissed into Levenson’s ear.

  “No.”

  “You’re going to get everyone killed,” I whispered grimly.

  “No, I’m not. You are,” was the reply. Levenson’s eyes were cold. He was prepared to call my bluff.

  “Okay, okay. I give in.” I sighed.

  Tony and Sarah looked almost relieved as I uttered the words. I wasn’t going to risk my friends getting killed over this. It just wasn’t worth it and the risk of failure was too high. I didn’t resist as the soldiers closed in on me and forced me to my knees and placed me in handcuffs. To their credit they were at least gentle about it.

  * * * * * *

  I handed Levenson the broken handcuffs as we returned to the interrogation room. He glanced at them wryly and passed them over to a colleague. I didn’t see where they had taken Tony and the others, they had been ushered further down the corridor when I had been directed back into the interrogation room. I would always have time to track them down later. A better opportunity for escape would arise shortly I was sure of it.

  Even afterwards I didn’t see the point of Levenson’s interrogation. He asked me seemingly random questions, jumping quickly from topic to topic, then switching back to an earlier topic for more clarification. It was baffling. I gave him what answers he required. It didn’t matter much anyway – he was more concerned with events that had already happened.

  He was particularly interested in my fight with Aaron Chen that had taken place almost three years ago. This made sense, it had been less than subtle and I wasn’t surprised that the authorities were interested in the specifics. The interrogation lasted about an hour and at the end I got the distinct impression that I hadn’t told him anything he hadn’t already known.

  Once Levenson was satisfied I was led from the room and given a small cell under guard and camera. I was gruffly informed that my friends’ good health depended upon my good conduct. I gritted my teeth as I entered the cell. The door was closed and locked behind me. It was more of a symbolic gesture than anything else. The door wouldn’t last long should I choose to remove it. In fact Levenson knew that the door wasn’t even necessary.

  A quick Scry spell informed me that Tony and Sarah were in a cell on the far side of the building, but I couldn’t find Tina. This was worrying. Tony and Sarah were under heavy guard. There were three guards by the door and two inside the room with them. These weren’t the cops either, these were the other sort.

  The guard inside the room had a pistol in his hand. It didn’t take me too long to confirm that the safety was off. This wasn’t a joke. They’d at least get one shot off before I managed to teleport my friends away. There wouldn’t be any repeats of my last trick.

  I was wracking my brain trying to determine what their purpose here was. This couldn’t be their long-term goal. Sooner or later they must realise they’d make a mistake and I’d have them. They were obviously either holding me for someone else, or had plans to take me to a more secure facility. Either way I wasn’t about to give them the opportunity.

  The Primea had warned me that human agencies had begun to search for me. I guess they had found me. I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing yet. I couldn’t imagine what they would want with me. If they were hoping to recruit me to their cause they were going to be in for a disappointment. I had no more intention of joining their cause than I did Marcus’s or Victor’s.

  Our kind weren’t allowed to reveal ourselves to norms. It was one of the rules. This was when I realised something. Both Victor and Marcus had done so at one point or another. Victor had even secured the services of a security company, revealing to them what Mages were capable of. Had that been some stretch of the rules or merely another instance of the powerful disregarding the laws to suit their own purposes?

  I didn’t know what it meant for sure, the only thing I knew for certain was that I had a bad feeling about this.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Not surprisingly, I didn’t sleep well that night. I considered going to see my friends in their cell, but didn’t want to risk it as it could have been interpreted as an escape attempt. When I did finally achieve sleep it was restless and I woke up tired and sore.

  This bed was simply awful. I’d stayed in some bad beds during my travels. I’d often been forced to take respite in less than five star hotels, but this bed took the cake. It was almost as if someone had intentionally tried to design the world’s most uncomfortable mattress. I’d complain, but they probably wouldn’t care.

  A knock on my cell door informed me that Levenson had arrived. He had brought me a tray of breakfast. I wasn’t expecting it to be any good.

  “Good Morning, Master Wills.” He placed the tray on the table by the far wall.

  “Morning,” I grumbled as I moved over to the tray. I lifted the lid and was greeted by the delicious aroma of bacon and eggs. It had been some time since I’d last had bacon and eggs.

  I breathed in the smell with delight. Bacon was perfect – even when it’s bad it’s still pretty good.

  “Please eat,” Levenson prompted, “don’t mind me.”

  “Where are my friends?” I asked as I chewed a particularly crunchy piece of bacon. The rumours about prison food had been wrong. This was delicious.

  “We had the food brought in for you.” Levenson said, obviously noting my enjoyment. “We didn’t think you’d like the usual fare here.”

  “My compliments to the chef. Now, what about my friends? Where have you taken Tina?”

  “Miss Higgins was experiencing some distress at what she witnessed yesterday. Unlike your other two friends I understand she had no knowledge of your abilities?”

  I nodded as I eyed off one of the eggs on the plate. Poached! It’d had been years since I had had poached eggs! My father had made divine poached eggs, but I had never mastered the skill.

  “She’s seeing a skilled counsellor. We have some experience in introducing people into your world.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered, and to my everlasting surprise I found that I actually meant it.

  “We are sorry for having to use your friends against you, but we were advised that it was the only way that you were going to co-operate.”

  “If you call this cooperation.”

  “You can be assured that we will not harm them should you continue this level of cooperation. Once this is all done, they can go on with their lives as if this had never happened.”

  “I’m sure that’s true – right up until the moment that you need something else from me.”

  Levenson didn’t comment, but it was obvious that I’d hit upon a point that he wished to discuss.

  “Your cousin – Alisha,” he began.

  “Sister,” I corrected.

  “Sister? Really? We didn’t know that.” Levenson murmured, “Anyway – she has become a dangerous threat. It’s our job to make sure that your kind don’t become the kind of threat that she now is.”

  “So go kidnap her friends,” I suggested sarcastically between bites.

 
“We would have considered that – if she had any that we knew about. We don’t believe that this particular tactic would have worked on her anyway.”

  “Our kind govern ourselves – let them deal with it.”

  “The Primea is currently unavailable,” Levenson replied darkly.”

  My jaw dropped. How the hell had he known of the Primea? True he was a former Mage, but surely there were some secrets that we had kept from him. How many of our secrets did this man actually know?

  Levenson went on, “If you believe that a secret organisation, no matter how powerful, has been able to keep itself completely separate from the rest of the world for hundreds of years, without anyone knowing of their existence, then you’re more gullible than I thought.”

  Great it looked like he was gearing up for a lecture. Why did everyone over the age of forty feel the need to lecture me?

  “MI7, or as it’s simply known today as Division 7 has known about your kind since the Second World War.”

  “MI7? That was in a Bond film wasn’t it?” I was sure I’d heard that name before. It had been one of the other agencies that Bond and MI6 worked with.

  “Yes, surprisingly enough, but I doubt the producers of the movie realised that we had once been a real organisation. MI7 was officially shutdown after the Second World War. You’ll occasionally find crack pot theories about us though, usually linked to UFO’s or other equally crazy conspiracy theories.”

  “Officially,” I prompted.

  “That’s right. During the war we discovered something unusual.”

  “Let me guess. Us.”

  He nodded. “The directors of MI7 at the time felt that it was better to appear to have shut down rather than face the consequences. The fear of reprisal from your kind was a constant threat.”

  “As the world changed I think your kind realised that they actually need us, which I’m sure came as a surprise at the time. We can clean up the messes that the renegades of your kind cause. We’re getting awfully good at it. We’ve kept society blissfully unaware of your kind’s existence for over sixty years.”

  “You were the ones who kept my fight with Vin in Glen Waverley hushed up,”

  Levenson nodded. “We were well paid to do so. Although you certainly made us earn our money with your fight with Aaron Chen at Southern Cross Station.”

  “I’d often wondered why there wasn’t a bigger fall out over that,” I said sourly.

  Levenson sighed. “By and large people will believe what we tell them to, provided that the next day is much the same as the last. And of course, that the money keeps rolling in.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because sooner or later, you’re going to have to make a choice and we would very much like to see you make the right one.”

  “What choice?”

  “You know the choice. You’ve already been offered it numerous times now.” Levenson’s tone was curt. “Your preference to remain neutral is soon no longer going to be an option.

  “Our Benefactor would like you to join us and is willing to pay you handsomely to obtain your skills.”

  “You couldn’t pay me enough,” I grunted angrily. The nerve of this man – I wasn’t some thug for hire.

  “Not in money, no,” Levenson agreed. Your past shows that you have neither need nor care for money.

  “Then how do you expect to entice me to join you?”

  “With the one thing your kind always seeks – power.”

  I shook my head wearily, “I’m really not interested in power. You’ve got the wrong man.”

  This seemed to confuse him for a few seconds and he turned back to his papers. He shuffled through them and brought a new photo to the top. He flipped it round and faced it towards me.

  “You know who this man is?”

  The photo was of Victor.

  “Yes.”

  “You’ll join us for a chance at revenge then.”

  “I’m not interested in revenge either.” I shook my head. This was going nowhere.

  “He’s a very dangerous man,” Levenson continued, “and he’s the most likely candidate to be the next Primea.”

  “He’s already Primea, as far as I know,” I grunted.

  This seemed to give Levenson pause and he rechecked several papers, shuffling through them briskly to find the right page.

  “We feel that his appointment would be catastrophic,” he said, obviously unable to find the page he’d been looking for.

  “There are no good contenders either way,” I said.

  “Not true. We feel that a more transparent leadership of your kind would be better in the long run.”

  “You’re working for Marcus Devereaux.” I said darkly.

  It had been a shot in the dark, but it had made sense. Levenson didn’t give me the satisfaction of confirming or denying my guess, but I could tell from his expression that I was right.

  “Your kind can no longer remain in the shadows. They need to be recognised in a world environment. We cannot have our governments influenced by unknown factions any longer.”

  “You bring us out into the light and you’re going to have our boots at your necks.” I said darkly.

  “The sad fact is that your boots are already on our necks – but no one knows about it,” Levenson finished softly.

  He got to his feet. “I think I have given you enough to think about for the moment. I will leave you now with the knowledge that in a few weeks’ time we’re going to attempt to recover your sister and remove her from Victor.”

  “Why?”

  “Do you have to ask after your display at the university?”

  “Will she be harmed?”

  “No more than is necessary to subdue her.”

  “Why her?”

  “She is one of Victor’s most prized agents and we suspect that when she is ready she will be a significant threat to both our organisation and to world stability.”

  “World stability?” I scoffed, “…and you’re working with Marcus to achieve this end?”

  “A hidden war is already being fought. It’s just that no one outside of a select few have known how or why it’s been fought.”

  “…and you’re going to stop it?” I sneered, “Victor will crush you should you get in the way.”

  “Why would you assume that?”

  “Holy Christ. I was right. You’ve sided with Marcus.”

  I knew that a war was coming between our kind, but I had foolishly never expected it to filter out into the real world and I never imagined for a second that it was already being fought. Now that it had been pointed out to me it seemed obvious what had happened. Marcus had begun it and Victor had retaliated.

  This was just the most recent round of fire between the two Arch Mages. I had no doubt that they’d already exchanged shots, but I didn’t know where the lines were drawn or even where the battlefield was.

  “Any conflict between Marcus and Victor can only lead to war,” I warned. “If you’re seeking to directly stand against Victor there will be consequences.”

  “No one wants a war.”

  “I don’t think that’s possible to avoid now,” I said.

  “I agree,” Levenson said softly, “but we have to try.”

  “What do you want from me then?”

  “Isn’t it obvious. We want you to help recover and neutralise your sister.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she’s dangerous,” Levenson said, “and you don’t want us to do the neutralising.”

  * * * * * *

  Levenson left me alone to process his not so subtle threat. He’d made quite a case to sign up with him, making it seem almost like it was the only rational thing to do. I wasn’t so sure though, I had no real wish to sign up with Marcus, I knew how manipulative and dangerous he could be. But I wasn’t going to allow them to kill Allie, which was what they would undoubtedly do should I not help them. There really was only one choice. I’d have to do as they asked.

&n
bsp; I often wonder if this decision was the one – the decision that damned me. Should I have chosen to remain neutral? But the end was coming regardless and my choices didn’t count for much. Marcus and Victor had each arrayed a massive bloc of forces against the other. It was inevitable that eventually they would come into direct conflict.

  But what would happen after we had recovered Allie? Could Levenson be trusted? Would Marcus keep his word? The whole thing felt like a game of chess between the two Arch Mages and I couldn’t decide if I was a knight or pawn. I knew with certainty though, that I would be sacrificed instantly should it be required to achieve either of their ends.

  When Levenson returned I grudgingly accepted his terms, but placed conditions upon my allegiance. One, my friends were to be set free. Two, Allie was to be kept alive afterwards. This was non-negotiable. Levenson readily agreed to this and Tony and Sarah were released. I didn’t get a chance to talk to them before they left, but from the look that Tony had given me the last time we had met I was sure that this was a good thing. It might be best if I should not intrude in their lives any further.

  Unfortunately Tina proved to be a little more difficult. She was refusing to leave until she spoke to me. I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. It took me several minutes to compose myself before I was able to knock on the door to her room.

  “Come in.” I slid the door open and walked in. Tina was sitting on her bed.

  “What are you still doing here?” I said carefully as I pulled up a chair.

  Tina didn’t answer at first. She was staring at me like I was some form of monster. It was starting to get a little uncomfortable when she finally said, “Is it true?”

  “I’m not sure what they told you, but probably.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It was dangerous for you to know.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Tony and Sarah knew.”

  “That wasn’t exactly planned and I didn’t like telling them.”

  “You didn’t trust me?”

  “No, that’s not it, by the time you needed to know it was already too late.”