The last ti we had caught a trace of Zentha, we'd only gotten a single instant that the human eye couldn't see. Nor could orc or Celmothian eyes. But that was why we had recordings.
"Alright, let's go over the plan one more ti," I said as we stood in front of the scrying 'orb' Vilhelmiina had created. "We alternate Scrying until we get any image at all, then run out where we can make a portal." It was so inconvenient that the Power Brigade was warded against extradinsional stuff. The defenses probably weren't perfect, but trying to fight our way out seed annoying. There were ways to get exceptions, but it probably wasn't a good idea to create a portal inside HQ anyway.
"What about the simultaneous Scrying? That got… sothing."
"Hmm. We can afford to alternate twice each, then try as a pair. It will leave us less personally viable, but we're not hoping for a battle."
Magic resistance for supers tended to be on a type by type basis. The bruiser or invincible types were generally good, unless they were only resistant to physical trauma. Great Girl would have been an excellent choice, but she was busy. Sadly, friendship couldn't override work, especially when this was technically work. We'd managed to get this personal mission approved, so I really hoped it would pan out.
Captain Punch would have been a great choice, but getting executives for random missions wasn't that easy. If we could, Calculator would be great against certain magic. If he got hit with sleep magic he might just accept it, though. Assuming he could sleep. I had no proof of that.
Shockwave was available and happy to help. They might not be magic resistant, but they could move fast enough to be untargetable. Shockwave wasn't easily taken out by simple tricks either. With processing and reflexes to match their speed, random patches of Grease thrown on the ground wouldn't do much. The best reason to have Shockwave, though, was that we didn't really want to fight.
If it turned into a real brawl, I had no idea what would happen. Maybe Zentha could destroy an entire building, or read every move ahead of ti and set up perfect traps. Or maybe she couldn't fight. Hopefully she'd at least understand where I was coming from. I needed answers to sothing.
For purposes of a potential battle, Antagonist was our best bet. He didn't look like much, fully zipped up in a mirrored full body suit that covered his head. But that was the point. Antagonist could create a duplicate of soone and replicate their abilities. If Zentha could fight, a mirror of her should be useful. It wouldn't be a perfect copy, so if she was just way too powerful it wouldn't matter. But at least we could afford to sacrifice a copy if things got violent.
Finally, we had Sorority. Splitters were great for creating extra targets that were also real threats, as well as blocking exits. Assuming Zentha didn't just teleport away, of course. Stopping that was our first plan.
It was a small team, but we weren't trying to crush Doctor Doomsday. We were trying to talk to soone who probably didn't want to talk. Either that, or she was making it way more difficult than it had to be if she did want to.
There was so chance that Zentha was already gone, but if she didn't run imdiately the first ti she should hopefully be there when we arrived this ti. Presumably. If not, well, we wasted an afternoon's worth of mana and took so ti to reassess.
I started things off, calling upon the maximum power of Scrying. All I got was so wasted mana. Not even a flicker of an image resolved in the swirling mists. I could feel resistance, which indicated… very little more than that she probably still existed. I wasn't a great diviner, I just fell into this by accident.
Midnight swapped with . Then again, and him a second ti. I was certain that my Nondetection would be worn down by that point. Maybe it was recast. It wasn't like she wouldn't be able to sense anything at all. She should be more attuned to such things, and I could usually tell soone was watching.
"Alright, I don't think we're getting anywhere," I admitted. "Together?"
Midnight nodded.
Rather than together, it was more like 'at the sa ti'. We didn't form the sa spell, we rely used the sa focus at the sa ti. It was probably terrible. But, it had worked before. Sort of.
Now it worked again. The swirling mists broke for just a mont before the spell was torn asunder. "Let's go!" I said, scooping up Midnight.
While we couldn't get Calculator's ti for the mission, we did make sure he was ready to help with this. He could better scan through the information and pick out useful fras, which would be sent to us for purposes of Gate. Once we got to the rest of the squad outside.
The elevator doors had barely closed before we had a ssage. I studied the image. It wasn't from opposite sides this ti, but the surroundings were still extrely vague. However, it was good enough to get an idea of the location. Still in Earth #2's Japan… unless her location was a decoy sohow. We didn't have ti to delve deeper.
We t Shockwave, Sorority, and Antagonist just outside. "We're going," I said, as Midnight and I split the costs of Gate. I paid two-thirds, since I was still far ahead on mana. Not quite that much, but he'd used a lot of his mana on Scrying.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Shockwave zipped through the Gate first. Sorority spread a couple of her out to the sides, but remained with the rest of us as we stepped through. We'd be able to tell if Zentha was running-
Oh, there she was. Not that I should have expected much different. We had exactly one room we could appear in, given the very limited information. I was just surprised she was still there. The elven woman was surprisingly tall.
"Watchoutfire!" Shockwave had actually gotten all the way around behind her, but Zentha had a Fire Shield active. Or, it beca active when they approached.
There were two explosions to the sides, and Sorority staggered. A literally-dark reflection of the elven woman stepped out of the mirrored surface of Antagonist at the sa ti as I finished gathering mana for Dinsional Anchor. I shot a greenish ray that never reached Zentha, fizzling in front of her.
"You know, in so versions of the future you were wise enough not to co here."
"Aren't diviners supposed to be truthful?" I asked. "Don't just make stuff up." I could probably dispel Fire Shield. Then Shockwave could perform a takedown. But… if we didn't need to, it might be better. Midnight was holding so mana ready, but he probably couldn't do that for long without resolving it into a spell.
"You are even more audacious than he described." I could only presu she ant Master Uvithar.
"Yeah well I'm stronger now. So where is he? You have to know."
"It will do you no good to seek him out."
"Are you going to tell why?"
"Would it make a difference?"
"It totally would. But I don't think you'll explain."
"The future bends and twists, but so features remain constant like a boulder in a stream. Only tragedy and danger will befall you if you continue your pursuit of Master Uvithar."
"You're so… unhelpful. You know, if you're hiding from so people I could get you sowhere with more allies and less random monster attacks. Just help find sothing."
Talking was good. My companions knew that was the point, so they were helpfully maintaining their positions. Zentha might run if it was just . If she could perfectly counter us, then it didn't matter anyway and she'd just say whatever.
"I see a future full of violence does not dissuade you," Zentha frowned. "But you must know that harm will befall those you care about if you pursue this."
"And if I don't, they'll be safe?" If this was a threat, I was going to shoot her. It just seed more likely to work than magic.
"The breadth of the future isn't clear."
I sighed. "Izzy found you much more helpful."
"That was because her choice for the future was not so problematic."
I crossed my arms. I should have had my gun prepared before we ca through the portal. I was just thinking about magic too much. Could I reach her with my staff easily? Surely she couldn't cast anything that would take us all down. There wasn't that much lingering magic in the area, so her traps were thin.
"I wouldn't even know you exist if not for her choice there. Anyway, I have the feeling you have most of the answers I'd want from Master Uvithar. You could make this easy. Why is everyone lying about magic?"
"For your own safety."
"Oh," I nodded. "So you're one of them."
Midnight certainly felt my spike in emotion. He managed to resolve his mana into a Water Blast the instant after I started moving forward. I figured gathering mana would give Zentha too much notice. My staff struck forward as I prepared to Dispel. Shockwave could grab her once there was no barrier.
Zentha shook her head. "Typical."
She'd better not have been referring to orcs. I felt her begin to gather mana at the sa ti as Antagonist's copy. She was faster. Antagonist was a bit slower than myself or Midnight- probably because he didn't normally use mana- but Zentha was faster. Way faster. In the ti I went just a couple steps, she got in a whole Teleport. Not a Dinsion Door or sothing minor. She disappeared from in front of us and could have been thousands of miles away.
I struck the area she had been in case it was an illusion, but I already knew better. My staff swished through empty air, and the dispelling magic found no purchase. "Did I screw this up?" I turned towards Midnight.
"She obviously didn't want to talk," Midnight shrugged.
Shockwave contributed as well. "She seed prepared to be mysterious and annoying. Think I could catch her if I was going really fast?"
What an insincere attempt to get Hasted. I shook my head. "I'm not paying for broken windows in another world. And the people who could fix that are busy enough."
Sorority was carefully moving around the room- a second one of her. There were clear side effects from her previous clones being destroyed. I saw her bend down and look under a side table. Then she pulled sothing from her pocket. "Might as well bug it," she explained. "In case she cos back."
"Smart," I said. I was willing to bet Zentha was in a different world by now. And we hadn't learned anything. I turned to Antagonist. "I don't suppose you have secrets bouncing around in that magic noggin, do you?"
Antagonist shook both heads. "Nah, just a vague idea of how powers work. Better if I see them. Also, this woman has a crazy amount of different abilities."
"Sounds about right," I said. I wondered how I could learn to gather mana that fast. I didn't usually need to spend more mana per period of ti, but beating villains to the punch would be useful. And a couple spells faster could actually save effort in the long run. "Why did she let us catch her if she was just going to leave?"
"Maybe she didn't expect we could actually get here," Midnight said.
"We'd already been to this world. She should have noticed that."
"How much of the future can diviners see?" Midnight asked.
"Well…" I didn't actually know. "Maybe not as much as they want people to think."
She might not have known anything about the future at all. There being violence in my future was like saying the sun was going to rise in the morning. Though I didn't really like the sound of tragedy, if she actually wanted to convince she would have said sothing concrete. She was probably just making stuff up.
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