Patchwork Magisters Supernatural enforcement for a superhuman world.

Kryptonite, Part Three

Agent Chad led the way into the SEA building, nodding to the desk sergeant. “Afternoon, Tim. Anything new?”

“Turbine called. Wanted to speak with you.” Tim gave Chad a thumbs-up, which the agent quickly waved away as Catherine's face began to cloud over again. Seeing the other agents, Tim quickly shifted into a more professional demeanor. “I mean, uh, good afternoon, agents. You're the Magisters, right?”

“Yes,” Catherine said, after taking a deep breath. “We're here to look at secure storage.”

“Of course, of course. I'll take you right down.” Tim scrambled out of his chair, all but running for the downstairs door. “It's just down here. We've all taken a look at it, tried to see what made it tick, but I don't think there's anything actually magical about it. Sunder probably just goofed up.”

“Yeah, probably,” Roland agreed easily. “But we like to make sure about these things.” He paused thoughtfully. “Sunder?”

Tim lowered his voice and gestured to Chad, who had paused at the desk to return Turbine's call. “We've taken to calling Sunderstorm just 'Sunder', you know, to keep things from getting confused.”

“Oh, gotcha,” Roland said. “Say, why is it in secure lockdown, anyway? I mean, if it doesn't work?”

Tim shrugged. “Standard procedure. When we start an investigation on any artifact, we keep it in lockdown until we get independent confirmation. I mean, we all know it doesn't do anything, but it wouldn't be the first time something magical had unexpected effects that compromised the judgement of the first-response team.” He shook his head. “Honestly, Sunderstorm should have known better than to use an unknown artifact in the first place. Dude's lucky it didn't work, or he could have been in for a world of fines.”

“I was wondering about that,” Catherine said thoughtfully, looking around the staircase as though expecting demons to leap out at her. “Magic that can strip someone's powers away is insanely illegal. What was he thinking?”

“Oh, it wasn't supposed to strip their powers away for good,” the sergeant said with a wry smile. “Sunder thought that the mirror would pull their powers into it, or something. As soon as it wasn't reflecting them anymore, the powers would come back. Suppression is totally legal in...” He broke off, looking back at the team, all of whom had stopped moving. “What?”

“It's a mirror?” Yousef said carefully, glancing to the others.

“Sure,” Tim said with a shrug. “That a problem?”

“Magic mirrors are generally bad news,” Catherine said. “Some of them can be dangerous.”

“The rest are, uh, very dangerous,” Yousef said, looking to the others. “Is it covered?”

“Of course it's covered,” Tim said, shaking his head as he continued down the stairs. “Just because we aren't the Magisters doesn't mean we're incompetent.”

“Sorry,” Yousef said quickly. “Just making sure.”

Tim glanced back at him, and then chuckled. “Don't worry, I understand. Secure storage is right through here.”

“Okay,” Catherine said thoughtfully. “Let's take a look.”

The storage room was more of a simple weapons locker, with several locked cabinets scattered throughout the room. Near one wall was a covered, narrow object, easily seven feet tall. The heavy canvas hanging over it obscured it almost completely, leaving only a thin golden frame at the body. The team stared at the covered mirror in surprise. “This is it?” Catherine asked. “What the hell was Sunderstorm thinking? It's huge!”

“How would you even get it to a heist?” Roland asked, shaking his head. “And also, if it only blocks powers as long as it reflects a person, couldn't they just take a few steps to the left? That thing is tall, but it's not too wide.”

“I don't know,” Blossom said thoughtfully, walking around to the back of the mirror, considering its size. “If you had some kind of superstrength, you could probably just tie it to you or something. What's Sunderstorm's superpower, anyway?”

“Electrical control,” Tim said.

There was a short pause. “What does that have to do with sundering?” Catherine finally asked.

“I don't know, I didn't name him,” Tim shrugged. “I think he wanted to be called Thunderstorm, but it was taken, so he picked something that was based on Shatterdrive's name. Something like that.”

“Wow,” Roland said. “That's the most powerful supervillain in Detroit.” Tim shrugged again, and Roland walked over to the mirror. “So, Yousef, what are we looking at here?”

Yousef pulled out a small handheld box, festooned with wires and toggles. “Not sure,” he muttered, flipping switches. “I'm getting a reading of some kind, but it seems pretty residual. It could be a triggered effect, though.”

“Well, maybe the mirror's only magic while it's reflecting someone,” Blossom said, considering it. “Oh! Or maybe it does exactly what it's supposed to, but only for magical powers! Turbine and Shatterdrive aren't magical, so maybe the mirror didn't do anything to them.” She looked at the canvas cover suspiciously. “Yousef, does canvas block magic?”

“It blocks light,” Yousef said absently, stepping forwards. “I can't get a clear reading on this. If we want to see if it triggers, we'll have to trigger it and find out.”

“That's not a problem,” Tim suggested. “We can just pull the canvas off.”

“What?” Catherine said, looking up. “What kind of stupid idea – hey!”

Tim pulled the canvas off.

For a moment, Catherine, Yousef and Roland stared at their reflections, and then at Tim. Then Yousef looked down at his device. “No more readings,” he said with a shrug. “I guess...”

Roland cut him off. “PUT THE CANVAS BACK!” Yousef dropped the scanner in shock as Roland gestured towards the mirror.

Acting quickly, Blossom looped the canvas with twin knives, tossing it over the mirror. A moment later, she was turning to Tim. “What were you thinking?!” she snapped, mask frowning at him.

“I just thought it would speed things up...” Tim said faintly, taking several steps back.

“It's fine,” Catherine sighed. “We're okay. Nothing happened.” She turned to Roland. “Well, almost nothing. What was that?”

Roland was staring at the mirror. “I didn't have a reflection,” he said grimly.

“What?” Yousef frowned thoughtfully. “Well, that's not possible. The only way for that to happen would be if...”

“If the reflections were magical,” Blossom finished, walking over to join them and keeping a suspicious eye on Tim. “Which makes the mirrors magic after all. Yousef, are you alright?”

“I'm fine,” Yousef shrugged, kneeling to pick up his scanner. “Roland just startled me, that's all. Blossom, there wasn't any magic. Even the traces I scanned to begin with have faded.”

“But here we are,” Roland said, looking around. “Catherine, Yousef. Anything changed? Anything different at all?”

Catherine and Yousef patted themselves down. “No, everything's good,” Yousef said. “Catherine?”

Catherine shrugged. “No, nothing...” She broke off, eyes widening. “Nothing,” she repeated. She held out her hands. “My flute case,” she said urgently. “I was holding it when I walked in here.”

Yousef looked around. “I don't see it,” he said. “Call it back. Nothing can break your link with your flute, right?”

Catherine took a deep breath, and held out her hand. It stubbornly remained empty. Slowly, she looked up to the mirror. “It looks like something can,” she said softly.