Chapter 38– Dividing News

  Japan –Takeda Estate- 08-10-24 (07:30 PM Local time)

  Takeda Tomoko

  Her guest was taking a sip of his tea, when she felt the mystic energy gather just ahead of a portal opening off in the middle of her garden. “(Imagine how much money we could save in shipping if we had access to that kind of power.)” Her guest muttered in Japanese.

  He was dressed in a traditional bck business suit, with bck shoes, pants, and a jacket. Even his button-up shirt was traditional white and clean. Only his tie would make him stand out from other Japanese businessmen, as it was bck up by his neck, but the body of the tie was a picture of fire.

  "I do not think that is what an inter-dimensional portal should be used for Shrio-dono," Tomoko told him in English. As she did, a trio of men stepped through the portal, the same three that visited her earlier, the exile Ortani, Master Keacilius, and one of Keacilius' disciples.

  The two older men moved to join her and her guest at the small table where she was drinking her tea, once they were closer Keacilius asked. "Is it safe to speak in front of him?"

  “As opposed to opening a magic portal in front of him?” Ami asked them sarcastically from Tomoko’s shoulder.

  "Yes, he is aware of the existence of magic, despite not being a practitioner... Yoshida-dono is here because I have bad news that I need to share, and I hope that his presence will keep you from overreacting." The Japanese Master says, ignoring her own familiar's flippant statement.

  “(If these three men chose to bully the kind elder, I will not be polite and bully them right back.)” Shiro mutters in Japanese, before taking another sip of his tea.

  Her fellow sorcerer frowned, as her guest spoke, but in the end ignored him and asked. "I take it then, that you have talked with the Ancient One?"

  “I have.” She admits before draining the st of her tea.

  “And if it is bad news, she denied your request.” The professor guessed.

  “She didn’t. But there is a compromise. The two masters that will be accompanying me are, yes you Keacilius will be one of them, but the other will be one Master Standing Bear. As his suggestion was just a question, thus our order can get the most out of this event.” Tomoko stated before putting her cup down on the gss table.

  While Ortani took a step forward angry, however her fellow master blocked the man’s path and shook his head at the man. “Not here.” She heard the one man tell the other. Ortani took a deep breath, and was clearly still mad, but did back off and nod in agreement. Then Keacilius looked at her and said. “I am surprised that I didn’t need to convince you to take me with you.”

  “Think of it as a reward for bringing events to my attention.” She then sighed before adding. “…Also, this is the only time that I will be making this request.”

  “What?” Her fellow member asked confused.

  Tomoko stared him in the eyes as she spoke. “Master Standing Bear will ask his questions, then when requests open up I will make ours, and you will be there only to attend. You will not try to sway the mage’s mind in this matter. If he denies us, then he denies us… And I will not be your ticket in getting there going forward. This will be the first and st time I will make this request.”

  There was a moment of silence before Keacilius asked. “I do not understand where this is coming from? Wasn’t this your dream?”

  "It is, but perhaps some dreams are not meant to be found." She told him ftly. Then she requested. "You have my answer, and you are getting your free ride in. Now please leave, you are spoiling the tea."

  Ortani was still mad, but he left with the man that he had come with. Their disciple created a portal for them, and the three men left peaceably.

  “I kind of wish that they had started something. It has been too long since I have been in a true fight." Shiro spoke in English, before creating a fire for the stove with a wave of his hand. As he did that, Tomoko waved her hands in a circle to conjure water into the kettle, before putting it in pce atop the stove. Once she did he asked. "Why are you giving up on your dream sensei?"

  She sighed before answering. “Because the Ancient One is right, even if I do succeed, what will I do with it? After all, it’s not like we can start advertising recruitment for people to become Servants for me or others.”

  ‘I can’t say that I have already failed. That someone else beat me to being first, and that was truly my dream.’ She thought sullenly.

  While they were still both quiet she asked. “Do you regret leaving the X-men and continuing in your father’s career in politics?”

  He waited for a moment before answering. “No, my fight continues, I just wear a different costume and use a different name. It is not just in America where mutants are persecuted. Look at that disgusting w passed in Canada requiring awakened mutants to serve in the military. Such a w is racist.’

  “And I fear for my daughter. It has been good, for me to be there for her most days. Especially after her mother passed.”

  As the kettle started to whistle, Ami her familiar asked. “How is she? When will she come to py with me again?”

  Both of the humans ughed at her question. However, her guest recovered and said. "Sadly she doesn't seem to even have time for me, let alone for py, and I doubt that she would even remember you. Not after all the years have passed. Now it's sports this, study that, which I am happy that she has such focus… But she is fourteen now.'

  "My powers awoke when I was sixteen, and I set fire to my uncle's cabin. Father was in America serving as the Ambassador. Even so, he flew home to check on me the following day. He took me with him and brought me back with him. I was so mad at him for leaving me at that school for… 'Gifted' children and yet, I learned to control my powers. But in the end, after some time to think, I honestly think he saved my life doing what he did. I quake in fear wondering how my own government might have pushed me, instead of tempering me."

  Tomoko took the time to mix and stir the tea, before asking. “You worry that Leyu-chan is like you, gifted?”

  Instead of answering he asked. “Is there a test in your circles? Beast and the Professor can only tell after they have awakened their powers.”

  She thought for a moment, while letting the tea settle, before admitting. "I know little on the topic, and no as far as I know we do not have a means to test for such things." Then she thought of the mage that she would meet tomorrow, and his ties with this 'Brotherhood of Mutants', and she wondered aloud. "Could he have a means to find out?"

  “Who?” Shiro asked.

  “The sensei that I will speak with tomorrow, he too has ties to your kind.” Tomoko admitted. As they raised their tea cups to one another, she added. “If I can I will inquire while I am there if he does, I cannot, I cannot.”

  "Domo (Thanks)," Shiro muttered before taking a sip of his tea.

  Engnd- London, Poisons and Reagents Pub- 24- Oc.t – 2008 (12:30 pm Local time)

  Master Keacilius Dourne-

  “You said I would go with you!” The former master shouted once the portal was closed. The warding etched into the walls of this receiving room, glowed to an unexpected level to suppress the man’s voice.

  “Rex, everything is going exactly as I pnned it," Keacilius told his partner in crime.

  “Oh, is leaving me high and dry all part of the pn?!” Ortani shouted at them.

  "We knew that they would snub you, because doing so snubs Master Keacilius, but we needed your reaction to look real. Thus we didn't tell you." Lucian told the other master the real pn.

  This stunned Ortani, so Keacilius spelled it out to him. "We had to trick you, so that if we fail we can still attempt the original pn, should things not go our way tomorrow, there is always the Dark Dimension. Because in the end, you could always attend tomorrow, 'all factions are welcome', remember. You could go representing your school, the British Empire, or the magic users club that you formed. I don't care who you go as, but you could always go because your ties to Kamar-Taj have already been severed with your exile.'

  "However, it doesn't say all people can attend. He has met me in association with Kamar-Taj, and thus I have to go with them, otherwise, my attending without their approval would be me decring war on the Ancient One. It is as I've said, everything is going to pn. Since, I highly doubt we will fail to convince the mage. Not with the information that I confirmed yesterday."

  It took the professor a moment to process all that he had told him, but he quickly nodded, but then frowned and asked. “What information, and didn’t she just tell you not to sway the man?”

  “Don’t worry about it. Just trust me when I say my ace is perfect. He will be willing to trade us the secret of Servants with what I confirmed.” The still Master of the Mystic Art stated.

  "Additionally, by having you there separate from Kamar-Taj, it might give us the extra push we need without needing said ace." His disciple added, that when the two masters looked at him confused Lucian further expined. "From what I heard from some of the other disciples, the masters that have previously attended mentioned that some of the lesser tribes received a positive answer to their requests, was only because they united their requests. The mage seemed to give such actions more credence and thus agreed because of the extra weight."

  The former master rubbed his chin in thought before muttering. “So two magic institutions requesting training in the same topic might make the mage more agreeable, I guess that makes sense, but that doesn’t mean he will give up his monopoly just because we asked nicely.”

  “Thus why I risked my life confirming my ace.” Keacilius reminded him, and then he reached over and rubbed the aging magic user’s shoulder. “Trust me that I have researched this, and the pn is solid. Now go, get two of your disciples to join you for tomorrow, maybe some young coed eye candy if you can swing it, just so long as they are respectful and can py the part of young magic user… And remember it is early in the morning his time, so it will be early afternoon your time.”

  Ortani nodded twice, before retrieving his own sling ring. His was homemade and required three fingers when compared with the ones made by the artisans of Kamar-Taj. However, the still master had to admit that the exile needed to gesture less than they did to open a portal.

  His disciple waited till the portal was completely closed behind Ortani, before clearing his throat. Keacilius took a breath before asking. “You have a question?”

  “He has served his part, why aren’t we distancing ourselves from the exile? His practicing necromancy may brush the mage the wrong way.” The disciple pointed out.

  The master chuckled for a moment before pointing out their own mistakes. “As opposed to us? And our having already communed with the Lord of the Dark Dimension, which marks not just our bodies, but also our souls.’

  "Besides, we may still need him." Keacilius pointed out before expining. "Laxman Ortani may not be the greatest sorcerer, but he really is a great mind. Remember it's not just about mystical theory with the mages, think of their work and soldier constructs, or their thought engines, and who really knows how many other devices and equipment they have designed. Perhaps what everyone has missed isn't about the magic spell, but just something engineering-reted."

  "Yes, but so far we have managed to conceal our minor dealings with the Dark Dimension from the others." His disciple argued.

  "And I bet you an extra shift of cleaning the Sanctum that Nath'aniel will know about it before Entreatment Day is over tomorrow. Some stories say a mage's Mage Sight lets them see even a person's soul." The master told his student, before heading towards the door out of the receiving room.

  The tavern keeper and he shared a look, before the master reached into his robes, and dropped three twenty Euro notes on the bar. Before he and his Lucian left to join his other disciples at a nearby safe house.

  As he reached it, as soon as he felt the increase of mystical energy in the air, Keacilius conjured a minor light into his offhand. His disciple did the same, this was a signal his small cult had developed in case they had been discovered, and an impostor was sent to a safe house.

  Sure enough, while the door wasn't locked, three of his disciples were there waiting for him, Dark Kris in each of their hands. It was the dark-skinned Katrina who asked. "Well, how did it go?"

  Keacilius waited till Lucian closed the door before reporting. “Exactly as we pnned, I am allowed to attend, and we calmed Ortani down enough that he was willing to listen to reason about the deception. He portaled away and hopefully will have two of his own disciples with him tomorrow.”

  "I still think that we should have a pn B, in case the mage turns down your 'precious' information." Cliff stated from the adjacent room, he was sitting in the window with an Illusion Rug hanging in front of him, to hide his presence. He was the oldest of their recruits in age, and yet was the least experienced in mystic arts. Still, his time as a gymnast and soldier made him one of their top five members.

  “Oh, he has two Servants already and dozens if not hundreds of soldier constructs, and you think our little group is capable of getting past that and capturing him, do you? That’s not including the half dozen to a dozen mutant terrorists that are working for him.” Keacilius taunted the other man; some of his other disciples said he looked like him. Not that he saw it personally.

  “He is just saying that a lot hinges on tomorrow, and all of our pns, and should it…” Hugh one of his longest and most loyal disciples, said to get everyone to rex a little.

  “Trust me, I have thought of every possible outcome. As I told Ortani, everything is going to go just as we have pnned it.” The master told all eight of his gathered disciples.