Beyond the Veil (IC)

[alderwitch]

"Of course, it's the Third Prince that you need." Phantom murmured, her tone darkly amused but it was difficult to say at what. It was certainly a busy month for summoning things to Earth Prime, ironically. This one, at least, would be going back when he was done. The rules that the Magus had put in place for the djinn were rock solid, and very complete. Unlike The Pact, Phantom privately opinioned, but that was a musing better not shared. She inclined her head to the imperious youth, a smile playing around her lips faintly.

"Very well, sahib," Phantom said with some amusement, "I will summon your djinn. I suggest you stand outside the circle while I do so. Azim-al-Aziz was remarkabally helpful to your grandfather but that doesn't mean it will neccesarily transfer to you so we should take appropriate caution."

Phantom stacked the few chairs still in the center of the room to the side with a wave of one hand and began pulling a few objects out of her cloak.

[Electra]

Erin took a few steps close to the circle to watch what was going on, though she kept most of its diameter between her and Phantom. She'd been told that the information about her world was classified and she would be able to tell people or not, if she wanted. Hearing a stranger talk about it so baldly was jarring. Dimensional guardians fell under "need-to-know," she guessed. At least Mark hadn't seemed to even notice. Hard enough to try and explain it to someone like Alex, who could live it through her eyes, or James, who had his own world of miseries, she couldn't imagine trying to talk about where she'd come from with someone who didn't seem to even understand bad things happening as an abstract concept.

"What's going to happen?" she finally asked. "Is it going to have to stay in that circle when you bring it here?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark was unsettled; an unfamiliar feeling he didn't like one bit. He paced the floor as Phantom worked, careful not to walk over any magical lines of the floor. He knew nothing of magic, but luckily his guesses tended to be right ones as he kept an odd track on the floor. "You don't need to worry that much," he told Erin automatically. "The genie was a nice guy. My grandpa always said that. They were superheroes together. This one time my grandpa made a wish and he turned a whole company of Nazis into geese." Mark didn't seem particularly bothered by the magical breach he was describing.

[alderwitch]

"As long as we do not anger the djiinn, we have little to fear. I would be more concerned if we were travelling to the city but here, think of him as a guest that must observe certain rules of decorum."

Phantom struck a match and lit a brazier before she began a low and liquid entrety on Mark's behalf to the prince. There was surprisingly little pomp and cirucumstance to the ritual but in a summoning, being the Chosen of Heshem held a certain degree of clout and too much false praise would be just as insulting as not enough. Princes, of any sort, were a tricky group to please.

[Avenger Assembled]

First there was a wind from nothing, a brush of hot desert air in the cool basement that raised eddies and whirlwinds in the corner like a brush of the Arabian Desert. Then came the glow of light, softly shimmering in the air in the middle of Phantom's magic circle, falling to the Earth like grains of magical sand, followed by a trickle of glowing light spreading upwards like a breath of air. Before suddenly, powerfully, the Third Prince of the Brass City simply erupted from the air itself in a wave of titanic magical power, the wall of glowing light slamming into the edges of the circle as a booming voice shouted "WHO DARES SUMMON THE EMIR OF EXCITEMENT? THE CALIPH OF CATACLYSM? THE IRREPRESSIBLE IMAM? THE SUPER-SHIEKH? THE...oh, Chosen of Heshem, it's you!"

When the glare of light faded, the figure inside came into being. Azim-al-Aziz had frequently altered his form back in the day, sometimes small enough to stand by Jimmy Lucas' side, other times large enough to swat Nazi jets from the sky. Here he was a modest ten feet tall, the perfect figure of a massive, muscular man with huge black mustaches, archaic Arab dress complete with open vest and turban, his bright blue skin gleaming in the artificial light. He studied the group for a moment, his black eyes cautious, as Mark looked on in wide-eyed wonder.

"Is...is it really you?"

The all-powerful genie looked at Mark and suddenly a huge, grandfatherly smile broke out across his face. His voice boomed off the ceiling yet, and he lowered it with an apologetic finger over his lips. "Mark Mason Lucas! My boy! I knew you'd find me at last!" He shot a glance at Erin and smiled too. "Hello there! You super-women certainly are watchful!"

[Electra]

Not sure of what else to do, Erin took a seat and watched as the ritual got underway, trying to stay out of the way and out of mind. If Phantom worked for the Freedom League, she had no reason to send Erin back. Erin had papers, and the assurance that she could live here. But she was very... thoughtful, at least, about how much the dimensional guardian knew about her world. No reason to give anybody reason to talk about it.

Her eyes went wide and she temporarily forgot about the Phantom issue as the genie appeared. It was.... it was very big, and very loud. "Uh, hi," she murmured when it said hello, hoping it would quickly turn its attention back to Mark.

[Cyroa]

James was out practicing. He'd been doing that a lot lately after coming to terms with everything. He'd been spending more times training and looking for infernals taints than going on dates. But it seemed right somehow. Maybe it was his new calling or something. Regardless, he was out practicing when he picked up the tingle of a dimensional flicker and the presence of something demonic. Not western style demons...more middle eastern if he had to guess. James quickly headed over, 'porting past obstacles and down into the basement.

He wasn't sure exactly what he was expecting, but it probably wasn't the scene he walked in on. He recognized the ritual format and stayed by the stairs, out of the way, and waited quietly. He trusted the people here to not be doing something they shouldn't.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Azim-al-Aziz," said Mark with great, awed deference, "Sir. I have a question for you. But first, I'm so honored to meet you. I have heard so many stories about you that I-"

"Stories, eh?! All good ones, I hope!" The genie's laugh was a clap of thunder in the small room. "But seriously, my boy, I have but one question before we talk! And it's not for you, never you fear!" He whirled on Phantom, his slippered feet trailing off into a cloud of energy that retreated into the hole in the universe behind him. "Chosen of Heshem! Has this dimension signed onto the Pact of Solomon and Zeus?!"

As it happened, Earth-Prime hadn't signed onto the treaty that provided for guardianship and magical training for the family members of outsiders. This had been a serious problem back in the day when magical figures were siring children left and right. No sooner had Phantom indicated that than the genie turned back to Mark. "You have a question for me, eh?!" he smiled knowingly. "Ask away, my boy!"

With that, somewhat cautiously, Mark related an abbreviated version of the fight in the cemetery, Azim-al-Aziz rubbing his massive chin thoughtfully as Mark spoke. "So what I wanted to know, uh, sir, is why the demon thought I was from the City of Brass as well. Is it because you knew my grandfather so well, and fought with him for so long?"

The genie gave a great, deep hmm at that. Reaching out one massive hand to the edge of the circle, he exclaimed, "Well, my boy, since you have come this far, I shall take you one last step over the threshold! James Lucas was a fine man, a hero as pure of heart as Al-A-Din or Harun al-Rashid! It was my honor to fight alongside him against the damnable Nazis and their subversion of all the laws of man and magic! Ah, it was quite a pleasure to hear their yelps as I transformed them into so many different...well, THAT'S a story for another time!" He smiled, showing the gems in his teeth. "You see, my boy, James Lucas was a good man, but he found he lacked only one thing in life." His voice, for the first time, grew something like quiet. "He wanted a family so very badly, you see. That was why he'd followed your Centurion and all the rest, so that he could make a better life for future generations. But he found he could not have a family, even after he found the woman he loved."

Mark stared up at the genie, uncomprehending. "So...so what happened?" he asked, his face trusting, though concerned.

"Well, I simply did for him what the efreet had done for our Earthly masters for generations! When he asked for a family, I provided him with one. Ah, your grandmother is a lovely woman, isn't she?! And far more then, too, with great..."

Mark's eyes popped wide, like someone had threatened a puppy in front of him. "What? You...MADE MY GRANDMA?"

"Oh, no! No no no!" The genie laughed. "No, I got to know her very well! A fine woman, well worthy of James! No, I simply helped your grandmother make your father, using certain arcane magics that-"

"WHAT!" Somewhat alarmingly, the air around Mark was beginning to shimmer a soft, iridescent blue, Mark looking like a child who'd just learned the terrible unreality of Santa Claus by being evicted on Christmas morning. "You and my GRANDMA-"

[alderwitch]

"He aided your father's conception, utilizing magics at his disposal. Not, ah, the old fashioned way," Phantom interjected quickly, before this could all devolve. She didn't know if it was true, but it was a reasonable guess. Knowing the sort of magic involved, that really didn't make Mark Lucas' father any less half-outsider if it was true, but she imagined it made a great deal of difference to the teenager. "With the sort of cosmic power that Azim-al-Aziz has access to, it's a far simpler spell than turning a legion of Nazis into geese."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Yes! Yes, that's the ticket!" boomed the genie, trying to reassure his very unhappy grandson. "There was none of that, you know....FUNNY BUSINESS!" He tugged at his mustaches, eyes shifting back and forth for a moment, and gave a deep ahem. "But she was a very fine woman! I was lucky to know her, and so are you! Really, you shouldn't be so concerned about this!" He threw his massive arms wide. "I swore that your father would live as a human, but you have so many more opportunities! Why one day you might visit the City yourself!"

"Did...did my grandmother know?" asked Mark, eyes full of horrified fascination.

"Well yes," said Azim, "I mean, your grandfather did have to explain to her where the baby came from! It was a very different era then, but women are always wise to those things! I do know they didn't tell your father; they thought that would be a little TOO much for him! It is quite a bit of news, isn't it?!"

Mark stared at the genie in grief and horror, the sacred beliefs of a lifetime tumbling down all around him. "Yes. Yes, yes it is. Thank you, sir. You can go now." He watched as the genie somewhat unceremoniously disappeared again through the summoning circle, a look of terrible loss on his face.

[Electra]

A little uncertainly, Erin rose from her seat and went to stand next to Mark, close but not touching him. She was not at all certain what to say, but he was her friend, and she'd never seen him look so sad. "Your grandparents must have been pretty happy to have a kid," she finally offered, rather lamely. "I mean, your dad seems pretty well adjusted. But adoption and stuff wasn't something people talked about back then, maybe they didn't want him to feel bad." She was making it up as she went along, but it seemed like it might be right.

[alderwitch]

Phantom cut the power lines with a quick gesture, turning the glowing lines on the floor into simple paint once more with an off hand gesture, her expression impassive and a little remote. Her heart actually went out to both parties, but this was one of those things that time could only heal and comfort would be best offered by Mark's friends.

"I would say, yes, that Mark's father was both very wanted and very loved," Phantom opinioned as she cleaned up the remains of the ritual, "Do you have any questions before I go?"

[Cyroa]

James raised an eyebrow as he listened. Apparently he wasn't the only one who wasn't completely human. Though Mark, as always, seemed to have lucked out on his parentage. Still, he stayed silent, waiting by the stairs as the scene played out. He didn't want to intrude, despite his curiosity. He didn't expect that Mark would have too much trouble adapting to the news. The luck controlled had his own...special way of looking at things. Usually with blinders on, but it all seemed to work out for him either way.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Oh God," said Mark, half-looking at Erin, "everything was a lie, Erin..." He shook his head, grief in his voice. "My grandfather, my parents, my..." He scrubbed his palms over his damp eyes. "All this time I was so proud of my grandfather and father, because they did all those things, had so many adventures, and never had any superpowers but working hard and being lucky. But my grandfather isn't even really my grandfather, and my father doesn't even know who he is! How do I know who I am?"

[Electra]

Erin put a hand cautiously on Mark's shoulder. "That's not true," she told him. "They still did all that stuff, no matter where your dad comes from, right? It's not like all the stories aren't true because one got, um, left out. And having superpowers doesn't make anybody less brave or worthy as a hero, right? Even if you dad was half genie, or whatever, he still did all the things you've told us about without ever knowing he had anything special protecting him. That's pretty brave."

[alderwitch]

Phantom assumed that meant they didn't have any further questions and, once she'd collected the last objects, teleported away silently.

[Cyroa]

James stepped forward and spoke up in agreement with Erin. He'd been through this himself after all, sort of. "Adopted or birth, it doesn't matter. They are still your parents, your family. They raised you and obviously care about you. You are exactly who have always been. You just know you're a little more special now. Be proud of your heritage. You've got some heroic shoes to fill."

[Avenger Assembled]

At the sight of yet another witness to his humiliation, Mark gave James a horrified look. "Oh God, you were there watching the whole time?! Who else is here?" Appalled, he looked around before focusing again on the others. "Nothing like this has ever happened to me before," he murmured. "I don't...I just don't know how to deal with it. I feel...I feel really bad!" He reached up and put his hand on Erin's, reflexively going for the friend who'd reached out for him. "Like when Mike was really mad at me, and I didn't know how to talk to him, but we figured that out. But I don't know how to figure this out, I...I'm sorry." His head fell. "I'm...I'm glad you guys are here. I don't think I could talk to my parents right now."

[Electra]

Erin tightened her hand on Mark's shoulder, even as she looked somewhat helplessly at James. "It's not an easy thing to get used to, probably. But it's something you and your dad can figure out together. He'll be in the same boat, right? It's not like your family will love you any less. You need to talk to them, and they'll help you figure it out." She was rather relieved to see Oliver walk in past James, looking as though he owned the place, for all she was pretty sure she'd closed the door to her room when she left. Not to mention the self-closing outside doors on the dorm. Oliver gave James and Erin a sociable nudge, then twined around Mark's ankles with a determined purr.

[Cyroa]

"Feel bad? Why? Because you've got a gift that helps other people? That you can lead people, heroes forward? That you're the poster boy for what it means to be a 'good guy'? That pretty much anyone in the world, myself included, would love to be you? Look, you are the same as you've always been. No one looks at you any different. You've got the blood of heroes running through you. Does it really matter the genetic coding behind it? It's just a secret for you to share. If you want to work it out with your family, then take your time, put your thoughts together and talk to them. If not, they certainly won't love you any less. Erin's right." He shrugged. "It's a shock, sure, and it might take a little bit of time, but you'll work it out. Thing work out. Isn't that right Edge?" If there was anyone that things worked out for, it was him.

[Avenger Assembled]

"I guess you're right..." said Mark, looking down at his feet and taking a deep breath for several long moments. He met the cat's eyes and bent down to pet him, earning loud purrs and hard head-butts from the affectionate orange cat. Maybe they were right. Maybe this wasn't so bad. He scooped up Oliver with one hand, the cat sitting sedately in the crook of his arm. Suddenly he moved, throwing his other arm around Erin and James and giving them both a hard hug. "You guys are the best friends ever! Come here and gimmie a hug!" There was nothing false in Mark's sudden exuberance, simply a complement to his earlier grief and loss.

[Electra]

Erin was a little startled by the sudden exuberance, but managed to tamp down the instinctive urge to jerk backwards. "It'll be okay," she told Mark again, a little awkwardly as she glanced over at James. With a bit of effort, she managed to extricate herself from the hug with a little bit of grace. "You'd have done the same for us, right? Because we're a team." Truthfully, she had no idea what she'd actually done, but she was glad that Mark seemed a little more like himself again.

[Cyroa]

Mark was so ...naive wasn't the right word. Nor was innocent, not really. But damn did it seem goofy sometimes. He patted Mark on the back, not worrying about the awkwardness that some teenage males would be feeling about now. "That's what we're here for buddy." He nodded over Mark's shoulder at Erin and smiled. "We're more than a team. We're friends. And as you guys showed me, friends are there for you. No matter what."

[Avenger Assembled]

"That's right," said Mark, a little unsettled but certainly in far better shape than he had been earlier. "Friends to the end, right?" He reached down and picked up Oliver, stroking behind the little kitty's ears. "You're my friend too. I'm sorry I yelled at you, James; I'm glad you guys were here. Maybe we can figure more about this genie thing some other time."

[Cyroa]

"To the end. May it be a LONG way off," James nodded with a smile. "Don't worry about it. I'll look into it for you if you like. I'm becoming something of an expert on the magic stuff. I should be able to find out quite a bit whenever you like." He petted Erin's little cat once as well, since it seemed like the popular thing to do. "But for now, why don't we get outta this basement and get some food or do something fun. My treat."