The last of the stray tendrils of power vanished into Stratocaster, who shone like an earthbound star. He staggered, giddy, and held his head as if it might suddenly fly off of its own accord. All around them, Sally could see those people that Wolfgang had converted to his own troops, looking around and blinking in confusion like they had been awakened prematurely from deep sleep. Soldiers rushed in to take people to safety.
Sally saw Doublecharge approach, leading a mass of assembled heroes from several teams, and waved at her to let her know they were all right. Doublecharge ordered the other heroes to create a secure perimeter. She and Sondra dropped out of the sky by Sally and Jason.
Sally released her grasp on Jason so she could squeeze her winged friend and exult in the feel of feathers between her fingers.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered.
“Likewise, kiddo,” said Sondra in a husky voice. “I’ve been worried sick about you. Hell, I’ve been molting.”
Sally laughed. “I’m so glad you’re all okay.” She discovered she was crying, but didn’t mind so much.
“Are you all right?” asked Doublecharge. “You’ve been through a lot.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“What about him?” Doublecharge nodded toward Stratocaster, who hovered several feet above the ground, still glowing like a lighthouse beacon. He seemed transfixed by the play of energies around, between and through his fingers.
“I don’t know,” said Sally. “When we took down Frazier, the power all went into Strat. Ooooh!” She gasped and her hands flew to her mouth.
“What is it?” Doublecharge’s voice was sharp.
“Strat and Frazier were the last two mages. Now Frazier’s dead, and all the power is in Strat, and that makes him…” Sally couldn’t finish; she didn’t want to say what she knew was in her heart.
“The true Archmage.” Doublecharge’s eyes narrowed.
“The Archmage is dead. Long live the Archmage,” said Sondra.
Sally swallowed hard. “I don’t think he’d… you know, hurt anyone. He’s not that kind of person.”
“He has absolute power. All the magic in the entire world is at his disposal. We can’t know what kind of person that will make him.” Doublecharge clicked on her collar mike. “All team leaders, this is Doublecharge. Stratocaster is to be considered a top level threat until we clear him. Secure the perimeter and stand by for further orders. Do not let him leave.”
The heroes moved in to encircle Stratocaster on the ground and the air.
Stratocaster staggered around and held his head in his hands as if he had a migraine. Strange flowers sprang from the ground around his feet with each step. He lurched suddenly and a sparkling pillar of crystal rocketed out of the ground to support him and sang with harmonic vibrations. He looked at it with interest, and then poked it with a finger. A stream of brightly-colored birds issued forth from the crystalline depths, flying in a long chain of follow-the-leader.
“Will!” cried a voice. “Let me through, goddammit!”
Sally looked to see Ace being restrained by Bullet from the Lucky Seven.
“Stay back, Ace,” ordered Doublecharge.
“Ace?” Stratocaster’s voice rumbled with reverberations that shook the land, as if they were standing on a subwoofer. He cleared his throat with a noise like distant fireworks. “Hey. Cool. I sound like Darth Vader. Luke… I… am… your… father!” He broke into peals of laughter that built up into a feedback delay that soon had everyone wincing.
“Stop it, Will.” Sally could hear the fear in Doublecharge’s voice. They were all afraid; before them stood a man with the powers of a god.
“Scaring you? This is nothing. I could show you things that’d straighten your hair, Stacey. Things that would make you never want to sleep again. Ever.” A swirling cloud of malevolence circled around Will’s ankles, containing within it shadows and hints that would give them all nightmares for years to come. As quickly as it had grown, it dissipated into nothingness. “But that’s not important right now. What’s important is that I want to talk to my girl.”
Doublecharge pointed at him. “Will, this isn’t the time…”
“Why not?” He gestured expansively and a grove of trees popped out of the dusty earth; they shook out their branches like dogs after a long nap. “I’ve done everything I was supposed to do. I took care of your little problem for you. I think I deserve a little gratitude!” With his final word, a powerful force pushed all of the heroes apart to leave Ace standing by herself.
Sally found herself nearly paralyzed. Unlike the magic that Wolfgang had used on them, Will’s was somehow softer; she could move slightly if she used only the gentlest of motions and forced herself to slow down. From grunts of exertion up and down the line of heroes she could tell the others were similarly frozen.
Ace was having none of it.
She had her hands on her hips and tapped one foot impatiently on the ground. “William Kramer, just what do you think you are doing?”
“Ace?” Will sounded uncertain.
She stomped toward him, anger boiling off her. “These people are your friends, Will! Look how you’re treating them!”
“I’m… I’m sorry…”
“The Will I fell in love with wouldn’t do this. The Will I fell in love with was considerate and kind. You’re acting like a dictator.”
“It’s all this power… it’s making my head spin. I can’t think straight.”
“You call yourself a hero? This is not how heroes act, Will, surely. This is what we’d expect from Frazier. Did we just trade one evil for another?”
Will bowed his head. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” His voice shrank back to its normal timbre. Suddenly Sally was free, and so were the others. “I’m sorry, everyone.”
Ace was now standing right in front of him and looked sternly up at him. “Oh, Will… what are we going to do with you?”
He bent down, took her in his arms, and held her tight.
Doublecharge murmured into her throat mike, “Just Cause, stay on alert. Everyone else stand down but don’t go too far away.”
Time passed.
Just Cause remained near Will as he consented to be checked out by paramedics. They pronounced him in perfect health. He offered to heal any wounds anyone else had suffered, to repair any damages, and even to wash and wax all the military armor. The commanders politely declined, instead focusing their attention on getting the civilians back to safety.
Doublecharge handed Sally her cell phone after talking into it for several minutes. “It’s Juice,” she said. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Sally?”
“I’m here.”
“Are you all right? I know we put you through the wringer once again.”
She took a moment to inventory herself and was both surprised and pleased to discover she was more or less whole on a physical, mental, and emotional level. “I’m fine, sir.”
“I’m very proud of you, Sally. You’re a real asset to the team. In many ways, I think you’re the strongest of any of us for what you’ve gone through.”
“I don’t know,” she said and felt herself blush to the roots of her hair.
“Well I do,” he replied. “And I’m putting an official commendation in your file.”
“Um, thanks.”
“See you back at headquarters.”
Sally handed the phone back to Doublecharge just as a nervous-looking Army colonel ran up to them with a field telephone. “Uh, Mr., uh, Kramer? I have the President for you.”
Will grinned. “Which one?”
The colonel looked scandalized. “Ours, of course.”
“I’m just joshing with you.” Will took the phone and leaned back. A large, overstuffed office chair appeared behind him. As he swung his feet up, a heavy mahogany desk burst into existence beneath them. A cord twirled out of the field telephone to connect to a unit which sprang into being on the desk. “Mr. President? Will Kramer, a.k.a. S
tratocaster of the Lucky Seven. How the heck are you?” He covered the mouthpiece and winked at Ace. “Always wanted to say that.”
Stratocaster nodded, grunted, and made lots of “uh-huh” sounds as the President talked his ear off. “Mr. President,” he said at last after taking a sip from the giant cherry cola Slushee which he’d conjured into existence. “I can personally guarantee that Wolfgang Frazier is no longer a threat to this country, or any country.” Once more he covered the mouthpiece and nudged Ace. “You think he knows I didn’t vote for him?”
Sally’s phone buzzed to notify her of an incoming message. As she pulled it out to check it, she noticed all the other Just Cause heroes likewise retrieved their own phones. The message was from Juice.
Per Homeland Security, detain Stratocaster for questioning. Be careful. --J.
Sally looked at Jason in dismay. “Why?” she asked him.
“How?” he muttered back.
Ace glanced around at the approaching Just Cause heroes. “Baby,” she said. “Tell the President you’ll talk to him later.”
“Ace, move away,” said Doublecharge softly.
Ace drew her gun and held it ready, but not pointing at anyone yet. “What is this?” she asked. “He’s not doing anything to anyone.”
“Mr. President, I’m going to have to call you back. We’ll do lunch,” said Stratocaster. His conjured office vanished into sweet-smelling smoke.
“Ace, put the gun down.” Doublecharge made no threatening moves, but Sally could tell she was moments away from unleashing a blast of lightning. Doublecharge wouldn’t hesitate to act if she felt it would be advantageous. “We’re not going to hurt him. We’ve been ordered to detain him. That’s all.”
Tears tracked down Ace’s cheeks and her gun wavered. “That’s how it always starts,” she whimpered. “Detained for questioning. I’ve seen it before. Military minds all think alike. Then you take him away and he disappears forever.”
“Babe,” said Stratocaster. “Look, I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding.”
“Look at her!” screamed Ace. “She’s ready to take you down right now!” She clenched her free hand on Stratocaster’s arm. “Please, just magic us away from here. Please, Will.”
Sally, said Doublecharge’s voice in her head. Switchboard must have been facilitating telepathic communication. Disarm her. Now.
Sally felt like she was being torn in two between her duty to Just Cause and her loyalty to Stratocaster and Ace. She wavered in indecision. Doublecharge turned her head slightly toward Sally and glared at her.
The world ground to a halt as Sally’s perceptions accelerated to maximum. She sprinted forward and thumbed on the safety of Ace’s pistol. Then she popped out the cartridge and slid the bullet from the chamber.
“Sally, what are you doing?”
Sally shrieked at the unexpected voice. She whirled around to see Stratocaster slide his arm out of Ace’s frozen grasp. His mohawk bobbed as he looked down at her.
“I’m… I’m making sure nobody gets hurt,” she said at last. “How can you see me when I’m moving this fast?”
“Magic,” he said with a smile. “Parahuman powers are nothing compared to the sum total of all the magical power in the world. I’ve stopped time for the moment.”
“You… stopped time?”
“Yep. It’s easier than trying to balance everything else out while we talk. This way we can take our time and not have to worry about my trigger-happy girlfriend here or your short-fused boss.” He nodded toward Doublecharge. “She’s a good person, and a strong leader, but I just don’t like her very much. I’d rather talk to you. I figure we’ve got a lot of history together.” He laughed at his own joke.
“Uh, okay,” hedged Sally. “What are we going to talk about?”
“The fate of the world.” Stratocaster gestured and a couple of couches materialized. “And my fate. Popcorn?” He offered her a bowl filled with the soft, buttery snack that hadn’t been there a moment ago.
“No thank you.”
“Suit yourself. It’s awfully good, though. Now, what’s this all about?” Stratocaster sat on a couch, put his feet up on the arm, and chewed contentedly on a mouthful of popcorn.
“Juice said we were to detain you on Homeland Security’s orders.”
“Why?”
“He didn’t say. He just told us to be careful. I don’t think he agrees with them.”
“Juice is a smart guy. He knows what’s at stake here.”
“Well, what is at stake?” Sally gave in and sat on the other couch.
Stratocaster shrugged. “I’m the Archmage now. Contained within me is the sum total of magical energy in the entire world. That’s a lot of power for one man. Look at what Frazier did, and he only had most of it. I’ve got it all.”
“So what are you going to do with it?”
Stratocaster chewed thoughtfully on more popcorn. “I could do a lot of things. Just about anything I put my mind to, really. You want me to feed the world? Make the deserts fertile? Piece of cake. Destroy all the nukes? Child’s play.” His face hardened. “I could turn every terrorist into a pillar of salt, or make Washington into a glass pancake so America could start over again.” His expression softened again. “I could bring Shannon back to life. It’s so easy once you understand the power.”
Sally’s breath caught in her throat. Shannon’s death still felt like an open wound on her psyche. She almost demanded Stratocaster bring her back right then, but somehow she knew that would only lead down the path that Doublecharge and everyone else feared. If he brought back one person to life, how could he say no to other requests?
A god can’t grant every prayer.
“A god?” said Stratocaster aloud. He must have read Sally’s thoughts. “Yes, I suppose that’s a fair assessment. The God of Magic. Sounds better than Archmage, don’t you think?”
Sally gasped; she didn’t know what to say.
“You’re right, of course,” said Stratocaster. “I really am dangerous with this kind of power. No wonder the government wants their hands on me.”
“They’re afraid of you,” said Sally. “And they’re jealous. They want that power for themselves. They want to control you.”
Stratocaster chuckled in a way that made her blood turn to ice water. “They might find that harder than they’d think.”
“They’d figure out a way. Maybe they’d hold Ace as a hostage or something.”
“There is no place they could hold her that I couldn’t find and rescue her.”
“Then they’d… I don’t know. I don’t think like they do, but I’m sure they’d figure something out. That’s what governments do, isn’t it?”
“Which leaves me with what as an option? Oh, I suppose I could leave.”
“Leave?”
“Leave the world. Take my ball and go home. Although I don’t know where home would be after that. Mars might be nice with a bit of atmosphere. Or Venus with some air conditioning. I could terraform either one. Only problem is it’s kind of a long ways away. I’d miss this place. Well, maybe not North Dakota so much, but you know what I mean.”
“Could you…” Sally swallowed, nervous. “Could you just let the power go?”
Stratocaster’s mouth closed with a snap. “Let it go?” he managed after recovering from wide-eyed surprise.
“Sure. Can you just release the power into the wild or something?”
“It’s not a wild animal, Sally. It’s magical energy.”
“Well, it had to come from somewhere, right? Where does magic come from?”
“Nobody really knows that. Even I don’t know that, and I know everything there is to be knowed about it.”
“If you… died… where would the power go?”
Stratocaster’s brow furrowed as he considered. “Without an individual for the power to travel to, I guess it would just spread out until someone came along who could draw it in.”
“What if there wasn’t anyone?”
At last, Sally couldn’t resist her appetite any longer and reached for some popcorn. It was delicious. “I was thinking, what if you just went back in time, way back before people, and just let the magic go free? Can you do that?”
A look of wonder crossed over Stratocaster’s face. “Give away my power. Live a normal, mundane existence instead of being all-powerful. Tough choice.”
Sally nodded toward Ace, still frozen in the act of holding onto Stratocaster’s arm. “I think she’d rather be with Will the man instead of Will the mage.”
Stratocaster smiled. “That’s true. There might be something to that idea. Tell you what, Sally… Let’s talk it over with the rest of the team and see if they agree before this gets any uglier.”
“Are you sure?”
“No,” said Stratocaster. “But it’s got to be better than the alternative.”
“What’s the alternative?”
“I turn you all into woodchucks and be on my way.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“My vocation is more in composition really than anything else – building up harmonies using the guitar, orchestrating the guitar like an army, a guitar army.”
-Jimmy Page
August, 2004
Rugby, North Dakota
“This is a bad idea,” said Doublecharge. “I’m not sure I can smooth this one over with Homeland Security. They’re sending someone to take charge.” She looked grimly at Sally. “I’m sure it’s Goodwin.”
Sally chewed on her knuckles and watched as Stratocaster directed his magic. She’d explained her idea to Juice and Doublecharge. Doublecharge had been against it; Just Cause had pushed Homeland Security about as far as it could and there would undoubtedly be consequences of their actions. Juice had once again overruled his second-in-command to give Stratocaster the go-ahead to try to dissipate his magical power. “I won’t be party to what amounts to a witch hunt,” said Juice. He said he would assume all responsibility for whatever happened, and had the Command Center log the order to proceed under his name. Whatever ramifications came from Just Cause disobeying Homeland Security’s directives would be on his head.
Just Cause Universe 2: The Archmage Page 25