Midgard is famous for many things, including its underdevelopment on magic - or, more specifically, its secretiveness. Most habitants of Midgard don't even believe in magic, instead claiming science is the only explanation of everything, even though magic is a type of science for every other world.
—Care to explain? —
The male Barton quickly stands up from his own seat, frowning at me and the wizards. He is trying to look tough, and in control, but his posture gives his fear and confusion away along with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
I shrug. —Nothing you can explain to your superiors, or, well, the Vatican workers when they see you leaving a restricted zone. —
McCoy, lost in thought, shakes his head. —No, no, they have permission. We will be the ones in trouble... —
I giggle, they don't know. Before I say anything, the ginger girl, from the younger X-Men, sighs and speaks out, —No, they don't. They sneaked in just like us, Hank. —
Oh. I look at her. —Telepath? —she nods, and we exchange knowing smiles.
Everyone stays in silence, all thinking different things. Strange and Wong keep looking at the portal, maybe waiting for it to magically disappear. McCoy stares blankly at his tools, in shock from discovering a new truth - the female leader watches him, expecting. The Barton siblings are looking at each other, arms crossed, speaking with their eyes. They are lost.
The younger X-Men are still sitting - Maximoff looks around, his leg noticeably bouncing at high speeds. The girl with ponytails has spaced out with her eyes on the floor, and the girl with white hair is looking at her nails. The other boy is playing with the telepath's hand, and the telepath- oh, the telepath is trying to look into my mind.
I shake my head. She squints her eyes. Then, I raise an eyebrow.
Suddenly, there are some thoughts coming from outside of the room and growing louder as the person gets closer - it is a man, and he is part of the Vatican. The telepath notices him too and stands up, warning the rest; —A priest is coming. —
Strange swears. —Star, can you hide this indefinitely with an illusion? —
—In theory. —
It is a simple spell, yes; however, there is no way I can make sure it stays strong for a long period of time. Illusions are great for sudden, short situations. They are not meant to hold a bigger lie. Though, if it breaks early, I don't think there would be a big problem - it would be funny and I am sure the Vatican is used to hiding secrets. All temples do so.
A quick movement of hands and very little thought put into it is enough to create a realistic illusion.
Wong nods, as a portal is opened by Strange, who gives the agents a goodbye smirk and the X-Men a smug wink, stepping into the portal.
The male Barton finally hears the steps of the priest, and sighs. —Please, can we leave with you? I don't need more problems with the church. —
—Huh. —Wong looks like he is keeping a chuckle back. I don't know. I have not seen him do that yet. —I thought you had permission. —
Barton smiles sarcastically. Wong simply walks into the portal, too, without saying any words. Everyone looks at me, suspense in their eyes, as the priest's steps get closer. The priest will not see us, of course. The illusion protects us. But they don't know that.
—Just go through the portal. It will be fun. —
The Barton siblings are the first to step up - the male with caution, and Victoire with fear, which leaves her as soon as her brother goes through. McCoy and the female leader follow up. Then, the white-haired girl with no hesitation. The girl with ponytails is next but there is no rush; in fact, she stops for a moment to face me.
—Hi, I'm Jubilee, —she smiles, —I like your hair. —
Then she steps in, making me softly imitate her smile. The brunette boy is next, nodding in my direction as a salute. The telepath also stops, with no worries, already knowing they are safe from the priest.
She extends her hand. —I'm Jean Grey. Nice to meet you. —
—Star. Pleasure. —I shake it.
Maximoff is the last one, not worried either, but for different reasons. He tries to closely inspect the borders of the portal, seemingly fascinated by its look. From the other side, his friends are unbothered by this, only waiting for him. He tries touching it, but apparently gets burned by the sparks.
I chuckle. —That's magic. —
—Yeah... —he looks at me, with an amazement you would not expect from someone who just got hurt by a portal, —Can you do this? —
—Not yet. —I make a grimace,
He shrugs. —Still, cool. —
Finally, the priest arrives in the room. He does not see anything, obviously, and Maximoff quickly notices. He scoffs, and with a jump, enters the portal.
Without anything else to do at the Vatican, I finally leave the place.
—Took you long enough. —
Even though we only took a few minutes to follow him to the Sanctum, Strange is already sitting on the main couch of the living room. Everyone else is standing up - except for the male Barton, Maximoff, and Jubilee - and they are not even considering sitting.
McCoy frowns, —What's the plan? —
Strange folds his hands on his lap. —Well, me and my guys will keep an eye on it. You can leave now, you know. Both teams. There's nothing else for you to do. —
I am starting to think Strange likes to bother people a little too much.
There would be no use in paying attention to the conversation that breaks out. It is a simple dialogue too close to becoming an argument; Strange, Barton, and McCoy's female partner leading the discussion.
Agent Barton, or Barney, as he told Strange ("You can call me Barney, sir, the Barton thing confuses my sister and I.") believes the case should include SHIELD and its agents, for it appears to be a danger to the people. He claims they can provide us contacts which would make things easier and keep us safe from the public eye, and adds that if we do not let them, he might report our 'unsafe' practices to his bosses since "nothing interesting happens around here, anyways".
Raven Darkholme, name the X-Men woman introduced herself with, has a similar vision; according to her, the X-Men could help us out detecting any anomalies (though she did not mention the magical aspect) and that they can use their variety of powers to aid us in an emergency. Prompted by McCoy, she also stated that even if it is not scientific, they would be interested, and warned that if we do not let them, they will not stop interfering, adding that their boss has "kind of a stalking tendency", and would follow us closely.
Both threats receive Strange's chuckles as an answer.
—I don't think it'd be smart. —Strange starts, —Dad would say "too many cooks in the kitchen", or something. The more people the bigger the chances for this to go wrong, go public, or become even more dangerous. This isn't some... Bank robbery or alien invasion or whatever it is you guys work on. Just one mistake will lead to bigger ones. Demon magick isn't to be played with. Right, Star? —
All eyes are on me, again. I just shrug. —I don't really care. The more people the less contact I would have with Hell, don't you think? Also, —I look at the teams. Victoire catches my eye; she is still rubbing her hand and is looking around in interest. —Some of them might want to learn magic. —
Wong nods. —And I don't think other sorcerers would be happy if they found out we're closely working with demon magick. We might need help from the teams. —
—Ugh. —Strange throws his hands in the air, defeated. —Okay, I guess. —he stands up, quickly walking over to Barney and Raven. —But I don't want either of you interfering when I tell you not to. If there is a case in which we need help or our interests overlap, I will contact and work with you. You won't need to keep tabs on us, and if you do, we'll know. This will be an extremely confidential investigation so you will not tell it to anybody outside of this room. —
Barney nods. —Understood. —he searches for something in his pockets, and brings out a small card. —Here's the only thing you need to contact me. Name and phone number. —he smiles,
—We won't need that. —Strange smiles too.
Wong walks closer and grabs the card, —I will take that. —
—Tell me... —Raven narrows her eyes, —What's this magic of yours? Is it actual magic or just some science you try to hide behind a mystery? We've been that mystery before, Doctor. —
From my spot, next to the sofa on which all of the teenagers ended up sitting, I sigh. It is the skepticism and fear of humans the reason behind the failure of magic in their world. —Magic is science and science is magic, miss. There is no more depth to it. Also, you saw the portals. —
Strange looks at me. —Why don't you show her? —
—Show her what? —I frown,
—Whatever spell or trick you want to show off. —
That gives me a very wide range of options. Though it should be something simple; something that would not ring any alarms for humans, that they would not find too dangerous - yet something that would give them an idea of our magic.
Ah. Shapeshifting. A classic.
I look at Strange. In this room, he might be the face I'm the most familiar with. Well, Wong or Strange. But it would be funnier to shapeshift into Strange.
I copy his look; I become taller, and my body turns into a more masculine one. My face completely changes its shape, and my hair gets way shorter, and a little bit lighter, with grey streaks. My eyes become a little bluer, or whatever his eye colour actually is. To spice it up, instead of the clothing he is currently wearing, I copy his sorcerer robes on me.
He examines me, completely bewildered. It always is a shock to see a copy of yourself right in front of you. But, when I look at Raven, I catch her going through the exact same process, turning into another Strange.
—That's not special, kid. —she shrugs.
Wong sighs, —I don't need three Strange's, please. —
I guess I will need to do another thing. I shapeshift back to my normal body, and so does Raven, under Strange's concerned look. I raise my hand to my eye level and move it down at a decent speed, as a sword - my sword - appears in thin air until its handle is in my hand.
I smile at Raven. —Conjuration. —
—Oh. —she whispers, —That's something I haven't seen yet. What other powers do you have? —
—Too many. —with another move of my hand, the sword disappears. —Someday I will write them all down. —
McCoy finally reacts. —We have a school for people with powers. Well, not magic powers, it's more about mutations, but you can visit if you want. When this mess is over, of course. —
Somebody told me about this before - cannot remember if it was Father or Strange or Wong. But most of the humans that have powers thanks to their genes attend that school. I suppose the X-Men somewhat represent them.
I shrug. —No, thank you. —
Strange gives a clap, —You heard her. Anyways, since we've made the deal and you saw the magic and, honestly, there's nothing else to talk about, you should leave now. We'll contact you if needed. Buh-bye! —
Wong shakes his head. —Yes, but ignore his attitude. Could you tell me where you want to be dropped off? I will open a portal for you. —
—Westchester county. —Raven replies, and Wong quickly opens a portal to wherever that is.
As the X-Men start leaving, Jubilee and Jean wave goodbye at me. I wave back, a little confused. We just met and barely said a few words to each other, but they are being very nice to me. Is it because I look their age?
Barney walks over to Wong and whispers something in his ear. As Wong starts opening the portal, the agent notices he is under my sight. —Confidential address, you know the deal. —he explains, smiling.
Victoire, next to him, rolls her eyes. —He's exaggerating, it's just the centre of New York. —
They both leave, and it's again the wizards and I alone in the living room.
—You know, —Strange scoffs. —If it all goes to shit I'm blaming you, Star. —
I nod, —Fair enough. —
—Well, —Wong looks at his watch, —That was quick. It's still seven am. I'm not going to make breakfast, though. Strange? —
He rolls his eyes, and starts walking to the kitchen. —Sure, I'll make grilled cheese! —
As he disappears in the halls, Wong starts following him with me. —You will like it. It's not the most complex dish, but he makes it decent. —I nod, and he looks at me. —It's your third day here. What do you think so far? —
—It's good, I like it. Though I would like to start learning the interesting part, you know? Your magic and, I will admit, Midg- Earth's history. —
—That'll be soon, Star. Soon. —