Chapter 58: Learning Magic Just Like That
While Cole and the team were preparing to fight against the Proto-Goblins, who were homeless people and the unlucky infected by Nader, other forces conspired in the dark against two of his personas.
Jeremy York's location had been leaked to The Hand, and an operation to take him was underway. Unbeknownst to the still-recovering Kelvin and the Russian hero Ursa Major.
Stokes Crime Syndicate had grown unmolested since Luke Cage's recruitment; Bushmaster had recovered from his defeat by the empowered Cage. He had sought out and discovered the Dr that had operated on Luke Cage; he had returned to Harlem prepared to battle Luke only to discover he had joined the authorities again; he went to Paradise and found his employer was murdered, and Luke had been at the club when she was last seen alive.
Enraged, he joined Cottonmouth and was preparing to attack Luke and his paramour, but first, they paid a visit to the Iceberg Lounge and killed Jason Todd. Information on him had already been circulating; Powermaster, formerly Bushmaster, scoffed at the teen known as Red Hood.
Powermaster promised the Stokes he would crush the interloper in Harlem free of cost and take over the club since the state had hit Paradise with civil forfeiture.
Inside Councilwoman Dillard's chambers, Mariah consoled her son; they had seen the remains of their matriarch, and Cornelius had been almost inconsolable.
"Use him to soften this Red Hood up, and you take the killing blow." Councilwoman Dillard said, her hands on her son's shoulders, his head down, fists clenched.
"But, the club." He growled.
Mariah sighed. She sat down; her hands clamped as she stared at her son.
"The Stokes family built greatness out of nothing. Your great-grandfather took the club from the mob. A young blackboy from the South, a sharecropper by trade, son of an enslaved person. Nobody pushes us." Mariah Dillard said to her son.
Corneilus Stokes raised his head as he recalled the story of his great-grandfather. He nodded to his mother and turned, the door opening almost instantly. Shades were sitting outside, his arm in a sleeve, his trademark shades on.
Mariah Dillard said. "Baby boy, Luke Cage will be next. First, we need to come up with the information of the Maggia for this Broker of information, and we will discover who back our black boy scout."
Cole Stephens
Name: Cole Stephens
Known Name: Jeremy York
Alias- Red Hood
Race: Inhuman Mutant
Physique: Unique Physiology
Alignment: -Neutral
System-Bank: 1,298,456
Minion(s) Bullseye—Contracted
Anne Weying—Contracted
Kevin Lourdes-Knighted
Legal—Contracted
Angelica "Angel" Jones—Contracted
Kaecilius- Red Lantern-Holder
Annalee-Corerced 9%/100%
Morlocks-Coerced 5%/100%
* Leech-Protectee
* Annalee-Corerced 9%/100%
Persona(s)Jason Peter Todd- Red Hood 103%|100%
Daniel Kilgore- Priest - Haunt 37%|50%
Kurt Kilgore- Special Agent - Haunt 29%|50%
He had been practicing magic with kaecillus when he pulled up his status, and he was surprised at the Knighting of Kelvin. He hadn't got to choose, but the Shattered Round Table decided for him. He had alerted Kaecillus, but his current teacher had told him to focus.
"You're a natural as we expected; blood mages are born sorcerers; my teaching will be beneficial, but I'm afraid I won't be useful afterward with the nature of your gifts." The former master of the mystic arts said amicably.
Cole nodded; Kaecillus did not know his abilities; magic access had long stopped becoming a forlong conclusion, but when he stopped procrastinating and learned, or in his case, rummaged through his innate System granted knowledge.
"While heroes amongst men protect the world from physical dangers, we sorcerers safeguard it against more mystical threats," Kaecillus said, watching in awe as the teen manipulated the mystical energies; he stared at the Ring and clenched his fist, a resolve growing in him. He had made the right decision.
The Red Lantern Ring acted in place as a sling ring as he tried again to open a portal. He made the circling motion, sparks emanating from his efforts; he repeated it, wanting to hurry it along.
He already had advanced knowledge of mysticism, so his action was well in order, and his expectations only took a slight blow as he repeated the action a final time before being successful.
[+9] Occultism: The Host is a practitioner of various mystical concepts due to his training with the All-Caste. The assortment of your abilities has unlocked elemental magic. Additionally, the Host has formal training as a Catholic priest.
He had felt the prompt, dismissed it, and immediately brought his ability to the forefront. He understood it immediately. He still couldn't draw the mystical blades, but he had recalled a specific event that would activate them. He had a splattering of gifts that made the mystics call him a blood mage or, from what he understood, a Homo-Magi.
He flexed and chanted the spell he recalled from the movie's shocking kaecillus. "Winds of Watoomb." He muttered, causing a pitiful breeze to buffer the inside of the warehouse. Quite different, the mystics called on gods, demons, and entities to cast spells, hence the naming sense.
"Eirf." He muttered casually, his thumb pointed toward the rafters, just in case. He smirked as a fire floated above his fingertip. Magic is "just" a form of energy; some mutants have energy-manipulating powers that work on these magic energies. At least, that was his understanding as the fire blossomed into a cone of fire.
Cypher can instinctively understand languages or Forge's engineering ability - a skill typically takes much study and research. Still, their mutant power lets them do it instinctively. Wanda's power gives her access to chaos energies, but using them to do magic depends on herself.
Magik is the same. She has access to Limbo's energies and physiology, which makes her resistant to demonic energies, but her magic is not a mutant power.
"The magic itself isn't the mutation, but the mutation can make you harness energy like, for example, Chi." He had infused himself with a simple enchantment from his gradually growing core. His eyes became electric, and he raised his slow, afraid he would snap his arm if he acted rashly; bolts of electricity speared from his fingers as the warehouse reared of ozone.
He had yet to learn if his conjecture was correct or if it was the System doing. He would contact Firestar and direct her to the methods. First, did he need a sling ring, or could she use chants? Zatanna had her backward magic, which he felt could work as he contemplated. He stopped immediately as Kaecillus's voice brought him from his deepening outlook and an almost insatiable need to understand magic.
"An astute observation." he intoned, head bobbing, "It has been suspected that mutant-kind nature would allow them to draw on energies they had sway over. That was why we mystics didn't interfere in mutant kind."
Cole waved the man off as he turned and strolled past him. He squeezed the man's shoulder, his current persona almost the same height as the master.
Cole's heads-up display popped into his vision. He smiled at the interruption. It was an update on the goblins. Anne and Angelica were becoming a dynamic duo.
He had chosen a random spot, and a portal rippled before him. He was blasted by cold air; he casually corraled the chilling air as it blew across him; the chattering of teeth caused him to turn to the stationary Kaecillus.
"Test," Cole said as he closed the portal that connected to the Himalayas for a reason. He wondered if his peep had alerted the mystics. He would love a round two with Wong and The Ancient One but wasn't a fool; the mystics would dismantle him in an actual magic battle.
"It wouldn't be you alone. and I assure you that if your talent is as good as you showcased in mere minutes and a brief lesson, The Mytsics of Kamr-Taj will stand little chance." He said, absolutely listening in again.
Cole felt the man smirk as he worked, his hand tapping at the illusionary keyboard. " I suggest we prepare the others; technology is indistinguishable from magic with the advancement, but trapping someone in another dimension without a way to escape is a tactic we were trained to use."
Cole, or should we say, Daniel Kilgore, as he adjusted the enchanted glasses sitting snuggly atop a sharp, oddly crooked nose, rolled his neck shoulders; it was quite the sensation becoming the actual person; it was almost as if the glasses were a component of the System, how else could he roleplay in the marvel world as he brought out an individual from worlds, stories, comics, universes that the gods of this universe couldn't even perceive.
A particular cigarette struck from his thin lips as he peered at the screen that populated his vision. Subject Zero was still unaccounted for; Alfred had theorized that the tunnels underneath the city were ideal ground for such a prehistoric creature.
The notion had him wander about the Morlocks, but Angelica reassured him that the Boas had poured through the tunnels, mapping them; he had forgotten about that order he made casually without any actual thought in the need, but now Cole was glad he had begun.
"At the worst, I can create the Batcave underground like Bruce," Cole said, his voice masked alongside his appearance.
Cole had no idea that The Hand would soon initiate an attack on his two known personas. The Hand had been quiet since he shut down one of Tombstone's major drug houses in a suburban Brooklyn neighborhood, the same neighborhood he had stumbled across Angelica Jones, a member of the New Mutants. This member would have been amid the Registration Act being enacted after the Nitro terroristic explosion.
He turned to Kaecillus, the teacher for the moment, regarding him financially. First, he took out a container; these were the contacts. Secondly, he observed his attire; his Red Lantern Suit was probably overpowered, so he didn't even hand his body armor but purchased Bio-Helmet.
Kaceillus had accepted the gifts without fanfare and immediately backed off from the ground, an angry streak cutting across the skyline. He looked at his own lantern Ring and smiled.
He turned around and departed from the warehouse. It was one of many that Alfred had been purchasing strategically across the city. Speaking of purchasing, he told Alfred to start buying Stark Stocks and Rand Enterprises; it seemed the corporate world was about to get a significant shakedown.
Tony had reversed course and refrained from supplying weapons of war. The Broker had come through on the deal and alerted him about the heir; the supposed-to-be Iron Fist was in The Hand's custody.