Chapter 13: Black Magic

"But so will Veta," Jenny says. "The Splice Circle probably already has information on her that we don't, so taking them out may also help lead you to her."

"So if I find that evidence stockpile, I give the police exactly what they need to arrest The Splice Circle at their weakest juncture. In the process, I also clear my name and salvage my reputation as a hero. And as a bonus, I might learn something about this Veta lady. This seems like a no-brainer…."

"Precisely," Jenny says, smirking. "So what are you waiting for?"

"I'm not waiting for anything."

This is a second chance to get things right after that terrible first night. Best of all, if he's successful in shutting down The Splice Circle and saving Static, he'll surely be seen as the next champion of the Fringes—an excellent place to continue his climb to fame.

"Yeah, but Jenny, how am I going to find the evidence faster than the police, Madame Vice, or some other meddling hero?" Travis ask. "I'm not a detective. That was a lucky break with Trackr's fingertips."

"Well you better start getting used to some intrigue-solving, oh mighty Gravitate!" Jenny proclaims. "Besides, you were in Smyther's headquarters and you confronted Madame Vice, so I'm betting you saw and heard things in there that might help you, even if you don't know what they are yet…."

"The real question is," Jenny says with a wink, "where are you going to start?"

As he leaves The Vigilant, he has to squint against the rising sun—morning has arrived already, but he's too amped for his mission to be tired.

His eyes adjust to the light just in time to catch another flash out of the corner of his eye. Why does that keep happening? Is it some side-effect of his energy Powers he haven't experienced before? Or maybe someone's following him?

He finds his answer, however, as he looks to the corner and sees a woman waving at him—it's Karla Yuu, the reporter who published the Gravitas stories about him.

"How long have you been following me?" Travis asks as he approach, not in the mood for niceties—especially not with this woman.

"How long have you been seeing flashes you can't quite spot?" Karla asks, speaking so quickly her words blur together. "You only saw me now because I wanted you to, for the record."

"Great. And thanks so much for the glowing article on the Gravitas case. I really enjoyed it."

"I don't create the facts, I report them," Karla says impatiently. "If you want a good story, do better next time."

Karla's eyeballs flash bright, white light, taking another mental picture of Travis. Then they begin to twitch back and forth, once again taking notes on their meeting.

"Anyway, I've been following you for an in-depth piece," Karla says, beginning to pace as she speaks. "You should be flattered. Now I wanted to ask you if I could have further access to your life as a hero—nothing to break your secret identity, of course, but simply permission to follow all of your in-costume escapades."

"No, I don't think so," Travis says, crossing his arms.

"That's a shame," Karla says. "I was hoping we could do this the easy way."

Before Travis can respond, there's another bright, white flash. And when his eyes finally recover, Karla is gone.

Great, he thinks, it looks like Karla is going to do whatever she wants, no matter what he say. Adding this to the list of things he must eventually take care of, he takes back to the sky, deciding to look for clues at The Ryeval Bar, Kirkpatrick's former place of business.

Fifteen minutes later, he sat at the bar in The Ryeval and ordered his favorite soda so he can check out the place. As he looks around, he's surprised by how nice the place is compared to its scuzzy clientele. He bet he can't swing his arm in here without finding some kind of criminal—a thought to keep in mind for finding future cases.

What interests him most, however, is the large woman sitting in a back booth with two police officers. From the look of her crocodile skin and spiked alligator tail, Travis guessed that she's the new owner of The Ryeval (which would also make her Madame Vice's newest General). Seeing that the croc-lady is busy, Travis figure this is the perfect time to look for some clues "Kirkpatrick" may have left behind.

He leave a tip on the bar and walk toward the bathroom. Once he reaches the back corridor, he slip behind a door marked "Employees Only" and immediately spot a door that reads "Owner's Office." Jackpot.

He break in unseen, breathing a sigh of relief. That is, until he see the place….

It has been turned upside down, completely ransacked by the police and Madame Vice's crew, he assumes. If there were ever any clues to be found here, he doubt there are any left at this point. Still, he figures there's no harm in trying to-

"Freeze!" Travis hears someone shout from behind him. Keeping his cool, he turns around to find the two police officers standing in the doorway, aiming their guns at him.

"Perfect."

As he stands face to face with the officers, he try to decide how to handle the situation. He has to consider what has happened between him and the police so far, at best they absolutely hate him and at worst they think he's a fugitive.

"Hey listen, I know you guys think I'm a villain," Travis says, putting his hands in the air, "But I'm here to help you with-"

"He's moving!" one of the officers shouts. "Fire!"

Before he can react, he feels electric tazer blasts jolt his body, and his vision starts to go black. Looks like the police were itching for an excuse to take him down no matter what he did.

What else could he expect? He is a fugitive, after all.

Travis wakes up in the back of a police van, fitted with handcuffs that nullify his Powers. This is it. His heroic career has ended before it even had the chance to begin. The police will haul him off somewhere and charge him with any number of crimes, many of which he may actually be guilty of committing.

Now he's going to be thrown into some Powered prison just like his parents. He'll be disgraced, unable to clear his family name….

"No," he think. He has to find a way out of this—there's no other option. He begins to search the back of the dark van for a way to pry himself out of his handcuffs. If he can just get those off, he'll have no problem blasting his way out. But there's nothing back here….

He's contemplating dislocating his thumbs to wriggle free when the doors to the van swing open. The rush of sunlight blinds him and he can't make out anything through the doors.

"Officers, I can't tell you how much this means to me," says a smooth and friendly voice. "This will really help our end of the investigation."

"Of course," Travis hears one of the officers say. "We're big fans, by the way."

"Why, thank you," the voice says. "I won't be forgetting that any time soon."

That's when his vision clears and he finds himself looking out at... Black Magic.

Travis blink several times,to make sure that his eyes are deceiving him.

But they're not. That really is Black Magic, his biggest crush, bailing him out.

"Holy sh*t." he says in his thoughts.

Even after the police set him free and Black Magic escorts him to a nearby rooftop, his hands are still on cuffs.

"I've had quite the time tracking you down," Black Magic says. "I need your help with something."

Black Magic—the famous, gorgeous, amazing Black Magic has been looking for him? This cannot be real….

"You are Gravitate, aren't you?" Black Magic asks, looking concerned.

Travis still gets a thrill when anyone says his code name but hearing Black Magic say it sends a shock through his entire body. He look her over, happy to find she looks as much like Lady L in person as she does in photos.

Black Magic wears a sleek, black costume with a golden zipper running up the front (which she leaves partially undone, letting some cleavage show). The costume hugs her perfect body in all the right places, making her look like a supermodel.

Best of all, Travis really loves that Black Magic is natural and easy going.

Black Magic has an effortless beauty—she looks like the kind of girl who can eat whatever and always look impossibly perfect rolling out of bed in the morning.

Most of all, Black Magic looks free, like she can do anything she wants. The kind of free that could probably get Travis into some real trouble….

"Speechless, are we?" Black Magic asks, smirking.

"Uh, yes, I'm Gravitate," Travis say, snapping out of it. "Why exactly do you need me?"

"Well, I heard you were the hero who…'helped' with the Gravitas investigation," Black Magic says, coming closer to him. "Hold on."

Black Magic whips around and mutters "Gyener Scureob," encasing the roof in a bubble of shimmering, black light.

He's about to ask what she's doing until he sees a duo of paparazzi on a nearby rooftop trying to snap pictures—Black Magic must have cast a spell to protect the two of them against their cameras.

"Sorry about that. Thought I lost them across town," Black Magic says, turning back to Travis. "Anyway, I assume you also know about the Kirkpatrick-Static connection, if you're back snooping for evidence?"

Travis nods, desperately trying to keep his eyes on Black Magic's face…which is equally as distracting as her body, unfortunately.

"All right," Black Magic continues, "the MCPD has looped The Hoshi Group into their investigation of The Splice Circle, since they'll need a Powered team to take down Madame Vice and her new Splice Circle if that evidence is found. I'm the new kid on the Group's block, so Rebellion dispatched me to help the MCPD find the evidence stockpile. Plus, I have a…particular hatred for Madame Vice."

"So how can I help?" Travis asks, still not quite believing his luck here. Black Magic is asking him for help—hd, of all people! He'd better not screw this one up….

"Oh, you can help me in so many ways…" Black Magic says, looking at him up and down for the first time. Feeling her eyes on him, his heart threatens to explode.

"The police let me go through Static's things," she says, getting back to business. "Even though they didn't find anything, I got some weird vibes off of this pen. But I have no idea what it is…."

Black Magic pulls out a fancy, black pen and Travis eyes practically bulge out of his head. There's a tiny, golden orb at the end of the pen—same as the one that was on the tip of Madame Vice's whip.

It's a Telepoint!