Chapter 16

I stared at the despondent faces of Peter and Gwen, one who was staring at his feet while the other was absentmindedly fiddling with the straw of her smoothie. It has only been a day since we battled the Lizard and things were already different. Dr Connors had been let go from Oscorp after his rampage as the Lizard yet oddly enough he didn't suffer any legal repurcussions most like because Osborn asked for his research in exchange for amnesty. After that, no one knew where he went, he had been divorced a few years prior and had more or less, being living inside his lab. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor guy.

Not to mention how this affected both Peter and Gwen. They have both lost their jobs as interns as the lab is still being repaired. Gwen had been especially silent the last few days as we have yet to talk about our busted alter egos.

"Guys. I'm sure something will come up. Maybe you'll get an internship under another scientist." I tried to cheer them up but it didn't seem to make things better for either of them.

Peter suddenly glanced at his watch before getting up from his seat with a start.

" Oh crap. I was supposed to go to the Daily Bugle today!" he spoke urgently before grabbing his bag. He then turned to us with an apologetic expression. "Sorry. I'll make it up to you guys." He then tried to take out his wallet and my hand shot up, stopping him.

"It's OK I got this one. You should go. Don't want you getting fired from both of jobs now do we?" I teased. Peter rolled his eyes with a smile before thanking me in an exaggerated tone before leaving the store.

The moment he left, both mine and Gwen's eyes snapped fell on one another. Well, time to get this over with. I sighed under my breath just as Gwen began to speak.

"So, you're Valor. " she stated.

"And you're Ghost spider." I replied with a smirk which was promptly replaced by a blush as I recalled how I found her. I had to admit, for someone who spent most of her time in labs or reading books she had surprisingly sleek and slender body. I then slightly shook my head to stop that train of thought.

"OK. So how did you do it? Are you telepath, or is it electromagnetic manipulation, I kept brainstorming but I couldn't for the life of me come up with an explanation to how your powers work." Gwen began rambling and eventually, I couldn't even understand her as she began throwing around scientific words I didn't even know existed."

"Calm down Gwen. We're in public so we should keep our voice down when we speak about these types things. And as for an explanation about powers, I can give you a more simple explanation. Magic." I say while moving my fingers like a stage magician.

Gwen scoffed at my words." Oh, Come on. There's no such thing as magic. "

" We live in a city, filled with superheroes and a team of superheroes which consists of 100 year old super soldier who's only weapon is a shield which he throws around like a frisbee, a man who can turn into a green rage monster, a king who wears an armour made of an element not even found in the periodic table, and a literal Norse God who controls lightning.

The city in question is also under constant attack by aliens, secret nazi cults and merman. So why do you find magic unbelievable. "

" Because most of what you said has scientific explanations. Captain America was made by the super soldier serum, Dr. Banner got mutated, and Thor was reportedly more of an advanced alien race than humans. And his lightning manipulation could simply be result of a mutation like the ones here on earth. See there are scientific explanations for them all but not you. "

" Because its magic. "

" Oh come on. You don't seriously believe that do you. "

This back and forth continued for an hour and continued even after we left the café. Eventually, we both got exhausted from talking and was panting before breaking down into laughter.

"Okay. So anyways I should get back home or my father will throw a fit. He is practically keeping me locked up in the apartment ever since Connors." Gwen spoke after catching her breath.

"Hey just say the word and I'll come and rescue you." I said.

"I thought the wizard's the one who usually keep the princess prisoner?"

"So you admit I use magic."

"I didn't say that."

"You implied it."

"Did not."

"Did too."

This continued until Gwen got on the bus headed for her neighbourhood. I then began walking back home as well. Madam Han said that she wanted to speak to me about something and she was being weirdly cryptic about it. More than usual.

My first thought was that she was mad about me getting injured by the lizard but she hadn't said anything until today so I wasn't so sure.

I was about to head into an alley to make a portal when I felt the chill down my spine, an indicator of magic being used. I quickly activated Sight and looked around to see 4 sources of mystic energies amongst the crowd. Were they following me? I wondered as I increased my pace.

I walked towards the subway, using the crowd to slow down my alleged pursuers and got on a train. I then took a seat at the corner of the train car, before using astral projection. I then used the my intangible astral body to float upwards, to find my pursuers.

I first tracked the one closest to me, who was roaming around the platform. He seemed to looking for something or someone. He was a skinny, teenage caucasian boy who was wearing a blue jacket over a white T shirt complete with a pair of black trousers and sneakers. Taking advantage of my intangibility, I floated up into the ceiling so as to remain out of sight in case he or the other sorcerers could see me in astral form. In any case, I was still not sure if they were pursuing me or someone else.

Especially considering the fact that they weren't hiding their magic unlike me who have invested in wards and talismans to keep my magical powers hidden. Of course, they maybe part of a smaller coven who dont have access to such knowledge. Or maybe, they were decoys, purposefully drawing my attention while they set up an ambush. On that thought, I turned my head back towards my physical body and used Sight to examine everything around it. I looked around it and so no one acting suspicious. That combined with the sheer number of passengers aboard the train put me at ease and they wont be able to attack me so blatantly in midst of so many people.

I turned back toward my target and saw that the others had joined up with him as well. They consisted of a bespectacled brunnete girl wearing a beige sweater and black pants, a Hispanic boy with dark hair wearing a football Jersey from a school somewhere around brooklyn. I couldn't quite recall the name. The remaining girl was what one consider the stereotypical blonde cheerleader far surpassing Annabeth, something I didn't even knew was possible. She wore a tight sweater that left her midriff exposed and wore a denim skirt and high heels. She also wore what I assume to be a metric ton of makeup which I could smell while I was in my astral body, peeking through the ceiling. They seemed to be discussing something so I enhanced my senses to eavesdrop on them.

"Do any of you see her?"

"No. I lost her in the crowd. She looked like she was in a hurry."

"Crap. You don't think she saw us did you?"

"Impossible!! I was blending in perfectly."

"Shhh. Its her"

The brunette suddenly took out a cell phone and began speaking to someone. Unfortunately, I couldn't make out what the person on the other end was talking about but fortunately or unfortunately I didn't need to. She thanked the caller before ending the call. She then turned to her companions.

"She's inside that train. We should get in quickly before it leaves." she said as she pointed a finger at the train my body was at.

Her words all but confirmed that they were after me. Yet I still had no clue who these people were or what they wanted with me. I contemplated running away but I was curious. About the identity of these people and of that caller. Was the simply keeping him or herself hidden in the crowds or using some sort of artifact to track me. Either way, I didn't want to risk them tracking me to my house.

As such, I decided to remain inside the train and confront them when they arrive. The presence of all these civilians will hopefully discourage them from attacking me.

I kept on following them as they walking towards the train hoping that they'd start talking amongst themselves and give away any answers to my questions but had no such luck. Once they were almost at the train, I quickly returned to my body and put on Arma. With my staff destroyed, it was currently the only focus I had. Plus having Lux would be advantageous due to the blade's antimagical properties in case I needed to escalate things.

It took a while, but I eventually saw the 4 of them in the corner of my eyes, approaching me. I feigned disinterest as they got closer. The brunnete and the Hispanic boy took the seats infront of me while the other two took the seats to my left. I was effectively trapped between the four of them, as to my right and back were the steel walls of the train.

My eyes fell on the brunnete girl who I assumed was the one with the highest authority, who in turn gave a small nod at the boy who took out an honest to God wand like the ones in Harry Potter. I almost burst into laughter at the sight. Dont get me wrong. Magic users still use wands but the sight of a magic users using a thin piece of wood to cast magic is still funny. Atleast a staff or scepter can double as melee weapon but not wand.

The boy recited a spell in what believe was pig Latin. I then felt a dome of magical energy cover the area of the train. The woman then began to speak.

"No need to panic. We just want to talk." she said softly. She must have been embarrassed by my deadpan look as she probably expected me to freak out because she coughed lightly before she and the others recited a short spell. And almost immediately, their faces began to morph followed by the rest of their bodies. By the time it was over, I was staring back at the faces of Yukine, Akechi, Souma and Hana. For some reason, Souma had transformed into the busty blonde girl and his sister turned into the jock.

"What are you guys doing? Why are you in disguise?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Don't worry about that. Listen we need your help." Akechi replied while waving dismissively.

"And you couldn't just tell me back at the temple, or email me?" I asked with a deadpan expression. Yukine then playfully slapped Akechi's arm.

"See I told you we should have just sent an email." She hissed at Akechi in Japanese.

"But then we wouldn't have been able to come to America." Akechi defended himself. Hana and Souma nodded with him as well.

"OK. Back to my question. Why are you here?"

"Alright. Let me put it this way. Have you watched the movie Ghostbusters?" Yukine asked.