Country of Champions 5

Recognizing the girl from the common room and Rio among the victims, Orison was on the verge of a total eclipse rage out. Dr. Odd chanted out a spell that immobilized the two men along with the mother and her child from the four person group while Liberty slid her aura over Orison again. While Liberty struggled to calm Orison down, Dr. Odd handed his satellite phone over to Justice and started chanting over the dead children.

Justice's phone call informed the president about the evolution of the situation. They knew without having to even check that there was a live feed satellite pointed where they were standing and there was no way a triumvir of the League could allow the UTF to spin a story involving him and dead children. That was especially true when it looked like whatever Dr. Odd did, could have been linked to their death. That wasn't true but it would be too easy to spin a story that insinuated it.

Orison could tell that Dr. Odd suddenly felt very regretful about offering Orison the use of his amulet. Fortunately, there was just too much goodness inside the man to reverse time and pretend that he hadn't seen it. Whatever Dr. Odd was doing to try to fix the nightmare of a situation, it made him age in fast-forward as the amulet threw off a strong, metallic green light.

In the distance, on the road just outside of the no entry post, news groups were pulling up like they were fire fighters trying to get to a burning building. Various members of the UTF and League were using a multitude of supernatural and technological means to appear at the scene. It seemed like the situation was spiraling out of control but the top brass that was showing up, smoothed things into order in an almost numb and slightly apathetic manner.

While Justice explained the situation to the PR people of both groups, Orison assured Liberty that he could contain himself so that she could help. Temporarily free of restraint and instruction, the young mage observed that Dr. Odd was pushing past a lesser restraint on his control over time at the cost of his own lifespan to reverse time for the pile of dead children. Once color returned to the first child, Orison whispered to Justice about what he knew of the girl from the common room's story and requested that Rio return with them.

Pausing his briefing with the PR people, Justice asked why the one Orison identified as Rio needed to come with them and the young mage said, "He shares a sensitive secret with me and our future well being are connected."

Justice replied, "I believe you and I'll do what I can but this situation has become complicated."

Helplessly, Orison nodded and let the man get back to his briefing. Left twiddling thumbs, he collected the broken pieces of the wooden ring and wand. Even such a small action had garnered him attention he didn't want but once they saw it was pieces of broken wood, no one cared. It HAD catalyzed people to start treating the site as a crime scene which caused him and the children not in critical condition to be moved away from 'ground zero'.

Through the next couple of hours, all of the milling people finally put together the truth of what had happened. The people behind the resource smuggling decided to grab up as much 'resources' as they could in order to bribe their way out of the trouble Orison had brought them. The idea was to pin the ruinous theft on the young mage but when he didn't fall for their trick, they tried to use up the resources and remove any 'evidence' of wrongdoing. Once it became obvious that the people who were responsible couldn't wiggle out anymore and the children were going to survive, Orison stopped listening in.

While he had been waiting on his turn to offer a statement, best for last, the young mage had been working on piecing the wand and ring back together. The two items had become something a bit more than they had been after riding with him through his time being sealed away. It seemed like a waste not to try and save them. He was still baffled how Rio managed to bring them along for the ride but at least he knew what the kid had been up to during that long 'bathroom break'.

He was beginning to wonder if Rio might be a bit of a kleptomaniac. It wasn't a nice thought and as he pieced together the wooden tools, he pieced together what he knew of Rio's life. In truth, the boy was just trying to earn, any way he could, what had been handed to Neil and his older brother. From the little Orison had gathered, Neil had been a good father but didn't like the supernatural that much and the other people in Rio's life had treated him like he was handicapped. It was telling that, with Neil unconscious, Jen was the only one who seemed distressed that Rio had gotten separated from them.

Distracted by his thoughts, the young mage had missed how the wand and ring were repairing themselves after he had them stuck together. There were enough abilities casually being thrown around that no one noticed the small surge of essence or dim flash of light that accompanied their full restoration. Before stowing them away, he gave them a once over to discover another pleasant surprise.

When an item survived a boundary crossover but wasn't a boundary item, they conformed to fit their new reality. Normally such a change wasn't drastic, just a natural process of 'fitting in'. The ring hardly changed at all but the wand had seven basic ritualized magics carved into it. Underneath the arcane lock that stopped them from being read directly, the seven models had changed in minor ways to work in the world they were in. Essentially, the crossing had turned the wand into a beginner's grimoire.

Since the magic carved into the wand was mostly made from his own core concepts, it only took Orison a few minutes to compile the scraps of newly revealed model portions on each magic application. Even so, it had saved him days if not months of stumbling around on his own while he was busy with who knows what else. Considering how difficult and expensive moving a little bit of his own blood on a table had been, it was a welcomed surprise.

Sadly, with that bit of knowledge gleaned, the wand had downgraded back down to a cheap channeling tool again in Orison's eyes. From what little he had noted from his examination of the ruby ring's minor alterations, the wooden wand and ring combo couldn't hold a candle to it as a focus or channel. Despite that, his practice set held bits of knowledge that even elderly magic scholars might fight to the death over if they knew what it contained, hidden within the simple magical applications carved into the ring and wand's surfaces.

Bored with using them to doodle on the pavilion tent canvas after the common room girl stopped making picture requests, he wrote a quote from 'The Little Mermaid' where she had him draw one and stowed the tools away. By then, it was time for him to give his statement and it went much like he expected it to but they did throw him for a loop when his status as a person was called into question. Within a short period of time, the UTF had compiled a personality profile on him prior to his 'awakening' and laid down evidence of successful possession which would make Orison an illegal 'alien' and a possible enemy spy. It was a serious allegation and there was plenty of circumstantial evidence to back it up.

The real purpose was to shut down his relevance as a witness and victim. He was sure the UTF was doing it in every way they could to each of the survivors in an effort to minimize financial and image damage. The sad fact was, he and Rio's identity might be torn apart under a deeper investigation. Since the UTF wanted to flip the table over to change the rules of the game, Orison was inspired to do the same.

In an overly dramatic voice dripping with sarcasm, he said, "Oh, you caught me! I'm an illegal alien that completely took over this poor, defenseless child and am now commended into the custody of The League entirely! They've accused and I admit it. Please take me and my fellow alien dorm mates away for interrogation, Justice...

"Oh, you forgot that extra planar and extra terrestrial affairs were the jurisdiction of the League as long as a member was present that could neutralize the threat? Too bad. I'm running with this bullsh*t you shoveled and now it has to be verified since I admit it for myself and all the children here. We no longer are wards of the state or even world citizens until cleared of the accusation I admit to."

Dr. Odd's apprentice, Jacques LeStrange, was already sick of the tedious burden his mentor had dumped into his lap and ran with the loophole Orison threw him. "He's right inspector. I'm afraid there's no time to waste, as the very souls of all these precious children may be in danger!"

Under the loud protest of several UTF officials, Jacques said calmly, "Triumvir Adjunct LeStrange requests Sky Hook clearance orange. The following non-hostile, potential alien refugees require transport to nearest minimum security holding facility with open and active medical bay..."

The man did a round robin of brief stationary stares with a command of 'lock and transport'.

After he was done, Jacques deactivated his connection to the tech based teleportation system and said, "Did I say refugees? I meant, fugitives. English is so hard sometimes. Oh, well. I'm sure the responding staff will know what I meant. We are a well organized and completely lawful organization after all."

Orison had to stay behind to finish his statement while enduring hateful glances all around. There were a couple of civilian parents that were shouting bloody murder in the distance too but it seemed fake. It took some time for the UTF folks to wonder why there weren't more angry outcries at the mass kidnapping that just happened.

An aid who was keeping an eye on media feeds, signaled his superior's attention. For the whole time, the present group thought all the attention was on the pavilion that had been set up because it blocked public eye to some degree. But during the time that Orison had been giving his statement, that had ceased being the reason.

Enough time had passed that the sun had slid past noon. Light reflecting off a mirror-like surface of a piece of equipment, beamed into the pavilion tent. From their side, it just looked like the the girl was playing with the beam but from the other side, it showed the occasional silhouette of a girl. She was using the mirror on the folding hairbrush brush someone had given her to illuminate the mermaid and by coincidence, Orison's quote.

With a little newsroom editing, and it didn't take much, her actions took on a haunting quality. Orison's absentminded scribble of 'But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore suffers so much more.' from Han's book became a poignant social commentary on the struggles of young 'differently advantaged'. The whole story did, really.

Seeing what was being aired while Liberty was looking at a news reel herself, Orison thought, "Some book publisher is about to rake in a quick buck over a reprint."

Seeing that their efforts to undercut the continental president's promises to Dr. Odd had become pointless, the UTF PR group stopped impeding a wrap up and things rapidly progressed. Within a half hour, Orison was receiving a procedural physical and blood work.

After only an hour at an Avalon detainment/processing hub, the young mage could start to see why general public opinion swung so widely. On one side, the League was light years more advanced in tech but considering what mischief the UTF got up to with the essential tech that had inevitably leaked, it was pretty obvious what would happen if the League lost it's overwhelming advantage in raw strength.

Liberty said, "We don't have much more time before your intake process starts. I took you this far but I need to return to my duties and you'll be in someone else's care moving forward. Do you have any questions for me before I give you, what we like to call around here, the 'merit summary'?"

Orison ran through what he really wanted to know and what he thought was safe to share, then said, "What was the whole polymath sorcerer thing about?"

She smiled and said, "There's several classes to cover a wide variety of new terminology and you'll be getting them soon. So you have a little more time for other questions, I'll just answer the surface question and ignore the whole water well's worth underneath it. A sorcerer means you have a renewing source of mystical energy that is independent of artifacts and patrons.

"The polymath moniker is just Dr. Odd's flair for the dramatic. Your record will have 'multi-discipline' proficiency written in it but no one will push for specifics while you're in secondary education. The story would have been a bit different if you had standard processing but you've cleared that hurdle in a single accidental leap.

"I doubt you need any explanation on what focus dependent means but you might not be clear on the novice part. For those who possess magic abilities, it's usually just a simple gauge of it's strength, versatility, utility and growth potential. But for spell casters, we needed a way to rank since any of those first three factors could change with each new spell.

"To make it simple, it's divided into tradition grades that roughly tie in with Class rank: Neophyte straddles D and C-class. Novice is a solid C. Journeyman straddles C and B. Such terms are only used while spell casters are in education so that's where it stops."

The young mage digested that and asked, "What's 'juice box'?"

Liberty massaged her own temples like she was trying to shake a tension headache. "Sorry, it's not your question. It's the reminder of Dr. Odd's bestowal. There's some... people who are going to resent it. Some for imagined health risk and some for imaginary favoritism. None of that's your problem but try to be broadminded if you hear a few protests.

"Juice Box is the nickname given to the mental accelerator pods. They work by placing the body in a temporary state of minimal function, allowing more mental resources to be directed towards... thinking. There's some other principles at work but the effects are increasing the perception of time while providing an increase to focus and memory retention. It also provides a virtual setting with a reasonably realistic facsimile of yourself.

"It's connected to the virtual training library and can simulate classrooms, battle grounds and even laboratories. There are limitations. Magic studies and other complex simulations with unclear definition cause errors that can be dangerous if repeated in real time. It's primarily used for aiding those who need help with their studies and students placed in accelerator programs.

"The time can also be bought for 1,000 merits per hour session which provides anywhere between two hours of boosted focus and retention, up to a clocked theoretical 100 hours of standard focus and retention. The standard most aim for is ten with a minor mental boost. A year's worth of virtual time can be bought, once per person' with 100,000 merits. Because of high demand, any more time beyond that has to be approved."

After expressing his understanding and asking a few general questions, including how to do a database search to get in touch with people, she called a times up. With the last few minutes she had with him, she gave the breakdown on his merit summary which included a little 'what's it worth?' explanation. The most important comparison during that explanation was how the average C-class earned 200,000 merits a year and how ten merits equaled a UTF Credit.

With the UTF credit roughly equaling a dollar in purchase power, that meant the average non-combat C-class out of education earned about 20,000 dollars a year. It seemed awfully low income, considering a waitress who hustled might be able to earn the same. That was mitigated a bit once Orison found out that residence, standard amenities and basic needs were provided to everyone independent of that sum.

Orison became excited when he heard the initial portion of the merit summary that listed anticipated government remuneration and League accolade bonuses. That excitement faded to the painful reality of his actions and how much they cost him. The largest and by far the most excruciating of which was the demerits for the false accusations of illegal alien status on each child. To be fair, it did balance out well with the accolade bonus which meant that his actions had been looked upon positively. It just hurt seeing such a high number being whittled back down to modesty for the sake of making good accounting to the UTF.

As Liberty approached the bottom of the list, Orison said, "I have to pay for the two years of Juice Box?"

There was a slight bit of wickedness in her smile as she said, "No. I can remove them if you like."

Backpedaling, he said, "I want them. I was just surprised. The was Dr. Odd said it made it sound like an offer not an exchange."

She shook her head. "Have you not seen through that huge number of merits at the top? This was all planned out to make everyone look good but fair."