Chapter 48- Unexpected Attendees

  Savage Lands – Outside of the Magi Citadel- October 25, 2008 (08:12 Zulu)

  Danielle ‘Dani’ Moonstar- (Mirage)

  “Did he just say Hathor, as in the Egyptian goddess of fucking?” The junior agent Julia asked surprised.

  "Your job is to listen in on the things we don't speak, not repeat to us the things we can understand," Bobbi told the younger agent. Then the blonde snapped her fingers and pointed towards a group of human representatives off to their left, and the younger agent moved off to attempt a conversation.

  "Says the woman who jumped in, to what take a hit for a woman half again your size?" Dani states once it’s just the two of them.

  "I would have grabbed one piece of the driftwood and knocked away the other with it. In theory anyway.” The Enhanced admitted. Then she nodded towards the mutant leader still talking casually with the living goddess, and she asked. “How are you going to write this one up?”

  The mutant agent didn't get to answer, as the rge countess woman approached them, and then asked them. "First, thank you for trying to intervene, but this is our first time being here. And was wondering if either of you has attended this Entreatmeant Day event?"

  “I have been to this event twice before.” The Enhanced agent admitted.

  Dani thought for a moment before she too answered honestly. “This will technically be my fourth, but I was only an observer for the first one and wasn’t allowed to participate.”

  "Why?" The red fur-covered woman asked her.

  This was why the Native American hesitated to be honest, because she really didn’t like bringing to light her failures. When she saw her uncle watching her, she finally admitted. “My team was sent to investigate and explore the region, and we were captured and held for trespassing. So we were allowed to watch the event that occurred while we were in custody, but we were not allowed to participate.”

  "Is there a set protocol for the event?" The rge mutated man asked them. The man was easily twice the size of the other two 'newmen’ and his nose hung down past his chin like a beard. Which between that and his name made her think he was supposed to be grown from an elephant, but he cked the tusks and his ears were too small to really give her the impression that he was one.

  This she felt comfortable answering since it was a pretty straightforward question. "There are generally three phases to this event. First, a short introduction phase, where the magi will expin the terms of the event. That is followed by the question phase, where each faction gets two questions answered. Then we generally get a break to eat and drink and chat with other factions, while the mage takes a break. After the recess, if there is any justice to be served, they will do that before the st phase.'

  "There haven't been any sentences passed at the st two events, we've attended, but the first one I observed a man was executed for attempting to harm some of the attendees." When she said that bit, the three 'newmen’ all shared a look with each other, while she continued with the st phase. “The st part is the request part, every faction can make one request of the Magi, and many of the local tribes seek either healing or military assistance. Making the request doesn’t mean that they will grant it, but it seems that so far a lot of the requests have been granted.”

  "If you don't mind us asking, what do you pn to request?" The most normal-looking of them asked her.

  Dani waited to answer, as she saw Magneto and Exodus fly up before returning back through the barrier and illusion that surrounded the Citadel. ‘Crap, I should really have paid more attention to what they had said to that odd lion woman.’ The special agent thought, but then honestly answered the taller woman. As she answered the question she kept much of her attention on the odd woman in the center of the clearing. “I do actually, but that leads me to the st bit of information I can share about this event. While the question portion is public so that Nath’aniel doesn’t have to repeat answers, or people waste their questions. The requests however can be made privately.’

  “Only the representative, myself in our group's case, will be allowed to enter the Entry Hall of the Citadel, where we can ask our request without the other factions hearing what it is, that we are in need aid of." From what she could tell, this Hathor woman, stood with her massive bodyguard with her eyes closed as she waited for the event to properly start.

  "So that some operational security may be kept." Dani heard the normal-looking Newman mutter. Surprised to hear someone in the Savage Lands mention such a topic made the mutant look back at them instead of staring at the seemingly boring ‘goddess’.

  However, while she was surprised it was Bobbi who agreed with the taller woman, saying. "That is our belief as well, after all a lot of these people are important to the groups that come from. Such as that tall bunny woman, we believe her to be the chieftain of her tribe, and that centaur with the blue paint on his arms is the champion of his tribe as well."

  Not really wanting to be alone, but they were there to work, not chat with the possible living war crime that was beside them, so the senior agent leaned towards the other Enhanced and whispered. “Someone needs to find out where that other group of magic users is from and who they are.”

  Yet despite her low level of speech, she used the red-furred catwoman muttered. “Magic users, magic is real?”

  “Umm, yes… although not everyone can learn to use it. My grandfather and uncle can, but I and my father couldn’t learn it.” The Native American woman admitted.

  Bobbi got a handful of steps away from them before Dani noticed the odd lion-headed female open her eyes and look up into the sky. Dani frowned and tried to reach out to her with her powers, and once they reached the woman, the mutant felt concern coming off of Hathor.

  The senior agent blinked twice, as the odd woman was suddenly just gone.

  Then everyone in the clearing reacted, most moving to protect themselves, while others reached for weapons that they didn’t have on them, when a sudden shockwave appeared in the sky.

  When a second wave failed to appear, Dani shielded her eyes and looked up into the eastern sky, about a half mile away, hanging a good hundreds of feet in the air she saw what looked to be a rusty freight container. The mutant squinted, and regretted not taking some binocurs with her, but could make out the glinting form a chain or metal rope that was wrapped around the thing, and hovering in the air above it. Was a man who appeared to only be wearing a pair of swimming trunks. His other hand blocked Hathor’s open palm, which would have otherwise spped him.

  "Oh, shit," Dani muttered, when it donned on her who might be both strong enough to signal-handedly hold such weight in the air, but would also know to come here today of all days.

  “Is that another Powered flying up there?” The snout-less Newman asked. It bothered the mutant a bit that the other woman didn’t need to either shield her eyes or squint to make them out so far away.

  “Senior agent, what do you see?” Agent Morse asked her. She had picked up a branch from the ground at some point.

  "I think that is Namor up there," Dani admitted.

  Her fellow agent didn't need any further information and just asked. "Orders ma'am?"

  The lead agent didn’t get time to give them before more things occurred.

  Magneto and Exodus both flew out through the now rippling illusion behind them, quickly followed by a white blur, that Dani assumed was their speedster. It took her a moment, but the mutant found her inner self when she saw her uncle looking at her with his head tilted to the side.

  “Find Agent Chambers, and order her back to the quin-jet. Then follow me. We can’t let the Brotherhood kill him, regardless of what his people did to the Magi all those centuries ago. Who knows how Atntis will respond to them losing a second king in less than a month.” Dani ordered, before taking off a full sprint into the jungle.

  It didn't really surprise her when some of the stealth-designed metal men materialized on either side of her as she ran, but it did that they didn't do anything to hinder her attempts to reach the conflict. Instead, the hooded machine knocked out a jungle cat that was about to pounce on her. When she stopped, it pointed for her to continue.

  She only got a couple of steps before she was joined by Bobbi and oddly the rge snout-less woman. The Newman had removed the outer yer of her courtly outfit, so Dani could see that the woman's shoulders and joints were covered in a protective yer of fur. Still both the Enhanced agent and the rge furred woman quickly overtook her and the robots, and reached a much smaller clearing.

  Just before the rusty container dropped into it.

  Yet the Newman caught the thing like it didn't likely weigh several tons that it did. She held it for a moment before dropping it beside her on the ground well clear of Bobbi.

  “I warned you Namor! First your daughter, and now you! I told you not to come here!” She heard Magneto shout at the top of his lungs.

  Once Dani too joined them in the clearing, she could see that the man was surrounded on three sides by the mutants and a goddess. The chain that he had used to hold the container was now wrapped around one of his arms and chest, while the Namor stared at the lion-headed woman like he wasn't under attack from others. His free hand poised to defend himself.

  “Magneto stand down! He is a king of a sovereign nation, the same as Nath'aniel. You can't kill him." The SHIELD agent demanded.

  “Technically, they’re still at war.” A young male voice reminded her. The mutant agent turned to look and saw Quicksilver leaning against a tree. When he saw that he had her attention the young man added. “The Magi and Atntis that is. Since the few surviving mages probably thought the Atnteans all died when their isnds were swallowed up by the ocean, and by the time the Atnteans resurfaced they heard the magi were dead too, but they weren't. And so technically, a peace treaty was never signed and they're still at war."

  The King of Atntis finally spoke and agreed with Quicksilver. "The boy is correct. Peace was never signed or attained… However, all are welcome at Entreatment Day, are they not? Even one's enemies?"

  Dani heard sticks and other noises that warned her that others had followed her. Yet what really worried her was the sound of rge wings fpping. Only a few of the beastmen of the Savage Lands could fly and none of them sounded like the wings she was hearing right now.

  Then a thing that she could only identify as a demon nded on the container. She worried that a breach or incursion that her uncle and grandfather warned her about was occurring, but Dani quickly dismissed that worry when two women materialized out of clouds of sparkles around the creature.

  One cloud purple the other yellow. Both women were dressed in their usual outfits, so the agent was quickly able to identify them as Nath’aniel’s two bodyguards, or Servants as the mage called them, She-Devil and Psylocke. And when the mage spoke, while his voice was distorted from what she remembers, yet Dani could still tell that the demon was in fact the mage.

  “You are correct, King of the Sea Tribe, all are welcome to Entreatmeant Day." The raspy transformed voice of the mage agreed. Then he added. "But enemies of the Magi are not given the same protections nor the same opportunities other guests are granted.'

  “So I must wonder, given the warnings, and the history between our peoples, why are you here today?”

  The king did not look away from Hathor as he answered. "To serve my people. I need your insight."

  The transformed mage looked at Psylocke, who after a moment nodded. Then Nath’aniel asked. “Would you let him pass? We have already deyed today’s event as it is.”

  The lion-headed woman blinked twice and looked down towards Nath'aniel. She groaned oddly, before she muttered. "Ahh, I love your eyes.” A moment ter, Hathor asks. “So this man is not your enemy?”

  "Not today." The mage admitted. Then Nath'aniel spread his leathery wings, before fpping his wings so that he floated up before flying away. A moment ter, the two women protecting him vanish in plums of colored sparkles.

  A moment ter, the chain restraining the half-naked man just dropped, before Magneto followed after the transformed mage back to their hidden tower. Exodus, however, stayed and watched the Atntean King float down retrieve his chain and catch his breath.

  It was then that Dani realized that Hathor was missing again. 'Can she teleport, or is she just fast like Quicksilver?' the agent thought as she gathered her courage and approached the royalty and his container. As she got closer she noticed that even Bobbi and the Newman woman were still on guard, still once she was close enough the senior agent asked him. "Are you alright?"

  Namor looked at her for a moment before admitting. “A touch thirsty actually. It was a long flight… and that Lion woman didn’t really hold back.”

  The mutant agent reached for her water bottle attached to her belt. As she unscrewed the cap, she watched how the others were doing. Most of the people and beastmen who followed to witness the drama seemed to defte and wander back to the original meeting point. While a few of the warrior-type people stayed, they seemed to be measuring whether or not they could take the king in a fight.

  Namor took the bottle she offered him. He took several mouthful gulps from the bottle, before upending it into his face. Dani opened her mouth in retive surprise as the man seemed to become both younger and healthier as the water washed over him.

  He handed the now empty bottle back to her. As she screwed the cap back on, Namor started to wrap the chain around the container again. As he did Dani asked him. “What’s with the container?”

  “I had hoped bringing some gifts would tempter my sudden appearance.” The king said in answer.

  The flying mutant must have heard them, because he conjured a massive hand of light, which he used to grab and lift the container back into the air. Yet before he moved to carry it off, Exodus frowned and stared off into the jungle.

  The floating mutant started to offer a warning. “Something is coming, Quicksilver get…”

  But Exodus was just cut off, as a rainbow of light smmed into the edge of the clearing they were in. The trees exposed to this light just turned into ash and vaporized. Just as suddenly as the light appeared, it disappeared. Standing in the center of the bst were three people.

  A man fnked by two women, all three would steal the show at a photo shoot or fashion show. The taller pair of them both had long flowing blonde hair. The woman was dressed in embroidered furs, while the man was wearing a green silk shirt and pants. The other girl had her brown hair up in a ponytail and seemed to wearing a toned-down green outfit simir to the man's, she also had an overly stuffed backpack on her back.