ic Medieval Times

[Avenger Assembled]

"Oh, craaap..." Fast-Forward succumbed to an infinitesimal moment of panic before he rallied himself. "All right, _I've_ never been to Camlann, but the other Fast-Forward has, he took the kids there..." Shoving aside those thoughts before his wife could find them, Richard began casting, running around their little group in a geometric pattern that enfolded them all, including the protesting Medea, save the Midnight who was defending them all. "We can doitwecandoitwecandoiiiiitttttt..." And then they were gone on that same starry road, the air and ground around them briefly dissolving into a starry night sky that seemed to enfold them all - and then they were somewhere else! 

 

But this wasn't right either. 

 

The heroes were standing on a bit of suburban blacktop, one end of a cul-de-sac; they were also standing before cheerfully decorated gates that said "WELCOME TO CAMELOT, YE VISITORS!" Green English fields and trees were super-imposed the chintzy tourist attraction that was Camlann; an English suburb seemed to be uneasily occupying space with a reconstructed historical landmark. The locals were still rioting on the streets, with fist-fights and looting; the nearest being an argument between a husband and wife; and husband and wife; one pair in houpelande and doublet, the other in suits, over who owned the building that was half-surbuban dwelling and half-towering Gothic mansion!

[Raveled]

Blue Jay collected herself enough to take her place in the magic circle, making sure to nock an arrow as she did so. It would be a bad idea to appear in the middle of an enemy camp not ready to attack! With a familiar swirl and wrench the entire world changed around her, and revealed rolling green hills, a friendly banner, and a decidedly schizophrenic sight.

She cocked her head and watched the couples war over a house halfway between eras, waiting for some comprehension. When none came, she instead looked to the other heroes around her. "House looks... weird," she said. "Should it look like that?" Jay had never been one for schoolwork, but that did not look like a smooth, natural evolution of architectural styles.

[Electra]

"All right, if this is the center of the anomaly, how do we fix it?" Wander demanded, hopping up onto a hay-wagon that sat on eight steel-belted radial tires. Just to be on the safe side she took Medea with her, hauling the witch one-handed by her belt an the gathers in the back of her costume.  Wander took in the lay of the land, looking for anything that seemed obviously mystical or at least like it required punching. She wished for a moment that she'd stayed behind instead and sent Midnight along, he was always better at the tactics and the solving of puzzles than she was. "We haven't got a lot of time." 

[Avenger Assembled]

Fast-Forward was flipping through his magic text at an alarming rate, feeling like Will when he was caught at school by a pop quiz. This scenario was rapidly losing any appeal it might once have had for the veteran speedster - and that wasn't very much appeal at all. "This stuff is so much easier in the movies," he muttered, "where's a lightning bolt and a clock tower when you need it...all right, uh, the Heavenly Chronometer and its distortions!" He pointed to the sky overhead, where a starry pattern was overlaid against clear blue skies like a badly-aligned Viewfinder. "All right, it's right under Sirus, so the source of the distortion must be..." He zipped towards a 'fracture point' in the air at what appeared to be a join between a sign advertising a Camlann tourist trap and an English pub - and suddenly, the air warped once again around the heroes, settling into an entirely new location altogether! 

 

Now they were atop a hillock at the center of a hedge maze that seemed to stretch off into forever, faced with two remarkable figures - one was a woman with blue eyes, hair, and brown skin, in a water-logged dress that was nearly translucent; the other was a man with a long white beard and pointy wizard hat who looked straight out of Central Casting. The latter was caught in the branches of a large tree that had grown around him like a cage, but he was reaching his arms out after the witch with a furious look on his face. Almost at once, they both yelled, "You're here! S/he's the cause of all this!" 

 

"I am the Lady of the Lake!" yelled the woman, "and this is the spawn of Satan himself! He is-" 

 

"Merlin, chief wizard of Arthur's court! This woman has kept me bound lo these many years!" called the wizard, "let me free and I'll help you!" 

[Raveled]

Blue Jay's head swam from the sudden jump, but she managed to focus on her new surroundings and the pair at the focal point of the scene. She was still and staring for a minute, trying to take in what she was seeing. Even on Jay's world, they had had stories of Merlin and King Arthur, and while she dimly remembered the Lady of the Lake she didn't remember trees or Satan coming into the story anywhere. In any case, if this was what it seemed to be... She half-turned to Wander, still keeping her eyes on the new pair. "So, Medea's not responsible?"

[Electra]

"The thing about criminals," Wander muttered, "is that they love to do stupid things in big groups. Medea almost never operates alone, and she managed to wrangle herself some power in this universe despite being a semi-washed-up Crime League relic in our timeline." Wander gave Medea a vindictive little shake, though most of her attention was on Blue Jay and the wizards. "She's almost certainly involved, but  I don't recognize either of these guys. God, I wish we'd brought Midnight along." For a lot of reasons, her expression said. 

 

"Hey you! Both of you!" she called out, taking a few steps forward. "Which one of you is responsible for altering the timeline and getting us stuck in the Ren Faire here? Now is a really good time to put things back to normal and spare yourself from a truly horrifying ass-kicking that we're going to have to give both of you if we don't get some answers! We're really on a tight schedule here!" 

[Avenger Assembled]

"It's his fault! He made me-" 

 

"-she was the one who cast the spell!" called Merlin, still struggling against his verdant bonds. "She is to blame for what befell your world!" 

 

Nimue blanched briefly before adding, "Only to try and hold _him_ in his bonds! Have none of you read the stories?" she demanded. "He is the son of the Devil, and the man that was his other half has long since withered to dust. He seeks only to rule your world in the name of his dark father!" 

 

"I-" 

 

Suddenly, a flash of searing light came exploding downwards from the sky above, a column of pure fire that struck both the Lady of the Lake and Merlin! The former staggered backwards, hands to her eyes. "You fools! What have you done?" With his captor distracted, Merlin had pulled his way free and was now laughing evilly. "They have given me the keys to the universe! Soon all will bow before-" Nimue hit him with a bolt of watery power, just as Fast-Forward, holding a spellbook in hand, reappeared among the heroes. 

 

"All right, I solved it! C'mon, kids, let's beat the hell out of this guy till they can fix the planet!" Richard had had a very long day. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Hey! Watch the birdie, jerk!" Fast-Forward ran up and got right in Merlin's face, his hands tracing complicated patterns in the air, time around him seeming to slow to a crawl - even as he moved almost too fast to see to the other heroes. He chanted in a voice like a tape on, well, fast-forward, calling upon particularly formidable ancient magics to deal with this particularly formidable foe. "Surehopethisworksneverdiditforrealbefore-gazeintothecursedlightofAlgolandseethesinofAthenamadeflesh!" And with that he reached into the glowing circle he'd traced in the air in front of him and slipped his fingers between the complicated Behenian patterns, pulling something out from the space between stars. He didn't look too closely at the writhing orb in his hand, but Merlin did - and all of a sudden, the wizard gave a gasp as his body abruptly turned grey and cold, even his clothes turning the same color of poorly-cast marbe! 

 

Richard zipped away. "Nice! Hey, he's still thinking in there, kids, so I suggest we beat his ass till we fix whatever's going wrong!" 

[Raveled]

The fight was on, with Fast Forward zipping forward and pulling out... something. The speedster's body blocked Jay's view of it, but from the way Merlin stiffened at the sight of whatever it was, she was glad she didn't catch a glimpse.

She took a step to the side, nocking and drawing as she did so, bringing her arrow to full extension before letting fly. And then another, and another. She watched them wobble through the air, her tight draw sending them on an imprecise path. The archer cursed her aim, but at least one arrow found its mark and hit Merlin in his stupor.

[Electra]

Wander took Fast-Forward's word for it, especially when immobilizing the wizard did not seem to be changing the world. They were rapidly running out of time. Clutching her sword in one hand, she used the other to do a handspring off a thatched roof that was modern shingles in alternate moments, taking her out of the line of sight of the stoned magician. With an expression of fierce concentration on her face, she leapt off the roof and down as hard as she could, bringing the flat of her sword up against the side of Merlin's head with a resounding THWOCK.

 

"He's not thinking now," she reported with grim satisfaction, watching Merlin's eyes roll back in his head. 

[Avenger Assembled]

Merlin tilted over backwards and hit the Earth, the thorny brambles rising once again to entangle him at Nimue's command. "I can rest for another thousand years, praise Christ and Herne," she said with a great sigh. "Thank you for all you've done, heroes." She smiled beatifically. "Now, to undo all that was done and restore the balance of what is right." She raised her hands and began chanting, and Fast-Forward automatically stepped back to protect the kids. "Begone, ye mingling of past and present! Come again, world that is and ever shall be!" The sky rocked with a flash of light and clap of thunder as electricity erupted downwards into her hands, and for a moment the heroes were blinded -

 

-

 

And then they were standing in a suburban park in England, watching confused residents blink and look around as if awaking from a dream. Fast-Forward scratched his head and cautiously put away his magic book. Nobody around them seemed to be panicking despite the splinched city having been restored to normal (as if by magic!), so he focused on the other heroes. "All right...I think we finally flushed that guy down. Man, I hate magic people," he confessed. "It's just grody. Are you kids all right? Do you need a ride back home?"  

[Electra]

"Yes, as soon as possible." Only a little of the tension had left Wander's face as the world melted back to normal. "I need to get back to North Bay and check on Midnight. We left him fighting most of the League, all by himself." Erin wanted to think that even in a severely altered reality, the Freedom League would not use lethal force, but she knew better than to count on that. And even using non-lethal force, they could've hurt him badly in the few minutes it had taken to cross the ocean and fight the evil wizard. 

 

She hefted Medea in one hand. "And we can haul her to Blackstone as we go. I'm sure she's got some warrant outstanding." 

[Raveled]

Jay's head swirled for a moment as the world shifted around them and revealed the modern park that had been hidden by Merlin's magics. She cautiously stowed her bow and arrows, figuring that it wasn't a very good idea to threaten the no-doubt-as-clueless-as-Freedom-City's-had-been civilians. "Do need to get home, yes," she said. "Hope my note went away, or my friends will be... confused." She looked around, trying to spot the man behind the whole thing. "What happened to Merlin?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Zipping around quickly, Fast-Forward cast that so-handy starry transport spell. Within seconds, they were back in Freedom City - conveyed to a grassy spot right in front of Freedom Hall's space by what had looked like a fast-falling meteor of white and blue to everyone around them. Sure enough, Freedom City was just as they'd hoped to find it - looking none the worse for wear and with hardly a sign of medieval times. Richard breathed a sigh of relief, waving automatically to the growing crowd. "Hey, folks! Catch us next week!" He turned to the young women and said, "Listen, Wander, Jaybird, it's been fun, but I'm going back to my wife, now that she's not a circus freak, and you guys should go find your families too. Sometimes supering just doesn't make a lot of sense. No use rewinding to try and catch the parts you missed." And with that, he turned and zipped off towards his family home, reaching his front door in an instant. Throwing it open wide, he zipped over to where his wife was watching the news and swept her up into a long, passionate kiss. 

 

"Baby, it's good to be home!"