zg_shadows | Some Mage tat...

One day, I'll be happy with something I've written before I post it up. I figure this'll do, I'm just not happy with some of it. I wonder if anyone will get the references in it?

The NASA website claimed the satellite had been brought down by "a government agency", without being specific about which agency, or which government. Bouncing through some other websites and forums, Matt skim-read a dozen different theories about what had really happened.

"Doesn't matter" he muttered to himself as he sat back in front of the screen. Someone had done something to crash the shuttle, then someone had pulverised the satellite so it would just burn up. The Americans could have done it, he supposed, with an ASAT launch from high altitude, but it was much more likely that it had been someone else...

What had mattered was that he'd not been able to do anything about it himself. Here he was, a powerful Mage, and there had been nothing he could do until it would be too late. If everywhere Corresponded to everywhere else, if everywhere was actually the same place, then why couldn't he just have made the satellite be somewhere else?

Frustrated, Matt slumped down in the chair. Then again, it was only a question of perspective, of size. Then he chuckled.

"Judge me not by my size" he muttered, with a grin, and reached for something to read from the stack beside him. Flicking the well-thumbed comic book open to a random page, he saw the Justice League and the Titans stopping falling starships crashing into the Earth. The irony did not escape him.

Losing himself in the familiar storylines, he took in, again, the colourful artwork. The bright colours and bold lines that characterised a small part of everything he'd come to love about the 'funny pages' made him think of the woman in the next room, and what she'd lost a couple of years ago.

Another quote came to him. A conversation in a tower on the Moon - "Without my eyes... I not only wouldn't be Green Lantern anymore, I don't think I'd even make a very good Kyle."

Briony had lost so much - light, colour, art. Movies were ruined for her. Descriptions could never match up to what she couldn't see. She'd gained a lot, but could it ever make up for losing her sight? And yet, she'd refused to be beaten by it.

Until now. That hadn't been like her. It wasn't like her to shrink away. A few months here, and the chaos that seemed to follow these London Mages around had done something to her. Had scared her.

They weren't that impressive, really, he thought. A couple of harried-looking Hermetics. Someone who freaked out at the sight of sunlight. Access and Leslie, who seemed like they were going to be trouble, one way or another. A girl with wings. Some religious nutjobs. Someone who dragged down an enormous Paradox Storm. And a loud Euthanatos, who'd apparently started a war.

Matt was pretty much sure this wouldn't end well.