[FRAG] House of Liars



Explicit Violence

Who are you, to think you get to dictate anything about anyone else?


Contains major violence and detailed gore. Please be wary when reading.


Sequel to Keep a Secret and Grieve in Blood.

Theme Lighter Light Dark Darker Reset
Text Serif Sans Serif Reset
Text Size Reset

Back in the Ring


Magnotris stepped into the Sanctum, feeling the telepathy peter out briefly. He held two fingers to his temple, pausing as the doors swung shut behind him. The light filtering down from the Sanctum's moon was bright enough that it almost didn't feel like nighttime.


'And you are sure you can trust Cynosure's information?' Jubilee asked, voice ringing softly in Magnotris' head.


He smiled to himself as he set off walking. 'Yeah, I'm positive. He's got no reason to lie to me, and I think I scared him into line pretty damn effectively.'


'Where is he staying, exactly?'


'The house Morning Star made back when he first got Blessed,' Magnotris replied, kicking a small rock off the floating island. 'I figured that'd be fine. It's still technically ours, right?'


'I'll... alert Profiterole that he has another guest. Thank you for keeping me updated, Magnotris.'


He gave a nod, then blushed slightly. Jubilee couldn't see him, dumbass. 'Right, no prob. Do you know when Morning Star's going to be back?'


'He should be back later tomorrow, I think. He let me know he's planning on staying for a little bit longer.' Jubilee paused, 'If he doesn't come back by then, I'd like to ask you to check up on him.'


'Will do. Thanks, Jubilee.'


'Oh, Magnotris?'


He squinted, glancing towards the Overseers' cathedral. 'Yeah?'


'Thank you again for inviting me out. I don't often get a chance to leave the COR, and I really did appreciate that, even if I was busy.' he could hear the smile in Jubilee's tone. That was kinda cute.


Magnotris let out a small sigh of relief. 'Yeah, it's no biggie. We could hang out again some other time if you wanted.'


'That would be pleasant. Likely not anytime soon, I have to catch up on some work - but thank you for offering. I appreciate it more than you know.'


Magnotris licked his lips, about to reply, but the connection fizzled out before he could construct a sentence. He was left blinking, on an island nearby Morning Star's house, mouth slightly open. Well, that was kind of rude. Who just hung up on telepathy like that?


Eh, maybe Jubilee was busy. The guy always seemed to have way too much to do. It didn't feel like it was worth getting angry over, really. He still couldn't quite shake Crvendach's scared, wide-eyed expression from the back of his head. It'd felt plastered over his eyes all night, replaying over and over. He hadn't had any dreams (thank the stars), but insomnia had clung to him like fleas.


At least he didn't actually need to sleep. How the hell did mortals manage to crawl into their workplace every day, having to take breaks for naps and food and going to the bathroom? Their lives seemed so stressful, even now, even so separate. Maybe they didn't know how deep the suffering of the world went, but their individual mountains felt so much insurmountably higher to climb.


Magnotris shook his head, pacing up to the door and knocking on the worn wood. A strange feeling had settled in his chest at the knowledge that his toxic ex was sleeping in a replica of his house, but... it wasn't like Cy had lived in this house with him. He'd built it briefly before meeting Morning Star. And it wasn't like he had anywhere else to put the guy up!


"Coming," came the gruff response. Something creaked inside, then the floorboards sang as Cy paced over to the door and cracked it open. Upon realizing it was Magnotris in front of the entrance, he narrowed his eyes. "Oh, you."


"Got any news for me, yet?" Magnotris asked, sticking his hands in his jacket pockets.


Cy leaned forwards, peeking around Magnotris. He had yet to open the door wide enough for the other to see inside.


"What? Scared?" he bit back.


Cynosure hissed, stepping back to allow Magnotris in. "No, just seeing if you brought anyone with you."


"Why? Not gonna tell me if I've got Morning Star with me?" he challenged, but entered, glancing around.


The place was still cleanly kept - better than the cave Cy had been living in prior. There were a few stacks of magazines and CDs still scattered around. Had Cy always had a fondness for those? Magnotris could barely remember the others' hobbies and interests. Ugh, they'd been so bad for each other. 


"Whatever," Cy grumbled, closing the door and pacing into the living room. He flopped on the couch, sprawling out over the fabric. 


Magnotris perched on a chair nearby, leaning back. He usually sat here, with Morning Star in his lap, and they'd watch television or read books quietly. It felt like they'd had no downtime recently, like everything was just running and running. He couldn't wait to take a break. Morning Star probably didn't want to stay home much longer, right?


"You enjoying it here?" Magnotris asked, conversationally.


Cy grunted.


"Wow, don't sound more excited or anything that I got you a place to stay."


He hissed under his breath, tapping his knees. "Don't pat yourself on the back too hard, Magnotris. I'm not exactly celebrating having to feed you shit because you wrapped me up in the Sanctum, three seconds from the fuckin' Overseer's house."


"Eh, you should. It was pretty clever."


"Did you get my text?" Cy cut in, huffing.


Magnotris flashed his cellie and nodded. "Why else would I be here?"


"Right. Illegal fighting match tonight. Figure you COR lackeys are interested in it," Cy barked, shoulders held a little more firmly. He ran a hand through his hair. "Real big one. You remember Antsy?"


Magnotris breathed in slowly. Antsy... was one of the fighters he and Cy had always bet on, together, when they were a couple. He was notorious for bringing in heavy weaponry into the fights - guns, ballistics, missiles, anything that exploded and fired fast. He'd always been a riot, and made any match exciting. They'd always attended Antsy's matches.


He wasn't really sure about this, actually, if he was completely honest with himself. Going with Cy, back to the illegal fighting ring, so soon after he'd lost himself and attacked the other? It felt like a recipe for disaster, like he was asking to return to being an abusive, sadistic monster. Maybe being a monster was just a part of his identity forever, and he'd have to keep it tied up on a leash, treat himself like some sort of animal.


He closed his eyes, and let Morning Star's smile fill his mind. No. No, he wasn't a monster, and this wasn't going to make him into one.


"Yes, I remember Antsy," he replied, opening his eyes again.


Cy was still fumbling with his hair. "Riiight. You don't keep up with that shit anymore, right?"


"Yeah, no. I don't know jack shit about the current fighters or owners."


Cy pressed his hands together in front of his face, then gestured down with them, "Okay, so, Antsy's still independent. Tonight he's going up against this up-and-comin' fighter, owned by Myosatellite. Touted as the match of the century and shit, everyone's betting a ton of magic on either-or."


Magnotris raised an eyebrow. "Pardon my skepticism, but why should I care?"


"People are talkin' about the newcomer. Said they wanna ban him, he's too strong. Name's Quantum, people said he was sold into it or something. Nobody knew who he was before Myo showed up with the guy." Cy gestured, "Ain't that worth investigating? Some super strong Frag appears out of nowhere, is only found in the pit?"


Magnotris sighed, rubbing his chin. "I suppose so. It's fine to start, at least. When's the match?"


"Stars, fuck if I know in here," Cy grumbled. "Time ain't natural in this hellhole. Can't fucking teleport out, either."


"It'd defeat the purpose to teleport out, you know."


"Yeah well this place sucks!" Cy snapped, throwing up his hands.


Magnotris leaned back in the chair. "So you'd rather live in the fucking Junkyard?"


Silence. He let his eyes flick to the other, who had paused mid-motion. In a mixture of sheepish anger, Cy slowly lowered his hands, folding them in his lap. Neither spoke, Magnotris merely quirking an eyebrow further. Cy's stare turned to the floor instead.


"It's a nice house," he said, awkwardly.


Magnotris leaned his head back. "I didn't make it, Morning Star did."


"Where is he, anyways?"


It was an innocuous question, but Magnotris' shoulders still tensed up. What did Cy need to know that for? Was he going to go after Morning Star, try to attack again, or mind control? The coin incident was still fresh in his mind. 


Fuck, but how long ago had that actually been? He scrubbed at his head. Time was wonky outside of the set Timelines, sure, but he should still be able to put a solid marker on how much had passed since events. Why was everything so fuzzy and unclear? Why did his head feel like it was full of bees?


Because you're angry, dumbass.


Magnotris paused, then sheepishly lowered his arms. Yeah. Because he was angry. Reel that anger back in. "He's on his own Overseer mission." there. That was a plausible lie.


"What's the mission about?" Cy asked.


Oh, fuck off. "None of your business."


Cy frowned, but ducked his head, sufficiently cowed. Magnotris stared him down. This was something both familiar and alien at the same time; some strange reminder of what they'd once cultivated, replaced by Morning Star, replaced by the new friends he'd made, the new life he'd carved out. Here he sat, an Overseer, hands in everyone's pockets, connections to the powerful heads of the COR (and maybe some Mag Frags). There Cy was, literally living in a trash heap before Magnotris swooped in to blackmail him for a place to sleep.


The power imbalance still tasted the same, still felt familiar. Magnotris had always lorded magical and physical prowess over Cy, but the latter had specialized in clever, sly jabs and insults. But those seemed sorely lacking - he felt much more emotional, more raw. How much had his time alone worn him down, all the way to the bone, where he didn't have his biting tongue any longer? Cynosure still fought, but it was more desperate, backed into a corner, scrambling to find any leverage. 


It was so off, so close to what they'd once had, and yet still wholly its own thing. Had he expected them to stay the same, for both of them to fall into the same vices they'd once shared? Had he really harbored such a low opinion of himself and his growth? Magnotris' mouth tightened. Apparently, he had. He was being far too harsh on himself. He deserved breathing room, too.


Haha. He sounded like Morning Star.


There was still pity inside of Magnotris, deep pity for the man before him. He was still attached to Cy, just slightly, despite everything. He couldn't find himself irritated at it, though.


"Well," he began, standing. Cy looked up. "Better head out, anyways. If the match isn't for a few hours we'll just kill time outside of headquarters. Got it?"


The other stood, still withdrawn. "Yeah, fine."


Magnotris paced to the door, opening it and stepping out of the way to allow Cy to exit. As it shut behind them, his mind snapped to his memories of the pit, the illegal fighting ring. He could only hope that it went well, that he came back with some important information - something to show the other Overseers. Even if he wasn't fully on-board with their behavior and methods, his own code of ethics wouldn't allow him to do a poor job at whatever he threw his weight behind.


No. He didn't have to hope that it went well. He'd make sure of it.


---------------------------------------


The crowd's dull chatter was filling Magnotris' head with a horrible sense of deja vu.


There were never enough patrons to turn the ring into a proper gladiator battle, with enough spectators to fill a proper arena. Still, the organizers had always tried to pretend it was more of a show than it was - built a fancy little stadium, with tiered seating, magical barriers to protect the audience, and actual kept scores. It was all too elaborate for his tastes.


Still, the throng of people lingering before the match's start was intimately familiar. They were bunched in the lowest tier, chatting amongst themselves about the fight, some sipping drinks, others fiddling with the gemstones inset into the floors that upheld the barriers. He kept his ears peeled for any interesting gossip, but he hadn't lingered enough in any one area to catch it.


Cynosure kept close, half-hidden behind Magnotris. Neither had bothered with disguises. They were regular enough faces, even with Magnotris' new position. Nobody seemed to really notice - or care? - that he was among them. Maybe news just hadn't quite travelled that far yet.


He picked his way over to a row of seats, settling himself on a bench. Cy flopped next to him, letting out an oof as his body nearly slammed down onto the plastic. 


"T minus five mins, probably," Cy informed him, magicking up some sort of oversized fountain drink.


Magnotris pointedly ignored the familiar behavior. "Alright."


Just keep breathing, in and out. Keep focused on what he was here to do: spectate the match, see if anything weird was going on with this Quantum figure, and then report back to Jubilee. This was not a date, or even a platonic hang-out with a friend. He was here strictly on work business.


"Magnotris!" came a sing-song voice. He rubbed his cheeks before turning. Myosatellite grinned at him, hands clasped in front of their dress, broad smile ear-to-ear. "It's been so long - so nice to see you again!"


"Hey, Myos," Cy said, mouth full of whatever soda he was drinking.


"Don't speak to me," Myos frosted, although the smile was still plastered on his face, his eyes never leaving Magnotris'. Cy deflated.


Oh, great. He'd stumbled into some starsdamned drama. Why, oh why, did every single group of people have to generate some sort of mess with one another? Why did he have to pretend to like and know all these dumbasses?


"Hello," he managed. 


Myos stepped daintily over the lower tier's step to perch next to the duo. "What brings you back to the ring, Magnotris? Betting on a fighter?"


"I haven't bet, no," he said, glancing back towards the court. "Not this round."


"Oh, you should!" Myos laughed behind a hand. "My fighter's the one likely to win, according to the ratios. He's only lost a single battle!"


Hmm. Maybe this was a good excuse to gather intel. "I've heard a bit about them. Got my interest piqued."


"Yes, their name's Quantum. Such a darling, very obedient - to me, of course. You should see him on the field, he gives lovely fights. I can't wait for you to see the way he can warp Magninium."


Magnotris licked his lips. "So I've heard. What was the battle he lost?"


"Oh, it was a fluke," Myos waved off. "Against Quav's pet, you know. Vilvoorde. But that creature isn't quite Frag. I insisted it didn't count to the organizers, but they recorded it as a loss for me. Alas."


"That sucks."


"It does! But - against Antsy? I'll be just fine." Myos leaned his chin on his hands, elbows on knees.


Magnotris' eyes flicked to watch the other out of his peripherals. "Where'd you find them?"


"Trader's secret!" Myos exclaimed, tapping their lips with a finger to mimic shushing. 


He narrowed his eyes at the court. It was some repurposed area they'd stolen from a band of mortals, with dozens of scuffed markings covering the shiny boards. None of them made any sense to him, of course. They didn't use them for anything in the duels. 


"Trader's secret? So you bought him?" Magnotris pressed.


Myos smiled knowingly. "Not quite."


He tapped his chin. If he wanted to extract this information, he needed to be careful. Careful, or go completely off-the-wall. He didn't know Myos quite well enough to make a completely informed decision, but he could guess. There'd only be a minute or so before they started pulling out the fighters. 


"So you found him," he said, after another few seconds.


Myos chuckled behind a hand again. "Ah, observant as always. Although I suppose there aren't many more options to guess? I did find him, yes."


"Where?"


"Oh, in a little crumpled heap in a forgotten Timeline. Took him under my wing, so to speak. Trained him myself. And now I'm earning a pretty chunk of magic, running him here."


Magnotris watched as several other Frags paced onto the stadium, one with a microphone. "And he's just okay with it?"


"Of course! Why wouldn't he be?"


Magnotris opened his mouth to reply, but the announcer lifted their mic and he clamped his jaw shut once more. The time to talk had long since passed. Time to watch this fight unfold.


"Good evening, Frags of all sorts," they called, spinning and making their cape twirl around themselves, "you well and know the drill by now! Welcome to the Magic Riot League, and I'm your host, Amery! Today's contestants include our ever-beloved Antsy, three-time champ, infinite scamp, so please give him a round of applause!"


The audience obeyed, clapping their hands as the rightmost barrier temporarily fell. In strode Antsy, head held high, a crooked smile over his face. Magnotris narrowed his eyes. He'd seen enough grins to know when one had a tinge of nervousness in it. Haha. He was literally antsy. 


The fighter stood on one end of the court, adjusting his elbow-length gloves as the barrier closed behind them. He nodded to the announcer and the other organizers. Amery gave a flourished bow back.


"His challenger is the illustrious Myosatellite, one of our oldest patrons, purveyor of fine taste!" Amery called, gesturing to where Myos sat in the stands. Polite clapping followed, of which Magnotris didn't participate. "On his behalf fights the Magninium of steel, Quantum!" 


Magnotris clapped this time, watching the left barrier drop to allow another Frag in. Certainly, Quantum looked unfamiliar, with a set of colors, horns, and freckles that didn't ring any bells. He didn't even remember anyone describing something like the latter. He'd certainly remember a Frag with five-colored horns.


Quantum wasn't smiling, either. He simply strode into the court, hands clenched into fists, jaw set. His eyes flicked around the audience - clearly aware, probably not mind controlled - and gave a curt nod when he found Myos in the stands. After that, he simply stared at Antsy, tense and waiting.


"Aaaalllllllright, fighters," Amery continued, squatting, "you know the rules! No murder, no permanent maiming, fight goes 'til someone forfeits or is unconscious as decided by the judges. Healing's handed out after the fight's called. Judges get final say in winner and loser. Got it?"


"Always," Antsy said, flipping his hair. 


Quantum stiffly held out a hand. Antsy seemed slightly taken aback, but accepted the offered gesture, and shook firmly. Magnotris leaned forwards, cupping his chin in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees as he soaked in every motion the two fighters made. 


They paced to their corners of the ring, Antsy on the right, Quantum on the left. Amery and his crew teleported to a safe location across the stadium, overlooking the court, and sat at a little table they'd set up. 


There was a tingling rush down Magnotris' spine. As much as he hated to admit it, the tension and adrenaline in the air was exciting him. This may have been in his past, but it was still a part of him, a part of his history, inexplicably. Whether he liked it or not, he'd once loved coming here, watching the fights. But he'd moved on, hadn't he? Found interest in better things, better places, better people.


"Round one," Amery called. "Begin!"


Magnotris leaned back, inhaling sharply as Antsy darted forwards. 


He summoned in a weapon, immediately. No fucking around. Some sort of gun fell into his hands, a model Magnotris didn't recognize. In a smooth motion, he aimed towards Quantum, the gun whirring as it powered up.


Quantum jumped off from the ground, hand lighting with magic. Antsy threw up a shield, a veritable wall of magic in Quantum's face. 


"Oh, the fool," Myos said, amusedly, under his breath.


In a fluid motion, Quantum raked his hands down, the shield shattering at the sudden influx of magic. Still, the precious few seconds it'd bought were all Antsy needed: the gun fired, a white-hot laser of Magninium slicing through the air and through Quantum's chest. The latter landed on their feet, wincing.


Blood splattered against the court as Quantum stumbled back, a hand raising to the new hole through his ribcage. Antsy had taken off, darting around the perimeter of the arena as his gun charged the next shot. Magnotris let his eyes flick from either or, never lingering long enough to fully glean every detail, but enough to comprehend. 


The wound shuddered, then flesh and sinew pulled itself back together, stitching back together Quantum's body. Magnotris raised an eyebrow. Advanced healing factor?


Quantum paced to the right, keeping his gaze trained on Antsy, who was busy darting about. Every footfall of Quantum's seemed well-calculated and deliberate, slow, almost intimidating, like a predator circling prey. But his expression remained somewhere between annoyance and frustration. 


The gun fired again, but Quantum tossed up a shield this time. It tanked the hit well, absorbing the entire beam before the gun petered out and the shield was dropped. Antsy launched, magicking up a sword to try to drive it through the other's throat as he pounced.


The metal was warped into a tiny, small ball, and Quantum's telekinesis expanded to wrap around Antsy mid-air. With an irritated expression, he swung his arm down, bringing Antsy down hard into the floorboards, which cracked and kicked up a cloud of dust on impact. Magnotris appropriately winced.


"He's harsh," Cy said, sipping his drink.


"Of course," Myos replied, hand over chest, "I trained him." 


Antsy was struggling to his feet, fresh blood dripping from opened wounds. There was an entire floorboard in his upper arm, but he simply gritted his teeth and yanked it out.


"Stay down," Quantum hissed, voice low. His telekinesis pressed down hard on Antsy, curling around his neck and choking him as he was smothered into the floor.


Someone in the lower seats called, "Come on, that's boring as shit!"


Quantum glanced back, at the naysayer. His expression soured further, and he instead flicked Antsy into one of the barriers. The fighter crumpled against the ground, groaning softly as he curled his body in. 


Magnotris watched as Antsy summoned his gun back in. What was he thinking? That was just too slow. Quantum clearly showed superior react and magic time; he had to get smarter. Maybe it was hard to think through the pain. 


Sure enough, Quantum's foot came down hard on the gun, snapping it in half. He leaned down, curling magic-lit fingers around Antsy's wrist. The latter screamed as the bones were snapped and melted, dripping from between rips in the skin to the ground below.


"Come on, flashier!" the same heckler yelled, hands cupped around their mouth.


Quantum drew back his mouth in a snarl, swinging Antsy back and tossing him into the furthest barrier. With a snap of Quantum's fingers, more of the other's bones melted through his skin, and Antsy screamed once more, writhing to the best of his ability. His magic tried to heal the damage, but it seemed confused, darting from injury to injury.


"You teach him that?" Magnotris asked, elbowing Myos.


Myos sniffed. "No. He's creative."


Quantum stomped over to Antsy, placing a hand on the other's hand and pressing down hard enough that the resounding crack made the audience wince. Blood started to seep as Antsy struggling, flailing the best he could, screaming at the top of his lungs.


Magnotris covered his eyes.


This wasn't worth watching, anymore. This wasn't a fight. This was just torture. And it was making him feel disgusted, inside. There was nothing deserved, nothing justified about this. He couldn't derive any pleasure from this.


Maybe he wasn't as much of a monster as he thought.


He peeked between his fingers. Quantum hadn't let up, hand blazing with Magninium, expression unchanging as blood smeared on his fur and the floor. Nobody made a motion to stop this - not the judges, not Quantum, not Myosatellite. Of course they wouldn't interfere. This is what they enjoyed; stupid, flashy fights, with people coming to the brink of death, tortured.


To think he'd once enjoyed this - it made him sick. He'd changed so much, in so little time. Maybe only certain flavors of violence appealed to him? But whatever it wasn, his brain could barely focus.


Magnotris vaulted down the tiers.


"Hey!" Cy barked, behind him, "what the shit are you doin-"


He delivered a deft kick to one of the gemstones inset to the floor. It broke off from the panel, skittering against the tiles. The barrier flickered, catching Quantum's attention as he turned and slowly stood. Magnotris breathed deeply, snapping his fingers.


On a magical screen materialized Magnotris' identification. Including his designation as Overseer.


Instantly, he heard cries of protest from the audience as multiple people scrambled back, the judges standing up. He kicked another gemstone out of its place, the barrier finally collapsing.


"This fight is over," Magnotris barked, pointing at the judges, who faltered, "bring medics in for Antsy and end the match."


They shared a startled look.


"This is Overseer Magnotris, and that's an order," he barked, pointing at this identification card.


Medics scrambled to cross the fallen barrier as Cynosure stumbled to the ground floor next to him, leaning in close to hiss, "What the actual starsdamned fuck are you doing!?"


Magnotris brushed the other aside, pacing towards Quantum. He'd taken several steps away from Antsy, and was staring at the healing magic with a forlorn, exhausted expression. His eyes flicked to Magnotris as he powerwalked up.


"You interfered," Quantum stated.


Magnotris flashed his ID again. "Yeah, I can do that. You're under arrest."


The other's eyes widened. "What!?"


"Yeah, you're coming with me back to headquarters. You're unregistered, aren't you?"


"Uh - what? Registered?"


"Yeah, thought so." Magnotris grabbed Quantum's arm, then turned to gesture at Cy. His ex glanced around at the startled audience, clearly tense, before sighing and trotting over.


"Excuse me," Myos cut in, stepping off the last tier, "what do you think you're doing with my fighter?!"


"I'll arrest you too if I have to," Magnotris barked, taking Cy's wrist. "Sorry, fuck off."


And with that, he teleported, leaving behind a mess of havoc and panic.


As soon as the light faded from his eyes, he set off towards the COR building, crossing the tiny distance from where he'd teleported to on the grounds towards the door. Cy tried to wrench his arm free, but Magnotris kept a vice grip on the other.


"What the hell was that?" he nearly shouted, although thankfully nobody glanced over. Raised voices were common on HQ grounds. "You've just gotten BOTH of us banned for life from that ring!"


"Not important," Magnotris muttered.


"If you want information, choking me out of every single in I have left is a really poor idea, you know!"


He shook his head. "Yeah, I know. I just didn't want to watch that any more."


"Since when did you go soft? When you met Morning Star?"


The insults didn't even bite. Something was just so shaken inside of Magnotris, and he couldn't quite put it back together. It wasn't quite a headache, but it was close, like tension had become trapped in his skull and he couldn't rub it out. Maybe he'd been wrong to interfere, but honestly, it made him feel better to know that he'd protected Antsy, even a little. 


Quantum stumbled along, still, gripped by the wrist. He looked awestruck at headquarters, head turning every which way, eyes wide open. His head snapped towards the entrance after a second, tensing.


Magnotris came to a halt at the door. Farley, per usual, was working the entrance to the building, and glanced up tiredly from his book as the group approached.


"I need in," Magnotris spoke.


"Sure," Farley muttered, moving his book to mark something down on a tablet. "That's you, Cynosure, and-"


He looked up, at Quantum, and then froze. Magnotris raised an eyebrow, but Farley didn't move, just staring. He leaned forwards, waving a hand in front of Farley's face, but the latter didn't even blink.


"Now you broke the doorguy," Cy muttered, as Magnotris glanced at Quantum. The other was staring in similar shock, mouth slightly open. 


"I-" Farley's voice cracked, "what?"


"What?" Magnotris pressed. "I need to see Jubilee, Farley. Let us in please. The fuck are you staring at?"


"N-nothing," he squeaked, scribbling something hard on the tablet before slamming the door open button. "G-go right in. Please."


"Right, whatever," Magnotris mumbled, turning on his heel and dragging the duo into the building. The doors swung shut behind them just as he heard a burst of teleportation, and turned.


Farley smiled at him.


He furrowed his brow, "Aren't you supposed to be manning the doors?"


"I can take a break, Squish'll cover me," he said, a little too quickly. His eyes kept darting to Quantum.


"Uh... alright, I guess." Magnotris turned on his heel and stalked back into the building.


Farley was a pretty okay kid. He didn't know much about him, but the Overseers seemed to trust him, and he'd never done anything particularly shady or weird. Guy just kept to himself and didn't socialize much, and Magnotris could respect someone as reclusive and antisocial as himself. He'd never seen the guy so jittery, though. Farley had always carried an air of cool calmness about him.


They turned down a hallway.


"Where are you taking him?" Farley asked, a second later. 


Magnotris glanced back again. "Jubilee, why?"


"Just wondering," he replied, eyes meeting Quantum's again.


"Riiiiight," Magnotris mumbled, pausing to push Cy down another hallway. "There, the Sanctum's down that way. Shoo."


His ex shot him a dirty look, but stomped off, feet making soft little noises in the carpet with every step. Magnotris waited until Cynosure had turned the corner before heading off himself.


"Who's Jubilee?" Quantum asked, voice high-pitched. He hadn't sounded so scared in the fighting ring.


Magnotris came to a halt in front of a familiar office door, the window frosted. He knocked firmly. "A friend."


"Coming," came the call. Jubilee's footfalls stopped at the door, and he pulled it open, a warm smile appearing on his features. "Oh, Magnotris, you're ba... oh?"


He pushed Quantum forwards. "Rescued a kid from the fighting ring."


"Oh, that's..." Jubilee squinted at Quantum, and then let his eyes slowly slide to Farley. There was an awkward pause as the two blitzed some sort of telepathy. Jubilee's gaze flicked back to Quantum, and he hummed, cupping his chin in a hand. "I see. Well, thank you, Magnotris. I can take him in. I trust you didn't leave a mess for our operatives to clean up?"


"Yeah, no, it's fine," he said, waving a hand. "Is Morning Star back? He hasn't texted me."


"No idea, sorry. Unfortunately, I don't have trackers on everyone." Magnotris shot Jubilee a hard glare, and the other smiled and waved him off. "Come on, like you wouldn't want to keep tabs on people?"


He turned back down the hallway, throwing a hand over his shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, well I did my job for a bit. I'll figure something else out to do later. Lemme know if Morning Star shows up, alright?"


"Yes, of course," Jubilee mumbled, keeping his gaze on Quantum. "Thank you, Magnotris."


He didn't respond as he turned the corner, feeling some sort of weight slide off his shoulders.