Chapter 11: Wizard with a Mutation : Chapter 11
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MACUSA Consulate, US Consulate, London, Magical Britain [1980]
–Scott Winters–
"Do you have any fucking idea how big of a mess you have made? He made the deliberate motion of cleaning his ears as they stood in a conference room of some sort, with specialised screens set up for long distance branch to branch communication, with Rothschild on the screen, red faced. Well, it was not colour but he could imagine what state the Director's face would be, especially in the face of this event.
"And you!" Seeing that Scott was not even looking at him, Rothschild turned to John who immediately winced. After all, Scott's job, while secure, was still within the authority of Rothschild while he himself was expressly under the President's rule, with only partial authority given to Rothschild because he was partial to New York and wished to live there, no matter where his job took him.
"How could you let this happen? I told you that you were there to iron out any issues between the ministries, and the second he gets his British registration, this happens in the same alley. How could you be irresponsible? What were you even doing when Mr.Hotshot over here was popping off Wizards' heads using his special ability like there were hundreds of him in the world so identifying him with a specialised illusion charm would just be too damned difficult." The room shook from the voice of the speakers as Rothschild roared for all his old voice box could do.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the Director to him, "Can I just say that his presence or absence wouldn't have meant a thing since the wizards were a threat and I would have either hidden John away before going back, because there's no way I would leave women under the Cruciatus curse, or I would have killed the people with much more ferocity, possibly leaving behind clues about my identity."
Rothschild sighed. Damn, these systems were way too accurate to be installed everywhere. Standard issue must be like the Floo system but apparently, that system could be compromised so MACUSA had ordered for something like this to be built, an isolated connection from the rest of the world. He would have to look into it in his downtime, if he got lucky enough to have some free time going forward, it was quite interesting.
"You fool, you have now exposed yourself and your powers to Dumbledore. That man is the single most dangerous man in the ICC and that is not because of his powers but because of his mind. When worked properly, his mind can bring about miracles and that is exactly what we are afraid of because he would need a miracle to defeat or contain you, something that the President has expressly forbidden, as I am sure you know."
He understood it, he really did and yet, he couldn't stop himself. There was no way he could let something like this continue to happen, especially this close to his last left family in the world. For some reason, despite their continued indifference towards him, he couldn't just leave that behind. It was as if something was hard coded in his mind, forcing his mind back to the same topic every other month. It was quite tortuous, forcing him to do something that he had never done before, letting down the barriers in his mind to a skilled mind healer and letting them inspect if some sort of compulsion was laid on his mind before he figured out how to manifest his powers in his mind as well, creating an impenetrable barrier.
The result was as he had expected. Nothing, nada, zilch. There was no sign of any compulsion or anything in his mind or if there was, it was part of his personality, so tight wound with who he was that it would be all but impossible to separate it.
Either way, the only answer to that problem was to come back and figure out what was wrong. He could somewhat keep the burning curiosity at bay when he was in the States but now that he was here? He couldn't even imagine returning for some reason.
He had to figure out why and he finally understood what Charles was telling him regarding becoming an actual Archmage instead of the pseudo one he was now. So, he looked up at Rothschild, who had gone silent because of the red wisps of magic that had unconsciously begun leaking out of his body as his emotions were excited.
"Director, with all due respect, it is my decision and it will remain my decision. I will of course be a part of MACUSA and anytime the President needs me, I will be there instantly, she knows that and you know that as well. But, I need to be here, for my family. I will personally write a letter to the President explaining the situation but for now, just get John out of here, it is not safe here." He informed the Director resolutely as the red wisps dissipated around him.
"And if I force you to return? There are exactly 32 Combat wizards of all specialties surrounding the conference room. I just have to give the order and they would all try their best to subdue you. What would you do then?"
He grinned at the Director, "Well, I think you answered your own question there, Director. They will try to subdue me and they will fail, just like the Native American community that devised that blood ritual, as you no doubt read from the reports you have access to."
Rothschild slumped on the screen, "Very well. Agent Smith, travel arrangements will be made soon, remain in the Embassy until then. As for you, I will be expecting a letter from the President giving you express permission to pull the stunts you are no doubt going to pull, and also to authorise me into letting you remain a full time employee despite not showing your face for who knows how long."
He gave the man a thumbs up, "You got it. See ya!" saying so, he left the building, and flinched minutely as the Director stopped John from leaving with him, no doubt for another tongue lashing.
He sighed in relief as at least that was done. All that was left was to write a letter to the President who would understand after he would hint in the letter about him needing to be in Britain to become a full fledged ArchMage, something that MACUSA had been salivating over for years, decades at this point. They had all the people, all the resources, and all the soft power in the world, and yet not a leading entity with an overwhelming power that could wield all of the resources and help MACUSA flex its might.
Charles was all but retired, sending in his son for all the ICC meetings as his representative and only ever appearing in the school that he founded after WWII, and even then, the world could see that Charles was in no position to fight a protracted battle with any other ArchMage, without dying in the process.
MACUSA also could not afford a rogue Archmage that didn't wish to be constrained by the chains of authorities. That was why he was expressly ordered to put down the person who had become mad with power after his community had devised a blood ritual to empower a single person using the sacrifices of hundreds of young and old wizards.
Obviously, that ritual resulted in a botched person but that wizard still had ArchMage level powers and had to be put down because the President was terrified that MACUSA would have to bow down to a bloodthirsty Archmage.
Apparently, she has had plenty of experiences with mad Archmage and wanted to avoid a repeat at all costs.
"Thank you," he nodded at the guard who opened the door for him and looked at the cloudy, dour, and downright depressing weather of London, compared to sunny New York, and sighed.
"Yup, for the foreseeable future, this is home."
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