Chapter 28 : Politics talk and life resume

[Author note : Look for Cathbel on the Patréon website (replace é by e) to read 10+ chapters of my stories.

KoSP : 8 chapters

Iron Lad squib : 7 chapters

Enjoy]

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Bill Clinton was in the Oval Office going through paperwork with his secretary when he suddenly received an unscheduled visit. As he was about to get riled up, the words stopped short in his throat when he saw who the people were… One was the director of the CIA while the other… It was the other that made him stop and ask his secretary to leave them be.

They all sat around a small, but beautiful coffee table, in comfortable couches. President Clinton looked at the spook with a raised eyebrow, asking a silent question. The man seemed to understand :

« Our… correspondent from the other side of society have just confirmed something my people had presumed for a while now about the Silver Lad, AKA Ned Stark… »

The president instantly understood :

« He's one of theirs ? » It made some sense, he guessed. It was impossible for someone so young to create something as elaborate as Steel's armor, after all… But if magic was involved, then it explained a lot.

« Yes and no… He's from a magical family, indeed, but he's what they call a squib. Meaning someone who doesn't have magic of his own. »

The other person, a wizard as they called themselves, that he'd never seen before but probably belonged to their government, nodded his head.

« It is true. Edgar Stark comes from a pureblood family. Usually, squibs either find clerical work in the ministry, our bank or they leave our world to come work in yours. However, this young man, that many in our government consider a criminal, took a different approach. He studied in your schools and managed to graduate top of his classes, all the while continuing to study magical subjects on his own… »

« So… » The president started to say : « …Is the armor magical or not ? And if it's not, why are we even having this meeting ? »

As the wizard kept silent and averted his gaze, the intelligence director spoke up :

« It's magic, alright. Apparently, the kid's been able to achieve what generations of wizards wasn't able to… He found out how magic worked ! We don't know how he's doing it but apparently, his armor channels the magic for him… »

Now, the president was excited. This could be a game-changer for the American people !

« This mean that… Even people without magic, like you or me, would be able to use it ? »

« Sir, you can not be serious ? » The wizard spoke up. « This isn't the reason why I've come here ! My government is asking for your cooperation in apprehending Ned Stark ! He is a threat to the Statute of Secrecy ! »

« How so ? » Bill Clinton asked. « I had no idea he was from your world. And unlike most people in the country, I have access to stacks of informations of every metahumans, aliens and vigilantes that pop on the radar of our agencies, including Silver Lad. Moreover, both Ned Stark and his armor wearing persona have appeared on the television a number of times and never has he made any mention or even hint at magic or your society… » A short silence before he directed a sharp glare at the Wizard representative. « I'm guessing what your government truly wants is to control this impressive young man and his technology… To deny us access to something incredible like magic. Am I right ? »

On the side, the intelligence director nodded his head with a slight smile. He confirmed :

« That's also the conclusion I came to. However, Ned Stark is pretty smart… He knows that if he gives us the technology, he'll put himself and his family in danger from the Magical World, hence why he was so adamant that his 'technology' wasn't for sale. However, our sources say that it's not the only impressive thing the young man has created… »

« Oh ? What do you mean ? »

« We think it's based on the same principles behind the armors, or maybe it's the other way around but… He's created and has begun selling cellphones. Only, unlike what we are currently able to make, his are much more advanced. In fact, it would be more accurate to refer to them as portable micro-computers. Touch screens with call and texting functions, but also a number of other programs called applications or 'apps' for short. Ned Stark makes an impressive amount of money not only on selling these phones but also selling a number of other apps with various functions. One of them is the possibility for non magical to use magic… Unfortunately, our sources haven't been able to supply us with these phones. They keep disappearing as soon as our agents get their hands on it. »

The wizard sighed and muttered :

« At least, he hasn't lied about this… » His superiors in the Ministry hadn't been sure until now, about Ned's assurances that the M-phones wouldn't end up in the No-majs' hands. However, the CIA director had just confirmed it… Unless he was lying of course, since it was more than possible for this spymaster.

The conversations and political intrigues surrounding the young squib were only beginning…

* * * * *

It had been a few months now since Ned had outed himself as Silver Lad and things had… settled down somewhat. His parents home was still in the In-Between but not because of MACUSA this time… The Death Eaters and their growing sympathizers had started to attack Silver Lad, AKA Ned Stark a few times already. And knowing the douchebags and their nut-job master, they wouldn't hesitate in taking his family hostage to deliver him to Voldemort.

They might consider themselves superior to… Well, almost anyone, and especially people with no magic, like him, but that didn't prevent them to act like despicable and dishonorable terrorists. It was almost funny, in a dark sort of way. Ned always thought that, if you were 'superior', you should behave as such. Kind of like elves in literature, or Charles Xavier ideals for Homo Superior. The Supremacists were just bigoted morons with a narrow-minded view and brainwashed to believe bullshits.

Of course, even though their family home was hidden from pretty much anyone, except maybe people on Circe's level of magic, they couldn't exactly live holed up there for who knows how long. Not without anything to do, anyway…

So, he hired them to work with him in his workshop. Only his father really had a knack for working with his hands. He was similar to Arthur Weasley in a way, but without the obsession for all things no-majs. Sure, he was interested and kept up-to-date, but only because he had to because of his job in the Ministry. He belonged to an offshoot branch of the Statute Protection and Crisis Management Office that compiled reports on how No-Maj society and technology was evolving and could threaten the Statute. Problem was not many people read those reports…

It didn't mean that his work was useless, especially in Ned's eyes. The squib had always suspected that the Statute wasn't something truly viable in today's society, and reading his father's work just confirmed it. So, now that his job was kind of compromised, he figured he'd poach a brilliant man from an institution that didn't deserve him. And it seemed to please his father : he found a new passion for tinkering and combining magic with technology. In fact, he was working on his own personal, secret project. Hint : it was an equipment.

He wasn't sure yet, what it was as it didn't look like his armors, but he was pretty his dad had been inspired by them… According to the man, it would help him protect his family if ever the need arose.

As for his sister and mother, they too had their own jobs. Sue had spoken about her epiphany to her brother : her idea of working in Wizarding fashion. And perhaps, even incorporating Ned's technique into them if he agreed. And since she was interested in this, Ned was more than happy to help her, especially since he had an idea for her to succeed : enchanted clothes aimed mostly to the squib population.

Sue and his mom worked in tandem on this, since Ned wanted for the clothes to be tailored exclusively for one person, and this meant keying it to said person magical or blood signature. His mom had some knowledge about it and most importantly, she had contacts that could provide her with books on those subjects. Those same contacts had basically filled up Ned's personal library, after all…

But this was just one of the projects the two women worked on, for the clients able to afford more high-end products. For the the less wealthy, they were working on something pretty rare in their society : prêt-à-porter. Clothes you just had to buy on a shelf or hanger and directly put on, without adjustments or measurements required. Although they would be enchanted too, they'd be pretty basic ones, such as protection, cleaning and ironing charms.

Enchanted clothing and tools were nothing new in the Wizarding world, of course. However, the enchantment was either always active, or conditionally when someone came in contact with it. Since Ned and his family wanted to give people without magic like him, the feeling of wielding it, even if indirectly, those sorts of enchantments wouldn't be good enough. They needed to be controlled by the wearer. And for that, an external magic source was required as well as a network of goblin silver thread woven into the fabric. Needless to say, it was a lot of work ! Especially since, unlike regular enchantments, Ned's didn't dissipate over time. But his magic batteries, on the other hand, needed time to recharge. The most trouble he had was actually to incorporate those batteries and make them small enough as to not be cumbersome.

On a completely different note and a more personal one for Ned, his apprenticeship with the God of smithing wasn't progressing as much as he would have liked. Eighth metal was… well, a divine alloy. From what he remembered, it was just below Nth Metal which was something Thanagarian used in their weapons. And Nth Metal was unbelievable. It had so much applications and possible abilities, Ned really wanted to find some and learn to work with it. It was actually something he was hoping to get in the future somehow… But now he seemed to be stuck on this lesser metal and it was frustrating him.

According to the God, it was normal. In fact, it would have been actually surprising for the mortal to succeed so quickly since Eighth Metal hadn't been used or forged all that much in the past. Wonder Woman's bracelets were made of it, along with the Sunblade of Apollo and that was pretty much all the mentions of it he could recall from the comics… Hephaestus didn't talk about his past work for some reason.

Still, the young squib didn't give up ! Learning to forge and generally work with this metal was just the next step to improve himself, his armors, his machines and his equipment. He believed that, if he wanted his Matrix Uploader and Cortical stacks projects to succeed, he needed to be able to do this. The Metal had properties allowing it to boost mental and psychic abilities. Ned was hoping it to be compatible with soul magic.

More importantly, however, he wanted to improve his mana reactor with it, as well as hopefully use it for his own magic.