Jack looked at the coiled hoses of wires created by his spell. He looked at the quinjet


    sitting in its new home. He thought about his needs and how he wanted to do things.


    Some of it definitely was going to be Stargate stuff out of his butt. He didn’t see any


    way around that.


    The first thing he needed to do was create a charging station for the airship. Once


    plugged in, he wanted it to be ready to lift faster than his watch if he could make that


    possible.


    The next step was creating some kind of cover so that people couldn’t find the thing


    and try to fly it out of its space. The last thing he wanted was joy riders crashing the


    thing somewhere he couldn’t get to so he could salvage the parts.


    Once he had both of those things in place, he needed a fast way for Josie and the kids


    to get to the thing without having to resort to Josie’s watch.


    And he needed lights and a beacon so the quinjet could be guided in and landed with


    a minimal risk.


    He solidified the walls and pushed the ground deeper so the landing pit was deeper


    underground. He checked the work, satisfied that if the door was open, no one would


    be able to see it unless they were in the air themselves, or close up.


    He used some of the spare material to create a lift and cradle for the jet to lift it off


    the floor. If they had to work on it, they needed to be able to walk under it.


    The next step was to create the charging ring and the lights inside the pit. That


    worked well since his persona could shape everything without any input from him


    beyond what he wanted. He nodded when he felt the mana gather and push into the


    batteries on the quinjet. He checked the flow and adjusted it where he could so the


    aircraft would recharge in a few minutes instead of hours.


    He didn’t want a door overhead, but the only other thing he could think to do was


    create a gate charged by the mana collectors. Then all he had to do was fly through


    the gate and head where he wanted to go.


    The problem with that was the fact he would have to set up another gate as an


    endpoint. Did he want to do that? Would it be easier to just stick with a door in the


    ground?


    He decided that if he needed a door, he would make it thick enough that the human


    types he had run into couldn’t get to the cradle for the aircraft. He made sure to put


    in markers so they could line up with the cradle when they dropped down into the


    hiding place. He formed a set of doors that he brought down on top of him and the


    work space. He made sure all of it was linked to the charger so he wouldn’t have to


    worry about using his powers.


    It also had to be ready to stand aside to let the jet get into the air and get out of there.


    So he didn’t need supplies from Guin at the moment, but he had a secret base if he


    had a house to one side of his launchpad. He decided that he shouldn’t build anything


    and let the Duke figure out what had happened. At some point, he might need to move


    the launchpad, but he could hold until he was sure about it.


    Now all he needed to do was build a bridge back to the Hole in the Wall. Time for


    some Stargate stuff out of his butt. He smiled to himself.


    He took some of his supplies and built a ring into a wall. He hooked up to the


    chargers. He nodded when the energy loaded up and he could sense a gate, but it


    wasn’t all there yet. He needed to set up an endpoint.


    And that endpoint had to be at the Hole in the Wall. He had no other place he wanted


    hooked up this flying machine capable of dropping fire on a city without anything


    being able to fly up to stop it. He had to fly home and set up the endpoint and a


    charger for it. He checked his watch and saw that it was loading faster in the control


    area of the charger, just like it had in Accordly’s stone ring.


    He waited until he had a full charge. He needed to carry some of the material home.


    He looked up at the roof. He needed to set up a lever to open and close the door. He


    should have thought of that.


    He used part of the material to set a door control next to the cradle. He added a


    remote to the quinjet so he could open and close the door from the air. He needed a


    lever on the outside of the door to open it from the grass. He pulled the lever and


    turned into Gravity and carried what he wanted to use out of the pit. He set up a lever


    with a fake rock to cover it. Someone would have to knock the rock out of the way


    and pull the lever to open the landing pad cover.


    The controls were simple enough on the jet, but hopefully none of the locals would


    be brave enough to steal the thing if they did find it.


    He had to take the rest home and finish the job. The jet could be a game changer for


    them to get across the continent. Just using teleportation was not going to get them


    to any emergency scenes fast no matter how many times they used it.


    He switched to Gravity and picked everything up. He flew back to the city and


    dropped down over the wall. He had to pause once when his watch ran out of power,


    but as soon as it recharged, he picked the metal slats up again and carried them the


    rest of the way home.


    He paused at what he found.


    A group of guys had been wrapped up and hung from the ceiling in the dining room.


    The apartment was trashed. Everywhere he looked was chaos. The girls were various


    forms of mad, and he knew he was about to see someone fried like an egg in a


    microwave.


    “How’s it going, girls,” he said. He put on his best cheerful face. “You didn’t tell me


    you were throwing a bachelorette party. It’s a bit early for that. Elaine and I haven’t


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.had our first date yet.”


    “These guys broke in and trashed the place,” said Josie. “We’re debating what to do


    with them.”


    “I guess boiling oil is my suggestion,” said Jack. “Feet first so they last longer.”


    “I’ll take that into consideration,” said Josie.


    “They wrecked the upstairs,” said Elaine, coming down the stairs. Jack thought she


    looked quietly furious. This was the face of a woman who could burn down her


    workplace without a second thought.


    “Let me guess,” said Josie. “You guys were looking for some stockpile of gold. I told


    you there was nothing here. Now my sisters and my associate are angry. I think


    lighting you up like giant candles is the way the go to send my answer back to your


    boss.”


    “The new Duke won’t care about that,” said Jack. “Do you mind if I slip by. You’re


    going to have to show him in person what you think of him, and I don’t think he has


    the self preservation instincts of a lemming.”


    “There isn’t a tax bill,” said Beatrice. “So they are trespassing, which means we can


    do what we want to them.”


    “Target practice,” said Alicia.


    “I still have to put in a range,” said Jack. “Hold on. I have to do this first before you


    guys do whatever to these guys.”


    “Calling the Guard won’t get us anything,” said Elaine. “They will want to lock us


    up for besting their friends.”


    Jack slid the metal around the hanging guards. He moved into the living room and


    made a face at the destroyed furniture.


    That couch might have a stack of gold bars in it. Slice that joker up.


    Josie was way too calm about this. She was probably thinking of doing something


    heinous in retaliation.


    “What are you doing?,” asked Laura.


    “I have a door in my secret jet hangar bay,” said Jack. “I feel like I need a door here


    in the living room so we can get to the secret jet hangar bay without having to ride


    horses, or depend on magic powers to do things. Neat, right?”


    “If it works,” said Laura.


    “The other end works good enough,” said Jack. He changed to Magik and waved the


    rubble of his room to move away from the wall. “I just need to set up a door here, and


    we have an instant tunnel.”


    “These guys,” said Laura. “What were they thinking? We saw and heard Josie warn


    them off. Why didn’t they listen? Now they are going to get murdered.”


    “Some people don’t believe that something bad is going to happen to them,” said


    Jack. He checked his numbers. He still had a few minutes to make things work. “They


    always have to be shown they made big mistakes, but it won’t change how they do


    things.”


    “There are better ways of doing things,” said Laura.


    “Not my problem,” said Jack. He waved a mana battery into effect and watched it


    charge. He started putting the gate in the wall. “I can only do what I can for you guys,


    and even then, one day, you’re going to want to move out and get your own husband


    and solve your own problems.”


    “Beatrice and I are old enough to do that now,” said Laura. “So is Melanie, but I


    wouldn’t trust her with a household.”


    “Do you want to move out?,” asked Jack.


    “Not yet,” said Laura. “I want to do things and go places, but I want to be able to


    come back when I want.”


    “That’s up to you,” said Jack. “We want you kids to grow up and be able to take care


    of yourselves. I guess we’re mother henning you because of our own upbringing.


    We’ve done some stupid things, and we want you to do better than us.”


    “I doubt we can do better than saving the city from certain destruction,” said Laura.


    “There’s always going to be one more problem, one more emergency, one more


    villain,” said Jack. He put in a control pad. He installed a pin number and punched


    that in to open the pad. Then he listened as the gate opened. He pulled Laura to one


    side as the energy collected on the surface of the wall. He marked a line on the floor.


    He engraved do not cross while door is open under the line. He put his hand into the


    energy and pulled it out. “The gate is working. I’m going to step through and test it.


    Then we can figure out what we’re going to do with our captives.”


    “What did you do?,” asked Laura.


    “I am going to step through, and then you step through,” said Jack. “If it works like


    it should, we’ll be in the hangar. We just come back the same way.”


    “I don’t believe this,” said Laura. “You could put these up everywhere. People would


    love it.”


    “No, I can’t,” said Jack. “I have a feeling that I am abusing my power to make things


    easier for me to make things easier to do the jobs for the Society. Spreading this out


    would cause too much of a problem for the world here, and I am the only one who can


    do this that we know of. We’ve already done too much. If we keep building things,


    in a few years, you wouldn’t be able to function because the world would be too


    different. Let’s take it a little slower.”


    “It would be a great way to make money,” said Laura.


    “We already have enough in the bank to last you the rest of your life,” said Jack.


    “And we can make more any time we want. Come up with some practical reasons to


    make gates and we’ll talk about it. Now we have to make sure this one works, so I’m


    going to go first. You count to three and follow me.”


    He stepped into the ring and vanished. The feeling was like being dumped in cold


    water while being stung by bees. He stepped out in the hangar and nodded. He


    stepped out of the way and waited. Laura came through a few seconds later.


    “That’s unpleasant,” said Laura. “Why do you think it feels like that?”


    “Have no idea,” said Jack. He smiled at her. “Now we see if we can go back so we


    have a two way gate instead of a one way gate.”


    “All right,” said Laura. “I’ll go first.”


    She stepped into the ring on the wall and vanished. Jack noted that the charger


    snapped on to keep the gate open. That was something to be aware of and to tell the


    girls about when he explained what he had done.


    Now they had an escape hatch if they needed it. And once here, he could close the


    gate by just taking the charger offline. Anyone trying to follow them would be sent


    back to the other gate, or caught in the space between gates until he opened another


    door.


    He marked out a line on the floor so the girls knew not to stand too close when the


    gate opened. Then he stepped through and into his living room.


    He made a small frown at the mess they still had to clean up. He turned off the gate


    and nodded to himself.


    “Maybe you are right about spreading all of this magic around,” said Laura.


    “I would love to change the world into something better,” said Jack. “But everything


    has consequences, and you can’t always predict what those will be. And even though


    our bosses are a little lax, they want us to take care of their business before we start


    charging people to use gates to travel from town to town. Dragons aren’t going to slay


    themselves.”


    “If we took over for you, we could spread this magic,” said Laura.


    “You would be in constant danger,” said Jack.


    Laura waved her hand at the destroyed living room.


    “And this is an example of unintended consequences,” said Jack. “If we had gone


    home when we should have, you would have had to stay with Jane and probably


    never seen your sisters again. The Duke would still be sending girls away, and people


    would be squeezed by corrupt officials. Staying has given you a family of sorts and


    the local corruption a heartburn. And there is no telling what the answer Josie is


    going to want to give for this.”


    “I am surprised she has let them live,” said Laura.


    “The night is still young,” said Jack. “Let’s move on to the next task we have to


    complete.”


    “The jet was great,” said Laura. “I never thought about being able to fly before you


    made that.”


    “Hopefully, I’ll be able to come up with something better when we need it,” said


    Jack. He took one more look at the mess that used to be his living room. He was


    going to want a pound of flesh for this.