Agent Carson walked into the interrogation room shortly after moonrise.  “Sorry about the delay.  Had to head back to the office to get a secure channel to the boss so we could discuss magic.”

“No worries.  They haven’t bothered me.  Pretty sure they have no idea what to do with me.”

“You’ve been here alone, all this time?”

Duncan shrugged.  “We have ways of passing the time.  I’ve been watching activity in the park.”

“How?  Their magic defences are world class.”

“I noticed that.  Magical probes get taken out once they get close.  But a fully mechanical one has been there for the better part of a day, and is being left alone.”

Carson started to chuckle.  “Yeah, that’d do it.  There’s enough normal stuff flying around that they can’t burn it all.  Not that that would help once you cross the perimeter.”

Duncan leaned forward eagerly.  “You have specs on the defences?  I couldn’t spot much, just the perimeter towers, and an inner ring of similar ones.  They’ve done a good job of integrating the inner defences with the park structures.”

“That’s the obvious stuff, yes.  We’ve seen the occasional drill, when Disneyland is closed for ‘maintenance’.  There’s a largely invisible shield that they can put up around the entire park.  We haven’t had an opportunity to probe it extensively, so we have no idea what it can withstand.”

Duncan nodded.  “And further layers inside.  Are the towers the generators for the shield, too?”

“Given the passive measurements we could get, it does seem likely.”

“What about the castle?  Elias styles himself as ‘Master of the Tower’, which presumably means the tower of their Neuschwanstein clone.”

“Sleeping Beauty Castle is very much the hub of the park, in the arcane sense as well.  To be honest, we don’t have a good read on it.  The lower floors are accessible to the public, but there are all kinds of hidden nooks and crannies.  In some ways, the most difficult part to work around is the camera suite – you won’t be able to use magic anywhere in the park.”

Duncan smirked.  “They think you’re high tech, go low.  Or vice versa.  I can subvert their expectations.”

“Damn, I wish I could watch.  But I think I’d rather be well outside the blast radius.”

“So you do think I’m a threat.  I suppose that’s something.  Have you convinced your boss to help?”

“To a limited extent.  He is sympathetic, of course, but we’ve been working on the problem of the Involuntary Guest wing for a while now, and...”  Carson shrugged.  “I’m pretty sure he expects you to get your ass handed to you.  We’ll be watching – from a distance, as I mentioned.  He figures what we learn will serve us when we try to hit the place ourselves.”

“Tell them to be ready to do so tomorrow at Moonrise.  I will be making a hole in that perimeter, one way or another.”

“Magic will just bounce off of it.  That much we do know.  It’s a very efficient reflector.”

“Do silver bullets bounce off of it?” asked Duncan.

“They impact it, deform, and stop, just like normal bullets.”

“Interesting.  I’ll have to take a closer look at what they’re doing.  Probably hardened air, but for it to remain invisible, it can’t be that thick...”

Carson opened his briefcase and dug through the files within it.  “I saw pictures of one of the attempts... Here.”  He set the file out on the table, and pointed to a picture with a distorted image of Disneyland behind the impact point.  “Look, it becomes opaque at the point of contact.”

Duncan studied it.  “That’s not just spalling from the bullet?  The distortion suggests the whole shield flexes to redistribute the impact.  What’s the biggest thing you used?”

Carson flipped through the file.  “Looks like we kept it to handguns, though one of the agents had a .45.  Stopped that too.”

“Think it’d stop an anti-tank missile?” asked Duncan, glancing at the outside wall as he spoke.

“You’re not seriously...”

“A plasma cannon seems likely to splash, but a railgun might punch through.”

“Wait, what?  We don’t have operational railguns.”

Duncan smirked.  “I do.”

“Shit.  Seriously?”

“OK, I haven’t tested them as much as I’d have liked.  Only the masers got an operational workout.”

“Masers?  Jesus, what are you?”

“Engineer-mage.”

Carson nodded slowly.  “You might have a real shot at this.  I’ll get you that backup.  Somehow.”

“It would be nice to have someone keep an eye on the hostages once I open the way.  My beef is with the master of the tower, I’ll have to head there first.”

They continued to discuss operational plans for assaulting Disneyland for a time, then the door to the interrogation room burst open and the Director stormed inside.  “What the hell are you playing at?”

“Playing, Director?  This is no game.”

“Yer planning an assault on US soil, and this Famous but Incompetent tool is helping?”

“I prefer to think of it as guiding the inevitable.”

“Inevitable?  D’you just think he’s going to waltz out that door?”

“Yes,” replied Carson calmly.

“I was figuring on the wall, myself,” added Duncan.  “Already taken care of.”

“Already taken care of?” shouted the Director.  “What on earth are you talking about, boy?”

Duncan stood up.  “I am at best a few years younger than you.  A father of children that are, by the way, being held hostage on your fu... precious US soil.  I am nobody’s boy.  Check the wall yourself.”

The Director glared at Duncan then stomped over to the wall.  He smacked it with a fist, expecting a solid thump, but instead got an elastic sounding boi-oi-oing.  “What the hell have you done?”

Duncan smirked.  “Attempted in a very limited way to convey that you are way the hell out of your depth here.”

“Out of my depth?” sputtered the Director.  “I am in charge of security of this here section of border.  This is exactly my damn jurisdiction.”

“Then you’re in charge of the mechanized infantry division that’s parked just north of here?” asked Duncan.

“How the hell do you know about that?”

“Humvees are noisy, and the wall isn’t quite as opaque to sound as it used to be.  On the plus side, it should bounce off most of the firepower arrayed out there, so you have that going for you.”

“You’re insane.”

“Yes.  Reasonably functionally so, but I have a split personality that’s... quite real.  And you’re seriously pissing off all of them.  Why is the California National Guard arrayed outside this wall?”

“I assume it’s because someone higher up the command chain thinks you’re planning to assault the United States of America.  And you’re doing a damn fine job of convincing me to let them have their fun.”

“You don’t know who gave the order?” asked Duncan softly.  “You may want to find out who really is in control, here.”

“I don’t answer to you.”

“Nor do they.  Who do they answer to?”

Director Spence sputtered, but the seed of concern was planted, and he stormed out of the room soon after.

“What are you playing at now?” asked Agent Carson.

“Pretty much what I just said.  Someone has decided to deploy a gratifyingly large chunk of armed forces to make the attempt to stop me.  I would like to know who, and what they hope to achieve.  They know enough to know I’m dangerous, but not enough to realize what they’re doing is futile.  Counterproductive, even.  Their jets might be able to catch me, but the guys on the ground?  What are they going to do?”

“Shoot you when you emerge, I’d imagine.”

“I trust you’re familiar with how badly that has gone in the past.”

Carson shrugged.  “I am.  They aren’t...  Hm.  You know, I think I’ll go do a little digging myself.  You’ll be OK here?”

Duncan nodded.  “I’ll while away my time on weapon design, I think.  If they want toys, I’ll show them toys.”

Carson shuddered.  “You worry me.”

“Good.”

About an hour after Carson left, Director Spence stormed back into the room, and tossed a white bird onto the table in front of Duncan.

Duncan looked up at him curiously.  “And?”

“This is what Noche slipped through while we were distracted.  A bunch of doves.  What I can’t figure out is why.”

“You haven’t had anyone dispel the magic?”

“There’s no death magic on this.”

Duncan smiled, and waved at the bird.  A moment later a young woman sat up on the table, blinking in confusion.  “Are you okay?”

She swallowed a few times, then carefully nodded.

“What happened to you?”

“I got caught up in flying, and lost the others.  Then when I finally found the arch...”  She shrugged.  “I don’t know what happened.  I woke up here.”

“What were you carrying?” asked the Director.

“Carrying?” asked the woman in confusion.  “I couldn’t carry anything.”  She opened and closed her hands.  “Tiny claws.”

The Director grumbled and had her taken away for further investigation.

“What will happen to her?”

“If she’s not carrying drugs or the like, she’ll get sent back.  We’re not monsters.”

“I should... like to know, if you don’t mind.”

“Why do you care?”

Duncan shrugged.  “I had an impact on her life, indirectly.  I’m curious where the ripples lead.”

The Director glowered at Duncan.  “Your ripples will be going through my border.  What did you do?”

“Expect more lunar magic, going forward.  I’m sure your methods will still work.  Mostly.”

That got a wordless growl, and the Director stomped out again.

*** *** ***

Carson stared at Duncan, who was lying on the floor, looking upward with his eyes unfocused.  “What are you doing?”

“Be vewwy, vewwy quiet.  I’m hunting antiprotons.”

“Anti... wait, what?”

“Anti-electrons are easy.  Cosmic radiation sheds them like water off a wet dog.  I’ve used my collection to make a trap.”

“Wouldn’t that just repel the antiproton?”

“Not if there’s a shell of electrons around it.  Aha!  Gotcha, you slippery little devil.”

Carson rolled his eyes.  “You can’t seriously tell me you’re manipulating individual particles.”

“It is kind of fiddly.  Dia’s really good at this stuff, their time sense is massively accelerated to make it possible.”  Duncan sat up, and returned to the table.

“Time sense?” asked Carson weakly, sitting across from Duncan.

Duncan shook himself as if waking from a dream.  “Sorry.  Takes a bit to reintegrate a decade’s worth of very boring memories.  Sorry, Dia.  We needed this.”

“Apology accepted.”  Dia floated free as a glimmering crystal.  Beside her floated a tinier speck, glowing brightly.

“What’s that?” asked Carson.

“I thought you’d like to see what antimatter looks like.  It’s about a microgram’s worth.”

“But you just captured one...”

“And then I expanded it.  Growth magic is easy, the Moon likes growing and shrinking things.”

Carson’s eyes briefly betrayed his concern.  “So you have an unlimited supply of antimatter, now?”

“Effectively, yes.”

“I need to make a call.”

“Again?”

Carson sighed.  “Yes, again.  The situation was already untenable, this is just...”

“What’s untenable?”

“Nobody can tell me who commanded the takedown orders for your family’s plane.  Nobody can find the deployment order for the entire California National Guard.  That stinks like ten day old fish.”

“Who is in command, then?”

“The field officer, notionally.  But I can’t get anyone to tell me what his orders are, and he’s enforced a comms blackout.  I think he’s talking to the Director, but you’ve pissed him off enough that he’s not talking to me.”

“Ah.  Sorry.”

“That’s not the worst of it.”

“It isn’t?”

Carson shook his head.  “Nobody else is talking.  I have contacts in many agencies.  None of them are taking my calls.  Something big is going down, and I do not like the shape of it, not at all.”

He pulled out his phone and hit the speed-dial.  “Come on, pick up...  Thank god.”

Duncan cranked up the gain on his robotic body’s hearing to pick up the other side of the conversation.

“God’s got nothing to do with this mess,” sighed the voice from the other end of the line.

“How bad is it?” asked Carson.

“We lost two offices.  Military swept in, and arrested them all.  No charges.  I’ve sent the rest to ground, and we’re in lockdown here.”

“What the hell is going on, boss?”

“Damned if I know.  Everyone’s running scared.”

“I think I know why.”

“That would be helpful,” agreed Carson’s boss.  “What have you got?”

“You’re not going to like it.”

“Great, more bad news.  Hit me.”

“The threat I was assessing?” Carson glanced to Duncan, to make it clear he knew who the agent was referring to.  “I have an update.”

“Category?”

“Alpha-Omega.”

“That’s not even a real... Oh.  Oh hell.  Are you seriously considering them an existential threat?”

“He’s juggling antimatter as we speak.”

There was a distant explosion on the other end of the line.  “Damn.  Look, you’re in charge.  Do what you see fit.”

“Sir?”

“I am officially nominating you as successor, in case I am out of contact.”

Carson’s phone beeped, and he pulled it away from his ear.  He stared at the display for a long moment, whistling softly.  “You’re serious.”

“You’re on the spot.  Try to contain things.”

“I don’t think that’ll be possible, with all due respect.”

Another explosion, closer.  “Do whatever you deem necessary.”

“Cards on the table, then?  As I’ve recommended from day one?”

“Everything except the bomb.”

“What bomb?” asked Duncan, his voice icy.

“Looks like his hearing is better than I thought.  Good luck, boss.”

“May God help us all.”

Carson pocketed his phone and met Ducan’s glower with an apologetic look.  “OK.  Point one, the chain of command is... I don’t know what it is, if the military’s after the FBI.  Point two, the basement of the hostage center is full of explosives.  That’s why we haven’t moved on it, because everyone inside would die.”

“What the hell was Disney thinking?  That’s... decidedly unmagical.”

“Walt wasn’t in control of the company toward the end.  He got busy with the magic side of things, training the aberration team and then running it.  Things appear to have gotten well out of hand.  Disney’s an arcane powerhouse, probably the most powerful organization in the country in that sense.  And if what you reported about the CIA loyalty spell is true...  They may have control of more than we thought.”

“And you have no way of doing anything about that, or about the forces north of here?”

“No.  I believe the field team is moving into position, they’d have gone dark when they moved out.  I do have a few things I can do with my new authorization.”

“Do them.”

“Excuse me?”

“There is a part of me that desperately wants to burn its way from here to Disney, leaving a wake of destruction from horizon to horizon.  You understand this, right?  Donna’s children are in danger, and she would gleefully kill everything in our path.”

“And you?”

“I am keeping her restrained.  Barely.  Badly.  When the full Moon rises, all bets are off.  Do you understand, Agent Carson?”

“Yessir.”

*** *** ***

There was quite a bit of shouting in the corridor outside.  Duncan stopped paying attention after the third repetition, and focussed on keeping Donna’s burning rage in check.

Eventually, the Moon set, and he could relax a little.  Gwen pinged him a moment later.  “How are you holding up?”

“Not good.  I made the mistake of figuring out how to capture antimatter.  Donna’s ready to blast everything from here to Disneyland.”

“I felt it.  I pray you can keep her in check long enough to see your family safe.  She’ll calm down some then.”

“Yeah, but things are going crazy down here.  The whole government’s in turmoil, it sounds like the entire structure is rotten with mind-control boobytraps.”

“Disney?”

“As one of multiple competing factions.  There were three interceptor squadrons, so at least three factions, likely more.  And I think none of them know who controls what any more.”

“And you’re going to wade into the middle of it.”

“I suspect I’ve precipitated it.  They’re running scared.  Which suggests that they haven’t dealt with their ghoul issue, and there’s at least one ghoul faction that decided my presence is enough of a threat to make a move.  Whatever started the avalanche, the pebbles don’t get to vote any more.”

“That... would make a lot of sense.  Crap.  Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Get in touch with Mackie, see what he can figure out.  Keep the Vixen safe.”

“Sorry?”

“If this blows up, who knows what the Americans will do.  Victoria may be in the splash zone.”

“I’ll do my best.  Ray will help, too.  I’ll bring him in on it.”

“Good.”

*** *** ***

A few minutes before Moonrise, four security agents in silver-plated body armor entered the room, followed by Director Spense.  Agent Carson had been there for some time, humming softly as he waited.

“This has gone on long enough.  You’ve made a hell of a mess just by being here.  I want you out of the country,” barked the Director.

“No,” replied Duncan softly.  “You know where we’re going.  Don’t get in our way.”

“Now.”

“Not happening.  Tell the guard to stand down, or it will go badly for all of you.”

Director Spence’s face turned purple with his anger.  “Go badly for us?” he sputtered.  “Do you know what you’re facing?”

“Some very clever silver salted shells, laced with all sorts of other nasties.  The cobalt is a nice touch, by the way.  Do your men know they’re being irradiated?  Silver plated armor, guns, and as a bonus touch, your boys have taken their silver pills today.  Mental magic would appear to be off the table.  Pity.”

“What?”

“That means if they do something stupid, they die.  I’m not going to hang around helping idiots who took a shot at me and had their guns blow up in their face.”

One of the agents glanced down at his gun, frowned, and tried to clear it.  “Sir?  My gun is jammed.”

“Then clear it!” shouted the Director.

The agent struggled with it, but couldn’t even open the breach.  “I don’t understand this, it’s like it’s welded shut.”

“The trigger still works,” said Duncan mildly.  “In a sense.  I was being quite literal, earlier.  If you try to shoot me, your gun will explode.  I suspect that’ll be... unpleasant.”

“I’ll show you unpleasant,” growled the Director, pulling his own sidearm and pointing it at Duncan’s head.

“Director Spence.  You are less than a  minute away from making the most important decision of your life.  Quite possibly the last one, as well.  Get the guard to stand down.”

“You have declared war on us.  I can’t do that.”

Carson’s humming got louder, and Dunan chuckled softly as he recognized “It’s the End of the World as we Know It.”

Duncan gestured to Carson.  “Over there in the corner will be out of the line of fire.”

He turned back to the Director once Carson had moved.  “Call it off.”

“Not.  Happening.”

Duncan’s voice went soft.  “Three.  Two.  One.  Time’s up.”