The light of abyss (The owl house x Marvel)

The next thing Luz knew, she was floating in a dark void. She tried to move, tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't do either.

"Luz?" called out a voice in the distance. A strong and deep voice, but also one that was warm and gentle. Like a hug. "Luz, you need to wake up."

She was asleep? That could be right. Her dreams were all usually either clip shows of previous adventures or fantasies about riding dragons. Except for that one recent dream where she went out dancing, to the movies, and on a swan boat with Amity but they kept getting interrupted before they could kiss. Did the demon realm even have swan boats?

"Luz!" The voice called out again, and suddenly Luz's eyes snapped open and everything hurt.

The first thing she realized was that she was still in symbiote mode, but he was also tied up. Luckily, symbiote powers came with symbiote strength and she was able to burst the ropes with a simple flex.

The next thing she noticed was that she was in a very small cage. Leverage was awkward but she was able to strike the bars with her claws and... Nothing happened.

"Nice try," a man's voice called out from behind her, "but that cage is made of carbonadium."

Luz blinked. "Seriously?"

"I know," the man said as he walked past into view, revealing a brown-haired, blue-eyed man with glasses and a professor's jacket. Now that she had her bearings, Luz's ESP was picking up three other people in the room. "I wanted to use adamantium but even the cheap mass-production version is so expensive. Carbonadium's almost as good but it's a lot cheaper."

That hadn't been what Luz meant but... Whatever.

Luz looked around and saw a corkboard of weird stuff, a picture of Eda as the Owl Beast (She'd have to ask her mentor about that later) and a computer monitor showing a few feeds and... Oh, crap. One of the feeds was frozen on her helping Vee out of that snare a few hours ago.

"You know, it's illegal to set traps and cameras in the woods out here," Luz observed. "Like, most of it is a nature preserve and the rest is private property. You could get in a lot of trouble if anyone finds out about that."

"I think that's the least of your concerns right now," the man said. It was then that Luz noticed some surgical equipment on a table.

"You know, if I had a nickel for every time I almost got dissected, I'd have two nickles," Luz mused. "Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice."

One of the people behind her gasped.

"Those aren't for you," the man dismissed. "Those are for the demons."

Luz's eyes narrowed. "So you know about the demon realm then." Then she blinked, realizing that he might have been thinking of like, actual evil spirits.

"Oh, I know," he said dementedly. "I know all about the demons. How they come here from Mars to steal our teeth to power their time machines!"

Luz held her hands before her face so that her index fingers nearly touched her nose and inhaled sharply and deeply through said nose. "I don't know where to begin with everything that's wrong with what you just said."

"And now," the man continued, "I have proof that the Martian demons are in league with symbiotes!"

Luz would have banged her head on the bars if she wasn't pretty sure it'd do serious damage. As it was she already had one heck of a headache.

"She's not just allied to them, Uncle Jacob," a boy's voice came out from behind her. "She's dating a witch." That'd be Scott.

"Yeah," a girl's voice, Suzy. "That must be how they got her to... What, turn traitor? Bribed her with a cute goth rich witch GF. It's the only way a loser like Loony Noceda could get someone to date her."

The denial on these people. "She's also an amazing dancer and a great baker," Luz quipped back. "Now, is Clara back there, too?"

"...Yes," the unseen blonde quipped. Luz's negative emotion sense was working now. Those three jerks all seemed... Uncertain about this? That was good to know, but at least two of them were doubling down.

"Okay, Jacob was it?" Luz asked. "What do you want from me?"

The obvious conspiracy theorist leaned down to leer at her, menacingly. "Your confession. I know you're in league with the demons. You even helped the reptilian one out of my trap and allowed it to assume your form. There's a renowned expert on interdimensional physics and the paranormal in town but he didn't believe my evidence," he continued, "but I just called him back. He'll have to believe me if I have living proof and three eyewitnesses to corroborate their confession."

Expert on the paranormal in... Oh, Ford. Eda's ex-husband's twin. Okay, he seemed like a nice guy. His response to seeing someone from the Boiling Isles was to make sure she wasn't stranded. So he'd probably like... Humor the nutjob and then go get help... And Amity wouldn't take this lying down, she'd probably... Amity!

Luz awkwardly scooted around to glare at the three teens who'd started this whole mess. "Where's Amity? Or Masha and Vee?"

"Back at the graveyard," Clara dismissed. "They're fine. Witches float."

Luz instinctively reached for a glyph, the goo coating her body producing one from wherever her clothes and the contents of her pockets went when she was in symbiote mode. "If anything happened to them I swear that this time the witch will be the one doing the burning." The three jerks shrank back.

"Common misconception," Jacob declared from behind her, seemingly oblivious to the threat. "The Gravesfield witches, much like those in Salem, were all hung on conviction rather than burned. As were the witches in England, mind you. Burning was the punishment for heresy or when a commoner woman committed treason. And if we're being honest more witches here drowned than were hung. That whole 'witches float' thing? Yeah, the Gravesfield witch hunters were very slow to pull the accused out of the water."

Luz took a deep breath. One thing at a time, she'd need to stall until Ford got here.

"Alright, I'll admit it," Luz began dramatically. "I am in league with foul spirits."

"Aha!" Jacob declared.

"Not only that," she continued just as dramatically, "but I am a soldier of authority in their forces, for in the army of the King of Demons, I am... a major general!"

Jacob gasped. "A major general?"

"Yes yes, I am a major general!" Luz sang. That practice with patter songs was about to pay off.

Clara blanched "Oh god, no."

"I~I~I—am the very model of a modern major general...!"

TLOA

Getting back over the flooded graveyard had been tricky but after that, Amity had just gone into a fuge as the three teens rushed back toward the Noceda residence. She snapped back to lucidity as they approached the house and bolted down the forest path to the old shack in the woods, ignoring Vee and Masha. To the portal. Eda would know what to do.

Getting to the door, she noticed it was open a crack, and light was coming out. It peeled open just as Amity skidded to a stop in front of it.

Eda stepped through, hesitantly, and started to look around before seeing Amity. "Oh, hey Boots. Was just checking to see if..." The older witch's phrasing is awkward. "I take it that Luz is... What's wrong?"

"Luz, jerks, kidnapped, my fault, help!" was all Amity could bring herself to say between her panic and her lack of breath.

"Boots," Eda began, "Stop. Breathe." Amity forced herself to slow down and inhale. "Now take it from the top."

Amity then filled Eda in, summarizing how things had been going very well, though leaving out certain unimportant details, up until they ran into the jerks who made Luz feel like no one would ever love her and contributed to the heartache and confusion that had preceded one of the happiest moments of Amity's life, and how Amity had stood up to them on Luz's behalf, and how they'd challenged them, and how they'd foolishly agreed to the fight and how it'd just been bluster and Luz had stood up for herself but Amity had let off that one last provocation and made them actually attack and now Luz was hurt and kidnapped and it was all Amity's fault.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," Eda began. "It sounds like that last attack was just an impulse and the jerks ran off with her because they were panicking, so they're probably not going to hurt her any more than they already have, and Luz is pretty tough so she's probably not too badly hurt to begin with. So we're gonna take a page out of Lily's book and plan this out carefully. We're going to find Luz, we will rescue Luz, and then we will turn to the jerks who took her and we will murder them."

"Or you can just come with us," came Masha's voice from behind Amity, which made the witch jump. She was so out of it that she didn't even feel the sorcerer's emotions.

Turning around, Amity saw not only Masha but also Vee and Camila.

"Uh, Mrs. Noceda," Amity began nervously, "I ah..."

"Masha and Vee told me what happened," Camila said. "And we caught the end of your explanation... Amity, cariño, this isn't your fault."

"But—"

"No buts," Camila insisted. "You were just standing up for someone you love and I'm glad my daughter found someone who cares about her so much. Now, actually going to the graveyard was not a very smart decision but the fault lies mostly with the children who instigated the incident."

"If you say so," Amity agreed unsurely.

"And you," Camila said while turning to Eda. The Owl Lady became visibly nervous. "You must be Eda, Luz's mentor?"

"Yes, that's me, Eda," the pale witch said. "You must be Luz's mother, Camila." Eda was visibly sweating as she offered a hand to shake. "You've raised a great kid."

"Thank you," Camila replied, "and thank you for taking care of Luz these past few months. She's really flourished."

"Yeah, she does that," Eda admitted. "Cannot keep that kid down. Speaking of which, we've got a kid to find."

"We know where she is," Vee added.

"You do!?" Amity exclaimed. "How?"

"She um... Still has the Titan Blood," Vee admitted. "I smelled it when we were walking past the town square. It's coming from the Historical Society."

"We tried to get your attention but you were like, really out of it," Masha continued. "Anyway, the new curator was outside putting up a 'closed for emergency' sign on the door. We debated just going for it but decided that you know, having a responsible adult on hand might make things go more smoothly."

"Yes," Camila confimred. "What we are going to do is drive to the historical society, talk to the man in charge, and if the hijo de puta has hurt Luz I will beat him within an inch of his life. The important thing is to remain calm."

"Titn Blood?" Eda asked. "Boots, you mentioned the basilisk, hi by the way," Eda greeted Vee, "but not the Titan Blood? How did Titan Blood even get here?"

"No clue."

"You leave anything else out?"

"Nothing important."

Amity wasn't sure what she'd expected the inside of the van to be like, but it was... Nice. She tried to keep her breathing even. Luz would be okay. Luz was a fighter. Luz was the strongest person she knew in more ways than one. She'd be fine and they could all laugh about this later.

"You know," Eda observed from the front passenger seat of the vehicle, 'the last time I was in a car I drove it off a cliff."

"...Okay then," Was Camila's awkward response.

Arriving back in the town center by van was much faster than by walking. By now it was starting to get dark and overcast and Amity began to panic as drops of water started to splash against the windows. She knew how to ast a personal shield spell, but not one big enough for all of them and—

Vee put a hand on her shoulder. "Amity?" She asked calmly. "It's fine. Rain in the human realm is just cold water. I panicked the first time too, but it's perfectly safe."

"...Is the rain in the demon realm dangerous?" Camila asked.

"Only if you get caught in it," Eda quipped. "It's ordinary water, but it's boiling hot. There are spells to protect you and those are usually the first ones a kid is taught but the general advice is to stay inside."

"Well that explains a lot," Masha noted.

"Okay then," Camila said awkwardly. "But... The rest of the weather is safe, right?"

"...Yes," Eda replied unconvincingly.

"The boiling isles are usually warm and sunny," Amity said, forcing herself to speak rather than dwell on worst-case scenarios. "The boiling rain comes in more or less regular intervals with plenty of warning, sudden storms are rare and rarely last more than a few hours."

"Well, we're here," Camila declared. "Everyone, remember to stick to the plan. Stay calm, and wait until Luz is safe before employing any necessary violence.

Stepping out of the vehicle, Amity shivered at the unfamiliar sensation of drops of cool water splashing against her hair.

As the group braced themselves and prepared to enter the building, they were interrupted by a gravelly voice.

"Marilyn!?"

Turning, Amity noticed that the two older men they'd met earlier were exiting a vehicle also parked at the historical society. They must have pulled in just after them.

Eda stepped forward. "Oh hey... You," she greeted awkwardly. "You old... So and so. Why, it's been so long, uh..."

"You don't remember me, do you?" The man said in a tone that indicated disappointment but also resignation.

"I do not," Eda admitted.

"It's Stan, from Vegas," Stan replied.

Amity could see the gears turning in Eda's brain... "This isn't Oregon! ...I think. Oregon and Connecticut are two different places, right?"

"Ah, Classic Marylin," Stan observed wistfully as his brother, Ford, came up behind him. "So how have you been?"

"Look, Stanton—"

"Stanley"

"Stanley," Eda continued. "I'm gonna be honest, you were just a mark. And I'm busy. I've gotta rescue my kid."

"Your kid?" Camila asked.

"Her kid," Eda corrected with a gesture to Luz's mother. "Gotta rescue her kid."

The two older gentlemen looked over their group and something clicked.

"What happened to that sweet girl?"

"Jerks, bullies, fight, kidnapped, brought here," Amity rushed through the explanation.

"...The curator of this establishment called us, saying that he had collected more proof of demonic activity in the area," Ford declared. "Living proof, and eyewitnesses."

Stan sighed and reached into the coat of his suit, pulling out bands of a brassy metal that he then slid over his knuckles. "Looks like we're doing this. Why is it every conspiracy theorist we run into is the dangerous kind instead of the fun kind?"

"At least he's just obsessed with teeth," Ford replied. "The last one tried to harvest our organs. If you would let us take the lead?" He asked of the group, "he's expecting us."

Ford took point, trying the door and finding it unlocked despite the "closed" sign. He and his brother went in, and the rest of the group followed.

The bespectacled man at the front desk looked up as they entered. "Oh, good. You're here," he greeted excitedly... Then he noticed the rest of the group and suddenly turned hostile. "You're with them!"

Amity raised her hand and prepared to cast her fire-conjuring spell until Ford pulled something from his hip and pointed it at the other man. Amity didn't recognize the device, some kind of tube or cylinder with a handle, but based on the way the curator immediately threw up his hands in surrender Amity concluded that it was some type of dangerous human weapon.

"Where's the girl, Hopkins?" Ford asked.

"Through here," the man, Hopkins said while nodding to a door behind his desk. Very slowly he backed up to it and reached for the handle with one without looking away from Ford.

The door creaked open slowly and from inside a voice called out "Uncle Jacob?" Amity's bile boiled, it was that Scott jerk. Were the other two jerks there, too?

As it turned out, they were. The look on the trio's faces as the group marched into what Amity assumed was a repurposed office was priceless. Hopkins, or Jacob, was made to enter second to last at the end of Ford's human weapon.

"Oh, hey, the calvary is here," Luz said from inside the—they had her in a Titan-taken cage! They needed to grab Luz and get her out of there soon or Amity really would commit murder. Luz's symbiote side was manifested and two tentacles, wire-thin, budded from her outstretched hand to reach through the bars and pick the lock, which popped open a moment later and Luz crawled out and stretched.

"Could you have done that at any time!?" the blonde girl, Clara shrieked though thankfully not with her power-enhanced voice.

"I mean, not at any time," Luz defended. "If I'd done it without help nearby you probably would have just attacked me so I had to bide my time."

The three jerks blinked. "And... You figured that out all on your own?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised too," Luz admitted. "It's a good thing I had some coffee today. Though honestly, I figured that Mr. Stan and Mr. Ford would get here alone, see that Jacob here was a whackjob, and go get help or call the police or something."

"Got here at the same time as your friends and family," Stan said. "By the way... How do you know Marilyn?"

"I'm her witch's apprentice—slash—daughter-she-never-had," Luz admitted with a big grin. Amity could feel a great deal of nervousness from Eda all of a sudden.

"Luz?" Camila asked, "When did you learn how to pick locks?"

"I plead the fifth," Luz said, whatever that meant. Eda suddenly started whistling nonchalantly, causing Camila to give her some side-eye.

"Anyway, this Jacob guy's behind those traps in the woods and he's got a bunch of illegal cameras all over the place," Luz explained, "he was gonna dissect 'the demons' which um... Legally murder, by the way. Genetic Diversity Protection Act and all, and when I started singing to buy time he tazed me two and a half songs into the score of Pirates."

Very calmly, Camila reached into her purse and withdrew some kind of human realm sandal or slipper. Then, like lightning, she began to beat the tar out of Jacob with it.

"Yeah, he deserves that. We should probably call the police," Luz observed. "And you three should probably get out of here," Luz said while turning back to the three jerks.

"Why?" Scott asked petulantly. Meanwhile, Amity sensed two people approaching the building. She would have said something when she realized they were coming in but after this harrowing afternoon, she found words were failing her.

Luz deeply inhaled and exhaled through her nose. "You started harassing me when I was out with friends all minding our own business. You picked a fight with us. You could have killed me and Amity when she decided to style on you instead of choosing violence, could have killed us again when we tried to just leave instead of engaging with you, kidnapped me, and handed me off to some crazed loon. I do not think it's fair to ruin your lives over a series of stupid choices, since nobody seems to be badly hurt," Luz finished, "but do you have any idea how much trouble you could be in?"

"Ain't no 'could be' to it," came a gruff voice from the doorway into the room. All three of the jerks froze in fear as everyone else turned.

Standing at the doorway were two people. One, a broad-shouldered but very short human man with lightly tanned skin and wild dark hair that stood up to two points dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket stood next to a tall, fair-skinned woman with long purple hair dressed in a suit and holding some kind of helmet.

"They are in a lot of trouble," the man concluded.