A Pair of Hextech Wizards

by mattchilly


Of Gears and Spells

A Pegasus guard approached King Sombra as he spoke with Head Guardian Sapphire about the ever gowning disagreement between Thresh and Sion. “My King, there are two new Displaced who'd like to see you and the Head Guardian.”

“Really? By all means send them in.” Sombra said exited to meet the new Displaced. The guard nodded and left the room for a few moments only to return with a short man who only came up to the guard's shoulder. His arms were crossed behind his back wearing a dark green jacket, red goggles with a magnifying glass attached to the left lens. Apart from the goggles his entire face was hidden by white hair with the exception of a red nose with a bushy and very bouncy mustache while his hair was in the form a yellow afro with two large pointy ears on the sides of his head. King Sombra actually did a double take when he saw a robotic bird that reminded him of a phoenix for some reason. Its body was made of grey steel but it had glowing light blue lights on various parts of its body with a large blue crystal on its forehead.

Next to the man is a young girl in a with bright red hair with goggles resting on the top of her head, light blue shirt, brown vest, purple skirt and pants, leather boots and a metal backpack. On her right hand is a metal gauntlet and one her left is a glove made of leather. Clutched tightly in her left hand was a small robotic teddy bear. “You must be King Sombra und Head Guardian Sapphire. I 'am Professor Frank S. Tein und this is my daughter Annabel.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” Annabel said with a small curtsy. “This is my friend Tibby. Say hello Tibby.” Annabel then made the bear give the King a small wave with a grin on her face.

Sombra gave a warm smile. “It’s very nice to meet the four of you, but who is that on your head Prof. Tein and what are you if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I am a Yordle and that’s our pet Dire.” Annabel said. “He was a macaw before we were sent here.”

Annabel then turned to her dad. “I told you that the deal for those top of the line motherboards was shady! You should have listened to me Papa!”

Sapphire rolled her eyes with a small grin. “I get it. He’s a ‘Dire Macaw’. Was he at least bigger than other macaws?”

Dire’s eyes flashed as he spoke in a very familiar robotic voice. “That is correct Human Female. I was indeed larger than most of my kind although unlike them I was unable to fly due to injuries from my youth. It is…. good to fly again. It is also odd to be able to… talk with my… owners.”

Sombra’s and Sapphire’s eyes widened as Sapphire said. “He sounds like Hal 9000. That’s just creepy.”

Dire tilted his head and his voice changed to one much deeper. “Would you rather I sound like the Terminator?”

Annabel started laughing while Prof. Tein chuckled. “Now, now Dire. There is no need to scare them.”

“I’ll program some new voices for you once we’ve got a lab set up Dire. At least that way you won’t scare everyone.” Annabel said. “I should also make some for Tibby while I’m at it.”

“Aren’t you a little young to be working in a lab?” Sombra asked.

“That’s just und the perks of being Displaced.” Prof. Tein said as Annabel nodded. “Before we arrived here I was on my death bed, und now I ‘ave many more years of tinkering ahead of me. My daughter on the other ‘and was in her prime und the head science professor at une of the best schools in the country. She’s just enjoying being young again.”

“Why do you want to join the Guardians?” Sapphire asked.

“It’s more like we want a job that supports the kingdom and Guardians. One that would allow us to work on Hextech in peace.” Annabel explained hugging Tibby to her chest.

“Is Hextech anything like the Magitech some of my unicorn researchers are working on?” Sombra asked.

“Hextech is NOT Magitech!” Prof. Tein roared. “Magitech is a combination of magic and technology! The two work together to do a single task. While Hextech simply uses technology to focus what the magic is meant to do! Why I have half a mind to…” Annabel put her gauntleted hand over her dad’s mouth muffling it.

“Sorry about Papa. He never like it when someone thought one kind of scientific study was the same as another.” Annabel explained before glaring at her dad. “Keep your temper in front of royalty Papa.”

Sombra waved it off. “Don’t worry everyone has their quirks and his anger is tame compared to Thresh and Sion.” Then he looked at Sapphire. “I’m going to go get everything sorted for their lab. I’ll see you in a bit Sapphire.” With that he walked out of a side door near his chair.

Sapphire sighed and rubbed her temples. “I don’t know what to do with those two. At least June can keep Winter in line most of the time, but those two?” She shook her head. “It’s only a matter of time before they stop using their words and start using their fists. I just wish I knew why they hated each other so much”

“Have you asked?” Dire inquired.

“Every time someone brings it up those two just glare before walking away. No one can get them to talk.” Sapphire replied before shaking her head. “I’ll think of something. So what exactly would you need for your lab?”

“Plenty of room, lots of metal to work with, and as much of the top of the line tech that you can spare. I mean we can make what we’d need but that would take a very long time.” Annabel explained.

“Yes und if possible I’d like it to be a short distance away from the city.” Prof. Tein said. “We wouldn’t want to damage the city if anything explodes.”

Before anymore could be said the doors slammed open and Sion walked in with June on his shoulder. “Sup Boss. Heard there were a couple new recruits here so I came to see em.” Sion said.

“They’re not so much recruits as much as our new support. What about you June?” Sapphire asked.

“I was bored so I thought I’d join Sion.” June said with a shrug before she noticed the mechanical bird on Prof. Tein’s head. With an indigent cry she took to the air and flew over to the new comers. “What’s the big idea?! You trying to replace me?!”

“That is… unlikely Ice Bird.” Dire said his head tilting left and right as he examined June. “Unless ordered I will be staying with my owners.”

“Ice Bird?” June asked surprised. “My name’s June but your acting like you haven’t heard of a Cryophoenix before. Heck Sion acts more human than you… no offence.”

“None taken.” Dire said jerking his head up and down in a nodding motion. “Before being Displaced I was a normal macaw so my… knowledge on how people communicate is… limited even with my new robotic systems.”

“Never heard of an animal being Displaced before.” June said as she flew over to land on the arm of Sapphire’s chair.

Hearing this Sion scratched the back of his head in thought. “I don’t see why animals can’t be Displaced.” He shrugged. “They’re our new support huh? How so?”

“They’ve our new Hextech experts.” Sapphire said.

“Does this mean I can get a Hextech Gunblade?” Thresh asked.

“Why would you want that?” Annabel asked.

“I want it because I like the design.” Sion said his eyes squinting in a grin. “That and Thresh hates Final Fantasy 8.”

Annabel and her father looked at Sion trying to figure out if he was serious or not before shrugging.

“It will take me a while before we can make you something like that.” Prof. Tein said. “Just make sure to remind us one we’ve got our lab the way we want it and we’ll make sure you get one, as long as we get compensated.”

“Reminder for Sion’s Hextech Gunblade has been added.” Dire said.

“Didn’t know you could do that. Thanks Dire.” Annabel said.

“I don’t think we got your names. I’m Sion the Undead Juggernaut, and that’s June our resident Cryophoenix.”

“I’m Professor Frank S. Tein und this is my daughter Annabel, the bird is our pet Dire.” Prof. Tein said. June looked at the Yordle for a moment then burst out laughing. Prof. Tein looked at June then sighed. “Yes, yes, I know. My name sounds like Frankenstein. Get it out of your system.”

“Well I was about to stop but if you insist.” June said before falling to the ground laughing her head off.

“Alright that’s enough out of you.” Sion said walking over and picking June off the floor. “Or should I tell Winter you were laughing at someone’s name… again.”

“I… I’ll be good.” June said before muttering something so quiet that only one other could hear.

“What did she say?” Annabel asked.

“She said, ‘As long as I don’t have to try her cooking again’.” As Dire spoke his voice changed so he sounded exactly like June.

Upon hearing this Sapphire grinned while June looked horrified. “So that’s how your sister keeps you in line.” Sion chuckled until Sapphire turned her gaze on him. “I wonder just what you and Thresh are hiding that’ll keep the two of you in line.”

Sion growled as the furnace in his stomach flared. “How many times do we have to tell you to stay out of our business?!”

“Perhaps we should change the subject.” Prof. Tein suggested.

“That would be a good idea.” June agree as the glow Sion’s furnace calmed down.

“Perhaps we should go down a few things that Papa and I should work on first?” Annabel asked.

“Medical equipment is a must as well as armor for the guards. Transportation would be nice especially if it’s clean energy. Think you can come up with something like that?” Sapphire asked.

“The first two won’t be a problem even if the armor won’t be that pretty. The third request on the other hand… That’ll take some time.” Prof. Tein said.

“But it’ll be worth it if we can get it to work.” Annebel said as she wrote down idea’s on a note book she’d pulled out of her backpack.

“We can worry about that later Annebel.” Prof. Tein said as a very tall female pony with butterfly like wings, black fur, purple shoes, a short purple dress with a pink heart pin at the base of her neck, a long dark green mane and tail that was neatly curled at the ends, large circular glasses, a black crown and a long pointed horn.

“Hello Queen Chrysalis. What are you doing here?” Sapphire asked the new comer.

“Mostly just to talk to Sombra about how things are going and ask you if there are enough Guardians to have a team permanently posted down south.” Chrysalis said and the newest Displaced noticed there was a slight echoing distortion to Chrysalis’s voice.

Sapphire gained a thoughtful look. “I’ll go over the list of Guardian’s to see who’d be the best suited for the job, but now I believe I should introduce our new Hextech experts. This is Professor Frank S. Tein, his daughter Annebel and their pet Dire.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Chrysalis said as she shook Prof. Tein’s hand.

“Likewise madam.” Prof. Tein said.

“Warning. Two people are approaching the front door at high speed. Estimated time till arrival is ten seconds.” Dire said looking at the open doors to the throne room.

Just then Winter rushed in looking worried. Sapphire jumped to her feet and grabbed her riffle which was leaning against the chair. “Winter what’s wrong?”

“The Crystal Empire’s back, and so is the Witch and her army but that’s not the worst part.” Winter said as Thresh joined her and handed Sion his axe.

“What could be worse than the return of Witch hungry for revenge and her army of Wendigoes?” Sapphire asked.

“She’s already taken the Crystal Empire.” Thresh growled.

“Shit.” Sapphire cursed before turning to a guard. “Send word to all the Guardians and Sombra. We need to come up with a plan.”