Chapter 108: The Weekend That Was Going Great… Until It Didn’t

The following afternoon, Magnus and Alex walked into the executive Student Council conference room, carrying themselves with renewed confidence.

Emily Carter and her boyfriend Dash were already seated behind the mahogany table, waiting for them. Both looked as polished as ever, but there was a subtle, rigid tension in Dash’s shoulders and a careful, unblinking stillness in Emily’s posture. Having received zero audio feed from the bug since last night, they didn't know whether the device had simply malfunctioned or whether their play had been exposed.

Magnus and Alex sat down opposite them. Then he set the disabled listening device down on the table between them without a word.

For three seconds, nobody moved. Emily’s eyes locked onto the coin-sized metal disc, her sweet smile freezing completely. Dash stared at the bug, then let out a long, quiet exhale.

Alex folded her hands on the table, then smiled sweetly.

“Should we all start with the truth, then?” she asked. “Since I assume you already know our stakes. Hardly fair if you know everything about us but we know nothing about you, is it?”

Emily and Dash exchanged a look. They didn’t want to reveal their hands this soon, but they needed a way to rebuild trust with the other couple fast. And there was no faster way to do that than to share secrets of their own.

Dash leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers together.

“So, you have indeed found us out.” He sighed. “Alright, let’s start from the top then.”

Magnus blinked. That was unexpectedly easy.

“It started roughly twelve weeks ago, with a report of sexual assault. The victim claimed that her attacker had some kind of magic.”

Magnus’s and Alex’s heads both snapped toward Dash.

“Naturally, at first, nobody believed her,” the Student Council President continued. “But the case was investigated regardless. Then similar cases and more evidence began appearing over time.”

“Sightings of the impossible,” Emily took over, her voice composed. “People with… abilities. Evidence that didn’t line up or make sense. Something was fundamentally wrong, even if nobody wanted to say the word ‘supernatural’ out loud.”

“Some of these… superpowered individuals succeeded, like the first case,” Dash continued. “Though there were other victims who were… more fortunate. The attackers were apprehended in some cases, shot and killed in others. And then there were a few cases of victims’ families hunting and killing anyone displaying supernatural abilities.”

“There was one particular case,” Emily said, “where the guy started rambling about death and system after he was apprehended. At first, the people who caught him and were dragging him to campus security thought he was just going insane and delusional from reading one too many web-novels. But then he simply dropped dead in their custody.”

“Cardiac arrest.” Dash unlinked his fingers and took a sip from his cup. “That was the first big break in our investigation.”

“Your investigation?” Magnus asked.

“Ah, right.” Dash nodded. “This has been a joint investigation involving Student Councils from several colleges and universities in the city, and possibly a few neighboring cities as well.”

“We started quietly comparing notes,” Emily elaborated. “Pooling what we each knew. It became less about any one assault case and more about… figuring out what these people actually were. What they wanted. How they operated. And how it’s all connected to the spike in cardiac arrest cases.”

“Wait! If this has gotten big enough that multiple Student Councils are investigating it, why aren’t the police involved?” Magnus asked, frowning slightly. “I mean, the sexual assault alone should have put an actual investigation into motion.”

Dash’s expression tightened. “That was one of the first things we never understood ourselves. Every time law enforcement became involved, the investigation would simply… stop going anywhere. They’d start looking into a case, then sometimes later, they’d conclude there was nothing unusual happening, and move on. It kept happening often enough that we eventually had to consider the possibility that something was interfering with their investigations.”

He paused and looked pointedly at Magnus.

“You mean, the System?”

“That’s our best guess,” Emily confirmed. “It seems to let individuals know of and investigate its existence, but as soon as any real authority gets involved, then unexplainable things would happen that somehow cut the investigation short and investigators would walk away not even remembering why they cared about the case in the first place.”

“So—” Magnus looked down at his hands and body. “—you’re telling me these Systems can actually affect other people directly, not just the Hosts, they just selectively choose not to?”

“That’s just a conjecture—our guess,” Dash replied. “We don’t actually know for sure. You’re the first System Host we’ve managed to make contact with, actually. Unless the other Student Councils have been keeping secrets from us.”

“Our last lead before you—a student at the neighboring university—passed away during Spring Break,” Emily said. “That’s why we had to, uh—”

She stopped and looked at the disabled listening device on the table between them. Magnus followed her gaze.

“Wait!” he said. “That means you suspected me even before then. Why?”

Emily and Dash exchanged another look. Then…

“We—all the Student Councils involved in this, I mean—we built a profile,” Emily said. “From the pattern across all the known cases, and the most suspected unconfirmed ones.”

“Socially invisible individuals who suddenly become popular—” Dash cleared his throat. “—especially with the opposite sex.”

“And in some cases,” Emily continued with a smile, “suddenly behaving strangely, or becoming attached to the kind of rumors about them having magic or… talking to animals.”

She arched an eyebrow at him while saying the last part as Magnus hid his face and groaned into his hands.

“You practically checked every box.” Emily gave a short laugh. “So I’ve been watching you for around two months now.” She paused. “At first, I was assessing whether you could be a threat to others.”

“But,” she added after a moment, “since Lila had nothing but good things to say about you, and my own observations have only supported that assessment, we’ve been looking at you as more of a potential ally these days.”

“The rest, you two already know or can guess,” Dash concluded.

Alex, who had been absorbing every word like a sponge, tapped the table.

“So the recruitment into the Student Council,” she asked, “was any of that real? Or was it just another play to keep us close?”

“That’s completely genuine,” Emily said without hesitation.

“Hang on!” Magnus raised a hand. “You said you’re genuine about the recruitment, but you’ve been toying with us this whole week, knowing the stakes?”

Dash rubbed the back of his neck. “We’ve been testing you two. Seeing how well you navigate against opponents on similar or higher levels.” He turned toward Alex. “In case you really do become president next year, Alex, there will be times when you’ll have to deal with other presidents and vice presidents from other institutions. And not just peers, you’ll have to face the Dean and faculty sometimes. And they won’t always be friendly.”

Alex stared at him. “I haven’t even decided I would run yet.”

“You really should consider it,” Emily said. “With Magnus as your vice, you two could achieve great things.”

Alex laughed without humor. “Neither of us even agreed to anything and yet you’ve already been making plans for—”

She suddenly stopped herself, her eyes widening.

“Wait!” Alex leaned back in her chair, pointing at them. “If you’re making plans for us—both of us—while knowing his current predicament…” Her finger flicked to Magnus before returning to them as a slow, terrifying smile bloomed across her face. “Neither of you plans to actually let him die this week!”

Both Emily and Dash froze. Their faces twitched as they turned to look at each other.

Then Dash closed his eyes, heaved a deep sigh, then turned back to Alex with both of his hands raised in a surrender shrug. “It seems we’ve given all our hands away.”

He looked at Magnus. “You two really are a dangerous pair. We can’t let our guards down for a single second.”

Magnus blinked, jabbing his thumb at Alex. “You mean she’s dangerous. I can barely follow half of this conversation.”

Emily looked at Alex. “He actually believes that, doesn’t he?”

Alex sighed, long and tired, then said nothing.

“Wait, hold on.” Magnus raised his hand again. “Can we get back to the part about me not dying?”

All three of them rubbed their temples in unison.

“How about,” Alex said, “we just skip straight to the logistics of the foursome? Since you two are already on board.”

Magnus’s head snapped up. “Wait… what? They are?” He looked between Emily and Dash, both of whom were nodding, then back at Alex. “When—how did you even know that?”

***

What followed was, in Magnus’s professional opinion, the fastest and most efficient logistics talk he’d ever been a part of.

Emily and Dash handled logistics the way they apparently handled everything — quickly, calmly, without a trace of the awkwardness that usually accompanied this kind of conversation. Boundaries were stated plainly and without embarrassment. Dash would be there to support Emily, but he wasn’t interested in swapping partners. Alex would be involved, as always, as an anchor for Magnus, but she wasn’t particularly interested in Dash, either. So, they agreed to share space and support each other without getting involved directly. Nobody needed anything explained twice. Within ten minutes, everything that needed agreeing on had been agreed on.

They decided against using Alex’s room this time, opting for Dash’s off-campus apartment instead. The reason was simple: if word got out that Magnus and Alex weren’t just having threesomes with different girls, but group sex with other couples as well, the next time the System pinged a taken target, the logistics talk would be far more complicated — not to mention Emily and Dash’s love life would also be dragged into campus gossip. Meanwhile, Dash’s apartment was secluded, private, and offered better soundproofing. Less chance of word getting out, and even if anyone saw them, they could just say they went there to discuss prospective Student Council business.

And that was how the four of them ended up inside Dash’s car, driving toward his place with the strange, businesslike calm of people who had just closed a merger rather than arranged a foursome.

***

Dash’s studio apartment was clean, spacious, and about as personality-free as a high-end showroom — which made sense, considering the guy spent most of his time on campus or at Emily’s dorm.

Emily kicked off her shoes at the door with more ease than Magnus expected, some of the day’s careful composure finally sliding away now that there was no audience left to perform for.

“Okay,” she said, glancing between all of them. “Everyone good?”

“Yeah,” Alex said easily.

Dash nodded, already unbuttoning his cuffs. “None of us here is new at this. And we talked it through thoroughly. We’ll manage.”

He crossed to Emily first and rested his hand at her jaw — a quiet, unhurried check-in between them that wasn’t performative at all. Whatever else this evening was going to be, that part clearly came first for both of them. They kissed with a deep, grounded familiarity, their bodies slotting together as if anchoring each other before opening the circle up.

Alex squeezed Magnus’s hand once before letting go and stepping toward the other couple. Her hands found the curve of Emily’s waist as she drew the senior student into a slow, confident kiss, campus royalty and institutional composure meeting somewhere in the middle with a sharp, competitive edge. Magnus swallowed once before joining them as well as clothes were shed with efficient, unhurried movements, leaving all four of them bare in the soft ambient light of the bedroom. Dash reached into his nightstand, producing a box of condoms with the same matter-of-fact precision he used for everything else.

When they moved onto the bed, the dynamic settled quickly. The two women took the lead in directing the initial flow, Alex’s hands kneading Emily’s breasts with practiced familiarity while the older woman let out a sharp, shaky breath against her mouth. Magnus and Dash, meanwhile, found themselves paired up in a way that had nothing to do with performance and everything to do with the simple fact that neither of them felt any need to posture or prove anything to the other. Which was something they both seemed to appreciate.

Through everything, Dash’s attention stayed with Emily — his hand remaining anchored to her waist, his mouth pressing to her shoulder, present and attentive in the specific way of someone who had no intention of being a spectator at his own girlfriend’s pleasure.

Magnus, for his part, also focused on his own girlfriend before things progressed into a fuller four-way rhythm. Then, he started to relax and let his instincts take over the way he usually did in these moments.

Without consciously making a decision, his body reached for Bio-Electric Resonance. Somehow, after owning the power for less than a day, his subconscious was already used to the new addition. His awareness settled across the subtle electromagnetic current running quietly beneath everyone’s skin, and Magnus harmonized it gently, amplifying the natural tactile sensitivity already present.

Layered under that, Affective Discernment picked up the exact shape of what everyone wanted in the moment, allowing Aura Weave to answer it passively: smoothing the edges of hesitation and easing Emily’s remaining defenses into open surrender. A subtle, weightless thread of Telekinesis cradled their positioning, gently supporting angles so no one experienced physical strain.

Magnus shifted to support Dash as they both focused on Emily. While Dash entered her from behind with steady, driving force, Magnus knelt before her, taking her nipple into his mouth. The dual sensation — Dash’s deep, rhythmic thrusts and Magnus’s intuitive, swirling tongue — hit Emily like a sensory overload. The bio-electric currents conducting across her skin turned every touch into an amplified, high-voltage spark, leaving her completely undone. Dash reached down, patting Magnus’s shoulder in a silent acknowledgment of the synergy. Magnus responded by shifting his weight, his hands sliding up Emily’s thighs to hold her steady, making sure every drive from Dash hit exactly where she needed it most.

Emily, who had spent months cataloguing Magnus from a careful, analytical distance, found herself experiencing something entirely different up close. She had heard of the strange disconnection between the two versions of him from both Lila and Brooke, but going through it herself was still somewhat different. Apparently, he was just much harder to recognize when he stopped thinking. That realization was almost more unsettling than anything else.

The group converged into a tight, overlapping knot of limbs. Magnus slid into Emily, his movements picking up speed, perfectly synchronized with Dash, who was now kissing her. With a subtle flick of telekinesis, Magnus lifted Emily’s hips just an inch, allowing him to drive deeper into her while Alex pressed up against his back, caressing him while nibbling on his ear and whispering soft encouragement into it.

Positions shifted again, with Magnus ending up on his back and Alex riding him reverse cowgirl. Opposite from them, Dash slid back into his own girlfriend from behind while the two women locked themselves into a kiss of shared pleasure.

They finished in a staggered, crashing sequence. Magnus felt the resonance snap as he came into the latex, the sensation echoing through the bio-electric threads connected to the others. Dash followed seconds later, his body tensing with a low groan as he collapsed against Emily, who was still shaking from the aftershocks of a climax that had felt less like a physical act and more like a total system reboot.

Then, as punctual as it’d always been, the System chimed in his head:

Magnus waved the notifications away and pulled Alex closer. Beside them, the other couple was already sitting up against the headboard.

Emily pulled the sheet up over her chest, out of practicality more than modesty, as she shifted back into strategic mode.

“So,” Dash said from next to her, “now that the most pressing matter for you two is out of the way, we should talk in more detail about our plans going forward.”

“Talk about what, exactly?” Magnus asked, sitting up and pulling on his shirt.

“The Student Council,” Emily said, her voice still a bit hoarse but more composed and precise again already. “Given everything you now know about the investigation, I imagine your priorities have shifted somewhat.”

Alex leaned back against Magnus’s shoulder, considering it. “You want us in because we have direct access to the System and Host mechanics. We want in because it gets us access to whatever your cross-university investigation has actually turned up on other Hosts and cardiac arrest spikes. It would seem our goals align.”

“Then we’re agreed,” Dash nodded. “Council seats for both of you, effective as soon as we can push the administrative paperwork through.”

“And you’ll run for President next year?” Emily asked.

“We’ll see,” Alex simply said. Then, she added after a moment, “Since we’re working together on this and sharing resources—”

She pulled out her phone and added Emily and Dash to the Council of Secrets group chat, then quickly wrote a message of introduction to catch everyone up to speed.

Everyone’s phones buzzed. Magnus quickly glanced at his before slipping it back into his pocket again.

“Council of Secrets?” Dash asked, understandably confused and amused at the same time.

“We didn’t name it.” Alex shrugged. “The person who did have a flair for theatrics, and doesn’t listen to reason.”

Magnus, meanwhile, had been looking around the studio loft with belated curiosity. “Wait—why did you even apply for on-campus housing if you’ve got an apartment like this?”

Dash shrugged as he put on his shirt and began to button his cuffs. “Closer to handle Council business. And closer to Emily.”

“Seriously?” Magnus blinked. “This place can’t be cheap though, right?”

“Probably not.” Dash shrugged again. “It belongs to my father’s real estate firm. He’s only temporarily taking it off the market while I’m in college.”

“Your dad’s a realtor?”

“Yep. Richard Parr, of Parr Real Estate.”

“Wait!” Alex cut in. “The guy whose face is plastered across all those buses and billboards downtown?”

Dash rolled his eyes. “That would be him, yes.”

“Impressive.” Alex nodded.

Magnus’s brain, meanwhile, latched onto something else entirely.

“Wait!” He slowly turned toward the Student Council President. “Your full name is Dashiell Parr?”

Dash heaved a sigh like he’d heard this too many times and already knew where this was going. “Yeah.”

“Like… Dash Parr? The Incredibles’ Dash Parr? The kid with superspeed from that Disney Pixar film?”

Dash fixed Magnus with what could only be described as Batman’s glare.

“Yeah,” Dash said flatly. “My dad thought it’d be funny. Even tried to get me to join track and field teams growing up.” He let that sink in, then continued. “Why—you have a problem with that?”

Magnus swallowed. “Nope. Not at all!”

Emily, in a playful mood now that her institutional guard was completely down, leaned toward Magnus and whispered into his ear, “The last person who had a problem with it disappeared…”

Magnus swallowed again, louder this time.

“My mom named me after Magnus Bane,” he blurted out.

Complete silence fell over the room.

Magnus looked around at the other three. “I’ve recently found out it could also have been Magnus Chase.”

Dash and Emily stared at him.

“My mom was ecstatic when she found out I was dating Alex,” Magnus added, apparently not done exposing himself. “Apparently both of those Magnuses were dating people whose names were Alex as well. She spent the entire weekend before Spring Break was over celebrating her OTP manifesting in real life through me.”

For two agonizing seconds, nobody moved.

Then the room erupted. Alex doubled over laughing, followed immediately by Emily, and — to Magnus’s surprise — Dash himself, who heaved a long, breathless laugh and wiped an actual tear from the corner of his eye.

“Okay, dude,” Dash said, shaking his head. “You win. I’ll never think my name is the worst one in a room again.”

***

The rest of Saturday and Sunday passed remarkably — almost suspiciously — uneventfully.

With the quest finally done and nothing else happening, he was able to enjoy his time with Alex like a normal couple.

Aaron and Jade were completely consumed by the new trove of data Emily and Dash had handed over — cross-referencing cardiac arrest patterns, comparing notes across university districts, and building what was rapidly becoming a terrifyingly accurate map of System activity across the city. Both of them were far too busy analyzing data to bother Magnus about testing Bio-Electric Resonance, which Magnus considered the greatest mercy the universe had shown him in months. Ethan and Camila, meanwhile, were occupied talking with Dash and Emily about profiling and identifying potential Hosts. The Student Council Presidential couple, for their part, reveled in their newfound resources and assistance, pooling and sharing all their resources and information, leaving Magnus with an unprecedented stretch of genuine peace.

By Sunday night, after a quiet dinner at the cafeteria, Magnus and Alex returned to her dorm room, intending to enjoy the rest of the evening together before Monday’s inevitable chaos resumed. Alex shifted close on the bed, resting her head against his chest while his arm curled around her waist.

“You’re quiet,” she murmured, her fingers tracing idle patterns over his forearm.

“Just enjoying this,” Magnus said softly.

“This?”

“This normalcy.” He kissed her temple. “And us.”

Alex smiled, leaning up to kiss his jaw. “Good answer.”

He smiled back, closing his eyes—

And then something shifted.

Magnus felt it before he understood what it was. Alex’s menu slotted in place above her head, glowing in the soft light of the room:

Magnus stared, his mind stalling. He had never seen anyone else level up before. As far as he knew, leveling was something that happened to Hosts—to him, and presumably to whatever other Hosts existed in the city.

Alex blinked, sensing his sudden rigidity. “Magnus? What’s wrong?”

Before he could open his mouth to answer, the System’s monotone TTS had already continued on:

Wait, what?! It cannot be that simple! he thought, and immediately regretted it.

“Alex—” Magnus gasped out, horror clawing at his throat.

But he didn't even get the chance to finish the sentence. Without his consent, a blinding beam of pale blue light erupted directly from his palm, striking Alex straight in the forehead.

Her eyes widened in sudden, brief shock. “Magnus—?”

Her body went completely limp, her eyelids fluttering shut as she collapsed into his arms.

(End of Book 3.)