Fetch

The Fetch (in full, "the Fetcher of Faces") was a mysterious phantom who opposed the Emerald-Men and sought to destroy the soul of Danu ni Muach in hopes of lifting his terrible curse.

History

Sometime in the 5th century, Fergal was born. Due to the nature of his curse, nobody remembers who he truly is. What is known is vague stories about his past: that he was a former criminal in ancient Ireland, one who would be tortured by the druid Lurchu. In 433, Lurchu promised to free him from his imprisonment in exchange for killing the arch-druid Muach. He was gifted his signature mask, to which he disguised as Danu ni Muach, the daughter of the arch-druid, to not arouse his suspicion and then slew the arch-druid. He fled as Danu ni Muach spotted him. He was then freed from his sentence, and tried to resume living normal life.   Unfortunately for Fergal, he was found by Danu ni Muach, who desired revenge for the death of her father Muach. She cursed Fergal to be "forgotten" and to wander the earth as a sinner. He was mortified by his curse, grabbing the mask he got from Lurchu, and ran away from Danu in shame and agony. Thus would be the beginning of his quarrel with Danu, to which he would desire revenge against her. He took upon the name of "Fetch" and sought to kill Danu.   Fetch tracked down Danu ni Muach to the fields of Macroom. There he dueled the druidess, until she was ultimately killed by his hand. However, Danu's soul escaped complete death, as it escaped into her emerald necklace. In the form of a ghost, Danu cursed Fetch to "wander the earth" for an unknown amount of time, and he departed from Danu.   Over many centuries, Fetch tried to return to gain his revenge against Danu. Time and time again, she was protected by her Emerald-Men, druids who protected her life force in the gemstone against the forces of evil. The conflict continued for some time. For example, he tried to kill Cathleen Barnes in the 1890s, but she used the Druidic Magicus against Fetch to turn him into stone for a hundred years.

Conflict with Stephen Barnes

In January of 2022, Fetch began to track the whereabouts of Stephen Barnes and stalked the man. He had planned to kill him while he was weak and unable to use any magic to fend him off. He followed Stephen to his father's funeral. There, Fetch disguised as Carolina White using a stray hair from her head, and tried to trick Stephen in giving up the Emerald. Stephen saw past the ruse, and Fetch attempted to kill the young man. However, Stephen prevailed, wounding Fetch and causing him to flee.   Sometime later, Fetch began stalking Stephen Barnes again, waiting for another opportune moment to strike. When he was busy facing Ms. Matter, Fetch broke into Barnes Jewelry and stole the old Druidic Magicus from his basement. He was nearly intercepted by Carolina White, who was doing her own snooping, but he managed to escape the store with the book.   In June, Fetch struck again, kidnapping Carolina White from her home and holding her for ransom. He approached Stephen Barnes who gave him the emerald in exchange for Carolina. Fetch instead broke his word and escaped, trying to take both. This angered Stephen who tracked him down to his hidden lair. Fetch used the power of the Druidic Magicus to turn Stephen into a rat temporarily so he could destroy the emerald through a furnace. With the assistance of Carolina White, Emerald-Man reverted back to his normal form and punched Fetch. Fetch was knocked back into the furnace and caught ablaze, and ran off from the building, which caught on fire. He swore he'd meet Emerald-Man again.

Reclaiming the Druidic Magicus

Fetch waited patiently, striking again when Carolina White was out of the picture. He would steal the Druidic Magicus from her clutches, using it once again against Emerald-Man. He then would strike against Stephen Barnes while he was at a bank, quickly stealing the emerald from him and using the crowds (and taking their appearances) to escape. Emerald-Man would catch up with him, threatening to hurt Fetch if he did not turn over the emerald. However, Fetch quickly take on the face of a police officer. He tricked the Sapphire-Swan (who arrived after shadowing Stephen Barnes) into attacking Emerald-Man. He would use the confusion to make a run for it.   The two heroes tracked him down to a steel mill, where he attempted to drop the emerald into molten steel. Emerald-Man caught it, while Sapphire-Swan attempted to chase the fleeing Fetch. With quick thinking, Fetch pulled a chain link to hurt Sapphire-Swan and proceeded to escape. Later, he would be attacked by the Bookkeeper, who took the Druidic Magicus back from him after he failed to return it. Fetch would fool Emerald-Man into infiltrating the Bookkeeper's library, and retook the Druidic Magicus again.   He would then try to rob NexusTechnologies, but would be confronted by Eochu Bres. The fomorian offered to help Fetch, telling him to abandon his obsession with Danu and instead embrace his immortality. Eochu offered to help relieve Fetch of his eternal pain, in exchange for working with him. Fetch took the deal, eager to finally have a fey offering their services to help him.

Final Plot

Fetch would ultimately, however, be planning to betray Eochu for his ultimate plan. He assisted Eochu in taking the Eye of Albion from the Yaquina Bay Selkies, slaughtering most of their tribe. When Emerald-Man tried to intercept the two at NexusTech, Eochu badly beat him. This gave Fetch an opening, and he betrayed Eochu by casting a spell to transfer him to an unknown place. Fetch then took control over Eochu's teleporter, blasting the black magic across the town of Portland turning Danu into a phantom like himself. Before Emerald-Man could stop him, he caused NexusTech to self-destruct, trying to kill Emerald-Man in the debris.   However, he would learn Emerald-Man survived and was trying to undo the spell. He learned that unaffected people were holed up in a local church, and sent the cursed people of Portland toward it. He then confronted Emerald-Man in the church, critically wounding him and gloating defeat. It was at this moment that Danu changed her ways, and proclaimed to Fetch that she forgave him, lifting his curse.   With the curse lifted, Fetch rapidly aged, and realized his eternal doom: as a murderer and hedonist, his soul was damned to hell. In his final breaths, he cursed at Danu and lamented that she would not share in his eternal damnation. Then, he returned to dust.