fics I read

January 28th 2016 Shadowcrest 5:00 PM

I was jarred out of reading by the sound of a frustrated shriek and a book hitting the wall of Zee's library. The sorceress and I were poring over books with a map Strega had given me of the ritual sites in town, trying to figure out what the hell "Doctor Gotham", was planning to actually DO. So far, we'd been comparing ritual circles and spell diagrams to the map trying to figure out what symbols would fit, and much like Strega had mentioned, out problem wasn't that none of the matched up, but rather the exact opposite.

The first move I'd made after talking to Strega was to approach the resident mistress of the mystic arts. The idea that some uber powerful primordial super mage rewriting the laws od reality in Gotham didn't seem like a good thing for anyone, and even if I moved back to Metropolis I somehow doubted it would make much difference given the proximity of the two cities.

Zee was about ready to pull her hair out. "This is BULLSHIT!" The busty sorceress was stalking back and forth, fuming as she burned off excess energy, occasionally stopping to glare down at the map. "This connect the dots nonsense is ZERO help figuring out what the ritual is going to do. Tell me what she said again? Word for word?" She stared at me imploringly, as if begging me to tell her something different than I had the last five times she'd asked me to recount my conversation with the redheaded blood witch.

I stared at her in annoyance. "No. I will not. I've already repeated the entire conversation verbatim half a dozen times. There isn't any more information to be had there. She doesn't know anything useful, she was a patsy, and no matter how much you force me to repeat it that isn't going to change. Maybe there's some clue in the leylines? some kind of magic they're naturally suited for? Or something you think would work best in Gotham?"

She slumped into her chair, rubbing her temples. "It doesn't work like that. Any spell would be 'suited' to an unlimited power source and being basically engraved into reality itself. Not that this would even be viable in most cities. The number of points of overlap most spells would require would be unthinkable in a normal town. Gotham happens to be a hotbed of supernatural activity, and there are literally hundreds of active leylines running through the city, big or small."

She tapped the map with a fingernail. "I've never even heard of a ritual this complex. Honestly I don't have the skillset needed to try to map the possible connection points to find the pattern we need, and anyone who would have that skillset doesn't have the mystical understanding to match the potential designs to any magical effects or rituals. It's just...too many possibilities. The only thing I CAN say is that with this many connection points it has to be something complex, and that doesn't bode well for anyone in the city."

I groaned, letting my head thump down on the table. I laid there in annoyance for a few minutes before sitting up. "What about the sorcerer himself. Maybe there's some clue in his history. I told you everything she said about him. Any ideas as to who he might be? She made him sound semi local, if VERY old. Any old stories about powerful warlocks buried in the area?" I was pretty sure Pentacle's ritual to help them take down the Shadowpact had taken place in the city. Partly because of the way Strega talked about it and partly because the guy was calling himself Doctor Gotham.

She shook her head with a laugh, gesturing bitterly to one corned of the massive library. "Those six bookshelves are local folklore and stories about ancient evils in the area. This whole region is a dark magic hotspot, and like calls to like. There have been more evil sorcerers entombed within the city limits of Gotham than in the rest of North America put together. This city is basically an evil magical disneyland. Asking me to identify an ancient warlock buried nearby is like asking someone in Seattle to track down a specific starbucks without a street name or any identifying features."

I was actively annoyed with this entire thing. "So we have no clues? At all? What about the Shadowpact? Can you get us in touch with them? Maybe they'll know more about him, given that Pentacle summoned him to deal with them in the first place. Also can we please go somewhere else to do this? My reflection in that creepy magic mirror over there keeps grinning at me in the most disturbing way when it thinks I'm not looking." I shot the thing a reproachful look, but it didn't react.

Zee stopped fidgeting to shoot me an unsettled gaze. "That isn't a magic mirror. Are you sure you saw it do something?" She glanced at the mirror nervously. "Mirrors are gateways and portals to all sorts of unsettling things. Mine are all protected, but you can never be too careful. How long has it been doing it?" We both stared right at the mirror, and I even took the time to appraise it.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. French antique mirror-I rank. An antique mirror from medieval france. A brass frame with the original glass, this mirror is not magical in and of itself but has been restored with clever spellwork.]

That was...unsettling. I stared at the thing hard. Had my mind been playing tricks on me? Was it something to do with the house? This place WAS C rank after all. I wouldn't put it past whatever consciousness the house had to fuck with me, plus in general it was just really creepy here. Zee seemed to notice how disturbed I was because she cleared her throat. "Anyway, yes I do know the Shadowpact, or at least one of them. Nightshade is an old friend of mine. We used to go clubbing together. I can get in touch with her and ask her to come meet with us if you want."

I shook off my discomfort. It wasn't like me to get shaken up by small shit, but this fucking house had me on edge. Luckily it seemed content to just fuck with me rather than actively trying to kill me. It was another reason to be glad I hadn't tried to Brand Zee. I wasn't sure the house would be able to tell, but I wasn't sure it wouldn't either. "Alright, sounds good. Where exactly will we be having this meeting?"

She grinned at me, clearly happy to be on a less unsettling subject. "Hold your horses cowboy, I have to actually call and set it up first. Nightshade is kind of international. The League is centralized to their cities of origin and travel to get to where they're needed, but the Shadowpact is just kind of wherever they're needed. Chances are we'll have it in the Oblivion Bar, but I need to make sure they're actually around first. I'll try to put a rush on it given the time crunch." Her face became much more solemn. "Are you sure you still want to go to this thing? This got a lot more dangerous, and powers or no this isn't going to be the kind of place you're guaranteed to walk away from."

I snorted. "Oh sure, because the rest of the city will be so much safer once whatever super warlock we're dealing with rewrites the rules of reality with some kind of permanent wide scale ritual. Yeah, I'm still going. I have my own ways of getting out of there if necessary. Plus I have plenty of friends I trust to have my back. Assuming I still get your plus two on top of my own?"

I could tell she didn't like the idea of me going, but she knew she had no chance of talking me out of it. She sighed but nodded sadly. "Yeah, I told you that was ok, and I won't go back on that. I really wish you weren't being so stubborn about this though. At least I know you can take care of yourself now, I feel a bit better than I did when we originally made this arrangement."

I on the other hand, did not. I was specifically unwilling to bring Dinah or Whisper along. Whoever this asshole was he was strong enough that I worried about being able to leave. I had the candle in case of emergency, and I should be able to bring some people with me if needed for both trips, but even with that ace in the hole I absolutely refused to give some super wizard access to my unborn children. I didn't do touchy feely shit, but those were MY kids, and it would be a cold day in hell before I let some asshole get access to them or their mothers.

Which limited exactly who I could take. Waylon for sure, though I wanted to get him to F rank before the party. Bonebreaker would come in handy. Cherry had skills I could use, and I was on the fence about the last one. Roy would be useful, but I was pretty sure bringing him along would drag the League into this. Same with Jade. Speaking of, I turned to Zee. "I'm surprised you don't want to bring the League into the loop on this whole thing. Isn't this exactly their kind of mess?"

She shook her head. "They would just call me. Magic isn't exactly a common field of study for heroes. The only other League magician who could feasibly help would be Doctor Fate and...I don't get along with him. Not to mention he isn't really the kind of person who worries about collateral damage. There are going to be civilians at this party, and Doctor Fate is the type to toss out the baby with bathwater." Even knowing he was her dad there was a tightness in her voice as she mentioned the other magic user that made me think there was more to that story, but I didn't actually care enough to ask about it. If it was relevant to me she would tell me eventually, though I couldn't see how it possibly could be.

She swallowed hard, standing up. "Anyway, I'm going to make that call. You can keep going through the books, I won't be long." She didn't so much walk as sprint out of the room, and I made a mental note not to bring up Doctor Fate with her unless I was trying to get a negative reaction. I was guessing the subject would be a mood killer. I sighed and went back to rifling through books, even though I knew it was pretty much pointless. After a while I looked up at the mirror, staring hard at the reflective surface.

I'd never liked mirrors much. I had one in my bathroom because I needed it for grooming, but something about the things always bothered me. Zach had joked when I was younger that it was because I didn't like having to look at what an asshole I was, but that wasn't it. It wasn't about me. It was about the image. I always felt like there was something else there, waiting in the background.

I stared at my reflection hard, looking for evidence that it was anything but an image of me, but there was nothing. It had to have been the house. Fucking C ranked magic mansion trying to mess with my head. After a few minutes I shook it off. I didn't have time for this right now. I went back to reading, despite knowing it wouldn't do any good. You never knew when having an encyclopedic knowledge of random magical texts would come in handy, and I did believe in being prepared. Maybe I could have Strega teach me some blood magic? Might as well put my supercharged bodily fluids to use.

January 29th 2016 Gotham City 6:00 PM

"So this magic super bar is in Gotham?" Because I felt like I'd have heard of the Oblivion Bar if it was around here. I may not have lived in Gotham most of my life but I spent tons of time here. Then again I doubted most people in New York knew about Midnite's so maybe expecting to know all about obscure magical shit was unrealistic. For all I knew there was a magic barber shop under Gotham Station.

To my surprise Zee sawed her hand back and forth. "Yes and no. It's not actually anywhere really. It's a pocket dimension that exists outside of reality. Since it's not anchored anywhere you can enter it from multiple points all over the world. The pocket dimension's relationship with realspace is somewhat fluid." That actually sounded really useful. I made a mental note to try to make one of those later on. Being able to cross continents with a step sounded useful as fuck. Her explanation also explained why she led me to a shitty looking run down door in an alley before stopping.

She made a series of clipped knocks in a random sounding pattern. A surprising number of taps and a few counter signs later the door made a series of clicking sounds as what sounded like a dozen locks were unlatched. Finally the thing swing up showing...a monkey in a deerstalker. I blinked. I'd seen some weird shit in my life, but sapient chimps in costume smoking cigars was enough to give even me pause. The monkey apparently didn't enjoy the stares because he snarled. "What's the matter stretch, you never seen a primate in a hat before?"

It took me a second to process that. I looked over to Zee. "So...monkeys talk in this pocket dimension? Or is the booze here so good I'm getting contact drunk from the door opening?" She look amused, but her response was cut off as I felt a walking stick slam into my leg. It didn't hurt of course. My mantle absorbed the impact, but it was still annoying that he tried, so I glared down at the little thug. WAY down. I was MUCH taller than he was.

He stared back at me without flinching. "I. Am. A. Chimp. Are you stupid you fucking behemoth? Do you see a tail coming out of my ass? Compare me to those shit slinging banana gobblers again and the two of us are going to have a problem." He seemed unaware that I hadn't been at all harmed by his hit, but the sheer balls it took to spit his game at a guy who was literally more than twice his height and three times his weight was pretty fucking impressive. I gave a slow nod to let him know I understood, and he stepped back to let us in.

When we stepped through the door, I noticed a slight shift in the humidity, as in, the normal east coast humidity vanished, because the Oblivion Bar had none. I looked around to take in the place and had to admit I'd been expecting something more...spooky. It was mostly just a really nice bar though, a series of small stylish tables surrounded by comfy chairs and lit with candles for ambiance. Everyone in the place seemed relaxed and comfortable, and a few quick appraisals showed me there was a decent mix of evil and good magic users, so this place was obviously neutral territory like Midnite's was.

The chimp led us toward a specific table, and Zee waved at the busty dark haired girl seated at the table in a domino mask. The girl, Nightshade presumably, waved back enthusiastically, and she jumped up from her seat and ran to hug my squealing magic user. The two squeezed each other, shrieking happily as the chimp winced at the loud high pitched sounds of excitement.

I wasn't particularly bothered. Girls greeted each other like this at school all the time when I was younger. I gave them both a once over, enjoying the bouncing. Zee looked good as always, but Nightshade was pretty damn sexy too. Fairly tall and busty with dark hair and pretty regal features from what I could see around the domino mask. Sadly the bouncing stopped and the two of them walked back to the table. Sitting down and ordering drinks. I got a mug of rum, not that it would do much to me anymore. I'd become much less susceptible to alcohol. Still I'd always loved the taste of rum.

Nightshade sipped her mai tai. "So, Zee, what brings you to the Bar. You aren't usually one to visit this place. Not that I'm not happy to see you." She gave me a smile and a once over. "I have to say I do enjoy your taste in company. You always have the best taste in guys." She held out a hand to me, palm down, as if to be kissed, rather than to shake, and I obliged. "I'm Nightshade, but any friend of Zee's can call me Evie. What's your name handsome?"

I kissed the back of her gloved hand and pulled back with a grin. "Nicky, please. As much as I wish I was here to enjoy your company, Zee and I have been having a bit of trouble back in Gotham. We ran into a few old friends of yours. Sadly they were less pleasant than yourselves, but Zee said you might be able to shed some light on what they were upto. They called themselves Pentacle?"

Nightshade's full lips twisted in annoyance. "Business then." Her voice had lost it's flirty edge, and while it wasn't cold, it was definitely serious now. "Pentacle are...the definition of annoying. Most of them are harmless honestly. But the two real threats are doozies. The first is Strega, that vicious bitch will slit your throat and laugh while your blood sprays her face, but honestly she's not the one you need to watch out for. Fucking Karnival is the scary one. Youngest member of their group, and a legitimate sociopath. Rumor says he got kicked out of hell because the staff thought he was too extreme."

That was...kind of hardcore. I made a mental note to murder the living shit out of the guy if I met him. I'd noticed people who other people called pure evil tended to be really unpleasant and fairly irrational about most things. I didn't much gone in for morality one way or the other, but irrational people were dangerous. Regardless, that wasn't what the information we needed. "Noted, but we're actually not here about Pentacle themselves. They pulled off some summoning ritual or something and woke up something scary. We can't find any info on it so we thought you guys might be able to shed some light on the subject."

Instead of the hottie, the chimp was the one to answer this time. "Hardly. Pentacle are a bunch of grade A morons. It isn't a shock they tried the wrong invocation, but it could have been for anything. Maybe if we knew what this big spooky was trying to do we could help better. Any ideas about it's plan?" He turned to look at Zee, obviously expecting her to be the one to give him the down low on the mystical particulars. Which...wasn't unfair. I barely knew anything about magic at the moment, though it was still more than I'd known before.

Zee, for her part, was happy to share. She pulled out map out of her pocket, which had to be magic because her clothes were WAY too tight to have been hiding a map that thick, and unfurled it on the table. "We don't know much. We managed to get some info on the overarching plan but it's less illuminating than you might think. Whoever this warlock is he's planning to change the layout of Gotham's leylines to create a permanent self sustaining ritual circle. We just don't know what spell or ritual he's going to use. We also don't have a name. Or at least nothing valid. Apparently he's taken to calling himself Doctor Gotham."

Nightshade and the chimp looked disturbed. The heroine spoke up. "That's...ambitious." She turned to the chimp. "You don't think it could be...him, do you? I mean, given this is Gotham we're talking about. You're the expert on him, I've never actually run across him before. Hell I wouldn't even know he existed if you hadn't told us about him." She sounded extremely worried, which didn't seem like a good thing given the kind of shit Zee said these people dealt with on the regular.

The chimp chewed his cigar. "It might be. If anyone would know the local environment well enough to attempt something that crazy it would be him. Plus if anyone ELSE tried it I'd say the chances of him not waking up and glassing their whole neighborhood would be slim. The question is how the hell did Pentacle find out he existed, and what on earth made them think trying to invoke him was a good idea. That's pretty much peak level stupid, especially IN Gotham."

Zee cut in. "Sorry to interrupt but it sounds like you do know this guy, which is good news. We might be able to figure out what he's planning now that we know who he is. So fill us in. What's his name? His MO? We need to know everything we can about him. Trying to narrow it down hasn't exactly been easy, given that Gotham is such a hotspot for supernatural evil." Her excitement over the lead was palpable, but it definitely wasn't infectious.

The chimp shook his head. "You don't get it. He doesn't have a name. At least not one anyone can remember. Whoever buried him down there did it so long ago that there are no written records. I heard about him from an old Shaman who heard about him from an even older Druid when he was a boy. You know that magical hotspot you mentioned? That wasn't there before he was laid to rest under that spot. The wellspring of supernatural power and darkness that has permeated the city that is currently known as Gotham IS him. It's his ambient energy, seeping from the tomb where he was sealed."

I wasn't an expert on this magic stuff but that sounded kind of fucking terrible. Zee certainly looked disturbed. "The question is what the hell would someone like that need a ritual like this for? If his power is mixed into the local leylines that thoroughly he would certainly have the know how to do it, but with power like his what would he even need a spell of this scale for? Whatever it is, it can't be anything good, for us or for Gotham. Maybe we can get some clue from whatever he was trying to do before he was buried. Do you know anything about it?"

Once again all we got was a headshake from that talking primate. "Nothing. Like I said, I don't even know his name or the name of the guy who put him there. I might know someone who would though. Sargon the Sorcerer is one of the oldest and strongest magic users in the world. He's a homo magi like Zee over there, and might be willing to talk to her. I can put you in touch if you want? He might be able to help even if we can't come personally. We have some...other matters that require our attention."

Zee looked amenable to the idea but I shook my head. I had pretty much had my fill of meetings. "You go ahead. I need to get back to Gotham and get ready for this party. Whoever this guy is he can't be planning anything good and I need to make sure my friends are ready in case worst comes to worst."

I stood up turning to Zee. "Keep me up to date? I want to know what's coming as much as you do, but I feel like working from two fronts is a better call." She smiled and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I nodded to the others, trying not grin as I felt Nightshade slip something that I was pretty sure was her number into my pocket, and then headed out of the Oblivion Bar. I had preparations to make, and it was going to be even more important than I'd thought before.

January 31st 2016 Gotham City 4:00 PM

Today was the day. Wait, no, that sounded stupid. Who even talked like that? Regardless, it was party time. Or it would be in a few hours. It was the thirty first, which meant it was officially time for the big event. Which is why I was meeting Zee at her place with my crew. I'd brought Bonebreaker, Cherry, Waylon, and after quite a bit of waffling, Barbie. My redhead had been there when Drench had delivered the invite, and I absolutely couldn't have left her behind without her losing it. Not to mention when she found out Cherry AND Zee were coming along she had basically told me to bring her or she would hide in somebody's trunk to get in.

Since I liked her enough not to want some mobster to pincushion her because she made some noise in his back seat I'd caved and decided to bring here. None of us were in costume anyway, and hopefully the world ending evil magic would distract her from nosing into my business. Despite that, she and Cherry had been at each other's throats since she arrived, and I had been barely managing to balance their animosity by keeping them on task. Luckily I had other things to worry about besides their sniping.

I listened to the voice in my ear patiently. "Yes Dinah, we'll be careful I promise. You and Whisper watch out for each other ok? Did you call Dr. Karlsson like I asked? Yes, I know she works at Arkham, but she's a very nice lady and a good listener, you don't need to be crazy to benefit from therapy. She agreed to have a chat with you, and I think it would be good for the baby for you to get some of your feelings off your chest." I grimaced at her response. "Sure, maybe I can talk to her too. I've gotta go, talk soon."

I physically shuddered at the idea of giving the walking sugar coma that was Ingrid access to my brain. Hell, at giving anyone access to my brain. I was worried about Dinah though, and I wasn't exactly qualified to talk to people about their feelings. Manipulation and open communication had more in common than most people liked to consider, but not THAT much. She needed an actual person to open up to who could like...empathize and shit. Ingrid was good at that stuff, plus it would get her around my house a bit and I might have a chance to get my hands on her.

Still, I'd have to find a way to avoid this whole therapy thing Dinah seemed to be leaning toward for me. I absolutely wouldn't be doing that ever. I turned to the others, ignoring Barbie and Cherry snarking at each other non fucking stop to focus on Bonebreaker and Waylon. Sally was wearing a pretty sexy dress and snuggling up to my bodyguard, who was looking pretty smug. I rolled my eyes. "So I take it the new upgrade is taking well?" I did a quick appraisal on my now F ranked body guard.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Waylon Jones- F ranked Were-Deinosuchus. The former bearer of a crocodile curse, Waylon was given a new lease on life by his current employer, Nicholas Lord. Recently an increase in his capabilities changed his crocodilian shifted form to a more primordial version of his former powerset.]

Waylon's new shifted form was fucking terrifying. I'd expected something draconic honestly, but he'd ended up becoming an ancestral version of a crocodile. I hadn't known what the hell a Deinosuchus was until I looked it up, but now I couldn't UN-know it. The fact that primordial reptiles called Terror Crocs once roamed the earth was something I probably didn't need to be aware of, but I didn't doubt having one on my side would be a benefit.

Basically Waylon's shifted form had gotten a metric fuckton bigger and he gained access to a portion of his reptilian strength in human shape. Enough that he was able to fuck the smile back onto Sally's face so hard it hadn't left since. I'd used some merged crocodiles as the base for the form, along with a few strength and speed boosters, and the results had been satisfying to say the least. I was happy to be going into this mess with my muscle at full power, and only Barbie hadn't been upgraded.

Waylon's smug grin faded to a grateful smile at my words. "It's been amazing boss. The one thing I missed about being..." He looked over at Barbie. "My old self, was the power. It was the only real benefit, and now I have the best of both worlds. Sally and I both love the power boosts. We can never repay you." Sally did look happy, though I knew I had more to pay for her particular service. Resurrecting some kids to keep a titan on my payroll was hardly an imposition though.

We were in a Limo at the moment, waiting for Zee, who was going to be driving in with us. We needed her at the door so her plus two would count. Dreading the answer I turned to the bickering girls. "Barbie, Cherry, why don't you fill me in on your plans for when we get there? I know you'll be sticking by me mostly, but I do you have anything you're hoping to accomplish here? Information you'd like to acquire maybe?" I hoped getting them focused on goals and not each other would shut them up, because I was two minutes from power fucking them both into a drooling coma to get some peace.

Luckily reminding them that I was paying attention stemmed the tide of bitching. Barbie lit up at the question, and probably partly because I'd asked her first. "Of course daddy! I have more than a couple of targets at this thing that I'm hoping to plant bugs on. This party is a veritable whose who of Gotham crime lords and business scumbags, so I don't want to miss my chance. Some of these people are NEVER seen in public." Strega, who was going to be slipping into the party with us using a back door she knew and was currently driving, had supplied the full guest list, and Barbie had been drooling ever since.

Cherry cut in enthusiastically. "I'll be searching the room we're in and picking everyone's pocket. I wanted to try to comb the house for into, but Strega convinced me that whoever Doctor Gotham is he's likely got countermeasures for ghosts. I'll stick to the space we're supposed to be in and use the dense crowd to my advantage." She paused as she heard something. "Also sounds like our final party member is here. It's about time. How long can it possibly take one person to get ready. One person with MAGIC POWERS I might add."

The car door opened, and Zee slipped inside in a very low cut dress. "Perfection takes time." She dropped into her seat, flipping her hair vainly as an obvious joke, then dropped the faux snooty attitude. "In any case, nice ride Nicky, and you look gorgeous as always." There was a pretty generous amount of cleavage flashed as she leaned in to kiss my cheek, drawing a murderous glare from Barbie, and surprisingly a smirk from Cherry who seemed to take pleasure in her rivals pain.

Cherry held out a hand. "You must be Zatanna, I've been told positively awful things about you, which is a glowing recommendation as far as I'm concerned given the source. Charise Carnes, but daddy calls me Cherry, so you can too. Any enemy of Barbie's is a friend of mine." She nodded to the others. "That's Waylon and Sally. We're your backup for the evening." She licked her lips and gave Zee a once over. "Though I think I'd like to be behind you every night, if you ever felt like asking." She winked at the brunette sorceress.

I don't know why that surprised me. Cherry hadn't hit on anyone at the house, but that wasn't shocking, given her relationships with them, and I wasn't sure if she was actually bi or just making alliances, but Zee certainly didn't seem to mind as she took in my pet psycho, ghostly pallor and all, in her emerald green dress. "Nice to meet you, though I'm sad to hear Barbara doesn't have a high opinion of me. I think nothing but the best of her." She took Cherry's hand, kissing it softly and getting a pleased grin from the blonde.

Barbie for her part looked torn between anger and discomfort. I inwardly grinned at her expression. Zee's friendly act didn't just make her sympathetic to the others. Barbie actually did sometimes feel bad for 'bullying' her. Not enough to stop or calm down the seething jealousy, especially with Zee's fantastic body on display, but enough that she wasn't currently verbally assaulting the sorceress, which was already pretty civil for the two of them. One of these days I really was going to have to fuck them together. Half of Barbie's problem with Zee was insecurity, and once she got a taste of that insane body I had a feeling it was going to be much less of a problem for her.

As much fun as letting my girls sniff around each other was though, we weren't going to an orgy, this was a legitimate mess so I turned to Zee for answers. "So. What did Sargon have to say about this mess? Anything we can use to figure out Doctor Gotham's endgame? Because honestly showing up to this mess without any idea what he's planning makes me nervous." I was worried enough about whoever the fuck this guy was without flying blind.

She sighed. "Not for sure obviously but...we have a good idea. Apparently Sargon had heard of him. Even he wasn't around at the time, but rumor has it that the artist currently known as Doctor Gotham was obsessed with creating a magical utopia he himself could rule over. He was friendly with some of the fae monarchs at the time and fancied himself the next best thing. He was planning a mass sacrifice to steep this area in magic to create a sort of knock off fae demi plane. Based on his MO we're pretty sure his ritual is some kind of magic amplification spell."

I blinked. "Wait, you're saying he's trying to supercharge this whole city so he can run a magic kingdom? What's the upside for him there? Or the downside for us, because everyone has been making this sound like the end of the world. A bit of extra magic doesn't seem like the apocalypse to me." Hell it might even be nice to live in a magic city. I could learn some sorcery after all.

That got a bitter laugh. "A bit of extra magic wouldn't be. This isn't that. Reality isn't made to withstand the weight of too much power. Weird shit tends to happen when a place is exposed to too much, hell Gotham already suffers from a darker version of that. This will be worse. To give an example, if you think of magic as water, Gotham is pretty much constantly under a downpour of really dirty rain. This ritual will be a tsunami. The laws of reality will begin to fray, monsters will start to rise from the mists of time, every petty criminal will have access to sorcery. It'll be bad."

So anarchy. Which yeah, I wasn't a fan of. Control was something of a big deal to me, and Gotham was a shithole. I didn't want to see what that was going to turn into on magical steroids. Once I'd conquered the damn place I might be willing to play around with it a bit, but for now we needed a way to stop this shit. "Ok, well I assume you wouldn't have shown up without some kind of plan, so what are we going to do to stop this? Because whatever it is, I'm in." Nobody got to fuck with my city but me.

January 31st 2016 Gotham City 5:00 PM EDT

Zee's plan was...not great. I should have probably expected that. The League's basic idea of strategy, barring Batman when he wasn't relying on the element of surprise, was to find bad guys and then do justice at them until they were in prison. How those walking wrecking balls had been granted a UN charter was completely beyond my understanding, the UN probably could have saved some money by summoning literal elementals from the elemental plane of unnecessary property damage.

In light of that it wasn't a shock that Zee's plan amounted to 'stop that bad guy by being annoying when he's doing stuff'. Granted she was a magic expert, so maybe there was some value in 'disturbing his mystical equilibrium in the midst of a delicate ritual' but it kind of sounded like she just meant to sucked punch him and hope it worked out. I checked my pocked for the babylon candle, which I'd made sure to bring along with me.

It was there of course, as was the Amethyst Necklace. I had grabbed both on the way out and while I didn't have a princess handy for the pendant it WAS a magical amplifier so I figured having it around couldn't hurt. The trip to the estate where the party was being held didn't take too long, with Zee in the can Barbie was too distracted to bicker with Cherry much, so in general I just ran through a mental checklist of our assets barring an armaggedon cloak I was pretty sure I had everything I would need, assuming Doctor Gotham didn't just swat us like flies.

Based on Zee's descriptions it was probable that the old man would have some sort of simulacra of the city to channel the ritual through. Manually altering those spells last minute to line up the power flow was POSSIBLE but it was also stupid and time consuming. Having a model that could be set up beforehand and synchronized with the ritual sites all at once was smarter, so we'd decided to look for that and try to destroy or failing that sabotage it. With Cherry's phantom powers that would normally be easy, but given she had to stick close to me because of likely defenses it was a tall order.

As the car pulled up the long drive, I was also glad Strega had agreed to drive us here, because I'd have gotten lost by now. This place was stupidly out of the way. Once we pulled to a stop I climbed out and stared up at the building we'd been driven to uncertainly. It was situation on top of a cliff and the dark clouds and tossing waves set as backdrop reinforced the obviously intentionally creepy image, but still I had to turn to the other. "So, I've been in and out of Gotham for years and you know what I never noticed?"

Everyone else was staring up at the place alongside me, and even Zee, who usually had a pretty come what may attitude about weird stuff look a bit concerned. "A castle?" Because it absolutely was. There was a full sized european castle sitting on the cliffside like it had always been there, but while I didn't claim to have known every inch of Gotham since I hadn't lived here for most of my life, I at least thought I'd have heard about a place like this.

I nodded. "A big fucking castle. Unless I just randomly didn't notice it? I find that hard to believe though. Also why does this shit always happen in Gotham, I know that it's evil magic central or whatever but why the hell haven't I heard about any of this happening in Metropolis. It's right over the bridge." For most of my life that wouldn't have bothered me, but now I lived in Gotham damn it, and I wanted everyone else to deal with the same shit as me.

Zee chuckled at that. "Because the whole city is basically one big magical dead zone." That brought me up short. "Oh magic still WORKS there. But ambient magical energy gets grounded pretty much instantly. Metropolis is the city of tomorrow, a temple to cold iron and colder logic. Everything about that place acts as a magical dampener. It's part of what makes Gotham so mystical, Metropoli acts as a sort of shunt penning in the magic."

As odd as that was I kind of saw it. I knew that scientific thinking and logical mindsets could be a sort of shield against the mystical for some people. Closing their eyes and minds to what was there by using cold hard fact as a security blanket. Given how belief could work for magical energy, if you treated science like it was a religion of it's own, that faith would probably have an effect as well. Sort of an anti-miracle if you will.

It also explained how I'd gone so long in Metropolis without ever really connecting with any magical influences. I shook off the train of thought, Metropolis being a magic dampener was interesting, but not really relevant at the moment, we weren't IN Metropolis. We were in Gotham, and just about to enter the den of a master warlock. I turned to Zee and, coming up behind her, Strega. "Alright, so how do we go about this? Zee and I go in and the others follow behind us? Or is there like a servants entrance? This seems like that kind of place."

My grandmother had berated my father for years when we moved into our current place. She insisted not having a servants entrance was an affront to our dignity as Lords. It got so bad I was ninety percent sure he purposefully left it out when constructing the house just to fuck with her. Their relationship was sometimes confusing, given that she'd raised him to be the person he was, he seemed to be inclined to put up with her bullshit at least to her face, but didn't mind more subtle methods of driving her crazy.

Strega, luckily, understood how the place worked and shook her head. "No, Doctor Gotham predates that custom. The two of you can just go in together. I'll go in with you. I'm HOPING that he'll be too busy with the party and setting up the ritual to bother with me right away. Given how much he's put into this it's probable at least." She didn't sound nearly as certain as she was making out, but given the scope of this operation she wasn't really wrong.

As we headed in though, a question occurred to me. "Hey Zee, does that mean if the ritual happens Metropolis will act as a breakwater to keep the amplified surge of magic from hitting the rest of the country on that side?" It would be nice to have a place to go that wasn't an insane funhouse attraction if things went sideways. I wanted to do my own thing and build my empire in Gotham, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure committing to living in an evil magic kingdom ruled by a warlock was a viable long term survival strategy.

Fortunately (at least for me, she seemed less happy about it) Zee nodded. "Not just Metropolis, running water is a grounding element for magical energies. The riven itself will help act as a baffle for some of the power before it even gets to Metropolis, but yes, the city will help. I'm a bit worried about how that would play out though. Given the meta population of Metropolis the dichotomy could touch off a turf war between the meta and magical factions in the area that would definitely spill over to the civilians."

That actually sounded kind of cool to me, metas vs. magical creatures on the streets of Gotham, but I also recognized that things that amused me were rarely much fun long term, and the whole world at war thing would probably lose its entertainment value fast. At the very least Whisper and Dinah were safe in the Palace. I guessed Ingrid would be too if she ended up coming over. Just in case though, I texted Roy and Jade to go over to stay with Dinah. Roy and Dinah had been semi close when she'd been with Queen so there was a thin excuse, but in reality I just wanted someone to watch her back.

I wasn't actually comfortable with how worried I was about Dinah since she got pregnant. Whisper it was easier to ignore because she was a feathered serpent kin, she had defenses that most people didn't, but Dinah, despite her time as a hero, was...vulnerable. Which was all well and good when you were talking about getting her in bed, but she was carrying the next generation of the Lord bloodline, and if dad taught me anything it was that our family were a cut above the rest.

I needed to make sure my kid turned out as brilliant as dad and I had, and keep the family business going, which required that he (because obviously I was going to have a son) be alive, which required his mother be alive. So now I had to actually worry about her getting hurt, which was annoying to deal with. Don't get me wrong, I liked most of my girls, and if they died I'd be pretty pissed at whatever killed them, but Dinah and the baby were in a sort of weird zone where I felt like their death would...bother me.

I shook off the thought. They were in a powerful enchanted building built to keep out threats, and Roy was on the way over to sit with them. I'd officially guarded my treasure as well as could be expected. The other girls were with me mostly and I could keep an eye on them from there. We finally reached the front door, Zee on my arm and the others trailing behind, and it was a surprise to see Drench himself standing at the entrance greeting guests. He smiled smarmily when he saw us. "Ah, Mr. Lord, and you brought Miss. Gordon as well, and a few other guests. Quite the turn out."

I shrugged. "We got two guests a piece, two for me and two for Zee. And of course we have out guide here who works for your boss." I gestured to Strega. As I expected he didn't seem to know that she was on the run. Doctor Gotham didn't seem like the type to farm out something so personal. He'd have looked for her with magic, and when he couldn't find her he'd have assumed she was dead or too hidden for someone like Drench to locate.

Or I was making assumptions and Drench was going to lie in wait and fry her once the party ended, but one thing at a time. In the meantime, Drench noted our group with an amiable smirk. "Of course, the invitations allowed for two guests each, so your group is welcome. I'm sure my employer will be thrilled to have such talented young people attending his big event. We're going to need people like you in the future. please, come inside and enjoy the party." He gestured us past and I nodded, Zee and I heading through the smaller door in the massive wooden castle entrance.

His parting words to us worried me, Doctor Gotham was planning to build a kingdom, which meant that he wanted subjects. I didn't care for the idea of becoming some old warlocks yes man. The Greed System pushed me to grow and consume and conquer, and playing second fiddle to an old wizard seemed like a good way to hamstring my burgeoning empire. It just gave me one more reason to stop this bullshit, but if I couldn't...I reached into my pocket to touch the Babylon Candle. My dad had always taught me to always have a backup plan.

January 31st 2016 Wintermark Castle 6:00 PM EDT

The inside of the castle was, as one would expect from a castle, really fucking big. I mean, I was used to big, I grew up in a mansion, but still, this was larger than most buildings. It was also absolutely PACKED with people. Wall to wall I could see crowds of men and women in suits and dresses and even costumes standing around drinking and laughing and in some cases sneering. It was just like I'd been expecting. All the movers and shakers in Gotham were here. I recognized the Penguin, but he didn't know me out of costume so I steered clear. The mask would prevent him knowing who I was, but it was better to just avoid interacting in any case.

Zee stepped in close, pressing herself against me. I could feel the tension in her body, and it actually made me smile a bit when I realized she was trying to protect me. I didn't need it, but it was cute that she was trying. The others stuck close as well, and Sally, who was the only one of use who wasn't in the know about Gotham politics and crime aside from Waylon, bit the bullet for my bodyguard and asked the question I assumed was on his mind. "So...who exactly are most of these people?"

I figured telling them wasn't a big deal, besides I imagine the girls probably knew a few I didn't. I'd done some research when I moved to Gotham, and I knew more than a few of them before then, but still I was bound to have missed someone. I decided to start with the ones I knew myself and let them fill in the gaps as we went. "Well, The Penguin is obvious. Cobblepot is legendary in Gotham, and he's easy to recognize by sight. Same with Two Face, over there. They each have distinguishing features that make them more than recognizable."

I pointed to another group of men gesturing to an older silver haired man. "That's Carmine Falcone, much less notable appearance wise, but just as famous. The man has been a fixture in the Gotham underworld for decades, and considering how fucking nightmarish this place is, it's easy to guess just how dangerous that makes him. The Roman is a living legend, despite having zero powers. He's probably the closest criminal analogue to Batman if you think about it. His family is massive and in every level of government and business in town."

I pointed to another group standing opposite Falcone's crew. "Sal Maroni. Not as much to say about him. Maroni knows his place, keeps his nose out of really scary shit, but he's more than dangerous enough in his own wheelhouse. He's street level and he's fine with that, but his organization is expansive as hell. He and Falcone are theoretically rivals, which is impressive in it's own right considering how low a profile he manages. Ask anyone in the city and they can tell you who Falcone is, but unless they're a cop or involved with his crew most people couldn't name Sal Maroni, and that's the way he likes it. It's kept him alive longer than most criminals in the city."

I looked around, a bit surprised to see who was missing. "Bruce Wayne isn't here, which is a bit of a surprise, though he's been out of the public eye lately. I'd say he was sick or injured but honestly that guy just loves to keep people guessing. The Scarecrow is here, which I kind of expected, but no one needs him to be introduced. The Sirens are over there, looking gorgeous as ever too. I don't know everyone here though, Barbie, I assume you have the down low on some of the ones I missed?"

She nodded. "Yeah, some of the people here are a bit more subtle, or just less attention grabbing in general. Maxie Zues for instance." She gestured to an absolute bear of a man who towered over even me. "A ruthless crime lord who believes he's the greek god Zeus. No actual evidence to support the claim, but he's an absolute beast of a man with absurd amounts of physical strength, and a surprisingly intelligent criminal when he's not running plans into the ground to prove he's a deity."

The next person she gestured to was a pretty freakish looking guy with a hood and bulging eyes. "Doctor Death for instance is a mad scientist obsessed with protecting the human body with bones. Turned himself into a freakish monstrosity but never lost his intelligence. The rest of these people are pretty terrifying too. Hush, Bane, Clayface, Black Mask, King Snake, Johnny Warlock, the list goes on. Every serious player or powerhouse in Gotham is in this room tonight, and it's honestly making me worry. I knew he would invite the big names, but I don't know what exactly he did to make them show up. At least half of these people want to kill each other, but they're all just standing around being civil."

I'd noticed that too. I imagined he must have flexed on them a bit. I wondered if I hadn't warranted that, or if sending Drench WAS a flex. Maybe he had some way of knowing I could appraise people. I'd certainly demonstrated a knowledge of my enemies. Speaking of Drench, the slippery bastard had apparently finished door duty, and was on his way up one of the two large staircases ringing the hall to stand on a balcony overlooking the massive receiving room. When he reached the top he looked down on everyone with an oily smile, raising a glass to the sky and tapping it with a knife.

The low murmur of talking cut off, everyone in the room looking up at the sorcerer, who smiled politely. "Welcome, welcome, friends and allies. My name, as I'm sure at least some of you know, is Ivan Drench. I've spoken to some of you directly, and some of you know me in passing. Still others have never heard my name, and I can't fault you for that. This night isn't about me. My employer has welcomed you all here with the promise of information, of spectacle, and of course, with the promise of power. These things will come with time or course, but for the moment, preparations are still under way. So please, eat, drink, and be merry. The big event is coming, and I assure you, it WILL be worth the wait." His smile took on a sharp edge with those words, and I wondered if they sounded as ominous to everyone who didn't know the plan.

Regardless, he turned and slipped into a door on the landing, and despite a strong urge to follow him, I knew I had to wait. Everyone would notice if I slipped through the door right after. No, what I needed was to find something I could use to slip out down here. I'd also need at least Zee with me to get past the wards, and I was keeping Cherry next to me for safety. I looked at Waylon and Sally. "Alright Zee, Cherry and I are slipping off for a bit, I want you to stick with Barbie at all times." I turned to the aforementioned redhead. "That means you too. Stay with them. Do your thing if you need to but stay safe."

She looked pretty murderous at that actually, and I could tell she didn't want to. But I could also see that she remembered promising to listen to me if I let her come with, at least to an extent. Protecting herself was a reasonable thing to ask so she couldn't really fight me on it, since I had straight up told her I would enforce any orders with the Brand if needed. I wasn't losing my business manager and most talented hacker because the decided it would be fun to try to feed the animals without anyone around to back her up. I trusted Waylon and Sally to watch her ass, they were powerhouses.

I put an arm each around Zee and Cherry and we headed out among the guests, doing our best not to actually run into anyone who would want to talk to us. Luckily everyone seemed pretty focused on whatever die hard enemies they had in the room, and no one looked like they were really interested in meeting new people. When we made it to the edge of the room I looked around to make sure no one was watching I turned to Zee. "Alright, we need a tracking spell or something to get us a direction. Cherry can help us actually get there once we have a heading." Aside from ghost abilities, Cherry's thief powers courtesy of the hand of glory would make getting past most defenses a breeze, and Zee could handle any wards she couldn't.

The sorceress shot me a cheeky grin. "I know how to do my job Nicky. Just sit tight, I can track the model, even if he did put up defenses. It's just a matter of finding the right way to get around the protections." She closed her eyes and started mumbling a string of nonsense words rapid fire. Cherry and I took up positions alongside her to block her from view as she did her thing. She looked annoyed at first, her spells clearly hitting some kind of wall, but she kept trying, stacking magic on top of magic until she finally managed to get a location, or at least a heading.

She opened her eyes with a long sigh. "Damn. Can't get a clear picture, but I do know it's that way." She pointed out of the hall, through a small wooden door that was tucked her behind a set of drapes identical to ones that hung around the entire room. We made our way over to the thing and she put a hand just over the surface without touching it, mumbling another string of nonsense. Nothing came of it and she cursed. "The obfuscations were light because he was relying on the external wards for most of it, but the lock spell is way too powerful for me to disarm any time soon."

I snickered at that. "Well, then it's a good thing I brought my skeleton key." I gave Cherry a smack on the ass, drawing a happy squeak from my psychotic thief, and she stepped forward to eye the door. She bit her lip, eyes scanning over the surface for a while to identify exactly what she needed to do to open it. I had no clue what she was seeing, but whatever it was I guessed it was good enough because she held up a hand to the door. Her fingers flared up with candle flames, each one blazing brightly for a moment before they started to go out. Four of them snuffed before the final finger, the pinkie, flared up and the door clicked open.

I grinned at the girls, pulling the door open and stepping through first. They were much more fragile than I was, mantle and wyrm blood being what they were. We stepped in and closed the door behind us, and Zee led us down a hallway. Cherry kept her eyes peeled for traps as we walked, but she saw none, which given the strength of the ward on that door didn't shock me. Only an idiot would leave active traps strewn about EVERY part of his own fucking house.

Finally we came to a new room. A library sprawled out before us, wall to wall books in a massive room, only vaguely lit by free floating candle flames that swam through the air. Zee repeated her spells, and we followed her further in until we arrived in front a table. I exhaled in relief as I spotted a model of the city sitting there as if waiting for us. We all stepped forward to look at it closer, only to freeze as a low chuckle resonated through the barely lit room. One of the candle flames drifted slowly to the side enough to show a dapper well dressed older man in a ponytail. "Oh look, my guests are early. Hello." Well...shit.