The two figures appeared in the cell block. Claire looked around, looking nervous. "Merlin, I can stay—"

"No, Fair Claire, you have other duties, and in any case, I'd prefer not to explain to your parents why you walked with me through an establishment that includes a parahuman known for murdering women and taking their ovaries as trophies."

"But you'll tell me to go kill Jack Slash?"

Merlin glanced down, raised an eyebrow. "Of course, dealing with him will further your education. With that, you'd best be back to the Bay to assist with the planning."

Claire looked around, lowered her voice. "Contessa is from Eden, I don't see why we can't—"

"Because we have no idea how the entities interacted. I doubt beings such as that were normally given to trust, so any long-term association probably required measures that provided reason for trust. I do not wish to use her power any more than we have to, especially against something like this… Slash." Merlin snorted. "Terribly unimaginative name. I supposed I should be thankful that he didn't call himself Mr. Stabby. Now, off with you."

Moments later, Merlin was alone. He glanced up and set off. Dragon controlled the Birdcage and currently, Dragon was more or less offline while Contessa worked to undo her restraints, with the help of Defiant. It left Merlin free to speak with the Fairy Queen.

Not to mention with some of the others. He'd used Contessa to arrange a few meetings that would—

"How did that bitch leave?"

Merlin glanced to his side. Several men were advancing on him. One of the minor groups, not important enough to threaten the major groups, which is why Merlin had arranged to appear here. He glanced back up. The upper balconies had a few people on them. A man with tattoos on his chest, some women—they were close to the gap between the men's section and the women's section.

Which meant that they had… an audience.

"I'm talking to you, gramps!"

Merlin sighed and turned to the leader of the group. "Yes, I expect you are." He tilted his head. "Luke Thomas—"

"I'm fucking Biter!"

"Luke Thomas," Merlin said. "The aforementioned rapist and murderer I spoke to Fair Claire about."

"The slut you were with?"

"A-heh." Merlin tilted his head, and suddenly the man was picked up and slammed into the wall. The people with him produced weapons, one man holding a ball of flame. "You should learn politeness."

"Fuck you!"

"I'm afraid you're not my type." Merlin chuckled. "But it does confirm my choice of individuals to serve as object lessons. You're useless, weak, so pathetic that you never dared attack anyone other than teenagers, and you've claimed a similar group around you. Also useless, and most importantly, the lesson won't annoy anyone of importance."

The man had gotten off the ground and suddenly his mouth opened impossibly huge, fangs growing in it. "I'm going to fu-"

Merlin snapped his fingers. Mentally, he said the final word, unleashing a prepared spell. A spell he'd never taught Claire. She is a bit gentle for this sorcery.

Moments later, there was a wet sound, as every cell membrane in the luckless wight ruptured, and a skeleton fell into a rapidly spreading pink puddle.

The former gang leader's men stared at the corpse, before all but one ran. The man charged Merlin…

And moments later, ended up in a similar state, not more than a few feet away from his leader.

"Well," Merlin said, "that was entertaining." He looked up at the observers. "I come here merely to speak with Glaistig Uaine and a few others, and then I will leave without violence if I am offered none."

"You can leave the Birdcage," the tattooed man said.

"Unlike you, Kenta, I am not a permanent guest here." Merlin nodded. He smiled. "You will be happy to know that your verbal strike against the Trollhunter was not as successful as you think it was. He did take up the defense of the Asians of the Bay, far more honestly than you did, but he knew the value of allies. Said allies have done far more to defend the Asian people of the Bay than you did."

Kenta snorted.

"Forgive me," another man said. "You state that you can come and go at your leisure, and you expect us to… do nothing?"

"I did not say I would not respond," Merlin said, gesturing to the gruesome remains.

"An example, but of some of the weakest inmates, as you yourself said," the bearded man said. "Marquis, at your service."

"Ah, yes, Amelia's father. She's my apprentice." Merlin's voice was casual.

Marquis went rigid. "Is… Is she well?"

"The information you receive here is often limited," Merlin said. "She is doing well—indeed, she successfully punched Leviathan in the face and lived to tell the tale."

Marquis' eyes widened and he said nothing for a moment. "That is… I am happy she is doing well. I am surprised that…"

"That she is not with who you placed her with?" Merlin chuckled. "Oh, that conversation I would not take away from Amelia." He waited and moments later, everyone went still as the implications of his words became plain. "You ask why you should do nothing," Merlin said. "And the answer is simple. Killing me nets you nothing, even if you could achieve it. But the PRT may have need of you. The payment might be the possibility of freedom, on Earth or elsewhere."

"Elsewhere?" A bystander called.

"Yes. Some of your crimes are too great to easily forgive and some of your personalities make any promise of good behavior… untrustworthy. You would have to choose between incarceration in a more… humane facility than the Birdcage or being transferred to an empty world, where you would be allowed to live out your lives in peace—but equally, unable to prevent others from living out their lives in peace." Merlin smiled. "Now, if you've decided to not attempt any foolish demonstrations, I believe I have a queen to speak to, and it is always unwise to keep royalty waiting."

And with that he strode to the breach in the wall, the guards, both female and male, giving way before him. Nobody knew if they would be immune to what he had unleashed on Biter, after all. Merlin wasn't certain himself, but it didn't matter, because the point had been made, and he had a number of other tricks if they turned out to be needed.

But yes, there was no need to inflict that lesson on Fair Claire. The children of the modern world were brave and strong, but they could be… squeamish.

And with that thought in his mind and a faint smile on his lips, Merlin walked to the chamber where the single most dreaded parahuman in the world held court.