Gwyndolin stared at his prey with all the inexorable patience he had developed over his very long life. The bar across the street was one that found itself frequented by members of the Medusa Syndicate, and Gwyndolin was taking note of who exited and entered the building.
He had managed to come across this particular bar as a result of interrupting another battle. It was an old and simple tactic to allow your enemy to escape and follow them to their stronghold, but it was also an effective one. Gwyndolin had followed the criminal to his home and then later to this location.
He might have excused the building as a mundane location for the criminal to drink alcohol after an arduous day—if not for the magical wards around the building.
Gwyndolin could certainly destroy the wards, but not without notifying the mage who created them. He could sneak past them, but when he tried, a guard had confronted him and his mastery of the local dialect was still insufficient to avoid drawing attention to himself. He could attempt to use the spell Hidden Body to eavesdrop unseen, but the building was active enough that he risked colliding with someone and being discovered.
Therefore, he was stuck patiently waiting outside the building, memorizing faces and hoping the mage responsible for the wards would visit. Gwyndolin had memorized the taste of his magic and would recognize him immediately.
Gwyndolin had spent the past two weeks learning everything he could about this world with the assistance of David after school hours. The rest of his time had been spent secretly stalking criminals in an attempt to find the locations where they kept their money and gather information on his enemies.
Researching the Escabedo Cartel had been a surprisingly simple endeavor, due largely in part to its nature as a prominent criminal organization.
The Escabedo Cartel was the most powerful drug cartel in Colombia—rivaled only in their country by the Medellin Cartel—and was feared across Latin America. Gwyndolin had been able to learn much about their history thanks to a documentary filmed by a reporter who was later assassinated.
He was even able to gain a general understanding of their interests in Miami.
The Cartel had succeeded in suborning a large portion of their home country's government and had entrenched themselves deeply in Colombia's capital city. Any attempts to dislodge them from Bogotá were rendered ineffective by one of the Cartel's high-ranking members, a geokinetic metahuman powerful enough to threaten the city.
When Gwyndolin had learned what a metahuman was, he could scarcely believe that a mortal could simply be born with such power. Then he had learned that Superman did not make any claim to godhood, and he decided to stop expecting this world to make sense.
With control over most of their country, the Cartel had decided to expand north, eventually reaching Mexico.
The end result was that after much fighting, they were pushed back by both the native Cartels and Mexico's premier superhero team, Justicia. The Escabedo Cartel had many skilled assassins and metahumans, but nothing they had could handle Mexico's most powerful hero, El Dorado.
The Cartel's subsequent actions were not fully known to the public, but most internet analysts believe they formed a partnership with criminals in Santa Prisca. The Escabedo Cartel provided the drugs and the violence while the Santa Priscans provided smuggling routes into Miami.
Admittedly, this was just internet speculation, but Gwyndolin had been able to find circumstantial evidence that supported the theory.
The lack of a significant superhero team in the United States since the disbanding of the Justice Society was likely a blessing from the Cartel's perspective. Most American superheroes were highly independent, meaning they rarely cooperated with their government, nor did they often venture outside their cities.
The Cartel must be cursing the bad luck after Gwyndolin appeared in the city.
Their low-ranking warriors lacked discipline and skill, compensating in acts of gratuitous violence that failed to intimidate Gwyndolin. He had already stalked many of their members to numerous safehouses and memorized their locations.
In contrast, finding any information on the Medusa Syndicate was proving to be a significantly more difficult task. The organization was both paranoid and competent, which frustrated any attempt Gwyndolin made in his research.
The only thing he had been able to learn was that they utilized magic to a degree that aroused Gwyndolin's suspicion. Admittedly, the fact that they used magic at all was already enough to arouse suspicion.
Gwyndolin had been able to learn a lot from the internet, but information on magic had proven to be surprisingly sparse. The average person was aware that it existed, but there was no reliable information on how it was actually used. Anything found online was self-contradictory at best, and dangerous at worst.
Despite that failure, Gwyndolin was feeling rather proud of himself overall. His studies had borne fruit, and he felt much more confident in his ability to navigate this world. Admittedly, it helped that he had limited his efforts to matters pertaining to his ability to act as a superhero and that he didn't need to sleep.
He was now mostly competent in his ability to navigate the internet and use a phone… mostly.
He had stumbled upon a few websites that had deeply shocked him. This resulted in Gwyndolin avoiding the internet for a few days until the lure of knowledge proved too powerful.
He also managed to gain a general understanding of the mortal's projectile weapons, or 'guns' as they called them. An average gun would not be a threat to him, but these mortals had weapons that far exceeded the average gun.
That wasn't even mentioning the weapons that used technology—alien or otherwise—far superior to what was generally available.
Truly, this world was a highly dangerous place.
Gwyndolin looked to the moon and noted that it was almost time for him to return to the warehouse.
David had wished to join him in his investigations, but Gwyndolin knew better than to trust the boy would not immediately lose interest when forced to wait. His decision had been the right one.
After David had started to grow bored due to a lack of superhero fights, Gwyndolin placated the boy by telling him stories about his past. At least, the parts of it that were appropriate to be shared with a child.
He had made the mistake of telling one of his favorite stories about his time learning magic, and now the child wanted nothing more than to learn magic from Gwyndolin. When he had asked David why his grandfather was not teaching him, David had grown uncharacteristically withdrawn before answering.
Apparently, his grandfather was unwilling to teach David magic due to a fatal magical accident that had occurred while training his previous apprentice.
Gwyndolin felt sympathy for the man. Magic was dangerous and the risks towards its practitioners were always present.
He had promised to speak with the boy about the matter tonight, and it was about time to have that conversation.
Gwyndolin took one last look at the bar before he began casting his teleportation spell. The next time he returned here, he would be arriving with violent intent.
A moment later and he reappeared in the abandoned building David had started referring to as his superhero base. The child had wanted to call it his Snake Nest, but after the mortals had started calling him Slither, Gwyndolin had exhausted his tolerance for silly names.
The building was gradually becoming more comfortable after Gwyndolin had started confiscating furniture from the homes of criminals.
Gwyndolin was only slightly surprised to see that David was already waiting for him when he arrived. The boy was nothing if not eager.
"You're back!" The boy quickly sat up from the couch where he had been playing with his phone. "Did you find that evil wizard you were looking for?"
"I did not," said Gwyndolin. "Said sorcerer dost not frequent the bar, mayhap."
It was unlikely he would learn more than he already had by watching the bar, so he would cut his losses. Hopefully, when he attacked, he would be able to find someone who knew the mage's identity.
Gwyndolin could tell David was eager to ask again about magic training, so he decided to address the topic directly.
"I have arrived at a conclusion in regard to thine request to learn magic, David."
"Really?" David was already making his expression as pitiful and pleading as possible.
Unfortunately for him, Gwyndolin had already made his decision.
"I have decided I shall not train thee—"
"What?!" David yelled in outrage.
"Cease thine interruptions, David," Gwyndolin said firmly, in the same tone of voice he had once used to address Yorshka
David winced, then pouted. "Sorry…"
Gwyndolin hummed in acknowledgment before continuing. "I have decided I shall not train thee without thine guardian's consent."
"But what if he says no?" said David, eyes widening in surprise.
"Then we shall evaluate his rationale and strive to allay his grievances. I shall not withdraw mine stipulation, David."
The boy looked disappointed, but he just huffed and crossed his armed when he understood that Gwyndolin would not be changing his mind. "Okay. Fine."
There were a few different reasons Gwyndolin had insisted on meeting David's grandfather before he agreed to teach him magic.
The first reason was that it was the responsible thing to do. Magic was dangerous, and David's guardian had a right to know what his grandson was doing and voice his objections if he had any. Obviously, those objections would need to be convincing enough to persuade Gwyndolin, but that went without saying.
The second reason was one born from a colder, more pragmatic side of his mind. Gwyndolin's protective pendant suggested that his grandfather was either a fairly powerful sorcerer, or had connections to one. In either case, the man could either be a worthy ally, or a troublesome foe.
His research into all the things that could potentially threaten him in this world had convinced Gwyndolin of something important. Borrowing a mortal idiom, he was a big fish in a massive ocean.
Therefore, it would be best to approach any potential threat with diplomacy when possible.
"We shall convene with thine grandfather the day after tomorrow. I have decided, tomorrow I shall attack mine enemies."
"Finally! How can I help?"
Gwyndolin shook his head. "Thou shalt not participate in this battle. Mine presence in this city may compel the criminals to escalate. Their capabilities remain partially unknown."
"But, I'm like your Robin! I should be helping!"
Gwyndolin spent the next several minutes patiently explaining to David why he could not participate. He was not happy, but he eventually seemed to understand that without training, there would be little he could do to assist. After Gwyndolin detailed to him some of the Escabedo Cartel's atrocities, he grew green in the face and seemed more willing to wait for training.
The conversation with the boy's grandfather would be an interesting one.
Gwyndolin sent David to do the work assigned to him by his educators while he sprawled himself across the couch and mentally reviewed his plans.
After gathering information on the two criminal organizations, Gwyndolin reached the conclusion that they both had the willingness and capacity to escalate. The Miami port was too valuable for the Escabedo to surrender easily, and the Medusa had shown commitment to their presence in the city, even if their interests were opaque.
When Gwyndolin begins causing serious problems for their organizations, they would send their best assassins, metahumans, alien technology, and mages to kill him. That being the case, there are some who would have chosen to slowly dismantle them and escalate as little as possible.
Gwyndolin, however, thought the best course of action would be to hit them hard and cause as much damage to their operations as possible before they could threaten him. That way, by the time their reinforcements arrive, they would be forced to spend their efforts rebuilding. It would also allow him to seize as many of their resources as possible before they found a way to adapt to his presence.
Tomorrow, Gwyndolin would be teleporting to every single one of the enemy strongholds he had found with the intention of taking what he could and destroying what he could not.
It is likely that many of the criminals he would incapacitate would avoid prison, but the more that happened, the more outrage would be directed to the corrupt authorities.
Gwyndolin hummed and closed his eyes. He did not sleep, but he did meditate and prepared himself for the following day.
When he had first decided to become a superhero, his motivation had been an idle interest in punishing the wicked and pleasing a hopeful child. Then he had been motivated by his desire to take their resources for himself. But after researching these criminal organizations, Gwyndolin was motivated by a deep sense of… resentment.
This world was so blessed in comparison to the one in which he had been born. The people of this world did not have to concern themselves with an Age of Fire that grew progressively shorter with each iteration. They did not need to feel themselves be consumed by hopelessness as the world around them died and their efforts were proved futile.
These criminals were blessed to live in such a world, and they had the audacity to despoil it with their petty evils.
He noted David's worried glance when his serpents started to hiss softly.
Gwyndolin had every intention of making certain that tomorrow would be a very bad day for the criminals of Miami.