Sell you a Bridge

by MalcolmTent6730

Have you ever gotten an email telling you you've won a free cruise? Or one for a work out that will get you ripped in ten days? Wouldn't it be crazy if those offers were legit? Well for Morgan O'Malley they can be. Spam becomes real life when his meta powers finally manifest. Hopefully the perks of the super life aren't false advertising.

4. Chapter 4

After we told him we would help, Reggie seemed to almost deflate. He slumped forward onto the table in exhaustion. "Thank you! Seriously, thank you both. I was so terrified I ran out of my house after the meeting as soon as they left. I figured even if they came back they wouldn't stay if I was gone, but now I have a week to get things done and I should go home I guess but I'm so scared to be around my mom and sister. I don't know what to do."

I frowned and reached across the table to squeeze his shoulder. "Text your mom to tell her you woke up early to go work on a project, you can crash at my place tonight. We can go with you back to your house tomorrow night and look around. You still want to do the Charcoal Pit tomorrow? We can call Bette and cancel if you want?" Reggie seemed so much calmer now that we were giving him actual options. I couldn't imagine what he was going through, some mysterious group showing up and giving you a job or they would kill your family because of something your dad did before he died?

Reggie shook his head. "No, if I start acting weird it might give something away." He shot me a wink, though his heart wasn't in it "Besides, I've been waiting for a chance with Bette for ages, it'll take more than the fear of death to scare me off." Being on somewhat more familiar territory seemed to have given him a bit more confidence, and I couldn't help but laugh. He smiled at my amusement "Seriously though man, thank you so much. I can never repay you for this. You've barely known me a day and you're willing to help me out of such a crazy jam I'll owe you forever."

I just waved it off "No big, man. You might be a new friend, but you're still a friend. Can't have it getting out I'm letting some jumped up rich person street gang screw with my people. My rep would be in tatters." I winked to show him I was joking. Mostly. "Anyway it's late, we should head back to my place. I'll leave my mom a note that I have a buddy crashing at the house because he needed a ride to school." I glanced around, still feeling like we were being watched "Though, maybe you should walk between us on the way back. Just in case."

The remark seemed to set him on edge again, but honestly I didn't blame him there. He left a few bucks on the table for the coffee he had been mainlining before we got there and we all stood up to leave. Despite having lived in Gotham all my life there was something deeply disturbing about walking down a dark street at night with the constant feeling you were being stalked by something. I tried to use my ninja training in moving unseen to figure out where I would be following us from and managed to catch the odd glance of a dark shadow.

Whoever was on our ass was good, like, as good as I was with help from my power. I just got the outline of a person and the occasional flash of lenses from some kind of goggles. Probably night vision if I had to guess. I'd called a cab from the diner but arranged a pick up a mile or so away at a gas station a bit closer to my condo. I figured if we had to wait anyway a walk might calm Reggie's nerves and save me a few bucks in cab fare. We walked in silence, and the cab was waiting by the time we got there.

The time seemed to blur by and soon we were back at my condo and I was setting Reggie up with some blankets on my floor. I gave him one of my pillows so he could get some rest before school and went to go find a replacement in the boxes downstairs. It took a minute to find them in the stacks but I located the box with the linen closet stuff in it and pulled out a shuriken to open it with. I lowered the shuriken to the box, but before it reached the tape I hurled it sideways at what looked like an empty patch of darkness. There was a flash of metal on metal and the shuriken went spinning away.

I turned to face the intruder "I don't know who you are, or what shadowy organization you came from, and I give zero fucks. Following Reggie out in the street isn't cool, but I can't really do much about it. This however is my house, and if you don't get the fuck out I'm going to punch so many new holes in your melodramatic ass you'll be able to pass for a pasta strainer." I'd noticed him when I came downstairs. Ninja senses are pretty great for spotting intruders, since we know all the best ways to be an intruder.

The guy was big. He wore all dark clothes and a mask and a big pair of reflective goggles like I'd spotted on the street. He had swords, and he looked like he knew how to use them, my tanto was sharp as fuck but I had zero idea how to actually use the thing yet so I obviously wouldn't actually fight him with swords. The figure cocked it's head, tilting it oddly to one side. Finally he spoke, a raspy voice, clearly rough from disuse "You have been inducted into a task. Your knowledge of us has been deemed...acceptable. For now. Aid your friend in the completion of his objective and all debts are cleared."

That, I had not been expecting. I assumed he was an assassin, but clearly these guys weren't stupid. Reggie was a teenager, and under pressure they suspected he might spill their secrets. I frowned at the knock off ninja. "Ok, so we help him steal this thing from and keep our moths shut about whoever you guys are, which since we don't know seems pretty simple, and you let him go. What if I decide to just kill you for breaking into my place? I don't much like the thought of assassins infiltrating my condo where my family lives."

The assassin stilled, head slowly and eerily righting itself "We are many. Kill one and more will come. We will drown you in blood. However we will not return. You are not worthy of our time or concern. You are beneath us. We come only to serve a warning, keep your silence, aid your friend, or die with him and his family upon the event of his failure." That just pissed me off, but the guy didn't sound like he knew what bluffing even was. I fully believed whoever sent him had more freaks like him and would absolutely send them to kill us all.

I snarled in frustration. "Who the fuck are you people? Why are you coming after Reggie like this? He doesn't want to be part of your creepy little games and his dad is dead. Debt's don't pass on like that, just leave his family alone." I wanted to hurt this guy. I was angry. I spent years feeling useless and pathetic because of my lack of superpowers and now that I had them I couldn't do shit anyway. This asshole was making me feel weak and pathetic and I was enraged past the point of reason by it.

The assassin laughed, a creepy high pitched sound that didn't fit with his scratch voice at all and sent shivers down my spine. "Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of them or they'll send a Talon for your head." The words were spoken with a sing song fluidity that implied they were some kind of ritual phrase, and clearly meant to intimidate me.

It didn't work. "That was awful. The meter is atrocious. I wrote better poetry when I was in kindergarten. But I take your point. You guys are some big scary secret society and you'll kill the shit out of me if I talk about you. Message delivered, threat received. Now get the fuck out of my house so I can go to sleep and start preparing to help Reggie accomplish goals you could obviously accomplish yourself but instead passed off to a teenager for some weird fucking reason." The figure, which from the terrible rhyme I would assume was a "Talon" tilted it's head again in that strange manner I now recognized as a bit birdlike.

Despite that it didn't react to my hostility with anger or violence and merely nodded and then melted into the shadows. To anyone else it would have just disappeared but I knew the route it would take to leave. It was the same one I would use. I stood there for a minute or two, waiting to make sure the fucker had actually left before bolting upstairs to my computer. First thing I did was got through my emails. I needed to find something...there. I had an idea. My powers came in the form of items, I had ninja training and weapons and strength, Artemis had her martial arts and skills, but Reggie was pretty much screwed as it was.

I'd tracked down one of the cheaper and least impressive emails that offered superpowers. Thirty points was cheap for something like that, but I assumed that was because "Dr. Destro's Diabolical Dehumanization Draft" was a vial of formula that supposedly gave you a random superpower. It was the only thing I could afford at the moment sadly. Luckily dehumanization was just a catchy word for giving someone meta powers, but still random powers was a bit of a gamble. I'd give it to Reggie and explain to him that I got it from my dad and tell him the risks.

Revealing the existence of my old man would be much smarter than telling him about my powers. I might have been a bit hasty telling Artemis, but I'd known her for years even if we weren't that close. Reggie I'd just met and if I was going to be mixed up with weirdos like this Court of Owls I should be more careful. Still telling him about my dad was plenty, and would help out here, no way the Falcone's had been around so long without knowing that there was a creepy secret society running around Gotham.

I would leave a message for my old man and arrange a meeting, hopefully he could tell me more about these guys or at the very least offer protection. The Falcone family was old as dirt and we had a ton of resources in Gotham. No matter who this Court of Owls was, I doubted they could just ignore us. Besides given my new skill set my dad would see me as a future asset. I could just pretend I'd been training in secret all these years. Not like he would know different since he was never around anyway. This entire thing would be way easier with the family at my back.

I could also ask him about this Shadowcrest place. If it was in Gotham and was this big fancy place he had to have heard of it. Maybe he knew how to get us in. If the family couldn't scare off these Owl guys we would have to pull the job anyway but having the information my dad could provide would make things much easier. I checked the clock, wincing as I noticed it was four in the morning. Three hours until I needed to get up for school. With a plan in mind I laid down to try to get some sleep. I could deal with all this tomorrow.

The next morning was...blurry. I didn't get nearly enough sleep the night before between the stupid Court of Owls breaking into my house and my friend calling me in a panic. I stuck Dr. Destro's Dehumanization Draft in my backpack to offer to Reggie at school after I talked to Artemis about it to see if she was cool waiting for something else. I was down to fourteen points now, and I made a mental note to save some up for the actual theft on Friday if my dad couldn't get us out of it.

Reggie rode with us to school, my mom was not only ok with him being at the condo, she spent the whole morning fussing over him like a wounded puppy. Being thin and pale and very obviously exhausted she was basically force feeding him pancakes. Artemis came over for breakfast before we left and it was funny enough to make up for both of us being so tired it was almost physically painful. When we got to school agreed to meet up at lunch and head outside the school to talk instead of hitting the cafeteria and then headed off to class.

My first class was my English class with Annabel, and when I dropped into the seat she turned to me with a bright smile, only blanch at my disheveled state. "Oh wow, Morgan you look terrible. Did you sleep at all last night? You look like a racoon." While not flattering that was probably fair, but Annabel was much to nice to say that usually especially after knowing me only a day because when she realized that had been out loud she covered her mouth with a hand "Oh god, I'm so sorry. I just meant you look tired. Is everything ok?"

I just laughed it off "Yeah, it's fine. A friend got stranded somewhere last night and woke me up to come get him. I might need a bit of help with whatever we cover today, I'm so tired I'm having trouble remembering what I was saying at the beginning of my own sentences." I really needed to go to the bathroom and splash cold water on my face from the sink actually but we'd just gotten here so it didn't seem to be in the cards. Instead, I went with an old trick I'd come up with studying at the public library near Gotham North because falling asleep there wasn't really safe. I took out a rubber band an snapped it against my arm.

A quick jolt of pain was enough to wake me up, especially since I seemed to always feel pain more acutely when I was tired. Annabel was looking at me like I was nuts and I just shrugged. She just shook it off and winked at me "Anyway sure, I can help out with class, but you'll owe me one. Maybe we could do coffee sometime, you certainly seem like you need it." I grinned back at her, not at all against the idea of going out with the pretty little blonde. She looked around "In the meantime go to sleep. Kaplan hates people talking or making a ruckus but anything quiet she mostly ignores. Unless you snore she won't bother you, I'll give you my notes after class."

I almost groaned in gratitude but I didn't want to make the noise. I opened the book I shared with Annabel and put it in front of me so I wouldn't be too obviously sleeping, I figured it would be easier to ignore me napping in class with plausible deniability. I was unconscious within a minute of my head hitting my desk. As per usual I was shaken awake what felt like two minutes later, classes didn't last that long and if I was still sleeping when everyone left it would have kind of made things too obvious to ignore. I thanked Annabel for the cover and the extra copy of her notes and we made plans to meet Saturday for coffee, assuming I wasn't dead.

After class I slipped out as planned to meet with Artemis and Reggie. We decided to meet up at a tree just outside the school where hopefully we wouldn't be overheard. When I got there Reggie was running late and Artemis was already waiting. I plopped down next to my friend and leaned my back against the tree. She looked like she was about to nod off. I chuckled "Your first class wasn't one you could sleep in huh? I really lucked out with Kaplan. She doesn't care what you do provided it doesn't interrupt class. Thank god I don't talk in my sleep. Anyway I wanted to talk to you about something important before Reggie shows up."

I slipped the vial of glowing green liquid out of my backpack. "This is Dr. Destro's Dehumanization Draft. I'm not sure what was supposed to be in this, but what's in it now after my power got done with it is a random superpower. I was going to give it to Reggie. He doesn't have my power or your training and he has to be a part of this mess at Shadowcrest. A super power might help him survive longer." I paused "Well, probably. The email said that despite being random the power wouldn't cause any harm. Still, you were with me first, I don't want to screw you over, I can give this to you if you want it. We can just watch out for Reggie together."

Artemis looked torn, but finally she shook her head. "No. You're right, giving it to him is the right call. I have my training to fall back on and you have your powers but if we want to get out of this now that we're in we need Reggie to be able to pull his weight." I'd told her when she showed up this morning about our little visitor last night. "Plus, no offense but a random superpower sounds risky. Even if it won't harm me what if I get like laser tits or something?" I gave her an incredulous look "What? Random means it could be anything. As much as I'd love super powers if have to whip out my boobs to use them I might as well not have any at all."

I heard a throat clear from off to one side and we turned to see Reggie grinning at us. "That vial gives people the ability to shoot lasers from their nipples? Because I'll be honest, as weird as that is I would totally drink it. At least as long as Artemis is sure she doesn't want it." I cracked up as my friends face went beet red. She rarely blushed so I couldn't help but savor the moment. Reggie laughed too "But seriously regardless of what it actually is where the hell did you get a vial with superpowers in it. Those things don't grow on trees. In fact I didn't even know they had a stable formula to create metas."

As planned I just dumped all the weirdness on my family connections. "About that...so, I know this will be weird to hear and I'd appreciate you not telling anyone but my dad is Mario Falcone. We're actually meeting with him soon about Shadowcrest. He got the vial from some crazy doctor he works with. It's totally safe, but it's not exactly legal. It also doesn't give you laser titties, though if it did I maintain that would be an amazing power for you Artemis." She just stuck up her middle finger at me "The power is actually random. It won't be something that will actually hurt you but other than that it could be anything. We have to hit Shadowcrest Friday so we thought we would offer it to you. If you want it."

He looked stunned "I...don't even know what to say. So many people would love meta powers. You guys are already doing so much to help me. I mean, obviously yeah I accept but still this is just a huge thing." His smile was a bit watery around the edges "I can never repay what you guys are doing for me. Seriously though, I appreciate the help more than you could know." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath "Well, I guess if I'm taking this I should do it now. Who knows if I'll need time to recover before class." He hesitated a bit "Also, I know you said this was safe but if my head explodes please tell my mom and sister I love them. And tell Bette I had a dream one time where we co-owned a bodega. It was really nice."

I didn't actually have a response to that so I nodded and he toasted to both of us, popped the cap and downed Dr. Destro's Dehumanization Draft in one pull. Thinking about it not telling him what it was called was probably a good choice. Regardless of the name though he would be fine. My power changed reality. The email said it would be a non harmful power so it would be a non harmful power. Reggie stood there fine for a second then he started to choke. He grabbed his throat and his face turned purple and Artemis and I both started freaking out. We looked at each other frantically trying to figure out what to do as he collapsed to his knees.

Then suddenly he just stopped. He looked at our faces and burst out laughing. "Oh god, sorry guys not the right time I know but you should have seen your faces." Unfortunately for him he was so busy cracking up at his joke at our expense that he didn't notice falling to his knees had put him within range or Artemis's feet. She kicked him in the nuts. This time the choking and falling over was real, and it was our turn to laugh. He laid on the ground gasping for a minute or two before crawling up to his hands and knees before croaking out "Ok, I may have deserved that."

I finally stopped laughing and patted him on the back "So, did it work? Can you fly? Or turn into a man made of cheese, or throw exploding energy bananas? Hell are you slightly better at juggling now? I'll take anything at this point." I had neglected to find out if there was a way to tell what the power was. I could only hope that like my other artifacts it gave him an instinctive grasp on how to use the ability. Still knowing that I could let other people use items was pretty amazing. However somehow my power was communicating to me it would only work once per person.

Without the energy from my power (which could be any kind of energy I needed it to be) the person would just develop their own native energy pool. Once they took the formula or did the lessons or what have you they would have their own independent source of energy inside them, but it could only be a single kind. My ninja arts used qi, Reggie's meta powers used some other kind of energy.

I could use my points as both but anyone else was limited to a single type. It was interesting that knowledge was somehow intuitive but I suspected it was just my ability making sure i didn't accidentally blow up one of my friends. Probably one of the changes from the points used to add the cost values to the emails.

Reggie meanwhile was grinning like a loon now as he got to his feet and dusted off his knees. "Hell yeah, it worked! You are now looking at a metahuman. My power is translocation. I can switch places with another object or switch the places of two objects I can see. It even works on other people. I can only do it like once every ten minutes right now, but I can tell as I get stronger I can increase that. It's the weirdest feeling, it's like I've known how to do this my whole life. I can just feel how it works." He shot us both a grin "So, who wants to test out my super powers before lunch is over?"

It was like pulling teeth to get Reggie to promise not to use his powers for the rest of the day. I didn't want him teleporting shit in class and getting caught but he really wanted to try it out. I reminded him of his date with his dream girl later today though and it shut him up, though who knew how long that would last. Classes passed pretty quickly. Reggie pestered me about Bette in chem instead of his new abilities, seeming to have put the whole marked for death thing out of his mind after getting superpowers.

I couldn't blame him there. Getting superpowers had been a big shift in worldview for me too. It was hard to hate your life when you could break the laws of physics. Something about having unnatural powers just made confidence that you could solve problems sort of a knee jerk reaction. After school we met up and headed down the street to the Charcoal Pit. Bette was supposed to meet us there. Artemis was coaching Reggie "Remember, tell her she looks nice, comment on her hair, but only the way it looks, talking about how people smell is creepy unless you've been dating a while. And what's the number one rule of making a good impression?"

Reggie nodded solemnly "Don't talk about her butt. Even if it looks really good today I shouldn't mention it." I was genuinely shocked no girl had stabbed Reggie yet, he must be way more charming to women than he was to me. Still he seemed to be taking Artemis's advice to heart so we might be able to train him to talk to girls yet. He must have seen the looks because he glared at us. "I'm not an idiot alright? It's just that whenever I talk to Bette my brain just goes blank. She's so pretty, and her eyes are so blue. I just blurt out the first thing I'm thinking which when speaking to her is usually something about her butt."

Artemis snickered "Yeah, well you certainly made an impression on her. Luckily she pretty much left your presence after one sentence every time you talked so it wasn't that big an impression. If you can get past fifteen or twenty words without mentioning her ass you might have a shot to impress her. Remember. You have superpowers now. Be confident." His tense expression seemed to ease. I was so glad we had planned this for today, since later we would be going to his house to scope things out and make sure the Court wasn't lurking nearby.

After talking with Artemis we had decided not to tell Reggie about the court's visit. He already knew the stakes if we failed and letting him know they applied to us now too wasn't going to make him any more motivated than his family being in danger, it would just freak him out. Having powers apparently made him feel like this would be an easy job now, though I was withholding judgement on that until we spoke to my dad. Either way Reggie was motivated but not afraid and that was pretty much the best possible outcome for us.

The meeting with my dad was set up for tomorrow, the day before we were supposed to rob the place, so hopefully we would be able to learn a few things about our targets. I had a sneaking suspicion that the Court of Owls wouldn't have bothered sending us if it was a normal place, considering how easily that Talon guy got into my house. No matter what they said about tests or debts this was a fucking circus, they were clearly using us to test the defenses on this place. If we pulled it off, great, if not they could use the info to do it on their own or just send another team of lackeys to smash themselves against the security.

When we got to the Charcoal Pit I was kind of surprised. Somehow I had expected a fifties style diner or something. Which it definitely was, but it was clearly authentic. I'd been expecting something shiny and up to date, like a knock off, not actual stuff from the fifties that was a bit faded from age. Still I liked the atmosphere, jukebox, booths, the whole nine yards. When we came in Bette waved to us, standing up to call out for her friend "Artemis! Over here!" She seemed excited to spend time with Arty outside school which I thought was really nice. Artemis deserved as many friends as she could get.

They hugged when we got to the table, which must have been a girl thing because I didn't hug people unless I'd known them for ages. Hugging someone after knowing them a day seemed weird to me, and I was a pretty huggy person. We all sat down and Bette called over the waiter so we could order. As discussed we got two kitchen sinks. I knew it was just asking for brain freeze but still, I had to try. Bette looked amused and glanced at Reggie for the first time, not warm exactly but not cold "You didn't try to talk them out of this? No one ever manages to finish it."

Suprisingly Reggie just shrugged and gave an easy smile "Neither of them are the type to change their minds easy. It's good to see you by the way. It's been a while." She was clearly surprised by his ability to form a coherent sentence that wasn't incredibly dickish, and Reggie seemed to get that. "Look, sorry I never made the best impression. You make me kind of nervous and I babble. Artemis talked some sense into me, and to be honest I'm more afraid of her than I am nervous of you which kind of helps." He gave a full body shudder as he remembered her kick earlier and I winced right along with him. Some kinds of pain you couldn't help but feel sorry for. Even if they were hilarious.

She look dubious, but rolled her eyes "Fine, I'll play nice, but if you mention my ass even once I'm going to drown you in that ice cream." She glared for a second to show she was serious and then seemed to relax before turning to Artemis. "So, why don't you introduce me to your friend and we can talk about your audition for the track team. You seriously need some extracurriculars. It's already junior year and you don't have any yet from what you said." She gave Artemis a teasing smile "As long as you're sure you're not up for joining the cheer squad?"

The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly enough. Bette was a cutie and very fun to hang out with, she had a ruthless sense of humor and tended to tease everyone. She fit right in with us. Reggie and she actually got along ok once he got past his nerves and actually talked to the girl, and Artemis and I did our best to help our buddy out. Reggie was in on at least one of my secrets and we were going to rob a house together, that made him pretty much one of us. Besides he clearly had it bad for the the pretty blonde.

At the end of our little outing Artemis and I had finished our kitchen sink, and Bette and Reggie got about halfway through. It may have been slightly unfair to them since we were both built out of muscle and whatever that powder did to me made me pretty damn hungry all the time. Regardless Arty and I high fived and mocked the two of them to their faces, much to their shared annoyance, and the commiseration over how we were terribly ungraceful winners actually motivated Bette to give Reggie her number, though only after warning him that if he texted her anything inappropriate she was going to castrate him.

Our friend was kind of floating as we left, and started rambling pretty much immediately "That was amazing! Bette is so cool! I never realized how awesome she was because like ninety percent of the time I was just staring at her but she's actually really funny and smart and..." he trailed off noting the boredom on our faces "sorry to rant about it. I owe you guys." The smile slipped off his face "though I guess I already did. Speaking of which, it's probably about time to head back to my place to check things out." He brightened a bit "I can introduce you to my mom and sister! We can't tell them about all this of course but still they'll be so happy to meet my new friends."

We whistled up a cab and then headed to his place. Reggie was fun to be around, he had the same energy as a big blonde puppy, he was actually pretty smart, just kind of simple. Naive almost. It made me wonder what had happened to him before at school to make him act so dark and ominous that first day. I made a mental note to ask him about it later. As we drew closer he filled us in on his place "So we live in Crest Hill, most of the really old families do. The house is a bit empty because we've had to sell all out furniture and stuff but the place itself belongs to us so no rent or anything. We manage utilities by keeping several wings of the house shuttered but other than that things are tight. Just warning you that the inside doesn't really match with what you see driving up."

Which wasn't shocking because Reggie's house was absolutely massive. It was an old school Victorian manor house complete with towers and gable roof. We both turned to stare at Reggie and he shrugged. "Like I said, the Wilowbrooks are old Gotham money. We fell on some hard times but we haven't gone broke enough to lose the house. Trust me, the inside looks like the leftover stock at an everything must go furniture sale. Come on in. I'll introduce you." We stepped out of the cab and started up the very long and winding path to the door. His yard was bigger than a fucking football field, and that was just the front.

He slipped an old brass key from his pocket when we reached the door, turned it in the old fashioned door knob, jerked up and kicked the wood panel twice and the door popped open. He caught our gaze "Antique doors are more pretty than sensible. The lock sticks if you don't know how to work it." He stepped in taking off his shoes and gesturing for us to do the same. As we did he bellowed into the big empty entry way "Mom! Callie! I'm home and i brought friends!" Within seconds I heard a rhythmic pounding on the stairs as some came barreling down them and a small blonde girl hurled herself off them into Reggie's arms.

He swung her around in a circle and the little girl squealed. "Reggie! You're home! Where did you go? Mom said you left before she got up this morning. She said you left a note but she sounded kind of worried. Is everything ok?" As children often did the little girl babbled all of this in a nearly non stop stream of speech. She looked about ten or eleven and reminded me a lot of Reggie himself. Reggie made a few excuses and then just bull rushed past her questions with enthusiasm and playfulness. He finally sent the girl off to find their mom so he could introduce us.

He turned to us and smiled "Sorry Callie can be a bit of a handful but she's a sweet kid. She just worries about me lately. Anyway my mom will be down soon enough, if she didn't hear that she's probably in dads old study. In the meantime how about I show you around." His eyes flashed "We can make sure those bastards aren't lurking around my house or watching me." I had to admit despite them probably not killing him or pissing him off before the mission the latter option was pretty likely. Well then, guess it was time to figure out if ninja training could help you find electronic bugs.

We didn't find any bugs or spies, though I wasn't sure if that meant they weren't there or we just weren't good enough. Artemis said her dad didn't really play defense much and hadn't bothered teaching her to secure a building this size. She knew how to sweep a small apartment but this massive place was a whole different beast. In the end we called it, Reggie was feeling much better anyway.

We met Reggie's mom, Claire, a very sweet lady who was unspeakably proud of her son and tormented him by telling us every embarrassing story she could remember about him. Callie helped and between the two of them I realized any chance of Reggie becoming arrogant because of his power was pretty much out the window. The next morning I drank my powder and took my ninja lessons, today's lesson was using razor wire to set traps and even slightly in combat which was pretty amazing. After that school went by in a blur and before I knew it, it was time to meet with my dad.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't both looking forward to and terrified of the meeting. I did love my dad, despite his spotty appearance in my life I believed he genuinely cared about me. But this time he was going to be seeing the new me. He would see definite proof that I could be the impressive son he always wished had taken him up on his offer to inherit the Falcone name. My dad loved me, but he wasn't exactly proud of me. I made a quick shopping trip to the hardware store to pick up some wire I could use, which was harder to find than I thought, before it was finally time to go.

Artemis was coming with me and Reggie wasn't. We still hadn't told him about the Court's little visit since we didn't want to shake his new confidence before the job, so having him around when we asked my dad about them was kind of counterproductive. Especially since tomorrow night was the big night. We took a cab to the warehouse dad had cleared out for the meeting and Artemis put a hand on my shoulder "Hey, you ok there? Dad's can be a rough thing to deal with, I get it. I can do the meeting and just tell you what happens if you want?"

I smiled up at my best friend and shook my head. We had known each other for years, but only really been close for less than a week, but when you go through the kind of things together we already had, discovering a power, going on an adventure to a crazy blacksmith, meeting a talking dog, you kind of just bond with someone. Five days or crazy will bring you closer than five years of casual friendship. At least that was my experience. Despite that trust though I needed to do this "I appreciate that Arty, but no. I need to be the one to go in. You can follow if you want but I have to be there."

Entering into the warehouse was pretty nerve wracking, but I made sure to maintain a calm appearance as I walked into the lions den. Artemis had decided to wait outside so I was going it alone. I appreciated her giving me the chance to do this on my own. My dad was sitting in the middle of the place on a single comfortable folding chair with another across from it. His bodyguards were standing back out of the light but with my ninja skills picking them out in the shadows was child's play. The only person in the pool of light nearby was a small girl. She looked about fourteen and stood a bit behind dad's chair. My cousin, Kitrina Falcone.

Kitrina had pretty much the opposite problem that I did. If anyone found out about me they would try to kill me and mom, but Kitrina was already well known as a Falcone because her dad, my Uncle Alberto was a psychopathic serial killer. Alberto Falcone had been the white sheep of the family for years, at least to all appearances. He stayed away from the criminal world and attended school. He got into Oxford, and grandpa had gone out of his way to make sure Uncle Alberto lived a normal life away from the family business.

Uncle Alberto hadn't seen it that way. He saw grandpa's preference for dad to run the family business as favoritism and had been silently seething with jealous rage for most of his life. When he finally came back to Gotham he'd long since lost his entire damn mind, despite being to all outward appearances a loving father and brother. He single handedly perpetrated one of the most terrifying criminal purges in Gotham history. The Long Halloween. After the Batman caught Uncle Alberto and stuck him in Arkham my dad took Kitrina in.

I sat down across from them, nodding to them both "Dad. Kit. Good to see you both." They looked pretty damn surprised by my appearance and bearing. I was at the point by now that even clothes didn't hide the muscle and I had the balance and poise of a master ninja. It was a far departure from the skinny miserable kid I had been when they last saw me. I wasn't a hulking beast or anything and I wasn't shredded yet, but I was very obviously muscled now. I smiled at the surprise but continued talking "Thank you for meeting me. I've run into a bit of a situation and I wanted some advice. I was hoping you could weigh in on it."

My dad's eyes were pensive as he looked at me. Despite genuinely caring about me and loving my mother Mario Falcone was not an overly affectionate man. He was fairly cold and reserved at most times, even with me, or at least he usually was. Right now I could see genuine pride on my dads face, the nerve I was showing, the gravitas, he considered this version of me something closer to a true Falcone, I could tell. He gave me a small smile "Present your case then, boy. You've certainly made some changes, I'm curious to see what kind of trouble came with that kind of shake up. Don't worry too much whatever it is, the family doesn't abandon our own."

I couldn't help but smile. Cold or not dad took care of his own, as evidence by him taking in Kit. My cousin gave him a soft smile as she heard the comment. Their relationship was pretty good from what I could see the few times he'd brought her to our meetings. You would think I would be bitter about my dad raising her, but honestly I was the one who made that call so it didn't bother me. I just hoped that quiet confidence didn't shake too much when I told him who I was mixed up with. If their stupid rhyme was to be believed the Court was old and pretty scary.

I considered asking Kit to wait outside or asking him to send the guards away, but neither one was likely to get resolved any time soon so I just leaned forward across the gap between us and muttered. "Beware the Court of Owls." Any trace of a smile dropped off his face like a steel door slamming shut as he heard what I said, but not before I caught a glimpse of what I thought might be actual fear. That...was not reassuring. I'd never seen my dad afraid. I hadn't been entirely sure he was capable of that emotion. He'd always been this unshakable figure to me.

He turned to Kit and the guards. "Everyone out." They all froze, staring blankly at him. "Did I fucking stutter? Get out! Wait outside. Keep an eye on Kitrina." He turned to Kit "Wait for me in the car, it should be safe with all the extras I paid for. I need to talk to my son." She looked unsure and a bit hurt but nodded and headed outside. I was sad we hadn't gotten to talk, it had been a while. My dads eyes cut back to me as soon as they were gone and he slumped in his chair, reaching up to rub his temples. "Boy, of all the things in your life you could pick to not half-ass for once this was not a great first selection."

I winced, both at the casual dismissal of pretty much my whole life and his tone. "So I take it they're bad news? I got a visit from one of their weird little assassins. A friend of mine got mixed up in some kind of heist for them and called me for help and apparently even knowing about it means I'm being press ganged. Not that I wasn't planning to help anyway, but I admit the idea of being forced to do something under threat of death kind of pisses me off." I had really wanted to punch that Talon in the dick.

He let out a bark of laughter "Son, I don't know what the hell happened to you, but I like it. The Court is a problem. Theoretically if we marshaled all our forces we could maybe take them on, but aside from most of their members being kind of a secret the ones we do know are some of the most powerful people in the city. Your grandpa will go pretty far for family, but I doubt he's willing to set off a full scale war between the criminal element of the city and Gotham's elite unless they actually kill you. As much as it rankles I'd say just pull the heist. I can maybe put you in touch with some people who can help you formulate a plan. Where's the job supposed to be?"

I breathed a sigh of relief "Thank god. I have some tricks but I know jack shit about thieving. It's some big manor house on the edge of town. Shadowcrest? Kind of a pretentious name if you ask me but hey, no one ever does." I'd been expecting at least a smile at the bad joke, but my dads face just went a shade or two paler. I groaned "Oh god, what is it? is that like Batman's house or something? I knew they wouldn't set us up to raid some random rich guy's mansion. I can't think of anyone else in Gotham but the Batman edgy enough to name their place Shadowcrest."

He just shook his head "First off, no one knows where the Batman lives. If they did it would have probably been blown up at least five times by now. Secondly no, that place is even worse. Do you know anything about magic?" I shot him a quizzical look but shook my head. He sighed again, returning to rubbing his temples. "That house is infamous. People have been trying to rob it for years. There's been several attempts and they all ended badly. It's owned by Zatara, the League's resident wizard."

I winced "Well. Fuck." That was bad. My ninja skills would help me through security well enough but I had nothing for magic. And it was too weirdly specific for me to easily find a spam email for it. Magical burglary sounded like it would be expensive even if I could. "We have to get this weird knife from there. If we don't my friends family is going to die, hell they said me and my family would die too. Not to mention my best friend Artemis and her family." I somehow suspected they might be in for a bit of a fight with that one, but still, bad news.

He let out another laugh "We might not be willing to go to war over some stupid job, but Zatara won't kill you or anything. If you fuck up and they try to make an issue of it we'll step in. They won't push things too far. We wouldn't have the leverage to help your friends though." He looked pensive "I might know someone who can help. A guy in town who does job's for the family and for me personally. He's never taken a crack at Shadowcrest and it's definitely his cup of tea. I'll set up a meeting for later tonight, he prefers night time meetings." I gave him a confused look and he smiled for real this time. "You ever heard of Gentleman Ghost?"

I had not, in fact, heard of Gentleman Ghost, but that wasn't really surprising because that was sort of what he did. Gentleman Ghost was a high level magical thief. The League ran him off when they could, but by his very nature he tended to accomplish more thefts than most people even knew he attempted. He went out of his way to run afoul of the League once in a while and curse and rage as he was driven away from his supposed target, barely managing to escape. I kept them from noticing his real MO.

Dad mentioned having hired him a few times to steal corporate secrets or lift something he needed and had used that working relationship to make a call, which was why we were standing in a park in Gotham in the middle of the night. Being in a park in Gotham beyond the light of day is...not safe behavior. Artemis and I as born Gothamites knew this, and were as such, pretty nervous. We stood with our backs to a tree, waiting for Gentleman Ghost. Amateurs would have stood under a street light, but that would have just drawn attention.

Artemis was tense beside me, I could feel it, and I couldn't blame her. I spoke to her softly, not a whisper, just a low tone that would be easy to miss "You good? I know this is against pretty much all your instincts because mine are screaming at me too. But according to dad our chances of robbing this Shadowcrest place without the Ghost are slim to none. The owner is a legit wizard and we need someone with magical skills in infiltration to bypass them. Ghost is the only one who might be able to help except maybe The Shade, and he doesn't live in town."

She nodded begrudgingly matching my tone of voice as she responded, whispering drew more attention if someone noticed us that just talking a bit less loud. "I know, and I get it, which is why I let you come here at all, but this is like Olympic level stupid. We're going to get eaten by living plants courtesy of Poison Ivy or dragged off into the sewers by Killer Croc. Everyone knows you don't go to the park at night in Gotham. It's like feeding gremlins after midnight, it just never ends well." Her shoulders were tense as she scanned the area carefully.

We were both wearing black, nothing eye catching or stupid like a ski mask or anything just normal black pants and shirts. Artemis was wearing a black sweater and black jeans and I was wearing a black button up and black slacks. I checked my watch "I know, but it's almost midnight. I'm trying to decide if he's testing us or just likes the mysterious and mystical connotations of meeting at the stroke of midnight. Either way it won't be long, and once he's here I doubt we'll be noticed." You don't get a rep like his collecting bottle caps.

A sardonic British voice cut the night "An astute observation, young master O'Malley." Fun fact, ghosts are better at sneaking than ninjas. Or trained mercenary child soldiers. Artemis and I both jumped out of our skins at the sound, though we managed to avoid yelping. We whirled on the source of the voice at the sound of a chuckle to find...a suit. An empty white suit with a top hat and monocle. "A shame, I was hoping I had some decent material to work with. Neither of you has much situational awareness. Still, young master O'malley, you use the shadows to cloak yourself admirably, even without making an effort. Perhaps you aren't a lost cause."

I glanced at Artemis, who returned the expression with a wary gaze of her own, before we turned to Gentleman Ghost together "Ahem. Thank you? And thanks for meeting with us. I'm guessing since you heard all that and already talked to my old man you know what we have to do, can you help us? Dad mentioned knowing you but I realize this is a lot to ask. This place has been on everyone in Gotham's criminal wish list for years, even you haven't hit it yet." I was worried about whether he would actually do it honestly, but he did show up so all hope wasn't lost. I wondered what the old man offered him.

The top hat bobbed in a graceful nod of acknowledgement "An understandable concern young man. My association with your father is far from close enough to engender enough loyalty to undertake such a mission. However I am interested in testing my skills against Zatara and his defenses. I am also in the market for an apprentice. I've reached great heights in field, the opportunity to attempt a new challenge and to interview a potential successor at once is one that's too tempting to pass up. The question is my dear boy, are you willing to immerse yourself further in the world of shadows that I can instruct you in?"

That was not what I had expected. Gentleman Ghost was a brilliant thief from what my dad had said, like among the elite of the Gotham criminal class. But he was still a part of the Gotham criminal class. I'd avoided the Falcone name because I would have to leave my mom, I honestly had nothing against crime. Gotham politics was so corrupt the police were basically just a slightly larger crime family so I had no moral qualms, but I knew my mom didn't want that for me. I thought of how happy she had been when I'd gotten to go to the academy.

Still, she also knew I was doing something shady and didn't care too much. She wanted me to be happy as long as I didn't completely abandon the morals she raised me with. Being a thief wasn't that bad but criminals did other things too...I turned to give Gentleman Ghost a hard look "Would I have to hurt anyone? Because I won't mess with innocent people. Stealing from rich guys and companies doesn't bother me, but if you expect me to kill guards or something then I'll take my chances with Zatara." That was my bottom line, I absolutely would not hurt innocent people for him.

The suit bobbed as Gentleman Ghost chuckled "Good heavens dear boy, no nothing like that. One of the reasons you've most likely never heard of me is that I am a professional. A proper thief is...well, invisible." He gestured down to his suspiciously translucent white suit and lack of body. "Murder and violence is so gauche. A proper thief doesn't bull rush his way into a place and make off with the goods, alarms wailing. A proper thief is so silent and meticulous the target does not even know they've been robbed until the goods are already sold."

That didn't sound so bad. "Why me though? You just met me. I somehow doubt you were sitting by the phone contemplating who your successor would be before my dad even called. It seems kind of random to just ask me to be your mentee two minutes after meeting me." I was dragging my feet answering but this was a weird thing, I hadn't been expecting a job offer, especially not one he was implying I needed to take if I wanted his help. As a Falcone scion, even one with a different name, I was somewhat wary of offers I couldn't refuse.

Another bob of his hat "Good. If you hadn't asked I would have been disappointed. The fact is I was not planning to make this offer to you. I came to hear you out because Zatara's home is the last true challenge in Gotham. However I made a startling discovery when I arrived. You noticed me." He must have seen the confusion on my face when he said that because he burst into a hearty chuckle. "Not consciously, I saw you jump. But you reacted to my presence. You shifted your body slightly to put yourself between me and your companion. You sensed my presence. That's no small thing. It shows potential."

I...had no response to that. I should have been more reluctant to accept. I should have been waffling or afraid or worried but...this was exactly what I'd wanted when I got powers. I would be getting a mentor! A real mentor on the same level as the League who could teach me how to do things my power couldn't. Plus I could use my points for other, non money things since I would be stealing to get rich. More powers, more skills. The possibilities were endless. I wanted this. Wanted to be special, to mean something. I opened my mouth to respond but Artemis cut me off "No." I turned to her, stunned, but she just dig in her heels, giving me a glare. "Not alone."

She turned to the Ghost "I've heard this pitch before. Heard the promises and the grand declarations of destiny. I can't stop Morgan from taking your offer, I recognize the look on his face well from the mirror to see he won't give up this chance, but I'm not letting him do it by himself. You want him you take me. We're a package deal. We have another friend coming with us on the job with a power that's damn useful too, but I can't speak for him, still, something to think about if he's interested. Either way you get both of us or you get neither of us." I opened my mouth to speak and she pointed a finger at me threateningly "I WILL call and wake up your mother Morgan O'Malley."

I sighed and grinned at her, turning back to the Ghost with a shrug. "You heard the lady. One for all and all for one. I'm guessing by the timing of your offer you won't help if I turn you down, but I don't really have any more control over her than you do." She punched me in the shoulder for talking about her like she wasn't there and I shot her a glare. "Ok, first of all, ow." Then I turned back to the suit "Second of all what's it going to be? You going to take two apprentices or none? Because I'm sixteen, I will absolutely try to break into Zatara's house either way. It's not like they would try me as an adult." I carefully didn't mention the whole my friends being killed thing, no use giving up leverage.

The laugh this time was less chuckle and more full throated belly laugh. "A bluff, boy, but an unnecessary one. I happen to prize loyalty above most other virtues, and you both show an admirable amount. I accept your offer. You shall both become my apprentices. Training a natural genius would hardly show my expertise anyway. A true master can forge anyone into an artist. As for your third, I suppose I shall make him the offer. I've never trained a team before, so it should be interesting to see what you can all accomplish. Now your father implied the involvement of our avian overlords, perhaps you can fill me in on the details. Knowledge is power you know."

So we did. We explained how Reggie had called us and what his mission was, how we had figured out they were just throwing disposable meat shields at the defenses to test them, and how we were worried we might die in the attempt or if we failed. We told him about Reggie's power, and about my ninja skills, though not my power itself because we barely knew him and trusting him that much was stupid. He almost definitely knew I was holding back, but he didn't seem to mind and he listened quietly as we filled him in. Then when we were done and he clapped his hands, telling us to go home and get some sleep and to bring Reggie to Chinatown tomorrow. We had a heist to prepare for.

Hope you guys enjoy the mentor. I have some great stuff planned. The heist just finished in the advance chapters and we saw some interesting stuff, a big fight and I'm doing a three week time skip to officially bring us into canon time, though rest assured the plot will be original with very little overlap. pat-reon has five advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent with two thousand words each for a total of ten thousand words of advance content minimum for anyone who wants to read a head. Hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think!