Powers Estate July 19th 2010 8:45 PM EDT

Aside from the eight Talons that had been dropped by my Uncle's creepy fucking gun (which I was now convinced was definitely evil and would absolutely be showing to Jim at the first opportunity) I managed to drop another ten of the bastards by myself over the course of the fight. Unfortunately reflexes only work if you notice the attack and I had gotten tagged with more than a few non serious wounds over the course of this brawl. The biggest obstacle in this mess was that assassination arts aren't really built for countering. Split second reaction times can only do so much with a hole like that in your combat style.

Meanwhile the others were having similar results. Fifteen minutes into this fight and we'd collectively managed to whittle the number of Talon from sixty or so to about twenty. Sadly for us, those remaining twenty were clearly the stand outs because they made all the other Talons we temporarily killed look like rank amateurs. As of this moment I was engaged in a fight with Alexander Staunton again, and apparently he had been too lazy to actually try last time because I couldn't land a fucking blow on him. Those stupid blade gauntlets were everywhere, I felt like I was fighting a metal tornado.

Well, I was actually fighting four Talons, but Alexander was the one giving me some trouble. The other three were decent but with my enhanced attributes thanks to Madame Xanadu's spell I could actually keep up with my reaction speed now. I basically had low level super speed at this point. But Alexander was the main issue, whenever I went in to finish one of the other four he intercepted me and when I tried to put him down he either countered or shifted slightly and took the hit to leave me open for one of the others.

With me keeping a full quarter of the remaining Talon pinned however, we had officially occupied all of them. Nightshade and Acheron had abandoned crowd control and were each engaged with five of their own, while Warlock's Daughter, my cousin, and my teammates had pinned down five between the four of them. As soon as even one of them went down this little stalemate would start to snowball against them and we would be able to mop up all their forces. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't break through.

My skill set wasn't built for direct combat. I was a thief, not a warrior. My stealth was for infiltration, my combat for assassination, and my reflexes for finding split second opportunities to strike. If not for my power granted years of experience, my enhanced spell given strength, my already huge muscles, and my absurd reaction time I wouldn't be doing nearly this well. Aside from that issue the biggest gap in my abilities was the ability to fight multiple opponents. Assassination arts were designed to strike at one spot with overwhelming force and then vanish, it really didn't lend itself well to group combat.

We stayed that way for about five minutes deadlocked before I finally got an opening. Over the course of the battle I had been memorizing every counter and parry Alexander made. I would feel him out with attacks aimed at specific spots and executed in specific ways to try to find any sort of pattern to his movements. I'd found one or two, but I always tested them with my sword and they'd ended up being feints to draw me in. Thank god for Madame Xanadu's spell because I'd have passed out from exhaustion by now if I hadn't had it.

Finally, after about a hundred plus exchanges with the five Talons, I noticed a nearly imperceptible hitch in Alexander's deflection of an underhand strike on his left side. I didn't exploit it immediately, spending a good thirty seconds trying other avenues of attack as if I hadn't seen it but when I got an open shot I dove forward committing hard to sword and driving right at his spine below his ribs. He reacted nearly instantly of course, but that split second pause was enough time for me to slip a shuriken out of my pocket and put it through the eye of a Talon off to my left.

Force equals mass times acceleration. With the sharpness of the shuriken the enhanced strength of my already developed muscles, my perfect technique and a split second launch, it wasn't surprising that durasteel palladium alloy punched through eye and skull and shredded the soft brain underneath, dropping one of the bastards in his tracks. Once that happened it was like dominos falling. One downed Talon gave me leverage to find more openings, within two minutes I dropped a second, a minute later a third.

Now I was down to just two of them and Alexander and the experienced Talon was starting to run into trouble. Less targets meant an easier time for him playing defense, but it also meant less distractions for me, and it turned out Alexander wasn't stronger or faster that the last time we fought, just much more experienced at fighting in a group. Five minutes after talon number one went down I finally got an opening and drove my tanto right through Alexander's throat and into his fucking brain stem.

From there it was all mopping up. The other two Talon's weren't up to taking me down alone and I dropped them within forty five seconds or so, then I moved on to my true role. Playing support. I was a thief, not a warrior, and with my stealth and assassination skills having me loose and unwatched on the battlefield was pretty much an automatic game over for the other team. When I jumped in to sneak attack one of the opponents my cousin and teammates were dealing with alongside Warlock's Daughter it opened up a hole in their lines and they just demolished the other four.

Teaming up on the rest of them took even less time and finally we had all of them completely downed. Possibly dead but definitely disabled. Just in case Nightshade manacled them with her shadows. I wanted to go and help the others but Nightshade signaled me to stop. She shook her head sadly "I get it kid. I want to help too. But those fights aren't something people at our level can get involved in. Those three are world class heavyweights in the magic community. If we jump in we're more likely to be a hindrance than a help."

Morgana and Madame Xanadu were gone anyway, and we could barely make out Jim's fight inside that black shadow twister. Since we couldn't do anything to help we decided to watch Blood's fight. Or Etrigan I guessed? Not really sure how that worked exactly. We had to walk around the twister a bit to get to where we could see the fight and the result was...not what I was expecting. I looked over at Nightshade with a raised eyebrow "I thought that Blood was a master of magic. He looks like he's just brawling with Grundy."

She shrugged "He is a master of magic, but The Demon prefers physical combat. Besides Grundy is highly magic resistant so fighting him with spells is much less effective. That sword from earlier clearly wasn't doing the trick either or they wouldn't be fist fighting now." The luxurious foyer and several rooms off to the side of it were, in a word, wrecked. Walls torn out, craters in the marble, and burned and ruined furniture and carpet strewn about as ashes floated down around the form of Etrigan wailing on Grundy like a cartoon cat with a giant mallet.

However, regardless of how hard or often the demon hit the undead giant, blows kept slamming into the smaller monsters ribs and head as Grundy gave as good as he got. Etrigan looked fucking enraged (not that he looked calm when I saw him earlier, big glowing red eyes and scales make for a hell of a resting bitch face) but no matter what he did the massive zombie just would not stay down.

Hellfire flickered at carious spots around the duo like candle flames and Grundy's dirty black funeral suit was scorched, the lace cuffs and neckerchief mostly burned away, but it didn't seem to have affected the giant at all. Honestly the person who built this damn house should get a medal, because I had no idea how the entire section about the two feuding demonic powerhouses hadn't dropped on their heads yet. My attention was ripped away from all of this however, when an explosions of darkness rolled over the house.

I turned to look and saw Jim, adjusting his cuffs, standing over the immobile but clearly breathing form of The Shade. Richard Swift was in bad shape, his black spectacles smashed and nose broken, but Jim had clearly been trying to wound not kill. The dark clad gentleman thief pulled himself to his feet gingerly, and then made and awkward and pained bow. "That'll be it for me then my good man. I shall retreat with my dignity intact if I may. I'll owe you one in the future." He sounded much more amiable than I would in his situation, I must admit.

Jim chuckled "Of course old thing. Take your leave. I'll keep the debt in mind going forward." The shadows rose up and swallowed the black clad man and my teacher turned to us. "Ah, you all look like you've done well. Smashing, I seem to have taken care of my opponent for the moment, what say I help our grudging companion out with his enemy." He turned smugly toward Grundy and Etrigan who were still brawling on the floor and tapped his cane three times. The same creepy tolling bell rang out and those big scary doors from when Zatara had fought him appeared.

Etrigan jerked his head up and hissed, hurling himself backwards as the same giant skeletal hand that had caught the magician came out and grabbed Grundy. Unlike the magician though the hand didn't seem to actually touch the undead giant, the fingers just sank in and dragged a kicking and squirming ethereal shape out of the his body. The huge zombie immediately fell limp as the hand dragged the spirit through the doors and into the ghost roads. Jim gave a satisfied nod and turned to tip his hat at Etrigan, who just glared at him and hissed again.

A slightly weak voice spoke up from behind us "Sadly that won't be enough to free that poor soul." Madame Xanadu stepped into the room, one hand around the hilt of her knife and the other covering her burned side. "That curse is tied to the dark magic that pervades this city, and won't be undone so simply, even by your prodigious power James. Still, he'll be at rest for a while, and that in itself is a relief to him I'm sure." She stumbled a bit and Blood caught her, not Etrigan, Blood, who I suppose had changed back while we were distracted by the light show.

She smiled gratefully at him "Morgana is gone. She overpowered me. I wasn't expecting her to have the shield of the Dragon Knight. That thing was always a powerful artifact. Nearly as great as Caliburn itself. This knife is powerful but it was only ever an addendum to Arthur's strength. Despite that sad fact however, I do have a spot of good news. As well as some..." She glanced at me with pity "Less than fortunate tidings." She held out a hand and showed me a small note, I wasn't sure what it was until I recognized the handwriting and my stomach dropped out.

My Dearest Morgan, it's been so many days since I've seen you, but I have so much to tell. Sadly there isn't enough time to write it all before I get my chance to act, so I can only promise to tell you all of it another day. I'll be counting the minutes until we reunite, search for me at the Labyrinths heart and we can become gods together. All my love, Annabel. P.S if you touch that magic whore again I'm going to castrate you. I swallowed hard. Apparently my dead ex stole the thread and knew how to perform the ritual, oh also she was somehow alive. Well fuck.

The Clock Tower July 19th 2010 10:00 PM EDT

So my dead girlfriend wasn't dead. I hadn't even considered the possibility, which in retrospect felt stupid of me. Little details about my interaction with Staunton and comments he'd made when we fought started adding up. Annabel was a Talon. I didn't know the exact procedure for becoming one but I did know that it involved dying. The question was how the hell had she become one?

Given her dismissal of the Talons humanity it didn't seem like something she would have been interested in, but then again having a backup plan was very like her, or at least like the her I thought I'd known. Her parents didn't seem like they would have wanted her to become a zombie from what she'd said, but then again I never actually met the crazy bastards so who knew. All I could say for sure is that she was alive (in a manner of speaking) and she had the thread now. She also apparently had Morgana's ritual and planned to use it.

Artemis and Reggie were sitting across from me at the table in our dining room looking almost as shocked as I was, but with a side order of pity aimed in my direction. Artemis, being the most outspoken of us all, cleared her throat. "So. I'm not really sure what to say. It sucked that she died and all but, forgive me for being a bitch here, Annabel not being around was kind of best for everyone. Now she's alive, and still crazy if not even crazier from whatever mad science bullshit brought her back, and she's planning to become a god."

Reggie rolled his eyes "Thank you Walter Cronkite, for that excellent summation. If you're done nutshelling our friend's agonizing situation do you maybe have any solutions?" He winced and glanced guiltily over at me "Sorry if that was a bit blunt man, but my point stands. We need to figure out what the hell to do about this. We can't just sit around and wait for her to open the Labyrinth." He seemed to be panicking a bit just talking about, and I felt for him there, I was panicking too. About a whole bunch of shit. The burning number fifty behind my eyelids was calling out to me, urging me to solve my problems.

Jim's voice interject from behind us as he walked in with the other older magic users "That's exactly what you're going to do." We all turned to stare incredulously at our mentor, who was back in his human face. He sighed when he caught our expressions of outrage "This next part isn't something you can help with. We need to track down the thread before the twenty fourth to prevent the Labyrinth from opening. Annabel Powers is a dangerous and unstable girl at best, and should she attain the divinity she seeks there is little to suggest she will be any less dangerous or unstable as a goddess."

Reggie, who was usually the calmest of all of us, slammed his fist down on the table. "So you expect us to just sit around and wait while you all run around tracking down leads and trying to prevent the rise of the Yandere goddess? You've been training us for over a month, and we're already cleared for our own jobs. If you didn't think we were any good why bother letting us off the leash in the first place?" I winced at the rage in his tone. Poor Reggie blamed himself for this more than any of us. If the Labyrinth was unleashed he was going to hold himself personally responsible.

Jim, being Jim, actually got that. And walked over to put a hand on Reggie's shoulder. "It's not that lad. We don't have any leads. Nimue was able to track her sister because they're blood related, but we have no method to scry Annabel. If she is indeed a Talon now she doesn't even really have blood, just that strange mercurial liquid." He sighed heavily "We need to go out and rattle some cages, talk to some of our more unsavory contacts, and while we do we need to know that you all aren't out running amok. Most of the Court of Owls weren't at the estate, and I somehow doubt that was their entire stock of undead lackeys."

I hadn't even had time to consider that. I'd been so focused on Annabel I hadn't even taken into consideration that our issue with the Court wasn't solved yet. That said, I was pretty convinced the uppity bastards would take any actions against me a bit more seriously after we wiped out more than fifty of their elite operatives. They were megalomaniacal assholes but they were also businessmen, at a certain point the sunk cost fallacy was going to be too much for them to ignore even for the sake of pride.

Until that point however, I needed to find a way to up my combat potential. I was pretty sure it was about time for me to get a legitimate martial art. My ninja skills were invaluable but they weren't designed for up front combat. If I'd had actual combat capabilities combined with my reflexes and Madame Xanadu's magic that fight with the Talon's would have been over much more quickly. I made a mental note to look through my email and find something to supplement my lagging martial arts.

Reggie had nothing else to say after he heard Jim's explanation, he just jerked away from our mentors hand and stalked out of the room. Artemis and I shared a look and we both sighed. I turned to Jim, whose expression looked pained. "It's ok boss. He just blames himself for all this. He thinks that because his family were the ones the Court used to leverage us anything that happens is on him. I think we all feel responsible in one way or another but Reggie is feeling it most of all." I turned to regard the other magic users "So, Madame Xanadu, Mr. Blood, what brings you to our humble lair?"

The two other magic users who had come in behind Jim gave us a nod, but Blood pretty much ignored us after that, the bastard. I could see why Jim didn't like him. Madame Xanadu, however, wasn't an asshole and favored us with a smile and a reply "As James said, we'll be going out to search for Ms. Powers together, but I wanted to reach out and offer my ear. I more than anyone know the havoc my sister can wreak on even sturdiest of wills. If any of you need to talk my door is always open to you. You're all talented and dependable practitioners and I would love nothing more than to speak to you more often even if it's just to vent."

I was more than aware the ancient sorceress had noticed something about me and was trying to build bridges, but it was still kind of her to think of us, and she was an extremely experienced magic user we could learn a lot from. As she mentioned it however one specific thing struck me. "I may take you up on that, but before you go I actually had a question. I came across a rather unpleasant object. It shouldn't have any active magical effects but it's sort of infamous and it might be cursed, would any of you guys be willing to check it out?"

Jim raised en eyebrow "I hadn't heard anything about this? What artifact did you pick up?" I had actually completely forgotten to mention it to my mentor when I'd agreed to carry my Uncle's gun but he didn't seem upset about it, just mildly interested. I reached into my coat wordlessly and pulled out my Uncle's gun before handing it to my mentor. He picked the thing up an weighed it in his hand. "This weapon has killed a great many living beings, and been feared by a great deal more. How odd. This would be your Uncle's famous Holiday pistol?"

I nodded and Jim made a hmm sound. He seemed almost oblivious to what was going on as he stared at it. "This thing has taken on a hint of conceptual nature. That's rare." I just stared blankly at him and he shook his head ruefully "Conceptual objects that have as the name may imply become somewhat the embodiment or a concept. It usually takes millennia and millions of people concentrating belief on an artifact before it can even have a possibility of happening. Nimue, what do you think?"

He passed the weapon to the sorceress, who furrowed her brow. Her voice was a bit dreamy as she answered "It isn't a conceptual weapon, but it's started down that path. I suspect the extreme violence and fear mixed with the current environment of Gotham allowed this to happen. When Holiday came onto the scene his brand of murder was something of a novelty, the gun seems to have acted as a focus for his legend when magnified by Gotham's nature." She sounded fascinated, and I was briefly worried she wouldn't want to give it back. It was creepy and possibly evil but it was still mine.

I shook the thought off though, Madame Xanadu was a legend, she didn't need my weapon. She continued her analysis "I wouldn't expect to see anything like this again, not only has Gotham become the source of many legends that would prevent that kind of belief inside the city from converging on a single person but the chances of something like that happening are astronomical even if one person managed it." She chuckled "To put in context, someone would be more likely to win the lottery while getting struck by lightning that to spark a conceptual confluence. This weapon just happened to be at the right place in the right time and be perfectly compatible with the magic in Gotham."

I raised an eyebrow in concern. My voice was a little shaky as I managed to croak out "So I've been carrying around some sort of evil murder totem? Is it going to do something to me?" Had my Uncle known about this? Was it all some kind of plot? Did he create this weapon on purpose and was going to use it possess me or something? Why the hell hadn't I shown this thing to Jim before? It was super shady that my serial killer Uncle made me swear to carry around his murder weapon.

Jim saw my face and burst out laughing "Don't hyperventilate lad, it's not going to eat your soul. I can tell what you're worried about but your Uncle would have had no idea about this. The gun would have been normal all those years ago, it only gained its nature after sitting in the filth of fear and death and Gotham magic. Like I said, making something like this is a one in a trillion chance. I'm a walking personification of death and even I couldn't manage to instill a death concept into a weapon."

I breathed a sigh of relief "Right. Sorry. Been a bit paranoid lately, what with my crazy ex coming back from the dead. I need to calm down. Maybe go visit Zee or something." I frowned "Although Annabel warned me away from her. I should be fine if I stick to stealth when I visit." No way in hell the Court could see inside Shadowcrest, and I'd rather avoid Zee's overprotective helicopter dad than risk her getting shivved in the kidney by my psychotic Talon megalomaniac ex.

Jim laughed at that and ruffled my hair "Sounds like a plan lad. But try not to get caught by her old man. I doubt he's too fond of you after our last visit. Zatara wouldn't kill you, but he can be a bit overprotective of his little princess, I don't need to waste time trying to track my disciple through some hell dimension because the magician caught you shagging his baby girl." I sputtered a bit, trying to tell him Zee and I weren't like that, but he just laughed and walked out of the room. He could be such a dick sometimes.

Shadowcrest July 20th 2010 8:00 PM EDT

Fun fact about being an effortless genius in stealth and subterfuge, able to blend into the foliage and vanish into the shrubbery. It hurts. Being a genius at avoiding breaking branches and rustling leaves doesn't make not doing those things feel good, not does it make sitting motionless in a bush for literal hours suck any less. However, I had to stay this far away to avoid tripping the wards I could now obviously see in my aura vision.

Shadowcrest was, in point of fact, even more terrifying in the magical spectrum than it's creepy looming appearance would suggest. Just looking at it was making me twitch, and it really drove home how monstrous Jim was at what he did that he'd walked us right through this fucking minefield and we had barely noticed it. This was the fucking Mona Lisa of magical defenses, and even with my skills as they were it would take me at least five years to be able to crack defenses this good, and that was with my thieving skills growing at the same rate as they had so far.

Luckily for me, I didn't actually need to do that. I had a way through the defenses, an inside man. Or woman as the case may be. However I had to sit and wait for daddy Zatara to leave before I could call and ask her to let me in. Furthermore I had to hope she would actually do it, which was far from a guarantee based on previous interactions. Still, this was the only way I could think of to talk to Zee without Annabel possibly finding out. No way that crazy bitch could get in here without a full scale siege now that Morgana was gone.

Unfortunately Zatara was a workaholic hermit with no fucking life, so I had to sit around and case the edges of the wards for fucking eight hours before he left. I couldn't even wait in shadow form, which would have been much more comfortable, because I had blown all my points on finally getting an actual combat style before I left at noon. Sixty five points down the drain and I wasn't due for a top up for another four hours. All I could do was sit here like an asshole and suffer in silence.

As soon as I saw Zatara leave though I called Zee. She picked up on the first ring "Hey stranger, haven't heard from you in a bit. Was beginning to think you didn't like me anymore." There was a playful pout in her voice and imagining those full lips of hers pouted in disappointment drew a hard swallow from me. She giggled at the silence "Just messing with you Rand, what's up? You timing is pretty good actually, daddy just left so I'm free to talk for a few hours. Can you catch me up on your super secret thief adventures or is that against the code?"

It actually was against the code, Jim had been very clear that regardless how sexy, sweet, or generally trustworthy you friends or partners seemed you absolutely could not give them details of your crimes. Aside from being stupid it could even put them at risk if someone else found out. But we were well past that point now, Zee was in genuine danger from Annabel and needed to know it. "Funny you should mention timing. I called because I saw your dad leave, I'm actually outside. I really need to talk to you. Can I come in?"

I tried my best to convey with my tone how serious this was, but I was still worried she would send me away. Like I had been afraid of she hissed a bit but didn't respond for a minute. "I...I don't know Rand. That's kind of a big ask. I mean you know I like you...like, as a friend I mean, I like you as a friend, not that I'm not interested in you in other ways but we don't know each other that well yet and..." She was babbling and nervous, but she finally took a deep breath to calm down and got her sputtering under control "Anyway you know what I mean, but you're an unapologetic magical thief and my house has one of the largest collections of magical object in this hemisphere."

I gritted my teeth, I needed to tell her what was going on, but she was right. It was crazy not to expect me to rob her blind. I wasn't planning to of course but our relationship didn't really preclude the possibility. I needed to offer her something as a sign of trust. Something that showed I meant it when I said this was a big deal. I knew what I could offer, it was something I had been hesitant to hand out because I'd been burned before, but this was an emergency. "This is important Zee. It's literally a matter of life or death. I know just saying that won't convince you though. So if you let me
in. I'll tell you who I am."

She paused. I could tell was hesitating so I continued "You don't have anything conclusive linking me to any past crimes aside from the mask that could be anyone's, but if I show you my face and tell you who I am before I come in you can report me to the police if I take anything. I trust you enough to believe you'll keep this secret for me. Do you trust me enough to let me inside?" My voice was raw, this was the only way I could think of to get her to let me in and I had to pray it worked. I couldn't live with myself if Annabel changed her mind and killed her later because she felt like it.

I could hear the sound of her breathing and not much else for almost a whole minute before I heard a loud swallow. "Ok Rand. Take your mask off and meet me on the steps out front, just outside the wards. But this better not be a trick. I'm putting a lot of trust in you here." Without another word she hung up, ending the call before I could even respond. Despite her cutting me off I smiled down at the phone, my eyes misting a bit. It meant a lot that she was willing to believe me even with all the reasons she had not to.

Like I'd said I would I removed my mask. I rubbed my cheeks a bit, frowning. Now that I'd come this far I found I was embarrassed for Zee to see my face. I hadn't gotten around to making myself better looking yet. I'd always had other stuff to do. My face wasn't ugly or anything, just plain, and with my muscles and the flawlessly tailored suit it might even be considered above average. But Zee was...Zee was a goddess. Her face looked like it was sculpted by Aphrodite herself during a "What I wish I looked like" contest.

She was so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her, and being just "above average" wasn't enough. Still, I headed for the front of the house, face exposed, relying on my new martial art to keep calm. The martial arts technique I picked up this time was called the Doom Fist. It was very in line with my current power set, despite the absolutely absurd name, because the Doom Fist was one hundred percent made for killing, though it could be used non lethally as well. The technique capitalized on the pressure point knowledge from my ninja skills too and was very synergistic.

The Doom in the Doom Fist (which was an even more ridiculous name than it seemed because it was a finger technique) Came in two forms. First off was the ability to utilize a combination of brute force and pressure points to sever nerves with the fingers. The limb affected was "doomed" because it would be numb and useless for at least a few hours and potentially forever depending on my intentions. It would be incredibly useful against people I wasn't planning to kill like heroes.

The second part was the scary one though. The Doom fist specialized in focusing force into strengthened fingers, not only could my fingers now punch holes in flesh I could hyperfocus all my strength and impale a person right through the chest, ripping out their heart (or other organs) through their back with a single thrust of a hand. The entire technique focused on channeling all my power into precise blindingly fast strikes that basically turned my fingers into fucking daggers. Combined with my reflexes and my ninja pressure point knowledge I would be able to take Talons apart like tissue paper.

Despite that dangerous new ability however, I didn't feel any less terrified, even if the book my new skills were written in came with some nice breathing exercises to help me calm my nerves. I was going to be facing Zee for the first time with my real face. I had no clue whatsoever what she was going to do. When I came into sight I saw her waiting for me, and I once again couldn't believe how gorgeous she was. It was like looking at a crowdsourced image of the perfect girl. I felt my mouth go dry.

She was wearing a purple tye dye t-shirt with a butterfly on it and a pair of beat up jeans. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail and she had her arms crossed. She was chewing her lip and her brows were furrowed in worry. She looked perfect. I cleared my throat and offered her a smile and a wave "Hey there. I'm Morgan O'Malley. Nice to meet you." My heart was pounding like a drum in my ears as I spoke but my breathing exercises helped me keep my cool enough that I didn't think she noticed.

When I spoke though, she seemed to untense. I think part of her was worried this was some crazy plan to rob her house again or something, but seeing me own up to my side of the deal, or at least appear to since I showed my face and told her a name (ostensibly my name though she had no way of knowing if that was true) helped her accept what was happening. She worried on her lip for another minute or two before she heaved a long sigh and said "Tel Mih Retne" There was a flash of amber light and the magic in my aura sight shifted to create a path for me.

I smiled and stepped forward, hands in my pockets. I was glad that aside from my mask i hadn't worn my costume because I would have looked ridiculous. Before entering though I looked at Zee in confusion. "Why did you decide to trust me? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm glad you did, but you had plenty of reasons to doubt my intentions." I honestly hadn't expected the face reveal to work, I'd been sure she would just refuse to let me in, and even taking into account that she was a heroine I was shocked.

She gave me a shy smile that set my heart fluttering and shrugged. "I've never had a friend before, but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to give them the benefit of the doubt." Then she turned and strolled down the path she had made me. I stared blankly after her before hurrying to catch up. Zatanna really was my friend, and knowing that felt so good after everything with Annabel. Sure she was a gorgeous friend I had confusing and non platonic feelings for, but I could work with that. She was one more person I could count on, and I didn't have many of those. Now I just had to hope she didn't hate me when I told her why I was here.

Shadowcrest July 20th 2010 8:30 PM EDT

Zatanna's room was...girlier than I had expected. Not pink and frilly or anything, but the baby blues mixed with the midnight blue and the silver accents were all made up of decidedly feminine stuff. She had several stuffed animals on her bed, which was well made and tucked in and her midnight blue blanket was a big fluffy throw with a unicorn rearing up against a sky full of stars.

She flushed a bit when she saw me looking around. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting company so I didn't really clean up." I was confused as to what the hell she meant because it looked incredibly clean to me, but I caught a small motion and noticed her use her foot to push a lacy black thong under her bed. I chose not to mention it and tried even harder not to blush like kid with a crush when I noticed how skimpy the thong was.

I cleared my throat and stepped up next to the bed, shooting Zee a questioning look which she responded to with a nod before I sat down then patted the blanket next to me awkwardly. I tried to keep my tone businesslike as I spoke, but I'm not sure I managed it. "I guess I should fill you in on everything that's happened. Some stuff I won't be able to tell, because it involves secrets of people who aren't me, but I'll do my best."

I proceeded to fill her in as best I could. Starting with what happened to Reggie and his family (sans names of course) then my encounter with the Talon, meeting Jim, stealing the knife, Annabel, Madame Xanadu, Blood, the Shadowpact, there was just so much to tell and despite editing out the few details about my powers and that only Artemis knew and being a bit vague I found myself confiding in Zee completely.

It felt...nice. Trusting someone like this. It hadn't been too long since Annabel had betrayed me, but I'd kind of missed the feeling of being able to talk to a girl this way, and Zee's dad was a hero, so I knew she wasn't going to try to sacrifice me to make me her braindead ninja sex slave. Probably. Regardless it felt good to get everything off my chest and even better to see the fascinated and impressed look on her pretty face.

I briefly considered telling her everything like I had Artemis, but I'd long since come to the conclusion I'd gotten stupidly lucky telling Artemis. I'd been so desperate not to be alone in the superhero world I'd made what otherwise might have been a stupid mistake blurting it out to the cute neighbor girl, and while it had turned out well, Annabel had proven that to be more of a fluke that anything else.

Even without knowing about my powers though, Zee's clear lust for adventure was showing, because her bright blue eyes were shining with excitement as I described all the situations I had been in. I almost invited her on a job with us, but I didn't think she was quite excited enough to turn to a life of crime. I felt like she might get there though. After I finished talking I looked at her quizzically. "So are we ok? I know this is a lot, and now you're in danger because of me." I wasn't sure if the fact that she was in danger had registered yet.

She just waved it off "Oh don't worry about it. There are more defenses on this place than you can imagine. Your mentor bypassed the passive stuff and got you out before the active stuff was online, but I can trigger the active defenses when you leave and an actual god couldn't get in here. I wish I could go with you honestly but daddy would lose his mind if I up and disappeared like that." She worried cutely at her bottom lip as she tried to think of a way to come with me but eventually gave up.

I chuckled at that "So I take it you won't be turning me in for any of this stuff? I was a bit concerned your conscience would push you into tossing me to the cops." I gave her a rueful grin, but she didn't return the smile. Her bright blue eyes were completely serious as she reached out to take my hand. I felt my heart race a bit as the soft skin of her fingers ran over mine when she squeezed. This close I could smell her lavender and chamomile shampoo and just the scent of it was kind of intoxicating.

Her voice was entirely earnest as she looked into my eyes "You did something very brave to help a friend. And since I'm your friend too I can't exactly complain about loyalty. Sure your career choice leaves something to be desired, but you clearly care a lot about people in your life and I would be a pretty crappy friend if I didn't learn from your example." She smirked again. "Besides it's not like I'm robbing places with you, as long as you don't tell me details how am I supposed to know what you do with your time."

I laughed at that. "Fair enough. I was mostly worried you would hate me for the whole crazy ex girlfriend wanting to kill you thing." I flushed a bit at that. Zatanna hadn't asked why Annabel wanted to kill her, but I figured she might have guessed I had a bit of a crush. I figured since I was already laying out my cards here I might as well push a bit further. "She...uh, might be a bit jealous. Of how close we've gotten since she...um, well since I thought she died. Which she didn't... so I guess we just broke up."

Zee gave me a cocky half smile "Jealous huh? Of what? We're just friends. Unless there's a reason for her to be jealous of me?" She was staring at me intently now, and her cheeks were a bit flushed. Looking into her eyes like this from so close was like falling into the mariana trench, I felt like I would never reach the bottom, just endless perfect blue. I swallowed hard and she scooted a bit closer.

My own breathing picked up a bit. "I mean. I can think of a hundred reasons for any girl to be jealous of you." I flushed when I realized how that sounded "I mean, because you have so much going for you. You can do magic and you're smart and funny and...beautiful." She averted her eyes when I said that last part. "So I mean, I guess she does have a reason to be jealous. Not that it really matters." I stared at her perfect porcelain features. "Unless it does matter? To you I mean."

I wanted to lean in, to press my lips against hers. They looked so pink and delicate and soft. But I didn't. Zee was my friend, if she wasn't interested I didn't want to push. She coughed a bit in embarrassment "I mean, it's not like I haven't thought about it. Even before I saw you without the mask, I though about it a few times. But daddy would never let me have a boyfriend. Much less a professional thief. Not that you would be, you know. My boyfriend. Or I guess maybe you would."

She was stuttering a bit now, eyes darting across the room and focusing everywhere but at me. I reached up, following some instinct I had no idea I even had and caught her chin, moving her head so she was looking at me. "You seem nervous. Don't be. Anything that happened here is your call. If you aren't interested just tell me and I'll back off. If you are, well your dad doesn't know I'm here now, so he doesn't need to know next time either. If there is a next time. Which again is up to you."

She stared up at me, her eyes bit unfocused as she leaned up and pressed her lips to mine. The kiss was slow, tentative. No tongues or anything just softness and the smell of lavender. As she gained a bit more confidence she ran her hands up my chest, one of them sliding up behind me to clench into a fist in my hair. The kiss lasted a minute or so, and when she pulled back she was flushed. "If you were my boyfriend, and if there was a next time, we could do more of that. Because that was...nice."

She reached up to touch her lips gently, as if seeing if the feeling of them changed after kissing me, and the image of her like that, in her t-shirt and jeans, hair in a ponytail and lips swollen from kissing me, beat out every piece of magic I'd ever seen to become the most amazing thing I had ever witnessed. I leaned back down to taste her lips again, pulling her into my lap and making a mental not to pick up one of those perfect lover courses with my power.

She ground against me as we kissed some more using a bit of tongue this time, but stopped and stared wide eyed at me as she felt me against her ass. Her face turned tomato red "Um. Is that...wow. Those aren't usually that big right?" I thanked every single god I could think of that I'd decided to do those male enhancement pills during my month of training, because she looked very impressed. But the shock seemed to have made her come to her senses and she kissed me again sliding out of my lap.

She paced to the mirror on her dark wood dresser and took out her ponytail, putting it back in to try to keep her hands busy as she obviously tried to calm down. "Well...that was...really nice. I'd like to do that again. So you should come and see me when you can. I can text you when daddy is out." She turned with a flush "But maybe next time we should meet somewhere else. Not that I don't like having you here...this is just a little soon. To be having you here. Not for the kissing. Because that was...yes please."

I laughed at that, thankful for those damn breathing techniques helping me calm my blood flow and thing like a rational human being instead of thinking with my dick. "It's fine Zee. I had fun too but yeah, I'd love to take you out sometime. We'd need to go somewhere that isn't Gotham though, because of the Court. Don't suppose you know teleportation magic or anything?" If she didn't I would learn it, I didn't want to wait until this mess was all over to see her again.

She brightened "Oh, yes, I do! I can take one person with me as long as we go somewhere within a few dozen miles. We can go to Metropolis. I've never been but I've always wanted to see it. Daddy doesn't spend much time there because Superman usually has it covered and it's pretty safe. It would be a great place to spend the day together. I think he'll be out on Saturday if you want to come see me?"

Saturday was the twenty fourth, which made it the full moon, so having Zee in Metropolis seemed like a good idea in case Jim and the others didn't find Annabel. I smiled and stood up walking over to her slowly. "It's a date." I leaned down to kiss her again and this time she melted against me. I really wanted to touch her, but I didn't want to spook her again, so I just enjoyed her body pressed against mine and the feel of her hands in my hair. As bad as things had been lately, this made up for a lot of stuff.

Shadowcrest July 20th 2010 11:00 PM EDT

I slipped my mask back on as I left Zatanna's place. I retraced my steps to leave when she said her dad would be home soon, and she followed me out to close up the loophole she made for me in the wards. I probably should have used shadow form to leave but I didn't have any points right now so I was kind of out of luck. Since I didn't have a car or anything I ended up walking for a while until I got to somewhere a bit more populated and catching a cab.

The upside of this little song and dance was that since tracking me through a dark forest is functionally impossible if you aren't a Kryptonian or something I knew I hadn't been followed to Zee's. That particular victory however, was short lived, because as I got out of the cab a few miles away from the clock tower (having a cabbie drop you off at your secret base is the fastest way for it to stop being a secret) I vaguely sensed myself being followed.

The strange thing was that this was just a feeling. When I'd been followed by my Uncle I could see him moving, literally watching him dart from shadow to shadow. Whoever was following me now was on a whole different level. This wasn't a Talon, the training was too good. The only reason I even knew I was being followed was that my reflexes, senses, ninja skills and thief training had all blended together in that instant to act as a sort of sixth sense. I'd only ever felt anything like this...in Wayne Manor.

I stopped. The woman in red who had caught me in the halls at the manor. She was the only person I'd come up against with this kind of stealth ability. I didn't know where she came from but if the person following me was her or someone related to her I absolutely could not lead them back to the clock tower. I debated trying a heat run, but I wouldn't be able to be sure I shook the tail if I spooked her and she started being more careful. Since stealth was out, that left the opposite.

I stood in the middle of the street for a few seconds, eyeing the empty pools of darkness around me. "I know you're
there!" I felt like that kid who mentally shouts at people to stop reading his mind at random intervals in case he's being spied on by a telepath but I knew someone was there, even if I couldn't say how. I waited, but the only sound was crickets and faint noises of animals scurrying through the dark. "I don't know your name, but I met you at Wayne Manor. I'd like to talk, if you feel inclined to humor me."

Despite having serious combat chops now I remembered the extreme sense of danger I got from that woman. I wasn't entirely sure I could take her. I didn't know why I got that sense but I would avoid fighting if possible. There was an infinitesimal sigh of air behind me, one anyone but me would have missed, but I spun on my heel to see the woman in red standing behind me, with another smaller woman in a green robe and a cat mask next to her. She smiled when she saw me facing her "Well met, little thief boy."

I nodded back "Good to see you again, ma'am." I figured discretion was the better part of valor here, she still felt dangerous as hell and I was betting that girl in the cat mask wasn't wearing that costume because the Red Lady was into pet play. I wasn't sure what the hell was up with people in this city and dressing like animals, bats, birds, cats, it was a little ridiculous. "Were you just in the neighborhood, or did you seek me out for something specific. Actually, how did you find me?"

She chuckled, that same low honeyed voice I remembered from our last meeting "You've been spotted in this area a few times by our agents. You usually vanish somewhere around here so we decided to stake out the street in hopes of bumping into you. Be flattered little thief, it isn't often we reach out to amateurs. My mistress seeks a meeting. You will accompany me to speak to her, be grateful for this opportunity, it may change your life." My aura sight told me she genuinely thought she was doing me a favor, but after the mess with Annabel I had learned it didn't always work right on crazy.

I cleared my throat politely "Apologies ma'am but I'm already spoken for in the mentor department. I'm training under Gentleman Ghost. Speaking of, he's actually waiting for me at our usual meeting spot so I really have to-" I wasn't able to finish my sentence because a throwing knife came whirling at my fucking face from where the two women were standing. I stepped neatly out of the way and glared at the lady in red. "That was rude. I'm being polite her because I was raised to always treat a lady with respect, but if you do that again I'm going to respectfully put my foot up your ass."

Instead of getting angry or offended like I expected she actually burst out laughing responding with a teasing smile. "Well look who has a spine after all. You just keep getting more interesting. My lady has asked to speak with you, and she will speak with you." The smile dropped. "Even if I have to tie you to a chair and burn every word out of you with a hot poker. But perhaps you are correct about my rudeness. My name is Sandra Wu-San, whom some call Lady Shiva. I am a subject of the League of Shadows, and you have been summoned by the Daughter of the Demon."

I didn't know what most of that meant, but I recognized the League she mentioned. Artemis's dad was a subcontractor for the Shadows. They were seriously bad guys, and she had repeatedly warned me to stay far far away from them. Oops. Regardless I was going nowhere with either of these women and if they thought they could make me they were in for a rude awakening. I put my hands up in surrender, stepped forward, and purposefully caught one foot behind the other tripping and falling on my face.

Or at least I would have landed on my face, had I not tucked into a roll before I hit the ground. I came up out of my roll right in front of the two women and lashed out with my Doom Fist at Lady Shiva's shoulder. My speed and complete lack of telegraphing seemed to take her by surprise, but only briefly, and she managed to weave out of the way before I could hit her. I frowned, I was a master of the Doom Fist. I should have been able to put her down. Then she lashed out at me in turn and I learned a hard lesson.

There are different levels of master in martial arts. Lady Shiva was pretty much the highest level of fighter I'd ever even seen. She made Staunton look like the out of shape kid in karate class who can't raise his leg high enough to pull off a crescent kick. Her muscles coiled and flowed beneath her skin like she was a fucking tiger, and only my reflexes saved me from getting my throat ripped out when I froze up in surprise. Luckily I did have godlike reflexes and after I adjusted I was able to hold her off.

Despite being able to hold my own for a while however, I was losing. Lady Shiva smiled as we fought, deflecting my fingers and turning her body so I couldn't get a solid hit. She spoke casually, as if instructing me "You are a monstrously talented boy, I've met few others of any age who were your equal in reaction time, and your skills are first rate. However you've built your body incorrectly. Your muscles are slow and bulky, they have strength but no explosive power. Your musculature is at odds with your explosive combat style and the discord creates openings."

She punctuated that statement by darting inside my range and flicking an attack at my face, which I instinctively reacted to, opening me up for a blow to the ribs. She chuckled "Relying on your reflexes is fine against amateurs, but martial arts have long since evolved to counter human reflexes. Your combat style is all offense, and you use evasion to compensate, but that isn't good enough against someone with real mastery." She picked me apart as we fought, and I was able to barely counter her, but I still couldn't land a solid strike.

I stabbed my fingers at her and took advantage of my reflexes to change directions mid strike, managing to get a clean hit on her and literally slamming my fingers through her skin. It felt good to finally get a hit in, especially after she spent so long badmouthing my fighting style. Her smile dropped again as her left arm became limp, and she darted back, drawing a knife with her right and completely changing the dynamic of the fight. Barehanded I could almost keep up, but armed she was worlds above me. I was fucked. Not to mention her little kitty friend circled around behind me to block off my means of escape.

She hissed as I backed off, face twisted in slight annoyance. "What a novel combat style. I expected you to use pressure points, but focusing your weight and force into the tips of your fingers like that gives your strikes the penetrating power of a blade. I'd very much like to see more, but sadly our time to play has come to an end. I have an assignment to complete. Cheshire, together." She darted in with her knife as Miss Kitty came in from behind with a fucking kunai. I turned my body sideways to try to catch them both coming in.

I abandoned all thoughts of attack, and completely relaxed my body to its limpest state as they came at me. I could only rely entirely on my reflexes to survive this. My passive reflexes were markedly faster than my conscious reaction times, and I managed to get into rhythm dodging their attacks. Cheshire as Lady Shiva had called her was good, but weirdly predictable, like I had fought her before. There was something almost familiar about the way she baited me out before trying to exploit the gap with her shuriken.

I didn't really have time to figure out why that was though because it was taking every single bit of concentration to dodge their attacks and I was starting to get tired. I made a mental note to get some kind of yoga master dvd with my power because my body really was built wrong for a fight at this level. I needed flexibility, and some explosive power would be nice too. I was going to lose this. Lady Shiva alone would have been more than I could handle, but down an arm I could have taken her, but the two of them together was out of my depth.

It didn't matter though, because I had held on long enough. I was close to the clock tower and I knew the wards would be monitoring the surrounding area for Talon activity. These women weren't Talons but they were attacking me, which meant Jim would have been notified. I couldn't hold back the vicious grin under my mask as I felt the temperature drop and the shadows lengthen. A crisp British voice carrying the icy chill of the grave echoed around us from the dark "What, exactly, do you think you are doing to my disciple?"

She fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most well known is never get involved in a land war in asia, but only slightly less common knowledge is never go up against death when a sicilian is on the line (see what I did there?) Regardless the League has taken an interest which cant be good for our boy. Meanwhile in the advance chapters Gotham city changes forever and our boy spends some time with his lady and his crew pat-reon has the five advance chapters of two thousand words for a total of ten thousand words at that site /malcolmtent. Let me know what you think and hope you enjoy.