Tower of Fate August 19th 2010 8:00 PM EDT
Getting everyone back down to the study seemed to take no time at all. With potions (which the justice bros had almost as many of as we did) most of them were back on their feet quickly. The only issue was that Artemis had to stay with Kid Flash. Apparently his enhanced metabolism burned through the potions too quickly for the magic to take hold. I wasn't sure how that even worked but Artemis was far from upset at staying with him. She stood guard over her boyfriend ferociously and while he seemed...uncertain, he didn't push her away.
This would be...complicated. I didn't see how it could end well. She wouldn't tell him who she was, because that would make the rest of us vulnerable, and she wouldn't make that decision, but I also know she couldn't stay with him knowing they were lying to each other. She was scared for him right now but I knew loyalty was going to push her to break up with him. Loyalty and the fact that she couldn't trust anyone with anything involved with her cape life. Her dad had royally fucked that up for her. It would break her heart too because they were crazy about each other.
Not for the first time I wanted to knock Larry Crock's annoying teeth down his throat. The only reason I didn't is because Artemis said he was crazy prideful and if I started shit he would turn it into a vendetta for sure. I'd eventually end up having to kill him and I couldn't do that to Artemis and Paula. Especially since there was a non zero chance doing it would cause her sister to try to hunt me down and might end with me killing HER and that would break my best friend's heart, even if she might understand if I was forced into it.
I just shook my head as I stared at them from across the study. I knew Artemis was going to be crushed but I had no way to help her. It's not like we could just tell him, he was a fucking superhero. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion. I wished I could stop it but there was nothing I could do, even though I was watching it happen. My own relationship was going to be getting more complicated too of course, now that the junior justice bros had seen me with Zee and her dad was going to find out.
Not that I gave a fuck what he thought or would let him stop me from seeing her. I could walk through fucking shadows and was trained by the best ward cracker in the world. Plus he wouldn't stop heroing so it's not like Zee couldn't just keep sneaking out. Now though we had other things to worry about. Kent was looking much better than before after the potion and was pacing back and forth worriedly paging through books. Zee was sitting contritely in a nearby leather arm chair by the fire as he walked back and forth in agitation.
He whirled to face her. "How could you do this Zatanna? Invoking an unknown shrine in a dangerous pocket dimension you weren't even supposed to be in? You have no clue what the consequences of this transformation might be! You don't know the source of this power or how it functions or what it may do to you." He turned and glared at her. "And you even dragged your friend into this with you from what you told me. A second person changed by unknown magic. What you've done was reckless and foolish and beneath you. Your father will be devastated, and your mother would have been ashamed of your thoughtless actions."
Ok that was enough of that shit. "Hey, shut the fuck up old man!" It took me a second to realize I'd said that, and only then mostly because everyone in the room was gaping at me, but I was too pissed to process that I was cussing out the most skilled mortal magic user on earth. "She said she was sorry. She's a scared teenage girl who came to her Uncle for help and your first move is to tell her how ashamed her dead mom would be? What kind of Uncle is that? That's despicable. If you don't want to help her then let me know and I'll take her home right now but I'm not sitting here and letting you abuse her in front of me because you're supposedly older and wiser."
Zee looked mortified. "Rand! That's not what's going on ok? Uncle Kent is just worried about me. He thinks I made a stupid choice and doesn't want me to do it again. He loves me and of course he's going to help me." She stood up and paced over to me, putting her arms around me and hugging me fiercely. "I love you for worrying, but he's not an enemy, he's family." She pulled back and her eyes, electric blue so bright they almost glowed even through her newly restored glamour, began to shine with unshed tears. "Besides. He's right. My mom would have been ashamed of me for being so reckless."
There was a sigh from near the desk. "No. I wasn't right. Your...gentleman friend...is correct." We both turned to see Nelson sagging against the desk, looking tired and sad. "I'm an adult and you're a child and you came to me for help. I was angry and worried but that doesn't change the fact that I lashed out at you when I should have been helping. I am sorry, dear girl. Your mother would be so proud of the woman you've become." He fixed me with a level glare. "I daresay she may even approve of the company you keep, though gods know your father won't. I just can't imagine losing you like we lost her, like I lost Inza."
The old mans eyes swam with unshed tears, and I felt like kind of a giant asshole. "I've lost too much Zatanna, more than any one man should have to bear. But not you. You're the daughter I never had, and no parent should ever have to outlive his child. The thought of you being...twisted into something else. Hollowed out and replaced by some new creature, was more than I could take. But if you can forgive an old man a fit of hurtful anger like that you're still the same girl I've always known. As long as I know that everything will be ok." I suspect he was going to say more but a flying fishnetted bundle of brunette slammed into his chest, wrapping him in a tight hug.
Robin cleared his throat. "As touching as this is, can we talk about the Lord of Chaos that just tried to kill us, and the guy in the mask who summoned a giant shadow fist to slap him around? Because no offense man but I don't know you, and some random person having that kind of power is not comforting. Not to mention I get the sneaking suspicion you aren't exactly a superhero given the giant sword you're carrying and the whole attempted decapitation thing. So care to explain to me why I shouldn't be taking you in for attempted murder?"
Zee bristled and looked like she was about to tear a strip out of him but I held up a hand. "First of all, I did not ATTEMPT to decapitate anyone. I successfully decapitated Klarion, it just didn't do anything. Second of all you can't murder an immortal, which Klarion obviously was, so I didn't attempt that either." That was a lie, I'd had no clue Klarion was immortal and had totally tried murder that little asshole, mostly because his aura was pure sadistic hatred and I was pretty sure given the chance he would have killed us first, but Robin didn't need to know that.
I raised a finger and pointed at him. "Third of all asshat, not only did I save your life, you have no legitimate case against me for anything, so you couldn't arrest me even if you were capable of doing so, which spoiler alert, you definitely aren't. But hey, if you want to have a dick measuring contest lets whip them out, I have nothing to be ashamed of." Most of the room winced at the crudeness, with Miss Martian flushing a deep crimson and Artemis looking disgusted while Zee gave me a sly wink her Uncle thankfully didn't see.
Luckily the old man decided to step in. Clearing his throat he drew our attention to him. "Regardless of his profession, from you've said this young man did us a great service tonight, and as he is not being actively pursued by the authorities I think perhaps we can table this issue until a more appropriate time. For now though, I am alive and your mission to check on me is complete. I appreciate your visit but I do need to tend to my niece and her friends, so you may all withdraw with my thanks while I attempt to help them with their...problem."
His tone made it clear that his polite advice wasn't actually either of those things, and that he was kicking the junior heroes out of his tower so he could work on Zee's problem. Of course I was pretty sure he couldn't do anything. My powers changed reality, which meant Zee was a heavenly punishment elf now and she couldn't be anything else. This wasn't a transformation like he thought, it was a change in being. Still I didn't hate the idea of the annoying pipsqueak who kept ogling my girl getting lost so I kept my mouth shut, Kent could try to undo it if he wanted, if he found a way I'd deal with stopping it then.
Robin looked outraged. "But he tried to cut someone's head off! And I didn't see it in the commotion but I'm pretty sure he emptied a bunch of bullets into Klarion's head, and no way is he licensed to carry." Kent just stared at him stonily and Robin snarled silently in anger. "Fine. You're the senior hero here, and this is your house, so we do it your way." He wheeled to point at me just like I'd done to him earlier. "But if I see you around this is going to go a lot differently. You're dangerous, and I don't like leaving you loose." He turned and stalked out of the room, expecting his team to follow.
Which they did, though not as quickly as he probably expected. Their reactions to my fighting style hadn't been favorable mostly, but Aqualad lowered his head in a nod of respect as he walked past a glowering Artemis to help an exhausted but mostly healed Wally up. The redhead gave Artemis a complicated look but seemed to shake it off, giving me a stony glare as they left, clearly following his friend's lead. Miss Martian gave us a sad smile and a wave goodbye before floating out the door after the retreating heroes, and Superboy stalked out with a glare, though I suspected that was just the only way he knew how to leave a room.
Kent sighed tiredly. "Well, that is going to get complicated for you all I imagine. But that can wait for another day. Now, I need to help the young lady over there as I've agreed to help Zatanna." He looked sharply at my girlfriend "Which I WILL be doing because leaving you in a transformed state because you think it's cool is not rational at all. In the spirit of that help, and in light of your actions to aid me against the Witch Boy, I propose I give a magical oath to prevent me from revealing your identities and you can all take those silly masks off. How does that sound?"
Tower of Fate August 19th 2010 8:30 PM EDT
Despite my initial hesitation Zee assured me that a magical oath was plenty safe for us. Kent didn't really care us much about the whole hero vs. thief thing either. When your main job is defeating eldritch entities and stopping hordes of monsters, petty larceny just isn't a priority. In the end it was my aura sense that sealed it. I could tell they both genuinely believed this oath would make us revealing ourselves safe, and I knew enough about magic fro my research to believe it myself.
We still wouldn't be telling him any of my secrets mind you, but taking our masks off would be necessary to put Artemis at ease to take off hers, especially with her current emotional state after that mess with Wally. My best friend needed me to do this, and so I did, removing my mask after the oath along with Reggie and Kit. With the three of us acting already Artemis couldn't exactly back out, so she grudgingly nodded and pulled her own mask up, nodding to Kent as she revealed her face to the old man.
Honestly I think it was his retirement from mainstream heroing that made her comfortable enough to do it, even with the oath and us around. Kent gave a warm smile. "Very well then, now if you ladies can come over here, I can scan you with a few spells to see what the origin of your current state might be." This part was...mildly worrying. Zee hadn't expected him to want to cure her, which in hindsight had been dumb of both of us. Since he would think this was an accident there was obviously no way he would leave her transformed if he had a choice.
That said, I was slightly worried about what he would find in terms of power. It was my points that created the foundation of the change inside them, at least if my instincts were right. But by that same token my points changed reality. So unless he could sense the difference he shouldn't be able to change or effect them, and i got the impression that he wouldn't be able to sense it. My powers weren't infallible I didn't think, but they were good at what they did. Kent muttered a few words, making swift sharp gestures and tossing out spell after spell.
Luckily as I expected her got nothing. The old man frowned "That's odd. I can't detect any changes. Hold on, let me try something else." He said all this without actually looking up or addressing anyone, and then immediately went back to his spell work, determined to figure out what was going on. Golden Ankhs were the main order of the day, though hardly the only visual effect of his spells, but regardless of what he tried or how he did it, his face continued to get more and more unhappy. He couldn't find anything, which was good, because it meant he couldn't undo the transformation.
He glared at the girls while the rest of us watched, but not like he was angry at them, rather it was a glare of frustration because he couldn't understand what was going on. I admit to a slight internal smirk, though it might not have been as internal as I's thought because Zee glared at me as soon as I did it and I had to turn my back to keep from snickering at the sight of the greatest mortal magic user in the world nearly pulling out his hair in annoyance at being stumped by my superpower. Mald harder bro.
Finally he stalked back over to the best to flip open the book he'd been reading while the others were here. It only now occurred to me that asking us to take the masks off hadn't been a comfort thing. Those things had enchantments on them and were right in front of our brains, so obviously they might have interfered with the scans. He'd wanted to get the best possible information. Unfortunately scans or no he was stumped. He snarled and hurled the book across the room, the massive tome thunking off one of the shelves and flopping to the floor with a low boom of impact.
I almost rolled my eyes at the drama, but I reminded myself that he was worried about permanent spell work being used on his niece. He didn't know it was safe, and though he'd said he wasn't worried about her personality anymore, accidental permanent changes with magic are literally never a good thing. If not for the fact that I knew it wasn't an accident at all I would have been worried too, but I trusted my power. It hadn't steered me wrong so far (temporary screaming agony not withstanding). I felt for the guy honestly, but I also couldn't feel too bad, I was still pissed at him for what he'd said to Zee, even if she wasn't. Scared or not he was this old mentor type figure and should have known better.
Kent slumped back into the chair behind his desk with a long sigh. "I'm guessing you won't allow me to tell your father or any of my contacts about your new...condition?" Zee just raised and eyebrow, and Kent chuckled. "Damn it girl, you knew I would overcompensate and make that oath because I felt bad for yelling at you. You worded it broadly so I couldn't discuss any of this. I'm guessing you're counting on the kids who left not understanding what was going on? We were talking a bit vaguely when we discussed your transformation but don't you think they'll notice that you looked different after the lightning?"
I grinned, realizing my girlfriend had used the old mans guilt to wrangle him into accidentally swearing not to reveal ANY of our secrets. He couldn't talk about her new powers or how she got them without her permission now. Rather than seeming angry he had a wry smile on his face, and he rolled his eyes at her shrug. I knew she wouldn't reallty have ignored something like that, and suspected she'd thrown some sort of illusion or concealment in front of them we hadn't noticed. I had to admit I was damn impressed. Zee could be downright devious when she wanted to be, and I suspect that would worry me if I didn't find it so damned hot. I frowned mentally, did I have a type?
Kent's chuckle died down and he sighed. "Well I suppose I can still help you as best I can. I don't recognize what you've turned into and I have no clue how to reverse it. I can't find any trace of you being altered at all in fact, and honestly it just looks like you've always been...whatever that is. I did manage to detect a few things about your condition if you'd like to hear them?" Zee's eyes lit up and I knew she was as excited as I was. Our shared magic nerdiness mad the prospect of having the sorcerer supreme give us feedback on a race we'd created ourselves clearly showing on our faces.
Luckily Kent probably just assumed it was Zee being her normal magically enthusiastic self, so just smiled dotingly at my girl. Clearly her love for magic came from him as well as from her parents and he treasured that quality. Zee stood there for a few seconds waiting before coughign loudly and gesturing for him to hurry up, clearly not even feeling the need to bother with a response. Ask a stupid question after all. Asking Zatanna Zatara if she wanted to hear the details about powerful magic was like asking a fish if they liked the water.
Kent conjured up a pipe and lit it with magic, but a harsh glare from Zee had him dismissing it with a flash of light and a sulk. He cleared his throat in a disgruntled fashion, clearly trying to steer the conversation back to the subject at hand before he got yelled at for smoking in front of a bunch of teenagers. "Well, I was able to identify several areas of interest. First there appears to be a spark of divinity in your new form. Not sure how it got there, but it doesn't appear to belong to any deity I'm familiar with. Which on one hand is concerning because it means you're tied to an unknown god, but on the other is slightly comforting because you aren't tied to one of the ones I DO know about."
We'd known about that one of course, including the unknown god thing. But he wasn't done. "Secondly the lightning you used, that unusual attack magic. I've never seen anything similar before, but even more strange is that based on my scans, the electrons in your body seem to be made of it now. It's...refining you, making you more. Though it's doing it slowly and based on my observations not at a consistent rate. It seems like it's slowly dropping in activity over time. I suspect when you used it earlier you charged up your electrons, implying that the more you use the stuff the more it changes you. I would suggest utilizing the power sparingly."
I winced. We'd known about that, Artemis and Zee had both mentioned feeling like their bloodlines could be taken to a higher level, but knowing the mechanism was both better and worse. One the one hand it was soothing because it was clinical. It was just a scientific process that would lead to them being stronger. But I also knew there was more to it. That lightning was magic and had powerful concepts embedded in it. Artemis's description of it still made me uneasy even if I had to trust that they knew what they were doing.
Kent went on to tell us more details but I sort of zoned out, they were mostly things we already new repackaged as new information and i just didn't care enough to listen. Zee was eating it up, but then she had always been much more of a nerd than I was. I personally was trying to come up with ways to circumvent her wards and sneak in to see her if her dad tried to ground her. I knew she loved her dad and didn't want him hurt, but I briefly wondered if it would be feasible to Jim drop him in the ghost roads again, Zee said he seemed fine after coming back, albeit he was prone to jump scares at weird times now.
Finally the research part had calmed down and everyone but Zee was looking bored, so I slipped my mask back on and stepped up next to my girlfriend. "Baby it's getting late. We kind of have to go. Got to get you home before your dad is back from his League meeting." We actually had some time but I was sick of being here and the orb was beginning to look a bit fuzzy around the edges. She pouted a bit and I resisted the urge to take my mask back of and kiss her, she'd worn her blueberry cheesecake lip gloss today and I could smell it from how close we were. Finally she rolled her eyes and said goodbye.
We walked out onto the roof for the teleport, still inside the shield but an easier place to move from and I unpacked the shadow energy in the orb and threw it down, using it to create a massive long distance portal and dump all of us just a block from the clock tower. I figured directly portaling in from Dr. Fate's tower was a bad idea, and even if not better safe than sorry. Zee waved to her uncle and promised to visit as we faded away and I wrapped an arm around her waist. I was annoyed I'd have to deal with her dad but consoled myself that it would probably be at least a few days and maybe a few weeks before the justice bros got a sit down with busy sorcerer since even Zee could barely meet with him. I decided to let it be a problem for future Morgan. Fuck that guy.
[Warning: discussions of mental illness]
Gotham Academy August 23rd 2010 7:00 AM EDT
The few days after out visit to Kent's tower had been pretty average for the most part. We'd been going back into the dungeon, and my new power had not been the coup down there I had expected. Because of all the lava there was plenty of shadows, but the lack of mobility meant my oil slick was out, and the demons were made of magma mostly. The toad spitters I could just spike with and I could still kill things with my King's Sword of Haste and my movement skills, but the major issue was the size.
The fucking caves were massive, literal rivers of fucking lava covering dozens of miles of territory. It seemed like the damn Labyrinth was a pyramid shape, because each level got larger by a large amount. The bump in size seemed to be even more absurd once you passed into a new biome, and where my shadow powers had let us race through the catacombs the caves were going to take a while. Today however I was at school, and I was exhausted, because I'd been skipping sleep to talk to Artemis on the phone lately to try to calm her down after she'd dumped her boyfriend.
It sucked. I got the reasoning, but Artemis loved him. They just sort of fit together, and leaving him had torn her up something fierce. What was worse was she couldn't tell him why she was doing it, so she'd just blamed it on him never being there for her and how he wasn't around. Which while technically valid wasn't how she felt anyway, so when he literally begged her to reconsider and promised to make more time for her she couldn't agree even though I knew she wanted to.
She was a mess. Not physically because her weird elven racial bonus to charisma made that impossible, but she was angry and snapping at everyone, even Zee, and the two of them were crazy close since the ritual. She was coming to school, but she quit the track team because it reminded her of Wally, and while my best friend wasn't the whimpering damsel type she was very much a girl who took her bad moods out on others and I was beginning to worry she might stab someone at the academy. Especially since someone on the track team had let it slip the two of them were broken up after he heard it from a friend who raced at Central City High.
Despite that and despite the anger and vitriol we were getting Zee and I took turns calling her every other night to try to let her know we were there. She was extremely unpleasant about it, but she didn't hang up and always answered so we figured it must be doing some good. This is all to explain of course, why I was less than surprised when I got grabbed as I was walking into school and dragged out behind the building by a redheaded shell of a man desperate to talk to me. Of course I was a stealth genius so he couldn't have snuck up on me if he tried, but still I'd been expecting this.
Wally looked like shit. He had bags under his eyes, his clothes were stained and torn in places, his hair was a mess and he was jittery as hell. He met my eyes for all of a second before his roaming gaze flicked off to who knows where and his voice was rough and croaking. "You look different." Then he shrugged. "Or maybe not, I don't know. We need to talk. I need your help." I sighed and opened my mouth, but he grabbed my jacket pulling me off balance to stare wildly into my eyes. "Please! Don't say no. Just hear me out."
I sighed. I wasn't even mad about the manhandling because the guy looked like death warmed over. I thought it over for a minute but nodded. "Fine. Talk fast, I have class and I'm already late. Plus Artemis will flip if she hears I was out here talking to you." He visibly flinched when I said that and I sighed again and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look Wally, I'm sorry man. I like you, you care about her and you're good for her, but if she doesn't think it's going to work you know as well as I do no one can talk her out of it. You'll find somebody else, just let it go man. This isn't anyone's fault, it just isn't meant to be."
Wally snarled and let me go, pacing back and forth like a caged animal and running his hands through his hair. After finding out he was Kid Flash Wally's over the top personality made a lot more sense. His metabolism was nuts, which meant his hormone production was through the roof. Wally literally felt things more intensely than other people, and going by his aura, he was spiraling. Hard. Not in an angry way, if I'd seen him as a threat to Artemis I would have handled it, but in a much worse way.
I don't know how I had missed the fact that Wally was so all over the place emotionally, but sitting there watching his aura swing through varying levels of grief and despair I became genuinely worried he might actually hurt himself. Why wasn't the Flash dealing with this? Why hadn't he taken Wally to a doctor? Was it because he was an adult when he got his powers? Was the mix of puberty and extreme hormone production creating a unique situation? I wasn't a medical professional but I was pretty sure Wally was exhibiting the symptoms of a panic attack.
He started talking as he paced back and forth. "I just...this isn't right man. I haven't been around I get that, and I'm sorry but she won't let me fix it! I told her I would do better but she just said it didn't matter, that I missed my chance." He turned to me imploringly, literal tears glistening in his eyes. "I just need you to talk to her, man. Tell her that I'm sorry and I'll do better. I promise. I just...I used to hit on girls all the time you know?I was just looking for someone who would fit, who would be right for me. Then I found Artemis and it was like I found that missing piece you know? She's just...she's like the other half of me. Please Morgan. Please help me?"
I mentally cursed the Flash for missing this. This was not new. Hiding this from your girlfriend was one thing but the way his aura was fluctuating made it impossible that he'd kept this a secret from his parents or that this was his first time. Granted I knew that trigger events could make panic attacks worse, but if this was really caused by his powers (and I had no proof that it was, just a suspicion, I wasn't a doctor) it would have been happening since he started puberty at least. But I couldn't just leave him like this. Artemis really loved him, and if she saw him this way she would be heartbroken. This wasn't supposed to be a big deal, people break up sure it sucked but if she'd known he would take it this badly she'd have found another way.
I sighed and gave him a weak smile. "Yeah man, I'll talk to her. Just...take a breath ok? Things will be fine. I'll talk to her for you and we can sort this out." He just nodded, breathing heavily like he'd just run a marathon, and all the energy kind of went out of him and he slumped against the wall behind him. That was good. I had zero clue how to deal with a panic attack from someone with super powered hormones. I grabbed his shoulder, pulling him along. "Here man come sit down, you look like you rushed over here, that had to be exhausting." Which was true, from the state of his clothes I suspected he might've run here from Central. Which was...far. Even with super speed.
He just slumped down onto the bench and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry. I didn't mean to get all worked up. I don't get spun up like that often. Can we maybe not tell Artemis about this? She's never seen me have an episode before. They aren't common. I'm on medication and I'm usually fine but I just...got a little carried away." Ah, that explained it. I was definitely going to tell her, but it's not like she didn't already know plenty about him without his knowledge. one more secret wouldn't be the end of the world.
I actually felt a bit bad about lying to him when I smiled and said. "Sure, we can keep it between us. Is this something you've been dealing with for a long time? You have ADHD right?" I knew that could get pretty severe and it actually explained Wally's behavior pretty well honestly. If he was on meds and treating it though, it certainly made sense that none of us had noticed. Hell the only reason I even knew much about it was that I'd been memorizing mental health books because I was pretty sure I was on the autism spectrum.
Not far on the spectrum, just like aspergers, but some of the symptoms fit me really well. Mental health care in Gotham was awful, as evidenced by the state of Arkham, so puzzling it out on my own was the only reason I even knew myself. Wally looked...resigned. "Yeah, I was diagnosed a few years ago. I usually manage it with meds well enough, hell most of my friends don't even know about it. Not a lot of people want to even consider something like that might be going on with their friends you know? They just ignore it. Chalk it up to me being a spaz. Sorry again I just grabbed you like that."
I waved it off. "It's fine. I know how close you two are, I get that people freak out when they're losing a loved one. i can only talk to her though, is this going to be an issue if she decides not to get back together with you? Because disorder or not I don't much like the whole emotional blackmail angle. Not to mention that relationship built on a foundation of threats are hardly a good idea." It was a mean thing to ask, but I had to ask it. I wasn't convincing my best friend to date a guy whose reaction to them breaking up was going to be harmful to himself or others.
His eyes widened a bit and he held up his hands. "No! No it isn't like that I swear. Like I said I don't want you to tell her. I haven't had an episode in like a year, and it isn't just about her. I recently kind of cut ties with an old friend and it's been kind of eating at me. There's been a lot of stuff. Honestly the meds might not be enough, I should probably talk to my Uncle's friend, she's a shrink." He smirked a little. "She's super hot too, so that's a bonus." Then his expression became serious again. "I just...I feel a connection with her. I want a chance to talk to her about things but she's dodging me. If we talk and she decides it's not right for her I'll back off. I can be dense but I'm not an asshole."I believed him, especially since his aura was pulsing with conviction.
Wally didn't want to lose Artemis, but he wasn't going to make that her problem if she wanted to end things. Which was shitty, because if he had wanted to do that it would have been a good reason not to help him, instead I had to actually go talk to Artemis about this, and she wasn't going to take it well. She wasn't going to tell him her identity for a myriad of reasons, but if he could lie about his identity so could she, and she really cared about him. I sighed and nodded again. "Like I said, I'll talk to her. Go home Wally. Get some sleep and shower. I'll have her call you or do it myself if she won't." He breathed a sigh of relief and smiled gratefully. Man, life had been so much easier when I was a shut in.
O'Malley Penthouse August 23rd 2010 8:00 PM EDT
Artemis was glaring at me. "This is your fault!" I raised a skeptical eyebrow at my fuming bestie. She narrowed her eyes. "It is! If you had just told him to buzz off and kept your nosy...nose, out of things, I never would have known about any of this. Now I'm scared for him and I miss him and I was trying not to think about him and you ruined it! You know having shadow powers doesn't mean I can't kick your ass right?" She was pacing back and forth, her eyes locked on me as she walked, just as agitated as Wally had been.
I'd debated not telling her about Wally's confession to me, but in the end as much as I liked him he was a stranger and she was my best friend. I owed her too much to leave things like they were without at least giving her the chance to fix them. Luckily mom and Gojo were out on a ski vacation. He found out she'd never been and insisted they go immediately, which of course meant I was paying for it because Gojo was an interdimensional traveler and had no money. I didn't mind though, my mom seemed so excited, and since she'd had to quit her job to go on the cruise she just generally didn't have much to do.
I sighed at Artemis. "First of all, yes it does. Second of all, you love Wally. You wouldn't be this upset if you didn't. So just stay with him, figure things out as you go. Worst case scenario I'll get some kind of magically binding contract with my power and you can make him sign it. Problem solved." If Wally couldn't tell anyone everything would be fine and they could get back together. I'd put a lot of thought into the specifics and I even had a basic idea for what email I'd use, I just needed to float the idea to Artemis. She obviously didn't like it as much as I did thought because she picked up and chucked a lamp at me.
I caught it obviously, with my reflexes throwing things at me wasn't even dangerous, and she'd definitely held back anyway. "No it does not solve the problem you asshat! He lied to me for our entire relationship! He's a superhero! Plus, in case you missed it my father is fucking Sportsmaster. What do you think he's going to say when he finds out his nice sweet normal girlfriend is the spawn of the walking embodiment of an Evil Dick's Sporting Goods?" Her face was bright red and she was almost spitting with rage. I should have kept it in, I know. But I just fucking lost it.
Her eyes widened with unbridled fury as I collapsed onto the couch cackling like a witch from the wizard of oz. She didn't even throw anything, just glared at me like she was going to kill me. I saw her fingers began to spark with electricity and I forced myself to get my laughter under control. "Oh, oh god, I'm sorry. It's not funny I know. But it's just...you said nice and normal." I dissolved back into laughter, almost unable to breathe from the effort until she flicked a finger and a small shock hit me in the stomach. I sat up with a frown. "Ow! Hey!"
That had actually hurt, plus even my reflexes didn't let me dodge lightning. Artemis smiled, not a smile of happiness, but a brittle forced expression that promised untold misery if I didn't respond to her next question exactly as she wanted. "And what, oh loyal best friend of mine is that supposed to mean?" Her tone was thick with danger, but honestly I wasn't buying it. Artemis wouldn't actually hurt me, and we both knew it. Granted she might shock me a bunch more and that shit hurt but my point stood.
I sat up, shaking my head. "You are not a nice, normal girl, Artemis. You are occasionally the first one, but literally never the second. You are an ornery, sarcastic, belligerent control freak with daddy issues out the wazoo and an unhealthy obsession with sharp objects. You're basically a seventeen on a one to ten scale of warning signs you might be dating a serial killer. If you haven't scared him off by being the caring, loyal, impossible pain in the ass you are every second of every day that boy isn't going anywhere."
She just glared. "You're a dick. But thank you. Dick. I just... this isn't fair. To either of us. I can't keep lying to him, can't just ignore him lying to me. But I just...I just want him near me. I want to hear him tell stupid jokes about chemistry and listen to him go on about being stuck in summer school, and hold me against his chest and tell me that I'm perfect. I just want...him. But I can't shake this horrible feeling that the relationship is doomed to end in tragedy. That letting a hero into my life is a one way ticket to pain and heartbreak."
I rolled my eyes. "So your brilliant solution to this problem is to break your own heart first so he can't do it later? Congratulations on the dumbest plan of all time. Of course it's going to end in heartbreak you lackwit. All relationships end in heartbreak. You either break up or one or both of you dies. Welcome to life, it kind of sucks. I wasn't aware my best friend was some simpering princess who was afraid of a little hurt." Her glare locked back on me, but rather than angry she looked... conflicted. Conflicted was good, I could work with conflicted.
I kept talking like nothing was happening. "This is your call in the end. He's coming here to meet with you and talk. He already told me if you tell him to his face that this won't work out after honestly talking about things he'll leave. I saw his aura, he was being honest. He's desperate but he does love you enough to let you go if that's what you want. But is it? Do you want to watch him walk away from you knowing you might never see him again?" She looked torn, and was clearly wavering.
I wasn't done, so I kept talking, letting her play catch up to my words as she processed them. "I get it. Don't forget who my dad is. I know it isn't the same, your old man is way worse, but I'm dating the daughter of a superhero. There's a fear there, an uncertainty about what they'll do when it comes down to right or you. It sucks. But I'm also in love. I think about Zee every day. Every morning when I wake up, every night when I go to sleep. She's on my mind constantly, and I know you feel at least some of that for Wally. I stayed out of this before because you wanted it to be over and I respected that, but I won't just ignore you hurting yourself like this. It's still your decision, but I wasn't going to hold my tongue."
I flinched in horror as she started to CRY. Artemis never cried. I wasn't even sure she had tear ducts. Her voice was almost pleading as she spat back at me. "Don't you think I know that? Don't you think I want to try?" But I just...how do I trust him? How do I know he won't find out and hate me?" I didn't have time to answer though, because there was a knock on the door. Her eyes widened in panic and she started scrubbing her face with her sleeve, trying to get rid of the tear tracks.
I turned away from her, because I had no answers and because it wasn't my turn to talk anymore. I walked to the door and opened it and Wally came stalking inside. He'd worked himself up into a lather, not a depressive on but a determined will to succeed. He stalked right up to Artemis and looked her dead in the eye. "We aren't breaking up." I raised an eyebrow, my mouth quirking into a smile. That was an interesting tactic to take with someone as combative as Artemis, I was curious where he was going with this.
She frowned and opened her mouth and he cut her off. "No! It's my turn to talk. You just walked up and told me we were over and then left and didn't even let me get a word in edgewise so I'm going to say my piece. You're a bitch." He stopped and glanced up as if mentally going over a checklist as we waited then nodded. "You're a bitch, and you're bossy, and you hog all the meatballs. You make me watch terrible movies and you have awful taste in music and you are objectively the worst cook on the entire planet, bar none."
She just glared at him, waiting, and he took a deep breath and powered on. "But I don't care. I'll watch every bad movie that's ever been released, I'll listen to whatever death metal nonsense you feel like putting on, and I will eat your god awful cooking every day from now until I die, probably of food poisoning, because I love you. If you're angry I'm not here enough I'll move here, if you think I don't spend enough time with you I will come over every day, but the one thing I can not, will not do, is live in a world where you don't know how much you mean to me."
He swallowed hard, not stopping his rant. This wasn't spiraling though, I could see it in his aura, he was in control, this was him putting it all on the line. Trying one last time. "We've been together for a month Artemis. That isn't long, but it feels like forever. Because I can't honestly remember what my life was like before you. I can't imagine not thinking about your smile, or your laugh, or how you somehow believe that bubblegum is a legitimate ice cream flavor when I have literally proven to you with hard numbers that it isn't. You're the best thing about my day, about my whole life, and I can't lose you if there's any chance that knowing that will change your mind."
His voice steeled and he stood up straight. "So no. We are not breaking up. If you want this to be over you don't get to just walk up and say you're out. This isn't a break up, it isn't mutual, if you want me gone I'll go but it will only be because you sent me away. You can dump me if you have to, but this is all on you, because unless you send me away I'm not going anywhere for any reason." The tension went out of him and he sagged. "That's it. That's all I have to say. If you still don't want to be with me I'll go. But I needed to put myself out there. I lived in a world without you in it before, I'm not going back to that if I can help it."
Artemis was definitely crying now. Quiet choking tears. She opened her mouth and I saw on her aura and in her eyes all the ways she wanted to just be done with it, to just say no and kick him out. But every time she tried something stopped her. She couldn't do it. She stood stock still for a minute, just staring into Wally's eyes, and then hurled herself into his arms yanking him down into a kiss. I have to admit, despite the problems still to come and how rough this might turn out in the end I was happy for her. Sometimes it's hard being a romantic.
The Caves August 24th 2010 7:00 PM EDT
I stared at my girlfriend with a raised eyebrow. "He still hasn't said anything?" I was shocked she was here. I'd been planning to break into her house later tonight to check on her. I hadn't talked to her in a while. She looked fine to me, happy to see me and Artemis both and clearly having been starved for attention. Or maybe the opposite, she might have been smothered based on not being able to call. Either way it was amazing to see her even if I was a bit worried about her dad showing up, impossible as that might be in our individual dungeon instance.
She gave me a warm smile and a quick blueberry cheesecake kiss. "Nope. I think they mentioned...something, to him, but they didn't go into detail. He watched me like a hawk for a few days and I couldn't even get to my phone but eventually he got called away on a mission so I came out to play." She shot me a wink before nearly skipping over to Artemis to wrap her in a hug. "Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry I wasn't around for that mess with you and Wally. I'm glad you decided to give things another chance. You're so good together." I really was happy to see how close my best friend and girlfriend were after the ritual.
I also had to agree with the sentiment. Artemis was practically floating today, happier than I'd seen her in years. But they weren't going to dwell on that right now, no, tonight we had bigger fish to fry. We had found the entrance to level ten. Granted level nine was huge and we hadn't come close to cleaning it out, but diablo was on of those games where that happened on occasion and I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, not when I knew what lay on level ten. Everyone stared at me expectantly as we looked over at the stone stairs down.
Figuring they wanted to know what we were doing I shrugged, stating the obvious. "We're going down. Artemis and to my surprise Kit looked unhappy, but before they could speak I held up a hand. "Level nine is pretty much useless in the grand scheme of things, and honestly at this point we can't afford to spend literal weeks clearing a floor we can just leave. But that's not why I'm so anxious for level ten." I grinned wolfishly. I was anxious for level ten because there was something big down there, provided it appeared without the quest which experience told me it should.
The Anvil of Fury. While the dungeon itself was the most immediate source of magic weapons, the anvil provided us with an ability to forge them ourselves. I'd even looking into my stat folder and found a magic smith learning course that had popped up after the dungeon opened, it was pretty cheap too at only fifty points, most likely because it wasn't actually functional without the anvil or at least not easily. All my best abilities usually had some absurd cost outside my powers that must have made them affordable like the magic needed for the girls ritual.
At the moment I was back up to three hundred and fifty points, this new income was incredibly helpful, and I had enough for the smithing perk for sure...but I didn't want to take it. Maybe a chemist or something but blacksmith didn't fit my build. Though that did give me an idea. I turned to Zee and Artemis and gave them curious looks, I had considered before that I might be able to let people who had powers learn skills. There was no energy to integrate since the skill items themselves used the power.
I just had to figure out who to give it to. Zee loved magic and she would be so excited to make magic items, but Artemis had grown up around Teague and might be interested in learning. Sadly items that taught skills like that were used up when you went through to program so I couldn't just let them both learn it. I'd have to talk to them about it later. For now I shook off the thought and nodded down the steps. "So anyway if we can get the anvil we can make real magic items ourselves."
Despite getting lost in thought I'd had a simple time keeping up a running commentary. Despite my vague stare during the process everyone seemed excited and we made our way down the steps carefully, looking for the anvil. I had to assume all the major forces knew about the anvil from the game, no way they hadn't figured it out yet, so we wouldn't be the only ones with the thing, but my skill would give us a huge advantage as the rest of them tried to figure things out through trial and error. Being able to mass produce gear for instance, would make us pretty much heroes in the city.
We slipped down the stairs, careful as ever. Unlike the game the steps in the dungeon weren't a loading screen, those bastards on the lower levels could and would jump us on the way down a lesson we learned early on our runs when Reggie almost got decapitated. Now though we moved like a well oiled machine, with me going first to play interceptor and Artemis in the rear to play guard. Zee was in the middle keeping an eye out and she was ready to drop a shield at any time.
We made it to the bottom mostly unscathed there were a few quick probing attacks but we dispatched them easy enough. Artemis had bolted the bastards out of mid air. When we emerged onto floor ten it seemed...empty at first. Not empty as in nothing there, it was less the absence of something and more the presence of nothing. I walked to the nearby lava stream and suddenly a shape came flashing out at me. A magma demon but not one like I'd seen before, this one was fast as hell and even I barely drew my sword in time to kill it, watching with wide eyes as it almost dodged.
I frowned as my sword sunk halfway into the thing and then ripped it free with a grunt, yanking the magma demon out of the lava river completely and flinging it up on the bank to die. I spun to look at the others in shock. "Ok, what the actual fuck? That was stronger and faster than the ones on nine by at least three times. Granted we outpaced those things a while ago but there shouldn't be that much of a difference. Zee you have any idea what's going on?" A jump in difficulty at floor ten wasn't that weird, but I didn't remember anything this extreme in the game.
Zee closed her eyes and started muttering spells. With her new magic reserves she had been trying multiple styles of combat and casting, she was most fond of something the called cascade spell work. Basically instead of a single huge spell she stacked a bunch of smaller ones together into a ramping working. With her increased mana regen the style gave her pool more time to refill and resulted in less time being vulnerable and more optimized casting. Zee hated wasting mana. When she opened her eyes she was frowning hard.
She flicked a finger and summoned her hydra guardian, raising the thing literally in the lava, before stepping up to study it. She kept her distance but her blue eyes flashed and she nodded with a scowl. "That's...not good. You know how all the energy from the sacrifices flows downward and the levels keep getting stronger?" We all nodded. "Well we just passed the point that any of the other teams have managed. Even though the dungeon is instanced the other front like teams have been mostly keeping up with us I guess. The density of energy in this level hasn't been lessened at all from killing monsters or getting loot."
I groaned. I hadn't even considered that. "Shit. I bet most of the big organizations have been rotating in teams or something. I bet the instance will still work if the new team goes in with the mage who cast the town portal. We have some serious advantages but they've been keeping up. The worst part is that since we're trailblazing they won't even run into the same issue because we'll be draining off more power. Any upside to this at least? Are we more likely to get good gear or something?" Any silver lining would honestly help my mood.
Zee just shrugged. "Couldn't tell you. Maybe, or maybe if it happens it'll be a consequence of the stronger monsters. It's not a stable allocation thing, just bleed through from an overabundance of energy. Most of it is still being drained down but the dungeon seems to use a tiered system that allocates a certain amount to each level, and with us being the only ones to get here there's been a bit of buildup in all the instances." She paused for a second. "Or I could be wrong and crazy. Either way the energy here is way thicker." She seemed pretty worried about the extra danger, which I got, but I also had an idea.
I nodded before stopping with a smile. "Would something that was a part of this level natively be stronger then? Like say...an anvil?" I could tell she saw where I was going and she nodded excitedly. The extra monsters were worth it if that was the case, getting our hands on some kind of elite version of the anvil of fury would be a game changer for us. Combined with the blacksmithing lessons we could make much higher tier gear presumable. Outfitting ourselves and selling to certain trustworthy teams. Hell I wouldn't mind selling to the junior justice bros. Wally wasn't so bad and they were too squeamish to use bladed weapons on humans.
I wondered briefly what we would be able to make. Could we recreate any gear we found? Or would we need to start slow and work our way up. Silently I decided to give Artemis the blacksmithing proficiency. I could get Zee a fun skill some other time, maybe something magic based, but Artemis was around more often, not to mention she might be able to get some lessons from Teague. Decision having been made I was feeling much better about this whole thing. "Alright we're going to keep going if it's cool with you all. I want to get that anvil while it's powered up. Everyone good with that?"
I got a serious of nods and grins which was heartening to see, and returned the grins with one of my own. "Good to hear. Ok, so we're playing it safe in the new level until we figure out how strong everyone is. I'll be ranging ahead as a scout, I can shadow port and combined with my reaction speeds I should be the least likely to get hurt. Reggie just in case you're on standby for rescue, swap me with some monster away from the fight if you have to. Zee and Artemis are on ranged, Kit you're playing near guard for our long distance."
I put my hand on my King's Sword of Haste, literally my favorite thing ever. I was made for speed, in fact I was considering bumping my dexterity to twenty next level, since I had a few levels of extra stat points as cushion while still getting to two hundred and fifty points a day. Regardless I was ready to go. I grinned at my friends and slipped out into the level with them trailing behind me. Say what you will about Gotham and how complicated it could be, but you had to admit, the place could be a lot of fun sometimes.
Ok folks, a few things. We're coming up on a timeskip, that'll be the chapter after next. Won't be a crazy long one but it'll give them time to get some dungeon runs in and build up some power. Second of all the next power we get is up in the air. [spoiler] We can either take the discussed devil transformation (that's a DxD devil) or the new exciting option of a secret lair, but the second will require a bit of a wait even after the timeskip, or we can take the devil transformation first and use it to up our points income so we can get the lair faster. [/spoiler] Also when we do the devil transformation I was curious what everyone thinks about introducing a peerage. This will NOT become a harem story if that happens and the peerage will be both male and female, but let me know what you all think. pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent. Hope you all enjoy.