Doomhallow Hall October 31st 2010 1:00 AM EDT
I wanted to run out into the night and track down my loved ones, to round them all up and bring them here. But we only had the one teleporter and it would be stupid to drag them through a freshly contained Gotham. This...was going to get bad. Gotham was already enough of a nightmare without being stuffed in a snowglobe. I cursed as I stared up at the glowing green sphere. I couldn't believe I missed this. Circe had played us. Hell she'd probably been pushing Morgana into this whole thing in the first place, and if she wasn't directly manipulating Annabel I'd eat my couch. I could tell Jim knew it too. We'd played right into her hands.
Looking back it was easy to see her touch in all of it. She needed to get her grimoire, and not only did she have me return it to her, she set it up so that we basically paid for the privilege of making he plans come to fruition. I spun to Jim, who was looking as annoyed as I felt. I was glad he had a face on because at least that expression helped me feel a bit better. "How the hell did she know we would call her? Like manipulating the court and revealing the secret of the Labyrinth to Morgana I get, in fact come to think of it it was always suspicious where everyone suddenly got that supposedly secret information from at the same time, but how did she know you would involve her?"
He scowled, staring up the wildsphere with me. "It was an easy enough thing to guess, but I suspect she took steps to insure it in any case. If we hadn't reached out she would have most likely contacted me first, and she probably arranged things so my other options would be unavailable." He cursed. "Damn it all, anything involving her is always complicated, even when I think I'm the one doing the involving." He sighed. "Well in any case I doubt she stranded herself in here, it isn't her style. She likes to have her flunkies do her work, being stuck in a rioting hellscape is far too gauche for her. I suppose we only have the Bana to deal with."
I snorted. "Oh, joy, we only have to defeat and ARMY of Amazons who hate men even more than usual while trapped inside a giant indesctructible bubble with a city full of evil psychos and last I checked a substantial amount of heroes." I turned to Zee. "Any chance we have any really big hitters in town? I know Kent and your Dad are here, but Kent doesn't have the helmet. Batman obviously, and probably most of the justice bros. Anyone else?" Because we would need help. We weren't just stuck in Gotham with Amazon man haters, we were stuck in Gotham with Amazon man haters and a criminal underworld with access to nearly unlimited magical gear.
Zee bit her lip, staring worriedly out into the city. "A few people. Black Canary and Wildcat, though he's retired he just lives here, Green Arrow and the Atom. Since the dungeon doesn't allow any non humans and bans outside power interference people like Green Lantern, the Flash, and Superman were out. If you know this spell though can't you just take it down? With access to the casting method I'm sure we could figure out so kind of weakness?" She sounded hopeful that research would let us shut this down fast before anyone got hurt, but I was forced to disappoint her.
I sighed in aggravation. "Sorry baby, I know how to shut down the spell, but it's divine magic, no loopholes. The catch is that they need an anchor to keep the spell stable, someone to use as a focus to tie the working to the city as a workaround to let them tap into the ambient magic. The bad news is it could be literally any of them because being physically present would be enough in a place with this much ambient magic. Gotham magic is pervasive and seeps into you, that energy would be enough of a connection to link the spell to the curse and probably the Labyrinth by extension." I looked to Jim in worry. "I...I'm out of my depth here boss. What do we do?"
Jim gave me a comforting smile. "It isn't as bad as all that lad, with the Bana here to draw focus we should have a good few days before the various forces in Gotham feel emboldened enough to make a move. Plenty of time to set up our own measures. My suggestion is to get a few more teleporters placed before we bring everyone over. Your mother is safe enough with her beau and your Reginald's family are out of the way enough not to be accosted and poor enough that most wouldn't see the point, at least from an outside view. For now we should go back inside and I'll do some scouting so we can make a proper plan."
I clenched my fists. With all this excitement and action my muscles were flooded with adrenaline, and I wanted to just run off and start fighting shit. But Jim was right. We weren't heroes. We were thieves. We planned things out carefully and we needed to get the lay of the land before we decided what to do next. I nodded begrudgingly and put an arm around Zee as we headed back inside. I was tapped for points now anyway, and my family was safe, so for now our best move was just to wait things out.
Zee and I left the others to do their thing, Artemis and Reggie exploring as Jim worked with the map, and headed upstairs to check out more of the hall. We'd been putting off the full tour until we finished the dungeon so now seemed as good a time as any. Zee saw me staring into space and nudged my ribs with her elbow. "Penny for your thoughts? This whole thing has been pretty scary, I'm here if you need someone to listen." She put on a light tone but I could see in her aura she was worried. Unlike my mom, Zee's dad and her Uncle Kent were heroes and would be out in the thick of this. I suspect if she didn't know running off into a crowded city with no clue where to go was stupid she would've already gone to find them.
I leaned down to give her a slow kiss. "I'm a bit worried but I'm sure things will be fine, more importantly how are you? Your Uncle Kent and your Dad are old hands at this stuff. They can handle some pissed off Amazons. Hell they're probably safer in here away from all the crazy overpowered metas and immortal beings or whatever. Gotham is pretty tame compared to the rest of the world in terms of damage potential. Sure it's also a nightmare factory where peace of mind goes to die, but all the normal shit would be easy for them to handle. Plus your dad has the Leaguers with him and he has Shadowcrest. I bet he and your Uncle teleported their hero pals to your place and are already holed up making a plan."
She gave me a bright smile. "You're right that does sound like them. He's probably in his study with all the other League members, contributing reasonable ideas as Batman broods menacingly and stares dramatically into the fire." I snickered because despite having never really interacted much with the Bat that sounded pretty on brand for him. She pecked me on the cheek and danced back out of my arms. "I think we both need to focus on something a little more fun. Lets do some exploring." Grabbing my hand she hauled me off down the hallway, clearly determined to see every nook and cranny of our new place.
I had to admit Doomhollow Hall was gorgeous. With the downgrade in materials I'd been able to afford an insane amount of repairs, and while we didn't have any of the crazy workrooms or anything the entire place was a study in elegance and taste. The rooms were carpeted with thick, plush carpet, and the hallways were lined with that same beautifully made aisle rug in black with the white borders. There were dozens of bedrooms and galleries, two dungeons, one of which we found at the bottom of a flight of spiral stairs and one in an upstairs hallway (the latter was more of a funtime dungeon than one for prisoners) and even a throne room where I could receive guests.
Zee seemed almost gleeful about this whole thing and I smirked at her. "So, I have to ask, is this whole dark lord thing getting you worked up? Because you seem to be geeking out even more than usual and I have to say it's kind of sexy." My girlfriends aura had been pretty much simmering with lust and excitement since we found the dungeon, and the throne room had definitely done it for her too. I was letting her take the lead in our sex life but that didn't mean I wouldn't express interest when I had a valid excuse. Zee was positively gleeful about this whole thing and I fucking loved it. No wonder dark lords seemed so smug all the time.
She giggled a bit and pulled away from me. "Hmmm. Tell you what. Let's play a game. You close your eyes and count to ten and I'll go hide, and if you can find me within an hour without cheating and using powers or the map I'll answer your question." The game itself seemed...fine, but more important to me was the simmering lust in her voice and aura. I would have done basically anything she asked if she'd asked me like that, so I just nodded, swallowing hard as I covered my eyes and started to count down from ten. I had to hand it to her, this was pretty damn distracting, and I was finding it hard to worry about Gotham as I counted.
When I opened my eyes, no surprise, Zee was gone. I resisted the urge to use my ninja skills to track her because I promised I'd be good and didn't want to ruin her game, so I did the logical thing and retraced our steps. I admit I skipped ahead a bit to check the sex dungeon first, just in case and because I really hoped she was in there but sadly it wasn't to be. From there I started checking the galleries and rooms again. I saw signs of passing in some of the rooms, closets disturbed and stuff like that, but that didn't help me much so I mostly ignored it. I checked the throne room but that was empty as well, though I did stop to admire the absolutely badass black metal throne for a bit before moving on.
Finally I came to a room we'd looked at earlier. It was one of the bigger bedrooms and one that I'd mentioned
considering as the master bedroom because I liked the view from the balcony. I tried to open the door but the way was blocked. I heard Zee's voice from inside. "I'm going to remove the block, but I want you to wait for two minutes before you come in ok?" I smiled a bit at that but agreed loudly and waited outside. I figured it was going to be worth it. Hell even if we just ended up cuddling and taking a nap this would have been the most fun I'd had in ages. Finally though she called for me to come in.
I opened the door slowly, figuring whatever image she was presenting I'd want to enjoy, and gods was I right. Zee was almost naked, kneeling on the soft carpet in only her fishnets, panties, and a pair of heels. She had on a lacy black thong and the fishnets she was wearing were the kind with garters, probably conjured or summoned from home. Her gorgeous breasts hung bare and her glamour was nowhere to be seen as she stared up at me with adoration and trust. She swallowed almost as hard as I had when she proposed this game and looked up through her lashes at me. "I think I'm ready for our first time now."
Doomhollow Hall October 31st 2010 3:00 AM EDT
I swallowed, hard. Hard, that was a funny word, it described pretty much everything about me right now. Staring at my perfect angel of a girlfriend in skimpy fishnets and a thong with those perfect, pale teardrop tits hanging down, I was having trouble forcing my brain to function. Her nipples were the sweetest looking pink, like strawberry cream candies, and I actually licked my lips as I stared at them. Despite that I forced myself to swallow and kicked my stalling brain into gear enough to make myself ask. "Are you sure?"
Zee gave me a wicked smile and started to crawl across the plush carpet towards me on her hands and knees. She kept her shoulders low so that fat, jiggly, smackable ass was waving at me like a target as she purred out. "Of course I am. I love you Morgan, I've always known you would get my first time, if you think this is about what's going on in the city you're wrong." She reached me and wrapped her arms around my legs, resting her cheek on my thigh as those electric blue eyes stared up and me wantonly. "What day is it Morgan?'
Even with perfect memory it took me a second to think of the last time I'd even checked the date, we'd been busy, but when I realized it my eyes widened. She gave me a sultry smirk. "Yes, it's Halloween. More than that it's three A.M, the dark hour of the soul. I was always going to be with you eventually, but ever since I considered the poetry of it I haven't been able to stop thinking about losing my virginity to you like this." Her sultry smile turned into an impish smirk, and I was relieved to see my geeky girlfriend under the seductive elf, just a bit. "Plus the whole dark lord castle thing is kind of sexy."
I laughed a bit at that, but the feel of her soft hair under my hand as she nuzzled my thigh right next to my cock was intoxicating and it was hard to focus. I made myself respond anyway though. "I can do that. Magically significant first time sounds-" I swallowed hard. "Like fun." Which was the politest possible way of saying that my entire body was screaming to be inside her right now, but I kept my cool. "Is this a tantric magic thing? Because I'm down for a ritual or something if that's what you want." Staring at her perfect lips less than five inches from my dick I would have stolen her the moon if she asked.
She giggled. "I have plenty of rituals in mind baby, but this is just going to be our first time. It will make the tantric connection stronger though, more significant. No sex we ever have with anyone else will ever be as good." She nuzzled against my thigh. "I'll always be yours, magically as well as physically." I gulped and reached down to take her hand, pulling her to her feet an escorting her to the bed. I watched her as she walked and the elfin grace of her body, now at level fifty and with an absurd five hundred and thirty charisma, was like taking my first drink of water in a desert.
I sat her down on the bed, and just...took her in. Her skin was so pale it seemed to glow in the moonlight, her hair so dark it ate the light, she looked like the physical incarnation of lust and desire, but the innocent trust in those blazing eyes let me know this was just for me. I leaned forward, kissing her, exploring her mouth as I savored my favorite taste in the world. Blueberry cheesecake and lust mixed on my tongue as I sat down next to her, not breaking the contact of our lips as I pulled her into my lap.
Her ass was indescribably in my lap and when she felt me against her she grinned and pulled away. "So I wanted to do something nice for you, for being so patient with me. I know how sexy I am now, and being able to last this long without just fucking me into a drooling mess was so sweet of you." I wasn't sure what present could be better than literally fucking the perfect sex goddess I was dating for the first time but I wasn't stupid enough to ask either. "This should also help you last longer, since it's our first time I figured it might help if you cum first."
She stood up and turned around, a quick muttered spell and she handed me a small bottle of oil. "Rub this on my ass cheeks. Get it on there there thick, make sure they're nice and slippery baby." I literally almost drooled as I squirted the oil into my palms and started to massage and squeeze all that sweet jiggly cheek. I felt like I was kneading dough as I worked the oil in, adding more because I'd rubbed most of it into her skin because I couldn't stop touching it. Finally it was nice and oiled up, and I felt a slight warming tingle from the oil where it touched my skin and I looked at her gleaming slippery ass with desperation.
She stepped away and I literally almost moaned in sadness when she got out of reach. That sadness went away as she slipped her fingers in the band of her thong, and in one long, slow motion bent over and slid the lacy panties down over her thick thighs freeing her gleaming rippling ass. She looked over a shoulder, bent over like that for me. "Take your dick out." And I did, literally faster than I've ever done anything. "Don't move." I didn't. I was pretty sure I couldn't as she backed up to where I sat on the edge of the bed and climbed up to put a knee on either side of my thighs. She reached back to grab my cock, her fingers soft and hot, and slipped my dick between her cheeks. "Hold them together."
I did, obviously, grabbing a handful of each cheek and pinning them together as she began to bounce. She shifted her hips from side to side, rolling them a bit to get used to it before she started jerking them back and forth in short sharp motions. The sight of her colossal bubbly ass swallowing my cock on repeat as she jerked herself would have already been amazing if she hadn't already covered her perfect dumptruck booty with that warming oil, as it was I felt like I was fucking the worlds softest most jiggly volcano. It was so good I couldn't even think and my brain was literally about to melt from all that sweet gliding friction.
Her fat ass was so thick it mostly swallowed even my power enhanced cock with each swing of her hips and I saw her hand start to dip down as she frigged her clit while she gave me the hottest buttjob any man had ever gotten. She growled, literally snarling like and animal in heat as she got that heated oil on her clit, and I knew from my own experience that it was so hot it verged on painful on that sensitive flesh but wasn't quite over the line. "Slap it!" I didn't fucking argue, I used one hands to pin her cheeks together and brought the other down on the right side of her ass. The wet slap of my hand on oily ass echoed like a fucking song as she squealed and we both came, my balls emptying and painting her fat ass and lower back as she squirted so hard it painted the carpet in front of the bed for a foot.
I slumped back, dazed and literally brain fried from the fucking euphoria she had just put me through, but she wasn't done. Just like she said she just wanted to clear the pipes, and I was grateful for every point of my fifty vitality when she spun on my lap like a professional stripper, swinging a leg up over me as she straddled my lap. My cock was already hardening again as she leaned down and kissed me hungrily, her mouth moving over mine so hard she cut my lip a bit, though I didn't really care. She pulled back looking dazed and lust addled, with her hair wild and her eyes clouded like the need was driving her crazy.
She stared at me. For a second all the sex elf craziness and teenage hunger to fuck fell away and she just looked at me, my Zee. I took both her hands in mine and stared right into her eyes as she adjusted her hips and slid herself down my dick. She did it slow, an inch at a time, and I could tell even her elven pussy wasn't really equipped for my dick to be it's first occupant. I might have slightly gone overboard with cock size. She gasped like someone had slugged her in the gut when she finally bottomed me out, and I still had more than a few inches free of the hot silky vice of her cunt. She glared at me a bit and I shrugged. "Thirteen inches. I figured as a sex elf you would appreciate it. Fun fact its three inches wide and nine around. Magic numbers right?"
She punched me in the shoulder. "I'm sure that might be a fun fact later, when I don't have an ICBM stuffed in my guts." Her voice sounded strained and I winced, but she leaned down and kissed me. A soft reassuring thing. "It's ok baby, my vitality is high enough to take it, and my body is kind of partially made for this. We just need to go slow at first. I'm sure once I'm used to my boyfriend being hung like an elephant you'll have me screaming the roof off." She slid up, dragging me out of her as slow as she took me and my eyes almost crossed at the pleasure. Entry had been slow and tight but her pussy did not want to let me go.
I heard a groan of joy drag itself from her mouth as she rolled her hips up til just the tip of me was in her and then worked me slowly back in. "Ok, nope there it, magic dick, I see it now. Oh, shit. Fuck that hit's good. Gods I feel so full. " She slide herself up and down my cock and I felt the tingling from the oil we'd used, it both sped up the sex and added that pleasant almost overwhelming heat to her pussy. She started going faster. "Oh. Ok I get it now. I get it. I get why people are so obsessed with this. Oh gods." She sped up a bit working her cunt over me even faster. "This is...oh gods I need this, I need it baby I need this so bad, more. We need to do this more. Every night. Promise me, promise me I can have more of this!"
That was basically it for my self control. I rolled sideways, pushing her down under me without leaving her cunt and started to speed up. Her eyes were hazy with lust and joy and she had a big smile painted on her pretty face. "FUCK! That's it, deeper. God you're so fucking big. Stuff me! Make it fit!" I was doing my fucking best to give her all of it, luckily her elven physiology really was made for fucking, I hit the back of her pussy but I just kept pounding away, slamming it deeper and deeper as she begged for it. She squealed with joy. "Fuck baby I'm gonna cum again, I'm gonna cum on this big fat cock. Cum in me!"
I literally couldn't have said no if I wanted to. Which I didn't, my hips were flying as I slammed into her as deeply as I could. I expected out first time to sweet and gentle, making love and all that, but this wasn't that. This was fucking, rough, hardcore sex, but I could see in her aura she fucking loved it. Her elven pussy needed broken in, my cock was too big and she wanted he cunt reshaped so she could take it. I just lay there between her legs, her knees over my shoulders and my hands full of oiled thighs as I fucked her huge tits into a bouncing blur with nothing but hip action.
With one last heave I felt myself lose it, and I shoved my cock balls deep into her as I went literally through the back of her pussy and into what I was pretty sure from hentai was her actual womb and I blew my load, emptying my balls as deeply into her as I could. She squealed like a banshee her cunt clamping down on my as it molded to every inch of my cock, milking every spurt of cum from me as her hungry elven pussy sucked my extremely full balls dry. I pulled out and slumped over next to her on the bed. She gave me a goofy smile and snuggled up to my coyly. Best Halloween ever.
The Clock Tower November 5th 2010 6:00 PM EDT
The wait had been agonizing. Well...no. It really hadn't, it had actually been pretty fun. My friends and I had taken to combing the island to try to find any leftover secrets, and it was fascinating some of the things we turned up. Granted, we were worried in the back of our minds, but our loved ones still had phone service (most of the towers and power lines were uninterrupted by the shields because they were inanimate) so we were able to call and check in. Once we knew they were safe we just enjoyed a few days off while I let the points build up for a few teleporters.
I was up to two thousand two hundred points now after the wait though, so the leisure time had come to an end, it was time to get back to Gotham and start setting up our counter operation. We'd come up with the best two places to put the new teleporters for maximum usefulness, one in Reggie's place in the suburbs, and one in Gotham Academy. With the Clock Tower already having one it gave us a nice spread and options if one of them got cut off. So here we stood at the teleporter, ready to go back.
I looked around at the others. "So everyone knows the plan?" We were all going back, but we were also splitting up mostly. I'd given Reggie one of the teleporter pads to lay down, fit into a handy briefcase (one of the options for purchase apparently) and he and Artemis were headed for his place. Zee and I were going to see my Mom and Paula and take them with us to the academy where we would set up the teleporter out of the way. Since it wasn't usable without white list permission we weren't worried about it being found there, but we planned to put it somewhere subtle anyway.
I got nods from everyone, and Zee stepped up to take my hand. I smiled back at her through my mask, and though she couldn't see it I squeezed to let her know how happy I was. According to Artemis since we had sex we'd been even more sickeningly touchy feely than ever, but I loved it. Zee and I spent every night together, and waking up next to her was the best feeling in the world to me. We'd become even closer over the last five days and I was even more in love with her than I had been at the start.
Artemis cleared her throat. "Can you two stare longingly into each others eyes later? I want to get to Reggie's place so I can get this done and then go meet my boyfriend. He's been tough to get a hold of and I'm afraid Robin is going to get him killed or something. I swear, that team of incompetents is going to be the death of him." I snickered at the jab, mostly because for once it wasn't aimed at me, but nodded and we all stepped up onto the pad. Artemis looked energized to be going back and I couldn't blame her.
Before we left I had one more thing to say though. "Remember to do some recon as you go. We know basic distribution from the map but it doesn't tell us what people have been doing. You all have a list of the big clusters of red dots to avoid so you shouldn't run into too much trouble but it would be a good idea to get an idea of the situation on the ground." They both nodded seriously and I smiled again. I was the only one in my gear because being with Zee would be a dead giveaway if I wasn't but hopefully being just random teens the two of them could pass through the relatively safe areas we had marked without any trouble.
The transition back to Gotham was quick, painless, and nearly unnoticeable as per usual with the teleport pads. I still marveled at how seamless the whole thing was, step on, step off, now you're in Gotham. The Clock Tower was mostly empty at this point, we'd moved all the valuables to Doomhollow Hall already and were just using the tower as a staging area, so we didn't really need to stop for anything and we all made our way out. We DID find a note from Kent for Zee, who had been searching for her apparently and listed a phone number she could reach him at, and I sent Artemis and Reggie ahead while she gave him a call.
Jim went off to do his own thing, and I suspected he would be in contact with Madame Xanadu, and possibly Blood and the Shadowpact. We'd agreed letting other people on the island during the siege was the best call, provided we trusted them. With the concealments as they were and the teleporters making able to block anyone we didn't want coming back, as long as we didn't bring anyone over by boat they had no way of knowing where the island even was. Zee took a few minutes to make her call, and it warmed my heart to hear her happy, relieved tone when she finally got a hold of Kent.
She finally came back with a relaxed smile on her face and pulled me into a tight hug, burying her face in my chest. "He's ok. They both are. Daddy was with him earlier but they aren't together now. Batman has all the Leaguers in town holed up at Shadowcrest trying to come up with a plan. The League has been trying to break the spell but they don't have a magic user with enough juice to manage it. The curse is crazy powerful and the shield is using it as a battery, with the Labyrinth supplementing. We're on our own for the moment. He says the Bana aren't focusing on the streets as much as they are the dungeon though."
She sounded worried, which I got, because Kit was down there, and falling out or not I didn't want to see my cousin ganked by a bunch of random crazy greek warriors. I moved my mask so I could lean down to kiss her gently standing back up and setting it back on my face. "The important thing is they're safe. Does Kent want you back with him? I'd hate to see you go but if you feel like you would be safer there I would understand." Zee had been pretty worried about her Uncle and Dad so I couldn't fault her for wanting to hole up with them. The League could protect themselves and I wasn't anxious to let any of them on the island except maybe Kent.
She just shook her head. "He thinks I'm with Jim still, he seems to have forgotten the details of his oath since it wore off once we got back here. They both want me to stay safe with you, ironically my Dad is more worried I'll be dragged into this war when the League fights back against the Bana than he is that you'll defile his baby girl." She gave me a wicked grin. "Though I suspect if he knew all the things I've been letting you do to me he would change his mind on that pretty fast." I could see the tension in her body having drained away by confirming they were safe so I just shrugged, I wasn't going to argue with keeping her around.
I threw and arm over her shoulders and we headed out into Gotham to see get my mom and see what was going on. The first thing I noticed when I got outside was that the city wasn't exactly a burning wasteland like I expected. It was deserted and there were some signs of fighting in a few places, but all in all it was in decent shape. Zee was scanning the streets like I was, and when I flicked on aura sight I caught flashes of shapes moving around in the distance and a few humanoid shapes hiding in nearby buildings. She looked at me questioningly and I nodded and we moved down the road.
I extended my wings behind us, keeping them up so that they could provide some cover in case of any ranged attacks. In costume I didn't really care if people saw my wings, that ship had sailed during the plant attack. I lowered my voice as we walked. "So this route should be mostly clean from what we saw on the map. There are a few enemy clusters a couple miles from here but we should be able to avoid them for the most part. That said keep your eyes peeled, we can't get updates on movements from here and there might be some patrols or independents moving through our path. Better safe than sorry. "
Of course, I'd had to jinx it, because no sooner had that happened than I saw some of the scattered auras begin to converge around us. I stepped forward a bit to free up my arm while allowing me to keep Zee sheltered with my wings, and drew my sword as we were surrounded. Zee noticed my movements and readied a spell, though she tried to be subtle about it. Without my aura sight I probably wouldn't have noticed the flickers of heavenly punishment lightning dancing between her fingers. I was sort of hoping this was a street gang but I doubted it, they had come out of nowhere to surround us far too quickly.
Forms began to melt out of the shadows. Most were dressed in black semi formal clothes, but I noted a few of them sporting different clothes. From the crowd of assassins I saw two women step out. One was Lady Shiva, the pretty older woman in red with the sword from last time. I'd tried her out a few times in the Outer Body trance and honestly I wasn't impressed, the Warlord was a thousand times the blademaster she was. With my current stats she didn't scare me at all. Cheshire, Artemis's sister, stood on one side of her, opposite a big man with a hockey mask who I knew without a shadow of a doubt was Lawrence Crock.
But they were distractions at best from the woman who walked out next. I've seen a lot of scary people in my life, and a lot of really sexy women, my own girlfriend had this lady beat hands down in the looks department, but even the heavenly punishment elves lost out to her in the sheer mixing of sensuality and raw danger I was sensing. The woman was, to be clear, gorgeous. Olive skin, full lips, cascading jet black hair as straight as a razor, and a hypnotizing sway to her hips even someone with my exposure to sexiness couldn't help noticing. Her eyes were emerald green and glued to my mask as she quirked her mouth up in a smile.
I assumed this was whatever mistress Lady Shiva had mentioned last time we met, and that thought gave me some very fun mental images of the two of them that took me a second to shake off, luckily I was getting regularly laid these days so while I had an aesthetic appreciation for the well built woman's danger milf vibe I wasn't going to let it effect me much. I refused to be the first one to speak here. Her smile widened as she let the tension build, clearly hoping to pressure me into taking the initiative until she finally burst out laughing. "Well aren't you just adorable. The hardened warrior and magician princess. You paint quite a lovely picture."
The break in the tension seemed to calm most of the assassins down, though Lady Shiva's aura pulsed with anger that I hadn't played along. The woman bowed gracefully, giving Zee and I both a nice view of her tanned cleavage, which she seemed to be highlighting with her choice of outfit, a form fitting black bodysuit with a VERY deep vee, contrasted with her high collar. "Forgive my lack of manners my young friends, my name is Talia al Ghul, and I'm here to speak to you on behalf of my father. Admittedly this conversation was to be a bit more...forceful, but we find ourselves in changed circumstances." She stood and gave us a charming smile. "Now, might you perhaps spare us a moment to talk about an alliance?"
Gotham City November 5th 2010 7:00 PM EDT
I had to admit I wasn't necessarily against it, given the current situation, but I still had to point out the obvious. "I mean, you say that, but most of the time when I want to team up with someone I don't surround them with assassins. This feels less like an invitation and more like 'ye olde join up or die ultimatum'." I gestured around us at the crowd of cannon fodder. "Not that I feel excessively threatened by this lineup, but still, it doesn't exactly scream friendly chat." I did my best to keep my voice confident without seeming mocking, but I saw more than a few of them bristle in my aura sight. Despite that none of the assassins reacted visibly, and I had to admit I was impressed.
I'd considered how to play this, wondering about maybe keeping my strength under wraps or trying to be low key, but in the end I just didn't really want to. Biding my time and keeping my head down might have been necessary for human me, but as a devil I was more than capable of crushing these idiots. None of them were a real threat to me. Still, I felt odd taking that stance, I'd been a bit smug before sure, but nothing this extreme. Whatever the case, I knew that I wasn't going to be playing possum here, putting aside things like reputation, I had no clue what these people would do if they got their hands on me. Pretending to be weak only to get dissected would be pretty fucking lame.
More importantly Zee was here, and I wanted to make it perfectly fucking clear to anyone with eyes that touching my woman was absolutely not a line you got to cross. I would mince the assholes into meat chunks before I would let them put their hands on Zatanna. I turned my head side to side, making sure they could see me looking them over even in the mask. "But hey, if you need an army of bargain basement minions to feel tough who am I to criticize. We all have out security blankets. I hate leaving the house without a jacket on and you clearly don't like going anywhere without a few dozen meatshields."
I felt...stronger, after I said that. Not measurably more powerful, but confident and firm in my convictions. I tried to think back to the details of my devil race and I finally got what was happening. Pride. Apparently I had picked a sin. Or it had picked me, I wasn't sure how it worked. You would figure after pounding my insanely hot girlfriend like a cheap drum every night for a week I would have been a shoe in for lust, but pride did make a bit of sense too. Though I hadn't ever vocalized it, I'd always considered myself better than other people. Smarter, luckier, nothing crazy but just a cut above. Maybe it's a Falcone thing, but now wasn't the time to go into it.
Now that I knew what was affecting me though I needed to try to mitigate it's influence. Pride could be an effective tool, but I'd always tried to temper mine with pragmatism, and the urges I was feeling now very much did not conform to that pattern. I was pretty sure if I let my devil instincts run wild I'd kill every single one of these meatbags for daring to oppose me, and that was a road I'd really rather not go down. I'd already said my piece anyway, if it escalated now it was on them, I had no real reason to push it further on my own. It helped that I saw Zee shift out of the corner of my eye, clearly worried about what I was doing.
Talia raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. "Strange. You know enough about us that I would expect caution, which leads me to believe you think yourself in a better position than last time. Considering you were overpowered by Shiva and Cheshire alone I would hazard a guess your strength has increased by quite a measure. Those darling wings behind you speak to a change in capability as well. Luckily there is no need to test these capabilities. I speak truly, we wish to discuss an alliance, my companions are here as an honor guard and nothing more. It gladdens my heart that you aren't intimidated by them, I would have reconsidered this alliance had you been a coward."
I blinked at that. I saw from her aura that she genuinely meant that. She wasn't shining me on. I had expected from the formality and Shiva's attitude that Talia would be a haughty arrogant asshole. Apparently I'd been judging her too harshly. She considered me someone worthy of respect for being able to fight Shiva head on at my current age it seemed, and I had to admit it was a flattering thing to see. These people were serious customers and them taking me seriously was kind of novel. I felt a bit bad about the posturing now. Zee however, did not.
She cleared her throat. "That's all very nice, but the League of Shadows are monsters, why would want to ally with you? Keep in mind the fact that your breasts seem very perky for your age isn't actually a reason so you can stop subtly leaning forward like that." I snickered internally at that comment. It was always kind of hot to me when Zee got jealous, and from her aura I could tell she was, if not actively jealous, at least kind of annoyed that Talia was turning on the charm right in front of her. I also smirked a bit at that 'for your age' comment, and the spike of annoyance that went through Talia when she said it. Apparently the assassin milf was sensitive about that.
Talia's face however, never dropped the pleasant smile. She held up her hands placatingly. "Apologies little one. I do not seek to entice your paramour." Which was a lie, based on her aura. "I only wish to discuss a mutually beneficial alliance with the two of you." I was curious as to why she was trying to seduce me since I was A sixteen, and B, she'd never met me before, but I just couldn't think of a reason. Well, I kind of knew why, the shift in her aura that preceded the flirtation came when she noticed my wings. My devil ability to understand languages told me Al Ghul meant the demon, so maybe the had some kind of bat wing kink?
I put an arm around Zee's waist, pulling her back against me. "Say we believe you, like Zee said why would we ally with you. How do we know you aren't involved in all this." I gestured to the shield above the city. Realistically I was pretty sure they were at least partly involved with keeping the government out of the city so they could pick the dungeon clean, but most of this had been Circe with a little unknowing help from yours truly. Still I wanted to know what they knew and this seemed like a good time to pump her for information. Plus maybe I could weasel some kind of information on who the hell was playing with the military.
Talia frowned, looking up at the sky. "I can understand your suspicion. The Shadows have accomplished great things throughout history. That said you have my word that this sorcery does not originate with us. We find ourselves cut off from the majority of our forces and support and in need of allies against these hostile forces. We know of your relationship with The Gentleman Ghost, and of your own skill, and we considered you the best possible ally we could find. The Justice League are petty and high handed, unwilling to look at the bigger picture, but I feel you may have more foresight than that."
Translation: the League wouldn't want to work with assassins but since I'm a thief my moral compass doesn't point true north anyway so they figured I'd be more likely to play ball. I'd like to bitch about the assumption but honestly it was kind of a fair assessment. I actually didn't care that much about teaming up with them. Most of them that was. I pointed at Sportsmaster. "Not him. I'm willing to set up a meeting with my mentor and facilitate talks of an alliance, though it would need to be later because we have pressing business, but that asshole can't be involved. I want him on the other side of town from wherever my team is at all times."
Sportsmasters aura flared with rage at the dismissal, but Talia didn't even blink. "Done. As for the delay, we can wait, I understand you might be worried about any loved ones you might have in the city. I propose a meeting tomorrow night at the Gotham Botanical Gardens. Poison Ivy is still incarcerated in Arkham after the Injustice Society attack so it should be empty of threats." Left unsaid was the fact that creepy dark indoor forests would be a huge benefit to the Shadows given their skillset, but then, they would also be a benefit to us, and I wasn't afraid to match ninja skills with the scrubs if need be. I looked to Zee, who seemed uncertain, but clearly understood the circumstances because she just nodded.
I agreed, and the ninjas began to melt back into the shadows they were named for, with Talia turning to leave as well without another word, though she did put a nice sway in her hips, clearly still hoping to get my attention. Definitely a demon fetish or something. Zee noticed me looking and smacked the back of my head lightly. Not enough to hurt but just to show me she'd noticed and I chuckled and pulled her against me, laying my head on her shoulder in silent apology. She pushed me away with a laughing huff but I knew from her aura she wasn't really upset.
Shiva had followed Talia, leaving behind Sportsmaster and Cheshire. The cat masked girl was hanging back uncertainly, but the man in the hockey mask stalked forward menacingly. "Who the fuck do you think you are kid? You think you can just order me around? That I'm some pushover? I'm Sportsma-" He was cut off as I opened a portal right under his feet and dropped him through a shadow of a skyscraper about five hundred feet above our heads. I watched him from a distance with my enhanced eyesight, and then opened another portal in the shadows a few feet below the first.
He'd only actually fallen about five feet total, but he'd gotten to experience plummeting to his death before he'd gotten scooped back up. He hit the ground hard with a grunt of pain, still too terrified from getting dropped from building height to properly brace to absorb the impact. I didn't bother to threaten him or say anything else, I just turned and walked away. Sportsmaster wasn't the kind of person to listen to empty threats. This way would be much better. Now he knew I could get him at any time, with no warning, and I wouldn't even have to touch him to do it.
I put my arm around Zee as we walked away from the father daughter pair, Sportsmaster vomiting up his lunch on hands and knees as his body came down from the adrenaline of going from standing to falling from a great height to smashing into the ground right back where he started. My girlfriend, who was incredibly protective of Artemis was beaming at me happily as we walked, my wings fanned out behind us to stop him from trying to take a shot at us as we walked away. I wasn't too worried though. Sportsmaster got the message, and if he hadn't? Well, maybe next time I wouldn't bother with the second portal.
O'Malley Penthouse November 5th 2010 8:00 PM EDT
We made it to the penthouse without much more trouble. I guided us with my stealth skills just in case because I didn't want to get caught in another ambush, but it didn't seem like it was necessary. Once we were safely at the building we headed inside, and I felt a slight shift as we walked through the door, showing me that Gojo was apparently taking things at least a bit seriously for once. As we climbed into the elevator to head upstairs Zee finally spoke up after remaining silent for most of the trip. "So, that was Sportsmaster huh? Do you think he knows who you are?"
I'd actually considered that, but I shook my head. "I doubt it, he would have tried to use it as leverage. Cheshire actually cares about Artemis enough to pay attention, it's why I'm pretty sure she figured it out, but I'd be shocked if Lackwit Larry even bothered to find out if his daughter has friends. Cheshire isn't likely to tell him either, despite wanting his approval she hates him almost as much as Artemis does, at least from what I've been told. The whole thing is just a mess. I'd like to think I scared him off but sadly I've got this feeling that it won't be that easy."
Sportsmaster was a bastard and a bully but he wasn't a coward. Traumatizing him out of the blue like that was my best shot at getting him to stay away, and I was really hoping he would use his orders as an excuse to do what I wanted out of fear. That said, the asshole had an ego the size of Jupiter, and it was just as likely he would lose his mind at being look down on and dig in his heels. Zee seemed to think so too, because she was frowning and chewing her lip like she did when she was thinking.
I pulled her close. "It's fine. We can warn Artemis he's in town. Honestly he isn't a threat to her anymore, I just really don't like him and wanted to scare him off. She can handle herself, hell, it might even be better for her to do it on her own. I hope she isn't pissed I tried to do it for her." I winced because I hadn't even considered that before I acted. It would be reasonable for her to get angry at me for butting in like that. I kind of hoped she would see it as me trying to avoid a conflict rather than some kind of condescending coddling thing.
Zee chuckled. "Traditionally it's better to try to consider consequences BEFORE you take the actions that spawn them, but in this case I'm sure it'll be fine. You didn't do anything permanent to him, just put the fear of devil into his abusive ass so she can always track him down herself if she wants closure on this." I wasn't quite so sanguine, since Artemis could be unreasonable when she was in the mood to be, and her dad being involved would basically guarantee she would be in that mood, but Zee was right in that there wasn't much point to dwelling on it now.
We finally reached the penthouse and stepped out, heading down to my place only to open the door and be tackled by my mother. She grabbed both of us in a rough hug and squeezed us tight. "I'm so glad you're both ok! I've been worried sick about you, are Artemis and Reggie safe too? I've been on the phone with Claire whenever I have the chance, she says she hasn't heard from him yet today. " She pulled back, yanking us along. "Where have you two been? You told me it wasn't safe to talk about it on the phone but now that you're here I want to know what the hell has been going on? I usually give you plenty of leeway, but during an invasion is no time to push me."
She shut the door behind us and Paula stepped out from behind the door. With my speed and reaction time, it was easy to see the kitchen knife she'd been holding vanish up her sleeve, and the older woman stepped up and pulled me into a hug. I decided to give my mom a partial answer. "We weren't in Gotham. Not exactly. We have a spot on an island out in the the harbor that the Amazon's passed by. That's actually why we're here. We wanted to bring you guys out there so you could stay safe." Theoretically they would be safe here too, but somehow it was hard to completely trust the silver haired lunatic I could see hanging upside down off the side of the couch snoring loudly.
Mom noticed my gaze and chuckled. "Satoru had been pretty tired lately. I think the invasion has him feeling bored and cooped up. He's been nothing but supportive though." I raised an eyebrow at that. More likely Gojo was using way more energy than expected keeping the shields on this place active full time. I felt a bit bad for assuming he was fucking off, but either way that meant that it was a better call to come get them. Gojo would get a break and we would be able to keep an eye on our parents.
After hearing the plan my mom agreed to come with us once Gojo woke up, my response to which was to go get a glass of water and throw it in his face. Zee and Mom giggled as the sputtering man fell over off the couch with a squawk, his hair sopping wet as he rubbed his head. "Ouch! Unnecessary! You could have just shaken me awake you know." I was ninety percent sure he'd already been awake and was just acting up because he wanted to ease the tension for my mom. I could only see bits of his aura but I knew he'd been aware of everything I did and had let the water splash on him so I'd played along.
My mom covered her mouth, trying desperately to muffle her snorting laughter as she walked over to help her boyfriend up. "Alright you two, that's enough. Morgan that wasn't nice. You know how much you hated it when I used to do that to you." I shuddered. She had used to do that to me. Except she used ice water. Granted it was crushed ice so I didn't get whacked with any cubes but still, I had nightmares about waking up to ice baths. The six month period of my life where I had slept through several of the first classes of my day at school ended pretty quickly once she started doing that to wake me up.
Gojo meanwhile just grinned and waved it off. "Oh it's fine Marie-chan. Morgan is just on edge from the city being such a mess I'm sure." Honestly him being in on the joke like that made me like him more, it was refreshing to see someone powerful who could laugh at themselves. I'd kind of figured he would just use his shield thing to divert it and pretend I'd just missed him or something. He grinned at us. "Now, I was half asleep but I think I heard someone mention a trip and I've been dying to go out. Do you think we can stop for taquitos? I've been dying for the ones they have at that food truck down the road but I wasn't sure if they were open during the invasion."
Weirdly they probably were. For some reason the restaurants and food places were being left alone even by the criminals. I mean I was sure they were still collecting protection money, but nobody wanted this to turn into some post apocalyptic famine or some shit I guessed. We'd passed like twelve open fast food places and a few nicer restaurants on the way here. The only place we'd seen that was actively damaged was a burnt out Rally's, and honestly if it had been empty and still in good condition I might have burned it down myself, so that one at least was reasonable. The food there was absolutely sickening.
Mom spent a few minutes looking around and making sure she'd packed everything, double checking her bags (which I was going to have to carry I just knew it). Zee wandered up as we watched her work. "So, dumb question maybe, but why are we bringing the teleporter to your school instead of using it here where it'll be safe and protected? It seems like a place like this would be perfect to hide the pad." I had to admit I got her logic, but I'd already talked this over with Jim and we'd decided what to do together.
Still, I nodded to concede her point. "You're not wrong, but this place is so close to the tower that it kind of renders the point moot. The academy has some distance from our first and third pads, and it gives us a good spread so we can more easily reach a larger portion of the city quickly. As for being discovered that is a concern but there are some places Jim and I are pretty sure no one will check, and even of someone finds it they would need to both know what it is and have the power to destroy it, given that it's impossible to use the things unless you're on the white list."
When Mom got her stuff together we all set out, and we made pretty decent time getting to the school. Unsurprisingly, once we got there we found the place empty. Even Gotham isn't blase enough about loss of life to make kids go to school during an invasion. We got to work setting up the pad right away, despite the actual physical function being mostly part of the construction there were some small rituals we needed to undertake, to set the thing up, and I had to add everyone to the white list so people could use it. The list was individual to each pad but once they connected to the network so to speak I could edit permissions from any of the pads for everywhere.
I gave universal permission for all the active pads to Jim, Artemis, Reggie, and Zee, and set up permission for this pad for Mom, Paula, and Gojo and for Claire and Callie for the one at Reggie's place. Once that was done and we had the thing set up in the old maintenance closet behind the bleachers we all headed back to the island. Paula was ecstatic to see Artemis, and Reggie had shown up with Bette in tow, something we'd discussed if he ran into her. The reunions were all very sweet and we got everyone settled down as Jim returned with Madame X and Blood, each of the new occupants getting their own room in Doomhollow Hall.
Finally though, I had a chance to talk to Jim alone. My mentor was sitting at his usual spot, pouring over the map and making notes on patterns and movements of various forces. The thing was colossal of course, and with the zoom function even days of focus was far from enough to get a bead on the whole city. When I sat down he didn't bother to look up, his currently visible face glued to the map. "What can I do for you Morgan? If you're hoping for a next step I have nothing so far, I should be able to give you some options once I've finished more of my analysis."
I chuckled at that. "Well good news then, because you won't need to give me any options for now. We have a meeting." That caught his attention and he looked up at me, raising an eyebrow. "I was waylaid by the Shadows again when we were on our way to get Mom. Talia wants a meeting with you. She says she's interested in an alliance against the Amazons. I'm inclined to hear her out personally given the mess the city is in, but whether you go is obviously up to you."
I shrugged, then stood up to leave. "Either way I'm going to go take a look, though to be fair I'm also just mostly sure they can't stop me from leaving so it won't be much risk." I started to head out of the room but stopped with a devilish smile, looking back over my shoulder. "Oh, by the way. I think Talia might be immortal or at least long lived, and she's super hot. Maybe you can work your Gentleman Ghost magic and seduce her so she doesn't betray us." I had to admit his response amused me. It was rare to see my mentor feeling childish enough to give someone the finger.
Zee and Morgan have their first time, Gotham is in serious trouble, and the Shadows has decided to offer an olive branch. Morgan finally meets Sportsmaster in costume for the first time and old Larry has a bad day. pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site/malcolmtent.