February 13th 2011 The OZ 6:00 AM EDT

The trip through the "Fields of the Papay" was long and annoying. We had to follow Cain's lead, which meant a damn slow walk because as badass as the old man was, he was still human. In the meantime though it just meant time to talk and figure out the situation here. Specifically, while Zee was spending time entertaining DG, I slipped back to talk to Dreamer. She was staring off into the distance past the group as we walked, and jumped when I spoke up. "So. This is a bit different than the last time you were here huh?"

It took her a second to calm down after I scared her, but she shook it off and gave me a rueful smile. "I suppose my distraction is anything but subtle. Yes. I loved my time in the Wozenderlands, and I was very much looking forward to my return. I'd only been here once, so I suspect now that time may flow differently here than elsewhere. Faster. It has been some few years since my visit, but not long enough for it to become..." She gestured around us. "This." She gave the world around us a sad look.

The look wasn't exactly without cause. The dead trees were twisted and grotesque, with a seriously creepy vibe. Everyone in a while we would pass small animal bones or the disgusting muck that Cain said was digestive enzymes dripping from the trees. The whole place was a study in death and horror, and I didn't blame Dreamer for being saddened by what had happened to one of her favorite places.

I put an arm around her, and she looked startled, but after a moment she nuzzled against, resting her head on my shoulder as we walked. "For what it's worth I am sorry. I know how excited you were to share this with us. Hell, just to see it again yourself. It's hard to lose the things that meant so much to us when we were younger. Maybe Central City is better though? It could be more like what you remember. Plus Wonderland is still around, I don't think we really have the time to visit but it could still be the same as it was."

We both knew I was lying to her of course. Central City sounded like a nightmare, and Wonderland would wither be just as bad as the OZ or have walled themselves off to keep the Queen of this shitshow from taking over their entire kingdom. But Dreamer didn't need facts right now. She need hope. She also needed cuddles, and not just from me. I reached out through the void and with a pop I was holding a squirming Patches. Dreamer giggled at the little puppy as I handed him over and she wrapped him up in a big hug, nuzzling the squirming cornerpup.

I felt a flash of gratitude and amusement over the bond from Zee and turned to shoot her a smile and a wink as she went back to trying to keep DG from spiraling. The girl was tough as nails for a normal person, but having agents of an evil storm riding fascist secret police steal your farmer parents and strand you in a hell world would get to anybody. Luckily Zee's high charisma made her extremely well suited to social interaction, and DG seemed to have developed a bit of hero worship for the younger girl after she saw some of her magic.

We all drew up short out of nowhere as one DG cried out in alarm. We all looked over to find a strange blue web slime cocoon sort of them stuck between a large group of dead trees, and inside we could see a shape moving. We all crowded close, and most of us looked disturbed. Cain, however just turned away. "Come on. They stuck it in here to eat later, and they'll probably be back for the thing any minute." When he noticed no one was moving he turned to glare at us. "I thought we agreed you would follow my lead out here."

Honestly I could see his point, but I wasn't scared of whatever weird monster things were running around here, and the others didn't seem willing to leave. Zee and DG both looked completely unwilling to move away, and Wally was planted pretty firmly as well. I stepped forward, holding my hands up placatingly. "I already proved I could handle things if the Papay or whatever show up. No reason to leave the poor guy in there when we could get him out. If it starts a fight I'll finish it, and the rest of us aren't exactly helpless either."

Cain looked annoyed, but he just turned his back on us and waited, not leaving. DG turned to me. "Do you have anything sharp in that weird pocket space of yours?" I did, in fact, have many sharp things. While we had left the store stocked for Stanga we had brought at least a few things with us just in case. I handed her a legend spike with a sharpening enchant on it and she smiled her thanks before turning to cut into the weird blue web...stuff. I was not looking forward to meeting "the Papay" they were clearly very gross.

The thing that came out of the web was...weird. It reminded me a bit of big foot honestly, and it roared and waved it's arms, stopping when it realized literally no one was impressed with it's show of force. It noted how many of there were and sort of hesitated and stepped back. Which was about the time that I felt a shaking in the ground. I spun around to find some kind of weird root based bug beast speeding at us faster than a speeding car. So I blasted it. A sphere of ectoplasm smashed into the things face and it fucking exploded into a shower of blue goo.

Everyone turned to look at me and I shrugged. "It was coming right at us?" The vibration started again, this time much, much more violent. I turned to look behind us as Patches growled from his place snuggled into Dreamers arms. Serifan stepped up. "We might want to be goin' boys and girls. I can see them from pretty far out, and there are...a LOT of them. Might be we can get rid of them all, but we have some fragile folks with us too, and nothing saying one of them might not get past us.

I nodded to him, that was a good point. We took off in another direction on foot, though I spammed about ten clones for two hundred points and sent them flying in all directions to distract the incoming horde while Dreamer and I cloaked us all. "Let's go everybody, we don't want to be here when that things friends show up." That said I cupped my hands and infused demonic power, shadow manipulation, and ecstoplasm into a compact shape and started tossing them behind us to act as traps.

Using the ectoplasm as a fuel to propel the spikes of shadow, with the demonic magic to act as a sensor and a trigger, I created makeshift mines to line the road behind us, throwing out twenty or so of the things to take out anything that followed. Between that and the decoys we should be able to retreat in safety as we got the hell out of dodge. I kind of wanted to rain destruction down on the things, but Serifan was right, some of our people were too fragile to survive a surprise attack, and despite my cloning ability I couldn't really be everywhere at once.

Sadly there wasn't really far to go. We ended up stopped at a massive cliff and we hadn't gone far enough to have lost the things yet. They would definitely find us here, but we had a minute to think. I eyeballed the distance to the bank of the lake at the bottom of this waterfall. Climbing was out. I could probably lift everyone with an aura of ectoplasm but it seemed like a huge waste of power. Which meant teleporting down there. Shadow porting this many people would be fucking annoying but it was doable.

I looked around. "Alright, everyone gather round. I'm going to get us down there. Get in close because this is going to be exhausting enough without having to compensate for distance between us. Even crowded in and I cracked my neck. I felt my clones start to vanish. Fuck, there must be a lot of those things to kill all ten of them so far apart in such a short amount of time. I was rocking almost ten thousand point still. I'd spent two hundred on clones, another four hundred on those ecto bombs (demonic magic was expensive) and this teleport would be last minute so I was guessing four hundred or so as a safe number.

So that was down to nine thousand. I turned to look behind us and grinned. Putting my hands together I concocted another ecto spike bomb. A much bigger one, for a thousand points. Considering the others had been twenty a piece, this one was going to be a doozy. I dropped the super bomb as I teleported us down to the lake shore at the bottom of the cliff, having waited just long enough for the Papay runners to catch up to us. Being a cool guy I of course, did not look at the resulting explosion, but with that much power behind it I sure as hell heard it.

The others all stared at me in awe as I closed my eyes to see the eight thousand remaining points blazing behind my lids. Not ideal but that could be worse. Once I checked that I turned to smile brightly at my companions. "Well then friends, looks like we're in the clear for now. Based on what Cain said that was far from all of those things, but that blast should have put a hell of a dent in their hunting party, so I doubt they would be in the mood to follow even if they could, which based on the clear delineation in their territory they probably can't. Which gives us some breathing room." I turned to fur boy. "I'd say it's time for introductions, why don't you go first?"

The furry guy shied away from my gaze, turning to cower from us, and I honestly felt like kind of a dick. Cain noted a wound on the back of his head. "Ah. He's a viewer." We turned to look at the older man curiously. He sighed. "Viewers are like psychics, except instead of seeing with their minds they see with their hearts. They can see things far away, sense emotions. That kind of thing. Azkedelia abducts them and uses their second sight to spy on people so she knows when to have her longcoats dispose of dissidents."

That was interesting. DG seemed to feel bad for the poor guy and stepped up to put a hand on his shoulder and he jumped, shying back from her touch. She tried again, slower this time. "It's ok. We aren't going to hurt you. We're looking for my parents. Do you think you could help us? I'm DG by the way, what's your name?" The furry man reached down with a stick, writing the word RAW in the dirt.

DG smiled encouragingly. "That's a nice name. Raw. It's nice to meet you. Do you think you can help us?" The viewer looked a bit unsure, but finally after holding onto DG for a bit he nodded. I saw in his aura that he was reading hers, and he was touched by what he saw. DG really was a nice girl, and she'd clearly gotten through to the empath. I wasn't going to complain. Any help was welcome help. All the better to get this done and get home where we belonged.

February 13th 2011 The OZ 7:00 AM EDT

I was pretty much flabbergasted to see the Brick Route literally right next to us when we landed on the shore. Well, twenty feet or so, but it became obvious pretty quickly. This was pretty amazing luck honestly, and better than things usually went for us. I looked around. "Well. Guess we found the road again, so...yay us? In any case we should get going again, it's still early. If we can get some distance we can stop and get some sleep." I'd made sure to get camping supplies on New Genesis, so we would be good to go there.

Everyone agreed and we mounted the road and started on our way towards Central City. It was weird to see how dilapidated and broken down the road was here. Back where we landed it was still in pristine condition, a beautiful mosiac of gleaming yellow stone. Here though, there were large gaps of mud and rock and the few remaining stones were old and faded. It was sad to see such an obvious marvel reduced from its former glory.

I'd been walking with Dreamer for a while and she had the puppy still, so I decided to dip over to talk to Zee. She was still deep in conversation with DG and when I got close she gave me a wide smile. "Hey baby, nice moves up there with the monster hordes. I liked the new spell." I stepped up to put an arm around her giving her a quick kiss. "Anyway DG was just telling me that she's had a weird feeling for a bit. She doesn't know what caused it but she feels like this place is familiar."

DG looked embarrassed. "It's just...a feeling. I don't know." She looked around in slight confusion before her eyes focused on a road marker we were passing. She seemed to be paying a ton of attention to the symbol on the front. "All of life's answers can be found along the old road." She didn't say the words like she was talking to us, more muttered them to herself as if repeating an old mantra.

Cain, who had hung back when he heard mention of her odd vibe, frowned at the girl. "The old road?" We all stopped. Cain was staring at the girl suspiciously. "You told me you weren't from around here. The Old Road is what the locals call the brick route." That made me turn to regard her curiously myself. I could see her confusion in her aura, but I could also see familiarity. She DID know this place, but she didn't know how she knew it. It was an interesting puzzle. At Cain's accusing tone though Zee tensed, preparing to step in.

I put a hand on her arm, shaking my head no as DG shook her head as if trying to dislodge something. "I...I'm not. I've never been here before. But I know this place." She spun in place and took off past the road marker and into the forest. We all looked at each other before we shrugged and followed her. She wasn't exactly Wally, so it wasn't hard to keep up. Bear and Vykin looked on guard, hanging back to stand with Dreamer, which I approved of, and Zee and I sped up to catch the Kansas girl.

We found her standing in front of a huge sign. 'Welcome to Milltown' The sign stood in front of a small town made of old fashioned buildings, and DG strode right in. Cain looked disturbed. "This place was erased. It's what Azkedelia does when she doesn't want anyone knowing about something." He focused on a sign with a crossed out picture of a skull and the letters NHA printed on it. No humans allowed. "We shouldn't be here. DG!" He called. "We need to go, it isn't safe here." But his warning came too late, as people started to emerge from the doors.

Well...people was a generous description. Some of them were people, albeit weird ones with tentacles or metal limbs, but one man actually floated out on a robot body, glaring at us. "Start the pyres!" He sneered at our group. "Azkedelia's minions must be shown the folly of trespassing." I raised an eyebrow at the machine guy, just about ready to blow him apart with a blast of ectoplasm if he pushed me.

DG beat me to a response. "Hey that's rude! I've never even met this Azkedelia person!" I gaped at the girl. I was now convinced something was going on with her. Normal teen girls did not mouth off to floating cyborg creepers. She should have been freaking out, but her aura was sort of detached like she was barely even cognizant of what was happening. This whole thing was an afterthought to her.

The cyborg guy cocked his head. "You, who spoke. What is your name? Your voice patterns seem familiar." His voice was confused but somehow hopeful, when DG answered and responded with the statement that she'd never been here before he looked genuinely lost. That particular expression did not change when a pair of older human slipped out of a side door with a jaunty wave and a dismissal of the cyborg guy.

The man smiled widely as he ambled out, opening his arms. "Hey don't let him confuse you baby girl, he's just a crazy old cyborg." DG squealed in glee shouting a greeting to her parents as she bolted into their arms. I blinked. Well, that had been much easier than I had been expecting it to be. Had I become too used to things being difficult? This seemed way too easy and I had no idea what to do about it.

DG greeted her parents, excited to see them and chattering away about what this place was and how they got there. The two people seemed...weird to me. I couldn't say how, but I wasn't about to break up the reunion. They took DG aside to talk privately, obviously excited to see their daughter and hoping for some privacy. Still it was hard not to hear when the two revealed to DG that they were robots sent by her real parents to raise her.

They explained how they were programmed to love and protect her and they cared for her like their own and thought of themselves as their real parents, but their real purpose was to prepare her for her return. They were supposed to bring her to the floating cyborg guy to learn the truth. She looked so stunned.I felt for her. Even for me that was fucking weird, and I was half ghost and half actual devil. Finding out she was actually from here was a lot for her to handle, and when I saw her getting overwhelmed I walked over to cut in.

They seemed to be surprised that I was even around. I put a hand on DG's shoulder and smiled at them. "Hi there, name's Morgan, I'm a new friend of your daughter's. Listen, I know you guys have a ton of things to tell her and share with her but she's pretty shaken up by all this I think. Dumping more on her right now might be a bit much. Why don't we give her a minute to process before she goes over to talk the the cyborg priest guy. He'll still have her answers after she gets her head on straight."

The two of them looked reticent but nodded anyway, and DG shot me a grateful glance as she walked over to one side to try to calm down. Zee headed over to talk to her and the two had a heart to heart before the girl came back over. She put on a steely face of determination and nodded to all three of us. "Ok. I'm ready." Her parents looked relieved and lead us both over to the barn where the cyborg was. Apparently I was now a part of this.

The cyborg was really disturbing to look at up close, and his constant bobbing was annoying, but I kept quiet about it as he started his story because it seemed rude to interrupt. "Fifteen years ago Milltown was the jewel of the OZ." I was pretty sure there was a giant super metropolis up the street that would disagree with his assertion that this pile of shacks was the nicest place in all the land at any point but I kept my mouth shut as he told his story. "During that time a beautiful woman in a dark cloak came to me, her spirit full of dread."

His voice was grave as he narrated how her mother had come to him, afraid after losing her husband and that she feared she might lose her child too. His chest opened up and a screen extended, playing a home movie of the incident. I was pretty annoyed we'd had to listen to him yammer to begin with if he had a goddamn hilight reel. He went on to tell her her mother had tasked him to give her something to guide her to the light, and to her specifically, and then he apparently decided it was ok brand her fucking palm without asking.

Personally I'd have slapped him upside the damn head for the that, but DG seemed cool so I guess that was just how they said hi in the OZ. We didn't have time for any more nonsense chosen on bullshit however because Cain came bursting in. "Longcoats are coming!" He strode over to look out the front window. "We're running out of time." Robot priest took that as invitation to grimly proclaim that DG needed to seek out a guy in the Central City who had powerful magic and could help her on her quest, and Cain said he knew him and promised to tell her more but said we had to go.

He dragged DG outside and I followed behind him. I wasn't in a hurry though. I was starting to get annoyed by having to run away all the time. I'd been bolting back and forth since I got here and I was just about done with this shit. He turned to me. "Come on kid! We have to go! We can outrun them." I just smiled at him and walked past, looking at the massing army of men on their weird hover segways. I knew we would outrun them, in fact, they wouldn't chase us at all. I'd make sure of it.

I pulled ectoplasm into my vocal chords. Not much. Not enough to damage the town behind me or even kill the longcoats themselves, though falling from twenty feet up was going to break some legs, and once it was all gather I projected it out in a series of words. I'd never used my ghostly wail to speak before, but it seemed like it should work. I opened my mouth and poured out a wave of rippling power. "Stop following my friends." The sound blasted out, carried by the power as it tore the machines from under them and sent them pinwheeling through the air.

They smashed into the ground one after another, like eggs being dropped off the room of a school by kids for a science fair. Spoiler alert, some of them were NOT properly cushioned. I heard loud cracks as legs shattered and men screamed, but none of them actually died. Aside from Wally and Zee not liking it DG was local and I felt like killing a bunch of natives in front of her was bad form, though I suspected some of them would have preferred that because I was pretty sure at least a few of those men would never walk again.

I turned and walked past a gaping Cain to meet up with the group. Bear was grinning at me in appreciation, as was Serifan, Vykin gave me a respectful nod and Dreamer favored me with a bright smile. Wally and Artemis both looked impressed and Zee was amused, with pride spiking her aura, presumably because I kept it low key. I looked at all of them as they stared at me. "Well? We're heading to the city next right? This wizard guy seems like he might now how to whip up one of those travel storms." Then I walked right past them with a smile. I admit it. I could be a show off.

February 13th 2011 The OZ 12:00 PM EDT

Everyone was staring. Not just the OZ locals but even the other gods. My team wasn't too shocked, Artemis and Zee knew how strong I was, and Wally had seen me use my ghostly wail on New Genesis, but the others were looking at me much differently after the display of power.

I turned to Cain, who was just flat out gaping at me. "So. Tell me about this Mystic Man?" I was pretty sure he was just going to be the Wizard of Oz. Youd have to be an absolute idiot to miss the archetypes in play here. We had been informed Cain used to be a "Tin Man" Raw was a total wuss, and Glitch LITERALLY didn't have a brain. If this world was beating us over the head with Wizard of Oz references any harder I would have a concussion.

It wasn't that weird in retrospect. We were in the Sphere of the Gods, in the Dream no less, the effects of something like the collective unconscious here was bound to be nuts. Still it wasn't exactly the same so I needed more information. Cain frowned a bit, seeming to be searching for words. "Basically he's the man you go to when you're all out of options. I worked his security detail a few years ago. He helps the people who need it. He's a good man. Wise. Powerful. If anyone will know how to help DG find her mother or get you all home it'll be him."

Which was pretty much what I figured. Still it was nice to have the confirmation. He looked uncertain for a minute. "That thing you did. The way you just spoke and crushed all of them. That was magic?" I raised an eyebrow and he scowled. "I know you blasted that tree but I figured it was some sort of gun or blaster or something. Those I know, but that...I've never seen anyone do anything like that. Magic or not, that was...impressive."

Which was fair honestly. It WAS impressive. Even by my standards the wail was a big move. I sighed. "It's not magic. It's something else. Something other people can't learn. But it's close enough that you could put them in the same category." My explanation was interrupted as we came to the other side of the meadow we had walked through, emerged out of some trees and saw...something. I paused my attempt to explain ghost powers and turned to Cain. "What the fuck is THAT?"

Up above us was a grey fortress of some kind. I'd been expecting the Emerald City, and this place was not Emerald and was more prison than city. It was dingy and soul crushing and hands down one of the ugliest places I'd ever seen, somehow combining all the charms of an office cubicle and a medieval castle with soulless modern architecture to make something demonstrably LESS than the sum of its parts. It was just...awful. I heard Dreamer gasp as she took in the sight of the place, clearly distressed by how dilapidated the city had become.

I could understand why. This place looked like the worlds largest prison themed disney castle. Cain just shrugged. "Central City isn't what it used to be. Years of neglect and corruption have reduced it to a den of thieves and conmen lorded over by a militant police force." I resisted the urge to make a comment about it being just like home because I saw how upset Dreamer and DG were. He sighed. "It's gotten worse since I've been gone though. It wasn't half this bad when I was a Tin Man."

I felt for him, but my attention was drawn to one side of the road before I could respond. Specifically to the red bordered black and white sketch of DG herself hanging on the board with a big wanted tag across the top. I groaned. "And now THAT's a thing. Great. So, where is this Mystic Man, because I'm about done with this bullshit. I'm going to blow a hole in the wall of this place in a minute and just walk right in." It was one thing after another in this shitty world, and I was getting sick of it.

Since we got here it had been nonstop bullshit. This place was supposed to be a nice pleasant trip with my girlfriends and instead I was watching women and children get murdered on repeat and getting attacked by jackbooted thugs. Cain's eyes went wide and he held his hands up. "Whoa there kid. I get it, I do. But as much as I sympathize with the desire to burn this toxic scrapheap to the ground, not everyone here deserves it. Even I have limits when it comes to collateral damage, and a whole city is up there."

I wasn't going to kill anyone, especially not a bunch of innocents, just do some property damage, but I could see my team knew that, and Cain seemed to have come to some sort of personal realization during that speech so I just let him think I was convinced. It worked out anyway because a minute later he saw a weird hippy truck pulling in and grinned viciously. "Wait here." Cain walked over and stood in front of the truck, forcing it to stop and getting a glared warning from the driver, whom he ignored. A minute later a man leaned out, spewing threats until he saw who was under that wide brimmed hat.

His eyes went wide and his face drained of blood. "Wyatt fuckin' Cain. I thought you were six feet under. What the hell are you doing back here?" The man Cain had stopped was a weaselly looking man of indeterminate age, with a pudgy face and oily slicked back hair. He looked, in short, like every two bit snitch and con man that I'd ever seen in Gotham, which was quite a few.

Cain gave him a humorless smile that showed way too many teeth. "A few things, where's Zero?" Zero was the name of the longcoat leader, because apparently the jackbooted soldiers of darkness were also edgelords. Not that I had much familiarity with such people. I wasn't an edgelord no matter what anyone said. Regardless, while we'd been forced to leave Milltown behind before reinforcements showed (eventually even I would have been outmatched and I didn't see Zee or Wally enjoying us wading through a sea of dead mooks) Cain absolutely had not given up on killing the longcoat boss.

I personally didn't blame him, and after watching what he'd done to Cain even Wally was very carefully not paying attention to Cain's occasional bouts of murder happy daydreaming. Still, he got us into the spacious truck, that became much less spacious when we had to jam in next to Bear's giant ass and all the others besides. Weasel face (because I refused to care enough about some random scam artist to remember his name) was helpful enough once Cain put the fear of ex-cop into him, especially with Bear looming over them both.

After hearing what we wanted and a bit of glaring, he held out a bunch of tickets. "You want to see the Mystic Man? These will get you in, but I'm warning you. He ain't the man he used to be. Specifically your, uh, lady friends might need to change their manner of dress a bit." He looked at Dreamers low cut top and Zee's fishnets. "Well, some of them anyway." I reached through a small portal and slapped the greasy asshole in the back of the head, not hard enough to seriously injure him, but enough for him to watch his mouth. He glared but turned to DG and Artemis. "My girls might have something you ladies can wear."

Getting them into their dresses took no time at all, except a brief argument from Artemis that she hated wearing dresses. She was basically told to get over it by everyone, since none of us wanted to be in shithole city longer than we had to be. If the Mystic Man could give us a ride home she would have her whole wardrobe to change into, and if not she could change back into her current New Genesis leathers right after we finished talking to the old bastard. She sulked but accepted the clothes and got changed quickly so we could head into the club.

The Mystic Man's club was...shitty. One of those old school cabaret clubs with a stage. The two women standing at the mic singing about him like they were belting out a theme song were dressed in stupid yellow dresses with ridiculous hip bongos on either side of their hoop skirts. I looked at Artemis, who was taking in the dresses, and raised an eyebrow. My best friend shrugged. "Alright, I feel better now." I chuckled at her blunt admission and we turned back to watch the show unfold.

The Mystic Man appeared. He was a massive holographic head, which seemed derivative to me, but then this was the actual Emerald City so maybe it was more of an homage. He spoke a bit, sounding like kind of an idiot, and then came onstage. He was wearing a turban and sitting on a peacock throne that would have been more than a little offensive on earth, but that wasn't the first thing I noticed about him. I groaned. "Oh fantastic. He's fucking high."

The others looked at me, confused. They couldn't tell yet, but I could see his aura. It was suffused with pure undiluted bliss in a way that definitely wasn't natural. This guy was high as a kite right now, and had almost no idea what was going on around him. I cursed. "Well great, how the hell do we get home when out only ticket back is a drug addict. This guy is going to be use..." I trailed off, seeing DG's eyes start to tear up. "Shit. I'm sorry DG. " I panicked a bit, I'd never been great with crying women and Zee was glaring at me. "Hey don't worry ok, we can still help you find your mom. She had a way to send you to Smallville so she must have a way back. That can be our next step."

It was actually a decent lead since we had nothing else, but mostly I wanted my girlfriend to stop glaring. Zee had taken to DG pretty quickly. The girl had this sort of naive optimism that made her difficult to dislike, but more importantly, this story with her mom had tugged at Zee's heartstrings. I knew my girlfriend wanted to reunite mother and daughter because she could never have a reunion with her own mom. She saw a kindred spirit in DG, one she could help, and she was determined to be there for the older girl.

DG seemed to perk up a bit at that, though I saw she still hadn't written off the stoner old guy in the racist hat. However we were forced to derail that heartwarming moment when I noticed a familiar aura out of the corner of me eye. I turned to see literally dozens of longcoats streaming in through the door. I grimaced. This was a huge problem, mostly because we were in a building full of civilians which meant my wail was a no go. I didn't have any other real wide ranging attacks so my only real option would be to fight them one at a time.

The others came to the same conclusion because I saw them all getting ready, and neither Wally nor Zee said anything when I drew my King's Sword of Haste from my spatial ring. These guys were scum. What they did Cain proved that. No one here would regret me spilling their blood all over this tacky red carpet. Zero stepped forward with a grin. "Well now, looks like you can do more than just yell to get your way." He reached into his shirt and pulled out an amulet. "Let's see if that big pig sticker can help you when you have no magic." And with that the amulet flashed.

February 13th 2011 The OZ 2:00 PM EDT

Zero's smug expression vanished pretty quick when he had to throw himself out of the way of a bolt of ectoplasmic force. it was hard not to smirk at the terror and shock on his face when he realized his stupid magic blocker didn't stop my ghost powers. The look only got more horrified when the bolt hit the booth behind him and the fucking thing exploded like a toilet with an m80 dropped down the hole.

Sadly, while MY abilities were untouched, I noted that Zee's were not. I reacted to that fact just in time to appear in front of her with a shadow port and get shot in the chest about fourteen times with a wave of energy blasts from the nearby longcoats. Despite how painful that was I took a moment to appreciate the incredibly tight grouping these guys had managed. Apparently they didn't conform to storm trooper levels of accuracy.

Of course that did jack shit to me in terms of actual damage. My malleable ghost-devil flesh and two hundred and fifty points of vitality started knitting me back together as soon as the shots ended, but I made a mental note to change back into my Armor of Gloom. I'd stopped wearing it in New Genesis during our time in the city and had forgotten to re gear when I got here like an idiot. I turned to take in my pale and shaking girlfriend, who was clearly unsettled by watching my chest get blown apart by laser bolts. "You ok baby?"

She gave me a weak smile. "That's my line. But it looks like you're fine. I was really scared there for a second." She looked around, frowning at our scattered forces. "These guys are well trained. That stupid amulet put my powers on the fritz and they went right for me. Taking out the magic user is a solid tactic. Lucky you were here to help, and lucky everyone else took the opportunity to get behind cover." Her lips quirked up. "Well, almost everyone."

I turned to see Bear hurling himself gleefully into a huge pile of longcoats. Wally had already disarmed all of them and dumped their guns right after they shot me, so they had no defense against the huge god. The place was packed with the bastards so he didn't need to look far for targets. Serifan and Artemis, like Zee said, were behind cover, shooting at any obvious threat, while Cain was standing guard over DG, Raw, and Glitch, with Vykin and Dreamer. All in all, apart from getting shot a bunch this had gone pretty damn well.

The Mystic Man was up on stage, hiding behind his chair with a bleary expression on his face. The bliss in his aura wasn't gone but it was definitely being disturbed. I wasn't sure what the fuck he was on but it was some pretty heavy shit if watching someone get riddled with laser blasts didn't sober him up more than a bit. I looked around, ready to go to battle myself but...there was no one to fight. I'd been so distracted getting shot up and protecting Zee that the gods and my team had taken all of them out.

Well, taken them down was more accurate. There weren't chopped up pieces of longcoat all over the place like there would have been if I got my hands on them, especially after shooting at my girl. Still more than one or two of them was dead, the occasional headshot having finished the bastards off. It was a huge let down to be all keyed up and holding a sword with no storm troopers to stab. Zee, as connected to me as ever, seemed to sense my sulking and giggled, hugging me from behind. "Don't worry baby, we'll find you some bad guys to fight later."

That drew a small smile from me. "As long you're safe that's all that matters. Though admittedly I was already in a bad mood and getting shot to shit didn't help." I froze. "And gods damn it! I could have use my Hole bloodline to absorb and reflect those! I got shot for no reason!" It had been too sudden for void form, granted, but Hole was a part of my bloodline and I should have at least TRIED to get one open.

Zee giggled again and I shrugged it off. Hole would have taken points anyway, and my vitality healed me for free, so if anything getting shot was the better call in that situation, as weird as that was to think. Deciding to shift out of attack mode temporarily, I looked around at the subdued longcoats still left alive, raising my voice to call to my friends. "Hey, you guys all ok? If anyone was injured let me know!" There was response. I walked over to Zero, who was curled up on the ground, his leg mangled by the explosion of the nearby booth when I shot at him.

He looked...frankly terrified. I shouted back over my shoulder. "Hey Cain, I've got some question for this guy. Figure you want to be the one to say pretty please?" Zero's already pale face became bone white. I knelt down next to him. "So Cain is on the way over. I'd say if you manage to explain where you got that amulet before he gets here you have the best possible chance of avoiding...some of the pain you have coming. I won't say all, because Cain REALLY hates you, and I get why so I'm not going to stop him. Still, maybe if you're helpful he'll have mercy and just kill you."

Plus I had no interest in being the one to torture him. Zee would be disgusted, and honestly I would probably be disappointed in myself too. I'd done some morally grey shit, but torturing a wounded captive, even a child killing psycho like Zero, was a line I'd rather not cross. Cain on the other hand, had a very good reason to want to hurt the guy, and while I wasn't ok with torturing someone, I was a hundred percent fine with a father getting payback on the murderer who slaughter his wife and kid in front of him on repeat for years, even if some of the others probably weren't.

Hell, even Wally seemed to be purposefully ignoring Cain's intentions as best he could. His aura seemed queasy and a little ashamed but under that there was a kind of steely determination. I was pretty sure the redhead was very much not over what we had seen at that cabin. Not that I could blame him. Luckily for me Zero also knew he deserved whatever Cain was going to do to him. "No! Wait! I'll tell you whatever you want to know I swear! I got the amulet from the Queen! I don't know where she got it. She told me it would protect me from magic after what you did to us at Milltown."

Now we were getting somewhere. Cain came to a stop next to us, glaring down at Zero with more hate than I had ever seen one person put into an expression before, but luckily he just stayed where he was, looming over the injured man. Zero started talking faster, desperate to delay the inevitable. "The girl! The Queen wants the girl, she sent us to that farm through the travel storm to get her but she escaped. She's obsessed. She won't stop until she gets her. She has the robots now, and she's using the viewers to spy on her, but they can't see her anymore since she met up with you!"

He trailed off, seemingly with nothing else left to say, and I turned away as he started screaming. Cain stepped forward, cold rage painted across his face, but I stopped him. He glared at me fiercely, but I just met his gaze. "Your family might be gone Cain, but they're still your family. Dead or not, don't make your sons father a monster. That scumbag earned his death, so give it to him, but do it with honor, because even if he doesn't have any, you still do." His jaw clenched but I saw his eyes fill with hesitation. I stepped past him.

I walked slowly over to Zee and swallowed hard. Part of that had been hard for me. I didn't know Cain well, but I couldn't help but see parallels there. I wished I'd had a dad like him. My father loved me, I knew it, but not like Cain had loved his son. Not enough to walk through hell for me. I envied the kid that, though I wasn't enough of an asshole to ever say that out loud. Zee felt my confusing jumble of emotions through the bond but surprisingly it was Dreamer who stepped up to take my hand with a kind smile.

I looked at her in confusion and she leaned up to give me a soft kiss. "I know you're not always sure what kind of person you are. Anyone who's been around you for more than five minutes can see how you flip back and forth between your worse and better nature. But that? What you just did? That proves deep down you're a good man, and we all know it now, even if you don't." I swallowed, squeezing her hand, because it meant a lot to hear that, more than I thought it would. Zee took my other hand in hers in silent agreement.

I'd been mostly reacting since I got my powers, but deep down, a part of me felt torn over the things I had to do. Not the stealing or the crime, that I was fine with. Legal and right weren't the same thing, and I didn't take from people who would miss it much. No, the things that weighed on me were the deaths. Not just the ones I dealt myself but of all the people who had been sucked into my messes. Of the idiots who got killed in the dungeon searching for power.

I tried to tell myself I didn't care. That I was just coasting from one disaster to the next with my girl and my friends by my side and a big old smile, but some part of me still felt guilty. That part had been growing fainter for a while though, the whisper of guilt getting drowned out by my practicality, and I'd been terrified that I was becoming a Falcone in truth. I'd never wanted to be my family, not really. Hearing that someone like Dreamer, that someone like Zee, thought I was a good man, even if it was only for this one act, it soothed an ache I hadn't even noticed in my heart.

I exhaled loudly, giving the girls a wry smile. "Thank you. Both of you. But we still have answers to get. Specifically I think DG was promised answers about her mom. Did she get them?" I glanced at Dreamer inquiringly. She'd been guarding the civvies while everyone else went to town on the Queen's rent-a-thugs. I was hoping that DG had used the mess as an opportunity to ask her questions, since saving someone from being murdered was a great ice breaker in my experience.

DG, who had been waiting nearby, stepped up to answer herself, her face split with a huge grin. "He was a bit out of it, but when he saw the mark on my hand he remembered me! He was the one who helped my mother get me out of the OZ! He said that my path to find her begins on the northern island!" That sounded vague as hell, but at the very least it was a lead. I was doubting this old stoner could get us back to our world, but it sounded like he'd shown DG's mom how, so our best bet was still to track her down. I grinned at her encouragingly. "Well then I suppose that's where we head." I shot her a wink. "And hey, don't forget to bring the old man, he's coming with us."

February 13th 2011 The OZ 8:00 PM EDT

Cain executed Zero, because of course he did. But he did it quickly, a single shot to the head and he waited until all the others had left. His aura was...conflicted. He'd been so focused on this goal for so long, so focused on his hate when he was in that box, that now he didn't know what to do with himself. The problem with being the determinator, is what to do when that determination wanes. Cain's eyes showed the pain and confusion of a man who had nothing left but revenge, and then got it. Be careful what you wish for made manifest.

I put a hand on his shoulder and he jumped, turning to look at me warily. I smiled wryly at him. "The thing about dedicating your entire soul to a single purpose is that once you fulfill it, you're kind of left twisting. That said, I think you did the right thing there. You're a good man Cain, I can see that, even if you might not understand how. Other people don't get to take that away. The only person that decides what kind of man you are is you, it's something you can only give up, but never lose. I lost sight of that myself for the last little while."

His shoulder slumped. "I feel like I tore every muscle in me to shreds and then shot myself up to numb the pain so I could keep fighting. Now the numbness is gone and it just...it hurts. What do I do kid? What does the man who's lost everything have to live for? I can't just die, not after everything I've survived. My family wouldn't want it even if I had that kind of quit in me, and I don't. You seem to have all the answers, so tell me oh great and powerful magic kid, where the hell do I got from here?"

I just snorted a bit at the name. "For such a smart guy you're a little stupid. You're already doing it. There's a girl out there who's lost her family, and you're helping her get them back. To give another parent the chance that you never had, to hold their child again...do you think you could come up with a better way to honor their memories?" He blinked at that, looking a little poleaxed. He'd been so focused on coming to the end of his road that he forgot he was in the carpool lane, and there was an exit coming up.

I understood where he was coming from. I'd agreed to help DG find her mom because she could get us home, and it was easy and amusing to play the white knight with my power. But the longer I walked this path the more I realized maybe I needed this. Needed to stop...reacting to everything. I'd just been going with the flow for so damn long now, first subsisting on distraction and escapism and then just grabbing every random power that fit my build. I didn't have a goal other than "get through this crazy shit".

But I was done with that. I'd go home when I was finished, one way or another, but I was in this. I was going to help DG find her mom. Because if it was me, I would want someone to help me find mine. I saw that same kind of determination in Cain, saw the same zeal and fire. He smiled at me, baring his teeth. "You know kid, you should become a motivational speaker or something. You're pretty good at these rousing speeches. But you're right, cheesy or not. I'm in. For the long haul, let's go find DG's mom."

Getting out of the city was much easier than getting in. We just stole weasel face's car and drove off with it. I had a brief moment of actual fondness for the leering creep when we were leaving. As we got in he began wailing about how he needed his car and how he had a family, but he took a brief break from bemoaning his cruel fate to help Cain start the thing before going right back to his drama. Seeing him flip from wailing about the unfairness to casually giving instructions and then back cracked me up.

Finally though we were on the road. I decided to take this time to talk to Dreamer some more. What she'd said had meant a lot to me, and we didn't really put much emphasis on our relationship as individuals, mainly interacting through Zee. I squeezed in next to her, giving her a small smile. "Penny for your thoughts?" I bumped her with my shoulder, giving her a smile. She seemed surprised to see me, but not in a bad way. She returned my smile with a hesitant one of her own. Her little speech to me had been the most personal interaction we'd had, as amusing as that was to say about someone I'd had sex with.

There was some small measure of awkwardness there, but there was genuine interest too. Her voice was hesitant as she spoke up. "I was just thinking about the past. The things that happened to us shape who we are, even the things we don't remember. But the shapes we take aren't always whole and unscarred. Sometimes forgetting what we've lost can be the greatest kindness life can offer." Her pretty face twisted into a frown. "I hope this isn't one of those times. DG is a sweet girl, she deserves better than the darkness I've seen."

I agreed with that. DG's aura was the purest thing I'd ever seen from another person. She was just this positive force for goodness and light that I honestly had assumed was just fairy tales. Ironic maybe given where we were, but true nonetheless. At that thought my eyes widened. Was I having a deeply personal transformative journey in Oz? I was just getting used to being an edgelord, now I had to be a stereotype too? I lapsed into silence, spending the next several hours sulking at my descent into a parody of myself. Dreamer seemed comfortable with the silence just enjoying my presence until the car came to a stop.

We all climber out of the surprisingly spacious interior and beheld...nothing. Ice. Literally everywhere. I saw several of the people around me shudder at the chill, but I personally just felt a refreshing breeze. Wally was glaring at me as he did his best to vibrate his body fast enough to keep warm. "How the hell are you fine? That armor has no sleeves and you're just standing there unbothered."

I'd changed back into my Armor of Gloom, which left my arms exposed, but this weather didn't bother me at all. I shrugged. "I'm half ghost and the other half is connected to the void. Cold isn't exactly the bane of my existence." I was amused by his reaction, but a bit worried about the others. Especially DG out only real vanilla human. I turned to check on her and found her staring off into the ice murmuring to herself. That was odd enough for me to step up and wave a hand in her face. "Hey, you ok there?"

The only answer I got was the girl bolting towards a large chunk of ice in the near distance. I sighed. "No, it's fine. No need to answer me, feel free to just take off into the snow." I set off after her, muttering in annoyance at being dismissed. The others followed behind us, but Wally and I both stuck close, with me shadow porting and him speeding to keep pace with the oddly driven girl. We stopped in front of a giant chunk of ice and DG held out a hand to me, clearly asking for something, but too distracted to speak up.

That said we were standing in front of a sheet of ice so my best guess was some sort of tool to break it. I passed her a sledgehammer and sure enough she went to work on the frozen wall, muttering to herself about something being "Frozen in time in a sea of ice." She also mentioned her father and more specifically how this place was "home" Once she broke the wall down however she was stared in awe at what was on the other side. A set of large white doors, crusted with ice. She tried to open then things with the handle but nothing happened until she held up her branded hand.

The weird glowing mark on her palm began to smoulder and the doors swung silently inward as she scrambled over the small amount of ice left in the way and into the frankly absurdly large palace on the other side. The place was absolutely massive, with expansive marble flooring and a weirdly large number of columns. Like seriously. More columns than most places. It seemed unnecessary. We were definitely in the right place though. It was easy to tell because on the wall in front of us hung a huge portrait of a woman with lavender eyes, with a very familiar man behind her.

The others had followed us in, and we all turned to look at Glitch, who was staring up at the painting in awe and joy. "I knew I wasn't an idiot or a con artist. I was the Queen's advisor." His voice was hushed with wonder. He turned to DG. "That makes you a princess. " He gave her a weak smile. DG stared up at the painting for a bit and then took off again heading for the unreasonably large spiral staircase at the back of the palace. I followed behind her to make sure she didn't get in trouble. Wally was a step ahead of me this time as he scouted the whole upstairs before meeting us at the top of the steps.

We followed DG into a huge bedroom where every surface was covered in sheets. It was dim and depressing in the room, and I wasn't the only one who noticed. Raw, the psychic lion man who rarely spoke, started to get agitated. He shook his head roughly. "No! No! Bad things happened here!" The furry man raced over to DG, grabbing her arm. "We need to go! Bad things happened here!"

DG's big blue eyes were wide as she grabbed him by the shoulders. "What? What bad things Raw?" The large man pulled away, hunching on himself and shaking his head frantically as if trying to dislodge an image. DG grabbed him to hold him still. "Raw please! I need to know what happened here. I need to find out what this place is and why I had to leave. Please tell me." Her voice was thick with unshed tears and the hairy psychic looked pained.

Cain reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a kind smile. "Tell her. It's ok." It was obvious that Raw was afraid to hurt DG with the truth, but we'd come too far for her to be willing to turn back now. Cain obviously knew she wasn't going to give up, and I met his eyes with a nod. We both agreed to stick this out to the end, and we were here for her no matter what she found.

Raw closed his eyes and sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat as he slowly approached a piece of furniture. He pulled off the sheet to reveal a mirror and placed one hand on the frame, closing his eyes. As he focused the image in the mirror started to blur, colors shifting and changing before our eyes like a telescope being brought into focus, until finally the image crystallized into a perfect reflection of a woman laying in a bed cuddling a small girl who looked to be her daughter. The women with lavender eyes was singing a soft lullaby to the child. DG swallowed hard and reached out to touch the glass longingly. "That's...that's me."

Ok folks. Regarding Dreamer. Contrary to what it may appear she isn't just a random sex partner I threw in to spice up the sex scenes. She does serve a legitimate purpose and will be the fuel behind quite a bit of personal growth in this arc for Morgan. I needed someone to give him a push that was important enough to listen to but not so close to have blinders on and Dreamer is going to be that person. She also has an important role to play in Watsonian sense because she is going to be instrumental in helping Zee learn to harness and improve with her divinity. That said, I'm up in the air about whether she's coming with them back to Gotham. Next chapter I'll probably be taking a vote across all my sites to see who wants her around and who wants her gone, though I hope by then the doubters are going to be convinced. As per usual pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent