Sell you a Bridge

by MalcolmTent6730

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

41. Chapter 41

March 18th 2016 Doomhallow Hall 12:00 PM EDT

I had no fucking idea where I was supposed to find a theme park. Luckily, I DID know where to find a Circus, though it wasn't exactly the same thing. Gotham had a pretty famous one in town, and after summoning another five Soulless Knights, making sure to keep a thousand points on me for emergencies, Dreamer and I officially left for our date, with Zee basically shoving us out the door with enthusiasm. I could have sworn she was more excited than I was, but honestly this was kind of getting me hyped.

I hadn't done much dating. A month with Annabel and like a few dates with Zee, but this felt...different. This was a date with expectations. I was already having sex with Dreamer and she was all wrapped up in my life and Zee's life too, so I had to make sure this was a good date. We ended up the circus pretty easily. I shadow ported us there. The corridors of darkness were free but harmful to people who weren't me, so I burned a hundred points on our trip across the bay to Amusement Mile.

When we arrived I looked around until i finally found a place that sold Mango Bubble Tea, and managed to get her one after standing in line for twenty minutes. She took a long deep sip and gave a hmmmm of satisfaction, and I didn't bother to hide my smile as I asked fondly. "Wow, you really do love that stuff don't you?" She blushed prettily and I took her hand, pulling her into the crowd toward the games. "So, is this like the amusement park you went to? I remember how much you loved that."

She gave me a happy smile, pulling off her overly large boba straw to beam at me. "It is. I enjoy this very much. It is...it is beautiful to see so many people relaxing, to see them concerned with only happiness. Back on New Genesis, despite having well developed modes of entertainment we were always cognizant of attacks. Everything revolved around preparation in some way. We had no places dedicated to only leisure. Even recreational spaces were set up for training or with consideration for easy defense."

I nodded, she had intimated as much during our last serious talk. It was a sad thing to consider, but I could understand why places like this were so wondrous to her. She wasn't used to people just...having fun. I smiled and dragged her over to one of the games. I picked the dumbest least strategic game possible. Skeeball. I gestured grandly to the thing. "Here we have a classic amusement park game. The only goal here is to roll the ball and get it in the hole with the number on it. It's pointless nonsense give it a try."

I passed her the ball and she grinned happily rolling the thing gently up the slope and not putting enough behind it. She was clearly trying to to accidentally throw it too hard and underestimated the curvature. I grinned. "Good instinct but you don't need to hold back that much." She giggled a bit and I forked over a ten for another few balls so she could try more than once or twice. She did much better on the second roll, not center ring but pretty good, and then got closer each time until she managed to sink it, jumping up and down in glee as she turned to kiss me.

I laughed at the enthusiasm. "Well I think you've mastered this one, how about we try the ring toss next? Or maybe get you some cotton candy?" She was definitely a warrior and she had the aim to prove it, but she'd been approaching this one trying to seem human, holding back, and it seemed like that fact made her victory all the more satisfying. It was wonderful seeing that beautiful smile bloom across her face as the ball thunked into the right circle, and the little dance she did when we got to pick her prize was adorable.

She blinked in confusion. "Cotton candy? I was under the impression cotton was a material for making clothes, not for consumption. It certainly sounds interesting, let's try it." I grabbed her hand and pulled, taking off for the snack booth and dragging Dreamer behind me with a little squeak. When we finally got there we had to wait in line for a bit but I showed it to her proudly.

I pointed up at the pink cloud on the sign. "That is cotton candy. They also have hot dogs, nachos,soft serve, funnel cake, corndogs, which seem at first glance to be similar to hot dogs but are actually much different, and soft pretzels." I pointed to each dish in turn, letting her know what everything was. Then I turned to the guy behind the counter. "I'll have a funnel cake and an order of Nachos." I turned to smile at Dreamer. "How about you?"

She worried at her bottom lip with her teeth, staring up at the menu with deliberation. She pointed to the pink cloud on the sign. "You mentioned cotton candy. I'll try some of that. And then...nachos for me as well. I don't know what they are but they certainly sound interesting. I look forward to giving them a try." I laughed and paid and then helped her carry all the food to a nearby table where we sat down to eat.

I held out my funnel cake. "You want to try this? It won't last long so if you do you'll need to take a bite now." She rolled her eyes, taking a bite of the fried dessert, and her eyes widened in delight as she covered her mouth. It was adorable. "yeah it's good stuff, I love funnel cake, I always get it when I come here, though I haven't been in years. Mom brought me once for my fifth birthday. I ate four corndogs and then threw up and we had to go home. She always did let me do whatever I want on my birthday."

Dreamer giggled, snorting a bit around her food. "She sounds like a wonderful mother. I didn't really know mine. She was killed in a raid by Apokalyptian forces when I was a small child. Dancer and I were raised by our father until I was old enough to take care of her on my own, then he joined the front lines of the war. He never got over what happened to my other." Her pretty face wilted in sadness. "He died a few years later, when Dancer was only fifteen summers old. It broke her heart to lose another parent."

I put my hand on hers, squeezing gently. "I'm sorry, that sounds tough. You and your sister must be close though, I know you said you cam rushing back to be with her when she was injured, what happened to her, if you don't mind me asking?" We hadn't met Dreamer's sister when she was there, she'd already checked in when she arrived and the few times she went to see her she didn't bring anyone along.

That got another giggle. "What else, she was dancing. There are several acrobatics troupes that the field operatives use to stay limber between engagements, they're considered a back route into the special operations divisions. Dancer decided she was good enough to try her hand at it and injured her knee performing a routine. She was fine, I just overreacted. She was always reckless when we were children, so I worry. I came back more to prevent her enlistment than because of the injury in any case."

I winced in sympathy. "Yeah after losing your parents in the war I could see why you would. Did you manage to talk her out of it?" I briefly wondered if a few million Soulless Knights would tip the scales in New Genesis's favor. It might be a decent investment considering how absolutely fuck off evil Apokalips was supposed to be.

Dreamer sighed, looking down sadly. "I don't believe I did. I spent much of our formative years after father left waxing poetic about him. I didn't want Dancer to feel abandoned, and hoped hearing stories of the good he was doing on the front lines would make her feel safe and cared for rather than tossed aside. I suspect I did my job too well. Dancer idolized father and desperately wanted to follow in his footsteps." She smiled ruefully. "She considers me flighty and unreliable for my explorations. Says they lack substance."

That was unpleasant. "Sounds like she needs a reality check, but also like you'd really prefer she never gets one. I can understand that mentality. I hope that she remains safe, and if there's ever anything I can do to help all you ever have to do is ask. I may not be a god, but I have power in my own ways. I'm sure with enough time to save up I could swing some kind of game changer for New Genesis and finally put that shitty war to bed."

Her eyes widened in surprise, as if she hadn't even considered that. "I...I don't know what to say to that. I've seen your power do absurd things, things that shouldn't be possible. But to speak so casually of an end to a war that has waged since your worlds sun was an ember on the cosmic winds is...staggering. Even more staggering is that given a few years to grow I suspect you might actually be able manage it." She shook her head." It is just mind boggling. Like someone told you the sky might vanish."

I nodded sympathetically. Her world was much nicer than Gotham (in places) but in some ways they were similar. The battle never ended, the darkness never truly receded. There were bright spots to be had, but the shadows always came creeping back to swallow the light eventually. To hear me claim that I could banish that abyss from her planet all on my own when generations of gods couldn't, to even theorize that I might be able to, and to actually believe that claim, must be shaking the foundations of her world.

All I could do was shrug. "Honestly your guess is as good as mine. I can't make any promises about managing it, I can only promise to try. I've done some crazy things, so maybe I can pull it off, but even if I can't I'm willing to go to the mat for you Dreamer. You've done so much for us, been there for so much even in the short time we've been together. I dont know what my life would look like without you but I'm guessing it wouldn't be better. I'd be isolated and confused, I'd be lashing out at everyone, and I'd probably hate myself. I was lost before you showed up, and you got me back on track. As far as I'm concerned you belong here."

Her eyes were shining with hushed tears as she gripped my hand. "I never thought I would fit with anyone but the forever people. I never expected to find a place of my own with people I cared for on some tiny planet in the back end of the multiverse. I'm glad I found you. Glad we met when and where we did, because if we hadn't I wouldn't be who I am now either. Being with you and Zatanna has changed me too. You've shown me how to be more than just a spare warrior in the endless conflict with Apokalips. How to just...be. It's peaceful and intoxicating and I can never thank you enough."

I held her hand there, at the table, smiling into each others eyes and scarfing down really low quality nachos, and I was happy. I was home, I was with one of my girls, I knew my family was safe and sound and I had a plan going forward. All in all this was as good as things were going to get for me I was pretty sure and I was happy with it. Now I just needed to take care of The Reach so I could stay that way.

March 19th 2016 Doomhallow Hall 12:00 PM EDT

The next day saw another five Knights added to my growing regiment, and me back at the hall spending time with my girls. Dreamer and I had a wonderful time on our date and I felt like we were really connecting, Zee had been happy but also extra clingy since we came back, which I didn't feel any need to complain about. My girl felt amazing when she was clinging to you. Sadly though, all of that had to come to an end because Artemis showed up to remind me of a prior engagement.

She rolled her eyes as the pile of gorgeous girl I was lying in when she came into my room. "I suppose I should be grateful any of you nymphos are even clothed. Time to go back out. I got a lead on my mom and Jade, and you promised to come with me when I did." We'd headed out together to look for Paula and her other daughter almost two weeks ago but hadn't found anything. My detective vision needed recent traces. I'd considered using some points to but a tracking method, but Artemis dismissed that option. She said she was getting lazy depending on me for everything. She would find a lead herself.

Which apparently she had. "I got a tip from an old friend. My sister was spotted in downtown Gotham, near Crime Alley. I need you to do your detective thing and pick up the trail for me before it goes cold." Zee gumbled against me but nodded, rolling to the side to let me get up. Zee and Artemis were close, and she wouldn't get in the way of Artemis finding her mother. Not when Zee would never see her own mother again. Aside from that Zee liked Paula. They had gotten along pretty well when the older woman was living here.

We headed out for the teleporter, since it was cheaper than blowing points on a shadow port and I didn't want Artemis to slowly turn into a slobbering bloodthirsty nutcase after being exposed to the primordial darkness beyond time and space. As we showed up in the empty clock tower I turned to my best friend. "You know I could have helped with this right? Could have used my powers to give you a hand. I get not wanting to be dependent on my points but I WAS here either way."

She sighed as we made our way out of the empty building. "I know you were Morgan. You always have been. Since that first day up on the roof when you brought me some of your birthday cake. Hell even before that you were around as backdrop, even if I didn't really notice you. Which is kind of the problem. You started where I did, but look at us now. Look at the power you have. How much you're doing to help. Reggie is an elite master thief now, and what am I? A slutty elf with a shocky bow?"

I snorted at that description and she glared at me but I brushed it off. "I'm not mocking you, stop being such a little bitch. I'm laughing because you're being stupid. You're part god, you're stronger and faster than most people on this planet. Reggie would give his right nut for the kind of power you have. Sure he has some experience now and he can keep up, but you are one of a kind. Hell, forget the powers look at your life. Beloved boyfriend, kickass bestie, and a smoking hot surrogate sister. You're a badass."

She chuckled at that. "Humble. But I can see your point. I just feel left behind. I love Wally and Zee, but I miss those days in the dungeon when it was just you me and Reggie. When we were a family." She blushed. "And if you ever tell anyone I said something that mushy I'm going to jam an arrow made from lemon imbued bleach stone up your dickhole." Instead of scaring me that threat made me smile.

I spread my hands, showing myself off. "Newsflash Arty but we ain't the ones doing the leaving. Not that I judge you for it, you love Wally, even without aura sight I could see that much. He's good for you and I'm happy you found someone. Gods know with our dysfunctional ass dads as examples we weren't exactly shoe in's for stable relationships, but we did ok. Still, you said it yourself. We're family. Just because you haven't been spending all your time with just me doesn't change that. You'll still be my sister, just like you'll still be Zee's."

She blushed furiously. "Shut up. But...thanks. I know that you're there, even if we don't spend every day together like we used to, I just feel like even on New Genesis there was a wall between us. Like it's not the same as it used to be." She huffed. "Sorry I sound stupid and needy. Forget I said anything." I reached out and stopped her from walking, grabbing her shoulder. She stopped but didn't turn around to look at me.

I turned her manually, getting a scowl. "You sound like someone who was abandoned by her dad and then her older sister. Someone who has gotten used to being left behind. But you and I have been through too much for me to bail." I gave her a teasing grin. "Sunk cost fallacy you know, I've put up with your bullshit for almost a year now. If I took off I'd have wasted all that time." Artemis was much more comfortable with humor than genuine emotion. Making a cringey joke out of my reassurance would put her at ease far more than a heart felt declaration of kinship.

I knew she knew what I was doing too. I could see the gratitude in my aura. Artemis never learned to be open about her feelings, her dad had beaten the sarcasm and stoicism into her at a young age. I'd gotten lucky since I had mom, but even I was still learning to open up with Dreamers help. I saw the knot in Artemis untwist a bit though. She'd been really worried about this. I smiled. "I was thinking we should start doing family dinners every week. At my moms place if we can't get your mom to forgive Jim, though I'm hopeful there."

She smiled softly. "That sounds pretty nice. I'd love to get to know Hana better. She's adorable. You've been slipping off to spend time with her between study sessions right?" She smirked at me, clearly aware I had been trying to be sneaky about that. My little sister was the cutest, and spending time with her was a joy, but I didn't want to get a rep as a big softie even amongst my own friends. I supposed my journey to emotional honesty still had quite a ways to go, Dreamers help or not.

I huffed in annoyance. "Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and mock. I've never had a sibling before, and she's the cutest. Though she's basically narcoleptic. Her six eyes really wear her out. Gojo got her an adorable little pair of pink sunglasses but they annoy her and she takes them off all the time. Seeing him fawn over her is kind of hilarious. He's got this whole devil may care mentality most of the time but he's the biggest helicopter parent I've ever seen. being able to see everything all the time makes him insanely paranoid she's going to fall and skin a knee or something."

She giggled at that. "I could see it. I'm surprised he doesn't carry her around in one of those baby slings or something." She shook her head with a smirk. "I'm happy for your mom. She was always really sweet to me, and she deserves to be happy. She's obviously been missing you bad. It's nice seeing her so thrilled all the time." Her smirk became a snicker she had clearly been unable to hold in. "Plus her face when she realized you're dating two girls was hilarious. It made my day."

My answering eye roll went on longer than it needed to, but she deserved it. "Get a life. Aren't you supposed to have a boyfriend? Do you really have nothing better to do than gloat over my romantic drama?" Still, I had to pause to smirk slightly. "And he tried to buy one of those carriers, mom put her foot down. Said he was being ridiculous." We stopped finally, and I turned to look at Artemis. "This the place they were seen?" I needed a recent location for detective vision to function.

She nodded. "Just Jade, but yeah. They'll be together I'm sure of it. You've seen Jade before so I know you can find them." I waved her to silence, ignoring the surroundings as I turned on detective mode, triggering my aura sight at the same time. It took me a minute or two to sort through the auras and find Jade's. I'd seen her during the Amazon War when we rescued Paula from Devastation and co, and with my perfect recall it was easy to match the traces to what was here.

Once I found a trail I took off, not running, but moving at a brisk pace, and Artemis trailed silently behind me. Say what you would about Jade, but she was a paranoid nutcase when it came to being tracked. We ran on circles following that damn trail for at least an hour. She went up buildings, into sewers, and at one point literally dove into the fucking Gotham Harbor and swam for a quarter mile to make sure no one was tracking her. It made me wonder if she might have picked up a tail in real time too, because a heat run this convoluted if she hadn't would be madness.

Still, despite the insane lengths she went to avoid us we FINALLY managed to track her to a run down tenement building in the Narrows. The place was one step from condemned, but it was pretty quiet, without much gang presence or any notable criminal hangouts. The kind of place you go to disappear when you don't want to deal with even local scumbags. It was a hell of a safe house, and it took me a good half hour to case the place and make sure there were no traps or ambushes waiting nearby.

Finally we got to the door of the apartment I tracked them to and Artemis knocked on the door. I stood back, hands loosely at my side, ready and willing to shield her if needed. A peephole slid open, a single eye pressed to it, and then there was the sound of a lock and chain scrabbling before the door was hurled open and Paula flung herself at her daughter. She clutched Artemis desperately, sobbing into her hair and bawling something in vietnamese. They stood there like that for a few minutes before she pulled back with a sniff, wiping her eyes.

She turned them on me with a fond smile. "Morgan. I should have known my girl would be fine with you looking out for her. You always did take care of her." She looked around. "Please, come inside. We can't stay out here for too long. Isn't safe in this neighborhood." We followed her in and she closed the door and relocked it. "Jade and Roy are out at the moment, and Lian is sleeping." She paused. "I guess you wouldn't even know who Lian is. Here, follow me and be quiet. I know you two can move around silently at least."

We chuckled at that, and Artemis, still overwhelmed trailed behind her with me on her heels, both of us walking in complete silence. She brought us into a bedroom where a small child was asleep in a crib and smiled fondly at the little girl, who was even younger than Hana. She gestured us forward. "Artemis." She whispered. "This is your niece. Lian Harper. Jade's daughter."

March 19th 2016 Gotham City 8:00 PM EDT

Artemis had to be dragged away from Lian, albeit she put up a quiet resistance. Paula's fond smile never left her daughter, but when we finally got out of the room she pulled me into a tight hug. "It's good to see you too Morgan, I'm sorry I didn't greet you. You look good. Thank you so much for looking out for her." She chuckled sadly. "Just another thing I owe Marie. Raising such a good boy. I really don't think I can ever pay her back for the support she gave me after Artemis...for the support she gave me."

Her smile was brittle as she corrected herself, clearly not ready to discuss the time we were missing. Artemis cleared her throat, effectively changing the subject. "Anyway mom, what the hell happened when we were gone. Jade has a kid? Whose name is Harper? You mentioned someone named Roy? Is that her father? What the fuck?" She clearly had no idea where to start with the questions, and Paula looked almost as amused as I felt.

The woman stared fondly at her youngest daughter until she was done ranting before she answered. "Lot's of things happened. Yes, Jade has a daughter, obviously, Roy Harper is her father, and he's...complicated. Roy was a member of the League, or at least their subsidiary team. He went by Red Arrow. He was secretly a mole planted in their ranks by an organization of supervillains called The Light, an organization that the Shadows are a part of. They cloned the original Roy and replaced him with an unknowing sleeper, Lian's father."

I groaned, rubbing my temples. "Of course they did. I didn't miss this kind of nonsense when we were gone. Say what you want about the OZ but at least the place was predictable. So I take it that all got defused and that's when you guys got away? Did he like...break free of his programming because of Jade and Lian or something?" It sounded stupid, but heroes were always pulling that love conquers all shit. Not that I couldn't understand it. I bet I could break some limits for Zee if I needed to. Hell Dreamer and I were still getting started but I would probably move mountains for her too.

Paula gave a rueful laugh. "I wish. No. He didn't get deprogrammed until after he was triggered. In the wake of the Amazon War he took advantage of the chaos to brainwash the whole League under orders from the Light. The Team was able to spring them eventually, with a little help from your cousin Kit actually. She vanished a bit after that, but she and her boyfriend, some guy calling himself Kid Devil, jumped in to help and free the League alongside them before disappearing."

My eyes widened in shock. That was the first I'd heard of Kit since we got back. I'd been afraid to dig into her whereabouts because I was scared she might be dead before I could ask though she held up her hands. "No I don't know where she is. No one does. She seemed...distressed, by your disappearances, at least based on what Roy said. Anyway after Roy's brain was scrubbed for implanted memories we were worried about him being hunted by the Light, and Jade and I decided to leave the Shadows to say with him. Lian came a long a few years later."

I made an annoyed sound. "I don't much like these Light guys. If this is the same cabal that's working with The Reach their asses are rapidly ascending my to kick list. Who is in this group anyway. I know Luthor, Savage, and Ra's Al Ghul, but it's supposed to be pretty big time. They must have some legit power players in there too. Anyone I know?" I wanted to be aware of potential threats and asses that might need kicking.

She nodded. "Based on what I heard of your adventures before leaving from my daughter I know at least one. Klarion the Witch Boy is among their number." She paused. "Well, as much as Klarion is among anyone's number I suppose. He isn't exactly the picture of stability. But I remember Artemis telling me about your run in with him at Fate's tour during our time on the island together. I'm not sure if he remembers you, but be careful if so. Klarion is a deeply unpleasant being, and he isn't someone whose attention you want. Even during my days as Tigress he was to be feared."

Her voice had taken on a sort of analytical stoicism I was guessing had to do with her days as a cape. Still I took the warning in the spirit it was offered and nodded. I'd steer clear of Klarion if I could, and if not...well my second brand of Soulless was making progress. I was expecting great things from my newest summons, and I was going to sick them on anyone I thought might be a threat to me or mine. I made a mental note to talk to Gojo about the Void. His powers might give him some insight.

Klarion had been...terrifying. I remembered his aura, the pure primal disdain for the laws of reality, the darkness and the malice. Klarion was a very small representation of a very large force that was incredibly on the nose with it's avatar. He really was basically a kid that liked pulling the wings off of flies, just turned up to eleven. The kind of casual immorality that people unlearn as they grow older, mixed with a complete lack of concern for consequences. My trigger finger twitched. I wish I could try shooting him again with my evolved holiday gun. I was guessing he wouldn't shrug off another few rounds so easily.

Artemis turned to her mother. "So, where are Jade and Roy anyway? If you guys are on the run I doubt they're out on a mission or anything. Shouldn't they be here lying low?" Admittedly they probably should, but I don't know if I could have stayed in this shoe box all the time if I had been them, and Red Arrow was, if anything, ten times more impatient and dickish than I was. Or rather, he had been five years ago. I supposed knocking up a contract killer and going on the run from an evil cabal of archcriminals would change anyone.

Paula sighed. "They're supposed to be back tonight, but they're in Tibet. They finally got a lead on the original Roy after years of searching." She let out a sad sigh. "Roy has been having an identity crisis for some time now. Jade's been trying to keep him out of his head. For a while it worked. Their marriage and dynamic helped keep him grounded. Then Lian came along and that helped. But the longer it goes on, the more he spirals. He NEEDS to find the original Roy. We don't know where he is, but our sources in the Shadows were clear that they kept him on ice. We checked before we left."

I winced at that. I couldn't imagine finding out you were a knock off of someone else and then dealing with that person being missing on top of it. Feeling like you were living someone else's life, especially when that very life was created to betray the people you cared most about. Red Arrow had been kind of an asshat when I met him, but nobody deserves to have to second guess their own mind. I blew out a breath. "Do you think this time they might find him? Sounds like the guy is in a shitty situation to say the least."

She shrugged. "I don't know. The two of them have never given up hope. Jade can't let Roy abandon his dream of rescuing his original because he would break down. I personally remain skeptical, though I would never say so in front of them. I certainly hope they find the poor boy, but I'm not particularly confident in their chances. It's been a long time, and just because he was alive when we left doesn't mean he still is. The Shadows may be patient in their goals, but they're also abhorrent of waste. If something isn't useful, they dispose of it."

I winced at that. I really didn't like the sound of these people. There was a brief silence where we all let that sink in. Finally, Artemis decided it was time to bring up the Elephant in the room. "So...we're back. Safe and sound. We were thinking this would be a good time to get everyone together. Hana has gotten so big and I know Marie would love to see you. We could introduce her to Lian. We can invite everybody. Reggie, Bette, Claire...Jim." Paula's face darkened and I winced at the oncoming storm, but she seemed to catch it and reel herself back in.

Still, her eyes weren't friendly. "James Craddock is a not a person I would choose to associate with. Regardless of the circumstances he took my youngest daughter on a dangerous mission and let her get sucked into a hell portal, dragging her boyfriend, a young woman I consider a second daughter, and one of the most remarkable young men I have ever met along with her. You may not consider him responsible for what happened to you, but I do. So while I would be happy to attend a dinner and see my old friends, I will NOT, be going if Craddock will be there."

Artemis looked pissed. "That's such bullshit!" She winced at the volume, glancing toward the room where her niece was sleeping before lowering her voice to a furious whisper. " Jim didn't force us into that corner, the Amazons did. We were instrumental in bringing an end to the war. It's ridiculous to blame him for choices he made himself. And don't give me that 'he's an adult' shit. We made our own calls and were more than strong enough to handle the consequences."

Paula's eyes were ablaze. "I don't care!" She kept her voice low but spat the words between gritted teeth. "I'm your mother. I don't have to be reasonable or rational. He took my baby girl away from me, you can make all the excuses you want, but he went out with you and came back alone. No matter how old you get or how strong you are you will always be my daughter." Her eyes were shining with unshed tears. "I am glad you're home, and I am proud of you for what you did, but I have the right to be angry at someone for the loss of my child, and I choose to blame him."

She stood up, glaring down at Artemis stubbornly. "You can be angry at me for it, you can say it's stupid or that you don't understand. I accept all of that. But you can not tell me who to hate and why. No matter what you say I feel the way I feel, and I will NEVER forgive him for making me feel the way I did when he came back and told me you were gone. I will never get over that. Now I'm tired and I'm going to sleep. I had a long day. Feel free to wait here for your sister, or leave a note with a phone number. I am glad you're back Artemis and I love you. I'll see both of you soon."

With that, she spun and stalked out of the room and into a bedroom in the back of the apartment. I looked around the

place. Cheap matted carpet, a coffee table with uneven legs, an old deep style TV. All of it reminded me of our old place from just a year ago, at least in my time. I exhaled loudly. "Well. That could have gone better." Then I shrugged. "Could have gone worse too though. So I guess we wait for your sister and her baby daddy then? I want to ask them about Kit. In the meantime how about a game of Jenga?" I gestured to the box under the coffee table and she rolled her eyes, but pulled it out and started unpacking the blocks. Then we both settled in to wait.

March 20th 2016 Gotham City 6:00 PM EDT

Jade and Roy were in a hurry when they got back. Apparently they found the original Roy and had him shipped to a hospital, and they were going to wait with him until he woke up. We managed to extract a promise from them to bring Lian to dinner at the penthouse and to tell Paula Jim wouldn't be there. We'd decided they could alternate weeks, and we wanted to introduce Lian to Hana. So we said out goodbyes and headed back to the island to tell Zee and Dreamer. We'd been staying there pretty often, because Zee was finally getting to use her ritual chamber.

With dinner taken care of for the future, we decided to contact Nightwing. He was still being a little bitch about the thing with Blue Beetle, but he also wasn't going to count a force like ours out of this raid. So we met up with him and his crew at Mount Justice and took a plane to the Himalayas. Well...the others did. I stayed behind with the Knights so I could use the corridor to move them and they wouldn't crowd the plane. I did not, however, use my points on more of them. Instead, I completed my research on my second Soulless variant, and used the ten thousand points I got for today to officially summon my first one.

I called it a Mage. Not a unique name by any means, but it was absolutely accurate. According to Tartarus the type of heartless used as a base was called a Blue Rhapsody. The Mage was, as expected of the name, a magic using Soulless. It was an orb of inky black void stuff with green ghostflame eyes on top of a billowing empty black cloak. It floated excitedly around me, curiously scanning everything with it's glowing green eyes, and I had to admit it was a little cute.

Due to the fact that a Mage had a fully functional magic system it could use independent of my points they cost MUCH more to make. I spent all ten thousand I'd managed to accrue on it, only keeping a grand in reserve in case of emergencies, but it was worth it. The Mage (who I named Solomon, continuing the tradition of naming the first born of my Soulless creations) was an absolute monster in battle. Tapping into the void to cast fire, ice, gravity, and even low level time magic. As a supplement for my regiment of Knights Solomon was absolutely perfect.

When I finally got the call about them arriving I opened a corridor for all eleven Knights and Solomon, and stepped through into the freezing snow covered peaks of the himalayas. Everyone stared at me in annoyance as I appeared. Clearly pissed I got to skip the whole trek up here and stay home until the last second. That particular sentiment lasted until Wonder Girl noticed Solomon, and floored everyone there by squealing. "CUTE!" And hurling herself at my magic using Soulless.

He dodged easily, glaring down at the Amazon who continued to lead up to try to hug the little ball of darkness. I cleared my throat and she froze, getting a guilty look on her face. Zee giggled at the expression throwing an arm over the smaller but more muscular blonde. "Don't worry about it. I was the same way when I first saw Patches." At the confused look from Wonder Girl Zee grinned and whistled. Our cornerhound, now much bigger than he had been when we left the OZ, formed from the shadow at her feet.

Wonder Girl squealed again, and this time was able to snatch up the pup and hug him senseless. I didn't blame her, Patches was super cute. Nightwing however wasn't quite so forgiving. His voice was harsh as he snapped. "Wonder Girl!" Her head jerked up with a guilty look and she hopped to her feet, rushing back over to join the others. Zee gave Nightwing an annoyed glare, and even mild mannered Dreamer looked irritated. Artemis and Wally stayed back, clearly willing to let us handle things.

The boy blunder turned to glare at me. "If you're completely finished distracting my team members maybe you can tell us what sort of fresh hell you've brought with you. I see ten more of those monstrous armor creatures, and what the hell is that thing supposed to be?" He sneered and pointed to Solomon, who just floated adorably in the air, blinking in confusion at the disdainful tone.

I narrowed my eyes. "His NAME is Solomon. He's a magic user, so unless you want him to freeze your nuts into ice cubes maybe be nicer." Nightwing curled his lip at me, clearly annoyed at my not so veiled threat. Then I turned to the others, effectively ignoring Nightwing in favor of the rest of the team. "Anyway, before I got distracted by unnecessary hostility, I was going to tell you that yes, I brought eleven Knights. They're all extremely well trained and Sigfried has been working with them on team drills. They should be our advanced party I'd say. They're sturdier than anyone else here as I'm sure you learned while you had Sig at your place."

I'd picked up my Knight again when they left for the Himalayas, and judging by the state of the training room he'd been putting them through their paces. I was glad to see their respect for him clear in their auras. Nightwing might not like me or my minions, but he damn sure knew what they were capable of. He took a deep breath and then exhaled, forcing his body to calm even as his aura seethed. It made me smile, which made his aura seethe even more.

He kept his voice forcibly calm. "Now. Your...Knights, taking the frontal approach is completely reasonable." Saying that seemed to cause him physical pain. "They'll be working alongside Superboy, Wonder Girl, and Blue Beetle. That should be more than enough muscle. Zatanna, Dreamer...Solomon, and Miss M will be on support for the frontal assault. Impulse,Kid Flash,Artemis, Morgan, and I will be penetrating from the rear." I had to force down a smile as Impulse and Blue beetle snickered at their leaders word choice, which he very deliberately ignored.

I raised my hand like a school kid, and Nightwing glared at me as the others snickered. When he gestured for me to speak I raised an eyebrow. "What exactly is the mission here? Are some of the metahuman's they captured here? If so I assume this is a rescue op. Or do they have information here? Seriously I was around for part of the operation planning but no one bothered to tell me what the actual goal is. And to be clear, when I'm confused and being attacked my first response tends to be horrifying amounts of force."

Which was true, though I was absolutely not fucking stupid enough to try my big move out here. Using a ghostly wail in the middle of the Himalayas was a level of idiocy I couldn't even begin to contemplate. I mean, normal screaming could start an avalanche, I couldn't imagine the devastation that would be unleashed if I used my ectoplasm enhanced scream that could take down buildings in a place this precarious.

Still, I had other moves, and Nightwing already thought the worst of me, so I didn't mind implying I would go on a rampage, and I was pretty sure he would buy it. Dreamer rolled her eyes at my immaturity, but her aura told me she thought it was cute and I shot her a wink, earning me a giggle from my second girlfriend. Nightwing cleared his throat. "The MISSION, is infiltration and recon, with a sub objective of information gathering or rescue based on what we find. You WILL keep your destructive tendencies to a minimum, or you can go home."

I raised an eyebrow in challenge. "First of all, I told Black Canary I didn't take orders from you, all I agreed to was that I would discuss plans before executing them. You aren't my boss, my friend, or even someone I like, so try asking nicely instead of being a Dick." I casually put some emphasis on the last word and saw him flinch, which made me grin. "Second of all, that was a really snooty way of saying 'go in and look around and figure out what to do from there' which by the way is NOT a plan. It isn't even really a goal."

Superboy stepped in between us, frowning. "This is not the time for this discussion. Morgan, why don't you take the front line fight with us. Miss Martian can help with the infiltration. She has stealth powers in any case. I'm sure Zatanna and Dreamer can handle the support magic along with Solomon?" He phrased it like a question, but it was pretty clear he gave no fucks about our opinions on the subject. Which was fair. I sighed and nodded, and Nightwing glared at me for another minute before doing the same.

Once that was decided we all got in position. I put Zee in charge of Solomon, who she grabbed a a hold of and started inspecting, gushing over how amazing he was. Patches was next to Dreamer, keeping her safe, and I pulled Wally aside before the infiltration team left. I made sure he noted how serious I was before I spoke. "Hey, Wally. Keep an eye on Artemis ok? I don't trust Nightwing as far as Artemis's niece could throw him, but I know you have her back always. Look out for each other ok?"

He sighed. "Of course we will, but Morgan you're reading Nightwing all wrong. The guy is one of my oldest friends. I know you two aren't exactly on good terms, but he wouldn't take that out on Artemis. Especially not if it would endanger the rest of the team. He can be a bit stubborn but he's a good guy." I glared stoically at him until he finally rolled his eyes, raising both hands. "It's fine, like I said I'll keep an eye out for her. I would have done that anyway. i just don't think it'll be necessary."

I sighed and nodded, letting him get back to his crew. He was probably right honestly. Nightwing was an asshole but he did have basic self control. I was pretty sure he wouldn't screw his team over just to get at me, but at the same time I had a terrible feeling. Something was going to happen here. Something big, and I had no idea what it was. They had staked this place out for ages. There were no scarabs here at all, and The Reach barely sent anyone in or out. This should be an easy job, but I just felt...tense.

I called Tartarus to my hand, and using it I conjured three clones, already invisible. With the summon discount it was less than a single point for all three of the things, and it gave me an idea. Sig and his brothers could fight but not think. Not really. So I shifted my clone conjuration from three to thirteen. Eleven of the clones possessed the Knights, granting them all the thought and reasoning of...well, me. I nodded to them, getting a subtle nod back, and then sent the other two clones to shadow the two teams I wouldn't be a part of just in case.

With essentially twelve of me on the battlefield and the clones protected by possessing the durable Knight armors, I was confident in our ability to handle whatever surprises popped up. With that we all moved out. I accompanied my Knights (all sporting clones of my brain) towards the front of the base, ready to throw down and make some noise to get their attention. I readied Tartarus as I started limber up. Worries aside, this was going to be fun.

March 21st 2016 The Himalayas 7:00 PM EDT

We blew the wall in when we attacked the compound. The point of the forward strike team was to strike forward. We wanted them to pay attention to us, so I threw a cluster bomb of shadow spikes packed into an orb of ectoplasm and armed with demonic energy at the wall and the thing tore apart the outer perimeter like it was made of cheesecloth. It was as much a test as an attack, seeing how much Tartarus lessened the usage of my points for things like cluster bombs or blasts of ectoplasm when I used it as a focus.

The answer was...a lot. I whirled the blade around, feeling like I could spam blasts all day and barely dent my reserves. Literal fractions of a point in cost for every attack. I stepped through darkness and into the base ahead of everyone else, my Knights following my lead, melting into the shadows and then emerging in the midst of a huge group of reach soldiers. While there were no scarabs, the bastards were all packing advanced energy weapons, and a blizzard of light and power came raining down on us.

I shifted into my incorporeal form, but the subpar weapons, while incapable of harming my armored minions, did manage to push them back through sheer quantity. I snarled at that. This was going to be an easy battle at this rate, but my bad feeling was just getting worse. This was too organized. They had been waiting for us. The question was were they really this weak? Had they underestimated us this badly? I couldn't see it. Not after I nabbed the green scarab. They would have assumed I had something that could take on one of their elites.

Maybe they didn't connect the incidents? But no, that would be stupid. The smartest move would be to assume all their enemies were arrayed together. Always over prepare rather than under. So why would they- My thought's were cut off as I felt a fucking massive ripple in the fabric of space around us. A huge transparent blue bubble blazed into existence around the entire base, entrapping every single person in our group and sealing us in. I tried to reach for darkness, and found it was there, but slippery and hard to catch.

Well, shit. Now I knew what that bad feeling was. This was a trap. Because of course fucking Nightwing couldn't run proper surveillance. I should have scouted the place myself. Though it might have been the mercs who tipped them. I paused. Nah, when something goes wrong blame Nightwang. That massive cock was responsible for all of my problems. Still, I hadn't known The Reach had some sort of space disturbance tech. If I couldn't enter the corridors of darkness I would be stranded, and as it was I couldn't bring anyone I actually cared about into those without making them go nuts.

Luckily, these idiots had no clue how much firepower I brought. I just really hoped it would be enough to stop- I winced as a series of massive auras lit up the sky, cutting off my train of thought. The scarabs. Because stranding us in a giant bubble with a bunch of worthless cannon fodder wasn't actually a trap. Stranding is in there with seven insanely powerful scarab warriors, each one even stronger than Green and Blue? THAT was a trap. I mentally added some sort of aura concealment tech to their capabilities. Joy.

Still, this fight was far from lost. Two Knights per scarab, and Sig teaming up with me, would be enough to hold six of them. Leaving Beetle and the rest of the frontline crew to handle the final scarab alone with backup from the magic users. Sig and I would take the big one since he was the strongest Knight and I had the most tricks up my sleeve. I turned to face the auras directly, even as the others shouted with anger and confusion, not yet understanding the situation.

I rolled my eyes at the theater as they waited in silence, watching us scramble and worry. I raised my voice so everyone could hear. "Hey, you seven. I can fucking see you. I realize you fucking roaches have a natural instinct to scrabble into the dark and hide, but you kind of missed your cue. The optimal moment for your big reveal was when the shield went up, before any of us had time to adapt to the situation." My tone was bored, which wasn't exactly accurate, but I was pretty confident we could take them.

Green had kicked my ass, and alone I had no shot at taking down a scarab much less one even stronger. But I was an assassin. With a proper tank like Sig to throw down with the big asshole I was free to take potshots from behind. Not to mention with the keyblade I could basically use my shadow and ectoplasm attacks for pretty much nothing. Hell even my demonic power was substantially cheaper. This thing was WAY more of a game changer than even I had expected.

A form stepped from the shadows where I saw the biggest aura, and it was...fucking huge. Seriously, the beast of a scarab stood easily eight feet tall. Almost as broad across the chest as Beast Boy was tall. I gave the reach credit for style, that black scarab armor was fucking terrifying. The aura wasn't just big either. It was fucking malevolent. Rather than being inside his psyche like B'arzz, the Black Beetle seemed to have grown AROUND the scarab. I was guessing he got the thing young. Their coordination was most likely pretty impressive.

He gave me a sneering chuckle. "You have a lot to say for meat." His voice was absurdly deep. Like full on bass rumble that rattled my bones. "Do you really think a few pathetic toys will be enough to save you? You should be honored. Forcing us to mobilize even a century of scarabs to this backwater world is an achievement. Shame we can't put them to proper use because of those simpering lanterns. Bringing their full might to bear here would call too much attention. Still, even these seven will be enough for a pile of worthless meat like you."

I winced internally. A century. A hundred fucking scarabs, presumably all monsters like this. That was...not ideal. Then again he said they were limited, so we still had time to build our forces. That meant however, taking care of the bastards that were already here. We needed to restrain them so they couldn't report about the Knights to their bosses. Which meant beating them. Luckily for us, while the shield meant we couldn't run away, it also meant the same thing for them. They were stuck in here just as much as we were, a decision they were going to regret.

Prior to the meeting I'd arranged for Miss Martian to get one of my sending stones. I mentally apprised her of the situation and had her relay the information and the plan to all the others on the team, even as I let my clones maneuver the Knights into position. I could communicate with them through my link to my summons, another useful ability of Tartarus, and I gave them all their positions as I slowly walked forward, drawing the scarab's attention as I let them do their thing.

The hulking beast of an alien tensed, clearly eager to start killing, but I didn't start the battle. I needed to keep them all busy while everyone got situated so I did the one thing that no villain can resist. I gave him an opening to brag. "I admit you're pretty impressive, but I can teleport. Not just myself I can take others with me. Why would I bother stepping on some bugs when I could just leave." I was betting he didn't know my corridors of darkness could bypass whatever spatial nonsense they were jamming this place with.

Sure enough he grinned down at me brutally. "Oh is that so? Well go ahead meat. Run away. Flee with all your little friends. If you can do it I welcome the excuse to hunt you down to the ends of the earth. I can get away with so much more bloodshed if I'm in pursuit of someone as slippery as you. Maybe I'll even let you keep running for a while so I have an excuse to have my fun." His aura burned with malice. He actually did like hurting people, and would welcome the excuse, but he also knew that I was 'trapped' here.

I made a show of rolling my shadows up over my body, letting them fall away as I allowed my eyes to widen. I looked up at him with an expression of false fear. "Wh-what did you do? My teleportation...it's...not working." It was, and I was absolutely going to abuse the shit out of that fact during our fight, but in the meantime giving the big thug a reason to gloat and lord his dominance over me would keep him focused on me for a bit. The others were moving slow and trying to remain inconspicuous only getting into the right general area.

He laughed uproariously. "Look at it's face! The meat is frightened! Do you want to grovel? Your kind loves to debase themselves. Maybe if you beg and lick my feet I'll kill you loved ones quickly. The rest of your pathetic race will suffer as livestock for their entire lives, but I could spare a few worthless humans with a casual execution or two. What do you say meat? All you have to do is humiliate yourself. Prove you're every bit the trash I view you as and I'll-" He stopped talking when I shot him. Well, TRIED to shoot him.

Listen, I have a lot of good qualities. Patience and proper control of my temper are not among them. Threatening my loved ones was not a good idea on his part, and despite being ostensibly one of the good guys I just genuinely didn't feel like listening to his shit. I drew and fired right into his head. Sadly I neglected to realize the major flaw with my uber powerful conceptual death gun. It was just a gun, and bullets don't actually move that fast at these kinds of levels.

All of my stalling went out the window as the scarab reacted faster than thought, activating and forming a rocket booster that propelled Black Beetle to one side, allowing the bullet to pass right by him. I put the gun away, annoyed that I couldn't use it on the stupid machine hybrid. I wouldn't waste the bullets now. If I managed to pin the bastard down I'd probably put one in his brainpan, Leaguers or not.

He was torn between snarling in rage at my audacity and gloating at the miss as he glared at me. So torn in fact that he missed the titanic form of Sig rising through the darkness and smashing a giant armored fist into that stupid smirking face. As the fight started the others, who had mostly managed to get in position, attacked. I put the Team on the weakest scarab, a green, and set the summons two apiece on the others as the battle kicked off.

The whole courtyard we were in devolved into a massive free for all as every single one the major players got ready to throw down, and every single one of the random reach cannon fodder got the fuck out of the way. I got the feeling their bosses weren't any more concerned about collateral damage than I was. That was actually good, because I was pretty sure the Team would be, but I didn't have time to really think much about it. Sig followed up on his attack and slammed into Black Beetle, catching the bastard in a grappling hold. It was my turn.

Alright, as you folks may have noticed there was a slight delay on posting. That's because doing six thousand words a day was seriously burning me out. It was beginning to negatively effect me, so I switched to releasing SYAB and GG on alternating days rather than both each day. This means SYAB will update every ten days instead of every five, but the releases will remain consistent as they have always been, just a bit less often. As usual the alternating daily chapters can be found on QQ with the advance chapters on pat-reon at that site /malcolmtent. Anyway hope you all enjoy this one I had a ton of fun writing this chapter.