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.

52. Chapter 52

June 4th 2016 The Nightside 11:30 AM EDT

The building we slipped into to talk to Suzie wasn't a public space that people could just enter. This didn't seem to matter one bit to Suzie, who jammed a screwdriver she had pulled from a pocket into the door and then slammed her fist into it, snapping the lock right off as she shoved the door open, strolling inside with nary a sign of discomfort. Most of the rest of us didn't care much either, to be fair, though Wally grimaced a bit at the display. His girlfriend looked like she was a hockey fan who'd just watched Wayne Gretzky make a slapshot, and I made a mental note to tease her unbearably about this obvious case of hero worship, even if the bounty hunter WAS pretty awesome.

The building we were in was an empty office, and we all dropped into a bunch of chairs around a wide conference table. Suzie slammed her boots down on the table, slipped out a bottle of beer from...somewhere, and popped the cap with her teeth before downing the whole thing. She finished the beer with a refreshed sigh before letting out a huge window rattling burp. Taylor rolled his eyes at the obvious theatrics, but there was a slight smile on his face, and Artemis looked like she was about to squeal the word 'cool' at the top of her lungs, at least until she noticed her fangirling and smoothed her face into a bored expression.

Suzie then turned to us. "So. Demonspawn and a couple of weird succubi elves huh? That's a lot of shittiness in one group. But John isn't an idiot. If he vouches for you I'll hear you out." Her blue eyes flashed menacingly. "BUT. If I decide you're taking advantage of him I'll forget the 'alive' part of that bounty and put you in the dirt myself." She glanced at Zee sharply. "John can be...sentimental. You'll find I'm not quite so easy to sway. I never liked Sindy all that much anyway. She had all the boys following her around and eating out of her hand. Little priss."

Zee came to her feet, eyes flashing with purple electricity. "Shut up! My mom was a wonderful person. She was kind and caring and beautiful and a hundred times better than...YOU. If you think you can talk bad about her in front of me and get away with it, you're almost as stupid as you are trashy." I blinked in literal shock. Zee...didn't say things like that. I knew her mom was a sore spot, but I'd never heard her shit talk anyone in our whole time together aside from telling off her dad once. She was one of the most even tempered people I knew.

Suzie raised an eyebrow, and her feet slid from the table as she stood, placing both hands on the surface of the wood and leaning forward towards Zee. My girlfriend didn't flinch or even give ground, she stared the blonde bounty hunter down even as the tension in the room ratcheted up. I noticed hero worship or not Artemis was getting ready to put a lightning bolt in Suzie's ass to protect Zee, and I was glad to see it. Taylor looked upset, and more than that, he looked torn, clearly not at all happy with Suzie's comments either.

Suzie's voice was flat and cold as she stared right back. "I never liked Sindy." Her lips quirked up. "But I don't like most people. I did respect her though. She had spine for a delicate little princess." Her eyes softened slightly around the edges, though it was barely noticeable. "Seems like you got that from her. Now. I know for a fact that Sindy married that shitbag italian guy, Gio. I was invited to the wedding, though I didn't go obviously. Last I checked Gio was a human, not an elf. So how the hell did you end up..." She waved her hand at Zee's body. "This?"

That was a surprise, and I took a minute to stare. Suzie had implied ignorance of Zee's heritage in front of Belle, making it seem like she thought my girlfriend was born an elf. It seemed now like she was trying to keep focus on my own shift to half devil, probably to keep Zee safe from whoever wanted me. I had the sneaking suspicion that Suzie might have liked Sindella a bit more than she was willing to admit.

Zee narrowed her eyes as if she was trying to decide if she was being lied to, and eventually sighed and dropped back into her seat. "Long story. Not really my place to tell it. Suffice to say that Artemis and I are unique. There aren't any elves like us anywhere, and there never will be again." She paused and looked over at me with a blush. "Or at least...not unless one or both of us have kids." I felt my own face heat up. We were WAY too young for that conversation. Luckily she didn't seem eager to have it, just acknowledging the possibility. That was...fine. Acknowledging I could deal with.

The blonde bounty hunter snorted. "If I had a quid for every time I heard that. But fine. If it's a transformation I can deal. You certainly remind me Sindy, right down to the annoying way pretty boy over there is looking like he's going to lunge over the table at me if I so much as look at you wrong." She smirked at me. "People were always very protective of Sindy. Even John tended to hover." She raised an eyebrow at Taylor, who shrugged a bit with a sad smile. "Not that he was the worst about it. Remember Billy?"

Taylor grimaced. "He was going to try to follow her when she left. I had to threaten to do something distressing to his insides if he didn't let her leave and stay away from her. Glad he listened. I really would have done it. Billy wasn't safe to be around, and he wouldn't have been good for the outside world. Little bastard was mean as a rattlesnake and twice as vindictive. I tell you he erased himself from existence?"

Suzie shrugged. "Good riddance to bad rubbish I say. Anyhow, since I know that italian twat was human, I guess there's something to this species changing nonsense. I'm even willing to give the demonspawn the benefit of the doubt since he let me have first crack at that bitch Belle. That said, I'm not planning to just fuck off to leave you alone with them John. I'll watch your back in case things get out of control." She raised an eyebrow at Taylor, clearly daring him to challenge her on the issue.

Despite her tone though, Taylor gave her a soft smile. I knew why too. Suzie was lying. Partly to herself, but partly to us. She WAS worried about Taylor, but she also liked us and wanted to help, even if she didn't want to be seen as a big softie because of it. She flopped back into her chair, legs going back up to the table. I cleared my throat. "Since you know they were lying and we aren't evil psychos, maybe you can tell us who's after us? Whoever it is must be the ones looking for Kit, so if we find them we might get a lead on my cousin."

I was excited to finally have some kind of trail to follow, but unfortunately that seemed like a no go. Suzie shook her head with a snort. "Like hell. I don't appreciate being lied to, and they'll get theirs, don't you worry, but I don't narc on clients. Word gets around you're sharing the identity of people who hire you, even if they do something you don't like, and all the contracts dry up. It sucks for you I'm sure, but the identity of my client is off the table. Be glad I'm tagging along to help you with this at all."

Taylor, for his part, had obviously expected that. I was disappointed, but I'd had enough interactions with prideful professionals not to take it too personally. Frustrating as it may be I could understand her stance, and pissing her off by pushing wouldn't accomplish anything other than getting me shot. I'd known Suzie for all of ten minutes and even I could tell she didn't cave to pressure.

It wasn't like we didn't have a lead already anyway. I sighed. "That just leaves us with the Londinium club. Hopefully someone knows where the hell we can find Neron." I turned to Taylor. "Not that you guys haven't been great, but honestly this trip has been rushing from one fire to the next, and I could do without the urgency. I just want to find my cousin and get the hell out of this deathtrap, no offense to you folks who live here."

Taylor's answering snort was full of sympathy. "Please. I more than understand. I left this dumpster fire for years. I love the old place, but I hate it just as much. Only an idiot would willingly stay here. Or a lunatic. We certainly have more than our share of both around town. We'll head to the Londinium club straight away. Someone there should be able to tell us something, and even if they can't, chances are Walker might be there. I won't claim nothing happens in the Nightside he doesn't know about, but if someone as powerful as Neron is here, he should at least be able to give us a clue."

For the first time since I'd met her, I saw Suzie look actively aghast. She turned to Taylor with a dumbfounded look on her face. "Wait, you're going to ask WALKER for help? Walker wouldn't piss in you if you were on fire. Hell, walked might take a piss IN FRONT of you if you were on fire, just to revel in your desperation as you burned to death. Why in God's name would he possibly tell you anything at all?" I couldn't tell if she was horrified by the idea or excited to see how it would play out.

Judging by Taylor's eye roll he couldn't tell either, and wasn't worried about finding out. "Walker does what he needs to do to keep the Nightside in order. I know Neron can't interfere in the Nightside too much, just like none of the heavenly host can interfere here, but we can make a huge mess looking for him. Walker doesn't want to make more work for himself. If he leads us to Neron chances are good he'll just kill all of us if we aren't careful, if not we might manage to chase him out of here, either way is a win for Walker."

When he saw most of us looking confused he hurried to clarified. "Walker is The Man here. The Authorities run the Nightside, and Walker is their instrument, their man friday. He's a cold bastard, and most of his job is pitting us all against each other so he doesn't have to dirty his expensive suit unless someone gets REALLY out of line, not that he can't do some scary things when he needs to. In any case, he spends most of his time at the Londinium Club when he isn't working." He clapped his hands. "Right, well. Since this is all taken care of we should be on our way. Shall we?"

He popped to his feet without waiting and strolled off towards the door, not bothering to hear out anyone who wanted to do anything else.

I saw Suzie roll her eyes and get up to follow him, and Artemis trailed after her, clearly with plenty of questions for the older woman. I groaned internally, hopeful that she didn't decide to actually become a bounty hunter after this. I could just imagine the trouble she and Wally could get into tracking renegade criminals. I shook off the idea and stepped up next to Zee, putting an arm around her shoulder. There would be time to deal with that later, for now we just needed to get back on the trail. Kit was still out there somewhere.

June 4th 2016 The Nightside 12:00 PM EDT

We arrived at the Londinium Club at noon, just in time for my top up to twenty five thousand. It was a nice surprise, but not really important at the moment. With my recent lessons and practice I'd already gotten to the point where I could substitute my ability with points when using my powers for the most part. It was still taxing, but more in the way a good workout was taxing than a 'my head is splitting open and I wish I was dead' sort of way. Because of that I could stockpile points for purchases in case I needed something, or failing that buy something really pricey down the line.

In the meantime though, I was here at the Londinium Club with Taylor, John, Suzie,Tommy, and my crew, and we were going to ask around about anyone who might be dealing with Neron. Which actually left me with a burning question. As we approached the massive and incredibly posh looking building, I had to pull Taylor to a stop. The big detective turned around, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. Once he'd come to a stop I leaned in so no one else could hear me because I didn't want to worry anyone. "Is it really safe to do this? What if someone in there doesn't want it getting out that they traffic with dark forces?"

Taylor, just stood there, staring, then he slowly turned to look at Suzie, who had been close enough to actually hear us even with my lowered voice. They stared at each other for a second and then they both burst into laughter. Suzie literally doubled over and slapped her knee with amusement and Taylor had to hold up a hand to have me wait as he cackled so hard he seemed to have trouble breathing.

They kept laughing for a few minutes, and I finally got annoyed enough to throw up my hands. "Ok, it wasn't THAT stupid of a question! People do worry about that kind of thing." I gave an indignant huff. "Forget I asked though." I turned to stalk away from them, but Taylor reached out and caught my arm, holding me back before I had a chance to get too far. He took a second to calm down, but he managed it pretty fast. I could tell he felt a bit bad about his reaction, or at least that it bothered me.

Once he'd calmed down he clapped me on the shoulder. His tone was still mirthful but I could at least understand him. "Sorry kid, I wasn't trying to take the piss. It's just been a long while since I worked with someone that idealistic. It's refreshing. As for the question, that's a resounding no. No one here cares about anyone else knowing they truck with dark powers. This is the Nightside, this is the kind of place where people list the unholy forces they traffic with on their resume as a character reference."

Suzie chimed in. "Not to say this will be safe. Never make the mistake of thinking that. But if something inside decides to kill you and wear your arse as a hat it won't be to keep their misdeeds quiet. It'll be because they feel like it. Or because you smell funny. Or because they don't like your shirt." She paused, her facing taking on a pensive expression. "Actually, I think keeping their sins quiet is just about the only reason I can think of that someone WOULDN'T kill you." She looked back at me, seeing my unease and Taylor's glare and cleared her throat. "So...hope that helps you feel better."

I gave her a flat look. "Yeah, I feel loads better now. Thanks for that." She gave a sheepish grin and a shrug. I rolled my eyes. "Ok, so if this place is so dangerous do you have any advice? If I'm going to get murdered at the drop of a hat a few guidelines might be helpful, just to keep any hats from dropping." Honestly I hadn't been too worried about this place until Suzie gave her little speech. The Londinium Club sounded like a pretty upscale place, and I was under the impression we'd have a better chance of living through this visit than most of the other places we'd been.

John, who had been loitering nearby, drawn by the laughter, snorted. "Don't listen to them, mate. The boss and...her. They're compulsive troublemakers. The kind of people in there like law and order, they like when people are polite and respectful. SHE doesn't have a respectful bone in her body, unless she just finished eating a particularly well behaved rack of ribs. The boss is almost as bad, he's contrarian as hell."

Taylor glared at him. "That's rich coming from you junior, you're most ornery little shite I've ever met." The glare softened. "But you might be right. As long as they're polite and don't make trouble they might get left alone. Most of the people in that club are already fire and water with me, so I tend to think of them a certain way. The club itself is based around civility and politeness, so at least inside they aren't likely to snap and slaughter you all without some kind of reason to do so. Just keep a civil tongue in your head and you'll be fine."

Suzie shot us a grin. "Or don't. I'd love an excuse to shoot some of those old bastards. Feel free to be as ornery as you like, if they start something we can handle it, and even if it's not something we know how to take care of we can just improvise. Suddenly, and violently, and all over the place." John was looking at her sideways as she spoke, and took a step or two away from her as she started getting an excited gleam in her eye. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was a tad bothered by that little speech.

Taylor just cleared his throat. "Yes, well, probably best to try to avoid that if we can. Who knows if one of the kids will get hurt." He spoke gently but with emphasis, and Suzie almost seemed to wake from a trance. Her face screwed up in distaste but she nodded. As much as she liked to play the cold hearted badass I could see the lie there. Suzie cared about people, at least when she felt they were worth it. Zee standing up to her and Artemis's obvious hero worship had cracked that icy heart a bit. She didn't want to see us die for no real reason.

With that mostly taken care of, we approached the door of the Londinium Club. Unlike the other, more public bars and clubs we had seen, rather that a password or anything automated, the Londinium Club had actual guards at the door. A pair of large, stoic men in suits watched us as we approached, and as I got closer I realized they were both nearly identical. Taylor seemed to know them, and vice verse, but when he stepped up, Tommy shouldered him out of the way to take his place in front of them, smiling charmingly.

The existential detective gestured past them. "Well now gentlemen, no need to hold us up. The people inside are expecting us. You can just let us pass." His voice was conversational and relaxed, but I could feel the wash of his power over my skin. He was weaving it into his words, but it was subtle. Where what he'd done to those green things was a hammer and chisel, this was more like a delicate engraving tool, slowly carving his point into the guards heads as they looked at him blankly.

As I watched it, I realized he was teaching me again. He was showing me more about how our powers worked. Where before he'd had to trip up his enemies and confuse them before he could convince them properly, this time the guards weren't focused on him. He wasn't expected or defended against, he was just a foppish looking guy standing next to John fucking Taylor, and that lack of notoriety gave him power.

Sure enough, the guards barely glanced at him. "You aren't invited. Come back when you're on the list." His deep bass rumble was intimidating to most people I imagine, and I could tell from his bearing he was dangerous, but Tommy just ignored him, breezily strolling up to get close enough to speak to the pair of guards with a blase smile on his energetic face.

He leaned in closer as he spoke. "Listen, gents. I know your job is to stop people at the door, but this isn't a situation where you need to act." The didn't respond and he sighed. "Listen, the people in there are powerful, yes? Influential?" They nodded. "Right, well then they must have amazing sources of information musn't they?" Another, more uneasy nod. "So, as I said earlier, they must know we're here, and are therefore expecting us. I think you'll agree that the implicit purpose of a list is to record the expected guests of the occupants of the building, and as we both agreed we were expected, then wouldn't that, in this situation, be ourselves?"

I blinked. That had been incredibly subtle, I almost hadn't detected the weave of power in that last little speech, and it took me a second to shake it off when I did, because the logic there was...not valid, but weirdly compelling. It was the type of logic you know is wrong, but can't form an actual counter to out loud. Even the guards looked kind of poleaxed, like they felt like they should be letting us in immediately, or else they wouldn't be doing their jobs, but also knew somehow that their jobs meant not doing that and had gotten stuck in a logic loop.

I could tell from the way the power was moving that Tommy was trying to make a point for me. While reality manipulation wasn't the same as persuading people, there were similarities. Levels of reality existed, some things were more real than others. Reality wasn't a monolith, and as such, not all the lies we told it would be received the same way. There was give and take to everything.

Tommy was showing me that subtlety and structure were important to our abilities, but so was reception. Weaker spots in the world, less complex items or concepts, these things took less power and produced a greater effect. It was another dimension to what we did that I hadn't considered. Not just my own effort or the complexity of it but what that effort was expended on. My aura sight might be able to help with gaining a better understanding of that kind of thing once I could use it again.

Tommy kept speaking, his easy, friendly tone making his words much more convincing than they had a right to be, and the men looked more and more embarrassed. Rather than confuse them, he'd decided to change the tone of the interaction. Jim chuckled to himself next to me and I raised an eyebrow at my mentor. "Forgive me, I was simply thinking of something I heard once. 'It is poor form to accuse someone of being a liar, and even poorer form to lie. It is the mark of a skilled liar to be able convince someone that the inverse is true.' Convincing these gentlemen that doing their jobs was a breach of professional etiquette has a similar feel to it."

That surprised a laugh out of me too, because he was right. I could kind of see that. Within a few minutes Tommy had gotten us officially invited in, and the previously tense guards had forgotten all about Taylor and Suzie, who had been getting a cautious eyeing up from them when we arrived. As we headed inside Tommy shot me a wink and a thumbs up, which I returned. I had a feeling I had plenty to learn from the flamboyant detective. Despite the circumstances, this trip was turning out to be worth it so far. I was just hoping it didn't end horribly and prove me wrong.

June 4th 2016 The Nightside 1:00 PM EDT

The inside of the Londinium Club was...fancy. That wasn't a surprise based on what we'd heard about the place, but I had expected something like Julian's place when they mentioned this club being a haven for the rich and powerful. Julian's manor was one of the nicest places I'd ever been, and everything inside it was carefully chosen and beautifully placed, creating an elegant harmony that none of the manors or mansions I'd robbed had managed to achieve.

This place was not like that. Oh, it was tasteful, but in a colder, more officious sort of way. While Julian's place was beautiful and beautifully decorated, it was also lived in. Every object was well cared for and maintained, but also well used. Julian treasured every one of his possessions, and it was easy to tell that he'd put a great deal of himself into his furnishings and decoration.

This place was also beautiful, but the objects strategically placed around the room were NOT particularly worn. While Julian's items were all carefully chosen to be indicative of the personality of his house's owner, the person who had decorated this place had done so specifically to make it as lavish and extravagant as possible. This was the kind of fancy that people put under plastic runners or kept in rooms they roped off. This was meant to be spectated, not interacted with. Every glance around this building showed you how well off the owners were, and that they were not friendly people.

Suzie sniffed in annoyance as she walked inside. "I forgot how much I hate this place. Poncy upscale showroom. A real club should be comfortable. You should be able to walk up to the bartender and have a chat before you order a pint. Even Alex is warmer than this lot. I'll never understand why this place is attractive to anyone. I wouldn't be caught dead belonging to a club like this."

A cool, upper crust voice cut through the air. "I assure you that death is not nearly enough of an improvement to qualify you for membership, as tolerable as I'm sure it would make you in comparison to your current self. I suspect that isn't exactly a tragedy to you. I doubt you would enjoy spending your evenings drinking in an establishment where no one has urinated in the corner." We all turned at the sound of the voice to see a man walking casually down the steps in front of us.

The man was...well I suppose the brits would call him dapper. He had on a bowler hat, with a pleasant if forgettable face and a few too many pounds under his immaculately tailored suit. Despite his unremarkable countenance however, one thing stood out starkly. His eyes. Not shape or color, but temperament. This was a man who was used to being the most dangerous thing in the room, and used to everyone knowing it. He might be putting on a front of civility, but I could feel the lie in that. This was a veil of civilization draped loosely over a very dangerous predator.

Suzie glared at him, obviously aware of his identity and just as obviously unperturbed by it. "Walker, still a smarmy twat I see. Don't you have some puppies to kick? Or is the two of us setting foot in your precious high society club ruining your afternoon?" Her voice was calm, if somewhat annoyed, and to my surprise that wasn't a lie. Not exactly. She wasn't sure she could beat this...Walker, in a fight, but she was pretty sure it wouldn't be one sided, and she didn't care too much about anything past that.

The urbane man's lips twisted in a moue of distaste. "While your very presence DOES raise the insurance premium on this building, that is not my reason for meeting you down here. My presence is simply a guarantee to the owners that you won't behave in an untoward fashion. They've asked me to escort you for the duration of your visit, to make sure everyone remains civil." He gave her a smile that wasn't really a smile, but he didn't move out of the way, choosing to implicitly block our path unless we agreed.

It was impressive that the average sized man could block the huge red carpeted staircase that led down from the top floor. His presence was much bigger than his form would suggest, and despite the staircase branching off to either side just past him and there being easily ten feet to the banisters on either side of him, he managed to fill the space in such a way as to make passing by him without directly interacting with his body nearly impossible, despite me being able to literally pass through solid objects.

Taylor stepped up, putting his hands in the air in surrender. "Fine, Walker. We weren't planning to start trouble anyway." The suited man, who I was fairly sure was normally unflappable, gave Taylor a disbelieving stare, and the big detective shrugged. "Ok, I probably deserve that. But still, this time it's true. No one here is going to start any fights for no reason, even if we run into someone who might deserve it. We're on a case, and it's an important matter. We were actually hoping to ask you about that-"

Walked turned and headed up the stairs, actively ignoring the detective's sentence. I snorted a bit at the obvious disdain, but Taylor just rolled his eyes. I got the feeling those two had known each other for a very long time. Especially since unlike Taylor, I could feel the lie in the perception Walker tried to project that he didn't respect Taylor. Walker cared, even if he was extremely closed down about it.

With no real option to do otherwise we just followed him up the steps, actively suppressing the urge to call out to him to ask again about Kit. Worst case we could ask him later, but for now having a guide would probably be more useful to us as we searched. I shot Taylor a look, since he clearly knew Walker best, but despite the byplay between them, I could tell he was genuinely more comfortable with the suited man at our side. Whatever he claimed when he was lying to himself, Taylor trusted Walker, at least enough to believe we were safer with him than without him.

When we reached the top floor of the club Walker stopped, not bothering to turn to face us as he spoke. "Well, this is the main dining room of the Londinium Club. Our members are enjoying their lunches. I'll allow you to approach and ask questions, but should they express discomfort or unhappiness at your presence you will be...asked to leave. Don't make the mistake of thinking me to be on your side in this matter. I am simply here to prevent any unnecessary conflict, I couldn't be bothered to care if you get your answers."

Surprisingly though, I could hear the lie in that statement. Walker DID care. Not a huge amount, but he was trying to help Taylor in his own way, to keep him safe in the only way he knew her. There were a lot of shades to that lie, because it was an old one, one he told himself often. I could feel a mixture of emotions blended into it in a slurry. Guilt, love, pity, and a dozen other things I couldn't really parse. What I did understand was that Taylor was important to someone Walker had loved, and who he felt he had failed. Possibly multiple someones.

I did not, of course, mention that. I hadn't had this new lie sensing ability for long, but I'd been a liar for years. The first thing I did with my powers was use them to lie, you could say my whole life was a lie even. I knew that people didn't take kindly to having their lies exposed, especially the ones they told themselves. Truth may be stranger than fiction, but it was also much crueler. Deep down, everyone wanted to live the lie. It was what made my power so dangerous, but that danger cut both ways. I was sure if I ripped away the illusions of every person I met I'd make enemies fast.

As we stepped into the dining room Walker retreated slightly, letting Taylor take the lead. He stalked forward with purpose, not even remotely intimidated by the people here, at least on the outside. Taylor had built his brand off being fearless, and it was what kept him safe. His reputation was the lie he put the most effort into out of any of them, and it showed. Several people in the dining room shifted uncomfortably as he passed, but he didn't speak to any of them, heading instead for one of the few people who didn't seem to notice his presence at all.

The tall, dark haired man with shoulder length black locks was politely and fastidiously tucking into a plate of chicken parmigiana, a napkin tucked into the collar of his suit to protect it from debris, not that it was at all necessary, since every bite was perfectly executed and neatly consumed. The man was eating happily, seemingly unaware of what was going on around him, until Taylor stalked up and stood next to the table and cleared his throat. When the sound split the air the man paused, looking up at the detective with an expression of pleasant surprise.

Taylor, who had been slightly more at ease since we met Walker, looked tense as hell now, and I could sense the lie that was what little calm there was in his demeanor. Taylor was fucking terrified of this person. In my limited experience with him, the things that terrified Taylor tended to be bad news. Before Taylor could talk though, Tommy stalked forward, shouldering the other detective out of the way to glare down at the man. "I might have known you were in town, no wonder Walker was willing to intercede on behalf of the Londinium Club. You couldn't call?"

The tall man shrugged. "Who can keep track of what other people know. I know everything I need to know when I need to know it. It's hardly my fault you need me to hold your hand and spoon feed you basic knowledge like whether your own brother is in the city. What kind of detective is that?" Tommy bristled as the man, apparently his brother, casually dismissed him, but aside from a venomous glare he didn't try to debate the point. That in itself was amazing, Tommy was basically a walking argument.

Taylor cleared his throat again. "Not to interrupt this reunion or anything, but I think perhaps we should focus on the issue at hand. If you're here to talk to us this must be much more serious than we expected. Can you fill us in?" That was pretty much the most respectful and polite I'd ever heard Taylor bother being. Granted, the man hadn't offered him insult either, I was pretty sure he'd have talked shit back no matter how powerful the guy was if that had happened. As it was though, it still showed a level of reticence that not many of the things we'd seen hear drew from Taylor.

The man's gaze flicked to Taylor, then to me. "Quite right. I am, of course, here on assignment. I'm hardly one to take vacations. I didn't do so when I preceded Walker and I certainly can't afford it now. Still, this is a special case for me, and I find myself intrigued. Since you've caught my interest, I will introduce myself properly." The man stood, towering over me as he withdrew the napkin and held out a hand for me to shake. "My name is Hadleigh Oblivion, they call me the Detective Inspectre, and you, my boy, have me in quite a pickle."

June 4th 2016 The Nightside 2:00 PM EDT

I had no idea who Hadleigh Oblivion was (aside from Tommy's brother apparently), but if Taylor was so wary of him I was guessing 'no one I should fuck with' was the first possibility on the list. I had a feeling if I tried to look at him with my aura sight I'd suffer for it. Still, there was something...wrong, about him. Something off. Even without my aura sight I got a strange impression. Not like he was a lie, but rather the opposite. The person in front of me was the opposite of a lie. He was the cold hard Truth, the kind you tell people when you don't care to spare their feelings.

Which meant fuck all to me. "What do you mean a pickle? Do you know me? Because I haven't heard of you before, so if we have some sort of connection you'll need to fill me in on it yourself." Despite apparently being terrifying, Hadleigh didn't talk to me like a pissed off disciplinarian. He talked to me he was my boss, or at least someone higher in the food chain in the same organization. Like we had some sort of link to each other, and I honestly had no idea what that might be.

He grinned at me. "In some ways. I studied at the Deep School, where the forbidden secrets of the universe are a bare minimum to graduate. Many don't know this, but the Deep School itself is under the purview of the Endless named Destiny. The Headmaster trains those of us who seek knowledge in the secrets of this world, and in return we act as his agents to protect reality from outside threats. As an Endless his ability to act directly can sometimes be limited but people with a certain kind of fate are fair game for him to teach."

I remembered the Deep School graduate I'd seen on the train platform. She had seemed to know quite a bit about me too. I wondered who this Destiny was. Maybe I'd met him? "I'm not familiar with Destiny, at least not an entity with that name. Does he have some relation with me?" He was telling me this like Destiny was some kind of authority over me, which I guess if he was as powerful as he sounded, he kind of was, but more in the way anyone powerful was an authority over anyone else who wasn't as strong.

Hadleigh's eyebrow went up. "She didn't tell you? Huh, that is a surprise, but they often fail to enlighten their champions on their essential nature. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to think of who I mean if you wrack your brain, but say instead that someone close to you has a connection Destiny. Regardless, your existence in the Nightside at this moment is...problematic. The agents of the Endless aren't supposed to interfere with one another. It normally isn't an issue, there aren't many of us. But your presence prevents me from more direct action."

I...had no clue what the hell that meant. I knew who he was talking about obviously. Del was the only powerful being who regularly interfered in my life, and my mysterious benefactor definitely had at least a few peers. Teague the smith was her brother, and I felt like I had heard someone use the term "Endless" to describe him at some point. Still, I wasn't Del's 'agent' whatever that meant. When I thought about it though, maybe I was? Maybe Del had something to do with my powers, Teague had certainly seemed to sense her touch on me.

Whatever the case, it sounded like that just left us on our own here. Which begged the question why the hell Hadleigh was even here. "So? If you can't interfere why show up at all? Why even bother coming? I'm sure you had better things to do than come here to let me know you would have helped everyone if I wasn't around. I'm pretty sure if you were that petty no one would call you the detective anything. They would just call you an unbearable asshat. Plus who told you I was anyone's agent. Meeting someone doesn't mean I work for them."

That drew an inhalation from Walker, and groan from Taylor, and a coughing laugh from Tommy. Hadleigh in the mean time just grinned appreciatively. "I can see her influence on you. I met her once. She wasn't impressed by much either. Figures her agent would be as insane as she is. As for how I know you ARE...that's tricky. It's not like we wear name tags. You have her power about you, but it could just be a concealment. I can tell something about you is being hidden from me. Regardless, you've been touched by an Endless, so for the purposes of our discussion you are an agent."

He tapped the table a few times, staring at me intently. "I didn't come here to mock or amuse myself. Not that I am beyond such things, if I disliked you enough I imagine that would be within the realm of possibility. Regardless though, as I mentioned, agents of the Endless can act where our masters cannot. While the student of Destiny and Valedictorian of the Deep School cannot interfere here, there is nothing saying Hadleigh can't drop in to have lunch and chat up an old student and his precious baby brother."

I grinned at that. I could appreciate that level of sophistry. The question then became exactly how flexible his position was. "So you're here in an unofficial capacity. What exactly can you say in that context. You mentioned earlier that you know what you need to know when you need to know it. Do you even HAVE the answers we want?" I wasn't sure how that would work, but it seemed limiting.

Despite me questioning him, Hadleigh lit up like I had just solved world hunger. "Give the man a kewpie doll. That was exactly the right question. To answer your question, no, but also yes. It all depends what you ask me. I can't tell you any of the secrets involved in this business, as that would be interfering. But I know many things about the Nightside, important things that I learned outside my position as the Detective Inspectre. I can share some of those things, if you know what to ask."

His voice was placid and cheerful, with no emphasis in any one place, but I could almost hear him capitalizing that last bit in my head. He had a specific question in mind that he wanted me to ask, and I suspected I knew what it was. I took a second to frame this properly. Hadleigh, for whatever reason, had decided I was someone he wanted to help. He'd come here specifically to give me an opening to exploit to prepare me for what was coming. I wasn't sure if that was because I was his brother's student, or Del's 'agent' but I wasn't about to turn down the good will when I most needed it.

The important part here wasn't what he was saying though, it was what he wasn't saying. I was pretty sure based on his mannerisms that I'd get one shot at this, so I needed to ask the right thing. If I asked something too direct, it would violate his non interference clause, and he wouldn't be able to help. Since that was the case I decided focus more on what he'd said about his role outside of all the reality saving stuff. He'd mentioned Walker specifically, and it seemed like every word had been chosen carefully, so I could lean into his time as The Man here.

But I didn't think that was the right path to take. Walker was the hand of the Authorities, it was a job, and I was betting discretion was part of that job. Since that was the case, I needed to focus instead on a more public identity. Something he'd hinted at already. It was his reason for coming here, so he would have made sure to make it as clear as possible with his actions, even if that wasn't very clear to me yet. So what exactly had he done since arriving here? What was the first thing he did that I was aware of?

Then it clicked. Walker. He was the reason Walker had come to find us. But he hadn't sent Walker as his student or as an agent of the Authorities, he'd sent him as a member of the Londinium Club. The club was an old and powerful organization, and Walker and Hadleigh were both members. It clicked. I sat down across from him. "Fair enough. We can't expect you to violate your mandate. Since you're here though, it would be a shame not to get to know each other. Why don't you tell me some gossip about the club? That should be a safe topic I think."

Hadleigh's smug grin let me know I'd asked the right question. "Why, that does sound acceptable, yes? Telling my little brother and his friends the latest juicy tidbits from the lives of the club's more...colorful members would be a wonderfully amusing topic. Did you have any members in particular you wished to discuss?" He passed the ball back to me, presumably because just saying 'oh sure, let's dish, did you guys hear about how Bill from Accounting worships the devil?' would have been a pretty obvious attempt to flout the rules of his office.

I had no doubt someone as canny as Hadleigh seemed to be had a good idea exactly where the lines were, and how to best avoid them. Hell he could probably play jump rope with the things. In that spirit, I tried to think about the best way to broach the topic without directly asking about our target. "I'm new in town, and you're the one who knows the area best. Maybe you can tell us about who you think we might find the most interesting? I bet you've got plenty of ideas about who or what around here is the most fascinating to newbies like my friends and I."

Hadleigh nodded, a pleased expression on his face. I'd followed his lead again, serving back the question as he had done, and obviously giving him an opening he had been looking for. "Of course. As a long time resident I am happy to draw your attention to the most interesting players in the city. Let's see..." He tapped his chin and looked up in thought, the picture of the thinking intellectual. "Well, Max Maxwell has been trying to stage a takeover in the waterfront district. Count Video lost a bet to King of Skin and got himself banished from the Nightside for a year and a day." He shrugged, tossing out an afterthought. "Oh, and the Griffin has been a bit more active than usual lately. But not much else."

Hadleigh kept chattering on about nothing, talking about Tommy's childhood and asking his brother how he had been lately, but I got the sense from his complete shift in attention he'd already imparted the information he wanted to pass on. Something about one of those three pieces of info held the key to tracking down Neron, and as such, to finding my cousin. After he finished eating and the conversation wound down, Hadleigh stood up and straightened his coat. "Well then, I think that's all the time off I can spare. You know,things to see, places to kill."

He turned to look at me. "It was...interesting to meet you Morgan. I'm not sure what exactly I expected, but it wasn't you." He paused. "Though, perhaps that lack of predictability should have been the one thing I DID expect. In any case I wish you look on your task. You're going to need it. A small bit of advice, however. Whatever you think you know, it's only part of the story. This entire mess is much more complex than you might expect. Don't let your guard down, even at the end, or you'll regret it." And with that, Hadleigh was just...gone. I really hated cryptic advice from disappearing people.

June 4th 2016 The Nightside 4:00 PM EDT

We headed away from the Londinium Club after Hadleigh left. We had our answer apparently. Once he was gone I'd asked Taylor and John about things, and they had informed me that The Griffin, was a renowned power in the Nighside, and that a large portion of his legend was having made a deal with the devil. The Griffin was almost definitely the next clue we needed to follow, but it wasn't a clue that would be easy to follow up on. The Griffin didn't meet with people like us, not even Taylor, so we decided to head to his office to plan things out and figure our next step.

I'd never been to Taylor's office, though John had mentioned his main place was in London proper. He did, however, keep active premises in the Nightside so people (or things) here could reach him. As we made our way there on foot, I stepped up next to the person who seemed most agitated by all of this, which, shockingly, was John. I fell into step with the blonde brit, curious as to what his deal was given what the rest of us had going on. "Penny for your thoughts?"

He snorted at that. "An American penny? I feel undervalued. Proper pennies are worth more, by virtue of a pound being more valuable than your flimsy dollar." His tone was acerbic, but in a teasing way, and I could tell his heart wasn't in it. That had been weak, and he seemed to know it, because his forced smile wilted into a grimace. "Right. It's nothing you need to worry about mate. Though I suppose it's nothing you won't see first hand once we get there. Just someone I'm a tad worried about running into. Someone I haven't seen in a while."

Suzie, who has come up behind us, snickered. "What he means is that he's terrified Cathy is going to tear him a new arsehole when she sees him. He didn't say goodbye to her when he left, and that girl can be scary when she's mad." I head affection and genuine pride in her voice, and I decided Suzie liked Cathy. I didn't get the impression Suzie was free with her praise, and I had to admit I was looking forward to seeing what she was like after that ringing endorsement.

I turned to John. "Cathy is your ex? I think Taylor mentioned her in passing but he didn't say much. Why just bail on her if you two were close?" It was a personal question, but my insight into lies told me John was telling himself more than a few. That was a question he needed to hear, even if it was one I wasn't sure he would actually answer.

Sure enough, he flinched at the words. He looked over at Taylor, though whether for help or condemnation I wasnt sure, but the big detective just faced forward, not giving John whatever he was expecting. That was interesting. Taylor was a hardass to strangers, but from what I'd seen he was a big softie about people he cared about. For him to ignore John, a person he referred to as something like his own son, meant that this was a bigger issue between them than they had let on. I'd been under the impression Taylor didn't blame John for leaving, but I was pretty sure he wasn't happy about this.

Seeing the lack of quarter from his mentor, he sighed and apparently decided to answer me. His voice was halting, as if he didn't really know the answer and was figuring it out as he spoke. "I...I was afraid. This place got too heavy for me and I left. I wanted her to come with me, but John is like a father to her. I knew she'd never leave with me, never abandon him, and asking her would have hurt both of us. I thought it would be better if I just left. I didn't think she would care." He paused. "No. That's a lie. I knew she would care. I just didn't want to see it. I was a coward."

Taylor slowed, turning to look at the blonde. The normally confident brit swallowed and lowered his head, but he didn't break eye contact with his mentor. "Is that what you think you did? Abandon me?" His voice was soft, kind even. "This was never where you belonged Junior. Not really. You were always welcome with me, but I never begrudged you the desire to get out. Lord knows I tried it myself. Cathy would have understood, she might not have gone with you, she can be stubborn, but you didn't give her the chance. I can forgive leaving, Junior. But you hurt her. That, I'm less forgiving of."

John flinched at that, and the older man sighed, shaking his head. "I'm not going to toss you away or anything, like I said, you're welcome here, but you and I aren't going to be right again until you talk to her. Cathy is bloody minded and damned stubborn, but she doesn't give up on people she loves. Having been the beneficiary of that bloody mindedness more than a time or two I can tell you that for certain. Tell her what you were feeling. She might not forgive right away, but she'll listen."

As we talked we had approached a large, run down building and climbed a set of rickety wooden stairs. John looked like he was marching to his own execution, but he nodded at his mentor, climbing the steps to one of the many beat up doors to the main floors and opening it with a familiar ease, lifting and kicking the bottom of the door to pop it open in a method that spoke of abundant practice. We headed down the hall and he sighed. "You're right. Cathy is by far the sanest of us. She'll hear me out. I'll go in first, it'll be better to talk alone."

We reached the door to a small, cramped office, with Taylor's name on frosted glass, and John sighed. He paused taking a deep breath to steel himself to open the door. Once it opened he stepped up into the opening, looking inside. There was a pause, as if the world was holding its breath, and a voice shattered the air. "YOU BASTARD!" John ducked out of the way as a coffee mug came sailing over his head and shattered against the wall.

Taylor's eyes widened and he bellowed. "Oi! That was my favorite mug.! Cathy Barrett you stop throwing my dishes! I hardly have any of them left!" His formerly somber face was looking genuinely panicked, and Suzie was have a hard time not laughing. The answer was a second mug hurtling at John, who dodged again, but Wally caught this one before it hit the wall, offering to a relieved Taylor, who shot him a nod of thanks. I guessed the first one had been so surprising he hadn't really processed it before it hit. All the speed in the world won't do you any good if you don't bother to use it.

John took advantage of the second of pause to dart into the room, kicking the door shut behind him. The next few minutes were rife with the sound of shouting, breaking dishes, and finally quiet sobbing. The door opened again, to show John with a pretty blonde girl a bit older than us wrapped around him, head in his shoulder. Taylor stepped into the room as his former apprentice moved out of the way, giving a pained expression as his boots crunched through shards of glass scattered across the wooden floor.

Cathy was clinging to John tightly, and the disaffected brit's eyes were suspiciously red as well. When Taylor saw his secretary and his mentee clinging to each other, his pained expression melted away into a softer and more pleased gaze. He chuckled at the two of them. "Seems like she didn't hold it against you as much as you feared, though I have to say I'm surprised you let him off so easily Cathy. I'd have expected something a bit more than dish throwing based on all your rants this year."

John gave him a tight smile, and when he spoke his voice was tight with pain. "She did. Once I calmed her down she said she was too angry to just get past it right away. She said my options were let her stay angry and deal with the cold shoulder or to let her hit me once as hard as she could." He shuddered slightly in her grip. "I picked the latter because I couldn't stand to have her mad at me. Next time I get her that pissed I'll just let her stew for a while." He winced. "Or wear a cup." My eyes widened as his reddened eyes suddenly took on a new meaning.

Suzie whooped with laughter. "Good for you Cathy. Giving him a choice was a particularly nice touch, since now he has no one to blame but himself." Suzie grinned down at the shuddering form of John, who still looked kind of sick, and who I could see was being partially held up by Cathy. The rest of us all winced. I had to admit, if she had just junk punched him I would have thought it was pretty messed up, but he was the one who decided to skip over the cold shoulder in exchange for a sack tap.

At Suzie's comment, Cathy looked up from his shoulder, seeing all of us in the door, and blushed slightly. "Oh, right, guests. Please, come in, it's so nice to meet all of you. I just made a fresh pot of coffee!" She gave us a friendly smile, which dimmed as she looked around the partially destroyed room. "Though...I don't think there's anything left to drink it out of." Wally cleared his throat stepped forward to pass her the last remaining unbroken mug he'd caught earlier and she gave a wry smile of thanks. "So...I guess you can all just take turns with it?"

I burst out laughing at that, stepping up to offer my hand. "I can help out with that for anyone who needs it. Making a few cups would be simple enough." My ectoplasmic constructs were more than capable of holding liquid, even without going so far as to make real abyssal alloy out of it. She took my hand with a grateful smile, and I continued my introduction. "I'm Morgan O'Malley, these are my girlfriends Zatanna and Dreamer, my best friend Artemis, her boyfriend Wally, our mentor Jim, and I'm sure you know the rest the people tagging along better than I do. We've heard great things."

We all filed inside, and as promised I created a bunch of ectoplasmic mugs for most of the people with us. Jim summoned a tea cup and saucer for himself, and Tommy pulled a beer stein from...somewhere, but other than that everyone needed a mug to drink from. Lots of coffee drinkers apparently, or they just wanted something to do with their hands, which I was convinced was why brits drank so much tea to begin with. Taylor watched me passing them out with a pained expression, and it was hard not to chuckle at his grimace.

Once we sat down, Cathy smiled apologetically. "Sorry about all that. I swear I don't usually get that riled, but Johnny and I had some unfinished business. Sorry you lot got caught up in it. Now, what brings you here? John usually only comes in to the office for meetings or to get messages to search for a case. If he's already working with you there's not much to be had here."

We informed her of everything that had happened, letting her know we were only here to lie low and talk out our options, and she made the appropriate ooh and aahs at the right points in the story. When we were done, she turned to Taylor. "Well, that sounds like a mess. What the hell are you all going to do now?" That, I thought, was an excellent question.

Happy October folks, always a fun month. Some interesting news for anyone hoping to sign up for my pat-reon, I'm on subscription billing now, so no matter when you sign up you get your full month instead of just however many days are left until the first. Anyone who wants to check out the advance chapters (always five ahead) can do so on pat-reon at that site /malcolmtent as usual. Hope you all enjoy.