[11th April 2010]

[Abandoned Island, Off the West Coast Ireland]

I was pretty sure this place had been a World Heritage Site back on the other Earth...or something like that at the very least. Certainly should have been in my opinion judging by the early Christian monastic type buildings clustered together upon it. Not that I'd complain as if that had been the case in this life then they wouldn't have let a bunch of wizards like myself run around the place for several days just so they could practice at their spells and rituals. Something that was helped by the fact the place had that odd ambient energy that seemed to exist in areas of worship when long abandoned after been previously used for that role for some time; an added benefit considering what we wanted to do here.

So here I sat in a meditative pose in one of the larger old stone buildings at the centre of my warded spell circle in something resembling 'wizardly' robes. What I liked to think of as my enchanting and divination set based on the spell 'buffs' I'd managed to impart into them over the past three to four years. At least they weren't as loose and such as when I'd bought them; growing body and all that so I'd figured to think ahead. My crafting setup was finally getting to a production level I liked but since we were here I figured I might as well use it as a training session with Gemma along with a chance to empower an item or two.

'Something that's ever more important' I reminded myself as mind flickered back to a nearly disastrous situation in the United States with the Justice League of all people. Bloody hell had that been both nerve racking and boring; nerve racking in coming face to face with two of the League's heavy hitters, and boring afterwards in having to sit through tons of lengthy debriefings and paperwork sessions about the whole situation. Better than the alternative of course...being beaten senseless...but still not ideal in a very, very, unhappy way in my opinion. So it was quality item creation time in my opinion...or in this case it was the Holy Pepper Spray of Holiness!*TM*

"And done" I muttered after a few minutes of further effort marshalling of my energy and unleashing it into the item floating in the centre of the other larger circle between myself and Gemma; it pulsed for a moment, glowing faintly in the darkness of the stone building before slowly descending to the ground. I glanced at it as it rested in all its still rather crappy glory; the labels having been burned away and replaced with a clear white and black surface that had faint holy aura held within it. I sighed and spread my arms at my apprentice of sorts sitting across from me.

"There we go, holy blessed mace just like all your guardians have been annoying me to get you. Now did you feel the flow of energy there?"

She nodded, frowning now and looking at the now magical item sitting before us "It...um, seems alot of effort to only get something like that back"

I shrugged and felt the tiredness settle upon my body. Potion time it seemed. I uncorked the small green vial while I replied "It is, but I'm not exactly allowed to give you a sword or an actual mace to defend yourself with so get magic pepper spray for the moment. On the bright side for an evil or chaotic being it'd be like taking a flame thrower mixed with Holy Water to the face so it's still pretty cool I think"

Ah...that felt better. Still needed to work on the taste of the stuff, it was like drinking grass, but the tiredness and ache swiftly passed from my body just as it came upon me. But that was today's enchanting finished I think as Gemma rolled her eyes while standing up to retrieve her new 'weapon' from the ground. Evidently my attempt at cherry enthusiasm wasn't going down as well as could be hoped. Course I too would prefer a stabby sword or mulching mace instead of an aerosol spray too if I were her, but that required training and such first just like it had with me and everyone else. Nine Hells below I still was having to learn how to adjust to wielding the Gauntlets of Storm Giant Strength competently after creating the bloody things myself. Or at least make more durable armour to go with it.

I paused and looked at her suspiciously as she picked it up with a sudden smile upon her face "And no spraying your idiot Uncle either when he annoys you!"

"Awwww..."

"Bloody Constantines" I muttered softly as she huffed at me for that restriction and as I let her lead the way back out into the gloomy light of the day outside. A great fog back had descended upon the edges of the island after all, and a cold drizzly rain was starting to fall as we both pulled up the hoods of our robes. Not that I could complain about that...since that had been our creation in ensuring we weren't disturbed by some member of the public accidentally. I could have done it myself but didn't want to reveal those sleep levels as yet so the combined spell with the two idiots...who were drinking beer it seemed as we approached them after a few minutes walking up the steep slope. Gemma looked at me speculatively.

I shook my head and kept my voice down "No pepper spraying them without permission, self defence only 'member?" before turning back to the two sitting before me. Further up on the slopes above I could make out the forms of two of our escort having lunch it seemed. Evidently I was the only one who'd been doing any work up till now. Go figure. I sighed as they waved at us as we approached. Why was I the responsible adult of the 'magical staff' here?

--

[26th April 2010]

[S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters, beneath Custume Barracks, Athlone]

"So questions are still being asked even a month later. Great, just great...more hiding me from public view I guess?" I muttered sitting back into the chair in the conference room off of Mission Control. Between the 'training' on that blasted island, training in the Curragh, actual school study, and item creation in my current Sanctum.

Or as it could otherwise be termed; hiding out as much as humanly possible so as not to attract attention after the happy-happy sunshine in Washington and the US spies that had arrived in Dublin in the aftermath. Ones that weren't officially there of course but they stuck out like sore thumbs evidently so the government knew they were. The Commandant tapped the pen in his hand off of the paper folder before him "For the moment yes, I would suggest looking on the bright side in that you will be able to complete your leaving certificate in June without being distracted by other concerns. Assuming a crisis does not arise in the mean time of course"

'True there was that' I reminded myself as I glanced at the report before me on the various after effects of my actions. In paper of course, only the computers with anti-scry wards were allowed to have the information on them and they just weren't internet capable. We needed to work on that but even managing to combine computers plus blood wards at this stage was pretty damned impressive from Constantine and Finn to be entirely honest. And nothing had caught fire this time either! Huzzah!

"Yeah that is true I suppose Sir..." I replied looking over the schedule "...but what of the matter of the check up on the Prince of Wales and the next planned trip in late June?"

"They'll be combined I'm afraid, as the Prince will be visiting the United States and has requested the presence of yourself and another during said visit. Owing to such, and the events surrounding yours and Minister O'Mahon's last visit to the United States, the decision has been made to arrange our visitation to coincide with this tour. Another matter effecting this decision has been the formal interest expressed by the Justice League in yourself, which is problematic however minor the interest offered"

I frowned at that "Then why bother hiding me if we're just going to be sending me there anyway? It'll be hard enough trying to sneak over to the UK and this seems a much harder way?"

"Primarily because we feel they have not guessed at the existence of this organisation and any interest will be focused upon you and John Constantine. Which, of course, would make it difficult to arrange a visit for you to the UK...the Royal Family at that...without raising suspicions of what is occurring. While sending you to the US with the delegation, with your fellow agent, will not..." he motioned at the report covering my last visit to that country "...this way you are attending in the same format as your previous appearance and acting as security for our delegations meetings as before. Or at least that is the estimation of G2 and the Cabinet. I'd expect the fact a trade deal is being discussed as well due indirectly to your own actions may also have some effect on this decision"

I grunted softly at that. Hiding in plain sight it was evidently, all while using myself and Constantine as the bright red flag to the bull to distract them from what was really happening behind the scenes. But really...I didn't want to go back there. Especially with the walking disaster...because that meant bad things would happen like they always did. I know the Prince likely wanted both of us there for obvious reasons; me the healer and him the demonologist. It was also understandable that both my government and the British would want to keep the events of last year under wraps, along with the 'check ups' planned to ensure no further signs of possession or mental trauma. Well...more mental trauma than had been endured already I guess "Hardly what I want to hear Sir but understandable I suppose"

"It'll be discussed in greater detail after you have finished your studies, you'll be given full leave of course next week..." he replied as he took up another manila folder, a rather sparse one at the moment, and opened it "...though on that note I wish to discuss the Broken Pedestal Protocols that yourself, Mr Constantine, Mr. Finn and Captain McKenna have outlined in summary here..."

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