[.Ţ̛̼̗͙̞̠͕̲͍̺̈͂̈̽͌́̊̄̚į̴̨͉̱̬̼͍̼̎͛̽̈̔̃͞ͅm̵̧̗̟͚͎̒̒͋̓̅̐́̕͘̚ẻ̵̢̘̻̭͍̤̤̌́̂́̾̚͟͟ą̶̟̗̝͍̘̼̱͇̣͂͑̎̏̒̈͘͞ǹ̵̢͚̮̠̤̽̀͒̀̋̚ḏ̨̛̰͓̣̱͉̣̞͑͊͆̆͘͠͞ S̰̟̟̺͕̞̟͆͂̍̎̾̋͟͠p̷̨̯͕̪̤̃͌̽͋̌̆̄͆͂̕a̶̝̜̦̹̮͉͇̔̉̃͑͘̚͝ç̶̯̮̣̖̃̊̉̒͌͟͡͠͝è̴̲̘̯͇͇̜̜̜̥̆́͌̀̈́ i̜̟̞͇̗̺͂̾̍́̕͡͡s̨͖͈̼̟̹̔̏̀̓̍̈́͝ R͎͔̬̘̩̦͐͆̐̏̈̀̓ͅë̶̤̦͍̹̘̜͕̤̆̔̽̐͟͡l̸̨̬̱͈̙̓͂̆͛̌̀̎͝a͔̦̥͔̭̣̺̋̂͊̍̿̈̋̑́̐t̷̨͈̼̮͖́̊̾͂̓̾͒͂͘͞ͅi̷̛̲̥̪̺̫̻̱̞̅̀̂́̽̕͟v̧̱͖̱̯̰͉͚͋̅́̒̿̊́̈͢ȩ̴̘͎͎͖͖͋̾̒̉͒͞..]
[.Ş̵͖͈͍͙̜̙͓̞͒́̊͆̚i̬̣͕̘̲͕͑͋͒̍̐̉́̚͢͟͡g̢̨͔͚̤̬̞̝̠̅̃̃̓͗͢i̫̱͉̳̟͕͊̆̄̐̊͂̐͒̕̚l̡͎̟͔̗̯̿̽͆̏͊͢,̺̦̰̙̱͇̟̈́̊̓̏̅͆̏͢͢͞ C̴̦̞̲̱͉͎̻̻̟̦̑̿̐̑̉̀̓͒̚͝i̴̲̯͙̺͇̝̗͔̒̊͘̚͠t̡̠͔̘̳͔̫̯̀͐̓͐́̄͘͠y̷̙̥̫̜̜̑̓̋̒̊̏̿̐̉͂ o̱̣̹̤͓̅̂͌̉̒̄̏f̵̨̣͍̝̥̻̮͚͒̉̇͐̄̈́̓̊͡ D̨̼̤͈͕̼́͊̂̾̇̅̚͘ö̧̤̟̭̺̪̭͙̗́͛̑͋̃̾͘͝o̤̝͈̩͆̏̉̈̆̽̿͢͠r̴̡͔̫̻͕̥͉̆͛̒̐̐̍̿̽̂ș̢̡͚̞̟̣̖̳̅̀͂͂̍̈́̊͝͞͠.]
[The Golden Bariaur Inn, The Lady's Ward]
John Stewart found the situation, in general, to be rather disturbing even down to the constant inability of his ring to make sense of 'reality' beyond the immediate area around them, and even then there was an eerie wrongness to everything. Like when he, and Kilowog too apparently, had tried to study even the faint outline of the 'magic train' that had taken them to this 'Ward' of the unreality world-city within the Bleed.
One of many supposed centres of the multi-verse apparently – and boy was that likely to cause massive headaches within the Corps after everything else that had happened. Such as the fact vampires existed, and had allied with extra-dimensional brain-eating squid-people who'd murdered Lantern Ke'haan and had abducted Lantern Omoto along with both rings. All after the Earth had nearly gone to hell due to a mind-controlling starfish alien...he resisted sighing again; it just been one of those months...
'At least the food and drink are surprisingly good in this bizarre place filled with seemingly all levels of technology from caveman up to dangerous even by Corps standards' he mused taking a drink of the sweet tasting fruit beverage to chase down the slice of meat pie he just finished. That at least his Ring could scan, analysis, and confirm was safe to eat along with the food the others had chosen prior to embarking on their search once their guide, or 'Tout' as it seemed to be called, arrived with a 'Finder' of some sort. Despite all that...once you got passed the limitations suddenly thrust upon their Rings both Lanterns had fallen into the familiar routine of dealing with worlds barely familiar with the Corps, or distrustful of it in general, and did what had to be done.
"...hurry up and get here. Need to get a move on..." the youngsters were muttering it seemed, Superboy and Artemis complaining verbally what was on his own mind and those of the others; the struggle to remain patient when a monster was on the loose and must be stopped. At least Diana had a firm handle on the matter, though politely and even a little cheerfully urging the blonde archer to remain patient as they were somewhat early still for this meeting in the end. Such was always the frustration he'd found when a villain went to ground upon a world and a Lantern had to hunt them down as they had to now. All you could do was bite down on the frustration, strengthen your willpower, and move forward step by step.
'Of course no matter happens returning home is unlikely to bring much relief either. Got to admit this somewhat reeks of throwing oneself into the job to avoid thinking about the damage done by that damned starfish, or the fact the Guardians are clearly somewhat freaked out over the magic surges, Red Battery, and Willpower and Brain eating extra-dimensional invaders. This stressful seeming interlude could be the vacation prior to the mundane horror upon our return' he mused silently gazing out over the strange, disturbing, and very much potentially dangerous crowd that was currently visible outside the 'private booth' they were in. Eclectic did not begin to describe the crowd, and this supposed to be the 'nice' area of this world-city in the Blee...
He paused, nodding slowly at the bar beyond them as the eldritch creature calling itself a barmaid motioned in their direction to two human seeming individuals. It seemed some progress was to be made, or they had made enemies already. Only the next few guarded minutes would tell as he appeared to sit at ease on the old fashioned looking, but unknown by the ring, covered wooded booth's seat "I do believe our guide, or guides looks like, have arrived and are heading our way. Woman and a man, both human and armed it appears from here even without scanning them with the Ring"
Something they'd avoided doing just like when a Lantern was entering a high-risk/high-threat star system or special region where the locals might detect such scans. Detect and react poorly to it. Something to be avoided after the trouble and time spend arranging these 'recommended' helpers with the worshipers of one of Diana's so-called Gods. Who were also seemingly extra-dimensional beings just to add to the big stinking pile of reports on 'things they had failed to report' that would have to be discussed with Guardians themselves in the coming weeks and months. Or the fact there was now a whole secret organisation running around as a police-military force in Europe that the Justice League had completely missed while utterly failing to handle their 'junior wizard' on the Team with the other sidekicks. He pushed those thoughts away; deal with the here and now first he reminded himself.
"Ai, yer the Primes Mad Moll over at the Temple talked about right?" the woman of the two half-asked half-stated in what the ring called badly mangled Greek gazing back and forth over them. A dangerous looking woman he found, clad out in what seemed to be clad in clean and well maintained, but old and mish-mashed at the same time, body armour and helmet that was close to Earth's military or SWAT teams. An overcoat covered a few bulges that could be either grenades or pistols he guessed judging from what looked like a well-battered ballistics ammo assault rifle across her shoulder. Wary looking, but not threatening thankfully; unsurprising really considering everyone seemed to go armed in this place. Or were like her male companion; harmless looking in light armour and robes, a staff in hand, but potentially a wielder of some strange abilities or magic to make up for it.
Diana nodded "Indeed, I trust we are as described by the priestess? And you are?"
The woman snorted, glancing back and forth between them while motioning at the man at her shoulder to wait behind her "Nah-ah, yer speaking Ancient Kob...well, what's the name to be given first lady? Told to report to me employer, and I have a name. You've got the look ah'll I admit, but best to check with primes and cutters ya know"
"Diana of Themyscira, known as Wonder Woman, and this is..." Diana replied introducing them one by one, even if one or two of the names were false such as in the case of young Fortune and the now healed Huntress, or code-names for Superboy. Names had power evidently according to the young mage, though John would count that as needlessly paranoid. Or takhe fact TIM seemed a rather bland name to take for such a false front.
"Right them's the magic words. I'm Sera Tabatas, Huntress of Artemis..." the woman replied in dreadful archaic Greek jerking a thumb at the till now silent man standing behind her "...this is me husband Morven, Magister of House Tilani - he be our Finder. Now you primes going to offer us a seat and some grub so we can get down to talking about the job and what jink you'll be settling up in payment. Because I'm fraking starving let me tell you, and best not talk business on an empty stomach I say...oh, an' you want speak Common or sumin? Not everyone seems understand me looks like to my eyes, or ye got a translator? Or I get hubby here cast a spell fer it"
Stewart motioned for attention as both he and Diana motioned at the two to take a seat, carefully, just across from them at the circular table in the booth. His ring translated his words from English "If there isn't any objection from yourself or your husband, then myself and Lantern Kilowog can handle such for our party?"
She glanced at the man, Morven, who have a curt nod and she shrugged turning back to look at them "Aye, fine by us. Long as we get paid and you ain't screwing with us with tech or magic, do as you want. Now that we've a little bit privacy...so yer looking to hunt down a mind flayer and a buddy its taken as its mind slave? That's gonna cost ya in jink primes, an' our contract is guiding round the City, helpin' ye find the bugger and nothing to do with fighting or killing it. That'll cost more. Fee is gonna be half up front, half when we find'em fer ya...before ye all get killed by it too of course. You want killing help, fee is double on top whatever finders fee we agree"
"And what exactly are your qualifications for the job? And how do you plan on locating our quarry?" Diana asked calmly but firmly as the table quietened at the rather brusquely made demands. John glanced at Kilowog and saw the irritation there as in his own; bounty hunters, didn't matter what the dimension it seemed the 'better' ones were just as arrogant.
"Eh, trade secrets ah'd say, but Moll said ye'd got a blood sample of your friend with you right?"
At a curt nod from both Lanterns the woman jerked her thumb at the man again "Hubby here's a blood mage, best damned finder in the wards ain't ye love? Used to hunt down mages back afore he came to this place and met up with me, the love of his life, that right love?"
"Yes, one of my pedigree was expected to know such things. Mostly to serve the glory of the Imperium, so as long as you have your friend's blood then I will find them, alive or dead irregardless, no matter where they are within the City" the tone was cold, calm, with just a hint of arrogance that Stewart had heard from oh-so-many 'I'm of Noble Blood Peasant!' individuals across many worlds even if the language wasn't the bad greek of the woman but another translated into English via some unknown means "...I trust you have as such? Otherwise less accurate, and costly, methods will needed to be invoked"
"All Corps members have a sample given and we have Lantern Omoto's with us to scan, and our rings can synthesis a copy. Will this suffice?" John replied illuminating a DNA strand while his ring also provided translation of the conversation for the others beyond the mage Fortune. The man in robes paused in thought a moment, and then nodded in response that it would work in his opinion. Stewart hid his distaste at the idea behind it, but what had to be done would have to be done to get the rings, and hopefully Laira Omoto, back so they could leave this place and get back to where things didn't feel utterly wrong to his senses.
"See, we are as advertised we know our business. Morven will do the magic thing, and I were an Investigator with the Military Police back a lifetime ago...before ending up here anyway, and finding things made us good coin and jink for new Primes like I was. Word to the wise, when a glowing blue door opens up in front of you running through it might not be the best idea even when toasters are chasing you. So, we know what were doin' and Temple gave a recommendation...boom, there's all the qualifications you need round here - other than we're respectable and won't screw you over. Ruin our reputation it would, and that's a costly thing to build let me tell you! Now let's talk compensation shall we?"
'And I'm pretty sure we can take you down if need be' Stewart left unsaid to the woman's attempt at explaining their suitability. Something in the end that came down to there being limited other options on the table for finding this 'Mind Flayer' and Omoto. Paying these 'helpful citizens' wasn't too great a difficulty in the end; a combination of coins, 'healing potions' and certain metals proving sufficient to win them over to the task at hand...
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