[27th November 2010]
[The Cauldron, Gotham City, United States of America]
He frowned as the bullets passed through the dark robed and shadowy figure as he himself came out of the roll, trying to figure his next move. Strangely the robed man seemed only to sigh at the attack, resting idly on his weird black staff after startling Tommy with his obviously magical appearance just as he'd started to dispose of the body. Silent, invisible to telepathy, having that whole bizarre getup, out here where nobody else should be, and then sneaking up on him as he was getting ready to get rid of the evidence really only indicated negative things didn't it?
Even if the body language of the stranger didn't indicate hostility, nor inability to be harmed by bullets seemingly, Tommy kept his gun trained on him as his mind tried to figure out the next move. Lack of a counter attack, or a response that could be seen as hostile as the man spoke in a tired tone, indicated there might be a reason for this beyond killing him "Mister Monaghan, greetings...um, yeah bullets ain't going to work, and not here to fight you, or kill you, or anything hostile like that. I just want to talk, and potentially make you an offer actually"
Tommy snorted in amusement but didn't lower the gun as the 'man' seemed to sit upon the pipes feeding into the sewage system below "One I can't refuse eh?"
A large gloved hand was held up, then motioned side to side in a 'calming' motion as the other held the staff with a silver-black harp atop it resting upon the robed shoulder "Oh you can refuse, and no hard feelings on my part over it if you do. I would say it'll be in your interests to work with my own, in dealing with your own current magical problem...and the larger one that's coming down the road I'm afraid"
His eyes narrowed dangerously, oh this one seemed to know about the demon currently chasing him "An' what magical problem is that?"
"Oh the demonic one Mister Monaghan..." came back calmly and tiredly "...seems you upset some of the fellows on that side. Though I'll admit I'm new to the scene here and can only go with what I've been informed of, or have seen. But the Mawzir is rather noticeable isn't he, well, they, are they not?"
"Roit on that you are, certainly notice that cunt" Tommy grunted back, lowering his weapon but keeping it at the ready for shooting a pipe or something to provide cover if had to try escape "...and I've dealt with him before, and I'll sort'em and his bosses out again this time too"
"I don't doubt that Mister Monaghan...can I call you Tommy? Mister Monaghan seems so impersonal?
"An' who the fuck are you? Since we're all friends on first name basis looks loik now?"
A shrug "Well Tommy, I've many names most of which you've never heard of or will care about, but I go by The Shrouded Lord for official dealings such as these. It's what I sign on the contracts, plus the whole home plane part too of course, so that's me. As to why I'm accosting you in the middle of your body disposal...well, magic maybe flooding this city like crazy but the death here sorta helps with the materialisation and not wasting energy. Convenience on my part basically, and at least your shooting at me won't be noticed either"
'A good point I guess' he thought to himself as the noises from the city nearby should have suppressed the noise outside the building. In part it was why he'd picked this part location to handle Giuseppe's remains without disturbance during the noisy grinding process "Well, couldn't ya have chosen a better fuckin time than when I'm at work now could ya?"
Another shrug of helplessness "Sorry, this seemed the best time to me to have our little chat, Batman's not in the city, and the GCPD are busy after...well, recent events"
"Yeah, that fuckin Starfish, ruined my whole week it did..." Tommy agreed before getting irritated "...now what are you offering spirit-man?"
"Technically I'm a God but that's beside the point, but I am in the recruiting business currently, so how do you feel about becoming a Priest?"
Tommy couldn't help but laugh, this was ridiculous "One; Never fucking heard of you, and Two) do I look like priest material to you?"
"Very much so, for what's needed in coming days at least..." the serious sound response answered as the free hand scratched at a chin hidden in the inky darkness of the robes cowl "...as I'm looking for a War Priest, a fiery sword to strike down the creatures of darkness and restore order if needed. I'd say look at this more as contract between ourselves, us Gods are just up-jumped spirits and elementals in the end; you provide a few prayers and actions, and I'll supply minor superpowers in exchange. Major ones too, buts' that'd waaaayyyy down the line and for the devout, which you're not mate"
"An' what if I said I was a good Catholic boy Mister says he's a God?"
"I'd say you're not from the feel of your soul, or you're just set on going to hell due to your choice in careers and religions. I'm pretty sure you've noticed magic, and Gods, and Demons are real after all?"
Tommy found himself sighing this time "Fuckin' hard not too of late innit?"
"Indeed it is, the magic has come back for good and ill. Largely for ill here it looks like considering you've a hellmouth beneath the city, but that's why I'm offering you a job over more saintly sorts I guess. Now as I've said I'm the Shrouded Lord, my portfolio is Knowledge, Pragmatism, War, and other such things and you, Tommy Monaghan, I'd like to hire for a period of two years. You've a demon trying to kill you, and I can help you kill him...and more importantly something very bad is going to happen here soon. How soon I can't say, nor exactly what even if I have suspicions, but I'm sure you've people here you'd like to help, protect, and help. Oh, and I can pay cold hard cash too as soon as my High Priest returns from his little jaunt into the outer realms, and help deal with this mess"
"You said the magic words Boss, though i'll say my soul isn't for sale up front. Nor do I kill anyone who's innocent. Stick to those rules and you've got yourself a hitman...I mean priest, Boss man"
"I don't want your soul Tommy, just your skills and abilities to deal with some problems..." the robed man in shadows answered pulling out a...scroll with neat writing upon it and holding it up before him "...now read this contract, suggest any adjustments you may require, and we can get down to business..."
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[27th November 2010]
[Watchtower, Low Earth Orbit]
"...so to summarise; it was dreadfully strange, but no difficulties in the brief moments we were present under an illusion, and none seemed to be present in the alleyway we appeared in. Hal communicated with John and Red Tornado, and then we stepped back through in that ridiculous ritual to the army base. Hal anything you wish to add?"
Dinah watched as Green Lantern nod in response to Giovanni's gesture to add anything to the report currently on the screens on the desk before them "There's not much I can add on what we saw or Giovanni's outline of the situation, I've uploaded the scans to the computer and what John, Kilowog, and Red Tornado transmitted to my ring. The good news is that they have located our abducted fellow Lantern and her ring, and are moving to try rescue her and deal with the creature that did all this, but they don't want anyone else coming through and they are attempting a peaceful solution of some sort. Somehow they think they'll mange it, and we are to check in two days for another update, don't want to risk more of us when it won't tip the balance they say. Or bring in more enemies and lead them back to Earth"
'All very concerning, but it is the best we can hope for in the circumstances' she admitted to herself after a quick study and then listening to a few follow-up questions from Batman and Superman on certain matters reported from this bizarre extra-dimensional location. Largely that the threat levels were absurd; ranging from idiots with stone axes up to creatures on the level of Superman or beyond running about alongside each other in a location that seemed to be a cross between a Ren-fair and Sci-fi convention. It was actually very interesting, but there was little time to dwell upon it as they moved unto the more immediate matters in the aftermath of the starfish alien's invasion and she voiced her own tired query after that item came off the agenda.
"Has there been any word on when they're to end martial law in the north-eastern states? It's confirmed that the Starro creature is gone..."
Batman shook his cowled head slowly back and forth in the negative "No, while that threat has passed many areas are in disorder and even maintaining the supply of food and water, as with the disaster relief in the south-east around New Orleans, is stretching the military to breaking point..."
"It's stretching us to breaking point as well if we're being honest with ourselves..." Flash interjected tapping at the desk and bringing up a holo-image of the globe with red circles over the United States "...sure we've defeated the big bad alien but it left nearly two million people dead across the world guys. And all the destruction stopping mister evil fishy-face is bringing out all the loons in affected areas, with the Army seemingly on shoot to kill orders in areas under martial law for anyone playing supervillian"
Dinah sighed agreeing sadly "Don't I know it, Copperhead literally lost his head after making his reappearance in Baltimore trying to rob a bank, and/or the distribution centre the army had setup beside it. People were cheering on the soldiers when they did too. There's a lot of anger out there after all that's happened, and people are demanding actions in that anger that I'm not sure is entirely healthy in the long run"
"Perhaps Canary, but that is matter for the justice system and from Gotham's position an overhaul of the judicial system might just clear the deadwood from the structure..." Batman replied calmly, though she suspected Bruce Wayne's support for 'legislative reform' alongside the disaster relief indicated his position on matters. Bruce wouldn't kill, but apparently if the public changed the law and brought back the death penalty it wasn't something Wayne Enterprises was opposing even if not offering support either like other demands.
"...but you all indeed correct in statements. The military is overstretched, as are we, and the public are demanding a harsh response in a period of significant political instability within several nations, most notably the United States government. Or of the need to guard and help in the diplomatic efforts with the alien visitors currently present upon Earth"
"Or the whole big red magic lantern ring creating battery over in the British Isles with big magical conference and formerly super-secret group known as SHIELD are around it who we have to watch and cooperate with too right?"
"Yes Flash, but right now they are an asset we desperately need. Especially now that there are rumours of the People's Republic of China discussing forming their own superhero team, with the Russian Federation potentially, being whispered about..." Batman agreed bringing up the relevant files for them to review "...that and there have been discussions on our own mandate, for its expansion or limitation, hinted at between delegations now that the United Nations Assembly and other bodies have been forced into sustained organisational and diplomatic activity"
"What Batman is saying is that we're going to need to expand the Justice League probably more than we had thought..." Superman continued on after the barest of nods in his direction from the black costumed hero heading the meeting "...and make a more organised, and official, status for the Team as well. I think this recent crisis has revealed some serious problems in how the Team, and the League above them, functions outside of immediate crisis and with national governments"
Dinah agreed but framed it as a question "Such as the fact certain countries formed their own super-secret organisation of magic users because they kept been attacked by people eating monsters and we never knew about it?"
Kal-el gave a tired smile and a nod "Yes, something like that Black Canary. Though despite our powers we couldn't everywhere, and even arranging this brief meeting to organise a better response...I think we can all agree something has to change or we're going to face larger problems not too long from now. While we will have to wait for John and Diana to return, and to call the others for a full meeting, I think we need to discuss shortlisting potential new members and at least considering organising a support staff"
He held his hand up at the words nearly coming out of Flash's mouth about the last disastrous attempt at use normal people rather than Justice League members, or the fact the Mountain's secret nature was now blown thanks to the children summoning their school friends during the world-split disaster "I know it worked out poorly the last time, but we need to talk about it again on a more formal footing. The kids already tried it, so we need to decide what we are to do after that..."
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