Constantine the Laughing Magician Presents; Life in the Real World
Chapter 14: Some Lies Deserve a Good Cover Story
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~I'm back! Never'd leave you lot alone for a second. Did Zee forget to heat the kettle? Blasted tea is never too good, murky stuff. Ah, anyway! We can get on back with the story, before your mum gets back. Let's start! ~
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Lae was no wizard, just a con person in disguise as I felt.
She had Triad money and connections to the red lights of Lau's seedy district, and however much I wanted to believe it mind control magic or a great nefarious worm in her ear, it wasn't.
The great Trese?
Was a genuine heroic.
She knew to get caught and report she did. To me and her brothers, who had a whiff of some stench never unfamiliar to their kin.
As my head met the pavement, there were bastard con men and hit men all about the back street where we had to turn. If Zee or Chas had my wanker arse, I'd have made it by now. Yet, these twins liked to shoot first and fuss later. Somethin' along those lines, mate.
Anyway, the whole shebang led us into a triad den; a real smuggler's hold, where the sleazy met the enslaved in barred cages.
All encased with magic.
I cringe at the wanker bastard or lov who'd leave things as they are, but I know who's to blame.
The Trese is blindfolded right to a chair and with guns keeping the other magical brood busy. She's thinking, and spelling her thoughts out to me loud and clear.
I end up motioning a wrist and the cages rattle, making the triad hit - persons involuntarily flinch, as we'll poltergeist em', I decide. Get the lot all riled as the Trese's fun, brothers take back their bossan.
Too easy, as my gut curdles from a wafting scent I'd fretted since the bear -snake's reappearance.
Smog, and it tickles my nostrils something heavenly.
I fall, and Trese is safe…. while I'm left at the feet of a traitor…I think?
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I pull with all of my weight, but another face with white locks is no angel. She takes my arm and brutally drags me to her eye level. I finally can see it, the silhouette of a bloody reaper, with tits?
One patch, and beside her is the biggest bloke next to the capes in the states I could have sworn...
"Excuse me? Mate…. I'm not too fond of a rescue –
" You'd be sure about that." The girl snarled, but was stopped by her strategist partner with a two-toned mask.
"This was a trap; didn't you see it?"
"I did." I lied to big and burly over there. "Yeh, but…I had a friend inside, in need of some saving."
"And she'd be fine with her allies. You have no right to be here."
"I'm just as important. The Trese even told me so." I can boast all I wish.
Once a stony, brick wall…
The man snorted, a laugh that I could have sworn I'd recognized. From Vampires and zombies in another galaxy far, far away…. (DC war vampires!)
"Some nerve, Constantine." Sniffed the beast.
All the nerve!
Always, a hard nut to crack.
"You knew??" I wouldn't have given it a thought that he hadn't. The man's a legendary hunter of all things that pique his interests.
"I know how to research my targets, but you weren't one of them." He tilted his head at me, condescending as ever...
"Sorry, but this job belongs to the big guns."
"Over my dead –
" That can be arranged." The girl was as bloodthirsty as he was! Were they related? I curl up my lip and swallow my pride. Well, at least I can have a go at rattlin' her chain before I die…
"Never seen your pretty face around, lov…" I guess she hates being picked on for the same reason she holds a knife up to my trachea, in blasted moments.
Damned be it all! Deathstroke of all the mates, I so help us all… wish he were not this far eastward…
The threatening tone is real, and I can't say I didn't try to lay on the charm. "You won't get a second chance –
"Ravager."
The man reprimands the woman as if she has no say. A simple tag - along with a pretty blade.
"Sorry sir."
She flipped a switch and hissed in my ear, spittle not an issue for my lobes. Magic could cure it. I only listened and nod. Damn it all!
"We're going to get moving, but I'll gut you silly if you try to move in on my territory, again. Understand?" She swished her hair and again left a bad taste in my mouth. "Also, I'm not old enough to be considered your " lov."
That.
Stung.
Underage flirting…so dumb of me that I forgot to gut myself!
"Got it…" I grunt as I'm left in a pile on a rooftop here in China. Lae is out there, ready to face the music.
Those two killing machines swing away and I have only to craw onto my hands and set up a way home.
My case, lost. But did Trese get what went on? Should I look and see for myself?
By the door to the rooftop is the brother I came with. He's masked his concerns too well, I might add.
~ Will you be joining us? This is your mission too. ~
"Plans have changed. I have a nemesis to avoid at all costs. You should be careful." I warn him. "The man who saved us is a real dick. And I'd not bet for Cassandra to think anything less of my fleeing in sheer terror of that asshole. For good reason, mate."
~He made you promise to stay away. I heard it, but you are both familiar… ~
"Sadly, yes." I nodded to show how sincerely sure I was about Death's vendetta against any leaguers.
~ We wish you well on your journey. ~ The brother nodded, curtly. ~If only you had the gullet to stay, you'd be a hero too. And this would be more than the liberation of those whom we both protect. ~
"Actually, mate." I smile. "I did leave her a present to tell miss Lae off some. Make no mistake."
The creature in front of me also changed; its mask upturned with a grin, knowing why I can't stay to see the rest unfold.
~ Even so, do not be a stranger if we should meet again. ~
"Same to you, and next time I catch you in the UK we can all have ourselves a pint. Bangers and nash style, chips. On the house."
~ Likewise. ~
And so, he leaves me alone on a rooftop dipping well into winter. And no sooner to be certain, as I now make for some casting in the open air.
A void is starting to open, and a blaring portal door has someone waiting that I've long missed to see, right on through it. Magic is a beacon, I tell myself. And the only Lov I'd be willing to return to is in my good old London town.
"Been up to no good, John?"
"You know it, Zee." I float on up to meet her, the portal's light growing brighter as we get ready to warp.
"You know me best of all, lov. I'm not one to sit still for too long, without starting a riot in the streets."
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A few days later, seated in his chair at the breakfast table, Damian Wayne points to a tabloid image in the Gotham Times. A global article about mafia and political espionage. And smuggling and magic.
"When do you even get to read this? I find it horribly similar to the outgoing happenings of a certain magician who you've teamed up with before…Father? Are you listening?"
"I am, and if it is meant to be kept a secret by the Chinese government," He flipped through a few pages, "Then I say, just let it be. John isn't one for recognition. Especially since the Triads have eyes and ears everywhere.
"What?? He's a con man, father! He didn't just poof his way to…" Grumbling, the new Robin was bright but too bold for his own colors to show. "Constantine helped take down a smuggling operation of epic implications between universes. We can't even talk about that?"
"No. Now, finish your breakfast. Alfred will have to drive you to class today."
Dami rolled his eyes, picking up his fork and eating the rest of his eggs in silence. Brooding was a Batman thing, but Bruce looked oddly complete. Calm, even!
"And the -
" Eat ."
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