Sell you a Bridge chapter 309

June 20th 2016 Twilight Town, 5:00 PM EDT

When  we came back to awareness after going through the door, I was half  expecting to be under attack or standing in some kind of hellscape. I  braced myself for danger, still armored up, and looked around  immediately to see...nothing. Not like an aggressive nothing like some  kind of void, but just the absence of danger. We were standing on a  pretty large grassy hill overlooking what appeared to be an absolutely  beautiful little town. I could see small forms moving around INSIDE the  town and upon further inspection with aura sight, they appeared to just  be humans.

I let my armor fade as I glanced around, trying  to determine everything I could about the place. Just because we  weren't under immediate threat and there were humans here didn't mean it  was safe or friendly. Still, my divine flesh would be more than up to  any random danger that might pop up, and using the armor did strain me,  even if only slightly these days. As I glanced around though, I became  even more confused.

The world around us was teeming with  energy, but it wasn't the normal dark energy we'd seen in the dark  multiverse. It was kind of an even mix of light and dark, and I  remembered what The Upside Down Man had said about the edge of the two  multiverses. I tried to calm down and think things over. First thing was  first. I turned to the others. "Coats off guys. This place is safe  enough not to need them, and The Upside Down Man said some of B-guy's  minions are here and wearing them. We don't want to get noticed too  soon."

Everyone put up their coats, and as they were  storing them, Artemis, who was the first one back in her normal clothes,  finally asked the tough question. "Ok, but...what do we do now? Does  this place have a spot with Gummi Ship access? Do we keep looking for  the keyholes? Would that even do anything here? If this world is half  and half in each multiverse, would unlocking it for light even change  that?"

I just sighed, running my hands over my face.  "I...honestly have no idea. I'm so far out of my depth here. The Upside  Down Man said a lot of things that really confused me. He implied a  whole bunch of shit that I have no real way of understanding, and the  only person I can ask about it is someone I have no real clue how to  contact. I seriously need to talk to Del about this shit before we do  anything else. Plus we have to avoid whatever minions B-guy has around  here, because being still in the dark multiverse means he has serious  power here."

I was strong now, had been strong for a  while, but I was strong for the normal, mortal level of existence. I  wasn't Del strong, or even Gojo strong. I wasn't even on the same level  as some of the New Gods. Certainly not someone like Darkseid, even if I  might have put up a better fight against that knockoff meatsuit in the  street of gods as I was now. I had no clue how to handle any of this.  What I'd seen of Barbatos made it clear I wasn't near strong enough to  kill him, and at my current rate of growth I wasn't going to be for  quite a while.

That didn't erase the feeling that I was  heading for a conflict with the bat god that was unavoidable, or the  feeling that losing it would be VERY bad for everyone I cared about.  Still, I knew Del had helped set me on this path, and she hadn't ever  seemed malicious. A bit spacey at times, but she seemed to genuinely  like me, and had done a lot to help me. She had to have some idea of how  I could win this, and exactly what that would entail.

I  felt a small impact on my forehead, and looked up to see Rana looking at  me in annoyance. "Enough of that dad. We can feel you spiraling, and  we've been over this. Stop trying to do things alone. If you need to  contact Del, we'll figure out some way to do this. If being halfway into  the dark means B-guy can reach here, it also means Del can, at least if  she's associated with the light side of the multiverse like he is the  darkness. We'll get in touch and ask her what the hell is going on, even  if we have to beat her ass and make her tell us."

The  smile on my face tore through my gloom even as I clamped down on the  existential horror I felt at the idea of Rana ATTACKING an Endless. I  still wasn't sure what those were exactly, but I was positive that my  daughter could NOT take one. Del could swat me like a fly, could  definitely kill Rana, and despite some potential similarities, could  probably crush Gojo like an ant. Which meant she could slap Darkseid  around with ease, as well as any OTHER powerful being I had met.

Still,  Rana was right. I reached down and pulled my daughter into a hug.  "You're right. I'm sorry, I was getting in my own head again." I turned  to the others. "Alright, I'm taking suggestions for our next move. I'll  try to contact Del, Tommy might be able to help with that if he's down. I  have some ideas but I doubt I can swing them on my own. Other than that  though we need a plan."

"First of all." Said Sindella  with a raised eyebrow. "We need to find a place to stay." She was right,  a hotel would be best, which reminded me I needed to get back to  Destiny islands and pick up the staff of that resort at some point. They  would be fine for a while, they had a fully stocked resort and without  The Upside Down man around, that world was weirdly peaceful. Still I  didn't feel ok with leaving them there long term. I'd put them in that  place, and while it was beautiful and idyllic all vacations had to end  eventually. Something to talk to Del about.

Kit seemed the  most worried about that, raising a hand. "Um, question. How are we  supposed to do that? Not to nitpick, but Eddie and I kind of stand out.  This place looks pretty low key, I doubt red skinned horned people are  going to be ignored. Unless Zee has an illusion version of one those  beginner level spells, I think picking up a glamour is going to be  beyond us in the short term. We had illusion charms we used to carry,  but Neron stripped them when he captured us, and we don't have that  magic ourselves."

That one wasn't an issue. I looked at  Tommy. "How easy would it be to make sure they get ignored by everyone  as we walk to the hotel. We can set up an illusion spell once we're put  up for the night, but getting to shelter seems like the priority right  now." This should be a pretty minor use of Tommy's gift, I'd seen him do  far more, he was also better suited to work like this than I was. I  could probably actually change the way they looked, but getting people  to ignore them was going to a constant effort and I wasn't really  equipped for it.

At his nod, I sighed in relief. John cut  in. "Not to be that guy, but we also need some kind of currency. Not to  throw shade, mate, but I don't suspect the hotels in this town run on  good intentions or hugs. I'm not sure what kind of cash they use here,  but I'd wager it isn't pounds sterling. If we show up with the wrong  money it's going to draw quite a bit of attention. Don't suppose you  have the fix for that too?"

I did actually, which was kind  of a relief. "Yeah. Money is money. Changing what kind I have or what  kind they take is a small alteration. A little lie that I have the cash  and some regular bills to act as a focus for that falsehood will make  the change pretty easy to do. It shouldn't even be counterfeit by any  notable standards since I'm literally changing the nature of the bills."  Wally had been looking a bit unhappy, but the mention of people not  ending up with fake money seemed to assuage him. Once a Cape always a  Cape I supposed.

With a plan hashed out the fourteen of us  headed into town. We decided to use the giant ass clock tower as our  destination, figuring it was probably the marker for the town square  given its prominence. Plus it was really pretty and we wanted to see it  up close. It wasn't  a long walk at all, and oddly, no one seemed  particularly upset about our presence. This place seemed to be welcoming  to strangers, and aside from Kit and Eddie, who were hidden by Tommy's  power, none of us were notably inhuman if you didn't look close. Even  Jim was using his human face.

When we reached the square  we looked around for a while and finally managed to track down a hotel, I  did some monkeying with some cash I had on hand and paid for rooms for  all of us. The girl running the hotel, a pretty brown haired girl with  green eyes, seemed excited to have so many new visitors, and gushed as  she rang us all up. She told us all about the best spots in town,  recommended something called 'sea-salt ice cream', an apparent local  delicacy, and wished us all goodnight as we made our way to our rooms.

We  got four rooms. One for me, Zee, Drea, and Rana. One for Kit, Eddie,  Artemis, and Wally. One for Tommy, John, and Jim. And to everyone's  surprise, one for Sindella, Taylor and Suzie, who insisted on sharing.  John and Zee looked slightly disturbed at the revelation, which made me  thing they must have been willfully ignoring it, because I'd noticed  that a while ago. I was pretty sure John had even mentioned it, but I  don't think he expected them to be so blatant about it so quickly.

I  made a not to talk to Zee though, I knew her parents getting back  together had been a dream of hers since we brought Sindella back, but I  was equally sure that was never going to happen. Not only because of the  new relationship, but also because I was pretty sure Sindella and  Giovanni were no longer compatible. The old magician had been wasting  away in depression and paranoia for years, and Sindella was still the  same bright, happy woman she had been when she died. She deserved better  than being some sort of goal for him to attain.

When we  made it into our room, I groaned in relief. I closed and locked the door  as I said. "Ok, I know we pretty much just came from a resort, but that  thing with The Upside Down Man was stressful. I could definitely use a  bit of sleep. I think we'll all be much more equipped to figure out a  plan in the morning." I noted the silence of the girls and turned around  in confusion. I'd thought it was a decent plan. "I just mean once we've  rested we can think of a way to contact...Del."

I trailed  off before finishing as I found myself and all three of the girls  staring in shock at a tiny blonde girl sitting on the bed green and blue  eyes fixed on me placidly. Despite her looking nothing like she had  last time I'd seen her, or even like she had when I first noticed her a  second ago, I was more than certain who she was. She gave me a cheerful  smile and a wave. "Hello! I heard you were looking for me? Your timing  is pretty good. I was just thinking that the two of us should have a  chat."