Sell you a Bridge chapter 204

March 20th 2016 Gotham City 6:00 PM EDT

Jade  and Roy were in a hurry when they got back. Apparently they found the  original Roy and had him shipped to a hospital, and they were going to  wait with him until he woke up. We managed to extract a promise from  them to bring Lian to dinner at the penthouse and to tell Paula Jim  wouldn't be there. We'd decided they could alternate weeks, and we  wanted to introduce Lian to Hana. So we said out goodbyes and headed  back to the island to tell Zee and Dreamer. We'd been staying there  pretty often, because Zee was finally getting to use her ritual chamber.

With  dinner taken care of for the future, we decided to contact Nightwing.  He was still being a little bitch about the thing with Blue Beetle, but  he also wasn't going to count a force like ours out of this raid. So we  met up with him and his crew at Mount Justice and took a plane to the  Himalayas. Well...the others did. I stayed behind with the Knights so I  could use the corridor to move them and they wouldn't crowd the plane. I  did not, however, use my points on more of them. Instead, I completed  my research on my second Soulless variant, and used the ten thousand  points I got for today to officially summon my first one.

I  called it a Mage. Not a unique name by any means, but it was absolutely  accurate. According to Tartarus the type of heartless used as a base  was called a Blue Rhapsody. The Mage was, as expected of the name, a  magic using Soulless. It was an orb of inky black void stuff with green  ghostflame eyes on top of a billowing empty black cloak. It floated  excitedly around me, curiously scanning everything with it's glowing  green eyes, and I had to admit it was a little cute.

Due  to the fact that a Mage had a fully functional magic system it could  use independent of my points they cost MUCH more to make. I spent all  ten thousand I'd managed to accrue on it, only keeping a grand in  reserve in case of emergencies, but it was worth it. The Mage (who I  named Solomon, continuing the tradition of naming the first born of my  Soulless creations) was an absolute monster in battle. Tapping into the  void to cast fire, ice, gravity, and even low level time magic. As a  supplement for my regiment of Knights Solomon was absolutely perfect.

When  I finally got the call about them arriving I opened a corridor for all  eleven Knights and Solomon, and stepped through into the freezing snow  covered peaks of the himalayas. Everyone stared at me in annoyance as I  appeared. Clearly pissed I got to skip the whole trek up here and stay  home until the last second. That particular sentiment lasted until  Wonder Girl noticed Solomon, and floored everyone there by squealing.  "CUTE!" And hurling herself at my magic using Soulless.

He  dodged easily, glaring down at the Amazon who continued to lead up to  try to hug the little ball of darkness. I cleared my throat and she  froze, getting a guilty look on her face. Zee giggled at the expression  throwing an arm over the smaller but more muscular blonde. "Don't worry  about it. I was the same way when I first saw Patches." At the confused  look from Wonder Girl Zee grinned and whistled. Our cornerhound, now  much bigger than he had been when we left the OZ, formed from the shadow  at her feet.

Wonder  Girl squealed again, and this time was able to snatch up the pup and  hug him senseless. I didn't blame her, Patches was super cute. Nightwing  however wasn't quite so forgiving. His voice was harsh as he snapped.  "Wonder Girl!" Her head jerked up with a guilty look and she hopped to  her feet, rushing back over to join the others. Zee gave Nightwing an  annoyed glare, and even mild mannered Dreamer looked irritated. Artemis  and Wally stayed back, clearly willing to let us handle things.

The  boy blunder turned to glare at me. "If you're completely finished  distracting my team members maybe you can tell us what sort of fresh  hell you've brought with you. I see ten more of those monstrous armor  creatures, and what the hell is that thing supposed to be?" He sneered  and pointed to Solomon, who just floated adorably in the air, blinking  in confusion at the disdainful tone.

I  narrowed my eyes. "His NAME is Solomon. He's a magic user, so unless  you want him to freeze your nuts into ice cubes maybe be nicer."  Nightwing curled his lip at me, clearly annoyed at my not so veiled  threat. Then I turned to the others, effectively ignoring Nightwing in  favor of the rest of the team. "Anyway, before I got distracted by  unnecessary hostility, I was going to tell you that yes, I brought  eleven Knights. They're all extremely well trained and Sigfried has been  working with them on team drills. They should be our advanced party I'd  say. They're sturdier than anyone else here as I'm sure you learned  while you had Sig at your place."

I'd  picked up my Knight again when they left for the Himalayas, and judging  by the state of the training room he'd been putting them through their  paces. I was glad to see their respect for him clear in their auras.  Nightwing might not like me or my minions, but he damn sure knew what  they were capable of. He took a deep breath and then exhaled, forcing  his body to calm even as his aura seethed. It made me smile, which made  his aura seethe even more.

He  kept his voice forcibly calm. "Now. Your...Knights, taking the frontal  approach is completely reasonable." Saying that seemed to cause him  physical pain. "They'll be working alongside Superboy, Wonder Girl, and  Blue Beetle. That should be more than enough muscle. Zatanna,  Dreamer...Solomon, and Miss M will be on support for the frontal  assault. Impulse,Kid Flash,Artemis, Morgan, and I will be penetrating  from the rear." I had to force down a smile as Impulse and Blue beetle  snickered at their leaders word choice, which he very deliberately  ignored.

I  raised my hand like a school kid, and Nightwing glared at me as the  others snickered. When he gestured for me to speak  I raised an eyebrow.  "What exactly is the mission here? Are some of the metahuman's they  captured here? If so I assume this is a rescue op. Or do they have  information here? Seriously I was around for part of the operation  planning but no one bothered to tell me what the actual goal is. And to  be clear, when I'm confused and being attacked my first response tends  to be horrifying amounts of force."

Which  was true, though I was absolutely not fucking stupid enough to try my  big move out here. Using a ghostly wail in the middle of the Himalayas  was a level of stupid I couldn't even begin to contemplate. I mean,  normal screaming could start an avalanche, I couldn't imagine the  devastation that would be unleashed if I used my ectoplasm enhanced  scream that could take down buildings in a place this precarious.

Still,  I had other moves, and Nightwing already thought the worst of me, so I  didn't mind implying I would go on a rampage, and I was pretty sure he  would buy it. Dreamer rolled her eyes at my immaturity, but her aura  told me she thought it was cute and I shot her a wink, earning me a  giggle from my second girlfriend. Nightwing cleared his throat. "The  MISSION, is infiltration and recon, with a sub objective of information  gathering or rescue based on what we find. You WILL keep your  destructive tendencies to a minimum, or you can go home."

I  raised an eyebrow in challenge. "First of all, I told Black Canary I  didn't take orders from you, all I agreed to was that I would discuss  plans before executing them. You aren't my boss, my friend, or even  someone I like, so try asking nicely instead of being a Dick." I  casually put some emphasis on the last word and saw him flinch, which  made me grin. "Second of all, that was a really snooty way of saying 'go  in and look around and figure out what to do from there' which by the  way is NOT a plan. It isn't even really a goal."

Superboy  stepped in between us, frowning. "This is not the time for this  discussion. Morgan, why don't you take the front line fight with us.  Miss Martian can help with the infiltration. She has stealth powers in  any case. I'm sure Zatanna and Dreamer can handle the support magic  along with Solomon." He phrased it like a question, but it was pretty  clear he gave no fucks about our opinions on the subject. Which was  fair. I sighed and nodded, and Nightwing glared at me for another minute  before doing the same.

Once  that was decided we all got in position. I put Zee in charge of  Solomon, who she grabbed a a hold of and started inspecting, gushing  over how amazing he was. Patches was next to Dreamer, keeping her safe,  and I pulled Wally aside before the infiltration team left. I made sure  he noted how serious I was before I spoke. "Hey, Wally. Keep an eye on  Artemis ok? I don't trust Nightwing as far as Artemis's niece could  throw him, but I know you have her back always. Look out for each other  ok?"

He  sighed. "Of course we will, but Morgan you're reading Nightwing all  wrong. The guy is one of my oldest friends. I know you two aren't  exactly on good terms, but he wouldn't take that out on Artemis.  Especially not if it would endanger the rest of the team. He can be a  bit stubborn but he's a good guy." I glared stoically at him until he  finally rolled his eyes, raising both hands. "It's fine, like I said  I'll keep an eye out for her. I would have done that anyway. i just  don't think it'll be necessary."

I  sighed and nodded, letting him get back to his crew. He was probably  right honestly. Nightwing was an asshole but he did have basic self  control. I was pretty sure he wouldn't screw his team over just to get  at me, but at the same time I had a terrible feeling. Something was  going to happen here. Something big, and I had no idea what it was. They  had staked this place out for ages. There were no scarabs here at all,  and The Reach barely sent anyone in or out. This should be an easy job,  but I just felt...tense.

I  called Tartarus to my hand, and using it I conjured three clones,  already invisible. With the summon discount it was less than a single  point for all three of the things, and it gave me an idea. Sig and his  brothers could fight but not think. Not really. So I shifted my clone  conjuration from three to thirteen. Eleven of the clones possessed the  Knights, granting them all the thought and reasoning of...well, me. I  nodded to them, getting a subtle nod back, and then sent the other two  clones to shadow the two teams I wouldn't be a part of just in case.

With  essentially twelve of me on the battlefield and the clones protected by  possessing the durable Knight armors, I was confident in our ability to  handle whatever surprises popped up. With that we all moved out. I  accompanied my Knights (all sporting clones of my brain) towards the  front of the base, ready to throw down and make some noise to get their  attention. I readied Tartarus as I started limber up. Worries aside,  this was going to be fun.