Sell you a Bridge chapter 182

February 29th 2011 The OZ 5:00 PM EDT

The  trip to Azkedelia's tower took three and a half days. We'd traveled so  far to get to the realm I'd expected it to be even longer, but luckily  the shitty cliff tomb hadn't been in the exact opposite direction, just  sort of adjacent. Arriving however hadn't been the call to arms I  expected. We did in fact beat the eclipse, which was great, and we met  up with our reinforcements, which was also good, but we were stonewalled  outside by an army of longcoats and some VERY thorough and powerful  wards erected with the emerald.

I  spat in annoyance. My aura sight was lit up like a christmas tree as I  stared at the ugly tower. Aside from the army out front there were  spiderwebs of wards crisscrossing the surface of the tower, and beyond  that I could see the cloaked form of something absolutely massive and  blazing with energy crouched on the tower. Which meant she'd used that  fucking emerald summon SOMETHING powerful. I turned to Zee. "You see the  wards there? And more importantly whatever that huge beastie is on top  of the place?"

She  scowled. "I can crack those, I'm assuming you can handle the big guy  while I'm doing it?" We were going to have to time this carefully. This  fight wasn't just us. If we did this wrong the longcoats would steamroll  the rebels while we were distracted and we would have waves of laser  guns blasting away at us while trying to handle Queenie's defenses. I  checked my points. Twenty nine thousand. It would be enough for a big  ass fight. I had some ideas of how to do this, but it would be  expensive. That thing was big and powerful, and I was going to have to  blitz it if I wanted to effect the battle.

I  turned to the others around the table. We were in a command tent the  rebels had set up on the hills around the tower. Cain's son, Jeb, was  scowling at the table with the map and little models that seemed to be  standard in military command tents. He looked at us. "I don't like this.  It feels like a trap. Why haven't they attacked us yet? It would be a  hard battle, but they could gain much from taking the initiative."

I  shook my head. "Forest for the trees man. They don't need to win, they  just need to not lose. If that machine goes off that witch is going to  get MUCH more powerful. She'll have us all in the palm of her hand. At  least I would assume, considering she's the wicked witch of the dark,  and I doubt she's going to this much trouble to turn out the sun because  she doesn't tan well." I gestured at the map. "The longer we wait the  closer we get to the eclipse and the better for them. They have no  reason to start the party early."

He  snarled at the thing, but Cain put a hand on his sons shoulder. He  looked to me. "There's more there than we can see from what you were  saying. If you need to fight something powerful should we wait to take  the field until you finish it off?" Which was my whole dilemma. I didn't  know. I wasn't a strategist. I was an assassin, a thief, the only  reason I accounted for enemy logistics was to find holes in their  security. Which there were none of in that fucking ward, and I'd  checked.

I  looked at the others, shrugging. Wally spoke up, surprising all of us,  but then, he had worked with the Justice League's master strategist.  "I'd say yes. I can run damage control and make sure none of the rebels  get stomped while Morgan throws down with...whatever the hell that is.  Artemis can help out on long range support. Once Zee gets the barrier  down we can escort DG in to..." He turned to the girl. "I'm sorry, but  what are you actually planning to do? Because honestly this seems like a  whole lot of hoping and praying."

DG  glared stubbornly at him. "Don't you patronize me Wally West. My sister  is in there. I couldn't get close to her before, but I know if I can  reach her and take her hand our magic will be strong enough to get rid  of that witch. It might not kill her but it should kick her out. After  that we just have to hold her off until the eclipse ends and she won't  be much of a threat to anyone anymore."

That  last part would be harder than she thought. I cleared my throat. "Which  is why Zee will be with you in there. The eclipse is a temporary state  of the permanent midnight the witch is aiming for, it's reasonable to  assume she'll be much stronger than normal at that point. Even with your  super princess sister magic holding her off you'll need backup. At  least until I can finish her summon and come join in."

I  was pretty sure I could take her without a body, even with the emerald  and in her powered up state. Incorporeal shit was kind of my jam, and  fighting as a ghost should be a huge advantage to me. I looked at Zee.  "The question is can you handle all that? Taking down that ward is going  to be a pain in the ass. I'd honestly prefer to do it myself since I  have the training, but that...giant whatever she has cloaked up there is  going to be too much for anyone but me. Even I'm going to need to  really cut loose to take it down quick."

I  was basing my strategy off something I hadn't been able to do in the  fight with the Monkey Prince, but had almost managed, but even with that  ace in my pocket that thing's aura was strong enough for me to be  incredibly worried about how quickly I could put it down. She nodded.  "Yeah I can do it, but it might not be fast. Once I start I'm guessing  that thing will come out of the wards to try to stop me. Wouldn't be  much point in it if it couldn't defend it's position."

I  just grinned at her. "Don't you worry about that. I have the fight well  in hand, I can promise you that thing isn't going to be in any position  to bother you once I'm done." I shuddered internally at how much it was  probably going to cost me to manage this next fight. My abilities could  scale as high as I needed and I had a way to make sure to maximize  their effects during my fight, but it would but probably almost all of  my points. Still, this was going to be my biggest fight yet, and I was  excited to see what I could do.

I  turned to the cornerhounds. "Speaking of positions that keep things  from bothering you, Patches, you're going to be protecting Zee with your  brothers. I want a dedicated guard force on her just in case." The void  hound yipped seriously and Zee smiled and scooped him up, cooing about  how much of a good boy he was. "Just the dogs won't cut it though.  Dreamer, can you and the Forever People play bodyguard for our resident  siege breaker?"

Dreamer  gave me a confident smile. "Of course Morgan, we'll make sure Zee is  safe no matter what." Dreamer had brought up the possibility of them  using 'infinity man' in the fight, but I honestly thought using the  crazy uber magic megazord fusion power during an evil eclipse while a  primordial witch tried to blot out the sun forever with a magic emerald  was just mixing way too many supernatural variables for me to be  comfortable with it. Especially when Wally mentioned the time that  they'd used it on earth and someone had corrupted it and turned it into  an enemy.

We  debated the finer points of the battle for a bit longer, but after about  an hour we realized we were cutting it a bit close. "Alright folks.  Time to start knocking on the door. Zee, you ready?" She nodded  confidently and we all headed outside. Zee had been studying the library  I got her and even doing some light reading from my void tome, and I  was confident in her learning ability, especially supplemented by the  Outer Body Trance. I was sure she could break down the wards if given a  bit of time.

I  leaned down to press a soft kiss to her lips, then stepped back so she  could work and turned to Dreamer. "Take care of our girl ok?" She nodded  and I leaned down to kiss her as well, before turning and stepping back  to give them some room. Once I started my fight being close to me would  be a problem. Zee closed her eyes and let her hands hang at her sides  as she began to speak.

She  intoned the words to her spell too fast for me to follow, and too low  for me to really pick up, but as she did lightning began to flow over  her skin. It started as sparks, then grew to jumping arcs, until she was  sizzling with building power. Symbols began to spark up on the ground  and the air, and I recognized some of the placements from my void magic,  she was casting in more than three dimensions. Not as complex as the  cipher the book was in but Zee had definitely upped her game.

There  was a titanic roar from the tower as her magic built and the cloaking  on the monster dropped to reveal...a moneky. A giant fucking flying  monkey the size of a fucking seven forty seven. It glared hatefully at  my girlfriend, hissing as if to warn her off. Zee took no notice,  continuing her spell, and at the monkeys screech the longcoats all  glanced up to see what the fuss was about.

The  monkey hurled itself from the tower, swooping down towards Zee, and I  acted. I shifted to my shadow form, and with as much power as I could I  created a hundred foot tall shadow construct of my body to inhabit. I'd  tried this back in Gotham and it had worked, but it had been a thin and  hollow version. This was a full transubstantiation to a larger size,  bringing all my stats and abilities with me. That in itself wouldn't  have broken the bank though. My next move was to weave void, darkness,  and ectoplasm together into that unnatural dark alloy...and COVER myself  in it.

I  manifested a hundred foot tall suit of flawless armor based on the  Warlord's plate mail, reinforced with every ounce of power I could  manage as I drew my hundred foot King's Sword of Haste. The expenditure  of that much creation was absurd. I drained over fifteen thousand points  off my twenty nine thousand total, but I did it. It made me smile that  both times I'd used this titan form ability it was against a monkey. The  monkey's eyes widened as I spread my now giant devil wings and blitzed  in at it.

With  my ghost devil speed I was FAST, but that fucking monkey was faster.  Even with my reflexes and my sword the thing's aerial superiority  allowed it to weave seamlessly around the storm of metal I was trying to  catch it in. In terms of raw flight pace I was pretty sure I had the  advantage, but sadly my ability to turn wasn't exactly flawless. The  monkey howled in rage and a boly of black lightning struck it from the  tower, sheathing it it armor of burning black hellfire. I grinned. I  didn't mind if she wanted to gear the little bastard up, it just meant  Zee was free to blow a hole in her house. Staring at the now armed  monkey holding a big ass spear I grinned. This was going to be fun.