Sell you a Bridge chapter 178

February 15th 2011 The OZ 8:00 PM EDT

It  was a bit crowded at dinner, but that made the homey atmosphere even  stronger. We enjoyed the food for a while, just making pleasant  conversation, but in the end things came back to business. Ralph asked  Cain about news from the resistance and Cain told him he'd been hoping  to hear that from him. Before that could go further though, DG cut in  abruptly. "Do you know anything about a machine that Azkedelia is  building?" Since her recent bout of memories of the two of them she'd  been obsessed with trying to figure out what was wrong with her sister.

I  was...torn. I knew something was going on with the girl, and I wanted  to tell DG, but I was worried if she decided Azkedelia was a victim here  she might get in the way during a fight and get herself or one of us  killed. I had no plans to kill Azkedelia, but DG wouldn't necessarily  know that, and I wanted to minimize her reason to interfere. The machine  seemed like a good place to focus, so I turned to Ralph along with the  others to hear his reply. "Only rumors." The man admitted. "Something  about some mine in the mountains."

Glitch answered  absently. "Mauritanium." We all glanced over to him. He frowned, clearly  puzzled as to how he'd known that and annoyed things kept popping into  his head. "Big M little t, number two one six on the OZyian periodic  table." His face cleared, a dopey smile painting across it. "Ah, school  days, now that you mention it I remember a lovely lass named Rhiona-"

DG  cut him off. "Mauritanium, what does it do?" She was just as intense as  she had been with Ralph. Personally I was pretty interested in there  being a separate periodic table in the OZ but I could empathize with her  priorities at the moment.

Glitch looked...unsettled.  "Aside from its unusual strength Mauritanium is known for its ability to  conduct magical energy. She can use it to focus and channel the energy  from the Emerald when she finds it."

DG swallowed hard.  "So...it's a weapon?"  I had been pretty positive of that from the  moment I heard about the thing, but it hurt to see my friend lose all  hope of her sister still being in there somewhere.

Glitch  surprised us all by casually dismissing that idea. "No, it's a sun  seeder." Then he froze. That had been one of those things that he said  out loud without knowing it consciously and I watched his...lack of  brain, try to comb through things he didn't really remember to find the  answers to questions he didnt even know to ask. "Which is...I don't  know. But it sounds cool." Then his face fell again. "No. Wait. i  invented it. But I...can't remember what it was used for."

I  raised a hand in a mockery of a kid in a classroom. "Am I the only one  who thinks Azkedelia building a giant machine that can channel  presumably absurd amounts of magic energy to do ANYTHING to the sun or  suns is terrifying? Because as redundant as I find two of them I'm  pretty sure theres nothing you could do to them from a distance that  would benefit the OZ. Like I put the suns firmly in the do not touch  category."

DG nodded. "Morgan's  right. We need to know what it does. I'm sorry Glitch, we need to find  out what you know. If your memory can't connect without your brain we  need something a little less brain oriented." She turned to the large  furry man sitting quietly off to the side with Bear. The two of them had  taken to spending time together, I guess feeling kinship for someone  else big and hairy. "Raw, can you do you find out what that machine is?"

We  borrowed a mirror and Raw reached into Glitches past. The mirror showed  us a fraught memory of Glitch running and afraid, and then rewound to  him running and afraid again, but with his brain still intact. He was  pleading with the Queen to stop Azkedelia, bringing news that their most  loyal general had defected, but she basically told him straight up she  wasn't strong enough anymore since she gave up her magic to save DG. She  said Azkedelia was too strong because the darkness had taken root.

He  told her Azkedelia tried to steal the sun seeder plans but he destroyed  them, and asked her to protect his brain from invasion, but she told  him she didn't have the power anymore. Azkedelia strode in with a bunch  of her goons and informed them both that the Queen was going into  retirement. She sent Glitch off to the Alchemists to have his brain  ripped out so she could get her plans. The next bit was Glitch begging  them not to cut his brain out, terrified and strapped to a table.

Glitch  jumped, breaking the connection. "Oh my! The name's Glitch, have..." He  trailed off, his mind seeming to jump start. He gave DG a serious look,  apparently completely unaware of what had just happened. "Hey, are you  ok?" I winced internally. I could see the guilt and shame in DG's aura  for forcing her friend to go through that, even if he didn't remember  it. She felt horrible. "What? Was my machine so bad?" DG just leaned  forward and hugged the flighty man. Seeing her there, heartbroken, I  came to a decision.

I  cleared my throat. "The darkness the Queen talked about. The stuff in  Azkedelia. It wasn't figurative." Everyone looked at me. DG seemed  confused. "I don't know what it IS exactly. But it's...something? Maybe  her magic turned toxic from her being such an asshole? Maybe she's  possessed. But SOMETHING in her is not right. I didn't want to bring it  up when I wasn't sure of it, but 'taking root' implies it wasn't always  there. I think something was done to her."

As  I expected DG's eyes lit up with joy and hope. I winced internally. I  didn't know what was done to Azkedelia, didn't know if I could stop it.  I'd gone through my phone after our fight looking for something to  purify her, but purification spam was rare and the stuff that showed up  was all weird esoteric shit that cost alot, like the Holy Grail, or  actual tears from a Phoenix. All really useful but also functionally  worthless to use without some time for me to stock up.

There  was a knock on the door, and everyone jumped. The guns came up but I  raised a hand, shifting into the intangible and invisible spectrum and  stepping through the door to look outside. The looks of shock and awe on  the face of everyone involved were priceless, but luckily the weapons  weren't necessary. "It's Wally. Stand down folks, he's with us." I  looked to the girls. "How did he know where to find us anyway?"

Artemis  raised a hand. "That was me. I had Zee give him her sending stone so we  could keep in touch." She blushed slightly. "He found some bad stuff  the last two times. I know Cain took him aside and asked him to look for  his family while he was gone, and I fed him a bit of information he  gave me after talking to Ralph too. I just wanted to make sure he had  someone with him." I nodded at that. It wasn't my business anyway. The  sending stones were for team use, and Wally was on the team for as long  as we were stuck out here. After that...well we would have to see where  we stood.

We  got the ok from the hosts and let the redhead in. He stumbled through  the door, exhausted. "Thanks. I managed to avoid their surveillance net,  but it wasn't easy." His eyes focused on the empty dishes and he let  out a petulant whine. "Awww man. You guys ate without me? I'm starving."  I rolled my eyes and pulled out huge tub of potato salad from my ring,  passing it to the human vaccum that my best friend was dating. He  grinned at me. "Thanks. Anyway, I found the hedge maze at the edge of  the vision, it's not too far from here."

His  eyes turned sad as he turned to Cain. "I...also found the white tree  you mentioned man. I'm sorry. The house there was old and broken down.  There was an iron suit like yours...and a grave for Adora. No sign of  your boy." Cain's eyes went wide and he dropped to his knees, the light  going out of him almost. It was...hard to see. Despite the fact that he  hadn't brought it up hearing his family was still alive had put a fire  back in the older man. He'd been livelier, more cheerful. Seeing that go  out again was...rough.

I'd  bonded with the old man, and I walked over and knelt down to pull him  into a hug. "I'm so sorry Wyatt. I am so, unbelievably sorry. Wally,  Zee, Dreamer, Artemis, Glitch, DG , and Raw, all closed in and joined  the hug. This was...horrible. To have hope so close and then it ripped  away, I couldn't imagine a worse torment. Even the original pain of  watching that loop must have paled in comparison. We stayed like that  for a bit. Just everyone holding onto the older man who had become  something of a backbone for our group. Finally he gave a shuddering  breath and pushed to his feet.

He  turned to Wally. "I owe you for this one red. Even if the news was bad,  I wouldn't have it without you. After this is over... I'll go and  visit. But if you need anything, I'm there." Wally nodded back. Cain, no  , Wyatt, might be darker and more vengeful than what he was used to,  and the morality of killing Zero was more suited to the OZ than back  home, but the old man was the closest thing to a hero we'd met in these  parts. He had a heart that beat for justice, even if it was a harsher  kind than Wally was used to, and I could see in the redheads aura that  he respected it.

I  was pretty sure this trip had changed Wally. Seeing other worlds,  darker worlds, had shown him a side of being a hero that was bleaker  than he had known existed. The OZ needed people like Wyatt Cain. It had  it's own heroes, and maybe things weren't so black and white after all.  How this would effect what he did once we got back was anyone's guess,  but I was pretty sure it WOULD have an effect.

The  former Tin Man turned to DG. "Now. Tell us about this hedge maze you  spotted. It showed up in the images Raw showed us of DG's memories?" He  was clearly trying to refocus, and we all let him. He deserved to  deflect if that's what he needed. Still, we would be here for him as  best we could. Wyatt had been a strong ally and a good friend to us  since we'd gotten here. Something about the OZ just made time  feel...nebulous. It had only been a few days since we arrived but I feel  like I'd know Wyatt for years. Dream world bullshit I was guessing.

Wally  nodded to us. "Yeah, and I managed to track the patrols enough that I  can get us past them, so we can head there immediately." He hadn't  opened the potato salad yet and I gestured for him to do so. He nodded  in gratitude and popped the lid, wolfing down the whole tub in a time  span that, frankly speaking, probably would have disgusted me if I  hadn't fought literal bio abominations made by elder gods fairly  recently. Once he finished he nodded that he was ready, and we said  goodbye to our hosts, then we headed back out on our journey.