Sell you a Bridge chapter 169

February 13th 2011 The OZ 2:00 PM EDT

Zero's  smug expression vanished pretty quick when he had to throw himself out  of the way of a bolt of ectoplasmic force. it was hard not to smirk at  the terror and shock on hos face when he realized his stupid magic  blocker didn't stop my ghost powers. The look only got more horrified  when the bolt hit the booth behind him and the fucking thing exploded  like a toilet with an m80 dropped down the hole.

Sadly,  while MY abilities were untouched, I noted that Zee's were not. I  reacted to that fact just in time to appear in front of her with a  shadow port and get shot in the chest about fourteen times with a wave  of energy blasts from the nearby longcoats. Despite how painful that was  I took a moment to appreciate the incredibly tight grouping these guys  had managed. Apparently they didn't conform to storm trooper levels of  accuracy.

Of  course that did jack shit to me in terms of actual damage. My malleable  ghost-devil flesh and two hundred and fifty points of vitality started  knitting me back together as soon as the shots ended, but I made a  mental note to change back into my Armor of Gloom. I'd stopped wearing  it in New Genesis during our time in the city and had forgotten to re  gear when I got here like an idiot. I turned to take in my pale and  shaking girlfriend, who was clearly unsettled by watching my chest get  blown apart by laser bolts. "You ok baby?"

She  gave me a weak smile. "That's my line. But it looks like you're fine. I  was really scared there for a second." She looked around, frowning at  our scattered forces. "These guys are well trained. That stupid amulet  put my powers on the fritz and they went right for me. Taking out the  magic user is a solid tactic. Lucky you were here to help, and lucky  everyone else took the opportunity to get behind cover." Her lips  quirked up. "Well, almost everyone."

I  turned to see Bear hurling himself gleefully into a huge pile of  longcoats. Wally had already disarmed all of them and dumped their guns  right after they shot me, so they had no defense against the huge god.  The place was packed with the bastards so he didn't need to look far for  targets. Serifan and Artemis, like Zee said, were behind cover,  shooting at any obvious threat, while Cain was standing guard over DG,  Raw, and Glitch, with Vykin and Dreamer. All in all, apart from getting  shot a bunch this had gone pretty damn well.

The  Mystic Man was up on stage, hiding behind his chair with a bleary  expression on his face. The bliss in his aura wasn't gone but it was  definitely being disturbed. I wasn't sure what the fuck he was on but it  was some pretty heavy shit if watching someone get riddled with laser  blasts didn't sober him up more than a bit. I looked around, ready to go  to battle myself but...there was no one to fight. I'd been so  distracted getting shot up and protecting Zee that the gods and my team  had taken all of them out.

Well,  taken them down was more accurate. There weren't chopped up pieces of  longcoat all over the place like there would have been if I got my hands  on them, especially after shooting at my girl. Still more than one or  two of them was dead, the occasional headshot having finished the  bastards off. It was a huge let down to be all keyed up and holding a  sword with no storm troopers to stab. Zee, as connected to me as ever,  seemed to sense my sulking and giggled, hugging me from behind. "Don't  worry baby, we'll find you some bad guys to fight later."

That  drew a small smile from me. "As long you're safe that's all that  matters. Though admittedly I was already in a bad mood and getting shot  to shit didn't help." I froze. "And gods damn it! I could have use my  Hole bloodline to absorb and reflect those! I got shot for no reason!"  It had been too sudden for void form, granted, but Hole was a part of my  bloodline and I should have at least TRIED to get one open.

Zee  giggled again and I shrugged it off. Hole would have taken points  anyway, and my vitality healed me for free, so if anything getting shot  was the better call in that situation, as weird as that was to think.  Deciding to shift out of attack mode temporarily, I looked around at the  subdued longcoats still left alive, raising my voice to call to my  friends. "Hey, you guys all ok? If anyone was injured let me know!"  There was response. I walked over to Zero, who was  curled up on the  ground, his leg mangled by the explosion of the nearby booth when I shot  at him.

He  looked...frankly terrified. I shouted back over my shoulder. "Hey Cain,  I've got some question for this guy. Figure you want to be the one to  say pretty please?" Zero's already pale face became bone white. I knelt  down next to him. "So Cain is on the way over. I'd say if you manage to  explain where you got that amulet before he gets here you have the best  possible chance of avoiding...some of the pain you have coming. I won't  say all, because Cain REALLY hates you, and I get why so I'm not going  to stop him. Still, maybe if you're helpful he'll have mercy and just  kill you."

Plus  I had no interest in being the one to torture him. Zee would be  disgusted, and honestly I would probably be disappointed in myself too.  I'd done some m0rally grey shit, but torturing a wounded captive, even a  child killing psycho like Zero, was a line I'd rather not cross. Cain  on the other hand, had a very good reason to want to hurt the guy, and  while I wasn't ok with torturing someone, I was a hundred percent fine  with a father getting payback on the murderer who slaughter his wife and  kid in front of him on repeat for years, even if some of the others  probably weren't.

Hell,  even Wally seemed to be purposefully ignoring Cain's intentions as best  he could. His aura seemed queasy and a little ashamed but under that  there was a kind of steely determination. I was pretty sure the redhead  was very much not over what we had seen at that cabin. Not that I could  blame him. Luckily for me Zero also knew he deserved whatever Cain was  going to do to him. "No! Wait! I'll tell you whatever you want to know I  swear! I got the amulet from the Queen! I don't know where she got it.  She told me it would protect me from magic after what you did to us at  Milltown."

Now  we were getting somewhere. Cain came to a stop next to us, glaring down  at Zero with more hate than I had ever seen one person put into an  expression before, but luckily he just stayed where he was, looming over  the injured man. Zero started talking faster, desperate to delay the  inevitable. "The girl! The Queen wants the girl, she sent us to that  farm through the travel storm to get her but she escaped. She's  obsessed. She won't stop until she gets her. She has the robots now, and  she's using the viewers to spy on her, but they can't see her anymore  since she met up with you!"

He  trailed off, seemingly with nothing else left to say, and I turned away  as he started screaming. Cain stepped forward, cold rage painted across  his face, but I stopped him. He glared at me fiercely, but I just met  his gaze. "Your family might be gone Cain, but they're still your  family. Dead or not, don't make your sons father a monster. That scumbag  earned his death, so give it to him, but do it with honor, because even  if he doesn't have any, you still do." His jaw clenched but I saw his  eyes fill with hesitation. I stepped past him.

I  walked slowly over to Zee and swallowed hard. Part of that had been  hard for me. I didn't know Cain well, but I couldn't help but see  parallels there. I wished I'd had a dad like him. My father loved me, I  knew it, but not like Cain had loved his son. Not enough to walk through  hell for me. I envied the kid that, though I wasn't enough of an  asshole to ever say that out loud. Zee felt my confusing jumble of  emotions through the bond but surprisingly it was Dreamer who stepped up  to take my hand with a kind smile.

I  looked at her in confusion and she leaned up to give me a soft kiss. "I  know you're not always sure what kind of person you are. Anyone who's  been around you for more than five minutes can see how you flip back and  forth between your worse and better nature. But that? What you just  did? That proves deep down you're a good man, and we all know it now,  even if you don't." I swallowed, squeezing her hand, because it meant a  lot to hear that, more than I thought it would. Zee took my other hand  in hers in silent agreement.

I'd  been mostly reacting since I got my powers, but deep down, a part of me  felt torn over the things I had to do. Not the stealing or the crime,  that I was fine with. Legal and right weren't the same thing, and I  didn't take from people who would miss it much. No, the things that  weighed on me were the deaths. Not just the ones I dealt myself but of  all the people who had been sucked into my messes. Of the idiots who got  killed in the dungeon searching for power.

I  tried to tell myself I didn't care. That I was just coasting from one  disaster to the next with my girl and my friends by my side and a big  old smile, but some part of me still felt guilty. That part had been  growing fainter for a while though, the whisper of guilt getting drowned  out by my practicality, and I'd been terrified that I was becoming a  Falcone in truth. I'd never wanted to be my family, not really. Hearing  that someone like Dreamer, that someone like Zee, thought I was a good  man, even if it was only for this one act, it soothed an ache I hadn't  even noticed in my heart.

I  exhaled loudly, giving the girls a wry smile. "Thank you. Both of you.  But we still have answers to get. Specifically I think DG was promised  answers about her mom. Did she get them?" I glanced at Dreamer  inquiringly. She'd been guarding the civvies while everyone else went to  town on the Queen's rent-a-thugs. I was hoping that DG had used the  mess as an opportunity to ask her questions, since saving someone from  being murdered was a great ice breaker in my experience.

DG,  who had been waiting nearby, stepped up to answer herself, her face  split with a huge grin. "He was a bit out of it, but when he saw the  mark on my hand he remembered me! He was the one who helped my mother  get me out of the OZ! He said that my path to find her begins on the  northern island!" That sounded vague as hell, but at the very least it  was a lead. I was doubting this old stoner could get us back to our  world, but it sounded like he'd shown DG's mom how, so our best bet was  still to track her down. I grinned at her encouragingly. "Well then I  suppose that's where we head." I shot her a wink. "And hey, don't forget  to bring the old man, he's coming with us."