Sell you a Bridge chapter 113

The Clock Tower November 5th 2010 6:00 PM EDT

The  wait had been agonizing. Well...no. It really hadn't, it had actually  been pretty fun. My friends and I had taken to combing the island to try  to find any leftover secrets, and it was fascinating some of the things  we turned up. Granted, we were worried in the back of our minds, but  our loved ones still had phone service (most of the towers and power  lines were uninterrupted by the shields because they were inanimate) so  we were able to call and check in. Once we knew they were safe we just  enjoyed a few days off while I let the points build up for a few  teleporters.

I was up to two  thousand two hundred points now after the wait though, so the leisure  time had come to an end, it was time to get back to Gotham and start  setting up our counter operation. We'd come up with the best two places  to put the new teleporters for maximum usefulness, one in Reggie's place  in the suburbs, and one in Gotham Academy. With the Clock Tower already  having one it gave us a nice spread and options if one of them got cut  off. So here we stood at the teleporter, ready to go back.

I  looked around at the others. "So everyone knows the plan?" We were all  going back, but we were also splitting up mostly. I'd given Reggie one  of the teleporter pads to lay down, fit into a handy briefcase (one of  the options for purchase apparently) and he and Artemis were headed for  his place. Zee and I were going to see my Mom and Paula and take them  with us to the academy where we would set up the teleporter out of the  way. Since it wasn't usable without white list permission we weren't  worried about it being found there, but we planned to put it somewhere  subtle anyway.

I  got nods from everyone, and Zee stepped up to take my hand. I smiled  back at her through my mask, and though she couldn't see it I squeezed  to let her know how happy I was. According to Artemis since we had sex  we'd been even more sickeningly touchy feely than ever, but I loved it.  Zee and I spent every night together, and waking up next to her was the  best feeling in the world to me. We'd become even closer over the last  five days and I was even more in love with her than I had been at the  start.

Artemis  cleared her throat. "Can you two stare longingly into each others eyes  later? I want to get to Reggie's place so I can get this done and then  go meet my boyfriend.  He's been tough to get a hold of and I'm afraid  Robin is going to get him killed or something. I swear, that team of  incompetents is going to be the death of him." I snickered at the jab,  mostly because for once it wasn't aimed at me, but nodded and we all  stepped up onto the pad. Artemis looked energized to be going back and I  couldn't blame her.

Before  we left I had one more thing to say though. "Remember to do some recon  as you go. We know basic distribution from the map but it doesn't tell  us what people have been doing. You all have a list of the big clusters  of red dots to avoid so you shouldn't run into too much trouble but it  would be a good idea to get an idea of the situation on the ground."  They both nodded seriously and I smiled again. I was the only one in my  gear because being with Zee would be a dead giveaway if I wasn't but  hopefully being just random teens the two of them could pass through the  relatively safe areas we had marked without any trouble.

The  transition back to Gotham was quick, painless, and nearly unnoticeable  as per usual with the teleport pads. I still marveled at how seamless  the whole thing was, step on, step off, now you're in Gotham. The Clock  Tower was mostly empty at this point, we'd moved all the valuables to  Doomhollow Hall already and were just using the tower as a staging area,  so we didn't really need to stop for anything and we all made our way  out. We DID find a note from Kent for Zee, who had been searching for  her apparently and listed a phone number she could reach him at, and I  sent Artemis and Reggie ahead while she gave him a call.

Jim  went off to do his own thing, and I suspected he would be in contact  with Madame Xanadu, and possibly Blood and the Shadowpact. We'd agreed  letting other people on the island during the siege was the best call,  provided we trusted them. With the concealments as they were and the  teleporters making able to block anyone we didn't want coming back, as  long as we didn't bring anyone over by boat they had no way of knowing  where the island even was. Zee took a few minutes to make her call, and  it warmed my heart to hear her happy, relieved tone when she finally got  a hold of Kent.

She  finally came back with a relaxed smile on her face and pulled me into a  tight hug, burying her face in my chest. "He's ok. They both are. Daddy  was with him earlier but they aren't together now. Batman has all the  Leaguers in town holed up at Shadowcrest trying to come up with a plan.  The League has been trying to break the spell but they don't have a  magic user with enough juice to manage it. The curse is crazy powerful  and the shield is using it as a battery, with the Labyrinth  supplementing. We're on our own for the moment. He says the Bana aren't  focusing on the streets as much as they are the dungeon though."

She  sounded worried, which I got, because Kit was down there, and falling  out or not I didn't want to see my cousin ganked by a bunch of random  crazy greek warriors. I moved my mask so I could lean down to kiss her  gently standing back up and setting it back on my face. "The important  thing is they're safe. Does Kent want you back with him? I'd hate to see  you go but if you feel like you would be safer there I would  understand." Zee had been pretty worried about her Uncle and Dad so I  couldn't fault her for wanting to hole up with them. The League could  protect themselves and I wasn't anxious to let any of them on the island  except maybe Kent.

She  just shook her head. "He thinks I'm with Jim still, he seems to have  forgotten the details of his oath since it wore off once we got back  here. They both want me to stay safe with you, ironically my Dad is more  worried I'll be dragged into this war when the League fights back  against the Bana than he is that you'll defile his baby girl." She gave  me a wicked grin. "Though I suspect if he knew all the things I've been  letting you do to me he would change his mind on that pretty fast." I  could see the tension in her body having drained away by confirming they  were safe so I just shrugged, I wasn't going to argue with keeping her  around.

I  threw and arm over her shoulders and we headed out into Gotham to see  get my mom and see what was going on. The first thing I noticed when I  got outside was that the city wasn't exactly a burning wasteland like I  expected. It was deserted and there were some signs of fighting in a few  places, but all in all it was in decent shape. Zee was scanning the  streets like I was, and when I flicked on aura sight I caught flashes of  shapes moving around in the distance and a few humanoid shapes hiding  in nearby buildings. She looked at me questioningly and I nodded and we  moved down the road.

I  extended my wings behind us, keeping them up so that they could provide  some cover in case of any ranged attacks. In costume I didn't really  care if people saw my wings, that ship had sailed during the plant  attack. I lowered my voice as we walked. "So this route should be mostly  clean from what we saw on the map. There are a few enemy clusters a  couple miles from here but we should be able to avoid them for the most  part. That said keep your eyes peeled, we can't get updates on movements  from here and there might be some patrols or independents moving  through our path. Better safe than sorry. "

Of  course, I'd had to Jinx it, because no sooner had that happened than I  saw some of the scattered auras begin to converge around us. I stepped  forward a bit to free up my arm while allowing me to keep Zee sheltered  with my wings, and drew my sword as we were surrounded. Zee noticed my  movements and readied a spell, though she tried to be subtle about it.  Without my aura sight I probably wouldn't have noticed the flickers of  heavenly punishment lightning dancing between her fingers. I was sort of  hoping this was a street gang but I doubted it, they had come out of  nowhere to surround us far too quickly.

Forms  began to melt out of the shadows. Most were dressed in black semi  formal clothes, but I noted a few of them sporting different clothes.  From the crowd of assassins I saw two women step out. One was Lady  Shiva, the pretty older woman in red with the sword from last time. I'd  tried her out a few times in the Outer Body trance and honestly I wasn't  impressed, the Warlord was a thousand times the blademaster she was.  With my current stats she didn't scare me at all. Cheshire, Artemis's  sister, stood on one side of her, opposite a big man with a hockey mask  who I knew without a shadow of a doubt was Lawrence Crock.

But  they were distractions at best from the woman who walked out next. I've  seen a lot of scary people in my life, and a lot of really sexy women,  my own girlfriend had this lady beat hands down in the looks department,  but even the heavenly punishment elves lost out to her in the sheer  mixing of sensuality and raw danger I was sensing. The woman was, to be  clear, gorgeous. Olive skin, full lips, cascading jet black hair as  straight as a razor, and a hypnotizing sway to her hips even someone  with my exposure to sexiness couldn't help noticing. Her eyes were  emerald green and glued to my mask as she quirked her mouth up in a  smile.

I  assumed this was whatever mistress Lady Shiva had mentioned last time we  met, and that thought gave me some very fun mental images of the two of  them that took me a second to shake off, luckily I was getting  regularly laid these days so while I had an aesthetic appreciation for  the well built woman's danger milf vibe I wasn't going to let it effect  me much. I refused to be the first one to speak here. Her smile widened  as she let the tension build, clearly hoping to pressure me into taking  the initiative until she finally burst out laughing. "Well aren't you  just adorable. The hardened warrior and magician princess. You make  paint a lovely picture."

The  break in the tension seemed to calm most of the assassins down, though  Lady Shiva's aura pulsed with anger that I hadn't played along. The  woman bowed gracefully, giving Zee and I both a nice view of her tanned  cleavage, which she seemed to be highlighting with her choice of outfit,  a form fitting black bodysuit with a VERY deep vee, contrasted with her  high collar. "Forgive my lack of manners my young friends, my name is  Talia al Ghul, and I'm here to speak to you on behalf of my father.  Admittedly this conversation was to be a bit more...forceful, but we  find ourselves in changed circumstances." She stood and gave us a  charming smile. "Now, might you perhaps spare us a moment to talk about  an alliance?"