Sell you a Bridge chapter 50

Powers Estate July 19th 2010 8:30 PM EDT

This  was...pretty bad. We were supposed to have an easy time here, Jim and  Madame Xanadu gang up on Morgana, the rest of us take out that Talons.  Granted there were a ton of them and they were immortal super soldiers,  but the more experienced of us had been pretty confident so clearly they  weren't worried about the undead army. The impression I got however,  was that the main reason for that was Blood, who was on the same level  of scary as Madame Xanadu and Jim. Now though, someone was going to have  to take on these two and that left the shadowpact and the junior team  to face the Talons alone.

I  turned to Jim with not a small amount of panic in my eyes "Boss? That's  Solomon motherfucking Grundy. That guy is a walking natural disaster  that often takes the entire Justice League to put down. I don't know who  the hell the other dude is but I'm getting major copycat vibes and if  he's even half as strong as you this is going to go downhill fast." I  had absolutely nothing that would take down either Grundy or anyone  anywhere close to Jim's league. I could probably drop some Talons but  that was my limit.

Jim  adjusted his hat, which I'd only seen him do a few times when he was  genuinely nervous and which did not bode well for our current situation.  "His name is Richard Swift. He calls himself The Shade. His powers are  distinct from my own though there is some small overlap. Despite that he  is a formidable threat and a sometime rival of mine. We grew up around  the same period and ran afoul of each other quite a few times, even  joining forces for a few heists. He's exceptionally skilled at magic and  very dangerous."

Blood  stepped forward "I can handle the abomination, but I'll be unable to  watch over the children. Nightshade, Acheron, we'll have to leave their  safety to you." Normally I would have been offended at being called a  child, but standing under the shadow of fucking Solomon Grundy certainly  made me feel like one. Blood turned to Madame Xanadu "Nimue, I'm afraid  your battle with your sister will be a one on one, be careful, knowing  Morgana, if she's this smug about a battle she had something up her  sleeve."

Madame  Xanadu nodded, suddenly much less cocky but still perfectly calm "Of  course, you two handle your own opponents. I'll deal with my sister."  She muttered a few words and flickered her fingers at us, and I felt my  body flood with strength. I saw spirals of glowing runes wind around  Artemis, Kitrina and Reggie too, and it was clear Madame Xanadu was  looking out for us. She turned her head to look at Jim and Blood "That  should protect them from the worst of the aftershocks. Feel free to let  loose as needed. These aren't easy opponents and there are no civilians  in range. Gentlemen, do your worst, I know I certainly will."

And  with that she snapped her fingers the world sort of...stretched. It  snapped back like a rubber band and the Madame was standing in front of  Morgana driving the point of her knife at the other woman's chest.  Unfortunately, it didn't make contact because Morgana withdrew a white  shield with a red dragon on it that straight up breathed fire at her  sister. Madame Xanadu flicker fingers and the same stretching effect  happened, leaving her at the entrance to one of the dining rooms.  Morgana cast her own blink spell and vanished in a flash of light,  pursuing her sister.

As  this was happening I heard Blood bellow at the top of his lungs "Gone,  gone, the form of man, arise The Demon, Etrigan!" And when I turned to  look, and orange scaled monstrosity was crouched at our side. The red  eyed monster had such an oppressive presence even the Talons wouldn't  come close, and when he grinned at me I felt a chill go down my spine  "Little thief all full of dread, your boogeyman will soon be dead. Fear  not the beast with skin of white, all foes fall before Etrigan's might."  With a bend of his powerful legs The Demon hurled himself at Grundy  pulling a flaming sword from nowhere.

Jim  clapped me on the shoulder "Don't worry too much lad, we have the big  fish handled. Acheron and Nightshade are more than up to keeping you lot  intact against a jumped up zombie army." His words were light and easy  but his tone spoke of tension and even fear. A spear of shadow leapt up  from the ground and scythed toward my throat so fast even my reflexes  didn't notice until it was about to land. Faster than a human being  could even move Jim spun his cane between his fingers and smashed the  shining metal head of the white stick into the shadows, shattering it  like dark glass.

My  mentor stepped in front of us, and the weight of the grave fell on the  room. Every single being backed off to the side, Talons and Shadowpact  alike, and even we retreated in the face of Jim's otherworldly aura of  death. His voice came out like permafrost as his monocle glinted in the  light, clearly fixed on the dark spectacled man in the dapper hat.  "Richard, dear boy did you just try to murder my disciple? Because I  must say old been that's hardly sporting. The poor lad is only a child.  He's hardly at your level of skill."

Anyone  who knew Jim knew that when he started talking extra British like that  it was time to duck and cover, but The Shade just waved his concerns  away "Oh pish tosh, you were standing right there. I was just trying to  get your attention old friend. I have better manners than to take pot  shots at your kiddies. But since you're taking this seriously now I  shan't be holding back. Come James, let's you and I revisit old times."  The Shade rapped his black cane on the ground in a manner highly  reminiscent of Jim himself and conjured forth his own power.

The  wave of shadows that rose up behind the man like a black tidal wave was  deeply unsettling. The shadows clumped up into grasping limbs and  tentacles and something about the darkness looked almost hungry. The  black wave rolled forward, looking like it would consume Jim and us and  the entire damn house. Jim rapped his cane exactly as The Shade had and  that same eerie graveyard bell that had rung out during his battle with  Zatara began to toll. The shadows lengthened again like the had last  time, but this time they stretched away from Jim creating a sort of  uncrossable barrier against the dark.

Jim's  normally softly glowing ethereal white suit was shining with a cold and  unearthly light. Normal light was warm and comforting like the sun,  reminding you of summer and the desert. But this light was harsh and  washed out. It was the light at the end of the tunnel, the final gaze of  fading sight a man gets before he died. This was the light of the great  beyond, and it drove back even that hungry unnatural darkness. The tide  of black that had been held back began to recede and as it did Jim  walked forward, driving it back a lone shining beacon of brightness in a  sea of creeping dark, looking untouchable in his bright white suit.

He  paused as he walked forward not looking back but raising his voice to  make it clear he was speaking to us"Random, Neith, Swap. This battle is  going to be your first real test in combat. I'll keep The Shade busy but  this will be a difficult fight for me. Given the numbers of Talons  Acheron and Nightshade won't be able to ensure your safety. Even with  Nimue's spells boosting your power and defense you could very well lose  your lives here. You are without a doubt some of the most promising your  thieves I've ever come across, but part of being a thief is being able  to survive any situation. Adaptation is key."

He  took a deep breath (which I wasn't sure was even necessary for him)  "I'm proud of all three of you, and look forward to teaching you many  more lessons in the years to come, so don't die here. Do what you need  to do to dispatch your opponents. These..things are nothing more than  the enslaved corpses of the honorable dead. Lay them to rest." I knew  that he was worried we might hesitate to kill the Talons. Artemis in  particular desperately didn't want to become her dad. With that last bit  of advice he resumed his slow terrifying walking into the center of the  cloud of shadows.

As  he approached The Shade the dark flooded out again closing in from  either side to create cylinder that began to spin like the world's  darkest goth-est funnel cloud. With our mentor and the two heavy hitters  were gone. I turned to see if the Talons were closing in and noticed a  fucking cleaver already coming at my head. However I had the boost from  Madame Xanadu's magic, and combined with my reflexes they might as well  have been attacking underwater. I reached into my coat and drew the  Holiday gun, and put two bullets into the Talons head.

It  had been almost reflex to double tap, the exact method of killing my  Uncle had used, but whether it was the gun being some kind of cursed  death weapon after all the dark magic and death that seeped into it in  the city, or having their brains blown out just made them unable to  function for a bit, the Talon dropped immediately. I still had fourteen  shots (the gun held fifteen and one in the chamber) and I advantage of  my speed and reflexes to pop seven more of the bastards Holiday style  before stowing the empty gun back in my coat. The timing worked out  because I had to hop back to dodge the kusarigama that was flickering  toward my throat.

After  ducking under the chain scythe I activated water walking and gracefully  flipped up onto the chain, running down the thing in an impossible  manner that seemed to stun even the undead killing machines. I leapt  forward with my tanto aimed at the chain Talon's spine but a spear  wielding Talon came out of nowhere and deflected the blow. I did a back  hand spring, which with super strength, perfect muscles and flawless  reflexes was so easy it bordered on obscene and retreated back out of  range glancing around to check on the others.

Reggie  was using his translocation to swap members of the team and Talons to  give our side a break or put their side in the way of attacks, while  Artemis was sniping the bastards in the heads from near the wall,  clearly having taken Jim's words to heart. Kitrina and Warlock's  Daughter were fighting back to back With the Shadowpact girl using dark  magic to keep the Talons off her while my cousin emptied a sawed off  twelve gauge into their heads. They didn't explode like normal people's  heads would, but they certainly went down.

Nightshade  and Acheron were playing crowd control with their magic, keeping any of  us from getting bogged down by the waves of unkillable assholes. The  Talon's I put down with the gun weren't getting back up, so black magic  death weapon was looking likely, but I still had to take care of the  rest of them. I made a mental note to try decapitation as opposed to  severing the spine. Having their heads cut off would probably at least  slow them down. A wave of throwing knives flashed toward me but with my  speed and reflexes deflecting them was child's play. I grinned to myself  beneath my mask, if they wanted my attention that badly I'd have to  give it to them.