Sell you a Bridge chapter 35

Unknown Warehouse July 10th 2010 2:00 PM EDT

The  meeting with my dad the next day was a few hours after noon. I'd  slept...poorly the night before. I'd expected the nightmares, but I also  had a sense of growing paranoia about being alone. Being by myself  forced me to think about something other than what was going on, and  that inevitably involved Annabel. I did everything possible to avoid  being on my own at all times, distracting myself with being around my  friends or watching TV.

I was up to  twenty points and even considered looking for sleeping pills with my  powers but in the end I elected to save them in case I needed them for a  fight. Mom, Paula, Claire, and Callie, were all gone on their cruise,  and the Court would have a better chance of wrangling the Flying  Dutchman than catching them while they were away. My dad had arranged  another meeting at the warehouse where he met me before. However, this  time seemed a lot more formal. I wore one of the top quality suits I'd  gotten before my last night with Annabel.

I  also came alone, this was Falcone business, and that never went well  for people who weren't in the Family. My arrival was fairly subtle,  considering the whole ninja thing. I didn't bother with the guards,  using shadow movement to pass them and arrive inside to meet my dad. I  appeared in the chair across from him, but once I arrived I noticed  something fairly shocking. The person sitting in the chair wasn't my  dad, he was older, with striking eyes and silver hair and an aquiline  nose. Carmine Falcone. The Roman. My grandfather had come for a visit.

Dad  and Kitrina stood quietly behind him, heads down and eyes on the ground  in a posture on unconscious subservience. I could understand the  impulse. It had been years since I'd seen the old man and I'd forgotten  what being around him was like, the sheer sense of pressure and  authority. What little of the feeling I remembered I attributed to being  a kid at the time, but that was clearly not the case. Carmine Falcone  had managed to rule an empire in one of the most horrible cities in the  world for decades, defending against supervillains, the Court, and who  knew what else. He was not a man to be crossed.

Still,  I wasn't either, at least not anymore. I smiled calmly at the old man.  "Grandpa, good to see you again. It's been a while. You never call, you  never write, if you wanted a visit you could have picked a better time."  Losing Annabel had messed me up something fierce, and honestly things  I'd been afraid of before didn't seem so bad. My grandfather had  presence like nobody else, but I just couldn't find it in myself to be  intimidated. Still the banter fell flat fast and I decided to just get  to the point. "I assume you're here to talk to me about this mess with  the Court of Owls?"

The  old man just smiled "You aren't wrong. You certainly have created a  fuss. Mario tells me however that you weren't responsible for the young  lady's death. I reached out to the Powers family but they aren't willing  to accept the story unfortunately. The Court appears somewhat divided  on the issue as a matter of fact. I've been in contact with some old  friends in their ranks and though we will be forced to bear arms against  them I was able to arrange for about half of their number to stand  down."

I  chuckled "So you're saying someone in the Court want's to use us to  destroy their competition so they can run things? How do you know they  won't just mop up whats left of your forces after you take out the  Powers family and their allies?" Those tactics books Jim had me binging  had really come in handy, and I'd picked up a fair bit of political  acumen from the etiquette and court intrigue books he'd given me. I was  kind of in awe of the depth of the foundation he was laying for me, the  list of books seemed endless but they had prepared me for most  situations.

My  grandfather looked...proud. "Well spotted. It won't be an issue, we  aren't stupid enough to commit all our resources to one front. If they  try to attack when we're down they'll run into more trouble than they  would ever expect. The issue is that this will not be a fast process. It  will take months to purge even a section of the Court. We'll have to  move very carefully to avoid exposing weakness to outside forces. I may  not fear the other half of the Court but if the Shadows decide to move  in it would be...problematic."

He  gave me a serious look "I don't enjoy this situation. I realize it's  not entirely of your own making, but it's a big risk for us." His face  softened a bit "But you are still my grandson. I won't allow you to come  to harm under my watch." A flash of pain passed through his eyes as he  looked over at Kitrina "I've made that mistake before. Putting more of  my attention on the Family than the people in it. I won't lose a  grandchild like I lost my son. This will be slow and dangerous. Stick  with Gentleman Jim, I'll be in touch with him about acting as your body  guard."

It  was an odd feeling for me. Feeling pride and safety because of my dads  side of the family. But I couldn't stop the smile that pulled at my lips  when he told me that. I was touched "The boss is already on it. We may  have some other avenues to explore, he's taking us somewhere tonight to  look into it. The Family might not be in this alone." If grandpa and dad  were going to put their full support behind me like this I'd do the  same for them. Whatever help we could swing from Jim's magic friends  would have their backs.

I  could tell from his smile that he understood my intentions "I  appreciate it Morgan, and we won't turn it down, but make sure to  protect yourself first. Even we can't seem to find your mother, which is  impressive, so she should be safe wherever she is, but the Court didn't  get it's reputation for no reason. They have other tricks up their  sleeve besides just the walking corpses they call enforcers. Their means  are terrifying, especially within the city. Keep your guard up and your  head down, and wait for us to handle things." With that he stood and,  with a nod turned and walked out of the warehouse.

I  watched him go with a feeling of gratitude. It felt good to be able to  depend on family. I wasn't used to that, but I liked it. My dad stepped  forward, sitting down where grandpa had been. "He's proud of you, you  know. He kept an eye on you over the years, we both did. After what  happened with your uncle we didn't want to take the risk you would  resent the family. But you never did. The last month has seen some  pretty big changes from you, and he likes what he sees." He paused, eyes  flashing with sadness "And he can see you're hurting. How are you?"

I  just shrugged "Conflicted. She meant a lot to me, but that's all mixed  up with the bad feelings over what she did at the end. I'll get past it.  I have some good friends who helped me a lot. Tell me the truth though,  how bad is this going to be? I can tell he's downplaying it for my  sake." My aura sight made picking up things like that pretty simple,  though even without it it wasn't hard to tell he was trying to shield me  from what was going to happen as much as possible. "The Court is pretty  scary but they can't be that bad, can they?"

He  sighed and rubbed his temples. "It'll be war. We aren't the only people  chafing under the Court's rule. Dad tends to be more laissez faire  about his management style as long as people obey his core rules. The  Court are micromanaging narcissistic assholes and plenty of the current  regime hate them. Whoever mad a deal with dad inside the court is  underestimating him, and Gotham in general. Once the Court shows  weakness all the Families and most of the local supervillains are going  to tear them apart."

I  could hear the concern in his voice as continued "But the thing is we  don't want that. The Court has been here for generations, their  infrastructures hold up the city. Even if Gotham could survive without  them, which we don't know if it can, once the supervillains and crime  bosses start fighting for turf all the old vendettas are going to ignite  again. It'll be a blood bath, and it won't stop until one man is left  standing over the whole city. And it won't even be a sure thing. Not  everyone hates the Court. They take care of their own. Some of the  villains and even a Don or two will come down on their side, plus they  have the money to hire plenty of muscle from outside the city."

That  was all...troubling. "Yeah that does sound bad." Was this really the  only way? Was there no other chance to stop the court than burning down  the whole city and killing potentially thousands of people? I could only  hope that Jim's friends had another way to settle things. I couldn't  live with myself if my stupidity led to mass casualties in Gotham. I  felt so damn trapped, like there was no way out here. I had the intense  urge to get another power, but I wasn't sure what good that would do,  nothing I could afford anytime soon would be helpful. I made a note to  look for some limited stuff that might be applicable.

He  gave me a reassuring smile that his aura definitely didn't reflect.  "Don't worry about it kid. Us old timers have been around the block a  few times, we can handle this. Besides" he shot me a wink "the Falcone  family has a way of turning crisis into opportunity. Game isn't over  until the last buzzer goes off, and there's no telling who might get a  few lat goals in." He stood up as well, stepping forward to give me a  hug "We have your back, no matter what. Name or not, you're family."

He  shot me a grin "Speaking of family, this mess is going to be rough, and  we can't have our little ones in the way. You aren't the only one who  is going to be working under Gentleman Ghost." He gestured Kitrina  forward. "Kit is going to be coming along for her own protection too, so  you two can catch up and get to know each other. Think of it like a  family reunion." He pulled a coat that I hadn't even noticed off the  back of the chair and slipped it on, then pulled Kit and me both into a  hug. "I love you two. Let us take of the big stuff, just focus on  keeping safe."

Then  he turned and walked out. I turned to Kit. Her aura was...very  conflicted, but I didn't see any anger or resentment towards me which  was surprising. I'd expected her to hate me for dragging them into this.  She saw me looking and smiled " Well cousin, seems like we're going to  be bonding for a while. Why don't you show me to our new digs." And with  that last comment she also turned and sauntered out of the warehouse.  It was hard not to chuckle at the thought that she was going to have to  sit out there and wait once she finished her dramatic exit so I could  give her directions. She really was my cousin.