Kevin Curry
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Devil's consultancy 9
🕑 Added 2024-07-04 00:39:23 +0000 UTCWas hoping I'd get this done this morning, but alas.
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It took about a month and two dozen civilian deaths, but the Arkham escapees were all finally back inside it. Gotham was relatively quiet as a result, with Batman’s attention turning towards the entrenched elements of organized crime.
As a result, the state of heightened alertness was relaxed. She could spend the early hours of the day at home again rather than playing pretend with the other children at the Waynetech daycare. It was fun, the children were adorable, and it helped her refine her persona a bit by seeing actual toddlers and older children in action, but it was tiring to socialize for hours on end, and she couldn't recharge with a good book or stimulating video game while there.
She managed to get some quiet time with naptime and with her first life's old standby, zoning out thinking about various things while plopped in front of a television (which inadvertently gave Bruce the impression that she was a fan of that popular girly show about the dolls that happens to air at 1pm every weekday, despite her insistence that she doesn't actually watch it), but it was good to be able to engage her mind more.
“Hey Tanya.” Richard greeted, already out of his private school uniform and dressed in his acrobat leotard. “What's that?”
Tanya snapped the next Lego brick into place. “It's the Akagi. One of the finest fleet carriers in the Japanese Navy during WWII.” Well, it was her best brightly colored approximation of it at 1/100 scale; eight feet long and one foot wide. A book with an appropriate picture was laid out next to her, as of course there was no official kit of this ship. She was dressed in what had become her usual ‘lazing around the mansion’ outfit: one of many fashionably childish lavender/black/white sundresses (lavender today), each designed by some famous fashionista. She usually wore long socks with it, but this room had a very comfortable rug so she had taken them off.
“...Why?” He asked, “Those are my Legos.” He didn't seem angry, but was at least a little annoyed at her for playing with his toys.
Tanya shrugged. “I vaguely recalled liking model ships back in Japan, so I decided to see if I still liked them.” She snapped another piece into place. So satisfying. “I do.” She said with a grin. Sitting on a soft rug while building something piece by piece satisfied both the sensory-seeking tendencies that she had picked up in this body as well as her long-standing need to feel productive, even when she wasn't actually being productive. She could only dedicate so much time on magical projects before she had to wait on something or other.
Richard took a moment to digest the statement, then decided to leave it be. “Well, I’m here because Bruce wanted me to practice moving while using your spell to make me stronger.”
Tanya blinked. “Oh. Well, I don’t see why not.” She’ll need to adjust the spell in order to be able to make it not weaken due to the time of day… “I’ll need a minute to compose a suitable rhyme.”
Richard frowned. “Why? Can’t you just use the normal one? Dark Knight’s squire, flying higher?” That’s not the full rhyme.
Tanya shook her head. “No, because tying you to Batman changes the nature of the magic.” The stronger the internal logic of the spell, the greater power is applied. “Casting it without Batman being active at the same time weakens the spell. Casting it during the day weakens it more. On top of that, Gotham’s inherent magic, what I draw on for the spell, ebbs and flows, and it’s in a weak phase right now.” It was because things were relatively peaceful and pleasant, was her theory.
“So you can’t give me super-strength?” Richard asked.
“No, I can.” Tanya affirmed. “I just need to account for all the variables.”
Hm, maybe if she… Ah. Yes, that will do. “Rhine. Berechnung. Mahou. Flying high and strong for his lesson, empower the body of the Flying Greyson.” Instead of the black shadowy power that she usually drew on, a series of fiery feathers flitted around the boy. They turned ectoplasm green before burning away, leaving him with an ethereal aura that slowly faded.
“Woah. That’s… amazing.” He said, wondering at himself.
Tanya nodded in agreement. “Yes… it appears to be stronger than I expected. I’ll need to do some research to figure out why.” Was it because she drew upon his status as the last Flying Greyson? Was it because she was drawing on a novel, previously untapped power source? Was it because of Lee’s Narrative principle, making a spell easier and stronger because it’s just for training?
…It was probably a combination of all three, to be honest. “Either way, you’ve gotten your augmentation. Best get to training.”
“Bruce also wanted you to train with me.” Richard added.
Ah, she had been putting that off, hasn’t she? “The Devil’s purpose is not to kill, but to instead pass on their skill.” Tanya intoned, transforming in a burst of fire.
“Let us go, to train for our foe.” Rhine said, wrapping them both in magic before teleporting to the training room in the Batcave.
Robin started on some acrobatics, leaping up to the balance beam from fifteen feet away and landing on one hand. Rhine floated into the air, high enough that any angle of attack would, by necessity, require an aerial approach that limited his options.
Granted, it didn’t limit his options by much, but it was better than nothing. It would also be foolish to position so in the presence of firearms, but Robin did not have such an armament. They could erect a barrier if needed as well.
As expected, Robin swung in a circle using his grapple, using the air time to throw half a dozen batarangs, which were easily brushed aside with a magic-coated wing. “These blades of inflicting only pain, are shrugged off as if mere rain.” Rhine scolded him, “To make their role larger, you must throw them harder.”
Robin was finished building momentum for a massive flying kick, but Rhine floated four inches out of the way and he flew right past them. As he went, Rhine severed his grapple line, grabbed his cape, and swung him towards the gymnastics mat, tugging at just the right point to snap the clasps and sending him flying uncontrollably towards the padded surface. “...How?” He asked after regaining control and landing on his feet.
“Compared to mages flying in the sky, your movements are so slow I don’t need to try.” Rhine replied. Now that they’re paying attention, they can feel the physical and reflex enhancement formulas acting automatically in this form.
“...I’m going to knock you out of the sky at least once before I’m done.” Robin swore.
He didn’t, but his tenacity and endurance were both praiseworthy.
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One annoying thing about being in Devil form is that being in Gotham was a little like coffee. The ambient mana generally leaves them stimulated and alert.
This was not the problem. The problem was when they left Gotham, as being outside of that magical environment made them lethargic and prone to drifting off into naps. It wasn’t anything some adrenaline couldn’t fix, but in the absence of life and death combat their psudeo-addiction to Gotham’s magic will significantly impede their ability to function outside of it.
“Hey. Hey.” The Flash whispered, poking Rhine’s stomach.
“I was napping, why the rapping?” Rhine whined, getting up from one of the many couches in the Hall of Justice.
“Where’s Bats?” The Flash asked. He took a glance around. “You’re usually shadowing him, literally.”
“The amazon wanted something, to ignore his allies is not becoming.” Rhine said, yawning as they stretched their wings. Honestly, they weren’t actually sure why ‘Wonder Woman’ wanted to consult with Batman in person.
“Batman ignores me all the time.” Flash pointed out.
“It is not difficult to reflect on why you do not earn respect.” Rhine replied, floating into the air so they didn’t have to touch the tile floor barefoot.
“Ouch.” Flash said, still smiling. “But… point.”
“If you required some real assistance, he would refrain from keeping distance.” Rhine said consolingly, patting the man’s shoulder. “He is a man on a mission, with a serious disposition.”
“He could use some lightening up, though.” Flash retorted.
“He is someone who can smile, when the mask is off a while.” Rhine assured him. “He merely wishes to keep apart his lives and circles, which is smart.”
That one was sufficiently obtuse that the Flash took a moment to decrypt their words. “Now I’m picturing him as a total party animal when the mask is off. Or maybe some kind of incredibly sappy family man.” He was surprisingly insightful for a man wearing a red onesie.
…Maybe they should change the subject. “Now that I’m up I’m bored, do you have a plan that’s not untoward?”
The Flash’s eyes lit up behind his mask. “NASA’s launching a rocket today. We have an hour until go time, you wanna see it with me?”
Rhine gave a thumbs up.
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“So why don’t you wear clothes normally?” Flash asked, licking an ice cream cone as they waited in the VIP viewing box.
They were unwilling to turn back into a human, for obvious reasons, and Wally was similarly unwilling to unmask, so they compromised by putting on additional clothes over their ‘hero uniforms’, which was a disregarding of human social norms regarding clothing in Rhine’s case. “Clothing serves no practical purpose for me, to fully explain would be too long a story.” At least when told as rhyming couplets. The real reason was that by the time they realized they could wear clothes as a devil, it was too embarrassing to admit that they simply forgot and thus they continued to use their soul’s birthday suit as a hero uniform. Only the most extreme temperatures bothered them and they didn’t have any anatomy to conceal, so it wasn’t very difficult to pretend that it was intentional. It helped that they generally spent little enough time in devil form that the metallic flesh felt more like a bodysuit they put on than skin, in addition to appearing as such to the unobservant.
Over his red bodysuit, Flash wore a T-shirt and cargo shorts with a baseball cap, while Rhine wore a hoodie that had a section cut away for their wings along with a tartan skirt. To conceal their lack of face, they wore some fake glasses and a facemask (both of which were affixed with tape). The overall image was that of a pair of superheroes that never take off their uniforms, like you would see in a child’s cartoon, disguising themselves very badly.
Somehow, this worked well enough to have them largely left alone, even in this room full of wealthy industrialists. Rhine suspected they merely did not want to be associated with such fashion disasters. Or the fact that they were a demon was one of the many whispered things they were discussing among each other.
“Next question: Why do you have wings when you don’t need them to fly?” Flash asked.
They do, actually. “They are required, point in fact, flight would be difficult without them intact.” To emphasize their statement, they twitch one of their wings, which triggered a minor drift to the right. “It would be difficult for my feathered down to use physics to fly while upside down.” They had gotten better at conversational rhyming during this trip. Very useful.
Flash blinked, stupefied. “Wait, you mean you have literally magical anatomy?” He took a moment to think about it. “That’s kinda neat.”
“It is not such a stretch given my life, magic was technology in my age of strife.” Rhine said sagely. They recalled the supplementary flight gear they first used over the Southern Continent. “Instead of flight gear like armored pants, a biotech example flying grants.” Ah, tripped over their words again.
“Ah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense.” Flash said, deep in thought. “Magic as technology, huh?”
Any further discussion on the topic was interrupted by Flash’s phone ringing. Faster than they could perceive, the phone was in his hand. “Hey Bats!” He said cheerily. “Yeah, she’s with me. We’re watching the rocket launch.” After a moment, he continued the conversation. “Because you were busy.” A pause as Batman replied. “Look, give me another ten to twenty minutes and I’ll have her back where I found her.” One last pause. “Hey, if I was anyone else, that would be fast for going right back! Jesus, we’re just having some fun, they’re about to start the countdown.” After another moment he hung up the phone.
…They definitely should have told Batman where they were going. While technically they have a cell phone, it was in some kind of limbo whenever they were in demon form and thus was out of service. He didn’t activate any of the summoning catalysts, nor the emergency summoning token in his utility belt, so he doesn’t need any help… probably. “Batman is one to fear, when his control is unclear.”
“Yeah.” Flash agreed, “He didn’t need to get on my case so much, though. How does he sound so menacing over the phone? Felt like the time I met Linda’s dad.”
Once again, his insight was unsettlingly close to the truth. “Just in case it was not clear, age is a barrier to dating here.” Depending on how it was counted, they were either too young, way too young, or too old for him. “Apparent is my lack of interest, just a friend shall I trust?
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” Flash said, waving off the sudden worry. “I have a girlfriend, she just doesn’t know about the whole…” He gestured to his bodysuit. “I’m working up the courage to tell her.”
“I’ve dated exactly never, I couldn’t speak on that topic ever.” Rhine said.
“Well, good thing they’re starting the countdown then.” Flash said as they turned towards the rocket. “This satellite’s supposed to detect meteors that could hit Earth.”
Did he not know? While that front story was technically true, it was only a small part. The actual job of the launch was to place a large object in orbit that could be replaced and expanded with a space station put there to be a base for the Justice League. Green Lantern had sourced some relatively inexpensive wormhole generators known as ‘Boom Tubes’ from his contacts to make travel between this ‘Watchtower’ and the surface manageable.
They were looking forward to seeing space.
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Selina Kyle had continued to attempt to claim some slice of the Wayne family fortune for herself, through the traditional method of seducing the heir. Bruce was quite taken with her, although he kept a necessary distance with the woman, appropriate for someone who had a secret superhero identity.
On a related note, there was a cat burglar in Gotham, another themed villain who liked stealing Egyptian cat statues among other priceless artifacts. She stole other valuable antiques and art objects, but if it had some kind of cat theme to it. She frequently escaped Batman’s pursuit through the expedient of flirting with the man and remaining nonviolent enough that he was unwilling to go to extreme lengths. The fact that she possessed the athleticism to approach Batman was impressive, though.
While the kleptomania of Miss Kyle was annoying in theory, her insistence on treating her crime spree as more of a game of skill, thrillseeking, made it somewhat endearing and abstract, as there weren’t really distraught victims in her wake, more aggravated rich people and angry museum curators who weren’t completely ruined by the “infamous master thief’s” actions. In fact, some of those museums experienced a massive spike in attendance after the thefts.
Tanya still opposed the idea of furthering the romanticisation of criminals on principle, but she didn’t really have the power to insist that Miss Kyle manage her kleptomania until it came time for talks of engagement and joining the family, where her opinion held some small amount of weight.
…Also, it was a bit hypocritical to insist that her issue was somehow less of a problem than Bruce’s whole mess of complexes that fueled his vigilantism hobby. She thought that it was definitely a bigger issue, philosophically, but that was admittedly splitting hairs. Bruce’s pathologically rigid code of conduct mitigates the harm he inflicts societally, but it’s definitely more actual harm inflicted on people than whatever the “Catwoman” does.
As one can expect, this was a complicated issue and Tanya had spent a lot of time thinking about it. Someone Tanya would deem psychologically appropriate probably wouldn’t take her whole situation well anyway, so Miss Kyle was more or less Bruce’s best shot with someone who can fit into Gotham high society.
The good news was that, as before, Miss Kyle didn’t hold any illusions that any prospective partner of Bruces wouldn’t need to gain the approval of both Tanya and Richard, and she didn’t even hesitate to appeal to the children she saw. She was surprisingly good at it, although all became clear the first time Bruce had to be pulled away by an emergency Waynetech thing (which may or may not be something that Batman was needed for) when all four of them were at the park and she was stuck babysitting. Miss Kyle decided to take the opportunity and took both of them to her apartment to meet her cats. She had thirty-four of them.
Tanya was more of a dog person, but that was primarily to do with the fact that dogs had the envious social role of being the designated jester, spreading happiness and joy without regard for propriety. It was something that she had the opportunity to enjoy herself in this new life, as being deemed ‘too stupid to understand what was going on’ was surprisingly freeing, although without the release of magical study and development she’s not sure she could have tolerated the act for this long.
Selina’s cats, on the other hand, were questing and curious, far from the aloof fuzzballs that she thought cats to be. The woman had directed Tanya to sit in the recliner when they came in, and that seemed to trigger some sort of message in the cats, who promptly started burying Tanya in their fuzzy bulk as they sniffed and rubbed themselves on her while mewing and purring softly.
Cats were pretty cool, too.
“So… can you just not smell that?” Richard asked, petting a cat that had literally leapt in his arms. A full charm offensive, apparently.
“My cats are clean, that’s just what cats smell like.” Selina defended, happily enjoying her own pile of cats. “Weren’t you in a circus? With elephants? Now that’s a strong smell.”
“...Good point.” Richard said, probably reminiscing about Zitka, the elephant he had befriended and retained a plush copy of. “How’re you doing, Tanya?”
The cats had started grooming her, and the many licks had provoked something of a giggle fit. “I’m fine!” She half-shouted between guffaws. “One of the cultists had an animal control spell and he did something similar with rats once.” After horrified silence from the two, she added: “He bathed them first.” Actually, the rats were charged with the task to wash her with shards of soap and sponges at the time, so it would have defeated the point if they were not themselves squeaky clean. She also had her demon physiology to thank to stop any other diseases. What ever happened to Mr. Flannegan? He wasn’t one of the high society members, so he was frequently absent from the meetings. She didn’t think he got caught up in Batman’s raid…
“Cult?” Selina asked weakly. At her distress, most of the cats fled Tanya and went to comfort her.
Shit, she shouldn’t have said that. Taking a deep breath to counteract the giggling. “Mommy was a cultist.” She explained matter-of-factly. “Daddy said not to tell people though.” One advantage of being born Japanese was a mastery in shifting forms of address based on context and relationship without needing to put too much emotion on the matter. It helped with masked identities and it helped with the shifting expectations placed upon her based on who knew what.
To her credit, Selina visibly calmed down and accepted this new fact into her worldview, and seemed encouraged by Tanya’s mistake in operational security. “Well, I knew magic was real, so it’s not so surprising.” She admitted casually.
“Really?” Richard asked, curious. “Can you use magic?”
“Only a little.” Selina said, “Most of my magic’s tied up with a little talisman.” She walked to her room and came back with what appeared to be a necklace with a hand-sized stone, a cat’s face carved with jet and with chrysoberyl eyes. The only reason she could identify the gem was because she recognized it.
Well, if they didn’t already know that Selina was Catwoman, that would point straight to her. It was the Talisman of Bast, the very first theft attributed to Catwoman, assigned as such about three burglaries later by Batman’s file on her. Unlike the other thefts, this one was kept quiet, not in the news, so assuming they wouldn’t recognize it was reasonable. “What’s it do?” Richard asked with interest, reaching out for it.
“Paws off.” Selina said defensively, putting it on. “It makes me as light as a little cat, letting me do…” She did a standing jump from her spot to the top of a cat tree three meters away. “This! Helps me see in the dark, too. It’s a fun toy, but not much else.”
Hm, it probably did a bit more than she was saying, but it made sense for her to downplay it in this circumstance.
Still… Tanya paused. “Did you feel that?” She asked.
Both Richard and Selina just looked confused. “No.” Richard said seriously.
So it was something magical. She took a moment to try and identify the feelings. It started… in her heart, and it was spreading throughout her body. The feeling was stronger… Oh. those are major arteries. Once the feeling reached her extremities, which took ten-ish seconds, it started to intensify, but it started at those extremities, going backward. Following her… blood. Shit. “Something’s about to happen!” She shouted, inserting a bit more hysteria in her words than they warranted. She leapt off the chair and went to a random spot on the carpet, not really sure what to do. The only thing she could think of that this could be was some kind of long-distance blood magic, but the only blood mage she knew was… Mother.
The instant the feeling reached her heart again, the magic fully saturating her blood, a demonic summoning circle sprung into existence and yanked her through space, flinging her straight into the comfortable embrace of Heather Graystone. “Lilith!” She exclaimed, hugging Tanya close to her.
Tanya relaxed. Okay, this was definitely a problem, but this didn’t seem like it was a dangerous sort of problem. Deflect, play along. “Mommy!” She declared, returning the embrace with equal fervor.
“Now, everything’s going to be okay, Lilith.” Mother said softly, “I hope that smug Mr. Wayne has been treating you nicely.”
“Daddy’s great!” Tanya said back, face settling into that dopey vacant grin that she used whenever she wanted to give the impression that zero thoughts were going through her head. “Does this mean you’re going to come home?”
Mother frowned. “Well, I knew I’d have to do this, but I was hoping otherwise.” Shit. Her eyes flashed red as the blood seeping from a cut on her shin started to writhe, floating into the air and forming into a small crown around Tanya’s head. “Look into my eyes…”
Well, she did actually know some anti-hypnosis techniques, so- wait, what was she thinking? Oh, Mommy’s here! Yay!
Nothing else was important.
Comments
Hex
Fun chapter! I'm curious to see how Tanya will act when all mind controlled.
