Sell you a Bridge chapter 115

O'Malley Penthouse November 5th 2010 8:00 PM EDT

We  made it to the penthouse without much more trouble. I guided us with my  stealth skills just in case because I didn't want to get caught in  another ambush, but it didn't seem like it was necessary. Once we were  safely at the building we headed inside, and I felt a slight shift as we  walked through the door, showing me that Gojo was apparently taking  things at least a bit seriously for once. As we climbed into the  elevator to head upstairs Zee finally spoke up after remaining silent  for most of the trip. "So, that was Sportsmaster huh? Do you think he  knows who you are?"

I'd actually  considered that, but I shook my head. "I doubt it, he would have tried  to use it as leverage. Cheshire actually cares about Artemis enough to  pay attention, it's why I'm pretty sure she figured it out, but I'd be  shocked if Lackwit Larry even bothered to find out if his daughter has  friends. Cheshire isn't likely to tell him either, despite wanting his  approval she hates him almost as much as Artemis does, at least from  what I've been told. The whole thing is just a mess. I'd like to think I  scared him off but sadly I've got this feeling that it won't be that  easy."

Sportsmaster  was a bastard and a bully but he wasn't a coward. Traumatizing him out  of the blue like that was my best shot at getting him to stay away, and I  was really hoping he would use his orders as an excuse to do what I  wanted out of fear. That said, the asshole had an ego the size of  Jupiter, and it was just as likely he would lose his mind at being look  down on and dig in his heels. Zee seemed to think so too, because she  was frowning and chewing her lip like she did when she was thinking.

I  pulled her close. "It's fine. We can warn Artemis he's in town.  Honestly he isn't a threat to her anymore, I just really don't like him  and wanted to scare him off. She can handle herself, hell, it might even  be better for her to do it on her own. I hope she isn't pissed I tried  to do it for her." I winced because I hadn't even considered that before  I acted. It would be reasonable for her to get angry at me for butting  in like that. I kind of hoped she would see it as me trying to avoid a  conflict rather than some kind of condescending coddling thing.

Zee  chuckled. "Traditionally it's better to try to consider consequences  BEFORE you take the actions that spawn them, but in this case I'm sure  it'll be fine. You didn't do anything permanent to him, just put the  fear of devil into his abusive ass so she can always track him down  herself if she wants closure on this."  I wasn't quite so sanguine,  since Artemis could be unreasonable when she was in the mood to be, and  her dad being involved would basically guarantee she would be in that  mood, but Zee was right in that there wasn't much point to dwelling on  it now.

We  finally reached the penthouse and stepped out, heading down to my place  only to open the door and be tackled by my mother. She grabbed both of  us in a rough hug and squeezed us tight. "I'm so glad you're both ok!  I've been worried sick about you, are Artemis and Reggie safe too? I've  been on the phone with Claire whenever I have the chance, she says she  hasn't heard from him yet today. " She pulled back, yanking us along.  "Where have you two been? You told me it wasn't safe to talk about it on  the phone but now that you're here I want to know what the hell has  been going on? I usually give you plenty of leeway, but during an  invasion is no time to push me."

She  shut the door behind us and Paula stepped out from behind the door.  With my speed and reaction time, it was easy to see the kitchen knife  she'd been holding vanish up her sleeve, and the older woman stepped up  and pulled me into a hug. I decided to give my mom a partial answer. "We  weren't in Gotham. Not exactly. We have a spot on an island out in the  the harbor that the Amazon's passed by. That's actually why we're here.  We wanted to bring you guys out there so you could stay safe."  Theoretically they would be safe here too, but somehow it was hard to  completely trust the silver haired lunatic I could see hanging upside  down off the side of the couch snoring loudly.

Mom  noticed my gaze and chuckled. "Satoru had been pretty tired lately. I  think the invasion has him feeling bored and cooped up. He's been  nothing but supportive though." I raised an eyebrow at that. More likely  Gojo was using way more energy than expected keeping the shields on  this place active full time. I felt a bit bad for assuming he was  fucking off, but either way that meant that it was a better call to come  get them. Gojo would get a break and we would be able to keep an eye on  our parents.

After  hearing the plan my mom agreed to come with us once Gojo woke up, my  response to which was to go get a glass of water and throw it in his  face. Zee and Mom giggled as the sputtering man fell over off the couch  with a squawk, his hair sopping wet as he rubbed his head. "Ouch!  Unnecessary! You could have just shaken me awake you know." I was ninety  percent sure he'd already been awake and was just acting up because he  wanted to ease the tension for my mom. I could only see bits of his aura  but I knew he'd been aware of everything I did and had let the water  splash on him so I'd played along.

My  mom covered her mouth, trying desperately to muffle her snorting  laughter as she walked over to help her boyfriend up. "Alright you two,  that's enough. Morgan that wasn't nice. You know how much you hated it  when I used to do that to you." I shuddered. She had used to do that to  me. Except she used ice water. Granted it was crushed ice so I didn't  get whacked with any cubes but still, I had nightmares about waking up  to ice baths. The six month period of my life where I had slept through  several of the first classes of my day at school ended pretty quickly  once she started doing that to wake me up.

Gojo  meanwhile just grinned and waved it off. "Oh it's fine Marie-chan.  Morgan is just on edge from the city being such a mess I'm sure."  Honestly him being in on the joke like that made me like him more, it  was refreshing to see someone powerful who could laugh at themselves.  I'd kind of figured he would just use his shield thing to divert it and  pretend I'd just missed him or something. He grinned at us. "Now, I was  half asleep but I think I heard someone mention a trip and I've been  dying to go out. Do you think we can stop for taquitos? I've been dying  for the ones they have at that food truck down the road but I wasn't  sure if they were open during the invasion."

Weirdly  they probably were. For some reason the restaurants and food places  were being left alone even by the criminals. I mean I was sure they were  still collecting protection money, but nobody wanted this to turn into  some post apocalyptic famine or some shit I guessed. We'd passed like  twelve open fast food places and a few nicer restaurants on the way  here. The only place we'd seen that was actively damaged was a burnt out  Rally's, and honestly if it had been empty and still in good condition I  might have burned it down myself, so that one at least was reasonable.  The food there was absolutely sickening.

Mom  spent a few minutes looking around and making sure she'd packed  everything, double checking her bags (which I was going to have to carry  I just knew it). Zee wandered up as we watched her work. "So, dumb  question maybe, but why are we bringing the teleporter to your school  instead of using it here where it'll be safe and protected? It seems  like a place like this would be perfect to hide the pad." I had to admit  I got her logic, but I'd already talked this over with Jim and we'd  decided what to do together.

Still,  I nodded to concede her point. "You're not wrong, but this place is so  close to the tower that it kind of renders the point moot. The academy  has some distance from our first and third pads, and it gives us a good  spread so we can more easily reach a larger portion of the city quickly.  As for being discovered that is a concern but there are some places Jim  and I are pretty sure no one will check, and even of someone finds it  they would need to both know what it is and have the power to destroy  it, given that it's impossible to use the things unless you're on the  white list."

When  Mom got her stuff together we all set out, and we made pretty decent  time getting to the school. Unsurprisingly, once we got there we found  the place empty. Even Gotham isn't blase enough about loss of life to  make kids go to school during an invasion. We got to work setting up the  pad right away, despite the actual physical function being mostly part  of the construction there were some small rituals we needed to  undertake, to set the thing up, and I had to add everyone to the white  list so people could use it. The list was individual to each pad but  once they connected to the network so to speak I could edit permissions  from any of the pads for everywhere.

I  gave universal permission for all the active pads to Jim, Artemis,  Reggie, and Zee, and set up permission for this pad for Mom, Paula, and  Gojo and for Claire and Callie for the one at Reggie's place. Once that  was done and we had the thing set up in the old maintenance closet  behind the bleachers we all headed back to the island. Paula was  ecstatic to see Artemis, and Reggie had shown up with Bette in tow,  something we'd discussed if he ran into her. The reunions were all very  sweet and we got everyone settled down as Jim returned with Madame X and  Blood, each of the new occupants getting their own room in Doomhollow  Hall.

Finally  though, I had a chance to talk to Jim alone. My mentor was sitting at  his usual spot, pouring over the map and making notes on patterns and  movements of various forces. The thing was colossal of course, and with  the zoom function even days of focus was far from enough to get a bead  on the whole city. When I sat down he didn't bother to look up, his  currently visible face glued to the map. "What can I do for you Morgan?  If you're hoping for a next step I have nothing so far, I should be able  to give you some options once I've finished more of my analysis."

I  chuckled at that. "Well good news then, because you won't need to give  me any options for now. We have a meeting." That caught his attention  and he looked up at me, raising an eyebrow. "I was waylaid by the  Shadows again when we were on our way to get Mom. Talia wants a meeting  with you. She says she's interested in an alliance against the Amazons.  I'm inclined to hear her out personally given the mess the city is in,  but whether you go is obviously up to you."

I shrugged, then stood up to  leave. "Either way I'm going to go take a look, though to be fair I'm also just mostly sure they can't stop me from leaving so it won't be much risk." I started to head out of the room but stopped with a devilish smile, looking back over my shoulder. "Oh, by the way. I think Talia might be immortal or at least  long lived, and she's super hot. Maybe you can work your Gentleman Ghost  magic and seduce her so she doesn't betray us." I had to admit his  response amused me. It was rare to see my mentor feeling childish enough  to give someone the finger.