Sell you a Bridge chapter 114

Gotham City November 5th 2010 7:00 PM EDT

I  had to admit I wasn't necessarily against it, given the current  situation, but I still had to point out the obvious. "I mean, you say  that, but most of the time when I want to team up with someone I don't  surround them with assassins. This feels less like an invitation and  more like 'ye olde join up or die ultimatum'." I gestured around us at  the crowd of cannon fodder. "Not that I feel excessively threatened by  this lineup, but still, it doesn't exactly scream friendly chat." I did  my best to keep my voice confident without seeming mocking, but I saw  more than a few of them bristle in my aura sight. Despite that none of  the assassins reacted visibly, and I had to admit I was impressed.

I'd  considered how to play this, wondering about maybe keeping my strength  under wraps or trying to be low key, but in the end I just didn't really  want to. Biding my time and keeping my head down might have been  necessary for human me, but as a devil I was more than capable of  crushing these idiots. None of them were a real threat to me. Still, I  felt odd taking that stance, I'd been a bit smug before sure, but  nothing this extreme. Whatever the case, I knew that I wasn't going to  be playing possum here, putting aside things like reputation, I had no  clue what these people would do if they got their hands on me.  Pretending to be weak only to get dissected would be pretty fucking  lame.

More  importantly Zee was here, and I wanted to make it perfectly fucking  clear to anyone with eyes that touching my woman was absolutely not a  line you got to cross. I would mince the assholes into meat chunks  before I would let them put their hands on Zatanna. I turned my head  side to side, making sure they could see me looking them over even in  the mask. "But hey, if you need an army of bargain basement minions to  feel tough who am I to criticize. We all have out security blankets. I  hate leaving the house without a jacket on and you clearly don't like  going anywhere without a few dozen meatshields."

I  felt...stronger, after I said that. Not measurably more powerful, but  confident and firm in my convictions. I tried to think back to the  details of my devil race and I finally got what was happening. Pride.  Apparently I had picked a sin. Or it had picked me, I wasn't sure how it  worked. You would figure after pounding my insanely hot girlfriend like  a cheap drum every night for a week I would have been a shoe in for  lust, but pride did make a bit of sense too. Though I hadn't ever  vocalized it, I'd always considered myself better than other people.  Smarter, luckier, nothing crazy but just a cut above. Maybe it's a  Falcone thing, but now wasn't the time to go into it.

Now  that I knew what was affecting me though I needed to try to mitigate  it's influence. Pride could be an effective tool, but I'd always tried  to temper mine with pragmatism, and the urges I was feeling now very  much did not conform to that pattern. I was pretty sure if I let my  devil instincts run wild I'd kill every single one of these meatbags for  daring to oppose me, and that was a road I'd really rather not go down.  I'd already said my piece anyway, if it escalated now it was on them, I  had no real reason to push it further on my own. It helped that I saw  Zee shift out of the corner of my eye, clearly worried about what I was  doing.

Talia  raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. "Strange. You know enough about us  that I would expect caution, which leads me to believe you think  yourself in a better position than last time. Considering you were  overpowered by Shiva and Cheshire alone I would hazard a guess your  strength has increased by quite a measure. Those darling wings behind  you speak to a change in capability as well. Luckily there is no need to  test these capabilities. I speak truly, we wish to discuss an alliance,  my companions are here as an honor guard and nothing more. It gladdens  my heart that you aren't intimidated by them, I would have reconsidered  this alliance had you been a coward."

I  blinked at that. I saw from her aura that she genuinely meant that. She  wasn't shining me on. I had expected from the formality and Shiva's  attitude that Talia would be a haughty arrogant asshole. Apparently I'd  been judging her too harshly. She considered me someone worthy of  respect for being able to fight Shiva head on at my current age it  seemed, and I had to admit it was a flattering thing to see. These  people were serious customers and them taking me seriously was kind of  novel. I felt a bit bad about the posturing now. Zee however, did not.

She  cleared her throat. "That's all very nice, but the League of Shadows  are monsters, why would want to ally with you? Keep in mind the fact  that your breasts seem very perky for your age isn't actually a reason  so you can stop subtly leaning forward like that." I snickered  internally at that comment. It was always kind of hot to me when Zee got  jealous, and from her aura I could tell she was, if not actively  jealous, at least kind of annoyed that Talia was turning on the charm  right in front of her. I also smirked a bit at that 'for your age'  comment, and the spike of annoyance that went through Talia when she  said it. Apparently the assassin milf was sensitive about that.

Talia's  face however, never dropped the pleasant smile. She held up her hands  placatingly. "Apologies little one. I do not seek to entice your  paramour." Which was a lie, based on her aura. "I only wish to discuss a  mutually beneficial alliance with the two of you." I was curious as to  why she was trying to seduce me since I was A eighteen, and B, she'd  never met me before, but I just couldn't think of a reason. Well, I kind  of knew why, the shift in her aura that preceded the flirtation came  when she noticed my wings. My devil ability to understand languages told  me Al Ghul meant the demon, so maybe the had some kind of bat wing  kink?

I put  an arm around Zee's waist, pulling her back against me. "Say we believe  you, like Zee said why would we ally with you. How do we know you aren't  involved in all this." I gestured to the shield above the city.  Realistically I was pretty sure they were at least partly involved with  keeping the government out of the city so they could pick the dungeon  clean, but most of this had been Circe with a little unknowing help from  yours truly. Still I wanted to know what they knew and this seemed like  a good time to pump her for information. Plus maybe I could weasel some  kind of information on who the hell was playing with the military.

Talia  frowned, looking up at the sky. "I can understand your suspicion. The  Shadows have accomplished great things throughout history. That said you  have my word that this sorcery does not originate with us. We find  ourselves cut off from the majority of our forces and support and in  need of allies against these hostile forces. We know of your  relationship with The Gentleman Ghost, and of your own skill, and we  considered you the best possible ally we could find. The Justice League  are petty and high handed, unwilling to look at the bigger picture, but I  feel you may have more foresight than that."

Translation:  the League wouldn't want to work with assassins but since I'm a thief  my moral compass doesn't point true north anyway so they figured I'd be  more likely to play ball. I'd like to bitch about the assumption but  honestly it was kind of a fair assessment. I actually didn't care that  much about teaming up with them. Most of them that was. I pointed at  Sportsmaster. "Not him. I'm willing to set up a meeting with my mentor  and facilitate talks of an alliance, though it would need to be later  because we have pressing business, but that asshole can't be involved. I  want him on the other side of town from wherever my team is at all  times."

Sportsmasters aura  flared with rage at the dismissal, but Talia didn't even blink. "Done.  As for the delay, we can wait, I understand you might be worried about  any loved ones you might have in the city. I propose a meeting tomorrow  night at the Gotham Botanical Gardens. Poison Ivy is still incarcerated  in Arkham after the Injustice Society attack so it should be empty of  threats." Left unsaid was the fact that creepy dark indoor forests would  be a huge benefit to the Shadows given their skillset, but then, they  would also be a benefit to us, and I wasn't afraid to match ninja skills  with the scrubs if need be. I looked to Zee, who seemed uncertain, but  clearly understood the circumstances because she just nodded.

I  agreed, and the ninjas began to melt back into the shadows they were  named for, with Talia turning to leave as well without another word,  though she did put a nice sway in her hips, clearly still hoping to get  my attention. Definitely a demon fetish or something. Zee noticed me  looking and smacked the back of my head lightly. Not enough to hurt but  just to show me she'd noticed and I chuckled and pulled her against me,  laying my head on her shoulder in silent apology. She pushed me away  with a laughing huff but I knew from her aura she wasn't really upset.

Shiva  had followed Talia, leaving behind Sportsmaster and Cheshire. The cat  masked girl was hanging back uncertainly, but the man in the hockey mask  stalked forward menacingly. "Who the fuck do you think you are kid? You  think you can just order me around? That I'm some pushover? I'm  Sportsma-" He was cut off as I opened a portal right under his feet and  dropped him through a shadow of a skyscraper about five hundred feet  above our heads. I watched him from a distance with my enhanced  eyesight, and then opened another portal in the shadows a few feet below  the first.

He'd  only actually fallen about five feet total, but he'd gotten to  experience plummeting to his death before he'd gotten scooped back up.  He hit the ground hard with a grunt of pain, still too terrified from  getting dropped from building height to properly absorb the impact. I  didn't bother to threaten him or say anything else, I just turned and  walked away. Sportsmaster wasn't the kind of person to listen to empty  threats. This way would be much better. Now he knew I could get him at  any time, with no warning, and I wouldn't even have to touch him to do  it.

I put my  arm around Zee as we walked away from the father daughter pair,  Sportsmaster vomiting up his lunch on hands and knees as his body came  down from the adrenaline of going from standing to falling from a great  height to smashing into the ground right back where he started. My  girlfriend, who was incredibly protective of Artemis was beaming at me  happily as we walked, my wings fanned out behind us to stop him from  trying to take a shot at us as we walked away. I wasn't too worried  though. Sportsmaster got the message, and if he hadn't? Well, maybe next  time I wouldn't bother with the second portal.