2nd September
09:06 GMT -5
Mister Swift manages -
with some effort- to push himself into a sitting position, all the while grinning like a loon. He's recovered his glasses and they dangle loosely from his left hand while he wipes his eyes with his right.
"
Oh, my word.
Hahaha-.
No, no, mustn't start
again."
He makes a sort of choking-gulping noise, ducking his head slightly to avoid seeing anything that might set him off.
Circe gives me a puzzled look. "Was that supposed to happen?"
No. "I was about to ask
you that."
She gives her head a small shake. "I was quite careful to merely extract the dwarf. I felt nothing which suggested-."
"There some kinda problem here?"
A
dishevelled man dressed and coiffed like a detective from a seventies television-. Sinestro,
who is-?
Detective Sergeant Matthew O'Dare, Corpsman.
"Matthew! Matthew!" Mister Swift scrambles to his feet and with an unsteady gait walks towards the man. "Wonderful news!"
"Oh yeah?" Detective O'Dare takes a moment to size me up, his eyes moving briefly over Circe and Mister Culp before returning to Mister Swift. "What's that then?"
"
I don't know!" Mister Swift lays both his hands on Detective O'Dare's shoulders. "But it's really good!"
"O-kay. Dickie, if you were anyone else I'd ask if you'd been drinkin'."
"No! No. No no. Quite… Quite the opposite. It's like a
veil has been lifted from my temperament and I can finally see the world for the wonder it is!" Mister Swift steps back, arms falling loosely to his sides as he stares upwards at the skyscrapers around us.
Aah. That might-.
Detective O'Dare glares at me. "Did you do somethin' to him? And who's the midget?"
I half-turn to where Mister Culp is sprinting across the park, then
grab him with a construct glove and
pull him back. "This is Simon Culp. He was possessing Mister Swift, and may have been influencing his actions for some time."
"And you know that
how?"
"I'm a
god. When someone's motives aren't their own-" I
take my goggles out of subspace and tap them with my left hand. "-they don't look the same."
"But of
course." Circe nods to herself with a minor huff of irritation. "It's obvious. So many mortal supervillains waste excessive amounts of time in revenging themselves on their foes. The way they were interfaced would only allow him to take control
some of the time, but if he were prepared to reduce that then he would be able to exert constant
influence."
Mister Swift's cane shoots after him on a wave of shadow sludge as he
strides towards Pyle Avenue. He spins as he catches it, his greatcoat morphing into a tailcoat as he does so. "
I love to laugh!
Loud and long and cleeeeeeear!"
I watch him go. "So rather than use Mister Swift's godlike power for something
productive, Mister Culp focused on making him feel miserable instead. Which he is now
not feeling, perhaps for the first time since the Second World War."
"And I'd've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you and your stupid bitch-whore girlfriend!"
Violet lights dance around Circe's right hand as she turns to where Mister Culp hangs in the air from my construct. "What a curious idea. I've never made a
Slug-man before."
I gently push her hand down. "Why.. don't.. we just hand this grubby little miscreant over to the lawful authorities." I raise my eyebrows at Detective O'Dare. "I'm
reasonably confident that possession is illegal in Maryland?"
"Not specifically, but controlling someone by the use of super powers
is." He takes a pair of handcuffs off his belt and approaches Mister Culp, who-. My goodness, who curses him in no uncertain terms. "Mister Culp, you're under arrest. Grayven, I don't know exactly what's going on here, but I don't think Dickie should be wandering around on his own."
I lean to the side and watch Mister Swift as he prances up to a flower stand and grabs a bucket of roses. "No problem. We'll keep an eye on him."
"Be sure you
do. Dickie's got a lot of friends 'round these parts." I
drop Mister Culp at his feet and the Detective gives the man his full attention. "Mister Culp. You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Do you understand?"
"…
monkey-sodomising pederast!" Mister Culp focuses his
ire on the Detective. "
And you!"
"
Do you understand!"
"
I will shove my hand into your throat and pull out your still beating heart!"
"I'm gunna take that as a 'yes'. Second part: anything you
do say may…"
Circe and I proceed in the direction of Pyle Avenue ourselves. "Where
is he going?"
"Not
sure." I watch him step into an alley and disappear into the shadows.
Ring?
Subject 'Richard Swift' has appeared in 'Opal Gem', a jewellery shop in Fattata Plaza.
Okay, I'm going to say 'hush tube' this time, because this is getting str-.
Subject 'Richard Swift' has appeared in the Central Precinct of the Opal City Police Department.
Huh. I wonder why-?
And Circe's gone. Talking to your power ring in your head is
not a free action.
Ring-.
I'm trying not to feel ignored, Corpsman.
Oh. Sorry.
Hush tube to where he is.
Certainly, Corpsman.
The tube opens in front of me and I pass through at an amble.
"…
darling, the light of my life!"
Mister Swift is kneeling at the front of a briefing room full of police officers, the bewildered
officer giving the day's assignments warding off a shadow hand which keeps trying to thrust the flowers he purchased into her chest. I think she's blushing slightly.
"
I would like it very much if you would agree to marry me."
He opens the ring box and
looks up at her longingly.
"Richard, are you
drunk?"
There's a collective
groan from the watching police officers.
"
Never more sober or sane. At least not for the past seventy years.
I am in fact completely serious."
She goldfishes for a moment, then looks at the smiling police officers, then at
me and… Circe disguised herself as an officer.
"Right,
EVERYONE OUT!"
