Resurrectionists (part 20)
- Location
- Hampden Park
23rd September
09:03 GMT -5
"How are our happy campers?"
Ambrose shrugs as he ambles over to the cell door. "Not enjoying being back in the world of the living all that much." He slides the first hatch open-
"-owhnrghnooraagh-."
-and closes it again.
"Has he.. been doing that since I brought him here?"
"Pretty much. He quietens down sometimes, but that's about it. He hasn't slept, he doesn't want to eat or drink and he goes berserk if I try going in the room." He looks at me curiously. "What's he saying?"
"He's just.. sort of incoherently moaning."
He nods. "Explains why I couldn't translate it. What do you want done with him?"
"What do you mean, what do I want done with him? We need to try and calm him-."
"You do realise that he's come back from Hell, yeah?"
"I.. considered it a possibility."
"Look…" He sighs, looking away for a moment. "Hindus, ancestor worshippers, druids… None of the places they go to are…"
"Appalling affronts to sanity which serve to disprove the moral righteousness of the Source?"
"More like 'mind-bendingly awful'. I don't know what it says about the Source. Point is, no matter how much of an asshole they were, none of the other people you tried this on go there. But someone called 'Ganguly', living in Malaysia but coming from India? Probably a Muslim. Same with the others."
"And he didn't make the cut for the Silver City."
"Angels are pretty fair. Given what he was doing, it's a fair bet he didn't keep up his end of the deal. So down into the ditch of Hell he goes."
"And that's why you should always shoot the missionaries." Ambrose gives me an amused snort. "No, seriously. If the aim is to weaken the forces of Hell, why would you ever try converting people to a religion that gave them a better than average chance of going there? You'd just be giving the Demons more fuel."
"I guess the prophets thought people would sort themselves out if the alternative was eternal torment. I suppose they overestimated people."
"He was down there fifteen months. In your professional opinion, is he likely to snap out of it?"
"In my professional opinion?" I nod. "No idea."
I bow my head slightly and close my eyes. "Thank you, Mister Bierce, for that extremely helpful answer."
"I've called souls out of Hell before, and they were mostly… Okayish. I've never tried putting one in a living body before. That could be the problem."
"I hate to bring it back to this, but… Ah."
He rolls his eyes. "John Constantine."
"Y.. es. Are you aware of the existence of his demonic alter-ego?"
"As a matter of fact, I've been getting letters from him." I frown at him, left eyebrow raised. He smirks. "No word of a lie. I think he's using me as a Constantine stand-in as well."
"But getting back to the point: if people can go to Hell and not go completely mental, am I right in assuming that he will be alright eventually? Do we just need to.. play him the Indian equivalent of Care Bears on a loop? Get an Imam in?"
"I'd rather not."
"I know most Muslim denominations aren't keen on magic, but I'm sure I could find one who'd look on this as an opportunity to save a soul."
"No, I mean the Care Bears thing. I have Demons in here sometimes."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"He isn't acting like someone who'd just been tortured. Sure, that would explain it if he jumped whenever he heard a noise or saw someone. It doesn't explain the babbling."
"So, what? Do you think the Pit did something.. wrong?"
"Exotic alchemy, geomancy and Hell magic? That would be my guess. Could still be temporary, or…"
"I could have caused permanent damage to the structure of his soul." He nods. "Do you know..? How it works. Going to Hell."
"What, like, exactly how bad you have to be?"
"No. Clearly, you can be bad and still go somewhere else. I mean… How… Attached do you have to be to monotheism to be caught? And what happens to atheists?"
"I guess that once they experience consciousness without a body, they start believing. And they just default to whatever religion is normal in their culture."
"I.. hesitate to ask, but given how similar to John-."
"Hah! Oh, don't worry about me. I've got a deal with Coyote."
"Sensible. Considering, anyway. Any idea for how we can fix them?"
"I've warded the rooms so no more Hell magic can get in. Another set of runes should be draining away what he's already got. That should sort him out. Or at least get him to the point where he can sort himself out. But you're probably going to need to put him in restraints so we can force feed him before too long. Human bodies don't last long without water."
I nod. "Can you get another couple of cells like this set up? I'm not totally sure on the religious preferences of our next few subjects-."
"Look. Paul. Are you really sure you should be doing this at all?"
"Yes. Why do you think I shouldn't?"
"Because we don't know anything like enough about how this magic works? We don't know what the longer term consequences are. And okay, you don't care all that much about the criminals, I get that. But you said you want to use it on Jade's innocent victims as well."
"Just because they weren't known to be criminals, that doesn't mean that they hadn't done enough to get sent to Hell. So I've got the choice between taking the risk that they might come back a bit confused, or leaving them in the worst place in the universe. The longer I wait, the longer they're in there. If they are in there. If they're anywhere else other than the Silver City, we can ask them. If they're in the Silver City… It probably won't work."
"Or you'll have the Angels on your ass."
"I've been working under the assumption that I'll have to fight them eventually anyway." I slide the Sword of the Fallen out of its sheath. "If this worked on the First…"
Ambrose puffs out his cheeks. "Okay, how about the fact that you're sending the people exposed to their afterlives off on their own without monitoring them. There's all sorts of things that would love a living host."
"I may not be monitoring them full time, but I am keeping an eye on them." Lantern Xor's first job for me. "But that threat is something we also need experience on. Anything else?"
He looks unconvinced, but gives his head a small shake.
"Right. I'll get to work on the next group."
09:03 GMT -5
"How are our happy campers?"
Ambrose shrugs as he ambles over to the cell door. "Not enjoying being back in the world of the living all that much." He slides the first hatch open-
"-owhnrghnooraagh-."
-and closes it again.
"Has he.. been doing that since I brought him here?"
"Pretty much. He quietens down sometimes, but that's about it. He hasn't slept, he doesn't want to eat or drink and he goes berserk if I try going in the room." He looks at me curiously. "What's he saying?"
"He's just.. sort of incoherently moaning."
He nods. "Explains why I couldn't translate it. What do you want done with him?"
"What do you mean, what do I want done with him? We need to try and calm him-."
"You do realise that he's come back from Hell, yeah?"
"I.. considered it a possibility."
"Look…" He sighs, looking away for a moment. "Hindus, ancestor worshippers, druids… None of the places they go to are…"
"Appalling affronts to sanity which serve to disprove the moral righteousness of the Source?"
"More like 'mind-bendingly awful'. I don't know what it says about the Source. Point is, no matter how much of an asshole they were, none of the other people you tried this on go there. But someone called 'Ganguly', living in Malaysia but coming from India? Probably a Muslim. Same with the others."
"And he didn't make the cut for the Silver City."
"Angels are pretty fair. Given what he was doing, it's a fair bet he didn't keep up his end of the deal. So down into the ditch of Hell he goes."
"And that's why you should always shoot the missionaries." Ambrose gives me an amused snort. "No, seriously. If the aim is to weaken the forces of Hell, why would you ever try converting people to a religion that gave them a better than average chance of going there? You'd just be giving the Demons more fuel."
"I guess the prophets thought people would sort themselves out if the alternative was eternal torment. I suppose they overestimated people."
"He was down there fifteen months. In your professional opinion, is he likely to snap out of it?"
"In my professional opinion?" I nod. "No idea."
I bow my head slightly and close my eyes. "Thank you, Mister Bierce, for that extremely helpful answer."
"I've called souls out of Hell before, and they were mostly… Okayish. I've never tried putting one in a living body before. That could be the problem."
"I hate to bring it back to this, but… Ah."
He rolls his eyes. "John Constantine."
"Y.. es. Are you aware of the existence of his demonic alter-ego?"
"As a matter of fact, I've been getting letters from him." I frown at him, left eyebrow raised. He smirks. "No word of a lie. I think he's using me as a Constantine stand-in as well."
"But getting back to the point: if people can go to Hell and not go completely mental, am I right in assuming that he will be alright eventually? Do we just need to.. play him the Indian equivalent of Care Bears on a loop? Get an Imam in?"
"I'd rather not."
"I know most Muslim denominations aren't keen on magic, but I'm sure I could find one who'd look on this as an opportunity to save a soul."
"No, I mean the Care Bears thing. I have Demons in here sometimes."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"He isn't acting like someone who'd just been tortured. Sure, that would explain it if he jumped whenever he heard a noise or saw someone. It doesn't explain the babbling."
"So, what? Do you think the Pit did something.. wrong?"
"Exotic alchemy, geomancy and Hell magic? That would be my guess. Could still be temporary, or…"
"I could have caused permanent damage to the structure of his soul." He nods. "Do you know..? How it works. Going to Hell."
"What, like, exactly how bad you have to be?"
"No. Clearly, you can be bad and still go somewhere else. I mean… How… Attached do you have to be to monotheism to be caught? And what happens to atheists?"
"I guess that once they experience consciousness without a body, they start believing. And they just default to whatever religion is normal in their culture."
"I.. hesitate to ask, but given how similar to John-."
"Hah! Oh, don't worry about me. I've got a deal with Coyote."
"Sensible. Considering, anyway. Any idea for how we can fix them?"
"I've warded the rooms so no more Hell magic can get in. Another set of runes should be draining away what he's already got. That should sort him out. Or at least get him to the point where he can sort himself out. But you're probably going to need to put him in restraints so we can force feed him before too long. Human bodies don't last long without water."
I nod. "Can you get another couple of cells like this set up? I'm not totally sure on the religious preferences of our next few subjects-."
"Look. Paul. Are you really sure you should be doing this at all?"
"Yes. Why do you think I shouldn't?"
"Because we don't know anything like enough about how this magic works? We don't know what the longer term consequences are. And okay, you don't care all that much about the criminals, I get that. But you said you want to use it on Jade's innocent victims as well."
"Just because they weren't known to be criminals, that doesn't mean that they hadn't done enough to get sent to Hell. So I've got the choice between taking the risk that they might come back a bit confused, or leaving them in the worst place in the universe. The longer I wait, the longer they're in there. If they are in there. If they're anywhere else other than the Silver City, we can ask them. If they're in the Silver City… It probably won't work."
"Or you'll have the Angels on your ass."
"I've been working under the assumption that I'll have to fight them eventually anyway." I slide the Sword of the Fallen out of its sheath. "If this worked on the First…"
Ambrose puffs out his cheeks. "Okay, how about the fact that you're sending the people exposed to their afterlives off on their own without monitoring them. There's all sorts of things that would love a living host."
"I may not be monitoring them full time, but I am keeping an eye on them." Lantern Xor's first job for me. "But that threat is something we also need experience on. Anything else?"
He looks unconvinced, but gives his head a small shake.
"Right. I'll get to work on the next group."
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