5th April
17:23 GMT -5
Richard glances at me thoughtfully as we walk towards the Gotham home of talk show hostess
Mrs Emily Briggs. "You gunna give me a clue how the review's going?"
"Wasn't planning to.
"
Kon smiles at him. "You worried?"
"I'm not the one getting reviewed."
"No, but-." Kon cuts himself off. I don't think he's spent any time with Richard out of costume before. Not in a position where people might actually recognise Richard as being Richard, anyway. "Ah." And he's having a Bat Block. Can't call him 'Batman' out of costume and calling him
Bruce just feels…
Off. "Your.. dad is."
Hm. I've rather avoided calling him that. Not really sure if Richard.. thinks of him that way. I certainly don't remember him calling him anything other than 'Bruce' in the comics. He doesn't
look bothered by it, though.
"Your Mom is too."
"Yeah, but Paul's spent plenty of time with Mom. If he didn't like the way she did something he'd have said so already."
"Chaps, this review isn't about passing or failing particular people. There's always room for improvement. My job was to identify those areas and draw our teachers'-
" I step aside as a woman walking her dogs comes down the pavement in the opposite direction to us.
"-attention to them. Though, since I know everyone's going to try to reduce it to these sorts of terms anyway…
" I reach into my jacket with both hands and use the cloth to disguise myself taking two packs of Justice League Top Trumps out of subspace, before pulling my hands out and holding them out to my companions.
"Take a look.
"
Richard takes the pack from my left hand and starts going through the cards one at a time, making sure to read all of the stats and probably attempting to understand my reasoning. Kon on the other hand just skims through until something catches his-.
"Have you shown this to Artemis yet?" He's smiling and his eyebrows are slightly raised, Mister Queen's card in his right hand.
"No.
"
"Why, what's it-?" Richard's eyes widen slightly. "Oh. You, ah… You really didn't hold back."
Unsurprisingly, pointy stick launcher man didn't score all that highly in most categories.
"That wouldn't help anyone. You need to understand a problem before-
" Kon's started flicking through again.
"-you can fix it.
"
"Artemis and-." This time he looks surprised. "You scored Roy and.. uh, other Roy-."
"William.
"
"Right, William. You scored them higher?"
"Not on all categories. But they both use my equipment, Roy's getting used to my armour, Artemis is-
" I glance at Richard.
"-pretty strong. Aaand
he isn't.
"
Mister Queen's got some work to do. Sophisticated -and highly expensive- arrowheads means that his DPS and combat utility are slightly higher than 'mook with gun', but there isn't all that much in it. There's a reason why soldiers use guns rather than bows. Yeah, bringing that up is going to be a little uncomfortable. Still, I'm
definitely looking forward to the meeting. Siskin's been through another set of tests in Sephtian's workshop and he's received a clean bill of… Um, not 'health' exactly. Matrix stability. His entire metaphysique is inside the golem body and the binding spells are holding just fine. Which means
we can make a body for Nabu. I mean, I find it a little strange that I've spent all this time preparing for a fight I might not actually end up
having… But if it
gets Mister Zatara back early and without all the risk I'm fine with that. Haven't mentioned it to Zatanna just in case, but everything I know about Lords of Order says that
there's no reason for him to refuse.
Wonderful!
Richard keeps looking through the cards as we come to a halt in front of Mrs Briggs' house. "How come you want to meet Lia, anyway?"
"I knew Vampires were a thing on this Earth, but I've never had a chance to talk to one. And Vampires who were… Or.. are?
" I shrug.
"Metahumans before their transformation are going to be even rarer. Metahumans whose abilities activated after receiving particular environmental triggers-.
"
"Not sure I believe that whole thing about a comet."
"Maybe, but she definitely had powers before becoming a Vampire and she retained them afterwards. I mean, vampirism alone is worth my time. Improved strength, speed, agelessness-.
"
"You can never see the sun again."
"Depends on the mechanism. If it's scientific-
" I step forwards and press the bell.
"-then a radiation shield should be enough to block it. If it's
magical, then a ward… Not a Spell Eater, but something more conventionally protective, should be enough.
"
"You have to drink
blood. And you get mind controlled by whoever made you a Vampire in the first place."
"And those are actual problems, except-
" I reach beneath my jacket again and pull out a blood pack.
"-that we've learned to add arcane vitality to cloned blood. And we can probably-.
"
"Who is it?"
I turn to the intercom.
"Special delivery for a 'Miss Allimrac'.
"
"I know you're referencing something stupid but I'm too hungry to care." There's a buzz and a click. "Get in here and close the door behind you."
The glass in the door to the porch is heavily frosted, and as I push it open I notice that the inside is covered with blackout curtains.
"Wards on?
" Two nods.
"Alright then.
" I lead the way into the porch and try opening the inner door. Still locked. Of course, she doesn't want to risk sunlight getting in. As Ulli and Marquand pointed out, when hunting for Vampires make sure to do so well before sunset and we've got about two hours to go here. Kon brings up the rear and snecks the outer door. Ah, that's where the camera-. The electromagnet holding the inner door closed releases and I push it open. The interior is… Nothing like as gothic as I'd been hoping. I mean, the furnishing's
nice, but there's barely-.
"Did you bring it?" The woman herself stalks out of a room adjoining the corridor. She's wearing low cut pink jeans and a blouse which leaves her toned abdomen exposed. The people she works with are well aware of her condition but they don't let her on camera still looking this pale. She stands with her mouth slightly open, long canines slightly exposed.
Richard smirks. "What? No '
Welcome to my house!'?"
She ignores him, eyes focusing on the bag in my hand. I hold it out and she approaches, snatching it out of my hand and then looking at me questioningly.
"Don't worry, no anti-coagulant.
"
She slides a sharpened index fingernail across the bag, cutting through plastic and causing a small amount of the blood inside to flow out. She sniffs, then raises it to her lips and licks it, tasting it carefully. "Yours?"
"No. Synthetic. Any good?
"
She nods. "I think so. And the rest?"
I take a small pendant off from around my neck.
"Ward against sunlight and-
" I unclip a small hemisphere of metal from my belt.
"-a radiation shield. I want to.. test them first. Just to make sure. And… The other things. Batman said he explained?
"
She takes another sip, then nods. "He did. And if these things work like you promised I'll be happy to help you."
"
