Josie followed Three Russ through the streets. She kept her hands in her pockets. She

had a clear goal in mind, but she didn’t know how much pressure she could apply to

the homoculus to do her bidding. This was a big favor she was asking for what she

had done.

She could not expect to win the other woman over just because of doing something

any group of mercenaries could do faster than what was considered possible on the

planet.

Three paused at the next corner for Josie to catch up. She nodded at a block of a

building over in the next block.

“I guess they build these things from the same plan,” said Josie. “I wonder where the

central branch is.”

“What do you really want?,” said Three.

“Peace and love,” said Josie. She smiled at the look that got her. “Barring that, being

left alone to do what I do is high on my list.”

“What do you want with me and Seven?,” said Three.

“Seven has adopted June as her pet project,” said Josie. “I’m hoping they don’t get

killed working in the city they will have to protect. I’m letting them fly on their own

with an eye to help them with what I can.”

“And me?,” said Three.

“Seven trusts you, and I need someone here in the north to help people I can’t because

Jack and I have to kill monsters that threaten the world instead of changing the

infrastructure to support the helpless,” said Josie. “I think you could be that person,

and if I could get the other sister you mentioned to go in, I would.”

“Four?,” said Three.

“I will do what I can, but if she causes a threat like the Lich Queen, I might have to

do something to stop her doing that,” said Josie. “In the end, if the Society issues a

quest, they expect us to do it as their agents and most of their quests protect large

masses of people from harm.”

“Why the quest to help Seven?,” said Three.

“I have no idea,” said Josie. “They don’t tell me why. We’re going to go in and open

an account for you to draw money. Then we’re going to find a bigger place for you

to live. The charter is for you to help people in the city, and surroundings. I don’t

expect you to just give the money away, but if you have to support people, then I

don’t have a problem with that.”

“This mission will let me do that?,” said Three. “You won’t be looking over my

shoulder?”

“No,” said Josie. “Make Frenda your number two and let her carry some of this. It’s

obvious you are in some kind of romance. I doubt she will let you struggle alone.”

“I haven’t told her about myself,” said Three. “She just thinks I am an adventurer

working from the Guild in the city.”

Josie shrugged. Everyone was allowed secrets. That was what made them human after

all.

“I need to make some money,” said Josie. “Then we’ll walk over to the Exchange and

open an account for you. Once we do that, we’ll look for a place where you can set

up your new charity. I’ll ask Jack to try to build something where you can talk to the

rest of us so we can help you in case of trouble. At the very least, I want you to be

able to talk to Seven and June since they will be closer, and able to help you faster

than we will from the south. Mister Warner is setting up even further that way than

us so I don’t know how long it would take for him to fly up here to help with your

emergency.”

“Make money?,” asked Three.

“They won’t open an account if we have no money to give them,” said Josie. “As

a person with access to magic, I now understand why all the magicians I used to read

about had no problem with living expenses.”

“Because they could make money,” said Three.

“Exactly,” said Josie. She smiled at the roll of the eyes that got her.

She walked over to a nearby cafe and bought three of what looked like honey buns.

She handed Three one of the buns, while chewing the other one. She held the third

in her hand while she watched the Exchange.

“What am I supposed to do with this?,” said Three. She examined the bun.

“Eat it,” said Josie. “It’s good. I needed a snack after all this running around I have

done.”

Three hesitantly bit into the bun. It wasn’t poisoned like she thought.

Josie finished her bun. She chewed while she put the third bun down on the alley

floor. She changed into Doctor Alchemy. She changed the bun’s bread into a gold

statue of itself. She exchanged that body for Zatanna long enough to change the shape

of her newfound wealth from a round ovoid into a small bar. She let the persona go

and picked the bar up.

“All right,” said Three. “I see why you wouldn’t have to worry about money if you

can do that.”

“It’s the opposite worry,” said Josie. “If I make too much, I can make people’s

coinage worthless. I just want enough to finance my enterprises, but not enough

to tank the economy.”

“I understand,” said Three. “I have never had enough money to consider anything like

that.”

“Most people don’t,” said Josie. She put the bar in her bag. “Let’s go over and open

the account. Don’t kill anyone unless I start killing people.”

“Why?,” asked Three.

“You’ll understand once we’re inside the building,” said Josie. “I want you to just

stay on guard. If things go bad, I will protect you as much as I can.”

They walked over to the bank. The two doormen outside glanced at them with more

than casual interest. They decided that Three was more dangerous with her array of

blades visible on her person.

“We’re here to open an account with the Exchange,” said Josie.

The doorman on the left opened the door for them to step inside. Josie did so, hand

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

on her watch. If she had to resort to violence, she had already decided to call

Bulletgirl and start putting holes in the Exchange personnel.

She would upgrade to Shazam if she had to do more than that.

“Their faces,” whispered Three after the door shut behind her.

“Just keep an eye out,” said Josie. “We set you up and then we walk out without

killing everyone. The floor staff don’t seem to be involved.”

“Involved?,” asked Three.

“In what the Exchange finances,” said Josie. She put on a smile and walked over to

the counter. She gestured for Three to keep up. The clerk turned a smile on her but

didn’t seem interested in helping her. “Hello, I am setting up a small business here

in the city, and I need to open an operating account.”

“Do you have an account with us already?,” asked the clerk. She pulled out the

paperwork needed for Josie to sign.

“I have one with the Hawk Ridge branch,” said Josie. “My name is Josie Fox. This

lady will be my local manager and will need access to the account while the business

is running.”

The clerk pulled out a ledger of a different color than the ones Josie had seen in Hawk

Ridge. She opened it and wrote in some particulars. She handed the paperwork and

a quill in a inkpot to Josie to fill out.

“Your name, mistress,” asked the clerk. She looked at Three, quill in the air to fill in

some of the blank spaces before her.

“Boim Russ,” said Three. She leaned against the counter, watching the guards without

trying to seem like she was watching them.

“How much are you going to deposit to open your account?,” asked the clerk.

“This brick of gold,” said Josie. She signed the last line of the paperwork and placed

it and the brick on the counter. “I understand you will have to assay it. Go ahead.

We’ll wait.”

The clerk looked shocked. She picked up the gold bar and took it to the back. Josie

and Three waited with an eye on the guards. If something were to happen, it would

happen now that they had given up a substantial amount to the staff.

Josie doubted anything here could stop her from calling on Shazam and just knocking

a hole in the wall.

“What are they doing?,” asked Three after a few minutes of waiting.

“A few things,” said Josie. “They are testing the metal to see if its real gold. They are

calculating how much money it would be as silver pieces. They are figuring how

much they can rip me off before I have to ask for the gold back. They want

continued business to get more gold like that so they are trying to figure out how to

flatter me into investing more gold into the Exchange for them to use. I don’t think

they have connected me with what has happened in Hawk Ridge, but if they do, they

might become violent.”

“Which is part of the reason I am here,” said Three. “I understand that much.”

“Also you need access to the money so you can use it,” said Josie. “So they needed

to see your face and get your signature so you could sign for any money withdrawal.”

“What happened in Hawk Ridge?,” asked Three.

“Jack cut the manager down and instituted a change,” said Josie. “I don’t think

he did it on purpose but the man was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The clerk came back to the counter. She glanced at the other clerks who had shied

away from the conversation. She did not have the gold brick in her hands.

“Master Mers has authorized me to tell you that the gold bar is worth fifteen thousand

silver pieces,” said the clerk.

“That is fine,” said Josie. “Is everything squared away?”

“What will be the name of your business?,” asked the clerk. “That’s the only thing we

need on the paperwork for a new venture.”

“Russ’s Helping Hands,” said Josie. “We will inform you where to send the

statements when we have something more concrete to offer you.”

“Thank you,” said the clerk.

Three mouthed the name to Josie in disbelief.

Josie smiled back.

“When the account reaches the last quarter mark, send word to the Exchange branch

in Hawk Ridge and I will return to put more gold in it,” said Josie.

“I’ll make a note, Mistress Fox,” said the clerk.

“Thank you,” said Josie. “Let’s see about the headquarters we need, Three.”

She turned and walked away from the counter. She pretended to not notice the looks

that passed through the guards. This was almost the same thing that happened when

she and Elaine had put the first brick of gold in their Hawk Ridge account.

Would the guards do the same thing?

Would they send corrupt tax officials to try to get the rest of the gold from the

helpless women?

The women stepped out on the street. Josie paused before turning left and walking

away from where the small group were waiting for them to return. Three followed,

hand on her sword.

“You never said what the Exchange is involved in,” said Three.

“The people who took Frenda work for the Exchange,” said Josie. She paused at

a fruit stand, picking up an apple and paying for it. “They cover the continent.”

“The people I have been hunting work for the Exchange?,” said Three. She glanced

back over her shoulder but kept walking to keep a station next to Josie. “A couple of

the guards from the Exchange are following us.”

“They want the rest of my gold,” said Josie. “Let’s go to the left.”

“What are we doing?,” asked Three.

“We’re letting them follow us around until I decide I want to get rid of them,” said

Josie. “The Exchange, some of the nobility based out of the south, some others, the

government of Shemmaria, take and sell women. We marked the organization, The

Montrose, so we can hunt the individual members down at our leisure. One of the

reasons I am imposing on you to be my assistant here in the north is so I can expand

my reach and hunt them down. There is a lot of them, and only me and Jack hunting

them.”

“Four’s government is involved in this?,” said Three. “Does she know?”

“I don’t know,” said Josie. “The Shemmarians were using their captives to try to

create an army of monsters that would do what they wanted.”

“She must have known, and now she knows who you are,” said Three. “They will

try to assassinate you to steal whatever power you have for themselves.”

“Luckily it only works for the people the Society has chosen to do its dirty work,”

said Josie. “I suppose Jack could build something for them, but I think that is doubtful

considering the fact he was thinking of some way to destroy the country before he

created the Enterprise from their operation.”

“Could he do that?,” said Three.

Josie shrugged.

“That is not very comforting,” said Three.

“We need a place for your new venture,” said Josie. “It probably should be something

like a fort at first.”

“The guards are speeding up,” said Three. “I guess they got tired of letting us walk

around.”

Josie turned around. Her pivot didn’t cause their attackers to slow the motion. She

called on Richard Dragon. That did cause them to pause as the giant lizard in its

karate gi fell into a guard position which turned into a punch from an arm longer than

the space between them. The man hit flew through the air.

The three other men tried to run away from the giant fighter. Three flew into them, slicing

with her sword five times stronger than a woman of her slim build should be. Two of

the men went down immediately from strikes across their bodies. The third blocked

her as he retreated. A giant scaly fist wrapped around him and threw him as far as a

dragon could manage. His scream trailed him like the tail of a comet until he hit the

ground out of sight of the fight.

“Will they live?,” asked Josie. She let the persona go. She frowned at the two guys

Three had cut to ribbons.

“One of them, maybe,” said Three. “The other is good as dead.”

“One of mine is down, the other died when he hit the ground,” said Josie. “I’m

wondering what I should do with him.”

“Execution is good,” said Three. “I don’t have a problem with it. A dead enemy never

does anything else.”

“I agree,” said Josie. “I would like to make an example of someone. Trying to rob two

helpless women while they are just walking around should cost more than a beating.”

“So stab him and let’s go,” said Three. “We can’t hang around here all day.”

Josie pulled on Zatanna. She thought about what she wanted to do. She brought the

spell into being and placed it in her survivor. She let the persona go.

“What did you do?,” asked Three. The two men at her feet had stopped breathing.

“I gave him a curse,” said Josie. “I felt that I needed one person to be an example

for the rest.”

“What kind of curse?,” asked Three.

“The kind that makes you feel something when you normally don’t,” said Josie.

“Let’s go. The rest of the guards at the Exchange are going to wonder what happened

to these before too long, and look for them.”

“Why is my sister allying with you?,” asked Three.

“I don’t know really,” said Josie. “June and Mister Warner pulled her out of a closet

of a mad alchemist who was cutting people up and putting them back together like

she wanted. You would think that would be a reason not to run into trouble.”