Jack found himself in the dark room. He had expected that. The amount of death and

carnage he and Josie had inflicted deserved some kind of lecture. He just didn’t feel

like hearing one.

One the other hand, maybe the Society didn’t care about that as long as they didn’t

cross whatever goals the Society wanted taken care of before they finished those

personal tasks.

He found it hard to gauge motivations when little information was shared.

The twelve came into the room and took their seats. They regarded Jack with degrees

of exasperation and anger. He grinned at them.

They could take his fake Robby Reed H Dial off his dead body after he had gone up

in a giant ball of fire.

“There are some problems on the horizon,” said the leader, sitting in the center chair

on the right. “We will be issuing quests again. These personal ones will have to take

a backseat to our desires.”

“How many?,” said Jack. He tried to not show his relief that they were still on the job.

“At least three,” said the second, sitting in the center chair on the left. “This quest

against the Montrose may have held off and triggered circumstances at the same

time.”

“I don’t understand,” said Jack.

“Neither do we,” said the lady with the owl. They had the same empty gaze turned

on their champion. “Something changed when you inflicted your damage at the party.

We don’t know what.”

“We feel they might have decided to declare war on you,” said the man with the

sword. He tapped the blade against his boot.

“And to do that, they have decided to look for artifacts in the hinterlands,” said the

second.

“I should have expected that to happen,” said Jack. “We have been turning their

troops into cannon fodder, and trying to get rid of their leaders. Josie said Darry Harp

knew Old Man Warner and lost his arm during one of their quests. Do you know what

happened there?”

“He lost the arm during a monster hunt,” said the lady with the bow. “Oliver Warner

had to cut the arm off before the poison killed him. It was a decision that Warner

regretted when if he had more time he could have saved the arm.”

“Does Harp know this?,” asked Jack. That was some rough stuff to have your friend

cut off your arm.

“That is unknown,” said the lady. “Warner might have told him out of guilt, or he

might have guessed.”

“All right,” said Jack. “So we have unknown problems coming, maybe threats against

the kids, and the local godfather hates us for causing him problems. Am I missing

anything?”

“You have an alliance with the Elves and they will expect you to hold up your end,”

said the man with the winged hat, or hat made out of wings. “One of you might have

to go to Lorelei’s duchy to deal with problems there.”

“We can handle it,” said Jack. “Why didn’t Warner stay? Why are you allowing us

to stay?”

“Oliver didn’t feel for the land like you do,” said one of the silent women towards the

end of the row. She was beautiful, more so than any other woman that Jack had ever

seen, but casual about it in her suit. “Without ties, doing the quests and going home

to try to live a more normal life was how he liked to do things.”

“Sounds like he was having mental problems,” said Jack. “Did you guys talk to him

about it?”

“He preferred not to talk to us except if he was having problems fulfilling the quests,”

said the center right. He leaned forward in his chair. “I admit most of us would not

be good counselors for the mentally ill.”

“A man has to know his limitations,” said Jack.

“Do you?,” said the man with the sword.

“Sure,” said Jack. “I just haven’t seen them yet. When you get an idea what these new

quests are, send them along. I’ll let Josie know we’ll have to knock some of them

down.”

“You might want to be subtler with the use of the watches,” said the man with the

hat. “The way you are going, every man will turn their hand against you despite the

friends you are making.”

“We were talking about that,” said Jack. “I’ll try to dredge up some low level mooks

I can use. I do have one question.”

“Go ahead,” said the center right.

“Is Kid Colt a gunfighter like the source material, or is he a goat with a gun?,” asked

Jack.

“Why don’t you try the watch and find out?,” asked a man with braces on his legs.

His face had been beaten with the ugly stick.

“I knew it was a goat with a gun,” said Jack. “Damn it.”

“Be ready, Jacob Ezekial Lee,” said Center left.

“You can call me Jack, pretty lady,” said Jack. “What may I call you?”

“Your Majesty,” said center left. She smiled. “Good luck. You may get the death you

wish for before too long.”

“The only death I wish for is my enemies,” said Jack. “Maybe Jo’s mother.”

“I’m sure you will see enough of one of those,” said Center right. “We will contact

you when we need you.”

“I will be waiting,” said Jack. “Could you put in some addresses? That will be a big

help.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I’ll talk to the Quest Formers,” said Center right. “I am sure they will be glad to

make things easier for you.”

“Thank you very much,” said Jack.

The group began to file out of the door.

“Wait,” said Jack. “One more thing.”

“Yes,” said Center right as his staff left the room.

“Do we have to meet in a dark room like this?,” said Jack. “It seems kind of

villainous. Could we meet somewhere a little more bright and less goth?”

Center right snapped his fingers. A set of lightning ran in the sky behind him. Little

fairy dots appeared and Jack knew they were standing on a mountain somewhere.

He could see the moons in the sky, clouds running in front of them. Above them,

behind Jack, the mountain’s peak reared up into the clouds.

“This is great,” said Jack. “This is better than sitting in the dark. Thanks.”

“Do the quests, Jack,” said Center right. “Save the world. Exercise a little more

brain power. I know that you can do that.”

“Josie is the brains of this outfit,” said Jack.

“She needs to use a little more brain power also,” said Center right.

He stepped through the door and closed off the light in the dark. Sky took over.

“This is a neat trick,” said Jack. “I thought I was the only one who could lucid

dream.”

He looked out over the land, marking Hawk Ridge in the distance. He smiled.

He could be home if he wanted. He wondered how far away he was from the city.

Was he close enough to fly down as the Falcon?

He was in a dream. The watch should work forever to get him home. Time limits

were for the waking world.

On the other hand, any dreams could become nightmares in a second and drop him

to the ground because his watch cut out on him.

He decided that maybe he should climb down the side of the mountain.

He woke up as he was looking for his first foothold. He rubbed his eyes. He needed

to avoid sleep, but at least he was learning something. He got out of bed and dialed

Kid Colt. He turned into a goat in a cowboy outfit with an old revolver.

He decided to use that when he was desperate.

He let go of the persona and got dressed. He didn’t have anything to do except work

on Harp’s arm like he promised. He thought he could have that done in a few hours

if he exerted the watch a bit.

He wondered what the new quests would be like. He needed to warn Josie about the

Elves. She could send a message to Lorelei and get her ready for their interference.

At least the Duchy would give them a home base to start on their task.

And he felt like Lorelei had a small bond with Josie. It wasn’t enough to keep Josie

from setting her on fire, but it was something.

He walked downstairs and nodded at the signs of life. He wasn’t much of a cook, but

he should be able to boil potatoes, or something. Too bad they didn’t have a fryer for

fries. That would be awesome in his book.

Maybe he should make a fryer. They could have fried chicken to go with his fries for

example. The only problem was where the oil would have to come from.

“Jack,” said Elaine. “How are you spending the day?”

“I thought I would work on Harp’s arm,” said Jack. “Then see what an oil fryer would

look like in this kitchen.”

“We need to tidy and then head down to the Adventurers’ Hall,” said Elaine. “When

we are done with that, I have some grocery shopping to do.”

“Can you ask Josie to send Lorelei a letter to keep an eye out?,” said Jack. “We might

have a job in the Duchy.”

“How do you know that?,” asked Elaine.

“The Society dropped by to let me know that we are getting new jobs in a bit, and we

should expect a small amount of trouble after what we did,” said Jack. “Be extra

careful for a bit.”

“I’ll let Josie know,” said Elaine. “Do you think this is about the guards she handed

over to be trained?”

“I have no idea,” said Jack. “Fried chicken would be good, maybe some scrambled

eggs. Pizza could be done. A stove would be great for us.”

“What if the monster is too big for you to handle?,” asked Elaine.

“Then Lorelei and her crew are in for a heap of trouble,” said Jack. He put together

a breakfast out of what was in the icebox. He used the Human Torch to do his

cooking while the girls got ready for the day.

“Will you be traveling?,” asked Elaine. She watched him warm the plates with his

hands.

“I have no idea yet,” said Jack. “The Society seems to be waiting for a go sign.”

“Why?,” asked Elaine.

“Maybe the quests can only be triggered when something happens,” said Jack. “They

talked like they were waiting for the guys we might have to chase to decide what they

want to do. If they decide the wrong way, the Society expects us to handle it.”

“All right,” said Elaine. “As soon as I know, I will start researching.”

“I think Josie is going to want you to find out what you can about Harp and his

knighthood,” said Jack. “It seems he’s a friend of a friend. So we might have to look

out for him in the middle of all this.”

“I guess I can look at the Registery,” said Elaine. “A lot is not recorded except in

public records and that isn’t going to cover anything like something you and Josie

have to do.”

“I guess word of mouth isn’t reliable in this case,” said Jack. He made sure everything

was cooked before he started taking the plates to the dining room table.

Elaine put out forks for the girls. She didn’t try to carry the steaming plates.

“You would have to track down the witnesses and after all this time, how many

of those would still be alive?,” asked Elaine.

“I have no idea,” said Jack. “Old Man Warner has been an old man all my life.

There’s no telling how long he operated here while living there.”

“So there may not even be a witness to what he did,” said Elaine.

“He may not even have operated in Hawk Ridge the whole time,” said Jack. “A lot

depends on what he had to sort out, and how much he had to work. One job every five

to ten years doesn’t seem like a lot.”

“If he and Harp formed an adventurer party, they might have had their jobs listed in

their registery logs,” said Elaine.

“Good thinking,” said Jack. “I don’t know what digging into things will get us, but

maybe if he left enemies, they might form up to get us.”

“How far would word that Warner had heirs carry?,” asked Elaine.

“As far as the Makeover,” said Jack.

“Which reached to Kernly,” said Josie. She had on her dark black shirt with intact

lightning bolt on it. “That’s a big radius.”

“I think it reached as far as there was members of the Montrose,” said Jack. “Let the

plate cool down before you try to eat breakfast.”

“What do you mean?,” asked Josie. She sat down at her place at the table.

“I used a persona that represents a fair bit of power,” said Jack. “I might have covered

the whole planet with what I did.”

“Are you serious?,” asked Josie. “Did you do that with the love potion?”

“Maybe not the individual ingredients,” said Jack. “But maybe the conglomeration.”

“You erased an alchemical potion from the planet?,” said Josie.

“Maybe,” said Jack. “What good was it? Now people have to fall in love the old

fashioned way instead of being drugged up.”

“I can’t argue with that,” said Josie.

“We’re getting new jobs,” said Jack. “Lay low until the notifications come in. Then

we’ll have the quests to do.”

“Great,” said Josie.

“The Society is not going to let you be fat and happy here,” said Jack. “Now pull on

your big girl pants and give the world a smile.”

He demonstrated for her.

“That is nothing like a smile,” said Laura.

“That is not even thing pleasant to look at,” said Beatrice.

“You are scaring me,” said Melanie.

“Did you sit on something sharp?,” asked Matilda.

“I want to eat,” said Angelica.

“What do you think, Al?,” asked Jack. He put on the expression again.

“Do we have butter?,” said Alicia.

“I don’t think so,” said Jack.

“Too bad,” said Alicia.

“Do none of you know what a smile looks like?,” said Jack in the most Brian Blessed

way possible.

All the girls and Josie pointed at Elaine. She turned her head to hide her expression.

“Okay,” said Jack. “I know when I’m beaten.”

He sat down and began eating.

Chatter filled the room as the group talked about plans. Elaine asked Josie to send a

letter to Lorelei to warn about trouble in her small kingdom.

Josie nodded. She liked the former princess and her knight. They were the best of the

elves she had met.

“Unspecified trouble?,” asked Josie.

“At the moment,” said Jack. “But we’re going to be getting a quest about it soon

enough.”

“All right,” said Josie.