Wallace

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Roxxy was the only one to look up when I entered, and her eyes went wide when she saw me. Agamemnon noted the reaction and turned to follow her gaze.

"What the hell?" he blurted, "Are you okay?"

My fingers brushed the side of my head, coming away slightly tacky with drying blood, "What? Oh, I'll be fine. I just need to get into one of the jewellery stores."

The gods were assembled in the restaurant once again, surrounding the table where Agamemnon had held the first meeting. Judging from their expressions, I must have looked a hell of a lot worse than I felt.

"Did one of the skeletons get you?" Roxxy asked, "And how did you even get back in here?"

"Nah, one of the guards shot me. I must have startled him when I jumped up here."

"One of my guards shot you," Agemmemnon repeated flatly.

"Yeah," I replied, and Brock shook his head in exasperation.

I shrugged, "I don't see why you're surprised. I'm not the only god at the table."

"The fire and lightning have stopped," Castle noted, "I take it that was you?"

I nodded, "Yes. And yes, I am amazing. But I'm also still bleeding from a head wound, so," I pointed to Agamemnon, "If you could unlock the shutters on the jewellery store so I can get my materials, that'd be great."

"Materials?" Martin frowned, and the sinuous furred dragon brought a clawed finger to his chin in a thoughtful pose.

Agamemnon waved off the question and rose, "Whatever you need."

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A smattering of gunfire and a shout from down the corridor drew away the others to assist in the defence, leaving me in the company of Agamemnon and Brock.

He pulled a ring of keys, like a janitor might have, from his pocket and flipped through, finally selecting one and placing it in the lock. With it open, I gave him a hand, and they rattled and clanked as we pulled the shutters aside.

"What do you need with materials?" Brock asked.

The two men watched on with interest as I perused the glass-topped cases, looking for what I needed.

"It's how my powers work. If I want to do something complicated, I need materials. Different materials do different things, and more valuable materials do those things better. For certain definitions of valuable," I hedged.

I found a likely looking case and walked around to the back to withdraw my selection. A pang of worry twisted my guts when I picked up the pearl necklace and let its multiple strands run through my fingers.

Val should have been here to make some crass remark.

"What are you going to do with that?" Agamemnon asked.

"Well first," I muttered.

One of the pearls disappeared from the strand, and the pain faded as the wound on the side of my head knit back together. The abundance of mana also let me banish some of the fatigue that had begun to reassert itself. My head and neck were still a bloody mess, but the fact it had stopped bleeding did not escape the notice of the others.

"Damn," Brock said with an appreciative nod.

"The second thing I'm going to do," I continued, selecting a few gold bracelets, "Is build something to find Lady Death. I'm awfully fucking tired of dealing with her shit."

"What else do you need?" Agamemnon asked.

"Just some time," I promised him, "But if we're all still breathing once this is over, I'm going to need a vehicle, and it needs to be able to go cross country."

"I should be able to find you something."

"Good. I'll come find you once I've finished."

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I returned to the room we'd taken, not only so I'd have somewhere quiet to work but also to gather up what we'd left behind.

I dug through our packs, tossing what we could do without and keeping what we couldn't.

I kept only some of our food and water, and since it had made up the bulk of our supplies, I had plenty of room for all the- let's call it shopping -Val had done.

I promised myself that I wouldn't complain one bit next time Val was feeling inventive.

With our supplies squared away and packed into a single bag, I took out the comms book and flipped to the page for Simon.

There were no new messages, and I imagined his thought process was much like mine. What was there to say? If the vehicle had been stolen rather than sold, he would have realized it by now. He might have warned me had he been so inclined. So either he was fine with what was going on or had an active role in making it happen.

If I called him out, that would be it. We'd both know that a confrontation was not just inevitable but imminent. On the other hand, if I left things be, I might buy myself some time. As far as Simon knew, I'd never seen the wagon he'd sent with the fey. He had a plausible reason to believe that I'd not found him out. I knew he would be spending the time to prepare for his next ploy, but that couldn't be helped.

If he came after me hard while I was still dealing with these fucking zombies, I'd be screwed. Hell, I might still be screwed, but I had the best chance if I could regroup before it came time to throw down with Simon. With Simon and his giant battle-harem. God, dealing with this weeb was going to be a massive pain in the ass.

I shut the book and put it with the rest of my things, turning my attention to the materials I'd gathered from the jewellery store.

Pearl for Sense, and gold for Body. I'd already developed a wall-hack spell back when I first met Cassius. This would be an amped-up version with the best materials I knew of and a bit better focus.

While the previous spell had outlined anyone within its range, this enchantment would do the same. But at a much further distance, and only for targets above the baseline. The idea was for it to detect demi-gods and spellcasters.

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But not in practice, it seemed, because when I finished the enchantment and put on the bracelet, nothing happened.

Was the range shorter than I thought? No, even if that were the case, and it was so short I couldn't even see the gods a few floors below, I should at least register. Not only am I a spell caster, I'm above baseline even without magic. My hand should have a faint blue outline, but there was nothing.

I sat for a moment, considering what I was actually trying to achieve.

I needed to sense people as far out as possible, and I needed it to only be people with, for lack of a better term, powers.

I'd got it in my head when writing the first version that searching just for people who met my criteria would somehow be easier magically than searching for everyone, but that wasn't necessarily true. In fact, had it been software instead of magic, it would be more difficult, not less, to narrow the search like that. Filtering the data took processing time. A minuscule amount of processing time on modern machines, but it took time all the same.

So maybe I should view it the same way? I picked up a fresh bracelet and began on a much simpler version of the enchantment. The first step was a basic casting that did return every single person in range.

Slipping on the bracelet, I saw immediately that it had worked, though I questioned how useful it would be if I tried using it somewhere like Pelignos. Even here in the mall, there were so many overlapping forms that it was hard to tell them apart. It was just as bad outside, and there was a particular building across and down the street that was a kaleidoscope of shifting blue lines.

Not sure I even need the next step. Pretty sure Lady Skeletor is holed up there with her buddies.

But for what I had planned, I needed to be sure.

Pearls, thankfully, also contain Mind mana. It was this Mind mana, combined with some Sense from another pearl, that I used to build the filter. Reasoning, as I did, that our powers were more in the mind than the body.

This time when I slipped on the bracelet, there were many fewer forms running around the city. Outside of the mall building, there were only four groups.

The building I'd noted down the street did indeed have a single female form near what I took to be the top of the tower, though neither of the windows in my room faced that side of the street for me to check. Spread out through the same building were the remaining slim forms, accounting for the last of the nine fey who had made the trip here.

Further out, though still on the edge of downtown, another single female form was down near ground level. It was hard to tell at this distance, but it looked like she was digging through a closet or maybe a footlocker.

It was Amora, I realized belatedly. She'd got loose from the handcuffs and was searching for something. She was in the right area of the city to be at the nightclub, though again, it was hard to be sure.

I still had my doubts about whether she had either the means or the willingness to snuff out the lives of her followers, so I wasn't disappointed to see she was okay.

Had she sided with Lady Death and the fey? Yeah, she had. Did that make her a bad guy? Fuck yeah. But to be fair, the impression Regina and Val got from her dream intervention seemed to suggest she wasn't the best at this sort of thing, and I didn't think it was unreasonable to assume she'd just gone along with whichever way she thought the wind was blowing. She'd likely heard of what Pelignos had to offer and had jumped at the chance to escape a dying city.

I paused, staring down at her, and a smile began to spread across my face.

Lady, if Pelignos is what you want...

I pushed the thought aside. That was a problem for later, though I'd need to find time to scoop her up.

That left just two forms, one small and limp, the other large and leonine. Amity wasn't showing up on the spell, but from the way Val seemed to be floating through the air unconscious, it wasn't hard to guess where she was. Though Regina swept her head back and forth, watching for foes, they didn't seem to be in immediate danger.

I wasn't about to celebrate yet, but at least I knew they were okay.

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Brock slammed his fist on the table, "Are you fucking crazy?"

The impact echoed in the empty restaurant. Beyond a few people working in the kitchen to keep the defenders fed, and Agamemnon, Brock, and myself, there was no one else to hear the earth god's shout.

"I don't know about you, but I'm tired of these fucking zombies. Yeah, I can tear right through them, but all it's gonna take is for me to make a little mistake, or to get surrounded, then I'm fucked. Trying to climb that tower while it's full of undead assholes is the worst possible scenario. So, fuck it. Bring the whole building down."

"And you think this will destroy any remaining zombies?" Agamemnon asked, "Assuming this kills Lady Death, I mean."

"Maybe, maybe not. At least it'll remove anything controlling them. From there, the tides can keep them boxed in till the city gets wiped off the map."

"You were supposed to help me make sure that didn't happen," Brock insisted.

"That was before everything was set on fire and infested with zombies. I told you guys to scout locations for a new base; I hope you've been doing that."

Agamemnon nodded, "My people are back up on the roof now that the lightning is gone. Once this is over, I don't know. I'm trying to see if I can move all the non-perishable stuff out of the city. I should be able to manage it if we take enough trips. Don't know how well an eighteen-wheeler is going to do on rough ground, though."

Brock shook his head with a sigh, "This is so fucked."

I shrugged, "Yup. Can you do it?"

He threw up his hands, "I don't fucking know. I can fuck up the foundations, but how the hell am I supposed to know if that's enough? Might take weeks to finally fall down. Or it might just end up with a fucky lean. Can't you do anything, Mr Patience?"

"I'd need to be close. Touching-the-building close."

"Fantastic," Brock muttered, "Any other crazy shit you wanna drop on us, or can I go figure out what it takes to become a domestic terrorist?"

I raised my eyebrows, "Right, almost forgot-" Brock covered his face with his hands, and Agamemnon leaned back, nonplussed, "-I'm going to go swing by Amora's place."

"To kill her?" Brock asked with a mockery of hope, "You didn't do that before?"

"Nah, she's joining the team."

"Fuck's sake."

"I need her for later, and I can give her what she wants, so she should be cooperative. I won't be away long. Just make sure your guys don't shoot her when I bring her in," I touched a hand to the side of my head, my hair still wet from where I'd cleaned off the blood, "Or me for that matter."

Agamemnon raised his hands in surrender, "Fine. Just keep her from screwing with, or screwing, my people."

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I regretted the need to backtrack for Amora, but it was necessary. The brief respite in the apartment had been the first chance to stop and think, so it was little wonder I hadn't assembled the pieces sooner.

At least it was easy going, or as easy going as a trek through a burnt-out zombie-infested city could be. I would need to do some rework on the bracelet, but it was enough to turn off the filter for now. It was a little overwhelming, but I could see the zombies well before I came across them. Combined with their thinning numbers, I made it back to the club without incident.

Following the glowing outline, I found my way across the dance floor and through a staff door behind the bar. The sound of panicked rummaging echoed off the concrete walls, and I padded down the corridor towards a half-open door.

Inside was a locker room, and though the door creaked as I pushed it open, Amora was making too much noise on her own to notice.

Amora had torn the locker room apart. Both wall and footlockers hung open, their contents spread across the floor with no regard to place or order. Amora knelt before one of the few lockers out of dozens that she hadn't yet turned upside down and was in the process of adding to the mess on the floor.

"Hi."

Amora screamed and whirled around, scrambling to her feet.

"You," she seethed.

"What do you want?" I asked in a reasonable tone.

Amora was taken aback, "What do you mean, what do I want? You barge in here after killing two people earlier, and you ask what I want? Are you touched in the head?"

"You were in Val's dreams."

She nodded, "Yes. I remember you. You feature quite prominently."

"So you could understand why I'd take a dim view of anyone who wanted to hurt her."

Again, a stiff nod.

"Did the fey you were working with explain why they wanted Val?

She shook her head, "They said she was some sort of criminal. I honestly didn't care, so long as they kept up their end of the bargain."

"Well, I'll spare you all the fucked up details, but they want Val because they need her to control a good chunk of the city they're from. Val's not into this, and they don't care. But that's okay. Most of them are dead, and the rest will be soon. So that just leaves the question of what to do with you. So I'll ask you again, what do you want?"

"I want to go home. I want good food, I want to get laid, and I don't want to deal with all this weird bullshit."

"Well. That's obviously not going to happen."

"No shit. But Pelignos sounds like it could be... fine. It seems like it could be an okay place to live, but I'm less impressed by the whole chamber pots thing."

"Well, you're in luck. Come with me, promise not to screw with anyone's head, do what I tell you, and I'll get you to Pelignos. It'll be great. Hell, you'll be living like a queen."