Sell you a Bridge chapter 131 (Patreon)

Doomhollow Hall December 13th 2010 1:00 AM EDT

The  trip back to the teleporter after we rescued the Shadows was...quiet.  Paula and Artemis didn't seem horrified judging by their auras, but they  seemed a bit wary, and I didn't blame them. Reggie was quiet but he  didn't seem upset, just sad. Zee...Zee was a lot of things at once and  it made reading her aura much harder. We made decent time getting back  after Paula said goodbye to Cheshire and the cat masked assassin thanked  us for the help. She made sure to mention that she would tell Talia  about our assistance so I guessed that was good.

When  we got back to the island Zee left immediately and I broke away from  the others to follow her, she made her way up to our room and when she  went inside I followed, closing the door behind me quietly. By the time I  got into the room Zee was standing at the window, her back to me, and  not speaking. I winced. I'd been expecting this conversation, but I  hadn't been looking forward to it. I just hoped this wasn't more than  she could take from me. I swallowed and spoke up. "I'm guessing you're  pretty disgusted right now.

She  shook her head without turning around. "Not disgusted. Afraid." I  flinched. That was worse. I'd gone over and over things in my head the  month I'd been training and I couldn't think of a way around us. This  pressure cooked we were in now was dangerous, even more so than Gotham  normally was, and we needed a way to make people hesitate. I hadn't  enjoyed the process, but I did believe it was necessary.

Still,  knowing that she was afraid of me now...it hurt. "You...you, know I'd  never hurt you right? I'm the same person I was before." At least I  thought I was. Honestly with all the changes that had happened to me in  the past few months who even knew. Could I really claim to be the same  shut in I'd been at the start of all this. Hell, even just the devil  transformation seemed to have altered me fundamentally, but at the very  least I thought I'd stayed true to the core of who I was.

Zee  just chuckled sadly, turning around so I could see the tears on her  cheeks. "I'm not afraid OF you you idiot. I'm afraid FOR you. That was  horrible. I admit, but I saw why you did it. I saw the shame and disgust  on your face when you...finished her. You were disgusted with yourself,  with having to kill her like you killed Annabel. You were gruesome at  the end because you knew it would be faster, you were trying to be  merciful. But I also saw the determination in your eyes. Even behind  that mask I can see what you're feeling, feel you."

We'd  been much more in tune since our first time. Zee had mentioned taking  her virginity on Halloween would connect us even more deeply. It wasn't  just a sec thing, we could feel each other. It was less obvious to me  because my aura sense already let me see what she was feeling but I  hadn't realized she was quite that aware of my emotions. I stopped,  unsure of what to say to her, of where to go from here.

I  swallowed again. "I know it's drastic. That it's awful. But I'm trying  to keep us all safe. We aren't playing by the normal rules anymore,  Gotham is a time bomb now, and any advantage might save our lives. If  that little display makes them hesitate for even a second, if I managed  to scare them even a bit-." I was cut off as she put a finger to my  lips, pulling it back to kiss me before smiling up at me with that same  sad smile.

She  wasn't angry, just hurting, and that was worse. I wish she would have  yelled at me. But she just said. "I know." She must have seen the fear  in my eyes because she laid her head on my chest. "I'm not leaving. I'm  not happy, but I understand your reasons. For now. But this has to have  been a one time thing, or as close as you can get. I won't just stand  here and watch you turn into a monster if you start trying to kill  everyone who we go up against. If they really try to hurt or kill one of  us and you have to end things I understand, but no unnecessary death."

I  kissed the top of her head. "Of course not. The entire point of that  performance was to make people too afraid to mess with us. That gray  woman was dangerous, even Artemis was having trouble with her, there's  no way she doesn't have a rep. Killing someone like her will give our  name weight, but it also won't alienate everyone in the city. Given how  hard she was coming for Artemis I doubt she had a habit of being gentle  in fights, I doubt anyone is going to cry over her too hard." At least I  hoped so.

Zee  sighed. "Devastation. Her name was Devastation. She was a clone of  Wonder Woman I think. And yes, she was known to be somewhat brutal. It's  one of the reasons I'm not more worried. She was...a bad person. She  enjoyed hurting people. Even I had heard about her and daddy did his  best to keep news about to cape world out of my ears. If you had to pick  someone to make an example of you could have done much worse on pretty  much every front. She was universally disliked but also feared."

I  was grateful she hadn't seen me almost disembowel monkey boy, or at  least wasn't talking about it. Maybe she'd seen but thought I had no  choice, either way I was glad to avoid the conversation. She pulled me  closer. Her voice tight, even muffled as it was against my chess. "I  don't want to lose you. Not to anything. Not to this city, or your  power, or even to yourself. Just...be careful? For me? This could get  out of hand so very quickly."

I  nodded, but realized she couldn't see me. "I promise. But is this going  to cause trouble with your dad? Hell even Kent probably won't be ok  with this. Will Zatara try to break us up again?" I didn't want to have  to fight the older magician. I was sure at this point I could kick his  ass, but it would cost me something with Zee, and it wasn't worth it.  She still loved her dad even if he was a controlling dick, and I would  never hurt her by hurting him.

Judging  by the way she bit her lip though she was as worried as I was.  "Daddy...this will be a problem for him, but there's enough going on  that I doubt he has the time to do anything about it now." Her voice was  a bit better as she said that and I winced in sympathy. It was  convenient but it did kind of illustrate her point about the neglect.  She shrugged. "As for Uncle Kent I honestly don't know. He might  absolutely despise you for it, it might not phase him at all."

That  was surprising, and she must have noticed my shock because she tried to  explain. "You have to understand Uncle Kent was Dr. Fate for a long  time. Dr. Fate deals with threats to all of reality. There have been  MANY times when he's had to work with terrible dark sorcerers and evil  magic users. By his very nature he's less a hero and more a sorcerer and  that gives him a degree of moral flexibility Daddy doesn't have. It's  part of why he overlooks out time together so often."

That  was surprising but it maybe shouldn't have been. Kent Nelson was a  scary old man, it made sense he knew what Zee and I got up to but chose  not to mention it. I guessed I'd gotten so used to be uncatchable with  my ninja skills I'd started taking my sneakiness for granted. I'd have  to work on that. I sighed. "Ok, well fair enough then we only have to  worry about your dad probably and only him when this is over, so we have  time."

My  face brightened as I remember my big news though. "Oh, by the way, I  gained points in that fight!" Her head snapped up, her face as excited  as mine. I knew my nerd of a girlfriend would be excited about a new  aspect of my powers. She waited patiently for me to continue, staring up  at me as I gathered my thought. Then that didn't work so she kicked me  in the shin. I yelped and winced, glowering at her, but she just smiled  sweetly.

I  picked her up, ignoring her squeak as I carried her over to the bed,  still talking. "As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted." I  slapped a fishnet covered ass cheek as it hung next to my face getting  another squeak, before I threw her on the bed, climbing up on top of her  and pinning her down. It was nice to have her in a good mood again and I  wante dto savor it. "When monkey kid blasted me with his stupid mouth  laser I shifted to my shadow form." I leaned down, stealing a kiss and  derailing my train of thought and hers.

She  rolled her eyes but didn't pull away until I did, so I kept talking  like nothing had happened after I stopped. "I was worried I might get  hurt anyway so I activated my devil bloodline ability, Hole. But since I  was essentially a living puddle of shadow and my shadows can be portals  I thought hey, why don't I try to BE the Hole. So I did. Then when his  stupid beam hit me the Hole absorbed it like it was supposed to. But  sine I was the Hole I absorbed it myself."

I  grinned down at her, my excitement mirrored in her eyes. "Since all  energy I get is converted to and from points the Hole ability lets me  absorb anything and then converts it into my native power source. I got  ten thousand points just from those two attacks. Which means we can  afford to upgrade the base defenses again or get more workrooms." I  stopped at that. "Oh shit we never checked out the ones I already  bought. We have so much to do." I was excited to get started.

I  almost went to get up and got look but Zee caught me by the armor and  yanked me back down into another searing kiss. She raised an eyebrow.  "Oh no you don't. Tonight was dramatic and exhausting, I want my man.  We're staying in bed and you can play with your toys tomorrow." She  grinned up at me wickedly. "For now though I was just in a big fight,  and as a Heavenly Punishment Elf that really gets my motor revving. War  and sex are two of our biggest thing's. So you better take  responsibility."

I  laughed at that, grinding my hips a bit so she could feel exactly how  much I liked that idea. "Oh no, whatever shall I do. I have to take care  of the needs of my nympho sex elf girlfriend. You know, if I'd known  you would be this sex crazed I never would have let you take part in the  ritual." She rolled her eyes and kissed, me roughly and I pulled back  with a laugh. "Ok, you caught me, that was a lie."

Zee  gave a frustrated groan. "Oh my god will you shut up and fuck me  already. I'm not in the mood for witty banter. Just take your pants  off." I burst out laughing, but I have to say. I absolutely did not  argue with her. I shut my mouth and started fumbling with my pants,  thinking back to my earlier questions about my identity. I decided I  didn't much care if I'd changed, my life was pretty awesome the way it  was. I could deal with the not so great parts if I got to make up for it  with things like this. Then Zee got annoyed with the wait and used  magic to vanish her clothes, and I stopped thinking at all.