"...So then the boss says, he says 'I am darkness. I am the night. I am Bookworm. And I'm very pleased to meet you.' and the woman is staring at him. I don't think she's terrified anymore, just speechless at how awful that was. Maybe that was the point. But then we had to move on, there were vampires everywhere and the next couple of nights got... bad. You all know how it ended, but I swear I'll never forget the look on her face. Hey, boss! Do you get this stuff you say from books, or do you make it up?"
I look up from from the list I'm compiling of ways magic can benefit the city to where Frederick is chatting up two of the new interns. I do hope he's keeping the stories tasteful and in line with the 'lovable rogue' image. We have plenty of bad ones between us, but he's always been steady, and I ought to trust him accordingly. "A great deal of both," I reply, "though that particular one came from our friend with the cowl. Needless to say, it sounded much more impressive when he said it. But I thought we'd agreed not to speak of that conversation again?" More because it was expected than any actual offense. Had I not just thought there were far worse stories he could be sharing?
But it is important for the 'boss' to maintain appearances.
And now I do believe I've piqued the interest of one of our new staff. Kari, I believe she prefers to be called.
"Wh- what's he like? The Batman, I mean. He's real?"
I pause deliberately, to give the question the consideration it deserves. Always take your people seriously, or at least give the faultless appearance of such.
"Quite real. Imagine the most intelligent person you can think of, besides perhaps myself, and that he is also an athlete, armed with a wide variety of high technology you've never heard of, and more tenaciousness than any bulldog. A combination that somehow allows him to achieve the impossible multiple times, and you shall have a reasonable approximation."
"Wow." And she wanders off, apparently satisfied. Note to self, have a quiet word with Frederick and ensure I have her name correctly.
I was so happy to once again be sitting in the center of my spider's web, receiving information from all sides and issuing orders to the appropriate agents. True, I had a great deal more idealistic college students than grizzled veterans of the streets, but after everything else this is a minute adjustment.
For a time, I admit, I questioned my place in a world with magic, dazzling technology and alien gods that wear their undergarments on the outside and consider physics itself a gentle suggestion. But people never change. As long as some few grow rich, leaving a vast underclass that are angry, desperate and hungry for more than just bread, I have a place in this world.
Case in point, whilst idealistic young volunteers are printing up flyers and listening to Frederick's charming tales, Vincent is in the back room researching the opposition and committing minor fraud. Thanks to a charmingly versatile device called a 'C Cube' he can intercept calls and give me a small, but noticeable bump in the early polls started right after the candidacy announcement.
Sometimes, people need some permission to act correctly. Too timid to be the first in the theater to applaud. With a few polls suggesting I am a serious candidate, they will be more inclined to treat me as such, and hopefully that will be the extent of fraud needed to triumph. And if it somehow isn't, I have a few plans in the works.
All in all, I am content as I wrap up my list and lean back. Maybe reel it in a bit, James. Try to look less like a supervillain in front of the new recruits. We've talked about this even.
With a purely mental sign of exasperation, I removed from my fingers from the steepled position they had fallen into.
At least my counterpart had the good sense to let me record the video to spread word of our candidacy on 'Tubetube.'
Now for the next problem. Traditionally, our resources have been limited only by a desire not to flood the market with gold and precious gems, and thus devalue our main source of wealth. As such, we have ever had ready money for our endeavors and little need for the crude resource-gathering of our criminal peers. However, as public officials our finances would be subject to outside scrutiny, and so we must solicit donations, launder our existing money, or come to some arrangement. What about a grand public gesture? Or two. Whatever do you- Ah, I see. That may suffice.
It is so good to once more be at liberty, with plans to concoct and a great game to play.
As a matter of technicality, I'm not yet in the election. That requires some five hundred signatures, and they couldn't be just from one or two neighborhoods, and as an independent candidate, a small bond is required. Still, I possess the requisite funds, and a single day's work has provided most of the signatures, thanks to some eager volunteers, the rest is a formality that shall shortly be behind me.
Then the real work can begin. It pays not to be too inflexible in planning for my opposite number, though we do have a variety of possible ideas, at least one shall require outside assistance Jonathon is loath to acquire. But the first plan we shall try is simplicity itself. We have recovered a book, Heir Apparent by one Vivian Vande Velde, and were well pleased to see the char had mostly faded during our incarceration. Traditionally, we have used the book to acquire a ridiculous hat with the pleasant effect of suspending the flow of time for some five subjective minutes. There is a great deal a motivated man can accomplish in that span. This time, however we have used it to produce a ring to carefully carry on our person, the Ring of Bruce the Warrior Poet. The ring has a single magical effect, if someone is shown it and directed to "take this ring" the person shall be compelled to take the ring and put it on. Thereafter, they cannot remove it nor disobey the thane, or ring-giver, in matters large or small.
In this way, Capricorn shall surrender his secrets before taking his own life. Jonathon is most eager to learn what went wrong in his creation, and what he has done in the years he's been at liberty. I confess myself more interested in how he has cheated the rules that govern magic. Furthermore, we must ensure he has no allies nor arrangements to escape death.
A well-read libriomancer with access to books is difficult to kill. Our own double-life stands, I think, as sufficient testament to this. Even now, Frederick is carrying a phial of elixir, ready to save the life of any of our organization at a moment's notice.
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That night, an unusual cadaver was discovered among the back alleys of Gotham, and taken to Gotham General. Bodies are sadly common in the city, even highly unusual ones, and so the significance of this would not be realized for some time.
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So first chapter from James' POV. Mostly some campaign stuff, but also Plan A for Capricorn. Of course, now that the audience knows Plan A, it is almost certainly due to failure, never mind what an anticlimax it would be.