While my loved ones were chatting warmly (at least there were no explosions, gunfire, or screams of rage), I had a rather entertaining problem to solve in recreating an artifact compass with improved functionality.
If you think about it a bit, it doesn't make much sense to replicate the first craft one-to-one because of its limitations. What is it if the compass only points in the right direction twice a day and only for ten minutes? It's much better to create a normal artifact that is linked to the lighthouse all the time and points to it at all times of the day and night.
Naturally, the first magic compass was created with the idea that the island is surrounded by divine enchantments, but they, as it turned out, have little protection against auric search. Although, the amount of mana in the beacon and the fact that it's on an Amazon island at all may have played a role here. Besides, a month ago I had already created a search amulet to calculate the location of a maniac with the help of his blood. The artifact's functionality was limited to light indication with a small range of action, and the wooden circle didn't show the direction properly: instead, it began to glow and warm up when approaching the target, but it was not powered by the background.
A lot of water had passed since then. The seventh shell has grown along with the understanding of magic, thus allowing me to use more large-scale weaves and to depend less on the diamond reserves, and the available arsenal has been replenished with a lot of spells and enchantments for almost all occasions... However, ninety percent of my knowledge is dead weight, because I know them only in theory and have never used them in practice, besides, before using them I still have to pull them out of the corners of memory, which I did, taking a lotus pose on the green lawn and sinking deep into myself... I tried to do it, because strange luck helps me to survive in deadly dangerous situations (and at the same time to get into various troubles), but does not save me from annoying calls when they are absolutely unnecessary.
When I arrived on the island, I immediately activated the main phone, and now the ungrateful device was blaring a cheerful tune, announcing an incoming call. I had to pause briefly, because the number was suddenly identified, showing the inscription: "A. Dershowitz. Dershowitz."
After a quick exchange of greetings, the lawyer said that the Fries case had been in court for a day, and a fourth hearing was scheduled for 24 hours from now, where the scientist's future fate would be decided. It, by the way, may not be happy, because the blue-skinned man was recognized as sane, which means that if he loses, he will go straight to Blackgate, deprived of the opportunity to heal his wife.
No, I'm not a monster, and I'll keep Nora's body, but it's unlikely that Victor will agree to spend fifteen long years in the dungeons. That's what they're promising him for his WayneTech stint. So my presence at the meeting would be highly desirable.
Despite the fact that I myself am a former supercriminal, I have the opportunity to tilt the scales of Themis toward acquittal by guaranteeing Victor a job. As strange as it may sound, this approach in the American system does take place. Like, if a certain employer is really ready to take on the burden of responsibility, then the defendant may not really be such a terrible person and it is possible to give him a second chance. Of course, all of this only works in the case of non-serious offenses, but here we have a special situation. Besides, we're a little screwed on the compensation, and Fries is going to have to pay for Boyler's treatment anyway, so the man needs a job, and I'm ready to give it to him.
After promising Alan that I'd be at the meeting, I called Bats, telling him to park the bird somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle, and I finally got around to creating the artifact.
So where was I? Oh, yeah. All a new search amulet has to be able to do is receive the signal from a beacon and tune in to a certain auric imprint. I feel like I'm going to be in the world a lot, and the compass pointer shouldn't be spinning like a madman trying to show every available direction.
As a base I chose a small piece of aluminum, which I impregnated with my own energy and, using a sculptor's spell, molded something similar to a washer with several recesses for diamonds, as well as with a notch in the center, where the metal pointer was located. Then the whole thing was carefully covered with magical symbols responsible for finding an aura similar to the sample placed inside. Then charged diamonds were inserted around the perimeter, and then the whole thing was enchanted so that it would not react to itself. Fortunately, there were special weaves for the last item, but the previous stages were a bit of a pain, because the beacon and the original compass were based on similarity charms, which bind the two objects together. Here I had to set the search parameters, and then implement the weaves to select one direction. It turned out a little crooked, but this thing will work for a couple of months without any problems, and then I'll create something more reliable by getting normal materials. It's not for nothing that real artifacts require magical ingredients that not only help the enchantments to work with maximum efficiency, but they also allow to keep the embedded weaves even without feeding. In my case, this problem was solved by adding a few diamonds, which will gradually give up their energy, not allowing the enchantments to collapse, and they can also further strengthen them by providing more mana. The main thing here is not to overdo it with the amount of magical energy, or the runes will simply burn out, and you will have to do it all over again.
I walked toward the house, successfully disguised as two large steel containers, with a little apprehension. It was suspiciously quiet.
When I opened the front door and walked into the kitchen-living room, it suddenly became clear that no one was inside. I was greeted by a few teacups, an empty teapot with a floral pattern, three empty Alfred cake boxes, and the faint odor of alcohol.
"And where did they go? - the question went into the void.
The answer came a couple seconds later, when the strained voice of a sorceress who was clearly reading a spell was heard from down the street.
I rushed out of the house, hoping not to let the cuties fight to the death, but the alarm was false. In a green clearing surrounded by tropical trees, I found all four beauties. Two of them were sitting on a large lily pad that had taken the form of a comfortable couch, and the other two were practicing magic. Abby stood in the center of the magic circle, while Zee was the operator, scanning the avatar's body.
"Is it time already? - The green-haired girl asked, noticing my worried face.
"Yes. The artifact is ready and even working," I proudly displayed a metal amulet whose arrow pointed clearly to the northeast.
The most interesting thing is that I just don't remember where exactly Themyscira is, not even the approximate direction or at least the distance. I had a vague feeling that the island must be not far from my home, but "not far" is a relative concept, especially when you have teleportation or at least a footstep.
"May I? - Zee came closer and looked at my handiwork with interest.
"Well, you'll figure it out without me," Ivy said, quickly getting out of the blonde's embrace, and then promptly disappeared behind the trees.
"What's wrong with her? - I asked Harley.
"She's not crazy about the idea of a harem," she said, scrutinizing the compass. - I'm not either... But I'm willing to put up with it, because I knew what I was getting into.
"Ah..." the blonde opened her mouth.
"I'm not going to participate in an orgy of five or even four," the sorceress pressed her gaze. - You two are enough for me.
"I'm ready to participate, but with a green one," the dryad cut in.
"Ooooh, at least someone understands me," Harley grimaced and clutched Abby in a hug.
"Ahem..." Zee coughed delicately, handing the artifact back to me. - It's pretty good, but it's worth working on. I think we should be on our way. It's unlikely Steppenwolf will continue to delay the activation of the Mother Cubes.
While the conservationist was growing the boat, and Zee was strengthening it with enchantments and creating a magical rudder with an engine, I still asked my favorite about the past conversation.
The blonde's story suggested that I was still a long way from the heroes of porn novels, because the girls agreed that there were a lot of them, but the idea of sleeping together like hamsters was something only Harley had an unrealistic enthusiasm for. Ivy flatly refused, almost getting into a fight with her friend over it, Zee did too, but reacted less violently. Abby, on the one hand, didn't care about the number of my partners, but on the other, the dryad didn't like the fact that with so many competitors, she'd get less attention. In addition, the avatar of Green had realized where to move for the sake of gaining normal sensitivity, and now she was eager to try out the body that had begun to change. And I hadn't thought of Babs, who wouldn't be happy to see so many "sisters" suddenly appearing.
But we could put the lovemaking aside for now, because we were finally able to move toward the hidden island. By the way, despite the presence of an artifact that clearly indicated the direction, it was very difficult to stick to it. If I took my eyes off the arrow and relaxed my attention a little, in a couple of moments it turned out that we were sailing somewhere wrong, obviously trying to go around the land invisible to the eye. As a result, I had to take full control and stare at the compass until the magical vehicle crossed the spell boundary.
Immediately afterward, they had to use the magic engine as much as possible to avoid the sharpest rocks, some of which could damage the reinforced bottom of the boat as if it were just paper. Luckily, Abby was surprisingly quick to get her bearings and mended the small holes, and at the same time, she grew a couple of strong vines to help avoid further collisions.
"What an interesting structure," Zee leaned over the side and looked at one of the stone fangs with interest. - The energy is minimal, but it's incredibly effective, and it's got a sort of magical sharpening. Harley, you don't have to hold me, I've glued my legs together with spells, so I won't fall.
"Well, in case your charms misfire..." the blonde replied, picking up the drool and not stopping to squeeze the seductive ass of the powerful sorceress.
"Eh, I was lucky enough to get involved with perverts," she rolled her eyes and, wearing an unprovocative costume consisting of a swimsuit and large mesh stockings, focused on the rocks again, whispering analyzing spells under her nose and trying to ignore the actions of one horny person who hadn't crossed the line yet.
A couple of minutes later, the transportation grown by the dryad's efforts was successfully parked on the sandy beach, after which our magnificent foursome found themselves under the crosshairs of several warlike Amazons with bows.
"I don't think we're welcome," the illusionist remarked, raising her hands prudently.
"Hao, we come in peace," I greeted the tanned beauties.
"Harley, Joker, why did you bring strangers to us? - the commander of the welcoming delegation stepped forward.
"We're going to attack Steppenwolf, we need your help."
"Don't say another word, we'll take you to the queen."
Agreeing with the Amazons to participate in the battle was incredibly easy. As I suspected, they are well aware that the Wolf, even with two Mother Cubes out of three, is a serious threat. Plus, it won't be long before he realizes that one of the crates is a dud, which means Themyscira will be under attack again, but this time it will be an entire army of Parademons. By the way, I'm sure the deception will be revealed soon, since General Darkseid has activated Unity, and the artifact on the island has been working as a classy lamp for the second hour now, ferrying just an ounce of energy through itself.
When Zee saw this mess, she immediately decided to limit the channel bandwidth to slow down the synchronization of the boxes even more. I tweaked the beacon a bit, removing the ten-minute limit and plugging in a couple of diamonds as an additional power source, then went to call Bats.
The Amazons, of course, were not very happy with the idea of letting strangers, especially men, onto the island, but they were well aware that they were unlikely to be able to deal with the Wolf on their own, given that the bastard was entrenched somewhere in Eastern Europe, the way to which lay across the Atlantic Ocean.
The communications on the island didn't work, so Abby and I had to slip out of our protective charms for a bit, and then spend almost five minutes getting back in, because of our inability to focus on the compass arrow properly. By this point, the mouse transport had just arrived and parked on one of the sandy beaches, where it was met by a delegation of twenty high-ranking female warriors. By the way, the bat-cargo-plane had obviously undergone modification, and now its tail section boasted a strange weave of steel-colored pipes, causing a persistent association with Cyborg.
Contrary to any comic book clichés, no one took each other on weakness or tried to test the strength of an ally. I think it was the two absolutely happy, sobbing beauties clutching each other in their arms as if trying to strangle each other.
Yes, I somehow forgot to warn the queen that her daughter had joined our friendly superhero group. So if someone wanted to test us at first, they didn't want to ruin the moment after such a warm reunion.
After giving his relatives some time to recover (exactly thirty seconds), Bats had Cyborg fire up the projector and without preamble began sharing information on the enemy.
As it turned out, the freak had taken over the territory of the abandoned nuclear power plant, creating a huge energy dome over it, consisting of many blood-colored membranes, so that it would be very difficult to open such a nut from the start. And there's a whole army of parademons, which, according to the most conservative estimates, numbered three thousand people, and would hardly stand still when the attack began.
The tactics developed by Mouse were not very sophisticated, but they were quite reliable. The heroes already knew that the Unity had been activated and figured out how to break it, using the skills of Cyborg, as well as the powers of Barry, who would once again work as a capacitor with a huge amount of energy. The small problem of getting the couple to the Cube was solved with the help of the warriors and Abby, who would attack head-on and draw some of the army away while we quietly sneak up from the rear using courage and illusion buffs.
The only thing left is to decide how we can transfer two hundred cute faces to the vicinity of the energy dome, if the airplane can hold only a hundred, and this taking into account that we will throw the tank out of the cargo compartment, having previously convinced Bats to part with an expensive toy.
The Amazons selected for the operation almost fought each other for the opportunity to go into battle, but Zee came to the rescue, having finished with Cube. The sorceress agreed to send everyone through the portal. However, because of the goddesses' magic, the spatial charms would consume too much energy, so the girls would have to swim to my island first, and from there travel to the final destination.
We rejected Cyborg's idea of simply transporting the squad with the help of our box for security reasons, because no one knew how the alien artifact would behave when trying to do two things at once, and no one was willing to reveal the presence of a fake to Wolf.