Anything odd about this place? Any-.
Oh. That makes a painful amount of sense.
It's clearly something Constantine-related, isn't it?
This is where
Richard Simpson died. They found the charred remains of his body in the building's control room one morning, John Constantine having got in and out without troubling either the security guards or the security cameras. No one had any idea how it happened. The coroner's report had an open verdict as no one could really believe that an electrical surge could do
that much damage to him without leaving any other sign.
And since relocating to Hell, he's been into demonic technology.
Ah. Okay,
earlyriser, you called it! Now, to see whether he's acting alone, working on something for Mammon or pulling a revenge play on John Constantine...
…
Guess I can tell Lord Fate he can take the rest of the day off. Now I've just got to arm-twist Mr. Simpson into telling me what he's playing at.
I would keep investigating. This may be a side-plot, Simpson taking advantage of the weird stuff to make his own play.
"Gemma, did John ever talk to you about Richard Simpson?"
She thinks for a moment. "Richie Simpson?" I nod. "I think he mentioned him. I don't remember what he said. Why?"
Probably a good thing she doesn't know details. But at least she'll be on her guard.
"I think that's who we're going to meet."
She frowns. "Isn't he dead?"
Death is such a
trivial side-trip to some people's lives... In DC, people don't
always die when they are killed, to borrow the meme...
"Sort of. He wasn't in his body when it died and then he downloaded his consciousness into a demon lord's avatar. I've met him and he seemed reasonably rational. No idea what he wants with you, though."
She strides forward towards the building. "Only one way to find out."
Don't be so eager, little missy. What if he wants to flay you alive? Or worse, use you as bait for your uncle?
"That's not exactly true."
She glances back at me like I'm an idiot. "That's what you say."
Gemma, the man has quite possibly the greatest tool in the universe on his finger, powered solely by his
wanting something. There are always
multiple ways to do something when that's involved.
"When it's true. Otherwise it doesn't make any sense."
She shakes her head and walks faster.
Argh.
Teenagers.
"Kara, if he just wants to negotiate or something, I'll handle it. If this is some sort of ambush, grab Gemma and fall back."
"I thought you said you knew him?"
Yes, and that's
why he's saying this. Simpson is not someone you want to trust with anything, unless you have him on a very short, very painful leash. And even then,
be wary.
"Yes, but we're not friends or allies. And as far as I can tell, gaining power is what demons are most interested in. Depending on how assimilated he's become, violence is very much on the cards."
"Alright, I'll keep watch. Be careful."
At least 'surprise Kryptonian interrupt' is a good trump card.
"Thank you, but I'm in the wrong job for 'careful'."
I fly towards the building, picking Gemma up and unlocking-. The magnetic lock on the door is already inactive. I open the door and fly us both in. The room where Mr. Simpson died was been entirely rewired when the redid the factory's IT systems-. The cameras aren't recording us, the alarms aren't sounding and the internal card-reader operated doors aren't requiring a card.
Yes,
that's not worrying at all. Someone has prepared their ground very well, and the snare has bait in it... Unfortunately, the only option seems to be setting off the trap and surviving.
Someone was definitely waiting for us.
I stop just outside the offices containing the control centre.
Because
of course Simpson has set up in there...
"What does the clock say?"
She pulls it out of her back and shows me.
'C0∩∩E C105ER'
Laying it on thick, huh? This is going to suck.
"He sounds creepy."
"He's a demon technology fetishist. Unless you're secretly a gynoid, you should be safe."
Heh. Now I picture Succubuses wearing metal plates futilely trying to get his attention as he assembles a robotic love doll...
"Gywhat?"
"Synthetic device patterned in the likeness of a woman. A girl robot."
Which makes it a
little annoying when you hear someone refer to one as an android, because it sounds
fancy and
sci-fi-y...
Usually because some writers tend not to deal with things outside their knowledge base well...
"Oh. Okay." She looks into the offices. "So I just go in there?"
"I'll hang back, and jump in the moment anything happens. You've got your ward, so I'll have plenty of time."
...You hope. Not that you want
her to know that...
"You know… You don't have to jump right in. He's going to be happier talking to me, isn't he? I mean, he's not going to see me as a threat."
"While true, I don't intend to risk you when I'm fairly confident that I can compel him to talk."
Remind me,
has he
branded Simpson before? Surprised he doesn't just go for it from out here...
"Won't he just know you're here? He's got control of the cameras, right?"
I shrug. "Then he knows. But my warding tattoos make me invisible to magic, even if there's a camera involved."
Oh, don't tell her that... She'll want...
She takes this in.
"Can I get tattoos like that?"
...Some of her own. To be fair, she's a Constantine, and very much like her uncle.
"Certainly. Just as soon as you have your eighteenth birthday, or-."
"That's-!"
"OR." She looks at me with very low expectations. "Get your father's permission."
And there's more chance of Mammon calling up asking about the sudden snowfall Down Below before
that happens...
She sullens, sighs teenagerly, then trudges towards the control room.
Hm. Alright. Mr. Simpson is -or rather was- an expert on electronic mysticism. But he's been in hell for a few years and IT is a fast moving area. I don't remember him having anything to do with Rosacarnis in the comics despite him possessing the father she hated. Here they're nominal allies, but how much access to up-to-date technology does he actually have? I mean, his demonic machinery looked modern enough…
To be honest, above a certain point, all technology tends to
look the same, and not just in trends of form factor and user interface... Even under the hood, things tend towards a standard...
"Alright clock, I'm here. What is it?"
She propped the door open, good. I don't want to scan because those can be detected, but I can use empathic vision to keep an eye on the room she's in.
Just watch out for something big enough to cause backlash. Remember what happened to Dox? (Yes, I know, not Empathic vision, but
still...)
"Plug you in? Why?"
She's saying in loud for my benefit. Good girl.
Well, she is a Constantine. Smarts and sneakiness go hand-in-hand in that line.
"Ah, okay? But how's that going to help… Fine."
You can't plug a clock radio into a computer. But you can plug it into a wall socket next to a plug from a computer, and use sympathetic resonance to link the two. So he wants access to the computer in the place where he died. I don't think that's enough for a summoning, not for a demon of his raw power. And he can't possess Gemma unless she does something silly and voluntarily vacates her body.
Even then, he'd have to go through the ward to get anywhere, whether by charm or by force. And she's too wary to allow anything.
"And put what on my head? I don't think so. Where's Uncle John?"
"Paul?" Kara sounds concerned. "There are people moving wards the factory outside."
Crap. He has backup? Or is someone
else coming to this party? Could it be John, having picked up on the threat to his blood?
"That's fine. The more resources he commits, the better."
"Hey there, Gemma. I'm-."
Yes, turn up the sleaze. That's surely going to make her do what you want, Simpson.
"Richie Simpson. You died here. What do you want?"
"Oh. You, actually."
Heh, he actually sounds surprised. Not sure why, OL was bound to have warned her when he saw where they were.