Dr. Balewa smiles faintly as he nods. I glance to my left, watching the two brownies who are bringing up the rear as we ascend the Penrose stairs. We entered via a door in-. Well, about a third of the way back on the rotation, and we're been going around and around since. After the third I made a mark on the staircase just in case, and, yes, we've gone past it each time.
"Yes. Orange Lantern marked the floor, but not the doors. They change each time we rotate."
As in, you're literally walking past different doors, made of different wood with different styles? Like I said,
magical topography!
I knew that areas like this existed in the Tower of Fate, with a featureless void all around and staircases with variable gravitational pull all throughout it. I've just managed to avoid spending time here until now. In the distance I can see other staircases in the void, but they don't appear to connect to ours and I'm not sure what would happen if I tried flying to them.
Sanderson looks over the edge at the drop. "Ah, how exactly is any of this 'orderly'?"
I... Would
not go dashing off to check that theory out, OL. You might find yourself taking a very,
very long flight across a suddenly
infinite space.
"It is closer to being orderly in the absolute sense, rather than in the limited human sense."
"Ah…"
Like a
fractal image, then. That space where Order looks chaotic, yet is
more orderly than you can imagine.
"The human mind is evolved to understand things thet it usually encounters in the world. But the world is not an orderly or rational place." He looks around at-. Yes, very droll. "Here is an order beyond anything thet you hev known. As orderly as can exist in and still interact with the material universe."
"If we cut the Plane of Order off from Earth completely, what happens?"
...OL,
No. Let's not dick around with the fabric of the universe
again. Last time, you
nearly triggered a Crisis by
yourselves.
"Massive arcane instability. Indeed, it may be thet the magic systems of the Earth become incapable of stability without an element of Order." He stops and turns around so that he can look directly into my face. "Please, do not do it."
I acquiesce with a nod.
Let's hope he at least
listens to that advice.
"Here." Urisk takes hold of a door handle and pulls it open. "Demon spoor. The one who came with you."
"Who else?"
Just, you understand, so OL knows which
ammunition to load first...
"Order. Chaos-." He jerks his hand away, wincing. "The Empty One."
I frown. "Doctor Mist, wasn't Blackbriar Thorn the primary vector for the Anti-Life fragment? Isn't that why the brownies are free?"
'Empty One'... Dark Druid, perhaps? Or
someone we haven't seen yet in
this episode...
"We know thet there are more fragments. There being another is.. concerning, but hardly beyond our expectations."
Alan nods. "It's in Quinn, right? It would.. have to be."
I mean, chunks of Anti-life to tend to have certain
warning signs. Unless it's a piece that makes you entirely amiable and friendly, yet cold and calculating when needed, surely there would have been
something off about him?

<
Friendship = Manipulation> sounds
right up a Constantine's alley.
"I hev been assuming so, but… No. Without some idea of what happened, there is no reason to assume so. It may be thet we hev already freed him."
He makes a motion with his hand and Urisk steps away from the door. Alan and I reengage our defences, then nod. He pushes it open and then walks briskly inside.
Sadly, they don't have a
proper tank to kick the door in, like any
proper adventuring party. Though given the
arcane nature of the place, having a big meatshield 'apply boot' probably would just end up with a large pile of smoking
ash...
I follow-.
Huh.
A… Machine? A mechanism… In parts, at least. I can see rotating cogs and platforms with runic inscriptions whose shapes I don't recognise. Glowing crystals are.. common, forming patterns or.. just laid along the edges of parts of the device. There's a.. large screw in a central location. Nothing seems to be directly attached to it, though two platforms it sticking through their central hole.
Want an idea of how it looks? Just look up any
Jack Kirby 'ancient aliens' series like New Gods or Eternals.

The King could design some crazy-looking gubbins.
Magic technology far in advance of anything I've seen before. But… Some parts…
"Is that New God technology?"
I bet you can almost
feel the devices in the 'empty' spots, can't you? Things that don't even exist in the
same four dimensions as the rest, yet do an important thing regardless.
"You would be best placed to-." Dr. Balewa winces as golden lightning dances around his fingers.
Alan look concerned. "Are you okay?"
Did he set off an alarm? Is Quinn blasting along the corridors in full regalia as we speak?
"It was not an attack. This much power, focused… It is like touching an electrified fence. It has been some time since I hev encountered…"
He takes a few steps forward, gazing up at the device.
"Something like this."
The man gets around.
"Is it safe for me to fly?"
"Do not touch the Ophidian, but, yes."
Little hard
not to given it's got a direct line into his soul, but... Keeping an air-gap
might work.
Ring, start mapping.
Compliance. Warning, mapping high concentration magic devices not reliable.
I bet even the
Ring's feeling a little awe at the complexity of this thing...
Do your best.
Compliance.
Never asks for anything
simple, does he?
"Doctor, are these all order-aligned?"
"Yes." He's still looking around, hopefully starting to put things together. "Everything integrated into the structure is resonant with Order."
Despite the sheer chaotic nature of its appearance? More of that 'higher level of Order' stuff the Doctor was talking about, of course.
Alan comes up alongside me. "Something on your mind?"
"I always assumed that John would have an easier time with Chaos than with Order. If he was dumping Order in favour of Chaos, this all fits. But I've seen Quinn with the Helmet dozens of times."
...Admittedly, this has been all based on a couple of assumptions. After all...
Who told you that Nabu's mind was 'gone' from the helmet?
"He didn't have the same trouble."
"And where is he? The Demon got grabbed… Thorn could have teleported him, but why? He's Justified. Unless someone told him otherwise, he'd just infect him and send at the rest of us."
Although, to be
fair, I doubt a Justified Demon would employ any of his more
insidious tricks.
"Oi! Up here!"
I looks up-. Can't see anyone, but there's a big wheel with thin spokes whose rim is blocking my line of sight. I fly up and around-.
Dun-dun-
dun!
Should I feel bad that I feel relieved?
"Demon."
Right, then. Who put him up there, and
why?
The Demon Constantine has returned to his decayed demonic form, and has lost his shirt. There's a burn scar across the left side of his chest, large but not particularly deep. Chains which look a little like my magic suppression chains bind him to a plinth, which is in turn attached to a series of gears. The whole assemblage looks like it's free to move around the room if appropriately directed by… Someone.
"What are you doing here?"
...Pardon? Surely time isn't
that fucked up in here that it's been, what, weeks or
months for him?
"What?"
"What. Are. You. Doing. Here? I thought you and Quinn were mates."
Oh, it is strange seeing that 'demonic speech' font again. Surprised the Demon hasn't been using it more, unless his 'true' form does something
nasty to his throat that no amount of lozenges could soothe...
"What are you talking about, we-."
My eyes glow orange as I try getting a better look at his psyche. This… This isn't the man we came in with. Not unless he's had massive psychic chirurgery.
Especially if it's only been an hour or two...

Oh,
dear...
"When was the last time you saw me?"
He considers me for a moment. Then some level of realisation dawns. "Azerbaijan. The General's place."
...Fuck. Fuckity fucking
fuck.
Someone rolled a trojan horse right inside OL's defenses.
"Not today?"
"No." He smiles unpleasantly. "No, mate. I think you've been had."
But by who? Quinn, playing a game for his own reason? Original John, playing an even more chaotic game? The Golden Boy, assuming Quinn
isn't him? Oh gods...
I frown.
"That-. Can't, I-." I look around. If that was Quinn with us… Somehow, then this would be the time to attack, but… No, no one here. "What is this place?"
...And the universe is now
screaming, as it realises there are at least
four Constantines in
one world.

Which is three Constantines too many!