22nd July 2012
19:32 GMT
Kara shakes her head. "I can't see anything out of the ordinary either. Not that I spend a lot of time staring at breakfast cereal factories."
I feel so cut off from my roots. I honestly have no idea if 'Weetiebrix' is an off-brand Weetabix, its parallel universe replacement, or something completely different. The factory looks like it's in reasonably good condition… I don't know
anything about breakfast cereal production.
Hasn't really come up until now. Is it strange that there's a site in London still in production? A quick ring search says 'slightly, but not significantly', and a check on the company's finances doesn't show any significant irregularities.
Anything odd about this place? Any-.
Oh. That makes a painful amount of sense.
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.
…
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.
"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?"
"I think that's who we're going to meet.
"
She frowns. "Isn't he dead?"
"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."
"That's not exactly true.
"
She glances back at me like I'm an idiot. "That's what you
say."
"When it's true. Otherwise it doesn't make any sense.
"
She shakes her head and walks faster.
"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, 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."
"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 has been entirely rewired when they 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.
Someone was definitely waiting for us.
I stop just outside the offices containing the control centre.
"What does the clock say?
"
She pulls it out of her back and shows me.
'C0∩∩E C105ER'
"He sounds creepy."
"He's a demon technology fetishist. Unless you're secretly a gynoid, you should be safe.
"
"Gy
what?"
"Synthetic device patterned in the likeness of a woman. A girl robot.
"
"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 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.
"
"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.
"
She takes this in.
"
Can I get tattoos like that?"
"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.
"
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…
"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.
"Plug you in? Why?"
She's saying it loud for my benefit. Good girl.
"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.
"And put what on my head? I don't think so. Where's Uncle John?"
"Paul?" Kara sounds concerned. "There are people moving towards the factory outside."
"That's fine. The more resources he commits, the better.
"
"Hey there, Gemma. I'm-."
"Richie Simpson. You died here. What do you want?"
"Oh. You, actually."
