Josie watched as Jack became a thing from Lovecraft and summoned various floating
screens so he could keep track of everything. An appendage injected something inside
Harp as he lay on the table. One of the screens lit up with a timer and a section of
shoulder and upper back.
“Don’t look at me,” said Jack. “And tell me if you feel anything.”
“Feel anything?,” said Harp.
“If you can feel something, I didn’t numb everything,” said Jack. “I will have to track
the area down and numb that too.”
“I understand,” said the knight.
“All right,” said Jack. “The first thing I have to do is hook the connection to the
shoulder where your remaining arm is. The artificial arm is a little long. I’ll have to
fix that after everything is attached and working.”
“I understand,” said Harp.
Jack split the nub with tentacles producing blades of light at the ends. He worked the
connection in place and threaded wires to hook to the nerves and muscles leading to
his patient’s spine.
“Couldn’t magic do this faster?,” asked Madam Harp.
“Sure,” said Jack. “I could just shazam this hunk of metal on your husband. It would
be a snap. The problem is if he runs into something that drains magic in the future,
it might just fall off.”
“What?,” said the Harps.
“Tell them about the fish people, Josie,” said Jack. “I only have a few minutes before
the pain killer wears off. I have to get the rest of this done before that happens.”
“What?,” said the Harps again.
Josie frowned at Jack, but he was moving with superhuman speed. Talking would
slow him down, and that was the last thing they needed while he was halfway through
lancing the wires where he needed them to go. He was already cursing the fine work
he had to do.
“There are fish people disguised as humans up north on the lake,” said Josie.
“Apparently they had a summoning ring taking the local magic to power a gate. When
they had enough accumulated power, the gate opens and their god comes calling. One
of our first quests was to stop that from happening. So we figured out what was going
on which was a ring of stones, and we dismantled it.”
“Tell them about their god,” said Jack. “All right, almost done with the connections.
About five minutes left. Definitely going to need you to take over for me in a second,
Jo.”
“Let me call Fate and see what I can do,” said Josie. She dialed down to the name and
pushed the button. She became cloth and words. She frowned. This wasn’t what she
expected. “I am going to have to try Occult. This won’t do the magic we need.”
She dialed down to Doctor Occult and pushed the button. She changed into a body
with scrubs and a mask. She nodded at the gloves on her hands. This was perfect for
what they were doing.
“All right,” said Jack. “Losing power in three seconds. As soon as I recharge, I think
I can finish the rest of the job.”
“What needs to be done?,” asked Josie.
“I need to finish threading the connections and then hook the arm to the connection
hub, and then re-size it and check it for functionality,” said Jack.
“I can fix that with this persona,” said Josie. “Give me a second.”
She concentrated, watching the counter on the watch count down. She didn’t know
if she could do all the connections in the amount of time given, but she could do
enough that when Jack took over he could finish the job before his watch counted
down again.
Practical limitations was not on their side.
Josie concentrated, running her magic over Harp. She sensed the things she needed
to do and worked everything in place as rapidly as she could. She felt the hooks
engage one by one. She had a mental picture of what she was doing and it was
confirming checkpoints as she went.
“All right,” said Josie. “I have the hooks in place. The connector should work.”
“Can you hold it in place until I recharge?,” said Jack.
“I think so,” said Josie. “I’m going to seal around the connector to keep Harp from
losing any more blood, then we can try to hook the arm on.”
“Right,” said Jack. “I think the worse is over.”
“All right,” said Josie. “Everything is a little elevated. How do you feel, Sir Harp?”
“Lightheaded,” said the older man. “Is the operation a success?”
“The first part,” said Josie. “We’re going to do the second part in a second. Can you
hold on?”
“Yes,” said Harp. “What did the fish god look like?”
“He looked like Jack’s Doctor body except as big as the castle and a lot more
tentacles,” said Josie.
“It was a good thing I punted that rock when I did,” said Jack. “It was halfway across
and ready to grab anything that got in reach.”
“We think it would have scoured the lake country first before coming down to the
city,” said Josie. “And the Society didn’t want that to happen for whatever reason.”
“Not the goodness of their hearts?,” said Madam Harp.
“I don’t know,” said Josie. “Maybe they saw the lake god as a rival for power and
said no to that, or they might have asked us to handle things because it kept things
stable, or any other reason including out of the goodness of their hearts.”
“Having talked to them,” said Jack. “I don’t think the goodness of their hearts
overturns the practicality of their wants. Something has to be done. They can’t do it
themselves for whatever reason. They get someone who will do the job out of the
goodness of his heart. But I think they are more inclined to see things depending on
what they are in charge of fixing before it gets crazy than what misery will be
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.unleashed.”
“Like politicians, or army commanders,” said Harp.
“I can’t disagree with that assessment,” said Jack. He grinned. “I am about halfway
full. Let’s see what we can do with that amount of time.”
He changed back into Doctor Strange. He put up his screens. He nodded at the
influence Josie still had as Doctor Occult. He checked her connections in a matter of
seconds. He took the arm and hooked that to the connection joint. He made sure it
fitted in place and that it would move on its own. He activated the wires and saw
Harp wince at the sudden feeling. He blinked a few of his eyes as he checked
everything again.
It should work, but it was still too long. He needed to resize it to something more in
line with the man’s real arm. It shouldn’t look like he put a gorilla’s arm on a man.
“Do you still have time, Jo?,” Jack asked. “I have to switch out.”
“Go ahead,” said Josie. Her magic said everything was in the right perimeters and she
was keeping Harp’s blood pressure in a respectable range.
“Okay,” said Jack. He switched to the numbers and letters form of Magik. He touched
the metal arm and made it fit in proportion to what it should. He stepped back and
switched to Strange again. His screens told him everything looked normal.
“All right,” said Jack. “The arm is on and it should work. There is a release lever at
the shoulder in case you need to take it off. You will experience some discomfort and
mild pain until you get used to things. Understand?”
“Yes, I do,” said Harp. “I will be able to use it like a normal arm?”
“Yes, but it will still be heavy and if you’re not careful, you can hurt yourself with it,”
said Jack. He became normal.
“Now I have to build an airship to save someone else’s day,” said Jack. “If you go a
week without busting yourself in the face, that will be a win for me.”
“Help him up, Jack,” said Josie. “What do you know about Eric Fass and his crew?”
“They are some of the best adventurers that we have here in the city,” said Harp. He
sat up with the help of Jack and his wife. He flexed his new arm. He winced at the
pain of moving it. “As far as I know, they have never done a shady job since getting
their licenses.”
“Would you trust them?,” asked Josie.
“Within limits,” said Harp. “Just because a group of adventurers have made a name
for themselves at standing out of the shadows doesn’t mean they haven’t done things
they should not have. Why?”
“One of the members of Fass’s group lost his sister to some shenanigans,” said Josie.
“I told them I would help find her for him.”
“Who’s the sister?,” said Harp.
“Emily Budd,” said Josie.
“She was a good one,” said Harp. “She joined Markam Myme’s crowd. She didn’t
want to be in the same party as her brother. She wanted to do better, and Fass is more
cautious than most. He’s not one to delve just to delve, he’s there to look for
something or carry out a job.”
“What happened to Emily?,” asked Madam Harp.
“Markam’s party turned on her and sold her to someone on the other side of the
country,” said Josie. “I told Fass I would help him out if he accepted any
consequences that might fall on him personally.”
“Do you need a hand?,” asked Harp. “I would be glad to go with you.”
“I just need you to keep an eye on the girls and get them better than what they are,”
said Josie. “What is going to happen is going to be against king and country, and you
can’t be allowed to take the risk now that things are going better for the both of you.”
“If you want to have dinner with us, I’m not going out of town,” said Jack. “Bring
something if you want.”
“I don’t know if we can do that,” said Madam Harp.
“Nonsense,” said Jack. “Josie is going out of town and we should have a party.”
“He just wants to see if the arm works,” said Josie. “But come by. I’ll tell the girls and
Elaine to expect you. They at least will be able to cook something without poisoning
you unlike some people.”
“I cooked breakfast this morning, thank you,” said Jack. “You’re still alive.”
“I’m used to the food poisoning,” said Josie. “Have a good night, folks.”
She turned into Zatanna for long enough to clean up the mess they had created putting
on the new arm. She waved at the Harps as she led the way into the night.
“Do you think they miss Warner?,” asked Jack. He walked along with his hands in
his pockets.
“They might miss adventuring,” said Josie. She considered things as she led the way
down the street. “I don’t know if a new arm will help heal the wound, but I wouldn’t
be surprised if Harp starts taking jobs again. He might not realize that he is over the
hill and should take it easy.”
“Some old people don’t,” said Jack. “The arm worked out better than I thought it
would.”
“I’m glad you didn’t say that in front of them,” said Josie.
“It’s not like I’m going to be going around and handing out magic arms,” said Jack.
“You say that now, but one day we’re going to be on a quest and the next thing you
know that’s all you will be able to do,” said Josie.
“Let’s go by the Adventurer Hall before we go home to talk to the kids,” said Jack.
“I want to look at the place before I start work.”
“Have you heard from Guin yet?,” asked Josie. She pushed the worry that their
partnership with the gangster was gone away. There was nothing she could do about
it if it was, and she hadn’t made the mistake of killing the Duke and his closest
friends.
And she had no doubt they needed killing from what Jack had said.
“Nope,” said Jack. “I think I scared him. He’s a lot more cautious than some of the
criminals I have run into.”
“Have you run into a lot of criminals?,” said Josie. She couldn’t remember a lot from
their childhood, or after when Jack had enlisted.
“Half of our senior class were dopers and thieves,” said Jack. “That’s how I found out
who robbed Mrs. Coltrane. My sisters and I waited for them and then we beat them
down and got back her stuff.”
“Really?,” said Josie. She knew someone had broke into Mrs. Coltrane’s old house.
The old lady had been happy that her stuff had been returned three days later. She
never thought Jack and his sisters had ambushed somebody and robbed them of what
they had stolen.
“Why do you think Pearsall and his bullies avoided Juni like the plague?,” said Jack.
Josie could see that. Juni was three years ahead of them, built like a short bull, and
known for throwing people through windows. Pearsall was a weed. Any fight would
have been short and to the point.
“I never knew about this,” said Josie. “No wonder you have taken to this champion
of the universe stuff so well. You were already a vigilante.”
“Just because I helped my sisters beat up some guys doesn’t make me Batman,” said
Jack.
“You are vengeance,” said Josie. The imitation of Kevin Conroy was almost spot on.
“I always saw myself of a more of a Darkwing Duck type of guy,” said Jack. “Maybe
Baloo from Tail Spin.”
“I can’t quite see you as either one of those,” said Josie. She smiled. “Maybe
Launchpad.”
“All right,” said Jack. “He’s not bad even if he can’t land a plane once he gets it in
the air.”
The dialers paused when they reached the open ground in front of the hall. Jack
walked around the grass lawn, measuring steps as he went. He knew from experience
Mister Fantastic would remember this as soon as he was dialed up.
“All right,” said Jack. “I think I have the room volume down for how big we can
make the ship. Let’s go see what the girls came up with. I’ll have to gather material
to build whatever we need in the morning.”
“No making something out of thin air with your magic?,” asked Josie.
“I could, but what happens if you run into someone who can take constructions
apart?,” asked Jack. “It will be bad enough to be knocked out of the air, but to just
lose the whole ship with no way to repair it would be worse in my opinion. I want our
enemies to waste time trying to shoot us out of the air instead of dispelling my work.”
“I know,” said Josie. “The look on your face was classic.”
“I know,” said Jack. “Why don’t you write a letter home to your mom to let her know
you’re okay?”
Josie froze and glared at him. He looked nonchalant, but she knew he was getting
ready to mock her reasons why not. She could see it in his eye. She decided to not
give him the satisfaction.
“I’ll write a letter to Warner to let him know we’re working for his old bosses,” said
Josie. Jack nodded in agreement. “Maybe he can tell us stuff about his old cases.”
“That’s a good thought,” said Jack. “Someone must have stopped the Dark Rider
before we did. Chances are Warner did that. Who knows what else he dealt with when
he came by to visit?”
“I’m not telling my mother anything about this,” said Josie.
“Neither am I,” said Jack.
“All right,” said Josie. She started walking again. “Why are we walking?”
“Because we are waiting for our watches to recharge after working on putting an
artificial arm on someone,” said Jack. “I am at almost full charge again. We can fly
home if you want.”
“That would be great,” said Josie.
“That’s good because I am already there,” said Jack. He dialed in Makkari and
vanished.
“You cheater!,” shouted Josie. She pulled on Quick and raced after him.