The Silhouette and The Forge
Chapter 65

Two weeks had passed since Liberty Prime had fought the Justice League, making national news not just in America but across the globe. Numerous foreign countries were dumbfounded by the idea the US government had a weapon like that stored in a forgotten massive underground complex.

Then came the outrage, pointing fingers at anyone and everyone they could think to blame. The majority were directed at the US government. It was glorious to watch it all unfold. Countries like North Rhelasia and Russia condemned it, especially Russia.

Knowing that back in the Cold War the US had something like that that could have been sent to Russia to attack them had them all kinds of upset. Then the revelation that it was still functional with working weapons. Had it been genuinely made by the US, the Russians, even with some of their own superpowered individuals back during the Cold War, would have had one hell of a time taking it down. 

Even more than that, the stream showed live across the world, hijacking various TV stations, video platforms, and streaming sites, breaking my old record of the gala job. The whole world got to see it, and videos were making the rounds across the internet.

The US government was getting blasted by everyone for the weapon that should have been decommissioned and for their incompetence with how I am still at large and they don’t have any means to track or find me. 

The various opinions of me were varied. Many of the everyday people were starting to like me of all things. A growing number of people had developed several theories as to who I used to be. Not my secret identity but what I used to do. Some of the more popular ones had me pegged as a former government agent.

Others a disgruntled government employee. Others think I am an alien weakening the country for an invasion. The theories just got crazier the further I read. But for once the Justice League wasn’t fully blamed or blasted for failing to get me. 

Well… besides Hal Jordan. The guy was shown concern if he was alright by some, but most of everyone else gave him so much grief for me styling on him, and for supposedly being one of the heavy hitters for the League, he was proving to be a burden for the others.

To be fair to the guy, it was a test to see if undermining a Lantern’s confidence would shave off their power output, which did in fact happen. It’s like a fighting game tournament, you start trash talking and manage to trigger your opponent. If you hadn’t done that, they would have otherwise rocked your world, and by making them focus on your words and not on what was in front of them, you can beat them.

Those rings require concentration, undermine that and, by extension, the willpower of the person, and then whatever they could dish out was reduced. But despite the great accomplishment and me getting a seat at the Lights table-- still haven’t fully decided if I was just going to outright destroy them regardless of taking their various resources for myself or let them live.

I was grudgingly willing to let them live for a moment if they don’t do the stupid mustache twirling evil plans they had in the show. I understood this wasn’t a show but a living, breathing world, with people who weren’t some static character on a superhero show to fill whatever roles needed to be filled. 

So maybe they wouldn’t do the two worlds, one for kids and the other for adults, when a better alternative to get everyone’s attention, like myself, could do it even better. For now, however, another plan is being made.

I looked over the book granted to me. The thing has some powerful spells in its pages. Some were offensive, like conjuring storms or great calamities, others were subtle, like dangerous curses that make the body begin to devour itself agonizingly over time, but what had my interest was a powerful yet subtle tracking and scrying spell.

I was ready to contact Jade if this worked out. I didn’t want to waste any time when I knew we could find and get Artemis back. I may have plans, and this more than likely could get me booted from the Light if they even were thinking of having me in their club. But I didn’t care.

Artemis was more important than that. Not because of who she was when this was a show or what she could do and how limited it would be compared to someone like Aqualad, but because she meant the world to Jade.

I had an idea of how I could go about getting Jade onboard for what I was about to do and have it easily explained how I got the stuff. My mind was made up on what I was going to do, so I made the call.

It took her a moment to answer the call, still feeling down after the loss of Artemis and her father escaping. “What's up, Daniel?" She said, trying to sound cool and unbothered, but I knew better.

“What’s up is I may have found a way to find Artemis.” It wasn’t hard to convey the right emotions, like how I was excited but also hesitant. The latter being the kind when you did something you probably shouldn’t have to help someone out.

Jade paused, and I could already imagine her opening and closing her mouth several times. She remained silent for a few seconds before breaking it. “How?”

She didn’t even question if it was legit or if I was pulling her leg. She had such faith in me that it touched my heart. “I… I’m not comfortable talking about it over the phone. It’s something best talked about face to face.”

“Alright, can you meet me and Bruce at the manor?” 

About an hour later I walked up to Wayne Manor and knocked on the door. It swung open after the second knock as if they were waiting right by the door. Instead of Alfred being the first person I expected to see, it was Jade. 

She ran up and hugged me without hesitation before looking over, noticing the backpack slung over a shoulder. “So what did you find that could help us?”

I walked into the manor with Bruce and Alfred both nearby. “Daniel, what did you do?” Bruce asked me, sounding all business and serious.

I looked at him, thinking about what my plan was and sticking with what I thought of to not out myself as Silhouette. “I hypothetically may have found a random warehouse that may or may not be on any official records for the city from a casual internet search, and it may or may not have had what seemed to be magical artifacts hidden inside of it with several of these.” Pulling my hand out of the bag, showing one of the more potent magicka potions I had been selling.

Unlike the super drugs from Fallout, the magical community hasn’t abused them yet and hasn’t been causing problems for everyone. 

Bruce’s and Alfred’s eyes widened at what was in my hand. “I have a bit of knowledge and experience with the more supernatural elements of the world. Like making simple charms to create a calming effect or other simple stuff. I managed to learn of it by Silhouette unintentionally letting it slip about its existence and snuck in and found this!”

The book was held out to the room’s occupants as Bruce’s eyes narrowed. "Daniel, do you realize how dangerous what you did was?”

I waved him off, moving further into the room. “I know, and I am well aware. But I felt the risk was worth it if I could find something to help us find Artemis. And this,” The book was held up for all to see, “Is our means of finding her.”

Alfred was skeptical while looking at the book but seemed to accept it, while Bruce was tense. He was concerned but also seemed to hope I may have found a means to find Jade's little sister. Like the good man he was, he didn’t want me getting involved, especially if my father wasn’t happy about me sneaking around and taking his stuff.

“Daniel, do you understand the dangers of what you have just done?” He stopped me, placing both hands on my shoulders.

“I know… and I don’t care. Jade's little sister is out there somewhere, and my life compared to hers,” I paused before giving a soft smile and a slight crease to my eyes, "Well, that’s just a sucker's bet.”

Bruce was hesitant to let me continue, but he also warmed up to the idea I was willing to risk so much for a child. Someone I barely knew. Even though he also wanted me to walk away from this. I’d also like to think he was letting me continue because he, like myself, had run into a dead end trying to find Ra’s Al Ghul’s base of operations.

While just as concerned for me, Jade ran up and hugged me before letting go and looking down at the book in my hands, as did the other two. Opening the book to the page that I had marked down, Bruce and Jade both looked over my shoulders to see what it was.

It so happened to be a powerful and precise tracking spell that would give Artemis’s exact location, bypassing almost any wards or methods of obfuscation. “This spell on this particular page will give us Artemis’ exact location, and unless she has some type of powerful supernatural entity akin to a god trying to block it, nothing can stop it.”

Bruce tensed up at the mention of such a spell. The idea that Silhouette had such a powerful tool like this at his disposal horrified him. “If he had this lying in a warehouse…” Bruce said it aloud but couldn’t bring himself to finish it.

“I doubt he knows anything truly important when it comes to you or your colleagues. This spell alone requires very specific things to make it work. And if he did, wouldn’t he have done something with it by now?” I said reassuringly, pointing out a valid reason.

Bruce let out a long sigh but relented when he saw the longing look Jade gave him filled with hope. It also helped that Alfred gave me the go ahead. “Well, go on ahead Daniel, I’ll make some sandwiches for everyone. If you need anything for this… thing you are doing, do let me or Master Bruce know.”

Bruce gave Alfred a pointed look, one that he gave an unimpressed look of his own that made Bruce relax. “Alright, these are the things I will need that I currently lack.”

I got set up in one of many living rooms in the manor, away from any windows, as I took the necessary things for the spell out. Listing the things that would be necessary for the spell, most importantly an item that meant a great deal to the one I was trying to find, or something from their person like blood, saliva, or even a single strand of hair.

“So how does this work?” Bruce leaned down, looking at my work, particularly the magicka potions. 

“Think of it like a magical equivalent to a magnet. With the item in question linked to the person, usually it’s best, according to this, to be from their body, it will in turn draw you to them, so to speak. The spell would show us her location on this globe, giving us her exact coordinates and an image of what she is currently doing.”

“And you're sure he hasn’t used this?” Bruce said, visibly restraining himself from interrogating me.

“See these?” I gestured to numerous glass vials of the strongest magicka potions I can currently create that had been fused together to increase their potency. “These are meant to act as a form of fuel for the spell, it requires substantial amounts of magical energy to even begin to cast it, let alone sustain it.”

Bruce nodded, understanding where I was going with this. “I think part of the reason he is selling these potions both as a means of recouping losses and because they are failures. These ones were hidden way too well, unlike the others I found.”

“So the ones being sold are failures? Then why is he trying to make them…” His eyes widened, realizing what I was implying. “So he lacks the means to properly use it since he wouldn’t have the necessary energy himself to use it. That’s why he is making those potions.” 

He looked towards the book and the potions in a new light. “Where is this warehouse?” The seriousness of the question was at odds with him now sitting in a cushy reclining chair as he watched me set up the spell.

The context of the books spells requiring fuel, like the potions acting as an alternative fuel source, if I lacked the energy necessary to keep it going, he connected the dots I wanted him to. “Deep into the industrial district of Gotham. Here,” I wrote down the address for it and other information, “But I doubt it won’t be all there.”

“You know he is aware of what you have done?” Bruce asked me, looking concerned but also questioning my reasoning for doing this when I knew Silhouette knew of what I had done.

“Yep. He would be a complete idiot if he didn’t have a means to know when someone has gone in there. I don't know why I wasn’t apprehended, maybe he wanted me to take it. His reasons are unknown to me, but if they line up with what we need and I am not killing or hurting anyone, then I don’t take issue with it. Besides the obvious questions, I probably will never get answers to.”

Jade came back after a moment of companionable silence fell as the spell circle and the necessary fuel were ready. She dropped down a teddy bear that looked worse for wear but still looked well taken care of. Her other hand laid down some small strands of blonde hair.

“Will this be enough?” Jade asked me, hoping that this would work. 

I nodded, patting her on the shoulder. “Plenty. Alright, let’s get this started.”

Jade backed away between Alfred and Bruce, all of whom watched me work. Two pins, a piece of paper, and a globe of the Earth, along with the teddy bear and Artemis's hair, were arranged neatly in front of me. One pen lay near the bear's paw on the floor with the paper in front of it, and the strands were near the other pen, with the globe sitting not far from them. 

Each of the potions was uncorked, each arrayed around the circle formed with chalk, and some potion added to the lines to act as a magical equivalent to an accelerant to start a fire. In this case, making the spell easier to do. Even if I had done this on my own time and tried to turn the entirety of my being into a magicka potion formula, it wouldn’t be capable of casting most of the spells in the book.

The energy requirements were absurd, some outright impossible for me to cast. Things like controlling massive storms that nothing on Earth could compare to. Winds so strong and powerful they could tear atoms apart and create absolute zero temperatures that flash freeze anything and everything to the point time is literally frozen.

Stuff like that was beyond anything I could hope to do, even having all the potions used up wouldn’t even reach a fraction of what the spell required. But it wasn’t all bad. Most of the spells were beyond my reach, some were not completely unusable. 

Like the one I was about to cast, but those other incredibly powerful ones could be taken apart like I would a machine to understand it and begin to reassemble it in a lesser state that could be used. Using that mental space that made everything seem like it showed all the options available to me, even bad ones, would help me in crafting spells that, while far weaker than what the book had, were definitely capable of doing some damage and being of use in their own right.

Words of an unknown language began to leave my throat, nearly twisting and tangling my slimy tongue into knots with the complicated words. Each word, one after the other, felt soothing to my ears, as if they were perking up listening for something hidden away that wanted to be revealed.

Light on my skin from a sun that wasn’t here in the comfortable room with no windows. The false light seemed to go in different directions, wanting to reveal what we desired. Each vial of magicka began to float out one at a time, and an orb of light began to spark and grow with each drop added to it.

Alfred and Bruce were tense but made no move to stop me. Jade watched in awe, mouth slack, and eyes glued to the magic spell being performed. Both pens floated into the air, the teddy bear held it despite having no fingers to grip it. It softly got up as if it were alive and went to the paper, tapping the pen against its head as if contemplating what to write.

The other pen had the strands of blond hair wrap around it as it circled around the globe like a fish circling something that had gotten its interest. 

The orb grew with half the potions now gone before it began to thin and widen out, adjusting the size of it by decreasing its volume. A transparent sheen filled the air like a soap bubble. The colors shifted and changed, like watching a kaleidoscope of colors before it began to slow down, a shape beginning to take form.

It showed several figures, all blurred with no fine details as Jade got closer, her expression becoming one of determination. The image became clearer as I felt the spell begin to take away some of my own reserves, with the potions getting closer to emptying. 

The image shifted, details added to it, a beach, with water washing across its sandy shore with Artemis finally being formed out of the figures with the others being added in like an artist adding real time details to his work. The blank figures shifted to men and women in robes training with Artemis, having a dead look in her eyes as she went through the motions.

An old man who looked like he had seen some serious shit in his life came up, adjusting her stance and posture with his cane. As everyone’s eyes were on the image, Bruce and Alfred’s eyes were drawn from the scene before them to see the teddy bear start writing down information related to the coordinates of where Artemis was at.

The pen with her hair had become a blur around the globe before finally stopping, it turned sharply and then slammed into the globe, jiggling from the force. The last of the potions had been used up, with my own energy now being used.

The bear, to my relief, had finally finished with the last of what it was writing down. Jade’s gaze never strayed from Artemis as tears streamed down her face, and her hand reached out to touch Artemis. With a sigh of relief, I let the spell go as the image disappeared with an audible pop not unlike that of a bubble popping. 

A heavy silence reigned in the room as Bruce got up out of the chair and consoled Jade. He hugged her, whispering to her about how they would get Artemis back.

Alfred went to look at the globe and paper, seeing the coordinates and information about the defenses on the island. He quirked a brow when he looked at me. I gave a tired smile and a shrug. “Rather not send someone into a meat grinder without knowing what they are walking into.”

He gave a light smile as something slammed into my side, knocking me onto the floor. “Thank you, Daniel.” Jade whispered into my chest, hugging me. 

I returned the hug. We stayed like that for a moment before someone clearing their throat got our attention. It was Bruce, who held the book in one hand while he had a warm smile on his face, with Alfred not far from him. 

“I should thank you as well, Daniel. What you did helped us in finding where the League of Shadows is located. Now to store this somewhere safe so no one can abuse it and go get Artemis.” He said aloud, looking at the book as Jade let go of me and glared at Bruce.

She stormed up to him, pointing a finger at the book. “That’s Daniel’s. He used it to help us. To help me.” Jade pointed back at me like she expected Bruce to give it back.

I didn’t mind that Bruce had the book. All of its spells had been memorized by yours truly, and if somehow I get memory wiped, as unlikely as that is to happen, the Batcomputer has images of the pages saved on it. Then, of course, there were the backups in safely stored hard drives. 

In fact, I’d prefer for Bruce to keep it. Maybe he could lend it to someone like Zatara, who could put it to use fighting the good fight. Of course, there was one page of the book I had taken care to not read or even take a single glimpse at. From what Light had told me, it had to do with time travel.

It threw me for a loop when I first heard that. I had him repeat what he said before I fully digested just how big of a deal it is. But the Batcomputer, after scanning each page, said it was incomplete. I had a means of time travel at my disposal… so I disposed of it before coming here. Left the page burning in a random trash can in a random alley without any form of surveillance, knowing I was there while transformed into a dingy alley cat.

Most people would yell at me. Others would look at me like I was a retard. I… didn’t care. The more I thought about it, the more dangerous that single page proved to be than nearly any other thing in existence, as far as I was concerned. For starters, you don’t ever mess with time. Rick and Morty did a good job of conveying that. 

It could cause who knows how much damage. Intended or not. That kind of power is not something I would wield lightly, not that I ever would. My other reasons, beyond the inherent dangers of time travel, also come down to my own philosophies that had developed over my time in this world.

I don’t want a button that gives me a do over. It would lead me to hesitate with far too many situations when faced with a problem I couldn’t immediately solve and abuse the power in that one page. It was a mixture of viewing things as each person, myself included, has one shot, and much like my life or anyone else's, we need to make it count where it matters most.

No hesitation or doubt, striding forward into the great unknown, living with the decisions we made here and now and in the past. It was for many other reasons, but the ones listed off are the biggest ones. Well… another one is I didn’t think I was deserving of a do over like that after all that I had done.

“Jade, this book is dangerous. I trust Daniel enough to not abuse it, but it will make him a target for anyone that realizes what he has. Silhouette will want this back. I can’t let that happen.”

Jade was about to argue with him, but my hand on her shoulder made her fall silent. She turned to me as I gave her a reassuring nod. “Bruce is right, I’d rather he take it and not deal with the paranoia that comes from people coming after me just for that book. And it’s best if it's out of Silhouette's hands.”

Jade paused, giving me a questioning look, and I merely squeezed her shoulder gently before she relented. “Thank you for understanding, Daniel.” He then looked towards Jade, “And know this, Jade, with the knowledge we have now, we will get your sister back. Together.”

Jade’s eyes softened before she bowed her head, fighting down a quiver in her lip. “Thank you. All of you.” She said, fighting off her voice trying to fail her by turning into a sob, as she did an admirable job. 

Though I wasn’t completely stupid when it came to the page that had a means of time travel written on it. I had Light and the other Engineers memorize what was on the page and had a file saved in the Batcomputer that was locked off from me.

Should an event happen that required time travel, then we had access to it. If I could even use it. I had a suspicion that it wasn’t that easy. The tracking spell took an absurd amount of energy to cast and keep sustained. The others were even worse, so the one on time travel would be well beyond anything I could hope to even meet a fraction of what it needed.

I rubbed her back before she slammed into me for another hug. I stayed for a while with them, Jade and I chatting and teasing Alfred after I learned he and May had gone on a few dates. After some time, I left and had made my way to go over future projects.

I looked over the various reports for the mines and other such entities I owned. They were all bringing in the big bucks and keeping various countries' industries running. All while filling my pocket with money that would help build up future projects for the public. The money by this point was like the gold and items gained at the end of a Skyrim playthrough. At first you want it all, but then you have so much now that it doesn’t even get a reaction out of you besides apathy.

Pulling up a document on the computer screen showing the designs for ships to sail across the vastness of space. Something would come out to the public in a few short years. The other project was for processors for computers. With the technology that existed on this Earth, they should have long since uplifted themselves. That’s something I am going to correct.

Another notification tore my gaze away from those future projects and tests, trying to get a better feel for my power of technology and control over it. Pulling up the feed, seeing a bunch of civilians protesting the League, blasting them for failing to help defend a corrupt government system. I couldn’t withhold the sigh that escaped me and the growing annoyance at these people.

Even if the government was absolutely corrupt to its core, I highly doubt anyone wants a bunch of superpowered beings taking control and going too far with things. It wasn’t even the Justice League's place to do such things. If these people truly want the corruption gone, get a platform and get voted into power and start working to clean it up.

Unless it was Gotham… but that’s beside the point. These people have the power to fix it themselves, they just don’t want to or underestimate what they can do themselves, having been too used to the League cleaning everything up for them. They’d rather have someone else do all the work cleaning up the corruption than do it themselves.

An idea popped into my head that was half formed from guilt of staining the Justice League's good names. Particularly Wonder Woman, whom many politicians and people she had helped turned against her. Even the public had now begun to scorn her en masse.

Some even demanded she turn herself in for her crimes in World War II. That last one got an eye roll from me. Yes, let’s arrest the superpowered Amazonian who fought in World War II, saving countless lives of the Allies in a war that wasn’t even hers to fight, all because she couldn’t stand aside and watch good men die to evil.

She fought the Nazis for fuck's sake. How stupid are you for saying she needs to be arrested… 

People will be people, I suppose. But the thought didn’t leave me, and it would be something enjoyable for me to do since I had been working nonstop and needed to do something that was fun besides fighting the superheroes and putting on an act. Something like bringing some good music to this world.

Help locate Artemis +50
Give the book to Bruce +50

Perks gained: 
Hardware (Star Wars KOTOR) (200CP)
Gives you training in how to operate, repair and improve machines. You can easily rebuild broken droids from salvaged parts, and you'll even be able to fix starships given enough time and equipment.