Josie appeared in her seat on the Bridge. She looked around. Where was Jack?

  “Where is Jack, Enterprise?,” she asked. She stood and went to the center of the

  command center.

  “He is on the surface of Alexis,” said the machine.

  “Show me, please,” said Josie.

  The main screen lit up to show a figure in silver raising one hand. A bunny appeared

  out of the local rock. He nodded inside his helmet.

  “I guess he is safe at the moment,” said Josie.

  Jack flew upwards and landed in the cargo bay. He took off the suit and let his

  persona go. He closed the doors so he could go about his business.

  “Jack,” said Josie over the intercom. “Why are we out here?”

  “I needed to get rid of something toxic that I couldn’t dump back where it came

  from,” said Jack. “I have to talk to Boim’s sister, and then we can help June and

  Mister Warner.”

  “I will have to go back to the capitol and sort things out with the King over the

  women I rescued,” said Josie. “I imagine some of his nobles were caught up in what

  I did and they are going to need relatives to be elevated before too long.”

  “I imagine that has made us a major concern for the Montrose if you knocked out

  most of their command structure in one shot,” said Jack.

  “They still have plenty of members left,” said Josie. “I could be here for decades just

  trying to clear them all out.”

  “We have a lot on our plates,” said Jack. “Enterprise, mark bunny in memory, then

  take us back to Shemmaria’s capitol, and look for Boim Russ markers.”

  The screen changed as the Enterprise acknowledged the command and dropped into

  the upper atmosphere of the planet. It marked out the Russ scan as Jack stepped on

  the Bridge.

  “What is your plan for this?,” asked Josie. She wanted to talk to Four Russ too, but

  she also wanted to punch the sister in the eye.

  “I thought we should go down and talk to her about what her country almost woke up,

  and find out what else they are looking for to use as a weapon,” said Jack. “And then

  we should take it away from them before we get more quests to do just that.”

  Josie considered the idea. It fit with what she liked to do for the most part. And it cut

  down their future intervention while making the world safer at the same time.

  “She’ll be stronger, faster, and tougher than our baseline,” said Josie. “We might have

  to call up personas to handle that.”

  “I think my Hulk can take her,” said Jack. “But you’re right. She’ll want to take us

  off the board so her country can expand.”

  “It’s almost like Shemmaria’s rulers want it to be a colonial power, but all the

  countries around it are bigger and have more armies,” said Josie. “If we knew the

  source of the sentiment, maybe we could nip things in the bud and get them to cool

  off.”

  “I hate to think of assassinating their king, or whatever, but that might be the only

  way to stop things in their tracks,” said Jack.

  Josie considered the idea. She wanted to be able to talk to whomever was in charge

  and point out that they had almost twice destroyed their own country. She doubted

  they would be believed despite the Society not favoring one country over the other.

  The quests they had handled had been to protect whomever was going to be in the

  most trouble when things started.

  Her personal quest had brought her more directly in conflict with the powers of this

  world.

  And that had improved the city they made their home, and the surrounding

  countryside.

  “We have to at least try to find out what else they are looking for, and stop them from

  getting anything lovecraftian to use on their neighbors,” said Josie. “Then we can

  check on June and Mister Warner, before I have to gather up the survivors I freed.”

  “Finding out the source of those books might be a good thing,” said Jack. “The

  soldiers are throwing the equivalent of blaster bolts from their hands when they use

  them.”

  “We might as well put that next to finding out where they got the information to dig

  up the legion demon,” said Josie.

  “Exactly,” said Jack.

  “Enterprise?,” asked Josie. “Are there any lifeforms with Russ? We want to beam

  down on top of her without having to deal with her other soldiers.”

  “Her immediate area is clear of others,” said the machine.

  “Let’s go before she finds herself in meetings over this newest failure,” said Jack.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  They walked off the Bridge and headed down to the transporter room. Jack made one

  more check before they beamed down. He asked for them to be put down outside of

  the office when the corridor looked clear. That way prevented Russ’s higher reaction

  time to take advantage of the temporary freezing caused by the transporter beam

  wearing off.

  They could knock on the door and surprise her, or just break the door down for a real

  surprise.

  Josie didn’t have a problem with either thing.

  They appeared in a hall lit by lanterns hanging from posts on the walls. Jack made

  sure he had the right door with the Enterprise before knocking. He changed into the

  Hulk before Russ could open the door. He didn’t want to deal with her unprepared.

  Josie took up a spot behind Jack’s wider back. She had the Karate Kid in hand. It was

  a good defense in the narrow hallway, and it didn’t matter how strong you were

  against someone ready to use your own strength against you.

  Four Russ opened the door. Her uniform jacket was open to reveal a light colored

  shirt and skirt. She saw the giant derelict in her doorway and tried to close the door.

  A giant hand knocked her out of the way with a push.

  Josie walked to Four’s desk and sat down. She looked at the paperwork and raised her

  eyebrows at the supply chains she held.

  “Don’t do anything rash,” said Josie. “You know who we are, and we know who you

  are. I’m surprised you didn’t give your sisters up to become state assassins with all

  this going on.”

  “What do you want?,” asked Four. She picked herself up and settled in the wooden

  visitor chair.

  “We want to know how many other weapons your government is looking for, where

  you think they are, and how close you are to activating them,” said Josie.

  “Why would I tell you that?,” asked Four.

  “Because the two weapons we shut down would have destroyed Shemmaria before

  they even reached the other countries you want to attack,” said Josie. “The Goblin

  Trees create monsters that can’t be directed and can only be stopped with big fires,

  and the book demon possessed everyone looking for it, with the intention of

  spreading out of control. So before we get another quest to save you, we want to

  know what else you are looking for so we can destroy those too.”

  “What are you saying?,” asked Four.

  “As of ten, maybe twenty minutes ago, I exorcized everyone on site, and sealed the

  source of the possessing energy so no one could ever open it again,” said Jack. “I left

  your soldiers sleeping on the ground instead of letting them die.”

  “Why are you interfering with us?,” said Four. “We are just looking to protect

  ourselves.”

  “From what?,” asked Josie. She leaned back in her chair. “None of the other countries

  seem to care about you. I just spoke to King Grecious. You aren’t a blip on his radar.”

  “His troops are massing on the border,” said Four.

  “Let’s see with our own eyes,” said Josie. She stood up. “If they are, we will disperse

  them.”

  “We?,” asked Four.

  “We,” said Josie. She triggered her com band. “Enterprise, three to beam up.”

  “Affirmative,” said the machine.

  The trio disappeared in a cloud of blue sparks and a ruffle of paper.

  “Let’s go up to the Bridge,” said Josie. She led the way out of the transporter room.

  “We could use something like this,” said Four.

  “You could build something like this with the right knowhow,” said Jack. He let his

  persona go. “But that’s not why we are here, is it?”

  They stepped on the Bridge. Josie gestured for Four to take Aviras’s chair. He would

  hate that, so it was a good thing he wasn’t there at the moment.

  “Enterprise,” said Jack. “We need to move down to the border with Grecious in the

  south. We want a scan and marking of troops along the border. See if you can pick

  out unit signs, or flags for later identification.”

  “Affirmative,” said the machine. The landscape changed as the ship changed position.

  In a second, diamonds marked areas of the trees with forts and control ways limned

  in red. One area held more troops than the rest of the border.

  “The rest of the border seems open, except that one area,” said Jack. “I imagine that

  if Shemmaria fielded a large enough force, the Grecians would field one from the

  local forts to try to block any invasion from happening.”

  “What is the designation for that area, Enterprise?,” asked Josie. “Can you read it?”

  “The sigil is a black flower,” said the machine. “I do not know what unit that would

  represent.”

  Josie pulled out a sheet of paper.

  “Do you know, Four?,” asked Josie. She wrote a quick note and sent it off with a

  wave of her hand.

  “No,” said Russ. “The enemy uses a number of personal symbols mixed in with the

  royal seal.”

  A letter appeared in the air in front of Josie. She snatched it out of the air and read

  the contents. She frowned at the new information.

  “Enterprise,” she said. “Can you give us a magnified view?”

  The men at arms moving around the fort popped into close view. Jack and Josie

  both frowned at what they saw.

  “It looks like they have the Makeover,” said Jack.

  “The Makeover?,” asked Russ.

  “The people that sold you the innocents to use as experimental subjects to turn into

  monsters are the same people that are getting ready to attack your country,” said

  Josie.

  “We should let them,” said Jack. “Let the Shemmarians experience some of their

  own terror.”

  “No,” said Josie and Russ at the same time.

  “Who wants to go first?,” said Jack.

  “You can’t let them attack my country if you are supposed to be protecting my

  country,” said Russ.

  “Your country doesn’t matter with the weight of the whole world on my side,” said

  Jack.

  “We’re not letting them do anything,” said Josie. “For three reasons.”

  “Really?,” asked Jack.

  “If they become a threat to Shemmaria, we will get a quest to stop them,” said Josie.

  She held up three fingers, and folded one as she spoke. “So we might as well do

  it now.”

  “They are full of enslavers that have made my list,” said Josie. She folded her second

  finger.

  “Third reason?,” said Jack.

  “The king said he doesn’t have an official presence here, so there should not be

  this many men here holding this fort,” said Josie. She folded the last finger. “That

  means no one other than the troops of Lord Rail is supposed to be here which is

  red dogs and swords.”

  “So we have to drop the axe here?,” said Jack.

  “We don’t have to, but I am going to,” said Josie.

  “I’ll go down and deal with this,” said Jack.

  “I have it,” said Josie. “Make sure our guest doesn’t run off with the Enterprise.”

  “That’s a lot of pings down there, Jo,” said Jack.

  “I learned a new trick,” said Josie. “Don’t worry. This will only take a few minutes.”

  She became Zatanna and dropped down on the road leading up to the fort. She sat

  down and let the magic write out an array to boost her ability. She clapped her hands.

  Birds exploded from her mouth and eyes in streaks like fireworks heading to the sky.

  Josie watched as the bodies dropped. She frowned at the massive use of lethal force.

  She doubted her kids would agree with the amount of destruction she was inflicting.

  She waited for her watch to recharge before she erased the bodies. The King would

  have to send up replacements when he had time.

  Now what did they do about Boim Russ’s sister and Shemmaria?

  She felt that she should talk to Four’s boss and see what he had to say for himself.