American side trip

So, we came to Washington DC to help Nate out with a little business down at Langley. It seems an old foe from Las Vegas wasn't quite dead after Jack & Co. threw him off the top of a Vegas High Rise.

Harlan waved some badges and got us in, and long story short, I made like St. Patrick and drove out the snake(s)...or more properly, skewered what was left of old Canopus against the wall...but like a bad videogame boss, he--birthed?--a few final progeny, which I helped to cut down.

Flushed with a new sense of confidence, we got some new intel on Carmen and headed out to California to track down some leads. With Nate's help, I commandeered an American learjet and flew us West. It was a long, long trip.

We managed to get the drop on Carmen's little mass-murder scheme; Kass definitely impressed me...she damn near killed Carmen with the butt of her rifle; Laurel managed to stabilize her.

Meanwhile out front Nate and I flashed badges and intimidated the assembled groupies with threats of incarceration for drugs possession...felt like my first days back on the beat in Dublin...we "let them off with warnings", saving their lives, actually, clearing them from the area before things could get hairy.

Harlan pulled some of his illusion work and that was all we needed for Gunnar to sneak in, and for Kass and Laurel to sneak round and lay an ambush...Aisling kept well out of harms way and out of sight.

We captured Carmen and took her with us to...I wanna say it was...Albuquerque, NM? Some place out West; It doesn't matter really. There we interrogated her. Gunnar tried first, the Nate and Harlan. They didn't seem to be getting anywhere fast.

I indicated to Laurel that I wanted to try something...after the DC encounter, I felt the flow of Enech change around me, felt as if I could start to ever so slightly bend it to my will. I felt finally I had reached a point where I could begin to lay Geasa of my own. I also had begun to recover some of my refinement and charm from the sudden de-aging process from the China episode.

I walked in to the debriefing room...after a few preliminary questions about Cordelia, which Carmen answered seemingly truthfully, I got down to business.

I knew Carmen sort of liked my Irish accent so I played it up for her, fixed her with my green eyes and said, "ok, here's the deal..."

I can't remember exactly how I worded it; it's as though Enech itself took over my lips to form the words...as if my body became its mere instrument...it both was--and wasn't--my voice speaking to Carmen. I seized upon the fact that her powers are anchored in her ability to keep and manipulate her lesser followers. Enech commands you, I said, that you must stop and render aid and bind the wounds of anyone injured in your presence...Enech had chosen this blood-based Geas...ironically appropriate for the daughter of a blood-thirsty Aztec goddess...outwardly, Carmen's face remained defiant, but I could detect a quaver in her voice, her dark eyes met mine then looked away. She could feel something in the air between us had changed; I could feel the flow of Enech envelop her briefly and then release, having changed its course to include her in its natural ebb and flow.

I motioned to Laurel to come next..."Your witness," I said, and exited the room.

I don't know precisely what Laurel did to Carmen, everything she said to her was in a whisper, inaudible behind the one-way mirrored glass. Laurel took Carmen's face with both her hands and locked gazes with her. Within a minute Carmen's defiance collapsed, her resistance collapsed, and she burst into tears, mentally broken. Laurel embraced her firmly, and Carmen kept crying and sobbing...

Harlan had probably made things easier for us by bewitching Carmen with some kind of love magic, but it hadn't been enough to make her betray Kane or Ixion. Working together, Laurel and I had managed to break through to Carmen and turn her. I swore to Carmen that I do not take the laying of Geasa lightly, and that it was for the purpose of making her a better person, and she couldn't well become better if she was dead, so I would endeavor to do my utmost to ensure her safety.

I then took a sidelong glance at Harlan and then said to Carmen: "...and please, work on that self-esteem of yours, because you've frankly horrible taste in men..."

China wrap-up, then Down Under and back.

So look, lots more stuff happened in China. I suddenly got 10 years younger and felt my stamina get better in an instant...but my sense of humor definitely reverted back to my postgraduate university days in London...so full of life and vigor that I spontaneously burst into a rendition of the old sea shanty "South Australia" in the airport in China.

But before that, well, Pan died, or rather, was killed, except he wasn't...he was cloven in two...and it seemed to split the world in two all around us...only it was more an illusion or vision-like effect than reality...and suddenly he became two separate and distinct gods that went their own ways...one of them a Roman deity and the other one I can't recall at the moment, other than it was very strange.

We also faced down Nikola Tesla in the Gobi desert. Gunnar tried to reason with him but then it came to blows. Nikola turned the tables on me insofar as he used the same legendary ability that some of the gods jokingly call "Fight with your head"; Humans might say, "fight smarter, not harder"...and anyway, that's what Tesla did, and it rather ruined my day. I used it back on him, but obviously it's less effective if used in a reactionary, "me too" kind of way. But it was enough to keep Gunnar alive at one point. Well that and thanks to unexpected heroics from Harlan, who jumped in the way of a vicious blow intended for Gunnar.

The time distortions wreaked other havoc before all was said and done. Nevermore was thrown forward in chronological age and succumbed to old age. He now follows Laurel as a ghostly spirit guide, and only Laurel and I are able to see him, I think.
Astrid the cat was thrown backwards in time, becoming a squishy embryo and then winking out of existence.

As these things often end, it was sort of a draw, and Tesla escaped our clutches, but we definitely threw a monkey wrench into his plans...by way of alerting the gods to all we had learned, who made short work of all the buried devices on planet Earth, with much fanfare and utterly stunning humanity in the process. I laugh now when I think back to how Nate and I had been trying to help out by bashing the top of the machine in the Gobi with our swords. Once we saw their true scale in the hands of the gods...the efforts of two puny Demigods such as ourselves...like I said, I can only laugh...

So next it was off to South Australia for myself, Gunnar, and Laurel. The kids, Laurel sensed, had had some trouble lately--Nate picked up on it as well--and we needed to meet up with them in Australia to check on them and find out what was up.

Turns out they'd been in some kind of sea adventure and things got ugly. Hercules bailed them out (literally and figuratively) and they kept mentioning a kindly Whale that fought the sea-monster bravely and probably saved all their lives. Young Brendan Gair had mentioned to me once how they'd saved a beached whale in San Francisco Bay and the kids felt certain this creature was the very same. I'm inclined to believe it. Brendan also related to me that the creature reminded him very much of one of Ixion's wolves that he'd managed to kill when Ixion first attacked Laurel's house...it was a twisted bio-mechanoid of some sort and truly terrifying.

I wandered down to the beach to take in the carnage of the sea-battle's aftermath. Gunnar, with his keen telescopic senses, came along as well.

Realizing quite some time had passed since I last honored my Geas, I spent quality time at a local wildlife research station with an emphasis on coastal ecology, including fish and whales but also marshlands and water fowl. I met a few Australian scientists with Irish backgrounds and got on famously with them. Though perhaps it's merely my imagination, I spent so much time so intensely, I felt as though I managed to cram an entire undergraduate education in biology in that short week or so of time in South Australia.

In the evenings, I'd play fiddle in the local Irish bar, and the Aussies were quite pleased to have a genuine Irishman performing in their midst. I was really keen on the Irish-Australian fusion music, incorporating traditional Celtic sounds with Australian native instruments, including a special rendition of "South Australia" that really raised the roof.

Such Great Craic Down Under!

Next, we made our way to Mexico City and then out into the countryside to meet up with our old friend Jack Cook, living in a modest but nice Hacienda a bit off the beaten path. With his Griffin. Laurel and Gunnar asked Jack for a huge favor, namely to serve as their full-time nanny while they their parents had to go save the world. To my mild surprise, Jack was actually more amenable, or at least, I should say, mostly apathetic rather than hostile to the suggestion...

It was from there that I parted ways with Gunnar and Laurel, who had to be rushing off to Greece next. I texted Nate to learn if he had any new info on Cordelia, but he blew off my text, so I flew from Mexico City to Houston, from Houston to London direct, then British Rail from Victoria Station to Liverpool, then crossing over on the ferry at Liverpool back to Dublin.

The look in Aisling's eyes when she saw me looking 10 years younger was utterly priceless. She did notice that my manner was a bit cruder and less refined, but she thought it refreshing and helped me adjust my style of dress a bit...she even went with me to the barber's and helped me pick out a very mod European haircut. I even put away my glasses, which had always been a fashion statement to begin with, since my eyesight remains 20x20.

I had been back in Ireland for only about 24 hours--One thing I don't miss from my pre-Scion awakened days is jet-lag--when I got a call from Nate updating me that there was a situation stateside I should probably help deal with. "We may need you to go all St. Patrick on some place."

"What?"

"Drive out snakes, man. Rollersnakes."

"Say no more. I'll be on my way as soon as I can."

Aisling made a deft move and slipped the cellphone out of my hand before I could stop her, lifted it to her lips and said "Hi, Nate. He means WE will be on our way as soon as WE can."

Aisling chatted a bit longer with Nathan, asking about his wife, etc. then hung up the phone and placed it gently back in the breast pocket of my black club jacket.

Her eyes met mine and she said "...don't you give me that look. I'm coming with youse. I want to see America again. I love yer ma and all, but jayzus I'm bored sometimes. And you can't come tempt me with this new bod of yours and then go darting off again...I know you're not a cruel man, Brendan O'Shea...I wouldn't have married ye if I didn't know ye so well."

And I remembered again how much the love of this woman means to me.

"I just, you know I just worry about your safety."

"Brendan O'Shea", she said, "...you know even death will not end my devotion to you."

"I know all too well," I began, and gingerly related to Aisling how Nevermore had died in China. Aisling burst into tears, hearing of the loss of her avian friend. She buried her face in my chest, sobbing. I could feel her tears soaking my shirt, and her petite body shaking with grief as I related how he now continues to follow Laurel as a ghostly spirit guide.

Aisling brushed aside her tears for a moment and looked up at me square in the eyes and said "and so will I for you if the worst should happen to us. Never doubt that for a minute."

"I don't, sweetness. I don't. Please come to America with me."

She nodded and brightened...then got a mischievous look and said "but first you please come to bed with me...even Scions of gods need their down time..."

I'll spare the reader what else she said--it's none of your business besides!--other than to say in passing that for someone originally of the fairy folk, sometimes she has a dirtier mind, mouth and imagination than even a Dubliner like me, and that's really saying something.

Embassy Investigation

Gunnar fell quickly towards the Earth; I took a step and prepared to fly up and catch him, but Laurel saw me out of the corner of her eye and said "don't worry, he's got it..."

Before my eyes, Gunnar crashed into a passing flock of birds, which slowed and altered his trajectory enough to grab on to one of the Embassy's flying buttress structures; it broke but he grabbed another that held, and from there he managed to clamber down the side of the building rapidly without so much as getting a scratch on himself.

Feng gave a slow golf clap and said "Very nice, but can we get on with this, please? I'm on a tight schedule here."

Feng opened the Embassy door and we proceeded inside past the yellow police tape saying "Do Not Enter" in Mandarin Chinese.

Laurel indicated she would remain outside looking after her kids.

The majority of the bodies we located clustered around a big conference table in the rear of the first floor of the Embassy. Nate summoned the Kami of the security camera and got a run-down of what the camera had seen. Pan had been involved, some kind of deal struck. This was definitely getting interesting.

Then we heard a booming voice from a bullhorn outside command in Chinese for "Intruders! Come out with your hands up! This is the National Police service!"

Gunnar and I voluntarily came out; Feng said "Screw that! I'm blowin' this scene. You're on your own from here.", and exited out the nearest window. Kassandra made herself scarce in similar fashion. Nate tried to exit a window but was caught by the approaching Chinese police captain, the same gentleman we'd encountered battling the angels earlier, though from his perspective that hadn't happened yet.

Gunnar and I had already encountered this gentleman out front and he had asked after our companions. Turns out not only had the locals seen us, they'd counted us, and he knew that those of us on the front porch were only a fraction of the suspects he was hunting for.

I produced my INTERPOL badge/passport and tried to convince him I was not interfering but rather assisting with the investigation; He protested this was against protocol and that INTERPOL had failed to notify him in advance. I suggested we could sort this all out back at the station, and he agreed with an indignant huff.
Gunnar suggested we hurry, because if we were where he thought we were in time, it was about to come under attack. This statement clearly unsettled the Captain.

Gunnar did his best to reassure our Chinese friend that we were indeed friends and had cooperated before, or would soon cooperate or...well, something like that.
Damn this time travel; so confusing...

Sandstorm

We were back in the Gobi desert but instead of having the violent storms surrounding us on all sides while we were in a relative calm in the center of it, we were on the edge of that calm center and in the middle of the maelstrom itself. Blinding, cutting sand and hideous lightning striking with improbably rapid succession, far too close for comfort. Progress was slow and difficult. Harlan looked to be the worst for wear and on the verge of giving up. I couldn't find Gunnar anywhere. Laurel erected some kind of energy shield and we started to make better progress, but I could tell with all the energy contained in the storm, Laurel's shield would not hold out indefinitely.

We approached close enough to see Pan off in the distance, as well as the time Avatar, and possibly ourselves? Can't be certain of that, though. Something in the air above caught my eye and I noticed Gunnar riding a Griffin, very high above us, and above the storm clouds. He was pointing in the direction of Pan; Laurel waved back and gave a quick thumbs up to show she had seen the same thing. The noise was still deafening all around us.

And then just as suddenly, everything fell still and quiet, the scene changed, and we were on a city street in Wu-Hai...with Gunnar hanging in mid-air, sans Griffin, and with a very surprised look on his face.

Jumping Jack Frost

Somehow, the time rift flung us into the far future. We encountered a figure familiar to Gunnar, Laurel, and Harlan from their travels in Norway and beyond. A visage I later learned they had previously identified as Jack Frost. There was some tense parley, questions and counter-questions before "Jack" accepted our story that we had genuinely come from the past and were going to need some help to get a little caught up on current events.

Jack's appearance changed and before us stood a hearty young man with familiar features, clad in princely Irish regalia that indicated his day of succession, taking over as guardian of Mag Mell had already transpired. Gunnar and Laurel had yet more questions and learned some startling things, but before we could question Brendan Gair further, the time rift opened yet again and we were flung back to our time...

A funny thing happened on the way to the Mongolian Embassy...

We came to in a Wu-Hai youth hostel, sharing a room with one Feng T'ien, whose appearance matched a vision Nate had revealed to us earlier.

Feng turned out to be a break-all-the-rules kind of Scion in more ways than one. He is a son of Sun Wukong (of Celestial Bureaucracy fame) but was adopted by Chernobog (of the Rus) and instructed by Veles.

He possessed an interesting claw that seemed of similar make to one the band had seen before, namely that speedy fecker in New Orleans we thought we'd killed then later met on his boat in the harbor bound back to Japan.

He alluded to Veles working with whomever Nathan Pritchert seem to have been making deals with after repossessing Nathan’s shadow. Yeah, that was something new I forgot to mention. Nate has no shadow now. Said it happened as a result of a special deal he worked out to prevent a nuclear reactor in New Jersey from going critical.

I spoke with Feng in Russian and he turns out to speak it fluently as well. I alluded to the Sino-Russian conflict and how it must especially be difficult for him, with a foot in both camps, so to speak. He just smiled and rather dodged my question politely. He indicated the role of Mongolia as an important game piece in the conflict, and that recently something mysterious happened at the Mongolian Embassy, with all of the embassy staff dying en masse but with no signs of violence or forced entry. The police had sealed off the area but whatever happened probably has traces of the divine, so these mortals might as well be Keystone Kops in trying to figure this one out. Feng indicated to all of us that it would be a good idea to apply our combined Scion wits to the investigation and get over there posthaste. Sure, it was a sealed crime-scene area and technically illegal, but...

We made our way through the city streets, with Feng leading the way. Of course, the rest of us being non-Chinese, we stuck out and were noticed by the natives, but there wasn't much we could do about that.

We pushed past the security tape and made our way to the front door of the Embassy. Feng picked the security lock of the chained door in seconds, looked back with a smile and pulled the door open, which is when everything went sideways and the Embassy vanished and we got sucked yet again to some other place in space-time...

More Little trouble in Big China

So anyway, bit of a scuffle, and Pan sticks this really weird looking sword into the Time Avatar...presumably the half-white, half-black angel thing of Laurel's previous vision...and suddenly everything goes sideways and weird.

...and we find ourselves in downtown Wu-Hai, China, near the Mongolian border. The buildings are very traditional and it's hard for me to gauge if we're still in the 21st century or not. A government official wearing traditional looking garb accosts us and tells us to stay put, first in Chinese, then in English.

I address the man in Mandarin Chinese, saying I know this is going to sound like a funny question but what year is this?

"It's 2011, of course", he answered, with a puzzled look on his face. Suddenly we are surrounded by menacing yet angelic figures that remind me very much of the figures that acted as sentinels guarding Horace in the Terra Incognita originating at Pan's hotel property in Southern California...As I learned later, a now very pregnant Laurel (learned later because she wasn't showing at the time due to some special ability she picked up along the way) ducked into a nearby residence with Kassandra close behind. The Chinese policeman(?) seemed to cast a veil of protection over that building just in time, as the Angelic figures began to spew forth destructive laser-like beams that washed over the newly erected protective shield. It was holding for now but I could tell it was only a matter of time.

I summoned the Ichor in my body to form a thin but powerful protective coat over my body but beneath my armor and clothes, a technique I'd picked up from Ciara after the whole business in Helheim and all.

Harlan dashed inside the police station nearby, headed for the upper floors. Gunnar rushed in to challenge the nearest Angelic figure, taking a swing at it with his axe but doing only minimal damage.

I declaimed my intellect, swearing we would find a way to vanquish these foes; I then declaimed my courage, swearing we would face these enemies down...I then turned a quick pivot and hurled Gae Bolga into the chest of an Angelic figure perched on the roof of the police station, against whom I had the clearest line of sight. The blow seemed to knock it back a half a step and it seemed genuinely surprised to see the ancient spear protruding from its own chest.

At the same time, Nate got a piece of one with his gun, I think. The angels let loose another volley against the residence where Laurel was hiding with Kassandra (and later, I learned, actually giving birth to her twins, as a result of the time dilating effects).

There was a great whooshing sound overhead and looking into the sky I saw a somewhat older Jack Cook flying in on an impressive Griffen-like creature, accompanied by what looked like the son of Nate and two other young heroic men I could not identify.

The jig was up and the Angels reached...inside themselves...and seemed to pull their chests apart, exploding into bursts of pure plasma energy....Nate was able to jump away and grab Gunnar, too. I wasn't so lucky but the body armoring Ichor sustained the bulk of the blow. Gae Bolga blasted out from the one Angel's chest and I caught it as it rocketed back towards me, reverting it back to its compact form in one smooth motion. I was later told I looked like one of those cartoon characters that survive a cartoon explosion...hair singed a bit and all wild, soot on the face, etc, looking like a Scottish coal miner, but otherwise no worse for wear.

Harlan had the misfortune to have the building collapse around him and got banged up pretty bad, but at least he survived.

Laurel and Kassandra's building survived the blasts, though it collapsed the protective shield, but it gave enough resistance to let the building's natural sturdiness take the rest.

I felt myself coughing and choking a bit in the whirling dust left by the explosion; my glasses were caked in it. I removed them, rubbed my eyes, but when I opened them, I was someplace else entirely....