When he spoke, his voice was low but quite audible. Cedric and Li fell silent, knowing that this was important.
“I’ve mostly avoided working with others. I like the freedom of being on my own and, to be honest, I recognize the fact that I’m not cut out for taking on the guys who want to blow up the city. My skill set is such that I’m better for punching out goons than I am for destroying weather-controlling machines.”
Gravedigger replied, “It doesn’t have to be that way. I’m not exactly a normal woman but the rest of the team are just human beings. They all bring certain talents to the group, though. And so would you.” She took a step closer and The Dark Gentleman turned to face her. “And we wouldn’t want to restrict your freedom. I’m not asking you to move in and be a full-time agent of mine. I’d just want to be able to call upon you. Occasionally, we run into a mystery that’s a little bit beyond us. You have the ability to look at clues and see things that others miss. You’d help me track down a lot of very bad people.”
“And then you’d kill them?” he asked. “That’s part of what gives me pause. I know the justice system in this town is corrupt. That’s part of why I do what I do. But I think circumventing the law is only going to make it worse. The last thing we need is to go back to the Old West, where the townspeople rise up to make sure that justice is served. I dream of a day when I can take off this mask and I’m not needed. Is that what you want?”
“Believe it or not, it is. Look, I don’t kill people because I enjoy it. I do it because that’s what I’ve been ordered to do. The Voice didn’t tell me to put people in jail. It told me to throw dirt on their graves. I answer to a higher power than any judge or police commissioner.”
“Right,” he said. “The Voice. I have to admit that I’m not sure what to make of that part of your story. Are you insane? Or have you really made contact with God… or some reasonable facsimile?”
Mitchell shook his head. “She’s not crazy. Not unless Josef was, too. And Mortimer. And all the other Gravediggers there’s been since the dawn of time, too.”
The Dark Gentleman looked at each of the people in the room, studying their faces. They looked like earnest individuals and he knew that Gravedigger was right. They did need each other. He opened his mouth, prepared to conditionally accept her offer, but a sudden chiming sound made everyone else in the room jump to life.
Mitchell held up his hands and said, “I’m on it. Everybody stay here.”
“What’s going on?” The Dark Gentleman asked.
Cedric answered. “We’ve had a problem with people sneaking onto the property so Mitchell ran some cable out along the main drive. Whenever someone drives over it, it sets off a small chime here at the house so we know to expect someone. Given the hour and the fact that all of us are here, it gives us some warning that it might be trouble.”
“Might be Mortimer,” Li offered.
“He called earlier. He’s at a political rally tonight.”
Gravedigger gave a little shushing sound as Mitchell returned. “Who is it?”
“They’re parking outside now — two vehicles and I recognize both. It’s Assistance Unlimited.”
“Did you invite them to join up, too?” The Dark Gentleman asked.
“No,” Gravedigger replied. “In fact, we don’t often get along. Lazarus Gray doesn’t think much of my methods.” She shrugged her shoulders at Mitchell as the doorbell began to ring. “Let’s get this over with, I guess. Show them in.”
Within moments, one of the most bizarre meetings in the history of Sovereign City — and, possibly, the world — was getting underway. To Gravedigger’s surprise, Lazarus had not only brought Assistance Unlimited with him, but also her old friend The Peregrine and a stranger who introduced himself as Catalyst.
After everyone had said hello and engaged in a bit of idle chitchat, Gravedigger brought everything round to business by asking, “What brings you here? I doubt it was a simple social call.”
“Unfortunately not,” Lazarus confirmed. He quickly outlined everything they had learned, from the rash of suicides, the visions he had received from The Unnervum and the information uncovered by both The Peregrine and Catalyst. “I think whatever is about to happen is too big for just us. That’s why I wanted your organization’s assistance.” He glanced at The Dark Gentleman and added, “Your presence is an unexpected bonus.”
“Why come here at all?” Li asked. “It’s not like you think the best of us. Or was Doc Daye not at home?”
“He’s not, actually. But I was already planning to speak to all the vigilantes in Sovereign and quite a few beyond the city’s limits. This is something that could pose a threat to the entire world.”
Samantha moved up to Gravedigger’s side and whispered, “Besides, I told Lazarus that your connections to The Voice might come in handy.”
Gravedigger stifled a sigh. She and her half-sister had grown up with very different lives. While their father lived with Samantha and raised the girl to have the best of everything, Charity had been forced to steal what she could in order to survive. Despite that, Samantha had made repeated overtures to try and bring them closer… and Charity had to grudgingly admit that Samantha was hardly the spoiled brat that she’d expected to meet.
“I haven’t gotten any messages from it but we don’t have that kind of relationship. The Voice speaks to me when it chooses and that’s not very often, which is usually the way I like it.” She glanced over at Lazarus and added, “But this Unnervum sounds pretty disturbing. I recently had a battle with a group of people who were trying to use a device to control the emotions and minds of others. It was definitely an awful thing[4].”
“So where’s this Unnervum object now?” Mitchell asked.
“In the car,” The Peregrine replied. “Given its power, we thought it best not to leave it at Robeson Avenue. In fact, we’ve discussed letting both Catalyst and I handle it to see if we got anything different than what Lazarus experienced.”
“And I don’t think that’s wise,” Lazarus said. “I got the impression that Nyarlathotep told me everything that we’re going to get.”
“It was useful information to be sure,” Catalyst said. “Darhoth is a powerful entity and now that I know what to look for, I have been able to pinpoint her location. She is in Germany.”
Morgan frowned. “Where in Germany?”
“I’m not sure. My powers are not that specific, particularly given the amount of magical noise that surrounds the Nazi Fatherland these days. Hitler is amassing so many occult artifacts that it serves as static, hiding what’s going on there.”
The Peregrine couldn’t hide his surprise. “When did you have a chance to do your scrying?”
“On the way over. If you’re wondering how I was able to do it without a full ritual, you need to know that I’m not your standard magician. Even at my current state, I’m still The Catalyst. Give me some quiet time and I can do things that others might need a lot to pull off.”
“Impressive.”
Catalyst gave a slight bow before turning back to the rest of the room. “So… we need to ask ourselves, what now? Do we take off for Germany, try to sneak past the Nazis and confront her before whatever plan she has comes to fruition?”
The Peregrine rubbed his chin. “Or do we wait for her to come to us? The vision I had specifically showed The White House. Makes me wonder if that’s where she plans to end up or if that was just some sort of symbolic image, giving me a clue what could to come to pass if she’s not stopped.”
The Dark Gentleman cleared his throat, which made everyone look over at him. He’d stayed silent up to now, feeling dreadfully out of place. It was this sort of thing that he’d purposefully avoided in the past. But he was here now and he thought that he might have something to add, after all. Looking at The Peregrine, he said, “You mentioned seeing a man on the roof of Assistance Unlimited’s HQ. The crystal ball he was holding… was it The Unnervum?”