Yue

 8th January

13:16 GMT -5

Robert floats through what looks like a campfire site, occasionally closing his eyes to better feel whatever it is that he's feeling.

"People were killed here."

"Can you tell how many?"

He shakes his head. "More than one, less than a hundred. The fire's covering everything up."

I frown. The ground is clearly blackened where the fire was lit, but I can't see any other signs of burning. "Where..?"

He lands, laying his hands on the ground. "Contained by magic, probably. I'd guess they cancelled the containment spell then left the fire burning for a bit to cover it up."

"Does your training include necromancy?"

"Nah." He shakes his head. "Dad's not keen. Otherworld's one thing, but messing around with Heaven or Hell is really s-something you have to think about very carefully."

I nod, smiling. "Very carefully."

I've got traces of genetic material from the site, but… Nothing I'd want to rely on in court. Or even in the less formal environment in which superhero investigations take place. The trees provide some cover from the winds, but what I'm picking up could have come from anywhere.

"So I wouldn't want to try calling anyone up."

"That's fine." There might not have been a jump in the murder rates, but that still gives a demon cult some leeway given that Virginia has over three hundred murders annually. "Can you track Buzz's magic with this?"

He stands, shaking his head. "Sorry, mate."

I walk over to him, pulling the knife out of my pouch and offering it to him. "Would this help?"

"Maybe?" He takes it, holding it by the guard with his left hand and moving his right over its surface. "At least one person was killed with this. And-." His eyes come fully open. "Yeah. Got someone. Feels… Like demon magic. And… If this was the murder weapon…"

He kneels, stabbing the knife into the ground and then standing and taking a step back.

"I should be able to get a direction and… Roughly the distance."

"How 'should' is 'should'?"

"Blood and death are powerful ritual components. If he had a shield up strong enough to block it, Doctor Fate would have felt that."

I nod, then frown. "You sure that's not necromancy?"

"I guess it… Kind of is? But no one means this when they say 'necromancy'."

I nod, then raise my left hand to my ear. "Orange Lantern to Aqualad. We think we can trace Buzz. Should we proceed?"

"We have.. located a group of cultists. They are armed, though if they possess any-"

I hear automatic weapon fire.

"-Devil Jizz they have not used it."

"Do you want me to help?"

"This is well within our abilities. Find the leader and defeat him before he can carry out any further evil acts."

"Rightoh. I'll let you know once he's in custody. Orange Lantern out." I lower my hand. "I'll transition us to his approximate location. We'll locate him together and then I'll fly us to him. Stay back and counter his magic as best you can while I take him down."

"Um-. I haven't really.. practised countering demon magic. I can disrupt simple stuff whatever he does, but I'm not… Y'know, Doctor Fate."

"That's perfectly fine. I'm not expecting you to be." I smile. "Not for a few years, anyway."

"Right." He nods, then returns his attention to the knife. "Just got to.. redirect-."

Something flows through the clearing, causing my environmental shield to flicker. Robert shakes for a moment and then gestures north north east.

"That way. About… Ah… Fifty miles? On a road, big road. In a lorry."

Ring, scan.

I step towards Robert as he snatches up the knife, an image of the area appearing in my mind. Interstate 81 is roughly in the right area. No.. obvious gaps in the traffic where something is defying my scans.

"Transition in one."

We appear a mile up, looking down at the traffic. Compare visual image to scan…

Got you.

I transition us again, appearing in front of an articulated lorry and flying backwards to keep pace with it. The driver's eyes are slightly vacant, while-. While my eyes fail to see whoever is in the passenger seat beside him.

Robert swipes his right hand across, and a sudden gust of eldritch wind causes whatever spell Buzz was using to flicker and fail. The driver jerks, blinking as the mental influence spell fails and momentarily losing control-.

I stick a construct around the lorry and rise into the air, stopping once we're about a mile up.

"Mister Buzz, you are under arrest."

The driver frowns, looks right and visibly starts. "Who the fuck are you? What the fuck is going on?"

Buzz's eyes flick from Robert and then back to me. "Easy does it, lads. No need for-."

The front cab of the lorry disintegrates, segments floating in the air as I pull it apart. A large reptilian hand construct grabs Buzz and pulls him free, his legs dangling. The parts of the lorry then flow back together, then I lower it into a lay-by to allow the driver to recover.

"I have corpses, Mister Buzz. A minor brothel madam who somehow found herself in possession of a book instructing the reader in the use of demonic magic. I have a knife and a woman who appears to have been merged with a disempowered angel-."

"Oh yeah." He grins unpleasantly. "Nice work with that, by the way. Howagh!"

I remove the mage slayer round from his forehead and then attach the binding chains to his arms and legs.

"So this is what you actually look like? Curious."

"I've-." He tries to pull against the chains and gets nowhere. "I've always looked like this."

"Originally human? Well, you wouldn't be the only one."

He stares me in the eyes. "Yeah. Bet even you were Human once upon a time."

I chuckle, then shake my head. "Mister Buzz, I am not an impressionable teenager. If you wish to play mind games with me you will have to up your game. Now, do you intend to tell me what you've been up to in Virginia, or-" I hold my left hand out towards him, palm first. "-do I have to encourage you?"

"You allowed to do that?"

"Ongoing demonic threat. Any and all means to prevent loss of life. I'd try and turn it off afterwards, but? No promises."

"Fine-. Fine. This whole thing's been a huge waste of time anyway. I should have cut 'n run when you got away from the fuckin' Host."

"The benefits of hindsight. Now, tell me about the Devil Jizz."

"Oh, that had nothing to do with m-."

I roll my eyes.

"Brand."