The Detective sat at the head of the conference table in the hotel boardroom that they rented specially for this meeting. They had invited seven of the world’s most dangerous individuals to this meeting in a desperate attempt to save both The City and the world. They took another pull of their coffee as they checked the clock. It was only 9 AM. There was still an hour until the meeting at 10. They had wanted to be early. They didn’t know anything about the promptness of the people coming, but figured some would be early, some would-be right-on time, and some would be late. They just hoped none of them killed anybody until after they dealt with the Outcasts.

The Outcasts, pyromaniac Samael who willingly fell until there was no place left to fall, sadistic Eris whose methods upset even the Unseelie Court, and Bob, the timeless perfectionist who believe in absolute complete minimalism. Those were the ones that The Detective knew about. There could be more. They had found a way to block their usually snooping abilities. In fact, the Outcasts had found a way to block and or hinder most of their magic. Did they know what The Detective was, or did they just get lucky? There were no clear answers and in desperation The Detective put up a barrier. Nothing over a certain amount of magical power was getting out of The City. The world was safe from the Outcasts for now, but it meant that they couldn’t do anything more directly. So, in a desperate gamble The Detective had reached out to the Lesser Evils.

They weren’t really a group but there were rumors and whispered about all of them all over the supernatural community. Seven creatures of no particular morals save one that they all shared: the oldest human posing as a CEO that killed to steal a creature’s memories, a thing older than the planet who horded gold like a child horded candy, a succubus that didn’t sleep with anyone and smiled while covered in blood, an proprietor of a magical bed and breakfast that didn’t seem to truly exist, the angel that fell with no regrets and took the defense of Innocents just a step to far, the Egyptian matriarch who’d do anything and everything for family, the witch addicted to social media. Some lived in the city and were easy to get into contact with, a phone call, a message on social media, an in-person visit, a summons, a few even came to them. None of them would hurt Innocents and learning what the Outcasts were was enough to get them to agree. They just hoped it didn’t come back to bite them.

The Detective looked at the clock. There were still 55 minutes. They pushed up from the table to look out the window. The sky was overcast and grey. It wasn’t raining yet, but the forecast said it might. Omens were a thing in certain magical systems and rain at the beginning of an endeavor was rarely a good sign. They shook their head. Now was not the time to be worrying. Their guests would be arriving soon, and they needed to appear put together. They didn’t feel put together and had to resit the urge to fiddle with one of the countless boxes of breakfast pastries or the containers of coffee that cluttered the table. The barrier drained a lot of The Detective’s energy. They wouldn’t be able to help with the Outcasts as much as they would like. At least the enemy wasn’t going anywhere. 

They forced themselves to take a deep breath, [color=ba303e]”Breathe. Focus. You can do this. They haven’t won yet. They haven’t won yet and never will.”[/color]



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July 3rd, 2022
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