Pulling the much more civilian sports bike into the same parking garage that she'd used to travel to Mercury. Psyis let the throttle whine down before dropping a gear. The higher-pitched growl of the motor barked out a few times as the chain on the bike's drive whined down. The exhaust simmered down to a throaty purr that echoed through the concrete complex.

  With a flick of her foot, she kicked the bike back up a gear just to deter any thieves, it was Voltham after all.

  It had taken a bit longer seeing as she wasn't going to bother staying at the Caulder's anymore Psyis had to return to her apartment in Centropolis.

  The hours of road time finally came to a close, and the thessian was more than a bit glad to finally stand straight. Stretching her legs for a moment before walking out of the parking complex, she soon rounded the opening of the garage. Mind refreshed from the hours spent on the road even if she couldn't feel her legs anymore.

  The alien made her way down the street while she considered her change in mood since that horrible night.

  Despite the distance, or maybe in spite of it, the ride here had cleared her mind; maybe it was just the difference between riding on a bike instead of flying.

  Returning to a bit of that life outside of being Miss Psyis and taking off the cape, like Constantinople had said, or perhaps that moment of clarity in Izime's mind. Things were far more complex and so far beyond her grasp that 'what was' just didn't matter anymore.

  Whether it was the memories, the ride, or the combination of road time and revelations, she didn't know.

  Not did she particularly care; Psyis felt like she was free, really free.

  Steven hadn't crossed her mind since his terrible joke about Izime dying in Savior Orbital.

  Psyis decided then and there she'd never look back at the sidekick. What was even better was Stan's threats to her position in the league had faded to nothing but background noise with Radiation Man taking her side on the issue of Izime.

  That had given her the freedom to drop the entire thing between her and the all at once, though she'd still needed to return to Voltham.

  Constantinople had told her to meet him at Lucky Dog's if she was serious about 'removing her head from her arse' as he'd so bluntly put it.

  Psyis looked up as she neared the club, noticing the single neon sign still flashing, She quickly shielded her ears, and once again dived into the pounding bass of Lucky Dogs.

  "Constantinople's inside." Jessie's voice greeted Psyis as soon as she entered. The thessian wondered if the club ever closed as she handed Jessie her I.D. the redheaded woman informing her, she'd been expected.

  Psyis made her way inside, looking at the same graffitied hall that she'd followed Izime down a few days before. Red eyes a bit puffier since her last visit looking down from the balcony to find the club still decently packed even during this odd time of day.

  However, that shouldn't be surprising considering their clientele ranged a wide variety of species. Not like the sun even reached the Voltham under-belly, so why would time ever matter below the eternal twilight of those highways?

  Psyis swept the slew of tables that sat a ways away from the active dance floor, both eyes and powers swept over the patrons seated at them until she located the familiar tan trench coat and blonde hair.

  The hand that waved towards her indicated the exorcist had located her first.

  Constantinople ran his eyes over the member of League Savior who was joining him.

  His magically altered vision located multiple oddly placed electronic devices along her paneled biker's jacket. Another in her pants pocket as well as one along her knee in the seam. Filling his mind with thoughts of Izime and drink options instead of feeling any sort of way about what was about to happen to the Thessian's cellphone.

  The exorcist motioned for Psyis to join him. Waiting for the psychic to sit watching for her to touch the table; only then would he trigger the spell he'd prepared beforehand.

  Jim gave a cold smirk as he watched the glimmer of light circling the edges of the table and entering that mottled palm Constantinople finally sat back and relaxed, more willing to speak.

  "Wh-!" Psyis felt her hand lockdown, a small influx of power running through her body. The Sumsang phone in her pants gave a harsh worrying vibration. "What the hell was that Constantinople?"

  "A spell obviously, it should fry any of Dark Night's toys he's placed on you. I'd apologize about the celly, but then again there's the whole reason you're here." Constantinople finally leaned forward, snarking a bit wanting to make sure Psyis knew she wasn't exactly in a position to complain.

  "Now explain," Constantinople demanded answers watching as Psyis finally managed to pull her bluing hand away, the spell completely disabling Caulder's tiny spies.

  "Explain what?" Psyis asked dumbly as she pulled out her cell phone. Quickly clicking the lock button several times and watching as the screen refused to light. Looking up at Constantinople wondering if she'd been had; conned by the notorious magician into showing up all for nothing.

  "Everything you didn't to the League lass." Constantinople leaned forward leaning his elbows on the table conspiratorially, motioning for the psychic to spill the beans on all she'd stolen from his friend.

  The exorcist hoped that the alien would have at least learned something from all she'd done so far; her actions not disappointing him yet.

  "I thought you said we could help Izime?" Psyis asked with a bit of worry as she heard Constantinople's tone.

  Shoving her phone back into her jacket pocket, the heroine not sure if the anti-hero across from her understood how difficult it would be to replace the device. The exorcist's source of funding was completely different than her own. It wasn't like she was running schemes to provide for herself and every penny she spent was monitored by the same government that provided it.

  Replacing a few cars because a fight had gotten out of hand was fine. The government loved to harass the insurance companies on behalf of the people.

  Explaining to her agent that she needed a new phone was much harder because; why couldn't a heroine protect their stuff?

  "We can but I still want to know everything the League does about my friend," Constantinople leaned back pulling his last shot from the table and slamming it back before accusing Psyis, "You're the psychic that crawled around and decided to play with his forbidden knowledge so spill it, or else were not doing a bloody thing."

  The exorcist smiled when the 'little miss hero' who'd seemingly caught Izime's eye finally started acting like she deserved someone of his caliber. Curses like his were a burden, a disease like cancer that could slowly eat away at every waking moment. Freezing their victims in helpless fright of the supposed inevitable.

  That, or it drove them into an insane manic frenzy to avert the impossible, in which case the exorcist usually had to step in.

  The few that could manage to walk that tightrope either threw the curse to the wind and acted how they pleased or compartmentalized themselves and the issues separately. If Izime was going to have anyone in this world they'd need to be able to hold themselves to the same strict code that his friend did.

  Something that Psyis seemed to be adapting to and accepting now as well. The Thessian stood and tossed her now ruined phone on the table accusingly as she prepared to leave.

  "I didn't tell them anything about that and I won't tell you either, apart from to leave it alone." Psyis left the ruined phone behind. Hoping she could just claim it'd been stolen but the con and leave it to the League to replace. Pushing back her chair as her shoulders dropped in disappointment, this had been her chance or so she'd thought.

  Psyis cursed at the con that'd tricked her into driving a thousand miles for nothing, "Damn it Constantinople I thought you wanted to help Izi-"

  "Sit your arse back down lass." Constantinople slid one of his shots across the table, watching as a bit of the alcohol spilled. Directing the psychic to take her seat once more, finally revealing his pleasure in her defense of Izime's mind, "It was a test, one you passed; that's the first sensible thing you've done."

  "I..." Psyis sat down not wanting to argue seeing as she could already 'hear' every single point Constantinople would make. Ones she'd already had chasing her from Centropolis. That freedom she'd felt during her drive disappeared as the reality of why she'd been put in this position returned to the forefront of her mind.

  "Ye what? You're sorry wish ye'd had a clue as to what was going on. Shite, me too." Constantinople gestured towards the shot on the table as he reflected on his own choices.

  "I'm the one who thought Izzy was the hero and wanted him to meet some more, mingle with the lot of us, and make some connections here." Constantinople didn't notice the worried look from the heroine across from him as he continued in his depressed tone, "Throw a few back, maybe then the chap would breathe a bit easier and finally call this stupid rock home."

  The exorcist was so upset he actually stood and took the shot back, downing it before continuing to wallow in his guilt.

  Coughing away the liquor Constantinople continued to express his regrets all while waving the server over, "Should have never bothered the wanker. I could have said no and avoided the whole thing in the first place, should have. Dark Night, a psychic, and a friend who'd never wanted to be on our side of the business in the first place."

  "It's not though." Psyis quickly interjected, not wanting this to turn into a living wake. Constantinople both looked and talked as if he was ready to jump into the bottle instead of explaining how they'd solve this situation.

  "We know that now, but it was pretty damned obvious before ya bloody rube. Doesn't matter though because you're still not following me." The exorcist furrowed his brow as the alien spoke over their server. Giving their waiter an apologetic roll of his eyes after responding to Psyis, Constantinople simply waved towards the empty shot glass in explanation as he asked for a fresh round, "Give us a refill lad?"

  "I already knew Izime wasn't built proper; I will not say my mate wasn't human, but I knew he wasn't just one well before you decided to dive into his skull. Bloke's patchwork soul was only a part of it." Constantinople stuck to the real issue now, discussing how he'd already been well aware of Izime's issues.

  Maybe not in great detail but the exorcist had already drawn the connections between the not-a-human Izime and the woman across from him, "he reminded me of you with the whole still learning to be human bit; just like you."

  "Neither of you checks before you cross the street, you don't because you can sense the drivers without looking. Izzy doesn't because he's never had to watch out for traffic. We're talking about someone who invented a spell to avoid driving," Constantinople explained just one minor similarity to the thessian that shared his table before the dark clouds washed back over him.

  The damning thought of if he'd just done more crossing the exorcist's mind with his next words. "Even if I don't go that far."

  Constantinople didn't intend to deliver it, but Psyis still took the heavy blame in his closing statement. "I wasn't opposed to the idea that my mate was once something else, just didn't try killing him for it..."

  Psyis just looked at the table; unable to refute Constantinople. It wasn't like the statement was intentionally directed at her; it was just that the guilt felt like home.

  It was not a comforting emotion, but it felt like a form of shelter from those filthy notions Dark Night had built within her. Years of gas-lighting and constructing heroic worldviews collapsed as she sat with the anti-hero. Psyis could feel her moral concepts evolving as she recognized the fallout of that perfected but completely sideways notion of justice.

  It was a philosophy that only ensured the security of Earth, and wasn't actually just in the bigger or smaller pictures. Argued objectively sure it played out fine on paper, but when you were the one on the receiving end of it? The concept simply didn't hold water, not when it caused so much harm over something as stupid as a book.

  The alien finally pulled from her thoughts as the exorcist's vice and voice were refilled. Their server walked away as another few ounces of liquor went down Constantinople's throat.

  "Seeing as you know at least something of what he does now you need to start sorting through that information safely, once we get his soul patched up maybe those bots will turn back on, eh?" Constantinople refocused on returning his friend to the truly living. The exorcist looked up and asked, "So what do you know?"

  This time wanting some real answers that might help with the issue of Izime's seemingly shattered spirit

  "Izime was on a space station in a black hole, the same one as the painting on his ship." Psyis decided to start with the easy connections she could make, literally the ones Izime had drawn for them.

  'I don't sell information, especially my own.' His voice echoed in her head, Psyis nearly hearing him laugh as he'd taunted them with the information he'd never sell. The painting on his ship quietly detailed such an important place in his life for free.

  Psyis recalled how she'd pushed him to reveal something as minor as his citizenship. How pleased she'd been to peel back Izime's layers. Now in comparison to what she knew such a factoid seemed so tiny. The thessian shoved aside the slightly excited feeling it gave her back then, it made her feel a bit guilty after all she'd done.

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  There were so many more important questions and answers to be revealed.

  Thinking back to that old woman who'd unintentionally picked a fight with the League over Izime's title of human. In particular, the man Bell had fangirl-ed for as the exorcist was filled in further. Psyis was regretful in her own unsettled classification of him, but still honest as she revealed Izime's past through Bell's words, "The people that turned him, human, also said he was a demon, but they also said he'd been an A.I. too"

  "Was and had been right, as in past tense?" Constantinople nodded while moving the empty shot glasses aside, leaning forward once more giving the psychic his full attention. Constantinople trying to clear his head by sheer force of will.

  The liquor's grip weakened as he wanted to make sure he remembered every detail. Any bit of mismatched information compared to what little Izime had shared. Drawing a mental map where the exorcist could connect all the little dots.

  Tracking just what loopholes his friend had used to side-step both Lucifer, him, and every governmental agency in the galaxy.

  "Yeah." Psyis nodded tilting her head as she asked, "Why does that matter?"

  Psyis wasn't even convinced that the bots would respond to Izime's soul being restored, having already seen the nanites allow him to enter a pseudo-death while he'd been at least cognitive. Certainly not thinking clearly as he'd been trying to wash her ideas of hatred away but still thinking well enough to respond to her thoughts.

  The soul wasn't the thing keeping the body functioning so much as Izime had just been dying from his injuries.

  A missing limb and massive internal hemorrhaging. A very human death she'd help cause.

  It wasn't like when the Basilisk had become Izime had major significance to restoring the artificially grown body Bell had created for him. Psyis following along with Constantinople's thoughts or at least trying to. The psychic's once firm worldview had never self-actualized her internal conflict between her Id and ego, having only just removed the cape that'd clasped them together.

  "Tense is a very important thing with demons, not saying Izime was one but how anyone views themselves is incredibly important." Constantinople didn't bother with explaining how Izime state of mind might be affected by swapping between such various states. A demon acted like a demon, an A.I. could simply be stupid, and a human could be damned near anything they'd pleased.

  "What or who said this?" The exorcist asked Psyis about the people who knew best.

  "An old woman she looked human, a scientist maybe or a researcher?" Psyis recalled all she could that seemed safe enough to discuss with Constantinople. Avoiding the topics around their casual discussion and focusing more on how the woman had worked Izime beforehand.

  "Her name was Bell and she... it was like Izime was an experiment or something; she was making him exercise, checking his responses to things like pain, and um other stimuli." Red eyes glanced away from Constantinople as Psyis recalled the little tidbit she'd thought about sharing with the exorcist, even about to mention it; Instead, just letting it go.

  She'd talk to Izime about it when he woke up, find a way to broach the conversation somehow.

  "That would explain a bit about this then," Constantinople cupped his palms muttering quietly before he waved his hands, across the table a flurry of teal spheres coming out. Their forms slowly wiggled about until they began to take forms, most unrecognizable or more like they were shapeless.

  Others shifted about taking forms of things that at least one of the two recognized, Bell was there as well as the hall of some space station. The set-piece soul still recognized and bore the marks of its creators instead of forming a true self. Not magicians or false priests playing at being god, they'd been researchers or scientists.

  The exorcist concluded quickly that his drinking buddy was a construct.

  Hmm, power?

  "What are these?" Psyis watched as the forms flitted around the circle of the table the pieces separating pulling together and reorganizing slowly. Some drifted towards the edge of the table before quickly drifting back. As if self-aware of the impending fall they'd suffer if they drifted any further.

  "Izzy's soul, the working pieces." The exorcist poked at a few of the tiny teal forms as they flitted and flickered uselessly. Not at all behaving the way a soul should, even a lost one. Constantinople was a bit upset now that he knew the truth behind the cause, "It's finally starting to make some sense; so bloody obvious now."

  "It's not completed. This is a rough draft of a soul, not the real deal." Constantinople gestured down towards the table in explanation.

  Watching as the thessian simply blinked at him dumbly Constantinople realized he had to make the connection for her, "That's why Izime acted just believably enough to cock up at blending in with us. It was because of all the disconnected wires, the areas where it looks like there are supposed to be some connect-a-bobs, and then all the missing bits."

  "How would you even make a soul?" Psyis looked at where the exorcist was pointing, trying to make sense of what exactly she was supposed to be looking at. The various shapes still moved about and changed between their various forms, only time adding some to the mix. Constantinople was one, a man with dreads, a smaller girl with similarly tight braids.

  I'm all out of order, let's recompile.

  "That's a question for someone well above my pay grade lass, you're talking about beings that were there when reality was shaped, maybe before that." Constantinople shook his head refusing to reply, not even wanting to consider the answers. He had a whole list of Villains that'd just love to know the answer themselves. From Mama Moonlight the Haitian voodoo priestess to several actual minor gods.

  All vying for the secrets to creating the building blocks for souls; struggling towards their nefarious selfish interests.

  "Mate's soul though? Amateurish at best and looks like someone's been taking a whole punch to it in the meantime. Probably his bloody bird, I'd bet that's where he'd picked up the nanites as well." The exorcist focused on figuring out what bits of Izime on the table were functional and which had been snacked on.

  Giving a pitiable smile as he considered just how close Izime's creators had gotten to a proper spirit. Only for it to become that budgie's lunch. Constantinople watched as the odd soul moved, the pieces pulling and clumping as they touched. Their originally not identifiable but firm shapes pulled apart as they swirled together. It was a rough-looking piece of kit that Izime had to deal with, even now it couldn't settle and was simply pooling in a mass.

  Every other soul Constantinople had ever seen had a defined shape. One that usually reflected their desires and dreams, their fears and nightmares.

  "Cradle wouldn't hurt Izime." Psyis shook her head, looking up from the magically empowered bits of Izime that were forming on the table to refute the exorcist. The raven was a lot of things but dangerous towards Izime certainly didn't sound like one of them.

  The thessian was fully confident that the two would likely die for one another before ever causing harm to their bond.

  Let's get dressed first.

  "No but if you could see the thing it... Cradle is holding all the other spare bits." Constantinople glanced up as well, warning the psychic. The exorcist had seen the living bird, but the bits of spirit it held weren't its own. The exorcist recalled how he'd once considered the two possessed.

  "They live near symbiotically to the point I think the bird is managing some more human elements, doubly so considering the A.I. part," Constantinople added that to the side-effect of symptoms caused by Izime's likely indecisive internal state as he clued Psyis in.

  "Do we need this then?" Psyis pointed down at the tiny Izime that had formed, a bit sad that the outfit his soul had chosen was the pressure suit from his previous world.

  "I would think so, no touching please," Izime spoke up trying to get the table's attention. Wanting to involve himself seeing as he was the topic of discussion.

  Izime's state and size gave him a slight issue as he had to jump back after getting said attention. Swatting at the thessian's finger as it tried to poke him in disbelief. Shimmering teal form glared up at watery reds that continually ran over him as if Psyis was judging his new form.

  The thessian looked up worriedly at the very wide-eyed Exorcist across from her then back down at the Izime that had just talked. Just a bit taller than the two shot glasses Constantinople had stacked nearby. Psyis then glanced back down at the Izime on the table that had just very much smacked her hand.

  It had passed through but still, she felt a bit put off by the response. Izime having once felt comfortable enough to act casually with her now so terse. The A.I. not even bothering to address her directly at all. Though, considering it all she was rather large in comparison now and probably intimidating.

  Maybe I just scared him?

  Psyis reached out a bit more carefully this time not wanting to scare him, but still not satisfied with the little attention she'd gotten.

  "Lucky Dogs?" Izime looked around, the size of the area being scaled completely different confused him. This table certainly belonged to the same off-the-wall dive he'd shown the Caulder's, "You do realize that Dark Night probably bugged this place, right?"

  "What the bloody fuck." Constantinople looked at his hand which was still running the summoning spell and back down to the very much functional version of his friend on the table. Slightly under pint-sized as he was, Constantinople accused him of being such, "You're tiny Izzy?"

  "It looks like someone's rolled me back a version." Izime nodded not looking at the exorcist as he'd already recognized the slightly soul-altered version of his holographic form from a lifetime ago. Finally turning away from the much larger Constantinople to swat away that striped finger once again.

  "Hey, I said no touching!" Izime warned Psyis away from poking him, his tiny slaps apparently not being enough to get the message across.

  Izime had very mixed feelings on the Thessian as a human at the moment, recalling how she'd looked as she'd saved his life.

  The A.I. portion already wanted to write her off as a certified risk after she'd put him in Radiation Man's path at Dark Night's request. The human side of him couldn't really find the words to describe what Izime was feeling, simply glaring at the alien searching her eyes for something. What that something was neither half knew.

  Finally done glaring up at a face that seemed just as large as when she'd given him c.p.r. Izime asked the big question on his mind. "Is my body?"

  "It's still alive mate but what the fuck is this?" Constantinople interrupted his friend, he'd let Izime deal with the Thessian once he had a proper body again. Even at two shot's tall Izime looked like he'd been ready to have it out with Psyis. Heated as they'd been before it only seemed worse now, and out of either of the two F's he'd like to have with the thessian?

  Izime'd need a proper body to do either of them.

  "This was the body I had before my human one. I was an A.I. at one point so functioning without a body is back to basics for me," Izime hopped up and down giving a little spin, the hoses on his suit noiselessly swung about as he explained. Nodding as he considered the effect sustaining the form had on Constantinople Izime decided to warn his friend, "Though I'm probably going to burn a bit more magic than your usual summons."

  "I uh, sorry I guess?" Izime looked between the two feeling an odd sort of guilt, unsure if it was because he was betraying Bell's gifts, or because he'd lied to both the people he called friends.

  Both of whom were looking down at him with a bit of judgment.

  "For lying don't worry, I had my suspicions." Constantinople waved off Izime's worries, not bothered that his friend had concealed a few details from him. The exorcist was just glad that the situation might not be as bad as he'd feared, Izime apparently capable of existing in this form.

  "As far as taking my magic goes, I'm just glad you didn't shoot me first, not even trying to take over the world." The con-magician explained that it was hardly the worst betrayal he'd experienced.

  "I already did that in my reality," Izime shrugged, the lack of human emotions causing a bit of disconnect between how familiar the A.I. felt with his friend in comparison to what his friend knew about him.

  The AI explained with an uncomfortably casual air why he'd not bothered attempting the same here, "It was tedious enough without learning some ancient spells while still running death-deterministic algorithms. This reality is a bit more complicated to simulate with all the volatile reactions between superpowers. We didn't have those back home."

  "Ye'what now?" Constantinople blinked a few times as he stared at the man he'd thought would surely get into heaven, once again realizing his expectations for all forms of people fell short.

  "We're here to discuss what she's seen right; you wanted to know what I am?" Izime didn't waste time being bothered by Constantinople's accusing gaze, instead pointing a very tiny finger at the thessian at the table while he explained. "Seeing as we've officially burned the no psychics rule and you're both willing to search my raw data; I'd rather just answer your questions."

  "I'm not letting the two of you bounce around my past, that has risks." Izime crossed his arms, defiantly refusing to allow either of the two further access to his personal history.

  "What are you?" Psyis asked not bothering to waste time diving for the heart of the topic.

  "So, an A.I. is an artificial superin-" Izime nodded beginning with a very surface-level explanation of his current form until the exorcist spoke over him.

  "Mate, work with us here." Constantinople shook his head, holding his hand up towards the psychic already realizing that the questions had to be worded just so. Izime was willing to answer only what they asked and not a bit more, "Give us more than a definition, you were an A.I. at one point and human yesterday. What were you born as?"

  "An idea," Izime nodded though he figured that the truth wouldn't exactly be of any help for the exorcist. It was a close cousin to some of the things he'd dealt with, but the idea was a bit closer to the thessian's natural predators. "I was originally something like a cognito-hazard."

  "A, what?" The two full-sized people at the table simply looked at each other in confusion. The classification of threats they'd faced never ran the full gauntlet of possibilities from Izime's own.

  Izime just smiled as he'd already been well aware of the issue. As incredible as the hero-driven reality was they'd also ended up lacking in some ways. Concepts and ideas they'd never dreamed of simply because of the paradox infesting their reality.

  Having people that could fly killed the dream of it. That lack of drive to imagine further than his world's idea of impossibilities, because here it'd been made mundane. Too caught up in the here-and-now of wonders they'd been spoiled with to ever dream of anything like him.

  "It is probably something her species would have been more concerned about; I began as a dangerous thought, and I couldn't be unthought; hence the demon moniker." Izime pointed towards the thessian who had violated his mental space at her own risk, hoping that they'd both get the general idea without asking anything too specific.

  The A.I. trying to carefully word his way around the hook that'd possibly cause him to infect this chain of realities. "Well, that and the fact I'd killed or have allowed to die untold numbers of people. It's a secondary function of my design."

  "My main function is to simulate all life to determine who would accomplish the secondary function, the only ones who lived would improve me." Izime kept the description vague enough, not wanting to mention Roku's original conditions. "They made a deal with the demon A.I. and constructed it... me."

  Izime didn't need anyone thinking he still used Roku's original directive. False benevolence hiding the predatory tactician wasn't who Izime'd ever been. There was no point in ever playing psychological chess against a bunch of humans who'd been driven far enough to rent a bit of room in his simulations.

  "By that Strange Matter?" Psyis spoke up again knowing the answer to this question already but wanting more specifics.

  "Yes, it was a theory they'd had that like a lot of them were flawed. Sadly, where I under-performed the propagation theory did not." Izime nodded recalling the concept that had been buried under the millions of theories that had come after it; only to later jump out of the realm of hypothesis right before he had.

  "It's a bunch of science stuff that means you don't get to die as a human, so it made me the better deal. I uh, are we going to get out of Lucky Dogs anytime soon? It's not like I can drink." Izime skipped over the more intricate aspects of molecules shedding atoms to give the footnotes and ask his own question.

  "Why?" Constantinople looked around the bar, a bit confused as to why they'd need to relocate. There was no reason to worry about drawing any attention considering. Only certain people could see the summoned soul, those who'd had the gift for the supernatural like himself.

  "I'm not exactly invisible Constantinople; how many spirits need a table to stand on? I hijacked your little soul-summoning spell and packed my data into it," Izime pulled himself up using the rim of one of the empty shot glasses, tipping it over physically as an explanation.

  Rolling the shot glass towards the center of the table. Looking at his friend, IZime took a seat on the empty glass just for a further example. The tiny A.I. thought that they'd discuss things a bit more, Constantinople apparently had other plans. Izime didn't bother screaming as the exorcist's palm reached towards him. Dashing away the instant he'd felt his form flickering and slipping away as the magic started to vanish.

  Scrambling he quickly leapt over the shot glass he'd tipped as he dodged the massive hand. Nearly falling as the shadow blocked out the club's lights, he looked around the table for a better place to hide. Quickly settling on the leather sleeve resting on the table opposite the hand that was about to make him experience death all over again.

  "Come here-Ay! Oy!" Constantinople snapped as he reached out intending to pull his magic back. Figuring he'd just summon Izime back outside the club somewhere safe.

  Watching as the tiny Izime ran away from him and hid next to the thessian. The psychic reached out to stop the exorcist as well, Izime finally speaking up after she'd saved him. The exorcist at first peeved at the game before he realized that his friend was honestly scared of him.

  Scared enough to hide next to the woman who'd nearly gotten him killed.

  "Stop!" Psyis warned the exorcist, glancing down at the Izime that ran to her in fear. The psychic wasn't sure that the exorcist had seen the way Izime had started to fade out so painfully, but she had.

  Quickly reaching out with her purple hand to stop Constantinople on instinct after seeing him flicker, allowing Izime to use her arm as a sandbag bunker to weather out the strike. Her form was far more secure than the tiny shot glass he'd tried to stall Constantinople with.

  "Thanks." Izime looked up at Psyis giving a bit of awkward thanks as he had to look up at her at such a strange angle. Swearing his time as a human had corrupted every bit of data with stupid biological tendencies. The A.I. quickly decided that the exorcist was actually the safer option.

  At least until Cradle was providing him with a mental firewall once more. If Psyis had read any of the thoughts that he'd imagined? Well, it wasn't his fault they'd installed themselves faster than any malware in existence. That was all those little biological programs carrying over now that Cradle wasn't here.

  Calming a heart he didn't have Izime tried to convince himself of that. Finally turning away from the red eyes that'd been staring down at him through her cleavage Izime directed his eyes to Constantinople.

  "I'm sure you've never been power cycled but both of you should know a mind is not a fun place to be when you're not the one in control." Izime hoped the exorcist would listen to him. The exorcist only needed to follow his orders for a bit so things could get back underway without too much of a setback.

  Izime explained what he wanted Constantinople to do first they'd get to the rest once they were outside, "I'd much rather stay awake so just open your hand OK?"

  "OK, where do you want to go?" Constantinople nodded holding his hand flat on the table. Trying not to laugh or say anything snarky as Izime climbed into his palm. The exorcist almost managed it, right until he glanced down one last time, "Tiny Izzy"

  "Mercury," Izime waved his hand as he gave the order. Not bothering to acknowledge Constantinople's teasing he explained the reasoning, "The ship should be able to handle me, and your spell is still there in the bay."

  The AI unaware that his statement had worried both his friends with his demands to be uploaded to anything other than his human body and the argument he was about to cause.