The Black Joker

Me, Kallaway, and a couple of the Sisters met outside the local library to wait for Justin and the others to arrive. Someone else appeared first.

Like, he literally appeared out of thin air, right in front of me. He hadn't used the God's Way, like I do. There's sort of a feeling that I get when the God's Way is accessed when I'm nearby. I can't really explain it.

His appearance was smoother. I felt nothing from it. As if he had teleported straight there, without having to move through another domain to do so.

"Doctor," he addressed me. "We need to talk."

I looked the man over, hesitantly. He was a tall man, with a few inches on me. His skin was deeply tanned, and his hair was jet black. He was dressed in dark purple and blue clothing, with a leather jacket over it all. A black escrima stick was sheathed at his side, raising a bit of a flag for me.

"You're armed," I noted. "Who are you and what is this about?"

"My weapon is sheathed," he said, nodding toward my cane as he did so. "As is yours. Keep it that way, and so will I."

"I don't need to draw it to win a fight," I warned him.

"Nor do I," he replied.

"You haven't answered either of my questions," I said.

"This is about Dawson," he said. "He possesses a book I have interest in."

"Something from the AMU, right?" I asked.

"No," He said. "While he is in possession of one of those books... specifically, the one of interest to you... there is another book... if you wish to call it that... that he has with him."

"Wish to call it that?" I asked.

"It's more of a collection of papyrus scrolls, bound together in a book-like fashion," he said. "Literature was a bit different back in the day."

"Just who are you?" I demanded.

"The Black Joker," he said. "But you may know me better as the Thief King-"

"Abdalin," Kallaway interrupted. "Dyson warned me about you."

"Mr. Kallaway," Abdalin said, with a smirk. "Your father sends his regards."

"I killed my father," Kallaway growled.

"Yes, and he's still quite annoyed with you over that," Abdalin said, before turning back to me. "Those pages belonged to me, in my younger days. They're something of a journal, if you will."

"The legendary thief king kept a diary?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "And I'd like it back."

"So you want me to liberate it from Dawson next time we meet?" I guessed.

He nodded.

"And what's in it for me?" I asked.

"First of all, a narrowing down of his location," he said. "He and the others you mentioned in your earlier post have been active in this town and New Strawn."

Just a few miles North. With Solar Progeny on our side, we could scout those two areas easily enough.

"Secondly," Abdalin said. "I will lend you one of my cards."

He produced a deck of what appeared to be Tarot cards, and spread them out in front of me. Catching a glimpsed of some of the images and names, I could tell they weren't normal Tarot cards.

"And how is that helpful?" I asked.

"These cards are enchanted," he said. "Each has a different magical effect."

He then shuffled them, and spread them out again, face-down this time.

"You two may each take one," he said.

"We don't get to look at them?" I asked.

"That's not how this works," he said. "You ick one. At random. And the one you select will be useful."

Okay...

I took a card. It showed the image of a man sprinting, and leaping over some kind of hurdle, the name "The Mobile" scrawled near the bottom. Kallaway hesitantly took a card as well. He stared at it for a bit before glaring at Abdalin.

"You speak of my father as if he's still alive," he said. "Where is he?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss his whereabouts," Abdalin said.

"Tell me!" Kallaway demanded, pocketing his card as he did. "He deserves to stay dead after what he did!"

"Now, now, Mr. Kallaway," Abdalin said, like a parent tut-tutting their child. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to commit patricide twice, can I?"

I realized people were giving the lot of us looks. In my line of work, drawing attention isn't exactly a good thing. I needed to come up with a way to diffuse the situation, but I was drawing a blank. Kallaway took a step toward Abdalin, manifesting his gauntlet in a threatening manner. Abdalin smirked, and drew his escrima stick. As he did, all the cards in his hand vanished, and a second later, another appeared in his hand.

"You don't want to do this, David," Abdalin said warningly.

"Tell me where he is, damn it!" Kallaway hissed.

Abdalin drew his arm back, ready to strike with his weapon, if need be, but as he did, a kusarigama (Small scythe attached to a chain, for those too lazy to google it) came flying out from behind him, wrapping around his forearm and halting his motion. We all turned to see that Justin was there, holding the other end of the chain in his left hand, with his right arm tucked behind him.

Justin is a handsome man. Brown eyes, long blonde hair, fairly muscular, and usually dressed in a leather jacket. Has a hard on for scythes, as well as both main genders. He was accompanied by Terrence McCleary (maternal surname), a man with short, gray-black hair and a purple T-Shirt, and Ciel Potomac, an angry looking red-headed woman dressed up in a light blue, floral printed dress.

"This guy givin' you shit, Dan?" he asked.

"It's fine," I said, putting a hand on Kallaway's shoulder and whispering to him. "We can deal with your daddy issues some other time. We're making a scene."

Sure enough, we had drawn a lot more attention, with a bunch of people standing around gawking, with a few whispering to each other. Abdalin noticed as well, let out a sigh, glanced at his card, and invoked it's power.

"The Daze" he said, facing the card towards the crowd.

A flash of light erupted from the card, and they all stopped talking, and began to just stare blankly ahead of them.

"What did you just do?" Kallaway demanded.

"Like the card's name says," Abdalin replied. "They're in a daze. Once it wares off, they won't remember any of this."

"You take a card at random," I said.

"And it will be useful," he replied, nodding.

Interesting...

Abdalin teleported out of he chain's grip, and turned to face me one last time.

"You understand, correct?" he said. "Use that card to recover my book for me. I shall return then."

"Fine," I said. "This thing better not explode or something."

"And David," Abdalin said, warranting some tension from Kallaway. "Your father is... sorry."

"That's not enough," Kallaway growled. "I lost my mother because of him!"

"And he lost his wife," Abdalin said, before vanishing.

Kallaway remained silent for a minute, while I turned to address Justin.

"Just had to break out the chain scythe, didja?" I asked.

"I feel like it makes an impact," he said. "So... Nightlanders, eh?"

"Yep," I said. "And that guy just confirmed that this town, and the next town up are where this Dawson guy and his gang are currently operating."

"Okay," Justin said. "Tell us who to look out for."

I gave them all the best descriptions of Dawson and his crew that I could. They exchanged looks with each other before Justin spoke.

"Okay," he said. "We'll help you guys scout the area. But we need to make it clear that Tony comes first. He's up in Topeka, looking into the Kai case, so if he calls us needing help, you two are on your own from there."

"Got it," I said.

"Speaking of you two," Justin said, turning to Kallaway. "I don't believe we've met."

"Oh, right!" Kallaway said, offering his right hand to shake, which drew a smirk from Justin. "I'm David. David Kallaway."

Just drew his right arm from behind his back, and thrust the small stump that was left of his forearm into Kallaway's hand.

"Nice to meet you!" Justin said, with malevolent enthusiasm.

Kallaway realized what he was holding and drew his hand back in alarm, causing Justin to laugh out loud.

"Sorry, dude," Justin said. "I just love fucking with right handed shakers. Name's Justin Gremori Ferin."

Kallaway raised an eyebrow.

"Why did you include your middl-"

"Because it's badass," Justin answered before Kallaway could finish. "These guys here are Terrence McCleary."

"Yo," Terrence said.

"And Ciel Potomac," Justin finished.

"Sup, dumbass," Ciel said.

"You'll get used to her attitude," I whispered to Kallaway.

"You got something to say about my attitude, you cuck!?" she demanded.

"I'm not married, and if I was, I'm sure she'd be loyal," I replied. "Now, shall we begin?"

"Of course," Justin replied.