Identity

Thirteen

I was kind of a connoisseur of ankle pain by this time and knew that I'd just sprained it; I called my grandparents, but no luck.  I changed the message on voice mail to let people know that I was ok, then went into my study, pulled the blinds shut, put my ankle up on a footstool with a cold wrap on it, drank water with my pain medication, and started combing the images, shooting them to my editor as I finished with each one. Good ones from the ceremony, especially the kings and queens, it all looked good... but the later photographs and the frames I pulled off my video were the ones I really looked at. They were, for the most part, quite unhelpful. The being that attacked me looked more like a thing; what I'd thought was a mask wasn't, and it looked almost demonic. Great. Supervillains and their mutant armies. But whose were these?

I focused on the six figures emerging from the portal and ran an image search. They were Algernon Crowe, Bronwen Gryffn, Eadmund Porlock, Brendan Rathcoole, Gudrun Tyburn, and Ormond Wychwood, the board of Mys-tek Corporation, which was a respected British company. Huh. Combing through the other images, it took me awhile to discern that there were two types of black-clad aggressors; the demonic looking ones with weapons and no finesse and a second group with black masks obscuring their faces, who fought with martial arts techniques. I shot all this to my editor, then focused on the last image, which I did not send. It was the last with useful content, and was a black-on-black insignia that was a little fuzzy on the still I pulled from video, but unmistakable for anyone from my family.

I jerked my head around when a pounding started on my door. I limped over and checked the peephole cam. My grandparents. Yay. I closed my eyes in gratitude as I unlocked the door and pulled it open. Not only my grandparents but also Uncle Tony and Aunt Ann. "Oh, Buttercup," Grandpa said, the first one in the door, hugging me tight.

"Are you ok, Lys?" Grandma asked urgently, her face pinched with worry. "Tam said you were limping."

"Twisted my ankle, nothing serious," I said. "Thanks to your armor, Uncle Tony." And he and Aunt Ann gave me hugs of their own. Then I took off the bracelet and handed it to him to examine. He went into the kitchen where the strongest light was on. "Are you guys ok?" I asked anxiously.

"We're fine, just a bit scraped up," Aunt Ann said. "Honey, you should get off your ankle."

"I've got something you need to see," I told my grandpa grimly.

"So, a working night," Aunt Ann said. "I'll get something to drink and snacks then." Grandma and Grandpa trailed me back to the study where I thumped back into my seat, bringing up that last image on the big screen. Grandpa swore in Arabic when he saw that insignia, a circle overlaid with what looked like some weird head with Anubis-like ears and an odd, elongated beak, chin, nose, or something. An "R" was between those ears.

The insignia of the Demon's Head.

The League of Assassins, once an elite organization, part of Ra's al Ghul's larger umbrella criminal organization called The Demon. Thought pulled apart and scattered to the four winds after the Battle of Egypt.

"Could you forward that image to us, Buttercup?" Grandma Alex said over Grandpa Damian's swearing. I knew what he was saying; when we were younger, Deri and I had covertly recorded him blistering the paint when he'd been riled about something, translated the eyepopping phrases, and memorized them for our own occasional use out of adult hearing. I did, then ran through the rest of the photos again, playing the video. During this time, Aunt Ann and Uncle Tony came in and I gratefully accepted some lemonade. There was a platter of savory nibbles, including olives, cheese and crackers. I popped an olive into my mouth and realized that I was ravenous.

Grandma explained to Aunt Ann and Uncle Tony the significance of the last still as Grandpa finally showed signs of winding down. The phone rang; it was Tam at the front gate. "Ms Wayne, I'm sorry to bother you, but you'll have company shortly. Two agents of His Majesty's government presented their credentials, which checked out against the database although I'm not sure what branch they report to." I rubbed my face; I'd been thinking of a brief shower and bed once I dumped everything off on my grandparents.