LOOTING DC #47. The Spider's Web 2
"The logic's sound. That's how Chaos and Order would interact," Raven said. "Constantine's method might be the safest option."
"Chaos with a twist, huh?" Jake muttered. "Can't be that hard to pull off with all the chaos floating around, right?"
"It's about as easy as finessing a curveball," Constantine replied. "Impossible without the skill. Tricky even with it."
"Well, you can do it," Raven said. "Shouldn't be much of an ask. You're already a part of... whatever this is."
Jake blinked. "Whatever this is?" He cringed slightly. Was this a team? A group? Did they need a name?
"I could," Constantine cut in, saving him from spiraling. "But I always say - teach a man to fish."
He turned to Jake. "You're gonna need this trick again, aren't you?"
Jake nodded. Every time he wanted to enter the web dimension, he'd need a way to block Trigon's energy. Better to learn it than rely on favors.
"Wouldn't help much right now anyway," Constantine admitted, checking his coat. "I'm outta juice."
"How long to learn it?" Jake asked, impatient.
"You've got the aptitude," Constantine said. "But without patience? You'll fumble around for ages."
Jake groaned. "I've got somewhere to be. A prior engagement I really can't miss." He steadied himself, thinking of Artemis. He was supposed to help find Lian tonight. He already felt like he was failing her.
He turned to Raven. "Think you can pull it off if he showed you how?"
Before she could answer, Constantine stepped in. "Even harder for her."
"No offense, luv," he said, glancing at Raven, "but this isn't some multipurpose spell. It'd take ripping out the convenience of your magic style and rebuilding it from scratch. Way too much work for one ward."
He turned back to Jake. "Tell you what - come find me when you're done chasing that prior engagement."
He started walking off. "I'll be at a secret bar known to every magic folk. You can find it if you open your eyes."
He paused a few steps away and added, "And just so you know, the world won't end if you decided to put yourself first once in a while."
Jake stood frozen, torn. Gotham. Artemis. Lian. But also this... this opportunity.
Raven's voice cut through his thoughts. "Well?"
He turned. He hadn't even considered her.
"You really planning to stick around?" he asked.
"Yeah," Raven said. "Now that Trigon's no longer inside me, I need to make sure he doesn't get what he wants."
Jake tilted his head. "Little spooky, saying that to someone you just met."
"Forget we've got an empathy bond?" Raven raised an eyebrow. "I know how you're feeling. And I can tell - you don't mind my company."
Jake blushed behind the mask.
"I also know you really want to show up for her," she added.
That hit him. Right in the chest. He flinched. Of course Raven would know about Artemis. Damn empathy bond.
"I think you should," Raven said, offering a rare smile.
Jake's instinct kicked faster than his thoughts.
"No," he said.
Raven blinked. "What?"
"Constantine's right," Jake said, words tumbling out. "I should be putting myself first."
"WAIT!" he shouted, turning. "Constantine!"
The trench coat Brit paused.
Jake glanced at Raven, then swung forward. "You coming?"
He landed beside Constantine. Raven followed a second later, quiet but close.
"I'll spare a few sessions," Jake said.
"Good," Constantine said. "But see, I'm already in the mood for a pint or two."
His eyes were watery.
"No problem as long as I get to learn," Jake said. "But do we really have to walk all the way to this bar?"
Constantine smirked. "We're already there."
Jake's Spider-sense flared a half-second too late.
Behind them, reality split. A jagged tear yawned open like a wound in space.
"The Oblivion Bar," Constantine said, gesturing smoothly, "is always around us. And always open to those who know how to look."
He stepped through the tear without hesitation.
Jake hesitated for only a breath. Then he jumped - Raven right beside him.
They landed with a soft thud. Jake blinked. The surface beneath his feet was solid. Warm. Was that... wood?
His eyes adjusted slowly, catching the shimmer of spell-light playing off walls that didn't look like any place on Earth. More illusion than architecture, but with a generic medieval aesthetic to it - especially with the furniture.
The bar was dead quiet.
Not because it was empty.
Because they'd just walked in.
Dozens of heads had turned. The chattering stopped mid-sentence. The background music, previously pulsing with arcane jazz, dropped to a low thrum. Even two cloaked figures who'd been mid-shouting match near the back froze like they'd hit pause.
Every single eye in the Oblivion Bar locked on Jake.
The place was packed - bursting with weirdness - but not a single human in sight. Technically, there was some resemblance in shape and figure, but still no human.
At one table stacked with chips, four figures resembling rhinos were seated on stools, each one holding cards like they'd been in the middle of a makeshift poker game. Across from it, what looked like a demon accountant with seven eyes and gold-rimmed glasses was getting swarmed by three beautiful women-figures that Jake could only term as succubi.
There was an obvious vampire in the room drinking blood in a corner while playing darts. Everyone - everything - seemed to be minding their own business here.
Jake took it all in, wide-eyed beneath the mask.
And then from the bar counter came a voice - dry, gruff, unmistakably unimpressed, and a lot drunk.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in," the chimp said, setting down an empty bottle on the counter. "John bloody Constantine."
Jake blinked again. A talking chimpanzee. In a dark-blue trench coat and a shriveled hat. It picked an entire bottle of something indigo, uncorked it and staggered towards them.
Constantine grinned. "Ah, Bobo, you absolute menace."
He made to throw an arm around him, but the chimp stepped back in a swaggering stagger before the smothering could begin.
"Don't start, John," Bobo snapped. "Every time you show up, you drain my bar, dodge your tab, and then vanish for six months like it's a bloody magic trick."
"Now that doesn't sound like me at all," Constantine said, wounded.
Bobo cut him off with a single raised hand.
Then he struggled to take in Constantine's companions.
Jake noticed Bobo was unusually tall for a chimp, with a detective's swagger, a deep scar over his left eyebrow, and eyes that scanned like an X-ray machine.
He seemed to have taken an interest in Jake, circling him once while taking his time.
"You've got some nerve, Constantine," he muttered. "Dragging a non-magic outsider in here like this. You trying to get banned?"
Jake stayed quiet. Spider-sense buzzed with tension.
"Now now, Bobo," Constantine said, holding out his hands like a peace offering. "You've been cooped up in this bar too long. You're one of the best detectives I know - can't you tell there's magic in him?"
"We have a strict policy here at the Oblivion Bar," Bobo snapped, eyes still on Jake. "No honorary members. Not since Wonder Woman."
"Honorary?" Constantine scoffed. "Now I know you've lost it. This kid is the real deal."
Bobo turned back, stone-faced. "Then how about he show he's one of us?"
The room, still tense, seemed to lean closer.
Raven hovered just above the floor, like she was ready to step in if things got ugly. But Jake stood firm, mask forward, eyes locked on the chimp.
"How much are you willing to wager to find out if I can use magic?" Jake asked, voice steady.
"What?" Bobo snorted, glancing around. "You trying to bluff your way through this?"
Laughter erupted across the room. Chairs scraped. Someone howled.
Jake didn't flinch. "I wasn't joking."
The laughter died.
Bobo blinked, eyeing him more carefully now. His tone sobered. "You're in the Oblivion Bar, kid. If you're lying - if you're just another uninvited - you'll face the fallout. This place has teeth."
"And if I'm not lying?" Jake replied. "If I show you I belong here... maybe the owner should answer for trying to throw a paying guest out over a bad assumption."
A low ripple of agreement hummed through the bar.
Jake stepped forward, voice like flint.
"So, Bobo. What are you willing to wager to find out?"
The chimp went quiet. Around them, the bar seemed to hold its breath.
He weighed the moment. The Oblivion Bar was just beginning to reclaim its spark after years of chaos - sorcerers from Atlantic city, spiritbinders from the outer rings, rogue spellsmiths and wandering mystics - they'd all begun to return. Word was spreading again. The Oblivion was back. A misstep now would echo.
Not worth it.
Bobo finally exhaled.
"Thirteen!" he barked toward the bar. "Get this fine gentleman and his companions our most expensive mystic conconctions. And elixirs. The real ones."
Before he could stagger off, he caught Constantine already inching toward the bar, eyes gleaming with greed.
"On the house, of course," Bobo added with a grunt.
Another wave of laughter swept through the bar - this time lighthearted. Goblets clinked. Someone summoned a tune on a harp made of bones.
By the time Bobo turned back, Constantine was halfway across the floor, waving at the bartender like she was his long-lost cousin.
"Thirteen! I'll start with the one that tried to eat me last time. You know the one."
Streak? Day 1/10
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