Issue 1 Downtime

The spot Victoria had been directed to was unassuming enough. It was a small creek, at a spot where the local shepherds would have their flocks ford it.

Victoria had gotten into a few fights on the way there, just for good measure. As she made it to the creek, she slowly stripped out of her jumpsuit, kneeling down to wash the blood from it in the creek.

As Victoria washed, a crow perched on a weather-worn fencepost nearby. It seemed to be watching her, considering something.

Victoria continued washing the outfit. "Cowardly spying is unbecoming," she said bluntly, making no move to cover herself.

The crow seemed to flatten and stylize, becoming a glowing outline rather like a tattoo. Several more animal designs appeared, including stags and boars. It was possible to make out the rough shape of a man by their placement.

"Not many know that ritual."

"This is true. It was difficult to come by." The sigils carved into her back glowed red, as did her eyes... she'd fed before coming, knowing she probably would need her magic. "To whom do I speak?" she asked. "Which avatar has found me here?"

"Men know me as Wildpride."

"I did not expect another of Xavier's children to approach me."

"Then don't think of me as one," she said. "Think of me as one bound by blood to a creature of the Red Lord."

"The Red Lord has grown strange over the centuries. He is not one of those that speak to me."

"You aren't missing much," Victoria said dryly. "Yet, you might not need to speak with him to know of his power. Or more specifically... how to use it." She glanced back pointedly.

The figure looked her over, considering.

"Once I stood where you do now. It is not something I would wish on you."

"It was wished upon me already," Victoria said, standing and facing him, her outfit laying forgotten next to the creek. "I was brought back from the brink of death, maintained in life by the Red Lord's power. It's a fate I can't escape... and if I must live with it, then I will make it serve me rather than serve it."

"You do not know what the Horned Lord claims. He has been twisted by his war with the Green."

"Then teach me," Victoria said. "I've been handed half-answers and denied the chance to learn save under the eye of the one who drove a dagger through my heart and bound me to him by blood. If I'm to remain myself, to keep from being swallowed whole by whatever lies behind this power, I can't wallow in ignorance."

"You don't understand."

"There were those who wanted to teach me once. Men I thought were my friends, like the treacherous self-styled 'Mystic' known as Modred."

"All of them will only twist you into their tools. Even me, I am afraid."

Victoria's eyes flashed a defiant red, her lips curling slightly. "I assure you that if you could manage it, I would be a tool very painfully won."

"It is not always intentional. I do not want to do this to you, but the gods within me drive me, and they would remake you in their image."

"That may be inevitable," Victoria said. "I can feel his pull, and I can resist it... much of the time. If I stay as I am, I'll be devoured by it. If I have any hope of fighting the pull, or escaping it somehow, I need to understand it. Even if all I learn are enough consequences to balance the draw of using the power."

"And you have used it. Indeed, the Red Lord seems to have found an apt pupil in you. Perhaps he wishes the Bane to be gathered again, to war with the Green again."

Victoria glowered at this thought. "I don't worship him, and I don't seek his glory. I care as little for the destruction of the Green as I do the advancement of the Red."

"It matters little. The gods within me are too weak to break your tie with him. Their power is scattered, and his is intact."

"Unless you can find someone with the power, you are his soldier."

"Then I know what I need you to teach me," she said. "I need to learn enough of my power to control it rather than being controlled... and I need to find a power that is strong enough to sever the ties."

Wildpride looked her over again, and his tattoos flared with light. Victoria felt a probing against her connection to Constantine, as well as a presence against her mind.

"...no," was all he said.

Victoria's expression hardened. "Why," she asked.

"I can see what you would do with it, and I want no part of that."

Victoria frowned, then glared at the man. "Then tell me... can you also see what I would do if left unguided when I decide to give in and strike a deal with the Red Lord?"

"It is your willingness to deal that will lead you further into corruption. If not by him, then by another."

"...and I am no teacher fit for the position."

"I am willing to deal because I have no choice!" Victoria spat back at him. "Do you need me to act as desperate as I am? I'm bound to the servant of the Red Lord, who I'm positive doesn't have the patience to allow me to continue my life the way I'd choose to live it. I'm in an unacceptable situation, and I simply need out of it. If you can't help me, I understand, but if this is really, truly not something you'd wish on me, then tell me who can. Tell me how to find someone who can help me, I know that this is likely going to be a rather difficult journey for me but I need to find the path first!"

"...Gods help me for even considering this, but the only one I could direct you to that could even begin is Modred himself."

Victoria could feel the forboding of his statement, and didn't seem to be thinking lightly of it. "What would I need to be careful of, if he's the first step in my path?"

"He was a good man, once. From what little I know of him, he had to make a hard decision, and that stained his soul."

"Now he is... not to be trusted. His study of black magic has made his loyalties hard to predict."

"He maintains a residence in Glasgow these days."

Victoria nodded. "And is he as difficult to get ahold of as you were?" she asked, forcing a smile. She was nervous now. She'd known this would be dangerous, but there was something about having it confirmed, on a subject that she knew next to nothing about, that unnerved her.

"He is... more in-tune with the lands of men than I am."

By the tone of voice, the prospect of that disgusted Wildpride.

"And do you know what name he would be found by? It doesn't sound like going about asking for 'Mordred the Mystic' would be conducive to my continued existence."

"He does business as Charles Mordant."

Victoria nodded. "Thank you," she said. "I'll tread this path carefully." She reached down, picking up the outfit she'd been washing and pulling the damp clothes on.

"You'd best. He is..."

Wildpride seemed to be considering how to phrase that.

"...he is accustomed to getting his way."

With that, the floating tattoos faded from sight, and with them Wildpride.