05 – Family Matters

“Adjustment!” Erika said, surprised with herself at being happy to see the spider-woman.

Maybe it was that The Adjustment had come down to Varn’s on her own. If The Eclipse was pissed off about the whole maggot thing or the bird thing or The Puppet thing, they probably would have shown up in force, rather than just sending their usual liaison. That meant good things for The Hunters.

“Agent,” The Adjustment grumbled, pushing right past Erika into Varn’s back office. She dragged out a chair with one spindly limb, collapsed on top of it, then promptly slumped over the table with her head thumping against the cheap plastic.

Erika’s elation faded as she raised her eyebrows. “Everything… alright?”

“Shhh,” The Adjustment shushed. “I think this is the first time I’ve sat down in three weeks.”

“Really?” Erika asked, taking a seat opposite from The Adjustment. “I didn’t think things had been that busy lately.”

“You haven’t seen those metal birds?” The Adjustment lifted her head just enough to narrow her eyes at Erika. “I know you have. I saw your friend interviewed the other day.”

“Ah. Right. Kinda forgot about them—they don’t seem to do much, you know? They just sit around unless someone pokes them.”

They were a concern, but just not an active concern. Erika well knew how vicious they could be when riled up, but in the last three weeks, they hadn’t done much of anything. If that was their plan, to get them to let their guard down, it was working.

Erika knew it wasn’t going to last. Everyone knew it wasn’t going to last. The Warrior was supposedly working on some new equipment… Erika needed to go pester her about getting it done sooner rather than later.

“Sitting around is more than enough to make work for us,” The Adjustment whined. She lifted her head, resting her chin against the table. “The Emperor is pissed constantly, and for good reason. Major city leaders have been calling in, wondering what the hell she’s been doing around here lately. If this continues… well, The Emperor will fight off any threats to her power with all available force.”

“These other cities will barge in and take her down? Replace her with someone better at coverups, or something?”

“Or something,” The Adjustment confirmed. “And before you start thinking that’s a good thing, The Emperor is a very young supernatural, for a leader of a city. Few others would be quite so accommodating of rogue powers in their domains.”

Erika gave The Adjustment a disbelieving stare. It hadn’t been so long ago that The Adjustment stood at the table, throwing around vague and overt threats to get The Hunters to fall in line. The only reason that had stopped was because The Hunters had fallen in line, even if there was a polite fiction around neutrality.

“Well, maybe she’ll be happy to hear that there is one less ghost lurking around the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery.”

The Adjustment’s already muted facial expressions turned flat. “That’s what you called me here for? I mean, I’ll put it in my report, but I doubt The Emperor will even skim it given everything going on. This could have been a phone call.”

Erika cocked a grin, leaning back in her chair with her arms folded over her chest. “And deprive you of your first chance to sit down in weeks?”

The Adjustment barked out a laugh, still not raising her chin from the table. “True that. Still, I’m going to get chewed out if I don’t bring something back. Judging by that interview, you’ve got a little something, don’t you?” Her eyes shifted, glancing around. “Where is the bearded one anyway?”

“The Hunters mostly have lives, so they aren’t around constantly. The Sword—” Erika suppressed rolling her eyes at the name. “—should be back soon. He’s just out buying some supplies for the arcade.”

The Adjustment hummed an odd, trilling hum, then shrugged. “Well, lay it on me. The Art thinks he’s insane, thinking birds aren’t real. I’ve got twenty riding on you guys knowing something. Don’t make me lose the bet.”

“You’re going to wish you had bet a whole lot more,” Erika said before launching into a quick summary of the events of January 24th, focusing on the maggots—implying that she was the reason the birds were here sounded like a Bad Idea. She omitted The Puppet entirely, necessarily downplaying a fair amount because of that; no mentions of magical vans or enchanted bullets, or anything that might hint toward their involvement. Cursed swords and implied Outsider aid from The Fixer filled in for a few moments.

“Then we all took showers, because wow. Honestly surprised we aren’t going to get a disease named after one of us.”

The Adjustment drummed her fingers against the table, not looking half as pleased as Erika expected. “That explains a few things. I was there that night, fighting off those things. I thought the tide of bugs was never going to end, then it sort of petered off. The Hermit and The Hierophant had been working on sealing the gaps that the maggots were coming through, so I thought they did something… Now I’m wondering what they reported to The Emperor in their eighteen hour long meeting the next day.”

“You weren’t invited?”

The Adjustment shook her head.

“Well, maybe you’ll be invited to the next one when you tell them that the birds are the same thing as the maggots.” Erika paused, frowned to herself, and corrected her statement. “Not the same thing, but there is some Carrion Eater thing out there that… it’s an aspect of a being called The Mummy. The Fixer has been tracking it for years, but only recently—”

A loud beep from a wall-mounted tablet signaled someone entering Varn’s rear door. Turning, she saw Leslie and The Fixer standing outside, talking, but neither were at the door. Before Erika’s mood could drop from seeing The Fixer here, the office door opened.

“—told her I’d be at the arcade again tonight. She didn’t want to come so… so…”

Bethany walked in alongside her older brother, only to stop, frozen in place. She stared, jaw hanging open, as The Adjustment lifted a hand in a casual wave.

“Sup,” The Adjustment said. Not getting a response, she slowly looked to Erika. “Thought this place would be a little more private.”

Erika just laughed. “She’s the next generation of the generational ghost hunter, so I presume it’s fine. Beth?” she called out, waving a hand and snapping her fingers. She didn’t deliberately break Bethany out of her stupor, but a nudge from Daniel got her mouth working again.

“What. The. Fuck?” Bethany swarmed over, hovering over The Adjustment without a hint of fear on her face. “You are… Are you? What is—”

Daniel grasped her by the arm and yanked her away. “Are you an idiot?” he hissed, leading to a small, halfhearted chuckle from The Adjustment.

“Am I an… Are you stupid?” Bethany hissed right back, then narrowed her eyes. “You knew about… this? Already? Why? Why do I never get invited to the cool things? It’s all dusty old houses without even a single ghost or… or… nothing.”

Daniel shook his head, keeping a firm grip on his sister’s arm. “I’m really sorry about this, Miss Adjustment. I didn’t realize you were meeting Eri… The Agent. We’ll be outside.”

“Wait, I want to—”

The door slammed shut, leaving Erika alone with The Adjustment once more. For a long few moments, neither of them spoke; Erika grinned at the way The Adjustment just stared at the door like she didn’t know what to think.

“Don’t handle kids well?” Erika asked.

“Humans don’t normally handle me well, let alone kids,” The Adjustment replied slowly, turning back to face Erika. “They certainly don’t rush up to me, not that I put myself in a position where I’m near kids that often.”

“Yeah, Beth’s a bit of a freak. We all are, I guess. It comes with the territory.”

Nodding, The Adjustment dragged herself to her feet. “I better report this to The Emperor. Maybe she’ll be a bit more willing to meet you, knowing you took care of the maggot thing.”

“A meeting would be great. We plan on taking down this bird lord too, and having the largest gang in town support us when we do would make things go a hell of a lot smoother.”

That stopped The Adjustment in her tracks. She started to speak, then stopped, then started once again. “I don’t know enough about the situation, but I… Please do not antagonize the birds without authorization. You were right, things are calm right now, and they could be a whole lot worse if the birds start doing something. I swear you will have a meeting with The Emperor even if I have to smuggle you under a raincoat.”

Erika stared, watched The Adjustment. No jokes this time. She simply sounded tired.

“As long as you don’t take too long,” Erika eventually said. “We’re waiting on some supplies and support of our own. I don’t know how long that will take, but I can promise that we will not wait forever.”

“Five days. Saturday at the latest. Give me five days. Even if I have to sneak you into her closet so you can jump out and—”

Erika held up a hand. “Please get The Art’s opinion on any sneaky plan.” She could only hope that The Art would temper some of The Adjustment’s stranger ideas.

“Just a joke.”

“Uh huh.” The moment Erika opened the door to walk The Adjustment out, Bethany, Daniel, and Carter all ambushed her—mostly Bethany, with the other two hanging back a few steps.

“Can I touch you?” Bethany blurted out, hovering so close she practically was touching The Adjustment already. “What are you?”

The Adjustment visibly hesitated, but slowly extended her arm. Bethany immediately latched on.

“You’re more bristly than I expected.”

“You’re like my doctor.”

Bethany looked up, confused. “What?”

“They classify me as a Yokai,” The Adjustment answered instead.

Daniel frowned, looking The Adjustment up and down. “A Japanese spirit?”

The Adjustment let out a small sigh. “I’m an animal that has gained human-level capabilities through some means or another. Shinto culture tends to produce more beings like me than most other regions, but I’ve never been to Japan.” Slowly, she pulled her arm back from Bethany’s clutches, clamped hands onto the girl’s shoulders, and slid her out of the doorway. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve got reports to make and promises to keep.”

“But—”

“Alright, alright,” Erika said, sliding between Bethany and The Adjustment before the former could stop the latter again. “You had your fun.”

Leslie entered the arcade just as Erika and The Adjustment reached the rear door. He didn’t block the way, quickly moving aside with a polite nod toward their guest. As Erika passed, he rested a hand on her shoulder, gave her a light squeeze, then walked on past—already chewing out Bethany for her behavior without having seen a thing. The man knew his kids well.

Erika wasn’t sure what that was about, until she took a step outside and remembered that her parents were here. The Fixer, guised as Leah, leaned up against the side of Leslie’s lifted truck. They stepped forward, only to hesitate as they spotted The Adjustment.

Erika stuck close to the spider woman, escorting her all the way to the car with the absurdly tinted windows. “You have my number. If you can’t get a meeting by Saturday, call me, and I’ll at least give you a few details on what our plan will be.”

“You don’t have to worry. You’ll meet The Emperor even if we have to throw you out of an airplane at the building…” The Adjustment, door open and half inside the car, stopped to stare at Erika. “Do you think you need a parachute?”

“I’d appreciate one even if I don’t,” Erika said, her tone utterly flat. “And don’t forget to mention that ghost we cleansed. We went through a little trouble for it.”

The Adjustment laughed a baying, guffawing laugh, got into her car, and drove off. Erika crossed her arms, frowning as she watched The Adjustment leave. She would have to bring the ghost up with The Emperor when she got her meeting. Catching a glimmer of movement in the corner of her eye, Erika turned and saw nothing.

She might have to add a few more ghosts to the list before her meeting.

For now, she turned to face the music.

“Well?” Erika said, trying not to sound more pissed off than she actually was. “What are you doing here?”

The Fixer—or Leah, it was a bit hard to tell at the moment—squared their shoulders. “We wanted to apologize.”

“Oh?” Erika raised an eyebrow, stalking closer. “You think you need to apologize?”

“You don’t think we need to?”

Erika scoffed. “Oh no, I do think you need to. I just want to know if you know why you’re apologizing, or if you think you’re just saying some magic words to get everything to go back to normal.”

The Fixer pressed their lips together, drawing in a short breath. “We… I should have prepared for the possibility that I would vanish for an extended period of time. I should have prepared you for the possibility that the guardian would attack us.”

Erika frowned. That sounded like some lawyer-driven corporate apology. From anyone else, Erika might have thrown it back in their face. From a non-human monster, it might be passable, as long as it didn’t end there. Nodding, Erika gestured with her hand. “And…?”

“And I’m sorry I left you in the dark, you and Carter both.”

“Good. And?” Erika waited, watching as The Fixer fidgeted—likely consulting with Leah. “You’re some monster from beyond, so I understand if your priorities aren’t human. How about you, Mom? Anything you want to say?”

Erika stared down The Fixer as their posture shifted ever so slightly, leaving Leah in control. “I’m sorry I never told you about your father.”

“Good.” Erika let the word sit for a moment. “But I was thinking more recently.”

Leah pursed her lips, looking cross for a brief moment. “I am still upset that you put Carter into danger. But—” She raised a hand before Erika could protest. “I am sorry that I yelled at you, and jumped to conclusions before even hearing the full story. You have to understand,” she started, then stopped with a small shake of her head.

“Oh? Understand what?”

“Just excuses.”

“Go on then, I like a good excuse. I use them plenty myself.”

Leah’s lips tightened again, like she wasn’t going to speak, but then sighed. “From our perspective, we told you to go take care of your brother, then a few hours later we find out that you took him to Hell.”

“First of all, there is no such thing as Hell according to like three different people including The Fixer—”

“We know—”

“Secondly,” Erika said, talking over them. “That is fair. You thought I threw your last request in your faces. You should know I wouldn’t, but I certainly can’t complain about brash, knee-jerk responses.” Erika paused, frowning at herself. She didn’t consider herself a particularly introspective person, but times like this got her thinking—the day of their reunion played back in her mind over and over again, and she… “I’m sorry for trying to excuse the danger Carter was in by using the maggots. I tried to divert attention instead of simply explaining. Guess I’m a bit of a hypocrite.”

Leah nodded slowly, a happy, if wan, smile spreading across her face at Erika’s admission.

Erika snapped her fingers. “Don’t get all excited yet. Let’s go back to The Fixer. You still have something to say.” It wasn’t a question. “Have you untangled your blue-and-orange morality enough to figure out what it is?”

“I…” The Fixer’s posture shifted, smile dropping instantly. “There are dozens of smaller things—”

“Nope, this one is pretty big,” Erika said, crossing her arms. “I’ll even give you a hint: I’m not the main recipient of this apology, though I am still an aggrieved party.”

“Carter?” The Fixer asked, twisting Leah’s face into a confused frown.

“Not Carter. None of The Hunters either.” Erika paused, then added, “I mean, I’m sure you should say something to them if you haven’t. The Kings basically took Carter in without question the moment you up and vanished. But since Leslie was the one to push you to apologize, I figure things are good there.”

“Leslie was only about ten percent of the reason…” The Fixer said, almost sounding embarrassed.

“Uh huh. And how much did Piper account for?”

The Fixer hesitated just long enough for Erika to guess that the King matriarch amounted to a bit more than ten percent of this whole ordeal. “I’ll give you another hint: she’s a bit shorter than me and talks to invisible cats.”

The Fixer’s face turned stony, a disturbing expression on Leah. “The Daughter is an aspect of The Mummy, and a danger to everything.”

“The Daughter can free The Mummy, but she hasn’t,” Erika pointed out.

“You can’t know the motivations or long-reaching goals of a thing like that,” The Fixer said. “It isn’t human, it doesn’t live like a human, and does not have human desires.”

The sheer hypocrisy of it all made Erika laugh. “Okay Mister Being-From-Outside-Time-and-Space.”

“That’s not the same…”

“The Daughter has done a better job of not freeing The Mummy than your daughter has. By all rights, I’m a threat to your reason for existing.” Erika shook her head, watching as The Fixer didn’t have a response. “And I’m not even talking about The Daughter, I’m talking about the girl—unwillingly possessed—who is convinced you’re going to murder her the first chance you get.” Erika folded her arms, waiting yet knowing that The Fixer wasn’t going to deny the possibility.

She still felt disappointed when the denial didn’t come.

“We’re going after the Carrion Eater soon,” Erika said, turning back toward the arcade. “Hopefully before The Prescient starts whining about some bird apocalypse. Delilah and The Daughter are going to get us there—because I didn’t see any giant pyramids this time around and haven’t got a clue where to start looking. If you want to help fight the thing you exist to fight, then you better figure out how to mind yourself around Delilah.

“Or just retire,” Erika said, walking back to Varn’s, ignoring that thing she saw in the corner of her eye as she spoke to The Fixer. “I’m not going to spend my life hunted by The Mummy, so I’ll figure this out, one way or another, with or without your help.”