It was amazing how the atmosphere changed at the suggestion of waking the sleeping Butcher. Karma’s words hung in the air, eliciting much the same response from those to which she spoke them as might a corpse dangling by its neck from a tree. The first to answer was Balogun.

“Are you insane, girl? Why don’t we just ask every other creature in the world to assign its own danger rating? It’d save us plenty of time and effort.”

Karma kept her tone cool and calm for her reply.

“I imagine it would be the same reason we don’t hire every other creature in the world to perform tasks for us.”

The Bârëi bristled, but her undoubtedly scathing retort was cut off by the voice of Professor Zilch.

“I agree with Lady Alabaster. Butchers fulfil their contracts without question, and Mr Danielz in particular has close ties to Jack Danielz himself. I see no reason to assume we would receive no useful information from him, though he may not see fit to provide any information at all”. There was no trace of emotion or even intent behind his words, and their sincerity was entirely unreadable. Even though he so clearly supported Karma’s idea, she had a hard time bringing herself to count him as on her side of the discussion.

Fortunately, Sins made her own views far easier to assess.

“Taking into consideration your previous rebuttal, I believe I have now seen enough to have an educated stance on exactly how empty your head is, Alabaster.”

The sneer behind Karma’s name was not lost on her, nor was the dismissive smugness underlying Sins’ every other word. Such conviction in her own superiority and viewpoint made it ever so tempting to knock her down another few pegs, especially after how cathartic it had been to lower her by several dozen just a few minutes prior. However Riris saved Karma the trouble by chipping in with her own stance.

“Please bite your tongue, Lady Sins. Lest you give the rest of us the impression that you are wholly incapable of learning from your… mistakes.”

The stare that Sins affixed Riris with may well have splintered the wall behind her had it been focused on anything but the Immortal healer, instead it served only to send a creeping chill down Karma’s spine. Just as Sins opened her mouth to retort, Lesifarz entered the discussion.

“I do not see what is so wrong with Lady Karma’s suggestion. Does the Butchery and all of its denizens not formally serve the Unixian Alliance? We are not dealing with wild beasts here!”

The bolster with which he spoke took Karma aback, as did his shocking ignorance as to the exact location the Butchery had within the Unixian Alliance’s pecking order. It was not under anything save for Jack Danielz, who just so happened to have allied himself with the Faction Leaders as their warden. Officially speaking, he had no obligation to fulfil tasks for them other than restricting the movement of Butchers in and out of the Butchery. The closest thing they could come to commanding him was temporarily allowing him free reign to wreak havoc, and that particular power had not been used since it resulted in the devastation of Balisphore.

It appeared that the other Immortals were, in fact, privy to that particular information. As each of them, save for Zilch and Tamaias, felt the need to point out exactly why it was not within any of their power to compel information from even the lowliest Butcher.

It was almost amusing how unremarkable the group sounded when they were attempting to talk over one another. Each one of the individually exceptional Mystics seemed diminished to near-normalcy by their struggle to be heard over one another, as though the radiance of one was somehow anathema to the others.

Sorafin and Riris soon dropped their voices down, appearing to realise just as Karma had that they would no sooner get their point across by repeating it than they would by keeping it to themselves. Karma knew from experience that exchanges of such a nature were entirely unproductive, and so she had kept her tongue to herself from the beginning along with Tamaias and Zilch. This left only Sins, Balogun and Lesifarz to continue the dialogue.

As the argument grew more heated, and the words became more scathing, Karma felt herself overcome by a terrible weariness. She’d come to Bermuda for the betterment of Olympus, to use all her skills, all her years of careful tutelage and observation to gain a foothold where her more infamous father would find only a barricade. Instead, she was being subjected to the exhaustingly repetitive back and forths of a group so hilariously mis-matched she could fathom no explanation for their selection as organisers other than the Faction Leaders willfully causing friction behind the Sieve’s administration.

Leaf Phoria would never have done such a thing, but Lae Sumi… She was a difficult one to predict, and her apparently whimsical nature always seemed to result in events unfolding in such a way as to benefit her interests. Karma did not believe in coincidences, and she knew a shrewd manipulator when she saw one. After all she’d had the chance to study one up close every day in the mirror.

Of course if it had been Lae Sumi’s intent to sew disheaval within the Sieve, she would surely have taken steps to remove its Overseer.

Tamaias didn’t need to raise his voice, or even speak at all. He simply stood up and, with but a gesture, caught each of the three bickering Immortal’s attentions. Rather than go on to immediately address them, as Karma would have, he took his time- making them wait in silence for agonisingly slow moments while he made a show of preparing to speak, as though any of them would believe for a moment that he hadn’t known exactly what he would say when he stood up.

“My friends, my peers, please calm yourselves.” Something about the man’s easy-going demeanour drained all potential condescension from his words, and his relaxing joviality only increased as he continued.

“I for one can’t say I find Karma’s proposal completely unreasonable, after all who would have more knowledge of the hidden Butcher than he who is responsible for placing them among the contestants?”

There were a few grumbled replies to this, but none were audible enough to be interruptions.

“And furthermore, history has shown us that, at the very least some Butchers, are entirely capable of reasoning. Is this not doubtlessly the case for one whom Jack Danielz trusts above most?”

Tamaias paused rather deliberately, letting his question hang in the air. It was answered by Balogun.

“If it is so, then it appears Jack Danielz placed his trust in one who would threaten the stability of the Sieve, and the safety of its contestants, without so much as warning us beforehand.”

Sins, who had turned to look at Balogun as she said this, moved her gaze back onto Tamaias, an eyebrow arched inquisitively. Lesifarz sighed and scratched at his beard, eying his friend as if to let him know he was on his own. To his credit, Tamaias took each and every reaction in his stride. The only effect they seemed to have on him was eliciting yet another light-hearted chuckle.

“That is a perfectly reasonable concern, but even so it would be a very great leap to refrain from so much as a conversation based on nothing but guesses. However educated and rational those guesses may be, it would surely best fit us to work with as much information as we are able to acquire before drawing any conclusions.”

It had been for the purpose of making an educated decision that the Immortals had agreed to hear Karma out, and she saw now that it was no accident Tamaias had brought up that same reason for questioning Danielz.

Living centuries tended to make one rather stubborn, and the exceedingly stubborn were often remarkably careful not to contradict themselves. There was only the briefest of delays before each one of the arguing Mystics finished running the calculations in their heads over whether to push the matter or not. In the end, they all seemed to choose the latter option.

“Very well then.” Sins sounded somewhat dejected, though Karma couldn’t quite muster any pity for the woman. Nor, it seemed, could Balogun.

“Are you sure you don’t want to try and convince him otherwise, maybe throw around some more childish insults? I’d love to see what else the Princess knows about you.”

If looks could kill, Lesifarz would have keeled over just from being in both women’s line of sight. As things were, looks were limited to, at best, conveying information to the recipient, and Lesifarz was far too busy drinking and chuckling to himself for the knowledge that he was in two Immortal’s lines of fire to bother him.

“Ah, Reginald.” The mustachioed organiser grinned. “You always had such a way with words, and here I thought it didn’t extend beyond getting particularly difficult maidens on their backs.”

Tamaias matched his friend’s smile with one of his own.

“Ah, that was merely luck. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a friend like you, who makes every man around them seem so much more appealing by comparison.”

Lesifarz burst into laughter, snorting into his cup as he drank even more. Sins and Balogun eyed him with disdain, and Tamaias looked to each of those who had remained silent before speaking again.

“Does anyone else object to Karma’s suggestion?”

He was answered with silence. Though everyone present knew what it meant.

“Alright then, I’m glad we could all come to an understanding.”

Karma noticed distinct looks of unease pass between the other organisers, she knew exactly what they meant. If Tamaias hadn’t been arguing in favour of her own proposal, Karma would be wearing one herself and trying to decide whether she’d been out-played or not. This train of thought was interrupted when Tamaias grew serious once more, placing both his hands flat on the table and leaning forwards as he spoke.

“Now then, how exactly do we... uh, well… how do we go about waking Mr Danielz up?”

It was a rare and delightful privilege to see the looks on each and every Immortal’s face when they heard those words.

They were the very same looks one could see on most of the ordinary people those very same Immortals interacted with on the daily, but for it to be plastered on the people it now was… Well, it was really rather cathartic after an entire afternoon of second-guessing whether they may, in fact, decide that destroying her was worth Hercules’ wrath.

Sadly, seeing them squirm in discomfort forever would not make any progress towards Olympus’ wellbeing. Before any of them could realise what she was doing, or else stop her, Karma turned to the slumbering Butcher and called out to him.

“Bob Danielz, up with you. Your presence is required, Butcher!”

She wasn’t sure if her wording needed to be so formal, nor so reminiscent of a schoolteacher, but it accomplished its goal. The Butcher stirred.

It was a peculiar thing to watch, and instilled a most distinct sense of dread. On the surface there appeared nothing different about how Danielz awoke, in fact it was outright mundane. He sputtered slightly as he came out of whatever dream he had been having, then slowly raised his head. It was amazing, then, just how much it resembled the waking movements of some great predator.

Danielz stared from one organiser to another, his eyes hidden behind the darkened lenses of his spectacles and his face locked into a picture of stoicism which gave away nothing. When he turned and moved his gaze onto Karma, she felt the sudden urge to call her Kin bodyguards in and have them throw their lives away to buy her a few moments of reprieve while she ran. A foolish thought, of course. Not just for the fact that he wasn’t yet an enemy. It would be stupid to believe something like two Kin could be that much of an inconvenience to a Demigod.

If the other Immortals’ magic was supremely statuesque and unreadable, Bob Danielz’s was equally as far in the opposite direction. Just being near him while he did no more than sit and stare filled Karma with the same fear that overcame her in actual combat.

When, finally, Danielz spoke, his gruff voice almost felt like the shot of a musket- so alert and on edge were all who heard it.

“I was enjoyin’ tha’, these chairs ah proper comfy.”

It had been a while since Karma heard Danielz’s accent, and she had no easier time placing it now than she ever had. It had little in common with the dialects around even the areas of Unix around which the Butchery had been constructed.

The stunned silence was pierced first by the Lady Balogun, who used the indignant pride which had caused such friction for her before as a battering ram to plow through the atmosphere of oppressive, imminent violence which seemed to have accompanied Danielz’s awakening.

“Be silent Butcher, we did not call on you to hear your inane prattle. In fact you should count yourself lucky we do not punish you for daring to fall asleep in our presence.”

Her words hung over the table like a cloud of gunpowder. Then Danielz opened his mouth, raising the metaphorical match to the wall.

“I’m no’ an organiseh sweetheart, I’m jus’ ‘ere cause ye called me.”

For all her faults, Karma had to hand it to Balogun for keeping her face and tone level while staring down that monster.

“My title, Butcher, is Lady Balogun. I am the first Mistress of Bârëi’s ruler, and I demand your respect.”

Danielz’s face had been a blank, slightly drowsy, stare up until that very moment. And Karma realised then how much she’d preferred that look of indifferent laziness to the diabolical sneer it was replaced by.

“I once met a bloke, can’t remember his name, but ye remind me a lot of him. This was in one a’ them special missions you lot tend teh ask us not teh talk abou’ afterwards. Anyway, he kept on tellin’ me ‘e was engaged teh some important lady or some shite. I didn’ really understand his point, if ah’m bein’ honest.”

The Butcher’s smile widened, revealing a row of jagged yellow teeth, like blades chipped time and time again by terrible, frantic battle.

“For all his posturin’, I don’ remember it bein’ tha’ ‘ard teh rip his ‘ead off an’ take a shite in it.”

It took a lot to leave any Immortal genuinely speechless, and Karma felt just a little bit impressed that Danielz had managed to do so with nothing more than profanity and a lack of manners. Balogun, however, did not remain stunned for more than a few moments.

“Do you think to intimidate me with such a base anecdote, monster? Don’t dare believe for a moment that I find you threatening because of something as simple as your being fortunate enough to be born good at killing. That particular talent is the reason you still draw breath, it will grant you no further reprieves than that.”

Her voice was equal parts ice and iron, her eyes were pits of flame. Danielz responded to this with another grin.

“I guess it’s lucky feh me tha’ I am good at killin’ then, isn’ it sweetheart?”

As Balogun inhaled, Zilch’s monotone, flat voice smothered over her words from across the table.

“Lady Balogun, I believe there are more productive uses for your time than attempting to intimidate a Butcher of all things.”

Balogun turned her fiery gaze on the bald fae, eying him fiercely for all of two seconds before easing up and exhaling.

“You are right, Zilch.”

She affixed Danielz with another look.

“If you have no intention of answering our questions, why then did you choose to accept our summons and attend this meeting, Danielz?”

“Yeh keep sayin’ “we”, as if it were all of ye who called me ‘ere. Where’s the cunt who actually did? The one with hair like a clown.”

Sins answered before any of the others, a smile playing at her lips.

“Are you referring to Unison? Thin lips, dark eyes, orange hair?”

The Butcher nodded and she continued.

“Ah, he’s rather busy at the moment. Apparently Unity Eden, his charge, has somehow given off the impression that he’s somewhat of a misogynist. Sir Unison has been attempting to…” She chuckled slightly, a beautiful laugh soured only by the coarse nature of the one from which it came. “... Amend his public image.”

There was a silent, contemptuous note of amusement passing between all around the table. As much as they butted heads, all of them could find common ground in finding Unison to be an astonishingly massive dick. Though his uncharacteristically panicked damage control had opened no small number of opportunities for Karma, so she supposed there was at least that much to thank him for.

Danielz simply grunted in acknowledgement of the answer, then shifted his sights onto Sorafin.

“You, ye’v been lookin’ at me like yer abou’ te jump me righ’ here an’ now. Do I know ye? Kill one of ye mates? Somethin’ like that?”

Sorafin showed no sign of hostility that Karma could see, and not for the first time she had to stop herself from engaging her Eye of Analysis to see if it could pick out any otherwise imperceptible hints as to what he was thinking. Uses of such magic were frowned upon extremely heavily in polite mystic circles, after all. However tempting it was to take a peep under that damned curtain all Immortals liked to hide their thoughts and plans behind.

The tanned Fable stared evenly at the Butcher, saying nothing. This seemed to amuse Danielz, who opened his mouth to speak again. Before any words escaped him, however, another voice rang out.

“I understand what you’re doing now.”

All heads turned to Lady Balogun, and Karma noticed quite an obvious look of superiority on the Bârëi’s face. She wasn’t even attempting to keep it from her face.

“At first I thought you were playing some game, Butcher.” Balogun spoke quietly and calmly now, her expression slowly turning to weariness as though any sense of victory had been only a fleeting afterthought. “I had assumed your intention was to use brutality and savagery to take us by surprise, that you intended to disarm us by refusing to let us control the atmosphere as we often do.”

She licked her lips before continuing. Danielz’s own lips parted to give yet another view of his fanged maw.

“I was wrong, though. This is no game to you, you simply don’t care. The reason you speak so candidly and freely of slaughter, as though to embody a caricature of your own kind, is because you do not care to hide the fact that this stereotype happened upon the truth perfectly.”

Karma’s stomach sank as the Immortal almost whispered the last few words. For all Balogun’s faults, for all her petty grudges, she was still one who had spent centuries dissecting the actions of everyone she met. And something about the way Bob Danielz responded only by smiling back gave Karma the impression that, in this case, the dissection was right on the mark.

Danielz shrugged.

“I never got the point of all the bullshit people outside the Butchery insist on. Jus’ hurry up an’ tell me why I’m ‘ere so I can fuck off sooner.”

Tamaias chose that moment to cut in, and judging by the immediate lowering of Riris, Sins and Balogun’s shoulders he entered the conversation just in time to stop it from being derailed.

“None of us want to be here regardless, you know. Granted we did wait a long time to actually speak to you, sorry about that. Though you looked quite happy sleeping.”

The Butcher seemed somewhat surprised by the lack of suspicion or hostility from Tamaias, in fact Karma herself found it hard to believe that he wasn’t even slightly perturbed by the menace one felt simply from being in Danielz’s proximity. She wondered if it had something to do with his being a Demigod, or if he was simply more disciplined even than her. Whatever the explanation, Tamaias wasted no time in cutting to the chase.

“We, or rather Unison, called you here to answer a few questions. Namely about the Butcher you apparently entered into the Sieve without any of our knowing.”

This got a far more confident reaction from Danielz, he leaned forwards and stared at Tamaias woodenly.

“Is there a problem with us enterin’? I though’ we were fine te do whatever, as long as we aren’t outside the Butchery withou’ Jack’s permission.”

Tamaias shrugged, a shockingly informal gesture, and scratched at his beard before replying.

“You can, and it’s far from our power to prevent you.”

Balogun went to speak up at that.

“It mostly certainly is not far from our power, we are the organisers of the Sieve!”

Tamaias hesitated, and Karma felt no small amount of irritation at her utter cluelessness as to whether it was genuine or not.

“Yes, Lady Balogun is right… I suppose. While you have the right to enter, we too have the right to deny any entries we see fit. However as the organisers and Overseer of the Sieve, we also have the responsibility to ensure that we see fit to do so only when there is reasonable cause.”

He paused, taking his time to eye each individual present at the table as though to give them opportunity to challenge him. They’d have done so regardless, in fact subtly enticing them probably made it less likely. Sneaky.

“Now, Bob, the reason you’re here is so that we can find out whether or not there is, in fact, reasonable cause You must understand, we all know some of the things the Butchery’s denizens have accomplished. Even the youngest and weakest of you could wreak havoc on the Sieve if they so wished. ”

Danielz didn’t answer immediately. He took a long pause, marked out from those others had taken by the wholly uncalculated nature it seemed to have. Finally he spoke, and Karma swore he seemed somewhat more affable than earlier.

“Alrigh’ then, what do ye wanna know?”

Tamaias exhaled slightly, and his act all came together. He knew Danielz saw them all as a collective, so he showed clear dissent between them by contradicting Balogun and inviting disagreement. He knew Danielz valued his own strength and reputation, so he phrased their worries in such a way as to indirectly praise it. Karma imagined even his use of Danielz’s first name had been calculated.

She was surprised not to see the mother of all smug grins plastered across Tamaias’s face as he gestured to the others.

“Well, does anyone have any questions?”

Somewhat predictably, Balogun was first to ask.

“What are the Butcher’s intentions in entering? Do they mean to simply maim and injure?”

Danielz sneered.

“Nah, Jack wants them te get a bit of experience against regular mystics. They’ve never left the Butchery before, an’ there are different tricks for fightin’ Butchers than there are for everyone else.”

This inspired only more questions, and it was Ririns who was fastest in voicing hers.

“What guarantee do we have that you will stay true to your word? Can you offer us any guarantee that your intentions are not to disrupt the events?”

The Butcher seemed genuinely offended at that.

“Look at our history, ‘ave we ever broken a contract before?”

Sorafin cut in icily.

“Your fellow Butcher isn’t entering under a contract, are they Danielz?”

“Fine then. When ‘ave we ever done somethin’ for free? We’ve got no reason te fuck with the Sieve.”

“Are you implying that you would happily interfere if someone were to pay you to do so?”

There was a dangerous edge to Sorafin’s tone, and a volatile glint in his eyes as he spoke. Any other time that would have frightened Karma, but in the presence of Bob Danielz it felt like little more than a petty bluff. Apparently Danielz felt the same way, as his posture and intonation remained entirely unchanged as he replied.

“Nah, we can’ do anythin’ te fuck with the Factions. Besides, if someone wanted te pay us to there’d be better ways than enterin’ one of our young’uns as a contestant.”

Karma hadn’t been expecting an appeal to pragmatism from the Butcher, and her surprise was intensified further as Zilch opened his mouth.

“Do we have your word that this Butcher will not disrupt the events of the Sieve, Mr Danizls? You are technically beyond our ability to punish, but I have no doubt Jack Danielz would be displeased to find how many potential clients are dissuaded by your inability to limit… collateral damage.”

Remarkably, this seemed to get to the Butcher. He paused only a brief moment before nodding.

“Yeah, ye’v got me word. Not that it’s worth much. It’s on my ‘ead if this shite catches fire.”

Zilch, and several of the others sitting around the table, relaxed ever so slightly. Balogun seemed just as eager as ever to continue pressing the point, until Tamaias spoke.

“Very well, it seems we’ve reached an understanding. Thank you very much for your time here, Bob. I hope you enjoy your stay in Bermuda.”

Danielz shrugged.

“Can’t find any decent drinkin’ holes.”

Rather than perturb him, this put a little glint in Tamaias’ eyes.

“Oh, well you should have said so sooner. Dalikai or I would be more than happy to give you some directions, if you so please.”

The Butcher seemed to like this, his smile widening in such a way which didn’t make it resemble the mouth of a wild beast- or at least not wholly. Tamaias turned now to the remaining Immortals.

“Well, as Overseer I have made my decision. After seeing all angles covered by your questions. the Butchers will be permitted to remain, both in the Sieve and in Bermuda. I can think of no more potential ways in which they could be a threat that none of you haven’t already penalised. Are there any objections?”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there were none.

***

Karma would have loved nothing more than to leave the room with the other organisers. Lesifarz, Sorafin, Riris and Danielz all made their way out the standard way- by walking through the door. And she really, truly wanted to follow. Unfortunately she still had business to attend to.

Sins and Tamaias left their own ways as she came around the table, disappearing in a flash of magical light and phasing through the outer wall as though it weren’t there respectively. By the time Karma reached Zilch, they were alone in the room.

She liked to think, however, that it was not only the isolation which made him flinch when she slammed her fist down in front of him and further damaged the already ruined table.

“Would you care to explain yourself, Zilch?”

He knew what she meant, and she knew he knew what she meant. It had been Karma’s plan to have Gem paired up with Xeno Warper, someone intelligent, head-strong and brimming with magical power. The perfect ally to bail Gem out if her cockiness took her too far. What she had not intended, was for Unity Eden to join them on their team. She didn’t know why, but Zilch had used his power over team formations to interfere with her plan in the most roundabout and infuriating way he could have.

He needn’t have bothered, the blank stare he replied to her anger with was more than irksome enough.

“I must be heading off, Princess Alabaster. I’m afraid I have duties to attend to, we’ll have to do this some other time.”

Karma could hear her heart throbbing with rage in her ears, and for just a moment gave very serious thought to punching the damned fae. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed, and she forced herself to relax before answering.

“Very well, tomorrow at noon.”

Zilch nodded, and Karma saw something very interesting as he did so. Genuine fear, the same kind she felt around all those powerful Immortals. It seemed the rumours were true, Zilch really had dedicated every scrap of his potency to non-combat functions. He was an Immortal, and yet one who was as helpless as a baby in actual combat. How curious.

Karma turned from him and made her own way out of the room, opening the great doors to reveal the sight of her Kin guards waiting patiently. Next to them was a man in a ridiculous outfit, wearing the kind of expression ugly people had when they were convinced they were attractive. She imagined that was Zilch’s personal transporter.

Despite the hectic and somewhat unproductive course of the meeting, Karma couldn’t help but smile to herself as she descended the staircase. Her footfalls echoed all around her sharply, adding a pleasing rhythm for her thoughts to follow.

She’d gathered a lot of very interesting information to consider.