It was a couple of minutes after the man with the wasp left, that Crow emerged from Damian's body. He slowly worked his way out, like someone pulling themselves out of mud. Once his wings were free, he used them to push the rest of his body all the way out. Damian idly wondered if this was how Crow came into being the first time.

Crow flopped down onto the bar top and stood up. "That was a close one."

"Okay two things. One, how did you melt into me? And two, what the hell was that thing?"

"First one, I've told you several times that I'm a part of you. That's not a metaphor, I'm literally another piece of your being, like an arm or a toe."

"A toe that can talk and think on your own."

Crow gave him a flat look, "Yes well, because we're two pieces of a whole, I can just slot back into place."

"Why don't you do that more often then? I feel like it'd be less trouble than flapping around everywhere or riding on my shoulder."

"Well for one, it's not comfortable, I lose all my senses except for the magical. And because I can't speak, I can warn you if anything dangerous pops up. Secondly, if I stayed in your body too long right now, it might spontaneous combust, that or your head might explode."

"What!" Damian suddenly stopped and looked around, luckily the music was loud enough that neither his coworkers nor customers heard his outburst.

"What do you mean my head could 'explode'?"

"Like I said before, I'm the divine power and knowledge that your body can't handle until you get more sparks. If I stayed in your body for too long, then it'd be like filling a balloon with too much water. The more important thing right now, is the man with the bug that just left the building."

"Right, do we know who or what he is?"

"My best guess is that he was a divine servant."

"You mean that thing you become if you swear fealty to a god or god fragment?"

"Exactly, I wasn't able to sense him, but the bug I did. It was the child of a divine beast."

"You guys can have kids?"

"Kind of, it depends on what kind of divine beast it is. My best guess is that this other demigod has a wasp queen as his familiar."

"So he could have a whole army of giant wasps at his command?" Damian shuddered in both disgust and fear.

"At the current level of the fragments no. If he knew about the man you got your spark from, then his master is probably involved in his death. Seeing as he was able to escape before his death, he's probably not much more powerful than you. At the most he probably has a dozen at his command."

"Ah yes, just a dozen giant wasps and who knows how many henchmen, nothing to be concerned about."

"No need to be sarcastic about it. This is why we need to get you training though, so you can handle these things."

"Yeah," Damian said, a serious mood taking over, "hopefully I'll be able to convince Seán to help me."

•

Sting sat upon her master's shoulder in his penthouse. She wished he had given her a prettier name, she appreciated the straight forward utility of the name, but still, she was a queen, she deserved a beautiful name to go along with her role.

The door to the penthouse opened, and the former godling came in one of her precious children escorting him. The likes of a servant like him hardly deserved to be carrying one of her brood around, but her master had ordered it, and so it was done. And her master always got what he wanted.

Her master sat upon his throne, a wonderful piece he had gotten at auction recently, and waited for his servant to approach. Sting could smell the fear on the man. He always smelt of fear, but now, it was much more pungent than usual. This could only mean one thing. He had failed.

The man bowed low, forcing her child to readjust on her perch."Master, your servant greets you."

It had taken some time to drill the proper etiquette into this man's head, but with the proper incentive, he had finally learned. He had the scars to prove it too.

Her master spoke with his lovely, imperious voice, "Seeing as how I do not yet possess a new spark, am I to assume that you were unable to track down the other demigod."

"No master, I was in able to find any trace of him."

"Were you able to find any leads on his whereabouts?"

"No master." He responded, bowing lower.

Sting could smell her master's anger, even if he kept it from his face and voice. "Were you able to find anything at all then Francis?"

Ah yes, that was the servants name. Sting was unsure as to why her master would deign to learn a servant name. They were all beneath him.

In reaction to her master's anger, she used her pheromones to signal to her child. Her child received the message, and pressed her stinger to the man's neck. He froze, sweat and terror dripping of him.

" I wasn't able to find anything concrete master, but…"

"But?" Her master asked expectantly.

"There was this kid there. I lost almost all my paranormal senses since I entered your service, but I still had this guy feeling about him."

"And what did this feeling tell you?"

"I think he might have a fragment."

Sting felt her master's excitement at this. "Did the wasp react at all?"

"No master, but he was in the right place at the right time. If Corner didn't want you to get the spark, he may have passed it along."

Her master sat in silent contemplation for a while, sting could smell the sea of her master's emotions as he thought.

"Very well Francis, keep an eye on this young man. But if this turns out to be a waste of time, you will be punished."

To drive the point across, Sting had her child dig their stinger in a little deeper. It wasn't enough to draw blood, but it would bring up memories of painful lessons learned.

"Yes my master, of course."

"Francis?"

"Yes master."

"What is this boy's name?"

"Damian Grey."