Devil's Consultancy 40

Once she actually teleported (using the zeta tube) back home, Tanya yawned as the day caught up to her. Escorting people through the bureaucracy was always such hard work, especially if they’re children… Worth it, yes, but she was tired. So much talking to people… Paying attention to their needs and ticks, prying that anxious girl with the weight of worlds on her shoulders out of her shell… Richard’s much better at keeping people at ease, she’ll be fine. Unless he directs his teenage angst at her… she’ll check back tomorrow. 

Still, it was the work of heartbeats to banish the Witch Girl outfit, returning back to the civilian outfit she wore most recently, a lavender sundress with a sun hat, with the minor makeup she generally wears as Tanya Wayne absent to announce that she does not intend to go outside for the rest of the day. For security purposes, the Zeta tube entrance was in a separate chamber to the rest of the Batcave, even if the tunnel to the main chamber was usually open and not shut behind the finest physical and magical barriers Bruce could find. It also doubled as a containment chamber, as the zeta tube device’s important internals could be remotely separated and teleported away as an emergency protocol. 

When she walked into the main chamber, the exit right between the giant penny and the T-Rex statue that Harold had converted into a mecha for her, she wasn’t entirely sure what to expect: this time in the evening, Bruce was probably plotting out which combination of his cases were most practical to pursue that night, but he could also be getting in some last minute training; the idea that he could have gotten Ace started on meditation had crossed Tanya’s mind. 

What she absolutely did not expect to see was a bulky teenage boy being taught grappling techniques by Bruce, with Diana watching in approval, Ace in her lap. “Daddy?” Tanya asked, eye twitching in annoyance as some of Bruce’s suspicious behavior now made sense. “Did you dilute my inheritance again? You remember what I told you about Gavelkind, right? It will weaken Wayne Enterprises with your controlling interest broken.”

The boy laughed. “I don’t care about the money, pipsqueak.”

“Then sell me your shares once you get them.” Tanya said back, pointing dramatically. Richard had already agreed to let Tanya run Wayne Enterprises in the event that Bruce died, but he was smart enough to limit that to just giving her control over his shares, as long as he kept the actual shares, including dividends. “I’ve seen the kind of short-sighted nonsense the other shareholders try to implement, and we cannot let Maxwell Powers seize control.” He was the biggest threat among the other shareholders; him and his son Derek. They currently own fifteen percent of Wayne Enterprises between them and their identified patsies, not one of them owning more than four percent individually. In the business world, things like hostile takeovers are not usually… fast. It can take decades to fully subvert a corporation’s interests in your favor, but one of the things that divinations are really good at is detecting slow plots that take years of dedicated effort to come to fruition: As far as she knew, neither Powers was aware that their movements were being watched carefully. 

Currently, using magical divination to get an edge in business was not yet illegal, as long as one wasn’t manipulating the stock market by doing so: the Metahuman Market Protection Act was broad enough that, if proven, using magical future predictions on the stock market was absolutely illegal. If you were caught. Naturally, Tanya was too rich to bother with such crass methods of moneymaking. 

The boy blinked, surprised. “...Okay?” He said, clearly not understanding. “I’m Jason Todd, by the way.”

Tanya stared at him. “...You adopted the tire thief?” Tanya asked, incredulous. “I told you not to, I specifically warned you against that.”

Bruce chuckled. “You rescinded your ban against additional siblings.”

“I did not!” Tanya hissed, “I merely acknowledged that Ace wouldn’t be safe anywhere else.” She turned to where the girl was watching. “You look better, did the isolation circle around my bed help you sleep?” She inquired. The intent was to stop anyone from reading her mind or summoning her as she slept, but it did have to let certain… “frequencies”, as it were, through. 

“No.” Ace said, visibly worried. “It didn’t. It was still quiet, though. Not many people around.” 

…actually, that made perfect sense. “In that case, your powers are likely attuned to the Dream Realms.” Tanya said, “No one can sleep well without a connection to that place, so the circle has to keep that open.” It was also a variety of magic that was similar to telepathy without actually being telepathy, and as it was the realm of ideas, it could be transmitted memetically. The fact that her induced hallucinations were nightmare related specifically, the fact that the blocker put her in a trance… everything just fell into place. “That’s very good news.” Tanya said, “Unfortunate in a way, but I definitely have something about dream magic somewhere around here, and I can ask around for anything more.” Constantine’s House of Mystery is dream realm adjacent, Atlantis probably has something, Dr. Fate… probably has something on it. 

“I could talk to Morpheus and Phobos.” Diana offered, “They should be able to offer some insight.”

“Good idea.” Tanya said, before moving back to the original topic. “Now, Richard is going to be furious, you know.” 

“I promise to be a good Robin!” Jason said, a little desperate. Hm, either something had torn down the tough guy she had met previous, or he’s just really off balance at Bruce’s generosity. She knew that it could take a while to adjust to the idea of the amount of wealth Bruce’s interest gave one access to. It was a heady feeling, one that felt understandably precarious. “I’m mostly trained and everything!”

“Really?” Tanya asked, looking at Bruce skeptically. 

“He still needs gadget training, but his other, non-technical skills are at least as good as Batgirl’s was when she started.” Bruce said, shrugging helplessly. 

“I’d ask how you keep finding so many hypercompetent children, but I already know.” Because Batman is Gotham’s favored champion, and Robin’s absence created a void carved by Tanya’s repeated spells invoking and thus developing and reinforcing Batman’s legend that lent the city’s nascent ego some small amount of power to nudge things in the direction of the cape becoming donned once more. It wouldn’t create a competent child, but it sure would lead Bruce into running into one that already existed. 

This was exactly why those books warned her against using that kind of magic! It was her own chickens that came to roost, really. She must share this pain. But how? 

“He looks good in the new Robin suit.” Diana offered. 

“...Put it on.” Tanya said, with a growing mischievous grin. “I’ll break it to him.” 

With a little magical assistance (Tanya got impatient), Jason was wearing the Robin suit. It had a few modifications, but they were subtle, and didn’t detract from the overall color scheme of the original Robin suit. Tanya took her Witch Girl Phone, took a picture, and sent it to Nightwing. “Behold! It is the consequences of our actions.” She added to it. 

Bruce’s phone immediately rang. “Hey Dick!” Bruce said cheerily before holding the phone away from his ear. “I didn’t replace you…” More shouting from Dick. “Dick, I still love you, but you left being Robin.” more shouting. “It’s convenient!” He insisted, “Look, I didn’t plan this, it just… fell into place. Robin disappearing at the same time Nightwing appears would be suspicious!” More shouting. “Yes, that was the original plan, but-” More shouting. “Maybe Jason deserves the same thing I offered you, did you consider that?” Silence. 

Jason flushed. “Should we be here for this?” He whispered. 

“This would be twice as bad if he found out about you through the news.” Tanya whispered back. “Best to detonate the bomb at a safe distance.” Three thousand miles seemed like enough. 

Bruce glanced at his phone screen, then pocketed it. “Well, that went better than I thought it would.” He mused. “Sorry about that Jason, this was just… badly timed for him to take it well. Dick’s on a bit of a short fuse right now.”

“Did you actually adopt him, by the way?” Tanya asked, “I assumed, but…”

“Yes, it’s official.” Bruce said, “Ace… technically?” He glanced at Diana. 

The amazon in question beamed, showing off what Tanya recognized as Martha Wayne’s engagement ring. Alfred had shown it off one day, as the Wayne matriarch’s jewelry was brought out for Tanya to wear on exceptionally special occasions. That jewelry box was always a sign that Bruce cared very much about the evening going well, and that she was to limit her role’s clownery purely to lift spirits, and not cause mischief. It was not something that she was explicitly told, and it took a while for her to notice the correlation, but reading Bruce’s moods and preferences was literally her highest priority skill to learn in this lifetime, so she made sure to study it well. 

“Ah.” Tanya said, understanding dawning on her. “Congratulations. When’s the wedding?”

“Next year.” Diana replied. “You’re the flower girl.”

“I expected nothing less.” Tanya replied, before pausing. “Although…” Tanya studied Ace’s expression. “I would be willing to concede the position to you, if you so desire.” 

“Really?” Ace said, surprised. 

“I suspect you want it more.” Tanya explained, “I would need to throw a fit publically” When you’re rich and famous, what constituted ‘publically’ was quite flexible. It would be a good opportunity to let the tabloids get a juicy bit of secret identity reinforcement. “-over the snub, but it would be purely performative, I assure you.”

Bruce hummed. “I don’t know, what if I wanted to give the job to Barbara?” He proposed teasingly. 

“She will tragically tear her hamstring the day of the wedding.” Tanya promised. “No witnesses. Evidence pointing to Harley Quinn, motivated by some uncharacteristically catty tweets from Barbie about Joker’s fidelity and Miss Quinn’s bare fingers.”

While Tanya was absolutely serious in that she’d be genuinely insulted by not getting the obvious role for her status as a young daughter, her elaborate revenge plot was still a joke, and everyone present was laughing. 

“Quinn, upon learning that Barbie’s account was hacked, goes in person to apologize.” Tanya continued, painting a further picture with a wry grin on her face. “They hug it out. After sharing her suspicions on the true culprit, the two girls bond over their matrimonial wishes and how low their respective chances are of ever attaining them. Quinn decides to kidnap Barbie, and takes her to Dr. Isley, who uses her magic powers to heal the hamstring.” Isley was actually capable of this. It would make Barbie part plant, but over time the cellulose gets replaced with animal proteins again. She can use magic to speed it up, too. “With the wedding long over, they stay at home over the weekend, with Frank, the plant that can use the internet, leaking a video of the resulting coupling onto the internet, which takes about two hours to escape containment from pornography websites, and in a half hour more, Jim Gordon is frantically calling his daughter in the desperate yet futile hope that she is not in a villainous polycule. With his hopes dashed, he immediately goes into cardiac arrest.” Tanya shook her head sadly. “Do you want to do that to Jim, Daddy? Do you?”

Once Bruce was done laughing, he sighed. “I guess I better not, then.” He said, sadly shaking his head at what could never be. “For Jim.” He added. 

“That’s better.” Tanya said, before once more turning to Ace. “You can have it, though.” She said again, “Unlike Barbie, you have just as solid a claim as I do.” If it came down to it, Tanya likely had the edge as the younger girl, but while Tanya only wanted it because it was her right, Ace might want the job for its own sake. 

Ace looked up at Diana. “Can I?” She asked, eyes glistening with potential tears. 

“Of course you can.” Diana said, running her hand through Ace’s hair. 

“Moving on:” Tanya said, “I will absolutely have lots to say about the wedding plans, but that’s for later. Meanwhile, I’ve been working all day, so I thought I’d take a dip in the pool. Would anyone like to join me?” Everyone but Bruce seemed rather resistant to the proposal. Which was Tanya’s cue to bring out the water works. “B-but I was looking forward to it, Daddy…” Tanya sniffed. Crying at will was such a useful skill… 

“Okay.” Bruce sighed. “Let’s go, Princess.” Luckily, he was wearing a gi to train with Jason instead of the Batsuit. She usually couldn’t drag him away from his crusade if he was already wearing the Batsuit. 

Tanya cheered. Really, she sincerely doubted he would have lived this long if he had kept up the habits he had when she had first joined him. Sleep deprivation alone would have done him in, made him sloppy at the wrong time. Thus, it was her most important duty to make sure that the man remembered to relax, and that required activities that weren’t in public, where he had to put on his act of being a goofy, flirty, billionaire. Instead he can be what a billionaire is supposed to be: relaxed, able to enjoy the little things in life. The very thing that she had wanted ever since she was a little boy. Sure, she could just let the man get himself killed, but…

She earns that inheritance. 

-----------------------

“Over the last few days, we’ve been discussing the nature of Azarathian meditation techniques. You’ve learned the basics of meditation, and can thus move on to the next step” Tanya said, pacing in front of her students: Jason and Ace. Raven was nearby, performing her own meditation. “Today, we form your mantras. I will allow my assistant to explain the nature of such things.”

Raven floated, cross-legged. “Magic is power.” She began, “Power is not a thing, it is a property. An idea. Nevertheless, it has weight, it has energy. As such, it must be handled carefully. Molding magic is an act of will, a feat of discipline. Therefore, one must practice. The mantra is one way we learn to focus our minds, to channel our thoughts into more fully embracing our abilities.”

“Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!” Raven shouted, lifting everything in the small meditation chamber as she turned gravity off. With a steady exhale, it slowly returned, allowing everything to settle slowly back onto the ground. “Some may call this a crutch.” Raven said, “It is no more a crutch than a sword is. It is a tool, one that hones the chaos of the mortal mind into an ordered state, one capable of exerting the full force of one’s will into your task.”

Tanya stepped in. “A good mantra has strong personal meaning to you. For example: Rhine. Berechnung. Mahou!” She explained, repeating Raven’s trick with gravity exactly. “Traditionally, you use three words: First, your historical center: where you became what you are today. A place.” She gestured to Raven. “When you are traditionally trained by the monks of Azarath, naturally you begin with Azarath.”

Ace raised her hand. “But you use your demon name.” She said. 

Tanya shook her head. “No, I use that place as my demon name.” She corrected, “Rhine is a place. Specifically, it’s a river. While it is not where I learned magic, it is where…” Tanya took a moment to find the words. “Before I was a demon, I was a soldier.” She explained, as none of the people here had previously known that. “A mage soldier, specifically.” She added, “While it wasn’t the site of my first battle, nor was it a place that I liked to be. It was a place of death, of madness.”

Jason was not flexible enough to cross his legs comfortably (they’ll be fixing that), so he sat with his feet held together, still wearing his martial arts gi from his previous training. “Then why did you name yourself that?” He asked. 

“Because…” Well, she wasn’t getting out of explaining that. “It was where I…” She frowned. She didn’t like the wording that she initially thought of, but she can’t really think of a better way to say it. “-became strong, I suppose? I made a name for myself there. My allies, they called me White Silver.” She idly shifted only her arm into the silvery metal that her demon form was made of, then turned it back. “The other side of the war called me the Devil of the Rhine.” She finished. 

Raven’s eyes widened as answers fell into place. “It’s a liminal place in your life.” She elaborated, “You saw the world differently after your exposure to that place.”

“It is true.” Tanya agreed, “Although a fair amount of that was due to…” She probably shouldn’t tell these kids about the type 95. “...well, let’s just say I don’t remember a lot of what happened in those months.”

“Gotham.” Jason said firmly. “I will use Gotham as the first part of my mantra.”

Ace hummed. “Cadmus.” She said, and she looked Tanya dead in the eye, a challenging look on her face. She was daring Tanya to disagree. 

“Excellent choices.” Tanya said instead. “Second, something to encapsulate what magic is to you. Something that, when you think of it, speaks to you of power.”

“Metrion.” Raven said, “It’s the Azarathian word for ‘Control’.” She did not elaborate. 

“Berechnung.” Tanya continued, “It’s German for ‘Computation’. It is the magic of the modern world, the computer. With mathematics and algorithms, we can create miracles without a speck of magic. More importantly, when I was a soldier, magic was cast in a similar manner, with clockwork calculators.”

Jason took a moment to think, but Ace spoke firmly. “Dream.” She said. Morpheus had confirmed that Ace’s metahuman ability channeled its effect by drawing from the realm of dreams, which meant that, among other things, she could theoretically perform more complex reality alterations than simple telekinesis. These lessons should allow her to direct her gifts appropriately. 

Granted, it also seemed to be forming several tiny tumors in her brain, but the God was willing to fix that as a favor, to be paid back later. He couldn’t guarantee that they’d stay gone, but it’s not like Tanya’s unfamiliar with magical powers causing deleterious health effects. Her regular assumption of demon form had drastically reduced the incidence of demonic mutations occurring, but it never truly went away. 

“Mercy.” Jason said, after a moment. “Mercy is the privilege of the strong. That has power.”

Tanya hummed. “I’m not so sure about that one, Jason. It’ll do for now, but the association may be too weak.”

“What’s next?” Jason said impatiently. 

“The third and final component of a mystical mantra among the monks of Azarath is one’s focus, one’s ambition. Why do you seek to advance your magic?” Tanya explained. 

“Zinthos.” Raven said, “It’s the Azarathian word for ‘Seal’. I master my power so that I may keep my father away from this dimension.” They had already been informed of Raven’s status as a half-demon, even if Tanya had avoided the subject of just how big of a deal Trigon was. 

“Mahou.” Tanya said, “It’s Japanese for Magic. I master magic for magic’s sake, for I was born into the Wayne family. As such, I am wealthy beyond comprehension: I do not need to do anything unless it is with the goal of avoiding disownment or disinheritance.” She shrugged. “So, why do I pursue magic? I have no reason. I want to master magic because it is magic! There is nothing that pushes me to seek power, I have all I could want. There is nothing directing me to master anything in particular except what I can find.” Tanya paused; realizing that this was the first time she had ever told anyone that. 

Bruce never developed his own mantra, never even asked if that was something he could do. It had taken her weeks to find a mantra that resonated with herself and her goals. Weeks spent in contemplation, idly teaching herself to randomly fiddle with things at hand like a real child would even when she was lost in thought. It had taken three months to train that tendency away, and she still… Tanya stilled her hands, which had been fiddling with her skirt. She still occasionally found herself slipping back to those habits she developed to blend in as a developing child. Argh, now her lips are begging for something to suck on again… 

After pulling herself out of the cascade of phantom sensations as her traitorous brain went down the list of habits she did not have the luxury of forgetting about… “Sorry about that, memories.” She said calmly. “Just remember that it’s okay to not have a good mantra immediately. It took me a long time to arrive at the one I ended at.”

“How will we know when we have the right one?” Ace asked quietly. 

“You won’t.” Tanya said firmly, “Not until you cast your first spell with it, and that could take weeks of chanting to pull off.”

“Actually…” Raven interjected, “There are a few ways to test mantras more quickly. I don’t know them, though. I’ll need to look into my books.”

Oh? That’ll be useful. “Now, we can think of something. Meditate upon yourself. Find a mantra that speaks to you. Past, Present, Future. Your origins, your philosophy, your goal. Try them out, see if they fit on your tongue.”

It took several minutes for Jason to try his first. “Gotham. Steel. Mercy. Gotham. Steel. Mercy.” He frowned. “It feels dumb to use English.” He admits. 

“You could try and use a different language, but it should have meaning to you.” Tanya advised. She used Berechnung because it was the word they used for the computation orbs. Mahou for the obvious reason that it was the word she first learned of the concept, it fit the most due to still having a sense of wonder that ‘Magie’ lacked. “Can you speak any other language? Further, perhaps Gotham is too large of a concept for you to claim it as your home. Perhaps narrow it?”

Jason thought about it. “Bowery. Acero. Perro.” He tried, uncertainly at first. Spanish for ‘Steel’ and ‘Dog’? She could see it. “Bowery. Acero. Perro.” He repeated, doing his best to fall into a meditative trance. He seemed a bit more comfortable with it than the one with Gotham. 

Ace, on the other hand… “Cadmus. Oneiros. Chara.” Greek, Dream and Joy? Fitting. She seemed happy with it immediately, unlike Jason, who had already switched out ‘Acero’ for ‘Hierro’, which lasted seven iterations before he switched it back. 

“How long do you think this step will take?” Tanya whispered to Raven. “Never taught this before.”

“It took me five days.” Raven whispered back, which was still far less time than it took Tanya. She did have actual teachers… “So this’ll take a while.”