Prather had not only not taken his Alcheman potion, he hadn’t brought any with him, and so he strongly urged the pair of young heroes that they continue their talk elsewhere, off the dark streets of Star Harbor. Though he offered his hotel suite as a meeting ground, Perfect had no qualms about taking him back to her headquarters and home.
“That’s awfully trusting of you,” he said once they were settled into a meeting room, after Perfect explained her living arrangement.
“The Dock Shadow vouched for you,” she said.
“You don’t know that, though,” he said. “You didn’t see us together. You only heard my voice and then you took my word that I had been speaking with him, that I was the one he intended for you to meet.”
“Are you trying to talk us into distrusting you?” Dani asked.
“I am trying to impress upon your young friend that, as clever as she may be, she is also careless,” Prather said. “And she should not make the mistake of thinking that she is the only person in the world who can do a bit of research, or conjure the sum of two and two.”
“But I do do my research, Mr. Prather… I don’t have a lot of blind trust for Big Pharma, and so I wouldn’t have bought your stock if I didn’t trust you,” she said. “You have a reputation for honesty and integrity that… if my investigative skills are worth anything… is well-deserved.”
“Yes, well, I suppose… hmph,” he said. “Well, I suppose we should get down to business. You are investigating a crime of an arcane nature, yes?”
“Actually, since you’re an expert on them, I’d kind of like to pick your brain about the Poisoned Dragons,” Perfect said.
“Yeah, I want to hear more about them, too,” Dani said. “They sound coo… important.”
The aging hero sighed.
“Well, as I share our shadowy friend’s opinion that you should be staying far away from anyone connected to the Poisoned Dragons, I suppose I shouldn’t hold anything back from you,” he said. “Right now you are probably thinking of them as something exotic and mysterious, and therefore, ahem, ‘coomportant’. Nothing could be further from the truth, or more dangerous.”
“I’m not saying we personally should go after them,” Perfect said. “But if they’re operating in the Harbor, we may run into them. We need to know what to do.”
“Calling the Champion League would be a good beginning,” Prather said. “In any event, the Poisoned Dragons were originally mercenaries hired by Opal Song, enhanced by her alchemical arts and equipped with deadly poisons. They were called the Poisoned Dragons because they were… the substances they took to increase their strength and speed were quite toxic. They required regular purgation and the application of certain substances with healthful properties to counterbalance the build-up. Kidney failure and complaints of the liver were not uncommon among their ranks.”
“Opal Song was reported dead, though,” Perfect said.
“Several times,” he said. “But I’m quite certain the last one stuck. She was… well, I suppose I must call her my nemesis. Though it might be more accurate to say that I was hers. I crafted the identity of Alcheman to oppose her, you know. That’s why I retired the mask after her d…ownfall.”
“I wondered about that,” Perfect. “You never made any kind of public statement, and your name’s come up a few times since then, cooperating with other mystics or science heroes to combat a menace…”
“To solve a crisis,” he said. “My days of ‘combating’ are behind me. My expertise… the talents and resources that God have given me… these things are available to all of humanity. But I stopped being Alcheman when my task was complete.”
“You don’t feel guilty, do you?” Perfect asked. “If you’ve given up heroics out of remorse that…”
“Why, oh why is it so hard for anyone to understand that my job was done?” Prather asked. “My quest was complete. I accomplished what I had set out to do. Opal’s death came at her own hand. I regret the waste that was her life, the shocking loss of the potential represented by her talents, but she made those mistakes long before our paths crossed.”
“I’m sorry,” Perfect. “I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have speculated. Please, go on.”
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