I don't have to catch myself even once on the way back to the car. And while we drive, I realize there's something I really shouldn't put off longer.

"Mind putting your badge away for a few minutes Beautiful?"

"Put my… not be a cop for a little while? Why?"

"Because there's something important I need to tell you, but…"

"... but whatever it is isn't exactly legal."

"Yeah, that."

"Fine. Detective Jones isn't in the car, just me, Jessica."

I take a breath, because I have a lot to say, and it's a habit for calming myself left over from when my biology was sane, "OK, so… when the assassin murdered you, I initially disabled him without killing. When I found out you were dead, I kind of lost it."

"That's… OK, yes, technically second degree murder, but given the circumstances, few juries would …"

"Not done. I didn't just straight up kill him right away. I woke him up, charmed him into telling me the who and the where of the person who sent him."

"And mind control… the thing I just threatened eight guys about…" she takes a breath, "so who wants me dead?"

"Mayor Gary Constantine."

She hits the brakes and pulls off the road, focusing on me, "And you didn't tell me this sooner because…?"

"Well, for one, when I raised you I kind of… marked… you and James."

"As in…"

"I can mark a limited number of people to revive much like I do. If you get killed again, you'll wake up 24 hours later next to me, assuming I haven't fixed you up already before that. Congratulations, you're a high end immortal now. So there's not exactly a rush. If you get killed again, you'll be fine: Just avoid getting caught dead."

Jessica rolls her eyes, "Thanks. And?"

"Cop, and murder, and…"

"OK, yes, and?"

"Well… what can you actually do about it?"

That makes her pause, "I suppose if I want to search his office, I can't exactly tell the judge that the warrant is related to my murder, can I? Still, I can ask around, keep an eye out…"

"And can Gary pressure you or the chief?"

Jessica sighs, "He can't directly say 'stop investigating me' but… yes, this will be messy."

"Yeah. On the plus side, we can be sure you'll ultimately win."

"Oh?" Jessica raises an eyebrow.

"I can be quite sure that you'll outlive him, if nothing else."

Jessica blinks a few times, then starts to laugh. "Oh, that's rich. Tell me, do I still need to worry about gray hair and crow's feet?"

"For a while. I can fix those, but…" I hesitate.

"... but?"

"In order to make you young again, you have to die, I need a piece of the body, and I need to revive you as someone slightly different. I can make sure you come out human, and that you'll look like a family member, but…"

"...but the me in the mirror won't be the me I was."

"Yeah. You'll need to get used to a new body. The spell doesn't really guarantee anything beyond a young adult of the same race with a family resemblance."

"Well… at least I'll have an experienced mentor to help me adjust."

"So I should use your methods then?"

"Definitely. It was fun."

"And when it's James, or one of the other people I'll eventually mark?"

"Well… we can cross that bridge when we come to it. This is just for old age, right?"

"Yes."

"Then we have decades before it matters."

"True enough."

"Any other big ticket items Detective Jones shouldn't know about?"

"Nothing comes to mind, no."

"All right then…" we get back on the road.

After a short drive, Jessica brings us to an apartment complex. It's in better shape than James's, but otherwise seems to be a cookie-cutter copy. This guy is on the first floor… and I pick up on an acidic scent as we approach.

Jessica knocks, and we hear, "Go away!"

Jessica shouts back, "Oh, you really want to talk to us, Jenkins. You called in sick because you woke up knowing something new, and were dying to try it out, even though it couldn't possibly work, and then it did."

There's a few moments of silence, and the door opens slowly. A fairly nondescript man with short black hair and a polo shirt sticks his head out, "Come on in, then, but what's up with the floozy?"

Jessica snorts, "This 'floozy' is the one who made your new powers possible. You really should show him more respect."

"Him? In that dre… you know what? Fine. Makes as much sense as anything else today."

"So… none at all?" I venture.

"That about sums it up, yes," he snaps, as he opens the door the rest of the way, and we head inside, where we find a bunch of beakers with various colored liquids, some of which are bubbling like they're on a stove, despite simply sitting on his table. Alchemy? Odd. Everyone so far has been at least tier two… of course, I didn't get the classes of the other uniformed officers, and both Jessica and James got their power a lot more directly, so….

"What are you making?" Jessica beats me to the question.

"Tanglefoot bag. Should be great for catching runners."

Umm… that's a fifty GP item, so by the craft rules, it'll take… oh, he'll need to roll really well, as it's a DC 25 item. Max ranks, skill focus, and a high Int, he'll still need a bonus from somewhere to make it reliably… and it'll still take a week. Really not worth it compared to, say, a taser. "That's a tough DC, how are you planning on making it reliably?"

"There’s a spell in my book… Crafter's Fortune…"

Yeah, that could bridge the gap. 1 rank, +3 class, +3 skill focus, +5 Crafter's Fortune makes for a +12; an Intelligence score of 16 or better and he can take ten and make it 100% reliabily. But… "That'll still take like a week to make one."

"Slightly less, but I really only need proof of concept. If I can document enough of how it's done and prove it works, I can sell the recepie to a manufacturing company for millions - whether they can industrialize it or not. And one million is enough to retire, if I invest well. And there are so many things I can make…"

Should I tell him about my patents in progress? Nah. I'm just getting the magic. He can have alchemy.

"So you're an Alchemist then?"

"Nah, Wizard. This is more of a hobby."

"You’re going to get along great with Detective James Jones, then."

"Oh?"

"You can trade spells with him."

"Oooh…"

Jessica looks confused, so I explain, "The spellbook classes have a tough limitation: They're dependent on their book, and they need to choose what spells they're going to use on any given day. With me so far?"

"Yes…"

"But this limit is also a source of strength, because they can add spells to the book outside of just leveling up. Specifically, they can copy them from other spellbook classes. So James and Jenkins can make each other stronger by each letting the other copy their spells. So while a single level one wizard might have six or seven first level spells…"

"... two working together might have easy access to twelve to fourteen…"

"Exactly. Spontaneous types always have access to everything in their repertoire, and you can't take that away from them easily, but a book type can work with others and have a lot more in the way of options from one day to the next. So while Crafter's Fortune is a poor spell if you expect a fight, it's handy when you're safe at home. A book type can afford to have it, a spontaneous type can't."

"But take away the book, and a Wizard is in trouble."

"There’s limited ways around it, but… yes, basically."

Small talk aside, Jessica goes through basically the same speech as with the other uniformed officers, including turning into a dragon. Jenkins has an avenue of escape, and jumps out the window. Good thing we're on the first floor….

Yes, dragons are terrifying, but it's not just looks: They have it as an actual ability, which Jessica gets via my Shapechange. I maybe should warn her that it's not a rational thing…

The other three visits go similarly. We get a Sorcerer, an Arcanist like James, and a Synthesist Summoner.

Afterwards, Jessica follows up on something, "What are these tiers you keep talking about?"

"Complicated. It's a power gauge, but not exactly. The tier ones can - by changing out their spells, generally - fit basically any role, and get the good spells. The Cleric, Wizard, Druid, and a few others. The tier twos get access to the tricks of the tier ones, but can't change them out easily. The Oracle, Sorcerer, a Summoner like you, and a few others. The tier threes are good at some specific niche, and are useful outside that niche. The Magus, Hunter, Bard…" I trail off, as Jessica has gone a bit glassy eyed.

"So what tier are you?"

A reasonable question, "Tier zero. I have access to all the tricks of the big tier one casters, and have all of them available all the time. That's… kind of why James was ranting. Higher level wizards can break the world with enough effort, and I don’t need to spend nearly as much effort. But I don’t want to break the world, so…"

"So, you could simply take care of the mayor?"

"Not in any way I'm comfortable with. I could Charm him into slavery or confession, scry on and blackmail him, kill him quietly at night or loudly during broad daylight … but it's better to do things right, you know?"

"Morals are a good thing.  So you're not up to scrying him for blackmail; do you think for warning and info on something we can actually catch him at would be palatable?"

"A magical stakeout?" I consider, "Yeah, I think I can live with that. We know he hires assassins, we just need proof."

"And while we can't use scrying as evidence, it'll let us get uniformed officers in his way every time he sets something up."

"... which could really mess him up if whoever else is in the organization figures out he's the leak."

"Sucks to be a crook, don't it?"

"That's the plan."

We arrive safely at home, and I get started on my scrying spell, including both Persistent Spell and Fleeting Spell so he's pretty much doomed to fail, and I can turn it off later….