Shady dealings

[Gaunt]

Hellsmith's forge was cold today. In fact, it was starting to drain the warmth from the air around it. The demon was hard at work, bent over an anvil and hammering a sheet of ice into a sword. Sure, there were plenty of things he could make weapons out of, and he had plenty of metal, but there was just something special about forging ice like this. No matter how many times he did it, Brock would always love giving physics the middle finger like this.

There was a hiss as Brock dipped the sword in boiling water. The ice was tempered now, stronger than steel and nearly impossible to melt. He could almost hear the laws of the universe griping about it. The demon turned it over in his hand, admiring his work. It wasn't the most intricate blade he'd ever made, but there was a simple elegance to it. With a red glow, Brock returned to his human form and sheathed the sword. His buyer would like this, that was for sure.

[Deleted]

Every once and a while Penumbra encountered something he couldn't explain with scientific knowledge and in the course of his work he encountered a variety of “magic” weapons that drove men to madness. Sickening to think that the person wielding the weapon was used by it; controlled past the line of reason. It was more than curiosity that led Penumbra to be standing nearby looking down on the scene with binoculars. A sense of duty led him to find the animal, person, or thing responsible for creating those weapons. Besides it wasn't like he had anything better to do on the way back from school.

After the sword was safely sheathed and the blacksmith appeared human, Penumbra silently approached while cloaked in “invisibility”. It would be expected to be heard if he wasn't careful, but chances were he was invisible. He needed that advantage if he wanted to kill two birds with one stone: the seller AND the buyer. It would be tricky tailing him, so he really needed to throw some sort of tracking device onto him. Thankfully Penumbra found an extra smart phone with GPS capabilities laying around his lair. It would be risky but it was the only way to make sure he didn't lose them in the twisting streets of Jump City. Still invisible he tried to get behind the perpetrator to sneak it in all while thinking to himself, "Life would be easier as Batman with all those fancy toys..."

[Gaunt]

Right on time, Brock heard the roaring of a motorcycle outside. His client had arrived. The demon boy threw on a t-shirt and opened the gate for his guest. Outside was a large blond man, dressed in biker leathers and even taller than Brock. "Hey Reb, how's it going?" Hellsmith asked, closing the gate behind the man. "Not bad, kid. You got the goods?" Straight to business, just like Reb usually was. Brock grinned. It would be fun seeing this guy fly off the handle with his new toy.

Reb drew the sword, inspecting it. "You sure this won't melt?" The leather wrap on the handle kept it from being too cold to hold, but it was still a bit chilly. "You got my guarantee." Hellsmith said with a smile. "It's magic, man. Never melts, doesn't break easy either. Come on, there's some dummies over here. You can try it out." Hellsmith showed him to the makeshift scarecrows. "Just point and think about it. Blast them with ice." Reb pointed the sword, and a conical blast of ice shot out and ripped one dummy to shreds. "Nice, very nice."