"One more conversation."

"Oh? Who with?" It's not like they have a lot of potential allies left.

"Isadora."

Isadora is pretty easy to find. She has a reputation for never sleeping, and it's either true or she has something set up to always be in her office at the right time.

"Hello Sam. Diana. I suppose you're here to bargain for not being turned in?"

"Something like that. I would like you to not interfere. I'm not running against Conquest for myself, and if I win I don't plan to become Lord."

"My concern is the instability from having a rebellion. That is exactly what I would want to hear to minimize the damage if the Lord were unseated now, but as it is I see no reason to let it get that far."

"I am going to win," she says, using the power of saying this for the first time, with conviction. The loss of power from being wrong will be nothing compared to losing in the first place, anyway, she's in too deep. "You like stability. Conquest isn't stable, he's an Incarnation, and he's gonna get less human the longer he exists without finding a new host. He's a ticking time bomb, he's gonna get more and more bloodthirsty and warlike, and it's just a matter of time. I propose installing a Behaim instead. What's more stable than time itself?"

"I am well aware of his shortcomings. He will need a refreshed source of humanity eventually. But he does successfully deter wandering monsters and credible rebellions. Not that a respected enough practitioner couldn't. But even ignoring that everyone has their own agendas, their successors a hundred years from now?"

"Would probably still be a Behaim. In a certain sense, Lordship would go to the Behaim family, instead of any specific member."

"True enough, and family agendas are more predictably mere ambition. And I have nothing against that family in particular.

But you do not have that influence. You may have heard that an unorthodox implement is like going through life with a large tattoo covering half your face? It's not that you can't run for mayor or find a spouse in high society, but it would be a detriment anywhere you need to be taken seriously. You have several marks of that type against you.

And you," she turns to Diana, "are scarcely better positioned. Having once been a fugitive from Conquest wouldn't hurt your case if you won, but you are still one person without a faction and with little reason why you should have more vote than anyone else. If the two of you propose the Behaim family, I do not foresee you having much chance with your third-party candidate."

She touches her nose. "I don't want to run for mayor or find a spouse in high society, ma'am, I just want to make a king. But I think I've said my piece. If you mean to hand us over to Conquest, I would spare you the trouble—we're going to him ourselves."

"And if he loses to a couple of practitioners like us," Diana adds, "he was never as stable as you give him credit for. So I think you'll at least consider staying neutral when we try."

"If you didn't have a reason that could plausibly be enough, you didn't have to risk coming here.

Can you tell me that, win or lose, your rebellion will be over by this time tomorrow? Even if it means conceding and fleeing the city?"

"Yes."

"Then feel free to take your swing at Conquest. I'll stay out unless called for individually."

"Thank you," Sadde says, bowing her head.

Isadora lets them go and does not wish them luck.

Now they're ready to go.

Inconveniently, they have to split the party.

Their chosen site is in Morningside Park. The Hyena's old stomping grounds may still be extremely haunted, but the warnings and minor compulsions are still up. Better undirected ghosts and Others than innocent bystanders. None of their diabolist allies want to risk showing their faces there, but some are nearby and others sent a few non-demonic summons. A silent man with open wounds filled with wax, a large and scarred dog. But mostly it's on Sadde.

For her part of the plan, Diana is as ready as she can be. Her main equipment is still mostly out of commission. With a lot of the stations known to Conquest, about the only constellation she can conjure is a glowing isosceles triangle, which Sadde has in case it's useful as a shield. For herself, she has her portable lights, the trinket they bought from Duncan, and some other summons for spare hands. Doug is with her instead of with Sadde. The extra line of communication would have been useful, but she might need him to point out targets.

Sadde also has that twig, if she needs it.

Are they ready to go?

They are. A text to the burner phone they never got around to burning confirms that. All they need is the other star participant.

"O Coooonqueeeeest! Can you heeeeear meeeee!" she singsongs. "I'm chaaallenging yooooou!"

Yes, this is the kind of thing he can hear pretty well.

A link between them flares into place, and Conquest starts coming. It'll be only a few minutes of Sadde calling out ridiculously before he arrives.

When he does, he's flanked by the Eye, Matthew, and two younger men. 

"You could at least treat this with the gravity it deserves."

"If I did, would it even really be me?"

"Making it a persistent trait is hardly better. Fitting, though, since on our last meeting you declared yourself a liar."

She rolls her eyes. "No, I did not, and that's a stupid interpretation of what I said that you'd need to be pretty socially incompetent to believe."