Well, I'm back in my new home. To my modest surprise, though, my "patron" was as good as his word. Much like him, I can imbue people with a little something extra. It's temporary but I get to attach a price tag. I don't know if he expected me to figure out that I can do it to myself or if I managed to "hack" whatever magic this gift is made of but that's a really handy bonus. Why are they called "gifts", anyway? This isn't a gift. I earned it. Contract completed, payment rendered. I also have to wonder how far up the chain this goes. I can give people a small amount of power. He can give people a larger amount of power. Did someone give him that power? Is there a vault somewhere that gets a little more full for the folks at the top of the heap every time someone completes a Contract? 

Is that what this is all about? Alexi dies, Murphy dies, our team loses a couple of limbs, some supernatural bank account gains a couple of zeroes and it trickles down from the bosses to the working stiffs? That sounds really credible. I'm going to have to start asking around and see if anyone knows how high the pyramid goes.

So I may be stuck in my cell but now I've had some time to turn that to my advantage:

Most important, my own psychic hellfire phone! There's still no cell service out here but I can compose videos in my mind! Well, mostly in my mind. I still have to talk to thin air if I want voice or record what I'm seeing for video. That's still enough to put together a video and set it to auto-upload to YouTube the next time I'm in range.

Hammerspace storage means I can start bringing things back with me, so I don't have to go out completely unprepared. I bet the guards would love a gift of chocolate and booze. Next time out, I need to get a real phone, or several and I can let my Infernal Service Provider lapse.  

I did a little cosmetic work on my aura. The next time I want to put the fear of hellfire into someone, it should go easier.

I've got armor because if I learned one thing last time, it's that these things get violent fast.

This feels like a solid first step. I'm sure Annie, Alex and Joe would be happy to be armored up even if it does come with an agreement to protect me.