"Good, these damn Holy Power Runes have finally stopped updating!" Constantine gritted out in the cramped cellar. "While this brief period of stability lasts, I'm summoning that bastard Angel and punching him in the face! All of you, stand back. I'm starting the Magic Circle!"
Tim grabbed Jason by the elbow and pulled him back two steps, but he said, "The Holy Power Runes stopping their updates was just as sudden as when they started updating so frequently. You're going to activate the circle without investigating the truth behind it? This isn't children playing house. If the runes malfunction, who knows what you'll summon."
Constantine took a deep breath, turned to Tim, and said with great seriousness, "Get this straight: between the two of us, you're the child. I've spent half my life studying these runes. I'm certain that even if the Holy Power Runes suddenly become unstable, the worst that will happen is that the summoning ritual fails. It won't be dangerous. I'm not going to gamble with my own life."
"You'd better not."
With that, Tim took another two steps back and leaned against a cabinet with Jason without saying anything. Constantine busied himself in the center of the Magic Circle for a while, seemingly adding safeguards to the operation of certain runes. Then he rubbed his hands together, slit his palm with a small knife, and pressed it onto the core rune at the center of the circle.
The Magic Circle lit up. Every rune worked perfectly, just as Constantine had expected. The annoying updates to the Holy Power Runes did not affect the circle's operation. Everything seemed under control. The only problem was that no one answered the summons.
Constantine looked both surprised and confused. In fact, although Constantine was a complete mess by human standards,