[Archive] With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Story Only)

[Mr Zoat]

24th February
05:29 GMT -4

Global population six point two billion. The target… What do I remember? Male, so half that. Three point one billion. Caucasian… Assuming he hasn't been race lifted. I haven't noticed that happening to anyone here, so let's assume that it holds true. Ring, I can barely believe that I'm going to ask this, but what proportion of the world's population is Caucasian?

Approximately seventeen percent of the Human population possess the physical features commonly assigned to that ethnic group.

Seventeen percent of three point one billion is five hundred and twenty seven million. Was he American? I don't remember. No, that isn't going to work, I can't just eliminate… The dead author… Erasmus Fry. Assume he was the older man from the comic. Ring, professional-? No. They didn't have anything to do with each other after the exchange. Translation conventions mean I can't even be sure he was writing in English. Ring, top selling white male authors of the last… Um… Twenty years.

A list appears in my mind.

Narrow by… He came out of nowhere, didn't he? New authors. Ignore doorstoppers, look for things that are both popular and well reviewed by professional critics. Okay, I… I think there was a film? Wait, would Morpheus have freed her and then just left her? Any authors committed to asylums? Oh. That's a depressing figure. Access patient records, any matching..?

No patients in requested category matching stated symptoms.

Okay, film. Ring, narrow list by authors with at least one adapted work. A little better. What else can I use? If he were supercharged with inspiration… His work would be similar to what he wrote before, but it would be… Better developed. Would it? Could I detect that sort of tonal change? Ring, can you do literary analysis?

This ring can cross-reference the contents of known works but is incapable of detailed analysis of thematic content without significant user involvement.

Okay. He lived alone. Otherwise he would have risked someone finding her. Ring, narrow list. Right. I think he was near the beginning of his career. Arrange by date of first publication, most recent to oldest. Still more names than I'd like, but I should be able to get through them in a few hours. He wasn't a magic user, was he? No, it was the other fellow who trapped her, there's no reason to assume that his home would be warded. Eh, I can add sonic scans anyway. And it's not like it's a bad thing if I find a different woman chained up in a basement.

First on the list, Joseph Camden. Apparently he's quite popular… When was the last time I read a book? My last work of fiction… Four months? I've only read a couple since getting to this Earth. With these surroundings, fiction's a bit obsolete. Transition.

24th February
01:31 GMT -8

A block of flats in Los Angeles. Scan. No chained up woman. Next, Douglas Alexander. Transition.

24th February
17:31 GMT +8

Another block of flats, this time in Hong Kong. She's not here. Next?

24th February
21:31 GMT +12

No. Next?

24th February
01:32 GMT -8

!!!

Got you. Ring, where's Diana?

Unable to detect. Accessing Justice League zeta tube records. Diana is presently located in Mount Justice.

I look down at the home of Mister Richard Madoc. He's sleeping the peaceful sleep of the guilt free, a half filled notebook on his bedside table. Inside him… He wants fame, success and.. he wants to write. She… Rape is usually a power thing, violently enforcing a control dynamic. As far as I can tell he doesn't think about what he does in that way. He regards her as a thing, a vessel for him to get what he wants. He's a remarkably orange individual.

The woman I'm assuming is Calliope is bound by a thick leather collar, linked by a chain to an iron ring set in the basement wall. She's presently asleep as well, though her rest is far more disturbed than his. There's a… A bucket for her to excrete into, and a hose which I presume-. And the residue of his most recent assault.

I lift my left hand to my ear. Ring, contact Diana, would you?

Compliance.

I hear a ringing tone, though I know the ring is just providing that for my benefit. Half past five in the morning where she is so unless there's been some sort of emergency I imagine that she's asleep. I think she'd want to be woken for-.

"Wonder Woman, go ahead."

"Orange Lantern here. How quickly can you be in San Francisco?"

"About two minutes. What's happening?"

"The Muse Calliope is being held against her will in the home of the author Richard Madoc. A cursory examination suggests that he's been raping her for inspiration."

"Hera. I'm on my way."

"Thank you. Orange Lantern out."

Mister Madoc's home is a detached building located in the Monterey Heights area. Not hugely expensive, but certainly indicating someone who is quite comfortably off. He's made good money on… Three extremely popular novels, a poetry collection and a play? They even let him direct the film adaptation. Whoever green lit it liked it so much they didn't even try and do the usual author rip off. I think Wallace told me that he went to see it. Three Oscars.

We actually did training on how to handle rape survivors. I'm not sure how much of it applies to multimillennial demigoddesses… Ring, notify local police and request assistance.

Notification sent.

I want to wait until Diana gets here so that she can be the one Calliope sees first. I remember thinking once that the correct response to situations like that was counter intuitively one of joy, as the fact that I know about it means that I can make it stop while if I remained in ignorance it would still be going on. It turns out that like many things that are philosophically true it doesn't bear out in reality. What to do in the meantime? Certainly, there are all sorts of horrible things I could do, up to, including and beyond killing the feculent piece of Human-shaped excrement. But, no. That's just not the sort of person that I am.

Giant orange claws manifest in the air around me and then rip through the roof and external walls of his bedroom. I don't chuck them away as that would just make a mess and endanger life. Instead, as Mister Madoc wakes up and stares up at me in terror I deposit the rubble gently into his garden. Lights in several neighbouring houses come on as I drift closer. He's… He's got his notebook out. Ring, disintegrate.

Compliance.

There's an orange flare as it crumbles to nothing.

"Whu-? Who the hell are you!?"

"I'm Orange Lantern two eight one four. I'm here-."

"What have you done to my house?"

"I'm here to arrest you for kidnap, rape and false imprisonment." Orange manacles appear on his arms and legs and hoist him into the air. "I will be handing you over to the local police just as soon as they arrive. In fact-." I create a large orange sigil in the air over the house. "-I'll mark the location for them. Oh, and ring?" I look at my left hand. "Notify all the newspapers, would you?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

24th February
13:19 GMT +3

I reappear in the Senate building, almost exactly where I left. The debate has carried on without me, but it comes to a halt as they notice me. "Sorry about that."

Menalippe smiles indulgently down at me. "You show an impressive dedication to duty. Were you able to find our missing Muse?"

"Yes. She's… Diana's.. looking after her in the embassy at the moment."

"I do hope she didn't cause you too much trouble."

"That's not… I wouldn't, um…" My eyes drop to the floor for a moment. "The police will want a statement.. but under the circumstances I don't think they'll actually need her to testify."

Hippolyta's face hardens. "What happened?"

"It turns out... Muses can be... Compelled, to provide inspiration. Her original abductor had.. died, and her most recent… Her most recent captor is in police custody." I feel a slight impulse to apologise on behalf of all men. I know that not all rapists are men and not all victims are females, but by far the majority are. And of the women I'm looking at, any who weren't born on the island would most likely have been on the receiving end when Herakles overran the old city.

"What will happen to him now?"

"He will be detained until a trial can be convened… Given Diana's interest I imagine it will be held sooner rather than later. There's no realistic prospect of him being acquitted… Under the California Penal Code rape is punishable by between three and eight years imprisonment per.. incident. Given the… Situation.. she was in, I don't imagine he'll ever be released."

She showed surprising resilience, actually. When we went into the.. dungeon, I made a point of keeping back, but Diana had me remove the collar and clean… Clean her, with the ring. She recognised Diana and she didn't.. shy away from me. I know from the thing with the League of Shadows that power ring scans are admissible as evidence, and no jury would listen to anyone questioning a sworn statement from Wonder Woman. The CSI people can make do with pictures of her cell. She even came to watch Mister Madoc being taken into police custody, though she clearly wasn't in any state to speak to anyone.

Though that might have been because of the sheer number of people around. I got the exact level of attention that I wanted. It turns out that when someone affiliated with the Justice League requests police assistance they come in loaded for supervillain. I got to meet San Francisco's Special Response Team, a whole chunk of the city got cordoned off and there's no way anyone missed who was being taken away. A few journalists followed the police, which also gave me the opportunity to explain why he was being arrested. Or, 'it is my understanding that he will questioned regarding', but they spotted Diana leading Calliope away from his house. Doubt it'll make the morning papers but it will probably be… Are there still afternoon additions? And on their websites as soon as they can wake a journalist up to write the article.

This really isn't something I… No, it would have been terrible whenever it came to light, but I hope that Clyemne isn't going to try to-. "And what else?"

No, she is. "I'm sorry, but with Calliope free and the perpetrator arrested and being held awaiting trial, my.. involvement is over. If you are interested in how the American legal system works, I'm sure that Diana-."

"Princess Diana."

I pause for a moment. "I'm sorry. Of course. I'm sure that she would be happy to explain it to you."

"Imprisonment for the remainder of his life? Is that all?"

"Rapists tend to be extremely unpopular with other inmates, but that is the extent of the court-mandated punishment, yes."

"He will not be executed? Or gelded?"

"In the United States, some areas execute murderers, and I believe that treason can be punished by execution in some cases. Rapists are not executed. Removing body parts would be considered 'cruel and unusual' and thus prohibited by their constitution for any offence, regardless of the severity. I'm… Really not the best person to ask about this."

"How long was Calliope subject to assaults from these brutes?"

"The only one able to answer that question would be her, and I didn't think.. putting her to question immediately was the right course of action. But… Most likely, on and off for the entirety of her disappearance."

There's a collective intake of breath. Menalippe blinks as she tries to get her head around the idea. "There are people who would dare to treat a goddess such?"

"There is no deed so foul that someone somewhere won't commit it. And we're going to try to avoid telling people that she is a Muse." Menalippe shakes her head in incomprehension. "If it became public knowledge that raping a Muse gives you supernatural inspiration, I'm concerned that other people-."

Clyemne jumps to her feet. "And this is the nation that you wish us to have further contact with? One where such men-."

"Are punished for the crimes they have committed. No one other than the two people who were holding her knew that she was there. I don't know how they got her into the country, but that will be investigated. She was held in either an isolated place, or in a cell designed to prevent sound from escaping. There are procedures for hunting for kidnap victims but no one knew to look for her. Once I did, she was free inside ten minutes. When information of what happened spreads, everyone who hears about what happened will condemn the perpetrators. What more do you want?"

Clyemne glances along the row of her fellow Senators and then back to me. "I want their names."

I blink and shake my head. "Okay... Erasmus Fry and-."

"No!" Menalippe is staring at Clyemne, her eyes wide. "Do not answer her!"

Clyemne glares right back. "It would only be just. Do you truly not believe that the gods would have an interest?"

"I'm sorry, I seem to be missing something?"

Menalippe keeps staring Clyemne down. "The senator wishes to call the Furies down upon them."

I squeeze my eyes shut. "Oh, no, don't do that."

"You see! This-!"

"Don't do something that would make me feel obliged to protect that bastard. I don't know what the exact right punishment for his crime is, I doubt there is one. But life imprisonment seems to be… At least not completely unreasonable."

Clyemne breaks eye contact with Menalippe to look down at me with distaste. "You would protect this man?"

"Yes. That's my job. There is no.. grave injustice, no colossal and overwhelming need which requires us to throw out every existing law of civil society! You don't get to call in arcane life forms to murder a man because you're unhappy with the sentence the courts pass!"

Hippolyta stands. "And you will not discuss committing murder against a foreign citizen in this chamber. You are overstepping your bounds, senator."

Clyemne's mouth tightens as she gets her anger under control. A moment passes before she nods in acquiescence. "I apologise, my Queen. My disgust got the better of me."

Queen Hippolyta nods, then turns to me. "Under the circumstances, I think a break in proceedings is appropriate. Paul, you have our thanks for liberating Calliope." I bow. "For better or worse, you have given us a great deal to think about. We will reconvene in one hour."

 

[Mr Zoat]

24th February
13:39 GMT +3

"… red numbers represent great fleets of warships?" Myrto picks up the card she was looking at.

I finally found people who will play this game with me. Yes, the fact that they've been in prison for longer than I've been alive might have something to do with it, but I'm not going to look a gift-horse in the mouth. Even with ring-assisted recall I couldn't possibly remember every card in the game, but that doesn't really matter because most of the cards were unplayable rubbish. Recreating the decks I actually used to own wasn't difficult at all. Not that the cards were ever printed in Themysciran Greek.

"Sort of. The card type represents fleets of all sizes, from small groups of vessels on patrol around your people's territory to huge quantities of warships owned by a vast alliance of people. And in a few cases huge monsters."

"And these ships fight between worlds?"

"In this.. game it.. doesn't really matter, since it's more usually about winning a particular face off rather than actually conquering anywhere. And there's not really much point fighting in the middle of nowhere. But, yes, fleet engagements take place outside the planet's atmosphere. Other than the very smallest, they're not designed to work inside one."

She nods. "Green is their skill as a diplomat. Blue, their skill as a spy. Orange their skill as a war leader and purple… Magic?"

"It's not precisely magic, I just said that it was like magic. Telepathy lets a person affect the thoughts of people around them, but it doesn't let them do anything more… Anything more exotic."

She raises her eyebrows. "Affecting a person's mind is not exotic?"

"Compared to some of the things I've seen magic users do on this world? No. They can pick out information if you're not trying to conceal it or muddle your senses a little. Only the strongest can actually attack someone's mind or control them."

She picks up a copy of the Psi-Corps Ambassador. "His magic… His telepathy seems stronger than the skills of the other leaders."

"It has to be, because on the scale the game takes place there are much fewer applications for it. He can control the mind of one person. Ambassador Delenn-" I pass her the 'Grey Council Diplomacy' deck. "-is one of the nine rulers of the people. Her decisions affect the lives of hundreds of billions, both her own people and those they have diplomatic relations with."

"And victory is achieved by leading your people to pre-eminence."

"Yes."

"When you explained it, the sequence of the turns sounded somewhat complicated."

"It… It is, and that… And the time games take to finish is probably why the game never really caught on. It's not too bad once you get the hang of it and… Hey, there are four of you, and since you don't age and you're locked in a couple of rooms… It's perfect."

Charis leans over her Circlemate's shoulder. "Why does the one playing with a strong military not simply win every time?"

"Having a fleet in play doesn't mean that a fleet has been built. It can, but usually it just means that the fleet has become available for your Ambassador to direct. If they went to war, whatever fleets the military player controlled would be met by the full force of the other player's people. That, and the fact that the Ambassadors are not the sole rulers of their peoples. Persuading their governments to declare war, given how expensive that is in both life and money, is no simple matter." She nods. "No group in the setting has the power to overwhelm all of the others. Most of these decks have some fleets in them, so if one player starts getting too aggressive-."

"The other players have what they need to unite against them and put them in their place."

"Yep. That's the main reason I like intrigue -spying- so much. Everyone's got some diplomacy and some military, but a lot of these decks have next to no intrigue. The most reliable military deck I have is mostly about posturing while you build up to the point where you can cow the others into submission."

"The game will have to wait." Myrto and Charis step back as Alkyone approaches, Philomela just behind her. That's unusual. She may not growl at me anymore but she made it clear that she doesn't like me. She usually just sits out of the way when I visit.

I shrug. "None of us are going anywhere. What can I do for you?"

She sits in front of the opening between the cell quarters and the rest of the world, staring at me. "I was told that there was something you wanted to say to me."

"Yes, I want to apologise for the way I spoke to you when we first met. I was rude and excessively aggressive, particularly regarding your desire to-." Her eyes harden. "You know."

Her eyes move to the side and she breathes slowly, as if steeling herself for something. "I… Accept."

"Oh. I.. honestly wasn't expecting that."

Her eyes move over my face and to the cards on the small shelf between us. "You healed Philomela and have faithfully obeyed the Queen's order to communicate with us. I dislike the situation, but I am prepared to entertain the idea that you are not my enemy."

"Thank you." I smile and extend my right hand through the gap. She looks at it for a moment, then takes hold and shakes it. "I was just taking a break down here while the senate calms down. I wasn't expecting to actually get anywhere today."

She lets go and -hah!- she wipes her hand under the shelf where she thinks I can't see it. "You told me when we first met that you would consider it your duty as a citizen to reveal the Dragon's duplicity."

"If any exists -and I'm not convinced it does- then yes, I do."

"What I am about to tell you is an unbroken secret within our sisterhood. If I tell you why we hate her, why we were prepared to go against our Queen to kill her, you will not share that knowledge with another soul. You will investigate and you will bring such evidence as you find to me."

"Queen Hippolyta is my queen and I am oathbound to obey Diana for the next four months. I don't think they will order me to tell them if you have asked me not to, but they might. Otherwise, of course."

Alkyone considers for a moment, then nods. "What do you know of her creation?"

"The authorised version? Hippolyta wanted a daughter, she made a model from the clay of Themyscira and…" I didn't actually ask for details, beyond checking that 'clay model brought to life' was what happened here. "One of the goddesses brought it to life?"

"It was no goddess. The matter from which the Dragon's body was made was taken from the Hekatonkheir Cottus."

"Okay?" She scowls at me. "Is that bad? I'm a bit behind on my Greek mythic cycles, but weren't the Hekatonkheires on the Olympian side during the fight with the Titans? I mean, it's a bit weird that Hippolyta hasn't told anyone, but it's not like Diana is Uranus' daughter or anything."

"Perhaps they were allies once, but they have spent thousands of years in Tartarus. The creature I saw on that night is nothing that should be on Themyscira."

"Since when do Amazons care who a daughter's father is?"

"Since she was given life through magic and not through natural means. He has some inhuman design for we Amazons, and she is part of it."

I sit back. "So, you want me to find out what it is? Or find out from Hippolyta if she's been keeping secrets about Diana's creation from everyone?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I can do that. But… This has got to be an end to it. If I examine everything, and there's no plot... If it was just Hippolyta lying and there's nothing particularly sinister going on… I expect you to apologise to Diana and-" She screws up her face in revulsion. "-accept her as your Princess."

I watch the red swirl under her skin for several moments. "If… If your investigation is truly exhaustive-."

"It will be, and I'm happy to be Truth Lassoed to prove it."

"Then yes, I will. But it will not come to that."

 

[Mr Zoat]

24th February
16:19 GMT -5

How the hell am I going to do this?

I lean across my table at Rick's Café, forehead resting on the palm of my right hand. Not a lot of competition for tables at this time of year. Happy Harbour isn't set up for winter tourism and locals have the sense to get seats inside. Okay. I'm pretty sure that Diana will cooperate without asking too many questions. Certainly she hasn't been pressing me about all the times I've vanished with Zatanna. Oh no, she doesn't think I'm dating her as well, does she? Ukh.

What do I think might have happened? One, Alkyone might have had a bit much to drink, seen something weird and projected her own internal psychoses onto something external. I know she wants a daughter herself, she saw the woman she's devoted to getting one, she couldn't hate her… Seems like a stretch.

Two, Hippolyta actually made a deal with Cottus for a daughter. Not knowing much about Cottus beyond the fact that he isn't on the 'Have No Dealings' list, I don't know how much of a thing that is. I checked before I left this morning and there wasn't a lot on Cottus in the Library of Athena. I don't know anything about his interests or character. Whatever Hippolyta offered, it's been eighty six years and either payment hasn't come due or it's been paid off and no one noticed. The gods of Olympus have had plenty of time to express their displeasure and they haven't. Several of them have had direct dealings with her.

Why would Hippolyta lie about it? Having Diana be the creation of a goddess would make her more palatable to the Amazons, no doubt about it. Having children is a very sensitive subject now and it was even more so back then. She.. could be ashamed? Maybe there was a deal and she doesn't want anyone to know about it? Mind control is unlikely; she's a demigoddess herself. If it even worked she'd throw it off after a while and someone would have spotted Cottus creeping into the palace to renew it. The guy's huge.

Three… What? She genuinely believes that she had Gaea's aid and happens to be mistaken? She somehow missed the giant form of Cottus looming over the grove while Alkyone didn't? Cottus dumped a load of his own earth over the whole area and that was what got used for making Diana? Oh! Actually, I can test for that one. There's no way he'd be able to remove it all. I can scan the area for chemical differences and take samples for Sephtian to play with. I sit up slightly. Getting somewhere.

Telepathic probes and magic could also reveal memory alterations, though after this much time everyone involved would have replayed the memories so often that there'd be little of the original events left. But John or M'gann might be able to get a trace on any interference. Have to eliminate other instances of interference. I know that Circe has hit Hippolyta with mind effect spells at least once since Diana became active. Might she have..? No, the Amazons had basically nothing to do with her until she started going after Diana. I mean, she might, but it isn't very likely.

Thaumic signatures are a thing. Could I test Diana for similarities with other divine beings? No, that… I don't know of any other offspring of Cottus. Gaea's offspring were the Titans… Bit out of my league. No, wait, Euanthe called Gaea 'mother'. I should be able to find a Dryad and from what I've read they're usually pretty indifferent to what us mortals get up to so I wouldn't have to worry about them spilling the beans. Would it be worth trying to get hold of Gaea herself? Eh, Diana told me that meeting her was extremely unusual and that has been borne out by the Amazons' records. Wouldn't hurt to give it a go but I'm not going to try relying on it.

Talk to Cottus? As far as I understand it, I am allowed to go into the underworld. Hades would expect an offering but it's not like I can't afford something for him. Could be interesting to find out what he actually does with his time now that hardly anyone who worships the Olympians dies anymore. I.. rather get the impression that he's not one of the easy going Olympians so I'd need to be on my best behaviour but as long as I am he's unlikely to do anything worse than say 'no'. Heck, there's a fair chance I'd end up down there if I died.

Weird thing to think, that. I've gone from the firm belief that there is no afterlife to knowing I can just stroll into one. Well… I think I prefer how they run things here.

What else do I need to do? I need to check the Lasso of Truth, find out whether it can be bypassed. And I can't assume that what Diana told me about it is accurate. This whole thing could be settled by just walking Diana in front of the Circle with the Lasso on her and asking if she's up to anything, but only if I can establish that it can be relied upon. If it turns out that the 'rightful owner' or a demigoddess can just ignore-.

"Hey, you're Paul, Conner's friend, right?"

I jerk upright. It's… "Miss Beecher, good afternoon." I look to the chap accompanying her. "Mister Duncan."

"Can I talk to you real quick?"

"Certainly?"

She pulls out a chair and sits down. "Is Conner cheating on Megan?"

Huh? "Um… I don't.. think so? What makes you ask?"

"I saw him getting friendly with another girl before school today."

I shake my head in puzzlement as Mister Duncan joins us at the table. "Could you.. describe her to me? Maybe I know her."

"Aah, white girl, about your height, black hair just past her shoulders at the back-."

"White as in pasty features like me, or a slight tan?"

"Maybe a tan?"

"Then I'd have to see her to be sure, but that sounds like Diana. "

"Oh okay, so-?"

"Kon's mother."

Miss Beecher's face twists into a picture of pure mortification while Mister Duncan turns to her with a very small smile. "I told you there wasn't anything to worry about."

"What exactly were they doing that got you so concerned?"

"They hugged, and she kissed him on his cheek." She puts her right hand to her forehead. "And I'm seeing that in a whole different light now."

I try not to smile too hard. "Glad I've been able to clear that up for you."

"Hope I look that good when I'm… How old is she?"

"She has aged very well."

"Hey, ah…" She appears to recover a little. "Do you know where Megan's vanished to? I've been trying to talk to her all day and she just keeps disappearing."

I shake my head. "I'm afraid not. I haven't.. seen her today. I should be meeting her later, though. If you'd like to tell me what it's about I can pass a message on."

"I'm organizing a school blood drive and I'd like all the Bumblebees to sign up-."

"Ooooh." I hold up my right hand. "Yeah, she's… Not going to be participating in that." I shake my head. "Sorry." I mean, alien blood in general circulation? The wrong type of Human blood can easily kill a person, I dread to think what alien blood would do. I remember the Skrull Cows. Hm, how to handle this? We have discussed the possibility of various types of identity revelation before. I think the appropriate response here is 'minimal information release'. Otherwise she'll just hound the two of them and they won't be able to explain themselves properly.

"Why, is she afraid of needles or something?"

"No, it's a bit more personal than that."

"Oh… Are you, like, Jehovah's Witness-?"

I chuckle. "No, no. Um. But the three of us are ineligible. Mister Duncan, could you… Um, give us a moment?"

He shrugs. "Sure." He pushes his chair back and turns to Miss Beecher. "Want a coffee?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Wave at me when it's safe to come back out." He gives me a quick sizing up glance, then heads inside.

"So what's the big secret?"

"Well-" I lean forwards slightly and lower my voice. "I'm not really supposed to… Certain types of people are not eligible to give blood. One of the things I do…" A training course Guy and I have done now. "How I met Kon originally… Is counselling for people-."

She looks a little alarmed. "Are they sick?"

"No, no. Um, I believe the phrase is 'non-standard biology'. The blood collection service doesn't think it's worth the risk-."

"They're metahumans?" I make a gesture that could be interpreted as an affirmative. She takes a moment to absorb that. "Wait, is Megan allowed on the cheerleading squad? Metahumans-."

"We checked. Since there isn't any direct physical confrontation between teams the cheerleading association…" I wave my right hand. "Whatever it's called, decided that it wasn't a problem. But that is why Kon's on the chess team and not the American Football squad."

"Yeah, I wondered about that. Okay, I can keep that secret."

"Thank you."

"You know a lot of metahumans?"

"A fair few. They're not particularly common and counselling is only really needed for a little while after the initial manifestation of their ability."

"Are you doing anything Saturday?"

"I.. don't have anything important planned? Why do you ask?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Uuuuuooooouuuuughhh…

"Uuuh." I open my eyes to blinding light and immediately close them. Uhh. Okay. Last thing I remember is talking to Shayera after… Stupid duel. Without otherwise moving I clench and relax my left hand. Feels like it's healed. My left side still hurts. I'm.. still wearing my armour. Huh. I weigh a lot, but the surface I'm lying on is padded and appears able to bear it. I shift a little to my right. Okay, I… Can't hear anything that sounds like cause for concern. I'm going to assume that the Thanagarian attack can still be filed under 'dealt with'. Father Box, you still there?

…

That's a little worrying. Sinestro?

…

Right. I brace my right elbow against the soft surface of my bed and start pushing myself up. No, too soft. Ow. I open my eyes at a squint and start trying to work out where I am. Looks… Kind of Watchtowery? I think? I didn't see the Thanagarian medical bay and without a power ring I can't just load the appearance of the place into my head.

Hang on. How does that even work if it can't affect my body?

Ow. Ow, oh ow. I don't remember getting hit in the head, but… A-ah. Head… Feels weird. And not in a good way.

"Are you getting up, or are you just going to lie there all day?"

"Haven't… Haven't decided." I tilt my head in the direction of Shayera's voice. Once my eyes aren't pointing upwards anymore I open them a little wider. She's in her yellow blouse and green leggings. "Did someone hit me in the head? Because I feel a little off."

"You were shot with a Thanagarian beam pistol. I'm surprised it didn't completely scramble your brain."

I don't remember that. "Oh, you know. Anything that doesn't kill me…" I screw up my eyes and give my head a little shake. "How long?"

"About two days. You're on the Watchtower. We couldn't do much for you because we couldn't get your armor off."

"Straps are a structural weak point. I don't use them. Is there a reason I don't have Father Box or the yellow power ring?"

"Do you usually wear your computer when you sleep?"

"Okay. No. I don't. And the ring?"

"It's got Sinestro's brain in it."

"He's an excellent teacher. And he doesn't control what the user does with-" I try pushing myself up again and am met with failure. "-the… What am I lying on?"

"We didn't have a big enough bed. You're lying on a pile of pillows."

Right. I rock back onto my bad side, trying not to put weight on the wounds. Then I rock to the right, pushing with my left foot. The pillow under it slips out, but I still manage to get onto my right side. This is the drawback of super strength, particularly when you aren't capable of judging force as well as usual. The surroundings just can't take it. Doubly so when you weigh as much as I do.

"Would you mind helping me upright?"

"Here." She opens her wings and flaps once, rising into the air above me. "Give me your hand."

I hold up my left hand and push with my right elbow. As soon as she takes hold I feel myself get a little lighter. Thanagarians are stronger than Humans, muscle mass for muscle mass, but I weigh a third of a ton. There's no way wings should be able to lift me. She pulls and -Aaaagh!- I come a little more upright. I get my right hand under me and push, just managing to get upright before I start to fall. Aero discs!

Aaand I'm up! "Thank you."

She looks me over. "Are you sure you should be up yet? I wasn't joking about you getting shot in the head."

"Sure." I recover my left arm and float slowly and carefully over my pillow nest. "I don't plan to get into a fight or anything, but-. Ah!" Father Box is resting on a table set against the wall of the room. I drift towards him, land gently and then pick him up and attach him to my armour.

9th January 2004
10:21 GMT

"Ploong."

"Pleased to see you too. How am I doing?"

"Ploong."

"Yeah, I'm not all that happy about it either."

Shayera comes in to land next to me, glancing at the site of my injury. "What did they shoot you with?"

"Radion blaster. Shot me after their fighters pummelled my construct armour down. Completely bypassed my Apokolips tech armour and New God fortitude. Punched through one side and out the other." I shake my head. "I mean, all due respect to them: they had a few seconds when I was vulnerable and they took full advantage. If they shot me in the head I'd be dead right now."

"Are you going to take your armor off so I can take a look at your injury?"

Probably wouldn't hurt. More. "Yeah, hang on. Father Box, uncouple armour."

"Ploong."

Something shifts, and I reach around my left side to lift away the-. Shayera gasps. "When you said they shot you, I thought it would be a narrow beam. How are you still alive?"

"Spite." I look down. Yeah, that.. still doesn't look good. I wasn't able to just close a flap of skin over it, there's still a very visible hole into my interior. Much smaller than it was, though. I shoved my whole hand into it while operating on myself. Now I'd struggle to get two fingers in. "I don't go into shock. Once I cut out the radion-tainted parts-."

"You… Cut out..?"

"Yeah, there's probably some lumps of me left near the commander's station on the bridge. It's not a priority but I'd appreciate it if you could have them incinerated."

"You… Did you have an anaesthetic?"

"No. Sometimes being immune to poison really sucks. Still-" I smile. "-I'm alive!" A sudden stab of pain makes me instinctively try to cover the injury with my right hand. "Ow."

"Do you need a bandage?"

"I'm immune to all disease and I'm not-" I take a quick look. "-leaking anymore, so… No, thank you. I.. could do with… This is going to sound odd, but you don't have a powerful source of raw magic, do you?"

"I don't think so. Why?"

"My wound isn't being repaired by anything so mundane as rapid cell division. It's my own divine majesty, effectively.. rejecting the truth of my damaged state. I am quite literally too important to bleed. In theory, bathing in raw magic should boost it. Speed up my healing."

"I'll see what we can do."

"Where are we at with everything else?"

"All the Thanagarian naval personnel who could have pulled out. I piloted the Command Carrier into a Lunar orbit, so no one on Earth can reach it. Supergirl and the others have torn apart the hyperspace bypass so there's no chance of it being activated."

I nod. "That's a relief. And the robopresident?"

"Still in office." She folds her arms across her chest. "Are you sure he's a robot?"

"Technically, he's a mechanoid. After technology reaches a certain level there isn't the same hard distinction between organic and mechanical. But, yes, I'm sure. Apokoliptian technology… Stands out." I frown. "Where are my goggles?"

She picks up.. the blasted and melted remains and holds them out to me. "I had to take it off your face with a chisel."

"Huh. Good work. Where are John and Batman?"

"John's on the Carrier. Batman's following up on President Horne."

"Okay. So, we're aiming to remove the President of the United States…" My smile broadens slightly. "Again, and create a Justice League. We'll need to put our heads together. And I'm going to need my ring back." She gives me a sceptical look. I respond with a winsome smile. "Please?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
10:32 GMT

"Corpsman. Not dead, I see."

"Try to contain your disappointment. Thank you, Shayera. I appreciate having this back."

"I certainly didn't want it." She keeps watching me for a moment. "You know, now that the…" Looks like she isn't quite sure how to continue that sentence. 'The Thanagarians' isn't something it would make sense for her to say.

"Naval personnel? I mean, I don't know much about Thanagarian law, but I imagine that you're fired."

A wry smile. "Definitely. They'll report back to the High Command what I've done. If they survive the Gordanians they'll send people after me. However good the reason was, I'm a traitor. I.. can't ever go home again."

"Hey." She looks surprised for a moment as I step up to her and put my hands on her shoulders. "No one gets to hurt my second favourite winged woman in two universes."

"Thanks, Grayv-." She pulls back and squints at me. "Second favorite?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid Niko Parish-" A construct image appears. "-still has you pipped for first place."

Shayera pulls away and studies the construct. "Is she Thanagarian?"

"No, an Un-Man."

"Man?"

"It's what they're called. Like, female Humans aren't called 'Huwomen'. The original ones were created by a man named Anton Arcane. She's.. third generation, a normal woman altered to have wings. Doctor Cranius grew them in a laboratory and attached them to her body."

"That wouldn't let her fly."

"No, she can't fly." I beam. "But guess who's got samples of Nth metal and everything worth knowing about Thanagarian physiology!"

"It's not that simple. You can't just surgically alter-."

"Doctor Cranius is a mad scientist custom built to be a mad scientist.. by another mad scientist. Who was also a Nazi. He'll crack it. He'll keep at it until either his head explodes or he gets it and his head hasn't exploded yet. Don't even worry about it." I close my right hand and shut down the construct.

"Are you dating her?"

"Huh? No. I mean, we're friends. I.. met her during a mission to a place called 'Aberrance'. They were having some trouble with Kobra… My friends and I sorted it out. What makes you think we're romantically involved?"

"You sounded as if you like her. I don't know anything about where you come from."

"Batman didn't say anything? I.. sort of assumed…"

"Batman told John you had the skills we need. He was probably monitoring you for a while, but he didn't put much on the computer." She walks over to a terminal and starts pressing buttons. "Grayven, Earth Sixteen."

"Sixteen?"

"That's what the system says."

"So.. is this… One?"

"No, this is Earth Fifty." I make a puzzled expression and shake my head slightly. "He never explained why he numbered them like that. Batman was never exactly talkative." She points to the monitor. "According to this you appeared eight months ago looking like a normal man, then turned into a giant-."

"I was never that big. Two and a half metres at most."

Shayera calls up a picture. "Good thing you aren't dating her then."

"Oh, Jade and I made do. Power rings-."

"I don't want to know. Then-" She brings up a current image, complete with orange glow. But not the Sword of Second and Third. "-you turned into this."

"Even Father looked like a normal man once." I generate images of Uxas and Darkseid. "As we come into our full power, the form of our physical manifestation changes. I'm not fully developed yet, but grey seems to be a theme."

"Why did he choose you?"

"I've killed people while on the job. Very bad people, but that is unusual in the superhero business. He knew that I had the power and the willingness to do what this task required."

"According to this, you normally use an orange power ring. Now that we've captured the Command Carrier we can open another portal if you want to get it."

"Might be a problem with that. Batman.. sort of.. picked me up from a prison cell."

She turns back to me with her eyebrows raised. "What were you in a cell for?"

Search for data on 'Klarion', possibly 'the Witch Boy'.

Data available, Corpsman. You need a better class of enemy.

Ah. "I killed a Lord of Chaos named Klarion. Your version of Klarion is a joke, a spoilt brat who lucked into a magic artefact. Ours was an ascended force of destructive anarchy. A few months ago he was responsible for a spell that killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Given his crimes, I made sure that I killed him in public, then handed myself over to the police. That involved surrendering my equipment…"

"I see."

"I've got a presidential pardon coming, but popping back to grab my equipment then leaving again… It disrupts the narrative I'm trying to build."

"What do you mean by 'narrative'?"

"I'm trying to show that the existing superhero epistemology doesn't keep people safe from high end threats. The Justice League doesn't do mass production of advanced technology, it doesn't do research and it doesn't do hunt and kill missions."

"It sounds like you agree with what SHADE's been doing."

"If it involves assassinating a president and replacing him with an Apokoliptian mechanoid it's probably not a good idea." And isn't that my concern about the Light in a nutshell: reasonable ideology, supervillain methodology. "If they actually did it through legitimate channels… Yeah, I probably would be. And I'm definitely going to see what the version of SHADE from.. Earth Sixteen has been doing when I get back."

"That's probably a good-."

"Batman to Watchtower."

"Hawkgirl here, go ahead."

"I've positively identified Missus Horne's remains. What's the status of the patient?"

She glances at me. "He's awake, but he's still injured. He said that he could speed up his recovery with an infusion of magic, but that's not something John or I can do."

"I'll see what I can arrange. Is John managing the ship?"

"Yes, but with the damage it took he has to stay on board in case the orbit decays. He doesn't know anything about Thanagarian ships. He can't even read our languages."

"Could you pilot it?"

"Maybe, but I was in intelligence, not operations."

"Ah, sorry. I may.. know a guy who can help with that?"

"Stand by." Shayera frowns at me. "Who is there on Earth who can read Quarish or Plekesh?"

"An archaeologist called Joseph Gardner. He got exposed to some sort of Thanagarian memory recording device while on a dig a few years ago and now he thinks he's a reincarnation of a Thanagarian military officer named Katar Hol."

She blinks. "So he's crazy."

"Yeeees. But he reads and speaks the languages that Katar Hol knew when he made the recording, and it's not as if we've got a great deal of choice in the matter."

She sighs. "Grayven says he knows a man who might be able to help."

"Good. Assuming Grayven wants to help stop SHADE, then-"

"I do!"

"He does."

"-we need to update our information on what assets they could bring to bear to stop us. I had no idea that they had a cache of Apokoliptian technology, but unless they're trading directly with one of the warlords the most likely time for them to have picked it up was the attack on Metropolis."

"Agreed. We'll look into it."

"Batman out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
10:43 GMT

I poke my head back into the ship corridor for a moment to check that the coast is still clear before returning my attention to the panel I've removed from the interior of the Gordanian ship. SHADE spotted the obvious incongruity of a starfaring vessel having a freeze-dried crew, though according to their own reports they were very hesitant to come right out and accuse the Thanagarians of anything. What they didn't know… Or at least what the people holding the Gordanian ship didn't know, was that the ships in my alter ego's fleet use a mix of Citadel and Apokoliptian technology. Thanagarians have long been familiar with the mix of Okaaran, Emanian and Complex technology that make up normal Citadel-aligned warships. Looks like they wrote off anything else as variations on a theme.

But there is Apokoliptian technology here, and if I can feel it whoever arranged for Gonzo's appearance most likely can as well. Or worse, Grayven 50. If I hadn't known exactly what I was looking for… The Gordanians will win their fight with Thanagar, but if the Thanagarian intelligence reports I took from their bridge are anywhere near accurate they will struggle to hold or police that volume of space for years yet. Hopefully, by the time they're in a position to threaten Earth it will have defences worth speaking of.

I pull the Transferral Node out of the interior of the maintenance hatch before closing it. This thing was disguised amongst the parts of some sort of internal monitoring system. Useful piece of kit; it sort of allows a New God to project their soul outwards into certain forms of technology. My purple death ray drones each have one to increase their ability to respond to my instructions, and I'll be incorporating this into the ones I'll build here. Not sure exactly why the other chap put them in a comparatively small ship like this but I'm not taking the silly chance of leaving them here.

Right, that's about it. Any other Apokoliptian technology here is fully integrated rather than a functioning device in its own right. Ring, I don't want to be heard. Father Box, boom tube.

Ploong.

I step back into the Watchtower's workshop and shut the boom tube behind me. In the interests of being sociable Shayera's running her data probes from here as well. "Did you get what you were looking for?"

"Mrh." I carefully deposit my small haul onto my workbench. "Some. The main storage site was too well guarded. I would have had to actually attack the place. Fortunately, they only put guards on the outside of the Gordanian ship. Any progress?"

"I've read the reports on what the Metropolis police handed over to STAR Labs. Nothing that could be an infiltration mechanoid. Batman's analysis of the body of the President's late wife seems to suggest she was killed before the election. I've got a program analysing his body language in every public appearance to see if it can work out exactly when he was replaced." She looks over my arrangement of parts. "What are you making?"

"Drone weapons. My version of Diana… Wonder Woman, first left Themyscira just before the Second World War really kicked off. When she went home afterwards she took a Nazi weapon designer with her."

"Why?"

"Baroness von Gunther was an ardent nationalist, but hadn't been directly involved in the genocide.. s. Diana didn't think that abandoning her to be gang raped then beaten to death by the Russians was the right thing to do. Anyway, this-" I hold up a miniature version of the Baroness's work. "-is a purple healing ray. Play it over a flesh wound and the wound is gone. Get an arm cut off-."

"You're kidding."

"No, seriously. This thing is amazing. Now guess how many countries Themyscira has exported it to?"

"I don't know. All of them? Something like that-."

"No. None. And that's why I hate it there."

"So is it a medical drone?"

"No. Fiddling around with the purple healing ray gets you a purple death ray. This drone will be able to switch between the two… When it's finished."

"How long will that take?"

"The first batch… Making all the parts myself and using an orange power ring, it took about forty eight hours' continuous work per drone. And I've got to be honest, I'm finding it harder to work with Sinestro here."

"If you simply took my advice and contracted out the work-."

"My hand is far too weak to risk dealing with Qward." I return my attention to my work. "On the other hand, I have a much better idea what I'm doing now. If I leave out the phasing and the stealth system… Or maybe I could just hire a bunch of people to get voluntarily exposed to fear gas and use that for the power-."

Shayera's eyes widen and she jumps into the air. "The teleporter just activated. That shouldn't-!"

"Boom tube's faster! Father Box!" With one mighty beat of her wings she propels herself through the hole in space, mace at the ready. I pick up the healing ray and start playing it over my wound as I follow after her. The blue lights of the teleporter are just fading as I get a clear view of the platform, revealing-. "Okay, Shayera, it's fine."

Zatanna 50 glances at the two of us for a moment, then looks around the room. She's not in costume, black jeans and short heeled ankle boots replacing her usual fishnets and stilettos. Hat's missing as well. "There were more people around last time I was here."

Shayera's gone from 'attack' to 'ready'. "Who are you and what-?"

"Zatanna Zatara. Bruce sent me."

Shayera's eyes narrow. "I've never heard of you."

"No, really, it's fine." I lay my left hand on her right shoulder. "Her father was one of Batman's tutors. And I'm good friends with the version of her from my parallel."

"And you must be Grayven." I get another appraisal as she walks off the teleport platform. "You seem healthy for someone in need of magic healing." I transfer my torso armour into subspace and indicate my wound with my left hand. "Oh. Ah… Hself worger!"

Nothing happens. "No, no, I'm resistant to spells. Just funnel raw power into me. And I.. just want to say, I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. I've no idea how long it would take to heal back fully without your help. If there's anything I can do to pay you back, just say."

"Cigam seigrene wolf otni siht yug." Purple mist flows from her outstretched hands and flows over me. Father Box?

Ploong.

Excellent. "Perfect, thank you."

"So, you know a parallel universe version of me, huh?"

"The version from parallel sixteen, where I'm from, yes." I generate a construct of my Zatanna. "Nice girl. Getting heavily into Order magic." Father Box, progress?

Ploong.

Well, if there's any to spare, I suppose...

"What makes the two of you so close?"

"I stopped her father doing something stupid annnnd made it possible for her to gain power faster. In a.. controlled way, you understand."

Shayera returns her mace to her belt. "I thought all Batman's old friends were avoiding him."

"I'm a stage magician who's been banned from the stage by SHADE because I know Batman and because I can do real magic. I'll take whatever gigs I can get. That, and Bruce may have hinted that SHADE might be the ones pulling the disappearing act before too long."

The hole in my torso is almost closed completely now. Excellent. "It's a work in progress. Are you.. joining up?"

"No. I'll help with SHADE, but that's it. I didn't much like life under the Justice Lords-" She glares at Shayera. "-either." She pulls her hands back and cuts off the flow. "Better?"

No pain and the hole has closed over. Wonderful! "Yes. Thank you. Though if you're working with us for now, perhaps you'd be willing to help me in the workshop?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
11:31 GMT

Move.

The Eel drone flows through the air in front of us. Turns out that being able to reshape the universe by talking backwards can really speed things up.

"How exactly are you controlling it?"

"With my soul." That gets an eyebrow. "No, seriously. New God technology is designed to interact with the souls of its users. It has a cogitation engine as well, but at short ranges-" Particularly after that boost you gave me. "-it acts as an extension of my metaphysique."

"You can just say 'by magic'."

"But that's so imprecise. If it was possessed by a bound spirit that would be 'by magic' as well, but this is radically different. Okay." Land and sleep. It lands on the workbench and goes dormant. "Given how much faster we managed that than my original estimate, we can probably include the phasing and stealth systems I wanted."

"What exactly are you planning on using this for?"

"Miiiight be best if you had plausible deniability on that."

"Oh no. If you want any help from me-."

"Your president's a shapeshifting alien robot being puppetted by SHADE." She blinks. "I want the fire support for when I unmask him."

"Oh." Zatanna 50 looks down for a moment, trying to take in that particular bombshell. "How long-?"

Shayera looks up. "About halfway through the campaign. And I thought Superman was wrong to suspend elections."

I smile. "Technically, Gonzo's election is invalid under Article Two of the US Constitution. I'm pretty sure he hasn't been resident for fourteen years. He might not even be over thirty five."

"Or born in the United States."

"He might have been built here. It's a bit of a grey area, artificial intelligences."

Zatanna nods. "That's why you're taking down SHADE. They've already pulled off a coup and no one noticed."

"We're doing better than that." I look at Shayera. "You want to tell her?"

"Tell me what?"

"Grayven's plan is to bring together a group of superheroes-."

"A new Justice Lords."

I shake my head. "No. Parallel sixteen -where I'm from- has a superhero group called the Justice League. They're.. painfully non-interventionist. I doubt they'd ever set up a Lords style police state, whatever the provocation. The idea was to find a group of people like that, who also remember the Lords negatively but are aware that there's a job there that needs doing. Originally, I was going to drop evidence of what the Thanagarians were up to in their laps, then… Well…"

"They attacked before you were ready."

Shayera smiles and shakes her head. "No, he decided to attack the Thanagarian Command Carrier on his own. The air battle in Egypt only happened because he broadcast Hr-. The Thanagarian Commander telling everyone that the device they were building wasn't a shield, it was a machine to move the Thanagarian fleet by destroying Earth."

"And I learned a very painful lesson about getting ahead of myself." I rub where my wound used to be with my left hand. "One I'm not eager to repeat. Anyway, I wanted you to have the option of plausible deniability in case you were interested in joining yourself. SHADE's going to be gone, so you won't have to worry about them arresting you."

Shayera glances at me. "I thought you already had the seven you wanted?"

"Why stop at seven? The Justice League on my parallel is larger than that and in the fullness of time will probably expand further."

"Exactly how big is it?"

"Twenty people: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash… Our Flash is Wallace West's uncle… Green Lantern, who's a man named Harold Jordan. Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Hawkman-."

"Hawkman?"

"A Thanagarian named Katar Hol. I haven't had cause to investigate his background in any detail. His wife-" I hold my right hand out towards her. "Shayera Thal, who operates under the name 'Hawkwoman'. Actually, how come you're girl rather than woman yourself? You're clearly an adult." I frown. "And I don't get the 'Hawk' thing either. Hawks are a type of bird native to the Earth. I know Thanagar has winged and feathered predators but none of them are precisely like Hawks. Why not 'Eaglegirl' or 'Owlgirl'?"

"I don't know. Someone in Analytics must have come up with it. I was too busy cramming Earth history to have much say."

Huh. "Okay." I hold out my right hand to Zatanna 50. "Giovanni Zatara."

"What does he… Look like, now?"

"Aah, hang on." I take control of a holographic projector and start playing a recording of the conclusion to the fight at Roanoke Island. "Aand after him, Captain Atom, Black Canary, another Green Lantern -John Stewart this time-, Captain Marvel, Red Tornado, Atom, Plastic Man, Icon and Red Arrow."

"I don't know those last two."

"Icon's from Dakota City. The Terminian?" Blank look. "Red Arrow… Speedy? Green Arrow's sidekick?"

She nods. "Oh, the one with the silly hat."

"I know, right!? Well, actually, ours was a clone, created by… Long story. Point being-" I return my attention to Zatanna 50. "-if a group of crime fighting superheroes who don't take over countries is something you'd like to be a part of, that can happen."

She's staring at the hologram. "Did you just kill the Helmet of Fate?"

"Sort of. Actually, what I did to Nabu is worse than dying in just about every way. But he was being a total dick about the whole thing. He was going to use Giovanni as a meat puppet indefinitely, now he decorates Giovanni's hat stand. Oh." I pause the recording. "And those guys got executed by the Chinese government after I handed them over."

"Dad looks… Young."

"Yeah, despite being seven years forwards in time, people seem to be younger in my parallel. Some people. I think Missus Thal's slightly older than you, Zatanna's about half your age and-."

"Batman to Watchtower."

"Go ahead."

"Is Grayven fully healed?"

"Seems to be."

"Good. I have new intel on SHADE. Apparently, just before we took Luthor out STAR Labs was ordered to transfer a lot of the Apokoliptian technology they'd acquired during the Battle of Metropolis to a SHADE facility in the Rocky Mountains. I've found no records of them having any other access to Apokoliptian materials. I need Grayven to get in there and find out what they've been doing."

Ring, connect me to Batman. "How urgent is this? I'd rather have time to finish a drone squadron before getting into another fight."

"I have no way to tell for sure, but there have been a lot of deliveries coming and going from there in the past few months. I'm going to take a look at a delivery site myself but I need someone at the source."

Shit. If they're fucking around with Apokoliptian technology… There could be anything in there. "Alright. Let me finish this drone… I should be ready to start investigating in half an hour."

"That will have to do. Batman out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
05:06 GMT -7

A camera drone and its escorting eel drone survey the entrance of the SHADE facility. Reminds me a little of the setting-establishing shot of the outside of the SGC, only getting progressively more science fictiony the further into the mountains you get. The weapons around the entrance to the facility itself are similar but notably improved versions of what Stryker's Island mounted, protected by shimmering force fields. Nothing I couldn't break or that a purple death ray wouldn't simply ignore, but unusual for an Earth facility.

Corpsman.

Ugh. I'm standing inside a cloud far above them but every so often I have to shift position to remain in cover. I'm even having to transmute water molecules to make sure that the cloud doesn't thin out. Getting here was a pain in the arse. Father Box and ring combined can easily throw off radar or gravdar but I can't reliably dodge more sophisticated systems. Oh, they wouldn't be able to shoot me accurately, but they would spot that someone was here well before I was ready for them to. So, I boom tubed myself and my equipment from the Watchtower to Canada then transitioned into a cloud roughly over the site. Unlike a lot of people, SHADE personnel do look up. And down; they've got a cluster of geosynchronous satellites over this place and some of them are armed.

No radion though, so there's that.

Okay, on the job. The guns are locally produced and the root technology could have come from anywhere, including Earth. If not for the Apokoliptian connection I'd probably applaud them for doing this work. With a power ring and Apokoliptian armour I can tank their attacks easily enough. By which I mean for long enough to destroy them even if they spot me before I realise that they have. None of the guards are showing any supernatural augmentations and while they have a primitive augmented reality headset in mass deployment their armour is only 'next generation' rather than schizo tech.

Hmm. Not exactly smoking gun stuff. I focus for a moment on the ping in my soul that marks the location of the eel drone and it envelops the camera drone before rising up over the mountain. I don't know if they have the technology to detect the form of phasing I incorporated but if they do there's a reasonable chance that they'll have focused their detection gear at the front gate. For the drone it isn't really any harder to fly through the rock of the mountain and the power requirements to maintain a force field on the inside of the base full time would be crippling. Using Earth technology even weak force fields would require them to excavate colossal volumes of rock to fit the generators, then they'd have to sort out how to handle the waste heat and spent fuel. Exotic generation? They flat out couldn't hide something like that. I have a power ring and a Father Box and nothing I've seen suggests that SHADE are into thaumic research.

The eel drone passes through enough rock to reach the base. I now could boom tube there… No need yet. It's in a service duct of some kind. Standard procedure would be for it to emerge as soon as possible to prevent it getting trapped if the phase generator was shut down. SHADE almost certainly has Nth metal samples by now… Not seeing any here so far. No, just poke the camera out. Hmm. Standard government issue wall panelling from the seventies. Not a lot happening here. If the plans I took of how this place looked during the Cold War are still broadly accurate -and given that SHADE haven't brought a whole load of earthmoving equipment up here they almost certainly are- I should be in zone green, corridor seven. Seven or nine. Yes, there's the floor marking. Interior decorations have been freshened up but nothing appears to be radically changed from when SHADE took this place out of mothballs during the Luthor presidency. Which means that the upper levels will be car parks and guard barracks.

I need to go deeper. Angle down and head for zone yellow. There's no feedback, precisely. The drone obeys… I'm looking for a metaphor which doesn't compare it to an additional limb. It isn't.. like that. I don't mutter commands. I don't.. think or emote at it in the way I do with either of the rings. I tried talking to Kaldur about what it felt like and while the conversation involved a good deal of mutual incomprehension I think it's more like controlling a spell that is already active. Altering the flow of… No, no good. I'm still running out of language to describe it. Saying 'extension of the soul' is accurate but it doesn't describe the experience in the way a person who hasn't been awakened can relate to. Artemis said that it felt a bit like instinctively making a shot you've made thousands of times before in practice, barely being aware of the mechanics of the thing as you move through the actions. I think there's a bit of that to it, but-
Self=Null
-any attempt I make.. to.. describe…

Father Box, what the fuck was that?

Ploong.

Oh. Shit. I.. really don't know much about the Anti-Life Equation. I know that exposure while they grow makes sure that Parademons remain the savage and mindless killing machines they were designed to be. Turns normal people into those poor bastards the Justifiers. I'm glad Father didn't send any of those after my team last year. When he does things like that it's usually so that when you take their helmets off you see the faces of all the people you love, whom Father thought it would be fun to make you kill.
Self=Null
Father Box has a few notes made by Desaad on his own observations of Father's use of it. The description makes it seem like an evocation. A magician doesn't have to understand runic equations to conjure fire. Father can connect to the…
Self=Null
Why am I..? Calling him..?

The drone camera finally passes into the yellow zone. This looks a bit more recent. Nothing obviously Apokoliptian, but the armour on those guards certainly isn't anything local. Aah, a few more hours and I'd be able to remotely access their communication system with the drone. As it is… Explore.

Corpsman, if your mind is being affected by the technology, simply open a boom tube and send in a explosive of some kind.

Not a good idea. The whole point of the exercise is to gain information. Did.. Earth 50 F-Darkseid use the Anti-Life Equation? I know Luthor had something he claimed was the Equation in the last episode of Justice League Unlimited but I also remember that the man featured in the Batman of the Future comic past the point at which he disappeared in the cartoon.
Self=Null
Light power armour wearing guards stand in a round room, five heavily reinforced doors spaced around the sides and one entrance. The guards… They're near motionless. Breathing… Perfectly regular and.. synchronised. They're not Justified. Justifiers need to wear Anti-Life attuned helmets full time and the helmets the guards here are wearing don't have that function. In a way, this is worse. Justification is a violent process and in some cases is reversible. They've been receiving low doses of Anti-Life for long enough that it's distorted their souls. They're like.. Lowlies. Non.. people. Living shells.
Self=Null
Oh, they'll do what they're told, but they're dead inside. Did they have families? I hope not, because their capacity to relate to them is near nonexistent. Does whoever built this place not realise what it's doing to their own people? On Apokolips there would be a member of the Elite on hand to direct them, someone who was either resistant to the Equation or who had internalised it. Something's broadcasting the infernal thing here. And there's those cells. Conversion? Are they trying to master the Justification process? SHADE has enough superheroes under their control that-.

"Grayven to Batman."

"Go ahead."

"I don't know how, but SHADE has access to a small part of the Anti-Life Equation. I don't think I can give a full explanation of what that means… No one really understands it. Short version: it can be used as an extremely potent and sophisticated form of mind control. The soldiers in the lower parts of the facility have been altered by proximity to it and.. I'm.. looking at what look like holding cells."

"I'm at a SHADE construction site. There's some sort of antenna. The technology involved appears similar to samples of Apokoliptian technology I've seen before. Exactly how powerful is this Anti-Life Equation?"

"In its true state? Epically. Perfect, universe wide control of mind and spirit. But this is a tiny fragment… They won't be able to puppet the whole country with just a few antennae. But… Over time there would be appreciable behavioural alterations."

"Are you able to enter the facility?"

"I… I'm able to resist the effect better than anyone else you could call in. I'm not immune."

"Do you believe that the Anti-Life Equation source is still on-site?"

"It has to be."

"Destroy the place. If you can save any of SHADE's test subjects, do so. If you can gather further information, do so. But whatever it takes, remove the Anti-Life Equation from SHADE's control. I'll coordinate destroying the antenna with Hawkgirl and Green-" He hesitates for a fraction of a second. "-Lantern."

"Understood. Father Box, boom tube."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
05:11 GMT -7

Into the cell.

I take a Thanagarian energy weapon out of subspace as I fall through the boom tube. The soldiers snapped their guns level in unison the second it appeared, pointed directly at the aperture. Thin purple beams flash past me as I exit feet first at terminal velocity, flying past them and turning the aero discs up to full to prevent me slamming into the far wall. Those helmets mean that there's no chance that someone up the chain of command won't become aware of my attack the moment it happens so I'm not going to bother with destroying the alarms or anything like that. And there's also no point pulling my punches. I level the gun at the helmet of the furthest away and fire, the beam burning a hole through the centre of his helmet and into the skull beyond.
Self=Null

He falls and the others don't react at all.

I twist in the air while at right angles to the wall, spinning aside to evade the next volley. Their weapons are some sort of exotic particle projector. Powerful enough to hurt me but nothing like powerful enough to stop me. I aim and fire again and a second soldier goes down. No fear response from the others at all. The Thanagarian marines were controlled, their fear held -for the most part- in check. Here, there's no longer anything to trigger. It disgusts me.

I turn myself upright and their shots land. No real knockback but I can feel my chest armour start to deform as the confinement beam breaks and the exotic energy emissions are released. Nothing critical. I bring my gun up and fire twice, drilling them both through the head. Ring, locate monitoring systems.

On display, Corpsman.

No point cluing them in on the ring just yet. Shouldn't take them too long to compare my picture with that of the person who attacked Stryker's Island, but they won't know how well I can use it. Keeping an eye on the entrance point to the room I jog over to the closest guard. Getting his-.

The body jerks as a series of explosions go off, ruining that one! Ring! Self destruct devices to ruin their gear in the event of -damn it- their deaths. Inconvenient! Ring, monitor local communication traffic.
Self=Null

There isn't any. Odd.

No, not really. There's no need to organise people who've been Justified.

The camera drone feeds me a picture of the cell's interior. A black man… No, a black youth is bound by the sort of heavy metal force field reinforced clamps that they use to hold super strong people around here. No control collars. He's kneeling on the floor, slumped forwards with his arms held up behind him in what looks like it should be an extremely uncomfortable position. There are another set of clamps around the lower part of his legs and a full helmet over his head. Cables go from the helmet to-.
Self=Null
I know that rig. I run at the door shoulder first, using my aero discs and ring to transfer all of the energy of the impact into the door. It bends inwards before snapping
Self=Null
off at the roof and sides as the locking mechanism is comprehensively ruined.
Self=Null
I dash over to the bound man and rip the helmet off his head.
Self=Null
Then I rip it out of the wall for good measure. Who is this poor bastard? Are they grabbing people off the streets now? Identifying marks… Pierced right ear, now mostly healed over. Hair's short, greasy and generally unkempt and he's got a similarly untidy beard. I'd guess he's been here a while. Muscles haven't wasted though. I pull his head up a little with my right hand and pull open his eyes with my left, peering into his eyes. Unfocused and bloodshot. Father Box, any idea how long-?

Ploong.

Fuck. Darkseid has a connection to the Equation that lets him control the effects, but I doubt that anyone here can say the same. What were they thinking? Sentry duty. I form a disintegrator construct on my left arm, level it at the wall between us and the next cell and fire, causing concrete and steel to crumble to dust. Not exactly power efficient but the one advantage of my new ring is that I don't have to worry too much about power expenditure.

The next cell contains a slightly built blonde girl.
Self=Null
Her restraints are smaller but.. made of ceramics and Kevlar? Odd choice. I tear off the helmet even as I disintegrate a hole in the far wall and run through. The next prisoner is a blonde youth.
Self=Null
This one is held in place by orange glowing energy bonds. The generator has the squiggly line and circle hallmark of New God technology. I stomp it to scrap before removing his helmet. He collapses to the ground and… Ah, protean body. That makes sense.

"Uuh?"

Ring, monitor.

A wise directive.

I feel it as the eel drone opens fire on a troop of soldiers attempting to storm into the room. I wasn't quite sure if the Purple Death Ray would do much to someone afflicted by the Anti-Life Equation but I suppose that organic processes are still 'vital'. They've got some sort of force absorbing tower shield but the ray passes straight through it. The camera shows them starting to bring up grenade launchers as I disintegrate the cell wall and charge into the midst of them. Easiest thing to do in a situation like this is slam them into a wall hard enough to squish.

The helmet of the first grenade launcher carrying soldier deforms under my left palm as I press it into the far wall, the cloud of dust from the destroyed wall wafting into the corridor. The particulates might mess up their augmented reality vision but I'm not relying on it. Another soldier levels his gun at me at point blank range only for my left backhand to crush both his left arm and the left side of his chest. I raise my Thanagarian energy weapon in my right and shoot two soldiers who were further towards the cells in the back as they ignore me in favour of focusing on the drone. They go down.

No screams or whimpers.

A purple beam slays the last soldier on my right so I shift my attention left. The second grenadier aims at me for a second, then shifts his aim to-! I lunge forward, interposing myself between the gun and the hole! The grenade hits me solidly in the chest, rebounds and then detonates in a flare of brilliant white! Agh, fucking..! I turn away and raise my right arm to shield my eyes as the remains of the Thanagarian rifle drip through my fingers. The soldier is… Ow, he's gone. I think my eyes… No, still there. Overwatch.

Ow.

Urgh. I stumble back into the blonde youth's cell, flick the remains of the gun away and pi-. I don't pick him up because I'm still massively hot. I connect a filament to him and shove him into the room with the blonde girl, blinking my eyes… Okay, I can sort of see where I'm going now. I think that was an incendiary rather than a plasma explosive as I was worried it might be. Would probably have killed a Human, but it takes a little more to deal with me. Not enough flammables in the corridor to catch fire. Alright then. I dash back into the corridor, slam my hands into the far wall and disintegrate another hole.
Self=Null

Similar arrangement to the first bloke except that the clamps don't cover his hands. I crumple his helmet as I pass and slam both hands into the next wall. The last cell… It's empty. There's equipment for another prisoner here but they're not currently in situ. The restraints are lighter but the helmet looks far more sophisticated. They must be somewhere else at the moment. I take another Thanagarian gun out of subspace and shoot the helmet to slag just to be on the safe side.

Ring, can we get hold of Batman?

No. This facility can't block ring-to-ring communication, but it is proof against mere radio waves.

Darn it. Father Box, can you expunge the Anti-Life Equation from them yourself?

Ploong.

Okay, how about getting hold of Scott's Mother Box?

Ploong.

Glad to hear it. Assuming they're in more or less the same place I can-.

"Anti-Life justifies my-"

Bluegh?!

"-action."

I'm being.. enveloped by-. The metamorph. He's wrapping around me, but not actually trying to invade my interior. A fact for which I am profoundly grateful. He doesn't seem to be strong enough to lift me from my feet and is instead attempting to choke me. Ring, scan.

His physiology makes little sense, but the results are available.

Ugh. Agony Matrix.

He doesn't scream either, but he shudders and loosens. Excellent. If he reacts to pain at all then he isn't completely gone! I push outwards, pushing him far enough away that I can see his head. I grab his neck with my left hand -he's not completely protean then, just a sort of Elongated Man rip-off- and punch him as hard as I dare with my right fist. He shudders and loosens further, allowing me to completely break free and shove him into the cell wall. Another strike to the head and he goes still.

Okay. Father Box aagh!

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
05:17 GMT -7

I stumble across the cell, clutching the side of my head with my right hand. Ow! Whoever just did that fires again and this weapon has a little kinetic force behind it. My gauntlet armour takes the hit but I have to strain to keep it in place. Alright, who-? Guy from the previous cell. Either the elastic bloke released him.. or there was a remote release mechanism. And he's an energy projector. Vacant gaze, check. Justified. Which probably means that I'm going to have to fight the other two as well. No good deed -he aims for my head again and I interpose my bracer- ever goes unpunished. The bracer is more designed to take hits like ow. Like that. The energy bolt comes from his hand. Okay, I can work around that.

He doesn't back away as I dash towards him. No sense of self preservation anymore. Instead, he cups his hands and builds up for a more powerful blast. I grab his wrists with my right hand and shove them away, causing the blast to gouge the concrete wall of the cell. My left performs a carotid artery pinch. Ring, any idea what the other two do?

The heavy reinforcements in the bonds of the first suggest augmented strength of some sort. In the case of the second-.

The energy projector loses consciousness and I drop him. "No metal."

Yes. Either some sort of magnetic field manipulation or elementalism. Obviously, magnetic control would only enable her to manipulate iron, cobalt or nickel, though the electromagnetic flux itself might present a problem. If she controls metal more broadly she has vastly more options. The intensity of her ab-.

A spear-shaped piece of metal flies through the hole in the cell wall and strikes me in the chest. That's a relief. Sinestro's right, with these things you can never tell how strong the effect is. I felt that impact but it was far-. Another knife flies in and I batter it away with my right hand. Far weaker than she'd need in order to seriously threaten-.

Whoooooh!

Urg. Yep, black lad has super strength. Fine, I don't have to kid gloves this fellow. I pull myself out of the remains of the back wall and generate an Agony Matrix construct at the end of a filament before shoving it into his neck. And… And he's immune to pain. Wonderfough! And quite a lot stronger! I grab his wrists and shove his arms aside as he tries to punch me again before slamming my head forwards into his nose. It cracks, but that doesn't hold him back. Airways. Poison? Ring, generate strong knockout gas.

If you insist, Corpsman.

A filament shoves itself down his throat and a second later I hear a gasp of displaced air. Funny thing about super strong Humans, they seldom adapt their resilience to physical attack to other forms eergh. Owowow! Metal Manipulator Lass just hit me in the face with some sort of metal and she's doing her level best to insert it into my eyes, nose and mouth. I fortify my environmental shield and grit my teeth, forced to trust my divine aura to keep it out. I don't think having metal inserted inside me would actually kill me but I'm not sure how I'd get it out again. The pressure Strong Lad is exerting on me is dropping -which is good because I can't see well enough to judge the force I'm bringing to bear- so I opt to maintain my hold and go looking for her.

Still where I put her. Magnetic sense for remote targeting? Probably something like that. Using the drone I send another filament out and shove another dose of knockout gas down her throat. Another creepy thing about the Justified: no reflex actions. She doesn't choke or gag, she just keeps her arms up and pointed in my general direction -does she need to do that in order to manipulate the metal?- for as long as she can then collapses. Immediately I feel the metal harden on my face as Strong Lad loses consciousness as well and collapses into me. I shove him over with my right hand and grab at my metal facial with my left, pulling it away.

Huh. Actually looks kind of cool. Think I'll keep it. Subspace. Explore. I pick him up by his-. His vest rips. I pull him up by his underarms and wrap my right arm around his chest. Father Box, ping Scott's Mother Box.

Ploong.

Ping.

A small hologram of Scott appears to my left. "Grayven. Looks like you weren't lying about the Thanagarians."

"I'm full of surprises."

"I'm still not going to let you conquer the Earth."

I grab Blasty Hand Man with my left hand and lift him up as well. "Is that specific to me, or is it a general thing?"

"What are you doing with those people?"

"The reason I ask-" I start walking towards the next cell, hoping that Rubber Chap is still there and still unconscious. "-is that SHADE is using the Anti-Life equation. I've got four unconscious and Justified metahumans here."

"That's impossible. Darkseid's dead. No one else knows enough about how it works-."

"Scott, shut up. Someone has, okay? Bloody soldiers here have pretty much been Justified just by hanging around the crappy human equipment they're using to transfer it."

He pauses for a moment. "SHADE is already in control of all official metahuman activity in the US. Why would they want to use the Anti-Life Equation on them?"

"Maybe their employees liked being independent more? Maybe they want all metahumans, not just those willing to work for them? I don't know. Heck, I never understood why Father made such a point of using it whenever possible. The reason I'm calling is that you're the best chance these people have of getting their souls back."

"I'm.. not sure-."

"Scott, they haven't had full contact. I can still see emotional resonances inside them. They could… They can lead normal lives again. Please, I'm not asking this for myself-."

"I don't know if I can do it." He sighs. "I'll send you a set of coordinates. Boom tube them there."

Ploong.

"Thank you. They'll be with you shortly."

"So. SHADE?"

"We're looking into it. Frankly, if they've replaced the President with a mechanoid and they're using Anti-Life… Are you sure you won't reconsider my offer? I mean, it's not like I'm going to be worse than the people they've chosen to put over them-."

"No."

"Scott, I know I look more like Father than our other brothers, but that's a really petty reason-."

"It's not that. I've got a life here, Grayven. I like being an entertainer. With everything that's been going on I'm starting to think Barda and I need to get a bit more involved in what's happening-"

"Well then-."

"-but I'm not helping you take over. Just because they've made bad choices a few times doesn't mean they can't learn to make better ones."

"There's something you didn't learn in the X-Pit." He frowns. "No, really, I admire the way you overcame their attempts to condition you. Always have. Heck, you're the guy who inspired me to break free. Both of you have my respect."

"Huh. I hadn't realised-."

"And once I take over, I'm going to avoid killing you and Barda if at all possible."

"Uh. Thanks."

"I'm sending the first two through now." Father Box.

Ploong.

The tube opens and I walk through… Huh. Not Earth. Breathable atmosphere and.. slightly above normal Earth gravity. Barda scowls at me from about twenty metres away as I set the two of them down reasonably gently. I give her a wave before walking back through and picking up Rubber Chap and putting him over my shoulder. Metal Manipulator Lass should still be in her cell. I send a filament out into the corridor. No soldiers yet. Probably setting up somewhere. I jog through Rubber Chap's cell and into Metal Manipulator Lass's. Ring, quick check? Yep, basically healthy. Father Box.

Ploong.

A new boom tube opens to the same location. I could have opened it next to Barda, but I'm playing nice at the moment. I set the two of them down next to their cellmates, give Barda a formal bow and then step back.

Okay. What next?

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
05:22 GMT -7

And the lights are out. Bit odd. Doesn't really impede my vision, not with these goggles on. The augmented reality display the soldiers are using should allow them to see in the dark as well. Were the lights there for the prisoners, or for inspections by people not afflicted by Anti-Life? I stroll through the ruined cells and out into the corridor, following the route the eel drone indicated. My busy little drone has gunned down a few more soldiers but hasn't encountered any heavy opposition as yet. To be honest, evacuating seems to be their best bet. Still can't.. feel any fear from the people around me. A shame; at least if I could I would know where I was heading.

Okay. According to the old plans the cell room used to be accommodation, for use as a short term fallout shelter in the event of a nuclear exchange. At the end of this corridor is a junction room leading off to several more such rooms. I'll do a quick check-.

"Help me! Somebody help me!"

Sounds like there's at least one other person here. Young and female by the sound of it. 'Give me a child until he is seven' and all that. Right, no pressing hurry. I reach the junction and wait for another sound.

"Boo hoo!"

Ah. I take a turn to my left and set out at an even pace. 'Boo hoo'? Really? At least I might get some information out of this. The room I come to is the same design as the one I wrecked except that all but one door is open. Ring?

Not even locked, Corpsman.

Honestly. I walk over to it and press the button to open it.

"Who's there! I can't see in the dark!" Oh, for goodness sake. A girl of perhaps seven years old is crouched in the corner. She's not even tied up and the blue and yellow dress she's wearing is in perfect condition. She has bows in her hair. "I'm scared!"

"Hello there."

She turns her head in my approximate direction. "The mean men threw me in here then ran off. Are you going to let me out?"

I suppress a sigh. "Malice, knock it off."

"But I'm scare-."

"No, you're not." I raise my right hand slightly. "I can see fear. Quite aside from the fact that I know perfectly well who and what you are, a normal child would freak out even worse when a large man in glowing yellow armour walked in. Scream, probably." Her faux doe eyes begin to take on a harder and more contemplative look. "The door wasn't locked, you're not strapped in and you clearly haven't been Anti-Lifed. Well, no more than the rest of us. Your clothes and hair are too neat for someone who's been viciously manhandled and there are no tears on your cheeks."

She scowls. "You're no fun. Who are you, anyway?"

Ring, turn the lights in this room back on, would you?

I think I can manage that.

Miss Malice Vundabar blinks as the lights come on, then looks more closely at me before jumping to her feet in a truly child-like way. To be fair she is a child by New God standards. "Hm. You look a bit like Darkseid, Human. What's your name?"

"Please. I'm no more Human than you are. My name is Grayven, and I'm-."

"You're the one who told Uncle to fuck himself when he asked you for help."

"That does sound rather like me. What are you doing on Earth?"

"What are you doing on Earth?"

I take a moment to look at the Female Furies' youngest member. Then I step forwards, pick her up by her head with my right hand and slam her face first into the concrete wall. I give her just long enough to process that, then I do it once more before dropping her. "Slamming insolent little girls into walls." "Answer me."

She wipes away a trail of blood from her nose with the back of her right hand. "Granny wanted more warrior slaves. The Humans said they'd trade them with her for weapons."

"And the Anti-Life fragment?"

"We stole it from Desaad." She smirks. "But Granny couldn't make it work."

"Who did?"

"Why do you want him? He's boring." She looks up at me again. "Why haven't you come back to Apokolips? Everyone else has."

"Because it's a pointless meat grinder of a war. No one's trying to build anything new."

"But it's fun!"

"Darkseid would hate it. You're fighting over rubble while High Father Izaya looks on and laughs."

"We'll get to him in the end."

"No, you won't." I turn away from her. "Darkseid made you so you could barely conceive of doing anything actually worth while. You'll just keep maiming and killing until someone does it to you." "You're not worth my time."

"Oh, aren't I?" "Eat him."

I step through the doorway and reach backwards to lock the door again. "No, you're really-."

Teethteethteeth!

A yellow mouth guard forces its way into the maw of the.. shadowy thing currently trying to bite me in half. The purple holes that mark its eyes narrow slightly as the pointed purple teeth bite down harder, the very tips piercing my construct. What is this thing?

Ploong.

I was hoping for more than a name. Chessure opens its mouth wide and its face appears to shrink away for a moment before attempting to flank me. Ring, status of the lights in here?

Thoroughly broken. Though I would point out that you have-

I fire pulses of yellow light into Chessure's face but they pass through with minimal impact.

-a power ring on your finger.

"Light up the room."

Thin beams of yellow light radiate out in all directions, flow up the walls and terminate in lantern constructs. Suddenly illuminated from all directions Chessure's darkness patch shrinks to less then a metre across almost immediately and then continues to decay. Some sort of living darkness entity? Interesting. If I still had the orange ring I'd take a crack at branding or assimilating it-. The lights flicker for a second and the darkness patch takes the opportunity to dive into one of the cells.

"Leave my Chessure alone!" Miss Vundabar dashes out with knives in her hands. There's some sort of circuitry in the handles and I've no doubt they could do me a mischief.

I fold my arms behind my back in best Darkseid fashion and fire yellow beams of energy from my eyes, slamming her into the far wall and binding her there with a series of chain constructs. A filament from my right forefinger snatches her knives and deposits them in subspace. "What are you prepared to offer for its safety?"

She tries straining against the bonds, but I'm finally starting to get some feedback. Not sure whether it's because Chessure couldn't eat me or because I'm looking like Darkseid. In any case, the chains hold strong. "What do you want?"

"I want you to leave and never return. I want the name of the Apokoliptian scientist running this end of the operation. And-" I take a radion blaster out of subspace and take hold of it in my right hand. "-I want you to hold out your left arm."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
05:36 GMT -7

Yellow beams blast from my eyes and cut through the thick metal of the bulkhead. My drone is already cutting down the Justified soldiers on the far side and I wait patiently for it to finish before reaching forwards and shoving the freestanding plate to the ground.

I don't fight Lowlies. But there's one here I'll be only to happy to put out of my misery.

His name's Esak and I'd honestly never heard of him before today. But I can feel the fear coming from the room at the far end of this corridor. Miss Vundabar was kind enough to volunteer that there was one more metahuman test subject as well as the base's Director in there with him. I'm not sure why he hasn't just disengaged. I doubt that I'd be able to prevent a boom tube from forming and I'm certainly not going to rush. If they were confident of their preparations they wouldn't be afraid. So, an uncertain counter to my presence, and he's more afraid of returning a failure than they are of me.

Soon fix that.

I get an image of the interior. Three soldiers left, the containment unit for the Anti-Life fragment… The metahuman -a pale skinned black haired girl who looks about twelve- plugged into it. The yellow skinned midget genius himself. Father Box, boom tube. Kill the chaff.

There are thumps as the soldiers take glowing purple beams to the chests and collapse. This time I defuse one set of explosives and grab and subspace a set of the gear before the explosives can go off. Esak is fiddling with some sort of control panel but spares a moment to look up at me in obvious panic. A man in a suit charges me from my right, trying to grapple me. I hold out my right arm and force him back with little effort before turning my head to see exactly who… Oh, Director Bones. The skull face is a little off-putting, but he has only slightly augmented strength and I'm immune to cyanide. Not that Esak has thought to have him take his gloves off. Ring, just stun him.

There's a flash of yellow light and the Director collapses.

Are you leaving him alive because he is more important, Corpsman?
Self=Null

He'd have to have given Father Time status reports. That means Esak had to leave his mind and soul intact. Scott can handle him as he's handling the youths. Also, someone will need to take over what's left of SHADE when we're done.

"Esak. I'm here with your eviction papers. Earth is now off-limits. Go back to the brawl on Apokolips." "Get out."
Self=Null

"You can't stop me!" "No! No!"
Self=Null

I swing my right hand, throwing Miss Vundabar's arm at him. "Sure you won't reconsider?"
Self=Null

"Yes!"

…

"Is that 'yes, I'm going to leave' or 'yes, I'm s-."

"Hahhah!" He grabs a lever-

-and I shoot him through the chest with my radion blaster. Honestly. His remains collapse, his hands clamping around fucking fuck! I transition across the room and take in the control system. Father Box, analyse.

Ploong.

That's just wonderful. How about-?

SELF=NULL

…

U-uh-uh-uhhagh.

I… I…

SELF=NULL

Ploong.

I frantically start following Father Box's directions. I should be able to take a degree of exposure without critical identity loss, but-

SELF=NULL

Ploong.

-I can't take this foulness indefinitely. Every time it pulses, it's like I forget my own motivation. Every piece of factual knowledge is still there, but the schematic system that binds them all together and gives them meaning-.

SELF=NULL

I… I'm… I was…

SELF=NULL

For a second I feel a clear memory. My Gran. Not.. Granny Goodness or Queen Hegra. My actual-.

Ploong.

I'm Grayven. What would Grayven do?

The device is using the metahuman in place of sophisticated New God technology they don't have access to, forcing it into the universe around her. She would have been broadcasting it, using the antennae as local substations, but Esak just spent twenty minutes reconfiguring it to affect me.

SELF=NULL

For some reason I clearly picture my primary school's misery inducing outdoor swimming pool. Darkseid would have loved it. But… That's not helping me at the moment. I shake my head. Play… Play the role. I can reset it to broadcast. That would activate the antennae but take the heat off me. Or I can disconnect it and try tanking the full effect for however long it takes me to get it somewhere safe. First, reset the shielding around the source.

SELF=NULL

A little better. Father Box, any errors in the containment system?

Ploong.

A channel? Oh shit, I guess I should have left some of the soldiers alive. So, broadcast?

Scott bloody better put me back together after this.

Father Box, boom tube to the Source Wall.

Ploong.

"Do I look like I care! Do it!"

I decouple the cables linking the fragment to the metahuman. She slumps slightly in her restraints, though I've no idea if that's a good sign or not.

SELF=NULL SELF=NULL SELF=NULL SELF=NULL SELF=NULL

Anti-. Anti-Life-. Somewhere, someone staggers towards a hole in space.

SELF=NULL SELF=NULL SELF=NULL

Someone passes through into a void. They see lines of colossal figures, some light years tall. Behind them, still visible in places, the walls of a mighty and impenetrable citadel.

Fuck, it's getting to me.

SELF=NULL SELF=NULL

He can't remember-. FUCKING THROW IT NOW!

The containment unit flies from my hands. I'm not actually particularly close to the Wall, but I'm well within the 'it's a bad idea to be here' zone. The place exerts its own gravity on the souls of New Gods. Darkseid's obsessive behaviour and the New Genosians' pathetic worship.

SELF=NULL SELF=NULL

But-. But there's no one to affect here but Grayven. And he's not entirely here anyway. Fuck. Ring, it's not going fast enough. PUSH!

SELF=NULL SELF=NULL

The yellow beam blasts from my eyes, shoving the container as fast as I can manage towards the Wall. Don't get trapped. Don't get trapped. Don't get trapped.

SELF=NULL SELF=NULL

The space here doesn't make sense either. It should be… It's not… My metaphysique is too weak for me to understand. The container moves towards one of the radiant eyes of the trapped titans. Okay, that's close enough. I'll-.

I can't turn off my eye beams. Fuck. I'm being drawn forwards. Ooh this isn't good. Okay, removing the ring should force a shutdown. No, it won't come off. What else? If I were unconscious the ring couldn't operate. Shoot myself? No, with this much fear my environmental shield could probably block the shot. What then?

SELF=NULL SELF=NULL

Name. Before… There was a name. What was it?

SELF=NULL SELF=NULL

What was his name? What was..?

No. What is my name? I know my name.

"My name is Paul-."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Not sure
Give me a moment

This is getting old…

I push myself up off the gritty ground and check myself over. No new holes this time. Progress of a sort. Ring? Check. Father Box? Nnnnnot check. Huh. "Ring, where are we?"

Corpsman, this system is not on my charts.

Oh dear. Then again, I did just voluntarily leave the Earth. My cause was just, but if Gaea didn't count coming to Earth 50 as 'leaving Earth voluntarily' then this will certainly set it off. Irritating, but hardly disastrous. Okay. No Father Box means no boom tube until I can build one. Building one with a power ring and personal lantern is more a matter of time than…

Wait a moment. Not on your charts?

No one is more surprised than me, Corpsman. I had believed the Guardians' charts to be exhaustive.

Okay. What are the chances of us finding somewhere interesting by jumping from system to system?

If by 'interesting' you mean 'in contact with wider interstellar society', and given that you are immortal in the sense that you do not age, it is a guarantee that we would eventually reach 'somewhere interesting'. If you mean 'within a reasonable time span' it is impossible to say. I nod and keep looking around. Assuming a random distribution of inhabited systems and your intent to return to Earth in time to orchestrate the fall of SHADE, fairly low.

Alright, how about finding Father Box?

You'll have to do better than that if you want any sort of range, Corpsman.

He was attached to my armour. If he isn't right here someone removed him. Presumably, whoever… No tracks… You don't think we're inside the Source Wall, do you?

I lost external awareness when you lost consciousness. However, given the apparent normalcy of the physical laws it seems unlikely.

Glad to hear it. Now, up into orbit for a quick survey, then we can-.

BOOM!

Or not. I armour myself as I reorientate on the boom tube opening. Not just going to charge at it. Best case… Scott? Worst case, Grayven 50. Uh, no, worst case Darkseid 50.

Please don't be Darkseid 50.

A figure steps-. "Ah! Barda!" I bring my left hand up to cover the lower part of my jaw. "How are the children?"

"Scott's working on them." She's wearing her armour, Mega Rod in one hand, Father Box in the other. I don't like how close those two objects are together. Her face is impassive. Not seeing much fear…

"There were another two, in the final room. The senior SHADE agent and a girl. She was the telepath they were using as-."

"I know. I got them out after you left."

"Ah. Good." We stay looking at each other for a few moments. "Can I have Father Box back please?"

"Where is it?"

"It's-" I point. "-in your hand right there."

"The Anti-Life equation. It's not in your Father Box and it's not in you. Where did you put it?"

"The Source Wall." She reacts… Slightly. It's too little to be called a flinch. "Can I have-?"

"Why?"

"Because it was foul. Pressing against my soul, trying to make me not-be." I never really understood how 'equation equal reality' worked. The universe doesn't break if you write '2+2=7' but that thing was spouting… I frown. Something about… Not being a person? Huh. I can't… Clearly remember. I suppose I got off lightly there. "The Source Wall was the one place I could think of that it wouldn't be able to escape. Where no one else could get at it. I didn't want it on Earth or anywhere else."

"Huh."

"Why didn't you know where I was? It's not like you can just miss the Source Wall."

"Scott's Mother Box was tracking you. I didn't try following you, I just told it to open a boom tube and drop you here."

"Where are we, anyway?"

"You don't recognise it?" I shrug and shake my head. "This is one of the worlds Darkseid had Superman conquer for him. Apokolips isn't far. Easy for you to go home."

I shake my head again. "I'm not going to Apokolips. I've still got work to do on Earth."

She moves her Rod into the ready position. "Wrong answer."

"SHADE were going to use a piece of the Anti-Life Equation to Justify the citizens of Earth! They've probably still got what they need to establish some sort of spirit-crushing network. Batman was dealing with it when I left. I need to get back and make sure they don't try again. Barda, please. I don't want to fight you." Ring, plot course.

For a moment I was worried that you were going to rely on reason, Corpsman.

First resort of a civilised man, sole resort of the fool. No, wait, that doesn't sound right. A fool wouldn't… Oh, you get what I mean.

Indubitably, Corpsman.

"That's too bad. I've been-." Transition. "-looking-."

I appear right behind her and leap into the mouth of the boom tube, appearing in.. her home in Hartford. That was lazy.

"Back already? I though-." Scott looks up. "Oh."

"Seriously Scott: does she come with a clicker or something?"

"You might want to step away from-" Yep, I do. "-there, because-."

Barda charges back through, Rod at the ready.

I smile. "Nice place you got here."

"I will-."

Scott raises his hands in a warding gesture. "Not in the house, honey."

She trembles as she does her best to burn the flesh from my bones with her stare. I do my best to look harmless. "Scott, how are the children?"

"It's not going to be quick, but I should be able to help them. Except…"

"What?"

"The younger girl." He sighs. "She had more exposure than the others did, but more than that; her own metahuman power is slowly eating her brain. Even when I finish extracting the Anti-Life from her, I don't know how long she has."

"May be able to help there." He raises his eyebrows. "Turns out that Human soul structures are compatible with godhood. I've upgraded a few of my allies already and I'm more than happy to take a look at her."

Scott transfers his gaze to Barda. "Okay. Guess it can't hurt."

"But I'm going to need Father Box's aid." I hold out my right hand to Barda. "If you wouldn't mind?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
16:43 GMT -5

Scott lifts the goggles I gave him from his eyes and looks at me. I think he's impressed. "How did you learn to do that?" "That was amazing."

"I took Father Box from Desaad. Not all of his research was… Irredeemable."

"Ploong."

Scott's eyes drop to Father Box for a moment. "How badly injured?"

"Ploong."

"Is that even possible?" "You shredded your own soul?"

"Yes, though I wouldn't recommend it." "I went to a place in which they can't exist." "And it ended up not working; I was overconfident when I met Desaad and Darkseid found out anyway."

Barda looks at me with a little less hostility. "Scott. Will she recover?"

The younger girl lies on a New God technology medical bier. This version of Scott has long since reunited with Izaya and as such has access to whatever materials he needs. The upper part of the house looks much like his home on Earth 16 but the basement is a haven for alien technology. I'm familiar with all of-.

Ploong.

Alright, most of the devices here. I haven't built them, though. Not really much call for them on Earth… The other youths are lying on similar devices, which are both monitoring their condition and keeping them unconscious. Though Scott's done his best to wrangle out their remaining connection to the Anti-Life, it is far better to be safe than sorry with something like that. Plus, we've got to decide what we're going to do with them in the medium term.

"I think so. If I understand what Grayven's done properly, her power can't harm her anymore. In fact, she can probably purge the Anti-Life effect without our help."

She squints at me. "Why did you help her?"

I take a moment to look down at… Ace! They're the Royal Flush Gang! Can't believe it took me that long! She looks more relaxed now than she ever did in the animated series. Sweet, really. I don't usually like children… Should probably talk to Jade about the subject. Okay, she's only nineteen and she's going to be immortal so it's not like we'd be on a clock or anything… I reach down with my left hand and brush a strand of her hair from her forehead. "How could I not?" I look over to the secure cell containing the last guest. "Are you sure you want to be there when I talk to him? I can just take him to the Watchtower, you don't have to be involved."

Scott shakes his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"We wouldn't kill him. Even if he was there voluntarily at the start, being exposed to the Anti-Life is more punishment than anyone deserves. We'd get the information we need then hold him until a trial could be arranged."

"I've seen the people Batman sent to Arkham. What's left of them."

"Scott, those people were serial killers. Even Izaya would have-."

"Killed them? Maybe. But that was sick." "He took away what made them them."

"If you'd given Batman the technology for neural reprofiling I'm sure he'd have used it in preference." "I gave that up voluntarily myself. Sometimes that's what needs to happen." "But I don't think we're going to agree on that. Barda, would you mind staying with her?" I nod towards Ace… I should try and find out what her real name is. "In case she wakes up?"

She doesn't acknowledge me, but she does shift her attention to the girl. Alright then. Scott opens the cell door and leads the way through. I close it as I follow him in. Director Bones is strapped to a chair, minus his jacket and shirt. Despite the look of the thing it is every bit the medical instrument the beds in the other room are. In this case it will be monitoring his body's responses to our interrogation. It's also designed to disrupt supernatural abilities, and as such is having the rather odd effect of deactivating his partial invisibility. Without transparent flesh the only oddities in his appearance are the pale grey streaks under his arms where his cyanide-rich sweat has dried.

Scott taps his belt, causing his own costume to appear. "Mother Box, would you wake him up please?"

"Ping."

"Uruuh?" Director Bones' eyes flicker for a moment, then he becomes aware of his environment. The chair registers a slight hitch in his breathing when he blinks and for what is probably the first time in his life can't see anything. His mouth drops open slightly and whatever attempt he might have made to play dead falls by the wayside as his head jerks around. "Wha-?"

"Director Bones." I give him a nod. "Welcome back."

"I… I…" His head twists, his eyes unfocused. "There was a… A voice…"

"Try to stay with us. I took a rather significant risk getting you out. You were in the SHADE Rocky Mountain facility."

"Yeah. I… Ah… Bones. Senior Agent. Super-Human Advanced Defense Executive. Pay code BC seven four one two-."

"Oh, don't even. We're not at war and you're not a soldier. You know who we are?"

I don't get any recognition, but Scott does. Bones looks him over carefully. "Mister Miracle. From Apokolips."

Scott folds his arms across his chest. "New Genesis, originally."

"We know you took receipt of Apokoliptian technology from STAR Labs during the Luthor presidency. I know Mister Miracle just spent some significant time clearing Anti-Life out of your soul. I want to know what the hell's going on."

He takes a couple of heavy breaths, then squeezes his eyes shut for a moment. "Bones. Senior Agent. Super-."

"Ping."

A holographic representation of Senior Agent Bones' head appears over the back of the chair. "Our job was investigating all aspects of Apokoliptian technology, with a particular focus on military and paramilitary devices. Where possible, we were to attempt to reverse engineer it for US use."

"The hell?" He tries to turn but between the straps and the chair he can't move his head around far enough.

"We have ways of making you talk. The chair's basically modelling your mind at the moment. I don't bear you any personal grudge, but I do need the information."

He breathes out through his teeth. "After the Justice Lords took over, we switched to running dark. Father Time had us researching technologies to break their control. Weapons wouldn't cut it; good people were working for them and we didn't want to cause a civil war. When…" He hesitates, looking slightly puzzled. "What we had wasn't enough to develop anything like that. We needed-."

Scott frowns. "You contacted someone on Apokolips."

Senior Agent Bones nods. "We'd had a look at the Parademon corpses early on. Their brains… They should have been intelligent, but all their reported behavior was like some sort of near-feral beast. They had the capacity for higher reasoning, they just couldn't use it."

"Who did you get hold of?"

He shakes his head. "Oh, it wasn't me."

"Who was it?"

"It was…" He looks puzzled. "It… It was… He was…"

Anti-Life. He's disassociated what he did while under the influence. "Who answered?"

"Some British-sounding guy. He gave Father Time something and he ordered us to focus on it. After a while the guy in charge-."

"What was their rank?"

"Senior Agent."

"How many Senior Agents were there in the facility?"

"Just one. Anyway, he brought in an Apokoliptian scientist. Little yellow guy. Early on we wanted to see if we could control specific individuals. Get one of the Lords or someone close to them. Wouldn't work with the Manhunter, but he hardly ever left the Watchtower. But… Later on, the plan changed."

"To what?"

"I.. don't.. remember…" He looks up at me. "I know I read the orders, but I… I can't remember…"

"Where did the metahuman test subjects come from?"

"Military training facility somewhere. Families signed them over. We needed to check it even worked on metahumans before we moved onto oh God." His eyes widen and the grey starts to trickle down his body once more. "He was going to use it on everyone. Make-make sure the coup couldn't ever happen again. Why was I..?"

I nod. "And the President?"

"What?"

"Scott?"

"Ping."

"He really doesn't know."

"Okay, Senior Agent Bones. Let's start talking details."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
17:08 GMT -5

Scott helps Senior Agent Bones up as I leave the cell. Even thinking about his time under high-level Anti-Life exposure takes it out of him. I can relate, actually. Hopefully he'll be able to tell us more later, once he's had time to process the event. Fuck. Father Time was rotating the guards. Given the size of the base's complement there could well be thousands of Justified SHADE soldiers out there, and you better believe they're not going to listen to a command to stand down after I deal with Father Time. Scott's going to have to hunt down every single one and purge them. On the very limited bright side it sounded like Father Time wasn't able to internalise the thing. Still not completely sure how Gonzo got here, but I suppose that isn't a primary con-.

"…your name, child?"

Ace is awake and freaking out. She's hiding behind the bier Blasty Hand Man is resting on, peeking out at Barda as she kneels down and tries to persuade her to come out. How resistant is Barda to telepathy? I'm not really worried for myself… Well, maybe in a few years once the Awakening has really gotten hold, but at the moment she's not going to be stronger than Chester and I can keep him out no problem.

"M-m-m..?"

Barda isn't good at maternal. I can see her struggling to prevent herself storming over there and pulling the poor girl up by her hair for showing such weakness.

"Barda, she's a telepath. If you ease up on your mental defences-." Ace stares at me for a second, then charges out from behind cover and.. runs at me and.. wraps her arms around my waist..? Huh. I put my left hand on her back and awkwardly rub the top of her head with my right. "Okay. You're free now. You're never going back."

"Where am I?"

"You're at my brother's house in Hartford, Connecticut. We needed to make sure that there was nothing left of the Anti-Life Equation-" She grips tighter, pressing her face into my armour. "-inside you."

"Hey, you made a friend." Scott helps Senior Agent Bones over to the now empty bier.

"It happens sometimes." I pull away slightly in order to kneel… To sit down in front of her. I smile, trying to get her to look directly at me. "My name is Grayven. Will you tell me yours?"

"I'm-." She cuts off suddenly, shrinking in on herself. "I'm subject four. Subject four. No one else."

And then I see it. Tiny… Father Time might not have been able to internalise the Equation, but she could. You can tell the damage a tractor has done to a field of wheat by the broken stalks left in its wake. The damage a supervillain's rampage has caused by the burning cars, cracked pavements and spurting fire hydrants. Likewise, while there is no Anti-Life left in her I can perceive the passage of the thing. Given time, that could call it back.

And I'm not fucking having that.

Conqueror's Pride. The girl cringes for a second, no doubt a response conditioned from long hours of Anti-Life exposure. When Zatanna's magic healed me, she channelled raw and unrefined arcane energy into me. What I force into the girl is formatted, shaped to the God of Conquest. The disgust at the notion of bowing my head, the urge to grow in power and authority. The absolute rejection of the idea of being controlled by another. Strictly speaking, this is an attack. I'm forcibly altering her nascent divine nature.

Better me than Anti-Life.

The structures shift… And the patterns are gone. Oh good.

Ploong.

Ugh. Uoh, that took quite a bit out of me.

The girl isn't clinging any longer. She's holding me, but there's a firmness to her posture that there wasn't before. Behind her, Barda stares at me, customary hostility replaced by astonishment.

"Feeling better?"

"A.. bit? I-I think?"

I give her another smile and this time she responds a little. "Shall we start again? I'm-."

"Grayven. And I'm Lynne. Lynne Wayland. I felt you when you destroyed the machine." She turns away slightly, taking in Scott and Barda. "What are they doing to the others?"

"Making sure that they're free of it too." I stand and gesture at Senior Agent Bones. "Even him. The use of Apokoliptian technology takes this far beyond normal government brutalism. Now, I need you to stay here and cooperate with my brother and sister-in-law while I finish off SHADE. Can you do that for me?"

"I think so." She pulls away, looking at each of her fellow victims in turn. "Then what happens?"

"I… Don't know, I'm afraid. Given your power as a telepath… Probably 'whatever you want'. Scott?" I look at him. "I need to get going. Batman and the others were going to hit SHADE broadcasters-."

He shakes his head. "Already happened. It was on the news. They hit seven targets then got away before SHADE's agents could reinforce them. Grayven, can I talk to you for a minute before you go?"

"Sure." I pat Miss Wayland on the back and she takes a step towards Strong Lad. I don't remember what number playing card he was supposed to be. Scott leads the way up the stairs and I follow him back into the main body of the house. As we pass into the upper hallway his costume fades from around him, leaving him in Human clothing. Not much point me doing that. "What is it?"

"I still can't work out if you're playing an angle on this."

"Of course I am. I told you exactly what it was."

He shakes his head. "You shared part of your soul with her. That doesn't get you anything."

"In ten years it gets me an Elite telepath." I wince at my own off-the-cuff response. "No, sorry… That's.. not why I did it. I hate the Anti-Life. It is a foul and repugnant blight upon the universe and I will not willingly see it win even the smallest victory. I would not see a young girl slain before her time by such malevolent callousness. I'm not Darkseid, I don't cripple my followers. I exalt them, I help them acquire the greatest power they can wield."

"The carrot rather than the stick."

"Just so. And when I take over this world, that is how I will rule it."

He sighs. "Still planning on doing that, huh?"

"It's the only logical response. I doubt the American government are the only ones doing things like this. I may not be able to compel global obedience but I can make the penalty for non-compliance be that they fall too far behind all their rivals to compete."

"Not much of a choice."

"That's because they keep making bad ones. Scott, I would still like your help. Ifff not with my regime, then at least with finishing SHADE off."

"We'll see."

I grin, then lunge at him and clasp him to my chest. "Thank you."

"'oo're wukum?"

This location would already be marked if anyone were watching. And the fact that the Lords still exist is now common knowledge. Father Box, Boom Tube. Straight to the Watchtower.

Ploong.

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
22:16 GMT

I stride out into Operations-

"-Chay-Ara! It doesn't even have the same root word!"

-and shut the boom tube down.

John glances back at me and then returns his attention to the main screen. "Just try and put up with him."

Shayera exhales heavily, then cocks her head to the side. "Some men get annoyed when someone else shows an interest in their mate."

John smiles. "I've got nothing to worry about."

"Hmn. Hawkgirl out."

John presses a button to terminate the connection, then turns to me. "And where have you been?"

"The Source Wall. It was the only place I could think to put the Anti-Life fragment. Had to knock myself out to avoid getting stuck. Then, stopped off at my brother's house to make sure that the children we rescued from the SHADE base were going to be okay. We also had an enlightening chat with the Senior Agent in charge of the place." He nods. "How did the attack go?"

"We hit every site Shayera and Batman could locate, wrecked the equipment and fell back. Best of all, no one died."

"I wouldn't be too happy about that."

He gives me a mild frown. "Why not? This is the first chance I've had to do something heroic since that parallel Luthor destroyed my power ring."

"If a person's been exposed to Anti-Life long enough, it doesn't go away. Somewhere out there are a company or more SHADE soldiers who are already… Hollowed out."

"Can they be fixed?"

"You could create a new person with some of their memories in their body if you wanted. Seems a bit.. perverse…"

"Is there a way for the rest of us to tell who's been affected?"

"Not ones that are practical in a combat situation." Hm. I lower my goggles and take a good look at his metaphysique. Developing nicely, but I doubt he'd be able to sense low level infections quite yet. "It would probably be easier to leave it to Scott once we've overthrown the President and killed Father Time."

"Horne was the one who got elected. The robot's just a fake."

"No. No. Do not take this away from me. I'm the only person on the team who hasn't overthrown a president yet. I'm feeling left out!"

He shakes his head in irritation, but there's a small smile on his face. "That's not the sort of thing you're supposed to feel good about. Besides, I'm not sure we really need to overthrow him."

"Why ever not?"

"We took out the Anti-Life Equation broadcast system. Can they get hold of more Anti-Life?"

"Almost certainly not."

"And even if they did, they'd have to rebuild the distribution system. There's no way they could hide that from us."

"I.. suppose… I agree that there's no need to rush. The problem is, Gonzo can alter his appearance again. All SHADE have to do is keep an eye on likely future Presidents and have him replace them at a suitable moment in the campaign. Or after they take office. And leaving that aside, you've still got the risk of them using what material they've got left to Anti-Life a few of their more powerful agents. I imagine that Kara would have been first through the process once they had it perfected."

He nods, evidently reluctant. "How do you think we should play it?"

"Will there be some sort of memorial service? A public acknowledgement of what Kara, William and Kyle did in Libya?"

"There's a ceremony planned in DC, but it's scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. That's not a lot of time to prepare."

"I'm confident of my ability to destroy Gonzo. Father Time's a bit iffier. I don't know enough about what he can do." Black Adam killed him easily enough in the comic… If I had access to the orange ring I'd assimilate him just to be sure that I wasn't missing something.

"And then?"

I shrug. "Then I give my potential Justice League members a chance to triumph over the evil alien demigod and leave. Come back here and then take a.. dimensional window thingy back to my cell."

"They might not be so keen to let you leave."

"With a power ring I can move at faster than light speed. Does Kyle know how to block power ring FTL?"

"Hm. He didn't three hours ago."

I give him a small smile. "Ran into him, did you?"

"Yeah. Was he ever surprised."

"How'd it go?"

He holds up his right fist. "I've got beams and simple shields-."

"So basically all the things you ever used?" He gives me a look. "I.. may have heard Lantern Tui's observations about your skill level. You know, I can give you some pointers-."

"Kyle likes fancy constructs too. Shame they weren't stronger. You want me to show you my 'skill level' we've still got a sparring arena."

"Ordinarily I'd leap at the chance to put a Greenie in his place, but… Ugh, I need to get something to eat and then get started on the rest of my drone swarm. Maybe after we've dealt with SHADE. Does this place have a fully stocked kitchen?"

"Yeah, but so does the Thanagarian Command Carrier. Shayera wants to introduce us to the joys of Thanagarian cuisine."

"It's twenty past ten. Haven't you eaten already?"

"We're all on Eastern Standard Time. I was just waiting until Batman got back to head over. You in?"

Thanagarian food… Ring?

Perfectly palatable, Corpsman.

Right, only you were Korugarian. I doubt that our sense of taste is the same.

Very well. I'll upload my database.

Ooooh.

"John, do you know anything about Thanagarian food?"

"No, but I know the foods Shayera eats. I don't think it'll be a problem."

I regard him carefully for a moment. "O-kay. Is Zatanna joining us?"

He nods. "She's over there already. According to Shayera the ship should be shipshape-" The teleportation platform activates and Batman materialises. "-in a couple of days."

"Well then. Best not keep them waiting."

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th January 2004
23:46 GMT

"…just handed it to me!"

"Hahaha!"

John's grinning despite himself. "And the next thing I know, this huge grey guy with a horn coming out of his face shoulder-checks me through a table!"

Zatanna snorts and Doctor Gardner smiles as he shakes his head.

Shayera is unapologetic. "You should have seen your face when I pointed you out to him." She stares at her fork, pantomiming an expression of utter cluelessness.

"Yeah, yeah."

I don't know exactly what this stuff we're eating is, but actually? The texture and taste are okay. I've certainly had worse at restaurants before now. It's some sort of stew, though the colour is a little.. purple? I think all the Humans at the table breathed a sigh of relief when Shayera said that while the meat was traditionally supposed to be chemically cooked in the creature's own digestive juices, they didn't have any of those on board. Some civilian vessels from advanced civilisations either have their own gardens or use a form of animation suspension to keep things fresh. Thanagarian military vessels don't have those sorts of luxury.

Ooh, now I'm remembering that time where my parents and I went down to the harbour and I had chilli pasta and ended up needing to down the whole water jug. Ah, a pleasantly non-Grayven memory. I don't know if it was the Anti-Life or the relaxation, but my pre-Earth 16 memories seem to be coming to the fore more than they had been for months.

Gardner's wearing a restored Thanagarian uniform, presumably created using Katar Hol's grave goods for the Nth metal and modern tailoring for the cloth. Every so often Zatanna's eyes drift to his chest, but the rest of us are pretty much used to it. He started this conversation when Shayera asked what Chay-Ara was like. Turns out? Much less aggressive than our Hawk. I'll need to get a scan of Chay-Ara's skull to do a facial reconstruction to know what the physical resemblance is like; at the moment his artificial memories of her just aren't reliable enough.

Shayera waves her fork at me. "What about you? Any good stories you wanna share about you and.. Jade?"

"Ah… Well. Jade is a member of…" I frown. "Your version of Ra's al Ghul. What's his organisation called?"

"The Society of Shadows. You mean she's an assassin?"

"Yes. She's the daughter of two supervillains: Huntress and Sportsmaster."

"Sportsmaster?" Shayera turns to John. "Wasn't that the guy we ran into in Seaboard City?"

"No, that was Sportsman. Your guy doesn't wear a football uniform, does he?"

"No, his body armour had a fairly sensible design. And most of his weapons were only 'sporting equipment' in fairly broad terms: swords, explosive javelins and discuses, a little plasma gun designed to look like a crossbow. By baseline Human standards he was a highly skilled mercenary. Long story short; a job the two of them were on went badly and Huntress ended up paralysed from the waist down and in prison. Jade… Well… Sportsmaster was a fan of the Spartan style of child rearing."

My fellow diners make eye contact with one another and John loses. "He beat her?"

"Yes, but he did it because he was trying to train them. Her and her sister. After their mother went to prison Jade left home and joined the League of Shadows. The training wasn't any easier, but she told me that the people there were nicer. And there was a mutual respect she didn't get at home."

Shayera nods. "How old was she?"

"Thirteen. Anyway, she was nineteen when I met her. The League were trying to assassinate a nanotech expert my team and I were looking after."

She smiles. "And your eyes met over crossed blades..?"

"No, it was actually a really short fight. I basically pounded her colleagues to mush then let her run away. I mean, I had augmented strength, toughness and a power ring. They had glue guns, knives, and one of them had replaced his right arm with a crane?" I shake my head. "That still makes no sense to me. I tracked her down to a safe house later and she agreed to act as my source inside the League."

"How did you go from interrogating her to dating her?"

"I'm still not completely sure. Though, I think the fact that I killed her father about a minute after meeting him for the first time had something to do with it." That gets a few eyebrows. "She did completely hate him. Anyway, working for the Shadows, we don't fight alongside each other much. Only time we have so far was when Darkseid decided to throw me a challenge match. If my friends and I won, he'd leave the Earth to me. If we lost, we'd be too dead to worry. Jade was carrying a piece of Star Conqueror based technology her boss wanted the League to take possession of. The Apokoliptians were supposed to attack us to make it look like an ambush, but they decided to stop playing by his rules and make it an actual attack."

Zatanna 50 looks curious. "I'm assuming one of these friends was your Zatanna?"

I nod. "On our side, Superboy, Mat-."

"Your Superman has a son?"

"No, our Luthor just had better luck with cloning than yours did. Same with Match. Then there was Rocket, Miss Martian-. Our Mars is still fully inhabited. Robin-" I open my hands towards Zatanna 50. "-Zatanna, Kid Flash, Celestial Archer, Artemis and Aqualad. Jade and Riddler were there as bait, but when the Apokoliptian leader said what the stakes were I convinced Aqualad to permit me to release her. On the Apokoliptian side, Devilance the Pursuer, two Gravi-Guard, two flights of Aero-Troopers and quite a lot of Parademons."

"Does Jade have super powers?"

"Not yet, but I gave her a shot of something called 'Velocity Ten'. It grants short term super speed. That, plus a few x-ionised blades and she was ready to go." I sit back slightly. "I wish I could have seen more of the fight, but I was rather occupied."

Shayera nods. "I remember when we killed our version of Devilance. His spear's powerful."

"Oh no, Kon and Match took him on. I got to fight a Brimstone class plasma servitor."

"The giant radioactive robot?"

"Ours was a walking sun. The only vulnerable point is the techno-seed in its chest that serves as its control system. Anyway, Jade got busy slaughtering any Parademon stupid enough to land -something my team mates refused to do- while I had to work out how to harm an object at the core of a star. Without the star incinerating everyone around me. I ended up using the orange power ring to generate magnets powerful enough to force Brimstone's body to deform so that I could get at it. Once I had a link to the techno-seed I ordered the thing to be passive, picked it up, flew it to the edge of the star system and set it to shut down after I left." I frown. "Should probably go back at some point and make sure that the techno-seed didn't survive."

Shayera nods. "And what did Jade do after she finished off the less intelligent Parademons?"

"She went after the Gravi-Guard. Cut one up before they knew they were under attack. Unfortunately, the other realised more or less what was happening and dramatically increased gravity around it. At the speed she was going… She fell, then got her legs mangled. I fixed them up afterwards, but they must have been incredibly painful." I look away for a moment. "I need to nag her again about getting super powers permanently when I get back. Anyway, Kon and Match dealt with Devilance easily enough."

"How come?"

"Brimstone was a walking sun. A walking yellow sun." John nods, while Shayera bows her head with a snort of laughter. "I don't think Devilance realised quite how stupid he was being. Not until after they broke his fingers, stole his spear and punched him out. Our Zatanna spent most of the fight keeping everyone from getting incinerated or irradiated by Brimstone just being there. She also restored the area to mint condition after we were finished. It turns out that planets aren't really meant to have suns walking on them."

Zatanna 50 looks curious. "How powerful is she?"

"She has your natural ability, New God soul structure and a Lord of Order as a teacher. I'm not sure exactly, but I'd say 'very'. Okay. Joseph-."

He winces slightly. "Could you please call me Katar?" He sighs. "I know you think I'm just-."

"Fine, it's fine. Katar. Any good stories about ancient Egypt?"

He smiles slightly, then nods. "One or two. Let's see… It was about a year after we first landed…"

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th February
11:14 GMT -5

I take a moment to check my watch before ringing the doorbell of the Beecher residence. Just one of the many ways in which real life is different to comics: people have extended families. And parents. Reverend Grace Beecher is the local Episcopal vicar. No, wait, they call them… Ministers.. or something, don't they? Her husband Dylan is a gardener. Anyway, Karen thought that she might want me to give a talk to the local churchgoing parents on the subject of meta teens and sure enough the Reverend invited me around for a chat. Um. I didn't quite lie to her. I am fully qualified to provide entry level counselling to newly empowered metahumans, even ignoring the power ring aspect. Public speaking doesn't bother me any longer. It's just… I really don't have any sort of connection to the local community. I don't even shop around here any more.

I hear footsteps on the far side of the door and a moment later Reverend Beecher opens the door. "Hello! You must be Paul."

She holds out her right hand and I shake it. "Reverend. Pleased to meet you."

"Oh, call me Grace." She backs up slightly. "Come in, come in."

"Thank you." I step forward into the house.

She leads me in the direction of the living room. "Did you have a long trip?"

Only a couple of miles from the mountain. "No, not really."

"Karon said you were a.. metal trader?"

"That's the bit of what I do that I get paid for, certainly. But it isn't what I spend most of my time doing."

"Oh? So what do you do?"

"Various things. My work with metahumans takes up some of my time, though.. sad to say, they usually come to my attention when they're already involved in the criminal justice system."

"That's a shame. Take a seat?"

I sit down in an armchair. "Thank you. You see, there isn't… Metahumans are such a small percentage of the population that.. outside of war time, it just isn't worth the government putting any sort of outreach program into effect."

"What about private programs?"

"I work for… Well, volunteer, for a charitable organisation, but its income just about covers its operating costs. There's no way it could manage any sort of outreach work. A few businesses have expressed interest in the past… Then they hear what the hit rate is like and decide to put their money somewhere else. Apart from the ones who're looking for a superhero to sponsor and we.. really don't like dealing with them."

"Why not?"

"Do you have any idea what the mortality rate for rookie superheroes is? Because I do. So many people think they can do a few self defence classes -or do a tiny amount of practice with their innate powers- and go out and take on people armed with guns. A lot of metahuman abilities aren't even all that useful in a fight, most are less useful than a gun would be. And that's not even getting into the legal issues associated with vigilantism."

"I guess superheroes and supervillains are what most people think of when they hear 'metahuman'."

I nod. "But… Like in a lot of things, the ones you hear about don't represent the largest part of the community."

She nods. "How do people usually find out that their son or daughter is a metahuman?"

"Any number of ways. Sometimes there'll be a physical alteration which is visible when they.. go in for an ultrasound scan. Sometimes it won't get picked up there, but there'll be something obvious at birth. We sometimes get calls from obstetricians who want to check that an apparent deformity is just that and not something more exotic. I don't.. usually handle those myself. For those abilities which manifest later-."

"I'm sorry, do you know what proportion that is?"

"I know what proportion it is of the cases we deal with. There isn't any sort of.. nationwide register, so I can't tell you what actual proportion they represent. As far as we know, it's probably less than a hundred each year in the United States."

"Okay, what about abilities that show up later?"

"Some are active nearly immediately even though they don't look different from other people. There's an eight year old girl I met who was always unusually strong. Other abilities only kick in at puberty. Though that's.. all leaving aside abilities which come purely from external sources."

She nods again. "Do metahumans face any sort of discrimination?"

"No, not really. I don't know if it's because the strongest associations are positive ones… All the work superheroes do… Or because people just regard it as a medical thing. The only significant hostility comes from medical professionals."

"Why do you suppose that is?"

"They have to deal with all the idiots who try ingesting dangerous substances in the insane belief it will give them superpowers rather than kill or maim them. There's been a resurgence of that lately."

"Why would anyone do that to themselves?"

"Plastic Man joining the Justice League, basically. He got an amazing power in an industrial accident and that fact got leaked to the press. He ended up having to do a press conference to remind journalists what usually happens when someone does that, but even so a lot of people have taken it upon themselves to try following his example. Anyway, doctors also have to deal with the fact that metahumans don't always respond in the usual way to medical intervention and sometimes lose the ability to precisely control themselves when they're injured or ill. And because in an emergency they don't always know if the person they're working on is a metahuman."

She nods again. "You told Karen metahumans can't give blood. Is that why?"

"Pretty much. They can't predict… Because there's no such thing as 'metahuman blood', just the blood of a particular metahuman. The studies that have been done show that in a lot of cases, blood taken from a metahuman will behave exactly the same as any blood of the blood group."

"But not always."

"No. And most national blood services impose a general ban as a precaution."

"How would someone find out that they're a metahuman?"

"Usually, the first manifestation of their powers. There are blood tests for known markers -those are what the blood service use- but they only work on known markers. Even the companies who offer the tests to people who send in samples make it clear that they can only tell people if they are, never that they're definitively not. Some universities have programs where they'll try more intensive approaches, but those usually only want to deal with known positives."

"How long does it usually take for a metahuman to learn to control their powers? That.. girl you mentioned with super strength, for example."

"That answer changes for every example. That girl had near-perfect control from the start. When she was very small she accidentally crushed a few things and involuntary actions are still a problem, but a fairly minor one. A lot of metahumans have an intuitive understanding of what they can do. Others have to learn their triggers. The tricky ones are the ones governed by emotional states. The people who get those often never get complete control."

"What happens if someone gets a power they don't want?"

"Usually, they can simply choose not to use it. Failing that, there are suppression collars for certain types of ability, though those make you look like a Belle Reve inmate and they're fairly expensive. At the moment, there's so many ways a person can get powers that there's no way to remove all of them. Heck, most of them simply can't be removed without radically altering the person in a way that's beyond medical science."

She nods again and sits back. "Thank you. I found that very interesting. Would you be willing to give a talk on the subject in the church hall? We've got a space in the schedule two weeks on Wednesday."

"I'd be happy to."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th January 2004
09:57 GMT -5

Unlucky for some.

I watch as the guests take their seats in the garden below me. The stage is literally set for the President's speech. Heck, Lantern Rayner, Kara and William are attending in person, making awkward small talk in a White House drawing room while they wait to be ushered out. As a result I'm forced to watch from orbit, above the gaze of observation satellites and too far away for anyone to easily detect. Ideally I'd be watching this through a hush tube window, waiting for the most dramatic moment to barge in and ruin things. Unfortunately, building my new drone squadron and making the Thanagarian Command Carrier shipshape took up enough time that I couldn't justify spending the time required to create a hush tube generator merely to look cool.

Father Time's lurking around, taking frequent calls from his subordinates as he tries to keep his concern from showing. He's got good self discipline but whatever he is he's still susceptible to yellow light scans. He's definitely worried. Gonzo, I can't get a read on. Could be that this version isn't mentally complex enough or it could be some form of Apokolips tech scrambling. It's also preventing me getting a good scan of his interior, though the ever-present whiff of Anti-Life is unmistakable. Doesn't really matter, I'll have to kill him anyway. Richard's down there too, disguised as an usher. He hasn't deigned to reply to the messages we've been sending him. Not sure where he stands.

The only one I want here who isn't is Ms Harmon. She dosed herself with the formula as planned, gained the expected celerity and has been practising with it, in out of the way places where the chance of being spotted by the local SHADE office is kept to a minimum. I suppose I was putting a little much hope into the idea of a rookie superhero suddenly turning into League material. It's not as if seven is a magical number or anything, and she can always join up later. Perhaps Oracle could claim the spot. Zatanna would almost certainly be interested as well…

Batman, Shayera and John are watching from the Watchtower while Doctor Gard-. While Doctor Hol keeps watch on the Thanagarian Command Carrier. Shayera and John took him back to the original Katar Hol's tomb while I was busy droning up and I think he accepts intellectually the idea that he isn't a reincarnation. Certainly Chay-Ara's face was clearly different from Shayera's once the reconstruction was complete. Perhaps the problem was something to do with an imprecision in the transfer process? That thing was designed for Thanagarian minds rather than Human ones. Can't help but wonder if there's a reincarnating version of him back on Earth 16 as well as the alien version.

An usher walks into the room containing the three superheroes and says something, prompting them to file out. Rayner's in his field uniform. Looks weird with that sort of.. eye symbol replacing the normal green sigil, but otherwise it's the regulation black and green. Unarmoured -sigh- and without other technological improvements. Don't really know how good a Lantern he is.

Surprisingly good.

Yeah, if I'd had my arse kicked by a rookie that's what I'd say too. It's like Doombots or Darkseid -I mentally air quote- Avatars. Anything to pretend that it didn't count.

Corpsman, your attitude-.

John beat him without a ring. Besides, I'm aiming to lose.

Sinestro 12 fought in his Silver Age black bodysuit with blue decoration. I've redesigned my own armour with a more modern look in mind. Regal looking, if ostentatious. Makes it clear that I've mastered the yellow ring though. And I think the gold suits my grey skin better than it did Sinestro's dark pink.

Anyway, Kara's in what I think is a SHADE dress uniform while Billy is in his red, white and gold ensemble. Really, he's the only one standing up for bright and primary coloured superheroism. And that's why -whoever else we don't get- he needs to join up. And -ugh- several of the people doing security work are pinging my Anti-Life sense. Justified. I'm not seeing any serious firepower down there, aside from what the superheroes are packing. Oh, there's air cover from the US air force and those missiles would certainly hurt, but none of this is anti-super… Supervillain quality.

Ah, the robopresident's starting. He's actually a better public speaker than the real President Horne, though he has most of the mannerisms off pat. May as well listen. Ring?

"…fellow Americans, distinguished guests. We're here today in gratitude for our deliverance from the alien threat that came very close to destroying our world and everyone on it. The Thanagarians came to Earth claiming to be the allies and protectors of its people when in fact…" He takes a moment to make eye contact with a few cameras from the more notable news agencies. Real Horne never did that. His speeches are dry and factual, verbal essays taking you to his conclusion without doing anything so base as arousing interest. He was also careful never to use religious imagery. In America of all places. "They were here not merely to destroy us, but make us complicit in our own destruction. If it were not for the swift intervention of the forces of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing-" He gestures to the right side of the audience, where the front few rows are filled with air force personnel in their dress uniforms. The Major General in charge of them is behind him on the stage. "-and for the three individuals we are here to honor today, they may well have succeeded. Ladies and Gentlemen-" He gestures to his left. "-Supergirl, Green Lantern and Captain Marvel."

The three of them walk on. Kara's face is deadly serious. She's not-? No, no feel of Anti-Life. Guess she's just playing the order-following SHADE agent role to the hilt. Kyle looks impressed. First week back on Earth and he's getting patted on the back by the President? No reason why he wouldn't be. He's quite a bit younger than me. So's Kara, but I'd expected that. Kyle's been a Lantern as long as I've been reading comics. Finding out that he's twenty four here was a surprise. Captain Marvel has a belt rather than a sash but otherwise he looks identical to his alter ego. Even carries himself in the same way.

The audience applauds. Hardly any of them stare at Kyle. I mean, he is coming to a country where the last Green Lantern was part of the ruling junta for two years. But no, no hostility that I can see. Good sign. Also a sign that it's time for me to crash the party. Should have invited the evil fairy…

Ring, let's have some fun. Transition.

I appear at the back of the audience. They don't see me, facing the stage as they are.

"Gentleman, Ma'am, I wanna extend the-"

Kara spots me first as Gonzo greets them.

"-thanks of the-"

Kyle and William notice that she's not looking at the President and follow her gaze.

"-American… People." Gonzo looks outwards at me, squinting slightly.

And that's my cue. "Oh, please. Don't let me stop you." Faces swivel as I stride down the central aisle. "I mean, I'm only the first person to notify you of the Thanagarian treachery. I'm only the person who single-handedly attacked the Thanagarian Command Carrier, bested Commander Hro Talak in single combat and forced him and his people to flee the system. I'm only the one who tricked him into transmitting a full confession on a worldwide broadcast so that everyone would know what they were up to. Easy to see how you might have overlooked my role." Everyone's looking at me now, from the guests to the security personnel frantically whispering into their microphones. "A lesser man than I might be annoyed by that. But that's okay." I swing my forearms out to the sides and then bring them together in front of me in a clap. "That's okay." I'm just coming up to level with the front row of seats. "You just carry on with your speech. Always said that Kara,-" I make eye contact. "-Kyle and William don't get enough recognition." I stop level with the front row of seats and tilt my head right, towards the Senate Minority Leader. "I'll be taking that seat now."

"Like hell you will, you-!"

"Tobacco money. I've seen the accounts. Hop it."

His eyes widen, then he hops. I take a moment to look around, reinforce the chair with a construct and then sit down, smacking the House Majority Leader in the face with my pauldron as I do so and knocking him out of his chair. Two ushers rush over to help the man up, and a third-.

"Grayven, what the hell are you doing?!"

Oh, it's Richard. "Finishing what I came here to do. Oh, and Kara? There's a proper Supergirl uniform in a bag backstage. Put it on and I'll give everyone a chance to evacuate before the fighting starts."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th January 2004
10:04 GMT -5

I can feel the fear. Not the heavy handed sudden shock the Thanagarian marines felt as I slew them. This is a nebulous thing, creeping, cloying, running from mind to mind and soul to soul. The way the people around me look everywhere but at me. The way the guards hesitate. The nebulous sense that something has gone very wrong. No one dares flee. No one can force themselves to remain as they were. Around me some of the most powerful people in this country discover new ways to fidget.

I smile beatifically at the stage.

President Gonzo isn't afraid, though from the brief inhuman lack of animation I'm going to assume that he is at least puzzled as to how to continue with this farce. The two agents who have scurried forwards are less sanguine, but he's more or less brushing them off. Kara's finger nails are dug into her palms. She isn't afraid. She's angry. I'm sure that if she didn't have to worry about collateral damage she'd have charged me already. As it is, her training won't let her start anything. Rayner is more puzzled than anything else. He recognises my voice from our brief conversation but he doesn't recognise the symbol on my chest and may well have not spotted the ring on my right forefinger. William is looking at me with distaste, but I think that's due to me crashing the party and being rude rather than him seeing me as a threat.

Gonzo comes back to life. "Okay. This is unexpected, but… Glad to have you with us, Grayven. And hey, I'm sure a lot of us have wanted to do that to Tom at one time or another."

Very nervous laughter from a couple of places. I look at him curiously. How's he going to play this? Father Time's still closish. He must know that there's no point in trying to run. It's no secret who struck down SHADE's aerials. Ring, quick check that it's really him?

The chronoton flux is still present, Corpsman.

Near the back of the seating area, security personnel start walking up to the guests and guiding them from their seats. Ah, much better. There's a plan now. They don't need to decide things. They can just act.

"Supergirl only came to Earth five years ago and only became an American citizen under her own name six months ago, but I for one wouldn't question her courage in the conduct of her duty or devotion to the people of this country. Green Lantern's been off Earth for a while now, but on his first day with that power ring he took down a super powered serial killer. And in addition to knocking Thanagarian fighters out of the air during that fight in Egypt he saved the lives of at least eight of our downed pilots with shields and with crash mat constructs. Captain Marvel took the time to free the people the Thanagarians were holding hostage before joining the fray, eighty men and women who were looking down the wrong end of Thanagarian energy weapons. God only knows what would have happened to them without his help."

Not a lot, probably. Thanagarians aren't big on hostage taking. If they don't kill you right away they're probably not going to.

"So Grayven… Why don't you tell us here and the American people at home a little about yourself. And your friends, the Justice Lords."

Ah. That makes sense. The back third of the audience has headed away and Kyle's ring is starting to sparkle.

"If you insist." I get to my feet, arms folded behind my back. "I am Prince Grayven of Apokolips. You may remember my father -Darkseid- from his invasion of Metropolis, where he beat the sssss…" I raise my eyebrows at the presenter. "Pre-watershed?" She freezes for a moment, then nods. "Stuffing out of Kal-El. Or the follow up, where he mind controlled him and sent him back here to kill his friends and family. I personally rule a small stellar empire and my intent is to add Earth to it."

"You may be new around here, but in America we don't take kindly to that kind of talk."

"Even better! What greater stage could there be for me to prove myself than here, against the heirs of those who killed Darkseid? The power of Earth's champions is known throughout the galaxy! I had considered simply bombarding you from orbit, but what does that prove? No, I wanted to give them one last chance to confront me." I look around, spreading my arms wide. "That was the cue?" I make a show of looking around, my eyes passing momentarily over the two still on the stage. "No one?" I blink slowly, shaking my head. "Truly, that is a great-."

Something slams into the right side of my face, sending me flying across the White House lawn. I create construct claws from the fingers of my right hand and dig them into the ground, creating great furrows as I arrest my momentum. Kara's floating just over the President's head wearing her true uniform, eyes glowing an angry red as she stares down at me.

I stand, dismiss the claws and rub my cheek. "Ah, a love tap! Have you reconsidered my proposal, Kara Zor-El?"

"It's In-Ze!"

I squint. "In ze what?"

"Aaaaaagh!"

Her eyes glow brilliantly for a second and I throw my left hand forwards, forming a shield and releasing enough dust from subspace that the burning beams from her eyes are visible for the cameras. Wouldn't want people to think I threw up shields for no good reason, would I?

"Is this a Kryptonian mating custom? I ask because I assumed that you'd gone native. I just brought a DVD of The Wedding Singer. I mean, am I supposed to eye beam you back? I'm genuinely lost here."

William scratches his head. "Um, are you two-?"

"No! We're not!" She starts sucking in a breath in order to freeze me.

"Kryptonian style it is then." Ring, green Kryptonite lasers from my eyes, please. Give it a few seconds' build up.

As you wish, though be clear that I do not approve of these theatrics, Corpsman.

Fine.

My vision goes green for a moment. Several more VIPs run past me, but I ignore them. She's wearing the uniform I made, after all. Took me a while to make one that didn't make me feel like a creep for demanding that she wear it. Had to dump the skirt and thigh boots, obviously. This one is an outgrowth of my work on clothing for Kon and Match. Even stuck small sunstones into the otherwise pointless belt.

Doesn't have a helmet though.

I transition backwards, lower my barrier and let loose with the Kryptonite. People often misunderstand how Kryptonite works. Both versions of Kryptonians I've met would laugh off a bullet made of the stuff. All that would happen is that it would shatter on their skin. At worst, they might get a mild burn where it struck. It's the radiation which the stuff gives off that's dangerous. And I'm putting out quite a lot.

The beam diffuses as it leaves my eyes, but by far the majority of it strikes her directly in the face. "Ah-AGH!" She staggers backwards and collapses while Rayner suddenly wakes up to the fact that an actual fight is happening, creating a barrier across the front of the stage as Marvel moves to shield Gonzo.

I smile condescendingly at Rayner. "I hear you had a run in with John Stewart recently. Somehow, I'm not worried by the prospect of fighting the man who somehow managed to lose to a Lantern who no longer owns a power ring." That said, construct armo-.

"Shazam!"

Drrreagh! Agh, bright! Marvel's grabbed me around the waist and is holding me up to soak his lightning! I remember his fight with Superman, where every strike caused him to change shape. My armour seems to be preventing enough of the bolt reaching him to trigger that effect. Alright then.

"Sha-!" I shove construct tendrils down his throat and spray skunk scent into his mouth. He spasms, biting through the construct and collapsing onto the floor. I kick him in the chest hard enough to lift him into the air and then turn away as he crashes back to the ground, vomiting and wheezing.

"Rayner. Just thee and me, then. Hope you've brushed up on your Lantern to Lantern combat."

"I kicked the ass of the last guy to use that ring. I doubt you'll be much harder."

"Pride cometh. Impress me."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th January 2004
10:11 GMT -5

His right fist comes up, ring glowing green.

Inwardly I sigh. I thought he was supposed to be the imaginative one? Feeding on the fear around me I create a tower shield construct covering my right arm and hold it forward. Hard to judge his strength precisely but I'm fairly confident that-. The beam strikes my shield, barely strong enough to force me to bend my arm to absorb the force.

"A weak effort, Green Lantern. Sometimes I wonder that the members of your Corps can walk and chew gum at the same time." I start walking forwards, anchoring my feet at each step to prevent myself being knocked over. "Here's how you dual wield with a power ring." I hold my left arm out to my side and take a neural impacter out of subspace. They don't make these any more. I had to put it together myself based on Father Box's directions. Originally designed by the Weaponer Vaxmeth, they never really gained popularity in his target markets and for good reason. They're poor value for energy against most targets, not readily portable, technologically delicate…

In fact, the only thing they're really good against… Is Lanterns.

The yellow beam howls from the barrel, smashes his construct barrier apart -I release the trigger- and slams into Rayner. "Ugh!" He drops to his knees, ring and environmental shield glitching in and out.

"Poor effort, Kyle." I send the gun back to subspace and pick up my pace a little. "Weak construct barrier, dull energy beam attack and you've clearly made no preparation to fight someone in your own weight class. Where's your personal force field? Where's your armour? Where's your backup? Where's your bloody.. common.. sense?" He desperately tries to get his ring going again.

Huh. Wasn't expecting them all to go down that easily. Okay, how can I believably give them time to-. Camera! One of the camera teams stuck around and are currently doing their best to cover my fight. Back on Earth 16 they use drones for that, but we're too far back in time for those to be readily available. Filming super fights can win you awards. And/or get you killed. I stop walking and drop my shield construct, waving my right hand in their direction. "You. Human." The team shrinks back. "How would you like the first interview with your world's new ruler?"

They hesitate, crouching behind an overturned table as if it would make the slightest-. A tiny tremor runs through my construct armour. Huh? That must have been-. There are a rapid series of further impacts, focused around my head and chest. Oh! Snipers, right. Hah! Ring, show me their location.

As you wish, though simply ignoring them is a perfectly valid option. They pose little threat.

No. If they keep that up someone could get hurt. Plus, it distracts from the whole 'we need the Justice League' idea I'm trying to instil in these people.

I fold my arms behind my back and float upwards into the air, armour piercing rounds being utterly nullified by my construct armour. Once I get about twenty metres up -high enough to look down on the tops of the buildings where they've taken up position- I have my eyes glow a brilliant yellow. "Your feeble attempts at warcraft do not amuse me, humans. Learn to respect your betters." I fire my eyebeams at the first team. Not a simple blast of yellow light, these are precise beams patterned after Darkseid's Omega Effect beams. They strike home and immediately shock the central nervous system of the snipers, rendering them unconscious. A shockwave then radiates outwards, causing concrete and stone to crack and fly free. I want to give the impression that I've hit them really hard, rather than intentionally just stunning them. Any Anti-Life infection? No, just regular police marksmen. Good to know. I then have the beams lightly toss them backwards, as if it was the blast that threw them. Should look good for the camera.

I slowly turn my head towards the next team. They hold their ground, continuing to fire. My eye beams fire once more and their fire stops. The next team are falling back, trying to get into cover. Futile. My eyes flash again and again until the few conventional soldiers who remain conscious are falling back in poor order and providing me with more power…

What was that?

I get a half second to see the stealth fighter thing flying towards me before the chin-mounted energy weapons open fire, striking my construct armour hard enough to actually okay I'm jinking now. Additional weapon hardpoints open fire as it moves past me, the lasers flickering across my faceplate. Huh. A Nightwing-wing. Why didn't somebody tell me he had one of those-?

Oophf!

Oh, targeting lasers. For missiles. That's quite ow! Grragh. Alright. I take a moment to check myself over from inside the smoke-clouds. Construct armour took a bit of a battering, but… He's coming round again. No, sorry, one pass is all you get. You're a baseline Human trying to DPS. You need to learn that DPS isn't your role. Could do something personal… A Tony Zucco construct or something? No. Beams of golden energy flare from my eyes, shooting towards the aircraft. He viffs, trying to evade. I send the beams around at right angles and shoot out his engines anyway, flashes of fire and smoke marking the plane's mortal wounding.

In the cockpit I watch Nightwing frantically press buttons and pull levers. No yellow there, he just has little time to arrange things before-. He pulls the eject and shoots out of the cockpit as the Nightw-wing's weapons open up again. Twelve missiles shoot directly upwards as the lasers find me again and the nose-weapon opens fire. Empty space below? Okay then. I blink, flashes of yellow flicking out from my eyes as I target the missiles in turn, transforming them into airborne fireballs. The energy weapon shots are intercepted by a new tower shield construct for a few seconds before the plane's tumbling puts me outside of its arc of fire. Can't have it falling on anyone. I make a fist with my right hand, creating a huge glowing fist construct which mirrors its motion. I wait a second, then swing it downwards into the flying wreckage.

The frame holds together well. Fuel? Eh. I create an environmental shield construct around it. Can't risk it exploding after all. The plane hits the ground, flips and tumbles sideways, taking out what was left of the seating before coming to rest in the remains of a copse. Any further risk..? No? Good show.

I lower myself through the air, back towards the stage and the camera team. Impressive dedication there. Or maybe they're just in shock. Yeeeah, the trembling does rather suggest that. I land where I took off a moment before, look around for a moment then bring my hands to my front and make a show of brushing them off. "That was fun." Kara's up, though she looks a little unsteady on her feet. Sun's still fairly low in the sky so it might take her a minute or two to get back to full fighting strength. Marvel's in the air behind me and to my left, looking rather pale. His previously immaculate uniform is now marked by the passage of his own gastric juices and I think he's still dry-retching. His eyes are steady, though. There's a flare of green from back stage then Rayner comes up over the stage, a glowing green powered exoskeleton construct covering most of his body. Can't immediately identify the armour. Doesn't look Gundamy, and that's about the only type of fictional Earth giant robot I'd expect him to be familiar with.

I Garrick as soon as Kara twitches. She shoots across the intervening space so rapidly that I can actually see the debris shoved away as air is displaced. She swings a haymaker at my head and I'm just about able to turn her punch aside with the back of my right hand and redirect her head towards the ground with my left.

"Bwgh!"

I leap backwards into the air as the earth explodes away from her point of impact! Marvel takes this as the signal to start his own attack. Perhaps thanks to the Wisdom of Solomon he doesn't just charge headlong. Doesn't even overextend as he jabs at me with his right fist, left held back to guard. Unfortunately, King Solomon had little experience with aerial combat. I respond to his swings by backing up out of his reach, transitioning behind him and generating a five million candela flare in his face as he twists around.

"Agh!" He drops from the air, hands clutching his eyes.

Kyle holds out his right arm in my direction, a construct gun growing from the back of his bracer.

"Yes, Lantern Rayner. Do exactly the same thing that didn't work a minute ago, that's sure to succeed."

Come on, Nightwing. You've got the best tactical awareness of any of these fools. Take-. Rayner's face goes still, then relaxes slightly. Ring, does that mean what I hope it does?

…to take on alone. We need to combine our efforts. Lantern, try…

Sinestro, bad form. Don't spoil the surprise for me.

And to think I could have ended up with Jonathan Crane…

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th January 2004
10:15 GMT -5

Rayner thrusts his gun arm forwards, and… Oh, rather dull. A brilliant burst of light nearly as powerful as the one I used on Marvel. My goggles compensate almost immediately and I transition sideways to evade any possible attack. Kara's heat vision flashes past me as Rayner opens fire with a rotary cannon construct. Pellets of green abrade my construct armour as I take the neural impactor out of subspace, only for Marvel to dive past me, smashing it in two.

Finally!

Kara flies at me head on, spinning in the air to kick at my head. So glad I went for the trouser version. Rather than turn it aside I fortify the construct armour around my left shoulder and move into the attack. Shockwaves radiate away as the outer plate shatters in absorbing the force, but now I'm in position to grab her throat with both hands and squeeze. She grabs my wrists and tries to force my arms away. They don't move. I grin. "A few days ago, that would have worked. I've had some practice since then, and spread a lot of-."

She squints and fires heat vision directly into my eyes. My construct faceplate begins to deform immediately so I add a reflective component, redirecting the rays of heat back into her eyes.

"Agk!"

"-fear. I admit, you were stronger than me last time we foug-."

Oof! Marvel cannons into my side, knocking us all into the air! I've still got a grip around Kara's throat and from the way he's squinting it looks like Marvel hasn't fully recovered from being blinded yet but now he's got a grip on me he knows where to punch! His left fist swings into the armour covering my right kidney as I try hitting him in the face with my right elbow. Can't quite… He grabs me around the throat with his right arm and strikes at my kidney again. Alright, I've attacked his taste, smell and sight. Next, hearing. Hypersonic screech.

Waves of ultra-high frequency sound ripple outwards. My construct helmet still protects me but the other two get the full force. Marvel hits me a third time, but the blow is far weaker. Pressing the fingers of my left hand into Kara's jugular vein- Okay, it's not a jugular vein, but it's the nearest Kryptonian equivalent. -I remove my right hand from her throat so I can properly strike at Marvel. My right elbow finds his stomach and he folds up. He's not injured, he just isn't braced properly. Kara goes limp and I see blood trickling out of her left ear. That'll do for now. I toss her away and give Marvel my full attention. I twist and punch him full in the diaphragm. Won't wind him but it does further weaken his grip, allowing me to pull his arm from around my throat and twist it behind his back. I hold it in place with my right hand while my left goes around his throat.

"Good try Billy. Good try."

Oh right, sonic attack. He can't hear me. I deactivate it. Try again.

"Good try Billy."

"Yeah, it was."

Why's he-? Oh.

Rayner's giant beam cannon construct fires from directly above, emerald beam smashing into me, crumpling what's left of my armour and sending me plummeting into the ground. Oohugh! Teamwork's a.. wonderful thing… I just manage to push myself out of the crater and create a new construct tower shield. With the beam no longer hitting me directly I rebuild my construct armour and force my way from a prone position to a crouch. "Not bad, Rayner. In fact-" I push myself a little more upright as my ring shows me the strain on his face. "-I'd say that it's very nearly adequ-."

The air around me turns red and yellow as a thousand relativistic projectiles slam into me from every direction! Agk, what the-!? Kyle's beam keeps up as my construct armour is abraded in seconds and the attacks start striking my armour. What is-? Oh. Ring, omnidirectional concussive wave.

A yellow construct wave expands outwards too fast for the mortal eye to see and something tumbles away from me. Before it can recover I generate an array of weapons off to my left and fire them all at Kyle. If he's putting everything into the gun-. Yep, he's down. Marvel catches him and swoops down to where Kara's getting back to her feet again.

With Eliza Harmon's help. She must have started running almost the moment the fight started to get enough speed to… She gave them comm beads! I didn't even see her do it! That's how they co-ordinated..! Yellow lightning crackles around her as she vibrates on the spot. Her costume isn't quite as modest as the one I made for Kara… But it's really no worse than what Wallace 50 used to wear.

Marvel gives her a puzzled looks as he set Kyle on his feet. "Are you the Flash?"

She stops dead still for a moment and looks herself over. "I… I guess I am!"

Rebuild armour again. "Remind me: you people identify corpses from dental records, right?" I start towards them. "I'll try and leave your jaws int-." I'm slammed sideways for a fraction of a second, then there's a detonation which sends a lance of molten tantalum into my construct armour. The armour holds, and I turn to face the direction the missile came from in time to catch the next with yellow beams from my eyes, turn it around and return it to sender. Anti-tank missiles don't have a large blast radius so as Nightwing spots what I'm doing he's perfectly capable of-. Disappearing in a flash of red and yellow, apparently. Eliza puts him down just behind Marvel as the missile detonates and the tree he was using for concealment falls to the ground.

Well. Five out of seven isn't bad. Now I just need to-.

Ping.

Okay? I look upwards.

Just in time to see the Thanagarian Command Carrier enter the atmosphere.

"SCOOOOOOOOTT!"

Bwgh! I frantically generate a protective barrier as the Carrier's secondary weapon systems open fire on me, pelting me with golden plasma bolts.

Boom!

A boom tube opens and a smiling Barda strides through, a flickering hologram of Scott appearing beside her. The hologram turns to take in the other fighters, then nods to me. "Yeah. We thought about it pretty hard, but in the end we had to come down in favor of Earth."

"In favour of Earth?" I track the ventral turrets and fire yellow beams from my eyes to start eliminating them. "Scott, I'm completely in favour of Earth! I love it here! That's why I'm going to conquer it! I'm not going to enslave anyone, it's just a changing of rulership!" Fire's slacking off a bit. Have to check what happened to Doctor Hol later. "But I do kind of need that ship. Give it back, and-."

"Make us." Barda grins and hefts her Rod.

The remaining ventral weapons cut out as the ship starts to climb away from the combat zone. I drop my shield dome and take in my opponents. "Captain Marvel. Nightwing. Supergirl. Flash. Green Lantern. Mister Miracle. Big Barda." I got all of them! Wooooo! "You know what? This is fine, this is good. You must be just about the best this world has to offer. Once I grind you to paste… They'll know there's no one left who can stop me." I nod to myself. "Yes, this is what I want; all of you against all of me."

Miss Harmon looks slightly puzzled. "There's only one of you."

"Mmm." I nod. "Drone squadrons one through seventeen, attack if you please."

Drones drop stealth above and around me as orange blaster bolts and purple death rays strike at the superheroes. Kyle generates a barrier, Kara and Marvel fly upwards to evade and Nightwing dives for cover.

"I've got a President to kill."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th January 2004
10:18 GMT -5

I stride purposefully towards the stage with my arms folded behind me as utter anarchy breaks out all around me. Marvel jinks around the fields of fire of three different drones and lunges for me, only for a blaster bolt from a fourth to catch him in the chest and send him flying backwards. Kara's trying to heat vision them and is clearly alarmed to discover that just because they're visible that doesn't mean that they aren't phased. Half of the purple death ray armed drones fire pulses at Miss Harmon's last known location. There's little chance of them hitting her but I have no desire to chase after her if she decides to pick up Gonzo and run. Barda tried to hold her ground, deflecting blaster shots with her Rod and tanking the death rays, this generation of drones not quite having enough kick to wipe out a New God's vitality. So, I just have eight of them shoot her at the same time from different directions. None of that 'one at a time' nonsense here, thank you very much.

I finally reach the stage and spare a moment to glance back at the camera crew before moving my right arm to my front and viciously backhanding the entire structure, sending its broken parts flying to my right. I return my arm to my back and walk on as the wreckage comes down around me. A short stroll to the White House where Gonzo, Father Time and a large number of Anti-Lifed SHADE operatives are bunkering-. My construct armour takes a weak bolt of green to the left leg. I retaliate by firing an eyebeam forwards and then having it burn a jagged line through the air to strike Kyle in the back as he tries to get away from the drones. He shudders at the impact, loses track of what he's doing and takes two death ray hits before recovering his flight path. Hm. Bunkering up.

More conventional weapon fire starts pinging off my construct armour. Looks like the SHADE types are breaking out more exotic equipment, but they couldn't exactly cart that stuff around full time without someone from the Joint Chiefs asking when they were getting some. The first few are taking up position next to the windows. Without altering my pose or my pace I have the death ray drones shoot them dead through their concealment.

Oh look at that! Nightwing's finally got them organised and Barda's spotted that the drones need to be corporeal in order to fire. Miss Harmon's picking up metal debris and using it to make relativistic throws the moment she notices one of them charging up for a shot. Got to hand it to them; I threw a pretty decent chaff mob at them here and they're working together reasonably well for people who'd never met ten minutes ago. Obviously I haven't told the drones to actually kill them; if I actually wanted them dead I'd be using gold kryptonite and radion blaster drones. But my creations are still working better than what most supervillains manage when they go all out. These are definitely the people I want looking after the-.

Lumps of metal slam into my construct helmet, prompting me to fire a shot in Miss Harmon's general direction, transforming it into a concussive blast when she casually sidesteps both my shot and four death rays. I assign a blaster drone to join in so that her footing becomes a little less sure. My march towards the White House is going to look cool, damn it. Stop harshing my mellow. Sinestro, how are we doing for power?

Fifty three percent remaining, Corpsman.

Can you tell what Rayner's got left?

A little less, I should think. He's had defensive constructs destroyed even more than you have. He's surprisingly weak-willed.

Bitchy. Are you really still annoyed about that time-?

I didn't mean to imply that he was a poor Lantern, just that his constructs are relatively less powerful when compared to the majority of his contemporaries. I would rate his creativity and intelligence higher than average. Guardians don't usually recruit for those.

I feel it as the drones start to be destroyed. Not en masse, but now that the Justice League know how to deal with them they're starting to go down. And… There's something else. My connection feels… Drone squadron fifteen, stealth and head up to the ship. Scott's trying to do something clever with my link and I want him distracted. Other drones, stealth and attack from concealment. See if they can work out how to co-ordinate Kara's vision and Rayner's scanning with their attacks.

A heat vision shot, a green beam and a shot from Barda's Mega Rod all hit me in the back at once, causing me to stagger forwards and reach out with both arms to stop myself hitting the ground as I stumble, adding a bubble shield to my rear arc. A second later the pressure is gone as the drones attack the distracted Leaguers and down them all. Really? Mediocre. Miss Harmon and Marvel are forced to do pick up duty, which -thankfully- means I don't have to be obvious in pulling my shots. I have a group of blaster drones shoot out a section of White House wall as I trample over a low row of bushes and head into the building. Hm, should be out of the camera's line of sight now. No reason not to pick up the pace a little. Now, where are they? Ah, not the bunker. They're heading towards a concealed teleportation platform. Not a problem. Transition.

Four Secret Service agents and two of their better armed SHADE equivalents raise their weapons as I appear directly in front of them on the teleportation platform. Gonzo and Father Time are just behind them. I'm going to assume that the reason they hung around this long was that they didn't want to be seen fleeing if their side was about to win. "Leaving? I don't think so." Barrier.

A volley of pistol shots and two… Positron beams, fascinating, impact on the barrier to little effect. My eye beams flash six times, burning out the brains of the SHADE operatives and stunning the agents. Father Time watches them fall before raising his left wrist to his mouth. "This is Father Time. Code Gamma."

Gonzo steps forwards. "It doesn't matter what you do to me, the American people will not be intimidated by a crazed supervillain. We will resist your kind to our last-."

"Yes, like you did with Jax-Ur and Mala. They destroyed a couple of cities and your planet caved like wet tissue paper."

"That was before the Justice Lords. You'll find our spines have stiffened a little since then."

"Oh for goodness sake, you don't even sound like him. Ah, let's get this over with. Father Time, head of SHADE." He raises his eyebrows slightly. His appearance is something of a surprise to me; when I read the comics he appeared in he was a good guy when he was black and only went evil after Black Adam killed him and caused him to reincarnate as a Colonel Sanders look-alike. Maybe what he was up to in the background just didn't come up during the Sheeda attacks? "By the authority invested in me by the Source and by the Sinestro Corps-

Good name, Corpsman. Much better than 'Yellow Lantern Corps'.

"-as well as by sanity, I find you guilty of Attempted Mass Spiritual Violation, to whit: the use of the Anti-Life equation on multiple persons with the express intent of erasing their identities and creating mindless servitors."

"Yeah? When's the trial?"

I take two rapid steps forwards and reach forwards with my right hand, picking him up by his head. "That was it. There is no place for you on my Earth." Ring, fry the teleporter and then transition us to Jupiter.

Jupiter?

Throwing people into the sun is so overdone.

Very well, Corpsman.

Our surroundings flicker away, replaced with a starscape and the Sol System's largest planet. Environmental shield still around him I shift my grip to his jacket. "I'm a little curious, Father Time. What was any of this madness in aid of? In the name of the Source, why the Anti-Life Equation?"

He manages a half-smile. "Father Time. Pay code-."

"Oh, for goodness sake." I hurl him overarm in the direction of the Red Spot before transitioning back to Earth and grabbing Gonzo by his shirt with my right hand, lifting him up and walking in the direction of the brawl outside. "You know, the fight was kind of fun, but I think that the conclusion will just bore me."

"They're going to beat you six ways to Sunday, you arrogant monster."

"I hope they'll try." Ooh, that's a nice painting. "I really do." The barely perceivable pressure against my metaphysique fades away as Scott is forced to focus on his own defence. A couple of soldiers stick their heads around a door, raise their guns and then drop them as they realise who it is I'm carrying. Ring, is the camera crew still there?

Indeed they are, Corpsman. They're showing a surprising degree of mental fortitude.

Or they're just too freaked out to even think about running. I take in the ongoing fight as I strike back out into the garden. Time to wrap this up.

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th January 2004
10:22 GMT -5

Drones, pause.

I cup my left hand to the side of my mouth. "Could I have your attention for a moment, please?!"

The air around the combat area is shimmering green as Kyle uses an area effect detection technique. Sinestro, recognise it?

He's just marking targets, Corpsman. That won't penetrate the drones' stealth systems.

That's a little disappointing. Oh well.

It's not a bad effort, given how little time he's had. I remember when-.

Kara darts forward, eyes literally smouldering. "Release the President right now."

"I don't do hostage taking. I just wanted to get your attention. I'm just going to do a short speech, then I'll let him go."

Nightwing climbs out from the wreckage of his downed fighter. Probably had a few useful bits of kit packed away in there. When the fighting starts, target him normally. William floats, stopping a little way behind Kara. Gradually the others follow. Scott's still… Hah, dodging drones in the fighter hangar.

"Get it over with."

"Thank you." I give her a short bow, not taking my eyes off her. "Now, I've already had this chat with Barda and Scott, so if the two of you want to get some coffee or something, that's fine." I take a moment to get a good look at Kara in her new uniform. "See, isn't that better than what SHADE were having you wear? You look good."

"Would you stop!? You fly in here and kill people and still think it's okay to hit on me?!"

"I haven't actually killed anyone today. I killed a lot of Thanagarians a few days ago and there was this Apokoliptian guy called Esak…" I shake my head. "Point is, I wanted to explain to you why I'm doing this. I wouldn't want you to think I was like Jack Napier, just doing it for a laugh, or like…" Marvel glanced at Kara, clearly not recognising the name. Miss Harmon looks similarly puzzled. "Jack Napier? The Joker?" A couple of half nods before they catch themselves making nice with the enemy. "You seriously didn't know his name? Oh, anyway; I'm also not stealing anything or carrying out any sort of personal vendetta. This, is an intervention."

"About six years ago, this country elected a supervillain to the office of the presidency. The result was worldwide anarchy resulting in.. about.. fourteen million deaths? And very nearly atomic Armageddon; Russia versus China, Pakistan versus India, Israel versus Iran. All versus America. The Justice Lords stopped that with a minimum number of deaths, but the moment they're out of the picture..?" I give Gonzo a shake. "You elect another fucking supervillain. Do you… Do you like being lied to and manipulated and being forced to conform by people like that? Do you find it comforting in some way?" I make eye contact with William. "You, Marvel: the Wizard gave you power to fight for the greater good because he recognised you as a good person. SHADE shut you down." Miss Harmon. "Flash: haven't seen any mention of you on the news. Keeping your head down? Avoiding SHADE? And Kara-."

"Supergirl."

"I'm sorry. Supergirl. I took a look at your accommodation. Were those really red sun lamps?"

"It's temporary."

"Uh. Huh."

Nightwing reaches the group and comes to a halt, arms folded across his chest. "So what, you're saying that the fact they don't let people with superpowers run around doing whatever they want makes them supervillains?"

"No, that makes them jerks. Building a network of Anti-Life Equation broadcasters with the intent of using them to turn the entire population of the country into mindless unpeople-" Begging your pardon, Cranius. "-makes them supervillains. I have the testimony of Director Bones, the senior SHADE agent on site. I have the recordings of my time there… And five of their test subjects are currently being housed with Scott and Barda." Rayner and Miss Harmon glance at her. "Their actions necessitated a series of strikes by surviving members of the Justice Lords to destroy SHADE's broadcast equipment. I have to ask: what makes me so much worse than the tyrants you have already?"

Nightwing glares at me. "If that was happening, they wouldn't need to keep the President in the loop."

I nod, apparently considering his point of view. "Did it not seem to you that SHADE rose to prominence surprisingly quickly under President Horne?"

"It was the first challenge of his presidency, convincing people that the US government was in control."

"Richard. You've been doing this for most of your life. How can you still be so naive?" I lower my right arm slightly. "Let me show you what you elected." I have my left hand move across to take a firm grip on the loose skin on the front of his chin.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Gonzo tries to squirm away, but either he's not using his full strength or he isn't all that strong. "Help!"

Marvel and Supergirl are starting to move as I rip upwards, pulling the false flesh on the front of his skull from the metal and Apokoliptian circuitry beneath. They stop dead the moment they see it. "I give you Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard, Apokoliptian infiltration mechanoid. Senator Horne was killed and replaced with this-" I toss him to the ground. "-months ago. Well before the election. The actual President is whatever hanger-on got the Vice Presidential nomination."

Gonzo pushes himself up and dusts himself off. The rough edges of the skin covering the sides of his face aren't exactly bleeding, but they are oozing a little.

"He's a SHADE plant, put in place to advance their agenda of universal control through Apokoliptian technology. And if for some insane reason that doesn't bother you, consider what the other nations of the world would do when they found out what was happening."

Nightwing glances at Barda. "Barda?"

She grimaces. "He's telling the truth."

"And that's why I want to take over. Whatever mechanisms this country has in place to stop that sort of thing happening clearly don't work. So I'm going to replace them." I nod. "With me. I will be a fair and even handed ruler and I will focus my energies on advancing Earth's economy and technological base. This world and its peoples are marvellous and I intend to guide them in order to bring the full range of their talents to fruit. I would very much appreciate it if you would work with me on this." I glance at Supergirl. "In whatever capacity." I feign an expression of hopefulness. "Are any of you interested?"

Marvel raises his right hand slightly. "I have a question?"

I gesture to him with my right hand. "Go ahead."

"Why do you need to take over the world to do that?"

"Because otherwise I'd be constantly fighting off super teams and sabotage attempts from the world's intelligence agencies. I don't want to have to constantly defend what I'm creating so I'm just going to beat everyone into submission right at the start."

"Oh. And what happens if we say 'no'?"

"Depends. I'd accept neutrality, working together on a case by case business. If any of you wanted to actively oppose me, I'd… Well, then I'm afraid I'd have to kill you. I'd like to emphasise: I don't want to do that, but I accept that it may be necessary."

"Heh." Gonzo shakes his head. "An Apokoliptian prince negotiating. You should be glad Darkseid isn't alive to see this."

"I'm glad he's dead, certainly. Not sure I see the humour..?"

"The joke is:-" His eyes glow red. "-have you got any idea how hard it is to launch a nuclear missile at the White House, even when you're the President?"

What?

He checks his watch. "Two, one-."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th January 2004
10:26 GMT -5

Garrick!

In utter horror I watch as the intercontinental ballistic missile comes in, my cutting construct crawling through the air too slowly to reach it before it hits the ground and the boom tube aperture materialising far too slowly to catch it! Fuck! Flash is in motion, grabbing Nightwing and.. sending lightning crackling across his head? She can share speed?

She looks at him imploringly. "What do we do?"

He looks at the missile. No, he'll take too long. "Grab Supergirl and have her heat vision the warhead. That'll stop it going critical."

She looks at me in confusion for a moment and then returns her attention to Nightwing. I frantically signal the drones to open fire on the blasted thing. Not sure that I'm getting through at this speed.

"That should work. Do it."

At what point do nuclear missiles detonate? It's practically on the ground already. Most likely multiple warheads so… Twenty four terajoules? A wee bit above the largest explosions I've ever tested my construct armour against. Ah shit, multiple warheads. There's no way she's going to be able to-.

Beams of red outrace my yellow projection, painting the outer casing of the missile. As I abandon my attack construct and try fortifying my armour I notice that things are starting to speed-.

BOOM!

Still alive and not standing in a plume of super hot irradiated plasma? Golly gosh I am. I extend an atmospheric purification construct outwards, removing smoke and debris from the air. I also gather up pieces of highly radioactive plutonium and lock them in a shielded box construct.

"Good work girls." / "Good work, Flash and Supergirl!"

Nightwing and I share a disquieted glance for a moment, then avert our eyes.

Marvel looks at the wreckage of the missile. "I thought nuclear explosions were bigger than that."

Nightwing nods. "Supergirl burned through the explosives around the plutonium so they didn't compress it enough to go critical. That explosion was just the detonator."

"I realise I'm trying to make political capital out of a near-tragedy here, but I think this rather proves my point. How many people had to okay nuking Washington?"

"A few." Gonzo steps up to me and shoves a briefcase into my hands. "It'll be less tomorrow."

I take a look at the case. What exactly-? Garrick!

Two balls of white expand through the material of the case, consuming it and eating at my construct armour. Shield, contain the blast!

Corpsman, your priorities-.

Don't argue with me, Sinestro!

Calculating radius. Filaments extend outwards and bend, starting to form a dome around me. There are other superheroes, you know.

I get half a relative second of Flash staring in horror before my vision goes white. Armour construct.. holding for the moment. The radiation doesn't bother me too much but the heat and the pressure -particularly given that I'm containing it- is getting to be horrendous, even given the small size of the device. Sinestro, is it holding?

You have about eight seconds, Corpsman.

Transmit a message to Lantern Rayner. Get him to put a barrier around us to replace it.

Message sent, but I should probably warn you-

Something hits the centre of my faceplate. It's too bright for me to see the damage, but I'm still getting some feedback from my ring. Ring, adjust vision to allow for the plasma field.

-that Gonzo's trapped in here with us.

His body is displayed as matte black, with the red tron lines of New God technology densely covering the visible surfaces. Of course, that's probably just my ring trying to make sense of anything visual in here. He swings his fist again, glacially slow at first then gathering speed as the Garrick Formula wears off. The duration's getting shorter and shorter each time… I move my right hand across to turn the blow aside-

I don't recommend that, Corpsman. Any pressure on your armour construct-

-and my hand presses against the back of his left forearm and pushes YAAAAAAGHH!

-would probably cause it to breach.

Gonzo's arm -agh- is diverted but my gauntlet construct gives way, exposing my armour to the inferno. The pain in my hand is -urghgh- excruciating as my divine resilience and Apokolips tech armour try keeping my body in one piece against the raging atomic fury. Ordinarily, I'd say that losing an arm would be inconvenient; it would grow back eventually just as my intestine did. In this case the fact that my power ring is on that hand makes the issue a little more pressing. I extract a small x-ionised blade from subspace and try pressing it into Gonzo's arm. Hopefully his innards are no more nuke-proof than mine. It lasts just long enough to make a tiny nick before being vaporised. Bahgh! The pressure just broke several bones in my right hand! Sinestro, please tell me-.

He's doing something. Whether or not it will hold-.

It'll have to. I force myself forwards and strike Gonzo in the cheERGHEHAGHGHH!. Keep… Keep an e-environmental shie-shield around the x-ionised blades. Stab the bastard!

Oops.

My construct armour disappears and I'm exposed to the full force of the ongoing thermonuclear reaction. Even through my eyelids it's blinding bright and I can feel both the armour and the outer layers of my skin burning away. Ring, re-establish armour!

Quite impossible under these conditions. The best I can suggest is- Lights flare and then go black as first my eyelids and then my eyes are burned out, the feed from the ring the only way I have to perceive my environment. -reinforcing your environmental shield.

Do it! Another blow hits me in the chest, causing the flesh to give way. Dragh!

You also lost control of your containment construct. Given that the pressure isn't dropping I'm forced to conclude that the Rayner child has the matter in hand.

Guh-huhugh. Anything else?

That idea about the x-ionised blades was a decent enough idea. Oh, and twenty two percent charge remaining.

Thank… You…

The pain decreases a little but I still can't see. Sinestro, filaments. Find him.

Got him. One metre twenty ahead and slightly to the right.

I have absolutely no need to focus further on fear as I desperately stab at him with my entire arsenal. Red lines blink out as the blades sever them and his outline starts to shimmer and lose cohesion. Don't hope. Hope is the trap. You're still being slowly incinerated.

Gonzo falls backwards, his central mass shimmering and drifting apart.

Good news, Corpsman. The external pressure appears to be dropping off.

Ugh.

He's… He's right. I can feel the burning getting mildly less intense. Though that could just be my nerves getting incinerated. Uhh. Just.. just hold on a little longer.

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th January 2004
10:32 GMT -5

It's funny, really.

A normal killer robot will fire a nuclear weapon at you and call it a day.

An Apokoliptian killer robot will wade through the resulting explosion in order to punch you.

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu heh heheh heow…

"No, she's right. I didn't start containing the explosion until after he signalled me."

That was Kyle's voice. Everything still hurts, but I don't seem to be taking more damage. I survived.

Hooray.

Ow.

I try moving my mouth only to realise that I can't feel the inside. Double check… Yes, I lost my tongue. And I think my cheeks as well. That's weird. There's a sort of itch at the back of my mouth which I hope is it regrowing. Eyes..? No. I try moving my right haow! Okay, not doing that again.

"Why did he do that?"

You see, Kara; sometimes people -even fairly clever people- can do some very stupid things. For example: I should have killed Gonzo before talking to you.

You most certainly should, Corpsman. Though I am glad that at least you recognise it after the fact.

Also, situational awareness. I'm not really sure where Gonzo got a suitcase nuke from, but a simple scan would have picked it up before it could become a problem.

Bravo, Corpsman. We might make a decent Lantern of you yet.

Better programming for the drones… Or going after the Thanagarian Command Carrier myself as soon as I found out that Scott had captured it. Their weapon suppression system would have meant this could have been the pure superhero team versus supervillain fight I wanted it to be.

"He.. died, protecting us from that bomb. He could have got away easily if he wasn't..."

I wouldn't say easily. It would certainly have hurt and I'm not sure my Garrick injection would have lasted long enough to get me out of the blast radius. O-oh everything hurts. And that's about all I can feel. I can't even feel what I'm lying on.

Wait. Died? Oh dear, is this what happens when New Gods die? We just hang around? That contradicts everything I know about thaumaturgy.

You're not dead, Corpsman.

That's a somewhat unfortunate sentence.

"He's not dead." Ah-arrrrrrrr. Someone just kicked me. Barda? Was that really necessary? "His ring's still glowing."

Sinestro, how much power do we have left?

About eight percent, Corpsman.

Oh. Ah. Father Box, still with us?

Ploong.

"And he can hear what we're saying."

Ah, balls. Can't fly, can barely move… Ring, excavate a hole in the ground beneath me, but keep the ground level where it is. I need a hole I can fall into at a moment's notice.

"Good Lord, really? But he looks like…"

Digging your own grave, Corpsman? I had expected a little more psychological resilience. Given your performance during our brief acquaintance I doubt this is the first time you've been seriously injured.

…

Actually, it pretty much is. I mean… Usually I pick my targets from concealment, rush in and kick the shit out of them before they know what's happening. That, or I'm just so powerful that I win anyway. Had a little more difficulty with Klarion, but he was just so unfocused… Earth 50 hurts.

Oh dear.

Of course, if I was fully equipped when I came here… Heck, even having the orange power ring would have let me survive that explosion a little less roasted.

"So what do we do with him?"

Sinestro, excavation progress?

You could just about fall into it, Corpsman.

Keep going. I need it big enough to open a boom tube in.

And where could you possibly go that they could not follow?

Barda doesn't have a Mother Box. As long as Scott stays on the ship I should have enough time to get to the Watchtower and get Batman to send me back to Earth 16.

"Barda, Mister Miracle: can you tell who out of these soldiers is being controlled by the Anti-Life?"

"No. Gonzo's remains are clouding everything out. Scott?"

And he's down here and there are other soldiers. Wonderful.

"I can, but somehow I don't think they're going to take my word for it."

Okay. I could boom tube to the Thanagarian ship's bridge… No, that doesn't really help. Sinestro, can you send a message to Batman without Rayner overhearing it?

A simple enough task.

Right. Message. Partial success on the mission-

Hm.

-in that Gonzo is dead, Father Time's dead, all my information is out in the open and the new League are working together. Downside, I got nuked to within half an inch of my life. How detection-proof is the Watchtower?

Message sent.

"We can't just hand him over. Not after what he did. They'd lobotomise him or something."

"Yes, we can."

No, shut up Supergirl. Marvel's onto something.

"Mister Miracle, can the Thanagarian ship hold him?"

"Hm. I should think so. We need to get rid of his weapons first, of course."

"I'll take the ring."

Sinestro!

The hole is deep enough for a boom tube aperture. Batman says 'As hard to detect as we can make it. Do you need evac?'

Tongue construct. "Well done. You actually beat me."

"And we can finish you off before you can reactivate your drones, so don't try anything."

"Wouldn't dream of it, dear sister-in-law. You won. And I like to think I'm not a bad loser. I hope you can.. come up with some idea of how you wish to proceed quickly. I doubt that the world will wait."

"Ordinarily I'd put cuffs on you, but you're kind of melted. If you promise not to-."

"I appreciate the consideration, Nightwing. But it's not necessary." Boom tube, three times random. Then to the Watchtower's medical bay. No, wait, radiation shower, then medical bay. "I'll remove myself from the field." Father Box, boom tube, Sinestro, stop supporting the ground.

Boom!

"Where is it!?"

And I'm falling.

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th January 2004
12:39 GMT

I shake my head in incomprehension as the news broadcast covers the formal announcement of the formation of the Earth's new superhuman team. "Stormwatch? Of all the names they could have gone with?"

Batman considers it for a moment, then nods. "Anything involving 'Justice' would remind people of the Justice Lords. 'Stormwatch' implies that they're looking out for disasters and will intervene only when they see one."

"And that if there isn't some disaster happening, they'll keep themselves to themselves."

I finish unwrapping the bandage from my right hand. Ugh. I'm still far from fully well, but I've finally reached the point where I'm getting some non-pain sensation from my extremities. And the Geiger counter hardly reacts to me at all. "I hope they're not planning on being quite that hands-off. America does not need a third supervillain president."

Batman's eyes drop down for a second. "That won't be necessary. We have the resources to keep an eye on that, and our public reputation is already sufficiently negative that we won't be hurt if we're obliged to intervene."

I nod towards the image of the unexpected 8th member of… Stormwatch. "Do they know he's crazy?"

Shayera nods. "He doesn't really do anything to disguise it. I suppose they need someone who can keep their ship running too much to worry about it."

I experimentally open and close my right hand. Owowowowow. The image on the screen changed to an interview with Director Bones. Making him head of SHADE was pretty much the first thing the former Vice President did upon being sworn in. I had no idea that his first name was 'Ethan'. The fact that he is apparently welcoming the formation of Stormwatch isn't much of a surprise; his organisation failed in an epic and public way, two of its members are SHADE agents anyway and he owes a massive personal debt to one of the others. I appear to have been written out of his account of his liberation. That's… A little annoying, but it does present a better narrative. I'm not going to kick off about it.

Shayera glances at me. "What's going to happen to those kids you rescued?"

I shrugow. I gently roll my right shoulder. "I don't know. Bones said something about setting up a training program… An actual one, for training agents with metahuman powers. I don't know if they'll be interested, but on the other hand if they did volunteer there's no way he'd let anything untoward happen to them. The negative publicity would finish SHADE off."

"I meant personally. Where are they going to live?"

"Since I haven't been able to detect them, I'm guessing that they're on the Command Carrier now, probably behind some sort of New Genesis derived shield. I don't know enough about their circumstances… I suppose they should go back to their parents?"

"That really a good idea?"

"There's no way they knew what they were volunteering their children for. A little normalcy would probably do them some good."

"And the girl… Lynne? You know what happened to her parents."

Not as if I've had much else to do but scour databases. Sinestro has a surprisingly pleasant reading voice. Miss Wayland's parents were the victim of the first manifestation of her abilities, their minds apparently completely burned out by her mental touch. Metahumans usually have an intuitive grasp of their powers, but fine control takes time to develop and she was too young to have learned. Her grandparents signed her over to SHADE and her parents died in hospital a few months later when their life support systems were turned off. I don't disagree with the decision. It would have been better if another telepath could have given them the once over to make sure but from the records it's pretty clear they were brain dead. I doubt very much that her grandparents would want her back… If she even remembers them…

I glance down, shaking my head. "I'm sure that Scott and Barda can handle her. And their team could do with a telepath."

Shayera and John share a look. John loses. "What you did to her soul… From what you said, I thought that was kind of a big deal."

"It was." Oh wait, they don't..? "No." I shake my head. "Noo. I.. may understand the thematic appeal of me taking her on, but that's.. really not practical. I am going back to prison."

"I thought you were getting a Presidential Pardon?"

"I was, then I disappeared for a week. I think our non-robotic President Horne will go ahead with pardoning me anyway, but it won't happen immediately. Then I'm fully expecting our Justice League to boot me out of the Cave, so I'll have to find somewhere new to live. Then I'm going to be working with the Light. Not really.. child-friendly company. Plus there's.. Jade. I think that if I was even considering it I should talk to her about it first."

He nods reluctantly. "I suppose you've got a point."

"That's not even getting into the fact that our Darkseid is still alive. Earth is going to get introduced to the soul-crushing end of the Anti-Life Equation at some point. I'm not even going to consider having children until I'm confident we can deal with that level of attack. It just wouldn't be responsible, particularly given what she's already experienced."

"Hey. You don't need to explain it to me. If you say it's not a good idea, then it's not a good idea."

It's funny. I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that if I was wearing the orange ring at the moment I would feel differently about it. Maybe if I'd sorted things out back home better before coming here… Well. What is, is.

"Alright. Things seem to be under control here. Do you need anything from me before I head back?"

Batman looks up for a moment from where he's programming the dimensional gateway. "I don't believe so. I may need to consult with you when we're ready to test our hush tube."

Ah, the wonders of a free and frank exchange of technology.

"Are you sure you don't want me to raid Apokolips fifty? A quick in and out would probably get me the parts you need."

"No. We already have some New God technology captured from our last visit to Apokolips. I should be able to work something out." Good luck with that. "You're sure you want to reappear exactly where you left?"

"Yeah, it's probably best. You guys need anything, you know where to find me." The portal generators thrum into life. I take a step towards Shayera and John and open my arms. "You two stay safe without me."

"We'll manage. Somehow."

I put an arm around each of their backs in a light hug, mindful of my injuries. "And if you can't do that… Name it after me!"

"Hey!"

I step back with a smirk, give them a last wave with my right hand and then jog through the portal.

1st March 2011
22:55 GMT -6

Ah, home sweet cell. My former cellmates have long since left, of course. The drunk in the cell opposite catches sight of me, whimpers, then appears to try to duck and cover. My cell door is open. That won't d-.

The dimensional gate behind me disappears.

Huh. I'm starting to get that 'after holiday' feeling. I sag slightly and sigh. Okay, back to work. Sinestro's ring is tucked away inside my armour just in case anything stupid happens but I'd rather keep him a secret for the moment. I lean across the small space and slide the cell door shut, then sit down on the floor. Where is-? Ah yes, I see a few rather sophisticated detection devices attached to the ceiling of the cell. If I assume that someone just got woken up by an alarm going off-.

There's a flash of red, then the man himself is standing in front of the bars. I give him a nod in greeting. "Good evening, sir. You will not believe the week I've had."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Hullevow

2nd March
09:22 GMT +1

I put the amulet John gave me back into my jacket pocket as I lean against the wall opposite the church hall's toilet block. Should.. probably give this a few minutes… I actually wanted to talk to John about Hekatonkheires, but I lost heart when his response to me asking was a mystified "Y'what?" Finding-.

An interior door bangs and I take a mobile phone out of my pocket, pretending to be engrossed in the screen. A moment later a man whom I'm going to assume from his dress is an Orthodox priest of some kind walks out. He looks around as he leaves the toilet block and I look up, giving him a smile and a friendly nod. Ring, don't translate. "Father." Not the proper way of addressing a priest around here if you're a believer, but then.. I'm not.

He nods back and raises his right hand to wave at the ignorant tourist. "May God smile upon you, my son."

He means well. I return my attention to my phone as he looks up into the sky, then carries on down the path. Give him a while to get out of sight… Good. I slip the phone back into an interior pocket before ambling across the path and entering the toilet block myself. John's amulet is still tugging at my lapel so I know I'm in the right place. I was a little worried she might just vanish, but then; why would she? It's not like any of her enemies have the means to find her any longer. I can hear her singing softly to herself from the men's toilets, and... Heh, the graffiti on the walls covers a few spell glyphs. She thinks that she'd have warning.

John will be amused.

I push open the door and the woman redoing her makeup by the sink looks around in surprise. Respectable calf length skirt, blouse and woollen jumper… Not really what I'd expected her to wear, but I suppose she's playing a role. The face is neither her default one or particularly striking in its own right. I'm going to assume that she chose it to appeal to her target.

She frowns at me and the lip gloss tube disappears. "What are you doing in here?"

Indignation. She plans to pretend she picked the wrong toilet. Brush the whole thing off. Okay.

"This is the men's. Um. I can just… Wait?"

"Oh!" She looks around, her countenance changing to one of joviality. It's fascinating, really. Empathic vision is giving me nothing. "Silly me." She takes a step towards me. "I've been coming here for years and still manage to go in the wrong one." She pats my left forearm with her right hand. And.. there's the confusion. About a second as she tries to assess the threat level, then she steps back a few steps, still smiling. "Would you be a dear and wait outside for a moment while I finish up?"

"Ordinarily I'd be happy to, but I did come rather a long way to talk to you." I straighten up slightly, a mild smile on my face. "Miss Chantinelle."

She shakes her head. "I.. don't know anyone…" The ring pings my brain as my Spell Eater gets ever so slightly warmer. A second later Chantinelle abandons the pretence, glowering fiercely, her eyes shifting from brown to her default turquoise. "Who are you?"

"Someone interested in doing business with you."

Her face relaxes a little. Guarded but no longer aggressive. "Well… You might want to turn off your wards, then." She struts a pace closer. "You'll have more fun that way."

"Not that sort of business. I'm nothing like stupid enough to try that with a Succubus."

She looks me over salaciously, her body slowly shifting shape as she returns to her default mostly human form. Long, straight, dull brown hair parted in the middle, slender body and tiny fangs that are a lot less cute in real life than Japanese animation thinks they are. "I don't have to feed. Sometimes I just do it for fun."

"The priest?"

"Priests are always fun."

I narrow my eyes. "I don't think Orthodox priests actually have to be celibate."

"No, but they're not supposed to be un-celibate with their Deacon's wife."

I beam. "Oh, congratulations!"

She frowns, puzzled. "It wasn't that hard."

"No, on getting married! I realise that must have presented you certain practical difficulties-."

She blinks heavily, then shakes her head. "No, I'm not actually married.. to... I just took her shape to seduce the priest."

"Oh right." I nod. "That makes more sense."

She looks me over again, this time a little more cautiously. "Where did you get that ward from?"

"Same place you did. Weird not being able to see inside someone, isn't it?"

She exhales with frustration. "Constantine."

"He and I have a scheme in the works. And since I like to plan for contingencies, it seemed wise to come to terms with people who could mess things up before they got into a position to do so. I understand the two of you aren't on best terms-."

"Do you know what he did to me?"

"After you made everyone he knows hate him, he gave your last known location to the First. To be honest, even leaving aside the fact that I killed the First again a few weeks ago I think you're.. kind of even now. But, that's why I'm here, not him. I want to pay you off so that you'll agree not to interfere."

"What's the scheme?"

"I'm not going to tell you that."

She tilts her head to the side. "Now I'm curious. What exactly happens if I say 'no'?"

"I shoot you dead with the Ace of Winchesters." Her eyes don't widen, but her pupils do dilate slightly for a moment. "Though I would really rather not do that."

She nods and leans back against the… Ah. Since she can't read my desires she's going for generic appeal. Nothing too obvious, but she's gained a cup size, lost a few centimetres of height and her hair's grown a little lighter. I think her facial structure is changing slightly as well, becoming less harsh. "What am I being offered?"

"If I remember correctly, you told your lover… The Angel-."

"His name was Tali."

"Tali." I nod. "You once told him that you loved Hell… The screams, the landscape, the suffering… But also that you didn't identify with that value set. You hadn't grown up learning it, you'd just been…" I circle my right hand. "Created with it. It just.. happened to be.. how you are. Was that true?"

She glares. "How did you hear that?"

"I read it in a comic book. Was it true?"

"I.. suppose." She shakes her head. "Why does it matter?"

"What I want to offer you is power. Raw, arcane, lots of it. The downside -and why I'm not using this technique on myself- is that it would significantly affect the sorts of thing you value. But…" I spread out my hands and shrug. "If you don't care about that, and you get something you value now…"

"I'm not quite that casual about it."

"When was the last time you were completely happy, Chantinelle? Running? Hiding? The occasional clerical seduction? Ripping Gabriel's heart out? No. Not even that. It was when you were with Tali. I'm offering you the chance to feel that way again. No more missing Hell, wanting to go back even though you know any number of Demons know you as John's ally and would gleefully take their hate out on you. No more risking giving yourself away by feeding on people. I know you only just managed to dodge those Inquisitors in Kiev. You could be happy as yourself. How about it?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

2nd March
08:45 GMT

The Northampton Arms' barman nods at me as I lead Chantinelle inside. "He's upstairs, mate. You c'n go right up."

"Thank you." I had assumed that we'd be doing this at The Tate Club, but apparently they have rules about Demons walking in through the front doors. I head across the bar area towards the stairs that go up to the function room. John and Zatanna should have had time to prepare by now. Not a lot of people around at this time of day, and none of them pay us any significant attention.

Chantinelle entwines my left arm with her right and leans into me. "Do they know that you're a super hero?"

"I'm never completely sure. I don't exactly hide it, but if they've heard of 'Orange Lantern' at all they probably only noticed the ring or the armour." The double doors leading upstairs are hooked open and we walk upwards together, me unhooking them with a filament as we go. Chantinelle nuzzles my shoulder, but she isn't focusing on me. Her eyes unfocus slightly as she tries to make sense of the magic she can feel from our destination. Shouldn't be much; we're still running quiet and we don't want any sort of suspicious leakage for Nabu to investigate.

As we reach the top of the stairs I flick the function room doors open with another filament. The rugs on the floor have been rolled up and deposited at the sides of the room. The tables are a mismatched lot, some chipboard with fold away metal legs while others solid wood. Those that can be flattened have been and stuck behind the bar while the others have been lifted out of the way. The interior walls have been covered in warding sigils, and as the doors close behind us I see that they have been too. I'll get rid of those before we leave.

John finishes work on the pattern on the floor and stands back up. He's got his shirt sleeves rolled up and his jacket is folded up on one of the tables at the side of the room. His eyes meet Chantinelle's for a brief moment, his face going blank and his breath leaving him in an extended exhalation. Then he looks away with a small shake of his head, turning his attention to our fellow conspirator. "Zatanna, we ready to give it a test?"

Zatanna's school uniform is nothing like as fetishy as popular culture has led me to believe it should be. Yes, there's a pleated tartan skirt in red, pink and white, but it's knee length. There are tights, but they're thick and it's early spring. She has a blouse, waistcoat and a jacket decorated with the school's crest.

She also has a long, metal, rune-covered stave topped by Sephtian's best Star Sapphire containment cage. Violet light is weakly radiating out from it at levels which our tests -and, frankly, educated guesses- say should be safe for a person to be exposed to long term. The staff itself is a joint effort between myself, Sephtian and Io. The bulk of it is a metal that Earth science hasn't gotten around to naming yet, a heavy nucleus metal with a half life measured in billions of years. Since the stuff didn't exist on Earth before I made it last week it has no arcane presence at all. It's hard without being brittle, reacts with almost no naturally occurring materials and the staff weighs enough to be used as a bludgeoning weapon without being too heavy for Zatanna to hold for an extended period of time. Tiny strands of orichalcum wire threaded throughout the structure hold a spell network that make it possible for Zatanna to use the Star Sapphire without all the fuss we had to make the first time she tried, as well as generally aiding in her efforts to focus the power. Shame she can't use it on missions, really.

I get a warm smile, Chantinelle gets a puzzled frown and then John gets a nod. "I'm feeding power… Now."

Violet light flows from the Star Sapphire down the length of the staff to where it touches the inscription on the floor. Violet… It's not exactly fire. It flickers too slowly and wafts in accordance with local emotional resonances rather than the movements of the air. Violet non-fire flares up as power from the Star Sapphire flows across the diagram, first from the containment and binding charms around the outside, then onto the functional components towards the centre. Finally the Star Sapphire symbol in the centre flares a brilliant violet and Zatanna lifts her staff from the floor, breaking the external connection.

Chantinelle straightens up slightly. "Are you giving me that staff? Not sure how much use it'll be to me."

"No, we're not giving you the staff." Zatanna's irises have gone violet, and violet mist continues to waft around the staff. That's not an immediate danger sign, but I am keeping an eye on it just in case. Zatanna tilts her head a little to the right as she looks into Chantinelle. "You feel.. different than other Demons."

"Lucky me. John? What am I supposed to be getting out of this? It better be good."

He ambles over to his jacket and pulls out a cigarette packet. "Simple really, 'Elle. First time we met, you'd gotten into a spot a'trouble after fallin' in love with an Angel. Unusual, that. Most Demons can't feel love." He takes a cigarette out and puts the packet back. "Didn't seem important at the time…" He looks at the diagram on the floor and slips the cigarette into his mouth. "The crystal on the end of Zatanna's staff is a link to… Can't believe I'm sayin' this… The element of love." Chantinelle's eyebrows go up and she pulls away from me to get a better look at the diagram. "We can use it to replace your connection to Hell's magic, basically remake you as a.. sort of.. Elemen'al, rather than a Succubus." He nods at me. "Paul explained that, right?"

"Oh, is that his name." She starts walking around the outer edge of the diagram. In the direction that takes her away from John, I note. "He said something like that. Are you sure this will work?"

"For a Zamaron, or someone with an actual violet power ring, this would be simple. For us, it's a bit trickier. John and Zatanna had to do quite a bit of research, but..." I nod. "We're as sure as we can be without testing it, and as far as we can tell you're one hundred percent of the people it can work on."

Curious. I genuinely can't tell whether she wants this or not. Body language analysis suggests 'yes', but I know full well that isn't reliable with shapeshifters. "He said it would make me more powerful."

"You'll be able to fuel yourself with Human love, not tearing strips off their souls by fucking 'em." John shrugs as he fishes a lighter out of his pocket. "It's a sympathetic thing, you wouldn't be taking anything from anyone. Could even power yourself from your own love, if you wanted. Inquisitors don't go after Elementals much, your sisters won't see you as competition any more…" He lights his cigarette and jabs the lit end in my direction. "Give it a few years for everyone to forget and you could even try joining his lot. People like love." He takes a drag and then looks at her, eyebrows raised. "You want it, or what?"

Chantinelle continues around the circle, drawing closer to Zatanna. When she reaches the nearest point of her circuit she stops and looks at her. Zatanna gives her a small smile. Chantinelle seems almost nervous. I suppose -even if she was telling the truth- this is a big deal. After a moment she looks away, then nods. "What do I need to do?"

Zatanna gestures with the head of her stave towards the diagram. "Just step onto the star in the center and think about someone you love."

"And then what?"

"Then.. it starts. We're.. not exactly sure what it'll be like for you."

A wisp of violet mist flows from Zatanna's staff over Chantinelle's foot before redirecting itself to the diagram. The violet light over the sigil in the centre flares up and-. Oh. In the centre of the diagram stands the image of a winged man with medium-curly medium-length hair. He's well muscled and wearing what appears to be a chain mail t-shirt and a short skirt. He beckons Chantinelle to join him.

"Damn you." Chantinelle spares a moment to snarl at Zatanna, as… Are those tears? Before she returns her attention to the Angel construct. "It's not him." She closes her eyes and wipes her right hand across her face. "It's not-." She takes two breaths, then strides across the diagram and throws her arms around him, pressing her face into his neck. Her leathery wings burst through her jacket at the back and curl around him.

Zatanna raises her staff and points the Star Sapphire at Chantinelle. "Eb nrober." Violet light blasts from the head, causing the violet not-fire of the diagram to flare up once more. The centre point of the diagram glows brilliantly for a moment and then dulls, translucent violet crystal forming around Chantinelle. "Conversion in progress."

John exhales a cloud of smoke, then nods, his eyes fixed on the reforming Succubus. "Any idea how long it's gunna take?"

Zatanna shakes her head. "Not really. I can tell how much she's been converted but I can't tell how long it will be until she's finished."

"Right. I'm gunna pop down and order breakfast then. Shout if anything happens."