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

[Mr Zoat]

16th October
15:31 -5 GMT

"Orange Lantern, thank you for coming on the show."

I sit a little carefully into the soft chair provided. Had a bit of an incident in one of the rehearsals… They wanted me to wear my full 'costume' and I flattened the chair with my power armour. The compromise we're using today is that I'm wearing my old leathers and the seat is solidly reinforced. Ms Grant and I are sitting opposite each other on a curved settee with a table -definitely not a desk- between us. Out of all the options Batman provided me with, this is the one I thought best. I need to get a version of events out relatively quickly, and since no one is going to have anything sensible to say for a week or so, going on a more low brow program does the job.

"Thank you for having me on at such short notice."

Ms Grant has only recently made the transition from news reporting to having her own talk show, and I know this is as big a thing for her as my interview was for Dana. I'm pretty sure that she's going to soft-pedal me, which is fine because… And I think this with the greatest respect, she's a pretty face who says stuff to a camera. Not stupid or anything, but definitely not Ms Lane. Ms Lane would have a go at me on principle even if I hadn't scared her senseless last week.

"You've.. been involved in so many interesting things since last time we spoke that it's a.. little difficult to know where to begin."

Saying 'I am pretty interesting' would make me sound conceited. Saying 'Batman pretty much ordered me to answer anything you asked' makes it sound like I'm name-dropping. And I.. don't want to do the Booster Gold thing.

"I'm.. happy to answer any questions you have."

And -thank you brain- I'm now thinking about the Ben Elton novel Popcorn where it was apparently standard practice for female news presenters to apply ice cubes to their nipples before appearing on camera. That's just something he made up, right?

"In that case, let's start with the solar system's newest planet." She glances towards the backdrop, and the screen there shows a still image taken from Ms Lane's spacesuit. "According to astronomers worldwide, this planet appeared last Saturday and flew towards the Sun before stopping close to Mars." A massive simplification, but she knows her audience. "The article that appeared in the Daily Planet newspaper made it pretty clear that you're the one who brought it here."

I rotate my right hand, ring glowing as I switch the image for a real time transmission centred on Mother of Mercy's core cluster. "The planet's name is Ater Clementia, and its sole inhabitant is a member of the Orange Lantern Corps." I'm not sure if Mother of Mercy has a sense of humour or not, but she has rearranged a chunk of her primary connective vines into the shape of the orange sigil and they can be seen glowing faintly through the clouds even at this distance. "Her name is Mother of Mercy and she covers most of the surface."

"She's really that big?"

"Her core consciousness… Her 'brain' is a bundle of vines about the size of a Humvee, and it's in the middle of the symbol there. All of the rest of her body… I suppose you could call the rest her organs. She moves her planet around by manipulating gravity using-" I switch the view to a side-on shot of the gravity spines. "-these things. They're about a-. About sixty miles tall-" And no cracks about American English. "-and she's got about two hundred of them all over her surface. Now that she also has a power ring, she can fly long distances much easier and I asked her to come here to help me out with a project I've been working on."

"Terrifying newspaper reporters?"

That gets a small laugh from the audience.

"That.. was a bit funny-." I lean forwards as I flash up an image of Ms Lane's face on the screen for a moment before returning to the picture of Ater Clementia's surface. "You didn't get that from me. But no. For obvious reasons Mother of Mercy is the Orange Lantern Corps' leading expert in planet physics. I asked her to come here in order to help the Martians with restarting their planet's core. One of the reasons why Martians can't live on their planet's surface is because the radiation there is much too strong for it to be safe for them. On Earth, we're protected from cosmic radiation…"

I pointedly stare at the camera. "That's the sort of radiation that gives you cancer and kills you, not the sort that gives you super powers. We're protected from it by the Earth's magnetic field." I switch the image for a child friendly 'onion' diagram of the Earth. "The Earth's core is mostly comprised of nickel and iron, and it's the core's spinning which creates the magnetic field."

Worth talking about the estimated time until Earth's next geomagnetic reversal? No, that would just distract from the topic under discussion.

"The core of Mars used to do the same sort of thing, but at some point in the past it stopped and Martians were forced to retreat underground. The Martian government has expressed an interest in doing something to change that, and Mother of Mercy is the best person I know for the job. With a little luck, she'll be able to get their core spinning again and keep an eye out for any unintended side effects."

"Such as?"

"Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are the signs of a lively core. They probably won't be able to avoid some, but she can use power ring scans to detect them and provide an early warning. Mars' lack of surface water also means that they won't have to worry about tsunamis."

Ms Grant nods. "Still, it sounds pretty dangerous."

"There's a risk, certainly, and she's not going to start work until she's got a much more accurate picture of how their planet works. But the Martian government thinks that it's going to be worthwhile."

"Is there any risk to Earth from another planet being in the solar system?"

"Not significantly. Mother of Mercy has been very careful to avoid an orbit which might cause her to collide with any planet that was already here. Even if she suddenly lost the ability to control her own flight, Ater Clementia would fall into a safe orbit around the Sun. As things stand, she can move away from anything she might otherwise hit. She also doesn't have any inhabitants, so there's no risk from that angle."

"Are there a lot of intelligent planets in the universe?"

"Not as far as I'm aware. The Green Lantern Corps has one and I believe that Green Lantern… Huh, it's a bit awkward to talk about them when I can't say their names. The.. brown haired male one, encountered another near this galaxy's rim. Mother of Mercy isn't exactly an intelligent planet but she's fairly close. The Orange Corps also has Lantern Ranx, who is a sentient battle station." I put his image up on the screen. "Not quite planet size, but still very big. I can't.. immediately call to mind any others, but there probably are some. Far more species are humanoid, though."

"And the name, 'Mother of Mercy'. Is that a title or a translation?"

"That's.. a name I picked. She never bothered with a name for herself, but her… Creations are known over a wide section of the galaxy as 'Black Mercies', because they're black and designed as a sort of emergency hospice care system. You.. attach one to the nervous system of someone who's dying and it makes them think that they're in their idea of a perfect world. Naturally, in.. some places they're used as narcotics instead, but that was very much contrary to her intentions when she first made them."

"Wasn't heroin first created as a painkiller?"

"Yes, and just like with heroin the original creator was well intentioned and has no way to reverse the effects when she found out it was being misused." Huh. "Well, technically she could attach every user to herself and gradually wean the users off, but she doesn't have any special way to detect them." Probably best to steer away from that subject. "But just about any medicinally useful substance can be abused. When used for their intended purpose, they are very effective."

Ms Grant nods. "I'm sure that the Martians are very grateful that she's willing to help them. Moving.. on to the second thing that's brought you into the public eye lately, can you explain why you were seen speaking to an angel in New York last week?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th October
15:35 -5 GMT

"Ah, well, first off…" I change the background image to a shot of Zauriel from my perspective. "I would like to confirm that Zauriel is indeed an angel and not an unusually well-groomed Thanagarian."

"Does that make you a prophet?"

She's smiling, trying to make light of the idea. But I can see the slight undercurrent of nervousness. Americans take their religion very seriously. Nearly as seriously as studio executives take their advertisers, and as advertisers take religious-themed boycotts.

Personally, I rather like the idea of coming on a program like this and saying 'yeah, talked to an angel. Wasn't all that'.

I smile back, shaking my head. "No, no. I wasn't given any commandments or anything like that. I mean, I'm a Hellenist; I'm the last person who'd get something like that."

"Was he.. there to talk to you?"

"Yes." I make a point of looking sheepishly at the audience. "For.. what I thought were good, mission-related reasons I'd.. stolen a fruit a few days before and he wanted me to repent the act. I believed that it was justified on utilitarian grounds. We.. discussed the issue for a little while… I'm afraid that we rather talked past each other."

"You refused to repent?"

"I'm afraid so."

"You refused to repent when there was an angel sent by God to ask you to repent?" She raises her eyebrows far enough for the camera to be able to pick it up. "Was that really a good idea?"

"As I said, I'm not a Christian, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Sikh or a Jainist or Zoroastrian or… I apologise if I've forgotten any other religion that considers the judgement of the Silver City to be the final word on morality. I don't. Heck, I don't always agree with the gods of my own religion. As such, I feel no particular need to conform to his idea of morality."

"But.. you've actually met an angel, and you don't feel that it's a… A stronger argument than before?"

"I think it proves that the Silver City has some… Odd priorities. I've got a.. pretty reasonable sense of self-worth, but I don't really think it was worth Zauriel's time to try to get me to repent that."

Would..? Huh, Does that mean that he doesn't know about the other things I've done? Like… All those people I killed? Surely that was more important? I'd like to think that I've been making the best of a series of bad situations, but I doubt that everyone I've killed had it coming. Or was it based on intention; I was trying to improve Vega while in the Garden I was literally just there to steal? No, that doesn't work. If they were judging it by intent then they should have known why I wanted the pomegranate. I wonder what the limits of their knowledge are?

"Don't you feel… I don't know, privileged that you've got an angel looking out for your immortal soul?"

"Again, wrong religion. When I die, my soul will most likely find itself in Erebos where I will be judged by Lord Hades. There are a.. few other outside possibilities, but that's the most likely. Having spoken to both him and his priestesses a few times I think that while he won't exactly be impressed by my theft, he'll take my motives and the rest of my deeds into consideration before passing a harsh sentence. Regardless of the opinions of the Host, I won't go to Hell. As such I have no fear of eternal damnation, so the fear-based motivation for obeying angels doesn't exist."

"But, having actually met him... Doesn't that motivate you to change your mind?"

"Not really. Within a couple of hours of formally converting to Hellenism I met Eris, Goddess of Chaos. Since then I've met Hera, Hephaestus, Hades and Vulcan, among others. If you were really interested then I could probably arrange an introduction. Would me doing so make you feel compelled to convert to Hellenism yourself?"

She slowly shakes her head. "I don't think it works like that."

"Right. I had a brief conversation with an angel. If I belonged to a monotheistic faith that would have been quite significant for me. Since I don't… He was just a well-intentioned chap with wings. But since I'm sure that your viewers are rather more interested in what he had to say than I was…"

I shift the image on the screen back to the point of view I had when I flew up to meet him.

"There was a.. slightly odd tone to his voice that doesn't come across on the recording, and I've redacted parts relating to ongoing missions. But that aside, this is what happened."

Which is pretty much a direct lie, as leaving out the stuff about Blaze would render part of the rest nonsensical so that gets left out too. The rest should be rather unfulfilling to anyone watching, and the cut-off is awkward.

"Good morning. I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. Whom am I addressing?"

"I am Zauriel of the Host of Eagles, Messenger of the Most High."

"And are you here for business or pleasure?"

"I am here upon the Lord's business. There was a theft-."

"Let's not draw this out. It was…"

I ignore the recording in favour of watching the audience. Yes, I didn't expect a violent response, but I am a little impressed with how calmly they're taking this. Crosses are more than a little in evidence, but a quick scan shows me paraphernalia from a smattering of other religions as well. And one cheeky git with a little smiley badge, clutching a colander and watching with an expression of polite interest. I didn't bother asking about the vetting… Did they sell tickets for a mark up? Or -given the short notice- did they just let in everyone who could pass vetting fast enough? On the emotional front, a good number would rather have been in my place but the strongest overall theme is a joy that a figure from their mythology has demonstrated the truth of their god's commitment to the world. Particularly at Jesus getting name checked. Which winds me up a little. By that standard both the First and Satanus have a greater commitment.

And it's not as if Zauriel actually did anything useful. Would it have really killed them to find some sort of angelic demon-killing machine and send it our way? Or at least smack Remiel and Duma upside the head? Devil Jizz usage figures haven't changed since yesterday and I'm honestly not expecting them to.

Chance of the Silver City doing anything useful with those other pomegranates?

"None at all. Indeed, I would applaud it were it not for the fact that it has cost him his immortal soul."

I suspend the playback. "And I'm afraid that's as much as it's safe to show. We then took a brief-" And the audience are mostly still staring at the image of Zauriel. "-tour of the KordTech facility and showed him some of the anti-demon weapons we're working on."

"Was he impressed?"

"I'd.. say more shocked. Angels aren't particularly innovative, and we've been doing a lot of innovation lately."

"Anything you can share with the rest of us?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Despite understandable reservations on the part of Atlantis, the ongoing demonic attacks across the world have resulted in King Orin signing off on KordTech receiving a licence to produce high strength wards and anti-magic weaponry for law enforcement purposes. I haven't been part of all of the negotiations, but my understanding is that the aim is to prioritise selling to countries with the largest Devil Jizz problems first, then open up to any government that wishes to buy."

"What about military or civilian usage?"

"Not at the moment. Foreign military usage of counter-magic techniques is an extremely sensitive issue for Atlantis, as their entire nation runs on magic. A lot of the expertise KordTech is using comes from people under contract with the Atlantean government, and they can't be employed without KordTech precisely agreeing to terms they set. That, combined with the fact that there simply isn't enough spare capacity in the production systems means that non-law enforcement uses are off the table for now. That said, KordTech is following normal patent law so if anyone else wants to start up their own manufacturing centre with their own magic users… We're certainly not going to stop them."

"I'm sure we'll all sleep a lot more soundly once American police have weapons capable of fighting demons." She turns towards the camera. "Don't go away, anyone. We'll be right back after these messages."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th October
09:02 -6 GMT

I wince as John's piston construct slams into Alan's chest, shoving him into the desert rock. Alan himself on the other hand just smiles, fortifying his construct armour and sending a train construct at John without moving from the ground. Pretty clever, actually. The fact that he's pinned doesn't matter if his opponent's offence can't breach his defences. As such, moving out from under the object pushing him down is of secondary importance to striking back.

Okay, Alan's managing. John isn't using any of the specifically anti-Lantern techniques we've come up with, but he isn't holding back when it comes to conventional Lantern combat and Alan's keeping up. I assumed that would take him longer, but it looks like I underestimated how hopeful he was.

I smile at my sparring partner. "Welcome back to Earth, Lantern Savenlovich. Will you be staying long?"

Lantern Savenlovich is a somewhat severe looking woman with a brown bob of hair and a pair of lantern-shaped ear rings. She's actually the second oldest human Lantern, having left the Russian Air Force a Lieutenant Colonel before joining Roscosmos. Her costume is clearly based on Jordan's, though she's armoured it and added the regulation-approved sidearm. She remains focused on the fight before us as she answers me. "My training is not yet complete. Lantern Larvox is on leave, and felt that I would benefit from participating."

"How are you finding it?"

"Finding what, exactly?"

"The Green Lantern Corps? Using a power ring? Life in general?"

"The Corps is a good deal easier on their recruits than the Russian Air Force. Not that I had a great desire to return to basic training."

"You might be new to the Corps, but you're hardly new to military discipline or taking orders. I doubt that they saw any need to treat you as a complete neophyte."

"And I am grateful not to have to shave my head again. Since becoming a civilian I have allowed myself to become a little more relaxed in my personal habits."

"Two sugars, now?"

She neither smiles nor looks around. "I did not wear ear rings while I was a pilot. I also cut down on my exercise regime. I have now intensified it." She sighs. "A minor benefit in return for losing my job."

"You got.. fired?"

"I could hardly continue in a management role in the Russian space agency while on the other side of the galaxy, learning to be a Green Lantern. And the suddenness of the appointment meant that I did not have time to properly train my successor."

"Didn't you point that out to the Guardians? They're big fans of proper order, I'm sure they'd have held the position for a month or so."

"I believe you have met the Director."

"Of Roscosmos? No, I-." Ah. "You mean the.. Director of Future Weapons Development?"

"Yes. Naturally. My commission was reactivated and I was told that I was to leave immediately. The Russian government believes that they gain more from having me as a Lantern than having me fix Roscosmos' procurement problems."

"And you don't?"

"Supplying a state industry with shoddy parts is treason. In my absence I fear that it will simply be covered up." She huffs irritably. "The Director has made it clear that it is no longer my concern, so I will obey."

"You don't.. actually work for him. Do you? I don't think that the Green Lantern Corps is keen on Lanterns working as Lanterns for nation states."

"I worked for him between my commission being reactivated and leaving Earth. But.. he is.. an important man. And…" Now she actually does look at me. "He implied that the future of Russian space travel was his department and not Roscosmos'."

Ah… "What's your security rating like?"

"Enough to know that he has alien space craft to work with, rather than Cold War era rockets."

"I'm still not sure how close they are to having a production model… But that's my understanding as well."

"I hope to be able to persuade him to create a new space agency that is not purely military. But the only leverage I have is doing as he asks."

"Ah, the illusory carrot."

She frowns. "I don't think that translated."

"In English, you motivate someone with carrots and sticks, rewards and punishments. I thought that the Director might be threatening you with something… But he isn't. And he isn't exactly offering you a reward, because I very much doubt that he's discussed his future plans with you in any detail. But there's an implication that there's a carrot around to be had, and the only way to even maybe get the carrot is to do what he wants."

"Are you.. describing me as a mule?"

"I believe that's where the phrase originates from."

"My last boyfriend said that I work like a mule." She returns her full attention to the fight as John and Alan trade shots while flying evasively.

"A persistently determined attitude is probably what qualified you for the green ring-."

"He also said that I look like one."

"Aaaah. My.. sympathy."

"It does not matter. When do we begin?"

"When they finish. The idea is that we take it in turns, watch what each other do and can intervene if something goes wrong."

"Reasonable. How old is the Blue Lantern?"

"He's in his nineties, though he doesn't precisely age any longer. Is there anything in particular that you want to work on? Lantern versus Lantern combat skills aren't often applicable during actual missions."

She pauses while she thinks about it. "I think I would like to practise splitting my attention during combat. Perhaps fighting against your fat midget creatures."

"I.. don't actually have those any more. I went to Hell briefly, and a demon there was able to destroy them."

"Why do you not get more?"

"Because my limited study of magic suggests that they could possibly be used to attack my rings with demonic magic, and they were… Marginally useful when fighting people who actually challenge me. And in the current climate, having a horde of demons follow me around is so obviously unpopular that even I picked up on it."

"You would not want to attract the attention of an angel, after all."

I smile, making an amused exhalation. "I think I got lucky, getting someone as reasonable as Zauriel. I can't rely on it happening again." Still no follow up from the Silver City on that. Presumably they're still debating the issue. "Reminds me, actually: I've got a ward for you. I'll give it to you once-."

Alan flies my way, flexing life back into his right arm. "Okay, John and I are going to take a breather. All yours."

I take a look at his arm-. And he notices me looking at his arm and raises his eyebrows. Right. I fly forward towards the arena, turning in the air to face Lantern Savenlovich as I do so.

"Alright, let's start with something basic. Try… A barrier and a gun."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
09:02 -8 GMT

The detective in charge of the crime scene raises her hand as she sees me flying towards them. "Orange Lantern, down here!"

A quick scan, and I transition downward. "You rang?"

"Yeah." She stares at my faceplate for a moment, so I send my power armour back into subspace. "Got something I think might be right up your alley." She walks towards a nearby warehouse which is teeming with scene-of-crime officers. "Not that I want to sound ungrateful, but my chief put a call in to the Justice League."

"The Justice League has just over twenty members and worldwide responsibilities. In the event that whatever happened here is as significant as you think, I'll forward-" We pass through the doorway leading to the interior. "-my report-."

I stop. Then I float back a metre. Oh dear.

From outside, all I can see is the interior of a warehouse. A few offices and rows of shelves with moveable ladders and space for forklift trucks to move between them. But as I pass the threshold…

"Yeah, clever isn't it? It even lets you see me standing in here."

Ring?

Processing.

What I'm looking at now is a bloodbath. I'd say… Approximately thirty bodies, mostly young adults, piled haphazardly in the centre of the room. Blood and gore and other signs of battle damage cover the interior. As I scan faces and genetics the ring shows me matches with recent missing person reports. Remains… Recent, but not immediate. The level of damage they've taken is literally extraordinary. Directed energy weapons, turned up far too high for unarmoured targets.

"We think they were having raves here. See the walls?"

Sound deadening equipment. Surprisingly sophisticated if that's all that was going on. Though where you get raves…

I take a couple of rune stones out of a pouch and float it over to the nearest corpse pile. Low response for residual magic, and the second one detects residual demonic energy.

"What's that mean?"

"Demon. Either a summoning or Devil Jizz. And from the lack of obvious ritual signs I'm going to assume the latter. Though I'll contact a magician and ask them to confirm."

"You think someone got a bad batch and went on a killing spree?"

"It.. does happen. But.. no. The majority of injuries read as phased particle weapons. Jizzers who go monster generally use their muscles or acid or fire." I look up, then shine a light on the words written in blood upon the far wall. "And generally don't write insults in their victims' blood."

One of the scene of crime officers takes a photograph of the writing. 'SUBHUMAN SPECIES TRAITORS' isn't a slogan that lends itself to readily being linked to an existing organisation. If it said 'race' rather than 'species' that would suggest neo-Nazis, but as it is…

"Who uses phased particle weapons?"

"Dozens of star-faring species. On Earth? I've used them a couple of times, I think Russia's Future Weapons program has one, but it's the size of a house. Apart from that… Um."

"What?"

"With some older reports, our ability to precisely identify what weapons were used wasn't as good as it is now. There was a group of assassins that the Justice Society ran into a couple of times who might have used them, but I couldn't say for certain. And they were strictly for-pay killers; they didn't bother writing ideological insults in their victims' blood."

"Who were they?"

"They were called Eliminations, Inc, but… As far as I know, they haven't been active for at least forty years. This doesn't match their MO."

"So, aliens. Why would aliens want to kill a group of partying drug-users?"

"When I scanned this warehouse from outside I didn't detect anything unusual. Light refraction camouflage plus power ring baffles plus phased particle weapons brings the list of probable perpetrators down… But none of the species who regularly use both live anywhere near here. And none of them would care about humans being 'impure'."

Alert.

Genetic patterns dance before my eyes. Just outside an area that looks like it's been burned with white phosphorus, a tiny blood sample that doesn't match the bodies piled in the centre of the room. Some of the patterns… Those aren't naturally occurring. I've seen some of them in Nylor Truggs, but as far as I can tell this isn't him. Lex might have tried using Truggs' DNA to 'upgrade' someone, but he and Satanus are allies. Lex.. can be speciesist, but he hasn't ever taken a pop at Ms Lane except to draw Kal-El out. Did he lose control of someone? It's not inconceivable that he managed to make man-portable phased particle weapons… No, it doesn't fit. He's not this reckless, not after situations like this blew up in his face early in Kal-El's career.

Which means that either these genes come from whoever it was who developed them in the first place for Truggs to inherit them, or… We've got at least one more time traveller.

"What? You found something?"

"Yes. Exotic DNA." I take a scraping from the floor and wave my rune stones at it. Could be contaminated, but… No reaction. "Not from the victims."

"Exotic like alien?"

"No, like engineered. Mostly human, so not a purpose built bio-engineered killing machine. A scientifically augmented human. Enhanced strength, endurance, regeneration and sensory acuity."

"How much enhanced strength?"

"About twenty percent over what you'd expect from their muscle mass."

"So not super-enhanced, then."

"No. The way Truggs put it, the enhancements were designed to stay in the population after a civilisation collapse. They're designed to be inherited, not to be the most powerful they could be. But I'm more concerned about the technology base that could create those enhancements and phased particle beams."

"Why?"

"Because it's from the future."

"What?"

"Assuming Truggs wasn't lying, some time in the not too distant future Earth gets invaded by aliens and loses. Eventually they leave, and the surviving humans are set back to industrial age levels of technology until they get conquered by the Thanagarians. I don't really know the timelines-."

"Earth gets conquered and-. That happens, what?!"

"Obviously we're going to try to prevent it, but that was the timeline he lived through. The point is, I don't know the exact schedule of events and so I can't really suggest who these people could be." I shake my head. "I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful, and I will certainly forward this to Batman."

"So… We can't do anything? They just get away?"

"If they are time travellers, I doubt that they've done this for fun. It's more likely that a pattern will become apparent." Sadly. "I'm going to go and talk to Abra Kadabra and see if he remembers anything about them. I'll keep you apprised."

I turn away to-.

"What do we do if we find them?"

"Back away, call me. Failing that, shoot them with the biggest gun you have. Repeatedly."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
13:24 -6 GMT

Abra frowns faintly. "A phased particle weapon of any size would do far more damage than it would take to kill someone."

I nod. "If they were using Devil Jizz then they weren't necessarily in human form at the time. But…" I point to the holographic image of the interior. "Yes. In at least some cases, the injuries are consistent with phased particle damage to the unarmoured human body."

He pauses in his mopping of the canteen floor for a moment. "Then I am glad that I only have to clean the floor here instead of there."

"Do you mind..?"

The prison officer keeping watch over Abra waves his hand at the hologram-. Oh, right, photo-realistic images of violently murdered people. Heh, I can remember when seeing people killed on Santa Prisca bothered me but I can't go back to thinking in the way I did back then. Actually…

I shut off the image, still looking at Abra. "Was that bothering you?"

"A little." He soaks the mop head and then wrings it out. "While I have certainly committed crimes, I have never killed anyone myself. And I've never seen anyone killed like.. that."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed-."

"Not necessary." He shakes his head as he returns to his mopping. "My forebears had squeamishness engineered out of them. Though if you would be so good as to pass Officer O'Malley a bucket before-." I get the construct bucket in place just in time. "Thank you."

"I'm-I'm really sorry."

"Oooohhhaaaugh…"

"If you don't mind my asking, officer, why exactly did you apply to work in a supervillain prison?"

"Best… Best pay in the country for entry level guards."

"In the future, you may wish to think about why that is. What else did you want to ask?"

I'm going to need to watch that. "Have you ever heard of Eliminations, Inc?"

"A syndicate of assassins who used advanced weapons. They tried to fight the Justice Society, lost, and were never heard from again."

"Pretty much. Did you learn that in this era, or before you came back?"

"This era. I felt that examining your records would… Aid in my search for a mentor."

"Nothing from before? You said that you studied records for this era."

"What there were. The Reach had no interest in us being able to learn anything they did not want us to." He pokes the mop at a slightly more stubborn food stain. "After they abandoned us and we restored contact with Earth, their records were in such a bad state that there are still large holes in our history." He smiles faintly. "Once I am released, one of the things which I want to do is make high-density back ups of humanity's historical archives and hide them where the Reach will not find them."

"Altruistic of you."

"I'm really doing it for the renown more than anything else."

I shake my head as Officer O'Malley ducks behind the serving counter in search of a glass of water. "Nothing wrong with that. Though I'm.. curious. If you succeed, does that mean that no one can find them and publicise them before you leave-. Ah, left?"

"Yes, temporal tenses are confusing, aren't they?" He stops mopping for a moment to shake his head at me. "To be honest, I don't believe that anyone really understood exactly how the system worked. If they knew what I was going to do then I would have expected them to stop me. But if they knew that I did it, perhaps they considered themselves bound to permit me, as the time line they were living in was one where I happened."

"What happens if I destroy the Reach?"

He shakes his head again as he returns to his work. "I don't know. Just as I don't know what would happen if I rendered the Earth uninhabitable. Would I be erased as my own forebears were killed? Inasmuch as I have thought about it, I suspect that my being here means that my existence is protected. I do not think that I have made any large changes to twenty first century history, but I refuse to believe that I have not made enough to cause one of my ancestors to meet someone different or have different children."

"Unless that's what happened the first time as well."

"Which would mean that you would be doomed to failure and I will most likely die during the Reach invasion." He narrows his eyes as he cleans his mop again. "That is not a future which I desire."

"I don't care whether I can or not. I'm going to carry on as if I can. Truggs thinks that it can still be prevented."

"I would very much like you to arrest him. I would find it interesting to have someone in here whom I can discuss this with."

"It's not that I'm not trying." What else? "You said that you didn't know about me, only Larfleeze. But Larfleeze is in a cell on Maltus. That would mean that change is possible, wouldn't it?"

Abra shrugs. "Perhaps he escapes. But I did not tell you that I knew of Larfleeze. You assumed from my description that it was Larfleeze. It could equally be one of your recruits. Or you." He shrugs again. "Or you might already have prevented it. Does Themyscira have oracles?"

"Yes, but.. they.. don't answer me." Not that Diana uses them anyway. "Okay, so nothing on Eliminations, Inc. How about Devil Jizz?" He shakes his head. All right. Other time travellers. "Per Degaton?"

Abra stops mopping. "Yes, actually. He was a twenty seventh century dictator. He rose to power when Earth was finally recovering from the Reach occupation on the strength of his vehemently anti-alien politics. His death squads were infamous for their open use of violence to kill his opponents."

"Truggs said that he couldn't hold what happened against the Thanagarians. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised some people did."

"Scapegoating has always been an effective political tool. I'm not sure that the Thanagarians were doing anything to Earth that they weren't doing to other alien worlds in their empire, but… Perhaps that was enough."

"Can I assume that they went after collaborators?"

"Collaborators, nationalists, anyone who insulted ginger hair… He was a fascist dictator. The role attracts a certain type of man. He took control through populism, intimidation and violence, and the Earth became far stronger under his leadership than it was permitted to be under the Thanagarians."

"What else do you know?"

"Not.. much. I was never interested in the twenty seventh century. Where did you hear his name?"

"Did he have time travel?"

"I don't know. Given how.. variable Earth technology is, I suppose that it's possible. Do you think that he did?"

"I think he had a fight with the Justice Society once or twice." No record of that, but it's a reasonable excuse. So… Per Degaton, definite possibility. I need to ask him about other possibilities as well. "Have you ever heard of Rip Hunter?"

"Is he a wrestler?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
16:43 -5 GMT

"Was it.. bad..?"

Kon sounds sympathetic, but I know for a fact that he's more interested than concerned for me. He never had any sort of viscerally negative response to blood… That I noticed. If he did ever feel like that then he got over it before I acquired empathic vision. We're heading towards Cadmus building, and with both of us quite a bit better known now than when we made our visit last year quite a few people are stopping and staring. Some look nervous, but since we're not in full combat dress they're not fleeing.

"A bit bloody. Thirty people killed by phased particle weapons. No substantive leads on the killers, though if the quantity of reports on Devil Jizz usage decreases during the next few days we might have established a pattern."

"They leave a note or something?"

"The message 'subhuman species traitors' was written in the blood of the dead on one of the walls."

"Species traitors? Because.. they're betraying humanity to demons?"

"That's my assumption."

"Religious fundamentalists? …" He sort of moves his mouth as if he was about to speak, then closes it again. "Kid Flash showed me some preacher on the TV who was really angry about the whole thing."

"Quite a lot are. But I doubt that people prepared to inject themselves with Essence of Demon are regular churchgoers." There are explicitly religious superheroes, but for the most part they simply claim divine inspiration and do conventionally superheroic stuff. Devil Jizz users might be acceptable targets for a beating, but lining them up and shooting them is definitely one step beyond. "But I don't think that's it. A religious vigilante killer wouldn't call them that, they'd say-."

"Evil Satanist, right."

"Something like that. I also detected a sample of blood which I believe came from one of the attackers. The genetics showed signs of enhancement, like Truggs has."

"Someone from the future?"

"Or descendant of one. I talked to Abra Kadabra afterwards and the only realistic candidates we could think of were the henchpeople of a twenty seventh century dictator called Per Degaton, but Kadabra couldn't even say for sure that he had time travel. At the moment I just don't think we have enough information. Ambrose is going to have a look at the site tomorrow and… It might be worth following up with one or two of the more vicious-sounding fundamentalists… Not sure how much good it'll do…"

"We could get Dubbilex to lend us some G-Gnomes and just scan their minds. Not like G-Gnomes would pay any attention to anything they weren't specifically looking for."

"We-. Ah… I'm not sure that Batman would approve mission parameters that vague without something a little better to go on than 'these people hate demons'. I hate demons."

"Sure it wasn't you? I mean, you've probably upgraded your DNA by now, so the blood sample probably matches."

He's smiling as he says it, but I shake my head anyway. "While I'm happy to make minor incremental changes to my body, genetic plug-ins are something I'd want to study for a considerable period of time before using. Just about everything you can do with genes has thousands of knock-on effects-."

"You notice how you haven't denied you were the one who killed them?"

"Oh please. If I was killing people I wouldn't leave the bodies to moulder where they fell. I'd just disintegrate them, and they'd remain 'missing persons' rather than murder victims." We're coming up to the building, and I take a quick look around the street to see if-.

**…he's going in now.**

I frown. **M'gann?**

**Huh? By the rings!**

**Hello?** Nothing. **Hello?**

Kon frowns. "What?"

"Oh, I… Picked up a telepathic broadcast. Apparently it wasn't meant for me." I shrug. "Must be a bit awkward, thinking only the person you're sending to can hear them and then some random guy walking past picks it up."

"You haven't.. been.. hearing..?"

"Not from New York, no. Though-" I clear my throat. "-you might want to consider putting.. psi-baffles on your room's walls. At some-"

"I'll-"

"-point."

"-talk to M'gann about it."

I nod, then hold my left hand out to the front door. "After you, my prince."

Kon gives his head a small shake, then strides forward, pushing the door open as he enters the Cadmus building. No Dubbilex, but a G-Pooka is standing at the reception desk as if waiting for us. It's actually wearing a.. robe..? I'm going with robe, where most Genomorphs are perfectly comfortable in just their hide.

"Hey. We're here to pick up my brother?"

Its horns glow as it nods, and it turns to lead us into the building.

"Sorry, I haven't kept up to date on Genomorph development. Can G-Pooka talk?"

**[An image of the G-Pooka shaking its head.]**

"Seems a little odd. You can-."

"Ah…" Kon frowns at me. "I.. got a picture of her nodding."

I hear the G-Pooka make a sort of scratchy giggling noise.

"I got a shaking head. I guess the sense of humour is still a work in progress."

"We are NNot human. Why would I HHave a sense of HHumor like AA human?"

"So… What about that was funny?"

Another alien-sounding giggle. "You TThink different TThings. Your minds are SSeparate!" And another giggle.

**[An image of an arrow pointing left.]**

Kon glances right, then huffs. "Yeah. Funny."

"Our brother IIs loaded into a MMobile animation suspension PPod RReady for transportation."

We come out into a laboratory, genomorph clusters replacing the scientists I saw last year. The tanks on the wall have been expanded and-. Ah, that's a new one. Four eyes ten centimetres across stare past me as the huge-headed G-Gnome continues to ignore me. That head's all brain, and it looks like it's too big to support itself out of the water of the cylinder.

"What are those?"

"Our new brothers AAre G-Lusca. We FFeel more comfortable UUsing other genomorphs RRather than computers. They CCan think as fast as computers and SSee everything the rest of us do."

Makes sense. "How are the G-Succubi coming along?"

"Why? Do you WWant one?"

"No, thank you. I'm quite happy with my current girlfriend. I was just-."

"Does she want OOne?"

And it's laughing again as it leads us into the lift.

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
16:49 -5 GMT

The room the genomorphs have Match in has changed a great deal since Kon and I first fought him. The body parts from failed experiments are gone, small amounts taken for tissue samples while the rest were incinerated. Genomorphs certainly aren't sentimental. His pod has been substantially reinforced, at least in part because they're deliberately keeping him a little more awake than they used to in order to let the team of g-gnomes and g-pooka sitting in repose around it try altering his thought processes to something a little less violent.

Last time I asked, Dubbilex told me that he was reasonably sure that this approach couldn't completely work but that it wasn't impossible that it could turn him from 'berserk' to merely 'furious'. Another thing Genomorphs don't do: they don't get despondent. If the g-pooka's emotional manipulation abilities couldn't fix Match, maybe the g-fae's magic would prove more effective. Maybe the g-lusca would craft a virus capable of making Match fully Kryptonian. And if no solution was forthcoming from those, perhaps the next iteration of the malleable genomorph genome would suggest a different solution.

The rest of the room is given over to research stations. Unlike upstairs there are some human researchers down here; too much acquired experience with Kryptonian tissue to dismiss. One or two were lured away from STAR Labs, and I think the other new faces were from LexCorp's 'xenobiological exploration' department. One claimed during my last visit that with the right pharmaceuticals Match would be no worse off than a strongly bipolar human. Neither Kon nor I were convinced that was anything like good enough.

"Hey Mom."

Kon heads towards Diana, who has been watching Match's faintly twitching face through the viewing pane. She turns her head a little his way, just enough to indicate that she heard him. "How was school today?"

"I'm not.. really sure. I was kinda distracted." He comes up alongside her. "You.. getting anything..?"

She gives her head a small shake. "I can think of nothing I could do for him. He was created on Earth. It is quite possible that Gaea's magic would be able to heal his mind, if she could be persuaded to make the attempt. But… It is probably far safer to place our faith in Jor-El."

A door in the side of the room opens, and Dubbilex and an uncomfortable-looking Kara Zor-El walk through. I turn away as Diana and Kon side-hug and head their way. "Medical go alright?"

Dubbilex stops, straightening slightly. "As far as I can tell, Miss Zor-El is in near-perfect health. My only concern is that she is slightly underweight, but considering how long she was in cryogenic suspension it is noteworthy that that is her only difficulty."

"No need to worry about that. Mis-. Ma-. Ah. Kal's foster mother is keeping an eye on what I eat."

"It would be a simple matter to assign you a g-gnome, should you desire it."

"I don't.. think I could really explain why I was carrying a g-gnome around with me."

"Ah, secrecy." Dubbilex blinks. "Am I to understand that you are following Superman's example and concealing your nature?"

"For now. I don't.. really get it either. But it's an Earth custom, so…"

"It also lets you get out of explaining how the Kryptonian Kara Zor-El knows… Well. You know who. I'm not a fan of it either, but-."

"Yeah, I do… Get it." She shrugs. "It's just.. strange. I don't think Krypton ever had anything like 'superheroes'. And… I can't get over Kal being a soldier."

"Kal-El isn't exactly a soldier."

"Volunteer police officer?" She shrugs. A lot of alien languages don't have a good translation for 'superhero' that isn't closer in meaning to 'demigod' than what an English speaker actually means when they say it. "That's not really something Els do. We're.. scientists. The only El I can remember who was a soldier was Van-El, and he only did it because the Reconstruction needed him more than anything else did."

"Not planning on putting on a red and blue costume and fighting evildoers yourself, then?"

"Nnnno. I.. should probably learn how to actually use my strength; I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone. But… My qualifications are in mathematics. I don't think I'm really qualified."

I shrug. "My degree's in philosophy."

"Which makes sense, because you're using a power ring." She turns her head away, watching Match's sarcophagus. "The most useful thing I could do for-. For Krypton would be working here. I'm not a.. doctor or anything, but I'm sure that Uncle Jor would let me use his database. And I probably still know more about how we work than most humans."

"If you are not a specialist, I doubt that you know more than we do." Dubbilex doesn't exactly seem offended, but he does have a point. "Though I would appreciate any further data you could persuade Kal-El to provide."

I frown. "I thought he was helping-."

"I did not mean to imply that he was withholding critical information. But he is reluctant to share anything that is not directly related to Kryptonian neurology. His opinion is that we do not need anything else to help Match, and he does not want to risk further data falling into Lex Luthor's hands."

"What's with that, anyway?" Kara looks from Dubbilex to me. "Lex Luthor's a.. human businessman, isn't he?"

"That's a.. complicated one. And if you don't plan on getting involved in costumed adventuring I'd suggest avoiding both the man and the subject."

She frowns. "O.. kay..?"

"Exactly what sort of mathematics? I'm sure KordTech-."

She laughs politely. "You… It's like what I said back at the mountain… Krypton was just… Ah…"

"I'm not offended. I've been around enough to know that we're a good deal more primitive than a lot of worlds."

"I'm not trying to be mean about it. You're not barbarians or anything. There are a lot of worlds with more technology that aren't anything like as nice. I.. think Krypton might have been like this if the Vrangs hadn't invaded." She sighs, then looks straight at me. "Well… Kon says you're his Jes-Mo… What do you think I should do?"

"How..? Soon do you need to start? Honestly, I wouldn't do anything until you're a good deal more accustomed to Earth society."

"I.. really think I'd rather have something to work on now."

I can understand that. "Did your.. mathematical qualifications include statistics or economics?"

"Statistics, sure. Economics… A bit. It wasn't really my focus."

"Oh. Ah… Have you considered emigrating? Tamaran could really use school teachers?"

"Learn another language? I'm having enough trouble with English."

"Um…" I hear a hiss as the pod disconnects from its housing, Kon and Diana getting into position to push. "I'll have a think about it, but I don't really know much about higher maths. I'm not sure-"

Alert! Connection made to monitored phone line.

"-that I oh great."

Kara frowns. "What?"

"Sorry, someone's-." I raise my left hand and look at my ring.

Is it Truggs again?

Confirmed.

I move my hand to the side of my head. "What?"

"Hey, Paul. Funny story-."

"If the assassins are here for you, don't expect me to help."

"Oh, I think this time around my problems are your problems."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
16:54 -5 GMT

"I would be astonished if that were true."

Kon frowns at me from the other side of the room. "Who is it?" His pupils narrow slightly as he gives himself a magnified view of my face. "Truggs."

I nod. "As far as I am aware, the only problem we have in common is the Reach, and they have no resources anywhere near Earth. I checked this morning."

"But you know about the assassins, right? They called you in to that pile a' corpses in Washington State?"

"I'm not telling you any-."

"Come on! It was on the news. Police wouldn't let 'em see the warehouse so they filled air time talkin' about you."

"If you want to give me a clue, do it. Otherwise I'm hanging up again."

"Fine! Fine." I hear him huff at my lack of courtesy. "You remember I said I wanted t' change history?"

"Yes."

"How many people you think want t' do that?"

"All of them. If you're referring to time travellers that I know about, just you."

"What, you forget about yer friend 'Abra Kadabra'?"

"I never got the impression that he wants to change anything, just to improve his own life. In fact, he told me that he came to this period in the hope no one would notice anything odd about him."

"And you think he hasn't changed things?"

"Truggs, I don't even know what model of time travel this universe uses. For all I know changing the past is impossible."

"You thought I was wasting my time?"

"Nothing wrong with optimism. Plus, for all either of us know this was what you did the first time around as well."

"Huh. I did not know you did not know that. Yeah, pretty sure things can change."

"Do you have an evidential basis for that, or-."

"I found a lab. No time machine -which was a kick in the pants- but a whole lotta notes."

"You found a lab in the present, or in your era?"

"'My' era? It's not just my era. I wasn't the only guy there."

"You never told me exactly when you came from. And.. if you're successful then they'll all.. have never existed."

"I'll create more than I'll destroy. Or maybe not… I gotta be honest with yah: some of the stuff I read? Time's… Sticky. Like, it knows how it's meant t' go, an' if you do stuff to it it'll try and go some other route?"

"Or it just can't be changed, because you yourself are a product of the past you are trying to alter."

"That one kept me up at night. But, turns out? I'm okay. See, the lab? It was in a cave in the future, and it was old enough that it should exist now. And it did. It was, like, the fifth place I went. But when I tried t' go back… Rock wall. And some real interesting energy."

"Someone erased the lab. Then.. how do you still remember it?"

"I dunno! Maybe they rebuilt it. Maybe travelling in time makes you immune t' stuff like that. Problem is, I think someone saw me and.. I think I've been retroactively dodging assassination attempts. A whole lotta medical supplies I don't remember using are gone and I've got scars I don't remember getting..."

"I understand. Just tell me what sort of funeral service you want, and I'll arrange everything."

"You do understand whoever it is will be coming for you as well."

"Why? I'm not a time traveller."

"You sure about that? Because I've got a copy of Dana Dearden's article on you, and apparently…" I hear pages rustling. "You went back in time."

"Three years, from a parallel universe. I doubt any actual time travel was involved. The universes probably just don't.. line up."

"Oh, I'm not going to try and kill you. I'm just saying, this is public domain-."

"Does it matter? Either I won and everything's fine, or I'll pop out of existence. There's nothing I can do about it."

"Really? You don't have a time machine tucked away somewhere?"

"If I had a time machine I'd have gone back and talked Luthor into not joining the Light. I don't have a time machine."

"Huh. Kinda thought you mighta been lying about the parallel universe thing."

"So aside from a useless warning..?"

"It's not the same people."

"What isn't?"

"Whatever killed those people in Washington used some sorta powerful exotic matter weapon, right? I'm tough, but if someone hit me with something like that? I'm done. My injuries are all regular weapon injuries. No reason why you'd use fancy guns against ravers and regular stuff on the guy you were really trying t' kill."

"What makes you think you're the 'real' target?"

"Good question. See, the way I see it, the only reason why someone would try and stop me was if they wanted the future I don't want. Reach didn't have time travel, or the Orange Lantern Corps wouldn't a' eaten them in Kadabra's future. So… Who else?"

"Someone who wants to kill you but apparently doesn't care all that much about me?"

"No! Someone who wants the future we're trying to prevent! Or who wants a different future! Might even be the Thanagarians." I'm uncomfortably reminded of the ship that brought Princess Chay-Ara to Earth. "We want the same future. These people don't. This is both our problem."

"What do you want?"

"How about we share information?"

"I'm exceedingly reluctant to do that without a good deal more evidence than I have now that this is even happening."

"I can understand that. Hold on a sec…"

Coordinates received.

"There. Just sent you the place where the lab used to be. Take a look."

Ring?

"Take a look at a mountain?"

"I don't have a power ring. You might find something I missed. Or you might get shot at like I have been."

"I'll consider it. Anything else?"

"Nah. I'll call you again when you're done. Ciao!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
17:16 -5 GMT

The crystalline growths extending over Match twinkle as the Jor-El neural clone takes his readings. Though not technically necessary for the medical work he's about to attempt, it is very much necessary to restrain a raging Kryptonian should he wake up. The genomorphs quite sensibly removed his solar suit once they took control of Cadmus and they've only exposed him to artificial light, but that's not really something anyone with any sense takes a risk on.

Kon stares through the crystal at Match's face. "So… Can you..? Do it..?"

"The form of genetic damage 'Match' is suffering from is similar to that suffered by early-generation clones during Krypton's own development of the process."

"So you can?"

"Those clones were destroyed before they reached full development, and the knowledge derived from their 'failed' creation was used to create improved versions. Eventually, a generation was created without the neurological deformity which causes Match's insane rage and only they were allowed to integrate into Kryptonian society."

"Cough cough blatant sugar coating is blatant cough."

"Sugar coating?" Kon grimaces at me. "He just said they kept killing them until they got it right. How is that sugar coating?"

"I believe that Orange Lantern is referring to the fact that clones were originally not considered to be 'people' for much of the period during which that form of reproduction was in widespread use. Much to my disappointment. In some cases, clones were kept in suspended animation and used for replacement body parts."

"What?"

"It's uncommon, but hardly unheard of. Cloning whole organisms is technologically far simpler than cloning a single body part. It's also a pretty good way to bring the Green Lantern Corps down on your head."

Kara nods. "It was the military council which eventually outlawed it and gave clones full rights. Partly because they used a lot of clones in the fleet. They also.. banned cloning…"

"The upshot is, Kryptonian science never bothered to develop a way to cure this condition in an already living person. However, by combining my own records and the scans given to me by Cadmus and by Orange Lantern, I believe that I can synthesize a retrovirus capable of correcting the systemic genetic errors in Match's body."

Kon nods, clearly relieved. "How long will it take?"

"This sort of viral genetic modification requires careful monitoring. I would much rather take this slow than further risk damage to Match's health. All being well I estimate a total time of three months until Match is a full clone of Kal-El."

"Couldn't-" He glances at me. "-Paul just do it all faster?"

"Yes, but given that we're altering the structures of Match's brain I don't recommend it. I'm going to be altering things as slowly as I can to give me enough time to react if something goes drastically wrong."

"Like..?"

"Like Match suffering neural architecture collapse because the parts of his brain which his mind runs on aren't connecting properly to the rest any longer."

"That can-?!"

"It's not likely, but that's why I'm going to be doing this slowly."

Kon nods as Diana walks over to me. "No, the League doesn't know any regular time travellers. Atom has expressed an interest in studying temporal phenomena, but he wanted to be clear that he doesn't know for certain whether what Nylor Truggs described is possible or not."

I nod. "I.. doubt that this is a trap. The coordinates he gave me are for an isolated location, but that just makes it easier for me to identify anything odd about the place."

"If someone is using some form of temporal manipulation, there might not be anything there for you to detect."

"Maybe." I shrug. "There are Maltusians who study time travel, but none of them are closely associated with the Orange Lantern Corps and.. other Maltusians tend to regard them as being a bit spacey. Someone's got to do it-."

"And you haven't even considered leaving it to the Justice League, have you?"

"No, but… That's because.. as you said, no member of the Justice League has any special knowledge of time travel. And I have a rather significant advantage in that area."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"If someone wanted to erase you from history, all they would have to do was appear in the Old City of Themyscira when Queen Hippolyta was.. five? And shoot her dead. Or gas the whole place. You never come to be. With Kal-El they have similar options. Or with any other member of the Justice League. But with me, they'd have to travel to Earth Prime to do any of that, and as I understand it that's a lot harder. I should be safe up to the point where I arrived in orbit, then I've got a power ring."

"You weren't particularly skilled with it when you first arrived."

"It's still more security than anyone else has. Assuming there's anything to this. Truggs might just be testing my response speed or something."

She nods, considering. "How many League members could survive hits from phased particle beams?"

Ah… "Anyone super tough could take a few hits. Probably. Assuming that was all the attacker had. Anyone else would be torn apart by a direct hit."

"Superman said that he wouldn't mind getting away from his public speaking engagement. If you go to Metropolis you could fly on to the coordinates Truggs gave you."

Kon blinks. "We.. could go..?"

I raise my eyebrows, then look pointedly at Match.

"He's not.. going.. anywhere."

"A detailed examination of the site will take hours and if I get attacked and survive I'll be evacuating anyway. And after the Eden incident I imagine that the League wants one of theirs keeping tabs on me whenever I go anywhere."

I look at Diana with my eyebrows raised. She nods. "It.. has been discussed."

Kon nods, and I raise my right hand to my forehead. "See you when I've got something to report."

I appear in Metropolis, and look down from the top of a building overlooking Centennial Park towards the demonstration. This particular event is in support of attempts by President Horne to bring a large number of Bialyan refugees to the United States. Kal-El's usually a bit reluctant to appear at partisan events, but once the organisers agreed to reduce the blatant Democratocracy a bit he agreed to give a speech. Nothing exactly hair-raising-

Kal-El glances up and gives me a shallow nod before returning to the man he was talking to.

-but a definite departure from his normal mode of operation. He asked if I wanted to take part, but in the wake of the 'angel incident' I'm trying to limit my public appearances. Some of the interest I've been getting has been a bit.. creepy. And I was politely told that my preferred solution of flying in and winning the civil war by myself wouldn't be required. Still, I'm at a bit of a loose end until he finishes-.

A shimmering tear appears in the air a short distance from… Oh, come on. Really? There's a slash from… An axe blade? Looks like one of those 'barbarian war axe' things that no one would have actually used in combat, with a disproportionately large and unbalanced blade. Anyway, the magic axe cuts cleanly through the fabric of reality and some guy dressed like a… Yes, like a fantasy executioner, steps out.

"Superman!" The crowd is already fleeing for minimum safe distance and Kal-El clenches his fists. "Today I will kill you, and your tomorrow will die with you!"

Another.. time traveller. Three separate groups, or..? Don't know. Ring, scan-. The rift closes as whoever this is steps through. Has an axe, is from the future… That was the Persuader, right? I saw him in one episode of Justice League and in the comic as part of the Fatal Five Thousand. Not really sure how dangerous he is, but you know what happens to an idiotic supervillain hit by a crumbler round?

The same as everything e-.

Kal-El glances up at me and gives his head a very small shake.

Really?

I stare down and throw my arms up in the air, but he's gone back to focusing on the Persuader. I'd use his real name, but I don't actually remember ever hearing it. Scanning… Is jammed, empathic vision reveals… Someone with a lot to prove and who came back in time to kill the most significant historical hero in order to do it.

Well, fuck you, future historians.

Kal-El unclenches his fists and makes a mildly placatory gesture, prompting the Persuader to throw a small grenade-. Oh. Heh. There's a green blast as it releases a wave of kryptonite radiation, which Kal-El's environmental shield effortlessly absorbs. Persuader charges but Kal-El is already closing the distance, grabbing Persuader around the neck with his right hand while his left hand grips Persuader's left wrist to turn aside the axe's haft.

Huh. That was easy.

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
17:21 GMT -5

"Hyuughuh."

From the impression Persuader's making on Kal-El's gently squeezing hand I'm going to assume that he is super strong. Just, not super strong enough. Physiology is near enough Human-normal that pinching his jugular-. Yep, there he goes, his axe falls from his hands as his body goes limp. Kal-El gives it a second longer, then relaxes his hold and sets the other man down on the grass.

"Could somebody-"

Oh, right. Orange Lantern to Metropolis Special Crimes Unit.

"-please call the police? I left my phone in my other tights."

"Ye-aah?"

"Orange Lantern here. A time traveller with an axe just picked a fight with Kal-El in Centennial Park. The axe man is down, please send an appropriate transport vehicle."

There's a slight pause.

"What?"

Oh, for goodness-. "Orange Lantern, cake, eyes, moon turning around. Time traveller, coming back from the future to-."

"Hey, yeah, I get that. Why aren't you calling nine one one?"

"I thought I'd help you shave a couple of minutes off your response time. The axe man's name is Persuader, he's super strong and tough and Kal-El just-."

A very loud alarm starts going off on the other end of the phone line, and I hear the handset fall to the desk. Ugh, fine. I end the call, then float down off the building towards the fallen criminal. Some parts of the crowd who had fallen back are starting to get closer, camera phones in hand as if viewing it remotely will insulate them from the danger if he wakes up.

"No, I need everyone to stay back. He won't be unconscious for long-" Kal-El does his best to kick the axe away, but at his level of strength there isn't much margin for error between 'ineffectual' and 'sent flying into a nearby building'. "-and I don't want anyone getting hurt."

"Allow me."

Construct manacles form around Persuader's recumbent form, lifting him off the ground as I begin to create a kinetic bubble generator around him. Kal-El nods at me again before floating backwards in the air to give himself more room to manoeuvre if Persuader breaks out.

"Police are on their way."

"Good. Do you know who this guy is?"

"The Persuader. He's from the future and his axe can cut through anything. Including time apparently, which is more than a little disturbing."

Kal-El looks the axe over without touching it. "I don't think you have to worry about him doing that again."

"Well, no-."

"The sockets on the reverse side of the blade are slightly warmer than the surrounding metal, and I saw cables that would have fit in them when the hole opened. I think he was overcharging it."

"So he's less dangerous than a Danner enhancile with an x-ionised axe?"

He gives me a chiding look. "You do remember that those are supposed to be a US military secret, right?"

"Slipped my mind. You know, a Danner enhancile would have woken up by-" The Persuader pulls slightly against his restraints as the upper portion of the cage finishes and becomes active. "-now." I drop a multiphasic scrambler down next to the axe just in case it has some sort of remote recall function and withdraw my constructs, letting our captive slump at the bottom of a cage he can't break through with brute strength.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me how you know what his name is?"

"I'm afraid not. But I won't correct you if you assume that spending a good deal of time with someone else from the future had something to do with it."

I can just about hear the sirens from the Special Crimes Unit's heavy transportation vehicle and its escort heading our way now.

"Superman! Are you-" I look around as a young black haired man steps forwards from the crowd. "-okay? That was kryptonite!"

"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine. Kryptonite just doesn't have the same effect that it used to. Now, please: Orange Lantern's equipment is pretty reliable but I don't want to take any chances."

Persuader takes that as his cue to start hammering on the inside of the kinetic barriers, making precisely no progress. Based on the stress they're showing, I'd say that he's less strong than Estrogina. Never did work out where she ended up.

I should probably look into that, actually.

"Ah, sure. Sure thing." He backs up into the crowd, joining a blonde woman who is staring at me in a way I find somewhat disconcerting. He whispers something to her and she turns away, following him out of the area.

Hm.

"Kal-El, is now a good time for you to act as my chaperone while I follow up on Truggs' coordinates, or is clearing up after this going to take the rest of the day?"

"No, the MSCU and I have gotten the system for this sort of thing down to a fine art. They'll pick him up and then we can head out." He watches my face for a moment. "You're not complaining about it?"

"No. It's not an emergency situation, and I… I know that my.. commitment to the case I'm working on can be…"

"Disturb-."

"Disconcerting-" I nod. "-yes."

He smiles warmly. "Admitting you have a problem is the first step to sorting it out."

I frown and shake my head. "No, I just said everyone else has a problem."

"Ah…"

I smile. "Joke, joke." He looks decidedly sceptical, but doesn't say anything else. Okay, he knows the controls for the cage and the SCU know how to transport dangerous exotic weapons. Anything else I need to do?

Yes.

Oh, what-? Yes I do need to deal with that. "Excuse me for a moment." I run a filament under the ground until it reaches the subject of my ring's concern and then transition us both up two miles.

"Excuse me."

"Huh?" The young man looks mildly surprised for a fraction of a second, then covers it up with pantomimed extreme surprise. "What?! What's going on?! What did you do that for?!"

"Not Von Daggle, then? For a moment I thought that I'd irritated the Guardians far more than I thought I had."

"Who? L-let me-. Put me down!"

"I can tell you're not afraid, you know. And I can also tell that you're a durlan."

"I don't-?!"

"Please. My colleague Vril Dox has a durlan foster father, and he's the only person Dox trusts. I have no particular prejudices against your species. However, there is a group of durlans who have killed an awful lot of people in China over the past thirty years and I don't imagine that they'd have anything like my level of forbearance if they found out that you were here. They would capture you, interrogate you, and then use you to test their anti-durlan weaponry on. If it's an option at all, I would strongly recommend getting off Earth as soon as possible."

"It… Kinda isn't."

"Okay, but… Be careful."

He nods, and I transition us both back to ground level.

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
15:48 GMT -7

Truggs was certainly telling the truth about one thing.

There's sod all here.

Rock, dirt, cactuses… We're actually not all that far from the Lantern sparring arena. The particular point Truggs directed me to is a mesa which.. does slightly put me in mind of Rip Hunter's laboratory from… Was it Countdown? But all I'm getting is rock and… Okay, some exotic particle residue, but it's faint enough that I wouldn't ordinarily be suspicious of it.

"Find anything?"

"Not much. But.. then the problem with temporal phenomena is they don't always work in the right order."

Kal-El nods. "Like how radioactive substances decay over time, things relating to time travel could spread backwards in time from the point they occur?"

"Yes. Or… We might be seeing residue as a result of history altering, or… Anything, really. Pick your theory." And all I can do is stay here maintaining my scans in the hope of getting something useful. "How much time travel have you encountered?"

"Not a whole lot. Mxyzptlk made me repeat a single day on an endless loop once, but I think he's a special case."

I could riff off that, but attracting the attention of a Looney Tunes inspired 5th dimensional imp is the last thing I want to do.

"And I.. doubt that you could gather any useful intelligence from him."

"No. But I did get a whole lot of reading done. It was just a shame all the work I did got erased when I broke the loop."

I nod, then float slowly north, scanning constructs maintaining constant vigilance for anything of note or of use.

"Why did you pick that man out of the crowd?"

"He's a durlan."

"The same people who are terrorising China? You let him go?"

"Durlans are even less unified than humans are. While it's possible that he's associated with the group over there, I don't have any evidence of it. And since the Chinese are keeping quiet about their durlan problem it's quite possible that he doesn't know about it. I suggested that he might like to leave the planet before the Chinese locate him-."

"Suggest as in..?"

"Point out the problem and suggest that he leave. He said that it wasn't really an option."

"You didn't offer to give him a ride back home?"

"Durla's a radioactive mess experiencing total societal collapse. If he's here, he's presumably here for a reason. I'm not going to force him to go home any more than I'd force you to go back to Krypton."

"Somewhere else, then."

"He had a human appearance and he's not actually in China. He's probably more at risk from the other durlans…" And if they go after him first then we'll have an early warning system. Not a nice thought, but it's true and I did warn him. "I was actually a little worried that he might be a durlan by the name 'Von Daggle', but…" I shake my head. "Wrong emotional mix."

"I think you might have mentioned him before. Who is he?"

"I'm.. not sure what his official status is. The records on John's ring didn't mention him. But I have other sources of information. He's the head of the Guardians' black operations unit. Actual black operations, not the long-finger things the League used my former team for."

"But not a Green Lantern?"

"He might have been. He might still be, actually. But these days he mostly does things the Guardians need done but can't afford to be publically associated with. There was a brief period where I was concerned that they might send him after me."

"But you're not worried any more?"

"No. Not significantly."

He sighs and looks away. "But it's not because you met them and think that they're good people, it's because the Orange Lantern Corps already exists and you don't think it's worth their time any more."

"The Guardians are too important to be able to be 'nice'."

Kal-El shakes his head. "I don't believe that's true for a moment. Do you really think that important people can't afford to be nice?"

"Not if it interferes with their main job. Look, the Guardians are responsible for untold billions of people. You know what they were going to offer me when I bonded with the Ophidian? You know what they did give Larfleeze?" He nods. "They made a rational decision. They've got finite resources with which to do as much as they can. It wasn't nice leaving Vega to Larfleeze… And having seen the worst of that place, I.. fully appreciate that. But I wouldn't criticise them for the decision if that's really what it took to keep Larfleeze there. Because Abra Kadabra can tell you all about what happens when he leaves."

"Except it didn't. He didn't."

"None of us know everything. It reminds me of a… Okay, we don't have actual superheroes on Earth Prime, but we have the concept. And there was a.. television series.. where they put people in costumes and… In a series of challenges, assessed their suitability for the role. In one of the challenges they had to run an obstacle course as fast as possible… But near the start a little girl was crying. The guy running it wanted them to stop and find out what was wrong, because helping her should be more important to a hero than their time."

"Sure, if it's just a race."

"If a superhero's racing somewhere, then something very bad is happening there. If Barrage was shooting up central Metropolis, how many people would die if you took time out from stopping him to do anything?"

He nods. "Triage."

"Yeah."

"You know, I listened to that 'How To Succeed In Evil' story you told Lex about."

"You.. did..?"

"Edwin says that their version of the Flash has no concept of Triage, he just fights street crime because he likes fighting street crime. Even if it's not the best way he could use his powers. And since Edwin's job is showing people how to use their abilities efficiently, it-."

Warning. Temporal event-

Armour appears around my body, followed by construct armour and rail guns. Tachyon detector getting a lot more pings all of a sudden, and oh sugar those are chronitons!

"I can see.. something…"

The universe wobbles, and when it unwobbles there's a.. transparent sphere with a single figure sitting on a leather seat inside it. The sphere itself is glowing pale blue, presumably as a side effect of whatever allows it to travel through time. Arranged around the man inside are what appear to be the controls of his.. time.. sphere.. thing.

Okay, no immediate danger to either myself or Kal-El, chroniton emission has dropped right off… Can't scan the inside of the sphere, but I think we're safe. The man inside… That's a side arm, but it looks like a kinetic weapon. Probably not related to the killers from Washington.

The man inside checks his instruments, then notices us. He stares for a moment, then pulls a lever. That causes a section of the sphere to fade away, and he climbs out of his seat and walks through it onto the desert sands.

"Hi there. Name's Hunter. Looks like you were expecting me."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th October
15:53 GMT -7

Kal-El floats down towards him, smiling in a welcoming fashion with his right hand slightly extended. "Welcome to the twenty-first century, Mister Hunter. I'm Su-."

"Superman, yes. I know who you are." He takes a moment to look around at the desert panorama. Green jumpsuit with dull red decoration, blue eyes and a ginger mullet. I.. don't remember Rip Hunter having a mullet. But.. this could be him from an earlier point in his timeline.

Or it could be someone entirely different. Now that he's out of the sphere I can scan him. Nothing special there, just a baseline human lousy with chroniton radiation. Which suggests that he wasn't involved in the murders in Washington, which is nice. Were time spheres distinctive? No, Seven Days had a time travelling ball as well. Can't… Remember anyone else in DC…

Mister Hunter and Kal-El shake hands. Chroniton radiation is dropping off rapidly… No observable effect on Kal-El from touching him. Hm. Now that I'm past the event, the pattern of radiation makes a good deal more sense. This is the only locus, so… Nothing else to worry about. From this site, anyway.

"…wned hero like yourself." Mister Hunter looks up at me. "But I don't think I know your friend..?"

I float downwards.

"Not a historian by any chance, Mister Hunter?"

"Amateur historian, sure, but professionally? Physicist. Why do you ask?"

"Because -while I fully appreciate that even in this age of technological progress not everyone is going to recognise me- I'm getting a bit peeved about time travellers not having the foggiest who I am."

He appears to find my statement a little disturbing. "Do you.. meet a lot of time travellers?"

"Four so far, none of whom had heard of me."

Kal-El chuckles to himself. "I hadn't realised you needed public affirmation that badly."

"If there's no record of me, then I never did anything the world remembers. If I succeed in.. any of my longer term aims for the Earth, I would have done. Future people not knowing who I am means that I fail." I grimace. "That won't stop me trying, but I won't deny that it's a bit off-putting."

Mister Hunter shrugs. "Since I haven't heard of you, why don't you fill me in on what those aims are?"

"Arcane and technological revolutions, channelling the expertise of the human species in a more efficient way than the super-brawls and minority-participation cults it's limited to now. There's no reason why children everywhere shouldn't learn to use magic in primary school, but all of the time travellers I've encountered so far made no mention of magic. I tried fighting the Reach, but apparently they still win anyway."

"The Reach, huh?" He nods. "Kind of a powerful target you've picked out there."

"Yes. They're an efficient use of my time."

Kal-El focuses his attention on Mister Hunter. "Okay, before we get too distracted… Is there a particular reason why you're here, or are you just a surprisingly dedicated autograph hunter?"

He nods. "I came back in time to stop a political extremist called Per Degaton. He's building a support base for some sort of revolution, and we think he's using time travel to do it."

That's not too surprising, at least. "Abra Kadabra told me that Per Degaton ends up being successful."

"But we know that, now. With the foreknowledge I've got, stopping him shouldn't be too difficult for the Justice Society."

Kal-El looks mildly puzzled. "Either you're sixty years too late, or you've gotten the name wrong. We're the Justice League."

Mister Hunter nods. "Guess that I've got something to take up with future historians as well, then. But will you help me track him and his people down? I could.. probably do it myself, but it'll go a whole lot faster with powerful metahumans and people with contacts with the government and police."

"Wait. Wait. You're saying that changing the past is possible?"

"Yes." He nods. "One of the first things I checked. If you're outside of time, you're not affected by the changes. Even changing your own history just.. produces some odd echoes. Of course, it doesn't help if you're inside of normal time. Chroniton radiation just gives you a temporary buffer."

"So… How come the time travellers already here haven't popped out of existence?"

"I'd need to study them and their techniques to be sure, but I'd guess it's either because they haven't prevented themselves being born yet or they haven't tried going home. Time doesn't correct itself all at once…" He shrugs. "Look, I'll be happy to give you a full lecture on temporal mechanics after we stop the time travelling fascist. Are we going to be working together on this, or do I need to hitch a ride to the nearest town?"

"What sorts of thing are his people doing in this era?"

"We think they're building weapons, then putting them in ultra-secure caches to be dug up again in the future. Beyond that, we weren't really certain."

Kal-El nods, spotting the direction of my line of questioning. "Exactly what sorts of weapons?"

"Ah…" Mister Hunter frowns. "All sorts. I think their main infantry weapon is some sort of.. exotic particle projector, but they also use light power armour and personal teleporters. Why do you ask?"

"There was a group murder a few days ago in Washington State by people using that sort of weapon. Genetic material left at the scene suggested that the attackers came from the future, and the slogan they left implied strong humans first ideology."

"That could be them. I don't have specific records of that attack, but that fits their profile. Were the victims aliens, or employed by aliens?"

"No. Demon cultists."

"Demon..? You're.. serious?" Kal-El and I both nod. "If they're not.. human then it's technically against their ideology for humans to cooperate with them. And if they're acting this openly, that's all the more reason to take them down as fast as possible."

"I think stopping a time travelling fascist is something the League can assist you with. Orange Lantern?"

"I'm on board, naturally. But I'd really like access to any other information you have on this era as well. If we're stopping one warlord, I can't think of a reason not to stop any others as well."

"Sure, I'd be happy to."

I blink. "Um. What?"

"Per Degaton was my primary target because he's the one I've got the best information on. But it would make my day if we could prevent the Reach taking over the Earth in the first place. And the best way I came up with to do that is to stop their patsies. I think you called them… The Light?"

…

"No."

Lex? Lex is the one who sells out the Earth? I mean… I know they use local collaborators. I helped kill some. But Lex.. selling out to aliens. Satanus, yes, the Brain, sure, Savage… Just about. Lex… I'd.. honestly have said that he'd rather die than put human destiny in someone else's hands.

"Now, hold on." Kal-El holds up his right hand. "The Light are the ones who bring the Reach to Earth? Why would they do that?"

Mister Hunter shrugs. "I'm a time traveller, not a mind reader. I don't know the details. If I had to guess, they thought they could get something out of the deal and bit off more than they could chew. But the Reach don't arrive for years. Degaton is here now."

I nod. "One zeta tube to the Hall of Justice."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Okay, Genomorphs situat-

I step into the hush tube and appear back in Challenger Mountain.

20th October
14:43 GMT -6

-ed, Dox busy, shipyards up and running, ship-building coming on acceptably… Tamaran can have a tick. Cranius has released Mister Blake on his own recognisance and he's reacquainting himself with Human civilisation, twin-man -and it turns out that his name is Ph'yzzon- well enough to return home, Karna firmly under friendly control… Mr Near is finalising our coup plans with Ms Savage. Mr Talbot is adapting well enough to his power ring. Admiral Oswin wants to know when I want to move against the Psions. He's a bit eager to move his fleet out of Vega so he can carve himself a duchy out of formerly pirate-controlled space, but I'd like to wait until the first batch of Tamaranean ships are ready for real combat. Ah, he doesn't need an answer right now…

Mother Box, anything interesting happen while I was gone?

Ping!

Hah! They did? What sort of idiot attacks three Kryptonians-?

Ping.

I suppose it's nice that they're spending time together. It's not quite on a level of that petty burglar in Happy Harbor, but that's still a pretty high difficulty curve. A little surprising that he legged it but I suppose that even an axe-wielding cosplayer can take a hint that big.

So: next item on the agenda. What am I going to say to the people who will be running the British government after we kidnap them and then kill their less moral colleagues? And what are we going to do about the monarchy? Now, I've got a lot of time for Elizabeth Windsor Prime, but I've seen a list of some of the things Cabbage 16 used to get up to and, damn. Nothing I feel obliged to kill her for, but-.

I dart back four metres as an axe blade cleaves its way through the air just in front of me, signalling additional drones and armouring myself as I do so. That slice matches-.

Someone in a metal face mask lunges through-. A woman, clearly. The helmet fully encloses her head but for the two red eye pieces and the hole at the back for her ponytail, but… Okay, I'd give her a pass on that. Compared to what most super people wear, not a bad effort. Except that the jacket.. thing she's wearing doesn't merely have a deep 'v' to show off her cleavage to its best advantage. No, it also shows off her abdomen as well. And I don't think it's even armoured. And her trousers are those stupid hip-hugging things…

"OhthankGod!" She waves the haft of her axe at the rift, which closes behind her. "You gotta help me! He's-."

"Yes, because I routinely help people who break into my home. Who are-?"

Wait, I… Dimly remember. Terror Titans, wasn't it? She was Clock King's… Oh, darn, what's his name? The guy from the Legion era? He was in an episode of Justice League Animated…

No, gone.

"Elise, my name's Elise Kimble! And I-." She waves the axe, then appears to notice it. "I'll, ah…" She takes a firm hold on it with both hands and sets the butt on the floor. "I was minding my own business when this guy dressed like a ren faire reject cuts a hole in the air in front of me and kidnaps me. He made me put this.. get up on."

"I see." Mother Box, is she more threatening than she looks?

Ping.

I think I can dodge a great axe.

Based on past performance, Corpsman, I wouldn't give exceptional odds.

Alright, I think the drones I've got lined up can shoot her dead before she can swing it.

Better.

"Would this be the same 'ren faire reject' who picked a fight with Superman and sons a few days ago?"

"Did he?"

Sinestro, hologram.

An image of whateverhisnameis appears just in front of me. "This man?" Ms Kimble nods. I dismiss the hologram. "And he forcibly abducted you?"

"Yes! He picked me up and threw me through this.. like, cut in the air. He said I was one of his ancestors or.. something."

"Yes, he's most likely from the future. Did he give any indication as to why he picked you, as opposed to any of his other ancestors?"

"It wasn't just me. There was this guy called Cole, and I think he was planning on getting more."

Oh, splendid. "I assume that the axe is a gift from him?"

"I… Yeah, he-?"

I raise my right hand to my ear. "Jean, highest defence status immediately, please. Make sure Circe and Adom know."

"Of course, Grayven. Whom should we expect?"

"Some guy with a super axe."

"He's really strong!"

I move my ring away from my head for a moment. "Strong, like a man who exercises a whole lot, or strong like super strong?"

"Super, super strong."

I move the ring back to my ear. "Some guy with an axe who is also super strong. And possibly some other people with axes."

"We will bear that in mind. Should I activate the 'special' drones?"

"For a guy with an axe? No."

"Understood."

I lower my hand again. "We've probably got a minute or so before he gets here. Are you planning on joining in?"

"What? No, no one saw me leave."

"Both your axe and your helmet are transmitting a locator signal, s-." I see the axe blade appear next to her neck and yank her out of the way as it cuts across where she had been standing. In its wake space itself is cleaved apart, revealing a.. squad of poorly dressed axe men.

Oh dear.

"Is one of you the…" P-something. Wasn't it? "Peruser?" No reaction, though the masks make it a little hard to tell. "Pursuer? Ppppp… Punisher?" The stare. "Perambulat-. Come on, give me a clue."

"I am the Persuader." The voice comes from the one nearest the front. "I chose the name for myself because-."

"Your axe is very persuasive, got it. Any chance I could persuade you to go back to bothering the Legion?"

He straightens slightly at the name. "You are not from this time? No, it is of no consequence. I do not care about you, but that bitch betrayed me. I will have her head."

"He's craz-!"

I raise my right forefinger at her. "Ah juh-juh-juh. Going out on a limb here… 'Betrayed' in the sense that she accepted your equipment and training but fled before your rematch with the Supermen?"

"Just so. Stand aside."

"You can't-!"

"Juh!" I take a deep breath and smile at the Persuader. "I don't.. really care about her, but you picked a fight with some friends of mine, and… Can I assume that if I refuse to give her up, you'll attack me?"

"Of course."

"Ah-" Open fire "-well, I-."

The drones behind me drop stealth and fire, purple light blazing through the air as I lunge forward, daiklave in hand. The Persuader is already reeling back as I jam -yep, more than normal Human toughness, must take samples later- my blade through his chest, through his heart and out through his back!

I flick his corpse off my weapon as the rest of the crowd raise their axes. "Lads… Get a clue. Drop your axes now."

There's a brief moment of hesitation… Then they comply.

"And you." I point backwards at Ms Kimble with my right hand. "Don't even think about running."

"Staying right here."

Another one. Pfff. Sod it, I'm going to find Cassandra Cain and Rose Wilson before someone throws them at me.

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th October
15:03 GMT -5

I wasted half an hour chasing down Adeline Kane. Though she initially didn't want to talk to me, she really opened up when she found out that I was responsible for beating the shit out of her ex-husband in Singapore. And making him spend four months in one of their utter shit hole maximum security prisons. I mean, he got out, but I'm sure he breathes a little less comfortably now. Anyway, she doesn't have any idea where Slade Wilson is hanging out these days, and she didn't have any daughters with him. Two sons, Grant and Joseph. Um… Let's see. Joseph was mute, which means that he's the one who ends up able to possess people. I suppose that means that Grant is the one who dies attempting to carry out a hit on the… Teen Titans, and whose death results in Mr Slade himself coming after them.

I didn't know that Adeline was the one who shot out Mr Wilson's eye. Nice to know that he's even worse at romantic relationships than I am.

None of the people in the US named 'Rose Wilson' were a match for what I remember from the comics, but fortunately it turns out that blue eyed white haired girls named 'Rose' aren't all that common. Just one match, Rose Worth, living in New York and daughter of suspected brothel madam Lillian Worth. Which I assume is her name in much the same way that Jade's mother is really named 'Paula'. It's strange: as Ravager, Rose was in the Titans at the same time as Tim Drake. Master Drake is presently ten, Rose is eleven, yet the young woman I'm detaining and who was roughly the same age as both of them in the comics is seventeen.

"Just in here, please."

"What is this about?"

"That's.. not for me to say."

Shame she doesn't go to the same school as Zatanna, really. That would make keeping tabs on her easier.

The door to the room in Riverdale Country School which I'm temporarily occupying swings open, revealing Principal Randolph, Ms Worth and the young Miss Worth. The Principal steps aside, Ms Worth regarding me cautiously for a moment before leading her daughter inside.

I stand and offer her my right hand. "Ms Worth. Delighted to meet you."

"Mister Grayven." She takes my hand and does a reasonable job of shaking it, even with the ludicrous size difference. "Why are we here?"

"Ah, yes." I gesture to the settee opposite me. "Please, take a seat."

She hesitates for a moment, and I definitely notice Miss Worth watching her mother carefully for a clue as to how she's supposed to behave rather than sitting down on her own initiative. The woman looks me over for a moment, then steps back so that she and Rose can take the seat offered. Rose is holding her hand, but it doesn't look like she's doing it for reassurance. No. It's a control thing.

I sit down opposite. "Are you familiar with the Department of Metahuman Affairs?"

"I have heard of it. I understand that you are a federal agent."

I nod. "Yes. And more than that, I also had an encounter with a man named Slade Wilson earlier this year which saw him ending up inside a Singapore prison with five fractured ribs. Among other injuries."

She doesn't smile. Her expression remains completely under control. Of course, if she doesn't want me to talk about Rose's father in front of her this would be the time to make an excuse… No? Alright then.

"One of the things which the DMA is interested in is preventing people from becoming supervillains in the first place. Mister Wilson was given an augmentative treatment while in the employ of the US military, and at least one of his natural children has gone on to manifest metahuman abilities. While we wouldn't do anything as intrusive as.. put potential metahumans on.. some sort of national register, or anything as.. contrary to individual freedom as that… We do keep records relating to people we're concerned might come to be involved with known supervillains."

"I have not seen Slade Wilson for a very long time."

"Yes. However, it isn't you that I'm concerned for. As I implied, some augmentative processes affect the children of the recipient. And then there's the risk of Mister Wilson paying you a visit on his own initiative."

She nods slowly. "What do you want?"

"I want to give you a way to contact me or my chief of staff in an emergency. And a non-emergency number as well in case you want to leave a message. I have a.. daughter Rose's age myself, and.. I've been unable to help her when she was attacked by supervillains before. I wouldn't want anyone else to go through that if I could do something about it. And.. in the event that you.. happen to encounter someone who could benefit from mentoring from someone.. inside the community, I am.. again, happy to make myself available."

Rose has been watching me very carefully. I give her a smile. She narrows her eyes slightly, then turns her head towards her mother. "Mom-."

Ms Worth doesn't look at her. "Sh."

A minor glower, then Rose shifts her attention to me. "Slade Wilson is my father, isn't he?"

"Yes."

A quiet quasi-growl leaks from Ms Worth's lips.

"I have a summary of his personal history here-" A data stick appears from subspace, along with three emergency locator beacons. "-if you want to read it. And you should feel free to contact me if you have any questions."

Rose gives me a very small smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. That's really all I wanted to say to you." I rise to my feet, prompting them to do the same. "Please, have a pleasant day." Sinestro, hush tube.

The opening appears in front of me and I stride through into the basement of David Cain's current hidey-hole. It closes down once I'm through.

Oh, how very touching. Are you attempting to achieve karmic balance, Corpsman?

I look over to where David Cain is still chained to the wall.

"You know, you really are a horrible excuse for a Human being."

"You know I'll never talk. If you want to torture me, get on with it."

"'Want' is a.. complicated business. I want to see you suffer, but I don't want to be the sort of person who inflicts pain purely out of spite."

He makes an amused exhalation. "Are you going to tell me what I'm supposed to have done to you? I'm assuming it was someone I killed, but I can't think of anyone who you would have cared about."

"Oh, no. No, completely the wrong direction. I'm talking about Cassandra. Physical training… Sure. I grew up on Apokolips, I'm not precious about that sort of thing. Shooting her, then doing it again if she flinched… That's bad, and I'd probably kill you for it. But denying her access to language… That's a whole new level of vile."

He looks… Not scared, but a little concerned. "How the hell did you know about that?"

"I'm from a parallel universe where you're a comic book character. I read it. You got killed by Deadshot."

"Who?"

I widen my eyes. "Exactly."

He dismisses it with a shake of his head. "I don't even know where she is. She did one assassination and freaked out. I had to revise my whole methodology, and I couldn't convince Sandra to conceive another child."

"I wouldn't worry. Ms Wu-San was banging Vandal Savage when I killed her. And I know where Cassandra is perfectly well; she's in my home. Being taught how-" -kind of- "-normal people live." I raise my left hand. "I could assimilate you, turn you into a construct. But I don't like doing that to people whose knowledge isn't utterly irreplaceable. I could alter your mind to make you useful to me. But I don't think I could tolerate your ongoing presence without throwing up."

"So. David Cain of Earth. Die, and make the universe a better place for your passing."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October
21:03 GMT -6

"This is gunna be sweet!"

Wallace is grinning as we wait patiently in an unmarked van for the attack order.

Kaldur nods, though his smile is more subtle. "It is good to have you with us once more. Is your presence likely to be ongoing?"

"That's.. up to Batman. I got him the magic users he asked for, but he appeared to take… My methods a little personally."

"No." Wallace blinks. "I mean, yeah, having Oh El back is great and all, but I meant fighting time traveling Nazi assassins who fought the Justice Society."

Beryl yawns into her coffee, then takes a glug. "Not Nazis. Fascists. These ones blame aliens for everything instead of Jews, gypsies and sane people."

"Fine. Time traveling fascists who fought the Justice Society."

"How.. worried do we need to be about the time travel?" M'gann looks around the van's interior. "I mean, unless they can get to Mars in the future I'm pretty safe, but can they just time travel into your bedrooms when you were little?"

Wallace smiles smugly at me. "I dunno. That's why some of us have secret identities."

"Wallly."

"No, he's got a point. Hunter certainly isn't Mister Hunter's real name. But I wasn't ever a baby on this Earth, so I'm probably safe." My eyes turn a little awkwardly towards Kaldur.

"I am not worried for myself. It would be difficult for an outsider to locate a particular home in Atlantis, to say nothing of the difficulty a surface worlder would have in operating under water."

We all look at Beryl.

"Are we even sure paradoxes are possible? If they only try to kill me because I tried to stop them, why did they kill me if I never existed to try and stop them?"

"Supervillains." / "Supervillains." / "Because-. Yeah."

"Mister Hunter said that travelling in time makes you resistant to causality. If these people are time travellers rather than local hirelings, they won't necessarily be able to chronoshift out of the-."

Wallace shakes his head. "Chronowhat?"

"Ah. Use short bursts of time travel. Giving people better guns makes sense. Giving them time travel creates risks, particularly if you're using local electricity grids to power them."

Kaldur nods. "And not merely risks of detection. People they recruit from this time period are unlikely to share their particular ideology. They might well decide to simply take their equipment and then leave."

"I dunno." Wallace frowns. "If they've been here since the fifties then they've probably converted some people. I mean, we've fought actual Nazis twice now and the Nazis lost the Second World War. These guys win the future."

Beryl nods. "Am I the only one finding it strange that a time travelling hero wants to change the future?"

Kaldur raises his right eyebrow. "What surprises you about that?"

"I always thought that a hero would be the one trying to keep things as they are."

"Earth gets huge chunks of its population killed by the Reach, then gets unified under a fascist. If I had a time machine, I'd try to prevent that."

"Except we don't know that happens, do we?" She takes another sip of coffee. "Our only information sources are Nylor Truggs and Abra Kadabra."

"Who both said the same thing. And Kadabra had heard of Per Degaton."

Kaldur shrugs. "Whether their foreknowledge is entirely trustworthy or not, we have a syndicate of assassins to apprehend. Squire, any word from Batman?"

She brings up her arm computer for a moment. "Nope. Nothing yet."

Mister Hunter was a little disturbed to learn that some of his future information was no longer accurate. He didn't know that the League of Shadows was no longer active, and several of the sites he suggested we investigate didn't show any sign of illegal usage. But there were enough signs of recent usage that the team is being deployed along with the League to some of the more important sites.

"I haven't really been watching television. How's the whole 'angel' thing been playing?"

Beryl shrugs. "A lot of people using a lot of words to say nothing. Your interview wasn't exactly informative." Her eyes narrow slightly. "Which.. was intentional. When's the follow-up?"

"Sunday. And they'll be putting me on with people who'll be asking slightly more searching questions."

"You, ah..?" Wallace looks at me curiously. "You actually going to tell them what sort of fruit it was? Because breaking into Eden-"

"I didn't actually break-"

"-and taking a fruit-"

"-into Eden."

"-is a li-ttle more serious than taking some random fruit."

"That partly depends on whether Ms Blaze has shown any sign of understanding theurgy. If she does, I'll ask her to come on with me and I imagine that will set people's minds…" Wallace and Beryl glance at each other. "At ease. What?"

"A-ah…" Wallace grimaces. "Look… You don't think people who've been Christians or.. Jews or whatever their whole lives aren't gunna.. have a hard time with the fact that you've had more angel face time than they have?"

"Wallace, you don't need an invitation to visit KordTech. If you want some face time just-."

"No, not-. I mean, yeah, I probably will. But you've had more contact with an agent of God than anyone."

"Actually… Zauriel pretty much said that they usually stay invisible."

Kaldur seems less than impressed. "It would have been helpful if they had been a little more visible when demons overran Fawcett City."

"Kaldur, I stole a single pomegranate. While I could try taking the Silver City to task for their serial absenteeism, it seems to me that would generate.. more heat than light. Hopefully when Zauriel comes back we can-."

"Batman to team."

Beryl raises her arm again, inadvertently throwing her coffee across the van floor and then mouthing obscenities to herself. The rest of us come to a sort of seated attention, locking eyes on the screen.

"Doctor Mist confirms that Eliminations, Inc technology is only weakly resistant to magic. However, their technology interferes with all other forms of detection. We will not be able to get a good read on either the layout or the garrison until the attack begins. Call out weapons and defensive technologies as you see them."

We all nod, though on this sort of broadcast he can't see us.

"Proceed with the attack. Batman out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October
21:08 GMT -6

Wallace has the doors open in a trice and I'm a split second behind him, armour appearing from subspace around my body. M'gann shimmers into invisibility as she takes to the sky while Beryl and Kaldur hold back slightly. M'gann and I could try phasing through the wall but there are technologies which can interfere with that and I don't particularly feel like doing a repeat of the Louvre.

Instead, I generate a giant crumbler gauntlet construct and slam it into the exterior wall!

Teleport jam, external communications jam… Brick, metal and plastics lose molecular cohesion instantly, the illusion covering the interior failing a moment later and revealing…

A lot of surprised people on forklift trucks.

Wallace blurs through the opening, keys vanishing from ignitions in his wake as I use my ring to scan the interior. Looks like a computer warehouse. High-end stuff, but nothing illegal. Of course, this might be a legitimate operation. The building stealth isn't illegal by itself, and neither is time travel in the US.

"Hey, what the hell is this?!"

Her badge says 'supervisor', and she's first to snap out of the shock. I ignore her, heading for the ceiling with another crumbler gauntlet construct. Because the thing about stealth technology is -crumble- that just because you can't see it, that doesn't mean that it isn't there. Out through the roof, into the night sky… Which stays night sky. Construct rotary blades, spin them through the area just in case there's an invisible carbuncle on some other part of the roof…

**Roof clear.**

**Ground floor clear.**

**They don't know anything. As far as they know, they ship in raw materials and ship out computer products.**

I feel Kaldur nod. **And those in the know are most likely management, working the day shift. Take as detailed a map of the interior from their minds as you can.**

**Done.**

I drop back through the hole in the roof as the supervisor works out that the man in the grey/blue armour is in charge. "Hey, I'm talking to y-!"

Kaldur waves his water-bearers and water envelops her before turning into ice. Kaldur approaches her as the rest of us receive M'gann's map in our minds.

"Please remain calm. We work for the Justice League and are searching for a group of assassins."

"And by 'calm'-" Beryl walks forwards with a large bundle of handcuffs. "-we mean get over here so we can cuff you."

A few turn and dash for the exits. M'gann becomes visible in front of one exit, her white-glowing eyes and telekinetically levitated pallets being more than enough to convince them that it's a bad idea. The ones heading for the fire exit reach it, only to find that it's been gummed shut.

"Borrowed that from my girlfriend." Wallace appears behind them, cuffs in hand. "Probably a fire hazard, so don't smoke anything for the next hour or two."

Hm. Based on the map M'gann took, this place appears to just be a manufacturing site. Not that we can rely on that…

**Aqualad, do we check out the production area first, or shall I start smashing the floor?**

Beryl and Wallace start applying cuffs as Kaldur thinks it over. **We will examine production first. You have point.**

I drop down, forming a new crumbler gauntlet construct as I do so. At this point there's no way we're going to disguise our general location, but experience has shown me that bypassing doorways wrongfoots a lot of people and bypasses a lot of traps. I strike the wall with the gauntlet and it disintegrates, revealing a dimly lit electronics laboratory. The lights blink on automatically as I enter and I get a good look at the equipment. Oh, that's interesting.

**Looks like they're using nano-forges.**

**Really? Are those what I think they are?** Wallace feels as interested as I am. **Practical molecular construction machines?**

**Yes.**

**Are those from the future?**

I hear the uncertainty in Kaldur's mental voice. He's far better with technology than most Atlanteans, but it still isn't a topic he's anything like as conversant on as the.. rest of us.

I'm thinking of us as a team again. That's.. rather nice.

**Difficult to say. It's a generation prior to what Doctor Roquette is working on, but I'm not aware of any Earth company that has them. Especially not this size and speed.**

**Do they present a danger?**

**Not to our mission, no. And.. on the off chance that they are fairly developed technology that the people here were keeping secret for some reason… They'd be very expensive to replace.**

**Then do not interrupt their operation. What are they making?**

**Bleeding edge quantum CPUs. Again, not definite proof of time travel, though... Suspicious. Miss Martian, did the employees suspect anything about this?**

**A few of them thought that there was something odd about the machines, but none of them really thought much about it.**

I spin orange strands around the room, but nothing is other than as it appears. **Room is secure. Moving on.**

Another wall, another destructive high five, another hole. Same.. basic layout, same systems… Same lack of booby traps. **Next room clear as well. Appears to be producing…** Ah. **Difficult to say for certain. Not circuitry. This stuff could be used in some models of phased particle weapon, but equally it could be used in a number of other high-end physics research devices.**

**They got contracts to supply things like that?**

I can feel Wallace's curiosity. And I just know that he and Richard would love to play with these things for a while.

**Not that I've been able to find. Also, they need better network security.**

**Time to remove the floor?**

**Not quite yet. Squire, are there any abnormalities in the floor plan?**

**No-. Wait. Maybe. They had an underground car park dug out… But it looks like they used too many lorries to move the earth they dug out away.**

**You think that they dug out more than they declared?**

**Not for certain, but if we're digging out the basement anyway…**

I crumble the floor beneath my feet and drop through the-.

**That's not on the plans. I just dropped through a radiation suppression system of a similar type to the one in Washington. Floor's thicker too.** I crumble again, this time breaking through to a new corridor. Dropping down the hole I take a look around. **This isn't on the plans and doesn't look twenty-first century.**

Actually, the solid metal with blinking diodes looks sci-fi retro, what someone in the fifties might have imagined the nineties would look like.

**I'd appreciate some support before I proceed further-.**

"Intruder detected. Initiating countermeasures."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October
21:13 GMT -6

Standard defence against phased particle weapons is wide area plasma fields. Standard counter to plasma fields is cold guns.

Cold gun constructs appear around me, searching for targets.

**Something triggered, prepar-**

**Aagh!**

**-for attack.**

White-red light flickers all around me, turning into dots moving! Phased particle beams fly, blasting holes in the ceiling, walls and floor as well as eating away at my construct armour! Cold guns fire back on automatic as I duck and dive. I'm never going to dodge them all in close confines like this, but I shouldn't have to worry much about them breaking my constructs unless they all start hitting the same point or something.

My return fire is… I can't tell. Ring, what the heck is this red stuff?

Readings consistent with models for temporal displacement technology. Return fire partially- I hear a muffled explosion. -successful.

Observe patterns of incoming fire. Are they-

Two shots hit my construct faceplate at the same time, making visible cracks on the surface. Phased particle beams are designed to penetrate before detonating, but that only works well against conventional matter; my constructs are turning it aside reasonably well. Which is good, because my power armour isn't really designed to do much more than ablate in the face of attacks like this. Could create a plasma field, but I'm not sure how that would react with the temporal displacement and I really don't want to create a plasma bomb underneath my team mates.

-using temporal manipulation to predict my shots or just firing and vanishing?

Reaction speed too rapid for definitive judgement. If the former, they are prioritising hitting you over their own survivability.

They're also not moving. The ring is showing me the pattern of their activity, and their displacement is regular to within two seconds. Rather than displace, wait to recharge and then reappear the moment they left, they're gone for the time it would.. probably actually take a weapon like that to recharge. Not true time travel, but it would still be blooming useful to get my hands on one.

And the ring's right, there are definitely fewer incoming shots. **Orange Lantern to team, under attack by drone weapons.** The red light has faded as the drones are destroyed. I… I guess it's a side effect of the displacement effect. I'll send the file to Dox when we're finished, see what he makes of it. **Drones are using phased particle beams as their primary weapons and what appears to be temporal displacement technology. Attack was triggered as soon as I entered the underground part of the facility.**

…

The last drone weapon falls silent and I take a moment to replenish my construct armour. Okay, let's take a look at-.

Small devices shaped like mushrooms sprout from the wall more armour!

There's a crackle of ionisation in the air as the plasma initiators activate, then the air turns to white light! Constant pressure on my shield, bearable, but I'm not going anywhere like this. Bit of an extreme burglar alarm; it would be lethal to anyone not shielded or super tough.

**Additional defences include a plasma initiator system.** The plasma initiators burn out, letting the gas in the room return to its natural composition and pressure. And.. that destroyed the drone remains, darn it.

…

**Please respond.**

**We're… Mostly okay, Oh El. Ow.**

**Do you need me back up-?**

**No.** Kaldur sounds a good deal more okay than Wallace did. **Keep looking. I will join you in a moment.**

I nod, replenish my construct armour again. **What happened?**

**Some sort of automated weaponry. Fortunately, I was its initial target and my armour turned its energy aside.**

**Good to hear.** I'd considered using arcane metamaterials in my armour, but I felt that phasing and invisibility were more useful. And I'd have to wear it throughout the mission as I wouldn't just be able to subspace it whenever I felt like it.

The metal making up the walls of the corridor is more than a little melted, and the damage to the stuff they're using to deceive my ring scans is enough that I'm getting slightly more helpful feedback now. This facility still doesn't appear to be particularly big, but there are a couple of rooms to take a look at. Hm. If they'd just had the production upstairs here we might not have thought that there was anything untoward going on here. Was the automated defence system a response to me, or to the other attacks that are going on?

Ring, show me everyone else's progress.

Compliance.

League attacks on what Mister Hunter assured us are their main centres are going well. Some resistance, about half of which is 'high end' rather than conventional guards. Huh. And a couple of whiffs as members of the world's premier superhero team turn up somewhere that genuinely doesn't have anything suspicious happening at it. Plastic Man and Green Arrow probably can't be redeployed fast enough to join in anything else… The rest of my team are doing fine, though Kon and Canis are reporting injuries. Probably had to tank the automated defences.

Kaldur drops down the hole and nods to me. "Are you injured?"

"No, raring to go." I lumber towards the end of the corridor at a jog, crumbler gauntlet construct out in front of me. "Are the forges-" The doorway disintegrates, revealing… Ah, rats. "-in one piece?"

What look like banks of computer equipment are either destroyed or.. missing, perhaps displaced in time to somewhen Eliminations, Inc can recover them.

"Much like this, I am afraid."

Scan… No, no more plasma weapons. Just… Destroyed equipment.

"Darn. Ring, anything worthwhile left?"

"Affirmative."

The ring highlights.. some sort of tachyon fountain. Which being tachyons, means that it's still working in the future. A marker? A beacon of some kind? I walk towards it. Should probably see if I can turn it off. I imagine that Doctor Palmer would-.

Red bubbles precipitate into existence to our right! I immediately aim my cold guns and Kaldur… Ah, calls up a.. sphere of water with ice sigils floating inside it. Beams of phased particles considerably more powerful than those fired by the drones fire back, knocking him backwards into the wall and straight up blasting chunks out of my construct armour. Dodge dodge! Ring, am I hitting-?

The fire cuts out, revealing four humanoids in full black and red body armour. They're carrying what I immediately recognise as phased particle beams, though the weapons look somewhat the worse for wear. Frost covers the exterior of their armour in several places but it looks like it's got the sort of insulation that can actually prevent cold guns scoring instant kills. They freeze for a fraction of a second, then the red bubbles reappear and they vanish.

"Kaldur?"

"I am well. And it seems that Doctor Mist was correct about them having no defence against magic." He pulls himself upright and walks to my side. "It is mildly reassuring that at least one of our foes does not work with the others."

I take a moment to look around. Guess we're done here, then.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October
21:47 GMT -6

I lean back against the wall, idly tap my left foot against the pavement. The local police have pretty much finished their initial processing of the warehouse workers, but we already know from M'gann that they didn't know anything about their employer's real business. Other police are going through the building, bagging and tagging anything remotely interesting as well as securing the site. It would be a bit of a nuisance if someone stole some of the equipment, but… Hardly a major problem. None of it is more than a generation or two ahead of what Earth has now, and if someone was willing to splurge and had the right connections then they could probably get equipment like it from other places.

All in all, I'm a little underwhelmed.

We stopped a time travel-. No, we didn't. We undermined his resource base somewhat, but these places could have been in operation since the fifties. That's sixty years of turning out materials. If Per Degaton can't take over a post-apocalyptic Earth with that then there's probably no hope for him. And contrariwise, I'm struggling to see what a few extra years of production would really have done for him. The only thing I can really think of is that they might have been ramping up…

Okay, think it through. I'm a bitter would-be dictator with a time machine and a xenophobia psychosis. Travelling back in time for the resources worked for the Sheeda, so it's perfectly viable for me. But there's no point in taking raw materials. The Reach or the Thanagarians might have used local resources for local construction but there's no point just stealing raw materials when it's far easier to break up asteroids. Which means that while there might be local resource shortages in the future, there shouldn't be a resource shortage per se. Technology? I suppose… They might be backward, depending on how much effort the Thanagarians put into developing the place and exactly what the Reach didn't bother taking with them-.

No, hang on. Would the Reach have destroyed it out of spite or contempt? Not.. sure. Usually in their fights with the Darkstars they haven't bothered, but that's probably because they're confident that they'll be able to take it all back eventually. In a way it's an intimidation tactic; yes, we'll let you primitives squat here for a year or two, being properly impressed by our superiority… Point being, I don't really have a model for how they behave if they're having to retreat properly. And if Larfleeze was eating them…

Hm. No, I don't think they would. Or rather, if they were going to destroy their holdings then the destruction would be so total that there wouldn't be a native population left. If there was anyone left and the Thanagarians bothered occupying then it follows that there was something to occupy. So Per Degaton grows up in a world that was wrecked by one group of aliens -and unlike with the Nazis blaming the 'November Criminals' and the Jews it isn't a minority thing, it's historical fact- and now controlled by another. Truggs came back to prevent the defeat in the first place, but he's… A bit more of a realist. And -in his way- a utilitarian. Degaton… He'd want to fight. He'd want to show his people that they could win.

So he'd build weapons in the past, back when Earth still had the technology and infrastructure. But how would he get hold of them? Build a time.. gate of some kind here and send them through? Just.. bury them and wait? Bit of a risk, but if he knew how to hide it from Reach technology and knew where the Reach weren't going to bother looking it could work-.

"What's so great about that bit of wall, then?"

I blink as Beryl raises her eyebrows interrogatively at me. "Sorry, miles away. Something happen?"

"Final casualty reports. Nothing too serious, though Hawkwoman would have been looking for a no-arm combat style if Accomplished Perfect Physician wasn't there. What are you thinking about?"

"Economic uses of time travel?"

She nods. "That Hunter bloke might share. Not sure how I feel about popping out of existence if you went back to stop Klarion, mind."

"No, no-. Well… I wasn't.. planning… Actively planning that. I mean, aren't we making people Mister Hunter's met pop out of existence by doing this now?"

"Not people I've met. And anyway, this was done with time travel anyway. Maybe we're making another group of people pop back?" She glances up for a moment. "If we assume that the possible permutations of history which can be created by time travel are near-infinite-"

I frown. "You can't have near-"

"-then really it's a bit selfish to think that any one group is more 'real' than any other."

"-infinite."

"Unless you're one of them. But particularity is a problem with a lot of logical ideas."

"I-. No, that wasn't what I was thinking about. What I meant was: how was Per Degaton planning to use any of this stuff?"

"Hide it and wait?" She thinks for a moment. "Those four guys with the teleporters might have been doing shuttle-runs."

"I don't suppose they were caught?"

She shakes her head. "People matching their description did a lot of counter attacks, but they stopped when Kaldur shut off their guns. Which means that it was probably the same group each time."

"And we don't… Heh, we don't remember anyone popping out of existence?"

She nods. "Makes it a bit hard to know, doesn't it?"

Alas, poor Triumph. "But… Why are there a few dozen factories? And why were they all in countries that had people who would actually look for them? If they'd gone to… I don't know, Ogaden-."

"Transportation infrastructure."

"For time travellers? Or how about China? I'm pretty sure the Standing Committee would keep things covered up for a cut of the output."

"Fascist dictators aren't sharers. Of course…"

"What?"

"The only time traveller who we know has got a way back.. is Mister Hunter."

I smile. "That's some Batman level thinking. But his sphere isn't big enough for more than a few boxes and we're not going to put all of the best stuff in one place. Compared to a time machine…"

"Do we actually know any of this for certain?"

Hmmm. "I don't think that Abra would lie to me about Per Degaton existing. Small bursts of chroniton radiation combined with their movement pattern suggests that those people had at least limited time travel capacity… But we don't have a hard evidential tie between them and Per Degaton, just Mister Hunter's assurance."

"Alright. So, a fascist dictator wants to send people back in time to build things for his take over. Who does he send?"

"Logically… He'd go himself and set things up, then return to the future and leave a loyal lieutenant running it?"

"What if he couldn't. What if it was one way? Or… Difficult, or hard to hide or something?"

"Someone.. loyal and unimaginative. They'd be going back into what was a.. far nicer world than they were used to. He wouldn't want them getting distracted or deciding they were better off without him. And… He wouldn't be able to send them much help. They'd probably have to recruit it locally. And the locals wouldn't share their ideology."

"See, based on what we actually know about 'Eliminations, Inc.', that fits much closer to how they acted. They killed for money and never said anything about any sort of ideology. So maybe… They were building up funds for this? And they disappeared because they already had the money to build their first factories… They didn't need to kill people anymore. And the hired killers were only in it for the money, so they could just be paid off…"

"Might be worth seeing if we can find them. We should be able to get authorisation for telepathic-."

"Because I know what's going on!"

Beryl and I look over to the police cordon where a middle aged and quite aggravated man is arguing with a police officer. We look at each other for a moment and then jog in his direction.

"Is there a problem, sir?"

His attention switches away from the police officer as soon as he hears it. "Yeah. I want my time machine back."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October
21:47 GMT -6

Rusty-red hair shot through with grey, generally grizzled face… Ah heck, this is Rip Hunter, isn't it?

Is it? Oh great, how do I actually-?

"What time machine's that then?"

Beryl has an excellent poker face, but I don't think it's cutting any mustard here. A policeman behind probably-Rip Hunter nods at him and raises his eyebrows at me, wanting to know if I want him chased off. I give my head a small shake.

"My time machine, that appeared in the Sonoran Desert two days ago and appears to have precipitated an attack by the Justice League that wasn't supposed to happen."

"I see. Perhaps we should talk in private, Mister..?"

"Rip Hunter."

Beryl raises her eyebrows at me, but I just nod. "'Rip Hunter'. Do you think I should tell people that my first name is 'Esk'?"

"Esk-?" I make a show of wincing. "Oh, that's terrib- " I open my empathic vision all the way, steeling myself as I do so. "-father."

I think Mister Hunter spots what I'm trying. Certainly he ends up glowing an undifferentiated green on the surface. I'm assuming that's some sort of telepathic resistance technique. Not much point going to those sorts of lengths to hide your identity if the first telepath you run across can take it directly from your mind. But then, I'm not a telepath. And I get just a tiny peek of someone I was sort of hoping to have met by now.

I nod. "Identification confirmed, Mister Hunter. We should continue this in private." I attach a filament to him and Beryl and transition us to the top of a nearby building. His eyes dart around his new environment as much as they can without entirely losing sight of me. "I apologise, but the other fellow had a time machine and useful advice. I rather assumed he was you."

"You shouldn't know who I am. And you certainly shouldn't know who my-." He shakes his head. "What did this other time traveller look like?"

I generate a construct of him.

"Huh. What did he say his name was?"

"Just.. Hunter."

"And he couldn't even come up with something original." Mister Hunter shakes his head. "His name is Jason Goldstein, we.. used to work together. But right now he needs to be stopped."

"While I.. sympathise with you on the theft, I.. don't really see how this is a high urgency issue. Him giving us the opportunity to finally round up Eliminations, Inc. is extremely helpful."

He looks sour. "And despite knowing who I am, you're not just going to take my word for it when I say this is a very bad idea."

"Not without a little more information."

"Information's the problem! The more people know, the more people try to change things!"

"Mister Goldstein is hardly the only person trying to do that. As soon as I found out that the Earth was due to be conquered by the Reach I prioritised stopping them. If that's what you're trying to stop..."

He rubs his forehead with his right hand. "And do you know what the consequences of that will be?"

"If I win, Earth civilisation doesn't collapse, billions don't die-."

"Billions don't die here."

"I'm an Orange Lantern, these are the ones I'm invested in."

Beryl smiles sarcastically. "Awwwww."

"And our technological progress doesn't get set back hundreds of years."

"Earth's technological progress won't get set back hundreds of years. The rest of human civilisation never happens."

"The rest..? You mean, like where Abra Kadabra grew up?"

"That and a hundred places like it where the Reach tried to turn metahumans into living weapons. A hundred worlds where stabilised and reproducible metahuman abilities are the norm. The effective death of Earth civilisation resulted in a medium term strengthening of humanity as a whole."

"And Per Degaton?"

"He unified Earth. He did a lot of bad things doing it, but the net result was to make Earth stronger. If the League stops that happening, Earth stays controlled by the Thanagarians."

Beryl shrugs. "Unless something else happens."

"Yeah, I'm still not seeing this as a problem. Was.. Mister Goldstein telling the truth when he said that the Light are the ones who bring the Reach to Earth?"

"No, no, no…" He shakes his head again, clearly frustrated with us. "The Reach will come to Earth."

"Not if they're all dead, they won't."

Beryl blinks. "All-? Ahhh…"

"I've been a time traveller for long enough to notice things. I understand the appeal, I really.. do. Make things 'better', where's the harm? When I first started out I thought the same way. Things don't.. work out like that. Tachyons go backwards in time. That means that data about the future state of the universe does as well. The past doesn't just influence the future, the future affects the past. The best way I can describe it is that the future knows what shape it's supposed to be. And anything that tries to change that more than a certain amount… It generates… Blowback. Either things get flat out worse, or they end up going the way they were going to go with a slight delay added to them."

"Are you..? Anthropomorphising time?"

"No, I'm not saying that time's malevolent, I'm saying there are hard mechanical problems involved in trying to change things that shouldn't be changed. Problems that your wishful thinking -and his- don't take account of."

"Squire?"

"I'm pretty sure he believes it, but I'd want a look at his original data. It doesn't sound completely implausible, but it is a bit far fetched."

Mister Hunter huffs in frustration. "Can you at least arrest Goldstein?"

"Can you prove that you own the time sphere?"

"I can prove that he murdered one of our co-workers."

"Why didn't you lead with that, then? Murder is something I-" Usually. "-don't have a problem arresting people for. But…" I glance at Beryl. "How do we arrest a time traveller?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st October
22:02 GMT -6

Wallace shakes his head. "No, I still don't get this. If he took your time machine to come to now, how did you get here?"

Rip Hunter folds his arms across his chest. "Luck. He took the time sphere in forty BC after we went then to stop David Clinton from stealing the Great Sphinx of Giza. I was able to partly rebuild his Time Clock to send me forwards in time, but it's a one-way trip unless I get my time sphere back."

"And you.. don't build a new one because..?"

"Because my current time sphere is set up to detect the temporal fissure system I'd need to build in order to make another. Goldstein would travel backwards or forwards to whenever I was to put a bullet in my head before I was in a position to do the same to him. I could only risk coming to now because someone fired off some kind of temporal beacon, otherwise the chronitron radiation I'm carrying would have been enough to set it off anyway."

Wallace nods, then starts as something occurs to him. "Wait a second. David-? You mean Chronos? I always thought he was a joke? He's actually a time traveller?"

Mister Hunter's jaw tightens. "Not. Any. More."

"O-kaaay. I'm, ah-." Kaldur walks back into the room, M'gann right behind him. Wallace looks relieved at the interruption. "Well?"

"Mister Goldstein is with Batman in the Hall of Justice, overseeing operations in case Per Degaton manages to organise a counterattack. His time-." Kaldur nods to Mr Hunter. "My apologies. Mister Hunter's time sphere is being stored in the Hall's library."

Wallace frowns in puzzlement. "Pretty sure Batman can take out one guy."

Mister Hunter huffs. "Of course Batman could take out one guy. The problem is that if Goldstein gets attacked he'll just teleport back to the time sphere. It's automatic and temporal mechanics based and once he's in there there's not a thing anyone can do about it. He can warn himself off, try again at an earlier point in time or kill every one of you in your cradles."

M'gann bows her head slightly. "I could.. control his mind?"

"That… That might work, except I trained my people to resist telepathy. He only needs a fraction of a second of mental coherence and he's gone."

Wallace shrugs. "Why don't we just take a hammer to the time sphere? You can fix it afterwards, right? If it isn't working then he can't use it to go back and stop us."

Mister Hunter shakes his head. "The time sphere exists slightly out of synchronicity with normal time. The only way you'd get in was if he opened it for you."

"Could you open it?"

He nods. "Sure, but there's no way I could get close without being detected."

Kaldur thinks for a moment. "Would the time sphere leave this time period at the very moment he entered it?"

"No, it takes a few seconds to start up. But it isn't any less invulnerable when it's preparing to enter the time stream than when it's stationary."

Beryl looks at me, then looks away, then looks back to see whether or not I noticed her looking at me.

"Does its.. lack of synchronicity render it completely invulnerable, or are there things to which it is still vulnerable?"

"Do you have any temporal manipulation-based weapons?"

Beryl sidles up to me. "You sure he's on the up and up?"

"Sureish? I'm not sure I agree with his approach to time travel, and… Intellectually, I appreciate that it's a little odd to worry about one murder when we're perfectly happy to erase an entire future timeline…"

"Because I've never been able to work out how much you actually know about this stuff."

"More than most people, not as much as I'd like. Why?"

"If we were quick, we could probably get away with moving the Greenwich Mean. That-" I suppress my instinctive response to snigger. "-should-. What?"

"We're not moving the Greenwich Mean." Honestly. I very much doubt that moving a time zone around would do much to a time machine. Although it might be possible to create a ritual based… But if Mister Hunter is right about time violently correcting itself, we probably don't have time. But if we're looking for a temporal-.

Truggs never called me back.

Ring, is the communication channel Truggs used to contact me still available?

Confirmed.

Beryl shakes her head disappointedly, then turns away to talk to Mister Hunter.

Use it.

Contacting now.

"…same problem. Anything I could build to prevent him leaving could be detected…"

"Hey Paul. How's it going?"

I raise my left hand to my left ear so that the people around me don't think I'm just staring into space again. "Confusingly. Why did you send me to meet Mister Goldstein?"

Kaldur frowns interrogatively at me while Mister Hunter looks annoyed.

"I didn't know who was coming. Just that someone was."

"And what exactly-?"

"Ah, hey! Saw you on the news again. And I.. ttthink yer standing right next to a time traveller right now. Good goin'!"

"Did you have something to do with the temporal beacon?"

"Ugh, Savage's B plan. All it did was explode. I didn't think it even worked."

"Could you rebuild it?"

"I have already. What, you want it? What's going on?"

"We're playing Back to the Future, and it's annoying."

"The film?"

"No, the card game. I'm having to try and factor in the wellbeing of future people in different timelines-."

"You don't. I lived that life. You let me do that."

"One moment." I hold the ring away from my ear. "Truggs has a temporal beacon. Can it be used to prevent Mister Goldstein escaping?"

Mister Hunter's eyes dart to the side as he thinks about it. "Probably. I'd need to take a look at it, make some modifications."

I bring my ring back to my ear. "Yes."

"Yes what."

"Yes you unmitigated, conceited arsehole."

"Hah! Revving my engine there, Paul. But I want something from you."

"What?"

"This guy you're talking to; he active or reactive?"

"Reactive. He seems to think that trying to alter things will only make them worse."

"Okay, so he wants t' just take his machine and go on his way?"

"Yes."

"That's all I ask. I'll give you the pick-up address now."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd October
00:32 GMT -5

Kaldur leads the way into the conference room in the Hall of Justice that is being used as a command post for the attacks on Eliminations, Inc. Mister Goldstein glances up for a moment to see who it is, but otherwise remains focused on his monitors.

"Hey kids." Mr Queen stops fiddling with his fletching and smiles warmly at us. "Or am I not meant to call you that?"

"I'm sure that when someone reaches your advanced age-" Two years older than me. "-everyone starts to look young."

He nods. "Decent comeback. I don't think I'm quite old enough to make it work, but the thought was there." He looks around the group. "Did you come back here for a reason? As far as I'm concerned, if you've handed your site over to the police you can take the rest of the night… Ah, morning, off."

Kaldur focuses on Mr Goldstein. "Mister Goldstein. I am afraid that I must speak with you-."

Mr Goldstein tips his head back, shuts down his monitor and then turns his chair around to face us. "Rip found you, didn't he?"

"He did. And I must speak with you concerning the death of Miss Bonnie Baxter."

"Where is he?" Mr Goldstein tries to peer around behind us. "I thought he'd want to be here to do this face to face." We stop walking towards him, forming a short arc facing him. "Don't tell me he's trying to dick around with the time sphere? I may not be as good a temporal physicist as he is but I do know how to change a set of locks."

Mr Queen stands as well, putting a foam arrow to string but not raising his bow. "Aqualad, what's going on?"

"Green Arrow. This man's real name is Jason Goldstein-."

"Which I didn't use because any other time traveller could use it to go back in time, locate me and kill me." He stands as well, rolling his eyes. "Nice breach of operational security there, Rip."

"His name is Jason Goldstein. Another time traveller, a man by the name Rip Hunter, has alleged that he stole the time sphere and killed one of their mutual colleagues."

Mr Goldstein raises his eyebrows slightly. "I should be hurt that you assumed that he was telling the truth after I've been nothing but helpful. Yet, somehow-."

Mr Queen looks at him. "Was he telling the truth?"

Mr Goldstein shakes his head. "I told Rip I killed her. All I really did was help her cover up an affair she was having. The knock on effect was that she never got fired, she never met Rip and never went time travelling. She's probably still alive now if you want to look her up."

"And the time machine?"

"Of course I stole that. Once Rip made it clear that he wouldn't let me improve history, what choice did I have? I don't know enough about his past to alter it, he's as paranoid as a Texan survivalist in the present… He'd have killed me for interfering with his precious 'real' time line."

His hand hasn't gone even slightly near where Rip said his recall button would be. He spots me looking at it, and manages a half-smile.

"I'm not going to cut and run, Orange Lantern. This is the right thing to do. And you know it."

Mr Queen relaxes slightly, and looks at my squad. "O.. kay. This sounds like something that needs careful consideration. How about we get Diana to-?"

A dull tone rings out from Mr Goldstein's bracer. He nods and makes a vague gesture with his right hand. "And now he's going for the time sphere. Guess he wasn't willing to wait for you."

"Ah, hell." Mr Queen sprints for the doorway. "I remember when this place was secure."

My team bolts after him as I focus on Mr Hunter's desires-

-and step out-

-and back. "Mister Hunter, this wasn't wh-."

Mr Hunter looks mildly puzzled. "Have you arrested him?"

This.. is where we left him. Ohhhh dear.

"Anothertimetravellerisgoingforthesphereexcuseme."

Out!

Back! "It's not Hunt-!"

A phased particle beam blasts through one of the Hall's interior walls as Mr Queen dives out of the way! "Yeah! We know!"

Wallace dashes across the floor and up a wall as another stream of energised particles-. I erect a construct barrier and he dives behind it, nodding appreciatively.

"Hey Oh El. Things went crazy real-" Two more beams join the first and I have to reinforce the barrier. "-fast."

I spot Mr Queen string an EMP arrow. "Really-" He looses and strings another. "-starting-" Another. "-to question-" Another. "-the wisdom-" Another- "-of having-."

I touch Wallace with my right hand and transition us to the viewing area.

The viewing window has been almost completely destroyed, and through the hole where it used to be I can see a golden gynoid hovering over the time sphere, a shimmering red shield surrounding them both as she tries to do something to it. Four guards-. Yes, four, their repeated teleporting makes it a little difficult to track th-.

Kaldur raises his water bearers as shots fly towards him and Beryl. The icy runes form in the water and the beams peter out before they hit. Beryl pulls out her slingshot. "Feeling severely under gunned, here!"

M'gann-. I can't see her, but from the way one of the soldiers is grasping at his head I'm going to assume-.

Wallace dashes in, dodging around a rapidly aimed shot and slamming a sticky mine onto the headaching soldier. It detonates, blast knocking him over and-. No, it hasn't penetrated his armour and he's teleporting-.

Right, pulling weight time. Armour, construct armour, autoguns-.

"Orange Lantern! Pierce her shield!"

I don't acknowledge him but get the ring to work analysing her defences. A neutron shield. Exotic, but hardly unknown to Maltusian science. Obviously I could fire a laser through it. But her highly reflective epidermis would probably deal with that. Instead, I generate a railgun, fabricate a boron carbide round and open fire. It hits home, and the gynoid's head rotates on her neck to look at me as her shield wavers. Yeah, the reason why neutron shields are a specialist item is -ignoring the exorbitant energy requirement- a properly equipped opponent can destabilise them relatively easily. Another shot and it starts to fade. Phased particle shots slam into my construct armour and eat through my railgun construct so I reposition, creating a new one and loading another round as Wallace and Kaldur take advantage of their foes' new focus to assail them anew. Wallace's target gets covered in something I recognise as an alchemical super-acid while Kaldur fires what looks like blue lightning into another, causing him to spasm uncontrollably and collapse to the ground.

Another shot and the neutron shield fails, a bullet from Beryl's slingshot, an arrow and a telekinetically thrown lump of rubble flying at the gynoid a half-second later!

And they pass through her as she phases out.

I catch sight of M'gann with my empathic vision as she tries to bring her telekinetic power to bear on her target directly, but the only person other than me here with anti-phasing equipment is-.

Mr Queen's arrow hits her in the side and fails to penetrate. Yeah, they're not great against unphased targets. I've got my own shot loaded a moment later, centre of mass and fire. It strikes home and she judders a little, but doesn't appear to be significantly damaged. Okay, dial up the power-.

The time sphere's outer surface shimmers blue and she flies for the now opening doorway.

Wallace grins. "Gotcha!"

Truggs' device detonates, the blue light flickering and dying as the gynoid collapses to the ground.

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd October
01:27 GMT -5

Mr Queen waves his bandaged right hand at the damage to the library. "You not planning on waving your ring and making all of this disappear?"

I slump slightly in my chair. "No."

He considers the damage for a moment, holds out his right arm to look at his injuries… Then pointedly folds it behind his back. "Everyone else gone home?"

"Yes. Kaldur.. stuck around until King Orin got back, and.. Squire wanted to take a look at the gynoid, but she was dead on her feet, so…"

He scans the floor for a moment, then pulls over a partially intact piece of chair and cautiously sits down on it. "Crazy couple a' days, huh?"

I raise my eyebrows slightly. "Which part are you referring to?"

"Time machines. Not exactly an original concept, and we've had time travellers before, but this is the first time someone's actually set down a machine that can transport someone through time right in our laps."

"If they'd erased it from history, how would you know?"

He looks away for a moment, staring through the hole in the side of the building at the early morning sky. "Yeah, that's what's been giving me a headache. I don't think the law's really built for people playing with causality."

"It's not. I checked. The nearest I could find was 'reckless endangerment', and I think you'd have to intentionally mess things up a lot before a judge or a jury would accept it."

"The League's going to try and work.. something out between the Hunters. At least until Bats can check out their stories. Personally I'd rather impound the time sphere until we have some.. huge disaster that can't be fixed any other way, but otherwise ban all time travel. I mean… If we even can."

I nod. "That's the most sensible thing I've been able to come up with. We should probably come up with some-."

"Come up with some sort of protocol so that we know any time travelling we do do is above board. Because two way time travel is a lot more problematic than one way stuff." He scratches the left side of his cheek with the fingers of his left hand. "Look… I've been.. meaning to talk to you since you got back…"

"Thinking about upgrading your arsenal? Or are you running out of-."

"No, not… Well, maybe, but… I.. wanted to talk to you about Nabu."

I exhale. "You really don't want this place fixed, do you?"

"This place is meant to be a punching bag. Or a crumple zone. Somewhere villains can attack, where they'll feel like they're achieving something without it actually disrupting our operations. Somewhere we can evacuate fast. Sure, we could armour the walls and put in.. automated defense systems, but that's not really what it's for."

"Everyone on the Light's payroll knows about the.. other place. And anyone else they feel like leaking it to."

"Still a little harder getting into space than getting to DC. But that's not what I wanted to talk about."

"I really think I've said all that I can productively say on the subject."

He nods, then pauses for a few moments. "You know why I originally joined the Justice League?"

"Star City was fairly stable and since you'd just lost your job you had a lot of free time?"

"No-. Well… Yeah. But the other thing was that… The League was a group of superheroes with no oversight. Not from government or congress or anyone like that. I thought that I needed to be there to keep an eye on things. Y'know, just in case. And then I actually got to know everyone, realised that they might not be perfect but they weren't anything to worry about…" He shrugs. "I stopped worrying."

"So you voted for Nabu because you assumed-."

"I voted for Nabu because I don't know a thing about magic. With the benefit of hindsight, sure, it was a mistake. But I had no way of knowing that at the time." He sighs. "My mistake was not following up on the Helmet after you kids picked it up from the Tower of Fate. That was something I could understand: what happens if you lock a thinking being away from everything while its greatest enemies run riot."

Huh. Hadn't really thought about it like that.

"There are an awful lot of files on the League's computers I've never read through. I'm not beating myself up over not knowing Nabu was there. But once Arte told me about what happened with Kid Flash… I shoulda thought about that a bit more. I don't know, talked to Zatara about what he was planning on doing… Something."

I shrug. "I decided to leave Nabu in the cupboard after he hesitated to release Kid Flash."

"What, just like that? I thought it took you at least a little longer."

"Kid Flash is mine, Nabu is-. Was not. Just a polished Star Conqueror." I shrug. "It just wasn't a problem because he was contained."

He looks away. "Guess I can see where you're coming from. My point is… I don't think I did what I joined the Justice League to do that time. So when Bats and Atom start getting into temporal mechanics, I'm going to make sure I'm there. Not.. sure if I'm going to have anything useful to say, but…"

"I appreciate that." I stand. "And.. I appreciate you coming to.. say that to me." Hm. "Actually…"

"What?"

"You are.. trained as a business executive, right?"

"I've got a BA in Business Administration and six years' experience running a multinational company. I hated it, but I know how it goes."

"Would you be interested in part time work?"

"Aheh." He smiles faintly. "I think Ted Kord can manage-."

"No, not Ted Kord. There's another company… I've been thinking of buying them for a while to protect them from asset stripping fake cheese merchants, but I don't actually know anything about running a company. I'd need someone to keep an eye on.. my interests. Wouldn't be anything like full time -the management's sound- but I imagine that you'd find it easy enough."

"Ah… I don't know. Write up a job spec and I'll take a look at it, but I'm a professional archer for a reason."

"You get paid to do that? I thought you were an amateur."

"Yeah, funny." He gets up. "You might as well go home. I'm pulling an all-nighter but all that's going to happen in here is a couple of days of rebuilding."

I nod, and drift upwards towards the hole in the ceiling. Yeah, there's no point in hanging around. For once I'm reasonably in agreement with the League 'don't interfere' policy. I don't have anything special to add and every time I try and get my head around time travel I just end up thinking in circles. I pass out through the outer wall of the Hall of Justice and come to a stop. 'Home' is Alan's house, but it's half one in the morning. He wouldn't have waited up, would he? I'd have said 'not', but I thought that about my parents once and they started phoning the hospital and police to find out if my body had been handed in-.

"Orange Lantern!"

Huh? I look down.. at a cluster of four people.

"Orange Lantern!" Dana Dearden waves both arms to try and get my attention. She's.. wearing Orange Lantern themed clothing. That's a little weird when it's someone I know. Haven't spoken to her since I got back to Earth, but she didn't strike me as the type to take that personally. "How long you been back on Earth?!"

The three others… The durlan from Metropolis, and two other people I recognise from the crowd. The youth who asked Kal-El if he was alright and his friend. Superhero groupies? Eh, harmless enough. Not sure what the durlan's angle is, but if he's not hostile… Not really a problem. And if he is, it's better that he's hostile here. I mean, what's he going to do, wreck a wrecked building?

I float downwards towards them. "And what can I do for the four of you?"

The male human holds up.. some sort of crystal with a computer attached. Ring, what exactly-?

"Hold still for about two seconds."

"Are you doing a selfie-?"

Space distends around us, New York vanishing in a heartbeat as we're all inexorably drawn upwards! I try flying sideways but I just seem to be.. moving in a circle! Gravity-? No, this is.. a shrunken universe where there literally isn't room for significant lateral flight.

Who the heck are these people?

A moment later I'm thrown out into some sort of… Small room made of a pale green material with a glowing red energy barrier covering the front. Through it I see the other four appear into the corridor outside, and a.. coluan nods in greeting before turning to look at me.

"This does not appear to be the Persuader."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Um
Get back to you

The Coluan folds his arms behind his back and walks closer to the barrier between me and the rest of… Wherever this is.

"To a cursory inspection he appears to be the correct species and sex, and I would not expect you to risk moving the Atomic Axe. Still, I do notice a few differences which might suggest that you have managed to bring back-" He turns his head towards the other three. "-entirely the wrong person."

The black haired chap shakes his head. "Superman arrested Nyeun about thirty seconds after he appeared in their time. They had him in a maximum security prison."

"The Kryptonite bomb?"

"Didn't affect him."

The Coluan turns back to me, a mild frown on his forehead. "Curious. And you couldn't recover him? From an early twenty first century prison?"

The blonde woman sighs. "From an early twentieth century prison improved by superheroes and magic. Yes, we might have been able to get him out, but we would probably have been detected. We decided that leaving him there was less dangerous."

"You may have been right. But who is this?"

"'This' is the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. And you must be Brainiac Five. Which makes you-" I point to the blonde woman. "-Saturn Girl, and you-" I point to the Durlan, who shifts to an orange/brown skinned, antenna-and-pointy-eared humanoid form. "-Chameleon Boy, and you…" I point to the third member of the Legion's snatch squad. "Um. Ferro Lad?"

"Cosmic Boy."

"Really?" I frown. "You control magnetic fields and you're not named after a magnetic metal?"

"How do you even know about that?"

"How do you not know about me?" Huh. "Okay, I didn't mean for that so sound quite as arrogant as it did, but I'm relatively well known in the twenty first century and I'd have thought that at least some record of.. me would have survived."

**What can we risk telling him?**

Saturn Girl's mental voice. Given that she's clearly at least in her late teens, perhaps I should question the 'girl' part of her name. On the other hand, Cosmic Teen and Chameleon Youth still use 'boy', so at least they're being even handed about it.

**Absolutely nothing.** I don't remember whether Brainiac 5 is a descendent of Vril Dox or not. Though given how long it has probably been, it's certainly not impossible. Assuming that he ever has children. **The time line has already been disrupted enough. Anything we tell him-.**

**Sorry to interject, but…**

Brainiac twitches. "You're a telepath. It would have been useful to know that."

"No, but I've spent enough time around M'gann that-." Blank looks. Either they haven't heard of her either, or they've learned poker faces pretty quick. "M'gann M'orzz? Miss Martian?" No sign of recognition. "I've spent enough time around her that I've.. sort of.. got a feel for it. Look, is there any chance you could send me back? I had a lot of projects on the go and I'm.. not really clear what I'm supposed to have done?"

Brainiac regards me for a moment. "Our historical records make no mention of you, but they do make mention of the Orange Lantern Corps."

"Oh! Right! Right. You're from the Kadabra timeline."

"Explain."

"Abra Kadabra? From the sixty fourth century? He told me that at some point Larfleeze's construct lanterns leave Vega and tear apart the Reach. Which won't happen now… Um. Then? Because Larfleeze is in therapy and the Orange Central Power Battery is on Maltus. I mean, we are going to destroy the Reach, but we're not going to assimilate entire planets to do it." No obvious reaction. "Which means that either the history he learned was inaccurate, or I've already altered his past."

"Why are you trying to alter the past?"

"No, no. Look: I'm not a time traveller." Oh. "I lost a few seconds using a singularity beam, and my interstellar FTL involves warping space so.. I've time travelled a little bit. But I didn't deliberately go back with the aim of changing something. I'm just.. trying to help people."

"Aside from Abra Kadabra, are you aware of any other time travellers in your era?"

"Nylor Truggs. He-."

"Hey Paul."

I grimace, then turn my face towards my neighbouring cell. "Mister Truggs."

Cosmic Boy looks his way as well. "Nylor Truggs is from our era. He was the first person we thought of."

"Not exactly quick doin' anything about me, were yah?"

Chameleon Boy snorts. "Seems like we found you pretty quick to me."

"Yeah… Guess I got kinda comfortable behind my scry wards. Though, hey, Paul? I'm kinda hurt you were gunna hand me over that quick. This set-up seems ripe fer a good ole nemesis team up."

"You're not my nemesis, and I want to make sure that we haven't ruined time before doing anything."

"He's in denial."

Brainiac 5 glowers in a way I've seen Dox do more than once. "Enough. Orange Lantern, what h-?"

"I don't see why I should listen to you. I wanna talk to a lawyer. An' another t-."

Brainiac 5 hold up a remote control of some kind and presses a button. Truggs falls mercifully silent. "Orange Lantern, this is a matter of the greatest importance. The time line which gave rise to my comrades and me is being erased. I assumed it was the result of an attack and dispatched Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Chameleon Boy to prevent it." Brainiac's eyes stop focusing on me. "Once I detected Persuader going back in time, I concluded that his assassination of Superman was what threw the present off-course. But the assassination attempt failed, and our timeline has still not been restored even in part. Something else is happening, and our historical record makes no mention of you. But without having used a chroniton destabiliser, it shouldn't be possible for you to change history. You should simply be part of the original flow of events unless acted on by an external entity."

"Thank you..? So.. I can go home?"

"Not unless we need to send someone else to your era. We don't have unlimited power."

"But surely a few Bleed Torsion-."

"We're existing in a finite personal time line. We continue to exist and we don't run into our past or future selves, but we can't draw upon any resources outside of its area. And no, we can't use our own time travel technology to get around that."

I frown. "Why no-."

"Are you a level twelve intelligence?"

"I'm not totally sure what that means, but I don't think so."

"Then it's fairly unlikely that you'll be able to suggest anything I haven't already considered. And rejected."

"Including going back in time a day and staying there, incorporating yourself in the new timeline?"

"Yes. Letting everyone we knew remain as never having existed is not an acceptable outcome."

"But why should I prefer them to the people who exist in the new time line? I mean, if all it takes is a little bit of exotic radiation to erase a universe full of people and replace it with something else it probably happens all the time."

That's a bit disturbing, actually.

"Time isn't quite that fragile. Now…" He takes a few steps closer to the barrier. "Talk to me about the time machine in the Hall of Justice."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Next

"That was still being sorted out when I left. You'd really have been better off kidnapping an actual Justice League member."

"Where did it come from?"

"I'm not sure. Both of the people associated with it claimed that it was built by a man who used the alias Rip Hunter, but I don't know what era or time line he came from. It came to us under the control of a man named Jason Goldstein, who stole it because he wanted to 'improve' history with his knowledge of the future."

Brainiac 5 nods. "It sounds as though he should be our target."

"Why? The League has decided not to use the time sphere, which means that Mister Hunter and Mister Goldstein are stuck where they are. There won't be any further alterations from them. And.. there's a tracking device in the time sphere that would detect you if you tried it."

"Why did they travel to your era?"

"As I said, he wanted to improve-."

"There are an almost unlimited number of points in human history where a time traveller might go to 'improve' things. The only one of them that happens in your era is the Reach conquest."

"So… The Sheeda invasion doesn't happen?"

His eyes narrow slightly. "I'm not answering your questions. I'm trying to restore a time line, not damage it further. In other circumstances I might tell you everything and let Saturn Girl erase it from your mind, but since you're resistant I can't take the risk of you going back and making things worse."

"You think it can be restored? How does that work? Mister Hunter said something about history 'knowing' the shape it should have, but that sounded.. a bit anthropomorphic to me."

"I imagine that he was dumbing it down for your benefit. The truth is considerably more complicated. My current belief is that I can restore our time line so long as I can correct the largest source of disruption." He shakes his head. "Frankly, I don't understand how this was possible in the first place. Only a colossal disruption in the time stream should have made this possible, and the only being I know capable of making such a disruption is pleading ignorance. Did any of the time travellers attempt to persuade you to take any particular course of action?"

"Truggs wanted to stop the Reach, but we-. Can I talk to him for a moment?"

"Why?"

"Truggs is working for a man named Lex Luthor, who's a member of an alliance of supervillains called 'The Light'. He told me that he was working to avoid the future he came from, where Earth gets occupied and devastated by the Reach. But according to Mister Goldstein, the Light are the ones who draw the Reach to Earth in the first place. I-" I shake my head. "-wondered why an interstellar polity from the other side of the core had any interest in Earth. I mean, it's interesting, but it's not that interesting."

"I imagine that it's due to the investment/reward ratio. Earth can be conquered relatively easily, and the potential rewards are extreme." He steps back and presses his button again. "This may prove illuminating."

"Mister Truggs?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you aware that the Light are the ones who bring the Reach to Earth in the first place?"

He's quiet for a moment. "What is this?" He sounds slightly amused.

"According to the time traveller you sent me to meet, the Light are the ones who bring the Reach to Earth."

"What? Look, Paul, we haven't.. talked for a while-" Oooooh dear. "-so maybe you've started hearin' my voice insider yer head or somethin', I don't know." Oh dear. "If I knew where another time traveller was gunna show up, I wouldn't tell you. I'd have a.. squad a' guys waitin'. Shoot em, tranq em', take their stuff…"

"You didn't tell me."

"I didn't tell yah. Wait… You think I'm the only guy who can get a hold a' you?"

"And that.. thing about Savage wanting to use your time travel device-"

"I told you, it's busted. Even if he wan'ed to use it, he couldn't."

I hold out my left hand and generate a construct of the item I picked up at 'his' behest. "Please show him this."

Cosmic Boy pulls something out his pocket, uses it to scan my construct and then holds it out in the direction of Mr Truggs.

"Huh. Looks… Kinda like my device. How'd you get it?"

"You, or.. the person posing as you directed me to an address. It was there. I asked for it because I needed a way to prevent the time sphere leaving our era."

"Hey, does that mean I have ta get outa here? I don't remember doin' this, so it's gotta be future me. Right?"

Brainiac shakes his head. "So far as I can tell: changing the past is possible, and only the one who does it is aware that anything has changed. Which means that any number of alternate versions of you could try any number of things and none of them would guarantee anything. Otherwise the past which I remember would be guaranteed to return. Tell me more about Goldstein. What exactly did he ask you to do?"

"He gave the Justice League information on a semi-defunct assassination organisation called Eliminations, Inc. Not all of it was accurate, but we were able to take a highly sophisticated gynoid and some time travelling fascists into custody. They worked for someone called Per Degaton."

"I see. Disrupting Per Degaton's reunification campaign would prevent the spread of his pan-human political philosophy. That might prevent the United Planets being formed… Still, time is usually more resilient than that. Others should have taken up the flag."

"But Per Degaton's people were time travellers too. I'm assuming that.. this.. United Planets isn't a fascist organisation?" The green skinned Coluan raises his right eyebrow. "So are you sure you're not from the time line where he didn't have resources provided to him by people from the past?"

"His rise to power was an.. anomaly, even in history as I remember it. Some historians speculated that he discovered a pre-Reach weapons cache of some kind… But he could well have been getting materials from the past. It fits the events."

"So what would you say to people from the version where-?"

"I wouldn't."

I hear Mr Truggs huff-snort. "Nice ta know I never did anything you wouldn't, Brainy. Howsabou-?"

Brainiac 5 raises the remote and presses the button, cutting him off.

Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy exchange disturbed looks. He shakes his head, then she steps towards her Coluan comrade. "Brainy, you said-."

"That there was only one 'real' time line and anything else would experience paradox collapse? I thought from the way our host laughed when I said it that it probably was an incorrect deduction. And with.. everything we now know was happening…"

"But that-."

He glares at her. "I know. Why do you think he's letting us use this place? This is his idea of a joke."

"Look, if you're just trying to spot a single key alteration, I'm happy to help. What do you n-?"

He turns away and walks towards the only visible exit, the other three falling in behind him. "I'll let you know if we decide to return to your era."

 

[Mr Zoat]

A short time later

"So…" Dana paces a couple of steps from left to right. "I guess the.. reason you're not talking to me is… You're kinda pissed off about me telling them everything about you?"

I breathe out, then open my eyes. "No, not really. I doubt that you told them anything that they couldn't have found out from either other sources or… Given that Saturn Girl is a telepath, that they couldn't have just read from your mind."

"Oh." She smiles. "Okay. So how come you're just sitting there?"

"There doesn't seem to be any hurry. Brainiac said that they were on a time limit, but I don't actually know where or when we are. Depending on exactly what's going on, my future self might be heading this way right now."

"They told me they were from the thirtieth century."

"Yes?"

"You'd be… A thousand years old?"

"Yes? I don't age any longer. And I'd still only be a quarter the age of Queen Hippolyta."

"But if their time line got all messed up, wouldn't you have gotten erased too?"

"Dep.. ends? I'm here, which to my way of thinking should mean that I'm not there to age to this point in history. Unless I ever manage to go back, in which case I will be. But from the way Brainiac was talking it sounds like some types of time travel bypass normal causality… Somehow, which might mean that I'm not there to go back until after I manage to go back."

She looks at me for a moment. "Whut?"

"I think the fact that there's a 'me' here means that there can't be a 'me' anywhere else until I get away."

"Oh. Okay."

"Though I could very well be wrong." I raise my eyebrows. "So..? What have you been doing with yourself?"

"Writing more articles, doing my coursework… And I had a go at being a superhero." She grimaces. "But it's a lot harder than I thought, just.. finding things worth doing."

"When you say 'superhero', exactly-?"

"Strength, speed, flight,-" She rises a few centimetres from the ground. "-toughness, super acute vision and the ability to-" She holds out her right hand, electricity crackling around her fingers. "-control electricity."

And my eyebrows are raised. "Really? Ho.. w.. strong, exactly?"

"I dunno. I couldn't find a weight I couldn't lift, but I dunno if I'm Superman strong or anything."

"It's worth finding out. Were you born like that, or did they.. just show up one day?"

She looks away a little awkwardly. "I.. kinda… Borrowed..? These magic coins..?"

I bow my head and raise my hands to my forehead with a groan. Deep breath, then look up. "Probably for the best. Mister Truggs-" I glance at the wall to my right. "-has a habit of killing people who acquire powerful artefacts and don't use them. And -no offence intended here- if you could find them he probably could as well."

"So.. me.. borrowing them doesn't bother you?"

"You're not the only thief in this conversation. I try not to be that hypocritical, and if you're putting them to good use it's better that you have them than a random museum thief. Oh, and well done for restraining the impulse to put on a skin-tight leotard."

"I tried it? But.. it.. wasn't really me. When I fly up high the cold air kinda made my… Ah…" She gestures at her bre-. Ah, yes. That can be a problem. "Y'know…"

"Not a problem I've ever had personally, but… Yes." I nod.

"So… Garden of Eden, huh?"

"I don't-."

"You stole a fruit and got visited by an angel. The only other thing I could think of was that you found a fig from the tree Jesus cursed. So, are you immortal, or did you take God-like knowledge?"

"Neither. I took the Pomegranate of Good and Evil and gave it to a couple of quasi-demonic people in order to give them the capacity for morality."

"Huh. And.. you're sure that Zauriel guy was an angel? He could just be a metahuman or something. And I think there was some crazy doctor in Nevada who stuck some swan wing on a woman."

"Yes, I'm afraid not and true, Doctor von Schadel did. I first saw Zauriel in Eden. His physiology is innately magical, he answers to the authorities of the Silver City… He's an angel."

"Yeah, I… Suppose it wasn't all that likely that he'd be able to fake it for you. It's just kind of a shock, finding out that God, like, literally exists. And… He does, right?"

"I'm still not sure how close to popular mythology the truth of Jehovah's existence is, but… Sort of."

"Ohhhh."

"I'm sorry, I usually assume that Americans are practising Christians unless I hear otherwise. I'm a little surprised that you're surprised. Were you not?"

"Ah… I'm gunna be going to the synagogue more often than I have been. And…" Her eyes widen. "Which religion's right?"

"I-. I don't know. I got the impression Zauriel wasn't that fussy. But he seemed to be rather keen that I repent my sins…"

"Ah. Okay. Ah. I.. kinda… Need to tell you something. Ah. The coins? I kinda.. got them right before we met."

"Okay?"

"I… When I thought you got me fired? I was planning on.. fighting you with them."

"That's okay. I'm perfectly happy to forgive you. Though I'm going to suggest that you consider peaceful resolutions first in future."

"Yeah, yeah, I think I will. And I'm gunna stop eating crab cakes, too."

"I don't-. Okay. Whatever you think best." I look away for a moment. What else to talk about? Given that our hosts have the ability to time travel I'm not exactly in a rush here… "The Legion. Did they offer you something, or did you just volunteer?"

"They said they'd bring me to the future, which they have." She looks around. "I think."

"Are you allowed to leave?"

She glances at the door. "Yeah, but they said that wasn't a good idea. Not everyone around here's.. friendly."

I frown. If this is a Legion base, it should be pretty secure. Shouldn't it? Assuming that we're not here during the time of Earth Man's fascist state. "Did they tell you where this is?"

"Yeah, they called it Vanishing Point. You know anything about it?"

"Supposedly, it's a stable structure located at the end of time. How that works, no idea, but it makes sense if they're trying to dodge getting erased." No Linear Men and no Waverider. Not that I've seen so far, anyway. If only I knew enough about them to know if that meant anything. "Though it does make it less likely that I'm going to be recovered by my past-" The door slides open. "-self."

A man a purple robe walks in-.

"Oh." I stand, ignoring Brainiac as he follows him in. "Hello, sir. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised to find one of you here."

The figure stops, the folds of his hood obscuring his face. "You know me?"

"Yes? We met on Maltus. Though that may not have happened in your personal timeline. I suppose that if anyone was going to survive the collapse of time it would be the people who beat the Anti-Mon-."

He raises his arms, pointing them at my cell. "Return!"

Space twists as the time tube opens and I plummet away-!

 

[Mr Zoat]

Mandated

22nd October
06:13 GMT +8

I feel a moment of disorientation-.

"…intervention of the Chinese army under General Wu in the Autumn of sixteen fifty seven, the war shifted decisively in favour of crown prince Shukoh Dara, so preventing…"

I open my eyes, reaching out across the bed for-. No, a warm patch, but she's already up. I blink a couple of times, then push myself upwards into a sitting pos-.

"I don't know how you sleep through that."

Jade is -naturally- already dressed, a towel around her hair showing that she's showered as well. She glances at me as she pulls her tunic's right sleeve over one of her concealed knives. Green tunic with the gold pagoda emblem of the Imperial Security Agency… That explains why the alarm went off at all.

"I.. thought that you.. weren't working today."

"I'm not, but I have a training course for my next promotion." Satisfied with the positioning, she drops her right arm to test the movement of the material. "It would be unwise for me not to attend."

I turn and shuffle to the edge of our bed before lowering my legs to the floor. "You need a better union." I stand, trying to work out what I should wear. Lantern Fang's message made it sound like an informal event, but I know for a fact that his ideas of 'informal' and mine are a rather long way apart. I stroll over to the wardrobe and pull open the door. Let's.. go with.. black tunic suit with orange-.

"Unless someone died, I don't recommend it."

I close my eyes for a moment. She probably-. No, certainly knows better than me, but I can't just let that go. "Yes Madam Controller. What would Madam Controller suggest?"

"Hm." She walks up behind me, looking at my selection around my left side. "The red tunic with the blue trousers. The style shows that you've thought to dress formally and so respect his position, and the colours indicate your relative inexperience and desire to grow."

As good as anything else, I suppose. I'm still not.. entirely comfortable with these sorts of.. intense colour in a formal setting, but… When in Datong… I lift out the tunic and trousers and a.. simple white shirt, and then turn to lay them on our bed while I take off my pyjamas. I get a momentary look at myself in our bedroom mirror as I pull my pyjama top over my head, and use a burst of orange light to tidy myself up. Jade was heading for the kitchen, but turns back at the doorway with a small smile on her face to watch me dress.

"Would you like me to make the alarm louder?"

"No, I just-" I push my right arm through the shirt's sleeve. "-haven't got used to this time zone yet. I'll adapt, and I don't want to drive you-" I leave the shirt open to display my chest as I slide off my bottoms. "-out of bed."

"Didn't you used to use your ring for that?"

"I couldn't drive you out of bed with my ring, Jade. I'd have to want to."

She rolls her eyes. "That isn't what I meant. You've been using your ring for fewer things since you got back."

Alas, this is now a pants on conversation. "Yess. When I was on.. Maltus, I got a full explanation of what orange light exposure could do to a person. And.. when I met Larfleeze I.. got a.. very good look at the end result. I wouldn't hesitate in an actual fight, but… I'm going to be cutting back a bit."

Her eyes dip very slightly as she considers the ramifications. "You'll need to tell Lord Fang."

"That's what back to work interviews are all about." I button the last button on my tunic and follow Jade as she leads the way into the kitchen. She opens the microwave as I bend down to take my oat porridge and her rice porridge out of the fridge and pass them to her. "That and sparring. That's the one thing about me that Lantern Fang actually likes. And I'm sure that First Lantern Sinestro has told him about our encounter."

Weird as this continuity is, I'm rather glad that their Sinestro is still on the strait and narrow. He's.. quite a bit better than me with a power ring. And was more than happy to prove it when I showed my face in his Sector.

"That's not the only thing Lord Fang likes about you. It's just the only thing he's told you that he likes about you. He has the authority to call you in for sparring whenever he likes; he wouldn't choose to operate with someone he didn't get on with."

I nod. I suspected, but given the very real conflicts we've had… "Is your.. training going to be all day?"

"No, until mid-afternoon. I'll be back this afternoon." Something occurs to her. "Mother wants to know when we can visit my parents for dinner."

"That.. depends on what assignment Lantern Fang gives me. Unless he says 'thanks, but no thanks', in which case my schedule is open until Dox calls me." She nods. "The.. Colonel.. isn't going to try and put me through one of his 'training exercises' this time, is he?"

Ah, the Colonel. Former nationalist terrorist and currently the highest ranking Zero Team field officer. Zero Teams are called that due to the odds of members surviving their first mission. They're not actually zero now, but for a period of time during the Durlan War it was pretty close to that and even a veteran wouldn't have high odds of surviving more than three missions. How their members are selected is a fairly novel concept that I was only familiar with from the imperial guard: they recruit criminals with military backgrounds. If they survive a certain number of missions, they get a pardon. If they die, their debt to society is considered paid and they get an honourable funeral. Sort of like the canaries or a less secret Suicide Squad.

In theory it makes sense: high powered super functionaries are thin on the ground. On the other hand, violent criminals are common. In the event of a super powered attack, it's more likely that violent criminals will be close to it than a super functionary who would stand a realistic chance of stopping it. And if they can't, the super functionary following them in will be better informed of the nature of the threat.

Committing a violent assault while a serving member of the military might result in a survivable tariff of one or two missions. The Colonel… Lawrence Crock, was given a 'die with honour' tariff of thirty missions, and by a combination of skill and tenacity actually lived through them. And after he was released he came right back and put in for officer training because he'd found those fights more fulfilling than anything he'd ever done before.

I think he's mental. And so does most of the military. He thinks I'm a bit of a wuss. And by his standards he's almost certainly right.

"Mother spoke with him about that, and he won't."

"Thank you. And I'll.. thank her as well."

"You shouldn't let him intimidate you so much."

"Everyone gets intimidated by the Colonel."

"I don't-." Her jaw clenches, and I notice as a half-second later she realises that she snapped at me. Her eyes move aside and she shuffles her left leg-.

I walk up to her, bend slightly and kiss her lightly on the lips. Then I pull back slightly and smile affectionately down at her, prompting her to exhale with a sort of pleased irritation.

"Actually…" She looks me in the eye. "That reminds me."

"Clearly I need to kiss you more often, then."

"Will Lady Yifei be at your 'return to work' interview?"

"I.. don't know. I haven't seen her since I got back. I'm not even sure if she's on Earth. I mean, I'll.. ask after her-."

"She got back to Earth yesterday." She smiles. "Now is the perfect time to ask her out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd October
06:18 GMT +8

"…like learning about the history of seventeenth century India, if only to learn why it's different from the history I know." No Bangladesh or Pakistan, for a start. "I just don't see how it makes sense to have it running first thing in the morning when anyone listening is going to be half asleep."

Jade raises her eyebrows. "What should be on at first thing in the morning?"

"A news summary. Headlines and a brief description of the contents. That way, the listener will hear any item which particularly interests them and can ignore the rest."

Surprising what you notice. America colonised from the west coast by China? I never visited anywhere in the United States, so even when I go there it doesn't really strike me. Japanese Australia? Same thing.

"If you want someone to record a summary of daily notices, just send an e-mail to Intelligence."

"I can't do that." I scrape up the last of my porridge. "That would be misuse of official resources."

"Keeping super functionaries informed is literally Intelligence's job. They prepare daily notices anyway, they won't mind having someone record it for you."

"And broadcast it?"

"And e-mail it to you each morning so the apartment control system can play it."

"That can't be secure."

She rolls her eyes. "It's as secure as a broadcast. Or if that really bothers you, you can have them send it in text form and have the control system use a text to speech program."

"Ooh, that could work. Plenty of super functionaries get those e-mailed to them. Yeah, I'll put in a request today. If.. Lantern Fang approves my reactivation."

"He's going to approve your reactivation. Now can we talk about Lady Yifei?"

"Ah…"

"I know that Europeans are usually monogamous, but you told me that you weren't Christian or Jewish."

"I… No, but I grew up in a Christian society and.. tend to have the same cultural norms."

She frowns curiously. "You've never tried to insist I wear a headscarf in public."

I wince. "Yes… But that's because I come from a parallel Earth where Europe is a.. little more… Enlightened than it is on this one. My Nan wore a shawl, but that's because she had a perm in Gloucestershire. And there was this.. one slightly odd woman I met in university who was a bit of a back to basics Christian who wore one… But I haven't even met anyone else who does. If you started wearing one I'd find it weird."

Which is a good part of why -despite it being the only place on this Earth that speaks the same language as me- I don't spend much time in Britain. It's like someone lifted all of the culture from nineteenth century Britain and dropped it into the modern state. No British Empire plus no World Wars -not ones in Europe anyway- meant no mass immigration or switch to higher female participation in the workforce. And those sorts of social trends are so associated with Qing China that they're opposed in many quarters as 'cultural imperialism'. That sort of thing's sad when it happens to someone else's country but it's downright disturbing when it happens to yours. It's also why I've tried to have as little to do with Ambassador Alfred Clayton as possible.

"You do.. like her?"

The woman who was my tutor, and who unlike Lantern Fang was liberal enough to make allowances for our vastly different cultural backgrounds? "Yes, of course I do."

"You find her attractive?"

"Ah-. Dh-Jh-yes..?"

"You understand that wherever you grew up, she and I grew up in a Neo-Confucianism state where polygamy is perfectly normal?"

"Except.. it.. isn't, is it? Where it occurs it's virtually always one man -usually a rich man- and two or more women. The reverse hardly ever occurs. I mean, it's basically… Some Tibetans? And even then it's only the really traditional ones."

She stares at me. Her eyes narrow slightly, then she blinks as she tries to work out why I'm saying the clearly nonsensical things that I'm saying. "So… The reason you're not going to ask Lady Yifei out is-"

"You know.. she-"

"-because you want to ask out a.. man..?"

"-doesn't like friends calling her that in private? Not like.. most of the others."

Which is probably why she seems so personable. Technically, every member of the Heavenly Guardians should be referred to as Lord or Lady by anyone who isn't either a member or the Emperor of China. Even in private, even when they're not around. Sure, it's only a slap on the wrist offence outside of the security services but it's considered a major social faux pas and it's seriously weird. And Yifei Jade finds it weird as well, which was a mercy when she was assigned as my tutor because I'd have found that really hard going.

"And no, I don't want to ask out a man."

"Do you.. want.. me to?"

"No, not.. particularly. Do you.. want to?"

"N-." She squeezes her eyes shut and makes a frustrated exhalation. "Why do you think I want to?"

"I don't think you want to. But.. I believe in the rightness of gender equality. If I have the option then you should as well."

"Okay. I do, legally, have that option. I just don't want to exercise it because there isn't anyone I'm interested in like that."

"And… Because… Me..?"

She rolls her eyes. "Obviously I'd talk to you about it first."

"Oh-. Good."

"The whole idea clearly makes you uncomfortable, so I'd have to think very carefully about it. But it doesn't make me uncomfortable, so if you're interested then you should go for it."

I sort of shake my head in confusion. "Have.. you.. talked to her about this?"

"No, of course not. I'm not the one who's going to be involved with her."

"You're-. Sorry, I'm.. still not really clear what-. How it works."

"How.. dating.. works..?"

"N-. I.. muddled through that with you, but I'm not an expert. I mean, dating more than one person."

"Mostly the same, but it's not always the same person? It's not that complicated."

"But not.. the three of us.. together?"

"I-. Maybe? Our schedules might make if difficult to make it a regular thing. Why?"

"I think-. In the European context, the only.. thing I've got to compare this to is either bigamy, or.. a wife plus a mistress, and in either case I associate it with dishonesty. I think.. the only way I could.. be alright with.. including 'Other Jade'-"

"Don't call her that."

"-would be if the relationship was… Omnidirectional."

Her eyes widen slightly. "Oh."

"I don't know how you feel about-."

"I.. don't… It's.. been a while. So that's another European taboo you don't have?"

"Yep."

"Because I read a magazine article which said that some Europeans fetishise homosexual relationships due to them being taboo in their own culture." She raises her eyebrows. "Do you want to see Lady Yifei and I together?"

"Iaaaahhh… The idea has some appeal, but it's mostly that I prefer to have a single home, with my… Family all in one place. Even if our work schedules mean that we're not actually all in one place at the same time all that often."

"Hm. I don't have a problem with that. But I think that's something we should speak with her about before making any decisions."

"Alright… I'll.. phone you when your course is over."

Because I'm sure the conversation with her won't be any harder than that was.

 

[Mr Zoat]

5th July 2010
Mid day

I have no idea what is going on.

The power ring I could understand. I've read enough comics to know what that is. And waking up in orbit with an artefact of power… Sure. I've read enough of Hiver's work to understand the.. situation, even if I never thought it could possibly really happen. But…

What happened to Earth?

Why is the ring telling me there were nuclear strikes all over eastern China and Japan? Why can't I hear any English language radio? Why are there space ships? Did I go forward in time or something? I don't remember that happening in any DC-owned setting… Or any other setting. Which means that once the ring-.

I plummet through the air, cold biting my skin through my pyjamas! Okay, I-. Ugh, not easy to breathe. I'm high enough up that the fact that I'm falling isn't an immediate problem. Calm. Calm.

I want to fly.

And the environmental shield is back and I'm… Okay, I'm still falling, but the rate at which I'm falling is decreasing.

Once the ring runs out of power I'm stuffed. The ring has a universal translator, but I don't speak any languages other than English. Which is fine when English is the world's dominant language, but a bit of a problem when the dominant language is… Ring?

Language self-identifies as 'Mandarin Chinese'.

Chinese? How am I supposed to learn Chinese? It doesn't even have letters!

No! No. Calm. Want.

Want.

Okay. I can grab a bigger pile of gold and set up a life for myself in.. this version of Britain. Just accept not having a ring. I can head for an alien planet… No, where would even have a way to charge a power ring? Oa? No. Okaara? Larfleeze would kill me. If it even exists. Qward? Even if I could get there, I'd have to get very lucky. Ring, I… Are there any.. unused personal lanterns down there?

…

Ring? Agh, right. Ring. Find personal lanterns.

Three found.

I don't suppose any of them are… Spare? Are they?

Local news broadcasts show only two local Lanterns as active.

Who?

Fang Zhifu and Yifei Jade.

Who?

Lantern names are Fang Zhifu and Yifei Jade.

I have no idea who they-. No, wait. Wasn't.. August General in Iron's name Fang? Okay, he was… Ring, what does he look like?

An image of a.. athletic, militant looking Asian man appears in my mind. Not that tall and certainly not possessing iron skin. Pre-Durlan, or… Given how different things are, that might not have happened. And… Jade?

That's not.. Alan Scott's daughter.

Where the.. hell am I..?

Ring, the third?

Sunao Souma. Japanese national. Presumed retired. Eighty six years of age.

Wh-? No, I just have to accept that I'm not going to recognise anyone. He's retired and he's left his lantern.

!Get the lantern! NEED IT!

That's my one chance of having any say over what happens to me. And he's not using it. Ring, mark location.

A crosshair rather like the ones which marked mission locations in Tiberian Sun appears in my field of view. Elevated radiation levels, not somewhere I'd want to grow food… But I've got an environmental shield. Magnify. Hm. Looks like a park. Of course, so does the area around Chernobyl… Then again, I remember a documentary which demonstrated that slightly raised radiation levels actually deceased cancer rates by causing anti-cancer genes to express themselves, so… It could be safe?

Anyone around?

Hm. No. There's a medium sized army base not too far away, but no security on site.

Okay, so-.

!Get lantern!

Uh. I want to get the lantern. Negotiating would be good. I can.. try to buy it. But ultimately it doesn't matter. I need it. And I've got no real ties to this Earth; once I have a lantern I can just fly off to anywhere. Of course.. if there's no one down there…

I twist in the air until I'm pointing face down towards my target. And then I accelerate. Huh. The ring's showing me how fast I'm going but I'm still so high up that it's not really… Oh. Okay, getting bigger. It's most noticeable in the horizon; now I can look left or right and see blue sky rather than black space. And then the planet's around me rather than beneath me.

Oh. I'm not exactly sure what Mount Fuji looked like back on my home Earth, but I think this one's been in the wars. The lower parts are green, but the land beneath is cratered and radioactive. Why would someone nuke a mountain? Even if they wanted to destroy it, nuclear bombs aren't particularly effective anti-mountain weapons.

Getting closer. I can see larger roads, urban areas and individual woodlands. Not as many of the latter as I would have expected, but I suppose if their major urban areas got nuked… There's only so much land in the Home Islands. Maybe maintaining high-density habitation wasn't practical?

Ring. Any sign of aircraft?

Yes. However, none are moving to intercept.

Good show. Any green other than the lantern?

None detected.

Well… If he is retired, I suppose there'd be no reason to hang around. But I'm on a time limit. I can just… Leave a pile of gold.

Individual trees and slow…

I come to a stop just above a lawn. There's a gazebo and a bench… Some tended flower beds. And a sort of plinth…

!Get lantern!

Which is where the lantern is. No one around…

"Hello?" I look around as I drift towards the plinth. "Anyone using this?" … "No?"

I give any watchers a moment.

"Okay, I'm just going to borrow this?"

Another moment. Good show. I come to a halt facing the plinth and hold out my arms to the side.

!Get lantern!

Ring, get me the lantern.

Compliance.

Orange light flickers between my hands and the space the subspace pocket occupies, and a moment later the green personal lantern materialises. I lower my hands. Ye-.

And then the green fist hits me in the side!

 

[Mr Zoat]

5th July 2010
Mid day

Ouwgh!

The lawn flashes past my eyes and then agh!

I'm.. folded around a tree. Urg, what? OW! Fix. Ah. Turn around and.. shield..?

Lantern Sunao walks lightly across the lawn, glowing ring on the middle finger of his right hand. He raises it, and a glowing green hand reaches out and takes his lantern from the plinth and brings it to him. Lantern Sunao is clean shaven and bald, but his musculature is solid and his gestures certain. The lantern in his hand, he takes a moment to check it over before regarding me carefully.

And then just stands there, green light spilling from his ring.

Okay?

The ring isn't a simple circular sigil attached to a circle of… Whatever power rings are made of. It looks like a small carriage lantern attached to a ring. The glow is constant, but now I'm looking at it I can see the faint green aura all around him. It's.. not stable in the way mine is. Rather, it's.. like a flame, billowing around him. I frown slightly as I look at my own left hand. Is it.. supposed to do that? I'd say not, but-. Wait. That's what Alan Scott's ring did, isn't it?

"And who might you be?"

"I'm-."

I stagger, my construct shield flickering for a moment.

He raises his eyebrows, smiling politely. "Are you unwell?"

"I-. No, I…" I frown. "I'm-."

I'm on my knees, propping myself up with both hands on the grass. I.. can't say my name? That's ridiculous. P-.

I shudder, but I don't collapse this time. Great, I can't think my name either.

"Are you having difficulty remembering?"

I rise to a crouch, frowning. "No. I remember, but if I think about it too directly…"

"I see." He nods. "And do you know who I am?"

"Yes. Green Lantern Sunao Souma."

He nods. "And do you know where you are?"

"A.. park? I came here because this is where the-. Where your personal lantern is."

"And before that?"

"The sky above it, then space."

"And before that?"

"Aaaah… Not.. clearly? I think I was at home in bed-." I stand. "I'd very much like your lantern."

He nods. "I had gathered that from your attempt to steal it."

I flick my right hand to the side. "I didn't think you were using it. Heck, I didn't think you were even here. Ring, why did you tell me he wasn't here?"

"Subject not detectable by standard scan."

"Tremendously helpful. So, yes, since you don't appear to be using it I would very much like it. I've.. got no idea what currency is used around here, but if you'll name a figure.. I can probably work something out."

He blinks. "You would offer to buy the lantern of Jong Li from me?

"Yes..? It was just in the middle of nowhere, the ring couldn't find any recent records of you being active and I couldn't detect you. For all I knew you were dead or something. But since you're not, yes."

His eyes fix on my left hand. "Where did you get that ring?"

"I-. I don't know, it was just there."

He nods. "Had you heard of me before you decided to take my lantern?"

"No." Ah. "Ah, hang on. Ring, anything I'm not remembering?"

A series of images flicker through my mind, too fast for me to really perceive them individually. Weirdly, that's actually easier to cope with than trying to think my own name. I just shake my head.

"And my fellow Heavenly Guardians?"

I shake my head. "Is that a Japanese superhero team?"

He appears to find that very slightly amusing. "No. No, it is not. Have you noticed any things which… Seem strange to you? Facets of the world which are different to how you think they should be?"

"Yes. Why would anyone fire a nuclear weapon at Mount Fuji? In fact, why are there so many nuclear blast points in Japan and China?" I point upwards with my right forefinger. "And there were actual space ships up there."

"Hm." He nods. "Then I have two possibilities in mind. But I wonder; what would you do if I refused to relinquish my lantern?"

"Um."

!Get lantern!

My environmental shield flares and I take a step towards him. He doesn't really react… What.. would I do..? "I'd… Ah, ask you why?"

"You know nothing of my character." He waves his left hand. "Assume that all reasonable avenues have been exhausted."

"Then…" I don't like it, but… "I'd.. try and take it from you. Using.. the minimum amount of force."

"I see." He nods. "That is generous of you, considering my age."

"I-. Yes, I'm not exactly feeling proud of myself, but I.. do need it."

"You don't get to make that decision."

Lantern Sunao and I look up as a woman -yes, that's very definitely a woman- glowing with the power of a green power ring flies over the clearing, construct dragons hovering to either side of her. That's a bit stereotypical, isn't it? Her eyes are solid green in colour -some sort of visual enhancement?- and she's got small construct lanterns placed over her ears.

Lantern Yifei. Problematic.

Ah, ring? Can I go faster than light from a standing start?

Affirmative.

"Lantern Yifei, I feel this young man is somewhat confused. Until he takes directly aggressive action-."

"All he's guilty of is trespass and theft? And dealing with whoever gave him that cheap power ring knockoff?"

Oh no you didn't.

Orange plate materialises around my body as I match her height. "I assure you, Lantern Yifei, this is very much a power ring." Hm. Dragons are obvious, but… "What's that you're doing with your eyes? Some sort of.. expanded visual field..? I'm using a heads up display myself but I haven't had time to experiment yet."

"What?"

"As I said, Lantern Yifei, he is confused. He does not know who we are."

She doesn't turn her head. "How can he not know..? Is he from one of those crazy European monastic community things?"

I frown. "No."

"Possibly. I was endeavouring to find out. I really do think that a less confrontational approach is called for."

"Alright. No, I'm not doing anything with my visual field. I'm blind. They just.. glow like this when I'm wearing my ring."

Huh. I'd have thought that the Guardians could have fixed that. Or they'd have cloned eyes or cybernetics or something like that. Odd.

!Perfect!.

On the other hand, given what the ring did to my body, it shouldn't be too hard…

I smile, raising my left hand. "Let me help you with that."

"Hu-?"

Orange light flashes from the ring, punching through her environmental shield and striking the upper portion of her face. The eyeballs themselves are basically fine, but there's damage to the optic nerve and.. visual cortex. Nasty, but perfectly fixable. Change that change that good-good-.

And then the giant sumo wrestler construct slams me head first into the soil.

"Jade. Are you injured?"

And it's holding me here and I'm really not sure that my armour can take this. What's going on?

In my mind's eye I see Lantern Yifei pick herself off the ground, blinking as she does so. Lantern Sunao comes forward to cover her. Her constructs fail and her environmental shield dims as she stares at her hands with her fully healed eyes.

"No, I-. I can.. see."

"Are you certain that is all that occurred?"

"Ah." She turns to face him, pointing at her eyes. "Yeah."

"I see." He waves his hand and the pressure vanishes with the sumo wrestler.

I pick myself out of the hole and turn to face him as he looks me over carefully.

"Young man, would you care for some tea?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd October
07:17 GMT +8

"So… What do you think?"

The Harmonious One tilts his hat back slightly, the mandala surrounding him oscillating as he does so. "You have the sort of problems most men would kill for."

I look away as a particularly bright conjugation appears in his aura, turning to look at the space dock where the last dockside checks are being made to the Zheng He before its scheduled launch later this week. Something else that makes this version of Earth different from every version of DC Earth I remember: it's a lot more technologically advanced-.

I glance down towards the clouds covering Europe.

In most places it's more technologically advanced. China, Japan, India, Persia and the Songhai Empire all maintain space fleets. They're… Not exactly advanced by the standards of the wider universe, and the schizo tech I'd expect from a DC universe is almost entirely absent… Or at least I think it is. Given how advanced everything else is, I might just not notice it.

"Killing I understand. Modern Chinese culture is… I still haven't adapted to it."

He carefully lifts his hat from his head and pulls out a copy of the Book of Rites before returning his hat to his head and thumbing through the book. "There are good Confucian reasons for refusing. Since you do not come from a society where polygamy is normal and she comes from a society where monogamy is one of the normal relationship structures, your relationship would be rendered more stable by not deviating from that model. I can quote…" I shake my head. "No?"

"I've read Confucius' work because it was a set text. I'm not a devotee. I can hardly claim that defence."

"Very well." He tosses the book aside, sending it drifting through the void. "And what does Harriet Taylor say on the subject?"

"She was against political or economic marriages, but that's.. not really relevant. Both Jades have their own careers… I wouldn't expect them to comply with any restrictions which I wasn't complying with myself…"

The Harmonious One looks shocked. "Do you mean to say that you married Ms Nguyen without telling me? That was jolly rude."

"No, wh-? No, of course not. It's just that a lot of 'traditional' scholars-."

"I would hardly call someone who wrote less than two hundred years ago 'traditional'."

"You know what I mean. Extended monogamous cohabitation wasn't really a thing back then. Or at least it didn't get written about. Though Harriet would probably have approved of people learning what marriage entailed by experience, at least where children weren't involved."

"Ah." He nods. "You are treating your present arrangement as equivalent to marriage, gaining the restrictions but not the benefits."

"I suppose?"

"And even with the power of avarice on your finger. Truly, you are a virtuous prince among men."

"Larfleeze made it very clear to me how important virtue is. Also… I like to think that I'd behave… You know, appropriately to anyone I was involved with anyway."

"Hm. Speaking as a long time observer of Chinese culture, I imagine that Lady Yifei is the best person to tell you how practical such an arrangement would be." He frowns. "Un.. less she's got no more idea than you do, having not been in a serious relationship since she acquired her power ring and everyone would just sort of be muddling through with no one miraculously having-"

"Yes, thank you."

"-all of the answers." He smiles brightly. "Glad I could help." He looks up at the Zheng He and gestures grandly towards it with his right arm. "Tell me, what would your China governed by drug-addled Levellers-"

"They're not-"

"-make of this?"

"-drug addled, and they're not even really Levellers any more."

"You said they were communistic?"

"No, I said-. Political ideologies and political realities are often very different things. They actually-."

"And just like that, communistics are not communistical. It must have been very confusing for everyone involved."

"I try to judge people by what they actually do, not by what they say they do. And to answer your actual question, I think they'd be thrilled that there was an Earth where China was the most powerful nation on Earth. And then they'd steal the designs and start copying them." He bows his head, smiling. "What do they have you up here for, anyway?"

"Just.. in case." He shrugs grandly. "The Zheng He is rather expensive, and is protected against most predictable forms of attack. And -as was pointed out- I am quite skilled at reacting to unpredicted forms of attack. I'm sure that it has absolutely nothing to do with Lord Lord Fate replenishing the wards around Chengdu and wanting me out of the way."

Ah, yes. The antipathy which the longest serving member of the Heavenly Guardians feels for my chaos magic using friend is certainly not something which he would ever allow to interfere with the conduct of his offices. No. Another problem with the.. frankly toadying that happens with some of the Guardians. Or maybe I'm just being 'perniciously individualistic' again. Lord Nabu tolerates other magic users but… Well, there have only been a couple of chaos magic users in the support tier ever. And none have ever received the Mandate and actually joined the Heavenly Guardians. Harmonious One himself hasn't actually complained in my hearing, but he does make sarcastic quips at Lord Nabu's expense.

"Have they found you a new partner yet?"

"No, no. With Khyber dead, I'm afraid that they have 'sent me to Liao' literally."

I frown. "What did you do to deserve that?"

"It's technically a promotion, so I can't complain." He turns his head to look at me. "And I do mean that."

"That it's a promotion?"

"That I can't complain. The super criminals are few, the weather fair and I'll have plenty of time to work on applying chaos magic to stochastic analytics…"

"It's a waste of your talents."

He shrugs. "We are but functionaries, yoked to the great destiny of our nation. And so on and so on and so forth."

"If you're interested in transferring, I can put in a word with Dox. We don't have any magic users in the Corps at the moment."

"Now that does interest me. Might I assume that wearing a ring is not required?"

"You can assume that."

"But would I be right?"

"The Darkstars don't wear them and the fleet won't either. I'm sure that you'll be offered one."

"Mmmmmmmn. I don't think that the hat would approve. I'll give it some thought, see how things pan out. But." He raises his hat once more. "I thank you for the offer. Most generous."

"It serves our needs too. The Reach can counter Lanterns."

"Oh, I wasn't expecting a free ride." He returns his hat to its proper station. "When are you meeting Lord Fang?"

"A few minutes."

He momentarily covers his face with his hat, and when he moves it away he's borrowed Lord Fang's face. "Would you like me to growl at you a few times to reacquaint you with the sensation?"