We're All Mad Here (part 5)
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Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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18th July 2013
06:11 GMT -8
I watch as the Global Peace Operatives begin throwing abandoned cars into the Dolmen Gate carried by two of their number. Given their strength they're having to carefully grip the frame through the outer panelling, but accuracy doesn't appear to be a problem.
A face masked Peace Agent with a clipboard stands next to the gate, making notes as the cars go.
I spent time clearing the corpses and the roads after we first expunged the Anti-Life, but there are still a lot of wrecks along the sides of roads throughout… Everywhere, basically. But pick them up and throw them through the Gate, where the Gate at the other end leads to a nanoforge, and you get fast recycling and road clearance. And all the components get turned into useful materials. It's not something I'd thought much about, but it turns out that if all you're making is undifferentiated blocks of a single element the nanoforge is a lot faster than making something complicated. I hadn't realised it was literally 'throw a car in and blocks come out the bottom' fast, but, good for Leonard and Serling.
And yes, they're venting the heat from their nanotech in exactly the way that Dr. Cochin described, so I can detect them. Which could be convenient.
All these people willing to have their memories erased…
Wait-.
"Tuppence?"
Oh, sugar. If she's-. No, she looks around as she hears her name.
"Whut?"
I initially missed her because she's wearing the same colours as the Operatives, but she doesn't have the signature Mohican. At the moment she's holding up one side of the Dolmen Gate.
"You still remember your name, or did you-?"
"Ah ain't joinin', Pawl. But hey, this ain't so different from smashin' urp ships."
The Peace Agent makes another note as a… Car, comes flying in and falls through the Gate. "We do organize assets other than members. That is one of the Global Peace Agency's purposes."
"Ah… Is your process compatible with metahumans?"
"Oh, yes."
She scowl at him. "Still ain't joinin'. Mah memories maight be shitty, but they're maihn."
"Good, I was worried. And I'm happy that you're finding a productive outlet for your abilities."
The Peace Agent nods. "That is your choice, of course. Five degrees right."
The team holding the Gate shift it slightly, just in time to catch the new… Car.
"Hey, Pawl? Every one a' these guys really had their brains dun?"
"So they tell me. And-" Empathic vision-. Ugh. "-as far as I can see, they're telling the truth."
There's barely anything there. Any formative memories are gone, stripped of emotional significance and suppressed to the point where they may as well not be there. I'm… Reasonably confident that they're still there somewhere, encoded into the structures of their brains. But they're not really doing anything. And…
Oh. I get it. They need an A.I. telling them what to do because… They've been stripped of everything that could motivate them. They must be… Rather suggestible. Which…
Someone or something would have been giving Mr. Blank instructions. Otherwise he'd just have gone along with what we said because he.. wouldn't have an attachment to anything that would make him behave one way or another. So… Did the A.I. not know about us, or..?
Speculative.
"C'n ya'll..?" I blink, and refocus my attention on Tuppence, who appears to be tensing her muscles so as to prevent herself from squirming awkwardly.
"Tuppence? Whatever it is, I'm happy to help."
"Jus… Make sure ah still remember who ah am tomorrow."
The Peace Agent next to me shakes his head. "We aren't desperate enough to forcibly recruit people who are voluntarily working for us. That makes no sense."
"But if it puts your mind at ease then I will check up on you at the end of the day."
"… Thanks."
Alright, Hub City doesn't need me right at this moment. Mr. Sage hasn't resurfaced, and Mr. Tetch is proving surprisingly capable of keeping his head down. And if the League's used their new super dictator powers for evil then I haven't heard about it.
How many assets are there, exactly?
Global scan for those parallel universe heat sink connections.
Compliance.
And there they are, all across the world. In just about every country. How did he..? Find them all? I… Suppose that finding them by power ring would be.. possible, if the user knew exactly what they were looking for.
So… Next step. Do I open a portal to Earth -14? After what happened last time President Luthor might just have someone blocking it… No, we've still got Dame Carol. They'd probably be on the lookout, but I doubt that they'd have a planetary barrier in place. And if they do, it's not like I can't fly to Mars and open the portal there. I should see if the two surviving O.M.A.C.s want any messages sent through… Or if they just want to go back themselves.
I'm not exactly excited to be-.
Incoming telephone call.
Oh. Ah, answer.
"Orange Lantern here. Go ahead."
"Ah, hey."
"Kai. What can I do for you?"
"Ah. Huh, didn't think you'd-. Ah, I was talking to some of the other guys who were in the Justifiers. Some people we know have gone missing. I don't know for sure if they just left or if something happened to them, but as far as I can tell they didn't tell anyone where they were going, so it looks suspicious."
"Alright. Is there a reason why those people might not want to come to the attention of the police? Because it seems to me that they'd be the best people to talk to about that."
"Being a Justifier ain't something you boast about."
"I wasn't aware of there being any sort of reprisal attack against-."
"Nah nah nah. Which is weird, because of all the stuff we did."
"Yes, but you joined the Alliance of the Just because you wanted to do some good. None of you knew about the alien god possessing the one organising it. You can't blame people for getting mind controlled. Even the Justice League has been mind controlled before."
"Thanks, man. Ah, the ones who went missing were in the Gotham chapter with me. I don't know if it's anything-. I mean, yeah, maybe it's just a regular missing person, but I figured that you'd want to know… And you could probably investigate faster than Gordon's G-… People."
"Alright, I can spare the time. Are you at home?"
"Yeah."
"Then I will be with you shortly."
06:11 GMT -8
I watch as the Global Peace Operatives begin throwing abandoned cars into the Dolmen Gate carried by two of their number. Given their strength they're having to carefully grip the frame through the outer panelling, but accuracy doesn't appear to be a problem.
A face masked Peace Agent with a clipboard stands next to the gate, making notes as the cars go.
I spent time clearing the corpses and the roads after we first expunged the Anti-Life, but there are still a lot of wrecks along the sides of roads throughout… Everywhere, basically. But pick them up and throw them through the Gate, where the Gate at the other end leads to a nanoforge, and you get fast recycling and road clearance. And all the components get turned into useful materials. It's not something I'd thought much about, but it turns out that if all you're making is undifferentiated blocks of a single element the nanoforge is a lot faster than making something complicated. I hadn't realised it was literally 'throw a car in and blocks come out the bottom' fast, but, good for Leonard and Serling.
And yes, they're venting the heat from their nanotech in exactly the way that Dr. Cochin described, so I can detect them. Which could be convenient.
All these people willing to have their memories erased…
Wait-.
"Tuppence?"
Oh, sugar. If she's-. No, she looks around as she hears her name.
"Whut?"
I initially missed her because she's wearing the same colours as the Operatives, but she doesn't have the signature Mohican. At the moment she's holding up one side of the Dolmen Gate.
"You still remember your name, or did you-?"
"Ah ain't joinin', Pawl. But hey, this ain't so different from smashin' urp ships."
The Peace Agent makes another note as a… Car, comes flying in and falls through the Gate. "We do organize assets other than members. That is one of the Global Peace Agency's purposes."
"Ah… Is your process compatible with metahumans?"
"Oh, yes."
She scowl at him. "Still ain't joinin'. Mah memories maight be shitty, but they're maihn."
"Good, I was worried. And I'm happy that you're finding a productive outlet for your abilities."
The Peace Agent nods. "That is your choice, of course. Five degrees right."
The team holding the Gate shift it slightly, just in time to catch the new… Car.
"Hey, Pawl? Every one a' these guys really had their brains dun?"
"So they tell me. And-" Empathic vision-. Ugh. "-as far as I can see, they're telling the truth."
There's barely anything there. Any formative memories are gone, stripped of emotional significance and suppressed to the point where they may as well not be there. I'm… Reasonably confident that they're still there somewhere, encoded into the structures of their brains. But they're not really doing anything. And…
Oh. I get it. They need an A.I. telling them what to do because… They've been stripped of everything that could motivate them. They must be… Rather suggestible. Which…
Someone or something would have been giving Mr. Blank instructions. Otherwise he'd just have gone along with what we said because he.. wouldn't have an attachment to anything that would make him behave one way or another. So… Did the A.I. not know about us, or..?
Speculative.
"C'n ya'll..?" I blink, and refocus my attention on Tuppence, who appears to be tensing her muscles so as to prevent herself from squirming awkwardly.
"Tuppence? Whatever it is, I'm happy to help."
"Jus… Make sure ah still remember who ah am tomorrow."
The Peace Agent next to me shakes his head. "We aren't desperate enough to forcibly recruit people who are voluntarily working for us. That makes no sense."
"But if it puts your mind at ease then I will check up on you at the end of the day."
"… Thanks."
Alright, Hub City doesn't need me right at this moment. Mr. Sage hasn't resurfaced, and Mr. Tetch is proving surprisingly capable of keeping his head down. And if the League's used their new super dictator powers for evil then I haven't heard about it.
How many assets are there, exactly?
Global scan for those parallel universe heat sink connections.
Compliance.
And there they are, all across the world. In just about every country. How did he..? Find them all? I… Suppose that finding them by power ring would be.. possible, if the user knew exactly what they were looking for.
So… Next step. Do I open a portal to Earth -14? After what happened last time President Luthor might just have someone blocking it… No, we've still got Dame Carol. They'd probably be on the lookout, but I doubt that they'd have a planetary barrier in place. And if they do, it's not like I can't fly to Mars and open the portal there. I should see if the two surviving O.M.A.C.s want any messages sent through… Or if they just want to go back themselves.
I'm not exactly excited to be-.
Incoming telephone call.
Oh. Ah, answer.
"Orange Lantern here. Go ahead."
"Ah, hey."
"Kai. What can I do for you?"
"Ah. Huh, didn't think you'd-. Ah, I was talking to some of the other guys who were in the Justifiers. Some people we know have gone missing. I don't know for sure if they just left or if something happened to them, but as far as I can tell they didn't tell anyone where they were going, so it looks suspicious."
"Alright. Is there a reason why those people might not want to come to the attention of the police? Because it seems to me that they'd be the best people to talk to about that."
"Being a Justifier ain't something you boast about."
"I wasn't aware of there being any sort of reprisal attack against-."
"Nah nah nah. Which is weird, because of all the stuff we did."
"Yes, but you joined the Alliance of the Just because you wanted to do some good. None of you knew about the alien god possessing the one organising it. You can't blame people for getting mind controlled. Even the Justice League has been mind controlled before."
"Thanks, man. Ah, the ones who went missing were in the Gotham chapter with me. I don't know if it's anything-. I mean, yeah, maybe it's just a regular missing person, but I figured that you'd want to know… And you could probably investigate faster than Gordon's G-… People."
"Alright, I can spare the time. Are you at home?"
"Yeah."
"Then I will be with you shortly."
Last edited:
Ack! Please don't tell me she's signed on. I mean, this might be local for her and every strong arm they can get helps.
Not yet, anyway.
