Duplication (part 9)
Mr Zoat
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16th May 2011
14:10 GMT -5
A cloud of smoke and tentacles undulates from inside the magic circle.
"I am summoned and so I'm here,
Mind so sharp and magics so queer,
Pay me in pain,
Or I'll drive you insane,
And-"
"Leef noissapmoc."
"Heart ready for harvesting."
"-shit it's Constantine again!"
Black breaches the summoning circle, shoves his right arm into the mass and pulls out a still-beating… Thing. The tentacular mass collapses to the floor and then begins to fade.
"Feed."
John Constantine grins as the heart is absorbed into Black's ring.
"Any chance you could come back after you've sorted this whole mess out?" He leafs through his copy of the Grimoire Verum. "Got whole chapters we could clear out."
Zatanna doesn't look at him, but nonetheless gives her head a small shake.
"Do you need any more?"
I'll admit, it's an interesting take on 'acceptable targets'. Call up a demon that is known to be a blight upon the Earth, force it to feel an emotion and then have Black consume its heart. They're not human, not conventionally alive and can probably recover eventually. The only real surprise is that they're alive enough for it to work, but Black already knew that would work as the very first thing his ring ate was a demon. I suppose that Nekron's concept of 'life' isn't so limited as to refer exclusively to organic life.
"Ring, state charge."
"Power level twenty six percent."
"I have sufficient." He hesitates, then smiles in the most natural expression I've seen him make so far. "Thank you."
Zatanna frowns curiously. "That.. sounded different."
"This.. is the closest I get to being alive. With a mixture of all parts of the emotional spectrum, I'm more… Myself… Now, than at any time since I died." He smiles at her. "Thank you."
"Is there any way to.. fix..? You?"
"The problem with any sort of 'fixing' is that I lose this power ring. And probably the benefits of vampirism. My condition is 'chronic', not 'terminal'." He grins, bowing his head. "Hah! It's terminus, not terminal!"
It's a curious point. What happens if you do something which is supposed to return the target to life on a vampire? When that sort of spell was cast with Darla as the target she resurrected as a human, but she'd already been destroyed in her vampire-form at that point. Actually, now that I think about it, why did that work? If she was resurrected then she should have had her human personality, rather than her demon personality. And when she was turned back into a vampire she should have been a 'new' vampire. Except she wasn't. I suppose I'd have to know more about the exact mechanics in order to know how the magics involved would affect Black.
John smiles, but he's also sure to keep Zatanna and myself between him and the grinning vampire-Lantern. Zatanna on the other hand gestures to the work bench where what's left of the Red Queen replica Manhunter was placed after the tech-savvy members of the Justice League finished making it safe.
"Can you bring her back?"
"Certainly!"
Black skips over to the remains, gives them a once-over and then sticks his right forefinger in a patch of mixed blood and cerebrospinal fluid before pulling it out and tasting it.
"Ring, analysis."
"Subject is deceased."
He turns to me, grinning.
"What a truly remarkable machine. And it knows all-."
"All that from just seeing a dismembered corpse. Absolutely-" / "All that from just seeing a dead body. Absolutely-"
Red and I glance at one another. Apparently, we all listened to Red Dwarf: The Last Human.
"-incredible." / "-incredible."
Black grins wider.
"We really are all the same man, aren't we? I didn't really appreciate it before-."
Zatanna looks puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"
"Why do you think Krona wants us rather than literally anyone else? We're not parallel universe versions of the same man. We used to be one man, and then we were many men in different parallels."
I raise my right hand. "We haven't… Conclusively confirmed that yet. I wouldn't want the League or the Gold Lantern Corps to plan with that in mind without having it confirmed by an expert."
Black slides his ring off his right ring finger and lays it on his palm. He then opens his mouth… And closes it again.
"Do we know what her name was?"
I.. shrug, and look at Red.
"Uh. Pass? They might have told Orange, but all he told me was that the other person we were looking for was Jade Nguyen."
"Cheshire?" Zatanna frowns. "Why did you want her?"
"We wanted her because Krona wanted her. But that doesn't mean that Red Queen is Jade Nguyen any more than Time Trapper is one of us."
Black gives an amused snort. "Be funny if he was, though. Anyway, I might as well try Jade Win."
Zatanna looks at the remains. "We have Jade Nguyen's genetic code on file. It will only take about half an hour to confirm whether it's her or not. Assuming Batman hasn't done that already."
"No, no point. If I guess wrong nothing happens. Ring?"
"Ready for command."
"Jade Win of Earth. Rise."
Black.. lightning flickers across the remains, the Manhunter chassis flickering out of existence almost at once and the organic remains.. levitating into position over the bench. Then the lightning focuses on the pieces of meat, striking them again and again. A few seconds pass with little happening, and then they.. slowly begin to grow. Yes, it looks like they kept the brain, a little blood to keep it fed and some of the nerves. The growth is slow at first, the brain matter turning from goo to an actual cerebral structure. Then a spinal cord extends out from the base, flickering strands of unlight painting in the skull, spine and ribs, then organs. The heart is unbeating and the colours are.. duller. There's no blood, not even the pooled and dried blood I've seen in older corpses. Muscle comes next, curiously.. grey in colour, veins and arteries, arms and legs. The strobing is constant, flickering all over her as the skin and hair are added in. Lastly, thicker bolts of lightning strike the right forefinger, coalescing into a.. new black power ring.
I take a robe out of subspace and drape it over her.
"Jade Nguyen of Earth. Rise."
Her eyes jerk open, tiny black sigils visible in her irises for a second before she blinks them away.
Black smiles down at her as she feels her face with her left hand while clasping the robe with her right. "Welcome back. Ready to get Krona?"
She snarls.
"Yes."
14:10 GMT -5
A cloud of smoke and tentacles undulates from inside the magic circle.
"I am summoned and so I'm here,
Mind so sharp and magics so queer,
Pay me in pain,
Or I'll drive you insane,
And-"
"Leef noissapmoc."
"Heart ready for harvesting."
"-shit it's Constantine again!"
Black breaches the summoning circle, shoves his right arm into the mass and pulls out a still-beating… Thing. The tentacular mass collapses to the floor and then begins to fade.
"Feed."
John Constantine grins as the heart is absorbed into Black's ring.
"Any chance you could come back after you've sorted this whole mess out?" He leafs through his copy of the Grimoire Verum. "Got whole chapters we could clear out."
Zatanna doesn't look at him, but nonetheless gives her head a small shake.
"Do you need any more?"
I'll admit, it's an interesting take on 'acceptable targets'. Call up a demon that is known to be a blight upon the Earth, force it to feel an emotion and then have Black consume its heart. They're not human, not conventionally alive and can probably recover eventually. The only real surprise is that they're alive enough for it to work, but Black already knew that would work as the very first thing his ring ate was a demon. I suppose that Nekron's concept of 'life' isn't so limited as to refer exclusively to organic life.
"Ring, state charge."
"Power level twenty six percent."
"I have sufficient." He hesitates, then smiles in the most natural expression I've seen him make so far. "Thank you."
Zatanna frowns curiously. "That.. sounded different."
"This.. is the closest I get to being alive. With a mixture of all parts of the emotional spectrum, I'm more… Myself… Now, than at any time since I died." He smiles at her. "Thank you."
"Is there any way to.. fix..? You?"
"The problem with any sort of 'fixing' is that I lose this power ring. And probably the benefits of vampirism. My condition is 'chronic', not 'terminal'." He grins, bowing his head. "Hah! It's terminus, not terminal!"
It's a curious point. What happens if you do something which is supposed to return the target to life on a vampire? When that sort of spell was cast with Darla as the target she resurrected as a human, but she'd already been destroyed in her vampire-form at that point. Actually, now that I think about it, why did that work? If she was resurrected then she should have had her human personality, rather than her demon personality. And when she was turned back into a vampire she should have been a 'new' vampire. Except she wasn't. I suppose I'd have to know more about the exact mechanics in order to know how the magics involved would affect Black.
John smiles, but he's also sure to keep Zatanna and myself between him and the grinning vampire-Lantern. Zatanna on the other hand gestures to the work bench where what's left of the Red Queen replica Manhunter was placed after the tech-savvy members of the Justice League finished making it safe.
"Can you bring her back?"
"Certainly!"
Black skips over to the remains, gives them a once-over and then sticks his right forefinger in a patch of mixed blood and cerebrospinal fluid before pulling it out and tasting it.
"Ring, analysis."
"Subject is deceased."
He turns to me, grinning.
"What a truly remarkable machine. And it knows all-."
"All that from just seeing a dismembered corpse. Absolutely-" / "All that from just seeing a dead body. Absolutely-"
Red and I glance at one another. Apparently, we all listened to Red Dwarf: The Last Human.
"-incredible." / "-incredible."
Black grins wider.
"We really are all the same man, aren't we? I didn't really appreciate it before-."
Zatanna looks puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"
"Why do you think Krona wants us rather than literally anyone else? We're not parallel universe versions of the same man. We used to be one man, and then we were many men in different parallels."
I raise my right hand. "We haven't… Conclusively confirmed that yet. I wouldn't want the League or the Gold Lantern Corps to plan with that in mind without having it confirmed by an expert."
Black slides his ring off his right ring finger and lays it on his palm. He then opens his mouth… And closes it again.
"Do we know what her name was?"
I.. shrug, and look at Red.
"Uh. Pass? They might have told Orange, but all he told me was that the other person we were looking for was Jade Nguyen."
"Cheshire?" Zatanna frowns. "Why did you want her?"
"We wanted her because Krona wanted her. But that doesn't mean that Red Queen is Jade Nguyen any more than Time Trapper is one of us."
Black gives an amused snort. "Be funny if he was, though. Anyway, I might as well try Jade Win."
Zatanna looks at the remains. "We have Jade Nguyen's genetic code on file. It will only take about half an hour to confirm whether it's her or not. Assuming Batman hasn't done that already."
"No, no point. If I guess wrong nothing happens. Ring?"
"Ready for command."
"Jade Win of Earth. Rise."
Black.. lightning flickers across the remains, the Manhunter chassis flickering out of existence almost at once and the organic remains.. levitating into position over the bench. Then the lightning focuses on the pieces of meat, striking them again and again. A few seconds pass with little happening, and then they.. slowly begin to grow. Yes, it looks like they kept the brain, a little blood to keep it fed and some of the nerves. The growth is slow at first, the brain matter turning from goo to an actual cerebral structure. Then a spinal cord extends out from the base, flickering strands of unlight painting in the skull, spine and ribs, then organs. The heart is unbeating and the colours are.. duller. There's no blood, not even the pooled and dried blood I've seen in older corpses. Muscle comes next, curiously.. grey in colour, veins and arteries, arms and legs. The strobing is constant, flickering all over her as the skin and hair are added in. Lastly, thicker bolts of lightning strike the right forefinger, coalescing into a.. new black power ring.
I take a robe out of subspace and drape it over her.
"Jade Nguyen of Earth. Rise."
Her eyes jerk open, tiny black sigils visible in her irises for a second before she blinks them away.
Black smiles down at her as she feels her face with her left hand while clasping the robe with her right. "Welcome back. Ready to get Krona?"
She snarls.
"Yes."
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