5th February
21:07 GMT -5
I've enhanced Kon-El quite a bit. Danner Formula, his bond with Helios, his equipment and getting him training with Diana. I don't
think that Jonathan Kent has any similar upgrades. He only had…
Months with Ultraman still being alive, and after that he had far fewer resources to find a way to augment himself. I remember him being a bit
faster back in LexCorp, but that was all.
I
think I can contain him without much risk. I step between him and Superman 12, my kinetic barrier flaring into life and causing Jonathan to rebound off it. He regains his balance almost immediately and
glowers at me.
"Ultraboy,
stop.
"
"
What the Hell is-?" He looks past me and spots Talon. "
You piece of crap.
You-.
I trusted you, you were-."
"You were Ultraman's son. I was Owlman's test subject. I survived him implanting a computer in my brain by a combination of luck and the deaths of every test subject before me. I wasn't meant to live this long."
"
Yeah, we all knew Owlman was a psycho!
I never treated you like that!"
"You've called on me to plan theft, extortion and murder."
"
That's what we do!
You're our problem solver!" Talon twitches. "
And you were good at it.
If this is some sorta conscience thing, you picked a real bad-."
"I've been looking for a way to 'problem solve' the Syndicate since before we broke you out of Cadmus. The only reason that mission even
happened was because I was hoping to find one of Luthor's weapon caches."
"Aaaagh!"
Jonathan punches the kinetic barrier at full strength, making no progress. He takes a half step back,
his eyes fixed on Talon as he paces his enclosure.
Kal-El looks a little lost. "Who is this?"
"Jonathan Kent, aka 'Ultraboy'. Ultraman's adopted son, created in a laboratory by Lex Luthor and freed during the Young Offenders' first mission. You don't have a Superboy, do you? Your Luthor just made Bizarro.
"
"Our Cadmus cloned Supergirl, not me." He takes a step closer to the kinetic bubble, regarding Jonathan sadly. "I'm sorry to hear about your pa, but-."
"Don't give me that bullshit! You're
the reason Wilson got him in the first place."
"I didn't think President Wilson would kill him out of hand."
Jonathan recoils. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?! Think I'd feel any different if he gave him a trial first!?"
"If we
hadn't stopped him, Owlman would have set off his bomb-."
"They only rushed construction 'cause of you! The day you attacked the moon base, we found out Owlman got
J'arkus killed 'cause Blue convinced him the bomb was a dumb idea. If you hadn't been there, Blue would have had time t' talk the whole management int' not making it at
all!"
Superman sets his jaw. "I'm not exactly in favor of leaving a supervillain in charge of the country."
"What, you think Wilson never killed nobody? You actually
know what he did in the army?" Jonathan snorts. "Blue looked it up one time. Guess he thought it'd make us see power
his way. Just showed
me that Wilson's full of shit."
"Cathartic as I'm sure this is-.
"
"Can't believe you actually beat them all." Jonathan narrows his eyes as he takes a look at the League. "Blue kept bitchin' 'bout not bein' at full power. Guess if he'd had one a' them lantern things that'd have gone a bit different."
"Cathartic as this is-
" I look first at Superman and then Mister J'onzz.
"-I don't think it helps with our actual objective.
"
Superman shakes his head. "Batman
said we didn't know enough about how things worked here."
"I'll listen to Batman's lectures on morality when he does what he should have done years ago and kills the Joker, but he has a point. You're not stopping a couple of gun-armed bank robbers here. If you want to swing your fists around in national politics you
better be sure you know where your punches are going to
land.
"
"Hey, Orange." I look at Jonathan. "You
could just kill 'em."
"What does it take to get it through your
thick skull that
constantly killing people doesn't get you what you want? I don't want money, I don't want any power the Syndicate could give me, I just don't want a ringside seat at a massacre.
"
I mean, for goodness-. No. No. Sonic baffle, kinetic prison, telepathic scrambler… And a dust sheet. I put the sheet over his bubble and the baffle and scrambler down nearby.
"Okay!
" Back to the Justice League.
"Some things are sent to try us, and I really hope Eris is getting a laugh out of this.
"
Diana looks slightly puzzled. "
Her jokes usually involve more things being set on fire."
"The evening is young, and this is a supervillain party being invaded by superheroes. Mister J'onzz? Still up for a walkabout, or… Do we move on to Plan Q?
"
"That would depend. What is Plan Q?"
"I summon the Embodiment of Avarice and mind control the planet. I'm just having one of those
days.
"
"Then I will cooperate."
"Okay.
Talon, what are my chances of pulling this off?
"
"I can't calculate it. My information on your capacities is out of date. You
could talk the Syndicate around, but Wilson won't let the Syndicate go into exile."
"I realise-.
"
"And neither will the Senators and Congressional Representatives who survived his purge. Or the army officers, or the Justice Underground. Even if you could get Luthor to agree to it. Or just.. people in general. And if I had an orange laser I wouldn't bother explaining this to you."
Superman frowns. "Orange..?"
"Lantern environmental shields don't block light of their own colour. An orange laser would pass through that and any construct I could throw up and the Green Lantern Corps is lucky that Qwardians are colour blind. John, get some body armour.
"
I lift my right hand and Mr J'onzz's bonds return to subspace.
"To be clear: I'm resistant to telepathy. My armour blocks phased objects. My kinetic barrier blocks super strong strikes. And I'm
really trying to save as many people as possible.
"
He floats to his feet.
"I understand."
"We'll need to avoid
Brainstorm…
" I clap Talon in irons, then shock crown Duela and remove her brand.
"I realise that I can't stop the rest of you escaping, but…
Please, unless you have a better idea, let me handle this, at least until Mister J'onzz can report back.
"
A few glowers is probably the best result I could expect.
I step around Ultraboy's time out bubble and push open the door, Mister J'onzz shifting to a new shape-. Ultraboy, apparently, behind me.
"Did you get his biographic data?
"
"I'll manage."
Got his voice at least. Okay, where's the best place to-.
And then I hear an explosion.
