27th December 2004
22:08 GMT -5
"He was preparing to leave when we arrived."
Scott checks both directions, his multi-cube set to a sensor-disrupting configuration.
"You bet he was. I doubt he was expecting
you to turn up, but this whole set-up was definitely intended to lure Stormwatch away from Earth." He glances back at me. "How are you holding up?"
"I'll have nightmares for weeks. And I'll need Scott Sixteen to check the containment; I probably
wrecked-"
Sunset frantically shields herself with magic as the station is destroyed around her, her weak defence lasting just long enough that she knows that she'll die before it breaks and her lungs collapse. She shouldn't have come here.
Hinon's words ring true
and the Dog Soldiers burst through the walls, their blasters scything down the few who dared dream-.
"Whoowph."
Freedom from Limitations.
I pick myself off the floor as Scott holds his Mother Box up to me. I feel… Better…
"Ping."
"How exactly did the other me contain it?"
"'Exactly'? I don't know. He said that he made a pearl from my soul to surround it. I felt better after reaffirming each part of the emotional spectrum. Would you mind helping?"
"I'll do a lot of things to stop that leaking out again."
I nod. "Are we in the clear?"
"For the moment, sure."
I
hug him, pulling him tightly into me. Scott takes a moment, then grips with his left arm so he can pat me on the back with his right.
"You know, for some reason, I never get this from Orion."
"Or Kalibak.
You should visit. I can't imagine
not having Lynne with me, and I owe that to you and Barda."
"Alright. After we deal with Grayven the Anti-Hugger. Ah. You gunna let me go..?"
"Yes." I release him. "But I may need to grab you again later."
"Alright." He peeks out of cover again, then
leaps, sticking to the wall and scrabbling up until he reaches the ceiling. He then proceeds to scurry out of my line of sight.
I know that I wasn't entirely coherent last time this happened, but I remember feeling
really weak. This time… I didn't feel any
physical weakness when I used the Anti-Life fragment against Grayven and the tamaranian. Psychologically, yes, it was horrible… Darkseid certainly wasn't weak, for all the Anti-Life fragments he acquainted himself with. I wonder what was different this time?
Scott drops from the ceiling, twisting as he does so to land lightly on his feet. "One squad of guards who won't care whether we walk past them or not."
"Ah."
"Because I dosed them with something that inhibits their initiative."
"Oh. I wasn't sure-."
"Bodies would be a giveaway. Your alter ego would probably feel it if a soldier sworn to him died."
I nod. "True. I don't suppose they're coherent enough to know where Barda is being held?"
"No. I don't even know that she's on this ship." He holds out his Mother Box and waves her around for a moment.
"Ping."
"I suppose it's as good a direction as any other."
He leads the way down a corridor which looks to me like most of the others.
"Wouldn't Barda have broken free at the same time as we did?"
"Barda doesn't have the resistance to the Anti-Life equation that we-. Ah, that
I do. She might not have got away before the Sarcophageus reactivated."
I should be
thinking, but I can barely focus well enough to trudge after Scott. Frustrating as I'm sure this weakness would be if I could focus well enough to get properly angry, it's.. interesting. Grayven 50 fled rather than confront the Anti-Life, and I'm.. if not exactly skipping like a summer lamb, then at least functional.
"What do we do after this?"
"After we free Barda and Kyle?" I nod. "Try and stop Grayven. I don't think he'll destroy the Earth, but I still don't want him taking it over."
"Why?"
He stops, glancing back at me. "You
do remember what I'm the god of, right?"
"Do you remember what
I'm god of?"
"Ah. Actually, no. I don't think anyone ever told me."
Oh. "Conquest."
"Huh."
"I'll kill him for killing Sunset and Rex, but that's personal. If you look at the governments of Earth, why are you certain that Grayven is worse?"
He snorts quietly. "You or him?"
"Both, I suppose."
"Earth has hundreds of different ways of ruling. Grayven can use his divine powers to make himself supreme."
"Yes?"
"So that's it. No one will ever try out other systems of government again. I'm not just 'I'm free now', I'm 'I'm becoming free'. I'm recognising the
value of freedom. I can live with a degree of tyranny as long as people can see it for what it is and fight against it. If Grayven takes over, that's it. No more systems, no more noble experiments, just Grayven, stamped on the face of the human race, forever."
How
melodramatic. "Are you coming over all libertarian on me, Scott?"
"No, because
I recognise that threats to freedom don't
just come from governments."
Break the Wheel.
"Heh. Tell you what: once I become an absolute autocrat of somewhere I'll invite you over and see if you can find any actual
faults in the system I create."
"And if I do, you'll give it up?"
"No, I'll fix them. I want my people happy-. Well. Generally satisfied and happy at times. An external hostile viewpoint would be useful in identifying problems."
"
I think you're missing the point."
"We
are rather different people, but I prefer
engagement to-."
The wall in front of us
explodes, and-! Barda stomps through.
"Scott, you found
him for me."
"Barda." He holds up his hands in a placatory gesture. "He's not the Grayven from this universe."
"I
know.
And?"
"We might need him." She appears sceptical. "And he's carrying an Anti-Life fragment. We don't know what happens to those when the one carrying them dies."
2nd Best Barda growls under her breath, then glances back through the wall rubble as a ringless Rayner emerges.
I nod to him. "Rayner. If you're injured, I've got a purple healing ray."
He nods. "Yeah. Thanks." I
remove one from subspace and toss it to him. He catches it, examines it for a moment and then plays it over his body. "So. What's our next step?"
