27th December 2004
22:31 GMT -5
I can feel it through Grayven 50's command ship as the gordanian command carriers begin to disengage. The New God technology he built into their ships makes it.. easy. And a part of that might be due to me being spiritually similar to him… I don't know. I presume that they're heading back to Thanagar, but frankly I don't care all that much. It's possible that with their paramount chief dead that the gordanian clans who unified under him will fracture once again, or maybe like the clans who followed Genghis Khan they will remain organised in the manner he arranged them.
I imagine that it left rather an impression.
They
could have stayed. The more intelligent amongst them must have
realised that I couldn't get full control of Grayven 50's command ship as quickly as I implied. But perhaps the issue there was that Grayven 50 wanted to conquer Earth in order to recruit a new generation of officers. With his death that same incentive doesn't exist. However useful they were finding New God technology, they don't have anyone else who can use it. They might not even be able to build it any longer.
"And
done."
Zatanna 50 steps back as I tentatively raise my right hand to my face. Well, for better or worse, it's back again. I then raise and flex my left hand.
"Thank you. Have you gotten practice since my last visit?"
"I've had practice." Zatanna glances at Barda. "You aren't the only New God who takes a lot of punishment."
I nod, standing as I do so.
Sinestro, armour repair.
A
glow covers my body as he gets to work. Mother Box will need to finish it off, but for 'simple' transmutation work it's easier to just leave him to it.
In progress, Lantern Grayven.
Richard turns away from where Scott is interfacing his Mother Box with the ship's systems. "Feeling better?"
"Physically. I'm sorry about your father."
He shakes his head. "I'll believe he's dead when I see the body."
"Hyperblasters don't leave bodies."
There's no view screen to look at, but he glances away for a moment. "John's not coming back in until he finds something. Shayera's not either. I… Look, if you think you'll have an easier time of using the ship's sensors than Mister Miracle-."
"I'll try. But-" I shake my head. "-I'm not expecting to find anything. I'd like little better than for Sunset, Rex, Batman and the genomorphs to still be alive. I just don't think a version of me would be that sloppy."
He nods. "No, but look anyway."
I nod back and head over to where Scott is regarding his Mother Box with a degree of puzzlement. "Having trouble?"
"How much contact with Apokoliptian warships do you think I've had?"
"Scott Sixteen had some. They were training him as an aero-trooper before he left Apokolips." I attach my Mother Box to what's left of the console next to Scott's. "Mother Box, interface."
"Ping."
Like when I felt the gordanians leave, I don't
technically need Mother Box for this. In much the same way that companies managed perfectly well with filing cabinets before electronic databases were invented. I can feel just fine but it I want precision in a timely manner a Mother Box assistant is very useful.
Right.
I Am Your Master.
Ping.
Scott looks at me appraisingly and Barda stares
as the texture of the space inside the ship changes. I hadn't noticed it before… Perhaps the sarcophagus and the Anti-Life were disrupting it? The ship doesn't have a Mother Box equivalent or a more conventional AI; Grayven 50 probably didn't need one. Alright, records and sensors.
Ping.
"It's showing me organic chemicals. The Watchtower's waste disposal was located towards the base of the structure, wasn't it?"
Scott shrugs and looks at Richard.
"Yeah."
I use the ship's records to map the effect of the shot on the Watchtower.
Grayven 50 was more concerned with demonstrating his power and undermining me than he was with making certain that everyone on the station was killed. Which makes sense; if I was going to do anything the first shot would have spurred me to act, and he could have finished off any survivors afterwards. Which he didn't do, because he was busy getting his head back in order after the Anti-Life exposure.
Faint hope. What was it Moist von Lipwig said about hope? I actually don't remember. Something along the lines of it making you buy any con just so you could convince yourself that you weren't being fooled. I'm not going to find anything just looking like this.
"Mother Box, boom tube to the Mountain."
Ping.
Boom!
The portal opens in front of me.
Anyone make it back there?
Ping.
No, I didn't think so. Close it down.
I go back through the logs for the ship's esoteric sensors. There weren't any New Gods in the target area, and I assume that Rex won't-. Wouldn't have been displaying his father's innate green light manipulation abilities. Or perhaps that would have been something he picked up later. I don't remember whether Jade was green from birth or not.
The New God technology I built in registered, but the targeting system was only set to compensate for shields and weapons. Shields… They were a little further down. They didn't have enough New Gods to get full use out of them or maintain them, and it would have interfered with their stealth systems. If… They got out, it would have been by the one boom tube I built or Sunset's magic. The ship can detect shifts in magic fields, but it didn't really have a background standard for Earth.
"Zatanna! Could you check to see whether someone used magic in the area of space where the Watchtower used to be?"
"Not easily. New God weapons and technology mess around with magic too much."
"Alright. Sinestro,
connect me to John's radio."
"Stewart here."
"John, we're looking for bodies that aren't there. Either they were totally destroyed, or they got away."
"You got a
better idea?"
"Create a construct-replica of the Watchtower. There are hiding-spells that are triggered by the existence of a safe space at the exit point. In theory, Sunset could have cast one." I look around. "Zatanna, Richard, could you pop down to Earth to make sure that they haven't appeared there?"
Boom!
I frown. That wasn't-.
Kanto strolls through, no longer holding his anti-New God gun. "I believe that you may have misplaced something."
Sunset
walks through, looking around in obvious alarm, Rex on a sling across her chest. "What the buck happened?"
I dash across the intervening space, hauling her and my godson up and embracing them as tightly as I dare. "Where have you been?"
"There.. weren't any New Gods on the Watchtower so.. I went to Themyscira. I took Rex because Batman said he needed to get out more. Why?"
"My alter ego destroyed the Watchtower. I thought you were
dead."
"Ah yes." Kanto smiles smugly. "About 'being dead'."
"Next thing I do after returning Rex to his parents."
