Sinestro?
I'm sure that you can come up with a convincing lie on your own, Lantern Grayven.
Thank you, best AI Snark.
I meant, with the reconstruction.
The basic structure is simple enough. However, without a portrait, it simply isn't possible to recapture the specifics.
"Are you sure that you don't have a portrait?"
I thought there were images of Lucrezia? Or am I misremembering from Assassin's Creed games?
"It would have been hard to explain to her brother why I, a lowly page of insignificant birth, wanted a picture of his sister. I intended to have one commissioned after the wedding, but alas that proved impossible."
I can still see where Kanto 13's bomb tore open her abdomen; the damage to the bones of her ribs and pelvis is quite significant. The metallic residue suggests that her mortician more or less had to use some sort of metal corset to make the corpse stay in one piece. I hope that she lost consciousness quickly.
Ow.
"If you don't mind me saying, you're being surprisingly easygoing about this."
"I don't mind you saying that at all." "You heard what Lashina said when Granny died?"
I smile. "Alright then. Have you considered the possibility that Cesare Borgia wrote something about his most unusual page, the man who married his sister?" "Yes, of course."
"Considered. And dismissed. He wouldn't write anything so frivolous. One of his courtiers might have done, but the chance of it surviving for so long is… Slender." "She was bound to Granny Goodness, as I was bound to Lord Darkseid. With his death, some of the truths he impressed upon me seemed somewhat less true."
Heh, a fun reminder of where Kanto learned his courtly Swagger.
"I spent some time is a parallel universe, far more removed from this one than the one where I now make my home. There, I read it in a comic book."
"Hm. And how did the author know, I wonder?"
Hmm, so blase about it. Who in Renegade's timeline knows the comic book thing (that he knows of, at least?)
"Pass. Look…" I gesture to Claudia's corpse. "I've got a full genetic work-up, and the analysis of her bones gives me enough information on her general state of health and diet that I can mostly repair her body. But without a visual guide to work from it won't be exactly the same, and even as an aristocrat her health would have been less good than that of a modern human."
I'm sure you can make adjustments afterwards...
"Your alter ego's entire reason for taking Earth was to turn humans into New God lieutenants. And if learning such a technique was within his grasp, then it puts a new spin on the abilities of this Sector's former Green Lantern."
"Yes, thanks to the Father Box of Desaad Sixteen, I know how to do it. But perhaps we should give her a little time to adapt to being alive once more before revealing that her beloved is an alien god-assassin."
Bets on her having already suspected something?
"And of course you'll need to decide what you want in return."
"No. That isn't how I conduct my affairs." I theatrically hold my hands over the bones and begin. Restoring the bones to pristine condition is simple enough, though if there were any older breaks in the time-eaten parts those will be vanishing. Then comes cartilage and connective tissue. "Spend time with your wife, live the life that Kanto Thirteen and Darkseid denied you. And then, at some point in the future, if you actually want to work with me, then get in touch."
Ah, Renegade. Working your Godly ways of Acquisition.
"What happened to you, to make you this different? Or am I similarly liberated in the universe where you make you home?"
"I've never met Kanto Sixteen-." I frown as I reassemble Claudia's muscles and organs. "You know, given how Kantos used to be numbered, using 'universe numbers' to refer to the different versions of you is a little confusing."
"I know who you mean."
It's in the inflection, I expect.
"Well, him. So I've only got Desaad's old notes to tell me about his behaviour. But nothing there suggests that he's all that different to you. But consider the issue: the bonds binding you to Apokolips exist in your soul, tied to your god-name. The core of your identity is indelibly imprinted with that way of life. So if you want to leave…"
Kanto frowns at me, then his eyes widen and he actually steps back. "You would have to destroy-! You did that?"
Yes, not so brave about that, is he?
"From what I remember, yes." Nerves, veins and arteries, brain… No way to actually make the neural connections that she would have had in life, but I can create an unspecialised network. Skin and hair… And a dress where it won't matter if it gets coated in Lazarus goop.
"I'm impressed."
"Putting a person back together isn't that hard with a power ring. Even the Green Lanterns can sometimes manage it."
"Though I doubt that many have the required lack of squeamishness to do so..."
"No. Your determination. Your single-mindedness. You destroyed everything you were in order to becomes yourself."
"If I could have killed Father instead, I would have." I cut off the flow of yellow light to the now-repaired corpse. "Does she look like you remember her?"
"As close as I could expect a lifeless corpse to." He reaches forward and picks her up. "Still confident that you can deliver on your bargain?"
And so tender with her, even now. Amazing there's no trace of violet in him...
"More confident that I would be about having you coming after me and mine."
I lead the way over to where Sunset and Richard are checking over the Apokoliptian device I created for this process. The local version of Ra's al Ghul apparently didn't have quite the degree of knowledge that my version had, and even though it meant taking the construct-Lantern out of the basement where I'd had him writing his memoirs I felt that the increased reliability was worth the mental discomfort. But neither my Ra's nor the records Richard had access to via Batman could explain what this thing did to recapture the soul of the one it resurrected.
Which is why in place of the pool or a sarcophagus, the gently-bubbling goop fills one of Grayven 50's modified Sarcophageuses. Those things are designed to play about with souls, and with my Mother Box plugged into it to provide a link to the Source… That should be enough to return her soul. I still don't know enough about mind-soul interfaces to know how much she'll remember… Well. If this fails thenI'm sure that Sunset will embrace the challenge of improving the system.
Oh, dear, a kludge of human tech, magic and New God tech? There's no text big enough for the kaboom if this goes badly.
Speaking of-.
Ping.
Good show. "Now, Kanto, I must warn you that people resurrected by the Lazarus Pit are usually somewhat insensible for a time. And that there is no guarantee that we will succeed on our first try."
I'm sure he can keep her from hurting someone.
"I understand." He reverentially lays her in the goop bath, then steps back at Sunset presses the button to submerge her.
Hm. I should probably stick around, but this whole process could well end up taking hours. I sidle up to Richard.
Hoo, boy. Murphy's phone is ringing as we speak...
"How are you and Timothy holding up?"
"I still can't really believe that he's dead."
"I realise that you're not certain of your own feelings towards him, but he had a major impact on your life. It's only natural-."
"No, I literally can't believe that he's head. He had a minute between the boom tube opening and the Watchtower being destroyed. There are dozens of contingencies he could have activated in that time."
Indeed. This Batman is the second-most abused example of memetic Bat-god preptime fuckery (The ninteies/noughties version is number one).
I nod. "I see. I hope that you're right."
"How are the Lords settling in in your mountain?"
"Well enough. Diana appears to be enjoying training with Knockout. I don't suppose-?"
Heh, romance in the air or is Diana-50 too straight?
"I've thought about it. I think maybe we could have them join the team. Eventually. But not yet. And I'm sure they're due some parental leave."
I nod. "I'll pass that on." We watch the goop for a moment. "Hey, is there any chance I could take the ship off your-?"
"No."
Ah, Stormwatch get their own Carrier? How appropriate.
