3rd March
03:41 GMT +5
I open the door, and General Lane punches me in the face.
Naturally, the kinetic energy is absorbed by my environmental shield, leaving me entirely unharmed. As he realises who he just took a swing at he lowers his arm, and looks mildly guilty for a moment until he realises that I'm unhurt.
"God damn."
He shakes his head, then walks back across the small holding room to the bench which is firmly bolted to both the floor and the wall.
"They grabbed me through a God damned mirror. I wasn't even sure it was your people!"
"Given that shapeshifters and telepaths exist, it would probably be best if you didn't assume that I'm me just because I look like me.
"
"Hey, this cockamamie scenario isn't about testing the US military." He sighs, releasing built-up frustration. "But… Yeah. Make a construct while I think about football scores."
I create a construct of Mr McCulloch, and he nods, taking a seat.
"Yeah, that was the guy. Mirror Master, right? We talked about having to cover every mirror in the US military with wire because of him. Only reason it didn't go through was because he was supposed to be dead."
"Is there a collective term for the people who agree with former General Hardcastle about the best way to deal with supervillains?
"
"
Lunatics." He exhales sharply through his nose. "Or politicians. Officers who are thinking of going into politics when they leave the military. You didn't make any friends in the US military with
that stunt. Or anyplace else."
"What stunt? Making sure that people follow the law?
"
"Your new Lantern threatened a police officer with a car."
"No, he was just looking at the car. His fists were a far bigger threat than
it was. Looking at a car isn't a crime, and I.. don't
think picking one up is unless the owner asks you to put it down.
" I nod.
"But yes, I did realise that it would sour relations. Remind me to provide everyone with an update on what Lantern Xor has been doing with his time since the-.
"
Oh dear.
"Is Hardcastle going into politics?
"
"Looks
like. If he gets made President Knight's Secretary of Defense, life could get… Interesting. For both of us."
I frown.
"I… Would be surprised if Knight gave such a prominent role to such a divisive figure. He never struck me as having the sort of conviction that would require.
"
General Lane shrugs. "It polls well with people he needs to vote for him."
"Yeah…
" I shake my head.
"But… Even if he did it, he wouldn't okay him shooting up US cities. More money for anti-supervillain arms procurement, sure, but… One shooting is all it would take to turn public opinion right against it. And then Hardcastle will be gone for good.
"
"I hadn't realised you were that optimistic."
"Heck, I considered giving
him a power ring. Maybe trying-.
"
"That's not funny."
"There was a
book series I read a few years ago. Fantasy novels. One of the nations in it was an Empire that had a pretty laissez-faire attitude to rebellions. Usually, when one of their governors was overthrown they immediately recognised the leader of the rebellion as the new governor. Their rationale was that if someone actually overthrew a sitting governor then there was clearly a huge problem which the previous guy wasn't dealing with. So either the new guy would deal with it and cement his support, or he'd fail and be easier to remove once he'd lost everyone's support.
"
I shrug.
"So if I gave Hardcastle a ring, he'd find out exactly how hard dealing with supervillains is. And he'd either do a great job and be able to reform the law while fully informed, or he'd fail and everyone would ignore him.
"
"I don't think it's quite that simple." He leans back. "So why didn't you?"
"Because it's not quite that simple. And I was worried about the damage he might do in the mean time.
"
"
Good." He looks around. "So what happens now?"
"As you surmised, you've been captured by the villain team. They want some information which they think you have and are going to torture you for it.
"
He raises his left eyebrow.
"On the assumption that you don't particularly want to be tortured in the name of realism, we're going to say that you held out for half an hour and then were beaten unconscious. Does that sound reasonable to you?
"
"What, they don't have mind readers?"
"The mind reader quit after her boss fried her colleagues with a radiation weapon. They couldn't recruit another at short notice without alerting the League.
"
And paying through the nose. The villain team has a finite amount of resources to work with, and a short list of institutions they can 'rob' for more. But that results in an even
higher risk of League intervention and it looks like they're trying to avoid needing to expand their budget.
"So why bother taking me at all?"
"The person who did it didn't know about the walkout. You.. overheard that from one of your guards, by the way.
"
"In case the Justice League ask?"
"Yes. They've got half an hour to rescue you if they want you conscious… Well, twenty seven minutes, now. And they can get information from your brain by telepathy if you're unconscious.
"
"So, what? I just wait a few minutes and
then tell them?"
"Ah… We
can do it like that, but…
" I take a small tablet out of subspace.
"This-.
"
"You are giving me a suicide pill?"
"No, it will just knock you out for a few hours. After that point you could well have woken up from your beating. Obviously, you don't
have to take it; I appreciate your cooperation so far and don't want to start trying to insist or anything.
"
"How would it make things more realistic?"
"The League has recruited a few people with exotic healing abilities. I'd like to be able to reward them by having those people be capable of waking you up early.
"
He goes to speak.
"And..
yes, I do realise that we could just use a shorter countdown or something, but I'm trying to make this as realistic as possible.
"
He gets up and takes the pill from me.
"That's it? I lose consciousness and wake up a few hours later like nothing's happened?"
"Yes. We tested it. KordTech is going to start selling it as an anaesthetic once it gets FDA approval.
"
"Fine, I'll take it." He goes to sit back down, and then stops. "You've told the people at my command that I vanished as part of an exercise, right?"
