"I did."
"And…" Mr Souza looks at me. "Is he under arrest?"
"No, because there's a bit of a civil war going on, and I'm afraid that the ongoing activity of people like yourself-" He frowns and shakes his head in bewilderment. "-has been a contributing factor in causing it."
Boy, that's blunt. I see OL is in one of his Bryonic moods.
"Ah… Civil war? Since… When?"
"A couple of hours ago. Since the Accala are negotiating with the government, this-" I gesture to the group with my right hand. "-group aren't going to take any further action against you and yours, but if negotiations fall through they're going to chase everyone off and destroy your machinery."
That matter-of-fact tone is just a little concerning. OL is just
done with this mission, isn't he?
The frown is becoming more irritated than confused.
"Five people?"
"Does the name 'Hugo Danner' sound familiar?" He shakes his head. I shrug, turn towards the prematurely emancipating young man and nod at the wrecked truck. "A demonstration's probably best."
Dude should have studied history a little more in school. Admittedly, Hugo Danner's uprising is probably only a minor footnote in most local textbooks...
The young man walks confidently towards the truck, ignoring the lumberers who have started gathering around. These are physically active men in their prime, or only a little beyond it. And the tribespeople look strong, but the workers can see that they've got completely overwhelming numbers on their side. In the normal run of things… I imagine that quite a lot of confrontations like this don't get back to the police.
And usually end up with the natives sporting a few bruises. Not the most pleasant aspect of the culture... This is going to be worth recording the looks on their faces.
I make eye contact with Overgirl, then nod upwards. She hesitates for a moment, then flies upwards into position to catch-.
The young man picks up the truck's tow bar and keeps lifting, the truck ending up front end down. People start backing away as he gets a better grip on the frame and heaves-.
Yeah, superhuman strength is easy to
picture (Imagine the cover of Action Comics #1) but a first-hand demonstration is always a shock.
The truck spins through the air for about twenty metres before Overgirl catches it, absorbing the momentum and then flying it back to the ground. It's even more worse for wear now, but it was pretty much a write-off anyway.
"Ohhh…"
That is the sound of a man who is contemplating needing brown pants...
Mr Souza's eyes widen a little, and there's a small but definite backing off amongst the crowd. They're not fleeing, but they certainly aren't going to try administering a punishment beating anytime soon.
"They're all that strong."
Well, I imagine there's a
little variation amongst them, mostly based on gender and build, but accurate enough.
Mr Souza's still looking at the truck.
"Oh. And you're not arresting them?"
I rather expect that would result in some quite
exciting moments...
"No. The core of their complaint against the Brasilian government is that they're letting people like you do things like this-."
"We have.. permits. This is not an illegal operating."
I don't they care either way. If anything, it just means they might hit a little softer.
"That's… That's rather the problem, yes. If it was illegal then they'd probably punish you themselves. But the government allows it which means that the government is the problem. The young man there wasn't supposed to do this yet. Their original plan was to give it a few more years and then wreck every piece of machinery and chase the people out. But it turns out that this is a site of historical significance for them and he got a little angry about it."
Ah, setting up a legend of 'ancient native burial ground' to help convince them to leave.
Which is a lie. They actually get one of the substances they use for their jungle chemistry version of the Danner formula here, but the Accala don't appear to realise that I can overhear them from just about any distance and I don't want them to. I also don't want to give the Brazilian government any information which might encourage them to try fighting this out. Not being able to make more enhanciles wouldn't do anything about the ones they already have, and they could almost certainly source the materials from somewhere else.
Sensible on all counts. The components are probably fairly common, the effect coming in
how they're combined.
"Are they going to attack us?"
"Probably not. But I suspect that you're going to get a telephone call before too long telling you to pack up and leave, and… You might want to anticipate the order, because if negotiations with the government break down they're going to smash through here on their way to Brasilia."
And I doubt they'll worry too much about waiting for you to get out of their way.
"Aren't you…" He wiggles his right forefinger around in a circle. "Suppose to stop things like that?"
"Giving you a completely accurate answer to that requires… A fairly lengthy lecture on political and social philosophy. Short version?" He nods. "Both the Brazilian government and the Accala have sufficiently unclean hands that I'm not moved to help either. Sometimes people can't talk out their disagreements and -baring a superior power making a ruling- that just leaves them fighting to settle the issue instead."
In other words:
"Not my problem, sort it out yourselves.
"
"Aren't the Justice League a superior power? I mean…"
"Do you want the Justice League ruling the planet? Do you believe that they're so inherently wonderful that they should be able to tell anyone to do whatever they want, and everyone should just go along with that?"
Because that's how you get the Justice Lords. And you don't
want the Justice Lords.
"No, but they're stronger-."
"Yes, and if the Accala try killing civilians or the government starts trying to nuke the Amazon, they'll step in. But as things stand there's no obvious reason to pick one side over the other. And in either case our work here is done." I turn back to the group of Accala who accompanied me. "Do you want a lift back, or-?"
Boy, OL really
is done with this shit. Still, at least it was him here. Who knows how the other squads might have handled things...
The family's matriarch shakes her head as they turn and-. They don't leap away like Kon used to, or try running at full strength and get their legs stuck in the ground. But they do run with enough force to shake the ground, and move with enough speed to get out of sight almost immediately.
Yeah, that's the experienced movement of someone who've always had super-strength... How freaky must it look to see someone hitting what, 40 kM/h at a jog? I'm reminded of the super-run effects used for Emil Blonsky in the Incredible Hulk.
"I.. should.. go and make some calls…"
I nod. "That would be wise. I don't think that the Brazilian government is telling anyone anything yet."
But the secret will be out soon enough.
Ms Holguin's breaking news piece should be up soon, though hers isn't exactly a major international news outlet. It might take a while to get picked up more widely. Mr Souza waves his right arm in the general direction of his workers as he walks away, and Garth and Angelika approach as they crowd disperses.
"Civil war?" Garth looks concerned. "If.. that's true, I need to speak with King Orin."
Oh, don't worry, He'll hear about this soon enough.
"Only if I'm planning to pick a side, and I'm not. We'll be serving as neutral third party go-betweens, unless fighting starts in which case we'll be leaving. Wonder Woman is handling negotiations, which means that our job here is over."
He nods. "How are they so strong?"
"The Danner formula." Angelika looks intrigued. "The jungle people are still using it."
There's that stunning intellect at work. But then, she's familiar with how Dannered people move, from her Donner.
"Yes." I frown, and I nearly say 'no offence, but', but then I remember who I'm talking to. "I'm surprised that doesn't both you."
"The jungle people are racially inferior to Arians, but the Portuguese have made themselves mongrels. That is worse."
Seriously, Overman can't turn up soon enough...
Right…
"I'll drop you both off in Brasilia, then head back to the Accalas' villiage. Our mission's over, but Wonder Woman might still want you."
They both nod, and just before the camp vanishes I see the workers beginning to pack up in a hurry.
Feels like a loss, doesn't it? Not that he can be bothered caring anymore.
