3rd January 2005
21:58 GMT -5
From the window of the main living room slash work area of the Titans' tower I look out across the wounded city.
"Does this.. city have the best civil engineers in the universe or.. something, because the city seems to be going back to normal surprisingly quickly?
"
Garfield nods. "Fights like this happen a lot around here. People started reinforcing their buildings, stuff like that. After the first few city-wide alerts people just got used to it." He glares at my alter ego. "What did that guy do to Raven?"
Red-Me looks up from his phone. "Infectious rage. He made her feel a fraction of the rage
he does. She should be fine in a few days."
"That's not
good enough!"
He shrugs helplessly. "I'm a
Red Lantern. I can't
heal people. I could make it
worse if you want-?"
"I probably could. You haven't seen an orange power ring anywhere, have you?
"
"What?" Garfield frowns at me. "No, what's wrong with the ring you've got?"
"I've been using it for ten minutes, and interfering with someone's brain is one of those things you shouldn't do unless you're certain you know what you're doing.
" On the other hand, Richard 16 was able to heal his uncle without prior training…
"Unless one of you is in love with her, because when that happens violet rings become a lot more user friendly.
"
"Ahhh…"
"I will attempt it!" Koriand'r zips over to me. "I am having the great love for
all of my friends, and
nothing would make me happier than making friend Raven better!"
…
Why is she talking like that? Tamaraneans absorb language knowledge through physical contact, she should be grammatically correct. Shouldn't she?
The local Richard sticks his head up from the pile of technology which he and Victor are using to attempt to read the Manhunter's drive.
"Starfire, she's gunna be okay, and like…"
He looks at me.
"Orange Lantern. Usually.
"
"Orange Lantern says, it's not a good idea to use technology you don't understand on someone's brain."
Koriand'r nods reluctantly, sinking to the ground.
"Violet-Orange Lantern, why are you here?"
"A man called Time Trapper has alleged that his efforts to reengineer time have been hijacked by a man named Krona. Krona's plan allegedly involved acquiring parallel universe versions of me and-
" I gesture to Local Jade with my right hand.
"-Jade, so he sent me here to collect them.
"
Garfield frowns. "So what's with the robots?"
"Krona used to be a Guardian. Manhunter androids -or.. gynoids, apparently- were their first attempt at a police force before they started using Green Lanterns. Krona was one of their designers. Given that we've confirmed that they were targeting myself and my-
" I gesture to Red-Me.
"-local counterpart, it seems reasonable to conclude that Krona kept a few after they were decommissioned. We're waiting on confirmation.
"
"Parallel universe, huh? So we've all got, like, copies of ourselves living there?"
"I don't think we've got a Raven, but the rest of you, yes. Our version of
you goes to school in Happy Harbour, so I usually see him a couple of times a week.
"
He brightens up a little. "Maybe
we could team up sometime. We could have a whole team of Beast Boys-."
"He's not a Beast Boy. I'm not sure what caused you to become…
This, but he hasn't been exposed to it. Plus, he's a few years younger than you and I don't think his mother would like it.
"
His eyes widen. "His m-? Ah-. And-" He smiles unconvincingly. "-what about everyone else?"
"I've met Cyborg's father a few times, though I've never met
him. Our Robin is on my team, usually serving as a squad leader. Both Komand'r and Koriand'r are Orange Lanterns, operating in Vega to maintain order after the destruction of the Citadel Empire.
"
"And..." Koriand'r looks nervous. "What has happened to Tamaran?"
"They're.. recovering. Rebuilding their educational infrastructure and fleet are the first priorities. I.. haven't spent much time there recently.
"
"The Gordanians?"
"The clans most closely aligned to the Citadel either fled or got conquered and the rest were allowed to surrender. The psions were just exterminated. It will take a while for the security fleets to finish off all of the pirate groups, but Vega isn't such a bad place to live at the moment.
"
"And my parents?"
"Alive and well last time I spoke to th-.
"
"I think we've got something!"
Something flickers on the room's main screen, an image of-.
"Um, you might want to skip that.
"
Richard doesn't look around. "This could have vital intelligence on what Krona-."
"That's a planet in Sector Six Six Six. The Sector where the Manhunters killed every living thing-
" The image shows the Manhunter squadron this unit was part of assaulting a ship, tearing apart the hull and spacing the people inside. Looks like the ship was packed to the gunnels with refugees.
Who weren't wearing space suits.
"-before the Guardians shut-
"
Richard skips the recording forwards.
"-them down.
"
The ship is gone, and we get a momentary shot of heavily damaged Manhunters floating in space. Then a portal like the one Time Trapper used opens and the remains are sucked through. On the far side there's a.. small base on what looks like an asteroid. Slowly the Manhunters are drawn towards it, and as they are their bodies flicker with red light. Damaged and broken parts knit back together as the damage of the intervening millennia is undone. Once they've recovered sufficiently they orientate themselves on the asteroid and begin moving using their own thrusters. And when they clear the side-.
A tuning fork. It's a tuning fork. All over its surface are.. versions of myself and Jade, apparently aware and in a degree of distress. Some of the mes look like they've had a rather hard time of it. Manhunters -some quite a bit larger than the ones who attacked us here- are keeping station around it, while others are building equipment and a small squad-.
The image moves away before I can see what the squad next to the pile of power rings were doing.
Richard looks at me. "Do you know where that is?"
"No.
"
Ring,
Jades need rescuing.
And I didn't get to check in with mine before I left.
We've got the tape.
"But I know a man who does.
"
