She huffs, slowly.
"Well obviously they're not gunna be friendly. But it's not like we're got anywhere else to go."
Unless you
want to keep walking in a different direction? Feel free.
"I'm curious as to how unfriendly they'll be. And the form that unfriendliness will take."
"Guess it's not Captain Cold who's keeping the planet cool." Side by side we walk slowly towards the almost certainly artificial illumination. "Whatever it was you did to kill Vandal Savage. Think it stuck?"
Given that no-one in this timeline is working on undoing Identity Theft transformations? Yes...
Huh. It's an interesting question. When I last saw it the Vandal Savage construct was in a storage vault in Challenger Mountain working on the fifth volume of his autobiography. But constructs don't age. And if I wasn't around… He'd just have stayed there until… What? Whatever it was that drained my rings started up and he faded away? I don't think there's any way to turn a construct back into a person… Have to experiment with the Sword some time.
As long as you're not trying it on assholes like Savage or Ra's. Do you want them getting in the wind again?
"It… Should."
"Who else is there that could have lived this long?"
I don't know. Leprechauns, maybe? They
are Maltusian!
"Aside from us?"
"Five billion years."
Surprised she didn't punctuate it for emphasis. "Five.
Billion. Years."
"In theory." I nod sombrely. "Yes. It's not likely and I don't know of any New Gods who've lived anything like that long, but in theory? Yes."
"Whaw. Ah. I know you said… Ah, we'd get to thirty and just kinda stop… Ageing… I guess I hadn't really thought about it in terms of… This long."
Don't worry, I'm sure the Fifth World will suffer its own Ragnarok at
some point.
"Can't really help you, I'm afraid. I mean, some humans hit a hundred and there are a few… Vampires who are over a thousand, but older than that…"
"Other than Savage, who is there?"
Some older gods? Assuming they follow Vertigo's rules, from Sandman. Remember Ishtar, working in a strip club, or that caveman who was a... Travel agent, I think?
"The Guardians and Controllers are a few billion years old." I glance up at the shrouded sky. "A few billion more by now, if they're still around. Richard Swift was only a few hundred but he's ageless, so he could still be around. Any New Gods, including our colleagues." I snort-splutter with amusement.
"What?"
Could be embarrassing, meeting someone they know. Imagine the reminiscing!
"If that's the home of Green Arrow and he's keeping the planet cool with heat transfer arrows, I might have a bit of a breakdown."
And… Just like that the humour vanishes.
For you, maybe. I find that a hilarious image.
"Has… Dinah said anything about undergoing the process herself?"
"Ah, don't want to ruin your ego here, but we don't really talk about you all that much?"
But he's such a fascinating subject!
Surely your every waking moment should be filled with interest in his activities? He's the main character, after all.
"Sure you don't."
"We don't."
Such insistent denial. Are you sure? Are you
really sure?
"I'm an internationally renowned superhero who spends large amounts of his free time with Lex Luthor and who made significant modifications to the bodies of you and several other League members and affiliates. My brother and sister-in-law are League members and I know roughly how often Security Council members have asked when I'm getting an invite to the Justice League."
"Hey, Lex Luthor's got a space fleet! Maybe the League should invite him!"
...Wouldn't that defeat the whole
point of a privately owned space fleet?
That… Would be a stunning way to outmanoeuvre us, actually. Lex's fleet.. would become associated with the Justice League… They'd gain the firepower and… He'd be tied to their rules of engagement… He'd.. have to turn it down, but that looks like epic sour grapes given how he's made an effort to bury the hatchet with Kal-El. He could claim that he didn't have the time, but between LexCorp and running the fleet that would obviously be nonsense.
What he said! I can honestly see Lex being torn between getting his due recognition and having to play nice with
The Alien.
"… What?"
"No, inviting Lex is a terrible idea."
Would still be amusing to see. Omake writers, get on that, would you?
"Well, yeah, obviously. But how would you be any better?"
"I didn't leave the team permanently because I had a burning desire to join the Justice League. I just said I know how many people responsible for the League's official status have asked about it."
It's not like he wants to be a member of the Justice League or anything,
baka. But they really would get in his way, what with their concerns about individual freedoms and people's safety.
"So? The only people who decide who joins the Justice League are the members of the Justice League."
"And not the people who pay for the Justice League. And provide it with the authority to operate legally in their territory and most of its intelligence reports." I give her a lopsided smile. "Be interesting to see how sustainable that proves when there are more world-class superheroes not part of the League."
Or the league could open up, become like the DCAU version. It might take an alien invasion to get them to work with people outside their usual clique, but hey, the Sheeda stepped up to that plate.
She looks away. "We have to get back to the present first."
"Or find a really good historical archive."
Very optimistic, aren't you? There's a good chance anything on the surface would now be deep below, thanks to continental drift.
"That's got data from five billion years ago."
"Really good." I look further ahead and upwards. The variation in intensities, the regular placement… I'd be astonished if that was a natural structure. And the straight edges say 'building' rather than, say, 'giant future cockroach warren.' "That is a tower, right?"
Space elevator, maybe? Or the remnants of one. It may be largely deserted, and the lights are just wills o' the wisp.
"Looks like it to me."
I try looking around, but it.. looks like the clouds are denser in the air around the… City? Town? Pretty vertiginous place, and I… Can't really tell how wide it is.
Useful way to lessen the sun's radiant effects? Minimise the light hitting the surface?
"Hey. How far in the future do the Sheeda come from?"
"Sivana wasn't sure. William Batson kind of blew up his suspendium before he could check how the damage affected the machine. He wasn't sure where he ended up, and he used one of their time machines to come back because they already had out temporal coordinates."
And that was mostly pure luck, I expect. He's fortunate he didn't end up in the previous Harrowing's era.
"So… That's a city full of Sheeda."
"That would make a certain amount of narrative sense, but not necessarily."
Could be some form of Columbian descendant culture. Or giant light-up space bugs who moved in. Only one way to see.
"So, what's the plan? Sneak in, try and get hold of one of their time machines and go back the same way Sivana did?"
"Time travel being what it is, Sivana might be here now. And… Okay, you know how I'm the God of Conquest..?"
Dude, no need to try and flex on the Sheeda.
"What, you want to conquer the Sheeda? Just… You and me?"
"If the Harrowing fleet isn't here, it could well be doable. They need to harvest the past for resources, because-." Artemis raises his right arm and the rusted powder that used to be part of his computer rains from her forearm. "That, yeah. But because it needs to work-."
It's still a bizarre concept, that only really makes sense by comic book logic, isn't it?
"They put all their troops into doing it." She nods. "Because if it goes wrong, then their entire civilisation dies."
"That's what I'm guessing." Wish I'd gotten Sivana to show me a map, now. Coming here wasn't ever part of the plan. Wish I'd asked him how their civilisation actually worked. "Which means -piling assumption on assumption- that if the fleet is currently away and the last Harrowing was some time ago as the locals measure things, they're at their lowest ebb."
And only a home guard of sorts. Citizen militia or state guards, not used to having do anything more than prevent any slaves from getting ideas...
"There's still just two of us."
We each spend a few moments looking at each other.
"Oh, no.
No. No, no, no, no. Not a chance in hell, Grayven..."
"I'm a Goddess of Archery."
"And your rainbow arrows are a decent stand-in for boom tubes. And I won't have a ranged weapon until I take one from someone."
And you
can see the top of that tower... Or at least a handy landing. Put those eagle eyes to use.
"Why don't we just go back as soon as possible?"
"Because we're ageless. Once we get a time machine we can go back to a few moment after we left. But… If we leave this in our future and don't try to learn from it… This is what becomes of Earth. One hundred percent guaranteed." I shrug. "Is this what you want the future to look like?"
And he still doesn't realise whatever he does, all he'll do is make an alternate timeline... That's what you get for missing out on the big crossover, G-man.
"I… We need more information."
I nod. "Then let's go get some."
...With the power of beating faces until someone else talks! ...Because the one you're beating up won't be doing much talking, you know?
