7th November 2012
Roughly 10:51 GMT -5
I cautiously look at the two men sitting at the side of the idea of a road. One is floating just off the ground in the cross legged position, his eyes closed. The other keeps reaching up to his head as if to check that it's still there, then jerking his hands down.
"Green Lantern."
"Yes, Mister President?"
"This administration-." The younger man twitches slightly. "I feel that I have just incurred some great debt to you, but I don't seem quite able to recall what for."
Alan floats upright, though his feet don't quite touch the ground.
"You were in a bad way, sir, and I put you back together. But I'm afraid that America needs your help."
"It's my duty to the free world to aid our greatest hero." President Kennedy has a confused frown as he pulls himself to his feet and dusts himself off, and I find myself smiling at his description of Alan. "What seems to be the problem?"
"An evil spirit-."
"Alan, Alan. Just a… Just a minute."
Alan looks at me, his eyes still glowing pits.
"All of those emotions that were somewhere else, you feel them begin to return as you move away from the blue place. Remember all the things that made you angry? They're with you again, burning under your-."
Alan gasps, dropping to his feet and his eyes returning to normal.
"You alright?"
He nods. "Is that what it's like for you?"
"Don't know, but maybe."
"Ah. I need a moment-."
"No problem. Mister President." I step forward and offer him my right hand. "Orange Lantern."
"Any friend of Green Lantern is a friend of mine."
He takes my hand and I feel a tremendous sense of reassurance and warmth at his presence. It's like meeting my father again after being at university for a term.
I don't think I like it.
"Sir, we're in a magic realm where all the worst parts of the American psyche are real objects or people. We're trying to get to the part which corresponds to Washington so that we can deal with the spirit of corruption that has kidnapped Uncle Sam and replaced him in the real world."
"And where do I come in?"
"A manifestation of the Military-Industrial Complex has fortified the outskirts with a giant wall, but I'm hoping that they'll open the gates for the President."
"A wall around Washington? Unthinkable. I'll demand that they tear it down!"
"Sir, I'm not sure that a direct confrontation with the Military-Industrial Complex would turn out well for you."
"I choose to tear down the Military-Industrial Complex, not because it is easy, but because it is hard."
Alan nods, creating a platform under the Super President's feet and rising into the air. The birds and I follow them, the great grey walls of the Military-Industrial Complex growing steadily closer. I see the missile batteries and flak guns train themselves on us.
"Green Lantern, put me on the radio."
An old style radio microphone appears in front of him.
"To the forces occupying the capital of the great nation, I am the President of the United States. With the authority invested in me by the Constitution, I as Commander in Chief order you to stand down."
The guns keep tracking us, but… We're over their perimeter now and they haven't fired. Close up, the walls tower into the heavens and we're flying almost vertical in an attempt to clear the battlements.
"Our purpose is to defend America. Why would the President order us to stand down?"
"Total war makes no sense in an age where great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations yet unborn."
"What alternative is there?"
"Too many of us think that peace is impossible. Too many think it is unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade. Therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable and I believe they can do it again."
…
Huh.
Okay. Didn't feel too bad that time.
"You clearly don't understand what we're about. But this sounds like a problem for The Brass."
There's a clunk, and a section of the wall slides away while the missiles and gun batteries return to the neutral position.
"Come on in, Mister President."
"Thank you."
The five of us fly forward into the gap, prompting me to frown at the vulture.
"Why are you still here? The Military-Industrial Complex didn't kill us."
"Early days."
We enter the tunnel, which… Keeps going, the entry gate sliding back into place behind us, followed by a bulkhead shutter-. And then another, and another, slamming down the moment we're past them.
Alan glances back. "Friendly, aren't they?"
"Perhaps we should have pretended to be arms lobbyists."
Kennedy shakes his head. "That would be unwise. The Military-Industrial Complex that besets this great country is not friendly towards foreign competition, even from our most stalwart allies. They would sell an armed robber a bullet to shoot their own mothers if they could turn a profit that way."
The inner door opens ahead of us, but I can't help frowning.
"Did anyone else hear the way he said 'The Brass'? Because-."
"The M.I.C. leaves complex decisions to me!"
The titanic robot made of shining brown metal standing towering over Washington raises its shoulder and forearm mounted cannons.
"And I've decided to designate this place a free-fire zone!"
