31st December 2012
14:14 GMT -5
"Ah..?"
I try to sound patient, but
honestly.
"Look, kid, if you wanna have a secret identity, you have to take into account that anyone trying to work out who you are is going to have facial recognition software."
"I'm-. Wearing a mask."
He's wearing a domino 'I couldn't be bothered to get an actual mask' mask, and it does nothing to disguise his skin, his jaw line, his hair or his irises. I could probably take a picture of him with my phone's camera and have his Social Security number inside a minute, if it wasn't for the fact that the only reason I'm hassling him is because I just spotted
Shelly Gaynor in what is clearly bondage gear and a whip and I'm trying to work out whether I should pretend I haven't recognised her or not.
"It barely covers your
nose."
This guy, though, he's just wearing skin tight spandex and a domino mask. Color co-ordination's okay, his logo looks like a sound wave, and that's probably his name. Fourteen years ago I did Superman's first interview and that..
felt like a big deal. Not a lot of superheroes in Metropolis in '98, and he'd just caught a plane. Now I'm at a party with a bunch of guys in costume and I don't have the slightest idea if any of them
can do anything, much less if they have
already done anything worth calling them 'heroes' over.
"Superman doesn't wear a mask."
Which was a refuge in audacity. After he told me, I said that if the reporting didn't work out he could have a career as an actor. After he told me, and after I calmed
down, I said that if reporting didn't work out he could have a career as an actor. I actually watched him go from 'Clark' mode to 'Superman' mode right in front of me and I could barely believe it. But I obviously couldn't tell
this guy that, or someone clever enough to get around Clark's acting ability but not clever enough to know when to shut up might start work it out and start blabbing.
"If someone found out Superman's secret identity -if he even
has one- then what exactly are they going to do about it? He doesn't get less indestructible when he's off the clock."
"They-. Okay, but they could go after his family?"
"Superboy and the Supergirls are as tough as he is, and someone throws me off a building about once a month. I've gotten used to it. Whereas if someone found out his secret identity they could, what, pick a fight with the
rest of his family of superstrong aliens?"
…
"So you think I should get a bigger mask?"
"And something tougher than spandex to wear. Unless you're bullet-proof.
Are you bullet-proof?"
"Ah…"
"Have you ever been shot?"
He's slightly slumped, like the overgrown child I suspect that he is. "No."
My own bullet wounds healed up a long time ago, and I'm not showing this guy the scars. Because
he's an ignorant fool in a room full of ignorant fools and most of them are going to die doing something-.
G-
uh! Telepathic attack! No one obvious around,
because I'm in a room full of people in costumes, and about half of them look like they're about to start crawling the walls.
Mass attack. Not many telepaths who can do that-.
"
Ms. Lane."
Shelly
isn't crawling the walls. She
had been acting a little awkward, going out in public dressed like a professional mistress, but now she actually
looks like a professional mistress.
She's confident and commanding in a way that I'm not right now, and I don't know if she has actual superpowers or if that 'turning her body into a living weapon' thing was just for the
blurb. Jimmy's got his watch for calling Clark but he's hiding under the table right now.
I could call him, but I'm
not more
important than everyone else who's being affected.
And I should try and get the story
because observing more important people is all that I can do…
That… Wasn't one of my thoughts. I'm not self-conscious about the fact that Clark's stronger than me. I
used to
be self-conscious about the fact that he competed with me for stories, and…
And I just thought that him doing that and having superpowers too invalidates
me, and I don't believe that.
"
You will come with me."
"
I'm seeing someone."
And if he lied to me about being human of all things, he's obviously lying about other things too. He-.
He's the worst liar I know. He gets awkward when he sees me put recycling in the general waste because he doesn't like it but
doesn't like calling me out.
He lies to the entire world every day.
Who's
doing this! When-!
The lash at Shelly's waist becomes a noose around my neck.
"
You will come with me.
Now."
31st December 2012
14:20 GMT -5
What?
Alert! Major mental alternations detected. Worldwide effect.
The people who were lying on the floor are still there, staring up at me.
"
You cannot escape the master." / "
You cannot escape the master." / "
You cannot escape the master." / "
You cannot escape the master." / "
You cannot escape the master." / "
You cannot escape the master."
I mentally grit my teeth and look inside them, seeing-. It's creeping back. It's not fully integrated, but-.
They're not part of a group mind. They've been told something repeatedly and now that they're feeling the same way they're parroting it. Like members of a Christian church praying the same way when under stress.
Contact the League or go back down?
"Orange Lantern to Batman, situation FUBAR. Busy.
"
I take a moment to augment my armour with hardpoint-mounted railguns loaded with a mixture of rounds… Won't be able to reload, but if you need more than a hundred rounds then two hundred probably won't be enough either. Done?
Task complete.
And I drop, the floors shooting past and my kinetic barrier flaring as I hit the floor, guns searching for-.
"He is not here.
" Dr. Balewa looks haggard, drained of vitality. Mr. Free is-.
Appears alright, pressing his Mother Box into the machine. Zauriel on the other hand is on his knees, hands clasped in prayer.
"I do not know if he ever was. Are you infected?
"
"I don't think so.
"
"Ping."
My environmental shield flickers back into life, and I head over to Mr. Sage's body.
"Can we get them out?
"
"No." Mr. Free shakes his head. "Their souls are in the machine. There's no way to get them out while Mannheim's still alive. How does it-?"
"According to my ring, it's affecting the whole world. If there's nothing we can do here, then we need to link up with the League.
"