17th February 2013
13:42 GMT
Robert points to the Anti-Life broadcaster currently sitting in the middle of Stonehenge.
"There. One like it in just about every bloody one. Like the magic's drained right out of the place."
Richard frowns. "Permanently?"
"Bloody hope not." Robert shakes his head. "Shouldn't be, but anyone trying'na use magic in Britain right now's in fer a nasty shock."
"Opposition?
"
"Dunno, mate. Most of the top level superheroes in Britain work for the government." He shakes his head. "Worked. A lot of the rest joined the Alliance, 'cos… Why not? They got helmets. Most of the villains got Anti-Lifed, but I haven't seen any they bothered helmetting.
First Eleven are basically running the country right now and
Stone Cold Luke's…" He tenses and relaxes his right arm. "He's been hunting down everyone who's still fighting. Killed seven that I know about, and my arm still isn't right."
I raise my left hand towards it and raise my eyebrows. He nods, and I connect a filament to it. There's… Some sort of poison in there, and it looks like it's resisting Robert's magic-based regeneration. I remove it and send it to subspace for future utilisation.
Richard nods. "And what happened to the government team?"
"For the first month or so they were smashing everything Mannheim sent. Then they all disappeared. Dunno if they're dead or what. They didn't try and coordinate with the rest of us."
"Do they use boom tubes?
"
He shakes his head. "Not that I've heard. But they can teleport like me an' Dad do."
I nod.
"Corrupt the ley lines with Anti-Life, then they can use them. Cornwall, do you have
any access to Otherworld?
"
"No, mate." He shakes his head. "Sorry." He sighs. "An' I could really use Great Granddad's advice."
"How about the standing stones that were sabotaged?
"
"Most o' them are still there, but so what? We can't use them."
"They're on ley lines, right?
"
"Yeah? But-."
"But it's the stones that were sabotaged, right? The ley lines under them aren't affected.
"
"So we..? Just replace them?" He thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. "It won't work quick, then you've got the whole system full of Anti-Life tryin'na stop it."
"How about an island?
"
He looks away, exhaling slowly.
"
Maybe. I.. dunno. Never went into that part of the theory."
"Okay, we can-.
" Hm. It's a long shot, but…
"Have you heard of a hippy commune in Scotland called Pagan Nation?
"
"No. What about them?"
"One of the people there is a powerful magician. Almost no training, but it would be interesting to see how she fared. If anyone could link up a stone circle-.
"
Except she said that stone circles were an attempt by the ancient patriarchy to bind the land's natural forces and generally gave me the impression that she'd like to get rid of them.
"She
could do it. Whether she actually would or not…
"
Richard frowns over his binoculars. "What happens if we just blow them all up?"
"Y'mean, the broadcasters, or the circles?"
"Broadcasters. Unless it helps."
"That shuts it down for a few days until they fix them all. The Anti-Life's already
in the system. Might… Fade away
eventually if they stop reinforcing it, but it doesn't happen quick enough. Blowing up the whole circle… Dunno. Nothing stopping them using ley lines anywhere, but they've built them in live stone circles for a
reason, haven't they?"
"I'd
rather not blow up Stonehenge.
"
"And
I'd rather you didn't paint the Statue of Liberty brown, but we
kinda need to save the world here Oh El."
"That wasn't-. It was a
patina.
"
Oh, he
clearly knew that.
Okay, I have atom-perfect scans of Stonehenge. I
can just recreate it. I still think that it would lose something…
"I think it would be best to leave them intact. If we can.
"
Richard lowers his binoculars. "You been to this 'Pagan Nation' place before?"
"Yes. Just before the mission to Minions. The magician didn't like me because she was used to knowing everything about her immediate environment and my tattoos prevented that. But it's so out of the way that I doubt that Mannheim would have focused on it, and she's the sort of magician who'd be good at concealing their existence completely.
"
"So we go there, ask her about it, make a new opening and then call in the team."
Robert and I nod.
"And then what?"
"Then,
hopefully, we'll be able to access Erebos, or at least be able to get a message to them. Melinoë is perfectly capable of accessing the material world under her own power, so we won't need to open a
larger hole.
"
"Can she use a power ring?"
"I.. don't know for sure. The Green Lantern Corps has had exotic members before, but I… Can't immediately call to mind any
gods who joined. But if she can't, she should be able to recommend someone. She's the Goddess
of Nightmares and Madness, after all.
"
"And what happens if the Anti-Life is in Otherworld?"
"Depends how it manifests. Destroy it, ideally. Avoid it and complete our mission if we can't.
"
"And our line of retreat?"
"Our standing stone. Failing that… The Atlanteans working for the Orange Lantern Corps came up with a way for me to drag things through the Honden without driving them mad. Zatanna, Tula and Garth could probably replicate it.
"
"Okay. Cornwall?"
"I.. dunno?" He shrugs. "I've only gone into Otherworld a few times. I didn't even know there
was a way into other places from there. We'll need Great-Granddad to show us around."
I nod.
"Right then. Off to Pagan Nation.
"
It's to let Dragons flow through.)
