It was the right thing to do, right? You get an opening, you take it.
-I think I can hear Mannheim justifying this to himself. Telling himself that he did nothing wrong. Telling himself something that he knows to be untrue because he believes that he's powerless to do anything about it. Okay, this is starting to-.
Self-deception can be the strongest form of lying, sometimes. We
want to believe the lies we tell ourselves...
The black stops retreating and I fly into it-.
Idon'twannaIdon'twann…
Looks like he's found some sort of inner border.
...A border that doesn't want anyone crossing it, it seems.
"I'll live."
I look… Up, and I can just about make out the millions of tendrils reaching out, each a crushed hope, a thwarted or counterproductive desire, a moment of destructive rage…
Painted in an infinite number of shades of black...
"I guess we're here."
"And what about everyone else?"
Make some noise, they'll probably find you.
"Hopefully they'll sense us when we start."
"And… How do we do that?"
Not sure if OL's thought that far ahead. He's operating in the classic hero manner right now: Making it up as he goes.
"Each of these strands connects to an element of his psyche. Grab one relating to hope and try and wake his up. You'll probably need to use the white light to get in. I'll show you."
I thought that touching the white light on my own would be hard. But… I don't know if it's enlightenment, the others being here, Nommo being here… It's not hard. It's almost harder not to.
Let's hope it doesn't stay that way once you're out. Touching the
light of Life is not something to be done casually.
Whu-?
Hello, Mister Mannheim.
Always pays to be polite, especially to an old-school gangster like Big Brucey.
You don't want to be controlled by people, do you? You pushed out Morgan Edge for a reason. Even thought the relationship was profitable, you didn't want him there. So how do you feel about this?
I-I can't…
Does seem a little nasty to have done that, but you want what you want...
That's the Anti-Life talking. It's lying. Darkseid is lying right into your brain.
It… Wasn't like this… To start with…
At this point, he's lying in Mannheim's soul like it's a comfy bed...
It's not an issue of what it was or wasn't. It's an issue of WHAT YOU WANT.
The strand I grabbed onto evaporates. I guess I made my point. I hope I did, anyway. I feel around-. There goes another one. And another, and all the ones with orange associations are evaporating. Excellent.
Is it? Is the Anti-Life losing it's grip on, or is he losing all desire completely?
"Alan, you're up."
His flame flickers for a moment, and then-.
Gotta remember, OL, Alan hasn't invested as many skill points in the more
esoteric branches of the Lantern role skill tree as you have.
Having a moment of introspection, Alan?
"I've done a lotta good."
"Ah, yes, you're a superhero."
A chance that, in the end, you wouldn't have now if not for OL... Funny how life is.
"No, I mean… I guess a lotta the time… I don't.. see it. I don't see people going on and living improved lives because of me, I just get that one moment of crisis. But the white light, it's… Showing me things."
Interesting, and I'm glad that he's getting the extra motivation, but it's not really relevant.
What, you don't think the
Life Entity could lend a hand to defend itself through you?
"Bruno, what did you want to be when you were a kid?"
He waits for a moment.
Heh. Good tack. How many of us are where we thought we'd be when we were ten?
"Huh, really? Well, we're gunna need a whole lot of those when this mess is over. You could give it a shot."
And… Yes. More strands collapse and fade.
Heh. Leaves a lot of possibilities as to what it was.
Everyone, we're over here!
The all-enveloping black.. doesn't fade, but it's pulled back, thinner than it was before. In the distance I can see tiny flecks of colour-.
It's good to see that you're starting to make some headway, at least.
I throw out orange strands made of my desire to resolve this crisis towards each of them-. The green and yellow are already heading this way, but the red… I can barely see the red.
I feel it at my strands connect to Batman and Malvolio as tethers. Which means that I should be able to communicate with them.
Probably feel strange as hell, given this place seems to allow for far deeper links than normal.
"Orange Lantern here. New plan. Bruno Mannheim's original personality is still in here. If we eliminate the Anti-Life infection working on him, that should finish this."
"He shall regret-"
You hope it will, anyway. If nothing else, it'll leave the Anti-Life without a mortal mind to work through, which seems important for it.
And their flames are there, Anti-Life strands burned away from them.
"-clasping us to his bosom."
To be fair, Malvolio, now you're inside all his defences. Imagine trying to bash through the Anti-Life using the
White Light as a battering ram.
"Not exactly. As I said, he's become increasingly like Darkseid. But it's got to the point where it's entirely left his original personality behind, and that's still in here. I think that the simplest way to handle this is to purify him."
"And what of justice, for all he has wrought?"
Or, for all you know, there'll be
two Mannheims after this. One mortal, one a clone of Darkseid...
"Do you torture criminals before executing them?"
"Nay. T'would be better for him to answer for his crimes in his right mind. How may this be done?"
At least he's being reasonable about it. No 'eye for an eye' logic here. Not until Mannheim can
understand that he did wrong.
"You can create a link by touching the white light, then it's up to you to make him… In your case, regain the impetus to focus his own will."
I look-. Batman shimmers for a moment, throwing off the Anti-Life strands frantically trying to reconnect to him. Then-.
I imagine Mannheim's fears are pretty simple right now...
"Done."
Another batch of strands detach, another part of the blackness opens up.
...Heh.I suppose it
was a fairly low-difficulty skill check there.
"Any man who could do this must have some measure of will."
Leave him to it, and look for Carol and Orion. Carol is a little closer, but I can see dozens of Anti-Life strands trying to connect to her. Orion has fewer attackers, but it looks like they're got further into him. I should prioritise him.
What about Balewa? Or are you trusting that
he can make it here on his own?
A new orange strand made of an understandable desire to tear apart the Anti-Life and an instant later I feel it connect.
"Orion-."
"You! You did this to me!"
I mean, you
did agree to it. No regrets now, New God.
Methinks Arc Fatigue is setting in...
