Batman continues working at the console.
I know he's listening, but it's… It's sort of the opposite of what my father used to do, where in the middle of a monologue he'd stop and say 'Yeah?', and then wait for a response so that he could check that you were paying attention. I know perfectly well that Batman is taking it all in as well as recording it all for later, but the lack of a visual signifier is a little off-putting.
Indeed, if either of you were in that big a rush, a simple packet transfer would cover the specifics of the report.
"There should be enough spare generating capacity to satisfy the shortfall in Illinois's power requirements. Not much.. more than that, though. I've already told Ted Kord, and he's going to get a team sent over there."
"Power infrastructure."
Good to know he's got that angle covered. ...Not sure I'd trust the Hub City folks with sole control of the facility, after all.
"I didn't have any jovium on me, but it's as good as a conventional Earth-technology power network can be. I even.. added in small step up and step down transformers just to get a little bit more efficiency."
"Will it be enough if the manufacturing sector establishes itself?"
"Not.. quite, but by my estimates the regular supply infrastructure should be able to bear the additional load by then. Ah… Is there anything else I need to do?"
That's more of a long-term plan. And if the League hasn't gotten that covered by then, well...
"No." He doesn't look around. "There are no short term plans for Illinois, and modifying the medium term plans for that part of America should shorten the time to normalisation by between two weeks and three months, depending on whether you are able to restart their manufacturing industry and get the Dolmen Gates." I nod. "To be clear, I expect you to keep an eye on the city until then. While a timeline is relatively easy to calculate, it's also measured in excess deaths."
So one more responsibility for OL to occasionally monitor in between all his other jobs...
I nod. "I know. Ah. Could I please..? Have some guidance about our.. degree of interventionism? I feel like I.. overstepped today."
"You did not. While I agree that under normal circumstances having one man rebuild a city in the way you are planning to would be extremely disruptive to Earth civilisation, the degree of disruption which we're already experiencing is so great that it makes no sense to make it a consideration."
In other words, the League isn't averse to people pulling that shit, as long as they're prepared to toe the line and play ball? But, if someone tries to warlord it up in their own little fief, they'll get a stern visit from someone...
"So I should do more?"
"You should consider yourself authorised to do more if you think it appropriate."
Ah, that's going to bug OL for
days now.
"It's just…" I sigh. "I've said that bleed torsion generators are beyond human science, and they almost are, but I'm pretty sure that Thaddeus Sivana, Thaddeus Junior or Georgia Sivana could make them."
"If you can persuade them to involve themselves in reconstruction, then do so. Dismissed."
Eh, I don't see him having
that much luck. Heck, the elder Doctor might be offended that OL's asking him to replicate something aliens already worked out.
I… Nod, and back away-. Before remembering that I can teleport and
doing that instead. Normally I'd be perfectly happy to take Batman's word for something like this, but under the circumstances and think it's worth checking with my most normal
acquaintance.
Good plan. There's always bound to be something he's missed.
3rd June 2013
17:16 GMT -5
But I've learned from the last few times I've done this, and this time I make a point of appearing a little further away.
Wise move to avoid setting off a person with deadly aim.
Mr. Queen stays on the rooftop for a moment, watching the delivery lorries pulling up to the distribution centre below. After a moment he glances back.
"Hey, that was almost subtle. You feeling okay?"
Oh, he's
perceptive.
"Ah. Maybe? I'm not sure about something I just did-."
He breathes in rather sharply. "Did anyone die?"
Opening with the important questions, huh?
"Not as a direct result of my actions. In fact, statistically, the death rate should decrease now that Hub City has air conditioning again."
"Hub?" He turns around to give me his full attention. "Okay, what's happening in Hub?"
Heh. Given Hub City's reputation in the country, it improving would be impressive.
"Me. Apparently, I bought it because I fixed it, which is fine as I don't have an assigned home city."
"I guess if you're getting assigned someplace to work on, the worst city in North America sure fits the bill."
He might be able to bring it up to
average at the very least.
"I don't suppose that Star City has any use for agricultural equipment?"
"We've turned the parks into city gardens, but we're not short of labor." He smiles wistfully. "It's kinda funny how much the kids enjoy digging in the dirt."
He hasn't been around kids very much, has he?
"Is it?"
He raises… One of his eyebrows. The stuck-on domino mask makes it a little hard to tell which. "You liked gardening as a kid?"
One of the tricky aspects of superhero masks. Still, better than having drawn-on ones.
"No, but my dad used to garden. Decorate plants and food plants both. My sister and I helped sometimes. I had a little.. plastic wheelbarrow for moving stuff. You?"
"I liked watching other people garden. Didn't really appreciate the natural world before the island. Tried putting some plants up around the place since I got back, but… I keep forgetting to water 'em."
Sounds a bit depressing on Ollie's end. Still, he's a busy man.
"Have you considered cacti?"
He nods. "Them, I over watered."
...Okay, a green thumb is not his strong suit, huh?
"I could set up some sort of automatic watering system, if you like?"
"Ah, thanks, but the whole point was that I wanted to do it myself."
Which also rules out fake plants, naturally.
"Mother of Mercy could probably make you a plant-animal that spat the water back at you if you over watered it, and watered itself if you forgot it."
"Let's not go too crazy." He probably-frowns. "Wait a second. Is this a social visit?"
Typical OL response, really. Offering a ludicrously over-engineered response to a perceived 'problem'...
"No. It's-. It's what you were saying about being 'The Man'."
"Okay. Ah, how?"
Ah, time for some more philosophical musings.
"Doctor Mist is probably the second oldest person on Earth, but after he founded Kor… He's barely had any impact on human civilisation. The actual oldest human is Vandal Savage, and he's ruled dozens of civilisations over the millennia. It's impossible to say what Asian or European civilisation would look like without him. If it was you-."
Well, it'd be
different, certainly. Better or worse, that's the hard part to predict.
"It's not, and it's never going to be."
"But if it was… I mean, we don't know how long Danner enhanciles live, and I can dose you whenever you want. Which would you do?"
Hmm. I doubt he'd go for it. Unlike Artemis, he's too invested in bows as his
thing to adjust to the altered performance.
"Neither. I wouldn't take over a country unless there was no one else who could manage it, but I don't think I could just hide away like Nommo did." He considers me for a moment. "Worried about doing too much?"
"A bit. And… It's not just people becoming dependent on me. I didn't refer it to state or federal government either. I barely spoke to local government. I just did it."
Though as noted, any government above the local level seems to be struggling with current events.
"I don't know. Normally I'd say you shouldn't do that, but these aren't exactly normal times. And with you, it's not just that you can do it, but your ring's got records of all the other places stuff like this has happened to. Right?"
I nod.
And trying
not to do it is one of those Orange Light things that can make you a little crazy... If anything, I'm surprised he hasn't been more pushy about upgrading, given his desires towards civic and cultural improvement. Presumably the Dolmen Gates thing has been diverting
most of that drive.
"Then you know more about it than just about anyone. Don't worry: you've got plenty of people who'll call you out if you go totally crazy."
"Thank you. I'll bear that in mind."
You'll note he didn't say anything about how they'd go about
stopping him if he did, mind. No doubt Batman has
plans.
