"Apparently, Rose kept it together long enough to give birth and hand them over to an orphanage. The tabloid stories about Jade being my daughter are true, though I was married to her mother at the time."
"I'm-. Sorry-."
Just not the
woman who
raised her. The writers of
Infinity Inc back in the day had to do
something to produce kids of the JSA from
somewhere.
"What for? You had a sound proposal. On balance, I think that Orange Lantern is in the right, because we want mentally ill people with superpowers to seek treatment rather than worry we're going to unperson them, but your argument had merit."
John leans back in his chair, slowly blowing air out of his pursed lips.
Well, that's surprising. Here we were, all going all conspiracy nut on Commander Scott, and...
"At least you're consistent."
"It helps. We were going to release that information in a few years anyway. Honestly, I never thought that we were going to get anyone back."
...It turns out he's not as big a monster as we thought. And clearly has
regrets over his decision.
"Why..? Were you going to tell people, then?"
"I -and the other members of the JSI executive board- think that honesty is the best policy. Whatever we did, it would come out eventually. With this… Last case put to bed, the plan is for us to retire and pass the whole organisation over to the next generation. A few years for them to get the hang of it, then we could make a public confession without harming the organization too much."
Well, that's clever of you. Let's hope the people play along with that plan.
Interceptor blinks. "You were-? All-?"
"Handing a group of people -even supervillains- over to alien invaders isn't something any one of us would do without the agreement of the others. I hated it, and I hated them-."
So, this is probably weighing as heavily on the other 'executive board' members as it is on you, then? But
they weren't the public face of JSI leadership...
"That's why you weren't annoyed that Interceptor killed the one I captured. She would have known-."
"Oh please." He shakes is head. "If she knew, it probably wouldn't have occurred to her to tell anyone, and she wouldn't have had any contact with anyone who would believe her word over mine. I wanted her dead because I know she'd have done exactly the same thing as the other given the chance, and probably has done it to other worlds."
Probably true. The Dominators are
not nice people as a culture, even if a single one might be.. an
okay person.
"Why?" Interceptor looks lost as she shakes her head. "Was the situation really bad enough-?"
"Yes. They had orbital supremacy. We lost good people trying to lift nukes to their ships, which was the only way we had to even try to attack them. The only reason they didn't wipe us out was because they wanted us as test subjects more than they wanted to conquer Earth. So we offered them every murderous criminal we had if they would leave. And they did. And we finally got the governmental support we needed to get strong enough to stop the next invasion. It was worth it."
Even if it meant lowering yourself to an immoral act to do so. But you're
remorseful about it, at least.
John honestly seems a little amused. "And how was your crime rate after all that?"
"Much lower. Fewer thefts, fewer murders. Fewer lives being destroyed. People finally understood that supervillainy wasn't just a bit of fun. Some very unpleasant people died in Dominion prisons and I can't say I'm all that sad about it."
And Superheroes have turned into government servants, as much as any soldier, no matter how fancy their costumes. Such is life?
"I assume that's a discussion you've had with Missus Scott."
"Molly paid her debt to society before I married her. She knew how I felt about the way she was living when she was Harlequin."
Admittedly,
she probably wasn't
much of a supervillain. Especially against fricking
Green Lantern.
Interceptor blinks, clearly stunned by what she's hearing.
"I… Don't know-."
Yeah, that's about
normal for realising your heroes have feet of clay, just like anyone else.
"I know this is a shock, Interceptor, but I'm sure once you reason it through you'll see we're right. It's best for everyone this way."
John raises his left eyebrow. "Except the ones who died in the Dominion."
And not
all of them were convicted super-criminals.
"I'm not going to waste my time on the total monsters, and most of the rest had family who are still alive today because they're not. When you're in a job like this, you can't-."
"If you're in charge, and you know something is necessary to do something good, and you refuse to do it, that's just… Just squeamishness."
I see OL understands the
necessity of it, even if he isn't necessarily in agreement with the
methods.
"No, it's… Normal morals that don't fit the situation. Normal morals are there to guide you through individual interactions. They don't work when you try applying them to a population of billions. I'd worry about someone who could make this sort of decision and not be troubles at all, but at the end of the day, if you can't say 'exitus ācta probat' then you're in the wrong job."
I hate this conversation. And from the looks John's giving me, I've got a sneaky suspicion that I know what this whole thing was in aid of.
"One person dying is a tragedy, one million dying is a statistic." Empathy has limits, and so do nearly any
other aspects of the human psyche.
I mean… I agree, though I'm really uncomfortable hearing it from an Alan's mouth. But no one spoke against it? I make a point of surrounding myself with people who disagree with me for a reason. I want them to find a better way to do things. I give them opportunities to do that. Because I generally wouldn't mind being wrong.
It's not my fault if they don't have any better ideas. Or they just stick their fingers in their ears and hum loudly and hope it will go away.
Gee, not bitter or anything, OL?
Having second thoughts about some of your methods, OL? Or just frustrated at the conflicts?
"So-. So what now?"
"Interceptor, good work. Take a week off to think things over. After that, we're going to make you the face of the successful counterattack."
Yeah, she's probably going to have to rethink her career.
"You're.. going to promote me?"
He nods. "Of course. Between your success rate and practicality, you're an obvious choice. As for our parallel universe friends… Well, that's up to the two of you. I'm gone in a few years anyway. You can release what you know, which might damage the JSI or might -let's not kid ourselves here- be met with casual indifference. Or you can keep it to yourselves. I don't know exactly how powerful a wizard you are, Mister Constantine, but I know very well the kind of collateral damage that happens when people in my weight class fight and I don't think this is worth fighting you over."
Especially if John is willing to tap some of that Orderly or Chaotic power of his. And I notice he threw the choice onto the outsiders.
And John looks at me again.
What?
Well, you are
nominally in charge of this 'mission'.
Is this-? Is he thinking about when the Justice League refused to arrest me over killing Nabu and making the whole thing public?
That wasn't-.
I mean, that whole situation was kind of a 'no
good solution' scenario for all involved.
I don't disagree with-.
I can't.. make a decision that will affect an entire world without knowing far more about it than I.. do. You've got the fucking Blackrock, you decide!
Well, sometimes you
do have to do things without knowing all the information, OL.
…
"I see no particular advantage in releasing the information early, though, John, if you want to, go right ahead. Where are we on getting home?"
And I can see John going 'eh, fuck that, this ain't
my problem.'
"Oh, I think Sivana will spot something went wrong in a little while. Shouldn't have a problem next time." He stands, sliding the Blackrock into his coat pocket as he does so. "Green Arrow and Black Canary have been keeping themselves busy too. Think I'll have a bit of a wander before we leave."
A red crack appears in the air behind him, and he turns and ambles through, closing it behind him.
...You are going to surrender that to the local authorities,
right, John?
Commander Scott turns to me.
"What do you think he'll do?"
"My guess is nothing. I suspect this is about self-awareness or something." I raise my right hand to my forehead. "Interceptor, good luck with the new job. Commander Scott, good luck with the trial. I.. feel a sudden need to engage in uncomplicated good works. Goodbye."
Ah, heading off for a bit of a palate cleanser, eh, OL? Gonna go clean the local ocean
gyres?
