[Archive] With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Story Only)

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
13:59 GMT

Lar-On sits up on his medical bed, staring at me with his eyes wide.

"You-you said it couldn't happen again!"

"That isn't exactly wh-."

"Great Krypton, who did I hurt this time!"

His transformation back into a bloke took most of the black paint with it, but not all. Medically, he checks out fine, and having put the extra effort to scan every single cell in his body for anomalous behaviour or energies… I think he's cured.

But I thought that last time.

We weren't stupid about it. We checked him with Earth's moon in isolated locations on Earth with gold kryptonite available in case something went wrong. He didn't change. We didn't test re-exposure… I vaguely remember that in the comics red kryptonite only altered a single individual once, but that was from an older comic and it got given a lot of other characteristics after that. In this timeline, Superman has made a point of destroying any sample he encounters once he's recovered from the initial exposure so I don't have good data.

"Scrapes and bruises only, and minimal structural damage to the Xenon base."

"I-!" He frowns, eyes dropping. "Xenon? But that's tiny."

"And you were inside it, which meant that you couldn't see a moon-shaped object. Which means that the issue is more conceptual."

"So… So I can just go to Tartarath, and I'll be fine?"

"I don't know."

"What?"

"I mean, I don't know. I mean, I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't be, but if your transformation has some sort of conceptual element, it… Could be."

"W-what do you mean? How many places did you move kryptonian moons to?"

"Just here, but I suggested that they rename Tartarath 'New Krypton'. It has a moon. Does that count?"

"Does it?"

"I don't know. And even if I take you there now and show it to you, does that matter? Or would it only affect you once the name change is generally accepted?"

"Does it?"

"I-."

"You don't know. You don't know. W-what do I do?"

"There are a few experiments we can run. Otherwise, we build a bunker and you lock yourself in whenever there's a full moon at night. Alright?"

He nods hesitantly.

"Up you get, then. No time like the present!"

He nods, rising from his bed and standing on the floor. "What tests?"

"Firstly, we test to see whether or not the moon still affects you."

"I think we tested that already."

"There's a chance that it was a one-off, and we need to check. Then we need to check you after exposing you to this kryptonite sample-."

"Why?"

"Because this is hardly the only sample of red kryptonite which exists. We need to get some idea of what they can do."

"Why do you need me for that? Shouldn't you be doing something in a laboratory with tissue samples?"

"I tried that. Red kryptonite is weirdly pernickety about what it actually works on. And in your case I already know how to stop the effect."

"What did you spray me with?"

"Paint. With no light reaching your skin, the effect ended. But the paint went with your fur and you didn't immediately transform, so either there's a delay, or that's it."

"That's it?"

"I want to test it a few times, but it looks like it."

He considers it for a moment.

"Okay. Let's do it."

I turn off the radiation shields around the room. "Feel anything?" He shakes his head. "Okay, right this way." I open the door and wait outside. The Xenon facility isn't all that large, and it's pretty obvious where we are.

"We're..?"

"As I said, we're fairly sure that it wasn't a problem. Next step…"

"Ah-?"

I take out the tiny fragments of red kryptonite out of subspace and hold them out to him.

"Feel anything?"

"No." He shakes his head. "How long is it supposed to take?"

"The red kryptonite-induced changes I've studied have been instant. So it looks like you're good." I send them back into subspace. "My best guess is that the transformation 'used up' the last of the radiation in your body, but I admit that's based on my observations and not on any theoretical understanding of the underlying mechanisms. And now…"

I generate a zeta tube construct, and he's standing up a little straighter when he walks through. I

follow up, appearing

on Tartarath a moment later. We're on the side of the planet facing away from the sun, and the moon is just rising…

"Feeling anything?"

He looks nervously up at the sky. "No."

"I hereby christen this planet 'New Krypton'! How about now?"

"No. I… Fine?"

"I thought you would be. Unless you have an objection, I'll fly you over to where the new settlement is being set up."

"Yes, please. I think, even if it doesn't affect me, I'd rather be away from Xenon."

"I quite understand. I wish you all success in your future endeavours."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Universe 191
22nd May 1954
01:53 GMT

"…proliferation of such devastating weapons to more countries."

I nod. "Japan will obviously try to develop fission bombs. They have absolutely no reason not to and every reason to do so."

"To what end?"

"To ensure that the United States won't attack them." I make a circling motion with my right hand. "As things stand, there isn't anything to stop the Untied States sending a carrier with heavy bombers on board across the Pacific and levelling Tokyo other than the diligence of the Japanese navy. And without the British and Confederate navy helping them, the United States can out-produce them by a colossal order of magnitude. The only reason why they haven't done so is because the Japanese basically ceded the Pacific and because the people of America don't have the same animus towards them that they do towards the Confederates."

"But if the United States has no intention of going to war with them, why would they need such a destructive weapon?"

I smile. "You answered your own question, there. If they start looking like an easy target, someone in the War Office will eventually suggest that your diplomatic corps lean on them. 'Why not finish the war?', they'll say, 'It's not like they can stop us.'. And the only way Japan can be sure that that won't happen is if they have a weapon that would let them return the favour. If the home islands disappear under mushroom clouds, so does the western seaboard. And as long as the American government believes that will be the result… They won't do it."

"That's… Mad."

"Yes. Mutually Assured Destruction. Each party knows that any war will result in mutual annihilation, so neither party dares attack the other. Take Britain, for example. Sure, the Germans probably aren't happy that we've got a space-based strategic weapon, but how does it actually change their calculations? They're going to maintain their fission bomber wings just in case, to retaliate in case we attack them… But we're not going to, because we can't reliably intercept the bombers that would survive our first strike. And we certainly couldn't stop the ones America would send afterwards. Likewise, even if they snuck fission bombs into every city in Britain and detonated them, they couldn't stop our astronauts retaliating once they found out who did it. So they won't."

"And you believe that if Japan doesn't get their own superbombs, war is inevitable."

"I'm not completely sure it's not inevitable anyway, but…" I nod repeatedly. "Yes."

"So you don't see the point in the treaty."

"'We're allowed these horrible weapons that can destroy entire cities in one blast, and you're not, and you're morally obliged to accept this state of affairs'?" I shrug. "Who can afford to accept something like that? I suspect that Mexico is frantically searching for any Confederate nuclear scientists who dodged the O.S.S. and didn't come here, and I suspect that Brazil is doing something similar. They have to. Anyone who doesn't have a strategic deterrent will inevitably become dominated by those who do. Any expansionist nation needs one as soon as possible. Any non-expansionist nation will need one within a decade… Two at the outside."

"Mister Talwyn, that sounds almost exactly like the alliance block philosophy that caused the Great War to spread out across the entire world."

I wiggle my right forefinger. "No. The difference is that dropping a fission bomb is so-. Darn easy when compared to mass mobilisation. It only takes a handful of people. And because it only takes a handful of people, it can be hidden so much more easily. When the Russian Empire mobilised at the start of the Great War, the Germans had months of notice, during which they could do the same thing. While trying to find a peaceful solution to the dispute." I shake my head. "That's not where we are anymore."

I tilt back my head slightly. Might as well steal all the memorable lines that I can.

"Hah. 'I don't know what weapons will be used to fight the Third Great War, but the fourth will be fought with sticks and rocks'."

"What about all of the countries that have signed up so far?"

"That wasn't a sign of the direction of travel. That was them accepting that they're either too backwards to have a nuclear program at all, or that they don't think they could get away with it before someone -probably Germany- forcibly stopped them. Or it's a play for American or German help with something or other."

"Don't you think that's a little pessimistic?"

"I literally had representatives from America and Germany in my office two weeks ago demanding that I sign." I lean forwards slightly. "They haven't been back since they found out that it was too late."

"The treaty only restricts superbomb production."

"No." I shake my head. "No. Read the full text. The enforcement mechanism involves letting representatives of America and Germany go where they like in a signatory's country, interrogate who they like, demand whatever information they like. Any country that signs becomes a puppet to their new overlords whenever those overlords demand it."

"So that's where you see the world going? A handful of powerful nations that dare not attack one another, and their puppets?"

"Mmm." I think for a moment, then nod. "Basically, yes. The United States will obviously dominate North America when it eventually beats revanchism out of the former Confederates. If Mexico has any sense then they'll ally with Brazil. If they don't, the United States will get them as well, otherwise Brazil will. Brazil gets South America, Japan gets Asia and Australasia, Germany gets Europe -except us- and no one wants Africa. And I say 'except us', but I imagine that we'll see an uptick in trade with Germany as the decades pass."

"Do you think that the alliance between the German Empire and the United States of America will remain in effect?"

"On paper? Yes. There's no real reason for the two of you to fight, and you're both busy consolidating your territorial gains. In practice, without strong enemies to be allied against it's going to lose significance. Neither country really needs to trade with the other, and neither country can really help the other with their internal problems."

"But the relationship won't turn hostile."

"I don't see why it would. Although…" I shrug. "Britain and the United States spent eighty years at loggerheads despite sharing a culture, economic system, language and religion, and having no competing territorial claims, so I suppose anything's possible."

"One last question before we wrap up for the evening. Do you really see no way to ensure lasting peace? No… Worldwide brotherhood of men?"

I think briefly about the second alien fleet drifting through the void towards us, lightly armed but carrying all of the equipment needed to begin a new colony.

"I think that the only thing that could do that would be a threat external to all of us."

"Such as?"

"Men from another world. Men with the patience to cross the vast void between the stars and come here with conquest in their weird alien hearts. I think that if the world was threatened with such an invasion, we would find all nations cooperating to protect human control of our homeworld. And with a little luck, that would stay in place when we made preparations to send a fleet to their homeworld in return, to ensure that they could never threaten us again."

"Men from Mars?"

"No, no. Mars is a frigid desert. I'm talking about further afield. Faster than light travel doesn't violate the laws of physics as we understand them, but even without that there are dozens of types of animal who can hibernate, or even survive being entirely frozen. We can't do that with humans yet, but there's no reason to assume that we're the most advanced species in the galaxy."

"Mankind's only hope for peace and unity is a war with men from another star?"

"Yes."

He works his jaw for a moment, and then for the first time in the interview risks a small smile. "I think the chances of something like that happening are a million to one."

I reach into my pocket and pull out a coin. "One silver dollar. Pre-war." I hold it out to him. "I will take those odds."

"Maybe, but my bank account won't. Mister Talwyn, thank you for speaking to me."

"Thank you."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Motivations

12th August 2013
15:12 GMT

I nod at Superman.

"Magic probes revealed that everyone was under the effect of an intelligence suppressor, from about the time that Dru-Zod appeared. The only exception was Amon, which was probably because his magic protects him from things like that automatically."

He nods. "And your ring doesn't?"

I shake my head. "My heavy armour does, there's a… Thing in the helmet. But do you remember that thing a few years ago with Bane?"

He thinks for a moment. "He used Doctor Psycho's brain as a telepathic weapon."

"Just so. I tried it with M'gann and it's possible to work around telepathic intrusion with a power ring, but it's not something… Not something I could keep up full time."

He nods. "I'm the same with the theta wave state. People who master it are supposed to be able to leave it running as by that stage it's completely instinctual, but I'm not quite there yet."

Jordan nods. "Any idea where it was coming from?"

"No. No sign of any sort of device that could have that effect on the Xenon base, no teleport residue, nothing. No sign of a curse or implant on anyone who was there. General Dru-Zod claims to have had no idea it was going to happen and that he just took advantage of circumstances." I shrug. "Which was a pretty good show of initiative on his part, but is completely credible as an answer."

Jordan sags slightly. "Great. The trial of the century is happening in my Sector and my brain can get turned off at any time."

"Well, on the plus side, sir-"

His eyes narrow. "Watch it."

"-this isn't technically your Sector, so it's really Lantern Stewart and Lantern Savenlovich's problem."

"Arisia wants to go, and there's no sense sending more than one Green Lantern." I frown-. "Fully qualified Green Lantern."

Arnus looks pensive. "Do you have any idea how to prevent it from happening again?"

"A full mind shield system should do it. Everyone would have to wear full body armour because there are ways to get in via the peripheral nervous system. I can put something together for everyone inside an hour."

"That would be… Militaristic."

"Yes."

"And therefore inappropriate for a civilian tribunal."

"Xudar is a good deal more sane in its technological development than Earth is. They're laying on extra security and screening all visitors. And we know everyone on Earth who has interstellar capacity. Other than asking Amon to stick by the prisoners every step of the-."

"Hey, guys!" William Batson strolls into the meeting room in Captain Marvel mode. "Osiris told me about the brain drain ray."

We all perk up slightly, Superman nodding. "Are you free to attend the trial?"

He winces. "Ah, no. Sorry. But Mary Marvel can. That way, Osiris won't have to try staying awake all day."

Jordan smirks. "You can do that, can you?"

William looks awkward for a moment. "Yeah, but it's not a good idea."

Jordan nods. "Tell me about it."

"I'd… Rather not. It was pretty embarrassing, and-."

"No, I mean, I did the same thing when I got my ring." He shrugs. "It wasn't easy working two full time jobs, so I tried cutting out sleep. Not a smart thing to do."

"Oh." William looks reassured, his eyes drifting towards me.

"No. I am a paragon of flawless judgement and am offended you would even think that."

"Ah…" He looks thoughtful. "That brain drain ray isn't still affecting you, right?"

Superman clears his throat. "What have you told Mary's parents?"

"That we're going camping, with my uncle supervising us."

"And if they check..?"

"We're in a cell phone dead zone with no reception. And we're actually gunna be there." He shrugs. "It'll only take us a few seconds to fly back to Fawcett each day, and my Justice League communicator will still work."

Superman nods. "Okay, good. Does she know that if he's found guilty, he'll be executed?"

"Um." William looks confused. "Did you think we didn't see people die after the Anti-Life happened?"

Kal-El sags slightly. "Ah. No, I suppose not."

"At least this time he deserves it. Ah, not that I want to prejudge the trial. If he did it, I mean." He turns to Arnus. "Has he said anything about that?"

"It would not be appropriate to discuss my client's defense strategy."

"Oh. No, okay, I-. I guess you've got a point. Is Lar-On okay?"

"Yes. Unless Superman wants to volunteer for further studies-"

He shakes his head. "I don't."

"-then I'm as sure as I can be that he won't transform again. The red kryptonite samples are in subspace, so-."

Superman frowns. "Why didn't you just destroy them?"

"Well, because in the long term I think red kryptonite should be studied in case it can be used to do something useful. And I can't think of anywhere I could put them that's more secure."

"Can't you just get more from Krypton?"

"Yes, but werewolves have rapid regeneration. You saw what happened whenever you hurt Lar-On. These flakes could save someone's life."

He doesn't look happy, but he does nod. "Okay, that's a good point. Just keep it away from me."

"Would-?"

"Unless I'm dying. Then you can expose me to it."

"I will bear that in mind. So, ah… If there's nothing else, we can transport the prisoners to their holding cells on Xudar?"

Jordan shrugs. "What happens if we get ambushed on the way?"

"Xudar can try the survivors as well. Dru-Zod didn't have a lot of supporters, and anyone who might have been sympathetic died when Krypton was destroyed. The people who hate him most have approved the trial. I can't think of any reason anyone else would want to intervene."

Jordan and Arnus look at Kal-El, who nods.

"Then let's get this show on the road."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
16:01 GMT

"The Doomsday."

Dru-Zod regards me levelly as I enter the detainment area. I'm wearing full armour in case intelligence suppression is the result of some sort of Phantom Zone magic or something. It turns out that while kryptonian marines did wear power armour, it was slimmer and usually not worn on board the ship. The corridors are just about large enough for me, but it's a close thing, and if someone's coming the other way it's a decidedly awkward dance back to the nearest side corridor.

"It's nearly worth it just to see it active once more."

"I'm glad that you're enjoying it."

"You look like us, but you're not one of us. What are you?"

"We're called 'humans'. Forgive me if I don't want to give someone with your record other information about my species."

"Are you a party to my 'trial'?"

"I facilitated it. I'm not a judge, jurist or witness."

"My 'counsellor' advised me not to discuss my defence strategy, and he stuck me as the sort of being who would do his best for his client regardless of other concerns. But if you're not taking part, is there a reason not to explain myself to you?"

"I'm a little surprised that you're prepared to talk to an alien this freely."

"The Kryptonian Empire ruled over dozens of alien-inhabited possession worlds. Do you think that at the height of our power we acted like the sterile biddies of the Science Council? No, we interacted with them freely, as you have no doubt seen in Karsta Wor-Ul." He sighs. "Oh, I wish she could have been there for the uprising. We would have rallied so many more people." He shakes his head, eyes downcast. "Do you realise what would have happened if I'd won?"

"You would have begun a wave of shipbuilding and taken kryptonian society back to the stars."

He looks up. "Yes! Exactly!"

"Depending on how you went about it, that might have resulted in the entire Sector teaming up against you-"

"Pshah."

"-and since the overwhelming majority of your population would have still been on Krypton and since I doubt that you'd have listened to Jor-El, the destruction of your homeworld would have had a similar result to what actually happened."

"That's just it; I did believe Jor-El."

I pause, blinking. "You did? Because he never tried to take over the planet."

"Did you ever think about what would have happened if he had?"

"No. But I suppose that if he… Hacked some Eradicator androids and held the Science Council incommunicado… There wasn't any way for him to actually save the planet, but he could have begun shipbuilding and send out a general call for help. Since he knew Tomar-Re, the Green Lantern Corps would probably have been prepared to assist with relocating a lot of the population, if not all of it. Heck, they might have ended up settling the same planet as we're putting them now. It would have been a major loss, but your civilisation would have recovered."

"So why didn't he try?"

"Not knowing him personally it's impossible for me to say. Because he believed that they'd eventually come around? Because he didn't think it would work? Because despite everything he was inclined to obey the rules-?"

"YES!"

And there's the maniac I thought we were getting.

"Because he might have found out what was going to happen to us, but the only person he cared to save was his own son!"

"And his niece."

"What?"

"Yeah, ah, Zor-El believed him, and they assembled an escape pod thing for Kara Zor-El. They didn't get it away in time and she ended up stuck in a radioactive asteroid for a few decades, but she did survive."

"House El had access to more resources to work with in constructing their small spacecraft, and their access to our data networks was less closely monitored than anyone else. And yet I'd be astonished if you found any other such pods."

I shake my head. "I checked. As far as I can tell, there were no other launches."

Dru-Zod nods. "Of course. That was where Har-Zod went wrong. He assumed that people were intelligent. That if you put information in front of them, they'll take it in and make a rational decision."

"Well that's obviously not going to work."

He nods. "It didn't. It left the Science Council free to talk complete nonsense while he didn't challenge it. And do you think they did the same thing when they came to power?"

"Indoctrination, censorship, active suppression of alternate viewpoints?"

"Jor-El had to hold public rallies!"

"How primitive."

"That's what we were reduced to: shouting the truth on the streets like a deranged alien demagogue!"

"'We'?"

"Who do you think was ordered to suppress them? Do you think the councillors-" He gestures upwards and to his right with both hands. "-came down from their crystal towers to do it? No. They left it to what was left of the Military Council. Guild. They even changed the name! Centuries of bringing order to the entire region with our blood and strength and they called us tradesmen!"

"So did you..? Not suppress it?"

"I did the bare minimum I had to. He wasn't an actual threat, and I needed to find out if he was actually telling the truth. I made contact with Non-Du, and asked for a copy of Jor-El's original research."

"How were you going to check it?"

"We don't all follow the paths set out by our family history. There were people -trustworthy people- I could show it to and find out if it was plausible."

"And they said yes?"

"I had to pretend it was a theoretical exercise before they would even consider it. Some… Alien world we had to evacuate. With… Ships we didn't have. And they finally said that he was probably right and.. that the intelligent thing to do was to not risk any sort of rescue. And then I went back to Non, and eventually found him in an alley with that bleeding cut on his forehead."

"Someone working for the Science Council?"

"I assumed, but…" He raises his hands. "I was never able to confirm."

"And Timaron?"

"A distraction. I hoped to lure the council guard away… Or perhaps to motivate the council to build more ships out of fear of what the other aliens might do. In the end I achieved neither, and Jor-El foiled my putsch attempt."

"That was a lot of people to kill for a distraction."

He stands alert, back straight, arms by his side. "I existed only to protect Krypton. That is the sole purpose for which I was born. And every action I took, no matter how violent or how cruel, was for the greater good of my people. I might have saved everyone, but for the Council and Jor-El. If these aliens execute me, then I will die knowing that I did everything I could."