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

[Mr Zoat]

3rd July 2282
19:07 MTZ

I smile as I head away from the Pueblo City fortifications, the piles of burning super mutant corpses lighting up the evening behind me.

Cerberus is still a threat, but this particular thrust of his… Its? Army has been ended on the banks of the Arkansas River. Tomorrow, we press on and destroy their campsite and begin destroying the tendrils of Cerberus's flesh that have extended this far from Los with the aid of Brain's trained super mutant hunting giant mole rats, while AA-equipped sentry bots from the Denver Defence Network keep the cazadors off us. All around Cerberus's territory the peoples I've brought together are starting to engage Cerberus's forces in what I hope are overwhelming numbers; Guerra and Santa Anna working their way up from the south, Texas in the east and WARDEN in the north.

Caesar's Legion aren't helping, and that's why the NCR army has stopped on their own side of the Colorado River. Our planned offensive into Legion territory won't be happening for a while, and… Mr Sallow wasn't willing to make a pact that would see him joining in our crusade himself. There are a few Speculatores keeping an eye on us to make sure that we don't swing around and attack him from the east -which we will of course, but not until after Los is a burning hole in the ground filled with roasted Cerberus- but he's otherwise avoiding the whole mess. I imagine that he's hoping that we'll weaken each other so much that he'll have time to regroup and retrench.

What's actually going to happen is that as the result of Centurion Paullus's rampage everyone in both Mexico and New Mexico hates the Legion except President Vialla and I already turned him. Which means that this campaign will serve to unify-.

"Hey Krono!"

I tense up as the hulking form of a C-22 Humanoid Robot appears out of the darkness, then immediately relax again as I see the LED visor showing three pink hearts mounted on the front of its head.

"Good evening, Doki."

Even in the madness of the Wasteland, Doki Doki is an… Odd one. The result of an inexplicable series of upgrades made to a pre-War personal computer by the robotic juggernaut ARGOS, Doki Doki is a fully sentient pre-War Japanese dating simulator who rules the area of eastern Colorado around Robot City. Virtually the entire population of her lands are robots, some of whom were parts of the Denver Defence Network before the war and the others just… Just sort of wandered here because of ARGOS's beacon and the lack of any contrary orders. Once they arrive Doki loads a portion of her program into them, and…

I'm just glad that weird love polyhedron she was trying to set up between herself, ARGOS, ODYSSEUS and WARDEN is done with. I'm not completely sure that WARDEN understands what he won, but…

It gets pretty strange in Robot City, is what I'm saying.

The heart on the left is replaced with a waving hand, while the heart on the right is replaced by a winking eye. It's a strange thing to see on an eight foot tall war robot.

"Not yet, but it's going to get better!"

Okay, as far as I know Doki is largely indifferent to human suffering and death. Her thoughts revolve entirely around romantic relationships, which means that she prefers humans to the sterile asexual super mutants, but she's got a city full of robots with personalities derived from dating sim characters to play around with so she doesn't appear to feel the need to reach out to gather more toys.

"Oh? Who's the lucky man/woman/other?" Actually… "Have you found a female talking deathclaw? I heard rumours that-."

"No! But I was talking to Commander Carlton Alwyn-" The man in charge of the Sky Walkers' forces in this area. "-earlier and he told me that you're SINGLE!"

Oh shit.

"Doki, it's not-."

"And that you haven't even dated!"

"I've… Been busy. There've been quite a lot of wars-."

"You're a chief!" Wink eye becomes a crown. "You've done more for your tribe than any chief before you!" Waving hand becomes a 1st place medal. "Your whole tribe wants you to get married!"

"A… Few… People have… Mentioned something along those lines?"

I mean, I lost my virginity to Mesmerelda, a clinically insane raider who thought that she was a magician. And she was killed and eaten by an actual magician. It's not as if I was strongly attached to her or anything, but…

The robot lunges forward, all three emoticons replaced by smiling faces with hearts in their eyes!

"But that's okay! Because Doki Doki-"

"Doki Doki." / "Doki Doki." / "Doki Doki." / "Doki Doki." / "Doki Doki." / "Doki Doki."

I look around cautiously as I hear the other robots from the Robot City contingent echo her declaration.

"-is here to help!"

THUD.

"Okay? Do you..? Want to introduce me to some people?"

THUD.

"Yes!"

THUD.

I nod. Alright, I'm sure that I can survive a few dating minigames-

THUD.

Brilliant lights shine from the riverbank, provoking shouts of alarm from the encampment!

THUD.

"ARGOS HAS ARRIVED AT DESTINATION."

Thirty metres tall. Thirty metres wide. Sixty five metres long, not including the tail. Missile pods, anti-missile lasers, Gatling lasers, armour that would put a main battle tank to shame, six giant legs and a 'face' made up of a smiling speaker grille and a couple of armoured cameras.

"PRISONERS READY FOR RETURN."

"Ah, pr-?" I turn back to Doki. "Prisoners?"

The three emoticons now show a pair of interlocked rings, a ball and chain and a simple depiction of a map.

"PRISONERS of LOVE! ARGOS just needed to have his capture protocols edited a little!"

Oh no.

"All PRISONERS of LOVE have been selected for maximum compatibility based on available data!"

Oh no.

"Which wasn't very much!" Three question mark emoticons. "But I'm confident that at least one will be a good match!" Three green ticks.

"How..?" I glance at the huge robot standing on the shoreline. Huge and powerful, but not all that fast and not at all subtle. "How exactly did ARGOS capture them?"

"Satellite guided bondage missiles!"

…

I'm going to have a great many people to apologise to after this, aren't I?

"And... What happens to unsuccessful applicants?"

"They come back in the sequel to sabotage your relationship out of jealousy! No harem route here!"

"Okay. So, if this is a-"

THUD. THUD. THUD.

Argus turns and through a slot in the outside of one of ARGOS's hull-mounted prisoner detainment pods I get a glimpse of the enraged face of General Veronica Guerra, daughter of President Dante Guerra.

I mean… She's not incompatible with me. Or it didn't seem like she was in the meeting we were both in where we didn't exchange two words.

"-contest of some sort, where is it taking place?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
20:05 GMT +1

Behind me, Karl clears his throat, prompting me to turn back around. Something-. Yes, I think he recognises me.

"You are this reality's Paul Freeman."

I frown. "Half-right."

"Ah, of course. It is not his real name. Are you under the same restriction?"

I nod. "I can't say my name, and neither can any other version of me I've met. And I've met a lot of parallel versions of me, but I don't think I've met yours."

He glances at Angelika, and she nods.

"In our world… A person such as him would not be trusted with a power ring."

"Is this about our great grandfather? Because Angelika said it wasn't that big a deal."

"I do not understand. Did your great grandfather fight in the Second Great War?"

"It's more that he wasn't Anglo-Saxon." I frown. "I think he'd have been too old for the regular military in the Second World War, but I can't say that I ever checked."

Though in that timeline, if he existed, he would probably have been in a Home Guard unit. And probably killed during the invasion of Britain. Or given his likely appearance, shortly afterwards.

"Ah. No, it was not his genetic background, but his attitude to history and culture. He was imprisoned for a time, but is now free."

Angelika looks puzzled. "I have never met him." Karl looks slightly awkward. "Did you find him after I… Left?"

"I did not want you… You know that I did not like to expose you to that part of-."

"And look what happened!" Angelika spreads her arms out wide, indicating Germany. "Do you know how many people I carelessly insulted when I came here?"

"Ah, you two clearly need time to catch up, but is there anything that we need to talk about right now?"

Karl nods. "Have you attempted to access my universe?"

I shake my head. "We couldn't make sense of the portal Angelika came through. Without any sort of way to track which parallel she came from… I mean, we did try, but the technology isn't there."

"No one from here has come to our universe?"

"Not as far as I know." I shrug. "We haven't been completely open with the general public about where Angelika comes from, but they know that she's not from here originally. If someone from the Justice League has found time to open a portal they haven't told us about it, same with independent laboratories. Heck, we had worldwide jammers up in an attempt to prevent this sort of thing."

"You have had previous encounters with parallel universes, then?"

"I've met literally hundreds of different versions of me. We've had a couple of encounters with a parallel universe where the dominant super powered group was an international crime syndicate and a… Another without native human life which a man from the far future was using for biological experimentation, but I think we got international agreement on the jammers because people conflated parallel universe invasions with time travel invasions, and that was the big one."

"A time travel invasion?"

"The Sheeda. Humans from the far future, who I assume you haven't met because they're not in your future. But there's a reason why advanced physics research is getting very focused funding and people are being firmly discouraged from opening gateways to parallel universes. Why do you ask?"

"We have been attacked by demonically… Corrupted superhumans. I had feared that that was where Angelika had been sent, but even though I am-" He smiles at her. "-overjoyed that she is safe, that leaves open the question of where they come from."

I generate a construct of Demon Supergirl and the sarcophagus we found her in.

"Did they look like this?"

Overman flickers as he moves around the images to better study them.

"I do not recognise the sarcophagus, but the distortion of the mouth? Yes, that is what they look like. Who was she?"

"We think she is Kara Zor-El."

He looks mildly surprised. "She is alive?"

"Yes? By a combination of kryptonite and theurgy, we were able to take her down without… Lasting physical damage. She's still completely out of it mentally, so there isn't much point in trying to question her at this stage and I wouldn't want to risk a telepath's sanity to force the issue. We also might have captured their version of Nabu. Doctor Mist is interrogating him now." I frown. "You haven't captured any of them alive?"

"The cultists have suicide devices in their heads. I have not wanted to risk the lives of my soldiers in trying to take them alive. And I have not wanted to risk civilians by pulling my punches when I stop their superhumans."

Angelika's face falls. "How many have there been?"

"Fourteen with superhumans. Dozens without. Your team are all well, but there have been many deaths. We do not even know what they want."

"Your version of me. What power ring did he have when he appeared?"

"Orange, like you."

"If you want to find out what motivates someone, orange power rings have some rather useful functionality in that regard."

A mild frown. "He did not mention that."

"How long did he have it for?"

"Two days."

"There you go. I like to think that I'm pretty good with-" I hold up my rings. "-my rings, but I didn't get this good in two days. After two days I was struggling to maintain my focus in combat situations, let alone do anything clever."

"There is no particular reason why the ring could not be returned to him. But our tests showed that those who used it became mentally unstable."

"If you're not ready for it. I used to perform an hour of meditation a day, making sure I maintained an awareness of all of my desires and objectives. It is a risk, but it's a manageable one."

"He also does not have a lantern to recharge it with."

"I can sort him out there. I can make my.. own."

How likely do I think it is that Truggs has… What, provoked a planet full of demon-tainted superheroes into attacking a world with a national socialist-derived society? I mean, if someone asked them I could sort of see them trying to justify it in those terms, but… As Angelika said, the genocide was conducted before she was born. You could justify it if the people you were unleashing the demons against were the people who carried it out, but I hardly think that it's the same when the people you're attacking are their great grandchildren.

And it's not as if the demons would care anyway.

"How long has it been happening for?"

"It began not long after Angelika vanished. That was why I assumed that the two events were linked."

"Is anyone going to be following you?"

"No."

"Okay, then I think we need to head back to the Watchtower and find out what Dr. Mist has learned."

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd July 2282
20:21 MTZ

Tibbets Prison. Unusually for the pre-War United States -and doubly so for anything related to Project Safehouse- it was a surprisingly moral institution, focusing on rehabilitating its inhabitants without torture or mind control or explosive neck braces. Really, the only thing dodgy about it is that some of the machinery was being field tested here and so wasn't completely reliable. Given that it was being field tested for the vaults, that means that it started breaking down after a mere century after the War rather than lasting until the present day. A lot of the people in the surrounding settlements can trace their ancestry back to prisoners who completed their sentences here and were released after the bombs fell.

And then that lunatic Victor Presper tried to trick the AI into wiping out most of the surviving American population, but he's been terminally dealt with now.

ODYSSEUS's programming won't let us do the sensible thing and turn the prison into a town, but it was the best prison in the former United States. ODYSSEUS has been perfectly happy to let WARDEN send prisoners here, and I've been able to convince President Kimball to send captured raiders this way rather than just shooting them. WARDEN has provided the resources to bring the place fully up to specification, and my specialists have been able to provide the design schematics necessary for ODYSSEUS to make improvements.

The… Stage area is a new development.

Why did she pick today? We have a war to fight tomorrow. And yes, I'm not personally needed-.

**Chief Krono!**

The slight tremor in the mental signal implies that someone's using a booster choir to reach me here in Colorado. I don't need one to reply, but that sort of a thing is a strain to everyone involved.

**Krono here.**

**Miss Vialla has been abducted by a giant robot!**

I watch as ARGOS pulls up-

THUD.

-alongside the new inmate walkway and open his hatches, Miss Vialla cautiously exiting the third opening.

**Yes, I know. I'm looking at both her and the robot now. She appears unharmed.**

**Her bodyguards have already informed President Vialla.**

**[Calm] Then they're doing their job. Please assure President Vialla that I have the matter in hand. It will not be necessary to assemble a rescue team.**

**Ahhhh…**

**Ahhhh?**

**According to the Brotherhood of Steel, the robot also abducted Elder Katherine Törni of the Alamo Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel. They were pursuing it in vertibirds.**

Ah yes. There she is. I don't know.. why; the Alamo Brotherhood represent the worst tech-stealing head-in-the-sand aspects of the Brotherhood's character. I spoke to her exactly once when I was trying to rally support in Mexico and got precisely nowhere. Once I talked Santa Anna into focusing on developing Mexico into a beacon of success and so encourage Texans to want to be governed by him I rather stopped thinking about them.

**And he jumped on board and is heading this way?**

**Yes.**

I'm a.. little surprised that they let him, but I suppose that they needed a local guide.

President Nguyen looks my way as she heads cautiously down her wire-enfenced walkway, and I awkwardly wave. I think she knows who Elder Törni is, but I doubt that she'll recognise Miss Vialla. Ah, there's General Guerra. And… That's Veronica Santangelo. She's a lesbian. And married. Why did-?

Crazy robot is crazy. Right.

**Have we had any other reports of a giant robot abducting people?**

**No.**

**Okay. Thank you for warning me. I do not believe further action is necessary, but please contact me again in eight hours for confirmation.**

THUD.

Another woman, dressed in the loose fitting homespun clothes I'm most familiar with being worn by New Canaanites, combined with face paints of the sort usually worn by Ammonites, disembarks from ARGOS. I don't even know who she is.

**Yes Krono.**

I blink as I lose the connection, the women who Doki thinks are suitably armigerous reaching the end of their walkways and taking positions at their podiums, the small electronic scoreboards attached to the front displaying 00.

"Doki, who is that?"

"Tears-In-The-Rain! She is the eldest daughter of Chief Balm-Upon-Wounds of the Ammonites! Her father wanted his children to grow up in houses rather than tents, and she wants to carry on their ascent up the civilization tree! She matches you on the metrics of aspiration and hard work!"

Her avatar robot's head rotates towards me, left and right emoticon being left and right curling biceps while the central one is a grinning face.

"Are you interested?!"

"I just.. didn't recognise her."

THUD.

"That's an Assaultron."

"She's an Assaultron! Definitely feminine!"

In the sense that they have nuclear power plants in the upper torsos while the cheaper Protectrons have batteries mounted mid-torso, along with legs designed for powerful thrusts rather than the slow toddle that Protectrons do, resulting in 'breasts' and broader hips. Someone in RobCo -and according to him it wasn't Robert Edwin House- decided that the thing to do therefore was give them all female voices.

"Her name is KL dash E dash Zero, but she accepts Kleo, and she likes killing and tools for killing!"

One of which she has built into her face. Though she doesn't appear to be unduly troubled by her environment, even taking the time to stroke one of ARGOS's missile pods with her right claw-hand before progressing down the gantry.

"And how is she a match for me?"

"Your strongest social relationship is with Mister Goris! He is stronger and faster than you, providing you with constant high-quality protection! As your girlfriend, Kleo could do the same, in addition to being able to interface with pre-War systems and technology!"

…

Just go with it.

That appears to be all of the contestants… Not sure whether to be relieved or horrified.

"No Diana?"

The left emoticon is the tree symbol of Twin Mothers, Diana's tribe. Then come an 'X', and lastly an image of Tlaloc. These are then replaced by the dread letters: 'O' 'T' and 'P'.

"And how can I argue with that?"

I look up to where all of the women are at their podiums, looking either nervous (Veronica and Tears-In-The-Rain), blank (Kleo) or angry (the rest). Looking up a little further I see that the inmates have gathered at viewing galleries all around the courtyard, looking down on the show with the same bewilderment that I feel.

**Ladies, I'm very sorry about this.**

Doki marches towards the centre of the courtyard, half-dragging me behind her.

And those are television cameras why are there television came-?

"WELCOME, CONTESTANTS, TO 'THE WASTELAND'S MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR'!"

…

**I promise that this wasn't my idea.**

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
19:16 GMT

"Hey Suuuuuuu…" Mr. Queen takes a better look at Overman's uniform. "You're not Supes."

Overman's expression doesn't display any nervousness he might be feeling. "English is not my first language. 'Soups' is my counterpart?"

Mr. Queen takes in the lightning bolt variant of the 'S' of House El on his chest, then stares at me in disbelief. "You wanna explain-."

"You are the Green Arrow."

"And you're Supernazi."

Overman's mouth widens involuntarily into a surprised smile, then he flicks his eyes up to the ceiling. "An entire world of Freemans."

"Free men. And yeah, it is."

Overman raises his right hand. "No, you misunderstand me. In my heart I disavowed national socialism decades ago. The people of much of my Earth have freedoms similar to what you are used to-."

"Your Jews are free, are they?"

"All of our Jews are dead, Green Arrow. And unless you have walked into a still-functioning murder factory yourself, as I have, please do not imply that you understand the horror of it. I am here to-."

"Recognized, Superman, zero one."

Overman looks curiously at the zeta tube. "That is not Kryptonian technology."

"Great, Supes can deal with this." Shaking his head, Mr. Queen heads towards the elevator, a path that takes him closer to me. "Paul, I'm gunna get a breath of fresh air."

I look out of the window at the Watchtower's internal forest. "Of course. But do I need to point out the fact that Overgirl-?"

"Yeah, don't assume I'm overjoyed about that either, but she wasn't born 'til it was over. That's a big distinction."

He looks back as Kal-El and Kal-El study each other. Then he shakes his head and completes his journey to the lift.

Superman offers Overman his right hand. "Welcome to Earth 16."

"Thank you." He takes it, watching his counterpart's eyes and they cautiously shake. Superman knows from his Torquasm lessons that Overman is a good deal stronger than him when he exerts himself. "I wish it were under better circumstances. Being invaded by demons is not a pleasant experience."

"I.. hope we can work together to solve that problem for both our worlds."

"I do as well. But I have met enough alternate versions of myself that I doubt that is the first question that comes to your mind."

Superman exhales. "Of course not. I am wondering what would have happened if my pod had landed somewhere else."

"You were a Kansas?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"Most of us are, whatever era they came to Earth in. When a thing happens often enough it is not hard to find one who has not kept it a secret. I met a Russian communist version of us once, and only avoided violence by pointing out the futility of us fighting one another."

"Guess I've got something else to be grateful to my parents for."

"You.. refer to your foster parents?"

"Yes. I.. almost hate to ask, but-."

Overman looks away awkwardly for a moment. "They always ask if it was Hitler. It wasn't Hitler."

"Well, who was it?"

"I did not have one." He shakes his head. "Hitler could not make up his mind. One week I was under the care of Artur Axmann, then next my father was Ulbrecht Kant. You would know him as the first Ubermensch."

"I think Diana.. may have mentioned him once or twice."

"His sister Helga was the closest I had to a stable mother figure. I found out later that it was deliberate; they did not want their 'Man of Tomorrow' to feel personal loyalty to any one person. Other than the Fuhrer, but it was clear to all but the most ideologically blind that he could not raise a child."

"Well, you… Seem to have gotten over the whole thing."

He closes his eyes, and for a moment I see-. Oh, goodness, it's not just the Nazi thing. He wants out of his life.

"No. But perhaps we should return to business. What progress have your magicians made with tracing the origin?"

Superman rises a little way into the air. "We can go and ask Doctor Mist. Orange Lantern's message said that you'd been working on the problem for a while. Why-?"

Overman follows him, and they fly in the direction of Dr. Mist's workshop. "After the Thulists were purged, there was little official tolerance for magicians. Atlantis cooperates with the surface world only as much as they must."

Superman frowns. "Surely if you're being invaded by demons-."

Angelika puts her right hand on my shoulder as I move to follow them, so I stop and look at her.

"Could you..? Make a shield?"

I nod, creating a bubble that should prevent even an augmented kryptonian from hearing us inside it. In addition to an extra-thick shield I add an excited plasma layer that should confuse any exotic elements to his hearing.

"Done."

"How bad is he?"

"Pretty darn bad. I'm honestly not sure that he wouldn't opt to stay here if we asked."

"What about Lena?"

"Who?"

She blinks. "I haven't mentioned her? Lena Kant?"

"Not that I remember. We haven't.. actually spent all that much time talking about your home life. Outside of the obvious."

"She is his wife."

Ah…

I shrug awkwardly. "I didn't…" I look in his direction. "If you.. had to characterise their relationship-."

"He wants to divorce her, doesn't he?"

"He wants to not be associated with her, but there's another desire to live up to certain parts of national socialist ideology relating to family structures."

Angelika shakes her head. "She would be disgraced if Karl ended the marriage. I told you that childless women-."

"Are disrespected. And Karl can't have children with a human woman." I think for a moment. "She hates you, doesn't she?"

"She hates a great many people. I think that she fell in love with Karl's propaganda image, and hates that he has failed to live up to her expectations. Or perhaps she was always a bitch; I only met her long after the romance had died."

"I.. think that's going to have to be a problem for another day." I drop the shield. "Let's go and see what Doctor Mist has learned."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
19:21 GMT

"…access their world."

So this is where the machine the Sivanas built to send us to Witch World ended up.

Dr. Balewa gestures to the inscriptions drawn onto a portion of the device controlling the start and end points. Further runes link that to the chair Mike's sitting on, Nabu's skull-helmet still on his head. Looks like… Steering and anchoring.

Not sure how I'll feel if it turns out that Dr. Balewa only needed an hour or so to bypass the whole 'need a host to use magic' restriction.

Overman is taking a closer look at the helmet.

"This came from their world?"

"Yes. That's one of the functions of the orange light; I can turn people into constructs. Then they become my slaves."

He looks understandably concerned. "Slaves-?"

"Do not be so confident. I have overcome domination spells before."

"I only use it in cases where the target is irredeemable and there's an operational reason to keep them around. In this case, we need access to his Earth and… You don't have to talk to him for long to realise that he's a lost cause."

"I had assumed that you would not use such methods."

Superman gives me a mildly disappointed look.

"We don't. The Justice League don't."

"But sometimes it's really convenient if someone who isn't a member does something and shares what they learned. Superman, I would honestly be happy to debate the efficacy of lethal force with you-. Oh."

I frown.

"Something wrong?"

"If the angels hadn't destroyed the Sword of the Fallen I might have been able to use it to turn him back. One of… Larfleeze's Construct-Lanterns is a Guardian. Even if he ended up back as… They used to be before bonding with their symbiotes, it would still have been a big help for the Green Lantern Corps." I shrug. "Missed opportunity. Sorry. Carry on."

"I would have bound him in ways just as unpleasant and far less reliable. With evil spirits, a magician's options are limited."

Superman looks at Nabu. "What happened to you?"

"I realised how worthless everything I'd ever done and every belief I'd ever had was."

"And so you decided to lash out at everyone around you?"

"You were most persuasive."

Superman blinks, then I see his eyes flick towards Overman for an instant.

"What happened?"

"No. You'll need me to pass undetected through their wards. I want to see your face when you-."

"You're not a free agent, Nabu. Tell him what he wants to know."

"You did."

Superman nods. "I thought that was what you meant. Was I-. Was there something wrong with me from the start?"

"No. You were a virtuous hero. Until you weren't. Or perhaps you were feigning virtue all along. That seems more likely. I certainly wouldn't have tolerated Lois Lane for as long as you did. How many times can a woman fall from a building before it becomes obvious that the problem is her? I wasn't there to witness the change myself, and by the time I returned to the material universe it seemed unimportant."

"So Demon Superman rules over the Earth."

"If you can call it ruling. He mostly just sits there and listens to the misery of the surviving population. I imagine that his super hearing allows him to hear all of it. I wonder how it will make you feel."

"Sick to my stomach, probably. But I'll sleep better at night knowing that I did something than knowing that I did nothing."

"I doubt that. But far be it for me to stop you."

Overman looks thoughtful.

"What is your Superman trying to achieve?"

"Little to nothing. Whatever the netherfiends whispering in his head tell him. I have no particular insight."

"And the other heroes?"

"They are his creatures now, ruined in mind and soul. Monstrous beasts without the intellect he himself maintains."

"And the mark thing?"

"Ritual humiliation. He breaks their will as he breaks their world."

"That doesn't sound like me. If anything, it sounds like Darkseid."

"Darkseid is hardly the only great evil in the universe. In time, you will be just as bad."

"I don't believe that for a moment. I just met a Nazi version of myself and even he's trying to be a better man." Superman looks over to Overman. "How old did you say you were?"

"I arrived on Earth in nineteen thirty nine. If that is when I was born, then I am seventy three."

"Then it sounds like I've got a little while. Doctor Mist, can you get us there?"

Dr. Balewa nods. "I can open a portal to their Earth. But if I went through myself, I may have difficulty adapting to a world saturated with demon magic."

"Angelica?"

"Yes?"

"Ah, no, Angelica Blaze. Her or Zauriel. Theurgy should still work, shouldn't it?"

He nods. "I believe so. But it would also draw the attention of the entire world."

"We can't fight everyone on the planet, not if we want to save them." Superman nods. "Call them in, but have them on stand by. What do you say, Overman?"

"You want to save them?"

"If an evil version of us has taken over and corrupted the place, I'd say it's our job to fix it."

Overman watches his face for a moment and then looks away, smiling.

"Yes. Let us save these poor huddled masses. I assume that you will not countenance the use of lethal force?"

Superman looks at me for a moment.

"If there-. If there are situations where you can't avoid it without innocent people dying… But try not to."

Overman nods, and Superman flies towards the portal.

"Doctor, send us through."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
19:26 GMT

Back on Earth Prime, there once was a deal between Marvel and Detective Comics wherein they gave each other the opportunity to use near-copies of each other's characters.

DC took Doctor Octopus, Magneto and Doctor Doom and made Gorgon, Doctor Diehard and Lord Havok. I never read any of the original comics, but they were brought back briefly when the Captain Atom version of Monarch went on a rampage in a fairly pointless crossover event that didn't go anywhere.

Marvel took the Justice League and made Squadron Supreme, which I didn't read either. But years later they brought them back in Supreme Power, which started strong and then sort of stopped. I bought the first couple of collections because I liked…

I glance awkwardly at Overman and Angelika as they survey the devastation below us.

Because I liked that take on Superman's origin. Obviously if his pod came to Earth in the modern era it would be detected by deep space monitoring equipment, to say nothing of the radar stations in the United States. So their Superman -eventually going by the name Hyperion- is found by farmers in Kansas, and then an hour or so later their home gets raided by a black operations assault team and the child is forcibly removed. He then gets brought up in…

That's not really relevant. But looking down at the mud plane that appears to have been created by the destruction of the Three Gorges Dam, I do remember a later issue where a scientist who studied him tries to accurately describe what would happen if he decided that he wanted to kill as many people as possible and quickly as possible.

Target infrastructure. Destroy a detached house in the country and you might get one family. Pull down a skyscraper in the middle of the working day and you'll get thousands of people. Target dams and cause floods and disrupt power generation, which kills…

I can recognise the demonic rune for 'greed' which someone cut into the world's largest oil producing regions. They're big enough to be visible from space with the naked human eye.

"Lantern." Overman doesn't look at me, but I see his eyes jumping from place to place as he takes in the devastation. "How many people are left?"

"Okay, so I'm trying to calculate when this happened based on the completion dates of infrastructure projects common to Earth Sixteen. I think-."

"I do not care about the infrastructure. Tell me about the people."

"But if you don't know how many people they were, you don't-."

"We can't save the dead. Understanding-. We do not need to understand at this moment."

Ring?

"Ah, well my rings are struggling with some things due to the magic, but something in the region of one point five billion."

"My Earth had that many people in eighteen sixty."

"If he targeted cities, it-. Pre-Industrial Revolution. They'll have to have adapted to the… Break down in infrastructure. Products not being transported from place to place. No fuel means that colder places aren't habitable, at least not by the same number. Damaged water infrastructure-."

"Yes, I know. It-."

His head snaps around, Superman's following an instant later.

"He knows we're here."

My rings aren't giving me a clear picture of Metropolis, but… That's the direction they're both looking in.

"How do you know?"

"He's talking to us."

I look down at the ground. I don't think we have to worry about conventional attacks. The sort of military weapons that could affect us require far more infrastructure than the survivors have.

I glance at Angelika, but she just shakes her head. Must require super duper hearing.

There aren't that many metahumans capable of flight in the world, perhaps a thousand at most. There won't be any Lanterns here because the Guardians aren't that stupid-.

"Ring, contact Lantern Tomar-Re."

"Not found."

Of course, if they tried fighting and lost, it would be Lanterns in neighbouring Sectors who are most likely to have been killed.

"Contact Lantern Green Man."

"Compliance."

Nothing happens for a moment, then his face appears over my ring.

"You're in a restricted area, Lantern. Leave now."

"I'm an Orange Lantern from a parallel universe. Please send whatever records you have relating to Earth, and ping the Guardians for the secure stuff."

"I am highly sceptical of your claims."

"You can check whether or not I'm a Green Lantern easily enough and you already know my location. If I'm already on Earth, there's no further downside to giving me information."

"It is a deathworld ruled by monsters."

"Yes, that's why we're here. Anything you can do to help would be appreciated. Thank you, goodbye."

I hang up as Angelika watches my ring thoughtfully.

"We do not have a great deal of contact with the Green Lantern Corps. I only met Tomar-Re once, during negotiations on jurisdiction."

"You're internally unified and strong enough to hold off most external threats. There isn't any cause for them to have regular contact."

"They would have seen the worst of the mass murders."

"I don't think that they would hold that against subsequ-."

Superman blurs and I'm shoved-. Why did-?

Two thick beams of red burn through the air, hitting-

"Agh!" / "Ah!"

-Superman and Overman, while Angelika and I are out of their path. Idiot! Yes, I'm not quite as tough as him, but in a high magic environment-.

I generate a construct shield inscribed with demonic runes for nullification and entropy between us and the direction that shot came from as Angelika flies to check on them. Their uniforms are singed and their flesh is reddened, but they're still in the air. Just a bit groggy. I take a purple healing ray out of subspace-.

And frantically throw myself to the side as a harpy shimmers into being out of nowhere and dives for me, talons extended!

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
19:29 GMT

No, not a-

I fly up and invert, putting the flight path of the-

-harpy, the head is the wrong shape.

-creature below me. As it completes its lunge I punch down, my gauntlet hitting it in the back just between the wing joints.

"Gwk!"

I didn't feel anything break, but it's flying a good deal less steadily now. Hm, tougher than normal muscle without being super tough. Puts me a little in mind of the manhawks, or the aven from Magic: the Gathering. Bird people. So they fly with wings. Simple enough.

Three fly at Angelika but she pirouettes through the sky, striking wings and heads with relative gentleness, causing them to tumble down through the air without falling to their deaths. The birdpeople aren't wearing the 'S', so presumably they're not on Demon Superman's side.

"Do you have some way-"

She swerves, grabs a forearm and leg and swings her assailant into her neighbour.

"-to bind them?"

Er, okay, amount of lift required to keep a humanoid body in the air… Chains that bind their arms and legs that their claws-

Two scrabble at my construct shield as Overman and Superman recover enough to throw off the bird people trying to dog pile them. I see a few shallow cuts, but-

Two red rays blast from Overman's eyes, precisely trimming feathers from three of the closest and causing them to plummet towards the ground.

-nothing serious. The claws clearly have magic-enhanced sharpness, but if that wasn't enough of an edge-

Superman opts to open his mouth and the air before him turns to ice. It doesn't appear to disable any of our attackers, but the ones exposed to it are backing off in a hurry.

-to kill them, I think we can be confident that we have their measure. The ones attacking my barrier are piercing the construct but they aren't making it fall apart in the way some magic effects do.

-can't reach around to remove, while not being so heavy that they can't at least somewhat control their descent. I evade another birdman and then wrap him in construct chains.

"Gkhhharrr!"

Okay, titanium with carbon nanotubes should be strong enough, lock his forearms behind his back, bind them to the base of his wings to make flapping awkward and add iron weights and release. As required, the birdman falls but with one bitter glance up at me gets his wings into a glide position.

"It's a bit-"

I generate a construct mace and thump a birdwoman in the chest.

"-of a fiddle, but I can-"

Another bird shimmers into being behind Superman. He catches it around the throat and hurls it at one of its ice-coated colleagues. That's… Interesting. How are they teleporting here? They aren't teleporting around the combat zone themselves, so presumably something else is teleporting them to here. Okay, railgun, load mage slayers, see if I can get a shot through-.

"Orange Lantern." Superman gets hold of another bird person and-

Snap!

"G-caw!"

-breaks their wing part way along its length before dropping the owner. Another semi-controlled descent to the ground.

"Focus on undoing whatever demon magic-"

Angelika checks over Overman's wounds before copying his attack of choice, burning feathers with flashes from her eyes.

"-is controlling them. We can fight them just fine."

"Sir."

Al-right then. I fly down, catching up with the birdman I chained up.

"Hello there. Can you understand what I'm saying?"

Something about him -probably the magic running through his skin- is keeping me from getting a precise scan, but as far as I can tell he should be a sophont. The cranial volume and humanoid frame, combined with the tactical abilities and purpose they've displayed are strongly indicative, and I can't see any sign of remote external control.

"I've been authorised to experiment on you with magic. If you verbally respond, it's much likely to be a productive exchange."

Still nothing, though he tries to alter his flight path away from me and his eyes are moving around as he desperately looks for a way out. I'm not seeing fear, but that might just be due to the disruption.

Well, I've still got this railg-.

The sky above me turns red, the shield construct I had up there is destroyed and about a dozen birdmen are incinerated. Huh. Well-.

"You! You have brought his wrath!"

"Possibly." I shoot him in the chest, and the runes on his claws fade away. "But there's not much you can do about it other than persuade us to leave."

Though I am wondering how Demon Superman can see us. We're over the horizon, so unless he's firing through-.

Ring?

Oh. He's firing through the planet's crust. I can see the line of steam where he's boiled the waters of the Pacific. Right, there's nothing stopping him seeing me, but if he's using some sort of magic detection then he's blind to me.

"What did you do to my blessing!?"

"Nullified it. So is this your natural form?"

"Yes! We are not weak humans!"

"And not a demon. Interesting. Why did you attack us?"

"We cannot survive the Demon Superman's wrath! You are drawing it!"

"But if he just kills us, what's the problem for you?"

"For years he has just sat there! The last thing we want is for him to awaken!"

"And you couldn't have just told us that?"

"Mortal beings fighting amongst themselves amuses him. He would be content to watch."

"You don't appear to have the force to bring us down. Given that, would you be prepared to call the attack off? You can send us somewhere more dangerous and give someone else a chance to kill us?"

"Why are you even here?"

"Someone in this parallel opened a portal to the alternate reality we live in. We're here to stop the problem at the source."

"You want to fight the Demon Superman?"

"Purify him, ideally. But yes."

The bird man considers that.

"Unbind me, and I will take your words to our leader. He may decide to deal with you. Or he may destroy you himself."

I smile. "Deal."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
19:46 GMT

Zandia. A small volcanic island which grew out of the Tyrrhenian sea, and… Somehow it never became part of any other country. It looks like whatever spell their magicians used to throw avian soldiers at us was strictly one way; while those who were still in possession of functioning wings tried to keep up with us during our flight over Asia and Europe, they couldn't manage it.

Compared to the cities of China, Europe appears to have been less affected. The cities have still been bombarded, probably from orbit, but I can't see the same mass infrastructure damage… Not everywhere, anyway. Of… Course, given what I remember about Hellblazer that could be because they've got 'Friends on the Other Side' and so came to terms with their new overlord.

I've never been to Zandia before. It was sheltered enough not to need additional protection when Ocean Master sent Oceanus on the rampage, has next to no crime and no real resources other than good soil. Not a bad place to sit out the fall of civilisation, but an odd place to make a stand against a superhuman.

Superman glances at Overman. "You've never been here either?"

"No. I have flown over it, but Hitler was minded to leave it alone during the war. I was introduced to their ruler at a diplomatic reception, but I have met a great many people."

Angelika drifts closer to them.

"What was the Demon Superman saying to you?"

Overman gives his head a small shake. "Nothing to worry about, Overgirl. Just an evil man building a throne of his inadequacies."

Superman doesn't appear to share that view.

"He told us everything he destroyed and why. All the… Petty things he decided meant that it was okay to murder people."

Overman nods. "He also listed some of the people he killed and why he thought that his life was better without them. It meant less to me as our lives are too divergent. I assume that 'Lois Lane' is someone you know well?"

Superman nods, though Overman just frowns.

"I do not understand how a version of us could have become like that."

It doesn't seem to feel right to Angelika either. "Perhaps his mind is being controlled?"

"By who? Anyone who was deliberately causing.. this, would have emerged to take control by now."

"Could his mind be altered?"

I look at Superman and Overman as we come into land.

"I don't know. Could it?"

Superman shakes his head. "Maybe. I've taken precautions, all the League have. J'onn.. and Overgirl, have been very helpful. But I can't promise that there's nothing that could get through. And I can't promise that this Superman had the same caution. God knows I could be overconfident when I started out."

He turns his head, looking to the horizon where the ash cloud around Mount Vesuvius marks its location in the sky.

"I'd hate to do something like this because someone forced me."

"Sirs and lady?" A woman in a face-obscuring red robe walks slowly out of a nearby house. Scans say that there are no other living people in this part of the island. "Our leaders have sent me to talk with you."

Superman steps forward. "You know that I'm not the monster sitting in Metropolis."

"Of course you're not, though I suggest changing your shirt. Wearing that symbol tends to provoke a… Response."

That realisation hits him hard. "I, ah, didn't-."

I take a thick woolly jumper out of subspace and float it over to him. He looks at it, shrugs, then takes off his shirt and cape and holds them out to me. I subspace them as he puts on the jumper.

"What happened?"

The woman spreads her arms slightly. "A great many things. Only yesterday three new chicks were hatched in the farm of Paolo Ricci-."

"Superman going crazy. Assuming that he wasn't always like that."

"Far from it. He was a great warrior hero, the most favoured son of the City of Metropolis. I'm afraid that I don't know why he changed; I was here on Zandia when the explosions started."

"Had there been anything in the news? Was your Justice League fighting anyone in particular?"

"We're not exactly first with the international news here. I think there was something about a giant alien..?"

Superman shrugs. "That doesn't narrow it down too much. But why has he left your people alone?"

"We have nothing that he wants, and have done nothing that he finds particularly offensive. We know that there is nothing we could do to harm him. All that we can do is await the return of our Lord and Saviour, and pray that He does the needful."

"And other people?"

"We keep in contact with other settlements through the Church, but with inter-continental travel difficult and radio waves distorted, getting timely reports is extremely difficult. If Superman -our Superman- decided to destroy a city, we would probably see the smoke before we received a report."

Angelika looks at her curiously. "Where did the bird people come from?"

"They are from Greenland. Superman melted it for reasons known only to himself, and a portion of the population were able to escape. They would much rather fight him directly, but, well…"

"No kryptonite?"

"Removing all of the world's kryptonite was one of the first things he did. After burning cities lost its appeal."

"What about his… Thralls?"

She shrugs.

"Dangerous and deranged, but for the most part it is like they are not aware that a world exists outside of America."

Superman looks out to sea, to the coast of Italy. "When did this happen?"

"Nearly two years ago, now. I understand that the starvation was worst in the first year; we're fairly self-sufficient here. Would you mind if I asked a question of you?"

"Not at all." Superman shakes his head, looking… Noticeably less imposing in a jumper. He'll have to change back before we return home. "What do you want to know?"

"Where are you from?"

"An alternate Earth where this never happened. We'd like to help in any way we can."

"We would-" Overman glances at Superman. "-also like to know if you have heard of anyone on this Earth attempting to travel to other universes as well."

"Travelling to other universes?" She sounds amused as she shakes her head. "Most universities have been destroyed. Places with advanced technology… Anyone with that knowledge is dead or in hiding. People have all the motivation they could want to leave, they just don't have the ability."

Why would Truggs come here? Somewhere like this would irritate him even more than Earth 16. Brilliant people who could have revolutionised the world either killed or put in an environment where all they can do is scrub out a subsistence existence. Their work-.

Their work.

We're in a parallel universe.

"I think I might know what Truggs was doing."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
19:59 GMT +1

Prague has suffered raging fires that destroyed most of the historic parts of the town, spreading out from the sites of meteorite impacts. Though the fires have long since burned themselves out, between the flames and the shockwaves, there isn't much left but rubble.

Unless you know where to look.

I shove another pile of rubble to the side, and… Yes, here we are. I don't know where all of Doctor Sivana's hidey-holes are, but I know quite a few. Unlike the rest of the city, his bases are designed to take a pounding. Nothing that Superman couldn't force his way through with dedicated effort -very few hardened locations can make that boast, and fewer still make it honestly- but enough to survive near misses.

Superman takes a not entirely approving breath.

"Do I want to know how much time you spent with Sivana?"

"Probably not."

But 'survive' and 'survive untouched' aren't the same things. There's a clunk as my filaments shift a part of the door's mechanism, and then the hatch swings open.

"Okay, so unlike back home, the defences here aren't programmed to limit themselves in attacking me."

"They still attacked you when you were… Friends?"

"It was a sort of test."

"A test to find out what you could do?"

"A test to see whether it would drive me away." Hm. "I don't think they had any specifically anti-Kryptonian weapons here, but I-."

He raises his right hand to stop me. "I'll go first."

He leaps down the hole, his flying abilities keeping him from touching the floor once he's cleared the shaft. Nothing attacks him right away, which probably means that the guns are charging. I-.

My armour doesn't fit through the hole. Ah. I switch my heavy armour out for my medium suit and make doubly sure that my construct armour is in place, then drop down after him.

"I'm not seeing any sign that someone's been here."

"Can you see through the walls?"

"No. I'm guessing that the Sivanas use something a little more sophisticated than lead."

"Li-ttle bit." I take a look around the emergency exit. Not too much security here, because it's where they would go in an emergency. "Information request. Is Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana in residence?"

Nothing happens. Superman looks around cautiously.

"How long does it usually-?"

The air turns blue as plasma initiators deploy from the floor and ceiling, liberated electrons crackling harmlessly around my construct shield. Superman appears to be mildly in pain-.

He turns his head around the room, red rays flashing out from his eyes to destroy the initiators. I wave my left hand and pull the one closest to me out of the ceiling, taking the time to scan it in detail. Looks pretty much the same as what our Sivana uses.

"Is that the friendly greeting version, or the actively hostile version?"

"Depends whether there's robot follow-"

The door between us and the rest of the facility drops into the floor, revealing a bulky robot with multi-barrelled pulse plasma guns.

"-up."

"Die!"

Superman takes the majority of its wrath as he flies at it, fists extended! Each side has twelve guns on a single mount, and the green plasma washes over-.

And now there's a Superman-shaped hole in the middle. Interesting. No force field.

I fly closer to give it a thorough scan. Yes, that is odd. Usually I wouldn't be able to scan the interior mechanism unless they were deliberately letting me, but here there's no problem.

"Did you feel a force field bubble?"

"No. Should we expect more of them?"

"Yes. Ah, actually, they should already be here." Oh. That explains the lack of force field. "This has been in combat recently. See here?"

I point and Superman nods.

"The emitters were already burned out."

"There's more charring on the interior. I'd guess an EMP grenade, but… They'd be shielded against that."

Ring?

"There are weapons that could bypass the shielding that Sivana uses on this model. Can't.. think of anyone who uses them on Earth, mind."

Superman frowns, sniffing-. And he's gone.

Ring, air analysis? Ah.

I float after him, conducting a continual scan of my environment. Nothing like as hard as it is back home, most likely because they didn't have much contact with Lanterns here. As I follow in Superman's wake I see increased signs of battle damage unrelated to the impacts which destroyed the city above us; drone guns destroyed in their mounts, burns on the walls, ceiling and floor from plasma and laser shots. Someone working for Demon Superman? Local people just trying to find somewhere to hide out?

Another corner and there are two broken robots. Damage patterns consistent with EMP charring and anti-tank rocket impacts. The main warehouse…

Superman's checking the bodies, human bodies. They're wearing unmarked body armour and carrying the sort of science fiction armaments the actual military would give their eyeteeth to own. No unit markings. Their armour has taken repeated hits which have burned through the metal/ceramic composite plates, but…

It looks like they achieved their objective. The place has been looted.

Two are crouched next to the main computer access with cables plugged it, their own computer burned out from the defensive electrical discharge. A little further along the survivors have tried again; the floor has been removed and the cables stripped. No bodies there.

"Why did they leave the bodies?" Superman shakes his head in bewilderment. "I understand stealing from Sivana, but if they took out all this equipment, why not take the bodies with them?"

"Hell is in the ascendancy. They couldn't take the risk of bringing something back with them, or giving… Something, a channel to follow."

I take hold of a spare EMP grenade and give it a detailed scan. Not exactly the same wards that have entered common circulation back on our Earth, but similar enough in principle that I think I can conclude that they came from a common source. And the weapon itself bears more than a little resemblance to what I saw when I visited the subterranean parts of LexCorp.

"We'll need pictures of their faces. If Truggs is raiding other worlds… This has the potential to get very nasty."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
13:03 GMT -7

Sigh.

It's got to be done.

I knock on the door to Celestia's office in the School for Gifted Unicorns, which isn't actually as tribalist as it sounds. I mean, it's pretty tribalist and anyone trying this in America would find themselves on the receiving end of a civil liberties lawsuit before you could say 'cause célèbre', but not quite as bad. Canterlot is a majority unicorn city. More to the point, it's a city inhabited by unicorn aristocrats. Naturally, when building a school they focused their efforts on ensuring that the needs of their own offspring would be met. Celestia's patronage and… Jedi-like recruiting habits were a much later addition.

The door glows with her golden aura for a moment, then swings open.

"Come in, my little pon-."

I stick my head through the door, and Celestia sees one of a short list of ponies she can't call 'little'.

Or 'hers' really, unless she wants to get into another fight with Luna.

"Grayven. I'm afraid that Luna is asleep."

Since she's not kicking me right out, I walk the rest of the way in and sit down opposite her. She watches me with mild concern, and her horn glows as the door clicks shut behind me. Yes, mild concern… I don't usually talk to her unless she's messed something up with Sunset, but the two of them have actually been doing better lately. Not because any of the underlying issues have been dealt with, but because Celestia has actually listened when I advise her on what not to do.

I'm still not convinced that she can internalise any of it, but perhaps they can get to the point where it's something they find it amusing to argue over, rather than a massive flashpoint in their relationship.

"That's not what I'm here for. And-." I spot the slight tinge of concern. "It's not Sunset either. Well, not… Directly, though I suppose it affects her. Or.. affected her. I was… Looking over Equestria's crime statistics, and I… I couldn't help but notice that the alumni of this school are… Um. Overrepresented."

I take a pile of police pony files out of subspace and put them on her desk one by one.

"Fireburst. Arson. Skitterweevil. 'Plague Calling'?" I shrug. "Gallowbraid. Destruction of property. Keening. Assault and Wounding. Sunset Shimmer, assault and unauthorised use of arcana. Sunburst. Indecent Exposure. Mortar Pointing. Building… Theft?"

Celestia nods. "That's why I've tried to take an active role in running the school. Ponies are driven to realise their special talents, and with unicorns whose talents relate to magic, that can produce some fairly extreme behaviours."

"Right, but… For example, you've never sent a sun nova, have you?"

Celestia blinks. "I don't know what that is."

"Ah. No, I suppose you wouldn't. Okay, here." I take a book on stellar dynamics out of subspace. Something I assembled myself, taking parts from more reader-friendly texts as well as mathematical explanations from university level books and translating the whole thing into Equestrian. "I was going to give this to you at some point. Consider it a down payment on Luna's bride price."

"Thank you." She levitates it to her side of her desk with a slight frown. "I hadn't realised that your relationship had reached that point." She considers for a moment, then manages a smile. "Though I'm happy for both of you, there isn't any requirement in Equestria to 'buy' a bride."

"No, I realise that. Page one hundred and forty seven." She flips through the pages with her magic. "And we're not. I was just… Trying to be witty."

"When Luna and I were younger, the dowry would be paid to the head of a herd. If you want to marry Luna, you should probably avoid implying that I'm above her."

"So, what, Starswirl? Luna's an old pony. I want to do things-"

Celestia's eyes widen and she leans away from the page as if it might leap up and bite her!

"-properly. Yes. Nova."

"This is… The end of the sun's life? It… Expands until it consumes all of the worlds in its orbit?"

"Depends on the size. Of course, your system might just continue on indefinitely because magic says so. But the point I was making is that you don't do that just because your special talent is suns."

Celestia takes a moment to steady her nerves after being confronted with what is for a pony an extremely unpleasant idea. Pony science isn't advanced enough to have even guessed any of that.

"My special talent is a little broader than that. While it's true that I control the sun, my talent relates to ensuring that my little ponies can live in a world which is stable and predictable. Stabilising the sun's movement around the world was simply the most obvious sign of that."

I nod. "Fair enough. But to return to the point I was trying to make, it's… It's not just Sunset. A great many ponies who come here don't seem to take the whole 'friendship' thing on board. So even if we take it as read that friendship-orientated education is a good idea, the current way it's being delivered isn't working."

Celestia nods, closing the book and pushing it aside. And then putting a stack of work to be marked on top of it.

"What do you suggest?"

"Well, it… Ah. Seems to me that… Ponies can be a fairly highly strung species, and… Getting their cutie mark is a major life transition. My understanding is that it's normal for ponies with thaumaturgy-related marks to apply or have applications submitted for them almost immediately after getting them."

"That's right."

"So… You've got ponies who are in the top percentage of magical ability… For unicorns, who are the most varied of the tribes in the way their magic manifests… And the moment they go through this life-defining experience you remove them from their family and other social support networks and move them to live in a boarding school in the capital city with the goddess-princess of the entire nation watching them. Bit of a… High stress environment."

"I-. Don't…

"I don't know exactly how it works for ponies, but that sounds like the sort of things that would make humans… Act out."

"I see." She adopts a thoughtful pose. "What do you suggest?"

"Sunset's working on a fixed point to fixed point teleportation system. For the younger students… Just stick one in their homes and let them teleport to school each day. You could keep the boarding facilities for the older students, but I'm… I think letting them transition gradually will reduce the stress and the mark-fixation."

Celestia sighs very quietly.

"Do you think that would have helped Sunset?"

"'Helped'? Honestly, I think you did the best you could for her." Celestia looks at me, pleasantly surprised. "If you hadn't pushed her away like that, she'd never have gotten as far as she has. 'Show Celestia how wrong she was' was a big part of her motivation." Her smile vanishes. "Though I appreciate that probably wasn't what you were aiming for."

"… No. I will speak about the removal of the option for boarding with the school staff. When will Sunset be able to arrange a demonstration?"

"Ah, a couple of days. She's having trouble adjusting to teaching completely magically illiterate students, so lesson planning is taking more of her time than she originally thought it would."

Celestia perks up a little at that.

"Do you think she would object to my help?"

"No? Probably not? Why do you ask?"

"After the defeat of Discord, Luna and I had the greatest knowledge of magic of any save for Starswirl himself. We taught the basics of magic to many students all across ponydom. I'm sure that I can manage a class of humans."

…

Should be interesting, anyway.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
19:04 GMT

Britain has… Changed.

Karl is looking around, constantly alert for any threat. I do not remember him doing that when we worked together in the past. I do not have Paul's perfect memory, but I am reasonably confident that I would not forget something like that so quickly.

He takes a moment to glance at me as we fly over their London, and flash me a confident smile. A smile for cameras. We have not-. No, we could have had a talk about everything that has happened, but… It was awkward for him to discuss it with me before I came here, when I had no concept of a society not run according to the rules of National Socialism. And now? Whatever regrets he might have, he has never lived the life of someone in those societies he saw when he travelled to parallel universes or other planets.

And perhaps he does not know exactly how I feel. I should tell-

"Where do you think all of these castles came from?"

-him. Or we can just talk about this mission.

I look around, flashing telescopic vision out at all of the castles which stand out proudly across the landscape. Some, I recognise as belonging to earlier eras. Paul had shown me around Pevensey Castle when we visited, and I recognised that. But it seemed to have been somewhat restored compared to the version on Earth 16, and it made the magic detector I am carrying glow briefly.

The other fortresses are new. They use bricks rather than stone, and there is more metal involved in their construction. The design is also strange. Elements are carried over from the ancient fortresses, but there are also other elements from more modern forts and others that I've never seen before.

And I don't recognise the creatures manning the walls. They're larger and stronger than humans, but they don't appear to be demonic.

"It has only been two years since their Superman became corrupted. That is not enough time for such a great deal of building, not without modern equipment. Karl, can we talk?"

"We can."

He doesn't stop, but he doesn't accelerate. I suppose that's something.

"I understand what you meant now, about what we lost."

"No. Their civilisation is… They have not done the things that we did. Unless you can live through that -and I hope that you never do- you cannot fully understand."

"Then I understand more than I did. I am not a little girl, Karl."

This time he looks at me, and I see a wistful expression on his face.

"I know. But you will always be my little girl."

"But what do we do?"

"I have been trying to decide that for more than half my life. The best I have been able to do is encourage those politicians who are less extreme. I… I do not think that our society can be fixed."

I cannot disagree. That is why I try to use the least force possible when apprehending criminals. If someone is dead, it is too late to say 'oops' if they did not do what you thought that they did.

"We cannot restore the dead to life. And I think perhaps the world is not ready for Aunty Gerri to be open about her relationship with Aunt Valerie."

"Ah. You.. know about that."

"They do not hide it on Earth Sixteen. You know about that?"

"It is hard to hide things from me. Did you really not know?"

"Do not start that with me." I sigh. "I remember your interview with Jürgen. Most people see it like that; as a piece of ancient history. They see it like that when there are normal humans still alive who saw it."

"And then there is Uncle Sam."

"I have seen the Earth Sixteen version. It is strange to see him when he is not baying for blood like a rabid savage." I look down as we fly over London, the suburbs ruined while the inner city is ringed by a mighty fortress wall. "But I understand. Any sign of weakness, and we will watch a thousand murders. And people will turn from us."

"So there is nothing we can do? All this… Strength-."

"Why not bring more people here?" Karl glances back with a frown. "Not here. To other worlds. That was what convinced me. Did it convince you?"

"It was part of it. I do not think that Leatherwing will do more than curse me for being weak."

"Leatherwing is an arsehole."

"And the sun is bright. I think that Underseaman would move his entire race to another world if he could, but that does not help us change it."

"What about Blitzen? She seemed nice."

Karl nods. "She is a dedicated hero. If things were different-."

"I met her father."

"Her father? You mean Jason Garrick? That.. is a point of connection. But would he want to meet her?"

"He and his wife have no children."

"That does not mean the same thing in other societies that it does in ours."

"I know, but I think he would meet her. I do not know what she would think of Earth Sixteen."

"Yes. Someone who can keep up with her would need to be there in case her reaction was… Unfortunate."

"And if we make that work, we will only have seven billion more people to go." He slows slightly. "There. They have fortified Buckingham Palace. We will begin there."

I raise my magic detection stone, and it glows fiercely when I point it at the palace.

"We should start at the gates." He looks at me curiously as I put away the stone. "You saw none of those brute-men when our world was attacked. If it was not people from this Britain, we should not force them to become our enemies."

Karl nods ruefully. "I have become too used to going where I please. I have forgotten my manners."

We fly down at speed, our motion a blur to any normal onlookers. The brute-men on guard duty ready their weapons, large calibre automatic rifles. None fire though, so they must possess at least some intelligence.

Karl takes a step closer and raises his right hand in greeting.

"We are here to speak with your leader."

"Oh?" One of the rougher-skinned brute-men sniffs dismissively. "I'll just go and get her for you, shall I?"

"No, this is her country. I am happy to come to her."

"Tradesman's entrance, then?"

"Your world is collapsing, and a demon and his horde of possessed metahumans threaten what little is left. And somehow they are finding their way to my world. Your nation is somewhat intact. I am hoping to make common cause. If you help me, I will thank you." His face hardens slightly. "And if you will not, then I will move you."

"And who do you think you are?"

"I am Overman. Kal-El, if that name means something to you."

It does. The brute-men involuntarily take a half-step backwards.

"And I am kryptonian."

"Stay there. I'll send a runner."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
17:21 GMT -2

"Look, I know what Kon's peak output is because we tested it, but…" I look around the clean-scoured seabed where once Atlantis rested. "If you were where he is, could you boil us down here?"

Superman focuses on looking around. Not hard to work out what happened, given what we observed of La Palma. It looks like Demon Superman set it off early, as well as several other megatsunami trigger locations, and the resulting pressure wave tore the undersea cities apart.

"Honestly? I don't know. I've never deliberately tried to go all-out before."

I boggle.

"S-seriously?"

"I haven't found anything I couldn't melt with a little effort. I don't want to set any people on fire, so I try not to use it too much. Not at high power, anyway."

"I suppose you're more of a police officer than a soldier. Still, it might be worth knowing, just in case."

"It might." He finishes looking around and returns his eyes to me. "My vision's not perfect with all this silt and residual magic around, but I can't see any evidence that there's anyone still living here."

Darn. A company of Atlantean archmages would be a big help in fixing this world's magic systems. But I guess that Demon Superman would realise that pretty quickly as well.

Okay, so as far as I know, neither China nor Russia have any real experience with travel to parallel universes. Some mad scientists in America do or did, but that puts us firmly in Demon Superman's sights.

"How about Eden? You know where the entrance is, don't you?"

"Yes. But… We're trying to find evidence of the Light poking around or a connection to Overman's Earth. Actually fighting Demon Superman can wait until we have a team assembled."

"If the evidence is in America, we're going to have to go there. And that'll be a lot easier without him watching us the whole time."

"Yes, but-." I frown. "Is something wrong? Did he say-."

"I can hear them. All the people… Crying out for relief. For mercy. Calling my name to-. Him."

"Underwat-?" No, that's the wrong thing to say. "I'm sorry to hear that. But they've borne it for two years, and it's better we be sure than clumsy."

"I know. It's just that I hear them all the time, and now that I've started I can't stop. And yes, underwater."

"I assume that the Demon you knows that."

"I can't imagine that he doesn't. Where next?"

"I.. think the next thing to do would be to check sites of magical imprisonment. Or… Sensitivity. I mean, the world's lousy with demonic magic but we haven't seen any actual demons yet and I'm not sure why."

"Are things so bad that demons can just appear out of thin air?"

"They should be able to. There could be something happening on the Hell side that means they can't or.. won't. I'm not sure what that might be… Unless they've realised the long term problem of corrupting everyone."

"I can't say I've had much to do with demon summoners, but I remember a few names from the League's database. A lot of them were in London."

I nod. "We can meet up with-"

Out of the corner of my eye I notice that the silt appears to be moving, more light being absorbed by the deeper parts of the ocean.

"-the Overs."

Scan?

Working.

"I think we should-"

Black pillars studded with screaming wide-mouthed faces erupt through the murk all around us, merging in the ocean over our heads to form a ceiling that cuts out what little light was reaching us. I switch to ring scans quickly enough to watch the blackness spread all around, utterly enveloping us in tenebrous… Matter? Energy? Some sort of construct? I mean, that looked like Richard Swift's ability, but I don't remember him operating under water.

"-leave."

Superman turns around, taking in the change in circumstances.

"The Shade?"

"Or someone else with a connection to the Shadowlands. I don't think that the Atlanteans were studying that, but this is a parallel universe."

I make my ring shine, but all I'm getting is more grinning faces, all sort of merged into one another. Some I'm looking on from the outside and others I… Think I'm seeing from the inside. I'm also getting weak tactile feedback, like they're pressing on me just enough to let me know that this is a tactile sensation and not some visual illusion.

I try making it glow brighter but I'm not getting a better return. Okay, I don't think we need anything from anyone with Shadowlands access. If this isn't actually going to trap us here we might as well leave.

"Do you want to talk to him?"

"Shade! We've come to help!"

"Help?" / "Help?" / "Help?" / "Help?" / "Help?" / "Help?" / "Help?" / "Help?" / "Help?" / "Help?"

A hundred mouths speak as one, two hundred eyes focusing on our tiny forms.

"We need no help. / Help. / Help. The Shadowlands rise to consume the light. / Consume. / Rise!"

"We're not talking to Shade, are we?"

About two thirds of the mouths smile.

Mouths mounted on tentacles leap from the murk to latch onto Superman -armour!- while in my case they just bite down, multiple points of stress appearing all over as the teeth try to pierce my construct, worrying back and forth with fangs which don't appear to be limited to conventional physics. Superman tries to grip and tear, but while he can pull the lamprey-like mouths off himself, there's nothing to tear them from. The tentacles just merge with the rest of the blackness and are replaced with new tentacles almost immediately.

Message incoming.

Ah, looks like Green Man came through. That's not everything-.

"We need to leave!"

"No-!"

Superman tears a tentacle off his right cheek and tries a burst of heat vision. The tentacle wriggles slightly but doesn't appear to be significantly damaged.

"Kidding!"

I push my armour outward, growing jet engines underneath and pushing myself upwards. Superman follows suit, and I take a moment to be impressed that he's actually flying in one direction while turning around to better fight off the mouths assailing him. His leggings and jumper have a few tears in them, but I can't see any serious injuries.

I jerk to a halt as an unusually large mouth with grinding teeth grabs hold of me, trying to anchor me in place rather than bite through. I generate crumbler gauntlets and punch, the black outline semi-fading around them as I swing.

High speed, catch up with Superman…

Shouldn't we have reached the surface by now?

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
17:24 GMT -2

"How's your sense of-?"

Two great hands made of shadows close in on either side of me. Ah. Large crumbler gauntlet constructs and punch and no, okay, grab?

"Distance? We're not in-"

Grabbing and overcharging the crumbler system appears to disrupt the formation of giant hands. It's even making the faces a bit blurry. But they're not going away, and I don't think I'm doing any actual damage like this.

"-Kansas anymore."

"That hurt-"

Superman looks around, firing short bursts of heat vision in all directions, possibly attempting to illuminate the area and find a source.

"-worse than the-"

No luck, and now the tentacle mouths are wrapping around his legs and chest. They don't seem to be squeezing, but they are impeding his movement.

"-teeth."

Making sense of what's happening with so many translucent phantasms appearing in the blackness isn't easy, but-. Blade!

"You've got-"

I generate a shield construct in the way of the approaching spear made of shadow, but it punches through! Superman spots my construct and pulls himself aside, narrowly dodging and causing it to slice the tentacles binding his legs in half.

"-armour."

"I offered. Ideas?"

"I could spin around real fast."

I take x-ionised knives out of subspace and try using them on the shadow tentacles. It… Sort of works. I cut them apart and they don't just reform, but it doesn't stop more appearing.

"Is that a serious suggestion?"

Multiple giant blades thrust towards Superman and he dances through them, striking the flat of each with his fists as he passes.

"Is that?"

He grabs a broken blade tip and hurls it at an oncoming shaft. Both crack and fracture before merging with the background blackness.

"You don't have some kind of portal?"

"Several. None I've tested in conditions remotely similar to these."

The faces are swimming in and out of focus. I send a crumbler gauntlet construct at one of them, but again, not enough effect to get excited about.

"How about the Ophidian?"

"Parallel universe. Might work, might get the local one and don't really want them exposed to demon magic. Last time I did, I became rather brusque."

"Brusque? I'd hate to see that. How are you doing for ring power?"

"A long way from worrying."

Ring, analysis. Is there one primary head? One head which always starts the facial expression?

No observed primary head.

"I can try assimilating it?"

"Isn't The Shade weak against sunlight?"

"It negates his obtenebration, yes. It doesn't actually hurt him."

"Glad to hear it." He reaches into his belt pouch and pulls out a small crystal. "Har-Zod called this a sunstone."

"If it's unique, don't-"

He throws it back the way we came, then fires a burst of heat vision at it!

Blinding white light blasts outwards, the blackness vanishing and normal water reappearing as it goes! I blink as the sudden change happens faster than my ring can adapt to, the blur causing-.

Something-. There.

I rocket forward, grabbing the figure before putting a bubble around him and rocketing back to Superman. The light burst has faded and the shadows are creeping back, though nothing like as quickly as they arrived.

"Who is it?"

I get a better look.

"Richard Swift. And he-."

Behind his smoked glasses his eyes snap open, and-

"You do not bear the mark!"

-the shadows are coming back and mage slayer round through the bubble and shoot him in the head!

"Uh-!"

Because with all this Shadowland influence around I'm hoping that there isn't quite as much demon magic around here as there is everywhere else. And… Yes, shadows move between the top and bottom of his mouth and return its dimensions to normal, and there's a little more of him in his eyes-. He tries focusing on me.

"You…"

"Mister Swift?"

A swarm of skulls made of shadows batter into the inner surface of the bubble!

"You do not bear the mark!"

And the faces are back.

"Mark." / "Mark." / "Mark." / "Mark."

"Got another stone?"

"One."

He fires a line of heat vision down a row of faces as he tosses it to me, and I grab it with a construct. One railgun round for that, one with a tiny piece of one of Angelica's discarded feathers and hope that he was serious about that whole 'God wants nothing to do with me' line.

Bubble down fire sunstone shield eyes-

"RAAGH!"

-fire angel round-

"AAGH!"

Gold fire roars over his body, causing him to shudder-. Oh whoops, that's a light source. His skin burns and blisters as the demonic magic is -hopefully- purged from him. The Shadowland immigrants around us fall away and fade, and as I look upwards I see the ocean's surface.

"H-aa. H-aa. H-aaa."

Mr. Swift is… Not in good health, but there's no sign of demonic activity and his powers appear to be under control. He weakly opens his eyes, makes momentary eye contact with me, then loses consciousness.

"London?"

"London."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
19:25 GMT

"Her Imperial Majesty, Queen Morgan the First!"

Overman and I stand as the Queen strides imperiously into the room. I used the magic detection stone when she approached so I know perfectly well that she is a powerful magician. Still, to my eyes, she is slightly blurred. I do not know if a pure human would notice… Something to do with the spells protecting her? Or perhaps the actual Morgana is one of the other people in the room and this person is wearing some sort of illusion. But since we don't intend to hurt her it should not matter.

And if she wants to hurt us, we're both wearing wards which do not exist on this Earth. Either of us could tear down this entire palace.

Karl bows to her, and I decide to do the same. My current uniform doesn't include a skirt, anyway. The queen's clothing is made of green and purple cloth, and looks decidedly dated. Much like the castles. She stares at us for several seconds before deigning to speak.

"You're not the possessed one. Where are you from?"

Morgan does not return the favour. Karl and I straighten, and without referring to one another our posture changes from mildly deferential to mildly confrontational. The sort of thing we do with minor party officials who have forgotten their place.

"We come from a parallel Earth. People from this Earth are opening portals to our home and attacking us. We have come to stop the attacks at the source."

The queen does not appear to be impressed.

"And why have you come into my kingdom?"

"Your kingdom seems to function better than the wastelands we have seen elsewhere. I hope that you will be able to share information with us that would allow us to achieve our objective."

"You expect me to help you prevent demonspawn leaving?" She shakes her head. "Then you have sadly misjudged the situation. I hope that they all leave, so that my world can be free of their influence."

Karl shakes his head. "Removing their ability to bridge the gap between worlds would not be enough. They know we exist, and the knowledge of how to reach us also exists. Unless the threat is destroyed, we cannot know that we are safe."

"But you could buy yourself a great deal of time. If I allied my kingdom with you, I would receive no protection against the wrath of those you fought, while you would be safe upon your own world."

Karl looks down for a moment before giving her his full attention.

"Are you familiar with the concept of karma?"

"Where magic is concerned you may assume that I am familiar with a great many things. If you are about to claim that you have a duty as a hero, that would be dharma. And if you consider your first loyalty to be to a single nation, you would not breach it."

"No. I have a great moral debt to pay. A very large number of people died due to my wilful ignorance. I would rather die than allow something like that to happen again, whether to my people or yours. If you wish to test my resolve with your magic, you may do so."

She raises her right hand and makes a curling motion, keeping it raised as the spell renders its judgement. Kryptonians cannot see the souls of the dead, and it did not occur to me to ask if the souls of the dead of the Second Great War cling to Karl in a literal sense. Whatever she sees, she appears satisfied as she lowers her hand.

"Your other self's possession was the start of it. Do you have a plan to fight someone who can do everything that you can do and more? Who has an army of possessed superhumans under his command?"

"Only the outline of a plan. My world makes little use of magic. The idea of casting a spell to remove a demon is completely foreign to us. But Overgirl had made friends upon another Earth. The people who made-" He takes out his spell eater and holds it up. "-these. They have the knowledge that we need."

I nod. "They also count two angels among their number."

Queen Morgan's eyes narrow with spite. "Angels have proven to be extremely unreliable where he is concerned."

"They have had a number of shocks to their faith lately. It has made them more dependable as allies."

"Ours have been conspicuous by their absence. Do you share your father's guilt?"

"No, she does not."

But I do. Perhaps not to the same degree, but for everything I assumed without giving credence to what he experienced… For every untruth I spoke uncritically. Yes, for those things, the fault is mine.

"Perhaps I do not, but he is my father."

"My son slew his father. But ours is not a usual family." Queen Morgan draws herself up slightly. "That is your plan, then? Confront Superman with the magic of angels and burn the demon magic out of him?"

Karl nods. "Or kill him, if that is necessary. I would understand if he preferred to die, knowing what has been done with his powers."

"Very well, then. I will not give you material aid, but I am content to share information if it is to the end of permanently removing Superman. What do you wish to know?"

"None of the people I have seen here have the demonic presence of those bound to Demon Superman's service. The wide jaw, the fixation on his crest… They do not have it. Who are your people? What makes them immune?"

"These?" Morgan glances at the closest guard. "These are hobgoblins. They are partly of Earth and partially of the Fae. Demon magic does not capture their minds so easily as it does mortal men."

"And your human subjects?"

"They remain either in my realm of Camelot or in shielded fortresses. The greater part of the countryside is overtaken by those devoted to him."

"You are evacuating to Camelot?"

"When possible. There are few stable gateways and fewer magicians of sufficient power to shield them while they move. And my armies are not large enough to defend the entire realm."

"Is it impossible for you to remove the demonic presence from those infected with it?"

"It's impractical. The process requires me to pull a form of magic energy out of someone in an environment that is full of it. It's like bailing out a boat that is already underwater!"

"Do you know who is attacking my world? The Demon Superman… He did not appear to be interested."

"The Marked frequently arrange themselves into cults, led by the most fanatical or the most powerful. Opening a gateway to another world would require them to have maintained their intellect and initiative as well."

I frown. "We met humans unaffected by the demonic taint on Zandia. They claimed-."

"Hah! Yes, that their god protects them. And the Marked say that Superman is a wonderful god as well."

My frown deepens. "I thought they were Christian."

"No, though they do like to maintain the pretence around outsiders. And from what little I've seen of their rituals they like to ape those of Christianity as well. But they worship something far darker and with far more ambition than a demigod who just sits in the middle of a ruined city."

Karl nods. "Who is the leader of the largest group of Marked outside of America? We will deal with them, and perhaps gain useful intelligence."

"That is an easy question to answer. His name is Wolf Krieger."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
19:31 GMT

They rebuilt Pevensey Castle!

I'm not sure if that's the original design or something they innovated, but it's still interesting to see it in one piece. Mr. Swift is still unconscious in a construct bubble, and he's not human enough for me to want to risk a purple healing ray. I'm… Assuming that he can fix himself up once he regains consciousness, though I'm not clear about how he got demonified in the first place. I've been assuming that it's a natural process due to the overwhelming demonic presence, but… Where are all the demons? Why aren't our spell eaters heating up? I don't want to try actually summoning a demon in case that results in them going 'oh! Earth! Right!' and flooding the planet, but I'd still like to know.

Angelika waves as she sees us. Or given that she's half-kryptonian, a good deal closer than that.

"Who is-? The Shade?"

Overman's eyes start glowing faintly, and I can see the mist in the air boil away from the heat.

"You've met your version of The Shade, then?"

He certainly lived through the Second World War, so he might have fought Overman back when he was a teenager.

"Yes. He was an extremely dangerous man, until The Ray finally killed him." His eyes dim a little. "I suppose that if America and Britain had won, he would not have become so murderous. You have good relations with your version of the man?"

"Okay relations. He was a criminal, but he's settled down a lot in the last couple of decades." I frown. "No idea why he'd turn murderous; he's killed before, but he's usually quite discerning."

"And your Uncle Sam?"

Superman smiles. "He mostly works in non-violent conflict resolution, going into communities with high instances of violence and calming things down. I… Assume that yours doesn't do that?"

"He continues a war that has been over for sixty years, usually by targeting civilians whose grandparents fought it. If he focused on me I would understand but America becoming a national socialist nation has broken his mind."

Superman moues, but interesting as this is I need to get us focused.

"A criminal group from our Earth called The Light appear to have been stealing from sites on this world. That would explain how they got hold of Demon Supergirl. They'd just have to attack where she was and have the equipment to neutralise her. The Shade attacked us when we tried to make contact with Atlantis, though… I'm not sure if he was warped by demon magic before we fought him."

Superman frowns, then nods. "It was disturbing, but it wasn't until my sunstone blew up in his face that he started demanding to know where our marks were."

"He will recover?"

"Probably."

Angelika looks down.

"We should get him inside the castle. The queen has put spells on them to protect people from the demon magic, but she told us that unprotected humans turn gradually over time."

I take one of my spell eaters out of one of my armour's pouches and slip it around his neck on a thong.

"Queen?"

"Queen Morgan le Fay."

Superman frowns. "I suppose if the alternative was being overrun by demons, putting her in charge almost makes sense. Did you learn anything about how they're attacking your world?"

"A magician named Wolf Krieger is the most likely culprit." He sees me frowning. "You know him?"

"You don't? He used to work for the national socialists. In our timeline he was the head of the Thule Society."

"Ah." Overman nods. "He was most likely purged in our timeline. Hitler liked to believe that he was rational and not superstitious. Do you know where he is likely to be?"

"He was based out of South America in our timeline, but he moved around a lot…"

Oh. The Spear of Destiny. A connection to the soul of every human on the planet. If he went demon…

"You know something?"

"I suspect something. Our Wolf Krieger had an artefact that could bypass certain restrictions which usually limit magic. He never used it this way, but… It would let him manipulate a large number of magic-influenced people at once." I shake my head. "But that doesn't help us find him."

"What is the artefact?"

"The Spear of Destiny." I generate a construct replica of it. "It's a talisman rather than an actual weapon."

Overman shakes his head. "I do not know it."

"Was there any particular pattern to where the attacks came through on your world?"

"None that we could discern."

"Then… Okay, if we observe their behaviour from orbit and watch for unusual-."

"Peru."

Four sets of eyes focus on Mr. Swift.

"He's in..." His eyes open, and they're human, if a little unfocused. "He's in Peru. Superman has a fortress… There. They go there to worship, and he… Picks them up."

"Are you alright? Is there anything we can do to help you?"

"Get the… Blighter. I can…" He pulls himself up slightly, though he's clearly not in the best shape. "He did something to the Shadowlands. That was.. why… That happened. Drop me off, and let me know when I can start using my powers again. I used to be able to go for days without using them at all, and now I'm itching."

"That's probably the burns."

"Ah." … "Good?"

I lower the bubble construct and deposit him on the ground, then wait to make sure that he can actually move under his own power.

"Did either of you ever build a Fortress in Peru?"

Superman shake his head.

"It does not matter." Overman is looking more confident. "Kryptonian crystal technology has a particular sound to it. When we are closer, I will be able to find it."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Superman clearly doesn't think it is. "Now we know where he is, we can call in reinforcements and take him down at the same time as the Demon version of us."

"We do not need to defeat him and his cultists. But we do need to learn more about him than 'he is somewhere in Peru'. And if it is at all possible to deny him the ability to attack my Earth, then I want to make the attempt."

Superman nods, and the four of us set course for South America.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
14:57 GMT -5

Overman frowns.

"I do not have one of those."

We're approaching Peru from the south, so as to better avoid the gaze of the Demon Superman. Frankly… Yes, he could hit us from here. He can probably track us by sound even assuming that he doesn't have the ability to extend his awareness using the planet's thaumosphere, which he probably does.

Superman raises his eyebrows.

"You don't? Jor-El included the seed crystal in my pod."

"Mine may have been destroyed during the early attempts by the Reich's scientists to understand Kryptonian technology."

Superman nods. "I could have my Fortress make another one, if you want it."

"In my society, showing clearly my allegiance to an alien culture would not be wise."

"In mine, people keep their traditions of their homelands at the same time as taking on new ones."

Overman gives his head a small shake. "I do not live in yours. And… While I would prefer it if the Reich did things in that manner…" He pauses. "I do not like to speak positively of it, but I have had the opportunity to compare nations similar to yours with my own. There are benefits to uniformity. They are simply not worth the evil we did to gain them."

We can see the South American Fortress from here, and it… Seems to be relatively intact. We're too far away for my rune stone to pick up anything more than the background magic level, but there's something… Odd about the surrounding forest. There are towns in the general vicinity of the Fortress, but I've yet to see anything that shouts 'demonic superhero' or Wolf Krieger himself.

"So I can level the site from here, if that's what we're considering."

Superman shakes his head. "Any of us could do that. But we're trying to save these people."

Overman shrugs. "I would rather not kill them, but until we see a portal of my Earth we do not truly know that this is the true site."

I alter my mouth and eyes to resemble those of the local Marked, including the 'S' tattoo on my forehead.

"I can go and take a closer look. Unless they open the portal in the open we're not going to see it from here."

Angelika looks sceptical. "Do they have an Orange Lantern?"

"How would they know?" I shrug. "I can't make it much more realistic than this. Last time I metabolised demonic magic I.. became someone I didn't like."

Now she's concerned. "What did you do?"

"I broke up with Jade on the grounds that our relationship didn't provide a benefit to me proportional to the time I was investing." I shrug. "She shot me until I got better."

Overman looks me over. "Do you think that you can pretend to be as deranged as they are?"

Superman clears his throat and looks away.

"I'm not going to be completely au fait with the local patois, but I'm confident of my ability to perform reconnaissance."

Overman considers the idea. "What race are the people of Peru on this Earth? Could we all fit in?"

"Everyone speak Spanish?" All three of my companions nod. "Then maybe. I can't reshape your faces, but if you pretend to be cultists, that might work. You'll need to change your clothes, obviously."

Overman nods. "Superman?"

"I'd rather we stay together on a world like this."

"Right then. Dishevelled Peruvian peasant it is."

Take a few pictures from ring records, adjust for size and… And opaque construct modesty screens and change. Lastly, 'S' stickers for their foreheads…

Eh. They're all too good looking and healthy to really sell it, and blonde hair's not exactly common in Peru, but… It should work for a little while.

I generate a construct topographical map, and we all examine it.

"Here." / "Here."

Overman and Superman point to the same position, out of sight of the settlements with enough high ground to cover us as we approach from the air. Angelika nods.

"Should I go somewhere else? We don't know what the relationship between the superhumans and Marked cultists is."

Angelika nods, rolling her eyes. "You want to land in the middle, don't you?"

"Seems quickest. Overman, how much caution did the superhumans who attacked you show?"

"None. The Marked cultists, a little more."

"There we go. If they're all violent Demon Superman-fixated crazies, I should be able to fit right in."

Superman nods. "We'll come in low, but we'll be listening for your voice. You can assume that we'll hear everything you say."

I flash him a slasher-smile and a mock-salute and then rocket away. I see them drop down to start their approach, then flare my corona into a burning orange fireball. I don't know if drawing attention to myself will actually achieve anything here, but I don't see how it can hurt.

Let's see… How was their voice altered?

"I bear the-." Hm. "I bear the mark. Tell me his commands!"

Yes, that'll do it. Right, no sense mucking about. I'll head right for the Fortress at maximum flight speed. It'll attract attention, if nothing else.

Alert! Will detected!

I frown as a green glow rises from the Fortress. A Lantern? That might explain why the Corps were so concerned, but assuming they remote destructed the ring's AI they shouldn't have to worry about them getting off the planet. The figure heads my way and I… Don't recognise them. They have the signature wide mouth and a green-burning 'S' on their forehead, but I have no idea of their character.

I don't alter course and react to them coming my way at all, even as they fly towards me. Looks like he's slower than me.

"Who are you? Why are you-"

I fly past him, and he reverses direction to keep up with me. His legs… Huh. They're actually constructs. Curious.

"-here?"

"I hear his commands and I obey! There is no other purpose!"

He gives me a too-broad smile. "Excellent! We are all his dutiful servants. I will guide you to his prophet, who will lead us to spread his word!"

I grin back. "Take me there!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
15:03 GMT -5

Okay, that's… Beatriz, that's…

Um.

Okay, I've got no idea who that is. But this is quite a lot of superpeople that I'm having to grin insanely-

"Do you hear the voices too?"

-at.

"Clearer than ever!"

I think I've made a friend.

Regular cultists move with purpose through the Fortress, but like Overman said they're not interacting directly with the superhumans. Other than my escort, they're just sort of… Hanging around. I'd guess that listlessness is a consequence of the control spell Wolf Krieger is using because I've never known people under the influence of demon magic to be anything but effusive.

"Who is his prophet?"

"His prophet is his prophet. We will be the heralds announcing his glory to a new world."

Sounds like I'm in the right place. I'd guess that his extraordinary mental focus is the reason that he's still moving about rather than just barely responding to external stimuli like the rest.

"He has ordered this?"

"His prophet has ordained this."

But does the Demon care or not? Yes, a highly tainted person might enjoy listening to the screams of a slowly dying world, but he's not going to want to do that forever. Demons can be very short sighted, but it's not a class-defining trait. Demons can plan. Does he care about this one? Did he actually give Wolf orders?

We pass through an archway into a large internal space.

Will he actually…

"Great prophet! It is as you foresaw!"

Wolf Krieger isn't in his customary Thule Society robes. Or in any sort of disguise. Rather, he's wearing a robe of blue and red with a prominent yellow 'S' on the back, front and shoulders. Same face I remember, plus the Glasgow grin and mildly glowing eyes. The Spear of Destiny has been stabbed into a crystal monolith and Wolf himself is grinning extra wide as he stares at me.

"Orange? Well, it hardly matters. Come here, my good man."

I walk forward, making a show of being unconcerned by my environment but curious about what's going on. I'm not… Familiar with cutting edge Kryptonian technology. I know what their military was like before they went into isolation, and I know what the mid-to-high tech part of their civilian society looked like, but…

That looks like it could be a teleportation gateway. Possibly. Kryptonian crystal technology was fairly unique, but there are other societies that found other paths to the same ends. Kryptonians weren't big on teleportation but I've seen this general design before. I don't think I can risk scanning it without tipping Wolf off, but I'm going to keep a little distance between myself and it.

"You are his prophet?"

"What else could I be? I spent my life searching for the ultimate strength, only to have it revealed to me at my life's end. But before the end I will open the way, that ALL may know his might."

Okay, he's definitely responsible. I could probably kill him now. Except that he'd go to Hell, and he might come right back. I don't have a handy focus of thematically appropriate magic to use his own weapon against him this time. No one who can work out what magics he's using and unbind them, and I can't rely on my ability to burn it out. It's not like turning him back into a Thule Society Nazi would be an improvement over him being a demon cult leader.

And then there are his followers. What will they do if unconfined? I think I should try to keep him talking.

"What do you mean?"

"One of the technologies he had here was a planar portal. I have located a world with no magical defences and sent through those who know of his majesty and are marked by him. With every mote of mana and every drop of blood they carry his presence with them. Soon, soon the connection will be strong enough to open a portal permanently. His loyal slaves will flood through and brand their world with his sigil. Then, he will grant me the privilege of consecrating his conquest with my death."

Consecration by death, yes, avoid killing him for now.

"How can I serve him? Tell me how I can serve him!"

"Advanced parties are already moving amongst their populations, spreading his word and shedding blood in his name."

Overman's people didn't get them all. They presented an obvious threat so that the more subtle team members would be ignored, while… What, moving to places of magical significance? Overman said that arcane science was underdeveloped on his Earth. Would they even know where to protect?

"You will go through with the next group. Engage their champions so that his hidden followers may complete their work."

"Will he not want to face them himself?"

"If he does, you may fall back once the way is secure."

Right, because the superhumans didn't show anything in the way of self-preservation. 'I' wouldn't be asking 'what if he decides to kill me for my impudence' because 'I' would be fine with that. I'd be asking 'how can I minimise the offence caused to him while maximising my service to him'.

"When will the way be open?"

"I was waiting until we had gathered more strength. But with you here..."

He pulls the spear free, and green bonds snap into place around me!

"Did you think we could not tell one who was bound to him from one who is not?"

I shift my face back, strands of orange light working their way through my bonds until they collapse.

"For a minute there?"

Railgun construct load crumbler rounds fire fire at the green light user!

"B-h!"

Grab his body as Wolf throws lightning at me shield thrust the body at the arch and tear so that the blood soaks it!

Wolf gestures and-

Warning! Spell eater overheating!

-he's doing something as the portal flickers into life as the result of the blood sacrifice. I can detect motion in the corridors as superhumans rush towards us, their passivity instantly removed as a threat appears.

I need to go.

"Superman." I fly at the portal. "Target located."

"Kill him!"

And I'm through.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st May 2013
21:43 MTZ

The tiny human female groans quietly, her eyes adjusting to the dim light of-. Wait, her hands aren't bound. She was in Knock Out's trunk, then-.

Next to her, her overweight companion rubs his head as he sits up.

"What just happened?"

"I did."

She looks-. She looks up at the twenty foot tall purple robot-. A new Autobot-? No, she thinks as she sees the dark-purple-and-silver face on her wings. Decepticon.

Her companion glowers. "What, did you and Knock Out have a fight over who gets to hand us over to Megatron?"

"Heh. I don't work for Megatron. We're freelance peacekeeping agents. If your government will pay for our work, they can have you right back."

"'Freelance-?" He scowls. "You're a mercenary."

She makes a dismissive motion with her right hand. "Football, soccer."

"And who's 'we'?"

"Down here."

They both look down, spotting the purple jumpsuit-wearing human standing next to her left leg. He waves.

"I'll get in touch with General Bryce. You're worth a few tanks of energon, aren't you, Agent Fowler?"

The man frowns. "The United States government does not negotiate with terrorists."

"Yes you do? And you certainly pay private security operatives. We did rescue you from Knock Out. What do you think, a couple of barrels for you and Nurse Darby?"

"The United States government has no knowledge of any 'energon'."

The robot smiles. "We'll see. I suspect that your General will be quite interested in Cybertronian technology he can just buy."

Agent Fowler hesitates. While the Autobots kept up their end of the agreements regarding technology trades, they weren't exactly open-handed, and… Well, the US army was usually happy to buy any advantage it could. There were plenty of people in government and the top brass who would find a simple monetary transaction for an immediate payoff preferable to the slow drip Prime's team gave them, regardless of prior agreements.

The human man notices his hesitancy and smiles. "I'll go and get in touch now. Keep an eye on them, Slipstream."

The human man turns away, giving them both a quick glance at the cybernetic implants sticking out of the back of his neck. As he walks behind Slipstream to head towards the door he reaches up and-.

And slaps her on the as-. Aft as he goes.

Both remaining humans blink in surprise, while Slipstream just glances back with an amused expression on her face. "Do that again and I might just slap you back, partner."

A moment later the room's door slams shut behind him, and she goes back to watching their 'guests'.

"He said it was something humans do as a sign of physical attraction." Slipstream leans in closer, left eye narrowing. "Unless he was making that up. Was he making that up? Because if he was, then he's sleeping outside my cockpit tonight."

Nurse Darby and Agent Fowler glance at each other.

"No." The nurse decides to field that question, fearing all too much that a question that she'd carefully been avoiding asking her son and his 'partner' was about to make itself heard. "No, it-. Certainly can be. I'm.. just a little surprised."

Slipsteam straightens up slightly. "Why?"

Agent Fowler raises his hands. "Oh, we're not trying to imply that you're not an attractive.. giant.. robot.. woman..?"

Nurse Darby shoots him an incredulous look, and he shrugs helplessly.

"I'm not a woman."

"And there's nothing wrong with that. But you're still.. gi-"

Nurse Darby elbows him.

"-ant-?"

Slipsteam stares at him for a few moments, trying to work out how to bridge the obvious gulf in comprehension. Then she puts her left hand on her hip and points at Nurse Darby with her right forefinger.

"You're a female human, right? You have an internal factory unit for making smaller copies of yourself?"

"That's… Not exactly how it works."

Her finger move to Agent Fowler.

"And you're a male? You have a bio-data exchange injector?"

"Ah…"

Slipstream smiles. "Don't worry, I've seen them before."

"In… That case, yes."

"Why did you assume that I'm female?"

"Well…" Agent Fowler glances at Nurse Darby for help, but she's content to let him take the lead. "Your build, your voice, some parts of how you behave..."

"I have almost exactly the same build as Starscream." She frowns for a moment. "At least, the build he had last time I saw him. It's been a while." She shrugs. "We're both light frame aerial models. Seekers. I don't have any sort of internal fabricator. Very few Cybertronians do, because we don't make more of ourselves like that. My voice? I changed my default voice-" An unpleasant, screeching, grating and far lower pitched voice issues from her mouth. "-a long time ago because I wanted something unique, and I never had any reason to change it again. It's just a setting in my vocal processor; it doesn't signify anything."

Nurse Darby looks slightly interested. "Then how do you reproduce?"

"I was built on a production line during the Quintesson occupation of Cybertron. Other than when my spark case was brought online the entire process was automated. There might be other ways; they didn't bother telling slave soldiers anything they didn't need to know."

Agent Fowler's eyebrows shoot up. "You're a slave?"

"I was a slave. Most Decepticons were. That was why the uprising happened." She frowns. "Didn't Prime explain that to you?"

"The Decepticons… Were slaves-? Of the Autobots?"

"Mostly." Slipstream waves her right hand nonchalantly. "Not all Autobots owned slaves, but most of the old High Council did. And not all Decepticons were slaves. Megatron earned his freedom in the gladiator pits and I think Starscream ruled a city or something?"

"But you were a slave."

She nods.

"In Kaon, which was the first city Megatron liberated. And fighting as a Decepticon was better than being a slave. The food was much better, and we got some time to ourselves. But as the war ground Cybertron to scrap, I kind of lost my enthusiasm. Paul says that when I was freed I just traded one person giving me orders for another, and I think he's on to something. I need to be more selfish, you know? Finally find out how I want to live. Which is why I'm trading you back to your own people, rather than giving you to Megatron."

Agent Fowler clearly needs a moment to process that, so Nurse Darby decides that now is as good a time to ask as any.

"This… Paul. He's your partner?"

"That's right."

"Do you mean… Romantic partner?"

"That's not exactly how it works. I told you: we don't reproduce like you do. I'm not looking for someone to provide half the schematics for my 'minicons'. We don't have the family structures that you do, because we don't need to arrange everything around propagating ourselves and guarding our mini-mes."

"So he's a work partner?"

"Yes, but that means more than you think it does. We don't have 'parents' or 'children'. Our strongest emotional relationships are usually with the people we work with. A Team might work together for hundreds or thousands of Earth years, and get so used to each other that they can't imagine being apart. It's not really a romantic relationship in the way organics have them, but I suppose it's the nearest equivalent."

"What happened to your team?"

"The last of my team died in the war, and…" She pulls back slightly. "Paul is… There."

Fowler shakes his head to clear his daze. "How does that work? I mean… Physically."

Slipstream shrugs. "He has a cybernetic implant that makes it possible for us to engage in binary bonding."

"'Bonding' as in..?"

"We meld into one. Not like humans would; I don't have the components. And since we don't reproduce like that it probably doesn't have the same mental relevance to me. But it's extremely intimate and…" She smiles lasciviously. "Quite a lot of fun."

Nurse Darby shakes her head. "But if you don't have the comp-. The right parts, how does it-?"

"I can adapt to an entirely new body form in a few seconds just by scanning a vehicle. I switch from the mental patterns needed to control my robot form to the ones needed to control my aero fighter mode in less than a second. Adapting my cognition processors to stimuli that I couldn't normally experience isn't much harder. And it's a real rush." Her eyes narrow. "Why are you so interested? Do you have an eye on someone?"

"No! No. But my son insists that he's Arcee's partner-."

Slipstream's eyes light up.

"Does he want the cyber surgery? I can give him a discount. Since we're friends."

"No he does not want cyber surgery. He's sixteen!"

Agent Fowler looks at her sceptically. "When I was sixteen, if I'd had an opportunity to get it on with a hot alien woman who was also a cool motorbike, I'd-."

"Thank you Agent Fowler." Nurse Darby takes a moment to calm herself. "At least that explains why Arcee was so reluctant to call him her partner. Is that..? Sort of thing common where you're from?"

"On Cybertron? A planet with no organic life? No."

"But when you meet other species. Does it happen a lot?"

Slipstream smile becomes more cruel.

"Bulkhead's on Prime's team, isn't he? Why don't you ask him about his old team mate Seaspray? I'm sure he could explain how it works."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
15:07 GMT -5

A shocked face looks up from where its owner is prostrate on the floor, his Superman-themed robes matching those worn by Wolf Krieger on the other side. There are other cultists.. around, but none of them appear to be participating in the ritual.

"Is something-?"

Killing the ritualist has a chance of keeping the portal open and I need it closed now. Sander constructs slash out, scouring the blood-daubed walls free of runic inscriptions as I fire a pulse of orange light at the open portal itself.

There's a… Smell of sulphur and a momentary sensation of pulling, pulling at my internal organs… And then it's gone, and the room is just a room.

"Heretic!"

The ritualist leaps to his feet, his youth making him look a little ridiculous even as his hands glow a sort of purple-red.

"Blasphemer! I will cast-."

A pithing needle construct hits him in the back of the neck, causing his body to jerk and the glow around his hands to fade. Wasn't completely sure that would work as magic is the province of the soul, but I assume that what he does has somatic elements.

Okay, got a bit more time. Ring?

Standing by.

Drain magic.

Orange light flashes in his eyes and flickers around his skin. There's no further source of demonic-

A hail of bullets rattle off my environmental shield, prompting me to erect construct shields around the two of us.

-power other than in this parallel, where it should be a little less freely available. I'm not seeing any runes or sacrificial areas that could be used to open up a portal to the local Hell, and from what Wolf was saying that would be contrary to their intent anyway.

Ring, any trouble digesting the demonic magic?

Energy conversion efficiency low. Process in progress.

I suppose that's the most I can ask for. The cultists attempt another volley, but give up when it clearly doesn't work. They then make way for another of their number carrying an oxyacetylene torch. Which won't work, but I'm mildly impressed by how rational a move it is.

Ring, can we fix his face?

Confirmed. Reconstruction in progress.

Good, and-. Really? Ugh, remove the brands as well.

Compliance.

The torch flares into life as I feel the last of the demonic magic drain from whoever this is. I take one of Wallace's healing potions out of subspace… Yes, looks to be in reasonable condition. I pour it down the boy's throat. That much demonic magic isn't good for a person, but I need to know if it's a survivable experience with moderate intervention. With the potion bottle empty I remove the pithing needle and let him collapse into a construct stretcher.

Nazi Earth. Who do I know here who's even remotely someone I want as my first point of contact? With Overman gone, none of the other Reichmen really struck me as reasonable people. But Angelika spent more of her time with her own team, and…

Well, she's not an objective judge of character, but she talked about them more and I'm confident that I could more easily convince them that I do actually know her. So her team are a better choice, and once I've talked them around I can get them to talk to the Reichsmen. I know what Baroness Reiter's favourite food is. What her favourite film is. About that time Otto Arnold started trying to come up with an actual catchphrase for himself.

I don't know their phone numbers or anything like that, but Axis Germania operate out of Wewelsburg so finding them will be pretty easy once I get out of here.

I extend orange filaments and send the oxyacetylene torch into subspace before shock crowning the cultists.

Okay, the local police are likely to be national socialists and know nothing about magic. There's very little chance that they'll accept what I say about mind control magic… Darn it. I'm going to have to imprison them here -wherever here is- and hope I can talk them into sparing the cultists.

"Sorry about this."

Now, chaining people to walls in certain positions can be quite dangerous due to how the human circulatory system works. But I can't risk them killing themselves while I'm away. Alright, manacles around the wrists, with short chains linking them to the bricks in the walls. The chains are long enough to let them sit or stand, but not long enough to reach another cultist. Then I rifle through their robes for anything that could be used as a weapon. Knives, pistols and a few assault rifles vanish into subspace. Ah, manacles for the legs as well, and I think we're done.

Exit is this way, and I'll take summoner boy with me. Scans don't show any other cultists on-site, and it didn't look like any of the other cultists were magic users.

Al… Right, looks like we're in a.. sub-cellar, and… Up the ladder, I'm into the main cellar. Large barrels of wine stand fermenting in rows all around me, the smell of wine permeating the air. There's light through barred windows high up on one wall, but otherwise the place is in the dark. Looks like that barrel is in position to be moved over the hatch. That would stand up to a casual inspection…

But there's no magic detection on this planet. There's nothing in particular to draw attention to here, so a quick search is probably all that they would have to deal with.

There are a pair of wooden doors over there, so I unlock them with a construct key and pull them open. Ah, good, a goods lift to the surface. I fly up the shaft with my cargo, emerging into the open air. Looks like a… Medium sized town in a fairly rural area.

Ring, where are we?

Western Russia.

Not in this universe.

It seems like mid-morning here. Not all that many people around, though I see a few spot me and stare for a few moments before returning to what they were doing. No real alarm. Curiosity. Curious.

Fear there, but-. The man with her points to the stretcher. Right, it's clearly medical, so I'm helping someone.

Ring, plot course to Wewelsburg.

Compliance.

I should probably call ahead a little, but right now I want to fly up out of sight of the ground. Kryptonian aerospace sensors were good, but even assuming that they've implemented a full network I can turn it aside. Once I'm high enough I accelerate, heading into Germany-proper. That could get me in trouble, but even if Germany is the most secure part of the world, they're still using Kryptonian technology. It's nothing I haven't seen bef-.

I'm knocked back as a yellow blur slams into me, environmental shield briefly flaring as I take a… Low to mid power super strength hit. The figure remains a blur, well below Flash speed but fast enough that I'm struggling to track them by eye.

"Baroness, I-."

"I don't care how much Overman likes you, you do not have permission to have that ring, much less fly here."

She's got the sense not to stop moving as I generate construct armour.

"Looks like you will be going back to Leatherwing. So sad. Your column was doing so well."

"This is going to be tiresome."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
Probably
Pass

"Baroness, I-."

She appears, pink light glowing around her eyes for an instant before the beam blasts out and strikes my construct armour on the left vambrace. My construct armour holds it off easily enough, then the beam vanishes as she evades again. Ah, I see. She knows my alternate here, and was assuming that she could take off my hand and disable me.

"Parallel universe. Angelika ended up on-"

She slows again, and I generate a construct shield as she puts a little more effort into it. Same target, and… Whatever psycho-energy is, it doesn't appear to be particularly good at penetrating constructs. Fortunately, it's not being deflected, because this region isn't that sparsely inhabited and that beam would easily punch through a brick building, let alone a normal person.

Given the all-around upgrades it appears to give the Reiters, I want to see if I can get a sample.

"-our Earth when she tried to save that train?"

The beam cuts off and she doesn't attempt to evade again. Instead she watches me with her arms folded across her chest.

"What happened to Angelika is common knowledge."

Hm. I can see the Kryptonian influences in the structure of her armour, though obviously she isn't using the sort of solar energy storing system they usually did. The design covers everything… Ah, she can manifest psycho-energy in front of her eyes, not literally inside them! So she can wear a solid visor and still use it.

"And you don't have any way to test whether I'm from a parallel universe or not."

"Not anywhere I am willing to take you."

"But… You have a radio in that armour, don't you? You can confirm the location of the version of me on this parallel?"

"No."

"Are you seriously trying to tell me that the National Socialists don't have a police state?"

"That doesn't mean we keep eyes on a single journalist all of the time."

I shake my head.

"Standards have fallen."

"It's nice that you agree with Leatherwing about something. Perhaps after a few years, he will only break one bone each day."

"Ah, well she told me plenty of things about her colleagues, but I imagine that you'd just think I was spying. She used to be really insecure about her infertility and the fact that she was only half as powerful as Karl, who came through earlier today-."

"He went-! What was he thinking!?"

"I could tell you, but I'm worried that it's a state secret. I wouldn't want to get you into trouble. But from the sound of it, leaping through portals to help people on parallel worlds is something he does quite-."

"Silence!"

Because the knowledge that their superman sometimes just leaves the planet for extended periods probably isn't something they want passed around.

"So..?"

"I'm confirming."

"Please tell me that Leatherwing's not in command in his absence."

"That doesn't concern you."

"Do portals to parallel universes made by demon cultists concern you? Because that's where I found this chap."

"Are you trying to die?"

"Were you trying to kill me?"

"That-."

She's silent for a few moments.

"Does your ring have long range communication abilities?"

"Yes."

"The Bat wishes to speak with you."

Ring… Ah. I see his desires, and as I make a little effort to correct for Kryptonian stealth techniques I see… I'm going to say 'Owlwing'? A highly advanced aircraft. It's moving fast but keeping its distance, and… As far as I can see, its weapons aren't deployed.

"Ring, open channel."

"Hello Orange Lantern!"

"Hello The Bat."

"Not going to use my name? Angelika knows my name."

"I know your name, but I assume that it's supposed to be secret or you wouldn't be The Bat."

"No, I keep my name The Bat to annoy Leatherwing. Last year, he wrote 'please die soon' on my birthday card."

"Ah. Okay. Isn't that really inappropriate?"

"Not as inappropriate as being on active service at my age. So, what's this about cultists?"

"There's a parallel universe where their version of Overman got possessed by a demon. He wrecked their civilisation and now the survivors live in self-sufficient enclaves or openly worship him. A wizard named Wolf Krieger has been opening portals to this parallel to spread the worship of his master, and according to him the ones you've caught so far are a distraction."

"Yes, I knew that."

"You knew that?"

Sounds like the Lady Baroness wasn't in the loop.

"What, you thought insane cultists who could only charge at visible enemies were intelligent enough to open gateways between parallel universes, but at the same time weren't intelligent enough to understand strategy? Of course there was a greater aim. But Wolf Krieger? The Thulist?"

"Their history is a little different. He called their Overman his Fuhrer now."

"And are you from there?"

"No. Some criminals on my parallel are trying to loot the place while everyone is distracted. I came across their Overgirl while attacking one of their warehouses. Overgirl, Overman and our Overman are currently staking out the Kryptonian fortress which he's working from, but that still leaves all of the cultists already over here. I came through to warn you."

"And your friend, there?"

"He was one of their superpowered cultists. What I did to him should have cleansed him, but I can't swear to it."

"Hm. Yes, that checks out."

"What?"

"Come to Wewelsburg and we'll do a full debrief."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
21:29 GMT +1

I visited Wewelsburg 16 with Angelika, after she got over her initial shock. The core building is definitely recognisable as being the same, but beyond that…

It's a military base. I can see the force field generators, though they're of the type that need to be raised and lowered. I can see bunkers with anti-infantry, anti-tank and anti-air guns. I can see the expanded barracks and civil accommodation for all of the people needed in order to keep Greater Germany's superhuman defenders informed and equipped.

Can't see the League getting away with putting something like this in Washington DC.

The Bat moves the owlwing into position to land on the landing pad, and I see the man inside look up towards me.

"Impressed?"

"It certainly makes an impact, but… Honestly? I'm a man of extremes. The fortress-builder in me doesn't like the stone castle, while the classicist doesn't like the military base carbuncle built onto the classical castle. It's got two jobs and doesn't do either as well as it could."

"What do you have?"

"Me personally? An upgraded Cluster trade post in Bir Tawil, and a secure apartment in Gotham City. I used to have a flying fortress armed with freeze rays, but some angels destroyed it and it wasn't efficient enough for me to want to rebuild it."

"What about your team?"

"Depends which team you're referring to. The Justice League has a big classical building in the middle of Washington DC, the last team I was actually a member of has a fortified mountain base and the Orange Lantern Corps' command centre is a sentient starship yard with a power ring."

"One which actually looks nice-" He climbs a little awkwardly out of the cockpit and walks into an open part of the landing pad. "-and two that are actually functional. Are the Justice League your world's paragons?"

"They are generally regarded as our greatest superheroes."

"Carefully phrased, there."

Ring, what language is he speaking?

English.

I've gotten used to Angelika speaking English, and there are… Certain turns of phrase she avoids due to them not making sense in German. 'Apostrophe there' is something she wouldn't say. Of course, if he actually is the same The Bat as Nazi Germany had in my timeline then he was infiltrating America in the late thirties as a child with his father, so he's had plenty of time to absorb the language.

"We have certain philosophical disagreements. I can command a fleet of warships." I land next to him, the ritualist's stretcher coming in alongside me. "It would be nice to be able to justify focusing on something as small as a planet."

The Bat pulls off his helmet, and… He looks healthy for an eighty year old. He retains the blue and grey colour scheme I remember from Alan's archival descriptions, as well as the crescent moon logo. Most of his hair has gone white and it's much thinner than it was back then, but his gaze is sharp and his skin is…

His skin is surprisingly good. Ring-?

Kryptonian cloning technology. That skin is cloned. They'd have to have flayed him and stuck it on. Kryptonians used to do that for all their body tissues, but if his hair looks like that… Do they not have the ability, or is it a matter of personal choice?

I dismiss my construct armour, earning a small nod of appreciation.

"Will the Baroness be joining us?"

"No, she's on active duty. With the attacks we have been having, people need to see us on the job."

"Fair enough."

He leads the way inside the castle, which… I didn't want to use this comparison, but I'm getting strong Castle Wolfenstein vibes. Paintings of notable Nazis and scenes from history decorate the walls, busts and sculptures in the classical style decorate wooden hall tables or stand freely on the floor.

"What happened to me in your universe? I assume that I existed."

"You were killed in a fight with Fury in nineteen forty three."

He stops for a moment. "Forty th-?"

A small shake of the head and he resumes his walk. Helena considered killing The Bat to be the most shameful thing she ever did. It made her flat out hate the furies who empowered her. She never succumbed to the berserk rage after that, even if that meant that she couldn't use her powers at full force.

"Angelika told me that you don't employ wizards."

"No."

"That's going to make this difficult."

"Why can't we use the one you captured?"

"We might be able to, but we don't know if he's going to remember how to do it. Or if he's ever going to wake up."

"We have excellent physicians here."

"Are any of them magicians?"

He stops and gives me a serious look.

"Are you certain that we need one?"

"Technically, no, but it's going to be easier to backtrack their spell to reach their home parallel than to find it using the sort of technology that needed a Kryptonian in order to avoid killing whoever used it."

"It's being refined."

"So the choice is whether or not you think you've got the time."

"Two Overmen, plus Overgirl?" He chuckles. "I suspect that we're just opening the portal to give them a way home."

"If it were just Wolf Krieger and his followers, I would agree with you. The problem is that the possessed Overman is a lot stronger than both of them, and that neither like the idea of killing nearly all of the people on that planet to prevent future incursions."

"Overman will do what he needs to."

"Superman would leave it as a last resort. Which means that Overman will as well."

He glances back at me with narrowed eyes.

"Speak only through flowers."

Surprised it took this long.

"Understood. In other news, Angelika is in good health."

"Should we expect her to want to return?"

"Depends on whether she'll need to be hospitalised to use the portal." I frown. "I know the Thulists were cast out, but are you sure you don't have a few minor magicians around-."

"No."

"Ah."

"The only place we might be able to procure one would be Africa, and that would be… Awkward." He pushes open a door and we walk into a well equipped medical bay. "Let's see if we can heal this young man before we discuss extreme measures."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
21:37 GMT +1

Coming in blind, I wouldn't have expected national socialists to have embraced an alien technology so thoroughly. I can't really think of a way to voice that question in a non-confrontational way though, so I'll save it for now. Of course, the phrenology callipers are perfectly in line with national socialist thought and I'm pretty sure that they took a blood sample to check his genetic background.

Other than that, the medical team checking over the ritualist appear perfectly competent. The technology they're using is Krypton-inspired, but human designed and built. Nothing I couldn't do with a power ring, but I imagine that they trust their instruments more than mine.

The physician studying his face looks my way.

"The skin of the cheeks is new?"

"Part of what happens when they're affected by the demonic magic is that they get a Glasgow grin." I reach up to my own right cheek with my right hand, tracing a line along my own cheek. "I felt it would be detrimental to his recovery to leave it in place."

"I would have preferred an unaltered specimen."

"There's a planet containing hundreds of people with similar alterations. We need this one to be able to open the portal."

"He hardly needs his cheeks for that. I assume that's how he got here in the first place?"

I turn to The Bat.

"I assume that the Reich has dispensed with the Hippocratic Oath?"

"The version used may not be what you are familiar with. Doctor, the status of the patient?"

"We haven't finished the full genetic workup-."

"Just.. what you have."

"The subject is in reasonable general health. I would usually say that for a youth of his age his physiology is underdeveloped, but since I do not know his background-."

"Please, Doctor."

"He's short, his muscles are not developed for strength and he's underfed. Left arm was broken in two places but has almost fully healed. Initial blood results show… No disease, and perhaps a heightened stress level. That might explain some of the other abnormalities. Brain development appears normal, though the patterns of activity are similar to those of coma patients."

"I don't suppose that you have any magic scanners, do you?"

"Magic is a tool for primitive peoples who lack the wit for technology. It is not a tool for a proper Aryan."

Ah.

I generate an opaque shield around myself and The Bat.

"You're going to need to explain that one to me, because it sounds like it might become relevant."

"When Karl Kant's capsule first arrived, the Führer determined that he was an Aryan of a more advanced sort sent back in time from national socialists in the distant future."

"What?"

"You think that makes less sense than a perfectly human-seeming alien?"

"I don't see why he would have felt the need to weigh in at all. The origin isn't a point of ide… Ol… Ogy."

Except that was a febrile time. If he could make immediate political capital out of it, he would. It's not as if Nazi biological pseudoscience made any sense anyway.

"Yes. We know better now, but the policy was established. The technology we had been given was a pure Aryan technology from the pure Aryan future, so that was the only avenue we would follow. Everything else was for the subhumans. There's some leeway, but magic is officially banned."

"Would you mind if I quote you on that?"

"No? It is public knowledge?" He looks puzzled. "In what context would I be quoted?"

"If anyone asked me about banning magic again, you would be quoted as a leading national socialist superhero. It could help me convince a lot of people."

"Then by all means."

"But now people know that he's an alien..?"

"Some people are more ideological than is… Sensible. Claims have been made that Krypton is a world that will be colonised by Aryans in the future, rather than an alien world."

"So magic is abhorrent."

"If it were essential, we might be able to get some tribal shaman from one of the African subhuman reservations. It would be better not to. And in any case, if they had the power to travel to alternate worlds then they wouldn't still be here."

"Kryptonians didn't study parallel universe travel. You're having to innovate after being led by the hand for seventy years. How lucky do you feel?"

"Is magic a proper Aryan field of study on your home Earth?"

"It's becoming increasingly mainstream, both because of the utility and because we keep getting attacked by magic users. The concept of 'Aryanness' isn't relevant to us."

"I see." He nods at the barrier, and I drop it. "Sorry, Doctor, we needed a private conversation. You were saying?"

"A coma. Obviously I don't know anything about magic, but great strides have been made in the field of psychopharmacology in recent years. I'm confident that we can rouse him."

"Good. Then please, cont-."

"Wait. What exactly are you planning on injecting him with?"

"Are you a physician?"

"What approximately are you planning on injecting him with?"

"Various psychoactive substances, neurotransmitters-."

"Side effects."

"Does potential long term harm really matter in this instance? He's a degenerate and almost certainly a subhuman."

"It matters because we need him coherent. Just being conscious isn't enough if you mess up his memory or hand eye coordination."

The doctor looks to The Bat for instruction.

"He has a point, Doctor. I know little more about magic than you do, while he is better informed."

The doctor disgruntledly acquiesces.

"I suppose we can baby him, if you insist. But that will almost certainly delay him regaining consciousness."

The Bat nods. "We will manage. I-."

A low, warbling alarm sounds throughout the castle, causing The Bat to march over to a wall-mounted communications device. He presses a button, then grimaces before turning to me.

"It seems that the demons are not taking this lying down. Will you accompany us as we discipline them?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
13:38 GMT -7

Rainbow Dash flaps lazily, holding herself in the air roughly level with my head as she looks me over.

"So that's what you really look like, huh?"

I shrug. "Define 'really'."

"You know, when the mirror doesn't change you into a pony."

"It's my current default, yes, but this isn't the first shape that I've had, and it may well not be the last." I shoulder aside-.

I stop and remind myself who I am.

I reach out with both arms, grip the trunk of the tree that is standing between me and the Castle, and heave. Despite my strength this is harder than you might think, as my grip strength tends to make trees shatter or strips the bark from the trunk. But with a little help…

There's a burst of flying soil, then the tree and most of its roots pull free from the ground.

Miss Dash backs off slightly. "Whow."

I toss the tree away from us, deeper into the woodland. "So the trees in the Everfree Forest actually move?"

"Ah… I dunno. Sometimes I think they do, but that might just be because they all look the same."

"Because that wasn't there when I made this path." I look back the way we came. I left most of it as-is because I wanted the restoration of the Castle to be a surprise for Luna, but if the path I made through the forest is going to close up that quickly then I'm bricking the darn place over and getting Sunset to put wards on the path.

"It's the Everfree. If you don't want weird stuff to happen, you're in the wrong place dude."

"Your definition of 'weird' and mine are very different." Nodding in satisfaction, I walk the rest of the way up the hill and stop at the gorge acting as the Castle's moat.

"Yeah." Dash frowns. "I don't get how your whole world has wild weather."

"Nearly all of your whole world has wild weather. And as Equestria industrialises, your job will get more difficult."

"It will?" She thinks for a moment. "Right, because of the chimneys. Stuff gets burned and creates heat, and all the smoke in the air messes with the air temperature and humidity. Took me a while to work out where the weird line of wrong temperature air was coming from when the railway reached Ponyville."

"Not just that. As more ground gets paved, it stops absorbing water. Which causes run off rates to accelerate, causing brief but sudden swelling in the streams and rivers."

Miss Dash frowns. "Aw, man! Ponies are gunna get even more fussy about the rain schedule! Totally uncool."

"You could hire diamond dogs to dig storm drains. The land here is vertiginous enough that you could manage it without pumps."

"That's even worse. Ponyville's all zoned as agricultural land! You got any idea how much paperwork I'll need to fill in if the water table changes?"

"No. As you said, my world has wild weather. How much is it?"

"I don't even know!" She throws up her forehooves. "Lots, probably. And whoever's Ponyville's Weather Manager is gunna have to work out how all that extra surface water affects air humidity, and then work their feathers off shifting it all. But that's not gunna happen for a while, right?"

"Luna and I were talking about shifting the main railway hub from Canterlot to Ponyville. The lines are already heading this way, but we'll need to build another big train yard, and then… Things will probably accelerate."

"Bottom line it for me. How long 'till things start getting all screwy?"

"Couple of years for the trains? Then it depends on how fast other things build up."

"Okay. Guess I'll just have to make sure I'm in the Wonderbolts by then." She flies a little way ahead. "So are you actually going to go down there?"

"I'm a little.. nervous about it. I'm not used to trees having the capacity for judgement, and the power to follow through."

She rolls her eyes. "It's fine. Is that why you never went down there when you were rebuilding the Castle?"

"I didn't do much of the rebuilding personally. And I know to leave powerful magic artefacts alone when I don't know how they work."

I follow her down the steps. The genomorphs enlarged the steps into something an alicorn could walk down and added a handrail-. Ah, guard rail, so it's a little safer now than when Pinkie Pie first fell down it. Miss Dash hovers over the path, though I'm not sure if that's just to be sociable or because the air currents make it awkward to fly directly.

"So how come you're coming here?"

I tap Mother Box.

"I believe that Sunset is correct about the nature of Wilson's magic. But what I don't think she's fully appreciated is that magic isn't a passive thing. Existing focuses of magic may well act against someone trying to change things. I need to know where the Tree stands."

"What if it doesn't like you?"

"That's why I'm in bipedal shape. If it lashes out, I can duck behind you."

"Hey!"

"What? It likes you. Maybe it'll give you rainbow power again. Then you'll be rainbow Rainbow Dash."

"Nah, that was just for fighting Tirek. All the magic went into building Twilight's castle."

"Huh. That sucks. You given any thought to becoming an alicorn?"

She screws up her face. "Kinda? I mean, it's pretty cool, but I wouldn't fit in with the other Wonderbolts. And Twilight's started growing again after she became an alicorn, so I'd have to relearn all my tricks. It could be years before I'd be good enough!"

"But you'd have years."

"And thanks to you, I'd have to spend them fighting humidity and zoning laws!"

I snort with laughter.

"Yeah, fair enough. You been up to anything interesting lately?"

She grins. "I got to meet my favorite author, A.K. Yearling! Only it turns out that she's actually Daring Do, the famous adventure archaeologist!"

I nod. "Nifty."

"We fought Caballeron, who was working for Ahuizotl, who was trying to use this magic ring to take control of the sun and unleash eight hundred-"

Wait. Wait. What?

"-years of sweltering heat!"

I smile. "Yeah, okay."

"What?" Miss Dash shakes herself out of her memories, frowning at me. "What do you mean 'yeah, okay'?"

I sigh. "Miss Dash, I realise that you've only lived in Equestria for your entire life… But in the capital city -Canterlot, it's the one on top of the Canterhorn Mountains- there's this big white pony. Her name is Celestia, and her job is controlling the sun: making it rise in the morning and set in the evening."

"That-. What?"

"I know, I know, I didn't believe it when I first heard about it either, but we tested it and it turns out that it's true."

"Bh-? Well, yeah, but-."

"I mean, she can literally make it tick around the sky like the hands of a clock. So.. I doubt that some random magic… Ring? Would do anything she couldn't override with a little effort, resulting in an immediate attack by the Equestrian military on anyone stupid enough to try and undo the control she's had for a thousand years."

I smile at her.

"But I'm glad you had a good time."

I step off the bottom of the steps and walk towards the Tree's cave.

"Hey! Get back here! I'll show you!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
13:44 GMT -7

"Yeah, that's a… Giant pile of rubble alright."

I nod, which is a decidedly difference experience now that I'm back in pony form to try and avoid terrifying the locals. There isn't much they could do against me physically, but I have a vague recollection that Wilsonian trolls can be killed with soap and my resilience doesn't stop me from tasting soap if it gets in my mouth. Soap from civilisations at this level of technology is some pretty nasty stuff, and I don't want to be attacked by scrubbing brushes.

"It's a fortress!"

Ah…

I try hard to see it. And… Yes, those look like carved stones, but whatever smashed it made it virtually impossible to tell what shape it used to have.

I give Miss Dash a sceptical look. She meets it, then looks at the rubble pile.

"It was a fortress."

"Yeah. Okay. The rings?"

"They were inside. Except-." She darts off and then stops, studying the ground. "It was…" She darts right and then swoops down, landing on the ground.

I walk over. "Yes?"

"Daring Do and me got the biggest ring out of the fortress so it couldn't be used."

"Out of…" I pointedly look at the rubble pile. "The 'fortress'?"

"Yeah-. Okay, they probably couldn't have used it after the fortress fell apart and the plinth disintegrated, but we-." She frowns. "I didn't really think about it at the time."

"Are you thinking about it now?"

"Yeah. Look."

I look. She's pointing with her right forehoof at… Pieces of broken pottery with gold… Coating on…

I lift them up and fuse the broken segments back into a ring. I can't tell if there's any sort of residual magic here, but I'd guess not. Low quality enchanted objects like this tend to lose power if they're this badly broken, but Sunset might be able to get something out of it.

I don't think there are any enchantments you could put on a ring like this that could control the sun.

"Now do you believe me?"

"I'm perfectly happy to accept that you and… Is Daring Do a doctor of archaeology?"

"No."

"Miss Do got into a fight here. Clearly, you knew where this ring was before we arrived. But… I'm not seeing anything that proves the whole 'control the sun' thing. Was it just this ring?"

"No. There were a whole pile of rings. That's just the biggest."

"Okay. Where are the rest?"

From the way she glances awkwardly at the pile of rubble, I think I can guess.

"They kinda got… Crushed."

Hm.

"Okay, look, I understand that you're an elite athlete, but how the heck did you do that to an actual stone fortress? Explosive decompression? Can you make pressure differentials strong enough to break stone? Because if you can, Tempest's going in completely the wrong direction with her training."

"No? It just kinda fell apart once we got the last ring off."

"Huh." I frown thoughtfully. "That's interesting."

"It is?"

"It implies that the rings are some sort of regulator system, and that the spell was bound into the structure of the fortress. Without the rings, the spell itself tore the building apart."

"Soo… You believe me?"

"I didn't disbelieve your claim to have adventured with Daring Do, I just disputed your belief that this place could have done anything to the sun." I shake my head. "This is a lot easier in systems like mine."

"What do you mean, 'systems'?"

I generate a massively oversimplified model of the Sol system.

"The sun is huge, and the planets move around it due to a combination of momentum and gravitational attraction. No deific involvement is necessary."

Rainbow Dash stares at the system. Then she cranes her neck to stare a little closer. Then she narrows her eyes so that she can… Cut down the glare?

"I don't… I don't get it."

"Most worlds don't have someone like Celestia or Luna to push celestial bodies around. Much as 'wild weather' is in fact normal weather -though props to the Equestrian Weather Service's advertising department, that's some impressive need-generation-through-reframing there- so the arrangement Wilson has where Celestia and Luna manage the movement of the sun and moon is in fact highly abnormal."

Miss Dash can't seem to keep her eyes off the slowly rotating planet.

"So who moves it?"

"Who makes weather in the Everfree?"

"No-. One…" Her eyes widen, then she blinks. "Whow. So it just… Moves?"

"Most star systems are like this. Wilson is a bit of an oddity. It-."

Her eyes are slightly unfocused and her head is tilting slightly to the left. Ah… Luna's going to be annoyed if I break one of Twilight's coterie.

I dismiss the construct, causing her to blink and refocus. "Breathe, my little pony, breathe."

"I'mokay!" She shakes her head and regains her focus. "I'm okay. It just moves. Okay, sure, why not?"

I wave off the dart drone that had appeared behind her.

"I suspect Discord is the reason why this system is as it is, and obviously neither Celestia nor Luna knew that this arrangement wasn't the usual way to do things when they took control."

"And they've… Just been going and going ever since. So…" She glances at the rubble hillock. "What's that got to do with this place?"

"Nothing directly. Though if it could control the sun in some way… We could give Celestia a day off."

"Yeah, but…" She flaps a little way off the ground and gestures to the rubble. "It's kinda been destroyed."

"Do you remember the internal dimensions?"

"Ah… Some of them." She manages a small smile. "They actually had a piranha pit. Classic!"

"In that case, you and I need to redraw as much of the design as we can. While we're doing that, I'll have the genomorphs go through the rubble and try and make some sense of it. Once we've got some idea of what we're doing, I can have the genomorphs start rebuilding."

"You're going to rebuild it? Why? The thing they put all the rings on turned to dust after we took them off."

"Because I'm interested in the core spell. This…" I wiggle the ring back and forth. "Isn't exactly impressive, but it worked. With the sort of techniques at my disposal, I could easily have something better made, but I need to know what the spell it was directing did first."

"I get it. The only way you can find out is if the fortress is in one piece. And then Princess Celestia can have her first day off in a thousand years." She nods. "Let's get started."

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
21:46 GMT +1

Unable to detect-.

Yes, I know. Obviously he'd be blocking things like that. Just go through the faces one by one and highlight matches.

Compliance. Working.

"…to know that she is well."

Tante Gerri smiles at me as we fly in the direction of what was once Greece. The maps I've seen show it split between Germany and Italy, and I don't actually know whether there's a real 'Greece' left to speak of. I don't remember much about Greek participation in World War Two on Earth Prime, but on Earth 16 they saw off the Italians before being smashed by the Germans and brutally occupied until near the end of the war.

Here… They were brutally occupied until near the end of the war. Then they were annexed.

"Your alter-ego was one of the first people she asked about, once she woke up."

"I have an alter-ego?"

"Oh yes. You're just about old enough that-."

She mock-frowns. "It's not polite to talk about a woman's age like that."

"My gran used to say that at a certain age it becomes a source of pride."

"Hah! I am not that old." She looks curious. "Is she like me, this other Gerte von Hohenbrauer?"

"I don't believe that she uses the 'von', but I don't know her that well. I believe she shares the same close friendship with Doctor Kameya that you do, which was a surprise for Angelika when she found out."

Ms. Brauer doesn't twitch in the slightest. And I'm fairly confident that she isn't going to ask any questions where there's the slightest chance of being overheard.

"It's good to know that she has some familiar faces."

"Though in our parallel her first name is 'Valerie'."

"Her actual first name, or has she just taken a 'European' n-?"

"Donner, Atom Man, prepare to deploy."

Ms. Brauer nods at The Bat's voice, checking her communication earpiece and throat mike before moving towards the cargo door, keeping a firm grip on the hand holds. She has the same Danner enhancements as her Earth 16 doppelgänger, but that doesn't stop her being tossed around if she isn't anchored. Atom Man on the other hand has an anchor system built into the boots of his kryptonian-derived power armour, and is content to stay in the middle of the hold to await deployment.

I could have flown ahead, but The Bat wasn't keen. He fed me a line about his honour not letting him let me face the danger alone, but… Well, it's not as if I let Angelika out of my sight until I was sure she wasn't going to try re-enacting the Holocaust. While I'm fairly confident that none of the superheroes they have on hand could stop me, they can at least keep tabs on me.

I hear the quiet sound of bullets hitting the aircraft's force field. Not too bad at the moment, but someone unfriendly knows that we're here.

"Enemy superhuman en route. Deploy-" The side of the aircraft drops away. "-now."

Ms. Brauer leaps first, falling a dozen metres to the Greek street below. Atom Man follows her out, using his armour's flight system to land far more gently. I fly out after him, generating a construct shield to cover us from the sporadic automatic weapon fire.

Ms. Brauer stands, nodding. "We're down."

"The Bat pulling back." Thrusters burn as the owlwing turns away and rises at speed. "I will stay on station in case you need emergency evacuation or fire support."

Atom Man deploys his forearm-mounted weapons, several parts of them glowing a familiar green.

"I think we can cope with some uppity subhumans, yes?"

"What do you call it if a subhuman is also a superhuman?"

"Unnatural."

He raises his right arm and a lance of… Yes, that's a kryptonite laser, flickers out and hits the person shooting us in the chest. Their torso sort of collapses inward as their centre collapses in a cloud of ash.

"We could use some prisoners, Atom Man."

"This is the fourth operation I have been on against these subhumans. The ones with guns don't know anything."

He lands, then begins walking in the direction of the screams.

"Usually, we call them 'empowered subhumans'. When they are not race traitors." Ms. Brauer marches after Atom Man, and I float along just behind her. "The local garrison should have evacuated people by now, but… Ah. We are near the Italian border."

"And they're less strict about enforcing certain laws?"

"When it comes to the border, yes. They cannot afford to be too blatant; Greater Germany is a great deal more powerful than Italy."

"Does Italy want something?"

"Yes. Greece. They cite the old links between Rome and the Eastern Empire. Hitler said that if they wanted it that badly then they should have fought for it harder."

"You understand that I have no interest in fighting an international war for the Reich?"

"We would not want you to. 'Survival of the fittest', yes?"

"Of all the parts of the ideology for you to ke-."

Atom Man slams into my construct barrier back first, dents clearly visible in the front of his armour!

"Atom Man, report!"

"I have found… Found the deviant."

He pushes himself off the construct, floating in the air as his armour shimmers with green light.

"I recognised her. I think she is one who fought for America during the war."

"Are you injured?"

"Nothing I cannot heal."

"Okay, who-?"

A red blur flies past Ms. Brauer, knocking Atom Man into the sky! I fly up, keeping him in sight as he raises his fists overhead and slams them down on his attacker with a blast of green energy! His attacker lets go and he continues on a ballistic arc-. Does he not have stabilis-?

My construct shield shudders as whoever this is decides to assail me instead, giving me a brief view of a madly-grinning face before they pull back, heading back to ground level faster than I can easily follow with my unaided eye.

Fortunately, my rings can track better than that.

I form a railgun and fire.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
21:50 GMT +1

I think I hit, but my target doesn't appear to react. Tough and fast; that doesn't narrow it down as much as I'd like. Mary Bromfield could do that. Is the Demon Earth version old enough to have fought in World War Two? Is the Nazi Earth version?

"Hold-"

I create a cold gun construct.

"-your-"

Ms. Brauer lunges as the red blur returns but isn't quite quick enough, getting punched in the stomach and knocked into-. Through the wall of one of the houses lining the street.

"-position."

Cold beams fire, creating cold fields across the street in several places. That would stop a pure speedster, but-

Atom Man fires a barrage of low-intensity laser shots along our target's potential path. Very few people can dodge lasers at this range, but someone moving fast enough can be evasive enough to defy an attacker's predictions. He's avoiding hitting the areas I've marked, and as Ms. Brauer pulls herself out of the rubble she braces herself rather than chasing the red blur down.

-someone with enhanced toughness could power through.

Why isn't she flying more? Okay, the buildings provide concealment and cover, but neither Atom Man nor I are hard to spot, and Ms. Brauer can't fly. Why-?

"Weak."

The blur leaps over-

Crumbler round while she's in the air and moving in a predictable arc, strikes with no apparent effect.

-a cold field and dashes past Ms. Brauer, punching her in the face hard enough to make her reel as she goes. Ms. Brauer jerks back, but that's nothing like the level of force needed to do her lasting damage.

Grappling is how you win superstrength fights. So either the attacker isn't very good, or they're not aiming to achieve a swift victory. Which means that they're going to hit Ms. Brauer again which means I need to prepare the cold-.

The blur comes back and I'm firing, cold fields springing up in a square around Ms. Brauer. The blur doesn't hesitate or flinch, they punch Ms. Brauer in the throat and the frost flashes over their armour.

I wish I could be surprised that it's a Diana.

Helmet with metal horns. I don't recognise it as an arcane artefact, so it might just be normal metal? Her eyes are glowing but she doesn't have the signature cheek cuts of the other demon-altered superpeople. Does she..? Regenerate it? Is she too tough? I'd have thought that a demigoddess like her would be able to keep herself free of the demonic influence, but I… Guess not. The costume's a little different as well, a little less 'W' and a little more skully. Still got the bracers though so I'm not going to risk an angel feather round-.

Atom Man fires at full power, apparently not having read-. She, she can block it, but that-.

Ms. Brauer tackles her from behind, trying to pull her arms away to let the laser hit home. I usually describe Danner-enhanciles as 'Wonder Woman equivalent' and she's got the leverage, but that armour doesn't just provide piercing protection. It's a magic artefact which provides protection at least partially through conceptual manipulation. Demon Wonder Woman has to put a little effort into it, but she can keep blocking and with Ms. Brauer grappling her I can't just shoot her from behind. I fly away anyway, trying to get-.

Wonder Woman flies upwards, Atom Man's beam burning the brick behind her for a second before he deactivates it and switches back into pulse mode.

"You know her?"

"A version of her."

People forget how fast Diana can move when she wants to. I forget.

"What else can she do?"

Ugh. Do I fully commit? I like Ms. Brauer and I need the-. The Nazis to win. If it was Atom Man and the Baroness I might well leave them to it, but-.

"Breathe water, and she usually has an unbreakable lasso."

Wonder Woman is hurtling around the skies, skimming the buildings to ram Ms. Brauer into roofs and walls in an attempt to scrape her off. Ms. Brauer is trying to get a grip on Wonder Woman's throat and is gamely doing her best to ignore the brick dust being scoured into her eyes with each impact.

The disadvantage of one party having flight while the other doesn't: Ms. Brauer can't stop Wonder Woman moving.

"Weaknesses?"

Atom Man is getting a few hits with his laser but between Wonder Woman's armour and general toughness she doesn't appear to be at all impaired.

"Not really."

Unless this version is affected by the 'bound by a man' thing, but that seems unlikely.

"Fine." His guns stop firing and retract into his armour, which then begins to glow. "Close quarters."

"That doesn't-."

He flies down, towards where Wonder Woman has ripped a lamp post out of the ground and is using the right angle to strike Ms. Brauer. She swings and the first hit strikes Ms. Brauer's left shoulder hard enough to pulverise any normal person's whole skeleton. Ms. Brauer takes it with a grimace and actually manages to get her right hand around Wonder Woman's neck-.

The next blow strikes her directly on the head and her grip falters and there's Atom Man! His right fist slams into the side of her face hard enough to-!

To.. turn her head very slightly.

She then uses her flight to do a horizontal spin, her right leg coming down on the top of his head and dropping him to the ground, her helmet glowing…

Hang on. Her armour's been recoloured, but it looks basically the same. The bracers are the same. No Lasso of Truth. Why is the helmet glowing?

"Weak."

Railgun. Mage slayer. Target that helmet.

Compliance.

A shot and she turns in a blur, bracers blocking my round, their magic draining doing absolutely nothing that I can see. I generate two more railguns and start peppering her with shots aimed at other parts of her body. She floats off the ground, dodging and blocking-.

I surround her with more cold fields as Ms. Brauer shakes off her concussion and gets her arm around Wonder Woman's throat.

"I think the helmet might be a weak point!"

"Oh?!"

"Maybe!"

Ms. Brauer uses her left hand to grasp one of the helmet's horns-.

And Wonder Woman turns and flies backwards into the cold field no!

It triggers immediately, frost covering both of them but… Mostly Ms. Brauer. She shudders and then stops moving-.

"Gerri!"

Atom Man lunges, grabbing Wonder Woman by the ankles in a blinding flash of green!

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
21:53 GMT +1

Ms. Brauer frozen in place, hand around the right horn of Wonder Woman's helmet.

I transition down, purple healing ray deployed and firing at Ms. Brauer. Atom Man's energy discharge has charred the outer surface of Wonder Woman's armour, though I don't know how much of the energy actually got through. I also don't know whether Danner Enhanciles can survive cold fields. The smaller ones Leonard uses will freeze a normal person's arm or leg solid, but with super tough people it varies depending on how their toughness works. I can still see her lights, but I'm not entirely sure if that means that her brain is still working or just that her soul is hanging around her body for the moment.

Wonder Woman raising her right leg to stomp on Atom Man.

With her attention focused, I form a railgun and fire a mage slayer round at the side of her helmet.

"Geh!"

Atom Man grabs her descending foot and charges for another blast.

My railgun round hits the side of her head and the runes on the helmet flicker.

"Ah?"

"Helmet."

Atom Man takes advantage of her momentary confusion to push himself upright, using his hold on her foot to toss her back-.

I abandon my constructs, put an environmental shield around Ms. Brauer and eliminate friction-. She's off, alive -there's a lot of dead tissue but her regenerative abilities are already kicking in- and as safe as I can make her, though she'd probably be in a lot of pain if she were conscious.

Wonder Woman crashes down and immediately uses her flight to get back to her feet.

I generate a cold gun and shoot it at her chest. She blocks it with her right bracer, then pulls her legs up to dodge Atom Man's overcharged shot. A second cold gun creates cold fields above, behind and to her sides, while I shove the slowly recovering Ms. Brauer out of the way.

"She dead?"

I create a cold field underneath Wonder Woman, forcing her to keep her legs where they are and limiting her acceleration.

"No."

"Good."

He fires another overcharged blast and she moves her left bracer to block it, and immediately I fire a mage slayer through the cold field to her right! It hits, and the runes flicker again.

"Working?"

"No."

Why isn't it working? The round should drain power from the arcane architecture of the helmet, causing the spell to fail. Unless whoever made it used the same techniques that Atlantis 16 does and bind dozens of the same spells to the helmet in order to make them reinforce each other. Still, the effect should be weakening even if I'm only taking out one instance per hit.

Alternately, someone is remotely reapplying the spell. In which case I'm only disrupting what's there when I hit and achieving very little. Unless I can find the thing they're using to guide the spell, which could be her entire body because a demigoddess is highly thaumically active which would mean that I have to get the helmet off.

I fire small cold fields in front of Wonder Woman so that she can't break out by coming towards us.

"I can't hit it!"

"Working."

Eating the magic with a filament connection? Possible, but Diana has highly acute senses combined with rapid recovery.

"Do an overload when I shoot the helmet."

"I'll need a second."

"Fine."

I generate another cold gun and he stops firing, his armour glowing as he builds up power. I wonder whether he's more like the Kryptonite Man or Socialist Red Guardsman under there? Wonder Woman can block both cold rays without difficulty, but if I move them around enough it should keep her focused on-

"Ready."

-them so that she won't spot the filament. In theory.

Filament through the ground, that will take down the lower cold field when I bring it up.

"Go."

My railgun fires as green light bursts in a torrent of hard radiation, causing Wonder Woman to cringe slightly at the pain and shock, then the slight unsteadiness in the runes and I send the filament up and the cold field fails and latch onto the helmet.

Drain.

Compliance.

"Naagh!"

Wonder Woman turns, slashing at my filaments and just.. taking the cold beams? I hit her armour with both beams -not sure how much damage that's doing- while I create multiple paths for the filament connection so that I can keep draining the-

Drain complete.

-helmet.

Wonder Woman collapses bonelessly, the helmet remaining suspended in my filaments as I take control of whatever magic was causing it to function. I float it over to myself, picking up pieces of rubble to make the remaining cold fields safe.

"Dead?"

"No."

"Okay." He begins glowing again. "I'll-."

"No. In most parallels she's a big deal. None of the others had something like this helmet. We should interrogate her."

There's a blast from behind us, and a rocket-.

Atom Man deploys his lasers and shoots the rocket in mid-air, then counter-fires at the cultist with the rocket launcher.

"We don't have time to argue. We need to hit their portal."

"Agreed. The Bat, can you pick up Donner and Wonder Woman?"

"I don't have restraints designed for people as strong as her."

"No problem."

Magic suppression chains, titanium chains with carbon nanotube reinforcement and an inverted kinetic suppressor.

"I don't think she'll wake up, but that should hold her if she does."

"I will be with you in a moment."

I put a self-heating blanket around Ms. Brauer and leave a healing ray firing at her as Atom Man and I advance.

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th September 2012
21:59 GMT +1

"Another?"

Atom Man stares at me through his visor as I carry another stunned cultist to our drop-off point.

"How many do you think we need?"

"Two possible answers to that. The first is that, since we don't know, we should try to collect as many as possible, if doing so doesn't cost us anything. The more we capture, the more likely we are to gain useful intelligence."

"It's been tried. Leatherwing took many of them captive. They told him nothing."

"I've gotten a bit of a handle on Leatherwing's personality. So correct me if I'm wrong here, but… He beat them, then tortured them with equipment, and then… If there were any left, tried using some sort of experimental destructive mental probe?"

"I won't comment on the third option, but you're probably right about the other two. You don't do that where you're from?"

"Physical coercion is seldom efficacious. My preferences are 'persuade', 'telepathy' and 'unnatural mental influence'. Not because I am a 'soft touch', but because they work better."

"If you have time." He grabs hold of the door to the train storage shed and rips it off the hinges without bothering with the lock. "In the field, you don't always have time."

"Then you bring a telepath with you. And what's field expediency got to do with killing or stunning your target?"

"Nothing. I just mean 'generally'."

The trains have been lifted off their rails and moved to the sides of the shed. Wonder Woman appears to have had that much clarity of thought, at least. The portal space is obvious; part of the train wash has been repurposed.

"You want to capture that as well?"

"If there were any magicians on hand to examine it, yes. As it-"

He's already raising his lasers.

"-is, you might as well."

Two fat green beams burn along the train cleaning device, incinerating most of it and reducing the rest to slag.

"Will that stop it?"

I fly forwards and wave my rune stone at it.

"The spell's been ruined, but the local magic concentration is still above background levels."

"How do we fix that?"

"With a magician. Or time. Or… Ritual purification?"

"We need a priest?"

"You need an extremely devout priest. A saint would be better. But a normal priest, a large group of the devout and time would disperse the accumulated demonic magic more quickly."

"'Pray the Fae Away' actually works?"

"Demons aren't fae. That's a separate thing." I scan the area, but I'm not picking up anything that looks particularly cult-y. "But yes. Genuine faith, focusing your mind and soul on something beyond your material existence, tends to weaken demon magic."

"I will remember that. What was the other answer?"

"I don't know exactly how things were in this timeline, but in mine, the national socialists originally used soldiers to kill their political opponents."

"Yes?"

"Most couldn't handle it. Killing soldiers fighting against you is one thing, but killing civilians kneeling next to a ditch?" I shake my head. "They started coming apart, mentally. That was why your government switched to using gas, and making prison trustees clear the gas chambers out."

"No one had the stomach for it?"

"Only the total psychos. My thought was that if you don't argue against an idea or practice -no matter how rational it seems- then it risks becoming what the philosopher Harriet Taylor called a 'dead dogma'. By sparing people you could kill, you gain an understanding of why you don't usually do it."

"I've never heard of 'Harriet Taylor'."

"She's probably banned. If you prefer Elizabeth Förster-Nietzsche, perhaps you could take helpless prisoners and slowly murder them for no good reason to help with overcoming your slave morality?"

"Why would I-?" He glare at me through his visor. "Look, I don't know what you think we are, but I am not a psycho. I don't hurt people for fun; I do it because it is necessary." He steps back, then turns back towards the door. "Fine. Keep the prisoners. I will call in The Bat."

He pauses.

"Do you have some plan for dealing with the woman? I do not see her becoming 'helpless'. I respect that, but it's still a problem."

"There are two places I might be able to get a magician powerful enough to help. But for her, I think it will be better if I take her to this world's version of her country."

"Where is she from?"

"Themyscira. It's an island hidden by magic. I should be able to get to it, and they'll be motivated and should be able to get Diana back on her feet."

"That's her name? Diana?"

"Ah, yes."

In my timeline and the original comics, Diana left the island to take part on World War 2. But there were stages where that Wonder Woman was Queen Hippolyta, or Fury, or it just didn't happen. So if something else happened… There's no reason why the Reich would have much information on her.

"Princess Diana of Themyscira. Probably. I'm working off the history of my own parallel. They're usually pretty isolationist, so there's next to no chance of them taking it as a casus belli."

"I was wondering if they had wizards. Since they are a primitive, isolated people."

"The version on my parallel has one, and a few priestesses in semi-regular contact with their gods. I'll ask, but they'll probably say no."

"You accept that from primitives?"

"I realise that I sound English, but I'm actually a Themysciran national. They're… Capable of learning, and not completely incurious about the world."

"Heh. If you want to take your princess back to your people, go ahead. I will stay here to liaise with the local authorities, then return to Wewelsburg. Good journey, Orange Lantern."

I nod to him, then fly out towards where the owlwing has landed.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st May 2013
23:23 MTZ

Slipstream scrapes her right foot across the deck plate and examines her right fingernails as Arcee stares at her, fingers twitching and arm blades deployed.

"Careful." Slipstream stops studying her fingers for a moment and look at Arcee. "If the wind changes your face could get stuck like that."

Arcee's eyes narrow to slits. "Don't push me, Con."

Slipsteam shrugs. "So. Bike alt-mode. How does that work, considering your… You know."

"My what?"

"Your mass."

Bulkhead doors in the side of the room open, revealing Bulkhead with a barrel of energon over his shoulder. "Hey Arcee, where do you want-?"

Arcee steps aggressively towards Slipstream. "What's wrong with my mass?"

Bulkhead hesitates for a moment, then steps back and allows the heavy metal door to close in front of him.

"I was wondering where you keep it. Since I left Cybertron I've had my eyes open for upgrades, and normal T-cogs can't just make mass disappear like that. I-."

The room's other door opens and Agent Fowler, Nurse Darby and Paul walk out at ground level, followed a few careful low-squish-probability steps behind by Ratchet. Arcee's eyes immediately go to the team's medic, while Slipstream only has eyes for her partner.

"Aside from a few minor scrapes, Agent Fowler and Nurse Darby appear to be in good health."

Arcee looks unconvinced. "I thought she shot them with a null-ray."

"Null-rays impede electrical activity. Since humans are organic, exposure to its effects are far less dangerous to them than they would be to us."

Slipstream crouches down as Paul approaches her.

"Did Ratchet give you a clean bill of health?"

Ratchet shifts awkwardly. "I can't claim to be entirely familiar with Nebulon cyber-organic implan-"

Paul grins, rolling his eyes incredulously. "Yeah."

"-ts-. Ch-! Buh-!" Ratchet splutters, though whether he's shocked at the implication or embarrassed at being discovered in a lie isn't entirely clear. He takes a moment to compose himself. "So far as I can determine, Borx effectively bridged the differences between cybertronian technology and human neurology. I have no idea what the long term effects of bonding like-"

Paul smirks. "Never would have guessed."

"-this will-." He blinks, spots the jibe as Slipstream's expression mirrors that of her partner, then stares directly at him. "You have a piece of alien technology wired directly into your central nervous system. No one knows what that might do. You have taken a foolish and unnecessary risk with your health."

"Doctor, going outside is a risk to your health." He walks over to Slipstream and leans against her right leg. "But neither of us are going to stop."

"Cybertronian technology is considerably easier to repair than human physiology."

"Earth has about fourteen thousand high-yield fission bombs. How easy to repair are you after getting hit by one of those?"

"Not very." Ratchet looks bemused. "That quantity seems… Somewhat excessive for a single biosphere. Though as you imply, even one close-proximity detonation would utterly atomise any Cybertronian unfortunate enough to be hit."

"There you go. Look, the Nebulons have been using this technology for decades. I'm not worried."

Slipstream nods. "We're not worried." She stands back up to her full height. "Now where's the rest of our payment?"

The heavily reinforced door slides open again and Bulkhead lumbers in with the barrel of energon. "Here it is, Con." He drops the barrel on the floor in front of her. "You can carry it out on your own."

"'Con'? Really?" Slipstream shakes her head. "That doesn't matter any more."

"It matters to me."

"Megatron used to command an army of billions. Now? He's got the crew of one ship. And most of them don't like him very much. Airachnid and Starscream are actively backstabbing him at every opportunity. And on your side, Prime used to command an army of billions and now he's just.. got.. you. What are you even fighting for?"

"Mom!"

A smaller human runs in from behind Bulkhead and embraces Nurse Darby. Slipstream pauses to watch him.

And then Arcee pointedly steps into her line of sight, blocking her view of him.

Slipstream smiles menacingly, and Arcee raises her arm blades.

"To prevent Megatron realising his ambitions."

Optimus Prime strides in, prompting Arcee to lower her blades slightly. Slipstream affects a nonchalant posture, but Paul can feel the tension in her frame. Optimus Prime is… Bigger than in the images he'd seen so far.

"Even with a single warship, Megatron could destroy every city on Earth."

"Unless."

Slipstream is momentarily surprised by her partner speaking up, and isn't able to stop herself glancing down at him. Mouthing off to Arcee is one thing, but the 'bot who led half of the war that ruined Cybertron and finished it off by ripping out Primus's soul isn't someone she wants to have to fight. Again. But while their bond doesn't let them read each other's minds, she can feel that he's going somewhere with this.

"Unless you'd used any of the half-dozen times you'd been onboard the Nemesis to plant one of those fourteen thousand fission bombs on board and blown it up." He smiles. "Did I mention that we're for hire?"

"You did." Optimus Prime actually sounds sad. "But if you truly have no interest in continuing the war, I would strongly suggest that you both leave Earth."

Paul shakes his head. "Have you got any idea what India will pay for a working thorium reactor design? Besides, we need the energon. And I want to see what happens when Slipstream turns up to an anime convention."

Chu-tsche.

Arcee morphs her right hand into its gun configuration, and everyone hesitates. Agent Fowler comes out of it first, ushering the Darbys out of the room. Then Arcee speaks.

"Are you just treating this as a way to get rich? How dare you not take the war seriously!?"

Slipstream doesn't change her limb configuration. But she does smile.

"Why are you taking that so personally?"

"Decepticons have murdered two of my partners."

Slipstream feels a pulse of confusion from Paul at the use of the term 'murder' to refer to killing an armed soldier during a war. And she thinks that he has a point.

"Huh. How about that. Do you know who else has lost partners since this war started?"

Arcee pauses, perhaps realising that she's escalating too far but unable to restrain herself. "You, I hope."

Oh, that-!

"EVERYONE! Literally everyone has lost people close to them! The fact that it happened to you does not make you special, and it doesn't make them special! My whole squad died one after the other starting with the Kaon Uprising and finishing at the Fall of Iacon and I-. How many do you think are still alive today who started the war-?"

"One in every one thousand one hundred thirty seven." Optimus Prime steps between then, gently pushing Arcee's gun down. "At the last census taken before the launch of the Ark, one in one thousand one hundred thirty seven remained. By now, the figure is likely to be much lower. I imagine that the number on the Decepticon side was similar."

He takes a step closer.

"Slipstream, I would gladly stop fighting tomorrow. All the survivors of the war could return to Cybertron and work together to rebuild our civilisation. A new High Council could be formed with Autobot and Decepticon alike, and we could settle our disputes peacefully. I would even abandon my title of Prime if that were necessary. I would gladly stop fighting, if it were not for the fact that I know Megatron will not. Whatever he once believed, he is fully committed to dominating cybertronian society through force. Do you disagree?"

Slipstream hesitates.

"Ah-?" … "No."

"And that is why we fight. Thank you for rescuing our human allies from Knock Out. Now take your payment, and go."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th September 2012
00:12 GMT +3

Where is it?

I know the wards which protect Themyscira pretty well. I know what they block and what they don't. I've overflown the area it covers on Earth 16 at sea level both directed -in the hope that my permission carries over- and blind -in the hope that it would prevent the wards sending me astray- and…

No island.

I've checked most of the rest of the Aegean and no luck. They recognised Diana so there must be a Themyscira, but it's not… Here.

Okay, where else has it been in the comics?

I think there was a time when it was entirely divorced from the material universe. If that's what happened here them I'm out of luck. Even if I could in theory access it, I-.

…

Alright, I might be able to access it through ritual magic. I know the offering preferred by various Olympians, and I haven't done anything to alienate the local gods. But is there any.. thing…

The Bermuda Triangle. A meteorological non-phenomenon invented by a newspaper editor during a slow news day, first giving the impression that there was an area near Bermuda that had a more-than-typical number of shipping losses, and second to imply a supernatural explanation for losses that in fact were not occurring.

Oh, it's a smaller area than the Aegean. It won't take all that long to check.

Formerly Demon Diana in tow, I set course.

"Orange Lantern to The Bat. Any updates for me?"

There's a short delay as we fly over Sicily.

16th September 2012
22:13 GMT +1

"Donner has revived, and is currently gorging to fuel her regenerative abilities. The situation in Greece is in hand, and your prisoners are being held securely."

"If he asks, please inform Leatherwing that pulling out their finger nails won't help the situation."

"I think that we can leave informing Leatherwing for now."

"Interesting. I can't imagine my parallel's version of him not being in the loop, even if people were trying to keep him out of it."

"You have a Leatherwing?"

"We have a Batman. Similar look, considerably more regard for the sanctity of human life."

"I am sure that there are many differences between our worlds. Do you intend to maintain contact once this issue is resolved?"

"I'll leave that up to Angelika. There are some rather extreme philosophical differences between our two parallels."

"Are you a Bolshevik?"

"No, the Soviets lost the Cold War. That was-. After what we call World War Two, the Communists and the… Other participants in the War spent several decades in competition and indirect warfare before the contradictions inherent in the Soviet system caused it to fall apart."

"At least they didn't win. What about Germany?"

"You lost Danzig, Pomerania and Silesia to Poland and the Soviet Union. And Austria went back to being independent."

"The French let us keep the Rhineland?"

"You actually beat the French. Completely overran them, occupied the north and made the south a nationalist puppet. We still make… Unfair jokes about how badly the French did. By the time the war was over, the 'free' French were a British puppet with delusions of grandeur. What happened to Germany wasn't really up to them. Though de Gaulle was surprisingly reasonable about the whole thing, considering."

"What became of Overman?"

"He didn't arrive for another forty years, and he landed in America."

"It's interesting to me. I realise that Overgirl is best placed to judge how we could interact, but I would like to request a history book, if that is possible."

"I'll trade you."

"Certainly. I-."

And here we are.

16th September 2012
17:14 GMT -4

And there it is. Too dark for the fishing boats to still be out, and the architecture is different to what I'm used to, but the general shape of the island is the same. The people… They don't look Greek. Themyscira 16 has a range of ethnicities, but it's fairly obvious looking at them where the vast majority come from. Dark skinned Amazons like Philippus or Nubia are in a vanishingly small minority. Heck, Nubia's literally named after the place in North Africa where her parents came from. Similarly, the handful of Amazons with blonde hair have forebears from the far north.

Here, things are clearly diff-.

I jerk to the side as an arrow flies past me.

Clearly different. I-.

The arrow reverses course and flies at my back.

And immediately I respect them more than how the women back home were before I arrived.

I generate a construct shield and block the arrow. It-. Yes, it hits with more than human strength, but there's nothing special about the impact other than that. I should probably return it.

I accelerate once more, heading for the… The battlement where the arrow came from. I take a white flag, add the sigil of the Wonder Woman to my shield and enlarge it. That should at least give them a little pause. Yes, one of them is ordering the others to stand at-ready rather than straight out attacking.

"Hail, Amazons of Themyscira!"

That's the woman with the bow. She's wearing old school Wonder Woman gear from back before Hephaestus made the swim wear version that Diana wears, as well as the Gauntlets of Atlas and the Sandals of Hermes. Her hair is… Pale orange, and impractically long.

I… No, haven't seen her on Themyscira 16.

"Invader."

She's standing in the middle of a plaza, while other guards back off to the edges. She's staring me down, so I make a point of averting my eyes.

"I apologise for the intrusion, but this Amazon was possessed by an-" I move Diana out in front and remove some of the construct straps from the bier holding her to the construct board. Obviously, the bindings are still in place, just in case. "-evil spirit, and I was hoping that you would be willing to help her."

Her eyes move to Diana for an instant but return to me immediately afterwards. "She is possessed?"

"No, I've dealt with that. Or at least I think I have. But there might be residual damage I can't diagnose."

"You say she is an Amazon? What is her name?"

"Diana. Does that name not.. mean anything to you?"

"I know seven women called Diana. I do not recognise this one." She studies me a moment longer. "That is all that you want?"

"That's what I want most from you. There are other matters, but they're less significant."

"I would not be an Amazon if I denied aid to a woman in need. You will explain yourself fully to the Archon while healers are fetched. Do not attempt to leave my sight."