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

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
07:47 GMT +3

Queen Hippolyta glances my way as I'm granted access to her private receiving room, where Kon and Mitchell are already ensconced.

"I will admit, I was unsure that you would be able to restrain yourself. I apologise for misjudging you."

"Think nothing of it. You weren't that far off. Incidentally, would you be willing to become Queen of Olympus?"

"Lord Zeus did not ask me."

"I wasn't talking about marrying him."

Mitchell doesn't seem to react, though Kon looks a little perturbed.

"I…" Queen Hippolyta makes brief eye contact with Menalippe, who does her best not to react either. "I know that as a demigoddess myself I could undergo apotheosis more easily than a mortal. I know that Diana is perfectly capable of taking my place as Queen of Themyscira. But I have no desire to disrupt the divine order, or put myself above the king of the gods."

"But if by some mysterious happenstance there was an opening..?"

Hippolyta swallows, eyes not quite focusing on me. "I don't know. I have never seriously considered the possibility. Do I need to?"

"I don't know yet. This is just the 'sounding out' phase."

"Paul…" Kon gives me a concerned look. "We're finding things out for the League. I know you're angry, but we really shouldn't do anything without talking to Batman and Doctor Mist first."

I nod. "I agree."

"Yeah, but… You're treating this like the thing with Zatara. I'm pretty sure that you were already assuming that the League weren't gunna do anything."

"No, I trusted that they would. I just wasn't sure how quickly they were going to be moving on this."

He doesn't look entirely convinced. "You sure?"

"Alright, there's a-. I'm sure the League got the message last time and they wouldn't let this lie, but I got used to them not doing anything so I'm inclined to act like they're doing nothing until I actually hear something from them."

"Maybe you should go talk to him."

I go to nod, then look suspiciously at him and Queen Hippolyta. Orange Lantern handling stage 2. But… Yes. Okay. He's still right, and it might help get me out of this mindset if I do speak to Mr. Wayne.

"Yes, I think you're right. Excuse me."

I get a nod from Hippolyta as Donna walks over to take a seat with the three of them. Then

I vanish from their sight and

appear on the Watchtower.

27th October 2012
04:49 GMT

Mr. O'Brien's eyes bulge out of his face, then he ducks down and morphs his body into the shape of a television, his face pushing 'through' the screen.

"Heeee's he-."

"Kid Flash already did that joke."

A hand extrudes from the side of the screen and scratches the top of his head.

"Okay, well, what else is there?" He morphs into… Darth Batman? "The Lantern is not so forgiving as I am."

"Did you know he never realised Leia was his daughter?"

"Huh?" Mr. O'Brien snaps back into his default shape. "Sure he did. Right at the end, he says 'Tell your sister, you were right'."

"Yes, because he knows that Luke has a sister. But he never specifically identifies her by name."

He thinks for a moment, then his jaw bungee drops down to the deck.

"Is Batman here?"

"Ah, yeah, but…" He takes a deep breath. "Okay, promise you're not going to go crazy?"

"I promise that I will not become crazier than I am now."

"That's… The least reassuring thing you could possibly have said, but okay! See… What Zeus did is wrong, and we're obviously going to get-" I nod. "Diana back-."

"But she's not in immediate danger, so the League doesn't need to get on top of this immediately. There are plenty of more urgent and important things going on in the world and that's why you passed it on to the team in the first place."

"You're being a whole lot more reasonable about this than I thought you'd be." He narrows his eyes. "And you skipped immigration."

"If I was an attacker, it would be too late. So what problems do the League have that prevent them from prioritising Zeus?"

"Some guy in Brazil started up Venom production-"

Wouldn't be in Euanthe's areas, which leaves the coast. Probably no magic defence, because the Accala shamen would show an interest in that. Mr. Dorrance Junior may be dead but there were plenty of people who worked for him at some stage who might still be around…

Coast. Look for increased number of venom users, any familiar faces… Users there, but the production-.

I step out, reappearing

in a factory, constructs snatching guns and knives and chaining up and stunning their owners. Two guards have already injected, but that doesn't make them construct proof. Once the place is recumbent I

return

to the Watchtower and upload the coordinates to the League's computer.

"-but Batman-. Uh. You just went there, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Okay, we'll cross that off the list. I'm guessing you're gunna keep doing that until Wonder Woman's at the top of the list, ain't cha?"

"Yes."

"So I need to call Batman right now in case he wants some of these to not get solved."

"That might be an idea, thank you. Tell him that if he's in Brazil I can help with the pick up."

"Okay. So, stand there, don't move, and I'll get a hold of him as fast as I can."

"Thank you."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
04:57 GMT

"Recognized, Batman, zero two."

Batman appears in the zeta tube, pausing a moment for his identity to be confirmed before striding into the room.

"Batman."

"Orange Lantern. Good work with the Venom plant."

I shrug, though I'm moderately pleased that his costume is better warded than previous versions. It's not impossible that he delayed in order to swap to a heavily warded version just for this meeting. Empathic vision is out, and I suspect that any attempt to attach filaments to him directly would fail. I'm not going to try to scan for crumbler-based weapons, but I hope I'd find some.

I doubt that he's actually pleased, but since it was a perfect attack and saying something nice about it will put me in a more receptive frame of mind, it makes sense for him to say that.

"Thank you. I'm happy to take on any part of the League's workload if it means getting Wonder Woman back faster."

"Do you have a plan?"

"Nothing definite-" His stance changes slightly. Did he just relax? "-yet. I've learned things, and there's a route I could go down, but I'm… I'm not sure that it would work."

"From what Robin told me, there are avenues you haven't considered."

"Probably. But Zeus's action with Diana is a symptom of a problem: Zeus in a position of power and authority. Finding him a new wife doesn't help with that, and almost certainly won't stop him being the arrogant libidinist that he's always been."

I pause.

"I am glad that you're working on this, though. I am aware that I favour extremely aggressive responses in situations like this."

"I'm glad. Have you heard from Athena yet?"

"No, not yet. I realise that she's probably making strong representations herself… Or she will be if Zeus keeps it up. But I haven't had any contact with her and this isn't-. I'm not in a good mindset for dealing with new people."

"She's Diana's patron and Goddess of Strategy."

"If I wanted to negotiate with her before this, I'd have gone to Diana first. As it-."

Atlanteans aren't big on religious observances. Hecate… Probably doesn't know about the Dream research I've been having done in Venturia. Or if she knows that it's happening… It's cutting edge research. They might well have learned things that they didn't know last time I got an update. Or they might not have learned anything.

"As it is, you'd be a far better person to speak with her. Your mindset is more aligned with what she wants from her worshippers."

"Considering it from all angles, rather than just working out how to defeat Zeus with violence."

"Yes, that. It's a limitation of my mindset. Zeus has acted against one of mine."

"You are aware of the possible consequences of removing-."

"I've already promised Diana that I will not attack Zeus."

"And since you did that, you've been making plans to have someone else do it for you."

"A bit surprised that she didn't spot that one. So if you could put together a list of things I can deal with for the League, I can get that done and people with better diplomatic skills than me can start bargaining to get Diana freed."

"That shouldn't take too long. Keep me apprised of any developments."

I nod, then-.

"One last thing. I'd like King Orin's permission to study the artefact locking Oceanus away from the material world. It's relevant."

"I will speak with him."

I nod, then

step out, reappearing

in the Mount Etna foundry. Early morning here, but while the Amazons are asleep the forges never cool.

"…miss you being around, but it's a good offer."

"If I can live there. I'm not exactly eager to get stuck in a weak avatar body."

"They wouldn't leave you like that. You wouldn't be able to work for them."

A short flight takes me to the draft room, where Hephaestus and Vulcan are having a brew. They both look around, Hephaestus nodding politely while Vulcan is more appraising.

"My Lords."

"Ah." Hephaestus nods, glancing at Vulcan. "He wants something."

"I always want things."

Vulcan shakes his head. "No. You want something special."

"How do either of you feel about the idea of dethroning Zeus?"

They both keep looking at me for several seconds.

Then they turn to each other, Hephaestus holding out his right hand. "Have fun on Thanagar."

Vulcan clasps the offered hand. "Have fun in Erebos. Or Tartarus."

"It's been a while since I visited my mother."

"It's the last place Zeus will look, that's for certain."

"Alright Statler and Waldorf. I'm just investigating opportunities."

"An opportunity-" Hephaestus levers himself out of his chair, posing so that I can see his leg brace. "-to get my other leg busted?"

"An opportunity to build a divine cybernetic. An opportunity to build a god-killing weapon. An opportunity for me to help enhance you in the way I enhanced Euanthe, who now rules a sizable portion of South America."

"What has the King of Olympus done to so enrage you?"

"Sent Diana on a fool's errand. To Tartarus. For refusing to marry him."

"Oh." Hephaestus thinks for a moment. "I'm pretty sure he'll realise that he's being a fool before too long. He must know that giving Diana an order like that will alienate everyone."

"Unless he digs his heels in for that very reason. But you're missing an opportunity here. Whether you end up helping me overthrow him or not, your leg would be fixed."

Vulcan snorts. "Not offering to fix my face?"

"What was that about Thanagar?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
05:02 GMT

"Hawkman and Hawkwoman visited. Their world is having some sort of metal supply shortage."

"They can't produce enough Nth metal to meet their needs."

Vulcan might be frowning. His face makes it a little hard to tell. "You already knew about that?"

"I didn't know that it was bad enough that they were considering asking alien gods for help, but I knew enough about their utilisation and expenditure to know that something was up. They want to keep expanding their territory, but their fleet needs huge amounts of Nth metal."

"I suppose it's worth hearing about the situation from you as well. Are they a religious people?"

"No. Self-reliant authoritarian nationalists. The only organised religion I saw were people who worshipped a group of gods called the Seven Devils. They were fairly unpleasant. Actually, they were the dominant power on Thanagar until a popular revolt cast them and their churches down. If you mean, 'will they keep a bargain they freely make', then… Maybe? Certainly until the first wave of students are able to transmute metal without your assistance. Assuming that they can learn."

"No priests?"

"Only demon priests. And to their credit, the current government isn't interested in working with those."

"So they've got enough magic that it's possible."

"I'm not sure exactly what's going on. You might be able to crack it easily enough, or it might be literally impossible."

"Hm."

"Are you thinking of leaving us?"

"It's been a long time since I had a real challenge. Something that I wasn't setting myself for the sake of it. I've been drifting along, because what else could I do? Given the option…"

"You don't like working on cars?"

"The modern age doesn't have a great deal of need for smiths. I don't hate the work; this is the most focused I've been in centuries. But it's made me confront the fact that I've not been living up to my potential for a long time."

"The crown princess of one of their colonies is a friend of mine. If you want me to fly you over there for a visit, so you can get a better idea of what their culture is like, I'm happy to do that."

"That sounds like it would be the wise thing to do. I'll-" He finishes his tea in a gulp, then rises to his feet. "-finish off my current batch of projects first. Is a week good for you?"

"Yes, I'll speak to Bleez and arrange things."

He nods and then trudges off, scooping up his face mask and hammer as he goes. Hephaestus looks up from the notes he was scribbling about his leg.

"The frame I use isn't great, but it's as far as my domain takes me. Anything else and I'll be working on pure skill."

"What if that wasn't true?"

"Do you know someone who can make one without me?"

"No. It's… More complicated. You know how Hades draws power from Erebos?"

"Of course."

"Did you know that Zeus does the same?"

"With Metis?" He shrugs, sitting back down as he does so. "I didn't know he got any power out of it, but I'm not particularly surprised."

"No. With everyone imprisoned in Tartarus."

"That explains why they're still down there. Are you going to try to convince me to break their chains? Because I like you, but…"

"Do you know what it takes for new primordial life to form in the Dream?"

"Belief, life, magic. It's not really my area. You should talk to Hecate if you want to talk shop about pure magic."

"Already done. I also spoke to a demon who was trying to make himself into something… Big, by merging with a newly emergent titan."

"That-." He frowns, his eyes growing distant. "Titan of what?"

"Technology."

He regards me impassively for a moment. I regard him right back for a moment, then raise my eyebrows. He looks down and shakes his head.

"Is this that… God of Technology you were talking about? Because-."

"Merging would risk you losing your personality. We're talking about drawing power into your current framework."

"If that could work… I could… Hoh-hoh-hoo, you… You know how to tempt a man." He considers it for a moment, then shakes his head. "It wouldn't be enough."

"Wouldn't it?"

"To beat Zeus. I don't have anywhere that could store a titan. I don't have the knowledge-."

"Hecate does."

"You went there first. Of course you did. I didn't like Simpson's plan because I would stop being me. Just drawing power…" He shakes his head. "But it still wouldn't give me enough power. Not one versus a dozen."

"Not using Hecate's leaching method. But like I said, the demon was planning on binding it to him fully."

"Could that work?" I shrug. "What did Hecate say?"

"I didn't mention that particular innovation to her. She might have decided to sell the information on, or use it herself."

He looks intensely thoughtful.

"How powerful is it?"

"It's a titan." I shrug again. "You've seen how human civilisation has changed since the industrial revolution. How much it's become a part of what we are. Heck, just in your lifetime it's changed to the point that your domain doesn't extend to things we had for a couple of centuries. There are more humans alive now than there's been at any other point in history. How powerful do you think it is?"

"Powerful." He thinks a little more, then shakes his head. "But not necessarily enough to fight Zeus."

"And if it was?"

"If it was? Have you seen my leg? Do you know what he said when I dragged Ares and Aphrodite before him in a net?"

"I've only ever heard an outline."

"'We weren't actually expecting her to be faithful to you. I made her marry you so no one else would fight over her.'" Something occurs to him. "And if I was strong enough to beat Zeus, I'd be strong enough to beat Ares, wouldn't I?"

"I imagine so."

"Still, that's a lot of ifs."

"But are you interested?"

He leans forward, his face extremely serious.

"You know I am."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
09:35 GMT +3

"Halt, dem-!"

Zagreus spots me, and lowers his bow.

"Lantern, I realise that you are frequently a stranger to reason, but we try to keep demons out of Erebos."

Richard Simpson tries to make himself look smaller. The thaumically active and anatomically accurate android body he's currently in doesn't have any sort of size-changing ability, and the warding chains that prevent him accessing his more exotic abilities are in place to prevent him adding such an ability. As a result, he's limited to cringing. It's a bit odd; he's not any physically weaker than Nergal was, and all that will happen if his body gets damaged is a few minutes of inconvenience for me.

"Mister Simpson has information vital to a project I'm pursuing, and I need to get him and Hecate together in one place."

Zagreus doesn't look impressed.

"I was coming to the palace to get permission from Lord Hades; you just intercepted us before we arrived."

"Really."

"I respect Lord Hades."

His right hand goes to his forehead. "Then in my father's name, tell me what you are planning."

"Are you sure that you want me to?"

He regards me for a moment.

"No. No I am not. But I have a duty."

"Are you familiar with the term 'plausible deniability'?"

"Yes. I assume that you're going to do something I might want to deny having known about."

"I say no such thing. But you could see how something like that could be-."

"Go. Go. Just-. Go."

"Thank you!"

I pick up Mr. Simpson with a construct and fly at speed in the direction of Hecate's Pool Party.

"You didn't tell Hecate I was coming either, did you?"

"No. But I'm confident that she'll be interested to meet you."

"How come?"

"Wouldn't you rather live in a universe where she is than a universe where she isn't?"

"Shiiiiiiiit."

A couple of probably-Amazons are mock-wrestling on the inflatable, while there's a greater current of action amongst the others. Eris-

"Hey!"

-is holding court, but pushes through the swimwear-clad courtiers to get closer to me the moment we make eye contact. At least she's wearing clothes now.

"Lady Eris. This is-."

"Does Hades know you've got a demon?"

"He will once Zagreus tells him. This is Mister Richard Simpson."

Eris looks at him, an expression of amused curiosity on her face.

"A demon lord hiding in a robot body. Did you do that?"

"I did most of the robot. The rest was him. Is Lady Hecate still around?"

"A demon, a goddess and a giant snake walk into a pool party." She smiles. "I've got to know the punch line."

Mr. Simpson looks around a little awkwardly as Eris leads the way back towards the tower. "I wasn't expecting a pool."

"It's a reward for working out how to purify the river Lethe. They've been working on that for a while."

"Purify as in..?"

"Turn it into normal water, with the residue being a nasty mind wipe magic."

She shoves the door open and marches inside.

"He-cat-ay! My guy's doing his thing again!"

The shop from before is gone, replaced by a slightly old school arcane workshop. Hecate in teenager mode is standing at a lectern, reading through a modern book on Atlantean thaumaturgy.

She looks at Mr. Simpson, who raises his right hand to wave awkwardly.

"What is this? A demon golem?"

"No." Mr. Simpson shakes his head. "I was a human studying how to use altered states of consciousness to allow the human mind to directly interface with electronic systems. A bloke called John Constantine asked me to have a look at this weird cult called the Resurrection Crusade. I got him the info, but they-. I got too focused. Didn't spot their defence spells. My body got burned to ash while I was still inside."

"But you're a demon golem."

"Getting to that. John got into a fight with Nergal, and since he's a fifty a day smoker he wasn't going to outrun him. Instead, he did what I did: put his soul into a computer system. So I took his body and ended up face to face with Nergal. Bloody lucky he realised I wasn't John-. Then I showed Nergal how to go after John, and John got him to chase him into Heaven's data network. Angels burned Nergal to death, but I still had John's cancer-ridden body. Which for some reason, John wanted back. So John convinced me to take Nergal's body instead. I managed to integrate with it -which wasn't much fun- and got to enjoy it for a whole five seconds before Agony and Ecstasy dragged me to hell."

Hecate considers this.

"They burned his spirit, while the physical form remained. And you were able to interface with it?"

"Well, yeah. I'd been living in a computer, dodging technomantic defences and dealing with a reality the human mind isn't designed for. Compared to that, a thing made of human vice was easy."

"What an adaptable consciousness you must have. And why are you in a golem?"

"I did okay in hell. Even took over the Odium. But it was still hell. I wanted out, and the best way looked like using the dream of machines to bootstrap myself into full godhood. Only this-. Lantern, stopped me. Made me this body so I don't have to worry about the other demons finding me, but that's not a permanent solution."

"The dream of machines? What do you-?" Her eyes widen slightly. "Oh."

I nod. "Modern machines are like nothing in nature. They have their own nature that doesn't shade into anything else in the Dream. Mister Simpson found something emerging. I want the two of you to put your heads together to see if it can be used to empower a god enough that they'll be able to fight Zeus."

"That is interesting." Hecate looks at Eris with a smile. "I see why you like this one."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
09:58 GMT -5

"…Lex Luthor a space fleet, Grayven." General Sam Lane looks quite unimpressed, but knowing him he'll at least hear me out. "When we signed off on putting him on probation, that isn't exactly what I had in mind."

"My aim was always to encourage Lex to direct his energies more effectively for the good of mankind. If you thought I meant 'run LexCorp and nothing else', then… I can only apologise for the miscommunication. Earth needs a fleet, and is nowhere near politically unified enough to run one via government bodies or international institutions. This way, the fleet has a clear directing mind free of political interference."

"And the United States loses military primacy. Are you planning on moving to Sudan or something?"

"No, I've just got Challenger Mountain working the way I like it. And it will be a while before Africa has the infrastructure to be… Somewhere I'm comfortable living. Besides, Lex is hardly likely to act against America, is he?"

"Do you mean 'again'?"

"I mean in an existential way. He makes money by selling electricity, and the US is the largest consumer of electricity. Particularly now that President Horne is going full-bore for electrification of the car market. Lex's expansion into Africa requires huge amounts of money that the US energy market happily provides. Don't you like being energy independent?"

"Sure, but I don't see how being Lex Luthor dependent is any better."

I shrug. "What do you think he's going to demand that he can't just buy?"

I take a moment to look around this gathering of leading lights in the US defence… Industry? Is 'industry' the term when it includes senior officers and civil servants-?

I have to stop myself smirking.

The presidential election is in a couple of months. Knight got the Republican nomination because… I guess it's because they didn't have anyone better. The whole… Caucusing thing didn't really mean much to me; that's not how we do things in Britain. Or on Apokolips. He's making an effort, and his public approval rating is in advance of what it was at the start of the campaign, but all he's really got to offer is nationalistic rhetoric and a promise to increase in public spending.

His main target appears to be Lex Luthor's Earth Defence Force. Good luck scraping together the technology for starships from our leavings, Mr. Trying-To-Be President.

Somehow, someone talked Horne into doing this get-together as a not-campaign event. Since defence and law and order are his strongest categories in the public imagination, he really only has to do the occasional photo opportunity to remind people what he's managed to achieve in the field. Me being here… Well, America was sort of split on my actions in Africa between 'alien invader shows his true colours' and 'about time someone sorted that place out', with the second group coming out ahead now that they can see something of my end game. I'm not quite the unalloyed benefit that I used to be: Americans who would back a lethal enforcer are a little more wary about someone like that having political authority. But I'm still a big enough deal to warrant an invitation.

Of course, I do appreciate Sam's position. He's put a lot of work into this area, and I decided to go with Lex instead. Not too surprising that he's taking it a little personally.

I wave my right hand around in a circle. "I mean, he's certainly not going to demand that you… Oh, I don't know, ignore an active slave trade or women being banned from public life and driving like some US allies I could mention."

"But we are supposed to forget about the cities he gassed and the children he murdered?"

I raise an eyebrow at that.

"Do you really think I'd have left him alive if I hadn't confirmed that he wasn't the directing mind in either of those incidents?" I take a sip from my glass, relieved that the White House has a range of non-alcoholic beverages. "But if you want some advice on how you should respond..?"

"Yeah?"

"Put together a colonisation proposal. Africa is seeing a major improvement in its standard of living, so there's not a lot of drive for people to leave."

He raises his eyebrows.

"But America's falling apart, right?"

"I wouldn't say 'falling apart', but there are demographic issues relating to former industrial cities from which jobs have been 'outsourced'. And then you've got to consider what version of human culture you want spread amongst the stars. Lex will be establishing meritocratic corporations. If you want democracy and constitutional rights to be the face of humanity the rest of the universe sees, you need a population that believes in those things out there settling new worlds."

He nods.

"Are you saying the same thing to China and Russia?"

"I don't really have an 'in' with Russia. With China…" I shrug. "I pointed out that the politburo wouldn't be able to exercise effective control of a settlement on another planet without their own fleet. That rather put them off the idea."

"Neither would we. But I guess that's not so big a deal for freedom-loving Americans as it is for China."

"That's my point. Colonies wouldn't want to be ruled from another world anyway, not once they're basically self-sufficient. Colonies are expensive to set up and don't provide much in the way of economic advantage. Founding one is a profoundly idealistic endeavour."

Sam takes a sip from his own drink.

"Idealistic? We couldn't supply it or defend it."

"This region of space is fairly safe. And that's Lex's job."

He glowers faintly. "No, it's my job."

"Best get building a starship or two, then. I'm not stopping you. Maybe you could scrap the nuclear silo rebuilding program to pay for it?"

"Those things are sixty years old."

"Yes. Sixty years ago it wouldn't have been practical to put them in space. But let's not muck about: nuclear missiles in space are far more practical than putting them in a hardened bunker on the ground. No need to rise against gravity, no being stationary and risking being wiped out by a supersonic missile strike from your enemies, and you can fire them at attacking aliens as well."

"Decommissioning them wouldn't be much cheaper."

"Sell them as-is, then. I mean, take out the nukes-"

"Yeah Grayven, I worked that one out."

"-first, but I'm sure there are survivalists and eccentrics who could raise the money for it. And it's not like the systems in there are classified any more, right?"

"Some of them are, but that's mostly because they're still in use. If we transferred over, we could declassify it. But unless Lex is suddenly sharing, I don't see where this US Space Force is going to suddenly come from."

"Well…" I fan my hands out. "One hears things."

His face hardens. "And what exactly has one heard?"

"That certain parties have been rather eager to discuss Sunset Shimmer's hellship idea. You know she still lives in my mountain, don't you?"

He nods, his face relaxing very slightly. America's relations with Atlantis in general and Venturia in particular are good enough that they could probably bargain for the magicians they'd need to build the ships, but it's going to be five to ten years before they could handle the realm transitions themselves.

"We're doing some exploratory work with our Atlantean friends. Just assessing the practicality. As I'm sure that Miss Shimmer has told you, we don't have the infrastructure for something like that."

True, but it's not their main focus. They're researching the creature that inspired the experiments that created Captain Atom, only with a better educated and less evil research team. That should result in them getting some sort of modern spacecraft off the ground in three to four years. I'm not aware of any other races in the universe that use dilustel, so that will be an interesting development. And one that I can't talk about, because it would reveal exactly how closely I've been monitoring their work.

"Worth planning ahead. We're the only ones you're behind-."

"Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States of America, Jonathan Horne."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
07:16 GMT +3

"Paul!" Hera smiles broadly, looking me over for… Reasons I'm not entirely certain about. "I understand that my ex-husband has a rapidly shortening life-expectancy. Will it hurt a lot?"

I drop onto her patio, then walk over to her breakfast table. She's wearing a 'conservative with an edge' nightdress with an open dressing gown, and without wanting to be crude-

"It's okay. You can think it."

-I've started playing 'Stacy's Mom' in my head.

"Sit." She points to the chair opposite. "Sit!"

"Thank you." I pull out the wooden chair and sit down opposite her. "Things have not yet reached that stage. How did..? You know-"

She's rolling her eyes.

"-what I was thinking? Because I'm warded and I'm trained to resist telepathic intrusion."

She looks at me like a mildly disappointed primary school reception teacher, and shakes her head.

"You should have thought of that before you started worshipping Olympians. You've moved in with your lover, haven't you?"

…whose domain is marriage and the family.

"I thought so. The other thing was obvious; I know perfectly well what effect I have on men who like women. So?"

"So.. Jade or so Zeus?"

"Both, of course."

"Yes, we're co-habiting, and it's… We're not on the same schedule and it's a bit awkward, but I-" I nod. "-prefer it. Prefer her being there and… Being there myself."

"And how does she feel about it?"

"A bit like she's intruding in her own house sometimes. And other times she just sort of relaxes-. I guess it's like a cat, where you know it's decided that it likes you when it jumps on your lap and goes to sleep. Jade's the sleep-with-one-eye-open type, and sometimes she'll do this whole… Alert-and-check-for-threats thing, but she instinctively doesn't include me, which is-. I know how big a deal that is for her."

"A little unusual, but promising, considering the circumstances. And the other thing?"

"Zeus 'asked' Diana to go to Tartarus 'coincidentally' after she turned down his offer of marriage-."

"Hah!"

"I imagine it's less funny for me."

"Come now! He's gone from being able to seduce princesses while in the form of a swan-" She pulls a face. "-of all things, to having this princess refuse his offer to become queen!"

"Oh, I'd be fine with laughing at Zeus if it wasn't for the fact that I'm going to have to deal with it. Look… You don't have any leverage with-?"

"No. Not. One. Bit. He has no shame, so there are no stories, foibles or failings that I can threaten to share. Everyone already knows his true nature, so I can't threaten to reveal it. And I'm sure that an enterprising young man like yourself has already worked out the thing with the titans."

"Yes. Can-?"

"Why didn't I mention it when you first raised the matter with Hephaestus? Well, I didn't see how it was relevant. And Zeus hadn't gotten around to cutting me off then."

"And he has now."

"And he has now. Of course he has. Oh, don't look like that. I had no idea he was going to try to spread his slime all over Diana. I have no use for the extra power, so why would I mention it?"

"But you're familiar with power transfers from titan to god, having used it yourself for quite a while."

"It's not really that interesting."

"It is to me."

She fixes her eyes on me, mouth grinning. "Young man, are you doing something duplicitous?"

"Duplicitous? No. I'm fairly open and direct. Apropos of nothing, might I suggest that now is a good time to visit Hecate?"

"Why?"

"She's having a pool party with a few interested parties. Could be fun."

"A pool party in the Styx?"

"They've found a way to purify it and extract some sort of horrifying poison from the now-safe water."

Hera frowns. "And you think I should pay her a visit?"

"Indeed."

"Alright then. We're between filming sessions so I can spare the time. Let me just go and-" She pushes her chair back and stands up. "-throw something on."

"Do you require transportation?"

"No, I can find my way quite well, thank you. Off you go. I'm sure that you're busy working on this whole situation."

I stand, and give her a shallow bow. "Thank you. Oh, and in the event that something unfortunate happened to Zeus, would you be interested in returning to your former station?"

She opens her mouth to respond, then suddenly a thoughtful look comes over her face and she closes it again, frowning.

"Do you know, I don't think I am. Even with everything that's happened lately, it's a fairly empty title. And I'd have to give up this." She looks around at her house, a little distractedly. "And that nice Mister Blake would hardly be able to interact with me at all."

"Glad to hear that you're getting on so well."

"It's nice to spend time with a man who is so emotionally mature. Now, be off with you."

I nod,

disappearing from her garden and

27th October 2012
12:20 GMT +8

reappearing in a workshop in China, a disturbingly short distance from their prison for uncooperative metahumans. Sensor dampening equipment covers the interior wall while war robot production facilities fill the rest of the space. All automated, and… Minimal warding.

Back on Earth Prime, the idea that 'Nationalist China' could ever take back the rest of the country is ludicrous. I'm not sure who didn't get the message in Taiwan Sixteen, but once I've shut this place down quietly then Batman can take as long as he needs to find out. Without starting World War Three.

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
18:11 GMT +3

"So are you saying it isn't possible, or..?"

"No." / "It…" / "Yes, but…"

I hold up my hands to try and bring order to the proceedings, and the Gods of Olympus carry on as if I did nothing.

"…network stability, so…" / "…viable solution to…" / "…fun, so you could…"

Hephaestus is not impressed with the work so far. As far as I could gather, the fact that the embryonic titan isn't cohesive means that the normal spells for draining it risk funnelling the whole thing into him, causing the same overwrite issues that were the reason that he turned this down the first time I brought it up.

"…fundamental problem…" / "…study each of…" / "…leap sometimes and I think…"

Which means that the whole system needs to be reworked in order to do what it's supposed to and not dissolve him. Hecate thinks the plan is basically fine and is getting increasingly frustrated that no one has the level of thaumaturgy education that would allow them to see that. Neither Eris or Hera have really studied the subject and Hephaestus knows enough to be extremely cautious.

"…use it yourself if you…" / "…weak level, and then…" / "…need it on for anyway, I..."

She also wants to plug him in and study the result. He's understandably not keen, and honestly I'm not either. That sounds like something that Zeus could detect, and I… Even if it didn't hurt him, doing that sort of study carefully could take a long time and Diana's in Tartarus now. Eris on the other hand-

"…basic scientific method…" / "…warding would easily…" / "…kinda boring right now."

-just wants oh dear.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, is this a problem in which your most humble servant might aid you?"

Eris frowns. "My most humble servant's this guy in Denmark, and he's…" She shakes her head. "Yeah, he's humble for a reason. You could get him, but I don't think he'd be able to actually help at all."

Hephaestus takes that in his stride. "Paul was offering to help. I suppose that if you could get a few Atlantean-"

Hecate looks put out. "That is not necessary, because-"

"-experts, so they could go over Oceanus's prison before we do anything else, that would be helpful."

"I really meant-."

"-they don't understand the Dream and none in living memory have studied titans."

"Is there anything I could get you that would make the current system more reliable? Reliable to the point where you could use it as-is?"

Eris and Hera raise their eyebrows, though with Eris it's expectation that something interesting is going to happen while with Hera it's increasing frustration at these unruly Olympians.

"No." / "I doubt it."

"If you could describe what you need? No offence intended here, but I do get out and about rather more than both of you."

"An energy regulator." / "Something that could maintain an arcane connection with everything feeding the nascent titan."

Neither of those sound particularly difficult.

"Hephaestus first. Could you please explain exactly what you mean?"

"Manually controlling arcane power is as complex or as simple as you make it. A normal magician will have a feel for what they can handle directly, and if they lose control then bad things happen to them. As gods, we can handle a lot more power than all but the greatest archmages-"

Hecate- "Hmpf." -disagrees.

"-and in our domains even more than that. But we're talking about a titan whose existence is defined by the entire modern era. That's far more than I can handle."

"I thought you'd just be drawing the power as needed."

"No, I would be drawing more as needed. I would be drawing at least some power constantly as soon as the connection was made."

"Okay. So you need something that can help you… Internalise it?"

"No, if I internalise it then we're back to me dissolving myself in a font of primal energy. I would need something that can precisely control how much energy comes through. Not just limit to a small proportion of the total. Something that can say 'this amount and no more'."

Hm.

"Okay, I think I can find one. Give me a few minutes."

I raise my right hand to-.

"Everyone knows you're putting it on!" Eris points to me with her right forefinger. "Dragon Ball Z is shit!"

I lower my right hand, give her a slightly hurt look, then

step out and

reappear in… The containment centre on Maltus, Hinon's eyes moving to me for a fraction of a second as she does something with the machinery around the recumbent form of Larfleeze, which then regains her full attention.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Do you still have Meadlux's old power ring prototype?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Could I please have it?"

"I meant 'what do you want it for'."

"I'm trying to drain energy from a titan to upgrade one of my favourite gods after-."

"No. Stop. Earth. Yes. Is whatever you're doing likely to cause a problem for the rest of the universe?"

"No?"

"Oh, take the blasted thing." The ring floats out of her robes and over to me. "And keep notes."

"Thank you." I-.

You know what? Fuck Eris! I raise my right hand to my forehead

and

return to Hecate's home, holding the ring out to Hephaestus.

"Is this any good?"

Eris notices where my hand was and looks away, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. I raise my index and middle fingers at her. Hephaestus on the other hand takes the ring and stares at it hard.

"I'm.. not sure. Hecate?"

Space around the ring warps and glows as she applies arcane power to the ring. Which seems completely unaffected.

"It… Might? What is it? Where did you get it?"

"From a friend. What else do you need?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
18:15 GMT +3

Hecate glares at me.

"What sort of friend could you have that has a device like this? If you've been talking to Kamrušepa behind my back, then-."

"Psh." Eris scoffs. "It's a ring. He's a Lantern."

"Goo goo g'joob."

She grins and holds out her right hand for a high five. I give her a high five.

Hecate glares at her. "This is exactly why it's been eight hundred years since we last spoke. What are you talking about?"

"Lanterns. They use-." Eris regards her curiously. "Wait, you don't know what a Lantern is?"

"I've heard the term used for this mortal. What else does it mean?"

Because she's been in Erebos for… Since the end of the Greek Classical era, and so not only hasn't met any Lanterns other than me, but hasn't even heard of the Green Lantern Corps.

"The Green Lantern Corps is an interstellar policing organisation. Maltus is the name of the homeworld of the species who run it. That ring was made by one of them. The Orange Lantern Corps is an organisation to help egotists make themselves useful, and it's run by members of the same species. Members of both organisations are commonly referred to as 'Lanterns'."

"I see." She goes back to looking at it. "Do they have experience with titans?"

"Probably. They're pretty old."

Hera lets out a short burst of laughter and then covers her mouth with her right fist, and I remind myself that just because she's been out and about in the world doesn't mean that she has Justice League type access to information.

"Paul, I'm something like fifteen thousand years old."

"I apologise. They're extremely old. A million plus years each. They use rings like that to help their children learn to control their exotic abilities. It's like stabilisers on a child's first bicycle for them."

The assembled divines look at each other a little awkwardly.

"So going back to my question, you wanted something that connected to the collective unconscious of the human species?"

Given the direct question, Hecate recovers first. "Yes, though a powerful relic of the Dream may suffice. I doubt that such a thing-."

"Excuse me again."

I

27th October 2012
13:17 GMT -2

appear in.. Queen Mera's office. Young Artur is playing with some sort of carousel nearby. She spots me at once, looking at me with an air of confused curiosity.

"That's not supposed to be possible."

"And are we happy about that or-?"

The water around me freezes, because while the spell couldn't detect me directly it could detect the sound I was making. Clever.

Queen Mera rises from her seat, her right hand wreathed in a turquoise glow as she waves it. The ice melts at once and I nod politely.

"I assume you're here to get access to the Oceanus relics? We decided that it was best to base the research team on Santa Porto rather than bring the items back here, but I am happy to introduce you to the team working on the problem."

"No, that's not necessary at the moment, thank you. I'm here for the Spear of Destiny."

"I…" She appears to hesitate, but I can just about make out her activating a dozen or so minor spells. Not entirely sure what they do, but I'm more… I don't know, disappointed? That she didn't cast them the moment I arrived. "I can release it to you, but given what it does, I would like an explanation."

"Oh, I'm not handing it over to Venturia, if that's what you're worried about."

"Actually, I find Venturia's research quite interesting. I've known King Cyprian on and off for years. I don't think we have anything to worry about militarily from that quarter."

"Well, no, and I'm glad to hear it."

"Though I would like to know what you will use it for. The Spear of Destiny is an arcane tool of incredible power."

"Are you aware of what's happening with Diana?"

"Yes, Orin told me when he passed on the message from Batman regarding Santa Porto."

"The goddess Hecate thinks that the Spear could be used to more easily bind Hephaestus to the… Dream of Technology, empowering him to the point where he may be able to force Zeus to behave himself. I'm afraid that the thaumaturgy is a little beyond-."

"It would act to stabilise the connection. And it would force the minds of all humans on Earth towards more technological lines of thinking. Orange Lantern, that is why we have avoided using it."

"Humans are using the same brain structure now as we used when our ancestors were hunter gatherers. Biological evolution hasn't kept up with social evolution, and it causes a plethora of problems in the modern world. But that's not the problem I'm trying to correct today."

"There is no way to isolate the Spear's effect."

"True, but given that we're not all National Socialists, I don't believe that its power is overwhelming. Besides, we only need it to set the ritual up. Once it's running… Or completed, we can put the Spear back in isolation."

"I want to see the ritual you are describing."

"No problem. We're working on it in Lady Hecate's home in Erebos. I can get you there in a couple of minutes. Though I will warn you in advance that Lady Hecate has been making less than enthusiastic noises about having anyone check her work. Also, they haven't finished working out how to actually do it yet."

Queen Mera considers it for a moment.

"Are you certain that this is necessary to free Diana?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But I'm not the proportional response guy. I'm the brutal retribution guy. We'll keep working on this with or without the Spear. The Spear will just make it easier."

She nods. "Very well. I must inform my husband first, but I can release the Spear to you."

"Thank you. Will Artur be joining us, or do you need to arrange a babysitter?"

She considers that for a moment. "Would he be safe in the Greek underworld?"

"In Erebos, amongst a horde of Hecate-worshipping shades at least some of whom are Amazons, as a guest of their goddess? I should think so. Certainly wouldn't have to worry about Purist assassins or alien invaders."

"I will speak with my husband first." She swims over to scoop up Artur, who babbles excitedly to her. "Come with me."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
18:39 GMT +3

While Queen Mera could probably convey herself through the waters of the underworld in greater comfort than she feels in my construct-grip, that would mean enduring the effects of the water. As a result, she's looking around with a considerable degree of curiosity while seated in a construct aircraft chair.

Artur stayed behind with his father. I really think it was a bit much for Orin to call this 'an insane scheme', and I did notice him biting down the rest of that sentence. What's insane about using a titan to empower a crippled god to overthrow the head of the pantheon to free a woman from a place she doesn't want to leave?

"I've been meaning to ask. Why does every Atlantean I've spoken to get uncomfortable when I mention Queen Gamemnae? Sephtian told me that he didn't know exactly what she did…"

"I doubt that anyone alive does. With the return of Mighty Adom to Kahndaq I have taken the opportunity to study that period of our history, and it was an unpleasant time and long ago. Our records are far from perfect, and much that is commonly believed has come from myth and legend."

I mentally shrug. We live in a world where people who believe that the Roman Empire didn't exist are allowed out in public. I can hardly expect the Atlanteans to keep perfect records for five thousand years.

"As you know, she was a sorceress of incredible skill and power. She was sent into exile from Poseidonis as a child, and returned as a powerful sorceress. Supposedly, she returned the entire continent of Atlantis to the surface and turned the entire population into who they were before Ahri'ahn altered their ancestors."

"Removing the Purebloods' superior strength and endurance would make it easier to maintain control. I mean I… Doubt that she inherited the title."

"Perhaps. She is also supposed to have allowed any who would not serve under her rule to drown in waters that they had easily have breathed before she worked her magic."

"I wonder how she got that powerful. I can't think of any other magic traditions in the area that were the equal of the Atlantean one."

"If it happened like that at all, I would guess that she was educated by the descendants of Atlantean exiles. It was the trauma of so much upheaval and death that left her name as a curse in our culture. If you want an accurate record of her history, Adom would be a better person to speak with."

"Yes, but I don't want to mess about with his memory of his old friends. His positive attitude to Atlantis is at least partially based on it."

"It is a pleasant change to have a nation in the Middle East open to the use of magic."

"Sephtian mentioned that her body.. was..?"

Mera smiles and shakes her head. "A myth. The Temple of Orcus holds no body that could come from so powerful a sorceress. I believe that it was later addition to the story. Older versions of the myth mention the bodies of her victims piled to the roof or the bodies of the royal family drowned by her spells."

"I didn't think undoing the spells altering Atlanteans was possible."

"All things are possible. But I do not know how she might have done it. It should be beyond any mortal." Her eye is caught by Persephone's forest. "This place is not what I expected."

"Nothing like Orcus's domain?"

"No. The domain of Orcus is supposedly a far drearier place."

"It's not too late to change lanes. Shop around a little for superior afterlife services."

"It would be politically unwise. Orin is a Christian, and while Atlantis is not a deeply religious country it would not look well for both monarchs to bow to foreign gods."

"Then send Orcus our way and we'll see about bringing him up to our level."

"I have never spoken to him directly. According to our priests, our gods speak even to them only extremely infrequently and indirectly."

"There's your problem! How can they possibly provide a good service if they don't know what the customer base want?"

I bring us into land, noting the absence of dead witches and spotting my own patron- "Hey, Eris!" -taking a smoke outside Hecate's home.

"Hey hay, I'm Eris." She lowers her cigarette and looks Mera over. "I think Hecate needs a bigger house."

"What do I want out of life and death?"

She frowns. "You know what you-. Are you seriously testing me?" I nod. "If you hadn't just won me a bet with that spear I'd nearly be annoyed. You want people to stop being stupid and to take the opportunities presented to them. You want the Reach gone so you can build a new civilisation I'd say from its ashes, but you'd probably say something about people being unified by shared adversity. You like helping people but aren't prepared to completely baby them -which I appreciate- because if you have to do everything then what's the point of anyone else even existing."

"That's life."

"I don't believe you'll stay dead next time any more than you did the last two."

"Good answer. And that's why she's better than Discordia."

Eris smiles at me fondly, making eye contact with Mera. "See, that's what's great about him. I think I'm about to have to thump an uppity mortal, then he comes up with something like that and it means more because I know he means it. Now gimme that spear."

Mera hesitates for a moment, but while she's an archmage Eris is a goddess and her decision was effectively made the moment she agreed to come down here. Dismissing the protective spells she placed upon it, she cautiously hands it-.

Eris grabs it from her and stares at it as if transfixed.

"I don't even know what this is."

"Technically, we don't either. It's usually referred to as the Spear of Destiny, but its precise origin is lost in the mists of time. And you can tell what it does."

Eris skips back into Hecate's house. "Hec-a-tay! My guy wiiii-iiins!"

"Shall we?"

Mera and I enter the… Huh. It's expanded again, and the empty pool-area outside is explained by the fact that they're all hard at work in here. Since their knowledge of thaumaturgy is 'poor' by modern standards they're forced to brute force spells guided by their long experience, casting and reacting and judging by feel whether it works or not. The Maltusian power ring is on a plinth in the centre of the ritual space, and Eris has marches over to Hecate to wave the spear at her. We follow after her as Hecate stares at it, then tries to get it off the boasting chaos goddess.

"Eris, not the time."

Eris pantomimes sighing, then offers it to Hecate.

"This…" I feel Hecate running power into it and notice Mera shuddering faintly next to me.

Hephaestus looks it over, before turning to the fascinated Hecate. "Will it work?"

"'Will it'-? Is that all that occurs to you?" Hecate keeps working, beckoning to some of her devotees with her spare hand. "This, and more besides. We will need to rework the spell to take this… This thing into account."

Mera takes a step closer. "Might I enquire-?"

Hecate looks at her for about half a second. "If you want to help, grab a bench. We're going to break history here!"

"Do you mean-?"

"I know what I said!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
18:58 GMT

"And yet, you're still sane."

Diataria Lysis regards Prime Minister Lantern Geoffrey Talbot with… I'm not sure. Between the cybernetic eyes and lack of eyebrows I'm having a little trouble parsing her expression. Fascination? Bewilderment? Raw animal lust?

"So it seems." Geoffrey steps out of the upright scanning module, picking up his shirt from the nearby bench. He may be in his late fifties, but he's definitely made an effort to get back into the sort of physical shape that would allow him to meet the Metropolitan Police Force's requirements. And I know his ring doesn't help with that. "Is there anything else?"

"How? How are you doing this?"

"Tell me, Weaponer Lysis." He slides his shirt over his arms and starts buttoning it up. "Have you ever loved anyone?"

"No."

"Anything? Anything at all? Your.. homeworld, your culture, perhaps?"

"Love? No."

"Spend all of your time working in a place like this?" Geoffrey closes the top button and tucks the bottom of the shirt into his trousers. "I understand what it's like, making the job your life. But if you never value anything outside yourself… You'll never know the rage that you feel when someone maliciously takes it away from you from nothing more than spite. The rage you feel at yourself for not… Realising what was happening while you could still have done something about it. Or the certainty that as… Satisfying as it might be to try to beat the bastards to death with your bare hands, that would let a great many of those responsible escape."

"So it must be directed inwardly and outwardly and once."

"Grayven, what do the seven colours correspond to?"

"Hate and anger, avarice, fear, will, hope, compassion and love."

"Have you ever felt hope, Weaponer Lysis? Or made someone else feel it?"

"I hope not."

"Compassion, perhaps. Have you ever been guided by compassion?"

"I'm a Weaponer!"

"Seven emotions, Weaponer Lysis. I've felt them all in their turns, and I think I've inspired them, too. You haven't. Power rings require an understanding of emotion that you don't have. This technology?" He looks around at her workshop. "It can only get you so far. The problem is you."

Her breath hisses in through her teeth, then back out again in a sharp huff. Then a hiss. Then a huff.

"If I did not think that you were right, I would slay you where you stand."

"If you weren't making yourself useful I would kill you to bring peace to your past victims." He puts on his jacket. "Unless there's anything else, I have a country to run."

"Go."

I let him lead the way out of the laboratory. The complex has grown quite a bit since he first visited, and while I know that Weaponer Lysis prizes her intellect I'm not totally convinced that she'll make it to the firing range before she starts throwing the qwa-bolts around. Best that my body is between my ally and enough hard radiation to incinerate a man.

Geoffrey doesn't say anything as he marches out, and I'm content to carry on at amble-speed. And I know that he's always angry, but I also know that certain types of encounter leave him more stressed than others. Weaponer Lysis would definitely be on his kill list if she appeared back on Earth, and he's not entirely happy about me keeping her on.

Ground level outside of the headquarters of the Orange Lantern Corps (Tamaran Branch) has been nicely landscaped, a row of bushes wrapping around the walkway leading to a garden, though the view into the distance isn't as… Pastoral as it once was. With a few hundred Lanterns working the problem, Tamaran has skipped several stages of industrial development and gone straight onto post-industrial wonderland. I can see half a dozen space elevators from here with my unaided eyes, and if I turned around-

I mean, if I turned around and could see through the building.

-then I'd see the other half. All necessary to police Other Grayven's followers when they realise exactly what happened. And to keep some ships on station in case Diana needs the support.

"Why do you keep her here?"

"Because I don't trust the Controllers and can't make rings myself."

"Is there really no one else?"

"There's a planet full of Maltusians but I don't know any of them. And I can't think of any reason why they'd accept a subordinate position to work with me. This is all a big deal for me -and the people of Tamaran- but if the Maltusians were interested in empire-building then they'd have an actual empire."

Probably best to take his mind off it.

"How are things in Britain?"

"Everything's on track. If I'm lucky, I won't have to stand for re-election. Certainly not more than one more term."

Purging an entire civil service isn't something that happens over night. And it's not just the cannibal rapists; there were more than a few who… I believe that the term is 'Deep State'? People who joined a supposedly apolitical agency with the intent of controlling policy. Relatively petty stuff but they were in violation of their oaths and the law, so they had to go. Which in turn has made it quite a lot harder to actually run things, because joking aside middle managers do actually do things.

I like the genomorphs, but I'm… A little uncomfortable to see them effectively soft couping my old country. Fortunately, events have energised the population to the point that there are plenty of people applying for the positions, but there are only so many people you can bring into an organisation at a time.

"Economy's picking up, and we're back in the UN. As much good as that does us."

As a bit of a reward for the total purge and corruption levels unknown to human societies outside of Africa -and wouldn't that have been a joke a year ago- Lex and I decided that energy costs in Britain would be noticeably lower than in other countries with equivalent economic development. Combine that with the income from ship production, the only reason the British economy wasn't picking up more is fear; both of what the former ruling class had been up to or the methods used to remove them.

"Do you still need to be there ramming things through?"

"Not quite so much, but I'd rather keep at it. I'd rather get it done faster and knock off quicker."

"And then off to the Lords? I understand that they've acquired a few vacancies."

"Hah. I'd rather not. But I do have unique experience to bring to the role. I'll see-"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"-how I-."

We both generate construct armour as the boom tubes open.

"What the devil? Grayven?"

"I'm not expecting anyone. Who-?"

A scintillating ray of light strikes me in the chest as some arsehole in white pyjamas flies through the closest aperture at high speed. Exposure to Misa allows me to sidestep, though not counter as he-

"Hah!"

-laughs and flies into the air.

"What the hell are-?"

The bush in front of us leaps up and attacks me!

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
19:03 GMT

I raise a shield screen, reinforcing it with a duplicate of Raquel's kinetic barrier. The… Mass stops, the leading spines striking and-.

Lantern, it's-.

Shoggothing, yes.

Strands are passing through my barrier as the thing twists to expand around, its movement limited only slightly by the kinetic energy absorption effect.

Shoggoths aren't real. Lovecraft based his description-.

There's a flash of purple and my construct is gone, the durlan -because I do know what durlans are, Sinestro- turns to vapour that I suspect will be quite good at penetrating environmental shields.

In the background, I see one of the space elevators is enveloped in flames.

"Infernal-!"

I pull back, generating a powerful magnetic flux in the area in front of me. Durlans don't exactly have weaknesses, but they have vulnerabilities depending on what form they're occupying. Disturbing as the forms they manifest can be, they're ultimately expressions of their control of their physical form rather than anything magical.

My construct causes electricity to dance and the air to energise, the durlan turning into something a little more solid to tough it out. Which means that when Geoffrey's blood plasma hits it, it's forced to soak the hit.

Lysis, durlan, qwa-matter.

And that stuff burns anything, but-.

"Geoff, back up. It-."

Whu-?

I'm yanked off the ground, dragged into the air and sent spinning by-. Ow! Fucking Lightray shot me again, and the knobbler in blue and yellow next to him is doing something to make me float.

Pre-civil war durlan.

Thank you Sinestro.

"What do you want?!" Imperious Overlord Exigency!

"What do you think, Gray-face!?" Lightray has a very punchable face himself. "We're here to stop you taking over this planet!" "I'm the good guy!"

Better late than never. "No."

A wave of orange passes through my armour, disrupting… Ah..? The Knobbler's grip and I form a fusion cannon on my left arm as I draw my daiklave with my right hand.

"You come here." Lightray fires his electric wanking hands at me again and I block his shot. "To my place of power." I raise my left arm and he frantically evades, the surprised Bananaman watching him go. "And expect to best me?"

I feel him lose his grip on me as a glowing plasma shield appears in front of him. Bend To My Will!

"Hard luck."

Fire.

The beam howls through the intervening space, dissipates his shield and burns his armour!

"Waaagh!"

He reels in the sky, cloth flaking off his burns. Those are hardly crippling wounds, and a New God of any power would regrow that skin but someone blew up my space elevator and I don't feel like-

Watch your-.

-dealing-.

A stream of ferrofluid roars into me, battering my shield before retreating to orbit around-.

"Vykin. Leave Uncle Drax's magic robot at home today?" Dismissal of Trivialities.

He's standing on a small platform of the stuff as it undulates and ripples around him. Looks like his armour has been upgraded since our first meeting.

"Do not mock me, monster! I have seen the worlds your insane followers wiped clean of life, the-."

"Are you implying that you consider life to be dirty? Unclean?"

Ferrofluid claws leap at me, twisting around my hastily interposed constructs in an attempt to stab me-.

Before swiftly being pulled back as my laser constructs start taking shots at him. Sure, we both have bare faces, but I have construct armour and he's got a stupid 'unique' weapon. In fact-.

Alert.

Lobo-. No, wait, just a velorpian; the psions' partially successful attempt to resurrect the czarians in a slightly more controllable form. They look similar, but the velorpians aren't anything like as bizarre. I honestly thought that the psions killed them off when they terminated the project, but here one is at least.

Purple light leaps from his mouth, which isn't something that they're usually able to do. I evade, but the shot follows me. It's-. Is that a power ring effect? That colour's off but-. You Will Not Defy Me!

I slash the stream of energy with my daiklave, batting it off towards Lightray for a moment before the velorpian decides to save his shot. He closes, drawing two cleavers from the harness on his back.

"You know what they're payin' me for your head, bastlick?!"

"Not enough to get your lines-" A construct grapple grabs him from behind, slowing his flight and causing him to misjudge his swing. "-right, Faux'bo."

"Fag you!"

I fire, hitting him in the head at point blank range and blasting the skin off his face. Got his eyes too, but those will grow back pretty quickly. Must remember not to let him bleed anywhere.

Or… Quail The Vanquished.

The tip of my daiklave punches into his neck, piercing his windpipe and spine without hitting his carotid artery. The smaller blood vessels don't dare-

I cough.

-bleed in my presence. Wait, I don't cough. I'm a New God wearing an environmental shield. Something… Wants me dead. Looks like I'm the durlan's main target, though its efforts are impeded by the fact that I don't work like a normal living creature.

But did they brief it in orange ring abilities? Master Of My Own Domain.

Assimilate!

Durlan presence detected. Identity theft in progress.

There's a shimmer in the air, though I don't know if it's trying to get away or to bring in more of its mass. Just in case, I create a larger shield all around us to prevent it escaping. I don't know exactly how it's getting around my shield but hopefully this will disrupt its efforts a little.

Ten percent.

"Grayven!" Koriand'r swoops in, leading a small squad of tamaranean Orange Lanterns who swiftly assail the other New Gods. "What is happening?"

I puke, orange light and organic durlan forcefully evacuated from my interior.

"Someehgh. Someone decided to be stupid. Let's round them up and ask them some polite questions."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th October 2012
19:06 GMT

Twenty percent.

The durlan's doing something inside me, and it feels like a combination of stomach ache and a chesty cough. But it's not radion, and my armour is fortifying my entire body, not just my outer surface. I think it's realising that it's on to a loser there, but my shield-bubble prevents it escaping fast enough to evade me.

In the distance I see an orange glow surround the damaged space elevator as the Lanterns on duty move to prevent a catastrophe. Good lads.

"Gunna cut 'n gut yah!"

Ah, his vocal cords have regrown. Two Lanterns-.

"Not blades, ladies. Don't pierce the skin. Blunt and burning weapons only."

They go to work with a mace and a maser. Nice to see that they're making use of those adult education seminars.

"Koriand'r, do you have any use for a velorpian Construct-Lantern?"

She shakes her head vehemently. "I will not use my ring to enslave another being."

"Fair enough. I'm stuck here until I've finished with this-"

Thirty percent.

"-durlan, but as far as I can tell I'm being targetted for elimination by both the New Gods of New Genesis-"

I smile as a magnet construct tears away Vykin's ferrofluid and the other Lanterns start clamping chain constructs on his extremities.

"-and… These people."

I scan the velorpian in detail, trying to-. Oh, that's interesting. There's some sort of… Thing embedded in his chest. Reads a little like a power ring, only… Not. It's purple? That doesn't correspond to-.

"You with the mace? There's an object in his stomach. Please remove it while spilling as little fluid as possible."

The tamaranean woman nods her hair. "Yes, Lord-" A strike to the back to the neck cracks the velorpian's spine and paralyses him for at least a few seconds. "-Grayven."

She generates an auto-chirurgeon construct, all whirring drills and flensing blades, and presses it to his abdomen. At least it's quiet.

"Princess." The leader of the squad handling Vykin floats closer, the chain running from his bracer to the construct collar around Vykin's neck pulling the New God closer. "What should we do with our prisoners?"

She considers for a moment. "Are these your people, Grayven?"

"Same species, different culture. I've met Vykin before, but the rest are new."

Lightray laughs as he rapidly evades the squad sent after him, completely missing the destroyers descending through the atmosphere with their flak turrets pointing downwards. The Lanterns back off and raise barriers as the ships fire and Lightray falls burning from the sky.

Hm.

Forty percent.

In the air and on the ground around the Central Power Battery building I see the same scene repeated: two factions being pinned down by Orange Lanterns.

"Vykin, did my brother put you up to this?"

"We do not need orders from Orion to know that evil must be opposed."

I look down at his waist. Yes, there it is. "Koriand'r, could you please take that device on his hip and pass it to me?"

She spots the Mother Box, blinks, glances down at my own Mother Box, then sends out a grapple construct to pull it from his harness.

Ping.

"Well, then you should have thought of that before coming here." I-.

Bluergh! GuH!

Ugh.

I think that's all of the durlan finally out of me. It appears to be trying to bring itself back together into a corporeal whole just in front of me. Maybe it wants to communicate? I certainly feel better for having it out of me.

I dismiss the bubble shield and grab Vykin's Mother Box, attaching it to my belt. Now, how to-?

"Lord Grayven!" The Lantern working away at the velorpian pulls her construct free, a small black disk in her construct forceps. "I have it!"

"Oh, that is interesting. Pass it here?"

She throws it to me and I catch it in my right hand. "Sinestro, is this what I think it is?"

"I can't feel any particular emotional resonance."

"It seems that I've done something to earn the ire of the Green Lantern Corpse, the Guardians' team of black operations assassins. Which makes you-"

The durlan in front of me is shifting back into their blank humanoid mode, and clutching his head as he tries and fails to fight my influence.

Fifty percent.

"-Von Daggle."

He glows purple for an instant, but my orange swiftly overpowers it.

"Let's see how this goes. Vykin's Mother Box, connect me to Highfather Izaya the Inheritor."

Ping?

"Yes, really."

Ping.

There's a moment of delay, then a large translucent image of his head appears in the air above us.

"Grayven of Apokolips."

"Highfather. Do these people belong to you?"

The floating head looks around, and I think I see him sigh. "They are of New Genesis."

"Did you send them after me?"

"I did not. But they are my people, and I will bear the burden of their actions. What do you want in exchange for their lives?"

"You can owe me."

"I.. see. And what surety do you want?"

"None. You can take them back in a few minutes. You seem like the trustworthy sort." I turn my head away from the apparition and smile at Vykin, who looks crushed at his failure. "What a nice man. You hear that? You'll be heading home shortly. Now."

Sixty percent.

Von Daggle collapses in the air.

"Ring, contact the Guardians."

"By your command."

The delay is longer, but after a moment the head of a Guardian appears over my ring.

"Apokoliptian. What do you want?"

"You just tried to murder me. I have what's left of your 'Corpse' as my prisoners, and I was wondering-."

"No such organisation exists. Do not contact us like this again."

The head vanishes, and I shrug at Von Daggle.

"Bad news for you, chum. But I guess they wouldn't be deniable operations if they weren't deniable. Finish the assimilation."

"By your command."

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
09:52 GMT +3

"So…" I raise my eyebrows at Hephaestus. "Made a decision yet?"

He regards me testily. "Come up with a new argument to persuade me, have you?"

"Honestly? No. But if you aren't prepared to take the risk, we'll need more time to work on your equipment, and delaying is only dragging this out."

"You want me to take the risk."

"Eh… I… Yes, but-! I don't understand the thaumaturgy involved and it isn't me going through it. It's you. If, having heard all of the information that we have, you decide that it's not worth the risk, that's your decision. I'll just nod and carry on. We'll still be closer to our goal."

And I mean that. I really don't understand the explanation that Hecate started with, not in any detail. It turns out that Hephaestus's concern about dissolving in the power was entirely valid. Using the default version of the binding spell that could actually happen. However, with the ring and the Spear, Hecate had other options.

At the safest level, we have the 'constant gradual drain' option. Using the ring as a moderating influence, Hephaestus would literally just use it as a booster when he needed it. He would actually have to use spells to expand his abilities and insight, not just to increase his power output.

At the mid-level, we can directly empower him up to his maximum… 'Stretch' level. That could go wrong, but it almost certainly wouldn't. Once he acclimatised to his new size, we could repeat the process up to his new 'stretch' level, and so on until… Well, most likely until the titan embryo loses coherency and we have to wait for it to re-emerge. The upside is that it would increase Hephaestus's innate power. He'd be able to just do stuff, and his instinct for modern technology would increase. Not to the level of an actual God of Technology, but somewhat. Getting to full power would probably take… A few months, though, and might take even longer. And it might well not ever get him to the point where he could fight Zeus.

And then there's option three. Conceptual unbinding. On the up side, it would result in him becoming a full-on God of Technology, far more powerful than even the most optimistic result of option two. It would be faster too; we could be out of here this afternoon. It's also… Technically safer than option two, in the sense that it's virtually impossible that it would kill him.

But.

But it essentially involved chirurgically pulling his brain apart, sticking more brain in between the parts and sewing the whole thing back up and hoping that his mind still functions.

Maybe. Hecate was losing patience with me when she came up with that explanation.

"When you fought the Lord of Order, Nabu." I nod. "Did you consider using the Ophidian's power?"

"Considered and dismissed. Too much risk to Mister Zatara."

"When you first bonded with her, then. The illusion world. If it had been real, would you have done it?"

"I did do it. Remember, I thought that it was real. And I didn't think I'd still exist afterwards."

"Would you do it again?"

"It's not really the same thing."

"So, yes."

"But look how my social skills have improved. Uh?" I sigh. "Look… If it were me, I wouldn't be-. I'm not sure whether I'd go for two or three. I put on this ring in the knowledge that it would probably change my character, but I always could take it off. I let the Ophidian in, but that was in a desperate situation and I don't live like that most of the time. The one time I absorbed a lot of demon magic and became ruthlessly utilitarian, I didn't like the person I became. But I can't make that kind of decision for you."

"No."

I shrug. "I want you to take this power to smack Zeus down, free Diana and advance the cause of the technological revolution with your new power. But those are my goals. What do you want?"

"The same. To smack Zeus down. Ares too. To walk without limping for the first time in more years than I care to think about."

"But you want to be the one walking."

"That I do."

"Well… Is there any more information you need in order to make a decision?"

"Yes, and I'm waiting for a response from the person I asked."

Oh.

"Because you, Orange Lantern, are the last person to go to for the voice of moderation."

…

"Thought I was… Fairly moderate just there…"

"I know. Ah." He stands up as… An owl swoops down, landing on the top of a nearby low diving board. "Here she is."

I'm bowing even as Athena sort of.. blurs back into a humanoid form.

"Phaeste."

"Thena."

"My Lady."

"And my champion's headache. I have learned something of your nature from her prayers. Rise."

I straighten up. There's… Actually a fairly strong resemblance between Diana and-. Well, this avatar of Athena. I suppose that it's not really too surprising that a people as militant as the Amazons would base their ideal of youthful beauty on their war goddess, but her statues on the surface make it a good deal less obvious.

"Do you intend to pay Hecate's price?"

"Not up to me."

Hephaestus raises his right hand. "If this is about your mother, we were already planning on freeing her."

Athena nods. "Then I will use my own magic to ensure that your mind remains whole during the process of elevating you."

He nods. "You think the third choice is best, then? Complete unbinding?"

"I think that if we want any relevancy as a pantheon that we will need to be led by a god who is both interested in the world and appealing to mortals. A God of Technology is certainly relevant; your holy day is being observed by mortal artificers even though their skills are outside of your domain. And you have remained better connected to the world than most. Tell me that this is not what you want."

"I can't, because it is."

"Then embrace this opportunity. Become something greater than you are."

He nods, then turns back towards Hecate's house.

"Then let's do this."

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
12:12 GMT +3

Mount Olympus isn't anything special. A little under three thousand metres at its highest point, it's tall for a European mountain but doesn't even make the top hundred tallest mountains worldwide. It's snow-covered for nine months of the year, though with global warming a thing of the past that might increase a little. The lower slopes are coated in forests and scrubland with significant biodiversity while the highest portions are bare rock. There are more Christian places of worship here than Hellenist ones; Greek Orthodox churches, shrines and actual monasteries are sited at several places, while the ruins of Hellenistic shrines can really only be seen if you know where to look.

The idea of changing that has been brought up a few times, but the monks and priests are -understandably, if with a certain degree of bias- rather against it.

There's no divine palace sitting at the top. No Zeus sitting on a throne.

Except.

I hold aloft a mug filled with the Cider of Discord, take a sip-

And as I swallow I couldn't say what it tasted like only that it left me shuddering, and I have no idea whether it's good-shuddering or bad.

-and then pour the rest of it on the scree-covered ground. Next, I drop a pile of small sticks and kindling out of subspace and set it on fire. Ah, add some petrol? Better. Drop a pile of cow organs on top of that.

Because while I can't do magic, I'm perfectly capable of performing rituals that existing magic will react to. I've got no idea why the Olympians tied their rituals to the burning of animal organs but I'll admit that does make things simpler. Then I hold out the cup and wait.

The smell's interesting. I mean, it's definitely beefy, but at the same time it's clearly different from the muscle-tissue I usually eat.

I watch the pile blacken and burn.

We decided on this method of entry because it's respectful and… Frankly, the alternative was to swap places with the Ophidian and… While she could exist in Divine Olympus, we're not sure that Divine Olympus could survive having her exist inside it. And in

Hard. Rough. Unyielding.

fact, I…

I raise my right hand, my

Gather. Flow. Bind. Life.

tattoos… There. Their presence apparent even through my armour. Like my arm is an arm and a

Lever. Holding. Grasping.

tool at the same time. Welcome to the thaumosphere, or at least the bits the Olympians have formatted for their own convenience.

I take a moment to look around

Growing. Flowing. Reaching. Calling.

and try to let the concept-objects just sort of… Flow over me, interface with me. The thing and the idea of the thing. It's not… Harmful, and…

Hunger. Hunger. Hunger.

There's that. I can actually feel it beat in my chest not at all like a second heart actually but that's the only metaphor that's even sort of accurate. I take a moment to press my hands to my chest, getting used to the essence of my own existence.

And then I turn my eyes upward, to the

Power. Greatness. Grandeur.

of the Palace of Olympus. The path up is a path and the idea of a path

Journey. Travel. Conveyance.

and to put one foot on it is to step off it at your destination. Interesting thing about Olympus is that unlike Valhalla there isn't an elect class of semi-divine soldiers on guard duty. Ares might favour a warrior in life but once they're dead they belong to Hades. Unless they end up in the Elysian Fields, but that's still in Erebos. To get a soldier here they'd have to experience apotheosis and then they'd be a bit above guard duty. Some way off a group of women are sitting at a scroll-covered table, pens in hand and talking animatedly to one another.

Nice gardens. I imagine that they stay like that because-.

"Paul."

I smile as a familiar woman approaches. "Calliope. How have you been?"

"Well enough. I have been spending time with my sisters, since… I gained my freedom. I trust that he-. The criminal-."

"Will be spending the rest of his natural life in prison. After that, it's not up to mortal justice."

She nods distractedly. "What brings you to Olympus?"

"I'm here to talk to Lord Zeus. It might be advisable to get to a safe distance."

"Ah?"

"If things go badly."

"I-. I will pass that on. Zeus holds court through-" She points into the palace. "-there. I… Believe that he may be expecting you."

"Thank you. Be well."

Her face falls slightly as I stride off in the direction she indicated. Thing about the palace is that it's ancient Greek palatial, designed for a people who would have to use burning torches if they had no natural light. Olympus had to be created in that mode, so even though everything is exaggerated, it's not… Overwhelming. Or all that large. For example, having gotten this far, there's only a relatively small antechamber before-

"Ah, Lantern! Come! Come!"

-I'm outside the throne room, pushing open the door and walking inside with the owner's

Majesty. Power. Presence. Caged lightning. Gar.

permission. I think that ordinarily my eyes would be drawn to the empty throne at the head of the room, but Zeus has-. So much happening, the conceptual links so strong and clear that I'm-. Ugh. Feeling more than a little off.

"Oh? I'm mildly impressed. Lesser mortals have been struck dead from seeing me like this."

His physical form-? It puts me in mind of Hades, for obvious reasons. The structure of the face makes the relationship obvious, though Zeus's hair is entirely white. Not grey, not mostly comprised of white hair while a few still have colour, no; the whole head of hair and neatly groomed beard are white. He's wearing a blue doric chiton under a purple himation, both accented with gold stitching. The gold theme carries on to his gold bracers and necklace, as well as the diadem on his head. And

Wealth. Prosperity. Success. Power. Status.

I understand why he's dressed as he is. I'm not completely clear why he's lounging on a klinē in the centre of a room next to a table upon which appears to be a light lunch. He's too conceptually unsubtle for me to have the meaning shoved into my brain. Still, there are a couple of other klinē around so perhaps he's just finished a meeting.

I bow. "Lord Zeus. King of Olympus."

"Come!" He gestures to the seat opposite him, not grinning exactly, but certainly smiling. "Come, sit."

I don't know what he's up to, but there's no sense in being rude about it. I follow his directions-. And see as I get closer that he's not above pettiness. Unlike Hades, who is a little larger than most men because he can't get smaller, Zeus is about nine feet tall and without appearing to have been stretched out in the way that very tall humans sometimes do. And the furniture is sized for him, which means that it's a little too large for me to sit comfortably.

"Thank you, my lord."

"So I understand that I've got you waxing wroth, mortal man." He leans a short distance towards me, and it's like seeing a storm coming towards me while I'm wearing conductive clothing. "What exactly is your problem?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Spoiler: Original version

28th October 2012
12:16 GMT +3

"How blunt do you want me to be?"

His smile broadens in a decidedly unfriendly way. "Knock yourself out."

"You asked Diana to-."

"Princess Diana."

"I have her permission to refer to her by name."

"She is your sovereign. You should refer to her by her title."

"My considerable respect for Diana is unaffected by what I call her. I don't need to constantly remind myself that she's my superior. If anything, Lord Zeus, the deferential way I respond to her even without being compelled to use it should be an indicator of how much respect I feel for her."

He shrugs, reaching out to pick up a goblet of watered down wine. "Perhaps you left barbarian culture too old to learn proper manners."

"Perhaps. But the point I was trying to make is that there's nothing wrong with you asking Diana to marry you-."

"I'm so glad that I have your permission."

"You need her mother's permission, not mine. But whether or not you need it, I can comment on how right it is. And it's fine. You asked, she said no. Then you sent her to Tartarus."

"I'm her divine sovereign."

"Yes?"

"I was being polite about the marriage thing. Saying no to me has consequences."

"Oh. At least you're not pretending it wasn't about that."

He frowns, scoffing. "What else was it going to be about? The titans? My brother is watching them like a two-headed eagle."

"So are you planning on leaving her down there until she changes her mind?"

"Eh." He looks away from me, giving it some thought. "Probably not."

"'Probably not' as in..?"

His eyes widen as he glares, and-. He's not crackling with lightning or anything, but it looks like some of the stroma of his irises are glowing. "As in probably not."

"Is there something you would like in exchange for-?"

"You respecting my position would be a start."

"'Respect the position' or 'respect the man'?"

"Pay your respects to Cronus and see how far it gets you."

"Maybe your marriage prospects would be better if you actually stayed true to your marriage vows."

"Maybe mortals would be more respectful if I-"

LIGHTNING! FORCE! UNBRIDLED POWER!

I shrink back slightly without meaning to.

"-took the time to remind them of my power!"

"And maybe they'd see you for the brute and tyrant that you are. I mean, my god, Eris has done more to advance the pantheon recently than you have. She's spent more time with Cassandra, too."

And wasn't learning that a surprise. She's even been volunteering to babysit.

"If my youngest daughter wants my attention then she can earn it."

I can't help but chuckle. "I can't imagine why no one wants to marry you."

"Do you think that the lightning I threw at you is the limit of my power?"

"Oh, no. I know perfectly well that you aren't weak. I can see your power. Feel it. I know that you're no weaker now than you were three thousand years ago. I just don't care."

"Are you living each moment as if it were your last? Or do you want to die for your princess?"

"Since I got my ring, I've learned to live in accordance with my desire, unhindered by fear. I've not quite gotten to the point where I'd rather die than back down, but if something-" I smile. "-or someone tries to stop me or mine living how they want, I start working out how to stop them being a problem."

I lean towards him.

"And you're being a problem."

WANT.

"You should have been removed as king when you lost Greece to a Jewish architect. Instead, everyone followed your lead and just gave up. You are incompetent. This incident hasn't changed my mind about you; it's just made dealing with it more urgent."

"Hah! I honestly can't remember last time a mortal spoke-. No, anyone spoke to me with such disrespect. What makes you think I won't erase you from existence, mortal?"

"Why would I think you're more skilled at erasing people than you are at being king?"

"Oh. Okay."

LIGHTNING RETRIBUTION SMITING CHASTISEMENT!

There's no build-up, just lightning and the idea of lightning, sudden and powerful, leaping towards me before taking a right angle and flying out of the room. Zeus cuts it off and stares after it, frowning.

"I'm jolly glad that worked."

"How..?"

Clank. Clank. Clank.

The doors bang open and then lock in place as the hulking figure lumbers in. He's more muscular than Zeus; his build actually puts me in mind of Kalmin, the product of countless hours performing physically demanding labour with his upper body. He's wearing space-aged body armour in shining gold, though his left leg appears less armoured and more replaced with a cybernetic styled after the rest of the armour. In his hands is a huge hammer whose head sparks and cracks with caged lightning. The back of the armour is bulky and further expanded by the resting mechanical manipulator appendages attached to it.

"Father. Striking at a herald."

Zeus and I both rise to our feet, him to square off against his opponent and me to clear the area. The circuitry that allowed him to do that just melted off my cup so I'd rather he didn't get it into his head to try again.

"That armour. Hephaestus? Did you cut off your own leg?"

"A king is owed fealty and respect, and owes his people direction, protection and justice. You provide none of those, and hence are owed nothing. You're a bent nail, a rotten beam due for replacement."

"It seems that I'll have to throw you off this mountain again, Hephaestus. This time you'll land on your head."

"We'll see." Blades and arcane ranged weapons uncurl from his back. "And my name is not Hephaestus. I'm Hephaestaean."

28th October 2012
12:16 GMT +3

I look him in the

Crackling thunderheads.

eyes for a moment. His body is mimicking human expression. It's designed to do that. And I get the strong impression that he thinks he knows what I'm up to and that he's confident that he can deal with it. Could be just the contempt he generally feels for mortals, irritation that one has gone as far as I have. Or it could be that he genuinely knows what I've planned and thinks that he can cope with it.

He was clever, back when the gods fought the titans. Cunning. Even inspiring. But with over a thousand years with nothing much to do… How clever is he today?

Can't tell. But whatever the answer, I should maximise my advantages. And we're in the heart of what's left of the Hellenic mythos here.

"I probably shouldn't. I wouldn't want to violate the rules of hospitality."

"Oh, don't worry." He smiles and gestures at me with a swing of his right hand. "I make allowances for half-civilised barbarians."

"If you're making an allowance, I felt that the lightning bolt you threw at me last year was a little unnecessary."

For a moment, he's nonplussed.

"You lived. Something few can claim."

"I was fighting angels at the time. Angels from the religion that is currently practised by about ninety nine percent of Greeks. I fail to see how attacking me when I'm doing that is in the Hellenic interest."

"And that was why I did not strike you twice. You flew too close to my temple for me to simply ignore you."

"What I'm curious about is, why you decided to strike me once."

His eyes remain fixed on me, unblinking.

"Because you persuaded Hera to forsake me, as well you know."

"Funny story about that." I gesture to the closest fruit bowl with my right hand. "May I?"

"By all means. Though perhaps you should avoid the pomegranates. I doubt that either of us want you stuck here."

He smiles as he says it, but I'll stick to the plums.

"Thank you."

I pick one up, and use a construct knife to slice through the flesh and extract the stone.

"As you may understand, I struggle to see the humour in my ex-wife appearing in court while drunk and dishevelled, insulting me at length before finally forsaking me."

"I didn't recognise her. I had no idea that I was talking to Hera until after she left."

Eyes still fixed on me, he breathes in slowly.

Then he exhales.

"Eris."

"I mean, I said it. I meant every word. But if I'd known, I might have been more cautious. What I don't understand is why you care. You're a free man, now, free to bed any man or woman you like without breaking your marriage vows. In some places it's even legal to do that in the form of an animal. Good plum, by the way. My compliments to the farmer."

I haven't eaten any of it.

"I have no need to justify myself to you. Or her."

"Of course not. But my understanding was that you had agreed of your own free w-."

Sudden force.

"I have no need to justify myself."

That one… That one actually echoed, and his face… Glowed. But he didn't take any overtly aggressive action. Not enough. And… While I could needle him on that point, that might go beyond bounds.

"At least you know the 'why' now. And I know that you hit me with lightning because you could not continue to ignore me."

"Quite."

"Can we talk about the reason why I'm here now, or is that covered by 'you don't need to explain yourself'?"

His smile broadens in a decidedly unfriendly way. "Knock yourself out."

"You asked Diana to-."

"Princess Diana."

"I have her permission to refer to her by name."

"She is your sovereign. You should refer to her by her title."

"My considerable respect for Diana is unaffected by what I call her. I don't need to constantly remind myself that she's my superior. If anything, Lord Zeus, the deferential way I respond to her even without being compelled to use it should be an indicator of how much respect I feel for her."

He shrugs, reaching out to pour a small measure of wine and a larger measure of water into a goblet. "Perhaps you left barbarian culture too old to learn proper manners."

"Perhaps. But the point I was trying to make is that there's nothing wrong with you asking Diana to marry you-."

"I'm so glad that I have your permission."

"You need her mother's permission, not mine. But whether or not you need it, I can comment on how right it is. And it's fine. You asked, she said no. Then you sent her to Tartarus."

"I'm her divine sovereign."

"Yes?"

"I was being polite about the marriage thing. Saying no to me has consequences."

"Oh. At least you're not pretending it wasn't about that."

He frowns, scoffing. "What else was it going to be about? The titans? My brother is watching them like a two-headed eagle. Fraternal gibes aside, he has my utmost respect."

"So are you planning on leaving her down there until she changes her mind?"

"Eh." He looks away from me, giving it some thought. "Probably not."

"'Probably not' as in..?"

His eyes widen as he glares, and-. He's not cracking with lightning or anything, but it looks like some of the stroma of his irises are glowing. "As in probably not."

"Is there something you would like in exchange for-?"

"You respecting my position would be a start. I am the King of Olympus, not some minor god you can trade with like a merchant."

I nod again. Probably pushed that as far as I can. What should I-?

"Alright, I… Think we're both pushing what courtesy will allow." I point to a harp on a stand at the side of the room. "Perhaps some music might improve the mood?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Spoiler: Original Version

28th October 2012
12:20 GMT +3

Many years ago I watched a pantomime. I don't remember what it was called, only that the villain of the piece was a pirate captain, and that at one point he was challenged for the captaincy by one of his cowardly crewmen who had taken a potion to grant him courage. They then performed a song called 'Pain, pain, pain', taking alternate verses to threaten and taunt one another. From what I remember, that would fit this situation quite well.

Of course, there's another option.

"These are the signs of the king honour-broke,"

Hephaestaean shifts his hammer into a defensive position, left hand just under the head which is pointing towards Zeus. Zeus grimaces, his face like-. Thunder, as he reaches down slightly with his right hand and hurls the lunch table aside.

"Pride coming first over all,"

The glow in Zeus's eyes is getting brighter, but I don't see him calling for or summoning any weapons. I know that he sometimes uses a bident, but he mostly just goes for-.

The lightning comes from nowhere, the air humming as electrons are torn from every molecule available and slammed into-. Hephaestaean's hammer, where the plasma field easily absorbs the charge.

"You use lightning but don't understand the first thing about physics. Let me educate-"

Reforge.

"-you."

The air between them turns blue as his hammer turns the air into plasma, the blast slamming into Zeus and making him cringe for a moment, his hair smouldering. Then he rallies, slamming his hands forward and parting them, his electromagnetic shield diverting the charged plasma off to the sides.

"Treading the backs and the necks of his folk,"

"I see Metis hasn't been entirely wasted on you."

The floor to either side is scorched and the remaining furniture incinerated. But

Permanence.

the charring undoes itself a few moments later. Because Hephaestaean made no effort to override its nature with his attack.

"You dare use my own lightning against me?!"

Oncoming storm.

Zeus moves in a blur, left hand grasping for the shaft of Hephaestaean's hammer while the right flies at Hephaestaean's helmeted head!

"That he alone might stand tall."

A three-clawed mechanical hand catches the shot at Hephaestaean's face, runes inscribed on the blades glowing as they make shallow cuts into Zeus's fingers. Hephaestaean flat out lets go of the hammer, dragging Zeus's shoulder down before he does the same. And he barely gets his left foot out of the way in an awkward half-hop which leaves him off-balance as Hephaestaean's mechadendrites stab forward towards his eyes!

Zeus ducks his head slightly, taking the double hit to the forehead as he responds with another lightning bolt. But Hephaestaean's armour is fully insulated and another mechanical arm is in the process of gripping the haft of his hammer.

"Giving himself to desires that are base,"

Zeus darts back as the air around Hephaestaean flares with plasma.

"Too slow, boy."

"Progress is a slow but steady thing, father. Human technology gets better all the time, while storms become less and less relevant."

Zeus's eyes flare and his hair billows as if blown by the wind.

"I'll show you-."

The turquoise bolt of.. something, hits him in the forehead, burning his flesh. Though his expression shows more rage than pain.

"Tyrannous, cunning and cruel."

Zeus blurs, moving faster than I can see as he strikes Hephaestaean from all directions. Punches rain down on armoured arms, his backpack, the sides of his head, his chest and any other part he can easily reach. Hephaestaean is buffeted, forced to lean away from each attack in turn and rely on his additional appendages to ward Zeus away. Zeus can easily move around them, but it buys him-.

Hephaestaean raises his hammer and Zeus falls onto his back, clutching his forehead.

"Bring him down – set someone else in his place,"

"Predictable." Hephaestaean teleports forward, gun firing into Zeus's right hand as the head of his hammer drops down on Zeus's forehead with a crunch. "You fell into a pattern. The analysis of-."

He brings the hammer down again, but this time Zeus catches the head with a grimace. The head of the hammer begins to glow, heating up and Zeus does something to it.

"Such men are not fit to rule."

Hephaestaean deploys another gun, aiming it at the freely-bleeding wound on Zeus's forehead. A red beam lances out, the hammer's head dimming as the heat is returned to its sender.

"Heat? It's just energy."

Hephaestaean tries to wrench his hammer out of Zeus's grasp but Zeus has kept his focus better than he expected, shoving the hammer head up and making Hephaestaean stagger backwards. Zeus is up again in a moment, viciously resuming his attack. This time he-. He's flying, moving in the air with-. The air is bending around his fingers, and that swipe gouged into the metal of one of Hephaestaean's claws. Air manipulation. Hephaestaean has his own supply so Zeus shouldn't be able to affect it without breaching his armour completely, but it-.

"Oh?"

Oh dear. A figure I immediately recognise as Ares calmly strolls in through the wedged open doors, smiling at the violence on display. And he's looking at me. Or rather us, because the Hellenes can manage perfectly well with one war god.

"Diana's pet madman provoking a fight between Father and… Is that Hephaestus? Now this is interesting."

Hephaestaean is using small bursts of plasma to disrupt Zeus's air blades, but it looks like Zeus is not merely faster but also more skilled. His hits are landing, and while the main body of Hephaestaean's armour has only tiny amounts of damage when compared to the freely-bleeding gash on Zeus's forehead, two of Hephaestaean's mechanical limbs are lying on the floor.

"Ares! I command you to aid me!"

Ares very visibly hesitates. It's no secret that Ares's core nature causes him to seek to conquer. Zeus looks weak right now, and he doesn't know how Hephaestaean has become this much stronger. Staying out of it and killing the victor if they're weak enough is the obvious play. But that's Zeus's blood, and he knows that Hephaestaean will bear a grudge. If he isn't weakened then Ares is in the shit. If Zeus wins it's business as usual.

Weaponmaster.

Hephaestaean's hammer flies out of his hand and into Ares's grasp. He takes a hold of it and takes a few practice swings to get a feel for it.

"Nice weight. You always did the best work. I think I'll keep your final piece as a trophy."

Zeus slams both hands into Hephaestaean's cuirass, electricity crackling and winds roaring as the metal starts to give way!

28th October 2012
12:20 GMT +3

"You play?"

"Some of my new sisters have been trying to civilise me. They thought that it might stick better if they set the lessons to music."

He takes a drink.

"Fine, but even if you can play with the grace of Orpheus you'll not move me. I'm a good deal harder to please than Persephone."

I get up, and walk over to the… Beautifully crafted harp. There's some non-standard decorative carving in the wood, and I can't immediately identify what sort of tree it came from.

"Not a classical Greek instrument."

"My cripple of a son isn't the only one who tries to stay up to date. Apollo doesn't think much of you either."

"Yes, I had a dream a few nights ago about running around the interior of a crystal sphere while the lower portion filled up with oranges. Presumably, that was his idea of sending me a clear message."

"I really don't understand why you're like this. You come up here to ask me for a favour, but rather than offer me gifts or praise, you just remind me of how you usually refer to me."

"I don't know what you want, and it wouldn't be entirely honest."

"Feh. No one praises a king honestly. It's just that I might have been moved if you humbled yourself."

Would that-? I mean, I could. It would be a bit annoying to have spent all that time unnecessarily, but I'd rather get Diana free sooner and with less risk. And novel works of thaumaturgy are their own reward.

"So if I-?"

"It doesn't work if you try to make it a trade."

He keeps watching me… Ah. He wants me to actually humble myself. I could still do it, and he'd make a show of not being impressed, but he'd enjoy the fact I hated doing it and probably would let Diana out a little early.

How utterly contemptible. He's clearly not worthy of his position, but that should have been obvious a thousand years ago. But this… He actually would. He'd do it. And from the way he's looking at me, he knows I'd know it. If I fall on my knees and plead with him, Diana will be out before too long.

I'm not going to. It's not about pride. It's about building a better future without lazy, petulant man-children with power they don't deserve and won't use properly.

I look over the harp once more, then put my fingers on the strings.

I don't actually have the first idea how to play a harp, but fortunately my ring does.

"Cursed oathbreakers, your honour's in pawn,
And worthless the vows you have made,
Justice shall see you where others have gone,
Delivered to those you betrayed!"

Doesn't look like he's heard this one before, but it's clear from the way he's looking at me that I'm treading on thin ice.

"These are the signs of a mage that's forsworn,
The True Gifts gone dead in his hand,"

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as 'true gifts'. Magic's available to anyone who puts the work in. But Klarion's use of chaos magic upended the normal function of the thaumosphere, so he'll do.

I doubt that Zeus even knows who he is. A few images that Teekl showed me will do for this part.

"Magic corrupted and discipline torn,
Shifting heart like shifting sand;
Swift to allow any passion to run,"

Though it's not exactly hard to remember what he looked like.

"Given to hatred and rage.
Give him wide berth and his company shun,
For darkness devours the Dark Mage."

Ephialtes of Trachis is probably the most notable traitor in Classical Greece. Not a perfect match for the lyrics again, but I can stretch it a little, and it gives Zeus something that he'll recognise. Looks like he's actually enjoying it a little.

Good.

"These are the signs of a traitor in war,
Wealth from no visible source,
Shunning old comrades he welcomed before,
Holding to no steady course.
If you uncover the one who'd betray,
Heed not his words nor his pen
Give him no second chance – drive him away–
False once will prove false again."

Skip a few verses. They're not really necessary for my purpose.

"Cursed Oathbreakers, your honor's in pawn
And worthless the vows you have made,
Justice shall see you where others have gone,
Delivered to those you betrayed!"

The next verse is easy. I don't think there's anyone who knows anything about the Catholic Church's paedophilia cover up who doesn't know exactly who was responsible. And he's a representative of the religion that displaced Hellenism, so it's playing to the crowd.

"These are the signs of the treacherous priest–
Pleasure in anyone's pain,
Abuse or degrading of man or of beast,
Duty as second to gain."

To be absolutely fair, it probably wasn't personal gain, just his horrible idea of what was in the Church's interest. Doesn't really help everyone who got raped as a result.

"Preaching belief but with none of his own,
Twisting all that he controls,"

Though in terms of belief in the morals he preached, that's probably true. Believe in the ideal, not the idol.

"Fear him and never face him all alone,
He corrupts innocent souls."

Now, I have to judge this right. Using an image of Zeus would be too direct a provocation. An image of Odin on the other hand, a god whose face I don't know…

"These are the signs of the king honour-broke,
Pride coming first over all,
Treading the backs and the necks of his folk
That he alone might stand tall."

And it's not as if Jon Haraldson ever told me what his wife looks like, so if my construct looks a little like Diana…

"Giving himself to desires that are base"

And maintain eye contact as his jaw hardens.

"Tyrannous, cunning and cruel-."

LIGHTNING RETRIBUTION SMITING CHASTISEMENT!

There's no build-up, just lightning and the idea of lightning, sudden and powerful, leaping towards me before taking a right angle and flying out of the room. Zeus cuts it off and stares after it, frowning.

"I'm jolly glad that worked."

"How..?"

Clank. Clank. Clank.

The doors bang open and then lock in place as the hulking figure lumbers in. He's more muscular than Zeus; his build actually puts me in mind of Kalmin, the product of countless hours performing physically demanding labour with his upper body. He's wearing space-aged body armour in shining gold, though his left leg appears less armoured and more replaced with a cybernetic styled after the rest of the armour. In his hands is a huge hammer whose head sparks and crackles with caged lightning. The back of the armour is bulky and further expanded by the resting mechanical manipulator appendages attached to it.

"Father. Striking at a herald and violating hospitality."

Zeus and I both rise to our feet, Zeus to square off against his opponent and me to clear the area. The circuitry that allowed him to do that just melted off my cup so I'd rather he didn't get it into his head to try again.

"That armour. Hephaestus? Did you cut off your own leg?"

"A king is owed fealty and respect, and owes his people direction, protection and justice. You provide none of those, and hence are owed nothing. You're a bent nail, a rotten beam due for replacement."

"It seems that I'll have to throw you off this mountain again, Hephaestus. This time you'll land on your head."

"We'll see." Blades and arcane ranged weapons uncurl from his back. "And my name is not Hephaestus. I'm Hephaestaean."

"Bring him down – set someone else in his place,
Such men are not fit to rule."

Hephaestaean shifts his hammer into a defensive position, left hand just under the head which is pointing towards Zeus. Zeus grimaces, his face like-. Thunder, as he reaches down slightly with his right hand and hurls the lunch table aside.

The glow in Zeus's eyes is getting brighter, but I don't see him calling for or summoning any weapons. I know that he sometimes uses a bident, but he mostly just goes for-.

The lightning comes from nowhere, the air humming as electrons are torn from every molecule available and slammed into-. Hephaestaean's hammer, where the plasma field easily absorbs the charge.

"You use lightning but don't understand the first thing about physics. Let me educate-"

Reforge.

"-you."

The air between them turns blue as his hammer turns the air into plasma, the blast slamming into Zeus and making him cringe for a moment, his hair smouldering. Then he rallies, slamming his hands forward and parting them, his electromagnetic shield diverting the charged plasma off to the sides.

"I see Metis hasn't been entirely wasted on you."

The floor to either side is scorched and the remaining furniture incinerated. But

Permanence.

the charring undoes itself a few moments later. Because Hephaestaean made no effort to override its nature with his attack.

"You dare use my own lightning against me?!"

Oncoming storm.

Zeus moves in a blur, left hand grasping for the shaft of Hephaestaean's hammer while the right flies at Hephaestaean's helmeted head!

A three-clawed mechanical hand catches the shot at Hephaestaean's face, runes inscribed on the blades glowing as they make shallow cuts into Zeus's fingers. Hephaestaean flat out lets go of the hammer, dragging Zeus's shoulder down before does the same. And he barely gets his left foot out of the way in an awkward half-hop which leaves him off-balance as Hephaestaean's mechadendrites stab forward towards his eyes!

Zeus ducks his head slightly, taking the double hit to the forehead as he responds with another lightning bolt. But Hephaestaean's armour is fully insulated and another mechanical arm is in the process of gripping the haft of his hammer.

Zeus darts back as the air around Hephaestaean flares with plasma.

"Too slow, boy."

"Progress is a slow but steady thing, father. Human technology gets better all the time, while storms become less and less relevant."

Zeus's eyes flare and his hair billows as if blown by the wind.

"I'll show you-."

The turquoise bolt of.. something, hits him in the forehead, burning his flesh. Though his expression shows more rage than pain.

Zeus blurs, moving faster than I can see as he strikes Hephaestaean from all directions. Punches rain down on armoured arms, his backpack, the sides of his head, his chest and any other part he can easily reach. Hephaestaean is buffeted, forced to lean away from each attack in turn and rely on his additional appendages to ward Zeus away. Zeus can easily move around them, but it buys him-.

Hephaestaean raises his hammer and Zeus falls onto his back, clutching his forehead.

"Predictable." Hephaestaean teleports forward, gun firing into Zeus's right hand as the head of his hammer drops down on Zeus's forehead with a crunch. "You fell into a pattern. The analysis of-."

He brings the hammer down again, but this time Zeus catches the head with a grimace. The head of the hammer begins to glow, heating up and Zeus does something to it.

Hephaestaean deploys another gun, aiming it at the freely-bleeding wound on Zeus's forehead. A red beam lances out, the hammer's head dimming as the heat is returned to its sender.

"Heat? It's just energy."

Hephaestaean tries to wrench his hammer out of Zeus's grasp but Zeus has kept his focus better than he expected, shoving the hammer head up and making Hephaestaean stagger backwards. Zeus is up again in a moment, viciously resuming his attack. This time he-. He's flying, moving in the air with-. The air is bending around his fingers, and that swipe gouged into the metal of one of Hephaestaean's claws. Air manipulation. Hephaestaean has his own supply so Zeus shouldn't be able to affect it without breaching his armour completely, but it-.

"Oh?"

Oh dear. A figure I immediately recognise as Ares calmly strolls in through the wedged open doors, smiling at the violence on display. And he's looking at me. Or rather us, because the Hellenes can manage perfectly well with one war god.

"Diana's pet madman provoking a fight between Father and… Is that Hephaestus? Now this is interesting."

Hephaestaean is using small bursts of plasma to disrupt Zeus's air blades, but it looks like Zeus is not merely faster but also more skilled. His hits are landing, and while the main body of Hephaestaean's armour has only tiny amounts of damage when compared to the freely-bleeding gash on Zeus's forehead, two of Hephaestaean's mechanical limbs are lying on the floor.

"Ares! I command you to aid me!"

Ares very visibly hesitates. It's no secret that Ares's core nature causes him to seek to conquer. Zeus looks weak right now, and he doesn't know how Hephaestaean has become this much stronger. Staying out of it and killing the victor if they're weak enough is the obvious play. But that's Zeus's blood, and he knows that Hephaestaean will bear a grudge. If he isn't weakened then Ares is in the shit. If Zeus wins it's business as usual.

Weaponmaster.

Hephaestaean's hammer flies out of his hand and into Ares's grasp. He takes a hold of it and takes a few practise swings to get a feel for it.

"Nice weight. You always did the best work. I think I'll keep your final piece as a trophy."

Zeus slams both hands into Hephaestaean's cuirass, electricity crackling and winds roaring as the metal starts to give way!

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
12:22 GMT +3

Hephaestaean grips Zeus's wrists, trusting in his armour to survive anything less than a concerted effort. The turquoise gun comes around, only for a lightning bolt to disintegrate it.

Zeus grins a rictus, shouting to be heard over his own winds. "I have you now!"

"No."

The remaining mechadendrites lunge for Zeus's forehead wound, and

Sapping.

dig.

Ares frowns as his father's forehead bulges, then takes a firmer grip on the hammer and marches towards Hephaestaean with it raised high. "If I have to do this myself, then-"

Hephaestaean releases Zeus's forearms and punches him in the chest, knocking him back as his head bleeds even more freely.

"-I expect-"

Ares swings at Hephaestaean's exposed back, striking-.

The hammer stops in the air, Ares barely keeping his grip as it does.

"-to-. What?"

"Cursed Oathbreakers, your honour's in pawn,"

"I hoped that I'd meet you here, Ares." Hephaestaean turns away from where Zeus is clasping his forehead to face Ares. "Did you really think that I'd forget what you can do? That isn't just a weapon; it's an engineering tool. Almost anything can be used destructively, but that doesn't make my forge hammer into a weapon of war."

He holds out his right hand, and with a small flare of electrical activity the hammer flies to him.

Detected.

I look-. I watch a small fly crawl between Zeus's fingers and take wing, launching itself towards me.

Thought.

I just hope that she remembers how to be a person as well as a fly.

"And worthless the vows you have made,"

Ares grabs his sword and shield as Hephaestaean swings at him. Ares is easily able to turn aside the head of the hammer with his shield, but can only stare as the shield begins to rust away from the point of impact.

"Things built-" Hephaestaean swings again and Ares steps towards him, catching the haft of the hammer on the rim of his flaking shield. The blow is stopped but now the decay is even faster. "-by the hand-" Ares stabs at the cleft in Hephaestaean's chest plate, only for the sword to be intercepted from the side by a mechadendrite. "-of man or god."

The fly hovers in the air next to me and

Actualisation.

shimmers, shifting into a humanoid woman in her middle years, wearing what appears to be a leather and fur mini-dress. Rather than look as confused as I assumed that a woman in her position would look, she's focused on her surroundings immediately.

Which means that she gets to see Ares's sword crumble to rust as Zeus pulls himself upright, wiping the blood from his eyes.

Ares stares at the bladeless hilt-

"That-."

-as Hephaestaean's hammer comes around in a full swing and smashes him in the side of the head, sending him crashing to the ground!

There's a quiet groan, then Ares lies still.

Preparation over Passion.

"Yaagh!"

Zeus charges Hephaestaean from behind, wind blades coating his hands once more. But he's just rushing right in, not evading or flying. Hephaestaean raises his hammer and jabs with the butt of the haft right in Zeus's forehead wound.

"Gah!"

Zeus staggers back as Hephaestaean advances, head of his hammer hitting Zeus in the ribs, stomach, arm and face. I nod in satisfaction as Zeus's nose is flattened across his face, but otherwise remain silent as Zeus finally collapses to the ground. He's conscious but insensible.

"Justice shall see you where others have gone,
Delivered to those you betrayed."

"Hm." Hephaestaean plants the butt on his hammer on the floor and with his left hand and two tentacle mechadendrites explores the cut in his chest. "Reasonable. I'll improve it for next time."

Metis takes a few steps towards him, more curious than cautious.

"What are you?"

"I'm a god infused with the power of a nascent titan. I am Hephaestaean, God of Technology and Artifice. And you are Metis." He gestures to the door. "You are free to leave or remain as you choose. Your daughter Athena is looking forward to the opportunity to get to know you properly."

"I will stay."

Hephaestaean nods, then marches up to Zeus and grabs him by the neck with his left hand.

"Nygh."

"Don't worry, Father. I don't intend to kill you." He moves his hammer so that the head of it is touching Zeus's bloodied face. "But I find the concept of a weather god who doesn't understand thermodynamics positively offensive. I cast you into exile until such time as you graduate with a Masters in Meteorology. Only then may you return to Olympus. Do you understand?"

Zeus manages a very weak nod.

"Good."

He bends, slamming Zeus into-. Through the floor, which ripples like water to allow his passage and then returns to stone.

Hephaestaean then hesitates, taking a deep breath. Then he takes off his helmet, a quiet hiss sounding as the seal is broken. His face is still recognisably his, but the oddly metallic hair is far shorter and the expression is… Sharper. Not stronger exactly, but far more focused. More determined.

He reverses the hammer and slams the head into the floor.

"By the might of my arm and the power of my soul, I declare myself Hephaestaean, King of Olympus." He looks at me and he doesn't smile. But he does give me a respectful nod. "This was a dream, once. And as for the rest…" He turns and walks towards the fallen Ares. "I dismiss you as God of Battle. I don't know who I'll replace you with… Hippolyta or Kratos, probably."

Now he smiles, and it's not a pleasant expression.

"But that means that I need to give you a new job, doesn't it? I can hardly leave you to your own devices."

He lifts the head of his hammer a little way off the ground.

"I think… God of Eunuchs."

He brings the hammer down.

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
17:11 GMT +3

I smile as a familiar figure comes into pseudo-sight.

"Di-."

"Why are they cheering, Paul?"

"You know why. But if you really want me to spell it out?" My vision substitute doesn't reliably show me subtle facial expression, so I can't tell exactly what her response is. "Zeus is no longer parasitizing on them."

"You promised me-."

"I didn't! I stood out of the way and sang an insulting song! You want me to do the lasso again?"

"Do you mean to say that you talked Zeus into amending his ways?"

"Diana, I'm a Lantern, not a miracle worker. He's still alive, but he's not in charge of Olympus any longer which means that you're out."

"I am not even going to ask how-. You expect me to leave the titans unguarded while they grow in power?"

"Sure. They're still trapped by the nature of Tartarus and the Hekatonkheires can keep an eye on things. And the only thing that Cronus has done in living memory is create Donna and Deva. Do you think those were evil acts?"

"It is a great risk-."

"Was creating two daughters an evil act?"

She doesn't immediately respond, instead rising off the ground and flying towards the Gates of Tartarus. I give her a moment and then follow along behind her at a respectful distance.

"Who rules Olympus now?"

"Hephaestaean."

I can hear her either sigh or just take a deep breath.

"Explain."

"You remember that stuff with Richard Simpson, where he was trying to change himself into a God of Technology?"

"You put Hephaestus through that process."

"Hephaestus volunteered to go through the process after we workshopped it with Hecate, Eris and Athena."

She slows slightly at the mention of Athena, but I doubt that she's really surprised.

"So really he's become everything a forward-thinking pantheon needs their leader to be: stronger and with none of the weaknesses of his former self."

"And what of Zeus?"

"Cast down until he gains a decent understanding of meteorology. In the material world he's limited to avatar power, and he's got no titans boosting him any more. Oh, and obviously we freed Metis."

"At least that explains Lady Athena's support."

"I don't know. She's rather fond of you, too."

And there's the door. Diana and I push through to see Hephaestaean completing his divine cybermancy on Akhlys, mechadendrites whirring and clicking as they replace weak flesh with elegant machinery. She… Her gold-tinted flesh glows as the implanted arcane circuitry twists her nature to reflect the technological improvements humanity has made to medicine and healthcare since the days of Ancient Greece. Her robotic eyes shift and focus, taking in her new body.

Hephaestaean points to her left hand.

"As you can see, I focused your aura of ill-health through your left hand. You'll need to discharge it once a month or so, but you can do that ritually rather than by personal contact."

"I understand, Lord."

Hephaestaean nods in satisfaction, two servo arms with cameras already pointing at Diana and me as we land.

"Diana. You are free to go, unless there is anything in Tartarus that requires my immediate attention."

"No, Lord Hephaest-. Aean."

Hephaestaean smiles. "Don't worry. I'm not entirely used to it myself."

"What commands do you have for me?"

"None. Unless you feel like undergoing apotheosis, in which case I'm sure I could find some work for you."

"I think it best if I remain mortal for now, Lord. Quite aside from the responsibility of raising my sons-" She glances at me. "-I have concerns what might happen if I left the material world."

"Wise of you. In that case, continue your mission as Wonder Woman with my blessing. I'll put some new armour together for you once I have the free time; my capacities now are far in advance of what they used to be."

"If I may ask, what plans do you have now that you rule Olympus?"

"I intend to modernise. Every significant figure in our mythos will have to maintain their domain and encourage proselytism or get replaced like a broken part."

"Does that include me, nephew?"

Hades strikes out of the darkness in… What I assume to be his full raiment. Never actually seen him wearing it before. Zagreus lurks behind him, still fully tooled up.

"Technically, yes. But you're doing a fine job, Uncle, and Thana is already trying to convert people at your instruction. I would appreciate you giving me a full briefing, but I fully expect to find that you are the most engaged of our people."

Hades nods. "I can brief you at your-"

A plume of rose petals erupts from thin air, spraying red and pink flakes across the desolate landscape. And emerging from the centre is…

"-convenience."

An entrancingly beautiful woman in the prime of her life, striding elegantly towards Hephaestaean with a smile barely concealing her desire.

Hephaestaean pulls his mechadendrites in. "Aphrodite."

"Dear husband. Is it true? Have you overthrown Zeus?"

Hephaestaean shakes his head. "It is, but I haven't changed my mind. You had no more desire to marry me than I did you."

"That-." She looks away, at least decent enough to feel shame. At being caught out, at least. "I…"

"I declare us to be divorced. We both know that you prefer Ares; go to him now with my blessing. He was on Olympus when last I saw him."

She strikes a pose that displays her physical charms to greatest effect without quite crossing the line into full-on harlotry.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes. Quite certain."

She shrugs, running her eyes over him. "Let me know if you change your mind."

The petals are sucked in towards her, vanishing as she does.

"Bitch."

I smirk, raising my right hand to my forehead. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go and give everyone the good news."

Hephaestaean nods and I

step out, reappearing

28th October 2012
09:15 GMT -5

in the Mountain. I-.

"Oh. Hey, Paul." Captain Marvel smiles at me. "Ah, I wouldn't ask, but Ollie always said that if anything weird happened I should probably talk to you first, so… I am."

"What's up?"

"My transformation isn't working. I'm… Kinda stuck?" He looks at me hopefully. "You got any ideas?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Regnancy

28th October 2012
09:15 GMT -5

"U-um."

"Oh." He looks at me uncomfortably. "Did you..? Do something?"

"Yesss. Yes, I did. Ah, how quickly do you need to change back?"

"I got school tomorrow? W-? Why?"

"The fastest way to turn you back would probably be to get Adom or Osiris-. What's happening with Lieutenant Marvel and Mary Marvel?"

"Mary's stuck in normal mode." He shrugs. "Freddy's still in bed. I mean, it is a Sunday. But you think Amon could transform us?"

"Maybe? I've never tried studying the spell that transforms you. I didn't even know you'd.. be affected like this."

"Oh, ah, yeah, the Wizard says you're not allowed to study the spell. Ah, or anyone else. I think he… I think he thinks you're a bad influence."

…

"Yeah, that's… That's fair. Of course, since I haven't studied the spell, and since Adom and Amon use different gods, it might just not work."

His eyes narrow suspiciously. "Did you..? Do something to Zeus?"

"He's not.. dead or anything. Just… Feeling a little under the weather."

"Isn't he the God of Weather?"

"No, the-. It's a metaphor. The point is, they might not be able to turn you back, so we might need to work out something else. Has the Wizard said anything?"

William looks away awkwardly. "See, Zeus's Power is how I visit him, so I can't really get there right now?"

"Darn it. Um, okay. How does the… Sponsoring you thing work?"

"Oh, the Wizard handles all of that. I've never even met any of them."

"Okay. So… Zeus lost his link to the titans in Tartarus, but he kept his own-."

Or did he? What exactly did Hephaestaean take away when he cast him out? And he… Didn't give it to someone else. He just locked it away from Zeus. So… A lightning bolt. The Cyclopes, perhaps? Or just ask Hephaestaean to arrange for a substitute until Zeus sorts himself out.

"If Zeus is unavailable, do you have any preference as to who substitutes for him?"

"I guess… As long as it works. I just got kinda used to saying 'Shazam'. And shouldn't we try using Amon's lightning first?"

"That will turn you back into William Batson so you can go to school tomorrow. But-."

"But I can't just get them to transform me whenever I need to transform." He nods. "Billy doesn't need to do anything today, so I can just come-." He realises something. "Do you need to do something else today?"

"Explain to Batman why I thought overthrowing Zeus was a good idea, but I'm happy to put that off for a few hours." Hm. "Have you ever used anything else to transform?"

"One time, Freddy transformed me by saying 'Shazam' and dodging out the way so the lightning bolt hit me instead. Oh, hey." He smiles. "Shazam. Shazam! Shazaaaaaaam."

I look at him in confusion for a moment.

He shrugs. "I can say it without transforming. I haven't been able to do that for a while."

"Does the word 'Shazam' come up a lot in conversation?"

"It didn't, and then I couldn't say it?"

I nod. "I understand. Okay, let's try…" I raise my left hand to my mouth. "Orange Lantern to Osiris. Orange Lantern to Osiris. Come-."

"Osiris here! Am I late already?"

"No, no. Captain Marvel has a problem we're hoping that you can help with. Could you-?"

"Recognized, Osiris, B One Nine."

Amon flies out of the zeta tube the moment the lights dim, smiling enthusiastically. "How may I help?"

"Hey, Osiris! I'm having trouble transforming right now, and I'm hoping that your lightning can do it."

"You want me to hit you with my lightning?" William nods. "Okay, I-." His head jerks slightly. "Ah. Lord Zehuti says that he doesn't think it works like that."

William nods. "We figured it might not, but it worked with Lieutenant Marvel so I'm hoping it will work with you."

"Before we… Do anything. Amon, have you noticed your powers working differently in the last few hours?"

He blurs up to the ceiling and then slowly flies down. He looks around, then closes his eyes and concentrates for a moment, listening and… smelling.

"No." He opens his eyes, shaking his head. "Everything feels the same."

"Good show. Captain, if… This turns out to hit you like normal lightning, will it..? Hurt you?"

"Yeah, but not too bad." He nods. "I'll be okay."

"Right then." Construct armour, bubble shield and retreat back a small way. "Go ahead."

Amon floats up to William and puts his right hand on his left shoulder. "Are you prepared?"

William nods. "Uh-huh."

"Teth Adom!"

Lightning flashes from nowhere and Amon drops to the ground, having taken the precaution of wearing a copy of his costume on his normal body. William-.

"Ow." Smoke rises off his still-adult body, and he takes a moment to look at his arms. "Oh."

"Okay, that's slightly more of a problem. Do you think the Wizard would be alright with Amon visiting the Rock of Eternity?"

"Ah." He brushes some fragments of ash off his costume. "That should be okay. Un-less… You haven't..? Done anything to Solomon, right?"

"No, and I have no plans to."

"So it should be okay." He turns to Amon. "I can show you where to go."

Amon nods. "I would like to meet the Wizard who murdered my brother."

"And while you're doing that I'll see if I can find out what happened to Zeus's lightning. Ring, find Zeus."

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
07:22 GMT -7

"-daughter's getting up in a few minutes-."

Helena Sandsmark cuts herself off as she spots me flying in. Zeus appears to have acquired jeans and a shirt from somewhere, and his wounds are less obvious than they were a few hours ago. She's currently standing outside of her house and very clearly not happy that he's here.

Why is he here? He's clearly spent time on Earth in the modern era; one of the products of that time is currently sleeping in her room upstairs. So it's not as if he needs someone to explain how money works or anything like that. Similarly, he must have somewhere to live.

I land a short distance away from Cassandra's parents.

"Doctor Sandsmark. Zeus."

"Hephaestus's bard." Zeus stares at me with a look of contempt. "Here to narrate my life in verse? Let me pay you your worth."

He reaches into his pocket, and tosses me… Half a copper coin. An old British halfpenny, if I'm any judge.

"Half a coin to match your wits. Too kind."

"Paul, why is he here?"

"I don't know. He's not on Olympus because he got overthrown by Hephaestaean, but I don't know why he's here."

"I'm here because I need a reference. I need to get into a college of some sort in order to get back to Olympus, and a published Doctor of Archaeology would seem to be my best bet. A better question is: what are you doing here?"

"Captain Marvel can't transform."

"Who?"

"The current champion of the wizard Jebediah of Canaan. Shazam."

"Oh. Him. Yes, it wouldn't, would it? I don't have access to my lightning, because Hephaestus has never been a fool. No one else has it, so even automatic things like my gift to Jebediah aren't working."

"How do I start it working?"

"Ah, to do that you must perform an epic quest worthy of the Elysian Fields. First, enter the gateway into the Dream in Erebos, and pass into that eldritch place to retrieve a single petal from each of the strange flowers that bloom in Morpheus's own garden. Next, to Tartarus, and steal a single tear from each of the beings bound there. These you will need to quench the fires which burn beneath Mount Othrys, that you may take the remaining fragments of the bones of Uranus from their vaults. Then you must travel unto the hallowed halls of Harvard University, whereupon you may suck my cock."

"You realise that Captain Marvel is the one useful thing you've done with yourself in living memory, don't you? The one thing people actually credit you for?"

"Jeb got me to sign up to that while I was merry with drink. Don't expect me to have any real attachment to the man."

"I doubt that anyone here expects you to have any real attachment to anyone. What exactly do you want on this reference? I can hardly give you a character reference; we barely know each other."

"You mean you might have to lie on a reference?" He looks at her incredulously. "Do people actually tell the truth on those things?"

"Yes!"

"What do you want?"

Zeus turns his head my way. "What?"

"What do you want in order to be helpful? You don't like me and I don't like you, but Captain Marvel respects you and does good work in your name."

"Ah, no, no, I think I've been discharged of all responsibilities. Captain Marvel will just have to make do."

I take a quick look at his desire network. Nothing unbearable, but… He's not going to help.

"Right, fine. Your lack of cooperation has been noted. Good da-."

"Hey!" Dr. Sandsmark glares at me. "Where are you going?"

"Erebos. Hades has been nothing but helpful for as long as I've known him."

"Hm." Zeus grimaces. "Family."

"You ate your first wife and kept her trapped in your head for thousands of years. You literally threw Hephaestus off a mountain so hard that his leg got crushed and you played away from home so often that the Goddess of Marriage divorced you, the rest of your family says 'Hm, Zeus'. Doctor Sandsmark, I apologise for this inconvenience."

I raise my right hand to my forehead

and

28th October 2012
17:25 GMT +3

appear in Erebos, face to face with Zagreus's arrow.

"Feeling jumpy?"

"Everyone's feeling jumpy. You just overthrew Zeus."

"Hephaestaean overthrew Zeus."

"Hephaestaean exists because of you. He asked me if I'd like to try out for the position of War God."

"From the way you appear to like pointing arrows at people, I'd say that you were a natural fit."

"Not really." He lowers the arrow and reduces the tension on the string. "Hm."

"What?"

"I just realised that your carefully planned chaos is far scarier than Eris's habit of pulling loose threads."

"But I'm happy with my current job. Why aren't you taking it?"

"I don't particularly want to be a god."

"You were rather born the wrong person, then."

"No, I mean that I don't have any desire to be part of the kind of active pantheon that Hephaestaean wants us to become. I understand the logic of it; I'm out in the world enough to know what 'competition' is. But I like being a tour guide and hunter. Even though hunting isn't a part of the lives of most humans any longer, there's a job that an Olympian could do… I don't want to. If anyone needs to do it, Artemis can have the job."

"Were you working the role under Zeus?"

"No, but he didn't care. Hephaestaean does, and I'm concerned that he might take it badly. I heard about Ares."

"I don't think he'll geld you for wanting to come off the civil list. Given the backlogs I'm seeing around here, I'd be more worried about what your father will say."

"I am."

"What do you actually get out of it, anyway?"

"Nothing. The power I get from Erebos comes from my being born here rather than being a gift from my father. The spells bound to my equipment have already been paid for and everything else is my innate power."

"Can I assume that other Olympians are similarly concerned?"

"Zeus's laziness let people just drift away and do their own thing. If Hephaestaean makes an issue of things, then he…"

Zagreus jerks his head towards the west, staring with no small amount of concern.

"Something wrong?"

"My mother is leaving her grove. She very seldom does-. I should go and see what she wants."

Between Hera and Aphrodite…

"I think I can guess."

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
17:28 GMT +3

"…psychiatrists to experience their patients' condition. Fewer avail themselves of the opportunity than choose to experience nightmares, and I doubt that either will ever be truly popular."

Hephaestaean nods at Melinoë's description. 'Nightmares and Madness' is never going to be a super-popular domain, but there are things she could be doing with it that she isn't. Actually allowing cursing, for a start. I wasn't keen due to the fact that magic regulation is a sensitive enough topic already and I wanted her to at least be able to connect with some people, even if they were weirdoes like Dr. Crane.

Hephaestaean makes eye contact with me for a moment while his other limbs leaf through Melinoë's written records. They have cameras, so… It looks like he's capable of multithreading his thought processes now. Sorting huge quantities of data will be child's play. We weren't sure he'd get 'data'…

"Unless you allowed it to be weaponised, which Paul advised you not to do."

The National Rifle Association is already suing to get a ruling saying that magic ammunition is covered by the 2nd Amendment, and given the changes that the Sheeda caused they'll probably get it. Regular small arms ammunition was not reliable against Sheeda armour, even if the shooter could hit them. The original lawsuit was trying to get offensive spells covered as well, but it was clear fairly early on that that wasn't going to work. Though…

A gun is a gun. A weapon. Something like a knife is a tool. Just about every kitchen on the planet has at least one sharp knife, and most will have more. Yes, you can stab someone with one, but there are plenty of other daily uses. Same with saws, nails, hammers…

When someone learns magic, even if they don't learn any purely offensive spells, they've learned something that effectively lets them smith a gun in a minute or two with no equipment. Not a great gun, but it'll still kill people. Electricians could probably rig up a taser if they had access to a toolkit and some wire, but they don't learn how to throw lightning.

Legislatures around the world are interesting places right now.

"Do you intend to command me otherwise?"

"Not at the present time. You are active in your domain; I do not intend to second guess you. My main query for you regards your work with your father. Nothing about your domain relates to justice or judgement."

"Father needed more judges and my brother and I were available."

"Would you object to those responsibilities being passed to other people?"

"No. But it would take a considerable amount of time to train someone in the forms of Father's court."

"I think it is worth retasking Dike and Eunomia. It is unlikely that mortal judges will turn to us for guidance within the foreseeable future, and Erebos has a substantial backlog now."

"My lord, have you considered promoting the older shades? Those with long exposure of Lord Hades' court would make up in experience what they lack in divine magic."

He nods. "That may be wise, but it remains Hades's decision. This is his domain, and I will not intrude on the details of his rulership." He returns his full attention to Melinoë. "You may take your leave; I will return your notes to you once I have copied them."

Melinoë nods and turns away, not looking at me as she heads back towards her court.

"Paul." He waits until Melinoë closes the door to his borrowed office. With so many deities gathered here to make this happen, I imagine that he decided to stay put until he'd been able to meet them in his new official capacity. Or perhaps so that he can deal with Tartarus's inmates. "How goes it?"

"Slight problem. Captain Marvel can't transform. Zeus was one of his sponsors-."

He nods. "And with Zeus rendered mortal, that power is no longer available. Has it affected anyone else?"

"The two friends with whom he shares his power. I'm… Not aware of Zeus personally sponsoring anyone else. I don't suppose that you're able to sort him out, are you?"

"Not without breaking my word to Zeus and granting someone else his station. What steps have you taken?"

"I asked another person with similar abilities to see if they could transform him. They can't. I asked Zeus, and he.. didn't have any helpful suggestions."

"He asked you to suck his penis, didn't he?"

"And now Marvel is going to talk to the man who Zeus delegated the job to."

Hephaestaean grimaces. "Because of course Zeus couldn't pay attention to a mortal champion himself. In ages past such things were a major source of interest amongst the Olympians." He shakes his head. "Now many barely pay attention to their own domains, indulging themselves rather than doing their duty."

I remember a forge on a hillside of-.

"I know that expression." I see a red light behind his left eyeball. I guess that's some sort of analytical system. "Even though I only had a handful of worshippers, I answered the prayers of the Amazons and I went to smithing trade shows. I even wrote a few articles in trade magazines. I didn't try to convert people, because who cares about some old smith from a Greek island hardly anyone has heard of? I could have done more, but I was still doing my duty."

"One other problem. I take it that you're happy with Hades's work?"

Hephaestaean nods. "I intend to make this 'safe harbour for the souls' a major part of our bidding for the souls of mankind."

"What's your plan for when Persephone asks for a divorce?"

"… Oh."

"You divorced yourself from Aphrodite, but you could do that on the grounds of infidelity. Same with Hera and Zeus. But you didn't state that as the reason. So it looks like you've just taken the authority to divorce people for yourself. Persephone has never been happy in her marriage, but she's been faithful and so has Hades. Unless I've missed something-."

"The only grounds for divorce would be her habitual abandonment of her husband, and that would require him to ask for one. Which he will not do."

"But does the King of Olympus need a cause?"

"He should. I came to the throne by power, but I took that power because I believe that my cause is just. If I rule by power alone then I'm no better than Cronus."

I shrug. "I agree, but my opinion matters little. Persephone doesn't know me, and while Hades likes me he doesn't like me enough to forget the love of his life and mother of his children."

"Do you have any advice?"

"Establish a constitution defining your powers and responsibilities and stick to it. But that's for the future. Right now…" I shrug again. "Not… Really. I don't think there's a good answer. Any advice on the Captain Marvel issue?"

"Zeus derived his ease at conjuring lightning from the arcane smithing of the cyclopes. They dislike the company of gods, though you may be better able to barter with them than we could. I have no idea where they live in the modern era, though if you intend to seek them out I suggest asking Gaea."

I nod. "Will do. Anything I can do to help you?"

"Seek out Olympians across the world and inform them of what has happened. Win them over, if you can." Two arms blur, molecule-printing… A book, into the space on his borrowed desk. "Here's a list of the names I know of and descriptions of their habits. Some you know, some you do not."

The print finishes in seconds, and I drop the resulting tome into subspace.

"Will do. Good luck with your new duties."

"I may well need it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
17:37 GMT +3

I watch as Io oversees a small team of Amazons clearing out Baroness Paula von Gunther's workshop. About time really, but I'm a little puzzled as to why they're doing it now. And-.

What's that?

I'm looking at… A large humanoid. Looks a little like Hephaestaean's armour, only the faceplate is a solid piece-. No, the whole helmet is a solid piece without any eye slit. Instead, the eyes are jewels with tiny runes inscribed on their interiors, most likely using tiny flaws in the structure of the crystal. The range of movement seems good… Organic, even. Not like the clumsy tripods that Hephaestus and Vulcan used.

Frowning slightly, I drop down next to Io.

"Io. What's going on?"

"With Lord Hephaestaean's ascension, it seemed appropriate to build him a proper temple. Paula's workshop is in a good location, and it fits his theme."

"Not afraid of tripping over the mysteries of her cult?"

"Why would I be? It's my cult too, now."

I-.

"Yes, I know that I'm barely educated in the artifice of Man's World-."

I frown. "Io. This workshop was built for a woman, remember? Who studied-."

"It's just what we call it."

"Well stop. It sounds ridiculous. You know that Hephaestaean intends to start proselytising, right?"

"Yes." She nods, smiling as she considers it. "Under his command the gods will become involved in the lives of worshippers all across the world. It will be like the old days come again."

"And you're up for the High Priestess position?"

She shrugs. "Maybe. He told me that he would help me learn sciences and technology beyond smithing. What he is now is so different from what he was, I… I wouldn't be able to do it. After thousands of years of just refining what we know…"

I reach over and pat her on the right shoulder with my left hand.

"I know. I've been trying to change that since I got here, so I know how big a deal it is."

"I've been thinking about having a daughter. Children deal with change-."

"Cough cough."

"I know that you could give me a daughter, but it has been some time since I have been in a long term relationship-."

"Not why I was coughing." She shrugs and shakes her head, not understanding. "You said 'daughter'. Through Hephaestaean, you have access to advanced reproductive technologies. When I help two women have a child the child is always a girl, but in your position-."

"A son." She frowns uncertainly, eyes dipping to the ground. "Uh."

"Yeeeeeees?"

She looks up again, her face relaxing as if some part of the world suddenly makes sense in a way it didn't before. "I understand, now. Why you chose Eris to emulate, rather than Hephaestus. He builds on what came before, but you… It's like when we tore down this city so we could rebuild it with a sewer."

"I do like sewers." The ambulatory suit of armour comes out carrying a workbench. "Where did the golem come from?"

Its head rotates about a hundred and twenty degrees so that it can look at me. It regards me for a moment and then sets the workbench down and turns its body to match the direction its face is facing before marching in my direction.

"Orange Lantern."

"One of many. Sorry, I couldn't see a desire network, so I assumed…"

"This body is warded. I am a zontanonaut."

"He found a way to bind a shade to a robotic body? You can leave the underworld like this?"

"Yes, though having been a demigod in life may have made that easier. My name is Erichthonius. With my father's rise in power-"

My ring fills me in on the mythological version of his history. Ah, well, he sounds like an alright guy, though… I don't see the Hephaestus I know doing most of that.

"-he took the opportunity to reach out to me in the underworld."

I scan… What I can of his carapace. "It's an impressive piece of work."

"I know. I tried to keep up to date with the artifice of the living world, but speaking to the shades of the most recently dead… It was beyond me. Until now."

"It makes more sense when you can see it yourself?"

"My father included a device to feed information directly to my mind in this artificial body. My divine heritage causes me to instinctively understand how to apply technology in a useful way. Themyscira will be my first test since I popularised the use of the horse collar."

I smile. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that."

"I believe that I do. I've seen your files."

I nod. "I wish you all the best in your mission, then. You haven't seen Gaea recently, have you? Or a cyclopes?"

"Despite what certain chroniclers claimed, I was birthed by Athena in the conventional way and have no special knowledge of Gaea's whereabouts."

He sounds more than a little put out by my asking.

"Sorry, I meant no offence to either of your parents. I just want to talk to her."

"I suggest the forest. Now if you will excuse me, I should get back to work."

He turns away in a motion which doesn't require an owl's neck and marches back inside the workshop. I wince inwardly.

"Is that a sore point with him?"

"That his father was accused of raping his mother, and he was supposedly born from his seed spilling on the ground after dripping off her thigh? Yes, it's a sore point. Why are you looking for the cyclopes?"

"It turns out that Zeus was doing exactly one thing useful with his life: lending a portion of his power to a mortal hero. With Zeus out of the picture, that hero is weakened. Since the cyclopes made his lightning I'm hoping they can bypass the fault."

"Could he just find another sponsor?"

"Probably, but I'd want to vet them so we don't get another Zeus, and they need to have a really particular ability set. I mean, Jupiter put it about just as much as Zeus, right?"

"I know little about the Gods of Rome."

I nod. "Okay. Back to work for both of us."

I transition up to the inner city, where-. Where I'm treated to a view of a royal family hug as Diana is embraced by her mother and sons. Surprisingly, it's Menalippe who makes eye contact with me and angrily gestures to the palace. Okay, let's go and see what she wants.

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
17:42 GMT +3

"Paul, sit down there-" Menalippe points to an upholstered chair in the small drawing room she's led me to. "-and take off your rings."

I sit down, but hesitate on removing my rings.

"I don't speak much Themysciran Greek, and your English isn't anything like perfect. Taking off my rings introduces an opportunity for miscommunication."

"I understand. I want you to take them off anyway."

Due diligence scans… Clear. I shrug, take off first Hinon's custom ring and then Larfleeze's first ring and then lean down to lay them both on the floor. And then I take a deep breath in through my nose. One of the nice things about Themyscira is that there hasn't been enough industrial development for taking off the rings to worsen the quality of the air I'm breathing. Some parts get a bit wiffy when they're cleaning out the sewers, but that's not a problem at the moment.

"Are any gods dead?"

She's got a strong accent, but she's clearly been attending language classes. Amazons have had time to learn more languages but they haven't really had the opportunity until recently. And the languages they have been learning sound very strange to speakers from other parts of the world due to linguistic drift and the lack of native speakers to communicate with.

"No."

"Have any titans been released?"

"Yes, Metis."

"Metis has been released from Zeus's body?"

"Hephaestaean broke open his forehead."

"And the roles of the gods. Has that changed?"

"Ares has been removed from his position as God of War and is now God of Eunuchs. The position of God of War is now open. Zeus has been suspended from his position of God of Weather. Hephaestaean is now God of Technology and Artifice, which encompasses and expands upon his previous role. So far there have been no other changes."

"Ritual observances. Have those changed?"

Amazons don't pray to Ares.

"I suggest making a bigger thing of the Hephaesteia. Use it as a time for teaching reluctant Amazons to use unfamiliar machinery."

"Who will be the new God of War?"

"Hephaestaean suggested Queen Hippolyta or Kratos."

"Queen Hippolyta would not want it. Kratos may. I do not know."

"How about Athena?"

"Lady Athena is a strategist. She might be capable of fulfilling the role, but I doubt that she could ever have the bloodlust that Ares possesses."

"Is that bloodlust essential?"

"That, or something like it. Lady Athena speaks into the ears of generals as Goddess of Strategy. Ares rouses the blood of warriors. The outlook is quite different. Kratos was known for his willingness to use brute force for Zeus. Athena is different."

No. If that's a requirement, she won't. And neither would Queen Hippolyta.

"Why did you want to talk to me in private?"

"Because we know that you bring chaos, that you love Prince Kon and Princess Diana, and that you are a deadly enemy. I was worried that you might have gone to war with all Olympus. Many Amazons were worried that you might do that. Now, I can calm them."

"Okay, but why did you want me to take off my rings?"

"They are a symbol of the avarice spirit. I think it proper that you not speak to her while we talk."

"Ah, okay, but that wouldn't actually stop me. Our souls are bound together."

"Then it just makes it clear to you. And it will remind you that you are mortal. What other changes can we expect?"

I think this is something from Amazon culture that I don't understand. Move on. "Hephaestaean will have a more active role in the world."

"When Io and Thana both left Themyscira at their gods' command, we knew that other gods might also make that command. We have accepted the idea."

"Erichthonius and Io are turning Baroness von Gunther's old workshop into a new temple, and will probably expect more Amazons to make an effort with expanding their horizons."

"I can work to encourage that."

"Does Zeus have a cult here?"

"Not any more. The few Amazons that prayed to him did so… In the hope that he would make them pregnant. That no longer happens."

I nod. With the weather here guaranteed and with his moral lessons frankly dubious, there wasn't any obvious reason for one to exist. But it's worth checking. I get-.

No. Wait.

"How will this affect how Amazons feel about me?"

"Most women don't know enough about what you have done today to have decided how they feel. We expect demigod heroes to do great things, but this…"

I nod. "Right. That's fair." I stand, calling my rings back to my fingers. "If anyone wants to know where I am, I'm tracking down every Olympian in order to pass on a message from Hephaestaean."

"What message is that?"

"That he expects them to start pulling their weight. Excuse me."

Hand to forehead and

I'm standing in the forest of Themyscira, not too far from the first place I met Gaea. Quite some distance from the actual sacred grove that forms her temple, but she's the Titaness of Earth. I'm sure that she can manage.

I kneel, laying the palms of my hands on the bare earth.

"Gaea, mother of all that lives, I would really appreciate it if you could tell me where I could find the cyclopes. I need to commission some work from them, and they seem to have ducked everyone's detection."

"And you hope that they kept me up to date."

I bow my head as Gaea walks out of the greenery. Or rather her current human-seeming avatar does, I suppose.

"Yes."

"You do not seek conflict with them? You have gotten rather good at conflict."

"That's not what I want from them. I mean, if it turns out that they've been grinding bones to make bread, there will be conflict."

"No, they have not. You may find them on Mount Fuji. The Gods of Japan have taken to commissioning pieces from them."

"Thank you. I shall remain peaceful if at all possible."

"See that you do. And please, spend more time with Euanthe. She does not understand the power that she has won without you."

"I will. Thank you again."

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
23:49 GMT +9

Mount Fuji at night is… I'd like to be able to say 'beautiful', and it's not ugly or anything, but honestly it's like a smaller and snowier Olympus Mons. And compared to the grandeur of the floating lumps of Krypton, or planet Keauna in the Reach periphery where they were struck by a colossal asteroid early in the planet's history and it's still visibly sticking into the planet, just poking through the atmosphere. Now that's a sight to see, especially through the atmosphere.

It's just…

It's not all that. It's a big mountain in a small… Pond…

Oh, I am too young to be this jaded.

I fly over plenty of lights on my way in, and as a matter of courtesy I notified the woman in the National Public Safety Commission who is the League's contact that I was going to Mount Fuji to talk to their gods in person. I didn't technically have to, but they don't have to let me in the country except for the fact that they've got no way to actually stop me… Superhero law isn't for the anal retentive. She wished me good luck, which I thought was nice.

And now I'm looking down at a Shinto shrine. Not one of the big ones, but it's old enough to have mystical significance. Moss and vines are growing over stone structures, blending manmade with natural, though the paths and rock gardens are kept tidy. A couple of lights are on, but as far as I can tell the attendants have all left for the night.

I find an out of the way pagoda. I sit. I close my eyes and we open them, our coils reaching out to lightly grasp the wooden structure.

Less polite than when I went to Olympus, but then, these aren't my gods.

In the material world, I take a small bowl out of subspace and fill it with vegetable curry. A second bowl is filled with rice, and then I push both of them across from me.

In the immaterial world, our tongue flicks out and tastes the mana. Yes, the gods know this place. A small bite, and they must feel our presence even if they somehow missed it before now. We-.

"A certain person has made an artless approach. Still, it is pleasing that they are not entirely without courtesy."

We taste ions in the air, charged particles with electrons ready to leap. But where Zeus was calm until he was striking, this power is under control, constantly directed.

I open my material eyes, nodding to the traditionally attired Japanese man now sitting opposite me.

"I wasn't expecting so august a personage. I'd have been happy talking to the spirit of this pagoda."

"One felt the sudden absence of a certain person from Greece. One is somewhat aware of the habits of the Great Serpent of Avarice and its representative. One felt that it would be prudent to address the matter directly."

"I'm looking for the cyclopes. According to their mother, they've living in Japan. I wish to commission a piece from them."

"It may be that such persons are guests in these lands. But as guests, they are owed protection from those who might harm them."

"Quite true, and I respect you for insisting on that point."

"One might then enquire on the nature of the commission."

"One thunderbolt, or whatever it was they did for Zeus that let him throw them."

"One might enquire what use the Great Serpent of Avarice has for thunderbolts."

"Not much of one. But Captain Marvel needs them to access one sixth of his powers. Hephaestaean might be able to produce a solution, but he's a bit busy."

"One has heard of 'Captain Marvel'. The anointed champion of the wizard Shazam, and a hero of great note."

"It's more 'Sha'am' at the moment."

"One is curious. Is it simply divine lightning that is needed?"

"I'm not entirely certain. I think that the deity in question needs a certain level of raw power and to be capable of using their lightning to open passageways between realms. And be diplomatic enough to work with Jebediah of Canaan and the others; it used to be Shazamo."

"If one were aware of another deity capable and willing to fulfil such a role, would the noble representative of the Great Serpent be interested?"

"Certainly, but it's ultimately not up to me."

The god shifts the curry bowl a little closer.

"One is curious. The honourable representative had openly opposed the Silver City, and spoken for the Gods of Olympus. One wonders how aware he is of the actions of other pantheons."

"You're co-opting belief focuses from outside your pantheon, aren't you?"

"Our family has grown. There is little need to use force, even where it would be possible to do so. More than that, in our heartland we have never been overthrown. We allow the way we are presented to be buffeted by the winds of time."

"Not my first choice of strategy, but if it works, good for you."

"Venerable elders have asked whether it might be wise to offer patronage to costumed heroes. This humble one offers his power and the lightning at his command in place of that of mighty Zeus, if it will serve."

"Ah, thank you. Who are you?"

"This one is Susano-o-no-Mikoto, and has the honour of being God of the Sea, Storms, Fields, Harvest, Marriage, and Love."

I'm not sure what the thematic link is there, but whatever makes the Japanese happy I suppose.

"Good show. The Wizard currently has passageways to the Rock of Eternity set up in Fawcett City. Would you like a lift, or would you prefer to make your own way?"

"This one thinks that it would be rude to ignore this offering, or to unnecessarily detain the honourable representative."

"As you will. I am grateful for your help, and hope that you and the Wizard have a productive working relationship."

We withdraw our grip on the local thaumosphere, returning to a purely physical existence.

Susano-o-no-Mikoto is gone. As is the curry and the rice.

Hm. Alright, so they want William to advertise for them. That's the sort of thing Zeus should have been doing. I'm certainly not going to complain about it, and with that offer on the table I don't have the same need to speak with the cyclopes. Would they have given me a better deal? Maybe, but an opportunity for advertising isn't exactly a high cost, and I won't be paying it anyway.

As for his pantheon's plan… Co-opting newly emerging symbols doesn't give humanity anything. It's divine cultural parasitism, and the oldest members of the pantheon won't benefit from it directly anyway. Shinto isn't looking for converts.

Or maybe they are, now. Was this them reaching out to make an accommodation before Hephaestaean really gets going? Well, joke's on them: I'm terrible at understanding subtle communication. I'll ask William how the negotiations went when I see him again.

No, the list of wandering gods. We'll need a God of War first.

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
16:12 GMT

"Jogging in the mornings, go man go
Work outs in the health spa, muscles glow!"

I wonder. Is that double-irony, or are they just playing it 'straight'?

A large hairy man doing curls behind a reception desk looks up from his forearm, mildly affronted that I'm interrupting him. Hairy not in the sense that the hair on the top of his head is long, but rather in the sense that he appears to have short hair coming from everywhere. "Yeah?"

"I'm looking for Kratos?"

He glances at the sign on the other side of the room, a stylised image of a muscular man lifting a massive barbell with the legend 'Kratos Gym' below it.

A couple of men lifting weights in the 'gym' part of the room glance my way, then dismiss me as a weedy manlet unworthy of their time.

"Who wants to see him?"

"My name's-"

"Paul."

"-and his nephew sent me."

He shrugs. "Prove it."

I take Hephaestaean's cup out of subspace and put it on the desk, melted circuitry still encrusted on the surface. "Good enough?"

He short-grunts, completes his curl and then carefully lays his dumbbell down on the small rack. The weights are equal to what a normal person might put on a barbell. Kratos Gym is no place for weeds. Or steroid users, according to the poster behind the desk.

"This way."

He leads me through the exercise space where men beefier than most cattle lift, clean, jerk and curl, bulging muscles smoothly exerting themselves. Ring scan shows that they're completely serious about the steroid thing, but the same restriction doesn't apply to magic.

My guide pushes through the doors at the back of the weight room, the sounds of excited cheers reaching my ears even as the sight of burly naked men grappling with one another reaches my eyes.

"Ugh!" / "Grgh!"

And between the wrestling circles strides the man I'm here to see. He's not actually much bigger than the others, but there's a certain presence to him that I feel from the other Olympians. Much like Ploutos, he's carved out a space for himself in the modern world where he's comfortable. Unlike Ploutos, it's an area filled with bodybuilders, power lifters and mixed martial artists.

Though they can get stuffed if they don't use pankration.

Kratos looks at me, and I can feel force in his stare. Oh. No, these aren't just meatheads. These are actual worshippers, men who've knelt at the shrine to the Ancient Greek God of Strength. And he's showing the benefits of that. Kratos grabs a stout staff from the wall and tosses it to my escort and nods his head towards the back office before heading towards it himself. My escort turns away from me towards one of the rings, where one of the contestants has the other in a chokehold and is weathering the increasingly weak elbow strikes trying to dislodge him. A finger comes up-

"End!"

-and there's a pause before the end of the staff strikes the winner in the middle of the forehead. The strikes seems to wake him up, causing him to release his opponent from the hold, blood flow to his brain fully restored. The contestants take a moment to gasp and recover themselves, then they hold out their right hands and clasp one another's wrists.

I follow Kratos into the office. He doesn't take the seat, preferring to loom at me across the desk from a standing position.

"What?"

"Zeus fell."

This doesn't appear to faze him. "Who?"

"Hephaestus, who became Hephaestaean."

"What does he want?"

"Your service."

"I don't break legs for the King of Olympus any longer."

"He doesn't need you to break legs. He needs you to inspire people to build strength. He wants to offer you-."

"He's drea-ming. I know you, Orange Lantern. I know what you do. I even respect it. You see those men out there?"

I nod.

"Lots of people want to come here. I test them and they fail. Those are the only ones who understand strength. You want everyone to wake up and seize power as if it was their birthright?" He looks at me, looking slightly amused. "It won't happen. Most people are helots, and they're happy like that."

"And you don't want the job of changing that?"

"I don't want the job of changing that."

"How about the job of God of War?"

"What happened to Ares?"

"Hammer to the groin."

"Heh. Hephaestus had cause. But I don't want the job. War is slaughter. Any weak idiot can pull a trigger. That's not me. Doing what you're told is not strength."

"Then change it yourself. Hephaestaean would be-."

"Change it yourself if you think it's so great. What do you think is going to happen?"

"I think that after the Sheeda attacks and angel invasion people are less inclined towards monotheism than they used to be. A dynamic pantheon with something to offer could make inroads in human civilisation."

"But what would they have to offer me?"

"A chance to test your philosophy on a wider canvas, and reach people who wouldn't have heard of you otherwise."

"These men understand strength. If I have to teach people strength, then they aren't worth teaching. I don't care about philosophy. I don't need to prove that I'm right to other people; it's enough that I know that I am."

"And if everyone became strong?"

"Then even I could not teach all of them how to use that strength."

"Nothing I or Hephaestaean could do to change your mind?"

"Nothing."

"Alright." I take a card with my contact details on out of subspace and lay it on his desk. "If you think of anything you want to talk about, get in touch."

"You have shown respect by making this offer." He shakes his head. "But I will not ever accept it. Hephaestaean should just form his own cult without any other Olympians. After all this time, we are all used to working apart."

"It might come to that. But I'd like to try talking to people first."

He smiles. It's not a friendly expression.

"That's not what I have heard."

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
20:02 GMT

Artemis looks out across what little can be seen of the surface of Bylan 5.

"Nice place. Other-you do this?" Soulscent Tracking.

Radioactive ash and a plethora of toxic chemicals fill the once-breathable atmosphere. I can hear rumbles of thunder as ion lightning leaps between layers of mutually antagonistic chemicals, but I can't see the lightning itself because the pea soup is just too thick. If whatever did this isn't ongoing at least some of this should have settled out by now. If there were any of the native species left I'd toss a couple of power rings at them so they could start fixing it, but as far as I can tell there aren't.

"I'm not really sure. I don't think so. I've got most of his memories… Reasonably well integrated, and I think I'd remember doing something like this."

"You said you got messed up after you tried coping with Vandal Savage's memories."

"I did, and I barely retain any of it, but this is different. Other Grayven's memories were… Formatted to someone who thinks like I do. I might forget things, or not immediately call them to mind, but I shouldn't just… Blank on something." Just Give Up.

"I don't… Feel anything."

"Me neither, but all the other sites had at least something."

Wrecks, small abandoned New God outposts from the last big war, and one warren inhabited by a bioengineered insectoid weapon species that positively reeked of Apokolips. My guess is that he acquired the Absolute Dominion and the parts needed to repair it by going down the list and eventually getting lucky. But this place… Couldn't detect anything from orbit.

"What could do this?"

"Orbital bombardment heavy enough to breach the mantle over a large area. That would provide a source of heat, and… Depending on the elements involved, the chemicals and radiologicals. There are pure spite weapons that could do this temporarily, and… You could make some sort of foul terraforming engine to do this directly."

"Should we look for it? Can't be that hard to shut it down. Then we might actually be able to see where we're going."

I shake my head.

"Doesn't feel right. All the other sites were dead. No one's going to abandon a machine like that in case younger species get ideas above their station." I shake my head. "Mass ecological vandalism isn't my speciality. He and I are both too inclined towards efficiency. Even that ridiculous harvest snake the Citizenry used is more efficient than this."

"Sometimes it's just about sending a message."

"How do you send a message when there's no one to hear it?" I shake my head. "No, don't answer that. It could be. It just doesn't feel right. This is something Apokolips might do to a site of symbolic importance… A holy world or something. But this wasn't."

I hold up my left hand.

"Kara Zor-El, found anything?"

"Yes. You are standing on compressed ash. The original surface of the planet is two hundred metres below you. Below that is a structure containing non-native elements."

Ring?

Unable to locate.

"Kara, are you sure about that? Neither my ring or the Absolute Dominion's sensors are showing anything."

"Kryptonian sensors are superior. And less well known to the New Gods."

I'm not sure about the first, but the second is certainly true. There are limits to what sensor masking can achieve when you can work on the level of detail that we can. The ability to absorb electromagnetic radiation and heat doesn't mean all that much when you're scanning for changes in molecular density. Heck, even for advanced civilisations dummying ultrasound scans is a pain. Interfering with the returns is simple, but disguising that something interfered with them is hard.

But New God technology is designed to interface with the soul, and there are ways to convince it to lie to the user. And power rings have no particular ability to bypass magic. Brute force backed by a strong soul, on the other hand…

I float a little way into the air and generate a huge excavator construct, force generating rings tearing into the ground and dragging out a continuous column of material. Initially all I see is the same dark ash that we're standing on, then after a few moments it changes to dull grey bedrock.

Then there's a hole.

I toss the column aside, letting it fall to the ground with a crash and plume of ash. Down there… No, still not picking up anything of significance. Still, if Kara's wrong then I've only wasted a few minutes.

I turn to Artemis. "Ladies f-?"

She looses her arrow and vanishes as it disappears into the pit. I stride over thin air, looking down for a moment as I dismiss my construct, and then drop.

I fall a kilometre in a few seconds before increasing power to my aero discs and reducing speed to a rate less likely to crush Artemis to death if I land on her. I should probably feel some sort of danger here… Not because a fall like this is actually a threat to me, but some… Residual squishy human instinct? But, no. All I feel is mild curiosity. And it is mild, as I don't really expect anything outstanding, just something slightly better hidden.

I guess that between Magic Horse Land and Bondage Elf Land, a mere hole in the ground containing the secrets of the gods doesn't really-.

"Are you really ennuing?"

I shrug my right shoulder as I reach the bottom of the hole.

"Maybe a bit. Aren't you?"

"I did an off the cuff speech about global economic integration in civics class last week. Think I'm getting a 'A'."

"Not an A P-?"

"Not an A Plus because the question was about forest management."

"But you can't just ask about forest management, because it's affected by temperature, rain pH-."

"And a loada other things that don't relate to just one country, which is why I'm getting an A and a place on the FBI's watch list."

I flash her a frown as she examines the bottom of the hole. "You weren't there already? Disappointing."

"It's a different list." Tracking the Prey.

"So what have we got?"

"Looks like New God armour, but I can't feel it. You getting anything?"

Hm. Master Of All I Survey.

…

"Not a dickybird. I'll-."

She splutters with laughter. "What?"

"What? Dickyb-? Anything. Like, not even a small bird?"

"That's a word?"

I stare at her. "How have you known me for this long-" I draw my sword and stab it into the armoured plate. "-and not heard me say it?"

"You've never said it."

I frown. "I must have-."

"You haven't." I shove downwards with my daiklave, but I don't quite punch through. "Want a hand?"

I shake my head, traversing the blade to slowly cut a plug out. "Just jump through with a beacon when I've made a hole. This is a little more effort than they made at the other sites. Maybe this will be interesting."

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
20:07 GMT

"…risk a boom tube?"

I nod to myself as Artemis speaks through my ring. Neither radio waves nor New God type communicators get through, but power rings work just fine.

"No, with the Absolute Dominion in orbit I can use a hush tube. You sure it didn't react to your magic?"

"Not that I can see or feel."

Right. Mother Box.

Ping.

A hole in the universe opens just below me, and I drop down into… Darkness, illuminated only by Sinestro's glow. "How's he treating you?"

She grimaces, pulls it off her right middle finger and tosses it to me. I pull it onto my right ring finger.

"That bad?"

"Apparently I'm 'barely adequate, despite my upbringing'."

"Would you rather be an excellent fit for a dictator who believed that order could only be maintained through fear?" I peer around, the darkness-. Wait.

Ping.

"Can you see better than me?"

"Only if I make an effort. Does that mean there's someone here?"

"Not necessarily. And since we're not being inundated by parademons or aero-troopers, I tend to doubt it. Not sure how the system is powerful enough to mess with us like this." I frown, then shake my head. "Which is odd, because a system that can do that would be valuable and worth defending, particularly if it wasn't stripped for parts. But it isn't being defended."

Artemis readies an arrow. "Don't speak too soon." Death Awaits.

"Obvious question, through. There's no outward sign that anything's here-."

"Where did other-you hear about it. If you still don't think he built it himself."

"A sufficiently traumatic head injury might just erase the memory, but that doesn't… Sound right." I walk over to the closest wall and place my left palm against it. Bow To My Will!

The stygian blackness pulls back a little, but scans still aren't telling me much. Mother Box?

Ping.

Great. Looks like we're in a store room of some sort. The few remaining crates are neatly stacked in the corner, no obvious detritus left around the place. No particular feeling from anything.

Oh.

"One possibility does come to mind, given the state of the outside."

"Anti-Life research. Do we need to leave?"

"No. Incidental tertiary exposure shouldn't do much to us, though if we confirm it we'll need to leave and destroy the place from orbit."

My frown deepens as I shake my head, lifting my hand off the wall and armouring myself. No lock on the door, just a requirement for a minimal level of spiritual power. Easy enough to manage

"So if it's not that..?"

The door opens, the darkness retreating once more to… Reveal a laboratory? A small one. The machinery is a garish combination of purple, yellow and green and… I can't immediately call to mind a New God with that colour scheme. Evil colours, though, so that fits. A red and orange helmet that I'd be insane to try on sits on a small plinth, while a larger circular platform stands empty on one side. Teleporter? Fabricator? Viewing platform? Miniature safe room?

Naturally, there's no control panel.

Ping.

Artemis comes in behind me, eyes darting around. "Is it doing that now?"

Ping.

I find myself shaking my head again. "I don't know about that. I mean, yes, that technique could work, but why would anyone put a machine designed to resurrect New Gods away from Apokolips?"

Artemis glances at me. "You said we couldn't be resurrected."

"I definitely can't, you probably can't, because our souls will merge with the Source upon our deaths. That doesn't mean that we can't be cloned, just that… We wouldn't get much out of it." I move a little closer to the platform, trying to draw upon Other Grayven's earliest memories. "Darkseid had a team… Working on the problem. They never really solved it. They got to the point where the duplicates weren't totally mindless and could be taught, but they lacked the spiritual force of the originals." I smile. "That's one of the reasons how I know that I'm me and not a duplicate, despite merging with Other Grayven."

"So they were making copies here?"

"Something like that. You couldn't make duplicates to use as infiltrators because they wouldn't have the knowledge or spiritual presence. You couldn't use the system to make powerful New Gods immortal for the same reason. Baron Bedlam's multiple plastic bodies were as far as the research got, as far as I know."

I walk over to… Because of course there's no control panel. I walk over to a group of levers and haphazardly placed unmarked buttons, hoping that Mother Box will be able to do something with it.

Ping.

Well, keep trying.

"How does he work?"

"As I understand it, his consciousness isn't attached to any one body. He'd still die if all of his bodies were destroyed, but losing the odd one or two isn't more than an inconvenience."

"Any idea why Other Grayven wanted it? Or why it was abandoned?"

"No. None." I take a closer look at the machine to see if anything springs to mind. "As far as I recall, he didn't know what was here. Only that it was something New God."

"You don't think he got made here?"

"No, the memories I got from him distinctly include his childhood."

"But that wouldn't mean he wasn't, right? They could have copied a child and then just let him grow up normally."

"True, but there's no obvious benefit. I mean, he could have been an experiment to see what would happen, and… Darkseid wouldn't just throw him away if that's what happened because he might learn something out of it. But we're Darkseid's sons. Every memory I have of Apokolips includes us being referred to like that, and if…"

No.

Mother Box, Sinestro, scan for my genetic material.

Lantern Grayven, you already know.

"Oh."

"What?"

"I have no memory of being here before, but there's genetic material from-." Why were there crates in the store room when everything else-? "From me here."

A construct claw grabs a crate and yanks it over to us before cutting it open.

A dozen foetuses with copies of my own face blankly stare up at me from their preservative jars.

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
21:32 GMT

"…because I would be fired."

Ploutos strums the fingers of his right hand against the side of his coffee cup, avoiding my eyes. For a moment I feel awkward about hassling an old man, before I remind myself that while he is old he's younger than quite a few of the Olympians I've already spoken to and been turned down by.

"Wouldn't that be economic suicide?"

"Only in the same sense that smoking is suicide. The fundamentals of an economy are not harmed by short term price fluctuations. Real economic damage kills slowly but surely. The office I hold and the privileges that come with it are the most a person can hold in Greece without being elected. And because I am not elected and because it is my job to tell people who want to spend money they don't have that they can't, I don't have the support of a political machine and I don't have the support of the cabinet."

"But you have the support of your peers-. You don't, because they want your job."

"It's not as if I'm ever going to retire, after all."

"You'd have to eventually, wouldn't you? I mean, they're going to notice eventually."

"There are people in this world who do not age as most do. It would be simple to 'discover' that I was descended from a demigod or some such thing, particularly with people growing accustomed to being guarded by the Heraklya."

"I was surprised by how many of them volunteered."

Given the effort it's taken to persuade other Amazons to go through the Dolmen Gate, the fact that most of Herakles' daughters were happy to decamp to the mainland came as a bit of a surprise. Particularly given the number of statues that had to be relocated in a hurry. Still, it's… Making the people of Greece feel a good deal safer, and been a major boon to the tourist industry.

And not just from lesbians.

It's also made it hard for the Orthodox Church to complain too much about the pagans, though that's probably going to change in the not-too-distant future. Having living proof of the power of the Olympians hanging around has emboldened the pagans, and… It's interesting to watch them trying to speak to the Amazons in Ancient Greek.

I imagine it's like saying 'ayve' to a Roman and then being confused as to why they tell you to go away.

"I was not."

"Oh?"

"During Themyscira's brief and fleeting contacts with the world outside of their island, it was usually the Heraklya who made the journey. Hippolyta knows that the government in Athens has no malice for her or her people, but that would not stop a single individual attacking them. The Heraklya are even more capable of taking care of themselves than their sister Amazons."

"And because despite everything they're still defined by their father."

"Which is not a bad thing as far as the rest of Greece is concerned."

"The Archbishop's speech rather suggested otherwise."

"It was a moderation on his former position, and an indication of the direction of travel. It is usually unwise for churchmen to spring things on their parishioners. They have long since acknowledged that we Olympians exist, and it actually helps their position that the Heraklya hold their father in such low regard."

"So..?"

"So I will wait between five years and a decade, until such things are normalised if not fully accepted, then I will make a quiet announcement concerning my own 'heritage'."

"But a hard 'no' on acting as God of Commerce?"

"You have a compromise in mind?"

"Hellenism isn't exactly a major world religion at the moment."

"That is true. And if I were to take the job, I doubt that it would be much different to the lectures I am periodically called upon to give to my fellow economists. Some time away from the office, but returning to Olympus rather than Davos."

"I'm sure that Hephaestaean would prefer it if you were actively trying to proselytise, sharing your wisdom with anyone who needed it. But taking a day or two a month to answer those who request your guidance shouldn't be any great burden."

"No." He nods. "No, I suppose that you are correct. And Hephaestaean does not want me to control a company for him?"

"Given the rate at which I've been picking up rejections today, I think he'll be glad that you're willing to do anything."

"Ah, yes. I see how that could happen. Despite his power, Zeus was never ambitious. He fought Cronus for his own survival and took power as his due, not because he sought it for its own sake."

"Jesus never sought power for its own sake, and the religion he inspired is the largest on the planet."

"True, but I have my suspicions about Paul and he founded the institution."

"Not going to tell me that you met him?"

"He would hardly have asked me for business advice. No, if you want to hear about the early church, I suggest speaking with Athena."

"It has been suggested to me that I might like to avoid unplanned encounters with gods."

A wry smile. "It may be wise. Will Hephaestaean expect me to offer him advice on how best to use the technology he is developing?"

"I imagine that he would appreciate it, but he's willing to take whatever you're willing to offer. I.. work in a field where many of my contemporaries maintain separate identities for their civilian lives and heroic lives. That sort of deceit is really quite common."

"A superhero of economics. I have never been referred to as that in such a literal way. Very well: I agree. You may tell Hephaestaean that I am willing to act as a part time God of Commerce, advising the rest of the pantheon and the most ardent of our worshippers."

"And in the future-?"

"In.. the future, I may be willing to revise my position. Depending on what else is happening. The difficulty is that I am not prepared to do half a job with the Greek economy, or half a job as a god."

"Is there anyone you can train up for either job?"

"No one I'd trust." He sighs. "I will speak with the Rector of the University of Athens about increasing the number of lectures I deliver. I should be able to sense anyone sufficiently capable, and I should be able to find time to mentor them. I have a suspicion that a man like you will not rest until this theological restructuring happens, whether the world is willing or not."

"And on that note, do you want a power ring?"

He frowns, his eyes dipping to my hands for a moment.

"Why would you offer me one of those?"

"It would explain the longevity without you needing to make overt reference to the Hellenic mythos, and allow you to move far faster than a normal man. The fact that I consult with you is already well known, so it wouldn't seem strange that I might give you one."

"I will have to think on it at some length."

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
17:46 GMT -5

"Recognized, Captain Marvel, One Five, Osiris, B One Nine."

I do one last scan of the machinery in Red Tornado's Granny Annexe.. loft, then dismiss my construct and fly down through the hole in the floor. William is still Captain Marvel shaped, but he looks a bit more upbeat.

"Captain, what news?"

"Oh, everyone had a ton of ideas! The Wizard can trigger my transformation himself if I go back to the Rock of Eternity, so I don't have to worry about school tomorrow."

I nod. Impractical for regular use, but an excellent backup.

"And then a Japanese god showed up and said he could take over from Zeus."

"Susano-o-no-Mikoto."

"You sent him? He just said that 'a certain person' did."

"That's how he talks."

"Huh. Weird. Oh, and after we left Osiris remembered that Angelica was the one who got the Wizard to power up Adom using Kahndaqi gods. She says that she could link me up with any god-. Ah, or god-like being who wanted to give me their power, including the Kahndaqi gods."

'Power' is Atum, so…

"Shaaam?"

William chuckles. "That would be kinda awkward to say. But it would work. And Zauriel said that he could talk to his king about sponsoring me, but he'd need permission because that's not something his order really covered."

"Does he have the power for something like that? No disrespect intended to Zauriel, but he's not drawing power from multiple titans, and while you're certainly a good person I'm not sure you're a saint."

He shrugs modestly. "I'm not either. But I am a Christian, so… Honestly? I'd feel more comfortable about getting power from Heaven than someplace else."

"I… Did say that I'd bury the hatchet with Zauriel, so if that's really what you want, go for it. But were there any other options?"

"Mister Miracle said that a Mother Box could handle my transformation. It wouldn't give me any extra power, but it could let me change." He takes a deep breath. "But he doesn't have a spare one, and the only person who can make me one is Himon, and he's on Apokolips."

I wince.

"Normally I like automation, but in this case I suggest one of the solutions that doesn't involve going to Apokolips."

"That's what I thought. So, what's with Susano-o-no-Mikoto?"

"His pantheon expands by convincing newly emergent gods to join it. He told me that he thinks you'd be good advertising."

"So it's like wearing a sponsor's name on my shirt? I don't know if the Wizard will like that."

"Jebediah convinced your existing sponsors to work together to empower you. One of them was a serial rapist, and another once tried to cut a baby in half to solve an argument."

"Um. Better I have Herakles's strength than he does, right?"

"Is that how it-" William clamps his right hand over his mouth. "-works?"

"Can.. you.. pretend I didn't say that?"

"Say what? Also, on an unrelated matter, Herakles is an evil man who at the very least deserves whatever's happened to him, though I have no idea what that is."

"Okay. Thanks." He nods, then takes a step back. "I'm gunna go check in with Batman, then I need to get back to the Wizard to get transformed for school tomorrow. "

"Are you just going to do that every time?"

"No, but this is something I need to think about real hard, and I should probably talk to people. Including Mary and Freddie."

I nod. "Very wise. I'll see you when I see you."

He turns to Amon. "Thanks for your help, Osiris. And thanks for keeping cool around the Wizard. I know how angry he makes you."

"Captain, you are my friend and the friend of my brother. I will bite my tongue around the Wizard a hundred times if you need me to."

William smiles. "But a hundred and one is one too many?"

"Oh, no. If you need me a hundred and one times then it is taking me away from my studies more than my sister and brother will allow. I am sure that Adom would take my place, though."

William's smile fades. "Yeah, let's… Let's make sure that doesn't happen."

Amon nods. "I am glad that we both value education so highly."

"That too." He rises of the ground and flies back towards the zeta tube. "Be seeing you!"

"Recognized, Captain Marvel, One Five."

"I would like to add my congratulations to those of Captain Marvel."

"I can hold my tongue when I must."

"That's not what The Key says."

For an instant he looks shocked, then he makes an amused exhalation and shakes his head. "Do not make jokes like that around my sister. She would not respond well."

"Speaking of your sister, do you think she'd be willing to take a trip to Brazil? Gaea suggested that I make time to speak with Euanthe, and-."

"You do not disobey the Goddess of the Earth."

"Not if you've got any sense, and I have at least that much."

"That is not what Wonder Woman says."

"Ou-ch. Blooming leave her in Tartarus next time."

"No. You wouldn't."

"No, I wouldn't. Ah, I don't suppose that the Kahndaqi pantheon has any spare war-related gods, does it?"

"Ah, there is Sekhmet? But I do not think that she is 'spare'?"

"Gods can be worshipped by more than one pantheon."

He frowns interrogatively. "Why are you asking?"

"Hephaestaean and I are having trouble filling up his cabinet. We need a war god, and none of the related Greek gods are interested."

"What happened to Ares?"

"Hammer to the crotch."

"Are there no other Greek gods who could-?"

"Kratos is running a gym, Hippolyta is too peaceful, Enyo likes being a punk musician and told me to fuck myself with a cricket bat, Nike doesn't want to be tied to war that strongly, Athena doesn't want that part of the war portfolio and Eris hasn't sobered up enough to ask."

"I will ask her on your behalf, but I do not know. Is there no one else you could ask?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

29th October 2012
03:45 GMT +3

Olympus has already started to change.

Hephaestaean told me that he considered teleporting his old workshop up here, then decided that it wouldn't be worth it. His expertise has expanded so much that it would be easier to just start again… Not that he's had time, or is likely to have time in the near future. But an oval-shaped deliberative chamber has replaced Zeus's feasting room, and… Dolmen Gates that look suspiciously like stargates have appeared near to convenient points of egress. Did he put his head together with Hecate, or has his domain expanded to the point where he can invent novel arcanotechnology without anyone's help?

Idle curiosity. Not important right now, and I actively want to flip the table so it's not really a problem -for me- if something goes a little off-script.

The other matter, on the other hand…

"I beg your pardon, my lord, but we aren't really set up to receive guests at the moment. If you had sent word ahead I would have ensured that Hephaestaean was here to greet you."

Susano-o-no-Mikoto nods politely.

"The honourable representative has no need to apologise. This humble one was impetuously overwhelmed by curiosity. It has been a great deal of time since the Gods of Japan have had direct contact with the Gods of Olympus."

Even I caught that jab. One side has a country, the other side has a hill with delusions of grandeur. But they're not exactly in competition. The Olympians might be work shy, but they don't have the same need to take advantage of their brief moment of fame to secure their metaphysiques and make themselves into something that Johnny-come-latelies do.

I smile politely at Lady Liberty, who smiles back just as honestly. She's gone for the classical robes that look classy to most modern people but just look a little off to someone used to Themysciran clothing. I'll be interested to see if she actually sounds French.

"You are welcome to visit for as long as you like, but I am afraid that we will be poor hosts at present."

"It seems to me that you're the person to talk to if we want to get something done around here."

Ah. Transatlantic, with just a hint of a French accent. How marvellously fake.

"Madam, I may properly be likened to a sixty year old sea mine: reasonably safe if left to my own devices, but prone to explode if prodded. The question of whether or not I can 'get things done' is not precisely relevant."

"Alright, then let's save us the trouble of you and Mister Mikoto talking around each other for hours. Hephaestus wants to rebuild his pantheon into something that humans all over the world will worship. But how about trying something different?"

"We're already working on aliens, if that's what you mean."

"I mean, why not make it part of a wider revival of other faiths?"

"Lack of a personal stake."

"Oh?" She raises her eyebrows. "Your negotiations with the Silver City resulted in necromancers being able to reach their dead for the first time in history, and your provocation turned more waverers away from their 'default' religion. Superheroes are already objects of reverence. Do you know how many people worship Superman?"

"'Worship' as in 'literally pray to', or as in 'revere greatly'?"

"Why split hairs? The Roman Catholics had indulgences and crucifixes. He has t-shirts and posable action figures. People all across the world cheer on his deeds, wear his symbol and call out to him in times of hardship."

"The difference may only exist in peoples' minds, but it does exist there. There's a big difference between passively accepting converts and actively proselytising. And yes, I do know roughly how many people worship him and I know roughly what he thinks of them. He has absolutely no desire to be a god."

"Then he should consider being less godly."

Susano-o-no-Mikoto looks a little uncomfortable at how assertive she's being, but he holds his tongue.

"Our pantheon is expanding into new markets. People shouldn't be tied to contracts with gods they don't want. But that doesn't mean we have to compete."

"To paraphrase G'kar, I have no desire to replace a monopoly with another monopoly. I'm helping Hephaestaean because he took a big risk to help me and I owe him at least this much. Look, could you explain what you actually want and leave convincing me until after I've said 'no'?"

"My proposal is that non-monotheistic religions should act in concert… At least, in the initial stages, in order to normalise theological pluralism and defray potential backlash."

"Not a terrible idea. But the founding gods of Shinto are already worshipped by the Japanese, and… No one else. You've been expanding by recruiting people like you, who are already revered in other places. The Olympians are going to be trying to convert people who've heard of them but see them as something other."

"Greater risk of failure, but with that comes a greater potential reward. We'd like to improve your odds and take a little of the reward ourselves. I've read the digest version of your thaumic research write-ups. Earth has more than enough raw magic to sustain all of its gods. And people are mentally flexible enough to accept gods with overlapping responsibilities. We could form a united pantheon for the entire world."

"A trade association?"

"By setting certain standards of behavior, we could limit the influence of those who… Struggle to remember that we're here to work with mortals. You may find our help useful if some of the Othrysians don't cope very well with freedom."

Ah… This is what I get for not having a plan in place: people expecting me to decide things. I mean, I could just say 'Hail Eris' and ignore the issue, but I don't think-.

"This one apologises for interrupting this most worthy discussion, but this one had been under the impression that there were no other gods in residence."

I turn, following his gaze upwards to the true summit of Mount Olympus, the counterpart of 'the Throne of Zeus' of the material mountain. On the absolute peak, a man holds his arms over his head in triumph.

"There… Aren't. Please excuse me while I go and find out who that is."

I fly towards the man, who lowers his arms and starts to look around and appreciate the view. He's dressed like a mountaineer from the mid-twentieth century, back when silk and tweed were the clothing of choice rather than modern thermals. His chin is covered in a mid-length black beard, and there's a small amount of black hair poking out from under his hat at the back. He has a climbing axe in his right hand-. No, strapped to the stump of his right forearm, a loop of rope slung over his shoulder and a heavy pack on his back.

He turns back my way, sees me and waves his left hand before sitting down on the rock and doffing his pack. "Ho, Lantern!"

"Hello? I'm sorry, but we're not really open for business at the moment."

"I know. Kratos told me that you were hiring, so I thought I should be proactive and apply for the job in person."

"Ah, well, I appreciate it, Mister..?"

"Týr. Or call me Tyr; I know English-speakers don't like the accents."

"Oh. Excellent. I actually recommended you for the position two years ago, so I'm very glad that you're here. Um, what's in the bag?"

He wraps his hook around the straps holding the back closed and tugs, revealing...

"Five thousand years' worth of references. I'm eager to join a pantheon that's as proactive as I am, so I thought I should make a strong impression. How am I doing?"