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

[Mr Zoat]

10th December 2282
06:25 GMT -6

"kEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAH!"

Breathe, breathe…

The forced evolutionary virus is great, but it doesn't mean that I can get away with sprinting indefinitely and it definitely doesn't make anaerobic respiration efficient.

**Tanya, I don't like to be a nag, but-.**

**We're just about ready! But… The queen's come with me. I think she thinks I'm a new queen or something.**

**Is that important?**

I take a half-second to glance back at the flock. Definitely closer, but they seem to have decided that they're better served by letting me tire myself out rather than diving down as fast as they can.

**I don't know. I don't know these ants. Some types can have nests with multiple queens but with others the new queens take half the workers and soldiers and leave to start their own nest. I've never seen a situation where the old queen chooses to hang out with a new queen.**

I look around at the cliff sides surrounding me and spot the small tunnel entrances that show that this is ant territory. That might explain why the banshees are hanging back. I didn't think they were intelligent enough for something like that, but… Maybe?

**I'm sure that entomologists of the future will thank you for your work. I'm bringing the banshees to you.**

**Not to me! They didn't even give me a gun and I lost my ripper trying to fight off that giant robot! All I've got is a tiny knife!**

**I'm bringing the banshees to your ambush point, and I'm finding the ambush point by homing in on you. If you're too far away then I won't find it.**

**Okay. There's an old semi-collapsed tunnel. I'm in some sort of maintenance tunnel near that, and the ants are poised to swarm in.**

**Anything I need to worry-**

The sand to my left erupts with angry ant, and I have to use telekinesis to dodge a blob of something that makes the sand hiss when it lands.

**-about, like burrowed ants?**

**Most of the workers have pulled back, but leaving soldier ants as sentries-**

**I just ran past one.**

**-and oh. Okay, it's probably emitting a warning pheromone, so the other ants will be on guard.**

**How do ants sense their targets?**

**Vision and smell. Ah, depending on how close you were, you probably got covered in the warning pheromone, so you can't just outrun it.**

**Not a problem.**

I can just about hear the warrior ant chasing after me, maintaining a surprisingly quick pace even if it can't quite keep up with me. And of course it can't smell the banshees at all from down here, but it's probably continuing to emit that warning pheromone as long as it chases me. So while I could telepathically muffle its senses, I don't. I let it keep-.

What's that?

I jink left and slow, turning and heading towards the opposite canyon wall. A small chance that the banshees will use this opportunity to dive, but I think I've got time and I… Yes, there it is. I grab a small device that was dropped near the canyon wall before turning back to my original course and accelerating again. The ant isn't quite as agile as me and has to actually stop to change direction. So I haven't lost my lead but…

What is this?

It looks a little like a speaker, and there's a radio receiver built into it. Did Doki plant these so that she could communicate with the contestants? I… Think I can… Hear some sort of… Quiet noise? Static? Getting any kind of signal in a canyon isn't easy, as even long wave would struggle to get down here. Don't know. I put it in one of my robe's pockets of later analysis.

And I turn the corner-

Buried ant! Dodge!

-and I see the unfinished section of pre-War road leading to a porous pile of rubble which forms the shape of an amphitheatre. And this time I use my telekinetic sense to feel-. Ants. Lots of them. But that passage over there feels more like a complete utility tunnel of the sort I've seen in dozens of pre-War subterranean structures.

And the entrance…

**Can you open the door?**

**Not without squeezing past two royal guard ants while smelling like someone they're supposed to guard with their lives.**

**Right.** I feel more ants buried in the ground nearby, and the ones in the rocks are preparing to attack as they smell the danger pheromone on me. So I slow to a halt, turn and aim my pistol at the flock just above the canyon rim. **Drawing the banshees in now.**

I fire and miss, the range being too long for the relatively slow bolt of plasma to be at all accurate. I fire and miss again, but they're getting the idea that I'm an actual threat they need to deal with rather than something they can wait to die of dehydration. About half swoop into the canyon in my direction while the rest begin flapping to get over my head.

**My control of these ants isn't precise. If they decide to go-.**

**Understood. Apropos of nothing, would you like ant control psychic powers?**

**Uh, what? You mean-. You can control ants? If you can-? Why am I here?**

**Specialisation. I can talk to you and do other things but I'm not good at controlling animals.**

**Ah… I don't know. That was a… My parents got killed by giant ants, and then I… I got convinced that ants were some sort of amazing super species. I don't think making ants my whole life again would be a good idea.**

Fair enough.

**I do know a guy, though.**

**Oh?**

**Yeah. After I… Had some sense talked into me by this… Really hot guy, I ended up meeting this ant researcher who was trying to make ants less dangerous by making them smaller-**

**Oh? That sounds-.**

**-by injecting their eggs with some kinda virus. He ended up giving them the ability to breathe fire.**

**Maybe not, then. I'd rather have someone who knows that giant mutant ants aren't the solution to all of life's problems than someone who thinks: 'giant mutant ants: dangerous, but could they be more dangerous?'.**

**I think he only killed that town by accident…**

…

I might need to send more people to Washington before too long.

"kEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAH!"

Here we go! Banshees flying along the canyon are approaching slowly in order to use their screech, while two of those above me are tucking their wings in to swoop! I start running towards the centre of the amphitheatre, firing half-aimed shots at the banshees above me. An ant unburies itself to my right and another sticks its head out through a hole, but I dash past them in a blur before their acid sprays can hit me.

"kEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAH!"

The ants behind me shudder, turning their attention to-. The low-flying flock has increased their speed, and I can feel the increased aggression from them. Not sure what's doing that-.

**The ants are going crazy! Whatever you're doing-**

I reach into my robes, trigger my Stealth Boy and dash over to a nearby overhang.

**-you better-.**

Banshees jostle for position, sonic energy able to detect me perfectly well. The ants on the other hand…

**Let them attack.**

And then the carnage begins.

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th December 2282
06:28 GMT -6

"kEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAH!"

The first casualty is a banshee. Swooping towards my location it flies past an ant while screaming, which is apparently enough to trigger an attack response. The ant's head jerks around, a cloud of caustic mist spraying from its mouth and hitting the banshee in the right side of its face. I see its right eye whiten and then dissolve as the fur around it bleaches and melts, and I don't know if it's the pain which makes it slam into the ground or the brain damage.

"kEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAH!"

The second casualty is that ant, as one of the swooping banshees registers it as a threat. The banshee slams into the side of its thorax with its mouth open, bowling it over and biting through the chitin. The ant manages to get a spray off and envelopes them both in green-white clouds, and I'm assuming that's the signal for the rest of the ants as-

Oh sugar.

-more pop their heads out, sight the banshees who are diving at me and open fire. And at that point I grab the gas mask from my back and strap it to my face, because I didn't think it would be quite this vaporous.

"kEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAH!" / "kEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAH!" / "kEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAH!" / "kEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAH!"

More banshees hit the murk, and I feel the ground shake from their impacts. I can't see them though, only vague shapes through the mist as I remind myself that the ants don't need to see me to kill me.

Stones rain down from above me, and I look up to see a banshee throwing itself at a stone ledge being used as a firing platform. The ant is focusing on firing into the melee below, giving the banshee the perfect angle on its neck. One bite and the head is sent flying, still spraying-.

I telekinetically shove the severed head into the clouds as it falls towards me and agh, I can feel the chemicals in the air burning the narrow exposed band of skin around my wrists and neck. It's just a savage itch at the moment and my F.E.V. enhanced constitution should prevent it getting much worse, but-.

Okay, get-. Cord out, wrap it around my sleeves to reduce exposure. I can already see the surface of my robes start to mottle, but as long as I don't get anything sprayed on me directly that should be all that happens. Neck… Bandages. Tie them around-. Ah, it just makes the itching worse. Ah. Water! Grab the canteen, splash it around my neck to dilute the chemical agent, and…

And the banshees are still attacking me, and can probably still use their echolocation even through this… If they're not being too badly burned to concentrate on it. But since as.. far as I can tell I'm a target of opportunity rather than someone they've got a particular grudge against -I mean, I'm not attacking their young or in their core territory or anything- they've got no reason to attack me rather than the ants trying to melt them. Honestly, they should be backing off-.

I frown. Honestly, they shouldn't even still be active at this time of day. I'd blame Doki, but they're definitely biological so-.

**Are you dead?**

**No, just keeping my head down.**

Checking my immediate surroundings very carefully, I-

"kEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAH!"

-throw myself back as a bleached and blinded banshee flails out of the murk, wing claws slashing at me! Pistol up and f-.

Pistol down until it can get checked for chemical damage, because corroded seals are how misfires happen and that's really bad for plasma weapons. Roll -agh!- into those rocks right there as its claw comes around again and grab the wing and tear where the flesh is blistering!

"kEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYAGGGH!"

Step forwards and punch the snout, knocking it back because they're much more dangerous on the attack than the defence.

"kEEE-!"

Vader-grip its throat, stow the pistol and take out my knife. Step inside its reach and ignore the frantic battering from its membranes, jugular is there and stab and pull. Sidestep the blood because while I probably can't be affected by F.E.V. again I don't want to risk it and telekinetically shove the dying banshee away from me back into the… Acid fog which looks a lot denser now.

And the itching is getting worse.

Back up back up, head for the edge of the amphitheatre where the air's a little clearer. And.. actually-.

I wipe my knife clean on my sleeve then sheath it before redrawing my pistol and popping out the microfusion cell, which… Yes, I wouldn't want to try firing that. I hurl it into the melee before reholstering what's left of my pistol. Originally some sort of frustration project built by a bitter Poseidon Energy researcher who wanted to prove that he hadn't been wasting company money with his plasma research, it's served me well for several years and it would be a wretch to lose it now. As far as I know it's the only pistol-sized plasma weapon in America. I-

"Skreeeeeee!"

-hear that the ants aren't getting it all their own way. Why are the banshees still attacking? Are they intelligent enough to hold a grudge against the ants? I don't know.

Okay, the edge of the amphitheatre slops up here. I carefully begin climbing, my-. The stealth boy gave up the ghost at some point, so I'm fully visible to any ants whose tunnels I get in front of. But as long as it's just one ant I can muddle its senses, and I suspect that the general miasma will prevent it smelling any threat pheromone on me. Right, that looks like a good handhold, pull up there…

**Are you dead now?**

**No.** There's a flash of light behind and below me as the microfusion cell ruptures, and I press myself to the scree face as the pressure wave passes over me. **Not quite.**

Owowow! The pressure wave that brought burning mist with it! I start climbing faster, pulling myself up and-.

Coming face to mandibles with an ant! I vanish myself from its perception an instant later but it's already spraying! I scramble aside but my gas mask is already melting-.

Alright, that's it. Telekinetic grip on my body I stand and run, dashing up the slope, holding on only with my mental grip as I tear the mask off and toss it-.

Aaaaaaghhhhhh…

Toss it aside, mist immediately burning my face and eyes! The slope is too vertical to run up so I take a couple of leaps to dimly visible ledges before switching to a more conventional rock climbing posture. No crampons, but I have the advantage of telekinetic force to hold myself in position and more than human strength to pull myself up.

Gradually, literally painfully gradually, the mist falls behind and the air clears. The burning doesn't really stop, but it stops getting worse and once I can find a ledge or something I can use what's left of my water to wash my eyes out.

**Okay, I'm out of the line of fire. Mostly.** I 'reach' up telepathically, but I can't feel any more banshees. I suppose they've left, if they haven't all joined the melee below me. **How are the ants?**

**They're going back inside the burrow. Their acid spray probably breaks down the pheromone, so when they've covered an area they don't see a need to keep attacking.**

**Okay. I'm heading to the top of the canyon. Do you think they have an exit up there?**

**Probably. I'll go look. See you up there?**

**Indeed. Though I'm afraid that we're in for a long walk back.**

**Oh hell no! I'm not going back to that crazy-!**

**She's romantically involved with the AI managing this entire state. I imagine that you'll be registered as an escaped prisoner and rounded up in short order.**

**Fu-u-uck!**

**Don't despair. Meet me at the top and we'll work out where to go from here.**

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th July 2014
22:46 GMT +5:30

This is… This is a very big deal.

I hardly remember anything about other alien species being mentioned in Transformers lore. Nebulons are… So similar to humans that they're-. I barely think of them as being alien, and they're the only ones I've really had dealings with. But a Controller can… Tell me just about anything. Do just about anything, or at least do things that make it seem like it from my perspective.

And all he wants are things that I'm selling anyway.

"This is the crystallised blood of a being called Primus." I place the sample crate in front of the Controller. "Physically, he's a mechanical being about the size of the Earth, but obviously there's a lot more going on with him than that."

"Your current body is derived from his technology."

"This outer casing is, yes. This-" I place down another crate. "-is the processed form, used by his creations as fuel. I've also included samples of the synthetic form. We haven't noticed a difference in effectiveness between the two, but I imagine that you've got an advantage over us there."

"These substances are commonly available in your continuity?"

"Across the galaxy?" I shake Pull's head. "No. Essentially, you'd have to be either on Primus's recumbent body or Earth. And then you'd have to know the right people."

The translucent image of the Controller makes a swiping motion with his right hand, and the energon vanishes. "Acceptable. What else?"

Uh. If he was a Guardian I'd at least have some idea what he was doing, but as it is… The Controllers weren't exactly well characterised in the comics that I read. I owe him for the ring-. Assuming that he isn't responsible for my being here in the first place. But even if he is, he has no reason to tell me about it, and I've got no way to compel him to tell me.

Still, if it gets dark energon out of the universe, that can only be a good thing.

I turn back to the trolley and pick up the heavily armoured crate containing the literal blood of Unicron.

"This is blood taken from another planet-sized god-robot. The one we're currently inside. All types of energon are dangerous to humans… Obviously, I have no idea what they do to Controllers."

"Nothing that I cannot easily manage. Continue."

I press the button to open the crate and pull back as the dark energon samples become visible. "Again, the crystallised and processed varieties. It can cause spontaneous necromancy, so I urge you to be careful."

"Necessary precautions have been taken." The samples vanish. "Why are you not using your ring? Do you not have one?"

"I haven't found a way to recharge it since I've been here."

"That is curious. Most versions of you that I have interacted with manage that, even in continuities that do not provide a ready means of doing so. What prevented you?"

"I.. appeared in space-"

"Virtually all iterations of you do."

"-near Junkion, which doesn't actually have much oxygen in its atmosphere."

"Not Earth."

"No?"

"Most iterations of you appear near to Earth. I will make note of this."

"It might have something to do with the fact that this version of Earth is a thin film of rock over Unicron." I take a data storage module from the trolley and hold it out. "These records should bring you up to speed, and give you some idea what sort of items you would like me to acquire in future."

This time it doesn't vanish, but sort of shimmers as the Controller looks at it.

"I see. You believe that Unicron's core is still in place?"

"Ah… His spark's gone, but the physical containment unit should be. If you.. want it, it's going to take us a while to get that far."

"I do want it. And time does not concern me." He considers me for a moment. "These fluid samples are adequate compensation for your ring. What payment do you seek for further samples?"

A personal lantern would be nice. Apparently most other versions of me have turned out to be some sort of power ring savant, so the chances are good that I could learn to use it really well. I used all my charge up in a couple of days; Slipstream isn't capable of faster than light travel on her own. I was just lucky that she had the location of Nebulon on file. We were just lucky, I should say.

But I don't… Actually need it. No offence to the other versions of me who've probably built their lives around constant access to a power ring, but there… Isn't anything that I'm trying to do that really needs one. Slipstream and I are already rich enough to live the rest of my life in luxury. Delving into Unicron is something that needs to be done, but it's not as if we're on any kind of time limit and we're mostly doing it to help rehabilitate our colleagues and keep them from doing anything unfortunate on Cybertron.

On the… Other hand… I am the only human to get this sort of implant. They appear to be working as intended, but I… I don't have a spark. I'm not a transformer, no matter how much I pretend with this Pull body. Slipstream is millions of years old and will carry on for millions of years after I'm dead.

"What do..? Do you know anything about the nature of the soul?"

"Unless you are highly unusual in that regard as well, you will not have one. Your alternate selves have either not concerned themselves with that subject or created a soul manually."

I don't-. Alright, I-. That implies that they exist, but.. I don't.. get one?

"How does that…? Work? Afterlives are real? Does..? Do gods exist?"

"I am unfamiliar with the architecture of the universe you have appeared in. In my own universe of origin, there are afterlives and there are gods." He looks past me to the storage vaults. "You appear to have a number of wrecks of lesser robots designed to use their fuel. In exchange for them I can provide you with pertinent data relating to the subject. If you decide that you wish to follow your own example, you can request further assistance later."

I nod Pull's head, still a little shaken. I… The only afterlife I know for certain exists is the All-Spark, and… None of the transformers who've come back from it have complained about it. It… Getting a spark of my own would solve certain problems, and-.

He'd probably need an active spark and not just a spark case to study. That's… Not something I'd just do, but… There are more than a few people in this war that Primus can do without.

"Sure. I'll drag a few examples over here. Other than Unicron's core, is there anything else that you want?"

"Anything that does not appear to act in accordance with the physical laws of the universe as you understand them. That will allow me to learn what the laws of your alternity are, and thus better understand not just the interface between alternities, but what allows them to form coherent alternities in the first place."

"I… Respect your dedication to scholarship." Not that anything like that is really relevant to me.

"The knowledge has applications, but that hardly matters to you."

"And… Do you know techniques for transferring a human mind onto a computer format? Not just creating a copy, but moving the current network?"

"Such knowledge exists here. I have not had cause to examine it, but it does not require a great effort to discover it." He raises his right hand again, the data module shimmering again. "There is the portion of what you want that is already in my possession. You are in my debt once more. Deposit your wrecks here and it will be repaid. I have better things to do with my time than constantly be on call for you."

A little rude, but fair enough I suppose. "Anything I put here will just..? Vanish?"

"After a brief delay, yes. Once you are significantly in credit, I will return. Do you understand?"

"Yes, and thank you-" He fades out. "-for this opportunity."

I feel Slipstream's discontentment through our bond. "Well that guy's a thread-stripper." She walks closer, laying her right hand on Pull's left shoulder. "What was that about a mind transfer? Planning on turning Pull into an avatar? It would let you two be in the same place together."

"I was wondering if it was possible to fully become a transformer. Human life expectancy being what it is."

"Oh."

"It might hurt our income a bit if we're-."

Slipstream grabs my shoulders and pulls-. She tries to pull Pull around, but Pull is about three times her mass so she ends up in front of me instead. Then she kisses me, which… Ah, I can sort of feel it, but… It's still nice because I can feel what she's feeling.

"It's more than worth it. Let's get that tailpipe what he wants."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th April 2024
19:39 GMT

I get up when I want

I can't help but shake my head. I can't believe that someone's been using their time to set up a radio station, of all things.

I finish restoring the partially-demolished tower block and drift back to admire my work. None of the major fights of the… I don't know what you'd call it. Two people taking on everything the governments of the world can throw at them and winning. The centre of London is a crater from where they decided that killing governments for failing to surrender promptly was the way to go, and electronics are unreliable in a lot of places due to the electromagnetic pulses the nuclear weapons… And other exotic weapons, sent out.

Except on Wednesdays

But this wasn't even a battlefield. Just some poor bastard tough enough to keep his body in one piece when they hit him but not tough enough to actually survive, sending him flying halfway across the continent and slamming into a city with enough force to break it in half.

When I get rudely awakened by the dustmen

Most of the residents died, as did a lot of people the rubble landed on. But now it's… Liveable again, and with water and… With water restored, people can move in again. A few people below me nod at me in thanks, but… Yeah. It's a little hard to actually get excited about this. For them or me.

Parklife

Alright, dinner time. Then do I take the evening off, or keep-. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm going to keep working until I can't get an erg of ring power, then it's bed and start again bright and breezy tomorrow. Unlike most people I'm not hurting for food or-.

"Ahhh, what are you doing?"

I turn around, coming face to face with-. Him. My loss-. Ah! My loss of focus sees me dropping three metres to the roof of the building I just repaired, ring dead.

"That was a bit pathetic." He drifts a little closer, looking around curiously as he does so. I don't really know how good his vision is. Broadcasts from the people fighting him and his father said that they were slightly vulnerable to very loud sound but there wasn't anything about vision.

I cautiously rise to my feet, staring up at-.

"I'm-. I'm.. sorry, none of your broadcasts said.. how we were supposed to address you."

"Oh, that's easy. I'm still-"



I nod. That's the name he used as a young superhero, and I-. If his broadcasts are genuine -and I can't think why he'd feel any need to lie to us- then he still regards this conquest as a heroic activity.

"Well, ah, Invincible, I'm rebuilding. Ah. None of your broadcasts included… Any.. sort of plan as to how you wanted-" He drifts sideways slightly, looking around us. "-the reconstruction to happen, and in the mean time a lot of people needed homes…"

He's not looking at me, but I've seen the videos of what happens to people who disobey his orders. I didn't even want to be a superhero!

"Ah, so, if there is a plan, or… Ah, anything? I'm obviously happy to work to that… Is there?"

He carries on his slow rotation before returning to facing me.

"And you haven't built… I don't know, a secret base underneath there. Have you?"

"No, Invincible."

"Are you sure? Because a lot of people are doing that."

"I.. don't see what the point would be. In… Resistance. You beat Earth at it's strongest… If we were going to win… We wouldn't be here."

"Tch." He smiles, gesturing to me with his right arm. "Why can't more people see that?"

Optimism? Determination? I remember seeing a documentary about a runner whose shoe came off halfway along the track. He said in an interview afterwards that even after seeing everyone else shoot away from him down the track, he was still completely convinced that he was going to win.

It takes a particular type of person to dress up in brightly coloured spandex and be a vigilante. And apparently that's the sort of person who will look at a viltrumite who has just exploded their way through fifty of their colleagues and say 'I can take him'.

"I couldn't say. Ah. Though if I may make an observation?"

And then he's behind me, right arm around my shoulders. An arm that can sheer steel bars and would easily go through any construct I could generate.

"Sure, buddy! Tell me what's on your mind."

"W-well, I'm… Excited to be joining the Viltrumite Empire, but, ah… I don't really know what that entails? Will.. you… Ah, Omniman, be our governor, or… King? With you as his deputy? Or are you both.. part of the Empire's military, and there'll be a.. transitional.. team coming along in a few weeks to begin integrating us into the Empire?"

"No, we'll be sticking around."

"Okay, good, great! Makes perfect sense when you're the ones who know how human civilisation works. I'm sure that will make the integration go a lot more smoothly."

His arm bends ever so slightly, and I'm dragged down a little, to his head height.

"'Excited to be joined the Empire', huh buddy?"

"Africa still.. mostly uses European infrastructure. For a space aged civilisation like yours, I'm-. European countries didn't improve Africa to be nice to the natives, they did it to improve their own standard of life as they colonised it." I turn my head towards his, and-. Those goggles are really off-putting. Not as much as the strength is, but not being able to read his full expression… "The Viltrumite Empire is space aged, so…"

"You think that even if we're just fixing the place up for us, you'll still benefit."

"Ah… Yes."

"Okay." He nods repeatedly. "Okay. I can see where you're coming from. And you're right. The Viltrumite Empire will be improving a whole lot of Earth."

I find myself smiling without specifically meaning to. "Great! Great. I assumed it was-. I mean, there's not much we can do for an Empire… That powerful and… Advanced. And I don't think we're on a major shipping route."

He shakes his head. "So..?"

"I was sort of wondering… Why? What the point was? I suppose it.. sort of what it goes back to what I was saying about… What it is that you want us to do? I mean, you and Omniman have been very clear about what we're not supposed to do and what the consequences for disobedience are, but… I think a-. That having a more positive message-. Idea about what Imperial citizenship meant… Might make things go better."

He nods, relaxing his grip. "Far as I can tell? The Empire wanted to conquer Earth because it's here, and because we can run it better. Just a sense of obligation, really. And I know that however many people we kill now, future generations are going to look back and thank us."

I nod. "Okay. That's-." Doesn't really answer my question. "Informative."

"But for me personally?" He lets go of my neck, those parts of his face that I can see looking pensive. "Have you ever dated someone who was such a total bitch that you decided to conquer her planet just to shut her up?"

"I-I can't say I have."

"Be grateful." He rises into the air. "I'll get you those plans you were asking for. No sense having just about the only guy with powers who's actually getting with the program wasting his time building something we're just going to tear down again."

"Thank you?"

"Don't sweat it. Keep up the good work!"

There's a roar of air and he's gone, the people below taking cover as stony shrapnel goes flying!

I spend a moment watching the now-empty sky.

And then my heart rate starts to come back under my control.

And I think… I think I just became a collaborator.

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th December 2282
06:37 GMT -6

The device I recovered floats in pieces around me. Cleansing myself of ant pheromone had to take priority, and since I'm not a specialist in molecular transmutation that wasn't exactly quick. I'm not a specialist in animal control either, which is why I had to. And once I did that I had to clear the area around me, because the pheromone triggers combat behaviour generally as well as marking a target specifically.

It is a speaker. But it's not a radio speaker. I'm not exactly sure what it does, but I've got a nasty suspicion. Slot the whole thing back together, focus my psychokinetic powers on my immediate environment and activate it…

Ultra-high frequency sound. Doki was driving the banshees wild deliberately.

The ground a short distance away begins to churn, then a giant worker ant erupts from the rock. It looks around, appears to spot me and takes me in for a few seconds, then completes its examination of its surroundings and heads back inside. A moment or two later there's another eruption from nearby as another worker ant surfaces.

Uh.

I back away a little.

Another worker ant breaches, then a section of ground collapses. Then more worker ants start swarming, clearly the area and building some sort of… Mound? Ramp?

**Tanya? Are you there?**

**Kinda? The Queen's bringing me up through the tunnels. I don't know what I dosed her with exactly, but it's really worked.**

**Should Queens move that much?**

**Not usually. If these ants were migratory, there'd be more tunnels and bivouacs around.**

**And she doesn't look aggressive?**

**Ah… No?**

**You don't sound too sure.**

**I haven't learned all their behavioral patterns yet. I don't think this is aggression, but I don't know for sure.**

**I'll try to avoid looking edible, then.**

**Try not to smell edible. They're ants. Okay, I think-.**

And then the queen barges through the steadily widening hole, Tanya clasping her thorax with all her might.

Gosh. That's a big ant.

Not a lot of giant ants on the west coast. I think there was one small colony in the Mojave somewhere, but that got dealt with years ago and I only saw pictures of the aftermath. I reach out mentally… No, not intelligent, but she… Yes, she's pegged Tanya as an immature Queen and… Future ally? That's a little concerning, as it makes me lean towards 'engineered bioweapon', but-.

Tanya scrambles off and staggers over to me, wiping dirt off her mask. "That was-. That-." She gives up on clearing the mask and just pulls it off. "That was horrible."

"You made some friends." The Queen is looking at me, but I'm not feeling any particular malice. Still… Uncomfortable, even if she's not mentally sophisticated to associate me with the scrum down below. "So-."

"She's broadcasting this, right? That Doki-machine?" I nod. "How far?"

"I'm not sure. Over a good portion of North America at least."

Her face falls. "Seriously? I have enough trouble with people knowing who I am back home. Now everyone's going to know me as the crazy ant girl?"

"My offer of sanctuary still stands. I was.. involved in the previous one of these."

"How long does it take for everyone to forget about it?"

"I'm marrying the winner of my contest, so… Probably never. Now, what exactly did Doki want you to do?"

"Never?" She looks dejected. "Damn it!"

"My aircraft was destroyed and I don't have a quick way out of this part of America." Technically, Diana's tribe lives to the south of here, but if Doki's put speakers to drive the river crawlers into a fury… Not a good idea, and actually getting to Diana's airport wouldn't be easy because the half-civilised tribal slavers she recently conquered are in the way. "We're going to have to play along with Doki's game for now. There are a couple of banshee corpses down there that haven't been melted with ant acid."

"The ants have got a fungus farm. They'll let me take some. I've cooked ant fungus before." She looks pained. "Who's that 'Lannayus' guy? Some kind of warlord?"

Right, east coast. Won't even have heard of Caesar's Legion.

"He's a general. He's the immediate subordinate of the man who rules Arizona. At the moment. There's a large war going on and he's almost certainly going to lose."

"I guess that's how Doki got to kidnap him. So… Okay, we get the food, then what?"

"Well, the leader of the Executives is a raider, so I'm not too worried about her. But I have a good working relationship with the Brotherhood." Hm. "Are you going to be alright gathering food here while I try and find her?"

"Ah… The ants like me and all the banshees are dead, so probably."

"Will the ants escort you?"

"If I get the right smell. So I gotta get back to the prison on my own?"

I shrug, and gesture to the Queen. "I wouldn't say 'on your own', but… If you think you can. If you can't, I'll stick around."

She takes a deep breath, thinking it over. "Ahhhhh… No. I should be okay. I've survived the wasteland with just my ants before. And I know the way back."

I nod. "Okay. Let me know when you start back. If you get desperate for help then think at me and I'll try to reach you again, but I'm not that fast on foot."

She nods, and I turn due south. Head down and run, F.E.V.-enhanced muscles shoving me onwards while my psychic abilities guide my feet to places that provide stable footing. I'm rather glad that psionics here works more like magic or the Force rather than simple telepathy, because while I could probably survive a fall from up here I wouldn't exactly-

I leap over a four metre wide cleft in the rocks, rolling as I land on the far side before resuming my dash.

**Paladin Justinia, can you hear me?**

Nothing yet, focus on running. What her chances are -if she's even still alive- depends on what equipment Doki has left her with. River crawlers attack with their claws rather than dragging and drowning as an alligator would, so if she's got a suit of T-51 or Technical Armour then she should be safe unless she runs into one of the really big ones. Laser weapons are reasonable for piercing their exoskeletons, and river crawlers shouldn't be intelligent enough to aim for the weapon.

Would Doki have put speakers by the riv-. Of course she would.

**Paladin Justinia, can you hear me?**

**Show yourself!**

She can just about hear me, but without a better feel of her thoughts or significantly closing the distance she's not going to hear me clearly and I might distract her at a vital moment. So…

**[A device that broadcasts a bad signal, a threat that goes away when it's destroyed]**

I don't know if she'll do it or not, but that's the best I can do for now because I'm reaching the southern end of this valley wall and the distance between this rock and the rock column between here and the river. I accelerate, preparing to hold myself in the air with my psychic grip.

Coming up now and… I know how Neo felt before he failed his first jump. But all that will happen if I fail is that I'll take longer to reach Justinia. I can do this.

Two, one, leap!

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th December 2282
06:42 GMT -6

Kinda… Funny, really. After kicking off the edge of the canyon wall, there's not much I can do physically to improve my trajectory. Psionics lets me negate gravity to a degree but I'm still left coasting on my momentum less air resistance, and I'm fortunate that it's not particularly windy today.

Falling with style, if you like.

I'd keep trying to **feel** Justinia but I have to direct all my energy to keeping myself airborne. Ah. What can I usefully do..? Radio. My personal unit isn't that good, and… We're in canyon country, so it's long wave only, but… Earpiece, turn it on and press the 'search' button…

"…unexpected intervention of our previous bachelor, Ant Agonizer is getting to work at butchering the corpses! Being able to butcher your kills is a vital wilderness survival skill! And one that puts her way ahead of half of her competition! And now a word from our bachelor!"

"Previous bachelor? Who do you mean?"

"Krono of the Sky Walker tribe!"

"The Witch-Man is here? I will take him and-!"

"Ah, we don't do that kinda meet-up here! Strictly boy-meets-girl! Back after these messages!"

"What are you implying, machin-?"

"Why you want it to fry,
So you don't die:
Lady Lasers!"

I switch my radio off.

'Witch-Man'? Yes, creative. I knew that Star Wars never existed, but isn't there some sort of reference to Roman folklore or mythology that Sallow could have made? Lanius himself isn't an issue. He's supposed to be unusually strong, but he isn't F.E.V.-strong. He might have got the brain treatment from the Hubologists that would prevent me probing his mind… Though that's not a sure thing. Sallow would be willing to authorise it for key people and Hubologists only restrict access to it for financial reasons, but it does actually require complicated machinery that doesn't just get left lying around.

Nice to know that Lady Lasers are expanding out of Mexico. Always struck me as a bad idea that the NCR was so dependent on the Gun Runners, and they'll find it harder to use their usual anti-competitive practices outside of NCR territory. Not like we offered General Vialla an exclusive contract.

Alright, coming in for a landing, and… Ah, oh, I'm going to undershoot. Alright, so the choice is between smashing into the cliff because I'm only stopping myself from falling and my inertia shield isn't all that reliable where walls are concerned, and just falling now and then… Running around the mesa, or… Climbing it? Because as much as I might like to I can't fly or-.

Um.

Okay, this is going to hurt. But it's going to be survivable, and it should get me to Justinia a little faster.

I close my eyes, and imagine that I'm falling towards the ground.

I'm not flying from the cliff top, I fell from the cliff and what I'm moving towards is the rocky floor.

Gravity isn't pulling me towards that… Ah, dust-covered wall that way, it's pulling me towards the place I'm falling towards, otherwise… Why would I be falling that way?

**[Gravity is coming from that way.]**

I twist in the air so that my feet are pointing **down**, bending my legs slightly in preparation to absorb the landing and-.

Euerkkh!

Oh, that's going to be a nasty headache later! The universe doesn't like being lied to like this and-. And I shouldn't get a brain haemorrhage, but I'm going to be looking at a migraine in a few hours, and-. And the 'no brain haemorrhage' thing is more hopeful than-.

Brace!

Crack!

Bendandtuckandroll!

Ahfuck! Up-!

No, that was my knee! And that hurt enough that I'm tearing up-.

Guugh!

No, that's not a tear, that's blood. The universe's way of letting a psyker know that they're on its bad side! Crawl! The.. drop is only a few metres away, knee is-. Aaaagh, that's going to need to be set before too long or rebroken later because F.E.V. regeneration knits tissue back together rapidly, it doesn't move bits around if they're in the wrong place! Keep that-. Elevated! And remember where **down** is!

Ugh. Ver-vertigo, too? Oh, no, just something in my ears bursting. Good-. Ah! Ow! Good show. Arms over the **drop**. Shoulders over the **drop**. Grab onto-.

OOPHF!

And down is actual down again and I'm hanging from the top of the cliff and I can feel my leg trying to mend itself with my kneecap still in several dislocated pieces!

Ah…

Twist to the side slightly, try and get my… Good leg up. Don't use psychic powers because I can already feel the headache building and I need to make sure that Justinia is safe before I collapse. Pull, dig fingers is, turn and get the leg up… Good. Now roll onto your back… Yes. Sit up. Pull robe open and… Uh, rip trouser to get at busted kneecap.

I used to work with a bloke who had a busted knee. Rugby incident. Not accident. Ripped through the connective tissue and he sometimes woke up to find that his kneecap had slid around to the side of his leg while he slept. Put the ripped bit of trouser between my teeth and pushghrghrfffghuhh! The knee back together. Hold it, get the stim injector from my coat pocket and jab it into my leg!

And keep holding… Two… Three… Release?

Okay. Good enough for hobbling. Still hurt, but! Not as much as my head is starting to. Now I need to go that way, and… No psychic powers to make sure that my footing is sure. Which isn't a problem because at this speed I can see where I'm going perfectly well.

Hop-hobbling it is. And… Radio, not.. damaged. Switch to Midwest Brotherhood long wave frequency, switch to broadcast, take the microphone…

"Krono to Paladin Justinia. Please respond."

Is hobbling or hopping faster, I wonder?

"Krono to Paladin Justinia. Please respond."

"Identify yourself! How did you get this frequency!?"

"High Elder Törni has been using me as a messenger. I don't recognise your name, so I assume you're from the Midwest Chapter?"

"Steel Circle?"

"No, just someone trying to make the world a better place. You should look out for broadcasters; Doki is using them to-."

"I have already destroyed them. I am aware enough to know they were out of place and I have no interest in this farce. Where is the closest Brotherhood outpost?"

"Ah… There's a Brotherhood outpost in Denver, but the city is controlled by WARDEN, and he works with Doki. Next nearest after that is in Texas, and that's a long walk. But if we finish this contest, then Doki won't try and stop you leaving. Do you know anything about cooking crabs?"

"The best meat is in the claws."

"Sounds like a start. Gather some up, and I should be with you shortly."

"Why should I follow your plan?"

"Because the humiliation you're feeling now is nothing compared to the penalty which Doki will drop on you if you don't at least play along for now, and at this point your reputation has already taken the hit."

"Fine. But before this day is over I will have Doki Doki's head!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th April 2013
23:37 GMT

"Mister van Wyck!" The red, white and flame figure stops in the air as I call out to him. "Fancy seeing you here."

He hesitates for a moment, then turns and flies closer to me. "Why wouldn't you? I live here now."

I glance around at the Maltusian city around us. "Oh? Since when?"

"End of last year. I was getting bored with how quiet our Sector was, and asked to be reassigned. My Controller has finished the machines for changing people into Effigies automatically and he wants me to train them."

Mr. van Wyck doesn't have a military background, but he is 100% of the non-Martians with his power set and that's inevitably going to help the new people adjust.

Wait…

"Last year? Did you miss the whole Anti-Life..? Thing?"

He looks a little puzzled. "What anti-life thing?"

Be-cause his powers don't come with a database or news feed.

"Ah, short version, a mafia boss made a deal with Darkseid and got given the ability to inflict weaponised clinical depression on the whole planet. It took the Justice League months to undo it, and it's been like a second Sheeda invasion as far as the effect on civil society is concerned."

"Oh." He looks dismayed for a moment, then his eyes snap back to me. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I had no idea where you were, and… I assumed that if you were on Earth that you were already involved. I was… Updating the N.E.M.O. database with everything I discovered…"

"Uh."

"You didn't read it?"

"I didn't have much of a life back on Earth." He shrugs disinterestedly. "No one to keep track of. Things going alright now?"

"Not great, but… The remaining problems can't really be fixed with brute force. I mean, if… Controller Jevek Jos Jar can spare you, we could give you a region to look after. Policing is one of the things that's… Collapsed in a lot of places."

"That what you're doing?"

"I'm on infrastructure repairs. You don't realise exactly how much road there is on Earth until you've got to rebuild it."

He grimaces. Jevek made him powerful enough to keep up with a normal Lantern in a fight without the empathic requirement, but he has almost no utility in other situations and he knows it. Best to move on.

"How long until they start letting you loose on Reach targets?"

"About a week. He wants to get the new recruits used to their abilities, then find an ideal target so he can assess how best to use us."

An ideal target is a reasonable place to start, but depending on how Jevek wants to use them a less than ideal target might be better. And even then, they'll have to outperform L.E.G.I.O.N. marines by a lot for them to be worth N.E.M.O.'s time. Because they can't hide like Darkstars and lack Lantern adaptability, so the marines are their competition when it comes to combat viability.

"I'll look forwards to hearing how it goes." Hm. "Actually, your… Faster than light travel. Are the Reach interdicting it?"

He grins. "No. No. We can fly right past their defenses. Attack them anywhere."

I raise my right forefinger. "Until they work out how it happened and block you. The first attack has to count, and you have to have a way to get away again."

"It's super-telekinesis. The only way to block it is to have someone who's better at telekinesis, and they don't have anyone like that. All the martians are back on Mars and Adam Blake is in Vega."

"We don't have a full list of every species that they've exterminated and we certainly don't have a list of every species that they've had dealings with. I wish you all success, but don't get overconfident." I think he's rolling his eyes but the flame effect makes it hard to tell. "Ah, what species are compatible with… Becoming an Effigy?"

"Everyone we've tested it on. Apparently it even works on Reach tissue samples." He shrugs. "We've got no problem recruiting anyone who wants to join. And we're immune to just about every form of mind control they use."

I smile. "Maybe don't recruit reachians anyway."

"What-? No, we're not-." He shakes his head. "Look, I've got work to do. Catch you later."

He turns away and flies off at speed.

Huh. I suppose that it's good to know that he's alright. But the whole 'Effigy' thing… It seems to be a villain thing, if I'm not being a little unfair there. It would work really well if deployed en masse on a population with almost no combat capacity, as it would immediately make them a lot more dangerous. But in a situation like this… The war just doesn't involve that much direct combat close to our civilian populations. The Reach are focused on mind control, with extermination being a long term side effect. And with them only being able to destroy…

I suppose that the at-will FTL has some utility at least.

My ring flashes.

"Answer?"

Ah, not a message. Just data. And… Ah. Not unwelcome news. Richard Madoc did not survive the Anti-Life. Nothing ironic, just beaten to death by someone in the prison he was housed in. It's unlikely that we'll ever know who, and honestly it's not that important.

I don't think I'll mention it to Calliope. She either knows or doesn't care.

Hm. I can feel Orange Lanterns focusing on self-reflection. It gives their connection to the orange light a distinct feel, less… Grabby. Perhaps I'm being unfair, but I hope that neither Ragnar or Zartok make the same breakthrough that Xalitan did anytime soon. I'm pretty sure that they'd both want a fight to the death, and I don't particularly want my Corps to be the sort of organisation where that happens. Perhaps it's my fault for offering exactly that to both of them, but…

Xalitan appears next to me, and I don't notice any of the disorientation that accompanies some forms of teleportation.

"You got the hang of it, then?"

"Yes. I think so. I visited Onigar, and a moment later I was here. And my constructs remained strong around her, even when she-."

He stops talking.

"When she distracted you? When you felt another emotion?" He nods awkwardly. "That's another nice benefit. Even in combat you can feel other things without your constructs weakening. Focusing makes them stronger…"

I shrug, and he nods.

"That will be helpful. Illustres, now that I am enlightened, what is my next assignment?"

"Up to Dox, I suppose. Let's go and ask him."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Earth 12

2nd February 2043
16:12 GMT -7

Ah.

Stairs.

My last surviving enemy.

I take a moment to breathe, not putting enough weight on my cane to feel ashamed of myself, but… Some. Some rich people my age opt for mobility frames, but given the problems those cause you might as well go full cyborg… Something that I've put off entirely too long, if I'm honest. Fifty years ago Lex Luthor was able to get John Corben a robotic body whose only disadvantage was that it lacked some senses. Modern cybernetic frames… Cost enough to beggar a medium-sized country, which is why they're not common, but they include enough techno-organic components that -according to those who use them- they just feel a bit off.

I could afford it, and now that the trial's over I could take the time off to recover…

The problem is the human brain.

Mine's old.

That means that adapting to a replacement body will take a lot longer. That means that the one part of me that I can't replace will carry on decaying, and…

And my mental health is good. And I don't mean that in the American my-analyst-sees-me-regularly sense, I mean that in the my-neurologist-confirms-minimal-faculty-loss sense. But it's not going to improve, and… One of the things I'm genuinely afraid of is turning senile in a more-than-human body. And then there's the fact that I'll still end up dying anyway when my brain dies.

But it's not like my heirs are going to want for anything anyway. Small country money for an extra thirty or so years… And the technology won't improve unless people actually invest in it…

"Fine, fine…"

"Mister Wynne?"

I glance around as Rani comes up the stairs behind me, carrying my case. A personal assistant is one of the accommodations I've finally made to advancing age, and… Yes, it works out well. I get a trustworthy aide who knows how to handle violent confrontations, and she gets a well paying job working for someone who understands if she needs to disappear at short notice during a time that coincides with the appearance elsewhere of the costumed vigilante Goldstar.

"Yes, I'm moving, I'm moving."

I don't put pressure on the cane as I walk, but it is there just in case I need it. And I have needed it before.

"I wasn't nagging you. I was making sure that you're alright."

"I'm old, that's all. Oh, remind me to make an appointment with…"

I frown.

Oh, great. Naturally, good mental acuity 'for my age' isn't quite the same thing as good mental acuity.

"What was his name, the cyberneticist…"

"Ah… Do you mean Doctor Bascomb?"

I click my right thumb and middle finger. "That's the fellow. Yes, an appointment with Doctor Bascomb. I want to see what he can do for me."

A brilliant man who ran into me when he was extremely short of cash and on the verge of making some regrettable life choices. Exactly the sort of person I try and help. He generally focuses his work on the lower end of the market, but I'm sure he can manage a consultation.

"Have you talked to Missus Hampton about this?"

"Claudia?" Ah… "Not recently. I think… Maybe… Five years ago? She might have thought I was joking. But it's just a consultation at this-" She gets in front of me and pulls the door open. "-stage. I can open those myself."

But in I go, a nod to the woman doing the interview. A nice thing about being rich and in demand is that I can say 'I'll be free in the afternoon at some point, set up here and wait for me, and I'm not doing makeup', and that's what happens. The camerawoman's ready, the sound man is ready… And some other people whose function I can't immediately divine are hanging around purposefully.

Now what was her-?

Rani leans in to whisper at me. "Vivian Cole."

"Ms Cole." I accelerate towards the guest chair as she ends her phone call and heads to the interviewer seat. "I'm sorry for the delay. It turns out that ending a court case requires nearly as much time as starting one."

"That's perfectly fine, Mister Wynne." I take my seat, ignoring Rani's concern about my ability to successfully lower myself into it. "Do you want to get started right away?"

I drop my cane to the side of the chair and clap my hands together enthusiastically. "Might as well."

She-. Oh, lighting engineers, those-.

I frown. "Studio lights? What is this, twenty twenty? We have colour correcting editor software now, you know."

"Ah." She looks wrong-footed. "We can get rid of them if they're a problem. But people got so used to artificial lighting on shows like this that audiences overwhelmingly prefer how it looks, even if it's not really necessary."

"Ah, well." I shrug. "So be it, then. Hardly my first time."

She nods. "Okay, ah, this isn't going out live, obviously, but your… Assistant, said that you didn't want to view the footage before broadcast?"

I wave my right hand. "I'm not really worried about my reputation at my age. If I say something stupid then that's my own silly fault."

She nods again, checking the rest of the crew. Yes, it looks like we're ready to start.

She smiles brightly at the main camera. "Joining me here is Mister Peter Wynne, the man whose backing of Doctor Abel Cuvier produced this week's dramatic verdict. Now, the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Gotham Police Department's use of gene-altering technology last year. Why did a final verdict take this long?"

"The job of the Supreme Court is to rule on constitutional issues, not whole... Well, criminal incidents can involve a lot of separate cases, and each of them requires a final judgement by a lower court. Establishing that the police acted unlawfully didn't automatically mean that everything everyone on… On 'my side', if you like, was entirely in the right. Though the case against Doctor Cuvier fell apart immediately, of course, and his acquittal was… Almost inevitable."

"Leading to the dramatic demonstration of splicing technology on the steps of the courthouse."

He literally left the court, walked up to the podium as if he was going to deliver a speech and then injected himself right there and then. I imagine that it was a relief for him after four years and I'm glad that he didn't go full chimera, but it would have been better if he'd waited a little.

"I did advise him against that, but we had just established that he had the legal right, so…" I shrug. "I hope the fact that he then gave a clear and concise press conference assuages any remaining fears about people who use splicing technology going-. Being driven… 'Feral', by it."

"And the other defendants?"

The other defendants… I thought that if you were rich enough you could just buy the result you wanted. Reality can be so disappointing.

"The jury had a choice. Either they were just picking a fight unprovoked, in which case they were guilty of attempted murder, or District Attorney Young sending out the police force to mutilate them with an untested mutagen was him attacking them, in which case they were defending themselves against an ongoing attack and not guilty. The actual verdict rejected both ideas for reasons I can only speculate; juries.. aren't required to explain their reasoning. Personally? I think that a conviction for assault means that there was a hung jury and someone suggested that they split the difference, but they're out for time served now so I'm not going to bother appealing it." I shrug. "I made it clear at the start that as long as they kept their noses clean they'd have positions in my company to come back to once they finish their sentences, so hopefully they can get on with their lives now."

"We're still waiting on sentencing for former District Attorney Young and former Police Commissioner Gordon. What sort of outcome are you looking for?"

I sigh. "This was… One extremely ill-considered decision at the end of Barbara Gordon's long career of public service. I don't-. If I hadn't seen it happen I'd have said that it was out of character. I.. regret the whole situation. I… I don't see any point in a custodial sentence, and I hope that the judge won't either."

"And Attorney Young?"

"I don't know his career all that well, but in my experience the District Attorney's office attracts the worst sort of politicians, and his actions relating to this case-."

Lights flicker, winds gust out of nowhere and Rani is opening my case and preparing to throw the rod to me even-.

"Lantern Peter Wynne." A translucent apparition I still just about recognise appears in the room. Humanoid, blank face and blue and red robes. Last time I saw someone like him they were picking a fight with Larfleeze. In a comic book. I don't think Controllers even exist in this universe, and I've certainly never met one. So where is this fellow from? "I have need of your service."

I briefly consider myself.

"You've left it a little late, but I'll see what I can do."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2024
09:01 GMT

"…very helpful, Invincible."

He's smiling.

It's… Best when he smiles.

"I've been adapting human infrastructure in the areas I repair to Viltrumite Empire standards. I was.. rather proud of British plugs, but omni-adaptors blow them out of the water. Ah…"

He… Spreads out his arms as he floats backwards down the corridor.

"Come on, buddy. You can talk to me. What's the problem?"

"It's going to take a while before… We can manufacture part-. Empire-standard parts locally, so... I've been building power points with both omni-adaptor points and… Whatever the local standard is to get through the transitional period, then… The older version can just be removed."

"Huh." He nods. "Good catch. I guess there's no point in having an energy grid no one can use. Any other problems?"

"Just the… Same concern I had originally. Standard pattern buildings…" I shake my head. "Perfectly functional, and a… Hah, a lot of the ruins I'm replacing were due to go anyway. You would not believe the amount of asbestos I've been finding."

He shrugs. "And that's why it all needed to go. You get that, right?"

"I-. I doubt I fully understand the magnitude of what's happening, so I…" Really wish you'd just leave me to it. "I couldn't really comment. But the new buildings are definitely better than getting asbestosis! Heh."

"Sure, buddy." He turns around and lands, walking towards a very secure-looking door. "Say, could you help me with something?"

What sort of janissary would I be if I didn't do whatever my overlord told me?

"Ah, I can try?"

A dead one. That's what kind.

He looks at the door for a moment and then carries on down the corridor, stopping at a viewing window. Then he turns back to me and motions to the window with his left arm. I nervously approach and take a look through. It's… A hospital ward? One woman, connected to a number of machines. There are… Nurses inside, with the same sort of look of embedded dread that I know is imprinted on my own face more or less continuously.

The look of someone who has to deal with a Viltrumite on a daily basis. And who might be too valuable to kill casually but who knows an awful lot of people who aren't and have sort of gotten used to it but you can't ever get completely used to it.

You can't…

"There's a resistance network in America. A few superheroes, some Global Defense Agency soldiers and some people who just…" He shrugs. "Joined up. I don't know what they thought they were going to achieve."

I nod slowly. "Ah. I'm not much of a fighter."

For a moment he focuses on me. "Ah, yeah, I know that. That's why you're still alive, buddy."

Then I breathe out as he turns his attention to the woman being tended to.

"My Dad and me, we shut down a resistance cell a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if we got the network's whole leadership. I think we did, but I guess it doesn't matter. What matters, is her."

I nod. "Assuming that she's a baseline human, I should-."

"Hah!" He glances at me, shaking his head. "No."

"Ah. No?"

"I'm not asking you to fix her. I broke her neck myself! Not easy, breaking someone's neck enough to completely paralyse them but not kill them. Especially when you're a viltrumite, and you're not sure exactly how tough she is."

No one knows about assimilation. When I realised how dodgy-looking the Global Defence Agency was, I abandoned any plan I had to be a superhero and just kept my head down as much as possible. Constructs, matter transmutation and flight, yes, records of those exist, but the other things… No one has seen them. The records don't exist. And viltrumites aren't telepathic. He shouldn't be able to know.

"Do you..? Want me to check that she's stable?"

"No, these guys are professionals. What I need you to do, is make her see sense."

"With regards to..?"

He smiles faintly. "The Viltrumite Empire. I don't even really mind that she fought us. If she was weak willed she wouldn't be worth my time. It's just-."

He sighs in frustration.

"She just won't accept that she's lost. I don't want to kill her, but I know that if I let her go then she'll start the whole 'resistance' thing up again. And then I'd have to kill even more people. So I need you to talk some sense into her."

"Ah…"

His head jerks around so that he's facing me.

"You can do that. Right, buddy?"

I smile nervously. "I can.. certainly try. Um. If you'll… Let me in?"

He smiles, then walks over to the door and puts his right hand on the palm scanner.

"You'll have to wait for me to get you out." The scanner beeps. "I lock the medical team in there."

I… I mean, what do I say to that? "I'll be waiting."

And then I'm inside, and the door is closing… Quietly but definitively behind me.

And the staff stop what they're doing to stare at me.

After a moment, the closest -a bald black man- sighs. "Are you Jenkins' replacement?"

"No." I shake my head. "No, I have no medical skills beyond basic first aid." … "Um. What..? Happened-?"

"Killed himself. Couldn't take being locked in like this." He exhales. "So what are you here for?"

"I've got to persuade her to stop fighting. Can-?"

"Heh." There's no humour to the… Noise, he just made, but I'm getting looks from the others that suggests that hysterical laughter is a definite possibility. "You know who this is?"

"No."

"This is Atom Eve, of the Guardians of the Global. Last one left."

"I thought The Immortal couldn't die."

"According to our sponsor, Omniman threw his body into the sun just to make sure he didn't get back up."

That… That would probably do it.

"When he broke her neck, he damaged her oesophagus, larynx, a whole bunch of nerves… High stress, not eating right… She can't feel it, but she's a mess." He shakes his head. "We can wake her up for you, but she can't talk. And she won't wanna listen anyway."

I snort. "I can communicate clearly with anyone and anything. And I'm more afraid of what Invincible will do if I fail than I am of trying."

He nods as he turns away.

"You and me both."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2024
09:07 GMT

Atom Eve's eyes open for a moment, scanning her environment. I get a half-second longer than the physicians, but nothing more.

"Well. Here you go." Dr. David Evesham shrugs dejectedly. "She won't be fully alert just yet, but she can hear you."

I nod. "Could you..? Could all of you take a break?" Oh. "Do you have a break room, or are you all stuck in here-."

"He took over this whole facility. We've got space… For whatever good it does us." He breathes out, glancing at Atom Eve's monitors. "We can, but-" A couple of the others look like they're about to object, but quieten down as he makes eye contact with them. "-you need to know what you need to do if there's some kind of problem. And obviously, if anything happens to her, we're all dead… And you are too."

"Don't worry." I wave my right hand. "I can rearrange matter. I'm gong to fix everything except her spinal column. And I can monitor everything in real time, so I'll see any problems faster than the monitors will."

"You can-?" He breathes out slowly, shaking his head. "Don't do this to me."

"Don't..?"

"Don't give me hope. If you do that, half of us aren't needed. He might let us go. Or he might kill us, I guess, but I don't think he'd kill our families at least. Either way…"

"Um." I stare blankly at him. "I don't-." Okay, these people… Plenty of food being produced in the world outside, not counting that nutrient paste which appears to be what viltrumites feed their auxiliaries. I reach into subspace while feeling out their canteen area. A decent meal is the least I can do. "Anything… Anything else I need to know?"

"We don't exactly know how her power works. She hasn't used it since she's been here, and she hasn't been drugged the whole time. It could be she needs to move her hands…" He shrugs. "She doesn't have extra organs or anything, but if you heal her, she might just blast her way out."

I nod. I've seen recordings of her firing energy pulses from her hands and feet and creating simple constructs. For a while I thought that she might have a power ring, but… No flight aura.

"I'll bear that in mind. Now take a break."

He regards me for a moment, several of his colleagues heading out immediately. Then he looks down, nodding to himself before following them out.

Alright.

Sound baffle and scan.

Ekh.

Yes, she's been in the wars alright. And laying in bed all day isn't doing her much good ether. I start patching-.

Alert!

What?

The aura I had forming around Atom Eve… Fractures!

Don't you dare.

Shield and scan!

Construct armour appears around me and-. And there's no one here. That was the ring-. Usually, whatever it translates is making some sort of noise, but given the state of her neck…

"Didn't you hear?" I drop my armour. "He might let some of your physicians go. There's a lot of work for doctors outside."

Let me die.

"I'm not doing that. It would get a lot of people in trouble."

Her eyes open slightly, assessing me. Telepath.

"No, I've just got a really good translator. Look, whatever you've got planned, most of your injuries can't kill you. They're just crippling you and causing you pain."

No.

"Alright." I pull out one of the chairs standing against the wall and move it into a position where it's easy for her to see me. "Now-."

He sent you.

I nod. "He did."

Her eyes harden further. Traitor.

"They hardly needed my help."

You could have fought-.

"I'm not that strong, not that fast, and I have no training. I've learned how to slowly rearrange matter. That's not something that can really hurt a viltrumite."

She snorts, and turns her eyes to the ceiling.

Right. "Do you know who General Franco was?" She doesn't look at me. "Fascist ruler of Spain for a good chunk of the twentieth century. Didn't join in the Second World War because after the civil war Spain was in too much of a mess to really do anything except send Germany a few volunteers, which is why he lasted so long. But as he neared the end of his life he wanted a successor. And having done the traditional fascist dictator thing of playing his subordinates against each other and only promoting people who couldn't challenge him, he didn't have anyone available who could do the job."

"But he'd been a monarchist in his youth and… The son of the deposed king seemed to be his sort of person. Young Juan Carlos made all the right dictatorial nationalist noises so… Franco nominated him his successor, Juan Carlos became head of state and then king once Franco died… And then revealed his true colours, abolished the fascist dictatorship and transitioned the country to democracy."

"Then there's the Book of Esther. Haman persuaded King Ahasuerus to have all the Jews in Persia executed… Until the king's wife Esther persuades him not to, saving tens of thousands of lives without killing anyone."

Oh, she's looking at me now. No.

Yeah, she worked that out quickly enough.

I shrug. "And of course if the king didn't care about her, they'd all be dead. And if she'd let the fact that he was about to have her entire ethnicity exterminated stop her from 'persuading' him, they'd all be dead." I sit back a little. "I did.. hear about Omniman and Invincible finding your resistance group. Aside from one guy who teleported out, they all died. So I'm going to ask. You're clearly happy to sacrifice your life. Are you willing to sacrifice your pride?"

Tears leak from her eyes, and she squeezes them closed to try and keep them clear.

"I was wondering how it would work, being conquered by an alien empire. I mean, Omniman acting as a scout and then destroying resistance once he realised that we couldn't beat him… Okay, that's efficient. No sense wasting resources when what's on site can do the job. But one man can't run a planet. All he's really done since then is destroy potential sources of resistance. Invincible's the one who made the broadcasts. I don't… I don't think he knows how to run a world. And clearly the Viltrumite Empire didn't have a team ready to go when it happened. In my role as a toady I've been asking for the reconstruction plan, and I don't think there is one. Omniman kills without hesitation, but I… Got hold of some of the Global Defence Agency's recordings. In the early fights, before he… Internalised the victim-blaming, Invincible looked at his father for… Approval? Before killing his opponents."

You disgust me.

"Yeah, that's fair. But having not fought them, and played the part of willing collaborator, I've been able to give millions shelter, food and sanitation. How many people did you help by resisting? After we lost at our strongest, how many did you think you could help by fighting at our weakest?"

You do it, then.

"We went bowling last week. I think he's trying to make a friend, but he's gotten so far into his alien overlord persona that he keeps being inadvertently terrifying… Then deciding that it was intentional." I shake my head. "I couldn't pretend to be you well enough. Couldn't hold your shape or match your power."

I sigh, then get up.

"Think it over."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th May 2024
09:24 GMT

"…paste, man." Nurse Dietmar Schwartz sits back after polishing off an extra large roast dinner, his plate just short of licked clean. The rest of the physicians are pacing themselves a little better, though none of them are exactly slow. "Even British food is better than that."

I shrug ruefully. "I'm sorry, but that's probably my fault too. Invincible gave me the designs, and… Feeding major cities is a bit of an issue at the moment."

Nurse Claudia Bieri shakes her head. "Why? Farming areas shouldn't have taken that much damage."

"Currencies are in freefall, people are panicking, and… Most of the rioting has stopped now that…" I shrug. "Omniman decided that rioting was a sign of mental deficiency and just killed all the rioters."

"Shiiiit." Dr. Evesham nods. "How many..? People did he..?"

"I-" I shake my head. "-don't know. Thousands at least. They weren't even… Protesting against him. They were protesting their own governments not reorganising things."

Mr. Schwartz sits up a little. "Can you take letters out?"

I shrug. "In theory. If I'm getting let out. For all I know I'm here indefinitely."

"Surely you could just wave your hand at a wall and make it vanish?"

"Yes, but then I'd have to flee the planet, and I don't have any star charts. If I pick a direction then for all I know I'm flying deeper into the Viltrumite Empire. And then I'd die tired. And even if I went in the right direction, I don't know where habitable planets are. Yes, in theory I could keep going -maybe for centuries- until I eventually found one by chance, but I'm not sure how long I could avoid going mad from the isolation." Hm. "And I suspect that he'd kill all of you, and everyone else I've spoken to, and destroy the infrastructure I've built. And the viltrumites would probably send someone after me anyway."

"Ah. Yes."

"So, ah…" I nod. "Write any letters you want, give me addresses and… Ah, probably a facial description, and I'll try and get it to whoever you want it sent to. I'd offer to talk to Invincible, but we… Don't have that sort of relationship. Just about anything I could say would involve implying that being stuck here is having a negative impact on your ability to do your job, and if I said that-."

Dr. Evesham shudders. "Yeah. Don't say that."

I nod. "Best I can do is 'it might be nice as a reward'. And I can't even promise-."

Several of the staff members jump out of their seats, backing away from-. A.. bright pink dart flying into the room from the ward and… Popping, releasing tiny sparks of pink light.

I get up out of my own seat. "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen."

It's a short flight back to the ward. No more pink bolts, so either that really took it out of her or she knows I'm coming. I wonder if she's been hiding more abilities than she's been showing? Doesn't seem likely. Invincible and Omniman seem like the sort of people it makes sense to go all out against.

The door to the ward slides open and… Her eyes are pointing towards me, though no other part of her body has moved.

Could you fight them, if you had training?

I put up a sound baffle. "Yes, certainly. In theory, my peak destructive capacity is extremely high. But there's no way to-."

Sound.

I raise my eyebrows.

Their hearing is extremely good. Enough sonic energy-.

"And they're not very likely to stand there and get hit. Omniman has not lived as long as he has by giving people free swings. And even if I… Burrowed a hole four miles down, built a soundproof training room for myself and spent a year raising my skill level to the point where if I caught them separate I could kill one, I couldn't do that to the rest of the Empire. Forget it. Put it entirely-."

I can heal myself.

I blink.

"Excuse me?"

My power lets me rearrange matter, just like yours. For a while I thought you might have been made the same way I was.

"That seems unlikely."

I can rearrange the matter in my body. I had to learn exactly what my organs look like, but I could fix my spine easily.

"Um." I frown. "I'm.. not sure-."

I had to focus. I couldn't do it while he was right there, or he would have found a way to stop me. Or Omniman would have ordered him to kill me.

"That makes sense, but why are you still here?"

Because I don't have a plan! The Guardians of the Globe's plan was to hide and build better weapons. But with Robot dead, there's no one to build them.

"Would they work?"

The only one we tried didn't. Why?

"If it was a sure thing I might have had a go myself. I'm not an inventor, but I can copy other people's work."

Would it..?

Her eyes move away.

Would it work? If I actually..?

"Don't know. Mostly I think it might work because he doesn't seem to care what happens with the Earth. So why not do what you ask him to. And… Obviously, you just changing your mind wouldn't be believable."

Acting like I'm hopeless won't involve much acting. I could… With him, and he might just murder thousands more people anyway.

"Based on observed behaviour I don't think it's likely, but yes. Do you know what happened to Omniman's wife?"

Died when he attacked Global Defense Agency headquarters.

"He killed her? That-."

They had a nuclear self-destruct. They hoped that if the blast was strong enough that it would kill him.

"I suppose that explains why he's been quite so ruthless in hunting G.D.A. personnel down. So are we doing this?"

It's better if you can heal me. Just in case they can detect it.

I nod. "Alright, but remember that I don't have permission to heal your neck."

I focus, and… It's not fast. I don't know her that well and it's not like I'm happy about what she's going to have to do. But the least I can do is stop her injuries hurting quite so much.

If there was another way-.

Lights flicker, winds gust out of nowhere and I create a barrier around us. A teleporter, or-?

"Lantern Matthew King." A translucent apparition I still just about recognise appears in the room. Humanoid, blank face and blue and red robes. Last time I saw someone like him they were picking a fight with Larfleeze. In a comic book. I don't know if Controllers even exist in this universe, and I've certainly never met one. So where is this fellow from? "I have need of your service."

I shake my head.

"I can't even help myself. What could I possibly do for you?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Earth 12

3rd February 2043
09:26 GMT -5

"Can you really trust them, Dad?"

Claudia, bless her, was able to organise my patently ridiculous request on impressively short notice. Probably from experience with trade shows or something. A lot of our back catalogue and prototypes spend their days mouldering in secure storage, with production models… Usually made to order. Getting them out, packed up, and getting the permissions we needed -both legally and practically- required an all-nighter from… A small army of people, including my daughter.

"Yes." I nod. "In the same way as we can trust the Guardians. They just aren't interested in the sorts of things that humans are."

"Y-."

"Did I ever tell you about the time that narrowly dodged being abducted by Krona?"

She looks a little blank, and shakes her head.

"It was when I first met Matthew Hagen. Clayface?" A slight pause, then she nods. "Must be half a lifetime ago now." Hmm. "Apparently, Krona was kidnapping different parallel universe versions of me and of a woman named Jade Nguyen and using them to do… Something or other."

"Jade Nguyen… Jade Harper, the assassin? Married Roy Harper…"

I look over some of the crates, remembering faces… Mostly retired or 'departed', driven and often slightly mad people who built machines the rest of the world hasn't caught up to yet. Or that got banned by international convention, like the weather control system. We have to get… Oh, so many signatures when someone wants to turn down a hurricane now. And we charge for that, but I can't but-.

"Dad?"

"Hm? Oh." I nod. "Yes, that's the woman. The two of them did some freelance work for me. Professional introductions, bodyguarding… Haven't seen them for a while, actually. Wonder how they're doing."

"Ah." Claudia looks awkward. "They're dead, Dad. They-."

"Oh!" I blink. "Yes, the… Plane. Sorry, slipped my mind." I snort. "I think I need to take another one of those cognitive acuity tests. I didn't miss Lian or Gwen dying, did I?"

"Not as far as I know, but I can check." She looks at me awkwardly. "Dad, are you okay?"

I shrug. "I'm old. I don't recommend it, if there's an alternative."

"Rani said you were thinking about full-body prosthesis. Those aren't… Safe."

"No, I know. But brittle bones and a failing musculature aren't safe, either. The main issue would be surviving the operation."

"Then you'd have the psychological problems. We don't have a lot of data on the long term effects."

"Haha..!" I smile. "Oh, Claudia, why would I be worried about the long term? Besides, someone's got to go first."

"Then why not just-."

I wince as the same flickering, wind-gusting thing from yesterday happens, raising my right hand to shield my eyes. This time I'm looking in the right direction to spot the Controller appear. He sort of… Appears from the middle of his torso, the bit of him that's 'here' spreading out until I can see all of him. Takes a moment for the colour to catch up. I wonder why? Seems like the sort of thing a Controller should be able to manage on their own, but I got Green Lantern Kai-Ro to check and apparently the Controller really was a Controller.

"Lantern Peter Wynne."

I moue, then reach into my jacket pocket and pull out the ring. Still just as dead as it's been for decades. "Technically. As per your order, we've assembled everything that might interest you here, and a-" I point to a small quantum drive in a secure case. "-digital copy of our entire archive. I'm not sure what use any of it will be to a Controller, but it's all yours."

"A digital copy would be inefficient. Simply transmit the data from your power ring."

"Ah. Well, yes, I'd like to do that. One small problem there."

"If your desire is insufficient, state what you want to make the exchange."

"No, no. I owe you this for… Everything. I just don't have a way to recharge the ring. It ran out of power long before I assembled… Before I built any of this."

The Controller regards me levelly. "Your ring has no charge."

I nod. "I'm afraid not."

"Where is your personal lantern?"

"I didn't ever have one. And I couldn't find one in this parallel." I shrug. "I've been stuck on Earth for almost my entire life, so I might just have missed it-."

"That is surprising. Almost all alternate versions of you find some way to recharge their ring."

…

Ouch.

"Well… I… Didn't. If you can tell me where I can find one, I can send a team to pick it up, but-."

"Okaara, in the Vega System."

"I checked there." I shake my head. "No myths relating to a 'Beast', and no Forbidden Forest of Weeds. I suspect that your forebears just didn't build an orange lantern in this universe."

"There are other ways to recharge a power ring."

"I didn't want to take a chance on learning them when I had finite power reserves and a ring that has a reputation for driving the user insane. I was cautious, and I'm a little surprised that you're telling me that my alter egos behaved so differently."

But I'm… Kind of bummed out that he's telling me that… Everyone else did… I mean, okay, not 'better', but-. It would have been nice to have. I remember the Despair Squid episode of Red Dwarf, where the team were told that they only got 3% in their own lives.

Gosh, I haven't thought about that for years.

"Lantern Wynne."

"Sorry. Sorry. Happens to humans at my age. I-."

"Would your effectiveness at collecting useful resources be increased if you had a personal lantern?"

"Ah." … "I'd have access to the rest of the universe, so, probably? But, I… I'm not sure I could-."

"Every version of you who has a power ring they could use has mastered it, except you." Oh. Ow. Right in the pride. "But I accept that a percentage of you that exist in the multiverse would be unable to achieve that due to circumstances beyond their control, and you have clearly prospered despite that."

"If you're going to give me directions-."

The Controller holds out his hands, winds gusting once again and orange light glowing between them. A moment passes, and then-.

A… Personal lantern. But it doesn't look like a Green Lantern's lantern. It looks more like a construct, but…

I look the Controller in the eyes, waiting. Because he's got exactly what I want.

"This will give you the ability to recharge. Temporarily. Since your universe lacks an Orange Central Power Battery it will fade and fail in time. I will restore it if you prove that you are worth my time. Recharge yourself, so that I can direct you in opening the portal from your end."

Oh.

Right then.

I slip the ring on my left ring finger, and raise my hand.

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th May 2024
12:37 GMT

"…kind strange, but I guess we all gotta have hobbies." Invincible shoves the blast door out of the way with brute strength. "Not like they're any use to us."

I wait for him to lead me inside… What I think was once a Global Defence Agency holding facility. Dimly reminds me of something Stormwatch used to use; sticking the most dangerous people on the planet in suspended animation just in case they need them.

Here, they keep their parts.

The lights come on in rows as Invincible walks down the row, looking left and right with a faint smile on his face.

"Dad didn't see the point, but the way I see it? These were the strongest humans alive."

I recognise scraps of costume, half a face where the skull was sliced vertically in half. But for most of the pods I have to scan the labels.

"They're worth remembering."

"Because they tried their best, despite their weakness?"

"No." He glances back, and under his cowl I can just about see his incredulous frown. "Because they failed. Oh." He flies up three levels of preservation pod, staring at the contents. Two arms, a leg and part of a torso are held roughly in the places they'd be if the pod contained a full body. "I remember this guy. Ex.. plodio..? Explo-dude? Something like that. I just waited until he blew himself up -and that barely even messed up my hair, by the way- and then stuck my arm into the space where he was reassembling himself."

He turns and looks down at me.

"I mean, seriously. He just looked down at my arm-. He wasn't even all there yet, and he couldn't stop it and he knew exactly what I was gunna do… Tch."

I nod. "If he couldn't hurt you, then it was a stupid position to put himself in."

He waves his right arm. "Ex-actly. So why did you want to come in here, anyway?"

I shrug. "To recharge."

"Oh." He frowns. "I thought your powers were just… Your powers."

"I apologise for inadvertently misleading you. There are things I can do without an external power source, but I usually need to draw power from… Well, there are a few things that work-."

"Ah, I don't care. Kinda disappointed, but… Whatever." He looks away, floating along the row. "So, do you eat them, or what?"

The honest answer would be some sort of device from the subterranean levels of a mad science bunker only a little while after arriving on this Earth. But the Controller wanted this sort of thing, and… Sneaking around behind Invincible's back is a non-starter.

"No, it's something that the organelles in their cells do; an energy they accumulate. I leach off it. Since they're dead they're not going to recharge, but I can build up a big charge like this."

"Ah, fine. It's better than what the G.D.A. was going to do. Did you know they made cyborg zombies out of their own agents?"

"No, but I can't say that I'm surprised. Um. Which of these..? Do you not mind me using?"

"The spare parts tank is down the end. I just sort of scooped up all the parts I could find. Kinda meant to have someone go through it, but all the G.D.A. guys are dead, so…"

"I can sort it if you like? Match genetics, that sort of thing?"

He gives me a puzzled look. "I thought you were draining them?"

"Just the exotic cells. Just about everything else will be left over. I can gene-match the parts…"

He brow unfurrows, and he nods. "That would actually be helpful."

He points, and… Ah, yes, the spare parts tank. I fly over to it and lay my right hand on the transparent aluminium viewing panel. Extend a construct through and start subspacing the exotic cells.

As far as I can tell, just about all superpowers have some sort of physiological basis. Someone like Aquarius obviously wasn't making the water his… 'Water vomit' used inside his body. So while most of his physical abnormalities were just alien biology, there was just a little exotic matter in his mouth that appeared to let him conjure high pressure water from nowhere. It actually didn't, but… You'd need to be a lot more intelligent than me to understand what it was actually doing.

And it doesn't take that many. Even Eve, who has the highest proportion of exotic matter to normal matter of any human I've scanned, is still almost indistinguishable from a normal woman. Is a normal woman for most purposes.

Viltrumites don't work like that. The reports Eve was given before the G.D.A. was destroyed claimed that Viltrumites are 100% exotic matter. They called them 'smart atoms', which sounds exciting but doesn't really explain anything. An effect based on the user's mental state, perhaps? And there's no real difference between Invincible and Omniman in that regard, so… Maybe that attribute is heritable, regardless of ancestry? I haven't seen any of Omniman's medical records, so I've got no idea-.

There.

Omniman and Invincible took on everything the world could throw at them and won, but not entirely without injury. Entirely without lasting injury, but they bled a few times and Invincible picked up a lot more injuries in his aborted superhero career. And one of these people either got good or got lucky or… Invincible really wasn't policing his battlegrounds well, because this blood sample is all behaving anomalously.

It's useless to us; all the researchers who could do anything with it are very dead. But the Controller expressed an interest. And while it would look suspicious as anything if-.

Invincible lays an arm over my shoulders, and I freeze.

If I started searching in the wards where he recuperated while injured, I… Thought that I could get away with this.

"You know I had that ward bugged, right? So I know Eve isn't exactly stoked about our relationship."

"I'm sorry, but that wasn't a realistic prospect. The best I could do was-."

"Hey, hey." He inclines his head towards me. "I'm not angry. You're right. The only way she'd accept it was if you made it out to be some big self-sacrificing gesture. She'll come around. But my Dad…"

He releases my shoulder and floats a little way away.

"I think he was hoping I'd hook up with a nice viltrumite girl. I told him I didn't see the point; a viltrumite's a viltrumite, so any of my kids will be viltrumites whether their mom's viltrumite or human or… Whatever. And hey, maybe they'll get Eve's powers as well. But apparently someone high up wants to make sure that viltrumite women can breed with humans, and if I'm not available… Then it has to be someone else."

I nod. "If they inherit viltrumite powers from their viltrumite parents, logically you'd be looking for a father who could provide other beneficial characteristics."

"Or we could just nominate the one guy on the planet who's made himself useful." A.. h. "So I don't really know anything about what other viltrumites like doing on dates, but maybe you should pick out some restaurants and get some nicer clothes?"

"I… Can do that." And I'm not enough of a hypocrite to try and weasel out of it, not after what I said to Eve. "When.. is the woman in question arriving?"

"Couple of days, and the integration team is coming with her. Ships and guys from other client worlds to turn the Earth into something." He smiles. "Finally, right?"

I take a deep breath, and try and look happy about things.

"I just hope she finds my work satisfactory."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th December 2282
07:32 GMT -6

The C-22 combat robots at the entrance display '???' on their visors, but make no move to stop Paladin Justinia and I marching through the main gate and into the courtyard. Justinia is in her somewhat scuffed Advanced Technical Armour, her Wattz 2000 laser rifle clamped to her back so that she can carry her pot of river crawler claws and edible greens unencumbered. I offered to carry the rifle, but without Elder Solo personally vouching for me there's a limit to how far she's prepared to trust me. ATA has a radio system built into its helmet, but whatever Doki Doki is doing to override radio transmissions it's preventing Justinia reaching her comrades.

"Hey Krono!"

Justinia halts, dropping to one knee, downing her pot and grabbing her gun as the C-22 just inside the prison comes alert. It… Looks a little different from the others, so I'm… Guessing that Doki Doki is a little more 'present' in this one than the others.

"Good morning, Doki. I hope that I'm not intruding."

This robot's visor image becomes wagging forefingers on the right and left and a shaking head in the middle.

"Somehow I don't think that's tru-ue!"

Justinia doesn't quite bring her gun to bear. The 2000 has fairly good armour penetration, but against a C-22 you really need something heavier or EMP-based. And she has to know that.

"Where would you have me cook my vittles, machine?"

"Cook-stations are thataway!"

The robot points at-.

"'First name not found' McKinley already completed her produce acquisition challenge!"

In the middle of the courtyard three nuclear battery powered electric range cookers have been planted in a triangle, and McKinley is already at work turning her meat into steaks and stewing chunks with a machete. McKinley is wearing Vault-Tec's own-brand power armour, helmet and gauntlets off as she works her cleaver. Her face has shrapnel scars running up the right side, and whatever hair she has is held back in a light balaclava. Probably wears it to stop her hair getting caught in the helmet. The viewing galleries I remember from my own bachelorhood still line the edges of the courtyard, though most of the inmates are watching the monitors rather than the cooking area.

Justinia slowly stows her gun, picks up her crab bucket and stands.

The Midwestern Brotherhood are the ones who originally killed the Calculator, fighting their way through a legion of both combat androids and other varieties of robot to destroy the AI. The only record of their presence here now is the remains of a crashed blimp and the graveyard Elder Brixley of the Maxson Chapter had dug for the bodies of those who died in Vault 0; they had to massively overextend to reach this far from their headquarters, and there was never any chance that they could hold the territory. It's quite understandable that the C-22s are getting an even stronger response from her than the abduction alone.

I frown at the unique C-22. "How did she get back here so quickly? I thought you were sending everyone a little further afield."

A dog, a gun and frying pan. "Impressive lateral thinking combined with psychotic ruthlessness!"

"Oh? Do tell."

A bowl of brown meat. "'First name not found' McKinley's challenge was to make dog food!" A happy-looking dog. "It's food, made from dogs!" The number 9. "While the original task suggested breaking into Vault Nine, she was not actually required to do so!"

I smile politely as Justinia occupies one of the other ranges. "Vault Nine?"

"Vault-Tec was committed to preserving as many of citizens as could pay to be preserved! While Federal Law prohibited bringing animals into the Vaults, Vault Nine was designated an experimental Vault and opened for canine inhabitation! Some of those rich people really loved their dogs!"

"Vault Nine is a dog vault?"

"I know! I was surprised too! If the Hangdogs had known about it, they'd have rushed Wyoming instead of bothering WARDENpoos!"

Two hearts and a picture of WARDEN's avatar.

I frown. "How did they stay fed for two hundred years?"

A test tube. "Dog food is chemically simple!" A protectron. "Dog food dispensing robots provided both physical and mental stimulation!" A sound wave. "And sonic emitters to discourage bad behaviour!"

I nod. "And I take it that Miss McKinley found some dogs closer?"

Three light bulbs. "She attacked the prison kennels! Even taking into account the time it took to remove their cybernetic implants, that still represented a significant decrease in time expenditure! I will patch out that exploit for the next episode! ODYSSEUS is really upset!"

McKinley snorts. "Try headhunting me without a contract offer, don't be surprised if I liquidate your assets."

I take a few steps closer to the cooking area. "You seem to be a good deal calmer?"

"Way the Legion's profit/loss account looks, Lanius is gunna be a free agent before the end of the year. I'll still dog everyone else, but he's a decent transfer prospect."

"Well then I.. wish you all the best."

"Besides, I'm a winner. I've been Chief for eleven years now, and my end-of-year reports are always in the black. No way I'm a fast-follower for these bitches."

I nod, then turn back to the robot. "New chassis?"

A circuit board. "Andrea Brixley was able to decode Calculator's data networks!" An image of the robot. "We are now able to produce C-Twenty Seven combat androids!" An American flag. "The most advanced combat robots in America!" A steel plate. "Armor!" A sonar scan. "Sensors!" A curling bicep. "Speed and strength!" A radio antennae. "Networking capacity and rapid weapon integration! They can't be beaten!" Thinker image. "One on one! Overwhelming numbers in power armor experimentally draw against them!"

"I'll be interested to-."

"And now it's time for your interference penalty!"

"I didn't agree not to participate."

"My set, my rules! And we need high-paced action during the slow cooking section!"

I frown. "Alright, what-?"

There's a creak of grinding metal above me, then a thud behind me. I half-turn as a huge man I don't recognise in Legion armour-.

I lean and turn my head and his right fist still hits my cheek, rocking my head back! I fall, rolling as he tries to stomp me and then rise to my feet with my arms raised defensively.

Lanius glowers at me. "Witch-man."

"Never heard what your original name was." I try reaching out for his mind, and have to bite down as my brain aches and my stomach roils. "But I doubt it matters whether you die here or in Arizona with Mister Sallow."

"You may be strong, but it is strength you took from the ghosts of the past, not a strength you have earned. You live a life of peace while I have known only war."

"You grew big and strong from strength you were born with. I had to work to get this potion to work, whereas you've learned precisely nothing since the Legion conquered the Hidebarks. Even Sallow couldn't teach you actual strategy. You're an attack dog, feral and rabid."

"I will make a banner of your hide."

He comes at me fists raised, and I charge to meet him.

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th December 2282
08:36 GMT -6

Lanius is a big bloke.

I was a hundred and eighty three centimetres tall before I was exposed to the Forced Evolutionary Virus, and while I wasn't trying to grow so much as reconfigure my body I still ended up reaching a round hundred and ninety. Not quite basketball player tall, but enough to be the tallest in just about any crowd that doesn't have a supermutant or talking deathclaw in it.

The top of my head would just about reach his nostrils-.

He's got half a head on me, and he's fast. He's on me in a heartbeat, aiming to either knock me down with his right fist or bowl me over with his mass. I crouch under the swing and push, both fists extended towards his abdomen. His -ah!- left hand comes down on my back but I hit him too, fully extending into his diaphragm-

"U-ogh."

-and knocking the air out of his lungs with our combined momentum. He staggers back, but keeps his feet under him and manages a glancing blow to my right shoulder as I rise back to my feet. My fists hurt from hitting his cuirass. Regular legionaries might wear padded shirts or scrap metal, but that was steel. I do smile slightly as his right hand feels for the point where I struck and encounters the dent I just made, but I can only bring that sort of strength to bear by anchoring myself. He'll feel a punch, but my hands will feel it more and I don't heal that fast.

"Stron-" He pauses, apparently trying to get air into his lungs by sheer force of will. "You are stronger than I expected."

And so's he. My inertia shield should have-. I reach into my robes and find that there's some sort of residue on the join in the casing. Darn it. Too much airborne acid. My armour is okay, but it's light armour designed to absorb laser fire more than physical impacts, and covers far less of me than his does.

"My compliments to your armourer." I make a show of opening and closing my fists.

"But you use no magic." He approaches me again, more slowly this time. If he doesn't charge then I won't be able to hit him like that again. "And you favour one leg."

Lanius's armour is full plate. It covers his front and back, arms and legs. There are gaps at the back of his knees and around his elbows and there is probably another under his arms. His hands are covered in thick leather gloves and his head is exposed, and none of his armour is power-assisted. I should be stronger than him, and if I can get a grip on his neck I can break it or crush his windpipe. Breaking his fingers is another possibility.

What's he seeing in me? I'm only a competent brawler, relying on psychic powers and raw strength for the most part. No armour he can see, so-.

He throws a fast jab at my face, and I swing my right arm to slap his forearm aside. There's a slight opening, but he's swinging with his left hand and I'm forced to step back to avoid it. Go for his upper arm and try and push-.

Oof! And step back again as he knees me in the chest! I'm not winded, but that's going to bruise.

Lunge.

He's slightly off-balance, his left leg not quite back in place and his arms raised to protect his face. Both feet pushing and knee not complaining yet, I slam shoulder-first into his chest and this time force him back. He -ah- hits me with his-. Elbows? Fists? But the angle is awkward and he can't get much force behind it. Not enough, anyway. I step, and he's forced back, having to lean into me and move his feet to avoid being pushed over.

For an instant I consider ducking and grabbing for his legs, then an image of his greaves hitting me in the face appears in my mind and I decide against it.

He gets his feet more firmly under him, moves his hands to grab my robes, leans into me and pushes back. The muscles of my legs and chest strain in a way they haven't since I tested my strength against Colonel Shaw. And that didn't end well. I move my hands to try and grab one of his fingers and-.

Y-AAGH!

Fuck…

He kicked my bad knee and it gave way, but he couldn't keep his balance on one leg! We're both down, me half on top of him, but if he gets up-!

Right arm grab his shoulder, ignore his elbow strike. Left arm grab his neck ring and pull as he tries to-. Yes, heavier than I look, aren't I? Right hand punch to his face! He tries to push me off and since he's working against my weight rather than my strength he's just about able to lift me-.

Face! Face! Face!

He drops me when his nose snaps, and-. Oofagh! Fucking knee! Can't twist away because he might be able to get up! Hit him again! Swing harder! Pull with both-!

KRACK!

His left eye bursts as his eye orbit gives way.

"AH!"

His head lolls-.

Temple punch!

His head bangs against the tarmac!

Temple punch! T-!

Something grabs me and pulls me into the air! And-!

"…big cheer for Bachelor Number One!"

Doki's.. C-27 holds me up and shows me around as the prisoners watching cheer, whooping and banging on the metal grating to show their… Approval.

Okay. Breathe in, breathe out, and-. Yes, that's going to start aching in a few minutes, once the adrenaline starts to die down, but for now the only thing that really hurts is my knee and that doesn't hurt as much as it should.

Ah…

"Doki, I'm not a bachelor. Tears and I are getting married."

A hat, a wedding cake and a ring appear on her visor.

"Really?!"

"Yes. So I-."

Aaaaaagh!

She just-. Dropped me! My leg gave way obviously and is now flapping backwards! G-rrrrrrrgh!

"Doki, what the-. Oh, that's a lot of ants."

The ant horde sweeps over the wall, the outer defences firing but being massively overwhelmed. The guns cut out moments later as the ants… Attack them, moments after some sort of pouch hit them. Prisoners cower and hide as the ants bypass them and-.

"Quick!" Tanya waves at me from the back of a warrior ant. "Get on!"

"Knee's busted!"

She fumbles at her harness, and a pouch hits me in the face a moment later. Then a worker ant diverts, grabs me in its mandibles and then scurries on towards the opposite wall.

My leg is.. flapping back and forth and I'm not going to be able to fix it while in an ant's mouth-.

Focus. "Justinia! Get on!"

Justinia turns while holding the pot of boiling water and hurls is at McKinley who is only able to partially shield her face with her arms.

"Agh!"

Justinia then clambers onto one of the warrior ants, which heads for the far wall.

I make momentary eye contact with the C-27, which is showing an enraged face and two shaking fists.

"AR-GOS!"

Ah… Crap. "Tanya! Can you make these things scurry faster?!"

And we're up the wall, and Tanya's basically throwing all of the pouches she has.

"ARGOS IS ONLINE."

"I don't know but I'm gunna try!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

April 20th, 2013
Now

Way to ruin a perfectly good day.

My right arm ripples as I do a flying punch and obliterate the training drone I've got set up.

Not like they'd ever let me use the Lantern training grounds.

I usually set these things at a higher level, trying to impress the Controller as much as to improve myself. But right now I've got them set to Reach soldier level because I'm in a mood to smash some things up.

It's always the fucking way.

A shimmering beam of fire from my eyes melts another drone to slag.

Mom dies, okay. Maybe I should feel bad for her, but I was too young to remember her and it's not like she needs it. Dad was drunk most of the time and-. Yeah, okay, learned all the wrong lessons there, but I made a point of not acting out with stuff I actually cared about. Made fuck-all difference. Could not get any work. How smart does a roadie have to be? I could lift stuff. I could earn-.

I fly around a burst of fire from two other drones, then just let a few more hit me. Psychological impact, right? No one likes to think they can't make a difference against what they're fighting.

Then by pure fluke the Controller found me. And as much as he says he doesn't particularly care about me-. Hell, I'll take his 'not caring' over everyone else in my life. Superpowers, the good shit, not 'super-archery' or 'super-spitting' or something shitty like that.

Gardner said I should count my blessings. So, fine. I can fly. In space. I can just go from one planet to another. Look around, see what's there.

And then leave, because there's nothing there I actually care about.

Not that I know what that would be like.

I can burn stuff by hitting it or by looking at it. I don't need to breathe unless I want to talk. Talk normally, because I can actually talk without-. Whatever. And I think: 'Okay, great! I've got some sort of purpose now. I can do stuff, I can matter'.

Except both of the Lanterns from around Earth can do everything I can, and better, and more.

And I get they weren't-. It wasn't personal. Paul wasn't a dick about it the one time we worked together. But GOD DAMN! Superman can't fly around the-. Ah, the stellar neighbourhood!

So, fine, the Controller's fine with me fighting the Reach. And the Reach are evil, I'm not-. They're the worst. Actual space Nazis, so I don't need to worry about pulling my punches. And when I try and do better than whatever Lanterns are attached to the fleet, a lot of the time I can do it. Not every time, they put in the effort too, but I can. I'm competitive, doing something. Not my fault I got born in a place with a bunch of super-Lanterns. Regular Lanterns, I can beat.

And those L.E.G.I.O.N. guys even invited me for drinks after I killed that Scarab. That… Hurt, but… Yeah, worth it.

And now it turns out that I missed some kind of huge disaster on Earth where I could have made a difference. Okay, maybe I had… Basically no life there, but it's still Earth! Saving the Earth is what a hero's supposed to do, and I could have been a part of that!

And-!

And.. I've wrecked them all. I bet a Lantern could put them back together no problem. I can just wreck them.

Or-. Maybe I could talk to Clicking-Scratch about-.

Then the Controller just appears in front of me, and I straighten up.

"Effigy. Accompany me."

"Yes, si-."

And then we're in his laboratory… Thing. I don't know, this shit is way beyond me. I've seen the Controller make a literal space ship just by staring at an asteroid, so I don't know why he actually needs machines and I don't know what these machines do that's so important.

Except that one. That one I don't like looking at. Not complaining, but getting these powers hurt. And… More than just hurting. I've been hurt before. That was-.

Not something to think about.

I 'breathe' a sigh when we go past that machine and over to-.

Is that a Guardian? I've only seen pictures, and… I don't think they had hair like that. I look at the Controller, and I'm trying to work out if he's going to say anything or-.

"My late brother, Krona. He was condemned by the Guardians for utterly ruining the universe at the moment of its creation."

"Ruined… How, sir? I don't think it's so bad."

"It is a fraction of the size it should be. Depending on how an individual assigns value, there is a coherent argument to be made that he was the worst being in history."

"Is he dead? Or is that just holding him there."

"Truly killing a Maltusian is difficult. But for most purposes you may think of him as dead. You have not read the file on his encounter with the Illlustres."

Was I meant to? "No, sir."

I'd feel like I'd failed, but if he actually wants me to do something he's a Hell of a lot more direct about it. I think he's just… Talking.

"He created a fascinating device. It used parallel universe versions of the Illustres and another human he was frequently in contact with to scan huge segments of the multiverse. I have not been able to recreate it."

"Why do you want to?"

"Each parallel universe utilises a slightly different set of underlying operating principles. Learning them grants knowledge not merely of what is possible, but of what can be possible if those operating principles are changed. Or in flux. So while I cannot currently recreate the device, I have been able to utilise the link between the various versions of the Illustres to communicate with many of them."

…

Great.

"I have convinced them to share objects of interest. I have not completed my study of them, but those that I have studied have increased my understanding to the point that Effigies will be far stronger in future than my first version."

…

No.

Not… This as well. Not the one thing-. Everyone else is going to be better than me? They'll look a little like me, but they'll all-.

Where's the exit? I-.

"Of course, I will have to test the implementation upon you first."

Oh thank you God.

"I feel your dissatisfaction with the fact that you cannot equal the most powerful Lanterns. My emotions are different to yours, but be assured that I wish to elevate you just as much as you want to be elevated."

"T-. Thank you. What..? What improvements are you talking about?"

He… Floats over to a time suspension pod. It's got a… Couple of drops of blood in it? Weird.

"It is somewhat simple, but I intend to start by making you strong enough to tear a Scarab Warrior in half without using your destabilisation ability. I suspect that you will enjoy that."

I'm smiling, aren't I?

"I think I will too, sir."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Day 383
A graveyard world

From orbit, it's obvious the damage this planet has suffered. The pattern of inland lakes in places where it would have made sense for there to have once been cities. A few of them even have ruined buildings on their shores and large roads whose presence makes no sense if all their builders had in mind was a fishing trip.

The way the remaining intelligent population is as far away from such places as they can manage. Whatever technology they once possessed has been abandoned as they regressed to the level of hunter gatherers. I can't even see farms, though their… Brown skin and horse-like faces… Remind me of something, but I can't quite call it to mind.

"There it is. You were right after all."

Even a technological savant like Panthro couldn't build a craft capable of faster-then-light travel in such a short amount of time. But as long as I give them a tow, the…

I sigh inwardly.

The 'Feliner' can function in space and in an atmosphere, fly at a respectable speed and provide basic fire support. Panthro learned a great deal from the birdfolk, and from the scan I was able to take of the Black Pyramid.

"The record in the Book of Omens was right. This location was a guess on my part."

Because Mumm-Ra either just remembers his ship's course, or he's protected his charts with magic. I had to use the birds' astrology charts to work out which stars were likely to have small rocky worlds, and then plot probable routes using Third Earth as an end point and the… Horrifying empty blob where there was once a living stellar neighbourhood before Mumm-Ra's ritual annihilated it for a…

I look at the Sword of Plun-Darr on my hip, the turquoise soul stone on its quillon block. That thing has made recharging a good deal easier, though I'm sure that it has other powers that I simply don't know anything about.

A few pounds of magic-conducting metal. Millions, billions of lives…

But it wasn't that hard to work out the Black Pyramid's most likely course. And so here we are.

Looking down on a huge white pyramid framed by four white obelisks.

The land around it is covered in a grass analogue. There are small groves of trees in a few places, and I can't see any animals that might be eating the grass to a uniform length. I can only assume that there's something about the quality of the soil which is preventing it from growing any higher.

I can't see any sign of civilisation in the area. No ruins. No roads. No pattern of plant growths that would suggest where one or the other used to be. It's been at least a dozen generations but archaeological evidence shouldn't vanish quite that quickly.

Did the owner of the pyramid plant it somewhere isolated by choice? Pilot it away from the towns or cities under their control in the hope that Mumm-Ra would leave them alone? Was it caught in the air and managed a controlled landing in an open area?

Or was Mumm-Ra really malevolent enough to glass the whole area and then leave the pyramid in one piece as a monument to his victory?

I have my suspicions, but I don't know him well enough to say with any confidence.

"Sensors aren't showing any power sources."

"Unless you've plugged the war stone in to them, they won't detect magic."

"Are you seeing anything?"

I narrow my eyes slightly, and thin yellow wisps of old yet intense fears embedded in the world as death rained from above and its people died make themselves known to me. None of them are strongly associated with the Pyramid, and I've already scanned the area for mundane things.

"No. The way seems clear."

"If you're not seeing any fear-" Cheetara. "-does that mean it's abandoned?"

On this mission she's probably more of a threat to me than anything in the Pyramid. Lion-O has been most put out by my refusal to care about his royal status, but tends to respond childishly to the implied insult. Tygra seems to mostly find it funny, so long as he's not the one being challenged. Cheetara on the other hand is sworn to support the monarch, and if it wasn't for Mumm-Ra then I'd be the biggest threat to his authority.

"I'm seeing plenty of fear. I'm just not seeing fear from anyone still alive in the area of the Pyramid. I would caution you however that it's perfectly possible to use magic to hide from me."

"How about technology?"

And there's the man I'm displacing. Not a bad young man when viewed objectively, but our respective positions more of less drive me to undermine him as much as possible.

"My scans aren't stopped by thermal or electrical insulation, nor repelled by reflective surfaces. I'm not detecting any subspace pockets or other forms of exotic disguise. I suppose that I cannot claim to know all technology that exists in the universe, but I have yet to encounter anything more advanced than this ring that was not built by the people who made this ring." I consider the White Pyramid again. "On the other hand, I can't see any damage to the White Pyramid. If we're fortunate, its database could be intact."

"Then what are we waiting for!"

The… Feliner angles towards the atmosphere and increases its thrust. I double check the course just in case Lion-O just grabbed the controls, but their vector looks good.

Do.. I.. wait for them? Naturally I'd much rather have Pumrya here as my support. Imbuing a temporary ring with the power to allow her to act as a Lantern has made her far more powerful than any of Lion-O's party, but that's also why she needs to remain on Third Earth. While the.. town is far more secure now than it was in the aftermath of the Fall of Thundera, having a Lantern on hand is extremely reassuring to the population and a fearsome threat to any potential attackers.

And an excellent way to undermine Lion-O in his absence as people come to associate the yellow sigil with authority and power.

But going into a novel situation with no backup seems unwise, and the only other backup available would be…

I look across the primitives, searching for one with greater than usual control of their fears. None really stand out.

So I'll have to make do. But I still have time for undermining their self-confidence. Without changing my posture I accelerate towards the planet, flying past the Feliner without bothering to look at it. Dropping through the atmosphere at an angle their ship can't match without any difficulty as my environmental shield protects me I start planning our approach.

The main objectives are the armoury, the central computer and the sarcophagus. Of the three, the armoury is least important. I've already seen enough of Mumm-Ra's mundane weapons to be able to recreate them, and he beat whoever used to rule here. But between the sarcophagus and the computer…

I'm working on the assumption that whoever used to rule here was something like Mumm-Ra. That assumption appears to be borne out by the presence of a Pyramid, but that might just indicate a shared culture. And even if they were like him, Mumm-Ra might well have been able to kill whoever it was in such a way that it stuck. The central computer could well give me the knowledge that I need to fully industrialise Thundera, create the wide variety of machines that technologically sophisticated society needs…

On the other hand, the cats can secure and open the database and I doubt that they'd destroy it just to keep it from me. But I could definitely see them-. Lion-O, messing up a diplomatic first contact if he was the one who went to the sarcophagus and the former ruler was still alive.

That's simple then. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up something about this civilisation's culture on the way in. And the hieroglyphics won't be full of giant penises like they were on Earth; the kittens insisted on coming along and I don't want to have to explain their expanded vocabulary to Khoah.

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th December 2282
13:45 GMT -7

As the dirigible comes into land, I'm a little concerned to see an actual military honour guard lined up and waiting for me. Sky Walker combat psykers, Paladins from the Brotherhood of Steel research team's protection detail, off-rotation NCR soldiers…

Tears wasn't totally happy about her former game show opponent Scribe Santiago taking up residence, right up until she was introduced to her wife.

Justinia clanks into place next to me. "What is this?"

"I'm not sure. There's no… Obvious reason for this sort of display. But, you see I was telling the truth about the Brotherhood, at least."

"Yes."

I actually don't think she's slept since we left Tibbet's Prison. Eagle Rock has radio transmitters, but no satellite link, which means that we couldn't reach the Midwest Brotherhood to confirm any of what I've told her. She isn't actually high ranked enough to have been involved in the details of the discussions that have been going on regarding the Brotherhood's future beyond the fact that they have been happening. Utah is a bit of a dead spot as far as the Brotherhood is concerned, and the Maxson Brotherhood know perfectly well that they exist on sufferance and so aren't going to do anything to tick Doki Doki off.

Tanya -who bartered with a tailor in Eagle Rock for normal clothes and burned her Ant Agoniser costume- joins me on the other side.

"That's a lot of people."

"Indeed it is." I try reaching out mentally-. Ow, okay, not doing that yet. Our biomancers should be able to fix the damage faster than my natural healing and I'm honestly looking forward to them doing so. I lived twenty nine years without psychic powers and now that I've had them, going without again just feels wrong.

"When you said you ruled a tribe, I didn't… I didn't know you were such a big deal."

"I'm not this big a deal. Honestly, this could be for Paladin Hayman. Literally no one from the Midwestern Brotherhood has been back to California since your Chapter was founded. Or-."

No, there's a tall thin man standing under a sunshade in the middle of the tarmac. President Hayes. He decided to make a big deal of me coming back, and-. Yes, there's the Shady Sands press corps, such as it is.

**Chief?**

That's Commander Alwyn's mental voice. Now, I should be able to respond by thinking hard without projecting, but… I don't feel like collapsing with a migraine again. Instead, I step forwards on the viewing platform and wave down towards him.

**Wave twice if you need assistance.**

I drop my arm and sigh.

**Chief, I assume that's a 'no' but we're all getting concerned that we're not hearing from you.**

I start fiddling with my radio. It survived the acid exposure far better than my inertia shield and we're pretty close, but radios broadcast and it relies on someone in the parade actively listening.

The noise from the dirigible's propellers changes as they shift from 'thrust' to 'manoeuvre'. We begin to descend, and members of the crew begin rappelling down to tie the ropes off. Places where Eagle Rock dirigibles frequently travel have dedicated winches, but the best we can do is heavy weights.

Okay, that's our frequency. Microphone out.

"This is Chief Krono. I'm going to be peeved if someone does something stupid in the thirty seconds or so before we land. I'm a bit-" I look down at my knee brace. "-banged up, but I'll be fine."

A few moments pass, then someone dashes across the parade ground and has a frantic conversation with Commander Alwyn. Then Alwyn raises his right hand and waves in my direction.

One potentially stupid problem avoided.

"Alright, let's get to the boarding ramp. I need to get someone to pay the captain and arrange someone to pick up my flying saucer."

We head down through the dirigible, the crew mostly taking it easy. Normally they'd be preparing to offload cargo, but since I hired the airship to make the journey they're running with a minimal load. I get a few nods, but-.

"Ah, Miss Christoff?" One of the cargo handlers approaches slightly nervously. "Will your..? Friends, be disembarking with you?"

"No, definitely not. If I don't lay out a trail for them first they could end up anywhere."

The handler nods, following us to the embarkation deck. "Do you know how long you'll need?"

"Ah… If I can find somewhere for them, I can take them off in a few hours."

I nod. "We can clear out a garage for now. Did you make a decision on whether you were going to stick around?"

"I… Think I will. Nothing for me back east except a load of people who know me as The Crazy Ant Woman."

The cargo handler looks a little awkward. "Begging your pardon, Miss Christoff, but we all watched the broadcast."

She winces. "Ah, no…"

"I mean, 'Scary Ant Woman' is probably a bit better… Because the way those ants just flooded over the prison? That was-." His brain catches up with his mouth as he sees her expression. "I'll just.. go and check on the ants."

Tanya is still cringing slightly when the dirigible lands and the embarkation ramp is deployed. I head down first, waving at the crowd. President Hayes waits for me at the bottom, his eyes dipping to my leg as I limp down the steps.

"Are you alright there, Krono? I saw your fight with Lanius."

"I'll be fine, Mister President. I'll get myself checked out-."

Dust rises up from the ground as winds gust out of nowhere, electricity crackling between the dust devils. Hayes and I both draw our sidearms as his power armoured bodyguards cluster around us.

"The Legion don't have psykers, do they?"

"None worth a damn." I turn to Mariah, whose eyes are closed as she tries to detect any incoming threats. "If someone's playing silly buggers then I'm not-."

"Lantern Paul." An apparition I still just about recognise appears in the air over the landing zone. A translucent bust twenty feet tall. Humanoid, blank face and blue and red robes. Last time I saw someone like him they were picking a fight with Larfleeze. In a comic book. I don't know if Controllers even exist in this universe, and I've certainly never met one. So what is this fellow doing here? Now? "I have need of your service."

Hayes raises his eyebrow. "Another alien you've been dealing with, Krono?"

"No. I-." I look at the closest bodyguard. "Excuse me."

He steps aside, and I hobble towards the centre of the parade ground, looking at the… Projection? He doesn't seem to be focusing on anything. "Can I help you, Controller?"

Then eyes focus. "You possess a power ring that once belonged to my brother Krona."

I nod calmly. Krona? So it was him. Good to know that we didn't kill one of the good Guardians by mistake. "I do."

"What fate has befallen him?"

"We killed him. I know what sort of man he was."

"That simplifies matters. I have need of his body and his ring."

The one ring I've got that still has a little charge. I've been keeping it for a rainy day, but if he's.. able to transfer objects between where he is and here…

"I have no pressing need for his body, but I've been keeping his ring in reserve just in case."

"What colour ring did you begin with?"

"Orange."

"I will exchange his body and ring for a personal lantern that you clearly lack. I would also be interested in acquiring other objects of interest from your world."

Goodness. What I could do with a personal lantern…

"Then.. I.. think we can come to terms."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Day 383
A graveyard world

I float outside of the White Pyramid's protective barrier, unable to stop myself from smiling as Lion-O tries shoulder-barging it again. And to the exact same result: him flying away and landing on his arse.

"Hah!" Tygra is less shy than me in expressing his amusement. "Did you hit your head as well?"

Lion-O grits his teeth as he pulls himself upright. "I don't see you doing anything!"

Tygra glances up at me. "He's the one who wants to get in there so badly. Let him try and get through the barrier."

Lion-O thinks for a moment, then takes a look at the war stone affixed to his sword. "I'll bet I can-."

"Don't even think about it." He lowers the sword slightly. "The whole point is to keep this place intact, not blast holes in it."

He waves his left hand at the shield. "You try, then."

I nod, then float forwards slowly, probe constructs extending from my hands to feel for it. They pass through the area it appeared to cover, but that's not entirely unexpected. This is a magic field. It's perfectly possible that the trigger condition is a person trying to cross it…

I'm now across the area it affects. Scans show… No detectable energy build-ups of any kind, so it's probably not charging up to hit me because I'm more resilient than Lion-O.

"Go, Substitute Dad!" Wilykit punches the air and Wilykat nods smugly. Nice to know that they're on-side.

Lion-O gives them a mildly put out look. "What gives?"

Panthro strokes his chin. "Hm. You're not a cat." Lion-O gives him an interrogative frown. "This is one of the worlds that Mumm-Ra attacked before the revolt. Cats like us were his soldiers. If we had a rat or a bird with us they could probably walk through it as well."

Cheetara nods. "They raised a barrier to keep their attackers out, but not to keep out anyone else. Some of their people might have taken refuge here."

Lion-O frowns. "But wouldn't their stone have been here? I don't think Mumm-Ra ever let them out of his sight."

Panthro frowns. "I don't know. You saw what it was like from orbit; everything else had been destroyed. They might have kept their stone in the middle of their biggest city, or their king might have carried it around with him. Maybe this was their last hiding place and Mumm-Ra didn't bother with it once he had their stone."

"Okay, but-" Tygra cautiously prods the barrier and finds that it still reacts to him. "-how do we get in?"

Wilykit looks thoughtfully at her bag of holding. Remarkably astute of her. Their whole squad could get into the bag, then I could carry it over the line. And then she looks at me, and she knows that I know that and that she really doesn't want to let the rest of the squad know about the bag.

Okay.

I generate a yellow tunnel across the space the barrier protects. "Try now."

Lion-O hesitates, earning him an amused look from his brother. "What's wrong? You didn't have a problem a minute ago."

Lion-O looks uncertain for a moment, then grins. "I've tried three times already. I'm pretty sure it's your turn now."

Tygra loosens his shoulders with a smirk. "Alright." He walks towards my tunnel. "The trick is to not run face-first into the magic barrier." He enters the tunnel and slows, cautiously reaching out again for-.

The barrier triggers. Tygra shrugs as I allow my construct to dissipate. "Any more bright ideas?"

A giant construct drill bores into ground next to him, causing him to jump away in shock before recovering his equanimity and giving me an irritated glance. I move the construct in an arc, cutting through the hardened ground before coming up on the other side.

"Try now."

Tygra glances back at Lion-O, who raises his eyebrows and a single finger. Tygra rolls his eyes and then jumps down the hole. He gets to the barrier point and-. He's blocked again. He shrugs, turns around and jumps back out.

"What next?"

I fly down and land next to him, putting my right hand on his left shoulder. He looks at me askance.

"I'll try escorting you. That might make you register as being acceptable."

"Really?"

"I can leave you all behind and do this myself if you prefer."

Another moment of eye contact with Lion-O, then he shrugs. "Fine."

We walk forward slowly. I encounter no resistance, but he gets stopped. He snorts at me. "Any more great ideas?"

I fabricate a poncho and drop it over him, then spray it red. He looks down at it with a wrinkled nose. "What's this supposed to be? It smells like-."

"My skin, sprayed with my blood." His eyes widen as he stares at me. "It might make you register as human."

"Is that what you are?"

I raise my eyebrows. "Have you heard of my species?"

"No." He looks mildly smug. "I just didn't know what you were called."

A construct hand shoves him into the barrier, making him stagger… Through.

"Hey!" He look around and notices where he is. "Oh."

Lion-O looks at Tygra puckishly. "So what happens if he takes the cloak off while he's in there?"

Tygra -who'd been trying to work out where he could grip the cloak without getting blood on his hands- immediately freezes.

Amusing as it might be to take it off him, it would be foolish because that might set off a stronger response. Instead, I fabricate a Tygra-skin rug and a pint of his blood and wave it around. No response. Move it to the edge of the barrier, no response as it goes out, but trying to bring it back in-. The barrier stops it.

"Nothing." I remove the poncho from Tygra and float it over to Lion-O. "Your turn."

Lion-O is staring wide-eyed at-.

I disintegrate the copy I made of his brother's skin.

He blinks and then looks at my skin, hesitates for a moment and then reaches out for it, only for Cheetara to take it first.

"Ah-?"

She smiles apologetically at him as she puts it on and then walks across the threshold, Lion-O looking put out as she does so. I think that's fair. She's basically his bodyguard; obviously she's going to take the risk first. Once she's crossed, I float the coat back to-.

The kittens take it before it reaches Lion-O and wrap it around themselves before scurrying across.

Tygra snorts in amusement. "Last again, brother?"

I float the coat back to him, and he actually looks at Panthro for a moment before putting it on. Panthro just shrugs, allowing Lion-O to put it on and march across. Panthro crosses last, hesitating at the threshold as he tries to spot some physical sign of what's happening.

"Right." I take back the coat and disintegrate it. "I'm heading for the sarcophagus chamber. I suggest-."

Lion-O's face hardens. "Then that's where we're going too."

 

[Mr Zoat]

14th December 2282
14:27 GMT -7

President Hayes doesn't quite look at me as I pour him a cup of tea. Most of the tea the government of Britain gave me as a 'thank you for getting lost' gift went down with my saucer, but I had a small sealed pack in my robes that was shielded from the ant acid.

Didn't take long to convey Krona's corpse to somewhere where Controller 'We Don't Use Names' could pull it back into his reality. His ring took even less time as it hasn't left my neck once since I acquired it. The damage I managed to cause to my brain only took ten minutes to fix; it's a common enough injury amongst those who are new to their powers and don't know any better, as well as front line fighters who would rather lay in a medical tent than in a grave.

Still not looking at me, he picks up his cup and takes a sniff.

"What's in it?"

"Tea."

He gives me a 'Really?' look.

I shrug as I resume my seat. "Camellia sinensis, or more commonly 'the tea plant'. It's grown on huge plantations in India-. Or it.. was, before the war. I haven't sent anyone scouting quite that far."

"Pre-War tea?"

"No." I smile faintly. "Britain was a seafaring nation long before the Industrial Revolution. They send wooden sailing ships there."

"They've sailed to India." He sighs as he leans back in his chair, mildly disturbed. "That makes our efforts seem positively lazy."

"Americans don't drink all that much tea, and you would have to get through Chinese waters to get there." I pick up my own cup and take a sip. Yep, that's boiled leaf water alright. "And Britain has far easier borders to secure."

He finally takes a sip, and doesn't appear to find it too disagreeable. "But we've got a straight shot to Australia, and their huge reserves of uranium. At this point it would be easier to meet our needs by importing it than to get a big enough pre-War mine operating here to meet our needs."

I raise my hands in a gesture of surrender. "I do advanced aircraft. If you want boats, make friends with the Shi."

"I'll make friends with the Shi for advanced ship construction techniques." He takes another sip. "Krono… Paul?" I shrug. "What the Hell was any of that?"

I look out through the window in my office door, at the hulking power armoured bodyguards lurking there to keep threats and inconvenient people away. A glance out of the window behind me shows more in the street outside making sure that no one points a rocket launcher at my office. Hayes's bodyguard are heavily vetted and mind probed, but…

I raise my right hand and close it, and the edges of the room shimmer as external sounds cut out. Then I reach into my robes and pull out the thong carrying the orange power ring before pulling it over my head and laying it on the table.

"That's where it all started. That ring."

He frowns at it for a moment. "Alien? That guy who showed up making demands?"

"Yes. Him, or someone like him." I sigh, remembering my arrival in the Nevada skies. The life I had before. "I've told people that I was born before the War, and that's true. What I skip over is that I was… Absent, for the intervening period."

"Abducted by aliens?" He smiles weakly. "I understand keeping it quiet, but you've… Got some pretty solid evidence in your corner right now."

"Possibly. I don't know. I mean, I know that the Controllers made that ring, but I have no idea if they're the ones who snatched me out of my bed and brought me to the here and now or not."

"And they're different to the zetans."

"The best I can do is probably." I shrug. "Zetans appear to be the standard kidnap-and-experiment type. Controllers aren't interested in that sort of thing. But… There are always exceptions."

"Like 'Krona'. So if they're so powerful, how did you kill him?"

I wince slightly. "We've experimented with telepathic weapons here. We used a device we call the Dream Twister to combine the efforts of a group of telepaths to tear his mind apart."

"I think I remember asking about that. Your people stonewalled me."

I nod. "The reason that I've been less than forthcoming about our experimental weapons-. Some types of psychic weapon wouldn't exactly be less damaging than nuclear weapons have been."

He frowns curiously. "What kind of damage?"

"I'm not sure. That's the problem. Get a pre-War nuclear warhead and strip out the cobalt jacket and you get a weapon that only leaves the place it exploded dangerously radioactive for a few years. Telepathic weapons? Psychic weapons?" I look him directly in the eyes and shrug. "They change the nature of local reality. Is it dangerous? Permanent?" I shrug again. "Have you heard of the Kremlin?"

"That's… Where the Russian government used to be based, isn't it?"

I nod. "There's a certain amount of evidence that suggests that the Russian government was experimenting with telepathic weapons before the war. The Kremlin… The people in Moscow don't look at it. The ones who do find themselves drawn towards it. Those who go, don't come back. In another place they've got ghosts who kill you if you don't give them a pre-War password. I can tell you what happens if you use nuclear weapons. I can't tell you what happens if we use psychic weapons."

"If I get desperate for strategic weapons, I've got the silos in the Divide. I'm happy to leave interfering with the structure of spacetime to the experts."

I hadn't been sure where he'd come down on that. I guess the Controller left him more shaken up than I assumed.

"So…" He points at the ring. "What does it do?"

"Anything I want. Repair a pre-War machine for giving humans psychic powers? Done. Bypass the security? Done. Use it without making my brain explode? Done. Survive in space with only my pyjamas on?"

He looks surprised. "Really?"

I nod. "It causes mental degradation with prolonged use and it ran out of power in a few weeks, but it got me started. I went after psychic powers because I wanted a substitute, but even with everything I can do now, this…" I shake my head. "Doesn't hold a candle to what that ring can do when fully charged."

"So if you..? Charged it up and headed to Arizona..?"

"The Legion have a grand total of nothing that can stop me. I could find every Legion-supporter and kill them as easily as you would stub out a cigarette. But… The whole point of this is to rebuild human civilisation. If I do it-."

He snorts quietly. "Even more people would worship you than do now."

"People would get used to other people doing things for them at no cost to themselves. There's nothing that I need, no… Goal that I'm pursuing that needs it." I shake my head. "But I am not the man to turn down that sort of power. I just… Don't want to use it unless I have to."

"I'm not the man to turn down that sort of power either. But I haven't tried nuking Flagstaff or Phoenix." He shakes his head. "I don't know. You're my guy for otherworldly affairs, but if that can do everything that you say it can…"

"Remember how I said that it causes mental degradation?" He nods. "That's one of the things it does. It convinces you that the only way you can get what you want is by using it."

His eyes widen slightly as he recognising the implication. "Did you..?"

I shrug. "Ran out of power before it could become a problem. But I can see how it could have become a problem."

He nods. "I suppose that another crazy telepathic god is the last thing we need, after the last three." He reaches across the table and pushes the thong back towards me, careful not to touch the ring itself. "I think it's best that you keep it."

I nod, pick it up and put the thong over my neck. "In other news, I might have antagonised Doki Doki into sending ARGOS after me. If he arrives then we can alter his programming so that he'll ignore her from now on. I've got-." Ugh. "I had an example circuit board for you, but it went down with my saucer so you'll have to wait for it until the recovery operation is finished."

"That's fine. Any plans for contacting that 'Controller' again?"

I finger the ring, remembering how it made me feel, the power that was at my command.

And then I let it go.

"I think it's probably best to leave him be."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th May 2024
23:29 GMT

I stand… At attention. No, that's-. At ease, as Anissa descends through the sky. She's not going at anything like her highest speed; from what Invincible was able to tell me, she's the strongest viltrumite female in existence and her abilities are closer to Omniman's than his.

Invincible emphasised how much of an honour this is for me. I'm not sure if that's him talking or the actual official Viltrumite Empire position. She doesn't exactly seem to be in a hurry to get down here. She's looking around at… My work, and… Sniffing the air? I did some air purification work, but I didn't think things were bad enough to build an atmospheric cleaning plant.

Physically… Pale skin, black hair cut short, and… Honestly, her body is the perfect mix of feminine and athletic. She's wearing the white and pale grey bodysuit with the odd loincloth-like flap that is the standard for most viltrumites. I'm not sure how the super strength will factor in-.

"So." I don't jump at her speed as she appears in front of me, but only by cheating. "You're… 'Invincible'?"

"Ah. No, sorry. Were you expecting him?"

She immediately loses interest, half-turning away. "He's supposed to be mating with me. Tell me where to find him."

Scan. "Ah… The other side of the Atlantic, but… I thought that you were here to see me?"

That earns me a look of mild distaste. "Why would that be?"

I hold out a hologram projector and trigger the replay.

"Or we could just nominate the one guy on the planet who's made himself useful. So I don't really know anything about what other viltrumites like doing on dates, but maybe you should pick out some restaurants and get some nicer clothes?"

Her look of distaste increases as she stares at the image.

"You."

"If you wish to confirm your… Ah, orders, I can take you to Omniman?"

She takes a moment to master herself, her face returning to neutral. "I was simply told that I would be mating with-. Someone born on Earth. I am… Surprised that a human was selected. How 'useful' have you been?"

I gesture to the buildings around us. "This is my work. This and… Every building in the same style around Earth. Their.. support infrastructure, power supplies… I've also helped Invincible with his… Public information campaign-."

"That will no longer be necessary. We have professionals to handle that."

I nod. "I'm glad to hear it. I'll ensure that they have all information about Earth's communications infrastructure, though I must warn you that it's fairly… Disunified."

"I expected as much. We have integrated worlds as weak as Earth into the Viltrumite Empire before." She takes a slow breath. "I suppose that it is… Useful that you considered the matter."

I smile politely. "Thank you."

"I still don't understand why Omni-Man believes that a construction engineer is an appropriate choice of mate, but I am an obedient soldier of the Viltrumite Empire and I will endure… You. Where is your..? Residence."

"Oh, I'm not a.. construction engineer." I reach through the structure of the building I'm standing on and add a thin layer of armour plating to the exterior. It takes a few moments but I've gotten good at this over the last few months. "I can transmute matter."

She looks… Less unimpressed. "Are you a warrior?"

"No. I can fight, but I've found this to be a more productive application of my abilities. And… I couldn't possibly equal the combat effectiveness of a viltrumite."

Not until I work out whether doing so would result in increased status or an immediate mark of death.

"Now, I've been wondering how you…" I look at her face, trying to get some sort of feedback. "How you wanted to do this?"

"You're a viltrumoid. Our mating practises are the same." She considers me for a moment. "You do know how to mate?"

"Yes, yes, but-. You're clearly not enthusiastic about this. We have in-vitro fertilisation clinics. If you wanted to make this a purely medical procedure, that can be arranged. The medical team would need more information on viltrumite physiology than they have at the moment, but it should be possible."

"That would be worse."

"Alright, but… I've been doing a lot of research on… Optimal pregnancy management… For humans, because I.. can't get information on viltrumite pregnancies. And… The mother being stressed has measurable negative affects on the foetus. What can I do to make this better for you?"

She looks mildly affronted. "Stress won't hurt a viltrumite foetus."

"Right, but Invincible's powers only became active in his late teens. Before that he was no stronger than a normal human. While it's not wise to assume things based on a single example, it's more likely that the-. Our foetus would develop in a similar way."

She takes another calming breath. "What other measures will I need to take to ensure that my child is as healthy as it can be?"

"Low stress during pregnancy. Human.. pregnancies are nine months, which is how long Invincible's mother carried him. At least six months of breastfeeding after that, and again, since stress hormones can be conveyed via your milk it would be best to avoid excess stress during that time. Then there's diet: your nutritional requirements will obviously change from normal as you create a new person."

"What are your recommendations for avoiding..? Stress?"

"Light exercise only, no combat, and-" Her face becomes something between downcast and angry. "-build a good relationship with the child's father and with a wider social circle."

"For how long?"

"Fifteen months minimum. Probably longer, depending on how quickly we conceive and how quickly they move entirely onto solid foods."

Her eyes drift away slightly as she considers the issue, and I risk a scan, not of her body but of her desires. Oh. She's… Old. I mean, I knew that viltrumites live a long time, but I assumed that they look it. Omniman looks like a well-preserved middle-aged man, while she looks… Younger. Her desires are less… Confused than Invincible's. Affirmation of strength and loyalty, and as far as I can tell she finds the idea of bearing a child at all distasteful. But that I can work with. She doesn't appear to be particularly bothered by the fact that I'm an alien, just by my apparent weakness and passivity. But her pride would never allow her to deliberately flub a mission.

I'm going to have to fight someone, aren't I? I've been avoiding-.

She focuses on me, having reached a decision. "If you want to build a 'good relationship' with me, you will need to convince me that you can fight."

"No one's really using Pluto. I could blow it up, if you like."

"What is 'Pluto'?"

"A lump of rock and ice that is just barely large enough to count as a planet."

She rolls her eyes, thinking about it. "Any viltrumite could destroy that."

"I'd offer to destroy a larger planet, but that might reduce this system's value to the Empire. We could go to another system?"

"No. Two other viltrumites accompanied the fleet. I will ask one of them to volunteer to fight you. If you can survive, you will have proven that you are an adequate mate."

I nod. "Ah. My orders don't allow me to damage Earth, but I can fight away from the planet?" She nods. Ah. Of course, if I actually kill a viltrumite, then that could get me in trouble. "What happens if..? I actually win?"

She stares at me for a moment, as if seeing some new and astonishing thing previously unseen by mortal eyes.

And then she folds over.

"Haahahaha!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th May 2024
23:34 GMT

Anissa's smile fades slightly in favour of a look of curiosity as she accelerates towards the Viltrumite ship and I manage to keep up with her. Viltrumites can fly faster than light under their own power, though she's not doing that at the moment. They don't use parallel universes with different physical laws, they don't bend spacetime to get around the infinite energy requirement by technically not going faster than light, they don't transform themselves into exotic matter…

More exotic than they are anyway.

As far as I can tell from the records I've been given access to and my own observations, they just don't experience inertia. The built-in speed limit that everyone else has to deal with just doesn't affect them. I'm half-wondering if that's because it's too high-concept to instinctively grasp and so they can fly that fast because they don't know that they shouldn't be able to.

I -on the other hand- do experience inertia. If she starts accelerating seriously I'll have to bend space or do the semi-teleport thing where I become orange light. I'm not… Sure if Invincible or Omniman know I can do that, so it would probably be better not to reveal it if I don't have to. But winning Anissa over probably takes priority, so if I can do that by flying fast then… Great.

"What are the-" That actually gets me a frown. "-conditions? Am I allowed-?"

"How is he talking to me?"

"Universal translator. It doesn't need the spoken-." I come to a halt as she appears right in front of me. "Spoken word. A certain degree of intent is all that's required. With most people I'd have to make an effort-" Meaning extend my environmental shield over them. "-but I've noticed that viltrumites-" Invincible. "-are easier to interact with."

"It's not telepathy."

"No. If I could read minds then… I'd be in a very different position. With most humans I can read patterns of brain activity, but that doesn't work on viltrumites at all."

She stares at me intensely for a few moments, perhaps trying to work out exactly where the cut-off for 'communication' is. Then she turns and accelerates fast towards the ship's open hangar.

I head after her at maximum space speed. Enough to be noticeable, not enough to trigger a response. I hope.

The aliens inside the hangar briefly glance around as Anissa flies in. I have no idea what species they are, though as far as I can tell they have four arms and no legs. If the ship has artificial gravity then they've turned it off, and the aliens are moving cargo and moving around by grasping rungs with their larger arms and performing fine object manipulation with their smaller arms. Artificial or arboreal, I wonder?

Anissa opens a wall-mounted locker and pulls out a headset and air mask which she then puts on.

"Vidor, come to the hangar. I've got a sparring partner for you."

Listen in.

"Is it Nowl-Ahn's son? I've been wondering whether he takes after his father more than his mother."

"My… Mate."

"Oh." The interior airlock cycles and a blond viltrumite man floats out, hands by his sides and fists clenched. In addition to the masculine version of Anissa's clothes, he's also wearing communications gear and goggles. He's looking at Anissa, and doesn't bother looking at anyone else. Including me, and I'm glowing orange. "Is he supposed to be some sort of warrior?"

"He builds things. I need to know how weak he is."

Now he looks at me. "It's Nowl-Ahn's planet and the Regent's order. Is this approved?"

"Apparently, this planet uses synthetic reproduction technology. I can follow the Regent's order as long as his scrotum remains intact." Vidor raises an eyebrow at her. "Nowl-Ahn wants him to stay alive. Anything else is acceptable."

It's… True that I can heal anything else. Implanting my ring in my skull looks like it was a better and better plan every day.

"You're being wasted, Anissa. You should have chosen to mate with a viltrumite; they wouldn't have selected you for this if you had."

Track and prepare to teleport.

"I'm a warrior, not a breeding sow." Vidor raises his eyebrows. "Say anything else and you will fight me instead."

Vidor shrugs, then turns and floats towards me. I raise my right hand. "My orders don't allow me to take actions that could damage the Earth. Do you have a preferred location in mind, or should I select one?"

"It makes no difference to me." He narrows his eyes slightly. "I'm curious why Nowl-Ahn gives you his attention."

I nod and fly out of the ship, heading for… Venus, yes, that's probably safest. Vidor takes after me, making a point of flying just behind me. Yes, he can fly faster than me like this. Worth knowing, but not exactly surprising. Anissa follows from further back, keeping us in viewing range without risking losing track if we start moving at viltrumite speeds.

According to my alter-egos, a Lantern with a system to fight in should never lose to a melee specialist. Viltrumites don't even have the option kryptonians have of using heat vision if forced to fight at range. Though kryptonians can't fly faster than light at will. But… They don't have faster than light senses whereas I do.

"Is this as fast as you can go?"

"I doubt that you respect me, but please don't assume that I'm quite stupid enough to share tactical information with an opponent."

"I really don't understand why we're leaving your males alive. Using the females for breeding makes a degree of sense, since Maah-Akh has proven himself competent. But what possible purpose could you serve?"

"I don't know. If you're asking me to guess, it's a combination of human males making up the vast majority of Earth's labour force and the Viltrumite Empire's lack of the infrastructure to support the useful parts of Earth society in our absence. You're right about using female viltrumites in this way, though. Adding human males to the breeding pool doesn't increase the number of children female viltrumites can have."

"Hm." He sounds approving. "Have you spoken of this to Nowl-Ahn?"

Monitor.

"No, it's not my place. The only reason I could think of was there being some kind of genetic bottleneck which necessitated an injection of fresh genetic material, in which case encouraging female outbreeding would make sense."

Yes. His face hardens. Something's… Happened. Were the survivors of the Great Purge all related? Have they created a problem using genetic engineering, making themselves stronger but more similar to one another? I don't know, and I probably shouldn't push in case they decide that I need to have a 'training accident'.

And there's Venus. Viltrumite eyes are good, but I can see him wherever he goes. Dust clouds and coloured gas will only help me, and the atmosphere might do him some harm. I could ask him, but… No.

I descend through the atmosphere, selecting a reasonably level plane as the starting point. Automate dodging, prepare needles and… Scan the surroundings in detail. And that's it for now.

I land on the ground and wait for-.

Vidor slams into the ground a short distance away, creating a mild earthquake in what I assume is an attempt to intimidate me. He looks at me in a cold and calculating way.

"Ready?"

"Y-."

And he's gone and I've moved.

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th May 2024
23:41 GMT

The-

Skip.

-Venus landscape-

Skip.

-jumps around-

Skip.

-in a series-

Skip.

-of tremors and eruptions of-

Skip.

-dust, sort of as intended.

"Teleportation? I wonder how good your-"

Skip. Prepare needles.

"-reflexes are."

…

Skip.

"Ah!"

I back off through the air, scanning for Vidor. Good to see that x-ionised needles can pierce viltrumite skin. I wasn't completely sure about that, and I couldn't really test it. Sonic pulse and electromagnetic scan shows that they… Pierced his skin and that's about it. There's a little blood, but it's more like what a sharp needle would do to a normal person's skin than a 'this sword could cut Superman in half' wound. I suspect that the only reason why he cried out was a combination of surprise and the fact that one went into his eye.

I mean, that's more than anyone on Earth managed to do to Omniman. Heh. Maybe I should have gotten involved. But-.

Vidor's stopped moving. With the clouds he threw up he's having to concentrate to find me… Hearing, probably. The optimal time for a sonic attack, but none of the sonic weapons I know about are anything like powerful enough to cause a viltrumite more than mild irritation.

A construct wouldn't be so limited-. I guess I could fake manipulating sound waves directly.

I raise my hands and the dust buckles, clouds shooting away and giving me a brief view of blood squirting out Vidor's ears. Then he sees me and move!

Agh! Pain killer! And teleport, not-!

Skip.

Yes, argh, like that. Ough, my-. Right arm and part of where my shoulder should be just got.. torn off! Repair that and maintain vigilance while he tries to work out where I've gone now.

"An interesting move." I scan upwards until I find Anissa. "You've managed to injure him, and removed his ability to hear me if I try to call him off."

Radio only. And build a railgun.

"I communicate intent more than words."

"I doubt that he'll tell Nowl-Ahn that."

"Did you lose something, human!?" Vidor has hold of the largest intact piece of my arm and is holding it aloft. Because he doesn't know that I can heal myself. I'm not sure if Omniman or Invincible have made a formal report about me, but if they have then Vidor hasn't bothered to read it. "If you take it from me, your chirurgeons may be able to reattach it!"

"Still, you have surpassed my expectations." The railgun takes shape in my hands, and I load x-ionised needles. "I feel less humiliated to have been assigned you as my mate."

Aim assist. Target the hand holding my arm.

Adjusting for wind and air resistance. Fire.

Skip.

What happened?

Keeping my eyes on my surroundings and on Vidor, the ring replays-. He… Saw the railgun round, evaded it and traced its trajectory back to-.

That would have killed me if he hit me.

Okay. Good to have that confirmed. Ah. I deafened him but he's powering through it without the ability to hear. He's looking around more to compensate. He'll heal the injury faster than a human, but it should last for the duration of this fight.

The dust is starting to settle.

Charge railgun. Full automatic. I need to kick up more dust.

Fire.

Four rounds hit the ground before he notices and moves. Not towards me, he just speeds in the direction he was facing. Some of the dust is blown away, but I think he's mostly doing it to get far enough away for a clear view.

Move and shoot.

Dozens of needles fired, but he's got room to dodge around them as he turns and flies b-.

Skip.

Back at what I hope is his actual full speed, because apparently their control of inertia extends to momentum and he can turn on a sixpence. I-. Oh, he.. can't judge depth quite properly with one damaged eye.

So what, then? If… That's the fastest he can respond and fly, then I can predict his most probable flight path. Which means…

Plot course up. Fabricate electromagnetic containment vessel. Cross fingers very hard. Twist the matter inside the containment vessel until it becomes anti-matter. Triple check the magnetic field before withdrawing my environmental shield. Add a flight system to the vessel and drop it off. Float behind it and fire and cross my toes-.

Skip.

Below me the skies of Venus roil with the force of the detonation, untold billions of tonnes of atmospheric gas moving away in a visible wave!

"What did you do?"

Anissa is now floating a short distance from me, looking… Curious?

"It's not just matter than I can rearrange. That was anti-matter. Perhaps a bit too much force, but I felt that if he was going for kill shots then it was probably alright." I try scanning for Vidor but I'm not really getting anything helpful. Based on Omniman's observed feats he could have survived, but viltrumites need to breathe and I'm fairly sure that he didn't have time to take a breath. "Is that sufficient for this spar? Ah, and should I try recovering him? I wasn't able to test-. Mpg?"

Anissa's tongue enters my mouth so aggressively that my teeth snap backwards, forcing me to disintegrate and replace them as she-. I can feel my bones cracking-. Reinforce! Embraces me with far too much strength for the human body! I try-. Kissing her back while also trying to reduce the pressure on my jaw before it's torn from my skull and I'm bloody glad that I was still suppressing my ability to feel pain.

After entirely too long she pulls back, looking pleased with herself.

"I have decided that your reward for winning will be the privilege of choosing our posture the first time we mate. I will choose on all other occasions. For your sake, you had better have stamina."

"Tech-." I restore the damage I just received. "Technically, I have infinite stamina."

"Good. You will need it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Day 383
A rather nice pyramid ship

After so much time living in rural primitivism, the hard lines and perfectly flat surfaces of the White Pyramid are… Jarring. Not unpleasant -honestly I find myself more relaxed than I've been for a while- but a major change from what I've been seeing for the past… Year.

The cats are a good deal more on guard. Panthro aside, they've only started encountering advanced technology in the last year, and he doesn't have much more experience than they do.

I try reaching out to the pyramid's computer systems again, and am once more rebuffed. Not by anything in particular; there's no voice saying 'access denied' or anything like that. Just a vague sense of my probe being turned aside from its target. I suppose that I might be able to force a connection, but I'd rather not risk breaking things just yet.

"Hey, look!" Wilykat points at a group of decorative statues in the next chamber. Some sort of… Ritual space, perhaps? The sarcophagus chamber should be almost directly above here. "Evil Spirit statues! It's like that place where Mumm-Ra made his sword!"

That would be a rather odd design choice if true. The room has a raised decorative pool of water at one end with a decorative fountain in the middle. The four statues face outwards from the same wall, and spreading out from there are raised beds of plants, some of which are currently fruiting.

Lion-O frowns as he takes in the statues. "Mumm-Ra had a lizard, a jackal, an ape and a vulture, not…" His brow flattens. "That's a cat."

It is, though considerably more feline in appearance than the Thunderan cats. It-. She's in the Egyptian style of putting the head of an animal -a lioness in this case- on the body of a human. Her clothing looks… Egyptian enough that I can't tell the difference. The headdress is topped by a.. round disk whose meaning I don't understand. That design of headwear is shared with the other three: cobra-headed, ibis-headed and cow-headed. Hopefully that means that they're not more of the Ancient Spirits of Evil that Mumm-Ra deals with, but it might just mean that whoever lives here happens to prefer different patrons.

Wilykit stares up at the lioness. "She looks mean."

Tygra's looking at the others. "I don't recognise them." He turns to Cheetara. "I don't suppose Jaga taught you anything about this?"

Cheetara actually glances at me for a moment before replying. "Training as a Thunderan cleric didn't involve a lot of… 'Comparative theology'."

"How closely does this resemble the ritual space Mumm-Ra used?"

Lion-O drags his eyes away from the statues and looks around. "Not much. Other than the four statues. And his were in a circle."

Tygra glances aside. "Four statues makes a square."

"I mean the space was a circle! And the statues were around it!"

"Then this probably isn't a ritual space. We should move on. Unless you're especially thirsty."

Wilykit and Wilykat look at each other, then take a step towards the fountain. I put a yellow barricade in their way, then take a pair of water skins out of subspace and float them in front of the kittens. They look up at me.

"Your mother insisted."

Wilykit looks away, shrugging. "Now I'm not thirsty."

Wilykat similarly turns his nose up. "Hm."

Children. And.. cats.

Panthro looks up at me. "This place only wanted to let you in. Do you recognise these statues?"

"They look Egyptian." I point at the cow. "Hathor." The cat. "Bastet." The ibis. "Thoth. I don't recognise the snake, and I don't remember what they were gods of."

"Not evil spirits?"

"Not as far as I remember."

I look around-. There. A door decorated with an image of the local primitives venerating a divine figure in white and gold floating above them, with the four deities leaning down to bless… Her. The disk behind the central figure is the same as that on the gods' headdresses. Which makes her the owner, I assume.

The image suggests profound arrogance, but… Mumm-Ra literally has dealings with the 'Ancient Spirits of Evil', so it's not impossible that whoever rules here was genuinely empowered by these gods and was their vassal on this world. Not a modest woman, certainly, but perhaps not on the Mumm-Ra 'kill-a-stellar-cluster-to-get-a-neat-sword' level.

I land in front of the door, and it opens to reveal a broad staircase leading upwards and curving back around to where I expect the sarcophagus chamber is. I fly-

"Hey! Wait up!"

-directly up the stairs, the door at the top showing an image of the White Pyramid and the white/gold woman standing behind it and gesturing at a group of primitives who are hard at work building a city. I land and it opens, revealing…

A mummified body. Arms and legs are wrapped in preservative bandages while the torso is wrapped in a blue cloak. It -she?- is splayed out on the floor as if she was reaching for the white and gold sarcophagus that is the room's focal point. Statues of the four gods are positioned around it in along the edge of a circle drawn in the floor.

Scan.

Distortions all around. Powerful magic I assume. No movement or sign of life from the figure on the floor. Pretty clear where she was trying to get. I drift forwards-.

Cheetara appears next to me, and takes in the scene. "She was their ruler."

"And that's her sarcophagus. If we want her knowledge we're going to have to wake her up."

"How do you know she's not another Mumm-Ra?"

"I don't. This will probably be easier if she is, because she'll be focused on getting revenge."

I pick up the.. remains with a construct gauntlet and lift the sarcophagus lid with another. The body has had part of its chest and face smashed in, and generally appears to be as free of moisture as Mumm-Ra's base form. I'm not sure if the organs have been removed in traditional Egyptian fashion or if their disappearance is just a product of her injuries or age but this is very clearly a corpse.

"We should check with Lion-O-."

I put the body into the sarcophagus and close the lid, and Cheetara draws her staff.

I scan as we wait, but I'm not detecting any change in the distortions or in the sarcophagus. I lost the ability to scan the corpse once I put it into the sarcophagus, but more mundane detection in the form of hearing and sight suggests that nothing is happening.

I float closer, looking down on the sarcophagus. Ah. In the middle of the head end there's a mounting for something that appears to have been forcibly removed. The scratching there is the only damage I've seen in this entire pyramid. The mount is a circle… The exact size of the tech stone. Which is currently in Mumm-Ra's possession.

Well, it was only a fifty percent chance-.

On the other hand…

I draw the sword of Plun-Darr and consider the Soul Stone. I suppose… It makes recharging easier but it's hardly essential. And if she only needs it to rejuvenate herself then I can just take it back afterwards.

"Hey!" Lion-O runs up the last few steps and into the sarcophagus chamber. "We-."

"I found the mummy. It looks like it requires a power stone to reanimate her. Do you intend to volunteer the War Stone?"

"Ah, no?"

"Fine." I pull the Soul Stone off my sword and place it in the mount, which after a brief delay reshapes itself to accommodate it. "Now let's see if that works."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Day 383
A rather nice pyramid ship

"Oh."

"What?" A slightly out of breath Lion-O jerks his head back and forth between me and the sarcophagus. "What's happening?"

I raise my right hand and add colour to the waves of energy I'm seeing, making them visible to the cats. I'm not sure what exactly is happening. It seems reasonable to assume that the Soul Stone is providing power and the sarcophagus is… Repairing her? Resurrecting her? But I can't tell a single thing about the mechanics involved. There's a slight increase in heat, but not enough to be waste heat from some sort of… Nanotech repair process. The sarcophagus doesn't seem to be physically plumbed in to the pyramid's systems, so it isn't just repairing an avatar body and re-uploading a stored personality. In any case I didn't see any technological implants in the body.

So… Genuine magical resurrection. It's… Interesting that the power stones can do that. The name 'Soul Stone' was suggestive, but… I shouldn't assume that souls exist, or that afterlives exist. Even now that we know that Mumm-Ra is not a unique being, it could well be some magic that they've used rather than something universal. It's a mild source of frustration that while systematising the teaching of science and technology is relatively simple, I haven't seen able to find anyone who can provide a general magic education. At best, there are people who can teach a few magical feats within their own style, or which rely on their own physiology to the point where if I wasn't able to scan them I wouldn't know for certain that it wasn't merely preternatural biology.

If-.

White and gold light flares from the sarcophagus, forcefully pushing the cats back while doing nothing to me. Not sure if that's because I'm floating or if it's another example of human preference. The cats brace and draw their weapons and Wilykit and Wilykat take cover behind the rear two statues.

Then the sarcophagus lid floats upwards and towards the rear wall, the interior of the sarcophagus glowing a pale blue colour. A bandage-covered hand reaches up out of the sarcophagus to grip the near-rim, its grip tightening as I watch. Then she slowly sits upright, head and torso still swathed in her blue robe. The brief glimpse of her face I see shows that it's mostly been repaired, though the skin is still bloodlessly pale. Then her other hand emerges, supporting her on the other side of the sarcophagus as she straightens and takes her first breath before unfolding upwards.

"Attendants. I shall require an update on the progress of the outer defences."

…

"I will not-" She starts turning towards us. "-repeat-."

She stares imperiously at the cats for a moment, then her face morphs into an expression of rage! Hands glowing with blue energy come up, and glowing blue bonds wrap themselves around the adults and lift them off the floor!

"How dare you trespass here after all you have wrought upon my world! I will send your remains to-."

I land directly in her line of sight. Her attention switches to me at once, then her hands drop to her sides.

"Thutmose? How have you-?"

She grips her robe and carefully steps out of the sarcophagus, the lid closing up automatically behind her as she approaches me.

"You… Live again. That should be impossible."

"I'm sorry. I have no idea who Thutmose is."

Her eyes widen. "A living human? That is even less likely."

Ah. "Can I assume then that you are a dead human?"

She's staring at my face, but doesn't appear to be listening. "Cell culture? No, every time we tried that they simply died. The White Pyramid is no more shielded now than it was-. Temporal manipulation?" Her eyes snap to mine. "What year were you created?"

"Nineteen eighty three, but I don't-."

"Impossible."

"'cooz 'e?!"

She ignores the struggling Lion-O, reaching up slightly with her right hand to touch my face. Her bandages don't cover her fingers, and the texture of her skin is surprisingly rough. It glows for a moment, but my environmental shield strengthens and nothing appears to happen.

She pulls back her hand, looking almost offended. "What is that light?"

"Do you want an answer or are you just going to say 'impossible' again?"

"You will forgive me. It has been some time since I have dealt with another person. And that was when Mumm-Ra came to my world to steal my phylactery." She glances at the sarcophagus lid, eyes fixing on the Soul Stone. "Ah. Thutmose's stone. It would energise the sarcophagus, but it cannot empower me further."

I nod and reach out, a construct hand pulling-. Failing to pull the stone from the sarcophagus. Mildly troubling, but all it really means for now is that it will take me longer to recharge.

The… Liche? Walks around me and stares up at the cats suspended in her magic. I think Lion-O's trying to bring the Sword of Omens to bear, but she caught his arm in a awkward position and he can't get leverage.

"Why did you bring Mumm-Ra's slaves with you? And another stone… This one must be their leader."

"Their ancestors rebelled. They nearly managed to kill him, but unfortunately he survived and healed himself. They're-."

"So they saw a chance to take his power for themselves, and they took it?"

"Something like that. I was busy when they accessed the historical record."

"Three worlds they slaughtered with sword and gun, and those were just the worlds ruled by myself and my peers. Knowing Mumm-Ra there would have been many others murdered to earn the favour of his evil masters. And then they rose up against him?" She sniffs. "Clearly their gene line is irredeemably flawed."

She makes a slicing gesture with her right hand, and the bonds begin to tighten around Lion-O's party.

"I'd rather that you didn't kill them."

"I can make a better species to replace them."

The kittens' heads poke out from behind a statue, and I gesture for them to get back.

"Without your phylactery stone?"

She lowers her hand, though the bonds don't loosen. "No, I would need to recover that first. I take it that it is in Mumm-Ra's hands?"

"I'm afraid so. The cats are unified against him. Killing them would be wasteful, especially when you can't replace them."

She considers them for a moment, then clenches her right hand. Their bonds vanish and they fall to the ground. Landing on their feet, since they're cats.

She glares imperiously at them. "Remove yourselves from my home until your betters call for you."

"'Betters'?" Lion-O glares. "I'm not removing myself from anywhere until-."

She raises her right hand again and a blast of blue energy hits Lion-O in the chest, sending him flying out of the room and down the stairs. Cheetara takes a combat pose-.

Tygra shakes his head. "Let's not pretend he didn't have that coming." He turns towards the exit. "Protector, if you like her so much, you deal with her. I'll make sure my baby brother doesn't have a booboo."

"Very well."

The other cats hesitate for a moment, then the adults follow him out.

At least the kittens are following my instructions now, even if it would be better it they left.

"So. You implied something rather unfortunate has happened to humans. What was it?"

"A species-wide ritual sacrifice."

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd February 2010
15:39 GMT -7

A characteristically anaemic ball of fire from Beatrice impacts uselessly against Karnowsky's armour.

"Heh. That all you got?" He raises his arm cannon. "Let me show you mine."

A short distance away Michael and Ted are crouched behind a van as the Frankensteins close in, cackling as they do so. Above them, J'onn is firing his martian vision at Guy, who… Appears to be in effeminate mode and blocking without doing anything else. There's some sort of device on J'onn's head and it's not that hard to work out why.

"Alas, poor Yorick."

I descend through the air, looking sadly at the glowing red construct skull in my right hand. The surprise of my arrival distracts Karnowsky enough that Beatrice can-

KaBOOM!

-dodge his shot. No one was in that car.

"I knew him, Komand'r." I look towards my darling wife as she clenches her glowing fists, and expression of exquisite bereavement on my face. "A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy."

Karnowsky turns towards us fully, raising his gun arm.

"He hath borne me on his back a thousand times."

About… Half the Frankensteins have started crawling in our direction.

"And now how abhorred in my-."

I sag in the air, letting the skull construct dissipate.

"It's not the same without a real skull, is it darling?"

"Sure. Whatever." I elbow her. "What? Oh. Ah, you're right!" She smiles with false enthusiasm. "And look! Volunteer skull-donors!"

Karnowsky takes a step back, completely ignoring Beatrice as she hurls impotent fire at his backplate. Tora puts a hand on her shoulder to try and get her to go after someone else, but Beatrice isn't having it.

"Hey." Karnowsky waves his gun between is. "You can't kill people. You stopped killing people when you joined the Justice League."

"While it's true that I've never removed someone's skull without killing them before…" I generate a dozen construct knives. "I've got good feelings about yours."

Komand'r darts forwards and grabs a Frankenstein by the neck with her left hand. "And if that doesn't work out, we get infinite retries!" Her eyes narrow. "You don't make more of yourself if you get burned, do you?" A starbolt forms around her right hand. "Just when you get hit? So I can burn the flesh off-."

"Okay. Ah." Karnowsky lowers his gun and frantically presses buttons until it disconnects from his armour and falls to the ground.. "I.. surrender? Ah… Just.. don't touch my skull."

I roll my eyes. "If you insist."

One of the Frankensteins looks left and then right before leaping towards a nearly alley-. Where he takes a starbolt to the back. And then spine. And then lungs. And then ribs. And then chest.

Komand'r looks at the body as it collapses, and then fades to nothing.

"Wait, so we have to kill all of them to get a skull?" She thinks for a moment. "Okay."

The Frankensteins look at each other for a moment, then fall on their faces in genuflection.

Komand'r tosses the one she was holding lightly back into the pack. "Awww."

Michael and Ted gingerly emerge from cover, Michael looking at the surrendering Frankensteins. "How come no one acts like that with us?"

"It's because we don't have a garden of skulls. Hm." Ted taps something on his gun. "Ah!" He points it at one of the Frankensteins and pulls the trigger. There's a flash of blue light and the Frankenstein he shot shimmers and-. Begins sucking the others back into it. Some try fleeing, some try grabbing onto objects and one turns pleading eye in my direction. But the Frankenstein-specific suck rapidly increases until they all succumb, merging back with Ted's target until only that one remains.

He pats himself down for a moment and then turns to run-.

A starbolt skims his crotch and burns a hole in the tarmac beneath him.

"Huh. Missed."

He resumes bowing down in the road and doesn't move.

I raise my right hand and fire off a reel of construct barbed wire which wraps around the control device on J'onn's head and shreds it, causing him to jerk alert for a moment before falling out of the sky-. Onto Guy's construct bed. Which then gets covered in a construct blanket.

"Whoever was controlling that, get out here or I come and find you and audition you for the part of Yoricka."

An extremely nervous woman in green timorously emerges from a nearby building, her hands raised.

"Good. Booster, could you-?"

Street lights flicker and winds gust out of nowhere. Someone's showing off. Doesn't ring any bells, but I brace for serious combat as Komand'r floats back towards me-.

"Red Lantern." A translucent apparition I still just about recognise appears in the room. Humanoid, blank face and blue and red robes. Last time I saw someone like him it was on Lord Atrocitus's dartboard. I've never actually met a Controller. What does he want? "I have need of your service."

"What do you know about Sector Six Six Six?"

"You refer to the Manhunter Massacre. I am one of those who parted ways with the Guardians over the incident. Your superiors should not-."

"But you didn't object to the initial deployment, did you? You didn't review their command protocols. You didn't move to the Sector when the rampage started and try and fight them, did you? You didn't try and punish any of the Manhunters' creators, did you!?"

"I did not. I am not omniscient, and further strife would have served no one. I am prepared-."

Some combination of red light and blood erupts from my mouth, striking the projection and burning a red sigil into it. The sheer arrogance of this..!

Burn him.

The projection tries to fade but the sigil fades with him, burning with the rage of all of those his people murdered. I just about see it bite into his flesh before both he and it fade from this universe.

"Hey." Komand'r frowns at me, concerned. "What the hell was that?"

"Not our problem. Unless he's a moron, he won't be back."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Day 384
Central Thundera

I stare pensively out across town as the working day comes to an end.

It makes a certain amount of sense.

I remember the episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation where they established that the reason why there are so many humanoid species in the setting is that the first intelligent species was that shape, and introduced elements of their own biology to hundreds of worlds in the hope of enkindling life there. And while I have read science fiction where only humans were humanoid, the reverse is far more common.

So I didn't think to question why nearly every species that escaped the Black Pyramid looks so much like me. Not beyond 'oh, reality has an effects budget too' half-joking sort of way.

Earth exists, and it's a sepulchre. According to Rana, it was a biomagitechnological paradise, a population of ten billion with absolute poverty abolished, and then some insane cult that everyone thought was too mad to be a threat performed a ritual. The next day, a dozen or so people woke up undead and everyone else remained dead. And every attempt they made to reverse things or create new living humans was undone by the lingering effects of ritual that made them.

And the reason that the other species look like humans? It's because they're mostly human. Cat aristocrats are about as human as it's possible to be without triggering the curse, and the rest… Well, when you've figured out how to make near-humans, why stop at one type?

I knew Mumm-Ra was human from my analysis of the scraps of flesh that I've torn off him during our fights. I didn't know how he became a liche or how his magic worked, and I wasn't sure if he recognised what I am. He never mentioned it, but it's not as if we were having long conversations. I-.

I feel arms around my waist and a head against my left shoulder, and my mood lifts a little.

I lift my right hand and lay it on Khoah's hands where they meet around my abdomen.

"Bad news?"

Most of it isn't relevant to her, but one point is. I knew that even the cat peasantry shared a lot of genetics with humans. I married her assuming that we wouldn't be able to have children, then realised that chemically… There didn't appear to be any reason why we wouldn't be able to. Not that I'm a geneticist.

"Some." I tilt my own head so that it's resting lightly on hers. "We made a new ally, but unless we can recover the Tech Stone-" Not its actual name as it turns out, but 'The Phylactery Stone of the Mummified Rana' is a bit of a mouthful. "-she can't fight him directly, and if we wrest that from him then even Lion-O could kill him."

"Who is she?"

"Someone like Mumm-Ra. Only she spent her time building a civilisation for her pleasure rather than murdering people for power."

"A good Mumm-Ra? Surely that's good news."

"I didn't say she was 'good'. She-. I told you of the history; of how Mumm-Ra brought your ancestors to Third Earth."

I feel her nod.

"It appears that he didn't just bring you here. He created you… Cats, birds, rats, elephants… Most intelligent species on this planet. Then he used you as slaves. Rana on the other hand treated her creations as something like dolls or pets. Things that she liked playing with, but not things that she regarded as her equals."

"What happened to them?"

"Most of them died during Mumm-Ra's attack. The rest are hunter-gatherers, living roughly how the lizards were before Mumm-Ra started sponsoring them. The… Descendants of the survivors, I should say."

I sigh, looking away from her.

"I also found out what happened to the rest of my species. Not good news, and it might explain why I can't sire a child on you. I'm the only living member of my species, and we're cursed to be unable to create more."

"You said that it didn't bother you. Do you feel differently now?"

"A little. If we were just incompatible then I'd accept it, but knowing that it's perfectly possible if it weren't for some ancient magic is irritating." I shake my head. "Perhaps Rana can do something about it when she gets access to all of the stones. Assuming that you're still up for it."

"Women older than me have given birth before. There shouldn't be much risk."

Yes, I… A hard life and near-starvation made Khoah look a good deal older than she actually is. She's actually only in her early thirties, so… Yes. She's past peak fertility, but ordinarily she'd be able to have children without special assistance. On the other hand, she knows that risks increase with age. Thunderan medicine is a little better than medieval human medicine -there's no leech fixation- but not by much, so if something went wrong the mother would usually die. Even the last queen -Lion-O's mother- died to something that would probably have been an easy fix back on.. Earth.

"Will she be coming here?"

"Yes, but I… Would recommend that you don't interact with her, if you can help it. She was fairly clear that she considers all cats to blame for the actions of your an-"

Winds gust out of nowhere from behind us and I'm armouring myself in yellow light and raising a shield as-.

"-cestors…"

"Lantern Lord Protector." A translucent apparition I still just about recognise appears in the room. Humanoid, blank face with some sort of scar on the forehead and wearing blue and red robes. Last time I saw someone like him they were picking a fight with Larfleeze. In a comic book. I don't think Controllers even exist in this universe, and I've certainly never met one. So where is this fellow from? And why did he take so long to make contact? "I have need of your service."

"And why should I care?"

He stares at me blankly. "You owe me for providing you with that ring."

"You're responsible? You kidnapped me from my home. I've come close to death a dozen times and I'll never see my family again and you have the temerity so say that I owe you?"

"Evidently, yes. You feel that you have been ill-used. Alternate versions of you are generally amenable to restitution."

"I want my family back, you orange bastard!"

"That would be difficult, but not necessarily impossible."

"Talk fast, or you become my priority target."

"I am attempting to understand the rules which allow different alternities to exist. You met alternate versions of yourself when you were abducted by my late brother Krona." I nod. "The process by which you were extracted may be impossible to replicate, but by studying your nature and that of the alternity which is now your home, I may come to understand the process."

"You can't send me back, or send them a message, or anything like that?"

"Consider: you were all one person until the event which transposed you to so many different places. What would happen if all versions of you sent a message?"

"My parents aren't stupid. They'd understand the idea."

"I cannot now do as you demand. If you-."

"No." I draw the Sword of Plun-Darr. "Leave."

"Your attitude is not conducive to-."

I stab the sword into the image, making it fracture and fragment, dim and-

"You will regret that."

-finally vanish.

"And don't come back."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st April 2013
Probably not tomorrow quite yet?

"… your purpose-. Are you paying attention?"

I raise my right hand, palm level, then wiggle it back and forth at the… Really quite rude skeleton-demon-snake with the skin mask. I take this sort of thing from Veronica but I'm just sort of hoping that Queen Triskellion here gets to some sort of point eventually.

It's not often that I meet someone who has no sexual appeal to me at all. Maybe the other succubae gave her the job as a pity prize? You'd think the crown would go to the hottest and most successful, but apparently not.

Unless there's an awful lot more skeleton fetishists out there than I thought…

Queen Nice-Face-Ugly-Body is glaring at me-.

Her tail whip smacks into my chest and sends me flying across the cave she calls home. Seriously, a demon queen who lives in a cave. I'm not a queen and I live better than this.

"Agh-blagh."

And hitting that stalagmite might actually have hurt once upon a time. But I've been eating a lot of demons lately.

"Your purpose. Since you are clearly slow-witted, I will explain it to you." She squirms closer. "To sire demonspawn, to encourage moral decay through self-indulgence-."

"I'm pretty sure I'm doing that,
Except.. that one, but she was really fat."

And that just isn't attractive. Maybe Veronica sets the bar so high when it comes to honing her body that I'm more than a little spoiled, but is a little cake-adjacent discipline too much to expect? I manage that and I'm mostly demon.

"It's not encouraging if they were going to do it anyway and you were merely the best option! Where are the despoiled nuns and housewives? The murderous, vengeful husbands? The maidens turned to broken broodsows, sobbing at their fall even as they beg for your attention as the only thing that gives their empty lives meaning?"

I shrug.

"Wherever you left them?
That's your thing? Go get 'em."

And now the snake-tail wraps around me and the stalagmite, pulling tight. And she doesn't notice that that rock is getting it worse than my skin. I've been eating a lot.

"How did a fool like you become-?"

The ensconced flaming torches on the cave walls flicker and winds gust out of nowhere. Someone showing off. Maybe the Queen of the Hot Succubae is visiting her ugly sister?

"Lantern Sybarite." A translucent apparition I still just about recognise appears near us. Humanoid, scar on the face that reeks of righteous anger and wearing blue and red robes. Ooh, a Controller! I thought they all gave up on me! I wonder what made this one reconsider? "I have need of your service."

"What's it to me?
My service isn't free."

"I wish to acquire artefacts and objects. In return, I offer whatever you want."

Ooh.

"I will slaughter your entire family for this intrusion!"

I lay my hands on Queen Slug-For-A-Butt's tail and extend my orange aura over her.

"Do you want a demon queen?
I warn you now, she's rather mean."

"I will take it."

4th June 2012
11:42 GMT

"…on-paper offloading of debts onto people who don't have any money. It's a ridiculous piece of chicanery designed to technically avoid a default that doesn't get the country any closer to actually paying back the capital."

The interviewer looks a little taken aback by my attitude. What, I'm the only 'authorised' rebel in the Kingdom of Britain, untouchable by the Star Chamber thanks to my relationship with Overman. Did you think I was going to come on your program and just parrot the party line?

"And it only works because everyone agrees to pretend that it makes sense. It's the fiscal Emperor's New Clothes, and they're doing it because they're too afraid of the Conservatives to rationalise their spending commitments."

Just another name for a Mefo Bill, and there isn't anywhere convenient for us to conquer and financially enslave to actually settle up at the end. Sixty years of 'peace' and the government still can't balance its books. I don't actually know what Oswald Mosley was like outside of being a 'bad egg', but his heirs have been playing up the 'Socialist' part of 'National Socialist' rather strongly lately. To predictable results.

"And another thing-."

The studio lights flicker, winds gust out of nowhere as I wonder if I've finally irritated someone enough to brave Overman's retaliation.

"Lantern-. I see that you have no power ring." A translucent apparition I still just about recognise appears near the cameraman. Humanoid, blank face with a small forehead scar and wearing blue and red robes. Last time I saw someone like him they were picking a fight with Larfleeze. In a comic book. I don't think Controllers even exist in this universe, and I've certainly never met one. So where is this fellow from? "I have need of your service."

I glance at the interviewer, who just seems gobsmacked, and then briefly at my watch. But this isn't really an Overman situation, as much as I'm sure he'd love the excuse to duck out of his de-NSDAPisation work to fight evildoers who aren't nominally on his side.

"I doubt there's much I can do for you. I don't have a power ring-." Oh. "And it just occurred to me that you might be responsible for me being here in the first place. Explain yourself."

6th September 1994
21:42 GMT

I watch as Cain Marko goes sailing over the horizon after receiving a single punch from the Shi'ar Empire's newest enforcer. Okay, this… Purple skinned man with a blue Mohican appears to be a good deal more threatening than Erik the Red, but that was just strength. He's not a direct threat to me-.

Next to me, Anne-Marie removes her right glove with a determined look on her face. Hm. Her 3-dimensional manoeuvring skills are quite good, but I don't really like the thought of her getting hit by someone that strong.

"Gladiator, was it?" His eyes moves from the fallen princess to me. "Can you heal well, or are you just resilient?"

"It has not yet mattered."

I nod and transition behind and below him, reflecting a few atoms in his shorts into anti-matter before raising a shield just in time-

"Ah!"

-to watch his bottom vaporise, and his thighs and back badly burned. Then I transition down to Lilandra.

"Does the M'Kraan Crystal actually do anything useful for the universe?"

"Does it..? It is of incalculable-."

"But does it do anything mechanically essential?"

"I… Suppose not, but there is no way to send it outside of the universe."

I send out the pulse to notify the Controller even as Gladiator regains control of himself-. And it looks like he can heal, but Anne-Marie's already on him, holding his neck into a choke hold as she drains him into helplessness. She's been a lot more willing to do things like that since the Professor got rid of Ms. Marvel and she realised that she didn't have to just put up with other people's thoughts in her head after draining them.

Goodness me I love her. I just hope that doesn't gives her a Mohican too.

"Don't worry. I know a guy."

 

[Mr Zoat]

April 25th, 2013
Now

I don't wanna sound like a whiney bitch-.

The little Reach ship I was flying at-. Its force field bends and breaks as I fly at it, fists out. I power through, smashing into the hull armour which breaks just as easily. And then there's kind of a weird bit where I'm flying through the ship, and things are starting to come apart but the people inside haven't realised it yet. I see them doing whatever they do, looking around in surprise as the wall next to them breaks and I fly through. I slow down for a moment and shove one of them out of the way before carrying on, heading for the opposite side of the ship. They've got spacesuits, so they'll probably survive. And if they don't, it's a war. No one is going to care about dead space nazis.

And I failed already.

But come on! Between being able to melt things by pointing at them and actual super strength, what would anyone pick?

I turn back around, and it's great how much smoother the motion is than the old version. That's still there, but now my organs are extra-toughened I can use more force without turning my insides into slushie.

And back through the ship. BOOM!

Okay, no actual boom, but they know how I wrecked this little patrol's other ships, so they've-. They've got to be running away from the parts I'm smashing. I don't… See any Reach-goo on my hands when the hull on the far side explodes away from me, so I think I'm good and superhero-approved.

I will say this about super-melting powers. Pushing through a ship this way a lot tidier. Hulls are designed not to break, obviously, but if you melt them a bit first then the hole out is clean.

Oh. No. Looks like that one didn't get into a spacesuit in time. They sort of.. wave at me for a moment. The Controller told me that Reach people are a bit more resistant to getting spaced than humans, but… I mean, what? What do you want me to do? None of my upgrades let me magic up a spacesuit, and you're the enemy anyway.

I mean… I guess I could push them back through into the ship. The atmosphere bubble thing usually holds up for a while-.

Some sort of blue laser thing hits them, and they stop moving. I glance back, kind of annoyed. I mean, we're in a war, I decided to save some guy's life, and-.

A gun drone. Something-. Not everything the Controller been collecting can be used in me-. Or the other Effigies. So we get little robots around, watching how we do things-. Cameras so he can tell me what to do differently, how to use my powers better. And they have guns because we're in a war.

"Effigy One. Is there a problem?"

"I just thought I'd take that guy prisoner."

"Why?"

"I mean…" The ship behind me starts to snap in half as the holes I made in it start spreading. "Because…"

Because that's being a superhero, and that's…

That's the best thing to be. Except the Controller thinks the best thing to be is the Controller. And the next best is a good weapon.

I can't sigh in space. And-. Yeah, the Controller's been upfront about what he expects from me. I get powers but I gotta put in the hours. I'm not trying to say insect-space-nazi didn't deserve it or wouldn't have done it to me-.

"Interrogation, maybe?"

"We have plenty."

There's a… Space-wobble thing as the Legion salvage team arrives. Can't see any active Reach ships, so I guess that's it. The Controller was a bit annoyed that I couldn't describe it better than 'space wobble'. Guess I got a couple of extra senses from one of my upgrades, but I'm not really sure which one it was.

"But that one might have been unique."

What am I doing? Just.. shut up and get back to work.

I fly over to the hull and start ripping off the gun-. Oh yeah, that's easier than it used to be.

"Possible, but unlikely."

"I'm just saying… We don't know. And we could have found out. You know?"

"We are not here to gather intelligence. I only do this much because it is more convenient than dealing with complaints from allied Controllers."

"Complaints? What are they complaining about?"

"It need not concern you."

And I can't help but think. The old woman Controller Paul hangs out with, the one in charge of the Orange Lantern Corps. She's their boss, isn't she? She's the only one I've seen telling another Controller what to do. And she's on the Nemo Council. And there's that other Controller who runs the Darkstars, he's on the Council too.

My Controller… He's kind of… Just got me. I haven't seen him working with the Controllers making the ships or doing stuff for the old woman. So…

Does that mean he's, like, the Controller-me? He just wants his own thing that he can do well, and… And he's not just going to work for someone else if he doesn't have to-.

The weird field he put over the Reach patrol so they couldn't call for help or run away disappears, and the Controller… I think he's actually here in person. He doesn't usually do that. He flies over, but he's not looking at me. He's staring at that weird crystal he picked up a few days ago.

I straighten up a bit, though I don't think he'll care or notice.

"Sir?"

"Secrecy is secured. I will have another target for you presently."

"Is it an important one?"

"I do not yet know how to conceal an entire star system. There are few things that the Reach truly values that are smaller than that."

"How about a bigger ship, then?"

"I will consider it. For now, I wish to continue trials of your abilities here."

I nod, but he's still not looking.

"My studies indicate that your strength is to a degree dependent on your mental focus."

"Like a Green Lantern?"

"An apt analogy. Your body now responds to the force of your will, which forces the exotic matter to conform to its requirements."

"So it's kind of like what I was doing with telekinesis, only…"

"Yes. You will have to identify the mental triggers yourself."

Still not looking up from that crystal, he points to the front bit of one of the ships I just wrecked.

"Fly through that at maximum speed. Think of nothing but the action. I will monitor you."

Guess Legion finished taking prisoners off it. Amazing what teleporters can do. I turn, hold out my fists and fly-.

Oh.

I guess they hadn't finished with it, then.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Equitisation

28th April 2013
15:22 GMT

"Clarissi Dox, what can-?"

I hesitate for a moment as I see that Hinon is already in his office. Which almost certainly isn't that strange; she's the Orange Lantern Corp's main Controller sponsor and effectively 'in charge' of all of the Controllers directly working with us. Logically, they must meet often. I just.. haven't seen it. I… Guess I've sort of assumed that they left dealing with the gap between their responsibilities to me.

"Controller Hinon."

"Illustres. One of two, I understand."

I raise my eyebrows a little. "Is it a position with multiple openings? I know that the Green Lantern Corps has had two at various points, but I wasn't sure that's what we were doing."

"Linguistic drift." Dox's face remains characteristically neutral, though I think I detect a faint tone of disapproval. "For the entirety of the history of the Orange Lantern Corps, the only Illustres has been you. As such, rather than it being the rank of the senior-most member of the Honour Guard -a somewhat ridiculous standard when even you have only had your ring for less than three of your homeworld's years- the rank has become associated with your previously-unique relationship with the orange light."

"So…" Hm. "Alright, that makes sense. So… Is that the standard for joining our Honour Guard? For command rank-?"

"No."

"I mean… Field command positions, not high command." And I still shouldn't have said it. "Ah-."

"I am not unaware of the advantages of having Lanterns of that level of power assigned to oversight positions. And I am aware that I am better placed as a L.E.G.I.O.N. officer using my ring than as field Lantern." His eyes narrow slightly. "To truly excel as a Lantern one appears to need a certain impulsiveness which I lack."

"Dox, you've built the largest military in the-."

"I do not require you to massage my ego. I am well aware of my achievements. I have counselling on the subject, at my foster father's insistence."

"I second that insistence."

He appears genuinely puzzled. "Why?"

"Because I'm concerned about your wellbeing and long-term functionality?"

"Why do you think that your 'seconding' his insistence will have any effect when I am already following his advice?"

"Ah, logically it can't, but it does show that his isn't a lone voice or just his own opinion."

"Very well. Noted. Now, your recruitment of a sperm as an Orange Lantern. I am curious as to why you made that decision."

Hinon gives me a flat look. "Aren't we all."

"I wanted the help, and I'm curious about his perspective. He doesn't really have the sorts of desires that most species have. They're more focused around the status of his Great Mother than his own."

"Not an optimal candidate?"

"Well, he might be. If Great Mother is amenable to creating more of them, we could have specially crafted custom Lanterns. Spending a little time tutoring one is well worth it, even if the answer turns out that it was a bad idea." I shrug. "I didn't know that other Lanterns were going to be able to make the breakthrough that I did, not really. As you said, it's only been a year. We don't know what makes an ideal Orange Lantern recruit because we've only tested the sort of people we know can handle it in ways we understand. And that makes sense because we're fighting a war, but-."

"It's worth researching as well." Dox nods. "Those selections you personally had a hand in continue to out perform those selected by our normal methods. Perhaps your relationship with the orange light leads you to them, or perhaps not. I am… Struggling to see how that applies here, but as you say, it will be worth knowing."

Hinon rolls her eyes. "Can we please get back to the reason why I'm here? Unless you intend to do a repeat of the Spider Queen, techno-organic spacecraft really aren't that interesting."

"I shall try not to take that personally."

"'Useful' and 'interesting' are not the same thing."

"That is why I am trying."

"Why are you-?"

"Controller Jevek Jos Jar and his… 'Effigies'."

I nod. "Yes, Mister van Wyck mentioned he was expanding. It should be interesting to see how they do."

"Were you aware that he's been enhancing them further?"

"No, but… Good? I sort of assumed that a Maltusian who wanted to would have dozens of ways to augment someone."

"I could turn you into something else, certainly. Well, Dox anyway." She peers at me. "You, I'm not sure about. You rather like being you. You resist change."

"I.. am happy as myself."

"Few are, not in the way that you are. I honestly don't think that I could use the orange light to change you."

"Well, ah, good? Plenty of humans augment humans. We've got one guy who can regrow his whole body from a few scraps of flesh and somehow retains his memories. Is there a problem that I'm not seeing?"

"He never did any research on the subject before. Rather than begin from first principles, he's been accessing parallel universes to acquire their knowledge using a device worryingly similar to Krona's tuning fork."

"Has he been kidnapping parallel universe versions of me?"

"No, but he wouldn't necessarily need to. If he had access to Krona's records, then he could use the resonance to simply communicate with them."

"So he's using them to get augmentative formulae and… Combining them? Would that work?"

"I said that he had no prior experience, not that he was a buffoon. He is combining compatible elements."

"So..?"

"So he's drawing on different parallel universes! They don't all have the same physical laws, and he's rushing into production over pride."

"Isn't he millions of years old?"

"We aren't so transcendent that we don't have egos, Illustres. Controllers seek unique knowledge and social renown. We also aren't the most strident in safeguarding individuals from other species. Jevek Jos Jar was a proponent of the use of Sun Eaters early in our conflict with the Reach, and I have no doubt that if the combined augmentations had unfortunate effects on his minions he would care not in the slightest."

I nod. "Alright. Plan of action?"

"We want you to accompany the Effigies, monitor their performance and general state of health. If they're simply better soldiers then we'll work out how best to use them. Otherwise, you have the best chance to mend them. Take Lantern Son of Great Mother with you. It will be a useful experience for him as well."

I nod. "Can do. When do we leave?"