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

[Mr Zoat]

1st December
12:16 GMT +2

Qurac's highest security prison is located in the middle of nowhere on a rocky patch in the desert. Though it isn't quite up to Belle Reve's standards the location means that anyone who actually manages to escape and hasn't arranged transportation will almost certainly die of heat exhaustion and dehydration before getting back to civilisation. There's one road and it has guard towers where it branches off the main road and again near to the main entrance. Unlike Belle Reve it also has a mine field just in case the desert isn't enough of an impediment. It didn't used to have a super power suppression system but the League arranged for one to be provided after the Bialya mission. They could probably have afforded one before that but it just wasn't worth it for the couple of low level metahumans they had locked up until that point.

With the Justice League vouching for her we were only hanging around the special prosecutor's office for an hour or so before he accepted that she was his best hope for progressing his case. Another twenty minutes while he phoned the presiding judge resulted in M'gann being accepted as an expert witness and us getting the go ahead to pay Doctor Jones a visit, though from what I overheard the defence weren't particularly happy about it. So now Danni, M'gann and I are walking through the corridors of the Al-Muraqq Maximum Security Prison. Armed guards ahead of us, to the sides and behind us. Behind them are the lawyers from the prosecutor's office and further back still are the defence representatives. To reinforce our authority we're all in uniform. M'gann's got a sort of Raven thing going on with her cloak but I'm a little worried that Danni's is a bit revealing. It looks fine to me but I've spent so much time with Diana that I think my calibration might be off, especially for an Arab country. It covers everything but the armour follows the contours of her body more than they might find acceptable. Not that anyone's complained yet.

The corridors are extremely wide to give the guards clear fields of fire if there was ever a break out. I'm not even sure 'corridor' is the right word; it's more like a large hall occasionally broken up by cells. Lines of sight are long and there are lots of alert-looking guards. Unlike Belle Reve it doesn't look like there's even a token effort at rehabilitation but there is a very confident guarantee that anyone who steps out of line will very swiftly find themselves dead.

**Was Danni being serious earlier?**

**About what?**

**[M'gann tilts her head back in response to the gentle pressure of Danni's hand, her lips parting slightly as Danni leans forwards-.]**

My eyes widen. **M'gann!** The image disappears. **Okay, um, yes, she almost certainly was, for exactly the reason she said. I think. I mean, she might find you attractive but the impression I've had is that she really is just doing things for the experience.**

**Does she..? I know she calls herself a gynoid, but does she think of herself as being female?**

**That.. video, Mister J'onzz gave you. Did it just cover the mechanics of Human reproduction, or did it have a broader reach than that?**

I get a momentary flash of what looks suspiciously like the sort of sex education video I saw in primary school. I suppose that as a Martian M'gann doesn't have to worry about disease or accidental pregnancy while.. with.. a Human partner… Or even a Human/Kryptonian/Genomorph partner. It was probably just there so that she'd have some idea what the other person was expecting. **How do you mean, 'broader'?**

**You seemed surprised at our Thanksgiving dinner when Diana mentioned that Amazons could become romantically involved with each other. Presumably homosexuality wasn't covered.**

**Um, no. It wasn't. There was nothing like that in any of the videos Uncle J'onn sent back to Mars.** Too early for Glee I suppose. **I tried asking Wally and Robin about it but it seemed to make them uncomfortable.**

I wince. **Okay, um… This is probably part of a larger talk we should have at a later date. Short version, some Humans are attracted -in many cases exclusively- to members of their own gender.**

**But Danni kissed you. Does she like.. both?**

**Danni's a Morrow built gynoid. She's unique. I have no basis for guessing what she finds attractive. I can't think of a logical reason for her to even have the mental mechanisms which cause physical attraction.**

The guards ahead of us have their identification checked by the guards protecting the entrance to the wing housing Doctor Jones. After a brief radio call they get a nod and the door is opened and we begin filing through.

**Any plans for Robin's birthday?**

**No, when is it?**

**Oh. Um, today. I just… I mean, Artemis said that she was going but since I don't have a secret identity there's no way to explain how he knows me. I just assumed that he'd said something..?**

M'gann frowns. **Artemis isn't going to Robin's birthday, she's going to a party for some guy in her school. She said she was only going because one of her friends wanted someone to go with.** Oh dear. **How did you find out that it's Robin's birthday?**

Change the subject. **Massively invasive ring scan when I first got to Earth. Um, any thought on how to approach Doctor Jones?**

**[shrug] They just want me to confirm the range of his abilities. I won't even need to talk to him.**

**Can he resist?**

**If the collars are the same as at Belle Reve? Not really. He'll probably still have better control of his mindscape than most people but if he can't fight back it's really just a matter of time before I break through.**

I have the ring do another scan of the area, both for anything that looks like a threat and for anything that some of my scans can't detect but others can. Nothing. Physically infiltrating a place like this would be hard; there's just so many guards around that one man couldn't sneak in. A sleeper agent is a possibility. It's unlikely that Doctor Jones knew every Bialyan agent in Qurac, but again, unless they got someone near the top there are too many other people around. I can see Doctor Jones' enclosure up ahead now. No Aluminium Oxynitride walls here, just solid metal bars all around.

Doctor Jones himself is lying on his back on the floor towards the middle of the cell, arms folded behind his head. He's wearing what look like pale brown pyjamas: the local prison uniform. He turns his head in our direction with a slight frown, seeing the guards first. The frown fades as his eyes alight on M'gann but other than watching a little more intently he doesn't take any action.

The senior guard who came in with us takes a quick look around the cell and then approaches the three of us. He's a rugged looking Arab man with a full beard and the pips of a sergeant on his shoulders. The ring gives his name as Sergeant Al-Taraq. "Miss… M'orzz? Is that the correct way to pronounce it?" M'gann nods. "Do you need us to take him out of the cell?"

"No, this will be fine, thank you."

Reassured that the prisoner is still secure the guards spread out a bit and the lawyers huddle a little closer. The head of the defence team -a man named Mohammad Mahzah- goes to step up to the bars but loses heart when Doctor Jones makes eye contact and then rolls his eyes.

One of the defence lawyers has come up beside me. "So, ah, what's she going to do?" Clean shaven Caucasian with an American accent. I raise my eyebrows. "Well, there wasn't a class on telepathic interrogation at Harvard." He smiles at me. "Nylor Truggs. I'm on.. Sumaan Harjavti's defence team."

"Miss Martian has a good idea about what is possible with telepathy. This is just a scan to assess Doctor Jones' telepathic strength. Once she knows that, she can describe his limits to the court."

"What if she's wrong?"

"That's always a risk with expert witnesses. I imagine that the defence will have the opportunity to find a better expert." I shrug. "If you can. Or question her expertise, though I should probably point out that by Martian standards 'how strong is this guy?' isn't a very difficult question."

"Even with the collar on? I thought with all the guards they might be going to take it off."

"If they were going to take it off we'd clear the room of guards and you'd be watching on camera."

He nods, then appears to remember something. "Hey, ahh. Weren't you involved in stopping the Bialyan take over?"

"What makes you think that?"

"It was in the newspapers. Hah, I've been ahh, I've been reading up on everything that happened very carefully."

"I was involved. I'm afraid I won't be saying any more on the subject outside of court."

"Oh, oh, sure, sure. No problem. It's just that, ahh, M'genn M'ozz is here to scan Psimon, you're here for, well, security, presumably. Why's, ahh." He points at Danni. "I don't actually know who she is."

Danni turns to him, once again affecting Human facial expression. "My name is Danette Reilly. I am entirely immune to telepathy. In the unlikely event of something going badly wrong I am responsible for rendering Doctor Jones incapable of escape without impeding his ability to give testimony."

Mister Truggs grins nervously. "Oh! Glad to know we're in such good hands."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st December
12:21 GMT +2

M'gann and I walk up to the cell. Doctor Jones' eyes flick in our direction and then return to the ceiling. "Hello Martian. And.. you."

"Doctor Jones. How have you been?"

"Oh, you know: same old same old. On the plus side I'd have to live three hundred and seventy two years to complete my sentence, so in my estimation I should be able to cheat them of over two thirds of it. You?"

"Pretty good. Lots of fresh air, exercise, meeting new people. Do you know why we're here?"

"You want information, presumably."

"The defence are trying to claim that you were in full mental control of their clients during your takeover attempt. Miss Martian is going to scan you to see whether or not you are actually capable of that."

"By all means. I'll see if I can conjure up something suitably disturbing from my subconscious with which to welcome her."

"We're gaining information about your abilities, Doctor Jones. Not testimony. If you make a nuisance of yourself I can just brand you again."

His lip curls in distaste. "Fine. I'll be a good little supervillain."

"Ah, excuse me? Brand?" Mister Truggs takes a couple of steps forwards. "What..? Ahh, what exactly... I mean, you're not talking about, arhm..." He holds up his left palm and brings his right fist into it. "Tssst." His eyes flick between M'gann and me. "I mean, you're not, right?"

"No. The orange light brand allows me to alter his priorities. Making him want to cooperate with the investigation."

"Oh! That's how you got the original information. I was wondering why the prosecution were so reluctant to tell us." He jazz hands and grimaces. "'National security'. How do we, ahh, get an expert witness on your abilities?"

"You can ask me, request information from my tutors or if you like I'll see if Wonder Woman is willing to lend you the Lasso of Truth to use on me."

"I'm ahh, I'm sure your word will be fine, just fine."

"Are you representing Doctor Jones as well?"

"No. Um, no one really wan'ed that job. I mean, we defence lawyers try the best we can but there's only so much we can do. But ahh, the data he provided is the main source of evidence against my client. Since it clearly wasn't given voluntarily... Well." He shrugs.

Hm. Should I have kept quiet? No, if we're actually going to bother with a trial the defence needs to have that sort of information. "Miss Martian? Have you finished?"

"Not quite yet."

"Any trouble?"

"... Nothing unexpected."

For a moment I see what she's seeing in his mind: some sort of high tech laboratory with a hole to nowhere opening just above a pedestal. I don't remember how Doctor Jones was originally supposed to have gained his abilities and I haven't been able to find a record of it here. M'gann tenses slightly and the image disappears. Looks like she has it under control. Next topic, then. "Doctor Jones, have you given any thought to the probability that Queen Bee will try to have you killed?"

"Why? I failed the mission but I'm already being punished. As long as I keep my mouth shut about any-" He turns his head slightly to the side to look briefly at Mister Truggs. "-alleged co-conspirators I'm not really her problem anymore. I doubt they'll let you brand me on the witness stand. And who knows? Perhaps I'm useful enough to be worth recovering."

"Ahh, Doctor Jones, I really don't advise-."

"Oh, do shut up. Life's bad enough already without adding lawyers into the mix."

"Ah!" M'gann gasps in shock! I see a brief flash of another's pain and see a ghostly image of some sort of organotechnological device lowering itself towards 'me'. She takes an unsteady pace away from the cell.

Doctor Jones smiles faintly. "That was your own fault. You shouldn't go poking around if you want to avoid seeing things you'll find disturbing."

"Do you really think that Queen Bee is that forgiving? Between the two of us we made her look fairly stupid. Heck, your information is probably the reason President Harjavti's still got a job." And an opinion poll rating that David Cameron would give his mother's right arm for. "To say nothing of getting her best placed agent arrested."

"Ahh, alleged. Alleged agent."

"I may be in the dog house, Orange Lantern, but she's not going to kill me. Sometimes we all get overpowered. Even me. Even you. No rational person would waste resources killing a loyal employee just because of that."

"And I'm trying to make that image of a rational person line up with what I know about Queen Bee, and it just isn't happening."

"Then I suppose I'll be cheating them out of a lot more than two thirds. Unless you've got an actual offer for me."

"You're going to die in prison, but I might be able to arrange for you to serve your sentence a little further from Bialya."

He actually smirks. "I wouldn't mind spending some time in Paris. I hear it's lovely this time of the year."

"No, but you do have outstanding warrants in the United States. I'm given to understand that the food in Belle Reve is rather better than what they serve here."

He blinks, then pushes himself up into a sitting position facing me. "Belle Reve? Really?"

"President Harjavti is eager to improve relations with the US. Handing you over -on the understanding that you still end up serving as much of your three hundred plus year sentence as possible- would be a powerful gesture of good will. There are more than a few of your victims who'd like their day in court."

"Mmm. It would be nice to be somewhere where the guards understand when I taunt them. Plus, opportunities for travel during the trials."

"Now, ahh, now hold on a minute..."

"I'll want to see the President's signature on a written agreement first, and a lawyer."

"He'll sign whatever lawyers you want."

"Maybe I, ahh, maybe I was a bit hasty when I said no one wan'ed to represent-."

"Then what are we waiting for? I've got a deposition to give." He rises to his feet and dusts himself off. "Ah, to be amongst all of my friends once more in good old Louisiana."

"M'gann?"

She nods. "No, he couldn't mind control that many people."

"Ahh, it is your opinion he couldn't-."

"I'm not even sure he could turn them all into sleeper agents reliably."

"Oh, come now, that's a bit harsh. There was this one man back in Providence who I-." The lights in the cell flicker for a moment and he looks up at the ceiling. "Oh? What's this?"

Ring, what just happened?

The main power line to the prison has been destroyed in a subterranean explosion. Local back up power now online. In addition- Doctor Jones' collar falls to the floor. -an associated EMP surge has disabled the prison's power suppression systems.

Doctor Jones takes a look around the room. "Well. Isn't that interesting?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st December
12:25 GMT +2

My construct armour forms around my body as every guard in the room points their gun at Doctor Jones and starts shouting.

"Get down on the ground!" / "Don't move!" / "Stay where you are!"

Doctor Jones looks left and right before giving a tiny shake of his head. "Oh, dear me. This doesn't look like a set up at all. I'd best charge all of these guns and get myself horribly killed." He slowly and deliberately puts his hands behind his head. "I think not."

The guards are still on a hair trigger but at least he isn't about to get shot immediately.

"M'gann, make sure he's behaving himself."

"Already on it."

Ring, show me the blast point. In my mind's eye I see that a giant crater has appeared in the desert near the road. Why couldn't you detect that bomb beforehand?

At last scan no explosive device existed at that location.

"Ahh, is there a problem?"

"Lantern, would you mind doing something about my collar before one of these gentlemen does something unfortunate?"

Any other explosives you can't detect?

Unknown, unable to detect.

I inwardly wince. Perfect. Ring, maintain constant surveillance of the surrounding area. I float the collar up and reattach it to Doctor Jones' neck. I'll need to maintain a tether to keep it active.

"Very kind."

Ring, state of the control system? Ugh, it's a write off. Which means that I either have to transport him to Belle Reve as a surprise gift for Warden Strange or repair it myself. Assuming that nothing else-.

I hear a muffled bang and the room shakes. Okay, we're actually under attack. Ring, what was it that time?

Chemical analysis suggests XTX eight zero zero three.

Meaning?

It is a polymer bonded explosive most notable for its use as the detonator in some NATO nuclear weapons. Its use is highly restricted.

Sergeant Al-Taraq points at some of his subordinates and they leave the room at a jog. He gives his radio a shake and then lowers it to address the lawyers. "Could I have your attention please! The prison is under attack and we've lost radio communications." Some of the lawyers look ready to bolt. "Remain calm! All civilians are to evacuate to the car park at once!"

What sort of person gets a nuclear weapon and takes out the explosive to use as a bomb? Ring, did you detect anything before the detonation?

No explosive was detected prior to detonation. However, analysis of air currents shows a minor displacement of air at the most probable point of detonation.

Teleportation? Subspace pockets?

No sign of known teleportation effects detected. Subspace pockets are within this ring's ability to detect. Displacement pattern comparable to phenomena observed during the cessation of phase shifting.

Shepherded by guards the lawyers begin making a more or less orderly exit. As the last of them leave Sergeant Al-Taraq turns to the three of us. "Orange Lantern, are you sure you can keep Psimon under control?"

"Yes. Miss Martian, the ring thinks we're dealing with phased explosives. Are you able to detect them?"

"Ah, maybe, if I was close enough. Hold on." She raises her hands and there's a slight ripple in the air. "I don't think there's anything in here."

Ring, is there anything that wasn't explosive or debris at the blast site?

Unable to confirm. Debris fragments too small for reliable analysis.

So we might have phased explosives which can move. Heck. "Sergeant, the attack appears to involve explosive devices held out of phase with normal space. Miss Martian can detect them. I don't know what the target is; it may be Doctor Jones or it may be anyone else in the area." Ring, anyone important looking being held here? No, just violent criminals. Even the five people awaiting execution don't look like they really warrant these sorts of measures to break them out. "Regardless, we don't know how many there are or where they are. I strongly advise that you tell everyone to hold their position until we can check the whole prison."

His eyes widen and he lunges for the door at speed, yanking it open. "Halt!"

"Miss Martian, get out into the main detention area. See if you can find anything. Let me know if you do."

"Right." She turns and flies out of the door.

Doctor Jones walks slowly up to the bars nearest me. "I do hope you're not planning on leaving me to my own devices. I have no particular desire to be exploded."

"No, we-."

**Orange Lantern, there's a bomb out here!**

**Show me.** I get a really strange impression from her showing a sort of.. distortion.. thing in the air just ahead of the lawyers. **Any way to tell what it is?**

**I… No, I can't tell what it is. Should I tell them to move away?**

I send an orange filament out into the detention area and construct a barrier construct around the bomb location. I don't know what triggers them and I can't predict what will set them off.

**Do Martians use phasing explosives?**

**I don't think so. I mean, I'm not part of the military, but all our technology is organic. Anything mentally advanced enough to be able to phase would be self aware.**

"Sergeant, since he's cooperating and wearing a collar I'd like to take Doctor Jones to the Dhabar Army base until arrangements can be made for him to testify."

He nods. "Those were my orders, but only the prison commandant has the key. We'll need to-." The lock is sophisticated but mechanical. It takes the filament a couple of seconds longer than the computer operated Belle Reve equivalent would but isn't a major challenge. The remaining guards raise their guns again as Doctor Jones slowly approaches the door. "Lower your rifles."

Doctor Jones gives him a cocky grin. "Thank you sergeant. I-."

"At close range rifles risk over-penetration." The sergeant draws his pistol and points it directly at Doctor Jones' head. "I don't intend to risk ruining the traitors' trials by inadvertently killing their lawyers. Side arms only."

"Oh." The other guards put the safeties of their rifles on and sling them over their backs before drawing their pistols. "Well then."

"Firebrand, stay with him." Danni puts her right hand on his left shoulder. He frowns at her for a moment and then shrugs. "I need to try to work out how to defuse a bomb that isn't in normal space time."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st December
12:29 GMT +2

I walk through the door before taking to the air. I fly over the soldiers and lawyers and pull up alongside M'gann. Adom flies whenever possible to emphasise his authority and from the training in disaster management we received from Captain Adams it looks like he agreed. I can't transfer while I'm maintaining the link which keeps Doctor Jones' collar functioning. Well, I can but the collar would shut down and he might have done something stupid by the time I got around to reactivating it. I'm certainly not going to take his apparently agreeable frame of mind for granted.

The guards and lawyers in the main holding area have formed a rough semicircle around my construct. It's taken the shape of a series of overlapping metal segments arrayed around the location M'gann sent to me. Ring, scan the interior of the ball, maximum intensity. If it appears I want to know everything about it.

Compliance.

Mister Truggs takes a nervous step forwards and touches it. There's always one, isn't there? "Mister Truggs, please take a step back." He glances back at me before complying. "Everyone, there is a phased object in that approximate location. Based on the last couple of explosions it is most likely a bomb. My construct should be resilient enough to weather the blast but even so I think it would be best-."

Alert!

The construct glows brilliantly as the explosive detonates, air turned to plasma as the force generated can't go anywhere to escape. Ordinarily I'd just funnel it away but I imagine that President Harjavti would rather I didn't blast holes in his prison. Doesn't feel like a particularly large explosion but by habit I run through my head the things I'm trying to achieve here. Get Doctor Jones' testimony, secure convictions and so protect Qurac from Bialya, protect these people's lives from destructive idiots… Seriously, this is some badly misapplied technology here. What I could do with a phase shifter… And not just recover the cake, I could-.

Avarice application increasing. The sphere contracts in response. Explosion nullified.

I don't suppose you detected the phase shifting device itself, did you?

Novel technology detected immediately prior to detonation. Exotic materials elude full analysis.

Darn. I let the construct decay to nothing. **Miss Martian, anything else in here?**

Another pressure wave. **I don't think so. Who do you think is behind this?**

**No id-.** Prometheus? Could his key be used like that? As far as I can tell he isn't active in his villainous identity yet. He certainly wasn't there when the League cleaned up what was left of the League of Shadows. **No good leads. We can worry about it later.** "Everyone, we will now be leaving. Please follow Miss Martian and myself while we check for further explosives." **M'gann, after you. Feed anything you find directly to my mind.**

**Right.** M'gann swoops forwards, distortion pulses radiating outwards from her. Led by Sergeant Al-Taraq the guards begin shepherding the lawyers forwards, some of whom appear to be a little slow on the uptake. Mister Truggs doesn't start moving until Doctor Jones' escort more or less walks into him.

How many bombs could there be? And how did they get here? That one didn't move, at least once M'gann marked it. But then how could it have been planted? Ring, check the guards' backgrounds. And check the visitor logs since Doctor Jones started lodging here.

Compliance.

What else what else? Ring, can you detect what's happening in M'gann's brain when she scans for phased objects?

Affirmative.

Can you replicate it?

That process is possible, but cannot be undertaken.

Why not?

Process involves simulating a conscious Martian brain. User's desires indicated that the creation of life-.

Yes, fine, don't worry then. You really can't just replicate the bit she's using?

Not without additional data on Martian neurophysiology.

Another blast from somewhere in the prison and the lights go out, our area being illuminated purely by my constructs and a handful of emergency lights. I generate lantern -hah!- constructs around me so that everyone can see where they're going. I'm going to assume that bomb hit the prison's backup generator. That isn't much of a problem, this place was built with everything important manually operated, though from the sounds coming from the other cells the other prisoners aren't exactly happy about what's happening. Unfortunately, carrying out a mass evacuation isn't really practical at the moment and since casualties so far are.. zero -thank you ring- I'm not changing priorities.

An image of another distortion appears in my head. **We've got another one. And it's bigger.**

Just ahead, at the end of the cells. **Probably a silly question, but if you're phased and it's phased can you interact with it?**

**Only if we were using the exact same, ah, there isn't really an English word for it. Vibrational frequency? We'd have to be phasing in the exact same way.**

**Can you try several different frequencies and see if you can-?**

She shakes her head. **No, that's, like, way beyond my level.**

**Alright. Skirt around it and make sure our exit is otherwise clear.** Only one other obvious source of information. Ring, access Justice League communications and transmit: Orange Lantern to Hawkwoman.

A momentary delay as I fly ahead of the evacuees and come into visual range of the whatever-it-is hovering just outside reality.

Hawkwoman here. What's your status?

Sir, I'm in the Al-Muraqq Maximum Security Prison in Qurac. Doctor Simon Jones has agreed to testify but we are under attack from explosives that are out of phase until they detonate. I'm not sure what the rules on sharing technology with me are after the incident with Kon-El's armour but anything the Thanagarian government feels able to share about this particular technology would be greatly appreciated. The next bomb looks rather large.

That technology isn't-. Do you know who is responsible?

No. I mean, I could guess. It's in Queen Bee's interests that he doesn't testify and she has been dealing with Apokolips. They almost certainly have phasing technology.

Understood. Do you have any Nth metal left over from making Superboy's armour?

No, but I've still got the original fragment I recovered from Kahndaq. Why?

Disrupting phase shift technologies in a controlled way is extremely difficult. The Thanagarian military usually settles for disrupting them violently at range.

Better than waiting for it to detonate on its own. Is it something I can do?

It's a simple technique: just run enough electricity through a small amount of Nth metal to vaporize it. How big is the fragment?

Thirty one grams. How much..?

One point two one gigawatts. Can you manage that?

Should.. be able to. How big an explosion is this likely to generate?

Thirty one grams? Not much. As long as you get the current right it shouldn't be more than five hundred grams of TNT and Earth technology isn't advanced enough to be affected by the phase disruption effect.

No, I mean the disruption effect. Though, yes, I needed to know the yield too.

About ten miles. We usually use it in space. If it only affected a small area it wouldn't work.

And my subspace pocket? I've still got a lot of stuff in there.

Do I look like a Guardian?

Maltusian. No. Okay, I'll give it a try. Thank you for your help. Orange Lantern out.

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st December
12:33 GMT +2

For a moment I wonder how much I can trust her. This isn't like Justice League Unlimited; Hawkwoman and Hawkman have been completely open about their role as Thanagarian police officers. Do they do intelligence work on the side? Maybe. Alright, probably. It wouldn't surprise me and I certainly won't complain if they are. If I was an alien government and I knew that a place like Earth existed I'd want someone keeping an eye on it as well. Alright, is there a less explody way to do this? Maybe. I tap the back of my left hand and Teekl and Fatty fall out.

"Food?"

Teekl lands with her legs slightly splayed out, takes a frantic look around her new environment and then calms, sitting back and licking her right forepaw. Fatty on the other hand falls over, rolls along the floor and is floating up to my head height before even fully recovering.

I point at the construct barrier. "Possibly. Can you see the object in there?"

He turns to look. He tries to tilt his head to the side but well fed Praexis Demons don't have much of a neck and he just sort of tilts in the air. "Object?"

"You can't see anything?"

"Orange. Empty?"

"You might as well have a go at eating it anyway."

Fatty actually shrugs. "Always hungry." Then he oh, that's revolting. Oh that's revolting. He flies to the top of the construct and dislocates his jaw, expanding his mouth to cover the whole of the construct. But the construct itself just passes through him and he gets broader and I'm looking somewhere else.

"Hey, Teekl-." She stops licking and turns her head to glare at me with venom such as only an angry cat can muster. So, she is angry about being put in the ring. "Teekl, Wolf's going to be fine without you for a couple of hours. I need you to concentrate. Can you feel whatever's in there?"

"Teekl not feel it."

And Fatty's -ugh- just about finished. "Get anything?"

"Still empty."

Right. **M'gann, I'm about to violently de-phase everything in the prison. Make sure that you're both tangible and somewhere safe.**

**How-?**

**Explosive Nth Metal. So make sure it's very safe.**

**Okay. The way to the parking lot looks clear to me.**

**Alright.** I take the fragment out of subspace and start feeding what I'm seeing to M'gann. A wire construct runs off each end of the fragment and connects to a capacitor construct. **Three, two, one." The fragment glows for a second and then evaporates, creating a distortion in the air similar to the one M'gann was using but.. deeper somehow. I stick a physical barrier in the way just in case but that doesn't seem to impede it. When it reaches the large object next to it, it bends slightly but keeps going as the object is expelled from its phased state.

It's not a bomb. As I look at its insanely grinning face the most apt description I can come up with is a Cyberman in dire need of a gastric band. Large metal boots with some sort of tubing for its fat stubby legs. The legs are about as long as mine but the main solid metal barrel of the body is at least six feet tall by itself. The arms are made of more of the same tubing material and terminate in metal… Are those gloves? The face is a token metal nose, two white dots for eyes and a curved thick white line for a mouth with thin black vertical lines drawn on to show teeth. On the top of the head there's some sort of metal.. hat.. thing. The combined effect is to suggest some sort of ridiculous child's toy.

Ring, what the fuck?

Archival recordings identify subject as 'Bozo the Iron Man'. Subject appears inactive.

Fine, it's just a robot. An old one at that. Records show it was strong, tough and could fly but none of that's enough to make it a threat. Ring, any other bombs put in an appearance?

Three additional explosives revealed.

Analyse. I want that phase shift technology.

Analysis complete. Phase shift devices appear to have been irrecoverably damaged by-.

By the Nth metal pulse, right. Right. Of course. Location of bombs? One two levels under Doctor Jones' cell, one on the seldom used helipad and another in the car park itself. **M'gann, you alright?**

**I'm fine. That felt weird. Did it work?**

**Looks like. If at all possible, please disarm or remove the bomb in the car park, it's the only one between us and the exit.**

**What about the robot?**

**Since it isn't actually doing anyth-.**

There's an electronic crackling noise and Bozo vibrates into life. And another noise. I look backwards and see the crowd of guards and lawyers just coming into view. Ah, heck. Did that set him off?

"Hello there! My name is Bozo! What's yours?"

His upper body is tilted slightly down so that his head is roughly facing me, arms still at his sides. The still expression is even worse than when Danni does it. At least she's expressionless, that grin is just… "I'm Orange Lantern two eight one four, Bozo."

"Hello I'm Orange Lantern two eight one four Bozo! What are you doing today!"

"I'm evacuating a prison, Bozo. Um. What are you doing today?"

"I'm going to kill some little birds!"

Eh? "Well, we're in a prison, so there aren't really any birds in here. But if you'd like to come outside with us-."

"You're lying!" His right arm bends up -not at the elbow, it can bend along its whole length- and he waves his right forefinger at me. It whirs as it moves. "It's naughty to lie! You're a bird. There are birds over there! A whole flock of them!" His left arm points behind me. Oh dear. "And Bozo is going to kill them all!"

"Find another route! Now!"

My EMP flux construct does nothing to stop Bozo as he begins marching forwards, head down and arms pumping in what has to be a pre-programmed pattern. Given his age he's probably too primitive to be affected by it anyway, though it does make his speaker -located in his upper chest- hiss and crackle. Okay, fine, I'm not sure how intelligent he is but I doubt that his brain is located in his legs. I form two sickle constructs on either side of him.

"Bozo, by the authority invested in me by the Orange Lantern Corps I'm placing you under arrest."

"Birds can't make arrests, silly!" He stops just in front of me and I hear the people behind me head off to the side at a run. He leans slightly back and begins circling his right fist. Seriously? Fine, be like that. The sickles come around and slice straight through his legs. Without doing any damage. Huh? "It's been a long time since Bozo has killed any birds! Do they still go 'squish'?" His right fist slams forwards as I jerk backwards in the air just enough that his knuckles swoosh through the air just in front of my face.

Having passed through my construct armour as if it wasn't there.

Oh dear. He can still phase.

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st December
12:37 GMT +2

"I have never squished an orange bird before!"

I jink to my left as his left arm swings around through where my centre of mass would be. It's not really a punch; he's just relying on his raw strength to do damage. Probably. Can he phase through me and pull out organs in the way M'gann pulled her spoon out of her cereal? With the ring I don't think it would hurt and I could replace them…

"You move like a Hummingbird! But you can't stop Bozo!"

He shifts his posture once more, leaning forwards. Arms flailing ahead of him he advances towards me at marching pace. I fly out of his way without really thinking about it, circling around to his left. He might be able to phase but his turning circle… Is irrelevant because he's just gone straight past me. He's going after Doctor Jones.

"Bozo, don't you know it's rude to turn your back on an opponent?" On the off chance his phasing isn't on I form a cutting blade next to his head and try to hit him with it. No luck.

"You're not an opponent! You're just a bird! One bird is as good as another." Suddenly he stops, straightens up and rotates his head around. "Unless it's a baby! Bozo likes squishing babies most of all!" Can't disengage without… No, I could try grabbing everyone in the building. How long would it take? How close to-. Ah heck, they're bottlenecked at the door. "Do you have any babies?"

I smile. "Sort of." Fatty, eat him.

Fatty lunges through the air, mouth distending once more. Bozo turns his head to track him. "That's not a-" Fatty flies straight through his torso, prompting Bozo to look down in apparent puzzlement before rotating his head back around and swatting with his right arm. His hand clips Fatty and sends him flying into a nearby cell wall. "-baby." The clearly terrified prisoner inside backs up as far as he can and starts chanting what sound like prayers while Fatty pushes himself upright.

Ring, message to Hawkwoman. Sir, do you know any other ways to disable phase shifting technology? Don't bother with real time communication, just relay her reply.

Compliance.

"It looks like a baby! But it isn't one! You made a silly mistake!"

Okay, he can clearly hear me. He doesn't appear to have light sensors so he isn't seeing like that and scanning his internals… Can't scan his phased internals. Electromagnetic radiation didn't do much. Amplifier constructs form around him as I try hitting him with very high and very low frequency sounds. Just to be sure I add in some radiator constructs for heat on the off chance he's using thermal imaging. He shouldn't, he was built over eighty years ago, but then he shouldn't have phasing technology either.

Bozo shudders for a moment before stilling again. "You've blinded Bozo! But you haven't made Bozo forget!" He takes a half step back with his right leg, pivoting to face the last of the guards who haven't made it through the door. "Bozo still knows where the birds are!" He leans forward again and no you don't. Rather than waste time slashing at him again I target the floor, trying to slice through the concrete and steel before he can start forwards again. Not fast enough! Why hasn't he just fallen through the ground!? No, hang on, selective phasing. If he leaves the soles of his feet-! I jam stake constructs directly through his feet. "Ow! Bozo's feet hurt!"

Halle-fucking-lujah. Message from Hawkwoman. Why do you want to know?

Ring, reply: I'm fighting a murderous robot with phasing abilities. Could your next message be helpful, please?

Compliance.

With a final crunch the floor around Bozo gives out and falls down onto the level below with a large robotic passenger. I release the stakes just as he lands and he falls onto his back. "Bozo fell down!"

Okay, it's going to take him a while to climb back up. His legs don't look designed for jumping so he'll have to go all the way around to come up. He could try getting out but the passages don't meet up until the exit. Looks like he's having trouble working out the correct course of action; his head fan hat thing is starting to whir around in what I can only assume is an attempt to cool his head down.

**M'gann, progress report?**

**Bomb disarmed. I basically just phased everything that looked like a detonator out of it.**

**Yes, I hear phasing's pretty useful. Any more phased objects around?**

**Nothing I can detect. Do you want me to come back and help you with the robot?**

**No.** I turn around to look back at the hole. **I think he's under-.** Bozo's grinning head rises out of the floor, followed by his torso and DOOOHRR!

"Peekaboo! Bozo's back!"

**Ah!**

**M'gann, what just-?**

I'm knocked flying ten metres down the corridor before hitting the floor and skidding to a stop. Ah-agh. My chest feels wrong, lungs are crushed and my chest armour needs replacing but I'm still alive and coherent. Getting seriously injured when you can't feel pain just feels odd rather than horrible. Now, Wholeness Rightly Assumed. Bozo hasn't even finished fully extricating himself from the floor when the ring pushes my ribs back into place and starts restoring the rest of me. There's blood in my mouth but -ah- it's gone a moment later. Maybe I should call this Padparadscha Griffon rather than Wholeness Rightly Assumed? No, my armour's getting fixed too. Since it clearly isn't doing anything I drop my armour construct and float back up onto my feet as Bozo flies ponderously down the corridor towards me.

"Did Bozo snap the bird's wings?"

He's flying… With his beanie. His beanie is-. No, wait, actually, if his mass is mostly phased out that sort of makes-. But he didn't originally have-. No, stop, that way lies madness.

Message from Hawkwoman. You can use molecular bond disruption effects to nullify some types of phase shift generators.

Thank you. An Arrow of Unmaking appears from my subspace pocket. Check there's nothing critical behind it just in case-.

Message continues. If you'd told me why you wanted it to start with-.

End.

Compliance.

"Bozo's going to squash the bird! Then Bozo's going to squash the other birds!" The Arrow flies from my hand and hits the centre of his torso. It penetrates slightly before the crumble effect triggers. Bozo jerks in the air as his mass suddenly shifts, sending him careening through the side of the nearest cell. Thankfully it's empty. "Bozo doesn't feel too good, but Bozo knows his job!"

**I'm alright. The trigger mechanism just tried to go off, it surprised me.**

**Good to know.**

Another arrow from subspace but I try cutting off his flying hat first. No, still no luck. The second Arrow hits his head. Rather than simply disintegrating it as I'd been hoping it just causes another flare. The metal's blackened and one of his painted eyes has melted off but he's picking himself up. Ring, does he have enough of an emotional presence to assimilate?

Emotional presence insufficient.

Not a true AI then. Intact would be better, buuut… He starts to push himself off the rubble as a third Arrow strikes his right shoulder. This time it triggers with full effectiveness, severing his arm and cutting a hemisphere out of his side.

"Bozo's arm has fallen off! That isn't a good thing!" A fourth removes his left shoulder. Five and six take his legs and his torso rolls onto its back, his head rotating left and right. After a moment it stops and stares out into space. Right, now I can start dismantling-. "Critical mission failure has occurred! Poor Bozo! Self destruct in: immediately!"

Armourshieldblockblockblock!

Bozo's torso jerks violently as I hurriedly envelope it in an orange shield bubble. And then.. it.. doesn't do anything. Oh no. Ring, scan interior. What just happened?

All delicate electronics destroyed. Data irrecoverable.

I slump slightly in the air.

Advanced technology irrecoverable. Robot memory-.

Irrecoverable?

Confirmed. Robot memory irrecoverable.

Great. No easy route to cake extraction. I take another look at Bozo. Nothing much I can do here. Better go and see where Doctor Jones has got to.

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st December
12:42 GMT +2

I follow the orange link connecting me to Doctor Jones at a jog, making a quick assessment of the damage to the prison as I go. Doesn't look.. too bad. None of the cells are breached. Power's still out but that can be left for a bit. Once we've got Doctor Jones somewhere secure I can come back and fix the generator myself. Fix the whole place up myself, actually. No point trying to keep hold of Bozo's remains with all of the interesting bits destroyed. Would the League want it? Oh, they can just ask the Quracis.

Ring, access Justice League communications. Get me Hawkwoman again.

Hawkwoman here. Report.

Thank you for your help, sir. The robot's been rendered inert, no fatalities. Miss Martian and I will do a sweep of the grounds but I think we're in the clear. The Al-Muraqq Maximum Security Prison is going to need a new power suppression system but I think that events may have encouraged Doctor Jones to testify. I'll type up a full report once things have calmed down.

Understood. Were you able to identify the origin of the robot?

I step around the hole I cut in the floor and take a turn to the right. A quick scan shows that they headed across the helicopter pad with the intent of going around the outside of the prison. Not a lot of alternate routes. The place was probably designed that way for defensive reasons.

It identified itself as Bozo. Given its appearance and behaviour it seems likely that it was the original Bozo the Iron Man, the creation of a man named Doctor Rupert von Thorp. Its last reported sighting was in nineteen forty three and police records from the time say nothing about it being able to phase.

Do you believe that Doctor von Thorp was behind this attack?

Seems unlikely; he was shot dead in nineteen forty one while trying to escape from police custody. There were plenty of witnesses and anyway, he'd be about a hundred and fifty by now if he somehow... Oh, the ring's just given me a photograph taken at the scene. No, that's definitely a dead man.

Through an armoured door and I think I'm in the staff section of the prison. Unlike in lower security facilities the inmates don't do their own laundry or cooking -heh, you're in here for a long time, not a good time- and since commuting isn't really practical there are barracks on site. All the background stuff takes up quite a good chunk of the facility, actually.

Very well. Keep me apprised of any further developments. Hawkwoman out.

**Orange Lantern to Miss Martian. Bozo is an ex-robot. Everyone ready to go?**

**Some guy started shooting at Psimon when he got out of the prison.**

**What!** I lift myself off the ground and fly at full speed down the corridor. **What happened!?**

**He must have climbed up the cliff at the rear of the prison. Danni handled it, but it looks like he could do with medical attention. He's badly burnt.**

A checkpoint with security doors provides security to the landing pad, but it's currently abandoned. Since I can't transfer past without freeing Doctor Jones I cut straight through the metal of the door instead.

**Is everyone else alright?**

**Danni got shot a couple of times-**

The wall before me evaporates in a cloud of orange and I'm zooming out of the prison and looping around towards the car park.

**-but she doesn't look hurt.**

A cloud of dust goes up as I land just in front of Danni. Her armour has been pierced in three places but the skin beneath seems to have held. Some minor damage but her self repair systems seem to have it in hand. I wish I still understood how those things worked. She's kneeling on the ground next to… Oh. Looks like Deadshot's uniform is black and brown here rather than red and grey. Still got that weird targetter thing on his right eye but Danni's already removed the rest of his mask. The material covering the armour on his left has been burned off and the armour beneath looks warped. I scan Mister Lawton as Danni rips off his surviving wrist gun.

"I am afraid that I was unable to avoid injuring him. Protecting the Quracis and Doctor Jones seemed more important than 'pulling my shots'."

His flesh is seared and he'll probably never regain full functionality without my help. Nothing life threatening though. Not until infection sets in. "I think you made the correct decision." I feed a series of tendrils into his clothing and start cutting it away. He'll lose some skin but it's probably best to get the material off him now. His only remaining weapons are a couple of knives in his boots so the boots go as well. Trousers are armoured, so-.

"Will he live?"

I look away from Mister Lawton and meet Sergeant Al-Taraq's eyes. Behind me I see that he's had some of his soldiers form a perimeter while the rest get busy shepherding the lawyers onto the waiting vehicles. He's now looking contemptuously down at our prisoner.

"Should do." The full extent of his injuries revealed, I begin making repairs. I would very much like to know who sent him… But I can probably live with leaving some of the minor injuries in place.

"Do you know who he is?"

"Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot. Mercenary and assassin. Currently wanted in twenty seven countries, mostly for murder."

He snarls. "Make it twenty eight."

"No, he was already wanted here." The skin across the right of his body is angry red but at least it's not leaking melted fat anymore. "Murdered a businessman in Madaba three years ago."

"Then don't waste your time healing him; he'll just be executed anyway."

"I'm afraid that we need to know who sent him, which.. means.. we need him coherent and at least a bit cooperative."

The Sergeant shrugs. "Surely it was Queen Bee."

"Probably yes, certainly no. And Mister Lawton hasn't ever used phasing explosives or robots before. Those were a nasty surprise."

"Were you able to destroy the robot?"

"Yes, and you're welcome to what's left of it, though I think you should wait until Miss Martian and I have had a chance to check the prison out more fully before you go back inside." He nods as I generate a gurney construct and lift Mister Lawton up with a flight aura, strapping the assassin to it. "Firebrand, would you please keep an eye on Doctor Jones?"

"Of course." She rises to her feet and takes a step towards Doctor Jones. Then she stops, holds up her right and generates a corona of flame around it. She stares at it for a moment and then continues towards our prisoner, the air around her hand still burning.

M'gann comes into land next to me carrying an armful of detonators. "That should be all of the bombs in the prison disarmed. Is this the guy who did it?"

"We'll know in a moment." I give his central nervous system a prod. "Wakey wakey Mister Lawton."

"Uuuuunnuughhhg…"

**M'gann, we need to know who employed him and where the technology came from. I'll hold his attention.**

**Right.**

"I said-" I step forwards and poke him in a painful looking burn. "Wakey-."

His eyes snap open. "AAAAGHFUCK!"

"Hello there." He tries pulling away from the gurney and in doing so puts pressure on his burns. He gasps and then tries to stay as still as possible. "I'm Orange Lantern two eight one four. And you're under arrest."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st December
12:47 GMT +2

"There's a surprise. I was expecting a parade or somethin'."

"Unconsciousness to sarcasm in five seconds. Well done, Mister Lawton."

"Shoulda made me a cake. Makes me so much more reasonable. And hey, I hear you're good at baking."

"Mister Lawton, you're looking at the death penalty for this. Your best chance of survival lies in-."

"Survival isn't everything. Better one hour as a tiger than a lifetime as a worm, right?"

My left eye twitches. "Did you just quote Red Dwarf at me?"

"What if I did?"

Behind Mister Lawton the four by fours start pulling away and the armoured van we'll be using to transport Doctor Jones -and Mister Lawton as well I suppose- pulls up. Oh. Looks like Mister Truggs is travelling with the rest of us. Either that or he just missed his ride. He's ambling in our direction and I've already got a bad feeling about the direction of the conversation.

"Three questions, Mister Lawson. Firstly, who was the target? Secondly, were you responsible for the bombs and the robot?"

"Oh, please. I'm not going to tell you that. Not going to think it, either. What, you thought I wouldn't recognize a Martian? She's bright green. Though, thinking about it; how do we know she's really a she? I mean, shapeshifters, right?"

**M'gann-.**

**I'm a girl!**

**I'm happy to take your word for it, though if you weren't that wouldn't be a problem either. Any luck?**

**He keeps thinking about assembling and disassembling a gun. I might get something eventually…**

**I'm going to try something.** "Third question, Mister Lawton." I take a step closer and poke him again. "What do purple bananas smell like?"

He blinks, frowns and blinks again. "What? What does..?"

"Who hired you?"

"I'm not-."

"He doesn't know." M'gann steps up besides me. "He has a.. business manager. He doesn't usually meet his clients. He didn't know about the robot. He just got told that something was going to trigger an evacuation and he should be ready."

"Ahh, you know that's not admissible, right?"

I give Mister Truggs what I hope is a polite smile. Sergeant Al-Taraq just glowers. "We're gathering information, not evidence. I'm confident that testimony from all of the eye witnesses will be enough for a conviction. Miss Martian, did you see the name of the primary target?"

"Psimon."

"Thank you Mister Lawton." I make a twisting motion with my left hand and the gurney rotates to the horizontal position as we start towards the armoured van. "The prison behind us was somewhat damaged in a recent attack, but as luck would have it we're on our way to a military base and then on to the Dhabar Central Court so we should be able to get you all processed by the end of the day."

"Ahh, Mister Lawton? Have you sought representation?"

Mister Lawton looks at Mister Truggs and then back at me. "Who's this guy?"

"Nylor Truggs. He's a defence lawyer."

Mister Lawton takes a moment to digest that. "He any good?"

"Well, ahh, I like to think-"

"No idea, but defence lawyers who'll defend supervillains are a bit thin on the ground around here."

"-and, ahh, third in the year isn't a bad-"

"When do I get my phone call?"

"When you get arrested in America."

"-researcher, so even though I haven't actually, ahh, conducted-."

"Wait a sec." Mister Lawton looks at Mister Truggs. "You haven't conducted a defense before?"

"Ahh, no, not as such."

Mister Lawton considers this for a moment. "Think I'll just see if my regular guy minds flying out. Flying. I can still remember when I could catch a plane rather than hitching on container ships." I lift the gurney up into the van past where Doctor Jones is sitting. "Whoow! Oh, hey Psimon. No hard feelings, right?"

Doctor Jones regards him with dead eyes. "None at all."

"Ahh, Mister Lawton, it's not a good idea to make.. ahh.. make Light of this sort of situation. I'm here 'cause I wanna help. Even if your, ahh, 'regular guy' can fly out, they're gunna need a couple of days. You're going to need, ahh, some sort of representation."

Mister Lawton looks puzzled for a moment. "I.. guess… Ah hey, you want the job that bad, it's yours. Just don't be surprised if I fire you for someone better."

I deposit the gurney down at the furthest part of the van and Mister Truggs follows it in, sitting down near his new client's head. Danni's sitting on Doctor Jones' left, her hand still burning. He's trying to avoid looking at it. I sit down opposite him and next to one of the guards, the orange line which connects me to his collar running along the ground. Another guard jumps up and pulls the door shut. The ring shows me Sergeant al-Taraq walking around to the front while M'gann floats up to the Bio-Ship.

"Ah. Orange Lantern." Doctor Jones transfers his gaze from the floor to me. "I've.. had a bit of a think, and I've come to the conclusion that perhaps it would be best if I didn't transfer to Belle Reve." He raises his hands slightly, palms upwards. "A building full of supervillains… In light of what just happened I'm beginning to think that.. perhaps putting myself within their reach isn't such a good idea…"

"You sure?" The van shakes as the engine starts up. "You sounded really enthusiastic about it earlier."

"That was before I had overwhelming evidence that my extremely rich former employer was hiring assassins in order to kill me."

"Ahh, on behalf of my client I take issue with-."

"Oh shut up you miserable little cretin." Doctor Jones practically snarls at Mister Truggs. Did he really think Queen Bee was going to help him? "Knowing it happened and proving it in court aren't the same thing, and I know exactly what happened here."

"Well, ahh, if you're really sure."

"Is there somewhere more secure I could be housed?"

"The League doesn't really have long term holding facilities. But I can see what I can do. We still need you to testify, of course."

"I don't think silence is in my interests anymore."

"Ahh, speaking as a lawyer-."

"Mister Truggs. Are you his lawyer?"

"Well, arhm, no?"

"Then please stop interrupting."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st December
14:58 GMT +2

I disconnect the orange filament from Doctor Jones' collar. The soldiers tense slightly but the power suppression unit I've just finished constructing takes the strain with no apparent drop in performance. Just in case I look over to M'gann. She stares at Doctor Jones for a moment longer before meeting my eyes and nodding. Glad that's sorted. The drive back was uneventful, aside from having to drive around the crater where the first phased bomb destroyed the power cables as well as a large chunk of road. It appeared to have been a surface detonation, though I'm not sure if that means that they couldn't rematerialise in denser material or not.

Doctor Jones looks down at his collar and then takes a look around his new cell. "Not much of an improvement from my previous residence, but I'll take what I can get."

Major Najjar snorts. He wasn't particularly happy about having to empty out a storeroom to house Doctor Jones, though I can't fault his implementation of his orders. The soldiers are already working to fortify the building with sandbags and I heard him getting the quartermaster to put together estimates on building a more permanent structure if their political superiors decide they want to house him here in the long term.

"I did have one question, if I may?"

"You can ask."

"Your friend, Firebrand. When my collar deactivated, I couldn't feel her mind. It was a bit.. strange. Is she some sort of yogi?" He looks me in the eyes. "No. Some sort of innate metahuman ability perhaps?"

I turn away. "Enjoy your stay, Doctor Jones. Don't do anything the guards have to shoot you for." I lead M'gann back into the parade ground, where a couple of soldiers are slacking off to get selfies with Danni. She's posing with a fireball and doesn't seem to be objecting, though of course that could just be the infiltration programming. She douses the flames when she sees M'gann and I and waves goodbye to her new acquaintances before walking over.

Final mission summation? The prosecution are happy that they're not having to give away anything to get his testimony, President Harjavti's happy the trial can go ahead and the defence team are happy to be alive. I hadn't realised that Mister Lawton's first shot had been with a rocket propelled grenade. Danni's heat blast prematurely detonated it and she tanked the shrapnel on behalf of her charges. Even Mister Lawton seemed reasonably sanguine when Sergeant Al-Taraq hauled him off to wherever they put people like him. The Logan Animal Sanctuary got their injections done, though M'gann would probably have preferred to spend more time there. All in all a pretty good day. Have to get something nice for Hawkwoman to say 'thank you'.

**Back to the Logan Animal Sanctuary, or back to Happy Harbour? We should be able to get you back in time for second less… Um, period.**

**Y'know how you offered to build Marie and Garfield a zeta tube?**

Good dodge. **Yes?**

**Did they say where they wanted it?**

**No. To be honest, I'm not sure she even remembers me offering. Why do you ask?**

**I was thinking: Garfield told me that he sometimes gets lonely at the Sanctuary. Do you think you could build it so he could transfer to Happy Harbor?**

I shrug. **There's no added technical difficulty. I don't think he'd be allowed in the cave, though. I'd have to build a dedicated terminus somewhere.**

"Forgive me for interrupting." Danni's mannequinning again. And she can't hear telepathic communication. I wince slightly. "But your silent conversation is drawing attention. Might this not be continued on board the Bio-Ship?"

"Um, yeah." M'gann's spotted the faux pas as well. "I left it just up-."

"I can see it." She pauses and then notices M'gann's confusion. "I am able to see patterns of heat." Danni rises into the air and I experience a brief pang of envy at her skill with the flight belt. Maybe I could get her to give me some pointers? M'gann and I follow her, M'gann opening the lower hatch for us to enter.

The soldiers Danni was talking to have spotted our destination and are trying to work out what they're looking at. One raises his camera. Should I do something to stop people taking pictures? No, that seems excessive. At most they'll see the black and red interior roof and it isn't as if they can consult an expert on Martian technology to learn anything from that.

Danni enters first and lands at the front of the Ship. M'gann heads for the pilot's station and closes the opening behind me as I head for the fore-right station, sit, and then swivel the chair around. "So, back to the Sanctuary?"

"A moment of your time." Danni's still standing. Did she take that telepathic conversation personally? Or maybe she felt that-? "Before we entered the Al-Muraqq Prison you asked me to pass on a message."

I frown and look at M'gann but she's just as confused as I am. "I.. don't remember doing that."

"That was the intent. The message is: 'Your mother smells of elderberries'."

1st December
12:01 GMT +2

I lean back in my chair as I consider the situation. We need to properly assess Doctor Jones' telepathic strength, but getting him to willingly testify would be even better. The special prosecutor said that one of the enticements we could offer would be a transfer back to the States, which would mean that he would get put in Belle Reve. But that… I look up at M'gann. "Did I tell you about meeting up with Warden Waller in Washington last month?"

"Was that where you met Senator Knight?"

"Yes, that's the one. It's just.. I'm thinking about what she said. I checked, and there have been a lot of staff changes at Belle Reve. Plus they've cut back on the security procedures."

"Did you talk to Strange about it?"

"Yeah. He.. waffled about de-escalating, building better relations with the inmates by making the prison a more friendly environment. And it could be true."

Danni nods. "But you do not believe that it is."

"It makes me suspicious. If that was the only thing, I'd ignore it. But Brain had connections to the Injustice League and he's still at large and someone's teaching him magic. We still don't know how Kobra got the Blockbuster formula or who Sportsmaster's end buyer was supposed to be. Then the Ice Fortresses… The lack of visible connections is making me paranoid, and Belle Reve's setting off my alarm bells."

M'gann looks puzzled. "So.. you.. don't want to offer Psimon a transfer?"

"I don't know? I mean, he's got no real ties to the US, no family, no known associates. If Queen Bee isn't trying to kill him, if he thinks they still have a working relationship, I can't think of a reason why he'd even want a transfer."

Danni tilts her head slightly to the side. "So it would be suspicious if he did."

"A bit." I shrug. "It wouldn't be conclusive or anything, but it would be.. interesting to know."

"We were going to ask him anyway. I am uncertain as to how this changes our approach."

"Because I know, and now you both know, and he's a telepath."

M'gann frowns. "Doesn't their prison have a power suppression system?"

"Pa-ra-noi-ah."

"Well, if you're really worried about it I can.. probably suppress your memory of this conversation while you talk to him. Maybe even the reason you wanted to ask."

"Can you do yourself as well? No offence or anything, but I'm not sure you could stop him from seeing it."

"I think I could, but then I wouldn't know to put the memories back again afterwards."

"Is there some sort of reminder system..?"

"I can set it up so we remember if something happens, but it needs to be something that will only happen when we want to remember and can't happen before that."

"As a gynoid, I am impervious to telepathy. I can speak a trigger phrase once the operation is concluded."

"That would work. I mean, I haven't practiced this much. We might just start remembering again in a few minutes."

"I can't think of anything better. Anyone have a preference for the trigger phrase?"

1st December
15:02 GMT +2

I blink as the restored memories reintegrate themselves. "He stopped wanting to go once he found out that Queen Bee wants him dead. We.. may.. have a serious problem here."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st December
20:11 GMT -5

I'm beginning to think that I made a mistake about not learning to ride the moped. Yes, I have a power ring and yes, the person who designed it was clearly a maniac, but sometimes it would be helpful to have a mode of transportation that didn't draw people's attention. As it was I had to walk from Burnley Station. I don't mind and it's not as if the Gotham nights hold any fear for me but it really wasn't an efficient use of my time. Up ahead in Wayne Manor I can hear Richard's birthday party in full swing. I'm carrying separate presents for both him and his alter ego. Actually carrying, not just keeping in subspace.

Before we left Qurac M'gann explained her idea about the Zeta Tube to Marie while Fatty kept Garfield busy playing It. She saw the point of letting Garfield socialise with people his own age and with M'gann offering to look after him she couldn't really complain about the safety of the arrangement. I wonder how lonely she gets out there herself?

After dropping M'gann off at school I spent most of the morning just wandering around Happy Harbour with Danni, talking to her about the old days. Not a very logical or structured way to go about things but it seemed to be helping. At least she promised me that she wouldn't lock herself away in Red Tornado's room again. In fact, when we talked about her situation with Alan he was happy to offer her his spare room so she's going to be living in New York for the time being.

I walk up the steps to the Manor's front door and… It has a chain for the door bell. I suppose that given the age of the place that makes sense. I give it a pull and then stand back. I went through proper secret identity/no secret identity conduct with Diana and as such took the time to come up with a convincing reason to be here. If it comes up these presents are raffle prizes Richard won in the annual Themysciran Embassy charity raffle. The rocks, anyway. Can't really explain the Crumble-tech throwing weapons.

The door opens smoothly. "Good evening Mister Penn…" Talia al Ghul and I stare at each other for a moment. "Miss a-. Um, Miss Head. I'd forgotten you were here."

Her eyes narrow slightly. "You. What do you want?" I hold up the presents and she takes a step back. "Then I suppose you had better come inside."

"Um, thank you." I lower the presents and follow her inside, closing the front door behind me. "Mister Pennyworth's night off?"

She leads me into the house, away from the noise. "Alfred is valiantly trying to maintain order in the party itself. Hmf, American children."

"So, um. You and Batman giving it another go?"

She gives me a sharp look. "What business is that of yours?"

I raise my hands in surrender. "Just making conversation. And, Richard's my friend. His wellbeing-."

"Matters to you. Yes, I have seen how that works. What did you do with my Father?"

"Do? Oh, no, I honestly don't know what happened to him. I've got no idea where he went after Tibet." She stops, faces me full on and stares at me. I shrug. "I can't scan for him, but no change there. With the League of Shadows dismantled it hasn't been worth my time to put lots of effort into locating him and without the Ophidian I can't just look everywhere with lots of little-" I wiggle my fingers. "-floating eyes."

A little of the hostility leaks from her expression and she gives a shallow nod. "You're telling the truth." She turns away and resumes walking to wherever we're going. "When the Detective told me that he was unable to locate my father I assumed that the most likely person responsible was you."

"I probably am. But whatever happened to him, it wasn't me. Lex said it would probably be his business associates who finally did him in."

"Father is not an easy man to kill."

"Really? He's a physically fit baseline Human skilled in unarmed combat and with primitive weapons. Without backup I'd have thought that a police armed response unit could probably kill him, and if there was no one around to get him to a Lazarus Pit…"

Her eyes drift to the side. I wonder what she wishes has happened to Ra's. I know that Nyssa hates him and would do everything she could to pull Talia away from his influence but I don't know how Talia herself feels about it.

"Nyssa did not mention that you talked about him."

"It was just before I met her for the first time. How's she doing, by the way?"

"She accepted Lex Luthor's offer of employment and appears to have settled in well at his facility in India."

"Glad to hear it. So… You and her… You talked about…"

"Her history with our father? Yes. That… That was not a proper way to treat family."

"Should probably say… I'm pretty good at healing people with this ring. If there's anything, um, the Lazarus Pit isn't fixing for whatever reason, I could have a look at it?"

That gets me a frown. "The Lazarus Pit can undo death. I have seen League of Shadows records of each of my father's deaths and no injury has left a mark once he rose from the Pit."

"Okay, but, aside from him and Nyssa, do you know anyone else who's used it? Could there be other-?"

Even as I'm pressed against the wall, her left hand on my throat and her right holding a knife over my left eye, I have to take a moment to process the speed with which she just moved. Float the presents to the floor. Okay, the knife isn't a threat, but I don't-.

"How do you know about my mother!?"

She's actually snarling. "What?"

"Clearly you know that not everyone who goes into a Lazarus Pit comes out whole! How do you know this?!"

"I don't know! I don't even know who your mother is!" I really don't. I don't remember her from the comics and the ring was really quite precise in what it took from Infinity Island. No personal stuff at all.

"Everything alright out here?" The knife doesn't move even slightly as we both look around to see Rick Grayson limping out of what looks like a sitting room.

I subspace the knife and transition myself to just behind Talia. "Mister Grayson, good to see you on your feet." I extend my right hand for him to shake and hold my left backwards towards Talia, her knife reappearing in it. I feel her pull it from my grasp as he takes my hand.

"Paul, nice to see you again." There's a puzzled frown as he looks at Talia. "What was that about?"

"Miss Head misunderstood something I said and-" I turn back to her. "-I'm very sorry. I honestly had no idea that was such a sore point." Her mood switches from furious to imperious.

He looks puzzled, but he doesn't press the point. "I think the party's back that way."

"Perils of not having a secret identity." I float the presents back up. "I'll wish him a happy birthday at our next training session. Is there somewhere I can leave these?"

"If the lady of the house has decided not to stab you?"

"The offence was accidental and he has apologised."

"Okay then. Come right in." I let him go ahead of me. "Still can't quite believe Dick's become a superhero. I mean, he told me about it but it wasn't until I saw this place I really got my head around the idea."

Coming off the medication probably helped with that. "How have you been?"

"Better than I was, that's for sure. Physical therapy's going fine. Most of my problems now-" He holds up the walking stick and shakes it. "-are psychological. Bruce has been really great about it all."

"He's a good man."

I can feel Talia's eyes narrow behind me. "He is the greatest of men."

"What did you get Dick, anyway?"

"Improved throwing weapons, and some rocks."

"Rocks?"

"Rocks. From space."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st December
20:17 GMT -5

Mister Grayson plonks himself down in a soft chair and leans his crutch against the arm. "Space rocks." He shakes his head. "Whereabouts did you get those?"

I stop in order to reply and Talia stalks past me to occupy the most dominant looking chair in the room. "Every major planetoid in this system with a solid surface. Thought he might like it, and I'm pretty sure no one else will have got him that." I float the packages in question over to near the crackling fireplace, though not so close that they risk catching fire.

"Space rocks. Oh, take a load off."

"Thank you." I fold my legs and sit in the air where I had been standing.

Mister Grayson stares while Miss Head gives me a look of disapproval. "Orange Lantern, you are flaunting your abilities."

"Oh, no, I've seen him do that before."

"No, she's right. I'm out of my element and I'm trying to share the discomfort." I drop to the ground and walk to an upholstered wooden chair. Sitting, I discover that it's just as uncomfortable as the one Gran used to own. Ah well. "I've spent a grand total of two minutes in the, um, 'normal' parts of the house before. The other stuff I'm used to…"

"If you think this is normal I'd love to see where you grew up."

I shake my head. "It was much smaller than this. I mean normal as in… I'm sorry, how much do you know? I had this whole thing with Diana… Um, Wonder Woman, today about in-costume out-of-costume interactions and, um…"

"I know that Bruce is Batman and Dick is Robin. I.. prefer not to ask for more details than that. Last time I did, Dick gave me this whole tale about them chasing armed nutjobs across the Gotham rooftops and I couldn't get a wink of sleep. No idea what... What John and Mary would have made of it."

"Okay, well, I don't have a secret identity. No life away from the costume."

"You are too proud to pretend to be other than you are."

I try to keep my features still as I consider Talia's statement. It's sort of true, but why is she-? Oh right. Mary Andrews. "Is he making you publicly associate with his 'playboy millionaire' persona?" She rolls her eyes. "Ooh, hard luck."

She holds her head high. "It is necessary in order to publicly justify our relationship. I will not begrudge my beloved his cover identity."

"I'm glad to hear it." I was looking in that direction. I WAS LOOKING IN THAT DIRECTION! He isn't even in costume! The door's silent as Bruce Wayne walks in to stand on Talia's left. He puts his right hand on her left shoulder and she reaches across to put her right hand on his. Otherwise her posture changes very little. She doesn't even look around. I have to have the ring run an analytic program to detect that she's slightly more relaxed now. He looks so relaxed and pleasant that I'm having a hard time equating him with the Batman I know. He's at early Batman Animated levels of happy. I suppose this is what he looks like when not being attacked by the GrimDerp, and lives in a universe where happy endings actually aren't forbidden by editorial mandate.

Shame it wasn't with Selina. Ah well.

"Paul, thank you for stopping by. Did you want to talk to me about something?"

"Yes, the.. um, the Qurac-" He nods. "-situation."

"Of course. Ah, Rick, would you mind..?"

He shuffles to the edge of his seat before levering himself up. "Don't worry, I can take a hint. I'll go and see if Alfred needs relieving." He takes hold of his cane but doesn't appear to put any weight on it. I frown slightly as I watch him walk out of the door.

"He uses it to steady himself when he has flashbacks." I freeze, feeling slightly guilty. "Most of the time he can walk just fine."

I look back at Bruce. "I… I didn't really think about this bit of his recovery. S'not really like-" My eyes flick to Talia. "-um…"

"You can talk in front of Talia. With the League of Shadows no longer in operation she isn't a security risk."

I hesitate a moment longer and she doesn't quite scowl. "Sir, have you had time to read my report?"

"Yes. I have concerns about Belle Reve myself, especially after the Ice Fortress incident."

"The prison we can monitor, and at this point I think.. someone's stalling to keep Waller from getting put back in charge. That can't last. I'm more worried about the whole supervillain cooperation network thing. Doctor Jones hasn't been in America for years and Queen Bee doesn't have any supervillain allies.. that we know about. A few as hired help maybe… A Belle Reve breakout is manageable. I mean, it would suck for Louisiana and we'd all be rushing around for a few days, but we could cope. I'm worried about the possibility of there being something… Bigger."

Talia goes still for a moment, then squeezes Bruce's hand. He stares at me for a second and then nods. "Tell him."

"They call themselves The Light. My father is -or possibly was- one of them. They are an alliance of what you would call super villains. There is an inner circle whose members coordinate operations and then an outer circle of personnel working for each member of the inner circle. Lawrence Crock -Sportsmaster- was their chief agent, though since the blow you and the Justice League struck against the League of Shadows I do not know who has replaced him."

Was Batman keeping this from..? It's not on the computer in the mountain. "If you tell me who the inner circle are I can pick them all up in a couple of minutes."

"I don't know all of their names. I do know that Vandal Savage is a member. I believe that he is on the list of people you have been unable to locate?"

"… Yes. "

"And so is Klarion. Do you believe you could pick up him in a couple of minutes?"

"I'm.. not sure. With the Ophidian-" I nod. "I'd bet on me, but it wouldn't be a sure thing. My research on Lords of Chaos is not yet.. there yet." Wait a second. An alliance of senior supervillains? "Is Lex Luthor a member?"

Bruce's jaw tenses slightly. "We don't know."

"Because it sounds like his sort of thing, directing but not getting personally involved. But… No, the League of Shadows accepted a contract on him. They couldn't infight like that. Could they?"

"It could be infighting, or it could be a distraction of some kind. Lex might even have paid for the contract himself if he thought it would increase the chance of the peace treaty being signed."

I slump slightly. "Do you want me to stop talking to him? I mean, it's going to be a bit difficult given what's happening at Cadmus…"

"No, that won't be necessary. I just wanted to make sure that you were aware of the severity of the situation."

"Sir, why are you telling me? You haven't made this information available to anyone else..?"

"As well as Lex Luthor you have also built up a relationship with Teth Adom." I nod. I don't know where he's going with this. "Though I understand and am to a degree sympathetic to his efforts to effect regime change in Kahndaq, the fact remains that it falls well outside of behavior that the League could publicly sanction. Do you think that he would be open to the idea of becoming the Justice League's man inside the Light?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th December
09:56 GMT -5

I take a closer look at the steel plate that was Artemis' target. "Seems to have worked." Her new arrow sliced through it cleanly and penetrated some distance into the sand bag wall I erected on the far side. Use of the X-Ionizer process left the metal of the arrow's head monofilament sharp and impressively strong. I had considered using Apokoliptian technology as part of my upgrading of Artemis' equipment but it turns out that Apokoliptians don't use bows.

Who'd have thought?

Artemis climbs off the crash mat and walks towards me. Since we're going to be doing this for a while I purloined an unused storage space and set up some equipment. "Were you watching what I was doing? What's the point of doing these recordings if you aren't paying attention?"

"Artemis, the ring records your vitals automatically. And in any case there wouldn't be a noticeable change yet. Even Zatanna has barely experienced any improvement in her performance and she's been both Awakened longer and using magic." I bring up a read out of her performance. "Yes, you are indeed exercising within your normal parameters."

She stops next to me and takes a look. "Mom wants a copy of that."

"I hadn't forgotten."

Her head jerks back suddenly. "Why are you looking at my estrogen levels!?"

"Because it might be affected. I'm not going to put your health at risk over prudishness." She relaxes slightly. "Besides, you know how libidinous the Greek gods used to get, it's the subject of about two thirds of Greek legends."

Her eyes widen slightly. "You never said that could happen!"

"I clearly said 'other metabolic changes'. It isn't likely, but it is possible. Though, this doesn't actually look particularly high."

She points to the screen. "That says 'elevated'."

"That's a perfectly normal part of your menstrual cycle, it just reads as elevated because neither Father Box nor the ring have a baseline comparison."

She looks at it for a few moments longer. "What time is it?"

"Nine fifty seven. Why?"

Her eyes widen. "Damn it! Tao's getting here at ten! Now I don't have time to take a shower!"

I give Artemis a quick look-over. "I wouldn't worry about it. You look fine."

"I stink!"

"Fresh sweat really doesn't smell as bad as people seem to assume. And, Tao's upbringing has been somewhat unusual. I very much doubt he'll mind."

She looks at me, then in the direction of the showers and then in the direction of the corridor leading to the main training room. "Uuurgh." She collapses her bow and stows it on her back, and then starts marching fists clenched in the direction of the training area.

I smile as I follow her, while behind me Mister Tawny pulls himself to his feet to come with us. "He's spent nearly two years on a military base, only being let out for missions. Aside from Zatanna and yourself I don't think he's even had a conversation with a girl his own age since he was recruited by the Great Ten. And she's not here."

"It's not that. I just don't want to look like a complete slob. He's the first Chinese person on the team. We need to try and make a good impression."

"Yah huh. Look, he's about your age, has similar interests and.. as far as I can tell, he's a good guy. He knows we're not going to be as strait-laced as he's used to. Don't worry about it."

Some of the tension leaves her frame. Mister Tawny nudges me in the side of my right leg and I reach down to give his head a scratch. He doesn't exactly purr, but he does make a sort of throaty rumbling sound when he's feeling happy. I'm in his good books for taking him out hunting this week. The Moose didn't stand a chance.

"Oh, I wanted to get your opinion on this." I take my shiny new sword out of subspace and hold it out. It's a metre and a half long and a ridiculous twenty centimetres across at the hilt. Unlike the sword Rako used while we were investigating Captain Adam's case mine glows orange, not blue. Bloody thing makes me feel like Guts. The X-Ionizer process means that it can hurt things in my weight class and at my current strength I can easily manage it one handed.

She looks at me as if I'm a crazy person. "Why do you need a sword?"

"Because giant glowing swords look cool. Also, it's fairly intimidating and doesn't run out of power."

"Can you even use that thing?"

"It's not really a duelling weapon but yes, Wonder Woman's instruction has included lessons on sword combat, though her swords are somewhat shorter than mine."

She smirks. "Guess Amazons don't feel they need all that much extra, ah, equipment."

I smile back as I attach the sword to the force field clamps on my back. "I assure you, my dear future sister in law, that I-."

Her right eyebrow goes up. "In seven years?"

"That was my parents. I was thinking more along the lines of seven months."

She stops suddenly and blinks a couple of times while she adjusts to the idea. "Are you serious about that?"

I nod. "Completely."

"Whaw. Did.. you already talk to Jade about it?"

"This stays between the two of us for now, right?" She nods. "I think the precise time at which one pops the question is supposed to be a surprise, but she's aware of the general direction of my thoughts on the matter. My plan is that we finish off the League of Shadows in mid June, marry at a registry office in early July after my period of bondage elapses and have a working honeymoon away from Earth."

She nods and we resume our journey. "Whyyy away from Earth?"

"I have the feeling that Batman will insist on charging her with something."

"She is an assassin."

"But when she comes back, then, with a little luck, she'll have a Maltusian diplomatic passport. I'm not having Jade go to prison, especially if the situation which led to her entering the League of Shadows has been dealt with."

"Dad was the situation that led to her joining the Shadows."

"I'll let you know if he turns up." Assimilating him really was a mistake. I didn't even get that much information out of him. So what if there's some group calling themselves 'The Light', aside from Ra's he didn't know the identities of the members. He had suspicions but it's not like I can't point to the most probable suspects after five minutes on the Justice League's computers. And now I can't show Paula a body. It's odd; I really feel bad about that. I think she's starting to occupy the Mum shaped hole in my head, and Artemis is standing in for my sister. Wee bit more argumentative, but shorter than me, female and blonde, which apparently is all my hindbrain needs.

"Oh, hey guys." Wallace and Richard meet us as we come around the last corner before the training room and Wallace waves. "How's godhood treating you?"

"Surprisingly sweatily, because someone decided not to remind me what the time was."

"Wallace, if you want to find out what it's like I'm more than happy to use it on you as well."

He frowns. "Would that work?"

"Let me do a quick check. Father Box?"

"Ploong."

"Survey says 'yes'. And I can't imagine that the process is less safe than Garrick Formula replicated by a twelve year old."

"Huh."

As we enter the training room I see that Kon, Match and M'gann are already here. Match is sort of adapting, but there are massive holes in his knowledge. I need to have another talk to Kon about having the G-Gnomes fill in his blanks. He's not keen on the idea but Match is barely functional like this. Kaldur is picking up Tao and Zatanna's busy with arcane study. That just leaves-.

"Sorry I'm late!"

William dashes in wearing his Apokoliptian armour, the Sword of Beowulf on his back. Quite why he wanted to be a member of our team as well as the Justice League eludes me, though I suppose that it doesn't hurt. And I can understand him wanting extra training it isn't practical for him to receive as Captain Marvel. No one wants it to be possible to render them powerless, after all.

Richard looks down at the ground. "I'm still not sure having someone from the Great Ten on the team is such a good idea."

I shrug. "Our security is good enough. And it's like I told Wonder Woman, it's far better he learns superheroing from us rather than lunatics like Socialist Red Guardsman."

"I guess."

The Zeta Tube glows into life and we come to an approximate sort of attention. "Recognised, Aqualad, B zero one, Celestial Archer, B one one."

 

[Mr Zoat]

4th December
10:02 GMT -5

Kaldur appears first. He has tried the Apokoliptian armour I made for him but he just seems more comfortable in his red and blue Atlantean gear. He looks.. placid? I'll assume that the Chinese didn't try anything stupid, then. Tao on the other hand has the same nervous quality about him that he had after trouncing Green Arrow during their archery contest. He's still wearing his blue and gold armour with robes gear and has the Celestial Bow slung over his back next to his quiver. He's left his hat thing off and for the first time I see his Chinese Army regulation buzz-cut. As the zeta tube lights fade away I watch him hesitate, remember that he's representing the pride of his country, straighten up and stride forwards with renewed purpose.

Kaldur and he come to a stop just in front of us. "Everyone, I would like to introduce you to our new team mate: Celestial Archer."

I raise my right hand to give him a royal wave as Tao gives us a short bow from the waist. "It is a great honor for me to be here as part of..." He blinks. "Um. I am sorry, I have not been told what this team is called."

Wallace tilts his head to the side. "Sort of.. doesn't have a name."

"Oh." He thinks about this for a moment. "I will be honored to be a part of it anyway." I can almost hear William getting ready to start calling out suggestions again. Seriously, Super Eleven? Red Arrow has hardly spent any time here and it's not as if this is the limit of our expansion. I haven't come up with anything. Teen Titans is out; I'm thirty and William 'Beowulf' Batson is ten. Similarly, I don't think Young Justice would work. In the minds of my team mates 'young' means immature and incapable and as a result they would be violently opposed to making that a part of our official title. Outsiders never made any sense to me.

I suppose 'Avengers' is a possibility...

Kaldur gestures to us in turn with his left arm. "You have met Grayven-" I wave again. "-and Artemis." She smiles at Tao but he seems to be trying to stay professional and po-faced. "This is-."

"Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy and Miss Martian." He looks at Match. "I am afraid that I do not know who you are?"

Match blinks like a rabbit caught in headlights and then looks sideways at his brother who tries giving him a reassuring smile. Match swallows. "I'm Match. I was created in the same lab that made Kon-." His eyes widen and he looks back at Kon. "I'm sorry, I wasn't meant to say that! I didn't mean-!"

Kon puts his right arm around Match's shoulders. "Match, calm down, it's okay."

Tao looks a little confused. Best give a simple explanation. "Match was created in the same laboratory that made Superboy, but he only got out of his gestation tube recently and hasn't quite adapted to the world yet."

Tao nods once and then looks at William. "I do not know you, either. Are you a member of the team, or perhaps a mascot-?"

"You bet I'm on the team! I'm Cap-!" He pauses and reconsiders. "I'm Beowulf. Nice to meet you."

"Ah. I apologise if I insulted you."

"It's okay. I know I'm kinda young compared to-."

"Wait a second." Richard's eyes narrow. "Kid Flash and I operate publicly, but Superboy and Miss Martian don't. How do you even know who they are?"

"The Great Ten have intelligence files on each of you." Hardly a surprise, though I notice that Kon, Wallace and Richard don't seem best pleased. "I do not have full access but they certainly include your names as well as images taken during some of your professional activities. When I was told that I was being assigned here I reviewed them so that I would be familiar with your abilities." The nerves are back as he looks at their faces. "Should I not have done that?"

I just about hear Kaldur sigh, though he covers it well. "Being told that a foreign intelligence service has files on us is a little concerning."

"We have files on everyone associated with the Justice League. You are all too important to the world -to China- for us not to. Do you mean to say that you do not have files on us?"

And there goes the self-righteousness! I grin. "I knew there was a reason I wanted you here."

**Grayven, be nice.**

And there goes my jolly. Yes, joining in telepathic conversations outside of mission time helps me integrate with the group but I still get testy when things turn up in my head that I didn't put there. **M'gann, I was being nice. I said-.**

She steps towards Tao. "Zatanna told me about your competition with Green Arrow. What else can you do?"

"I am stronger, faster, more agile and more resilient than a normal man."

Kon crosses his arms. "Oh yeah? How strong?"

"I am somewhat stronger than Aqualad. On this team I would be closest to you, I think."

"Really? You think you're as strong as Superman?"

"No, but in addition to lacking the full range of Kryptonian abilities your strength is much less than.. his." Kon floats up thirty centimetres above the floor. "Oh."

"I've had some work done."

Tao nods, his eyes flicking briefly to Match. "It seems that you have less to worry about from our intelligence service than you had believed." Richard smirks while Tao turns his attention to me. "May I also assume that your altered form is not simply a product of your use of the Blockbuster Formula?"

"It was a contributory factor, but this is mostly Father Box's work."

"I.. see. What is-?"

"Ploong."

"Alien computer system. Since you're getting access to our database you can read all about it."

He nods. "I will. I had intended to spend most of the next week studying your records so that I-."

Artemis steps forwards from the line up. "There'll be time for that later. I'm more interested in what you can do with that bow."

Tao reacts with reasonably well concealed shock before warily looking at Kaldur. "Sir, if a demonstration would be of use-."

Kaldur raises his right hand to stop him and smiles faintly. "It is not necessary to address me as 'sir', and a demonstration of your abilities would be helpful in determining how best to fit you into our existing strategies and training schedule."

Tao turns fully to face him and gives a shallow bow before turning to Artemis. "If you could show me to your training area, it would be my pleasure to provide a demonstration."

"You're standing in it. Grayven, you got any more of those training drone things?"

I guess we're done with the pack-sniffing-the-new-dog's-arsehole thing then. The rest of the group takes a step back as I languidly describe an arc with my right arm. Tiny orange filaments flick out and deposit seven Apokolips-tech drones in the air around the centre of the room. "But of course." Vicious little things, they are. I've got actual blaster-armed versions in subspace storage but the low power plasma gun version we use for training still stings when it hits. They can fly, evade and have basic energy shields. Only real weakness is battery life. Really need to get a better supertech power source from somewhere. Apokoliptian stuff is either too advanced for me to replicate safely or is of the 'runs-off-the-misery-of-paraplegic-kittens' variety.

Tao walks towards the centre of the room, unslings his bow, removes the cover from his quiver and notches his first arrow as the drones hover to circle around him. "Is there anything else I should know?"

I nod. "We keep Eastern Standard Time, breakfast and lunch are whenever you want them, dinner is whenever whoever's cooking it wants it but it's usually about seven. Everyone who lives on site is on the rota except for Match. Real names are provided on a case by case basis, trying to find out by investigating covertly is a big no-no but if someone says something stupid in front of you that's their lookout. In either case, sharing that information with your Great Ten superiors will get you booted off the team immediately, probably after Miss Martian or the Manhunter have erased that information from your brain. Scheduled training sessions with League members are at weekends and two evenings a week though we usually organise our own sessions to supplement those. Black Canary will want to speak to you about your personal strengths and weaknesses later today."

"Thank you, but I was referring to the targets."

"No. Activate."

His arrow is up before I can blink and he sidesteps, twisting in the air and loosing at empty air as the drones move to evade. I watch in amazement as drone five dodges into the path of his arrow, which passes through its energy shield without disrupting it and pierces its main battery. Tao dives around plasma fire from the other six as drone five bursts, its own shield surviving for a second and minimising the radius of the blast before the wreckage crashes to the ground. How the hell did he do that? I take a moment to look at Artemis who's staring at him in amazement and hunger, though whether for Tao's ability set or for Tao himself I can't tell. He gets another shot, loosing through a plasma bolt which disperses as the arrow flies through it to spear the drone behind it. Oh yes, I think that Mister Xu will fit in here very well.

 

[Mr Zoat]

5th December
21:53 GMT

"…this whole bit about how she begged for Batman and Green Arrow to train me. I mean, can you believe that?!"

"You.. do remember that I traded a year of my life for this, right?"

Artemis and I are sitting on top of the outer wall of Pevensey Castle, where unlike in Happy Harbour they actually got round to changing the signs back. Aside from one small section which appears to have been restored to its original Roman-era strength the curtain wall is in more or less the same dilapidated state as I remember it from back home. I can't say the same for the street lights; Pevensey shines brightly to our right while the dingy space where Westham should be glooms on our left.

"Yeah, but you found Mister Scott. You negotiated it yourself. You convinced him you were the guy to take over for him. I thought I impressed them fighting bad guys in Gotham and helping Superboy."

A few dog walkers taking a route through the castle grounds are giving us odd looks but we're too far from the path for them to identify us clearly.

"You know Batman probably had her on the defensive from the start, right? Turning up in the room with no warning, doing that intimidating loom thing he does. And it's not like she actually knew what you'd been doing."

"I can't believe you're taking her side!"

"What, you mean the side of people who haven't seen you for seven years but really don't want you to turn out like your sister?" I give a slightly frantic nod. "I probably am. Look, why'd'ya think Batman even went to your flat?"

Artemis looks away from me and out across the Pevensey Levels. "I.. dunno."

"I don't either, but if I had to guess, I'd say that he was going to ask if you'd be interested in joining the team, even before your mother started pleading your case. I mean, it's Batman, right? He wouldn't have approached her without finding out about your situation first. And if he thought you were a problem like Jade he'd have gone after you directly."

"So, what, Mom just assumed the worst about me?"

"No, Artemis-" I pick up her left hand from where it rests at her side and hold it between mine. Despite the air temperature she doesn't feel cold -higher metabolism being one of the side effects of being Dannered- but I can feel tiny pieces of grit where her palm was resting on the wall. "-she just wanted to be completely sure the worst wasn't happening. Or maybe she did know roughly what you were doing and wanted to know that you had someone watching your back, to make sure you had some support and guidance. I know I wouldn't be as good as I am without Alan or Diana or Guy teaching me, and I wouldn't have achieved what I have without Batman having organised actual missions. Ooh, how did it go with Green Arrow yesterday?"

She looks at my hands, then tosses her hair back and manages a small smile. "It went good." She nods. "Saved a reporter guy from one of the Shadows you and the Snake missed."

"Oh? Who was the lucky assassin?"

"By the time we finished she wasn't really talking much. Database said her name was 'Silken Spider'."

"Any relation of the other Spider?" Ring, just check that Mister LaMonica is still in Belle Reve. Having him escape again would just be embarrassing.

Confirmed. John LaMonica, aka 'Black Spider' is currently confined in Belle Reve.

Artemis shrugs. "Same tech, same moves. She didn't know I was super strong, though. And.. does this formula stuff make me faster?"

I don't remember seeing anything about that. "It might. Probably just a side effect of the extra strength, but if you want to be sure I can-."

"Nah, it's fine." She takes another look around. "You grew up around here?"

"Not 'here' exactly, but yes. A couple of miles that way." I point to our left in the direction of where Westham should be.

"This castle isn't as impressive as I thought it would be. It's basically just a big ruin."

"I'd like to see how good you look after seventeen hundred years." I sigh. "Perfectly preserved medieval castles basically don't exist. They either get updated with central heating and electricity and windows like Windsor or they crumble or get destroyed like this. I mean, we can go and see Bodiam if you like, that's got some bits that are still as they would have been when it was still in use." I suppose I should be glad that I didn't rebuild the whole thing while merged with the Ophidian. Or try and build my parents' house or something like that. Compared to what could have happened a few repainted signs is nothing.

"Uuum, maybe some other time. Ollie's got a mission for us and I don't really want to blow him off just to go sight seeing."

I wrinkle my nose. "Probably shut by now anyway. You ready to head back?"

"Don't we need to pick up Cornwall?"

"Actually, no. Apparently, planting a piece of Doctor Holland on top of the mountain has turned it into a leyline node. Once him and his dad sorted out their local stone circle he found he could teleport from there to the tree."

Her eyes widen slightly. "That's, like, really far. Isn't it?"

"What he's learned -and what Zatanna's learning- is that magic users don't need to provide the power themselves. If they've got any sense they use the power that's already there. What he's doing isn't much harder than one of us walking into a Zeta Tube. He couldn't teleport to just anywhere."

She pulls her hand away slightly and I release it. "Yeah, about Zatanna. How's she… Y'know… Doing?"

"Not as well as she will be once Nabu finally gets his." I take a deep breath. "She's.. coping."

The League's put basically no effort into maintaining the 'leave of absence' cover story. Batman actually made some noise about Zatanna changing schools to Happy Harbour and I had to put a Zeta Tube in her house to head that one off. I mean, if Mister Zatara was taking a break from his commitments with the League and with his show he wouldn't abandon his house and not take her with him, would he? I've no idea what the League have told his employees, because there's no way he'd disappear without telling them in person. From what Zatanna told me his manager thinks he's died or got seriously injured or something. They're friends, for goodness sake! And what about the rest of his family in Italy? Do they really not think they'll start to wonder where Giovanni's gone? The only thing I can think of is that they're going to do something about Nabu soon and the cover story doesn't have to last long enough to hold off a serious investigation.

"'Cause.. I know.. you've been spending a lot of time with her…"

"Yeah, I'm like Mary Poppins. Go where I'm needed, and Zatanna needs more than anyone else, especially now Diana's adopted Kon. And he doesn't have the spare time anyway with all of the cultural stuff he has to learn." I chuckle. "Let me tell you, you have not seen true hatred until you've been to a diplomatic reception full of fat middle aged men as Diana's escort."

Artemis snorts, then frowns slightly. "Is he, like, an Amazon prince now or something?"

"That's up to Queen Hippolyta, but probably. Historically, males born to the royal household usually got sent off as diplomatic envoys but there isn't a modern tradition. Diana told me that she's taking him to Themiscyra in the new year to discuss things in person. And I'll badger Io about your bow."

"I didn't think they let men on Themiscyra."

"It's not an absolute rule or anything; Alan's got permission to go whenever he wants. They just have to know you and trust you not to say or do anything stupid. On an island full of athletic, youthful, aggressive and heavily armed lesbians. I mean, can you imagine Wallace..?" She shakes her head with a snigger and I push myself upright and offer her a hand up. "Come on, we'd best get going if we're going to be there when Green Arrow turns up. Oh, how'd that birthday party thing go?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

5th December
17:02 GMT -5

"Recognised, Orange Lantern, B zero six, Artemis, B zero eight."

"…in the closet with this redhead girl."

"Think I just went bowling on my fourteenth birthday."

"A little to the left, and it would have been me."

"And there's nothing wrong with that."

I look around and see that most of our team mates are already clustered in the centre of the training room. Robert beat us here. He's wearing his new armoured and warded uniform and it looks like he's talking to Zatanna. I give him a wave. Kon's standing with M'gann with Wolf at his feet while Kaldur and Wallace are next to Green and.. Red Arrow. Wonder why he's here? Another job to dump on us?

"No, but I'm not-."

"Artemis! Just in time." Artemis nods an acknowledgement of her mentor's greeting. Never heard a briefing by Green Arrow before. Should be interesting. "Look who's agreed to join the team."

Red Arrow turns to look at us. I give him a smile. The first time we met I didn't get a particularly good impression, but we worked together well enough in Taiwan. And he's officially been on the roster since the beginning so we can't really complain about not getting advance notice this time. Artemis seems less thrilled, and frankly so does Roy. Did he not get offered a League spot?

I do hope this isn't going to turn into some sort of completely juvenile arrow waving contest.

"Finally!" Wallace makes a two-fisted gesture of celebration.

"Oh. Yeah. Great." Artemis pushes ahead into the room and I trail in her wake. I'll try and get her alone later and find out how much of a problem this is going to be. I mean, she could break him in half with her little finger, she can't envy him. Can she? Sure, he's got an established relationship with Robin, Kaldur and Wallace but the rest of us barely know him. And they haven't seen him much recently.

Green Arrow moves over to Batman's usual lecture spot. "Okay people. Listen up." He presses a series of buttons on the holographic keyboard. I've no idea how they remember which blank glowing blue button does what. "The.. Dynamic Duo's on a case in Gotham, but Batman gave me a heads up." A familiar face appears on the screen. Bane. His picture now shows him dressed in what is basically the gear he wore in Dark Knight Rises, coat and body armour. No mask, and I suppose he can't just walk around in most places with a Venom injection system strapped to him. "Bane was spotted coming through Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport." Two more images, one of the runways and another of the inside of the terminal. Bane and a couple of thick-set men who appear to be with him walk through security screening. "Facial recognition software picked up the ID."

"Sir, may I ask why airport security didn't grab him?"

He turns his head in my direction. "Airport security aren't equipped to handle supervillains, and sniffer dogs can't pick up Venom Buster." I nod as another window opens zoomed in on his hand luggage. Actually, a sniper with a steel-jacketed bullet could probably kill someone who'd just taken a shot of Venom Buster before the transformation could render them impervious, but I can understand them not wanting to take the risk. Mess it up and the resulting rampage -especially in a place as densely packed as an airport terminal- could kill an awful lot of people. "Find out what he's up to."

Kon looks over our assembled nine person team. "All of us?" He has a point. If Red Arrow sticks around we are getting to the point where the Bio-Ship's going to get a bit crowded. "Seems like overkill for a shadow job." Not to mention the chance of us tripping over each other. Sure, I can stay out of line of sight easily enough even if I can't scan the target but everyone I'm not carrying except Wallace needs to be in the same general area as the target.

Green Arrow shrugs. "Thought maybe the sidekicks-. Sorry-" He raises his right index finger, correcting himself. "-ex-sidekicks could suit up on this." Kaldur nods and Wallace grins again. Wait, who does that mean, exactly? Zatanna never sidekicked for Mister Zatara but the rest of us all have sponsors with whom we've worked. "Aqualad, Kid Flash, Red Arrow."

Kon nods. "Good. Stake outs make me crazy."

M'gann smiles. "We could use the night off. Conner's been really busy lately."

"Um. Sorry.. sir..?" Robert nervously raises his right hand. Green Arrow actually looks to see who he's talking to before realising that it's him and nodding an acknowledgement. "The only team mission I've gone on so far was the Ice Fortress thing and I.. didn't really do very much… I'd really like to join in this time, even if it's just flying the Bio-Ship."

Green Arrow shrugs and looks at the other three. "Aqualad, you're in charge of the team."

Kaldur think for a moment and then nods. "It would be useful to see how well you work as part of a unit."

"Remember, if it turns out they've got a load of augmented muscle there we're only a Zeta Tube and ring transfer away."

Red Arrow narrows his eyes slightly. "Thanks, but we'll manage."

I hold my arms out to the sides, palms towards him. "Not saying you can't. I'm just saying, if you need us, we're here." Wait, there was something I was going to say, what was it..? "Cornwall, you fully charged?"

He nods. "Just about. Why?"

"Think I've found a way for you to recharge reliably during missions, but we can talk about it later."

Red Arrow stalks ahead of the squad as they head off in the direction of the lift, Robert giving me a happy but slightly nervous look back as he tags along behind them. Artemis seems to relax slightly when her predecessor passes out of sight.

Zatanna gives me a curious look. "How would that work?"

"Hm? Oh. The Sword of Beowulf you and Artemis took off Mister Hayes is just sitting in our trophy room at the moment."

"You think he's pure enough to use it?"

"Maybe, but probably not. But I was able to get hold of a description of what happens to the unworthy-" Thank you John. "-and apparently they get hit by a massive blast of arcane energy. Since he feeds on arcane energy-."

She nods in understanding. "It wouldn't matter if he was pure or not because he'd get powered up either way."

"Exactly. I'd want to try it out in a safe environment first time, though. Not when he was about to go on a mission."

Green Arrow presses a button and the holoscreen disappears. "Well, that's a wrap. Artemis, you wanna head back to Star City?"

"Actually, sir, if you don't need to rush off immediately…" He shrugs, while in the corner of my eye I see Kon sag slightly. "Won't take long." Ring, access holoscreen.

Compliance.

"After I read the report on Mister Hayes' attack on Zatanna and Artemis I started thinking about what other magic artefacts might be lying around, or on display in museums just waiting for an enterprising criminal to steal them." I feed images into the computer system. "The Spear of Destiny. This is the artefact that stopped the Justice Society ending World War Two inside a week. Last seen in the hands of Captain Nazi, current location unknown. Ace of Winchesters. Location unknown. Silver Wheel of Nyorlath. Location unknown. Red Jar of Calythos. Location unknown. Green Bell of Uthool. Location unknown. Orb of Ra. Last seen in the possession of Simon Stagg in Los Angeles. Current location unknown. This sword doesn't have a proper name. Pretty nasty piece of work though, and its last owner told me that he no longer has it." I've no idea why John let Ellie keep hold of the thing. A Succubus with a capital 'G' God slaying weapon? Does that sound like a good idea? "The Eternity Book. Location unknown. Black Diamond. Location unknown. Any of these could result in someone doing a Harm, quite aside from objects we don't know about. Obviously, the ideal solution for that would be for a magic user to check every museum in the world, though that's probably impractical."

"I don't know much about magic, Paul. What do you want from me?"

"The Justice League has the authority to confiscate items used in acts of supervillainy, on the assumption that normal evidence gathering processes wouldn't be safe. I think you should think about getting that expanded to cover arcane objects not in the hands of competent bodies or individuals. If any of these are in some crazy collector's loft some very bad things could happen. I've got the time and the ability to track these things down, I just don't have the authority to do anything about them." To say nothing of the fact that the Ace and the Sword could be rather useful in fighting Nabu. "I've already spoken to Diana and she thinks it's worth looking at, so I'd thought I'd run it by you."

He nods. "Yeah, sure. Be nice to steal a march on these loons for once. Got any leads?"

"One or two, sir. One or two."

 

[Mr Zoat]

6th December
00:13 GMT -5

"Alright, that's probably the best lead we've got. And as luck would have it, I actually know the woman in question."

I push the holoscreen showing the report of the burglary over the kitchen table to Zatanna, who gives it the once over. "You know Catwoman?"

"Yes. Friend of a friend. I've only met her twice but I think I made a good impression." After a slightly dodgy start. Second meeting wasn't much better. She was working and the conversation was basically 'I'm going to head over to the north side of town, can you wait until I'm out of line of sight before beating up those drug dealers and taking their money?'. "She'd probably believe me about why I want it and she knows I've got the money."

"Are you sure it's…" She bows her head slightly. "John said it works on Demons. If it's just an unusual sanctified weapon we don't have any reason to believe it would work on Nabu."

I nod. "True, but it would be useful to have anyway. And, maybe we can study its makeup to find out how it works.. and adapt the design. Look, I'll go and see her tomorrow…" I look at the clock on the front of the nearest oven. "Um, later today and see if she's up for it."

"Do you think you can trust her?"

I think for a moment. "Yes, I think so. I'll probably have to pay her a finder's fee or something but I'm happy with that. Do you think.. you should be getting to bed? It's rather early."

She looks to the side. "I'm… I've been having trouble sleeping, lately."

"It's not really surprising, considering."

"I meant to pick up some sleep medication but I didn't get around to it."

I smile. "Not to worry, I've been studying massage." I hold up my hands and wriggle my fingers. "I can work that stress right out."

She looks at me with nervous scepticism. "Um. Oh-kay."

I generate a set of hand constructs and wriggle those fingers too. Zatanna's eyes widen slightly. "It'll be nice to be in a situation where I can finally use these t-."

"Hey guys. You can't sleep either?"

We look around as Artemis walks into the room, Teekl resting contentedly in her arms. I shut down the holoscreen. "Oh come on, you've both got school tomorrow."

"Yeah, well, Kaldur and the others aren't back yet and I'm not going anywhere until they are." She walks past the table into the kitchen proper and puts a capsule into the coffee machine.

Ring, where are they? Oh good. "They're just coming into the hangar now. No serious injuries at all, so there's no reason for you not to head home and-" She leaves the coffee and starts jogging towards the steps down to the hangar. "-ask them about it tomo-. This evening."

Zatanna gets up as well. "Aren't you curious how it went?"

"Yes, but I can go a week without sleep. Uhh. Ring, transition."

The three of us reappear on the landing platform just as the Bio-Ship comes into the room. Artemis looks surprised for a moment, then works out what just happened. Under -yep- Robert's slightly uncertain guidance it comes in a little to the side and then banks across before rotating and lowering itself onto the concrete surface. It's six o'clock in Britain right now. I hope his endurance boost also grants him tirelessness, because otherwise he isn't going to be much use for anything t-. Later today.

Kaldur's out first, followed by Red Arrow and Wallace. He looks tired and mildly disgruntled as Artemis takes a few steps towards him. "Well? How'd it go?"

"Poorly. Bane had a significant number of his associates guarding his route. By the time we had managed to bypass them he had already handed off the object he had been sent to collect to Onyx."

Wallace winces slightly as he rolls his right arm. "He may not be as strong off the Venom as he was on it, but he's still got a mean left hook."

Red Arrow folds his arms. "And he could phase, like that robot you encountered in Qurac."

I close my eyes for a moment, wincing. "Bad guys are sharing technology. I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. I don't suppose he told you where he got it?"

"Bad guys not big on sharing intel, Oh El." Wallace shrugs. "I mean, he boasted a lot." Behind him Robert exits the Bio-Ship. "You know, about how he could take us all single handed."

"Did he?"

Kaldur glances at Robert. "We have Cornwall to thank for the fact that he did not."

"Wait." Artemis looks at me. "Didn't you beat that Bozo robot by blowing up Nth metal and using my arrows?"

"Um. Yes." I grin at Red Arrow. "Red Arrow. Yooou should probably have some of these." Five green Arrows of Unmaking appear in front of him from subspace, then turn red in a surge of orange light. "They work on phased targets."

He grabs them out of the air. "How long have you had these?!"

"Since September. Made them for Artemis. I mean, if you'd asked, or, you know, read the mission report, you'd have known that. I only knew they'd work because I asked Hawkwoman. Asking people for help. Part of being on a team."

His eyes narrow and he starts to square up to me. Yeah, we're not going to get on, are we?

"So, Robert." Zatanna steps around me to address our newest team mate. "How were you able to hit him?"

"Well, he… I mean, most of his body was phased so we couldn't hit him, but I could still feel his spiritual energy. He was metaphysically there even when he wasn't physically there. So-" He holds up his right fist and a corona of golden energy plays around it. "-spirit strikes still worked."

Kaldur nods. "Bane retreated once Cornwall showed that we could still hurt him. Unfortunately, by the time we had separated Onyx's trail from that of the decoys she had already reached her buyer."

"Anyone we know?"

"Klarion and the Brain."

"There's a link I was hoping didn't exist. What was it she was bringing them?"

"It appeared to be the fragment of the echinoderm that was stolen from STAR Labs during the Roanoke Island incident. Klarion teleported everyone involved away before we could gather more information." Kaldur looks at the ground. "With our attention so focused on our primary objective, Bane's soldiers were able to free those we had already restrained. We have very little to show for our efforts." He sighs. "And now I must report our failure to Batman."

"Before you do that, the echinoderm thing. Did someone show a picture of it to one of the Green Lanterns?"

He looks up and frowns. "I.. do not believe that it has been specifically brought to their attention. Why do you ask?"

"It's just there's this alien I know about. Called 'Starro the Conqueror'. They'd probably be able to identify it better than I can. That's probably not what this is, but if it is we need to know about it."

He nods. "I will pass that on, along with whatever test results the Science Center still possesses."

"Kaldur, you ran into a major ambush and Klarion and everyone survived. That isn't a terrible result."

"Perhaps not, but I doubt we will say the same when whatever purpose they acquired it for comes to light."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Preparation

6th December
09:13 GMT -5

Holly grins at me. "You sure you wouldn't be more comfortable over here?"

I make the mistake of looking up to reply. "Yes! Yes, thank you. I'm fine."

She shrugs. "Suit yourself."

"Did she say what sort of time..?"

She and Karon are curled up together on their newly installed sofa. Due to how well insulated I've made their house they can easily afford to keep it warm even at this time of year, and since neither of them have much to do this morning they've elected to remain in their nightwear.

Or to put it another way, I'm within two metres of a pair of affectionate, scantily clad lesbians.

If this was a video, I'd probably… Well, no, these days I don't… Before I came here this would be my thing. Pornography is made with the viewer in mind, posed, unnatural and fake. What Holly and Karon are doing is completely natural, lounging around, the occasional kiss or caress broken up by a conversation about someone they know or a television program they've been watching. This is… I mean, they clearly don't mind me being here but I feel like I'm intruding massively.

"I dunno. Some time before ten, she said." Holly straightens up slightly, a motion which causes Karon's head to fall from her shoulder to her looking away again. Reminds me a bit of that Ruby Wax documentary where she and her crew spent some time on a porn set. The people who worked there were completely blasé about it but she and her crew couldn't cope. I'm that crew right now. I mean, in the mountain none of us… I don't think any of us are quite this involved with anyone. So far as I know the only ones of us actually in relationships are Kon and M'gann and given the conversation I had with her the evening after we got back from Qurac I'm going to assume-.

I'm saved.

I drop out of the air, legs turning to propel me towards the door before I land. "I'll get it!"

Karon looks up slightly. "Probably just the mail man."

Not according to the ring. I turn the handle of the door leading to the porch, yank the door open and step out into the porch proper before opening the door onto the street. "Ms Kyle, you have no idea how delighted I am to see you."

She frowns. "Why? What's.. going on?"

I step back from the door, holding it open for her. "No, leaving you on the doorstep would be rude. Please come in."

She looks at me like I'm being weird. "Okay?" But the important part is that she walks past me and into the house. I feel myself calming down slightly as I close the door behind her and follow her through.

"Hi Selina!" / "Morning Miss Kyle."

I close the porch door and hold my hand out to take her coat. She looks at the girls for a moment and then turns back to me with a smirk on her lips. I hold her gaze for a second and then look away. As she doffs her coat and hands it to me to hang up there's a giggle from somewhere.

"Holly? Karon? Would you mind if I borrowed your kitchen for a few minutes? I need a word with Ms Kyle."

Holly nods. "Sure, go ahead." I start walking a steady and not in any way hurried pace in that direction, putting my right arm around Ms Kyle's back to bring her along with me.

Once we're through I close the door behind us and she pulls away to sit on one of the kitchen stools. "You did realize they were together, right?"

"Yes. Yes, of course I did."

Her eyes narrow slightly. "And I know you don't have a problem with that."

I wave my right hand dismissively. "As the Zamarons say, life lived without love is heresy. It's just.. sitting there while they… It makes me feel like a voyeur."

She starts to snigger, realises that I'm being serious and then covers her mouth with her right hand. "Um, ahem, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Professional business, I'm afraid." The humour drops away from her face. I've never seen Batman be Batman without his mask on, but I imagine this is what it would look like. "I'm not.. I mean, it was a theft but I'm not interested in coming after you or your employer. It's the object I'm worried about." I create a construct of the gun in question. "It's called the-."

"Ace of Winchesters. I remember it."

"I know a man who once stole it on behalf of a private collector. Since then, the collector in question died and the gun passed through several hands before somehow ending up in the Gotham Museum of Antiquities. You would not believe how often high end magic artefacts end up in… Well anyway, I'd like to put it in the Justice League's armoury so that it can be put to its intended purpose. Problem is, I don't know where it is." I dismiss the construct. "Only lead I've got, is.. well, is you. I'll reiterate: I'm not interested in arresting anyone. In fact, though I could quite legally confiscate it-" After an early morning phone around between Justice League members and the UN Secretary General. "-I'd rather pay cash for it. You know I've got the money." A cautious nod. "I'm happy to pay you for your time as well, but I need that gun. Do you think you can help me?"

She stares directly into my eyes. "Is a Demon after you right now?"

"Not as far as I know. A Lord of Chaos, a Djinn and probably a few supervillains, yes, but as far as I know no Demons. I mean, last time I fought a Demon this happened."

Fatty drops from the ring and lands on his face. "Food?"

"No."

Ms Kyle tenses as Fatty pulls himself upright and then waddles off to explore. "That's a Demon?"

"Praexis Demon. I can use the ring to assimilate Demons, convert their whole being to orange light. I'm not that worried about all but the most powerful of them as far as my protection is concerned."

She nods. "That was a job I hoped I wouldn't have to think about again. I was hired to steal the gun for a man I later found out was a Demon in disguise." She pauses for a moment, perhaps reliving the event, then shakes her head. "The Demon's dead. I don't know what happened to the gun afterwards."

"Ms Kyle, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Demons can't just cease to be. If you destroyed its physical body all that means is that-."

"You didn't see this gun in action."

"True I suppose, and if its destruction by the gun robbed it of all its power then I doubt it would be able to come back within our lifetimes." I offer her a small smile. "Are you prepared to help me get it?"

"Five thousand dollars to start making enquiries. Twenty thousand more if you actually get hold of it and I'll expect a bonus if I have to fight anyone. If you want me to steal it for you, price depends on the security."

"That's fine." A briefcase containing the deposit appears in my hand. "I'll want to bring an expert along to verify that the gun you've found is in fact the gun. Don't worry, he's not a superhero."

She takes the suitcase, opens it and flicks through one of the cash bundles. Hooray for not automatically burning money anymore. "Superhero backup might not be a bad idea. At least, if we don't have to break the law to get it."

I nod. "I can arrange that too."

She clicks the briefcase closed. "I'll need a few days."

"No hurry. Be careful and safe rather than fast, alright?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th December
18:47 GMT

I smile at my green counterparts. "When's Macbeth turning up then?"

Lantern Stewart barely acknowledges me, glancing my way for a split second before returning his attention to the feeds on what is the closest thing the Watchtower has to a bridge. What was the bridge before it was handed over to the Justice League. I can still see where they patched over the hole left by them ripping out the Sector House's power battery. Lantern Jordan looks my way and keeps looking, his ring… Yep, definitely glowing. This is going to be the first time I've spoken to him since I split up with the Ophidian. Understandable he'd have lingering concerns. And Guy-

"Think he just did, pal."

-just grins at me.

"Can I assume that the fact that your colleagues are tolerating your presence means you're getting upped?"

"Can't talk about that, Paul. You know how it is. Gotta keep it between members o' the Justice League."

Jordan grimaces.

"Well. If, by some happy happenstance congratulations are due, then congratulations."

"Thanks. Y'know. If they're due."

"Yeah. If."

We stay grinning at each other for a good five seconds before losing our composure and snorting with laughter.

"Did you want something?"

"Yes, Lantern Jordan, I actually did. I need one of you to look up Green Lantern Corps records relating to Starro the Conqueror." He gives me a sceptical look. "Or you can just send me a copy of your whole database so I can do it. That works for me."

"Starro the Conqueror?" Lantern Stewart turns around. "That's the dumbest name I've ever heard. Why would the Green Lantern Corps have any information you don't on an Earth supervillain?"

"I dunno John, I've heard dumber names than that." Guy thinks for a moment. "Crazy Quilt. Doctor Spectro. Rainbow Archer."

"Evil Star."

He nods. "Evil S-. Hey! Evil Star was a legitimate threat."

"He makes super powered midget versions of himself."

"And energy blasts." He shrugs. "Hey, I never said he wasn't lame too."

I turn back to Lantern Stewart. "Starro the Conqueror isn't Earth native. If my own sadly deficient database can be relied upon it's a sort of mind controlling starfish thing which sticks little starfish on people's faces to tie them in to its gestalt mind."

Stewart gives me a completely deadpan look. "A big star fish… Mind controlling people… With little starfish."

"Yes, I know how it sounds. Either we're in big trouble, or Larfleeze was high when he made this entry and since the latter just results in me looking silly for a couple of minutes..?"

"Holy shit, there actually is a thing called 'Starro the Conqueror'." Guy's ring's already projecting an image of it. Big, star shaped, eye in the middle and surrounded by smaller versions of itself. The image flickers to be replaced with a point of view shot of a alien city street. The hexapodal locals flee as two huge cyclopsian starfish float through the sky overhead. Smaller shapes drop from them, and a magnified view shows them to be the smaller parasite versions. A beam lances down from the eye of one of the larger starfish, stunning those it hits and allowing the parasites to latch on to their faces. Then the image moves, accelerating towards the flying starfish, construct drills pointed at each of their eyes.

Lantern Stewart calls up a green datapad. "Star Conquerors. Native to Sector twenty eight. Haven't been seen outside their home Sector for nearly half a million years."

Shit. "Bad news, then. The Atlanteans found one in July."

He looks up as the two in the recording stop firing on the civilians and simultaneously blast the Lantern, shattering his constructs. The image abruptly cuts off. "How big?"

"They never fully unfroze it. About thirty metres, tentacle tip to tentacle tip. Black Manta tried stealing it during his attack on Poseidonis in August."

Lantern Jordan calls up the mission report. "Says here it was destroyed and the remains shipped to STAR Labs."

"From where they were stolen by parties unknown during the Roanoke Island incident before being handed over to Klarion and the Brain yesterday. Professor Vulko's records show that the fragment was regenerating when they handed it over and Kaldur didn't get a good enough look at it to tell how big it's got since then. Here-" I flick my left hand in their direction and send tiny packets of orange energy at their rings. "-I've turned all of the Atlantean reports into a ring-friendly format so you can-."

"Wait a sec-!" / "Don't-!"

Guy and Jordan jerk back their right hands while Stewart sticks a small kite shield construct in front of his, causing the packet to bounce off before zipping in behind the shield. The three Green Lanterns of two eight one four slump slightly.

"What?"

Guy looks at Stewart. "Maybe he won't notice."

"He'll notice. He always notices."

"What's the problem?"

Stewart turns to me. "Everything that gets loaded onto our rings gets copied to the central data stores on Oa in case we die before we can submit a full formal report. Usually it doesn't matter, but if you had that flagged as a report and didn't send it to the right place or use the right format someone might take issue with it."

I frown. "I've sent.. Guy stuff before?"

"I.. kinda had that stuff flagged as intelligence. Y'know. On Orange Lanterns."

"Oh. Um, okay, so what-?"

Their rings simultaneously blink with an incoming message. Mournfully, the Lanterns raise their right hands to answer. Each ring emits a thin green beam which merge to create the image of the one sending the message. Ah. So that's what Salaak looks like in this parallel. I got him just about right but I think I missed some of the face crenulations now visible at what I presume to be life size.

"Green Lanterns of Sector two eight one four. Much as I'm certain that our archivists appreciate your input, would you kindly restrict yourself to standard report templates in future. And try not to submit the same reports all at once."

Guy points at me with his left hand. "Oh, that was totally his fault."

There's a shimmer and Salaak is facing me. He tilts his head forwards slightly. "Oh. You."

"A pleasure to meet you, Clarissi Salaak. I feel I should point out that the reports are current rather than historical. We may very well have a large Star Conqueror on Earth at present."

"One moment while I review." His two right arms move just out of shot and his head turns to look in their direction. "One heavily injured Star Conqueror."

"And whatever others are still frozen in the ice they got it from."

"Unlikely. But possible." A moment passes and then his image shimmers as he returns his attention to his subordinates. "Intelligent Star Conquerors are a beta-level threat. Lantern Gardner, follow up on the original discovery with the Atlanteans. Lanterns Stewart and Jordan: until the extent of the threat is known you are authorised to reactivate Sector House seven two zero's deep space sensors and to deploy stellar probes. The larger types of Star Conqueror can call lesser types to them over vast spatial distances and it would be extremely deleterious to the wellbeing of your homeworld if that were to happen."

"Yes sir." / "Right." / "We'll get on it."

"In the event of a full blown Star Conqueror infestation being detected additional reinforcements will be available. Salaak out." The green image collapses.

Jordan looks at Stewart. "Beta level? How bad?"

"The last major infestation covered three Sectors and killed two Lanterns before being stopped. Guardians authorized the Lanterns involved to throw the big ones into the local stars."

"Damn." He nods at me. "Good work, kid. We'll take it from here."

…

So that's what it feels like.

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th December
00:28 GMT -5

"You know, that's even less likely to work on me than on Batman." I stay sitting on the edge of the rooftop as Catwoman walks… No, slinks -possibly flounces- out of the shadows behind me. Full leather gear accessorised with whip and some very sharp claws. Full leather. At least that explains why she usually has the zip pulled down a bit; it must be sweltering in there for most of the year.

"Well that ruined my entrance."

I hold up my left hand. For this I've put the sigil side pointing away from my palm. "No, this ruined your entrance."

"Mm. Shiny."

I float up and backwards to land next to her. What she's wearing isn't skin tight but it does follow her contours rather flatteringly. "Holly said you found the gun?"

"You know, Superman gives his allies a signal watch. Y-ou gave Holly the number of a public phone in New England."

I shrug. "I don't own a mobile. So, where are we going?"

She turns away and walks in the direction of the external fire escape. That's.. good leather. I shake my head and float after her, getting slightly ahead before switching to a lounging-on-my-back posture so that I can float facing her. She acknowledges my pose with an amused smirk. "We're going to see a collector. Lives in Gotham Village."

A short walk, basically. I left John in a hotel room but he's probably propping up the bar by now. Or a bar, anyway. I'll pick him up after I've given the place the once over. "Collector?"

"Supervillain equipment. Used, if possible. Superhero stuff too sometimes; I think I saw a batarang last time I was there."

She starts down the metal staircase and I float down the outside. At least she's not wearing heels. "Do you know what this is going to set me back?"

"Twenty thousand dollars."

"I meant, for this.. collector.. person."

"Collectors are usually rich and old. They don't want money, they want something else for their collection."

"I don't usually carry memorabilia."

"You must have something she'd want. Talk to her, negotiate a trade and make the exchange later."

As she reaches the second story of the fire escape she speeds up for a couple of steps, jumps, hand plants on the railing and pushes off, tumbling through the air and rolling to a crouch as she lands. She's.. lithe. I swoop down after her.

"If you want to go faster you could just give me the address. I can transmit us there."

She straightens back up. "Catwoman doesn't get out as much as she used to." She nods her head to the side. "Haven't needed to. That Demon paid me a million dollars to steal that gun and I've never had the chance to develop expensive tastes."

"I've never considered them good value for money."

"Nice to have the choice though."

I nod, thinking about that ridiculous jar of marmalade I bought. "True." She continues walking down the alley. I've never seen a real woman walk like that, feet stepping in line to exaggerate the sway of her hips. It's intentional, right? That can't just be the way she walks. Focus on the job. "Readjusting my mindset to Gotham, if she's got a load of supervillain gear, does that mean we're likely to have to fight our way out?"

"Shouldn't think so. She's in her seventies. And it's not raw power that interests them, it's history. A cold gun the police got from Captain Cold's apartment after he got arrested is worth less than the first arrow Merlyn shot at Green Arrow."

"Can.. probably come up with something. How'd you track her down?"

"I sold it to her two years ago. She still had it."

"Whaat!?"

"I needed to make sure she still had it. It's a big deal to you but to her it's just a gun Tommy Monaghan used one time."

"Think I may possibly have overpaid you for this job."

"But you do get to see me in my costume." She glances back over her shoulder with a smirk. "Which apparently you like."

"It's a very nice costume."

"Is it nicer when I walk in it?"

"That's not walking. That's… That's strutting."

She looks me over once more. "Holly thinks you're gay."

"I get that sometimes."

She stops at the end of the alley and half turns to face me, predatory grin in place and I think her zip may have slipped a bit. I guess spending time with Diana hasn't recalibrated me. "So are you and I'm just that hot, or…"

Is this just flirting? Or is she actually hitting on me? And if so is it a Catwoman-persona context reinstatement thing or a Selina Kyle thing? From the orange swirls inside her I'm going to guess that she wasn't joking about not getting out much as Catwoman. She's missed it. Missed the adrenaline rush so much that she's feeling good about a simple tumble.

"You are pretty hot. But I don't know if you're that hot."

"Mm. Just wait 'til I get my whip out."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

She steps out into the deserted street. This part of Gotham doesn't have a homeless problem, as the unoccupied alley behind us will attest. Of course: Gotham. It could just be because the residence association paid the police to drive them out or because someone ate them. I plod after her. I'm sort of wondering about the when and wheres of her relationship with Batman. I'm not exactly averse to the attention but I'm not really sure that we've got anything in common beyond a shared interest in Holly's wellbeing.

We turn right on the far pavement and continue on past two entry gates before stopping at a third. She wasn't joking about them being rich; these are large houses for inside a city. Catwoman lounges against the wall next to the intercom and with her eyes fixed on me she rubs her right index finger around the activation button for a moment before delicately pressing it. I hear an electronic buzz through the speaker.

Nothing happens.

"You did tell her we were coming, right?"

"Give her a minute."

"Because I can pop back and get my expert in-."

"Yes?"

Catwoman lays her head on the wall next to the intercom. "Hey Jen, it's Catwoman and that guy I told you about. Can we come in?"

"Wait a moment. Bartholomew always said I should check the camera." I spot it and wave. "Ah yes, I see you." There's a clank as the gate unlocks and starts to swing open. "And you got dressed up! Oh my. Do come in. I'll be waiting for you in the parlor."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th December
00:37 GMT -5

"Oh God." Catwoman puts her right hand to her cheek as she looks at the costume cat head on the sideboard. "I forgot she had this."

"Who wore that?"

"I did."

"How did that work?"

"It didn't. Let's just say I was on a tight schedule and didn't get the real mask finished quite quickly enough."

"Moving swiftly on then…"

I start to move further into the house but Catwoman lingers a moment next to a pair of Gotham police department handcuffs with a pin sticking out of the lock. "These are the first cuffs He used on me. I think she's putting on a display for my benefit."

"Did you sell those to her as well?"

She taps one of the wrist pieces despondently. "No. Left them in the back of the police cruiser when I dove out the window. She probably bought most of this stuff from the Gotham police evidence people."

"Kid Flash usually picks up souvenirs from our missions. It's just a couple of shelves at the moment." Something catches my eye on a shelf down the hall and I walk in that direction to get a better look. On a velvet cloth in a glass case… "Are those teeth? What the heck did they come from?"

"If you come in here young man, I'll explain it to you."

I look back towards the entrance to see Catwoman push open one of the side doors. Ring, quick scan? A few dangerous pieces in the property but they're mostly inactive and I think I can probably take one old woman. I stride after my… Huh, does this make her my henchwoman? Strange idea. I follow her into the parlour. She's already made herself at home, sprawling on a sofa just behind the door. Our contact stands just in front of a green upholstered armchair, her grey hair done up in a bun on top of her head. She doesn't quite come up to my shoulder but she doesn't look at all fragile. I'm reminded more than a little of my own Gran, how she was when I was little.

"They used to belong to Waylon Jones. 'Killer Croc'. They were the first part of this collection. My late husband and I were seeing a production of La Clemenza di Tito at the Gotham Opera House. Dreadfully dull. I was thinking of leaving, actually, when onto the stage bursts a man covered in green scales fighting the Batman. Most exciting thing I'd seen in years. Then 'Pow!', the Batman slugs the Croc in the mouth and dear Bartholomew ends up with three of the man's teeth in his lap." She frowns. "It always annoys me when people try to pass off normal Crocodile teeth as belonging to him. He regrows them, but I can always tell; the shape's just not the same."

Not so much like Gran then. I hold out my right hand. "Orange Lantern two eight one four, Miss..?"

She chuckles as he takes my hand in both of hers. She feels cold. Slightly poor circulation? My Nan used to have the same thing.

"I haven't been a 'Miss' for some time, young man. Missus Jennifer Gordon-Hewitt. Very pleased to meet you."

"Likewise. You're not related to the Commissioner, by any chance?"

"Oh goodness no. Dreadful man. He comes from Chicago, you know."

And that's worse than Gotham? "Dreadful?"

"Oh, I'm sure he means well, but it's been getting so much harder to get good pieces since he took over. Please, have a seat." I look back and Catwoman smiles and slightly raises her legs, inviting me to be her foot rest. I generate a construct chair instead while Mrs Gordon-Hewitt walks over to a wall display unit. "I'd appreciate it… Oh, where did I leave it? Ah, yes, here we are." She picks something up and turns back to me. "I'd appreciate it if you could authenticate this for me." Another velvet lined tray, this time with a gold medal of some kind. Wait, no it's not. That's one of my coins! She offers it out to me and I take hold of it.

"Ring, verify."

"Confirmed. Design and gold purity precisely match those of coins created by this ring."

I pass it back. "Where did you get it?"

"Ebay. The previous owner was a jewellery merchant from New York."

"Oh, Paola, yes, I remember her. First time I tried buying something with them."

Her face brightens as she turns to put it back on the shelf. "The first, you say?"

"Well. One of the first two. There's no real way for me to tell which one's which."

She walks back to her chair and lowers herself into it. "Have to see about getting the other one as well then, won't I? Now, Catwoman said that you wanted to see me about the gun she sold me?"

"Yes. Its proper name is The Ace of Winchesters and it had a long and bloody history well before Mister Monaghan got his hands on it." In the corner of my eye I see Catwoman roll her eyes and shake her head. What? Ignore her. "I'd rather like to return it to active service."

"For killing Demons?"

"And whatever other supernatural entities it turns out to work against."

"You know, I don't think I've been giving it the prominence it deserves. It's in the-" She waves her right index finger at the chest behind her. "-box over there."

"Would you mind if I got it out?"

"Not at all. I have these things so that properly appreciative people can look at them."

A filament teases open the lock and lifts the lid. Will the magics in the gun react to the orange light? Shouldn't think so, but it might. Touching it by hand wouldn't be any safer. Ask Catwoman to get it? No, she's not Dogwoman. I extend another pseudopod and put an aura around the gun. No reaction. I wait a moment, then pull it out of the chest and over to me. Looks right. Ring, analyse the metal.

Metal is steel. Alert! Metal is not steel.

Explain.

Scans identify the metal as steel but tests on its physical properties do not match this identification.

I pull an Atlantean rune stone out of subspace and hold it next to the gun. A weak glow. Does the gun have spells on it or does it work based on the innate magical qualities of the materials themselves? No idea, but hopefully we'll be able to find out. And replicate it. I return the stone to subspace and nod at our host. "Missus Gordon-Hewitt, this appears to be genuine but I'd like to call in an expert to confirm the identification. Do you.. have any objection?"

She smiles at the idea. "Not trying to strong arm a helpless old lady, I hope?"

"He also knows a good deal about the weapon's history, if you'd like to ask him."

"In that case, the more the merrier. Will it take him long to get here?"

"One moment." Ring, location of John Constantine. Oh, for goodness sake. Put the gun down carefully, transition, aaand ShockCrowns. The unhappy-looking gang members collapse to the ground. "Really, John? Really? You couldn't manage a single evening?"

"I won that game fair and square."

I take in the overturned chairs, scattered cards and notes of various denominations. "John, if you were playing then there was nothing fair about it. How much have you had to drink?"

He straightens his suit a bit and runs his right hand through his hair. "Married now, are we?"

"Ring, sobriety."

He winces as the orange beam hits. "Who the fuck wants to be in Gotham sober?"

"We do. The gun's probably genuine and the owner's an old lady called Jennifer Gordon-Hewitt, so best behaviour. Catwoman is also in attendance."

"Oh yeah?" That gets a slight grin. "She wearing the..?" He makes a 'V' across his chest with his index fingers. I nod. "Nice. How'd you wangle that?"

"Friendship and money. Ready?" He nods. "Transition."

We reappear in Missus Gordon-Hewitt's parlour. She looks curious rather than alarmed, but Catwoman shifts to a slightly more upright position.

"Ambrose?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th December
00:43 GMT -5

John turns his head to look at her. "Ambrose Bierce? Should bloody hope not. He's a good four inches shorter 'an me, comes from Indiana an' I know one end of a flaming hairbrush from the other."

"I think he's wearing platforms now."

John grins and reaches into his coat for his cigarettes. "Ambrose? Wearin' four inch platforms? Sounds like it'd almost be worth huntin' the little sod down jus' t'see it."

"Please don't. The world does not need two John Constantines in the same place."

Catwoman nods in understanding. "Oh, you're John Constantine. I wondered why people kept calling him that."

John lights his cigarette. "S'small world." He inhales, turns and kneels down, breathing smoke out over the gun where it lies on the floor. He then stays there, gazing into the smoke. The smoke itself isn't magical -I saw him buy the Silk Cuts from a newsagent myself- but he can use it as a self hypnosis aid while he tries to get a feel for the magics in the gun. Appearance is easy enough to fake with magic and we can't really remove magic from the target without the risk of ruining it. "What were you doin' when you met ole Ambrose, anyway?"

"Trying to get some books appraised. There's more fake magic in Gotham than real magic, but after what happened last time…"

John nods. "Looks like a tramp, but 'e usually knows 'is stuff."

Missus Gordon-Hewitt frowns down at him imperiously. "If you're quite finished wheezing soot all over my antiquity..?"

John glances up at her. "Jus' doin' a double check…" He grasps the gun around the breech and stands up, raising it to his eye level in order to better examine the design. Apparently satisfied, he works the lever action and has a look inside. "Moves easier 'an last time I tried it."

Missus Gordon-Hewitt looks mildly offended. "Of course. I've kept it properly maintained. You're satisfied that it's genuine?"

"Completely." He swings the lever shut, points the gun down at the ground and gives the trigger a squeeze. I can just hear a slight 'click'. "Coulda done with this more'n a few times over the last couple a' years, I don't mind tellin' you."

"Hm." Missus Gordon-Hewitt smiles proudly. "I'm glad to hear it. One tries to do one's research but one can never be completely certain." John nods and hands the Ace of Winchesters to her, stock first. She takes it and cradles it like a lapdog. "Not until a prospective buyer ups the price. So." She fixes her eyes on me. "What are you offering?"

I shrug. "What do you want? I haven't brought anything much with me." I hold out my right hand and Sportsmaster's plasma crossbow thing appears. "Something a little more modern, perhaps? The Ace of Winchesters might be a famous weapon amongst certain circles but Sportsmaster has far better name recognition to a modern audience."

She peers at it. "Where did you get that?"

"Santa Prisca. He was trying to purchase a mutagenic compound from the Kobra Cult but wasn't up to fighting a Lantern."

"What did he use it for?"

"Shooting people. I'm sorry, it's a unique weapon but the way it does damage isn't unusual enough for me to link particular kills to it. I mean, you could always ask him. It's not like his visitor slots are occupied by anyone."

"In Belle Reve? At my age? Catwoman, tell him about when Tommy Monaghan used the Ace of Winchesters to kill that demon, Mawzir."

Catwoman shrugs. "What's to tell? One shot at the center of his chest and he burned up."

John frowns. "Haven't heard of a 'Mawzir', though that doesn't mean anything if he's a new kid. Know anything else about him?"

Catwoman shifts uncomfortably in her seat as the playful-sexy supervillain cat burglar persona fades. Fun's gone. She's having to remember something she'd much rather forget. "White skin, ten arms -four on one side, six on the other- and swastika tattoo on his forehead. His… He took orders from someone called Arkannone."

John nods. "Oh, that thing I've heard of. But a Demon shouldn't have a swastika tattoo. Not unless they were possessing someone or tryin' t'wind you up."

"Arkannone… He was trying to recruit Monaghan to be one of his agents on Earth. I was surprised he turned him down, actually."

"Surprisin' where you can find moral fibre, sometimes. And it's always nice to know there's someone out there worse than you, even if it is a Demon."

"Before Etrigan tore him apart, Arkannone said something about having made Mawzir from the souls of five Nazi war criminals."

"Ah, that explains it. Sounds like Mawzir wasn't actually…" John tries to work out how to explain complex arcane concepts to people who know nothing about the topic. "See, Demons, most of them these days… Even some of the really powerful ones, they started out as mortals. Souls damned and sent to hell. Being the worst of the worst isn't enough -though they usually are- but people so full of hate and the need to hurt that they make Hell a part of themselves. Most people, you send them to Hell and there's basically nothing left after a century or two. Some…" His lip curls. "Blossom. But most people don't have what it takes. On the other hand, most people have something like that in 'em. Some crawlin' bit of evil lurkin' in their head they've got the sense to ignore. Five Nazis… I mean, the ones who actually did the mass murdering, not the ones with the clean hands back home in the Fatherland… If Arkannone took the worst out of each of them and stuck it together with his own magics… He'd get something. Wouldn't exactly be a Demon though."

"Then what is it?"

"It's called a Lukhavim. Pretty similar, I'll admit. But there's differences. It's got no independence for a start. No agenda of its own. Arkannone's magic made it, holds it together. He gives it an order, it'll do everything it can to carry it out. Understands the modern world better'an most old school Demons too. It use weapons?"

Catwoman nods. "Handguns."

"Most Demons can't get their heads around that. They go for claws, strength… Magic. Some use swords or axes. They had the Ace of Winchesters, they'd try usin' it as a club. When that Monaghan bloke shot it, did it sort of.. crack up? Fracture?"

She blinks. "I thought that was just how it worked."

"Probably burned up Arkannone's magic first. Never actually seen it fire, but it makes sense."

Missus Gordon-Hewitt is clearly loving her prized possession being talked about like this. I return the crossbow to subspace. "Does the Ace need any sort of special ammunition?"

"No, no. The bullet just creates the violence based conceptual link between the material of the gun an' the target. Probably work with a Nerf dart if you could fit one in an' fire it."

"Against targets that aren't Demons?"

"Don't really know. Your man Sephtian's the fellow to talk to there. Or just shoot something."

"Alright then. Not going to mess you around Missus Gordon-Hewitt: I want that gun a lot. If the crossbow's not enough… Can you narrow down the sort of thing you want from me?"

"It would have to be something intimately connected with the activity of a super hero or super villain. Someone very famous or completely infamous. And there needs to be a story behind it."

If only I hadn't burned Superman's pants. "I.. could.. probably get you one of the original Green Lantern's costumes..?"

She gives me a disappointed look. "P-lease."

I wrinkle my nose. "I suppose a giant Christmas Cake's out of the question?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th December
12:07 GMT

Zatanna lowers her hands and looks at me in astonishment. "You gave her a what?"

I shrug. "With your father out of commission the League doesn't have anyone who can study it properly. STAR Labs just had it in a big shed with the one they took from the Himalayas. And it's not like it works; once I took all of the alchemical gunk out it was basically just a big ornate box."

"Are you sure about that? A Lazarus Pit might have other spells on it."

"John couldn't feel anything, and everyone who might have been inclined to go looking for it's in prison." Except possibly Talia, but she can't do anything without risking her cover identity and has Batman watching her most of the time. "I'm not.. completely happy about it, but it was the best thing I had access to. I've booked some time with Sephtian to test the Ace out tomorrow if you want to come."

"I'd like that. Can I.. um, see it?"

"Sorry, I left it in the mountain." I hold out my left arm and generate a construct replica of the Ace of Winchesters. "You would not believe the amount of ring power it takes to shove an arcane weapon into subspace. You can have a look when we get back if you want."

"That would be interesting." She frowns. "You're not really going to summon a Demon, are you?"

I nod. "Probably. Something small to start with, then maybe some sort of minor Elemental. Though, thinking about it, depending on how it turns out the gun actually works it might turn out to be worth us summoning major Demons on a regular basis just so we can shoot them. You know, keep their power level down. If it doesn't flat out unmake them. And if it did that, well…"

Looks like she finds that idea fairly disturbing. "Have you..? I think you should talk to Father Mattias before you try anything like that."

"Probably a good idea. Anyway, that would be a long term thing."

Zatanna nods and has another look around. "What makes you think we'll be able to find the Star Sapphire when the Green Lanterns couldn't?"

"Guy didn't have a magic user with him. If we're lucky, the Ophidian and I just hid it somewhere it's hard to find with a ring."

Zatanna takes a leap off the top of the draughtsman she'd been standing on and easily reaches the edge of the crater in which the board is situated. Thomas might like draughts but he isn't all that good at it. Doctor Strange let me know that Thomas has really been engaging with the educational program and apparently Tuppence has started showing up in class as well. He even made some noise about getting him transferred away from Belle Reve at some point, though America doesn't currently have a power suppressor equipped medium security facility. Be a bit of a hard sell unless the price goes down to the point that they can be put in every prison. I could probably make one if there was an actual transfer agreement sorted out but I doubt he'd want to leave Tuppence. I don't think it's worth asking him about until we know whether or not Strange is really up to something but I'm a little worried that when or if Waller comes back things will get harder for him.

"Wohs em erehw eht Rats Erihppas si neddih!" A plume of moon dust whips up around her as she looks around the moonscape.

"Anything?"

She lowers her arms. "No. Maybe I'm not using the right incantation. You're sure it's here?"

I drift after her. "Sure? No. I mean, I think I can remember holding it while I was here but the whole thing's a bit of a blur. I definitely had it with me when we left the mountain. I definitely didn't have it when Guy picked me up. If I flew here then I might have left it anywhere between there and here in space but it's far more likely that I just transitioned here."

"Well, where did they find you?" I grimace as I turn to look at the toilet cubicle. Zatanna looks at me and then at it. "A… Is that a..? A stall?"

"Yes. Yes it is. Well, no, it's just a seat with a hole in it. Obviously it doesn't flush, we're on the Moon." She stares at me like I'm not making any sense. "When I brought Thomas and Tuppence up here while Kon and M'gann infiltrated Belle Reve, Tuppence made a big deal about wanting to…" I make the combine harvester gesture with my hands. "Y'know. Use one. So I built that."

"I thought you said the environmental shield-?"

"Yes." I nod once, emphatically.

"But then how did-?"

"Do you really want that answered?"

She considers. "Nnnno."

"Right. Let me just try something..." I close my eyes and focus on what it felt like to forget how to love. How unnatural and alien and wrong. I want the capacity to love. It is right that I have that capacity.

Ophidian, where is it?

BABUM

The orange shockwave explodes from me, rippling across the Moon's surface.

"Okay, try now. "

"Ediug em ot eht Rats Erihppas!"

Dust roils up again, but this time it coils around her outstretched arms before flowing through the air in the direction of the cubicle. Zatanna tries to run after it and momentarily forgets that she's under a sixth of Earth's gravity, pushing off too hard at an awkward angle. As she falls I swoop over and catch her around the waist from behind. She tenses for a moment before I land us just in front of the cubicle. "Careful there."

She remains standing with her back pressed up against me. "Um. Right. Sorry, I just…"

"Not used to walking on the moon." We stand there for a moment. "Did you want to have a look at-?"

"Oh. Yes." She pulls away and steps up to the seat. "There isn't anything... Down there, is there?"

Ring, scan. "No, just rock and dust. I'm not seeing the Star Sapphire but that's where the dust went."

She nods. "I dnammoc eht Rats Erihppas ot raeppa!"

Dust pours down the toilet and swirls around the small chamber within before fountaining up, the flawless violet crystal pushed out by its passage. That wasn't down there a minute ago. Zatanna reaches out to take hold of it but I push her arm aside. "Whow. Remember what happened to Carol Ferris?"

She nods as I attach an orange tether to it and the dust cloud dissipates. "What do we do with it?"

"Ideally I'd want to train you with it, but these things are even worse for driving people crazy than orange power rings."

"No, I meant, shouldn't we let the Green Lanterns know we've found it?"

"Nah. They don't want to talk to me about the Star Conquerors, they can just suck it up." She doesn't look convinced. "It's not like they own it. Or know more than I do about using it."

"So what do you want to use it for?"

"You said that the power for your spells has to come from within, right?"

She nods. "Usually."

"Do you think you could tap that instead? Use some sort of spell to bleed off a safe amount of its power, so you don't knacker yourself if it comes to a fight with Nabu or Klarion?"

Understanding dawns. She blinks and then slowly nods. "That… That might actually work."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th December
08:06 GMT -2

"That's never going to work, mate."

"Why not?"

John stabs at me with his cigarette. "You can't just plug an alien love crystal into someone like that and expect anything good to come of it."

"That's why I wanted some sort of buffer. I mean, if it really comes down to it I could try using it my.. sssself..."

I trail off as I spot Sephtian's staring at Zatanna from well inside her personal space. He's wearing some sort of rune encrusted visor and she's leaning slightly away from him and looking more than a little nervous. "What are you looking at?"

"Fascinating. When Paul told me that you were able to perform complex magics simply.. by speaking…" He jerks back in the water and waves his arms excitedly. "I did not think he was lying, precisely, but I did think that he perhaps misunderstood what he was seeing. But you… You… Do it again!"

Zatanna looks at me. I just shrug. She holds out her hands in front of her, palms facing one another. "Ria elbbub mrof." The water around her turns white as tiny bubbles of gas condense and stream towards the growing bubble between her hands.

Sephtian's hands clamp down on the sides of his visor. "Everything I know about magic says that should be impossible!"

"Um. Sorry?"

"Why!? This is MARVELLOUS!" His head fronds flutter as he takes deep breaths, hopefully to calm himself down. "You shouldn't apologise for disproving… Certainly parts, of an inaccurate orthodoxy." He pulls the visor away from his face and tosses it onto his workstation. "Akk, it's not accurate enough." He gently runs his right index finger and thumb along his moustache tendrils, his head turning aside slightly. "In fact, I don't… I'm going to need to design and build a new imaging chamber." His attention returns to Zatanna as he uses his left hand to gently place some sort of wand probe into the path of the bubbles. "And you say you could manifest this ability even without other training?"

"Y-eah. Just like my dad."

"A pact with some sort of deity, perhaps? Are your family particularly religious? That might account for-."

"We're Christians."

"And is it possible that one of your deities favoured you in this way?"

She hesitates for a moment. I suppose there's no reason why he would know much about a religion that isn't practised in Atlantis. "Christianity only has one deity. And His miracles don't require incantations."

"I suppose you could be a metahuman whose ability relates to magic. I.. don't really know much about-."

"Sephtian." He twists in the water to look at me. "Bit much."

He stares at me, then at Zatanna. "Oh. Of course. My apologies." He takes one last look at the wand before returning it to his robes. "Yoooou were saying something about an energy exchange artefact?"

John shakes his head. "Which we haven't got the slightest idea how to make."

"What about that stuff Dark Druid had set up?" John sucks in his cheeks as he thinks about it. "Could.. any of that design be used..?"

His eyes narrow. "Maybe. Some of it. Reckon you can get the police to hand it over?"

"Come on John, you read the newspapers. Liverpool loves you right now; you could probably ask them yourself."

"I could change one symbol around no problem. This is something I'd definitely want a second opinion on." He looks at Sephtian. "You any good out of water?"

Sephtian snakes his neck. "I… I would struggle after more than a few minutes. And I would not have access to my workshop. For this sort of project…"

"Okay, I'll see what I can do about getting those shipping crates brought down here. You can set up an air filled environment for them?" He nods.

"Second problem: the focus symbol. You knew about the black and white ones. You know what the violet one is?"

That did give me a bit of trouble. I couldn't remember it and while Ms Ferris had a logo while she was in mental mode the ring could replicate it no problem, so that couldn't be it. Had to play around with shapes for a couple of hours until I found a variant I couldn't generate: an eight pointed star with a circle inside surrounded by a circle. I generate an image of what Ms Ferris looked like while she was under the influence. "The previous user used something like-."

Zatanna eyes it warily. "I'm.. so not wearing that."

"One more reason not to use the Sapphire directly. Anyway,-" I dismiss most of the image, leaving just the star over her abdomen. "-take this symbol, even it up a bit, put a circle around it annnd then another…" The construct disintegrates just as the smaller circle touches the star only now I can see why: tiny amounts of violet light coming through it and disrupting its structure. I recreate it with the smaller circle floating a short distance away.

Sephtian picks up a magic tablet and makes a note of the design. "And you say this.. represents.. 'love'? I had been under the impression that this Star Sapphire was a violent criminal."

"That was a combination of a really bad break up and being overwhelmed by violet light. The woman in question didn't have a safe way to channel it like I did-" I raise the ring. "-with orange."

"Could she assist-?" He cuts off as I shake my head. Not a good idea. And forget contacting the Zamarons. I'm not risking that without more information and if I can get it, Controller backup. "Hm. Can't really do much more on that until I see Dark Druid's designs then." He pauses for a moment. "So. Are we ready to test the gun?"

John looks at him for a moment. "Have you ever.. summoned a Demon before?"

"No. Never even seen one. Very illegal in Atlantis. Her majesty had to sign a Royal Writ to give us authorisation and she checked the seals around the ritual site personally."

"An' there's air in the chamber, is there?"

"Yes, and the materials you requested are awaiting your inspection. Everything is in order. Please, this way."

He leads us out of his workroom and down the corridor in the approximate direction of his thaumatorium. I'm dragging John along with the ring while Zatanna has a spell going on herself to allow her to swim fast enough to keep up.

"Is.. Queen Mera alright with us using your time like this?"

"Oh yes. She considers it a quite reasonable exchange for what you've done. It would have taken us months to get the physical components of the city shields to a serviceable state without you. And the spell casting involved in their manufacture hardly requires my constant oversight. This way."

He turns off into a small room. Four guards in royal livery are floating just above a circular barrier covering a tunnel opening in the floor. Still haven't quite got used to Atlantean ideas about up and down.

"Halt." The sminias -a woman with an eel tail- raises her right hand. The other guards seem reasonably alert but they don't raise their weapons. We were clearly expected.

Sephtian draws to a halt just in front of her. "Magister Sephtian and guests." He pulls out a shimmering scroll and holds it out to her.

She takes it, looks it over and then hands it back. "They'll want to see that down below as well." He starts to swim past her but she puts a hand on his chest to stop him. "Sephtian. This isn't going to blow up in our face, is it? I've been reading up on what happened last time those Lemurian lunatics tried something like this-."

"Tanis, it is not the same at all. Single, weak Demons in a contained environment. The hazardous spell craft lab was designed for things like this." He points at John. "We have an expert in this form of magic, myself and two superheroes in addition to your guards. We are as safe as we can reasonably be." She looks slightly mollified. "Come, you can watch for yourself."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th December
08:21 GMT -2

The way the Demon in the circle moves reminds me of a vulture. The stubby wings, long neck and extended muzzle give it a hunched appearance as it paces back and forth on the small patch of floor it has access to. It has a kilt held up by straps which cross its emaciated looking chest, though the ring is having trouble working out whether or not it has anything to conceal. It's not even sure if the clothing is clothing. Its feet look like they came from a Velociraptor and its skin is a sort of rusty red colour. The floor inside the circle has a different texture to the stone of the room. It puts me in mind of a swamp land, damp and covered in rotten foliage. Part of Hell? A product of the Demon's own corrupting presence? No idea.

"You must be desperate indeed to summon me, Constantine. Still, I'm not completely without compa-."

A small brush construct removes part of the circle. Immediately, the stone reappears beneath it and I can get clean readings on the creature. Human organs, but distorted in a fashion which means that they couldn't possibly work through simple biology. The ring thinks the clothing is made from Human body tissues, though that seems unlikely.

It freezes for a moment, looks down to check the circle and then up again at John. It grins. "I expected better, given your reputation. How exactly do you think you're going to stop-?"

BLAM!

The impact of the bullet knocks the Demon back and the white and gold flames are enveloping it before it hits the ground.

"DRAAAAAGHHHHHH!"

Above us near the rim of the pit I see Sephtian tending to his monitoring runes while down here Sminias Tanis lowers the Ace of Winchesters. "Should I be concerned that he was the third one who could identify you by name? Out of three?"

John kneels down to restore the circle, making sure to keep watch on the Demon's corpse as it is rapidly consumed by the fire. The skin around its extremities has already carbonised and evaporated and the area around the impact site is going the same way. The flames are still hard at work on its head but it still has just enough control to turn its neck to point its face at him. "Par for the course, really."

Should have thought about it in advance, but it turns out that none of us have much experience with rifles. I've stuck to handguns, neither Zatanna nor Sephtian even have that much and while John claimed to have some experience it only came from a couple of acts of desperation. Tanis volunteered her services in exchange for one of my flight belts, which she needed anyway as the Ace won't work under water. She's taken to it exactly as easily as Lori did.

The chamber is slightly oval shaped and about thirty metres long by twenty wide. The bit we're working in is a circular space with a ten metre diameter, set about four metres deep into the floor. The water above us is held up by wards inscribed around the rim, powering spells by water pressure not exactly being a novel concept around here.

Of the other six guards in this part of the chamber two are Purebloods and the other four are like Kaldur with gills and webbing. More aquatic forms just wouldn't work, though there are another five Shark guards above us in the water filled section with Sephtian in case their colleagues aren't enough. I smiled when I saw they were all wearing Spell Eaters.

Seems to be going well so far. We've only used about a quarter of our lamb's blood and none of the things we've summoned have been able to stress the barrier created by the circle. And we know that the gun is very lethal to Demons. Just ash left of M'z'k… Mazsuk… Whatever that thing's name was, now.

"Sephtian? Any news?"

He picks up a rune stone from its hollow on the floor and it glows for a moment. "No power flow detected. After three attempts.. I think we can tentatively conclude that the 'Ace of Winchesters' is entirely destroying whatever energy manifests in the corporeal world. Still don't know if it gets everything everything." He moves his hand over the stone's surface and then bends down to put it back in the floor. "John, are you able to summon that particular entity again?"

"Yeah, but they can refuse a summons. We'd have to clean up this whole place or they'd just feel it and decide to stay put."

"Hmm. We can put that down for the second round of tests."

Tanis works the lever of the rifle while I walk over to Zatanna. "So, Zatanna: what do you think of your first encounter with the Demonic?"

She looks at the ground as she thinks about it. "To be honest… It's a bit underwhelming. He just calls something up, then 'blam', no more Demon."

John completes his checks and then stands up again. He took off his coat and jacket before we started and rolled his sleeves up when he started drawing the marks for the summoning. For the first time since we met I can see his tattoos. Part of them anyway. Latin writing, though the ring tells me that there are more complex designs on his back and shoulders. "Wouldn't get too sure of yourself, Zatanna. Doin' it like this, we're holdin' all the cards. Out in the wild, doesn't work like that."

"Though that's probably our next stop. Whatever happened to that.. Fly.. Demon thing you and Papa Midnight stuck in-."

"Still in his club." He glances at Zatanna. "'less he's moved it. An' yeah, shooting the containment vessel would probably work but I don't think it's worth risking Mnemoth gettin' loose in New York City t' test it."

I note that he didn't say who the containment vessel is. The Demon wouldn't have kept Gary Lester alive, would it?

"There's a Demon in New York?"

John manages a bitter grin. "Probably loads of Demons in New York. But Mnemoth was only free for about a fortnight eleven years ago. You probably weren't old enough to remember it; the people it possessed felt like they were starving, they'd try and eat anything. By the time they finally died their bodies were totally emaciated."

"Did..? Did you tell someone?"

"Tell who what, exactly?"

"Their families, the police! Those people died and no one apart from you and that.. Midnight person know what happened to them!"

John shakes his head. "They don't want to know."

"How can you-!"

"'cause it's very far from the first time I've done somethin' like that and I know: tellin' people that someone they love was killed by a Demon does not make them feel better about it."

"And.. the police?"

"Don't dare try touching Papa Midnight. We're scrabbling around with alien crystals t'try an' get you a boost? He's got a whole friggin' casino powering his magic. Gambling, drink, hard drugs and gladiatorial combat, plus all the political favours he can buy. Anything like that.. goes anywhere near him, and everyone's deaf and blind."

Looks like that's a hard pill for her to swallow. Ring, what was Mister Zatara doing that week? Oh, on tour. Probably wouldn't have heard about it until it was already dealt with, though that doesn't explain how he was in the same city as someone like Midnight for so long. Maybe he just decided that the man wasn't a wider threat and left it at that. That's why I haven't mentioned him to anyone. As far as I remember from the comic the gladiators were all zombies anyway.

Sephtian waves to get our attention. "We're ready to go again. You said you.. wanted to test the gun on an Elemental?"

John looks up at him. "One more type'a Demon I want t' have a go at first. Bit more powerful than the last one, plus it's about as close to being an Elemental as a Demon can get."

"How much more powerful?"

His face tightens. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"John, what's this about?"

"You know about the Coopers, yeah? I mean, you know about every other bloody thing."

"Coopers? That was where his son died and he wanted you to-?"

"That's the one. I stopped it, but the thing got away, didn't it? Didn't have the tools to put it down. Now-" He nods at the Ace. "-we do, and I'd like to have one less thing to watch me back for."

I shrug. "When you put it like that, no problem."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th December
22:48 GMT -5

Artemis puts her left hand on her hip while her right keeps the torch shining directly into my face. "Okay, firstly: why are the lights off?"

I stick my head a little further up from behind the settee I transported into the corridor adjoining the training room and make a frantic beckoning gesture with both hands. She rolls her eyes, shakes her head and then puts her torch away so she can clamber over it. "Because Red Arrow's getting here in two minutes and I plan on pranking him."

"You? You're.. pranking someone?"

"You know he's been going on at Kaldur about that whole 'mole' thing again, right? Despite the investigation Kaldur and I did?"

She crouches down next to me. "Kinda talking to his prime suspect here."

"Joint prime suspect. Think he's been giving Robert the evils too."

"Not Kon or Zatanna?"

"M'gann had Mister J'onzz check her work on Kon's mind. Guess he considers Manhunter trustworthy. And if he'd tried making accusations at Zatanna they'd-" I smile at her. "-never have found the body."

"Oh-kay then."

"Here." I pass her a pair of light enhancement glasses. I'm already wearing my pair. "Can't use the ring to let us see otherwise our eyes will glow and give the game away."

She takes it and looks at it for a moment. "Secondly, why do I need to be here? Getting back at Red's fun and all, but I did have stuff I was doing."

"On Roanoke Island, you said that there weren't such things as Anti-Magic Arrows. Now-" I reach around to the floor behind me, trying to feel for the strap. I'm so used to having the ring find stuff- Ah! Got it. I pull the quiver closer and pick it up to show her. "-there are!"

She takes it from me and pulls one of the arrows out to take a look. "Is that what you and the Fish-guy were working on?"

"Please don't call him a 'Fish-guy'. He's a Manta guy, and it's one of the things we were working on."

She smiles faintly. "You keeping some for yourself in case you run into a magic robot next time?"

"No, but I do have both bullet and micro missile versions of both in my subspace-."

"Recognised, Red Arrow, B zero seven."

I duck down as the light from the Zeta Tube briefly illuminates the room and flap my hands at Artemis until she follows suit. I hear Roy take a step out, stop and then there's a quiet noise which is probably him putting an arrow on string. He's listening for a target, so we've probably got about ten seconds before he puts on his night vision glasses. Which means…

The spotlight I attached to the ceiling over the centre of the room comes on at full blast and Roy immediately orientates on it. "…wiring…" Realising that it isn't a threat he switches his aim to the object below it. When it doesn't attack him either he takes a takes a few steps closer.

What he sees is this: at head height there's a brightly coloured picture with an image of Mount Justice on one side and a slightly cartoony one of him brandishing a mallet on the other. Below that, slightly above waist height, is a green box with nine large holes in the top surface arranged in a three by three grid and a large, well padded mallet. Written across the top and along the sides in bright, arcade friendly letters is the title: Red Arrow's Mole Hunt.

And then the music starts.

"I'm gonna be a pirate
on the river Saskatchewaaaaaan!

And it's a heave!"

A mole painted to look like Roy pops out of the bottom left mole hole before dropping back down.

"Ho!"

Kid Flash mole pops out of the top right.

"Hi!"

Red Arrow, Artemis and Cornwall Boy moles erupt from the bottom row.

"Ho!
Commin' down-"

Superboy, Miss Martian and Orange Lantern moles in the middle row and…

"-the plains!"

…Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash out of the top and besides me Artemis muffles her laughter.

"Stealin' Wheat and Barley-"

Robin, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Red Arrow and Cornwall Boy moles form an 'X'-

"-and all the other grains!"

-then tilt left and right in time with the music.

"And it's a Ho. Hey!"

Cornwall.

"High. Hey!"

Robin.

"Farmers bar yer doors"

Bottom, middle and top rows in sequence.

"When you see the Jolly Roger-"

Superboy, Artemis and Orange Lantern moles pop out and wiggle back and forth.

"-on Regina's mighty shores."

Pppssffffhahahahahahahahahaha!

Roy relaxes slightly and lowers his bow. "Alright, Wally, very funny. Are you going to put the lights back on now or am I going to have to climb up there myself?"

Artemis and I stare at each other. I hadn't really planned for this bit. Oh, what the heck. Ring, lights.

Roy blinks at the sudden illumination and then looks our way as we get up from behind the settee, still sniggering. "Artemis? Paul? What..?"

"Oh, come on; as if Wallace could set something like that up."

Artemis snorts with laughter. "I can't believe you did that. Did you record it?"

"Of course I recorded it. What do you take me for?"

"Does it..? Can you play it normally?"

"Yeah, there's a dial at the back, just turn it to-."

"Did you really call me here just to watch a demented game of Whack-a-Mole?!"

"No." Another quiver appears in my right hand as Artemis walks around the back of the machine. "Anti-magic arrows. They work on the same principle as my Spell Eater, so if your target is a magic user or the physical component of a spell then they should drain the magic right out. Though, y'know, you have been getting a bit silly with this mole hunt thing as well."

He snatches it off me. "You think it's funny that someone on your team is leaking information?"

"I think it's funny how obsessed you are. We already checked everyone. Well, except you. And actually I haven't got around to doing your medical scans yet, so if you don't mind-?"

"I used to be a farmer-"

"Hah!"

We look around as Artemis brings the mallet down on Red Arrow mole's head. Roy scowls and turns to stride back towards the Zeta Tube. "Don't call me again unless it's something important."

"Alright! But don't come crying to me if you get your arm cut off!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
15:22 GMT -5

"Dad's really into gardening but I never took to it." Alan puts the glass of orange juice down in front of me. "Thanks." He smiles at me and takes the seat next to mine on the decking.

Danni remains focused on her pruning. "When I first moved to New York I was not able to afford a home with a garden, but I remember that I did enjoy taking care of my window basket. Also, it was becoming overgrown."

Alan grimaces. "I'd.. kinda been letting it go a bit. After Johnny passed and I started charging my ring again I-" He gestures at his flower beds with his right hand. "-trimmed the whole thing down to practically nothing. Then, well, with you taking the lantern and me getting older and.. then with you telling me not to use my ring anymore-."

"Alan, that's important. Seven or eight months and you can use it as much as you want but right now it's what's keeping you alive."

"Keeping me young, you mean."

Alert! Connection made to monitored telephone line. Location: second public telephone, BP, Happy Harbour branch.

I instinctively glance at the ring before looking back at Alan. "Middle aged, and if you're just wearing it for a few hours a week like I suggested you'll probably go up to early old age by the time I've got a replacement for you."

He frowns slightly. "Someone trying to get hold of you?"

"They can leave a message. I'm serious about the ring-. Danni? Make sure he doesn't use it."

"I will continue observation."

"Hey, come on guys. I am capable of making my own decisions, you know."

I reach over and pat his left hand with my right. "Alan, it's the job of young people to look after their elders when they start going a bit senile."

Alert! Priority message received.

"Ugh." Alan cuts off his retort and raises his eyebrows as I lift the ring to my left ear. "Sorry, I need to listen to this."

"Someone important?"

"Probably. Ring, who is it?"

"Detective Harvey Bullock, Gotham City Police Department."

"Maybe he wasn't too impressed about you spending time with that Catwoman person."

"She's actually quite nice once you get to know her."

"I'm not criticizing, son. I've seen her pictures. Perfectly natural for a man your age."

I shrug. "My plate's kind of full at the moment."

He grins. "Oh? Anyone I know?"

If he's going to be like that… "Ring, play the message."

Silence for a moment. "It's an answer machine. We even sure this is him?" Yep, definitely Detective Bullock. Another pause as he listens to the reply. "Yeah, yeah, alright fine. Hey, Orange Lantern, Detective Bullock here from Gotham PD Major Crimes Unit. We'd like t'speak to you regarding an ongoing investigation."

"Yes!"

Alan looks puzzled. "Why is that a good thing?"

"I'm always happy to use the ring to aid in criminal investigations, especially in a place like Gotham where the evidence has a habit of going walkabouts. I'm just not usually there for them to ask. Ring, continue."

"Phone me back on this number if you get this message." The message ends as Danni stands and walks over to the table, laying down her secateurs and gardening gloves. Alright, don't have much on today, no real reason why I can't spend some time in-. "Come on Commish, we don't even have the Bat's phone number. That reporter probably just… Yeah, hang o-." The phone goes silent.

"You are going to Gotham?"

"Sounds like. Sorry Alan, but this-."

He shakes his head to dismiss my concerns. "The job comes first. I'll still be here when you get back."

As I stand up Danni walks around the table to my side. "I will accompany you."

"If you like. I'm not sure there'll be much to do."

"You recently acquired stolen property. I believe my presence would be prudent."

"I had a confiscation order written out, and there's no way the Museum got hold of it legally in the first place."

She looks at Alan and then back at me. "I believe it would be good for me to get out of the house."

I shrug. "Okay then. Do you want to get anything..?"

"No, but I would appreciate it if you could change these clothes for my costume."

"No problem."

Alan blinks in surprise, then dips his head and covers his eyes with his right hand as the orange glow envelopes Danni. "Now, hold on-."

"Alan, you can't see anything." He removes his hand while looking to the side and nervously flicks his eyes in Danni's direction, relaxing only when he sees her uniform -with flight belt- in place. "Right, Major Crimes is near the top of the building so I'm going to put us down on the roof. Ready?" Danni nods. "Transition."

No one on the roof when we appear, though I am interested to get my first close look at the famous Bat Signal. Saw it in the sky in the week before Roanoke. Just once though, and we were already on site. Advantage of ring faster than light travel and ring Hollywood hacking meant that sort of notification wasn't really needed. Batman told me that when he sees it he usually phones the Commissioner rather than turning up in person; that would just take too long.

"You spend any time in Gotham in the forties?"

"Not a significant amount. Green Lantern did not require backup." She follows my gaze up to the searchlight. "What is the purpose of this light? Surely the Gotham Police Department could simply use a telephone?"

"I'm not sure, but if I had to guess I'd say it was so anyone looking up at the sky could be reminded that there was someone around who wasn't just part of the problem." I look at her. "You know how bad things were before Batman got started?"

"I have read the Justice League's records. I find it hard to believe that the city was still able to function."

I shrug. "Even criminals need their rubbish collected and their water and sewage systems to work. And there's a difference between functioning and functioning well."

"The crime statistics appear to be worse now than they were prior to Batman becoming active."

"Because people are actually bothering to report it. There's a small jump almost immediately after Commissioner Loeb and his most notable stooges got arrested. Plus, with Carmine Falcone not being around to keep things under control, criminal groups started fighting it out. And they all ended up losing out to the incoming costumed criminals as a result." I turn away and head towards the door to the police station. "Come on, they're probably waiting for me."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
15:27 GMT -5

The door's locked, but: power ring. The walls on either side of the stairs as we descend into the police station are grimy and look like they could use a fresh coat of paint. There's some water damage to the plaster beneath and it looks like the builder was scrimping on material costs so out comes the Orange Wave of Home Improvement.

"Do you do that in every building you visit?"

"Only if they visibly need it."

"I had been under the impression that you needed to care intensely about a thing in order to effect change on that scale. Certainly I cannot remember any occasions on which Green Lantern…" She pauses for a moment and it's uncharacteristic enough that I stop just as we come up to the door into the police station proper and give her an enquiring look. "I am not aware of any occasion on which any of the individuals operating under the title 'Green Lantern' have utilized an equivalent ability."

"I'd probably struggle if it looked alright, even if I could improve it. For a place like this? Let the wall be a wall, the floor a floor, a light a light and a door a door."

"Confucius?"

"Sort of. Probably the same idea. A wall should be a wall, and if I look at it and it isn't a proper wall I get this need to do something about it. And I can, 'cause; power ring. And it's not just walls; if a thing clearly isn't as good as it could be I start looking for ways to fix it."

"I am aware of your behavioral tendency. I am after all a beneficiary."

"That wasn't.. just fixing. That was the other thing. Perfecting."

A slight tilt of her head. "You believe I am perfect?"

"Uuum. More like: you're as perfect an example of what you are as the Ophidian and I could make you based on what we knew about you at the time. When you get a better idea about what you want to do with yourself and.. I get access to better technology you might decide that you want to modify yourself… Um. To more perfectly represent that idea of you."

"Do you apply that ideal to yourself as well?"

"Look at me." I flex my right arm and then rotate my hand, making the muscles shift. "When was the last time you saw me take exercise? And have I shown you my tattoos?"

Out of the corner of my eye I see a uniformed police officer staring at me through the reinforced glass in the door. Best get moving then. The ring opens the door and the orange wave carries on through the building. Whoops. Oh well, I'm sure the cleaners will forgive me. The policeman sprinting away down the corridor ahead of the wave might not. Gotham, right, people in costumes entering the police station from the roof. Should.. probably.. have thought about that. The only other person in the corridor -a Latino woman with a file in her left hand and a styrofoam coffee cup in her right- appears to be much less fazed, limiting herself to a confused blink. Is that..?

I smile at her. "Detective Montoya. Delighted to meet you. I believe Detective Bullock wanted to see me?"

"What did you just do to the building?"

"Maintenance, repairs, cleaning. Why did he run away?"

"He was on duty when the Joker attacked a school disco last year. Lost his partner, and he spent two months recovering from gunshot wounds. Joker shot anyone who touched the orange light."

"Oh.. shit. I-I didn't know that."

Detective Montoya sighs and gives her head a small shake. "No, didn't expect you to. Probably didn't even make state news."

"Wasn't on this Earth at the time." Can't think of a way to fix that. Move on. "What was it Detective Bullock wanted my help with?"

At the end of the corridor I see two uniformed officers jogging in our direction with their pistols drawn. Hm, good response time. Fortunately, they're pointing the guns down and the chap in front appears to be on the ball. "Ah, Detective?"

Detective Montoya transfers the folder to under her right arm as she turns to look at them. "Misunderstanding, guys. Stand easy." An uncertain nod and the weapons are holstered, though they decide to stick around just in case. The Detective turns back to me. "What makes you think we need your help with anything?"

"I just assumed… Well, what did you want me for then?"

She stares at my face for a couple of seconds. "Not here." Her eyes pass briefly over Danni before she walks past us down the corridor. "This way."

I turn to follow her. Danni gives me a completely blank look which I think is supposed to be interrogative but I really don't know what's going on. Could take a look at the Detective's computer records but that does seem to be slightly in bad faith. Major Crimes offices are over in that direction so.. okay. Follow her. My boots make a pleasant click-squeak-click on the newly regenerated floor as the metal heel plate is followed by the vibram sole and metal toe cap. Danni's shoes are quieter but I can still hear her behind me. The detective pushes the door to the Major Crimes office open ahead of us.

"What? I don't get a coffee?"

Detective Bullock's voice. Good to know. I stride in behind her and give the room a smile. No one looks up, having registered the person coming in as Detective Montoya and gone back to whatever they're doing. No Commissioner Gordon, though I do half-recognise a few of the other detectives. Bald black guy looks most familiar. Didn't he turn into the Spectre at some point?

"No, you don't get a coffee. Don't want you to spit it everywhere when you see who's turned up."

"Who?" She jerks her thumb in my direction as I emerge from behind her. I smile and give him a wave. His reaction is fairly minimal. "Oh. Guess the number was right after all. Fine, interview two should be free." He gets up from his chair and I get an unlooked for glimpse of his fur-covered gut between the buttons of his shirt. I wouldn't say he's obese, but he's certainly carrying extra weight. No idea how he passes the fitness tests. I guess that the Commissioner just needs good people badly enough to overlook a few trivial things as long as they can pull their weight. Heh, and if he can do that… Wonder if he'd like me.. to..? No, probably not.

Their interview rooms are on the other side of the office and a few people look up as we pass. I get a few odd looks but I'm mostly used to them by now. I find grinning is usually the best way to-. Wait. Would that be a Napier thing around here? No, I can't constantly be-. Ahead of me Bullock's bulk knocks some papers off the edge of a desk and I catch them with the ring without really thinking about it before depositing them back on the desk. Smile to 'normal' I give the detective to whom they belong a nod. All I get in return is puzzlement. Montoya opens the door to the interview room and Bullock walks through. Wait, interview room? I just thought they wanted somewhere quiet to talk, but is this an actual interview? Have I committed any crimes..? Aside from the vigilante stuff, but from what I've seen the police have pretty much given up trying to stop that. Don't.. think so. Bullock's already standing at ease in the far corner of the room when I enter. Room control? Well, two can play at that game. I ignore the hard plastic seats next to the table and generate a construct armchair to slouch in.

"You his lawyer?"

"I am not. Is one required?"

"Then you can wait out here."

Detective Montoya enters the room and closes the door in Danni's face. That's a bit rude. She tenses slightly when she sees the glowing chair but remains calm and collected as she crosses the room to take a seat on the far side of the table. Still.. not sure what I'm suppose to have done.

"Interview commencing at fifteen thirty one, Detectives Montoya and Bullock present." She leans forwards slightly. "Along with 'Orange Lantern'."

"Hello, future people!"

"Alright, wise guy." Detective Bullock's leaning against the wall now, but according to the ring's body language analysis program his apparent relaxation is feigned. "Where were you last Thursday night?"

"What sort of time?"

Detective Montoya's face hardens. "Midnight."

"Is this about the gun? Because I got a receipt-."

Detective Bullock lurches forwards and slams his hands down on the table. "No, it's about the murder of Jennifer Gordon-Hewitt!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
15:42 GMT -5

My eyebrows drop into a mild frown. Ring, confirm her death.

Subject not found at residential address. Corpse located in police morgue. Genetic match confirmed.

Oh. That's… A shame. The first time someone I've known has been murdered, even if I didn't know her very well. Ring, identify cause of-.

"Hey! You hear me?!"

"Yes Detective, I heard you. In answer to your question I first met Missus Gordon-Hewitt at thirty eight minutes past midnight on Friday the tenth annnd left her alive and well at two minutes past one."

Unable to reliably identify cause of death. The subject was severely beaten prior to death. In my mind the ring shows me a picture. I've seen worse and the morticians appear to have cleaned her up a bit. Most likely fatal injuries-.

That's fine.

Detective Bullock still looks angry. Part of his usual approach as I understand it. His partner just looks stern. Might work on some people, but I've been sterned at by Batman and he's made of sterner stuff. "How do you remember the exact time?"

"The ring records everything I do. Plus, there was a clock on her mantelpiece and I have excellent recall."

"Why were you there?"

"She had a gun I wished to purchase. I had it authenticated, we talked a bit about its history and.. we.. negotiated a price."

"How much did she want for it?"

"Have you been over the house?" Nothing from either of them. "Should be a big sarcophagus looking thing." I generate an illustrative construct. "I traded it with her for the gun."

"What gun?"

"The Ace of Winchesters." Another construct. "Perfect for fighting Demons as they should be fought: from a safe distance."

"Were you aware of the rest of her collection?"

"Saw a few things. I'd like to say I was surprised, but…" I spread my arms out to the sides. "Gotham." Scowls. "Oh, come on! You Major Crimes people are just about the only ones who can be trusted not to shiv your grandmothers for a dollar, I'm certainly not surprised about evidence going walkabouts."

Detective Bullock squeezes his eyes closed. "Wait a sec. Demons?"

"Yes." I prep my left hand for a Fatty-releasing tap. "Would you like me to introduce you to one?"

"Are you talkin' about actual cloven hoofed, pitchfork carryin'…"

"Cloven hooves aren't guaranteed and the pitchfork thing is a myth. Fatty -that's the one who lives in the ring- looks sort of like an obese dwarf with Down's syndrome."

Detective Bullock squints and takes an aggressive step around the edge of the table. "Listen, wise guy-."

"Harvey, I think he's being serious."

"Spent most of Sunday morning in Poseidonis summoning things up and shooting them." That's one Demon who won't be fucking any more pigs. "Detective Bullock, please try to understand that I fight people who can crush granite in their bare hands-" Though I think Barda was showing off for the peanut gallery when she did that. "-or rewrite reality by claiming to come from Hamelin. An overweight policeman cannot threaten me. Now, I'm minded to help you-."

He strides at me and tries to grab hold of me by my armour's collar. I wait patiently while my environmental shield foils his attempt and he quickly switches to trying to pull me up by my belt. I let him succeed but I use the ring to float so that I'm comfortably upright rather than trying to stand on tiptoes or falling over. I drop the chair construct as I tilt my head slightly towards him. "Detective, since you're being childish I'm going return to the favour. I'll remove an ounce of fat from your body for each second you hold onto me, starting now." Ring, do it.

Compliance.

He keeps trying to stare me down, despite being below me. Whaw, he could really do with a nose hair trim. And some sleep, those eyes are seriously bloodshot. Maybe I should give him a medical reset as-?

"Harvey, it's not going to work."

One last eyeball and he steps back and lets go. I remain exactly where I am as he slobs back to the corner of the room. "Thank you, Detective Montoya."

She spares her partner a sidelong glance before returning her attention to me. "Did Missus Gordon-Hewitt give any indication that she was afraid, or that she had been threatened?"

"She mentioned that her late husband had insisted she check the security camera before letting anyone in. Aside from that, no."

"How did you find out she had the gun you were looking for?"

"I hired someone to track it down. Turns out, they were the one who sold it to her in the first place, so…" I shrug. Perhaps I should be annoyed, but I don't think it really matters.

"What was the name of the person you hired?"

Tell or not? As Catwoman, Selina does have outstanding warrants on her. "A local specialist. I'm afraid that some people I work with would rather not come to the attention of the police. I'll let you know if it's critical, but, if it isn't…" I shrug.

"Why do you get to decide what's critical and what isn't?"

"I know the individual concerned and know the probability of them being involved in a murder."

Her jaw tightens slightly. "Aside from you and your 'expert', was anyone else present?"

"S-. That person wasn't the expert, they just had local contacts. I brought a wizard with me to check the gun. I didn't see or scan anyone else in the house."

"You gunna tell me who they were?"

"Not currently planning to, no." She sighs, leans back and rolls her eyes. "To the best of my knowledge they hadn't met her before that night and left the country when we'd finished."

"Where's this gun you say you got from her now?"

"In Poseidonis, being thoroughly tested."

"We're going to need to see it."

"And you know what about magic, exactly? Besides, I can't let you take possession of it. Security Council Resolution two zero two two. You're not qualified to handle arcane artefacts, and we probably wouldn't be having this discussion if Gotham's evidence handling was up to scratch." I can see her losing patience. Perhaps I should throw her a bone? "I do have a full scan of her house on file and I can give you that. Shows her whole collection. You can even have my conversation with her if you like." Editing out my accomplices and distorting their voices, of course. Not that I think they'd recognise John.

Detective Bullock sneers. "And how do we know it's accurate?"

"Presumably you have a record of what was found in her house. And have you any idea how annoyingly fiddly it would be for me to convincingly fake the whole thing?" Probably not very, actually. "Look, I'm faster, more accurate and a good deal more honest than your own forensics people. What's say we work together on this one?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
16:12 GMT -5

Match looks apprehensively at the three G-Gnomes crouching next to his lounger. "Is this gunna hurt?"

Dubbilex takes a step forwards and lays his right hand on Match's left shoulder. "You have no need to fear, brother. We will not harm you. Our sole purpose here is to impart information, the same information that we imparted to your younger brother."

M'gann nods. "I'll be monitoring you the whole time. If it hurts, or if you're scared you can tell me right away and I'll make them stop."

Match looks up at her and then makes eye contact with Kon, standing next to her. Kon gives him a reassuring smile. "You saw them teaching me Greek, didn't you? There's nothing to it."

Match appears to calm down a bit. He nods and wiggles into a more comfortable position on the cushion. Thankfully he doesn't look to me for further comfort; I most certainly will not be availing myself of the G-Gnomes' services. I don't even trust M'gann enough to let her do something like that, let alone the Genomorphs. Match takes a deep breath and closes his eyes and a moment later the G-Gnomes' horns light up. They're going to be doing basic information first, loading it in and connecting it to things he already knows. We can handle more advanced knowledge in later sessions and obviously they aren't going to condition him to hate Kal-El.

Dubbilex's horns glow for a moment as he looks over his recumbent Kryptonian brother, then he gives a slight nod. "The process has started. He will most likely need to remain in a semi-unconscious state for several hours."

Kon nods, not taking his eyes off Match. "Yeah, but we're going to wait here anyway."

Dubbilex nods. "Very well. If you need me, I will be overseeing the construction work outside." Kon nods again, distractedly, and Dubbilex turns to look up at me. "Grayven, if you are not required here there are one or two matters I would like to discuss with you."

I nod. "Of course. Lead the way." Dubbilex turns and leads me out of the small stone building we are situated in, one of dozens of the near-identical structures crowding the sides of the subterranean chamber they've started somewhat inaccurately calling 'Genomorph City'. Going by the number of full time inhabitants it's a village and including all Genomorphs it would struggle to classify itself as more than a very small town. Going by order of service it's barely a hamlet; until I transferred us here this morning all it had were some residential buildings. Everything else had to be stolen from Cadmus Labs above.

I feel a moment of pride as I look down the slope towards the newly fabricated Genomorph gestation chambers. Not large enough for G-Trolls and somewhat inefficient for G-Sprites but perfectly capable of growing each of the other Genomorph types. I even took the time to use my records on Kryptonian physiology to extend the lifespan of the G-Sprites powering the place. I catch Dubbilex's eye and nod at them. "What do you intend to make first?"

"We have not yet reached a consensus. G-Elves are better for precision construction. G-Dwarves are better at laboratory work. G-Gnomes are more carefully monitored above us and as such are harder to liberate."

I raise my eyebrows. "Not more G-Goblins?"

He pauses for a moment before leading the way down the slope. "As I said, there is no consensus."

"I would recommend it. You will have to come into contact with Human society in general eventually, and that will be easier if there are a few more Human-equivalent intelligences amongst you."

"There is truth in what you say, but that will likely be some considerable time in the future. At present we barely know how to live with ourselves, let alone with Humans in any fashion other than as their slaves."

"Even more reason. I doubt there'd be any objection to a G-Goblin taking up residence in our mountain. We may not be a representative sample but it's a place to start if you want to understand Human social interactions."

"True. May I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"I have been puzzled as to why you are going to such lengths to help us. When you liberated our brother Match both from this place and from his own rage, you purposefully avoided involving other Genomorphs in any way. You have stated that you find our telepathy distasteful-"

"Anyone's telepathy, not just yours. It's not personal."

"-and that you do not care at all about the conditions in which we live. And yet…"

My second most important contribution to Genomorph civilisation comes into view. A Hush Tube generator, one of only two on the planet. As we watch a G-Dwarf presses some buttons and a Tube opens up to a maintenance area. Two G-Elves walk through into the complex above and the Tube closes behind them. Really need to talk to Batman about setting one of those up in the mountain. Sure, we'd probably have to sacrifice the hangar Zeta Tubes to get the space and power but the technology is so superior.

Genomorphs don't bother looking at each other, I've noticed. Their telepathic fields means that they know where each other are the whole time and while only Dubbilex is readily capable of complex spoken communication the rest can talk clearly to one another's minds so, why bother?

"You really should reconsider closing off the passage to the surface. Guardian will work out what's going on eventually."

"Guardian feels proud that he has given a G-Elf a name. Yet, he has not realized that he has referred to seven different G-Elves as 'Eric'." Can't say I'm surprised. "We have heard you, and we will close it off once our escape tunnel is complete. I am still puzzled as to your motivation."

I nod, pondering how to put it into words. "Your people don't matter to me. I don't mean to imply that I dislike you. I would gain no pleasure from your failure or capture. Rather, that when I weigh up choices your wellbeing has no impact. Kon's wellbeing, on the other hand, matters to me intensely. And Match's.. somewhat. He's growing on me, and they both care about the Genomorphs. Plus, I gain pleasure from proving the League's hypocrisy."

"Hypocrisy? You believe that they are not honest in their beliefs?"

"You're still a slave, aren't you?" His head tilts down slightly. "They talk the good talk about justice and freedom and they were perfectly happy to leave you here." The left corner of my mouth turns up slightly. "You should have seen Wonder Woman's face when I drew her attention to the obvious contradiction."

"You were content to leave us here as well."

"I never claimed to care. Plus, I knew about this place. Left to your own devices I thought you'd manage to work something out eventually."

We walk in silence around a slight bend in the wall of the cavern. In the distance I can see the Genomorphs' first attempts at farming. Small artificial light sources on support poles shine down on the fields. Nothing like enough to feed them yet but they need to learn agricultural skills before trying anything that labour intensive. Away on our right G-Dwarves are going through the technical database I brought in, understanding its content and relaying it to their brethren via the G-Gnomes crouched on their heads. I had considered trying to set up an internet connection but I just couldn't work out how to make it undetectable enough.

"Still, the work you have done appeared to involve a great deal of effort on your part."

A few days' work, all told. And it turns out that I find building like this rather satisfying. Still, credit based economies are a bad idea. I wouldn't want to encourage bad habits. "And.. I'll.. expect you to pay me back at some point. You're in a weak position now, but you won't always be." I point at where some G-Trolls are working with G-Elves to expand the cavern. "You may want to be careful with that; the insulation I put in should prevent electromagnetic, ground penetrating radar or infrared detection, but seismographs will pick it up if you do too much heavy lifting."

"There is always one of us on look out in each part of Cadmus. We will shut down if such equipment is detected."

I nod. "What do you plan to do next?"

"Expand. Learn. We simply do not know enough to make long term plans at present. I had thought that Superbo-." I give him a look. "That Kon-El would make things easier for us when it came to interacting with Humans, but I see now that you are right; they will look at him and see his Human appearance and Kryptonian genetics before they see his Cadmus pod-grown history. That sort of idea is hard for us to understand. We are a telepathic species; we feel people's minds before we look at their shape."

"Don't feel too sure that's the cause. Martians are all telepathic and still have skin colour based discrimination."

"Do they have different physiotypes as we do? I would not assign a G-Troll to the same work as a G-Elf."

"No, other than colour they all exist within the same range of morphologies. And in any case, they are shapeshifters."

"A puzzling contradiction."

I nod, and take a last look around. "Well, not much more for me to do here. I think I'll take my leave. Feel free to send a message to Father Box if you want me for something."

"Thank you. I will."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th December
16:16 GMT -5

I raise an orange barrier as the Boom Tube opens, containing the sound and rush of air. With a last look up at where my three friends will be spending the rest of the afternoon I step through, back to the mountain's training room. The Genomorphs could be a useful asset. I need to make a fuller assessment of their telepathic-.

"Grayven! Hi!"

I start for a moment, mind trying to switch tracks. Hadn't realised she was going to be here. "Zatanna." I smile at her. "Good to see you. What brings you to the mountain?"

"Iiiii… I wanted to ask you something."

"Go.. right ahead?"

She shifts slightly where she stands, her eyes not settling on any one thing. "I've… My school's end of year dance is in a couple of weeks."

"Oh, right. Need me to help sneak you out to meet your boyfriend, do you?"

"Nooo…"

"Ah? Need me to keep an eye on him in case he gets too fresh and needs his legs breaking?"

"I don't.. actually have a boyfriend."

"Ah. Well, your father never struck me as the hard line conservative sort. I'm sure that he'd give a girlfriend-."

"No!" She finally manages to maintain eye contact. I'm really not sure where she's going with this. "No, I... I was wondering if you wanted to come. With me."

Oooooh. Whoops. Missed that one. I blink as I try and work out how best to put this. "Zatanna, I'm…"

"I mean, if you don't want to, that's fine." She manages a slight nervous laugh. "I just sort of… Is there something..?"

"No, I… I'm sorry, I don't. There's two… Two reasons. Firstly, I'm dating Artemis' sister."

Her eyes widen. "O-oh. You haven't.. mentioned her?"

"We've been seeing each other for three months. She's not a superhero and.. Artemis wants to maintain the separation between her private and professional lives… You know, secret identity…"

"Oh. Whaw. If I'd… I mean, I wouldn't have…"

"I know, I.. should probably have mentioned it, I just didn't realise..." I wave my right hand back and forth between us. "The other reason -and this is kind of a deal breaker- is that I'm fifteen years older than you." She boggles. "In a century or two that probably wouldn't matter, but at this point in your life-."

"You're twenty-nine?!"

"Thirty, actually."

"Okay." She blinks and then starts nodding, a slightly stunned expression on her face. "That's a good reason. That's a good reason."

"Bit of an amusing misunderstanding on Wonder Woman's part when she first met me. I'm sorry. I mean, I do like you, but-."

"Yeah. Yeah. Okay." She looks down, covering her face with her right hand. "I'm so embarrassed." She turns to walk away. "I think I'm.. just.. going to go home and try to pretend this never happened."

I take a step after her. "Zatanna, no, that wasn't-."

A distortion in the air and she's gone. Darn. I need to give her a little time then.. try mending some bridges there. I should probably have spotted that she was getting… Attached, like that. No wonder Mister Zatara was giving me the evils last time I gave Zatanna her check up.

Hope no one told her about Aichi.

"Hey Grayven. Where'd Zatanna go?"

I turn to see civilian-garb clad Artemis walk out of the passageway towards the kitchen. "Home."

"Oh." She looks slightly disgruntled. "We were gunna go hang at the mall after-." Resigned frown, such as one might give a incontinent puppy. "What did you do?"

I grimace slightly. "Did you know what she was going to ask?"

"No, she just said it was private. What was it?"

"She asked me to be her escort at her school's New Year dance."

"Ooh." She looks away and then quickly turns back. "Wait, aren't you, like, thirty or something?"

I nod. "Yesss. And it turns out she didn't know that. Or that I was dating Jade."

Artemis just stares, then her mouth starts to twist into a smile. "Pfmm. That's… That's not funny."

I know she just wants to laugh to diffuse social tension. "It's alright, it's just the two of us here. Get it out of your system."

"Hahahahe! Oh whaw."

"While we're on the subject of really uncomfortable and awkward things, I've got one for you."

"Sorry, but Jade and me don't really share that well! Haha!"

"I was referring to your mother." She stops laughing. "I've already talked about it with Jade, and I was wondering what sort of characteristics you looked for in a potential stepfather."

She gapes. "Y-! Y-! No."

"What?"

"You said all that stuff about marrying Jade!"

"Yes? Oh, not me, you silly-." I bite down on my instinctive response and Artemis calms down a little. "It's just that your mother is physically fit, and aside from a ten second conversation when she got home from prison she hasn't seen your father in seven years. She'd have a pretty good case for an abandonment divorce. And you and Jade hate him anyway."

She takes a deep breath, then nods. "Well… I don't… I wouldn't mind, exactly… Showing Dad he's got no place in any of our lives anymore would be good.. I guess…"

"So..?"

She gives her shoulders a small shrug. "I dunno. Why are you asking me? I don't think Mom's actually-."

"Yes, so we'll have to give her a nudge. That's why I wanted to talk to you about it first. I've checked out the legal side already; it isn't too complicated. Assuming he doesn't try and contest it, and that seems unlikely-" Heh. "-she could be a free woman in a couple of months. How would you feel about being Artemis Nguyen?"

"I think I'll keep the name. But, yeah, it's not a bad idea. I'll.. think about it." She frowns. "Wait. Have you already got someone you're thinking about?"

"Richard's father is single, they live in the same city and share hobbies-."

She goggles. "You're talking about Batman?!"

"He's a lovely chap, really."

"Yeah but… After you told us all who Robin was, I looked him up online. His Dad is-."

"Yes."

She looks around, checking for concealed observers. As if anyone ever gets to listen in on me when I don't want them to. "Bruce Wayne." I nod. "The billionaire."

I nod again. "And the last two people he's been in serious relationships with have been the League of Shadows' business manager and a cat burglar. I feel that a former supervillainess would be a big step forwards for him."