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

[Mr Zoat]

15th August 2000
18:36 GMT

I frown slightly as the excited-looking Bláthnaid stabs her wooden fork through her cod's batter and splits it open, a thin whiff of water vapour rising out.

"Are you sure.. this is alright?"

She looks around, taking in the sea, the wooden bench we're sitting at, the wood and wrought iron pier the fish and chip shop we ordered from is built into and, past it, the rest of the seafront.

"We're far enough away. And we don't get a lot a' fish in th' cavern."

I nod as I make vents in the batter around my huss. "Can you eat human food?"

"Just about everything we've tried. But we haven't had much variety recently." She spears a lump of fish and batter and brings it into her mouth. Then her eyes widen.

"Good? Very g-?"

"Hot!" She grabs her coke can and tries to twist the top off. "Too hot!"

Hands moving in a blur, I grab it from her and pull the ring pull. Carbonated sugar water bubbles out for a moment before she brings it to her mouth and takes a gulp. For a moment, she experiences relief.

"Pjcuh-cgh!"

Then the bubbles hit, and she cough-choke-sneezes!

"What the bluddy hell-" I pass her a tissue and she wipes her mouth and nose. "-was that?"

"Carbon dioxide dissolved in the drink. A lot of people enjoy the sensation."

She stares at me in incomprehension. "'re they daft?"

"You're not supposed to drink it quite that fast." I smile. "Or breathe it in."

"Oi'm not a plant. What do oi want wit' carbon dioxide?"

I reach over to my right, pick up my one pint milk bottle and hold it up. "I don't drink it. You're the one who wanted it."

She looks over to the other five drink cans I bought her. "'re they all loik this?"

"They're all carbonated, yes. Try drinking some when you're not burning your mouth."

She takes a moment to steady herself, then nods. "Alright, fine."

She takes a deep breathe, passes the damp tissue back to me, then cautiously raises the coke to her mouth before taking a extremely cautious sip. She looks a little awkward when the bubbles hit, but she doesn't seem to hate the experience.

"What's in it?"

I point to the can. "It's written on the back."

She turns it around and peers at it, frowning in concentration. "What's 'tartaric acid'?"

I shake my head. "I have no idea. I know it's safe for human consumption, if that's any help."

She takes another sip, and appears to decide that she doesn't hate it. "How'd it go wi' th' machine man?"

"I had to dress up in a suit made of shadoen flesh to attract its attention, then it turned out that the thing it was looking for was actually there. I could have done nothing and achieved more or less the same result. And then the military destroyed it, which is going to create a huge problem."

She frowns. "But you're no' keeping th' Alliance a secret."

"Yes, but whereas before the Alliance did whatever it wanted, now we've got to discuss how far our authority goes with every country on Earth. The British government decided to use military aircraft, and they didn't notify us before the strike happened. So now Director Logan has to sort out why they did it and who's pushing what agenda."

She shrugs. "Why's it mattur?"

"For you, it matters because at the moment the Alliance is responsible for liaising between human governments and nonhuman settlements. But there isn't really anything stopping a government from refusing to allow us to work in their territory, or the world's most powerful governments setting up their own agency and… Technically they can't force us to shut down, but they can refuse to acknowledge our credentials which would effectively do the same thing."

She stares at me in incomprehension. "What 're you talking about?"

"Ah…" What would be the equivalent..? "Imagine if the queens on the banshee homeworld found out that the vampires on Earth weren't really doing anything and ordered all the banshee on Earth to move to another planet."

Her eyes widen. "They can't do that!"

"You know them better than I do, but that's basically what's happening to the Alliance."

"Does that mattur t' th' banshee?"

"Not so long as you have a decent relationship with the Irish government. It's more a potential problem for species with conventional technology like the vampires."

"Oi don't much care what happens t' th' loiks o' them."

"If the major nations of the world start seizing examples of advanced technology and then fighting each other for more, it will start to become an issue. Vampires selling to everyone with the world unified against a potential shadoen return works out best because there's no competition." I sigh as I spear a sufficiently cooled chip. "I'm just glad that we could move the wrecks before the British government could seize them. If they even wanted to."

"Maybe they jus' wanted t' kill th' robots."

I shake my head. "They didn't check the situation on the ground. It's very bad practice to bomb a place without doing that."

She frowns. "Would that a' hurt you?"

"Unless it caught me completely by surprise, no. But they didn't know that."

She forks another piece of cod, and this time manages to eat it without burning herself. I eat a chip, taking a moment to consider… Her. Alright, I knew that banshees could function in society because that's what Senior Agent Blaze does every day. But it's a little odd to see one out here…

"I got the impression that you only agreed to this because I didn't back down."

"You're not bad comp'ny. And I would'nae have any idea where t'go."

"So is this going to become a regular thing, or were you just curious?"

She snorts. "Got competition, have oi?"

"I think one of the vampire agents was hitting on me." Her eyes widen. "Either that, or she was just hungry." Her face hardens. "I think she wants to increase her status by using me as a threat in being to other vampires."

"Don't you be spendin' time with the loiks a' her."

"I said 'no' to being fed on, thank you for your concern."

"Roit. I'm keepin' y', then."

I blink. "Um."

"Oi'm not lettin' m'-. You outta moi soit if'n some poisonous snake it jus' going t' snatch y' oop."

"I appreciate the thought, but she and I both work for the Alliance-."

"Foin!"

15th August 2000
14:06 GMT -7

"Here!"

Senior Agent Blaze looks up from her desk, frowning, as Bláthnaid slams her application paperwork down in front of her. She takes it from her, realises what it is and then turns to stare incredulously at me.

I smile politely. "Date went well, sir."

 

[Mr Zoat]

23rd July 2013
12:36 GMT

Donna looks the ship over, frowning at it. "Where did Vandal Savage even get a spaceship?"

"Opal City. A mad inventor-"

"There's a surprise."

"-built it in the nineteenth century, then various people upgraded it. Its main drive comes from Starman One, but it's also got a Mother Box so it can use boom tubes."

"So we can get home in a few minutes?"

"Yep." Hm. "I'd like to just give it to Arsenal, but we should.. probably check that no one owns it first."

"If Vandal Savage had it, and no one tried to claim it, do you really think that's likely?"

"If they were renting it to him, we might get a lead on him. And… There's a rather close similarity to the model of cosmic converter this ship uses as its main generator, and the model Stagg Enterprises is using for commercial power generation."

"Aren't they one of… Three..?" I nod. "Next generation power companies?"

"They are indeed. So at best they bought the rights to Starman One's work and finally commercially exploited it, and Savage got someone to build a generator to the same design… And at worst they're in cahoots."

"Are you surprised? Stagg wasn't exactly clean."

"Yes, but there's 'a bit shady' and then there's 'cooperates with the man behind mass child murder'."

"I guess you've got something to investigate, then."

"And we still don't know who's helping Batman. Did you see anything while you were up there?"

"Plenty, and Arisia recorded it. But… We couldn't see people who weren't there, and I don't have a Supertown census."

"Right." I sigh. "Well. Maybe Highfather will find them."

I glance over to where Roy is poking the corpse of the burrowing laser creature.

"Can you give us a minute?"

"Uh, sure? I can go talk to Doctor Knight." She smiles. "See if he's got any good stories about Diana."

I nod as she flies to the entrance, and then walk over to Roy.

"Is it dead?"

He gives it one last kick. "Yeah. It's dead."

"None of them had mind control powers. It was probably unique."

He nods. "Do we need to tell the Primitives that it's here?"

"No, I'm sure something will scavenge it before too long. And Sserpa saw it, so if they really need to know then he can tell them. It was when I met Mantis."

He looks at me, frowning slightly. "What was?"

"When I got infected. I took off my helmet so he could see my face and turned off my environmental shield so he could smell me. And if I hadn't done that and just worked around him he wouldn't be on Apokolips right now."

"And Sserpa and me would be dead because he's the one who picked up the ground shaking before that thing attacked."

"Did you see him go through the boom tube?"

He shakes his head. "No. I thought he was running after the guy in the forest. So that's something else I messed up."

"It was a reasonable decision."

"Not keeping track of Mantis?"

"Shooting the machine."

"It was keeping S'ivaa out of reality. If I hadn't shot it, we'd just have had to fight them and we'd have been done."

"Maybe."

"It-."

"Alright, probably. But there was no way to know that in advance, and it might have let them control what S'ivaa was doing. No one on Earth except Scott Free, Big Barda and.. Batman, understand New God technology well enough to spot what they do in advance, and usually blowing up a supervillain's equipment is a good idea."

"I-I guess… It's just-. I messed up the mission, then I had to just stand there while you and Highfather fixed it."

"I got turned into an octopus."

"And you still did more than me."

"Okay. So… Is that the issue? Because it's not like I knew what the machine did."

"It-. I guess-. They're both the issue."

"If you want more power and a priori knowledge of what things around you do, I suggest… Magic? You'd be starting a little late, but Hepheastaean could use a warrior. Or you can try using a power ring-."

"I don't-. I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Thanks."

"Huh-? No, I didn't mean it like that. I just don't know if I've got the right.. way of thinking to use it right."

"And Hepheastaean?"

"Maybe? It's-. I'll think about it."

"There may be other options. Because… It's always possible to get stronger, get more… Options, learn more… And still run into something you don't understand and can't beat. I'd have been just as stuck as you if Highfather hadn't turned up."

He snorts quietly. "I doubt it. But… Thanks for the pep talk."

"And even if I did do more, the mission's still a failure, so-."

He holds up his right hand. "Okay, you can stop."

I nod, smiling. "Alright, let's get out of here. And hope nothing's gone crazier on Earth while we were gone."

He nods, and we head towards the ship.

 

[Mr Zoat]

24th July 2013
09:44 GMT -5

Mr. Queen swivels on his heel with an arrow on his string pointing straight at me.

"Green Arrow. I apologise if I-." He lowers the arrow. "-caught you at a bad time."

"No, you're fine." He goes back to his vigil, overlooking Star City. "Thought you were Hal."

"Did you hear me?"

"No. Spotted your shadow. Lanterns glow, so it looks different to the other fliers." Finding nothing amiss in his city, he looks up at me. "So on a scale of zero to doomed..?"

"Oh, no. As far as I know, nothing special is going wrong in Star City. It's about Arsenal."

He snorts, smiling. "Hal never got me a spaceship."

"Um. If you want a spaceship, NEMO is capturing a lot of ships from deniable Reach assets that we don't need ourselves. I can probably get you one if you want it."

"Ah… Thanks, but I think I'll put off my midlife crisis for a few years." He frowns. "I thought Roy seemed kinda down for a guy who just got a new starship."

"It's not actually new. It had a recent refit, but the original hull is over a hundred years old."

"Ooh, one-" He nods. "-of those."

"Ah. The designer built it and then spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum. So I'm not sure if he was a classical modern mad scientist, or just an early rocketry pioneer."

"Alright. So what's Roy's problem?"

"I'll send you the full report and mission videos, but the short answer is that I got into a fight with an Old God and he couldn't contribute."

"Ah, no?" He frowns for a moment. "Wait, that's why he's bummed out?"

"He made what turned out to be a poor decision in combat, but it was perfectly justifiable. It just.. turned out to be incorrect."

He nods. "And then you had to deal with it while he just stood there. Yeah, that's a kick in the gut."

"So is it the sort of thing he'll just get over, or should I do something?"

"You told him it wasn't his fault, right?"

I nod. "Yes, of course. And I suggested several things he could do which might let him-" He winces. "-be less.. likely-. What?"

"Okay, look. If you said there were things he could do to get better, then he's probably beating himself up for not doing them already. And if the ideas come from you… Well…"

"I realise that a power ring's not for everyone."

"So let me guess… Super magical power armour?"

I nod. "That was one of my suggestions."

He holds up his right hand and beckons me down. I land just in front of him as he leans back against the railing around the edge of the roof.

"You remember the assessment you gave everyone on the League?"

"Yes, I don't think anyone will let me forget."

"I-." Something occurs to him. "Hey, have you done Mister Atom yet?"

"I.. tried, but it turns out that he's being maximally effective. And aside from one or two things which he struggles to understand due to being an A.I., there isn't much I can help him with because he's a lot more intelligent than me."

"Ah, shoot. Ah. Point is, I got kind hurt when I got a 'D'."

"That's not exactly what I was trying to communicate."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But then I got thinking about it, and I ended up saying to myself: Ollie, you're a guy with a bow. What did you think you were going to get?"

"Well, everyone can improve."

He smiles ruefully. "You're not exactly the best advert for self-improvement, Paul."

"I have become far more effective than I was when I started. I have fewer vulnerabilities."

"Do you have a..? Life, outside the job?"

"How do you mean?"

"When was the last time you went on holiday?"

"I went on a tour with Jade… Last year? I-. We kept tripping over work to do."

"Any friends who aren't part of the community?"

"… One? Karon's dating Catwoman's… Ward?"

"No one completely outside of it?"

"Does Bleez count?"

"No."

"Then… No. Ah… So… What you're saying is..?"

"I've got my city. Obviously I don't know everyone in it, but I know a lot of people. And everyone knows me. If something happens I know who to talk to, what to do… I guess I'm a fish in a pond that fits my size, you know?" I nod tentatively. "And I read what you put in that 'big League' outline. I think I could handle wrangling a team."

"You're literally the first League member to talk to me about that."

"But I don't think I could stand spending all my spare time chasing more power, and then… Dealing with the consequences, and then going from place to place without… Settling down or seeing a familiar face. I don't think I wanna do the things I'd have to do to become you. Or even Hal."

"Lantern Jordan isn't-."

"Him flying all over the Sector is why him and Carol broke up. You see a lot of Jade?"

"Not as much as I was. But I don't want to.. be too far away from Earth for that.. long."

"Right."

"I could probably… I mean, the Watchtower has a fracture pulse transmitter, so it should be alright… It's not like we don't speak…"

"I'm getting déjà vu here. Look, maybe… Send me your mission report and I'll have a talk to Roy about his professional goals. Maybe drag William into it. But-. I know your heart's in the right place, but I don't think you're the guy to help with this. Okay?"

"Okay. Ah, thank you. I'm… Going to go and visit Jade now."

He smiles. "You do that. See you around, Paul."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Cappare

25th July 2013
02:12 GMT

I take a moment to watch the workers employed by the reclamation part of… Well, it's technically part of the Darkstars, but is in effect a civilian agency under the control of the Controllers for building new worlds for refugees and rebuilding worlds recaptured from the Reach. That latter part has only really become one of its actual responsibilities recently with us actually reclaiming worlds, and it's required a massive increase in staffing. Fortunately, it's a good deal easier to convince people to join a civilian relief agency than an aggressive military.

And it's a good place to put Lanterns who are either verging on becoming stress casualties or are otherwise not good people to put in a combat zone. In theory, Lantern Coutara could take her place in the war zone. She's certainly demonstrated that she can kill when motivated. But when we tried having her spar with other Lanterns, she just… She can't muster the drive when there isn't an immediate and personal offence. But, she liked working to rebuild her home county after the purge, and when I made it clear that we had plenty of room for someone with desires like that, she was happy to join up.

And of course that puts Lantern Taranna and Lantern Yat under her supervision. Lantern Yat is far too young to be in combat without taking psychological damage. Lantern Taranna on the other hand has expressed an interest in moving to a combat role, which…

I understand where she's coming from, but her mother has been very clear that she's not happy about it, and… Taranna isn't a particularly violent person either. So Lantern Ratchet acknowledged her change in status and assigned her to picket duty on worlds that her mother and foster brother were working on.

"Illustres to Lantern Coutara."

The response is immediate, her face appearing over my ring. "Yes, Illustres?"

"No need to drop what you're doing, but when you have a moment I'm a few miles over the headquarters building."

She nods. "Of course. What is this about?"

"A possible new assignment. As I said, no hurry."

I end the communication. I-.

"Whow!" Lantern Yat flies closer, staring at me. "Illustres! How come you're here? Are we getting invaded?"

"Not as far as I know. And it would be a very sorry invader who tried taking us on, right?"

He nods. "And Taranna! She's really good at fighting too!"

I nod. "And Lantern Taranna. Speaking of who, shouldn't she be keeping an eye on you?"

"She is." He looks a little awkward. "But she can't spend all the time with me, and I've got stuff to do too!"

"I know, I get the reports."

He blinks in astonishment. "You read my reports?!"

"I read all the reports written by Lanterns I recruited."

Even if they're lacking in sentence structure, depth, and are in general about what I'd expect a child your age to write as a piece of 'what I did on my holiday' homework rather than a military after action report. The Corps is well past the point where I could read everyone's reports, but the handful of Lanterns I actually recruited don't eat up too much of my time.

"I wanted-. Ah."

I glance up as Lantern Taranna appears, eyes slightly wide.

"M-Illustres! What brings you here?"

"Ah, well, I'm here to offer the three of you a transfer."

"A.. transfer?"

I nod. "My homeworld suffered a rather unpleasant attack a little while ago, and I could use your help putting it back together. It's basically the same sort of work that you've been doing here, but my homeworld has an entirely accurate reputation for having all sorts of strange things happen on it and I know that you've wanted to get some combat experience. Most fighting that happens on Earth is well below the level that a Scarab Warrior can reach, but it will be practice against people actually trying to kill you."

"Your homeworld? Why didn't the whole Corps head over there? Or at least a few dozen Lanterns? I didn't even know you were under attack!"

"Memetic hazard. I couldn't risk the Corps getting infected with Anti-Life. And I didn't think it was worth pulling Lanterns away from the work we're doing here when my homeworld was pulling itself together without them. But we got rid of the memetic hazard -for now- and I checked the resettlement figures and… Well, you can be spared, if you're interested. I think I'd like to have a few more Orange Lanterns around."

"Will.. you.. be.. training us?"

"I can, and there are also other Lanterns or high-powered warriors who can help you upskill. Oh." I turn to Lantern-. I turn to Sodam. "As well as several kryptonians who can help you learn to use your natural abilities."

"Really!?"

"Really. Ak-Var has only started using them recently, so you'll have someone you can measure yourself against."

"Are there any kids my age?"

"On my entire planet? Yes. I-." Huh. Cassandra is almost… "Yes, one who has abilities like yours and is roughly your age. One I know, I mean, there are probably plenty of others."

He's practically vibrating with excitement. "That's great!"

Taranna looks at him sharply, and gives him a poke.

"What?"

"You were using too much. You know what happens."

He dips his head. "Sorry, Taranna. I'll be more careful."

"Good."

"Oh, and one other thing. Ah…" She looks at me curiously. "A friend of mine, a hero in good standing… Has expressed an interest in dating."

"Dating?"

"Courtship. I know that in your culture your betrothal would have been arranged by your father, and I don't know… What you were thinking about doing in regards to that."

"Are..?" She regards me cautiously. "You arranging one..? For me?"

"No! No. I'm arranging a meeting between two people who might get on and might not. Unless you're already seeing someone, in which case forget about it."

"Oh. No? I… Suppose I can meet him?"

"Glad to hear it. So, assuming that your mother-."

"No."

"No?"

"I'm not waiting on her approval. She won't give it anyway. Just tell her we're training and I'll meet him then."

"I-. Okay, I can do that. Assuming that no one invades, why don't you both-" I send them both the cultural and current affairs package. "-read up on that while I square things with her."

 

[Mr Zoat]

25th July 2013
07:43 GMT -5

"Mister Knight?"

Jack Knight makes a point of straightening up from the mid-run slump he was in, and trying not to look quite as knackered as I suspect he feels. Getting properly into shape in your forties while running a small business and raising two children is not easy, especially when his way of fighting crime doesn't actually involve much exercise.

"Paul, right?"

I nod as I land just in front of him, and hold out my right hand. After wiping his own on his sleeve he takes it.

"Thanks for finding Dad's ship. Arsenal came over after you came back from New Genesis."

"Ah, good. I was hoping you could fill me in on the ship's history."

He pulls out a water bottle and takes a swig. Then he squirts some over his face. It-.

"Allow me."

I extend my ring's environmental shield to him, bringing his temperature down and cleaning him up a bit.

He blinks at me incredulously. "Those things come with air-con?"

"They're designed to keep us alive in any environment, from a wasteland of frozen methane to a sun's corona. You thought they couldn't take a little sweat?"

He nods. "Should'a asked Dad to add that to the staff."

"You're getting back into it, then?"

"Well…" He pats his stomach. "I could use the exercise anyway. But with everything that happened… I think I kinda need to." He squints at me. "Okay, I gotta ask: do those guys with the Mohawks creep you out too?"

"Oh heck yes. And believe me, they don't-" I shake my head. "-get more reassuring when you learn more about them."

"Good. I was worried it was just me. So I guess my-" He shrugs. "-next question is: is the Justice League actually taking over the world, or are you just kinda bad at interviews?"

"I can't talk about the Justice League taking over the world."

He does a double take. "You seriously say that?"

I nod. "I seriously say that. On a completely unrelated matter, would you happen to know how Vandal Savage of all people got hold of your father's starship?"

"All Dad's-." He shakes his head, shrugging. "He was working on… You know, uses for his technology that didn't involve being a superhero. I wasn't much help with that side of things, so other than asking him how it was going every so often I didn't really have anything to do with it. After he died, it all went to the company he'd been talking to. And that's the last I heard of it."

"That would be… Stagg Enterprises?"

"No, it wasn't them. It-." He thinks for a moment. "I don't remember the name of the company. 'Applied…' 'Applied Futuristics…'? Something like that. First time I hear of 'Stagg Enterprises' was when they made the announcement. I'd pretty much given up on it. I was shocked when they finally brought out a power plant based on Dad's work. Happy, but…" He sighs. "I'm surprised it took so long. I don't know, I thought that scaling it up would be easier or that.. Dad would have focused on that."

"I'm pretty sure that they had it working for a while before they released it, and only released it when they did because I was going to destroy the energy market otherwise."

He considers that, then sags. "Yeah, that makes sense. But… Why? It's like inventing oil." He frowns at me. "Isn't it?"

"What do you know about the Dyson vacuum cleaner?"

"It's a whole lot easier to use than the old bag design."

"The inventor originally offered it to Hoover. They turned him down. After his company took off he met the executive who turned him down at a party and he said that if he'd known what was going to happen he'd have bought the rights and then sat on them."

"Huh?"

"They had the market working out exactly the way they liked it. Stopping someone disrupting that and forcing them to actually innovate would cost far less than actually making an effort. I imagine that if I looked into it I'd find that Stagg Enterprises were getting a payoff from… OPEC? The bastard children of Standard Oil?"

"Is that a..? Crime?"

"I'd have to check the contracts involved, but it's entirely conceivable that no crime was committed. I assume that the ship was included in your father's bequest?"

"I don't remember." He shrugs. "Probably. Is that a problem? Do you have to give it back?"

"We have some fairly expansive confiscation powers these days. Given that they didn't report it missing, I'm inclined to use them."

"You think they're working with Savage?"

"I doubt it's quite that direct. They'd be in a lot of trouble if that was the case. It would make far more sense for there to be enough cut outs that they could claim in court that they didn't know exactly who they were working with. Still, for something the size of a starship…"

"It can't just fall off the back of a truck."

"I would very much like to permanently deal with Vandal Savage. I just don't think it's worth wrecking a company like Stagg Enterprises right now to do it."

Mr. Knight looks less than impressed. "You wanna explain that one to me? 'cause I just found out that Vandal Savage got control of my Dad's life's work."

"Thanks to their involvement in the electrical supply sector, not only did Stagg Enterprises survive the Anti-Life fairly well, they've actually expanded. They've been taking shares in place of payment from companies that were barely functioning until they sorted themselves out."

"Is that legal?"

"Would it matter if it wasn't? They've kept quite large parts of America functioning. In a couple of years it hopefully won't matter, but at the moment the consequences of poking them would be rather severe."

He nods. "Unless the Justice League takes over the world."

"I can't talk about the Justice League taking over the world. Uh. But if a group were to take over the world, they'd still have to keep Stagg Enterprises operating, which would be difficult if the employees just walked away from their jobs or ignored that group's instructions. Brute force has some limits."

"What about Savage?"

"Compared to the collapse of the global economy and supply chains, one immortal caveman just isn't that big an issue. The Justice League has to focus on the things which are most important, otherwise people who have mostly gotten with the program but who have things to hide might go off-task. If we make it through to the next growing season without starving then we can revisit the issue. Of course, if someone else wanted to ask Stagg Enterprises a few friendly questions and happened to discover something interesting, that would be another matter."

He nods, stretching his calves. "Good thing I'm retired from heroing, huh? Otherwise that might have to be me."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
09:59 GMT -5

Lantern Coutara regards Hub City with mild curiosity. I suppose that she's seen a great many cities being rebuilt, but probably hasn't seen one with precisely these problems or this divergence of technologies.

"This is.. your city?"

"No."

She turns her head to look at me. "Then why are we here?"

"It's the city I'm rebuilding. I don't live here or own it."

"Does it have some spiritual significance?"

"In a sense, it's where the Anti-Life broadcast started. It was also in a pretty sorry state before that."

"Did you live here then?"

"Gosh no."

"Then I don't-" She shakes her head. "-understand why you're rebuilding this city. Or… Why you're taking so long about it. Your power is immense. This is something that I had thought you could do with a wave of your hand."

"Not quite that quickly, but-" I nod. "-within a few hours. Less if I had a clear plan to work from."

She goes back to examining the city, her eyes glowing as she scans it.

"I don't understand, Illustres."

"You don't understand… Why I don't do it all myself?" She nods. "Hm."

I stare blankly at the city myself. How to put it?

"I could fight the Reach on my own. I would have had to have started later, and assimilated millions of intelligent beings to use as construct lanterns before starting my attack, but I could do it. Goodness knows there are plenty of beings around the universe whom I wouldn't mind assimilating. Since I didn't know any of the people involved, I didn't have any particular attachment that would have made the delay unconscionable. But, I didn't. I built a Corps of living people, recruited Clarissi Dox to run things… In fact, despite the importance I place on the war I barely spend any time fighting it myself. Why do you think that is?"

"Illustres, I was there when the Clarissi complained that you were overshadowing him."

"Right, but I didn't tell him to just do better in future."

She nods thoughtfully. "No, you did not. Very well: why?"

"A number of factors, but primarily because the orange light is for everyone. Everyone wants things, and… Due to my enlightened state, I see those desires. I find their realisation beautiful. And fundamentally I don't think that I have unlimited license to override the desires of other people and force everyone to do things my way. Other people aren't my chattel, and I don't want them to be."

"So if people want to be free of the Reach, or to have a city, then they should either work for it or accept that they will not be free or have a city?"

"Yes. But it's also… What happens next?"

"The refugees will return to their home worlds."

"And the rest? What about the rest of Reach-controlled space?"

"The Controllers will resurrect the species that they can. Perhaps if Grayven of Apokolips will agree to a peace treaty he will take some of their core worlds."

"And then?"

"I do not know what you are trying to communicate."

"There's a quote from a famous book on Earth. 'That which is given has no value.' If I fought the Reach on my own and won, then a few worlds will be slightly grateful and most would ignore it. But if they're compelled by events to put effort in, then they'll care. Something like this is the sort of event that leaves a permanent mark on a civilisation. And not just the military alliance; consider how technology and raw materials are being traded within the alliance now."

"They will be bound together by blood. Are you..? Building an empire?"

"Depends what you mean by that. I have no desire to rule anyone, even as a figurehead. Nor do I have any idea to put Dox or anyone else in that position. I like to think that I'm building a federation of people who will be bound together by economic interests and shared experiences long after the war is over."

"Which requires them to all fight."

I nod. "And suffer and die." I bow my head and exhale through my nose. "Of course, one perfectly plausible result of me trying to do it all myself is that I'd die, lose control of the billions of construct lanterns and cause a galactic apocalypse. So it's not a purely philosophical and long term planning thing."

She nods slowly. "And you-. Apocalypse?"

"Yes."

"I have not taken a construct lantern, but is that possible? Would that happen?"

"It did happen. Look up the file on Abra Kadabra."

Her eyes glow for a moment, and then she frowns. "He travelled backwards in time. That is nonsense."

"Welcome to Earth."

"No-. But-. That is not-." She shakes her head. "I don't understand."

"The potential for time travel fits within the standard model of physics. And it's far easier in real physics. Something in the far future caused a tidal wave of orange constructs to consume a large part of the galaxy, then he travelled backwards in time to before it happened."

"But now it will not happen."

"It still might. You understand why I'm concerned about the possibility, because no one knows exactly what caused it."

"Is it inevitable, then?"

"No."

"But how did he see it if it is not inevitable?"

"The event did not accompany him back, just his own memories. Why should that compel our future actions?"

She appears to be struggling with the idea.

"Look, Lantern Coutara, you have to understand… This is Earth. It is a madhouse. And I don't just mean the people. All sorts of things that the rational mind says should be impossible happen here. Not all the time, but usually a few times a year. If something happens and you think it's impossible… Well, double check it, and then accept that your ideas about what's possible and impossible are just wrong."

"Yes, Illustres. Where will we be staying while we are here?"

"Unless you want to make your own arrangements, you can all stay with me. I've got plenty of room, and no neighbours to complain about the noise. Oh, and, ah… I wanted to introduce Taranna to a few people while she's here?"

"Ah." She nods. "I see."

"Okay, let's do a quick review and then I can introduce you to the people you'll be working with."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
10:12 GMT -5

I look around the factory, then frown curiously at Leonard. "I didn't think we were doing the factory next."

He shrugs. "Change of plan. Batman wanted to get started building at least some combine harvesters this year."

Coutara frowns, but I just shrug. "The scheme's the thing. If that's what he says will do most good, best get on with it."

"Heh." He smiles, shaking his head. "Still can't get used to it."

"Used to what?"

"Working with heroes. Any of the Rogues would throw a hissy fit at having someone mess with their plans like that."

"Even McCulloch? That sounds unprofessional."

"Oh, he'd keep it together in the middle of a fight, but the moment it was over… And his name's 'Evan'."

"Oh, har." I take a last look around the factory-. "No problem with staff?"

He shrugs. "Mayor sorted that out. I just built the place."

I nod. "Fair enough. Did Batman want you doing anything else, or are you back on the original plan?"

"We're behind schedule, obviously, but we're back on the original plan. Unless he changes it again."

"That's his job. People need to eat."

"Oh yeah, I saw your chocolate commercial. No dogs hurt, right?"

"Don't worry, they're trained to sit on command. Did you try them?"

"Yeah." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out… The American variety. He watches me, grinning, as he pulls the packet open and takes a bite. "Pretty good, actually."

"You're dead to me."

I look upwards and fly into the air, his laughter fading behind me.

A moment later Lantern Coutara catches up with me. "You didn't kill him."

"No, it was a joke. He delivers a small but surprisingly sophisticated insult, I feign overreacting…" She doesn't get it. "It might be a human thing. We're on good terms. Which is good because this project needs him."

"Why?"

"Controllers might be able to wave their hands and assemble starships by energy to matter conversion, but we humans can't. He's our leading expert on ultra-low temperature physics and the inventor of the thing that stops our nanoforges overheating."

"You have nanoforges?"

"Just a few. They're… Not precisely experimental but they are rare. So… Anyway, I was going to have you help Lantern Son of Great Mother with bringing farms into a functional state, but if we're already doing repairs and assemblies it would probably be better if you handled that."

"Who is 'Son of Great Mother? His name is strange."

"Ah…" Where is he..? Ah, there. "Follow me and I'll introduce you."

I don't transition. Lantern Coutara hasn't actually gotten the hang of that yet. For her usual job it isn't really required. Honestly, for her usual job being seen flying around may actually have a positive effect on morale that outweighs the inefficiency.

Lantern Son of Great Mother has long since finished preparing the farms in this state for rehabitation. He's not particularly fast, but he is focused and unceasing. Humanoid Lanterns can go without sleep for a few weeks if they used their rings to deal with the physiological affects of tiredness, but Great Mother servitors appear not to have sleep as something that they do. I wonder if they have a self-repair mode, or if they just get disposed of once they wear out?

Anyway, I've actually had him upgrading the local infrastructure. Not with jovium, alas, but American infrastructure's pretty old in a lot of places. Particularly the phone lines. I vaguely remember that there's been a de facto monopoly in a lot of rural areas which has lead to a failure to invest… Well, if we're trying to lure people to move from urban to rural areas then it will probably help if they can still use the internet without it feeling like it's the nineties.

He's flying along a minor road, the ground erupting in front of him and settling behind him. I've authorised the use of the best mundane human technology so that when the state… County? Government re-establishes itself they will actually be able to maintain it using mundane means.

And I can justify this because of the collapse of the relevant industries and government. And if I'm not being entirely consistent… Well, what's the line? 'I contain multitudes'.

Lantern Coutara appears a moment later, looking down at Lantern Son of Great Mother in confusion. "That is a Lantern?"

"Yes, and a jolly hard working one." I descend towards him, Lantern Coutara following just behind me. "Lantern Son of Great Mother, how goes the work?"

He doesn't stop, or look at me, or outwardly react to my presence. "It is mindless and repetitive. Some days it is as if I do not exist as a thinking being."

Lantern Coutara looks at me with concern. "Wait for it."

"So it proceeds very well. Earth is so much more decayed than Great Mother. I have calculated that a team of a thousand drones could engage in this work and never know a moment of peace as the infrastructure decayed behind them."

"Should I ask Great Mother to produce a thousand more drones for us?"

He doesn't stop, but there's a definite pause.

"…yes?"

"I imagine that she could do that fairly quickly."

"…yes. It would not be a large investment of resources."

"Would you like to have more of your brothers around?"

"It… Would increase the speed with which the task was performed."

"But how would you feel about it?"

He stops, and falls to the ground. Oh, that wasn't-.

He flashes orange and rises off the ground again, using his ring instead of his own flight ability. "I-. Would hate it. I desire that this task be mine alone. This is not right but I must not lie to you. Why am I malfunctioning?!"

"You're not. You're growing more in tune with your desires. That will make you a better Lantern." I float closer and lay my right hand on him in what I hope is a reassuring manner. "I assure you, there will always be work for you here. Good gods, will there always be work for you here."

He twitches, the orange glow dimming slightly. "Thank you, Illustres. Who is this?"

"This is Lantern Coutara. She will be handling goods transportation until the portals are complete."

"She will not be working on infrastructure?"

"No."

"Then I welcome her involvement. Now, I will return to work. I have many utility ducts to lay."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
08:13 GMT -7

"HAH!" Henry Hall points one arm -his right crab claw arm- at his brother. "You look like a furry who hasn't put his head piece on yet!"

Donald Hall sits on his hind legs and folds his forehooves across his chest. "And you look like a furry who had to mix and match his costume."

Hank clicks his claws together. "It's got no fur. Therefore, not a furry. G.E.D., dumbass!"

Donald looks like he's about to say something in return, but then thinks better of it. He gets back onto all four hooves and resumes his investigation of Discord's surprisingly normalish home.

I turn to Fluttershy. "And this place has postal deliveries?"

"Oh yes." She nods, smiling. "The Equestrian Postal Service is very hard-working."

I look out of the window at the P.G. version of the Warp that's swirling around out there, my eyes tracking the skateboarding banana that's peeling a walrus as it skates past.

Hm. Maybe I haven't cast the net wide enough looking for soldiers.

"Um, I didn't know that you knew any other draconequi." Fluttershy watches as Henry as he tries turning the settee over, only for it to rotate the entire floor panel and start spinning with him trapped in place. "I didn't even know there were any other draconequi."

"Henry is no more a draconequus than I am an alicorn. He's just sponsored by a Lord of Chaos, so when he comes through the mirror, that's now he ends up."

"Hey!" Henry shoots webbing out of his spinnerets, sticking the settee to the floor but also sticking himself to the settee. He struggles for a moment, then gives up and settles for turning his eyestalks in my direction. "It's Hawk, horse-face!"

I roll my eyes. "Thank you for your input, Hawk Horse-Face." And then deciding to take pity on him, I create a construct knife and cut him free.

"Uh, thanks." He clambers up, chicken leg and elephant leg not entirely under control yet. Most of the way up, something occurs to him. "Hey, pony-girl, that Discord guy's got tiny legs. How does he get around?"

"Oh, um. He mostly floats."

"Huh?"

Fluttershy nods. "He told me that he told gravity how he feels about laws, and it hasn't bothered him since."

"Huh." Henry blinks. "I.. guess that makes sense..?"

Donald looks up from Discord's dressing table, one of his hooves accidentally puncturing the surface and letting the air out. "That in fact does not make sense."

"No, no, it doesn't here. I always wondered why chaos magic just made me strong and not chaos-ey. So I can justwhow!"

And now he can fly float, marvellous.

I focus on the sensible half of the pair. "Any written records?"

"Getting to that." He picks up a small book from-

"Hfopuaberopitgslfyuhgaerujsdopuf-"

-the deflating dresser and opens it-

"-poigffhoayrejkhgsfpuhnkfdnposdrjllad-."

-before closing it again. Then he nods. "'What does the book say?'. I get it. The book can't stop talking because the words always say themselves."

Fluttershy trots towards Donald as Henry tries to control his floating. "Have you tried asking them nicely? I always find that.. usually works."

Donald hold the book out. "Okay, book? We're trying to find Discord so we can help him out with whatever he's going through."

Hawk Horse-Face looks around. "Or kick some sense into him." His eyes orientate on his own legs. "Can I kick with these?"

"So I'd really appreciate it if you could tell us anything about where he is." He cautiously lays his thumbs on the pages of the book before slowly opening it again. "Or what he's doing."

The book jerks out of his grip and just floats in the air. "Is Fluttershy there?" The sides of the pages open and close a little like a mouth. "I don't have any eyes on my cover."

Fluttershy nods. "Yes, I'm here."

"Great! Okay, Discord said that he was going to try completing Grayven's plan, but Discord also said that he was going to talk to the tree about it, and then he said, 'who are you, I don't have a diary'. Which was a bit hurtful, but I've survived worse."

"Um." Fluttershy tilts her head to the side. "Did he come back from doing Grayven's plan, or-?"

"No." I shake my head. "Discord split himself in a lot of ways, and at least three of them came back here."

"Oh." The book takes a moment to digest that. "That makes way more sense than Discord forgetting me. I mean, can you imagine? I'm his best friend!"

"Um."

"I bet he talks about me all the time, huh?"

"He never-. Ah." She turns and trots towards the boom tube aperture. "Thank you for your help, Mister Book, but we need to go and find Discord now!"

"Alright, you heard the lady!" Hawk Horse-Face sort of swims through space with an unsettling degree of ease. I'm impressed with how quickly he picked that up. Or perhaps its natural for his new shape? "Let's go!"

Donald give the book a quick smile- "Thank you." -and then briefly appears to consider giving his wings a flap before deciding that relying on his cloven hooves to convey him instead.

My plan and the tree. Not sure why those two came back here or what happens when we get them back together. Or if that's even desirable. But it would probably help Discord if he could talk things over with someone he trusts, and that's Fluttershy.

I walk through the boom tube and then shut it down.

"…tree he particularly likes?"

Fluttershy shakes her head at Donald. "No, I-I don't think so. I could ask the birds, if you think that would help?"

Perhaps we should just skip this part. "He's almost certainly gone to the Tree of Harmony."

Fluttershy looks as serious as she can. "Oh, I don't know if that's a good idea."

"It's not. On the other hand, if one Discord did it then the others probably wouldn't. Mother Box."

"Ping."

BOOM!

"Oof."

I turn my head to see that Hawk Horse-Face has fallen to the floor, while Donald is looking… Shiney? Makes sense I suppose. "Hawk Horse-Face, perhaps you should stay here."

"No way, dude. If Don's going, I'm going."

"No way boss, but, fine. Don't come crying to me if you're turned into a statue for a thousand years."

"I-." He frowns. "Wait, if I was a statue, how would I cry..?"

I stride through the boom tube and into the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
16:29 GMT

Up ahead of us, I can see Kara training with… Eradicator units? I suppose they're… Reasonable for training in high-intensity combat, and… Yes, a lot of my combat training was with other Lanterns in the Chihuahuan Desert, so I can't really… Criticise her for practicing against beings who match her abilities. I wonder where she got-

"Hey!"

Lantern Yat rockets away from me, fists balled.

-them..?

Next to me Taranna blinks, then scans the area and armours herself. Is it a real attack? I said that she should always have someone-. Yes, there's Ak-Var, and if he's not involving himself then it is a practice-

Lantern Yat strikes a distracted Eradicator unit at full speed in the small of the back, causing it to double over as its skeleton and servos snap! Having learned the basics of super strength combat Yat doesn't stop accelerating, driving the Eradicator forwards and into a ice ridge!

-session.

Kara just blinks in surprise, and only just manages to dodge out of the way as the second Eradicator takes a swing at her. She dodges around it, fires a blast of heat vision into its left armpit before grabbing the arm and yanking, tearing it right off. The disarmed Eradicator twists, eyes glowing-.

"Pause! Ak! Pause-."

The Eradicator dims its eyes, switching back to standby mode as Kara flies towards the plume of snow marking Lantern Yat's landing zone. He pulls himself out of the snow a moment later, flying directly upwards and watching the snow carefully for any sign that his target is still moving.

Kara floats around to get a clearer look at him, sees the orange glow clearly and looks around-. I wave, and she raises her hand in greeting back before returning her attention to the tiny daxamite Lantern.

"Um. Hey? Who're you?"

Sodam narrows his eyes towards his target for a moment before reassuring himself that it's inert. Then he turns to Kara with a broad smile on his face. "I'm krypon-ite!"

Kara blinks, checking to make sure that he's not a radioactive crystal. "You… Are..?"

"Udh-!" Sodam cringes as he realises what he just said. "No! I mean, I'm from Daxam, which means I'm-. I'm like a kryptonian?"

"Oh, you're Sodam Yat! Paul told me about you."

"He did?"

Taranna and I drift closer, Ak-Var rising up to meet us.

"Where did the Eradicators come from?"

"Kal-El let us make them after Har-Zod gave us the designs. Mostly so that Kara can get some idea of what kryptonians fighting is like before someone shoves her through a building… Though… I need to learn that, too."

Taranna frowns slightly. "Ak-Var, this is Lantern Taranna. She'll be joining us on Earth to help with the reconstruction."

"Oh." Ak-Var gives her a polite nod. "Ah, nice to meet you."

Taranna nods back. "You're the same species as Sodam?"

"Mostly. We don't have any current records on Daxam, but if the ones we do have-. I mean, the ones I got taught in school growing-. Growing up fifty years ago, they're basically the same apart from a few genetic tweaks people who stayed on Krypton never got."

I see Lantern Yat smile as Kara rubs his head.

Ak-Var watches them too. "I guess his culture's… Nothing like Krypton's, is it?"

"No, and he's too young to have internalised most of it. It's not going to be a point of familiarity."

He dips his head slightly. "I didn't really think it would be. It's just-. Kind of nice to see a mostly-kryptonian child."

Taranna drifts slightly closer. "Have you been on Earth for long?"

"About a third of a local year."

"Are you a superhero?"

"I… Not really? I've been helping with reconstruction, but I don't really… Have the drive that Kal-El has and Kara's… Discovered. I've been trying to work out what I'm going to do once Earth's back to normal again and so far I'm coming up blank."

"As long as it's not petty theft-"

"It was a prank! We were going to give it back!"

"-then I'm happy with whatever you choose. And if you like having kryptonian children around there's a grand total of two kryptonian females-"

About a mile away, Kara's head comes up from her conversation with Lantern Yat and she looks curiously in our direction.

"-whom you-."

Ak-Var looks mildly distraught. "Paul, super hearing!"

"What?" Kara gives-. Me a sidelong glance before using her heat vision to make a picture in the snow for Lantern Yat. "You two aren't dating?"

"We're friends. And even if we were dating, we wouldn't be talking about children yet. I'm not old enough to be a dad!"

Taranna frowns. "Your species lives so long that you don't consider yourself old enough when you're over fifty?"

"I spent most of that in-. In suspended animation. I'm actually… Nineteen, in Earth years?"

"Traditionally, people from my culture got married at nineteen. My father would have arranged a marriage for me after my coming of.. age.. ceremony."

"I had a betrothal which our families arranged, but we wouldn't actually have married until we were both in our twenties."

"You could always throw yourself on a grenade and marry Other Kara."

"I.. don't really know her. But given the way Kara talks about her, I don't think it would work. Kara's great and all, and maybe in a few years something might happen, but right now I'm not even thinking about it."

Taranna grins at me. "Thank you! He's perfect!"

Ak-Var stares like a rabbit in headlights. "Huh?"

"This is an excellent way to stop my mother bothering me about getting married!"

"He.. wasn't actually the person I had in mind. I just.. wanted to introduce Lantern Yat."

"Oh. But you said that the other person was interested in a betrothal."

"Ah-. No, I think this is a cultural thing. They're interested in getting to know you to see if that's something you eventually want to do. There's no commitment at this stage."

Ak-Var looks confused. "What do you want me to do?"

"Pretend to my mother we are considering a betrothal. As I said, it's normal in our culture but like you I'd.. rather leave it for a few years."

"Just pretend?"

"Yes."

"I can.. do that."

"Would you mind if I introduced you to Roy first? I-."

"Warning! Interdiction system activated!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
11:31 GMT -5

I catch sight of my reflection in the window, and…

Yeah, I can't pull this look off anymore.

And it's worse because of all the effort I put into getting back in shape. Pants, jacket, hell, even the t-shirt, all went on like it was yesterday I went out for the first time. Not being able to fit in any of it when the-. When the Anti-Life broadcast happened hit harder than I thought it would.

Heh. Midlife crisis, here I come.

So I'm glad it all fits. And Jayne doesn't really want me getting back into it full time, but we talked about it and she accepts that I kind of need to. Opal City needs a Starman, and after Kyle tried volunteering she couldn't say 'yes' fast enough.

But I look like I'm firmly in 'how do you do, fellow kids?' territory. Johnny Rotten showing up as a daytime T.V. host. I guess that's one advantage of having an actual costume rather than just wearing a signature outfit. Alan Scott's wearing the same stuff he did back in the thirties and it doesn't look weird, and he's the age Dad would be.

I could have done this with a phone call, but here I am, turning up in person, dressed like it's still the nineties and I'm still in my twenties. I tried telling myself that it's because this is a professional thing I'm going as Starman, but it's not.

It is cheaper than buying a convertible, though. Maybe I could try that line on Jayne?

The door to the waiting room the receptionist dumped me in opens and-.

Is that a caveman? Oh yeah, that was that thing… They managed to resurrect a frozen Neanderthal a few years ago. Didn't realise they gave him a job. He stares at me, and at the Cosmic Staff resting on the table. Then he sort of grunts at steps aside and-.

I just stare as Simon Stagg, C.E.O. of Stagg Enterprises, strolls into the room. One of the richest guys in America, up there with Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor. And I know this is important, but I can't help but wonder… Why the Hell is he bothering to come see me personally?

"Jack Knight!" He smiles, walking over to me and offering me his hand. "Good to meet you!"

I'm so off balance that I stand up and take his hand on autopilot. When someone like this smiles at you, that means that you're being taken for a ride. But he could expense me taking a round the world taxi ride without even noticing. It's not worth ripping me off because he's making more money while we're having this meeting than I have in total assets.

"Mister Stagg-. I didn't think you'd come yourself."

The caveman sticks close to the door, where he'd be just out of sight of anyone who burst into the room. Doesn't think I'm a threat.

Thanks.

"Heh. Given how much money your dad's going to be making me, a personal appearance is the least I can do." He pulls out the chair opposite and plants himself in it. "Ah, sit down, sit down."

Get it together, Jack. If he's not overawed by the fact that you're a superhero, you can deal with the fact that he's rich.

I sit down-.

"Is this it?" He's staring at the Staff in a hungry sort of way, and I get a momentary impulse to snatch it back. "The staff your dad used to fly around with?"

"Not this one. He used an older version, and so did my brother. This one, he made for me."

"You know how it works?"

"Kind of. I mostly just know how to repair it, but Dad left me the full instructions."

His eyes flick to me-. And then he sits back, not even glancing at the Staff. "You'll have to excuse me. I see a wonderful piece of technology like that, all I can think about is what we could do with it. But that's not why you're here. I guess it's about your Dad's research?"

"Yeah. I was wondering how Stagg Enterprises ended up with it all."

He nods, then shrugs. "Honestly, I'm not all that sure myself."

"Huh?"

"Look, Stagg Enterprises is a big company. We do acquisitions and mergers all the time. I have to sign off on the all as C.E.O. but mostly I'm just reading a report summary and trusting that my people have done due diligence. And the report didn't say 'super advance technology developed by Doctor Theodore Knight', it was more…" He shakes his head. "I'm wracking my brain here, but it was years ago and I don't remember it all that clearly. Something like 'exotic energy research and prototype designs'… As far as I remember we bought the holding company because it was cheap and some of their stuff might go somewhere. I only bothered reading up on the details when we were ready to go to market. I've got people looking though our records to find the original report, but between the Anti-Life, normal staff turnover and a system upgrade we did six years ago it might just have gotten completely lost."

"You don't remember anything about the company you bought sticking out at all?"

"Not after a decade. Ah, something made me sign off on acquiring it in the first place, but I couldn't tell you exactly what it was. Like I said, we're looking, especially with Batman telling us to get him the information. The last thing I want is an army of his Mohawk-wearing zombies messing with my company."

That all sounds reasonable. So it's probably a lie, but if Batman's leaning on him then there's not a whole lot more I can add.

"How come it took so long to turn the cosmic converter into a generator? It obviously-" I hold out my hand and the Cosmic Staff rises off the table and flies into my open palm. "-works. Heck, I thought Dad had an actual design in the files he handed over."

"Oh, he did. What do you know about electricity grids?"

This is what I get for dropping science after High School. "Not much. Power comes from power plants along cables to where it's needed."

"Most power comes from steam turbines. You get heat from something -gas, coal, oil, nuclear, it doesn't matter- and you use it to make steam. Heh, it's basically a God damned eighteenth century steam engine, turning a magnet to create magnetic flux. Kord got that right. Solar panels don't work like that, and it turns out that if you try using them over a large area you get a massive increase in grid instability from their higher output ripple. It's not a problem on a small scale with a pocket calculator or whatever, but you try plugging it into the same grid and you get all sorts of trouble."

"And the cosmic converter had the same problem?"

"It's why I was looking at your staff like that. We didn't get the flight system. If we did, we could have made the turbine fly around and generate power indirectly. As it was, we had to spend years working out how to avoid causing a grid collapse the moment we attached our generator to it. And let me tell you, America's power infrastructure isn't any great shakes anyway. Except in New York, thanks to that Orange Lantern guy."

"And it took you over a decade to fix the problem?"

"Eh, we weren't exactly prioritising it. Lots of inventors over-promise and under-deliver, and we have to prioritise things we know how to make work. You dad kept things close to his chest -for obvious reasons- so it wasn't like there was anyone we could call in to go over his records who could just understand them from the start. A whole team had to learn about cosmic energy from scratch using his records and go from there. If I'd known in advance it would definitely work I'd have put the money in right away, but I didn't, so… I didn't."

"I guess that makes sense."

And it probably does, but I'll get someone with a bit more know-how than me check.

"Yeah, I was kicking myself when we finally got it working. Stagg Enterprises could have had the entire electrical market to ourselves for five years easy if we'd gone all in from the start. But them's the breaks, and a third of the market's better than nothing. Hey, while you're here, do you want to have a look around one of our generator rooms, see what it looks like in practice?"

I… Yeah, I would, actually. Even if Dad didn't live to see it, I'd like to see his work get used for something safe and useful.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Don't sweat it." Stagg smiles. "It's the least I can do."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
16:36 GMT

I smile as Roy's spaceship pulls up alongside Lantern Taranna and I. Apparently we haven't interdicted whatever it uses for its non-boom tube FTL. Which is something that we're going to need to fix, but if it's a system that no one else uses that could have definite advantages. We could build an actual fleet while Earth was still protected.

My ring shimmers.

"Go ahead."

"This ship's sensors were built in the seventies. Can you see what it is? I mean, did they just get lost, or are they actually here for a fight?"

"Don't know. They're not transmitting, either an S.O.S. or a greeting. And they haven't responded to my attempts to communicate. I don't recognise the ship, which… Is odd, because I've got Green Lantern Corps and NEMO ship registries on my ring. It's armed, but the emplacements are too small for it to be a dedicated warship. And its shields are too weak."

"Pirates?"

"The only pirate group active in this Sector is the Black Circle. And I think what's left of them would have more sense than to come here. Besides, it's the wrong shape."

"What's that mean?"

"Pirates don't want to fight actual naval ships. They're in it to make money, not win fights. Destroying an enemy ship usually isn't profitable. So they usually focus on speed and stealth over toughness and endurance, because they want to get past patrols without being detected, hit their target, grab what they can and then get away before they can get caught. If they have a larger ship, it's either a cargo ship they bring in after their target is disabled or their base of operations."

"So it's not a military ship or a mothership. Is it damaged?"

"There's some wear and tear, but I can't see any battle damage."

"Who's inside?"

"Unsurprisingly, my scans are being disrupted."

"Really? That's pretty surprising to me. I thought power ring scans were about as good as it gets."

"Any malefactor above a certain level pretty much has to have a way to block Lantern scans. Or the Green Lantern Corps would step on them before they became a real problem. I could probably bypass it, but that's a fairly aggressive move for what could just be some lost explorers."

"No Anti-Life?"

"Not that I can feel, and that would extend outside of their ship."

"They're definitely headed for Earth?"

I generate a construct of their approach route. "They'll be here in a few weeks. And while they're not accelerating, they're not slowing down or turning around to get out of the area covered by the interdiction system."

"Alright, so are we going to go see them?"

"Not unless the United Nations appointed you Ambassador-at-Large. This requires-."

Warning! Will detected!

"-someone from-" I turn around and spot the approaching green light. "-the Justice League."

The green arrives, and-.

"Lantern Stewart?"

He's already studying a construct image of the approaching ship. "Problem?"

"I was assuming that Lantern Jordan would take this one."

"Used all his hours."

"Guy?"

"He's in Sector One Six Three Four, keeping an eye on your friend Malvolio."

…

"You not gunna ask about Savenlovich too?"

"No, no, you've got seniority."

"Nice of you to remember that." He glances at Lantern Taranna. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Lantern Taranna. She was one of my first recruits, actually. She's been working reconstruction and security. Taranna, this is Lantern Stewart."

"Hello."

He considers her for a moment. "What, you've never seen a Green Lantern before?"

She shakes her head. "No."

"Oh." He nods. "Right. We can't operate in Reach space-."

"I don't come from anywhere near there. Illustres, why is he taking the lead?"

"Green Lanterns are better known across most of this galaxy, and he's a member of the Justice League."

He snorts. "That all I get?"

"He also has a couple of years more experience than me, though I think I have him beaten in terms of variety of experience." I shrug. "They won't answer me, but perhaps they'll be prepared to talk to a Green Lantern."

Lantern Stewart nods. "I hope." He raises his right fist. "This is the Green Lantern of Sector Two Eight One Four to unidentified vessel. This system is not open to visitors. Identify yourselves."

Taranna looks puzzled. I raise my eyebrows. "Problem?"

"We're being a lot more passive than Lanterns are in NEMO space. If a ship like that appeared near one of the reconstruction worlds, we would have ripped its thrusters off if it failed to respond."

"Well, the difference is that NEMO space borders a war zone, where as this is a peaceful Sector. The risk is lower, so it's worth being a bit more generous when it comes to responding to the unknown."

"If you fail to respond, your vessel will be boarded and impounded, and your crew may face criminal charges."

A moment passes, and then his construct shifts into the shape of a woman's face. Humanoid, as far as I can see, but I don't recognise her.

"Green Lantern." She sounds like she is only reluctantly talking to him, but that's more than I managed. "You are a police officer for this world?"

"For this region of space. And unless you've got a very good reason to be here, I'm going to need you to turn your ship around."

"Yes. I do. My name is Cara Yat. My son has been kidnapped, and I have reason to believe that he is being held here. I want him returned, at once."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
09:36 GMT -7

I spot Discord immediately, huddling as he is up against the cavern wall. He's about a third of his 'complete' size, and looks decidedly nervous to see me.

"Oh, it's… You."

Hm. The Castle is fully functional, but it's more inhabited by historians and cleaning staff than it is actual residents. This part is sealed off by locks both conventional and arcane, and it's not… Immediately apparent how he got in here.

I take a moment to consider the giant locus of friendly and harmonious magic on the other side of the cave. Yep, there's the Elements of Harmony. Shame I don't still have Anti-Life in-.

I snort quietly to myself.

No it isn't.

"Oh dear!" Fluttershy flies out of the boom tube and straight over to him, frantically looking him over for any injuries. "Are you okay?"

"I'm within licking distance of the greatest focus of… Ugh." He shudders. "Harmony, in Equestria. I-."

Hawk Horse-Face trundles through the portal, eyes locking onto Discord. "Hey, we found him! Thought you were b-"

The tree glows, then a rainbow beam blasts towards Henry! I-.

Donald's already there, lunging forwards and blocking it with his body! Henry's eyes widen as Donald staggers, and… Checks himself to make sure that he's really fine.

I think the Tree is glowering at him.

"-igger. Don, you okay!?"

"Yeah." Donald prances for a moment to make sure that everything's working. "How the heck did you piss off a tree?"

Discord's eyes leap out of his head, landing on Hawk Horse-Face's head and grabbing his eye stalks for stability as they stare at him. "Do my eyes-"

"Hey!"

"-deceive me? Another draconequus?"

"Nah, I just-. Get these things off me!" Hawk Horse-Face tries to grab the eyes with his claw arm, but they vanish and reappear on Discord's face before he can grasp them. "I came through the magic mirror and it turned me into this. Kinda like it, wouldn't wanna get stuck like it."

"Ah."

"What, you never seen another dragon-horse before?"

"Actually… No. Not one that wasn't part of some sort of weird crossover event." Having assured herself that he's more or less alright, Fluttershy gives him a nuzzle. Discord responds by awkwardly pattering her on the head. "So… What brings you here?"

Fluttershy adopts an oddly awkward upright aerial stance, putting her forehooves on her hips. "We were worried about you! You disappeared right after Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle got their cutie marks and didn't tell anyone where you were going."

"In point of fact-" I point to Fluttershy with my right forehoof. "-she was worried about you. With me it's more a vague sense of responsibility rather than any deep concern."

"Yes, I have been wondering." He peers at me suspiciously. "You clearly don't like me-"

Fluttershy frowns at me. "Don't say that."

I shrug. "He's right."

"-and yet you gave me that idea. Why?"

Fluttershy turns and gives me the cutest glare. "Did you tell him to do this to himself?"

"No. I just pointed out that just as you've all been sharing the magic of friendship, so he could share the magic of chaos."

"Um." Fluttershy looks uncertain. "The magic of chaos?"

Hawk Horse-Face throws up his arms. "Whooo!"

"See, I don't really mind Discord per se. I certainly don't mind chaos magic. What I mind is the combination of short sightedness and extreme raw power that appears to be the signature of Lords of Chaos. So I suggested a course of action that would both further his goals and weaken him to the point that I wouldn't feel like giving him the Klarion treatment. It would resolve the root of our conflict."

Discord looks mildly hurt. "I thought you were being helpful."

"I was. That's the beauty of it. You get something that actually changes things, and I get to stop worrying about you being on the same planet as Luna. Except that it doesn't seem to be working on your end. What's going on?"

"I was… Of two minds. I mean, chaos everywhere sounded good, but maybe it sounded too good."

"Um." Fluttershy sounds uncertain. "Everywhere?"

"Just a little bit. Like spreading toast evenly on butter. You probably wouldn't even notice most of the time, and even ponies find a little chaos fun."

"I… Suppose that's true. But what happened to you?"

"I was of two minds… Literally." I raise my left eyebrow. "Alright, more than two. I'm not used to being uncertain about things. So I made each viewpoint it's own thing and decided to fight it out."

"Discord, that's not a good way of resolving your problems. You could have come to talk to me about it."

"Some of me did. Or tried to. They got ambushed." He takes a deep breath, shuddering. "I wasn't joking about the 'fight it out' thing."

I frown. "How does that work?"

"You know how salamanders can make their tails fall off if it gets grabbed by a predator?"

"Yes?"

"Sort of the opposite of that." He looks around nervously. "Hopefully none of the others will come here."

Donald takes a few steps closer, careful to keep himself between the Tree and his brother. "So what did you decide?"

"I thought the Tree might have something useful to say."

Donald examines the tree quizzically for a moment. "How?"

"Pathetic fallacy."

Hawk Horse-Face frowns. "Hey! It's not that small! And you don't even have one."

Fluttershy blushes as Donald winces. "Hank, stop talking. Discord, you were saying?"

"Talking to things isn't usually that hard. And why shouldn't they talk back? But it doesn't like me."

Hm. "Why do you think it would have anything useful to say?"

"It gave up the Elements of Harmony. That's what made it weak enough for the Pundervines to work. I thought it might have some perspective on the whole thing. But-" He sticks his right foot into the cavern proper, and immediately a beam of rainbow light blasts towards it. He jumps up, letting the blast hit the ground beneath him. "-it doesn't feel like talking."

Donald looks thoughtful. "I can block those. Do you just need to get closer?"

"I mean, it can't hurt. No, wait it can, but I don't have any better ideas." He jumps onto Donald's back, and ducks down behind his head. "Giddy up, noble steed!"

Donald takes a rainbow bolt to the face, Hawk Horse-Face grinning at his misfortune.

"Taste the rainbow, bro!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
09:41 GMT -7

Discord ducks again as another rainbow bolt hits Donald in the face.

Hawk Horse-Face lost the ability to hold in his guffaws two bolts ago.

Donald sighs. "I guess we can safely conclude that it's not intelligent."

I shake my head. "The fact that it's not rational doesn't mean that no thinking is taking place. The more different a species' nature, the more different its thought processes are going to be."

Fluttershy looks sheepish as she walks alongside him entirely unmolested. "I'm so sorry, Mister Dove. I just don't know what's gotten into it."

"What exactly happens if it hits Discord?"

"Um." Fluttershy considers the Tree as she tries to work it out. "Well, the Elements turned him into a stone statue twice. But they also freed him when we asked them to. The only thing they got rid of on their own was the Plundervines, and that was when we put them back. Mister Grayven, do you think it doesn't like your plan?"

I step pointedly over the line into the cavern. And it doesn't try to shoot me. "It has no ears and no magic systems have shifted yet. I don't think it's got any way to know what my plans are."

"Um. I suppose. But… Could it be responding to Discord? I mean, that there's something different about him?"

"That sounds plausible." Donald stops close enough to the Tree to have a conversation, but far enough away that Donald can face tank incoming rainbows. "Alright, Discord. We're here."

"Right." He cautiously peeks out from behind Donald's head. "Hello, old foe."

The Tree starts glowing faintly, but doesn't shoot yet.

"So I was wondering… How it felt. Giving up the Elements. How it worked with you being harmonious. Because I was sort of thinking of doing something similar, and with the Elements and the boxed rainbow it seems to me that you're the expert."

Hawk Horse-Face leans towards me. "Is this, like, the ponies' god?"

"No. It's.. a.. manifestation of what they consider to be the highest virtues. Imagine if you could go somewhere and talk to industry or prudence, and get superpowers if you lived those virtues."

"Doesn't industry make a load of pollution?"

"No, not 'industry' in the sense of manufacturing or a chemical refinery. 'Industry' in the sense of hard work. Being industrious."

"Oh. Huh."

Discord dares to lean out a little further. "It's just that if you don't say anything then I have to work it out for myself, and I doubt that you'd like that much."

I shake my head. "What are the alternatives, exactly?"

He turns his head around to face me. "Well, I either do what you say, or I just go back to doing what I was doing; hanging around and spreading a little chaos wherever I go."

"And what else?"

"Huh?"

"There are far more than two options in any situation. What other alternatives have you considered?"

"Well, I… I did sort of consider making 'Elements of Chaos' or something like that, but then I'm just repeating what someone else has already done and I couldn't think of good names. And would they be upbeat affirmations of change and growth, or something playing into my antagonistic origin?"

Fluttershy awkwardly raises her right forehoof. "Um. I prefer the first one, if that's okay with you."

"Dear Fluttershy, if I knew what was 'okay' with me then I wouldn't be in this situation with this-" He turns back towards the Tree. "-unhelpful, uncommunicative lump of crystal."

Fluttershy visible girds her loins and flies closer to the Tree. "Hello Mister Tree. I know we haven't spoken much, but Discord's having a really hard time deciding and he's made put a lot of effort into becoming a better person. It would really help him if you shared your opinion."

The tree shoots Donald in the head with a rainbow again.

Discord snorts as Donald blinks to clear his eyes. "At least it's consistent. Alright, we can-."

Donald's head turns slowly around, and his eyes are rainbows.

Ah.

"Paragon of Kindness. What is your question?"

The voice is a little distorted, not surprisingly as if the speaker isn't entirely familiar with the lamassu vocal system.

Henry leans closer to me. "You sure that's not a god?"

"As of five seconds ago, no."

Fluttershy looks from the Tree to Donald uncertainly. "Ah, Discord wants to know what he should do."

"I released him because you asked. I imprisoned him twice because his nature is antithetical to my own. I could destroy him utterly as he is now."

"That's not very kind."

"I am not kind. I shield and empower kindness. I stay my hand save where the unified paragons ask it."

"Okay, but-. Um." She glances at Discord and then tried to work out how to phrase his question. Or perhaps, how to get a helpful answer regardless of his ill-considered question. "Would you prefer to be the one making that decision?"

"No."

"And… Why is that? If you don't mind me asking."

"I am not a living creature. I cannot experience life as you do. Requiring six living creatures in harmony with one another and embodying the virtues to work together to unleash my power is a reasonable safeguard."

"But what about the Plundervines? They could have destroyed you."

"That has no significance."

"Ah." I nod to myself. "A synthetic god with poor prioritisation. I shouldn't be surprised given that it arose from the souls of ponies."

"So what do you think Discord should do? If.. you assume that he's in the same position as you."

"Discord can become more like living creatures than I can. If you can live as they live you can understand them better than I can."

Discord looks uneasy. "Most living creatures can't just click their claws and do anything they like. But I don't know if I really want to limit myself like that."

"What is best for your friends?"

Discord's face creases up. "Using the plural might be a little optimistic. But I suppose that it impacts her too. Fluttershy, what do you think I should do?"

"Oh! Oh, um. I thought you were happy how you were."

"Yes, but I'd never have become like that if you hadn't convinced me. So anything else you convince me to do might be just as good an idea that would have never occurred to me."

Fluttershy gives the matter some thought. "Well… When Twilight came to Ponyville, my only pony friend was Rainbow Dash. And… Then Nightmare Moon came back, and I had to make friends and do.. scary things.. to stop her. But afterwards, I had four new friends. So… I think maybe sharing with more ponies is better?"

"Hmmmmm…"

I hear him click his fingers-. No, wait, that wasn't-.

"Ahah!" Another Discord lunges across the cavern floor and grabs our Discord's tail. "Got your tail!"

"Rats."

Our Discord has a moment to look irritated, then-. His upper body gets sucked.. in on itself, until only the tail is visible. New Discord promptly sticks it on next to his own.

"Better. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got more tails to grab!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
16:49 GMT

"Paul…" Superman looks decidedly disappointed. "Child kidnapping?"

I nod. "Effectively, yes."

He dips his head, sighs, then looks down the Watchtower table to Diana.

"We'd like an explanation, Paul."

I shrug. "It was when I was first looking for recruits for the Orange Lantern Corps. I stepped out, looked for strong pro-social desires, and then returned to reality. I'd talk to the person whose desires I saw, do a basic assessment, and then recruit them."

"And what did Lantern Yat desire?"

"To travel into space, meet new people and civilisations. To boldly go-"

Superman winces very slightly.

"-where no Daxamite has gone since they settled Daxam. I offered him and the non-Daxamite pilot he was with a ring each. The pilot opted to be returned to his homeworld instead, but Sodam Yat accepted." I shrug. "He has an orange power ring, you know? With faster than light travel capacities and stellar navigation? If he hasn't wanted to go home for a year and a half, I think that gives you some idea what his home life was like. Did I mention that my arrival prevented his father killing the alien pilot he befriended?"

Diana's face hardens. "Do you believe that his father intended to seriously harm him?"

"'Seriously harm?" I shake my head. "I didn't see that desire in him, though I didn't look too closely after he said that he'd gladly kill any surviving kryptonians he encountered due to the difference in their religious beliefs."

Superman closes his eyes, allowing his sadness to show. I understand where he's coming from; in a sense, Daxam is the closest thing to Krypton left. And then he hears that they said something like that…

"I've joked about them being kryptonian-Amish, but as far as I know the Amish don't surround their farms with unmarked minefields and shoot any non-Amish they see. And while I'm not aware of Diro Yat intending to murder his own son, I don't know what normal child discipline looks like on Daxam. Particularly as it relates to contact with aliens, which is a religious taboo for them."

Diana looks at me pointedly. "You helped him leave because you believed that his father meant him harm?"

"No. I did it as an act of devotion. His desires demanded it, and I am the Ophidian's agent."

Superman seems astonished for a moment, then shakes his head. "At least tell me you haven't been using him as a child soldier."

"Of course not. He's been working in support roles a long way from the front line, when he hasn't been going to school or exploring the safer parts of NEMO space under his own power. Lantern Coutara is his primary caregiver. And do I need to point out that he's older than Robin was when he started?"

Diana leans forwards slightly. "Do you understand the problem, Paul? You took this boy from his home."

"Legally or morally?"

"Both."

Hm.

"I violated Daxam law by going to Daxam as an alien in the first place. Naturally, I fought my way free rather than surrendering to local law enforcement for execution. That's another crime, but since the sentence for intruding is death anyway I doubt that matters. That said, I'm an agent of Maltus, and the maltusians generally consider their law to be the basic law of the universe, so an argument could be made that that supersedes Daxam law. I suspect that I violated Daxam law by removing a daxamite from Daxam, but I can't say that I checked. While I could make an argument that Diro Yat demonstrated that he was an unfit parent by trying to kill a shipwrecked pilot right in front of his son, I don't believe that I had the evidence to conclude that conclusively. I could have tried to make contact later, except that would have involved violating daxamite territory again. And they threatened me with ancient but highly effective weapon systems when I tried to have a civil conversation, suggesting that negotiation was a non-starter."

"Morally, Daxam sucks. Daxamite society sucks. Did you read my report on New Genesis?"

Diana nods immediately, Superman following suit a moment later. I'm glad that they kept that promise.

"If a people want to keep themselves to themselves, that's fine. Murdering people who get shipwrecked isn't. And I would strongly suggest making a home visit before you reach any firm conclusion about Lantern Yat's likely treatment on Daxam. He wanted to leave strongly enough that out of all the desires in the galaxy, I heard his. That doesn't suggest to me someone with a happy home life."

"Did you speak to his mother at all?"

"No. And neither has he for a year and a half."

I sit back in my seat.

"To be clear, under Maltus law Lantern Coutara's adoption is perfectly legal unless Lantern Yat expresses a preference to the contrary."

Superman clenches his right hand. "Earth-law's not quite that simple."

"I.. also didn't apply for a visa for them when I brought them to Earth. How selective are we-?"

He glares at me. "Child-kidnapping is not the same as ignoring immigration law for relief workers."

"So is the problem that he never filled in the paperwork to get emancipated? Because under Maltusian law, that concept doesn't really mean anything, and if it did, I could authorise it on my own recognisance."

I hold up my right hand and fabricate a sheet of paper.

"What form of words would you prefer? I can get him to sign it in a few minutes."

Superman glances at the sheet, then turns his head back to me. "Have you told him that his mother's here?"

"Please tell me that you haven't let them come further into the system?" He looks mulish, and I slap the paper down on the table between us. "Kal-El, they're physically kryptonian-equivalent, without the kryptonite weakness, and they're highly xenophobic. One could level a city and kill most of its population before anyone could respond. How many are on the ship?"

"John says it's a crew of seven."

"Has he checked the entire system? And how did they know that Lantern Yat was even here? We're not exactly close to Daxam."

"John can ask that, but she's mostly concerned with what happened when her son vanished."

"Maybe she should ask her husband." This isn't-. This isn't helping. "Alright, look. I'll go and speak to Lantern Yat and Lantern Coutara and see if they're willing to speak to her. But if you're serious about this, you need to go to Daxam, and get an accurate idea what it's like. I recommend taking Martian Manhunter."

"To read their minds.

"Yes. Because if they're willing to talk to you, I don't believe for a moment that they're going to tell the truth." I stand, then head for the zeta tube. "Excuse me."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
09:50 GMT -7

Twilight stares at Henry in rapt fascination. "I've never seen another draconequus before."

Henry tries to shrug, but it comes out more like an undulation. "Ah, I'm not really a dragon-horse thing. I only look like this 'cause of all the chaos magic I was carrying when I came through the mirror."

"Huh. I suppose that makes sense. Are you a chaos wizard?" She frowns. "How does that even work?"

"Ah… No. I mean, I work for a really powerful chaos wizard, but I can't do magic myself. I-."

Twilight flaps up and vectors around him, looking him over closely. "Obviously you use different components to Discord… I wonder if there's some significance to the animals involved, or if it's just pure chance." She rests her right forehoof against her chin. "Perhaps we could test it by having you travel through the Mirror and seeing if it's different each time."

Henry leans closer, ommatophores flexing as uses them to… 'Examine' her body. "Y'know, you're pretty cute for a pony."

Twilight smiles. "Thank you! You're pretty-." And suddenly honesty gets the better of her. "Ah." She does a quick review of his physiology and her internal thesaurus. "Pretty multifaceted for a draconequus!"

Henry leans towards his brother, reversing his eyestalks. "Hear that? She thinks I'm multifaceted!"

Donald looks mildly concerned. "You..? Do actually know what that word means, right?"

"Sure." He shrugs. "I'm used to girls getting nervous and talking nonsense around me." Twilight looks slightly puzzled. "I think I'd have noticed if I was part crystal. Anyway." He flicks his eyestalks back. "Wanna make a date of it?"

Twilight nods absent-mindedly. "Sure, I'll check my diary once we've finished checking up on Discord. Um. Why are we checking up on Discord?"

I shrug. "I felt a bit bad about leaving him in a mess like that." Twilight narrows her eyes at me slightly, absentmindedly rubbing the location on her back where the dart gun shot her. "But really, if Discord wants to make decisions by battle royale instead of rational thought, that's up to him."

"Um." Fluttershy trots down from the upper level of her home, Angel on her back. For some reason he's wearing an eye patch over his left eye. "We could just let him work through it himself, but, um… That might not be a good idea."

Twilight flies closer and lands just in front of her. "Why's that, Fluttershy?"

"Well… Um. Each Discord has a different idea about what to do. And…"

"Oh, I'll tell her."

We all stare at Angel, who rolls his visible eye and then flips up his patch. His eye-. There's a Discord in there… Somehow. A small one. Angel brings up his back left leg and smacks the back of his own head a couple of times, causing Discord to fall out. He picks himself off the floor and dusts himself off, glaring up at Angel.

"That was unnecessary."

Twilight leans down to peer at mini-Discord, and Henry leans down along with her... Putting his non-claw hand on her back. She doesn't appear to notice.

"Does the size correlate to anything?"

"It's sort of to do with how much we liked the idea each of us represents. I'm 'forget about the whole thing and move in with Fluttershy'."

Fluttershy looks away awkwardly. I had wondered.

"The problem is that one of us is a bit of a backslider."

"As in..?"

"Ah… Unreformed. And I can't tell for certain, but I think he's pulling ahead."

I grin. "Neat! Once he wins I can finally stab him to death!"

Twilight jerks her head around to glare at me. "Grayven!"

I shrug defensively. "You don't have to watch!"

She continues glaring at me for a moment, realises that I don't care in the slightest, and turns back to Discord. "I thought you were happy being reformed."

"It wasn't a big part of me. But it's a vicious part, and vicious is the order of the day."

I nod. "No problem. Well, I'll wait here for when he comes for you."

Fluttershy regards me with… Distaste and mild astonishment. "Grayven, how can you say that?"

"Really easily? I mean, it's kind of a disappointment, but a failure is still an outcome."

"Actually, it's worse." Donald frowns thoughtfully. "It's one Chaos Lord at a time, right?"

I nod. "Yes?"

"So if you kill Discord, then another one turns up in your girlfriend's country. And don't just say 'I'll kill them too'-"

"Which I will."

"-because they'll probably be a lot meaner than Discord was and you can't guarantee that you'll be here. Heck, you can't even guarantee that you'll be strong enough. You nearly died fighting Mordru."

"I was the designated distraction in that fight." He regards me sceptically. "I went in knowing that he was immortal."

"Do you know that the next Lord of Chaos won't be?"

"… No…" I exhale heavily. "Fine, fine, we keep Discord. Where's the Discord who decided that I obviously know what I'm talking about and should be obeyed uncritically?"

"Um." Discord looks a little awkward. "There was one, but he started digging towards the centre of the planet right away, and… His tail was just sort of hanging out there…"

I wrinkle my snout. "Philosophical Discord?"

"He didn't think for a moment and stopped existing."

"Thaumaturgical chaos scientist Discord?"

"Pulled off his own tail to see what would happen."

I turn to Fluttershy. "Sounds like this is who we've got. How do you feel about being responsible for the harmonic-chaotic balance of the entire planet."

Fluttershy ducks her head under her mane. "Well… I.. think I… I am… Anyway?"

Twilight nods. "I didn't think Discord would ever reform, and while it… Hasn't been entirely plain sailing, he's made more progress than I'd thought possible."

Tiny Discord perks up. "You really mean it? I just thought you were being polite because you didn't want to hurt Fluttershy's feelings."

"Well-. Ah…" Twilight looks awkward, then smiles unconvincingly. "It was… Partly that. But I have noticed that you've changed. I barely even considered telling Grayven to go ahead with his plan."

Fluttershy tilts her head so that her mane flops partially off her face. "You really mean it?"

Twilight nods. "I really mean it."

"Okay. Um. Mister Grayven? Do you have a plan?"

"That depends. Hawk Horse-Face, do you think you can stop fondling Twilight's pectoralis for long enough to learn shapeshifting?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
20:05 GMT +3

Lantern Coutara nods slowly, leaning on the balcony railing of the balcony facing Kara 2's crystal palace. "He does not speak of his parents often. Is this inconveniencing you greatly?"

"Greatly? No. The nice thing about working with genuinely good people-" Who've been slapped upside the head a time or two. "-is that once they've actually gathered all of the relevant information they'll probably make the correct decision. They might just be a bit snitty in the mean time if it looks like impropriety has happened."

I generate a construct clipboard and attach my draft of a Maltusian emancipation form.

"This isn't an adoption form, but a formal agreement that you're keeping an eye-."

"I want to adopt him." She regards me carefully. "Is that allowed?"

"It's a little more difficult. Since his parents are both alive, we would-"

She looks up.

"-have to-." Ah-. "Hold on a moment. Aside from the fact that I don't really want my Lanterns murdering people, that would make you look like you were in the wrong."

She stares at me for a moment, then dips her eyes and nods.

"As far as an adoption goes, it would be necessary to prove that his natural parents were completely unfit. Now, since we're not exactly obliged to operate under American law here, there's a good deal more wiggle room than there would be in an actual court. We just have to convince whoever the League decides to assign to investigate that it's probably true."

"And if we cannot?"

"Then we have to convince them that he's better off with you, but allow his natural parents some contact. Of course, none of this is actually binding; there's nothing stopping you grabbing him and flying back to Maltus."

"Would it would make things difficult for you?"

I smile wryly. "Things have been difficult for me before. I'd live. But…" I hold my hands out to the side, my orange glow intensifying. "Things should work as they should work. Lantern Yat should be your son, rather than that of the parents who so oppressed him. Therefore, we should work through the steps necessary to make that how things are."

"You… Are not giving me an order."

"True. I'm not. My path is not necessarily your path. I understand that, and I understand that as a mother you will put your child first, ahead of abstract philosophical principles." I lower my arms, and reduce my glow. "And I cannot fault that. Consider what you want. Make a-"

"Mum's here?"

"-decision."

We both look up at Lantern Yat. Then Lantern Coutara looks to me for permission. I point my right hand and her and then swing it towards him

"She.. is."

He blinks. "Huh. I didn't.. think she'd ever leave Daxam."

Lantern Coutara beckons to him. "Come down here."

He does, and… He's flying using his daxamite powers, and not his ring. That would explain why I didn't notice him. And super hearing would allow him to hear us from miles away, which wouldn't help with secrecy. Lantern Yat lands in front of Lantern Coutara, looking slightly nervous.

She bends down slightly and hugs him-.

Her environmental shield goes out, and so do the glowing pits where her eyes once were. It seems to make Lantern Yat feel a little better as he hugs her back.

I look around for Lantern Taranna, and… She and Kara are painting each other's nails next door, while Bleez is trying to find a film she likes. Ah, how wholesome.

"So..?" Lantern Yat looks at me. "Do I-? Should I go talk to her?"

"Yes, but not right away. I think we can leave that until tomorrow." He nods nervously. "Unless you want to talk to her right now, in which case I'm happy to escort you to her."

"Uh. No."

"Right then." Lantern Coutara's eyes reappear. "I'll leave you to make yourselves at home while I continue to deal with.. this."

Lantern Yat releases Lantern Coutara. "Should I have..? Stayed? On Daxam?"

"Did you want to stay on Daxam?"

"No. And I didn't want Dad to kill Mister Tessog."

"Then you shouldn't have done. This wasn't a momentary impulse on your part; if it was then I'd have counselled you to think about it for a bit. This is clearly something you were set on." He nods awkwardly. "Then there's nothing else to say, really. You weren't wrong to pursue your own goals, but that doesn't mean that there aren't negative consequences to doing so. You just have to deal with those as well So: I'll speak with your natural mother, let her vent her spleen at me, and you can see her tomorrow. Alright?"

He nods slightly awkwardly, looking… Quite a bit younger than he has at any other time I've seen him. Coutara looks vulnerable as well, but… I've seen her more vulnerable. And her ring is glowing brighter, but in a… Controlled way. She's nowhere near making the mental shift that Xalitan did, but I'd be surprised if she didn't come out of this more powerful.

I

step out,

reappearing a short distance from the daxamite ship. Roy's ship is docked, and Lantern Stewart is-.

My ring blinks.

"Illustres here, go ahead."

Lantern Jordan's face appears. "'Sodam Yat'."

"I thought you were on a break."

"Yeah, until I heard the name. Did you seriously recruit a guy called 'Sodam Yat'?"

"Yes? What of it?"

He opens his mouth slightly, then closes it again. Because he's got a record of the prophecy which Abin Sur was given by Qull. I've got no idea whether or not Abin Sur shared that with anyone… But it is nice to know that Jordan bothered checking.

"Nothing."

"It didn't sound like-."

"Just… Drop it." He sighs. "The daxamites have asked for Green Lantern arbitration."

"Okay? So, who gets that job? Lantern Stewart?"

"Normally it would be one of their Sector Lanterns. But one of them's a recruit going through basic and the other's in the middle of stopping a war."

"That doesn't answer-."

"Guy's your friend, I'm out of hours, John's still sore about you stealing his ring that time and Savenlovich owes you over that whole Star Conqueror thing. That leaves Arisia."

"Ah-."

"It'll be good training for her. Jordan out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
17:33 GMT

I try not to let it show on my face as my ring reports that Cara Yat is indeed experiencing full kryptonian power, despite her ship only just passing through the Oort Cloud. She's frowning like she's trying to work out why I'm here. Her ship's meeting room looks… Old? Faded? I can see dust in a few places, but in a sealed environment like a starship there's only so much dust too pile up. They might not have even thrown dust sheets on things before mothballing it as 'forbidden technology'.

Mrs. Yat's eyes widen slightly. "It was you. You're the one who abducted my son."

I smile faintly. I'm going to try and avoid openly provoking her, because I know that Diana's either going to watch this later or is watching it right now, but keeping my face completely blank would probably be worse. Likewise, even though I could cause her significant discomfort by generating ultra high or ultra low frequency sound because she can hear that and doesn't know how to ignore it yet, I don't.

"Nearly. How is your husband and his execution squad? I didn't intend to do any permanent damage, but since you're here I should probably ask."

"They have recovered." She turns to Arisia. "Why hasn't he been arrested?"

"Well, that's-. That's because we only just found out that he-." Her eyes flick in my direction. "He's been accused of kidnapping."

"Do you think I'm hiding my son?"

"To be clear: no. I know precisely where Lantern Yat-"

"Lantern!?"

"-is at the moment. This issue is the implication that I forced him to leave. I didn't. I gave him the option to leave and he took it. And he's been free to return ever since."

Her face hardens. "He's a child. Even if I believed you -which I don't- that doesn't justify what you did!"

I nod, clenching my left fist and bringing it to my mouth. "Illustres to Wonder Woman. Could we please borrow your lasso? I feel it would speed things up."

"What lasso?"

I lower my fist, laying my hand flat on the table. "Wonder Woman's lasso compels honesty in those touching it. You and I don't trust each other and have no reason to believe that the other is being honest. Having the lasso would bypass trust issues. I feel our conversation will be more productive if we can't lie and know that the other can't either."

She frowns the frown of someone who has yet to encounter 'Earth nonsense', and finds herself looking to Arisia for confirmation.

Arisia nods. "It really works. But I don't think that assuming that the other person is lying is going to.. help."

I just shrug, watching to see if Mrs. Yat is going to comment.

"Why isn't my son here?"

"Because I thought that giving him a few hours to calm down would be a good idea."

She snorts, scowling. "I don't believe for a moment than Sodam is afraid of me."

"No, that wasn't what I meant. Afraid of being taken away from the life he's made which he really likes. You being here in particular didn't appear to be a factor. Did you husband relay to you how our encounter went?"

"Yes."

I turn to Arisia. "Would you like to see my recording? I feel that you may find it informative."

"I…" Her eyes move from me to Mrs. Yat. "I think we're skipping a few stages. Cara, what do you want to get out of this meeting?"

"My son, on this ship, returning to Daxam."

"O-kay. And… Just 'for instance'… What if he doesn't want to go back?"

She shakes her head. "Irrelevant. Our civilisation exists to keep us safe from the corruption of the rest of the universe. He's a child. It's best for him, it's best for all of us."

"And… Um, for how long?"

"What?"

"I know kryptonian men could go through their rite of passage-."

"We abandoned that tradition. It was an insult to the idea of the virtue of physical labour. Of dealing with people directly rather than with machines and telescreens. He would be recognised as an adult when he can do the work of an adult."

"Ah. Well, you'll be pleased to know that the surviving kryptonians have abandoned that part of their culture as well."

"I don't care about them at all."

"I just thought that you might be concerned about how Lantern Yat was being raised and wanted to put your mind at ease."

"You have no right-" Her hands clamp down on her side of the table and squeeze the metal between them. "-to raise my son at all!"

"Good news, then: I'm not. Lantern Coutara is. And her daughter, Lantern Taranna. According to his teachers he's doing well in school, despite the primitive standard of his education before he escaped Daxam. I understand if you-"

Crunch!

"-would-."

The table has been broken in half where Mrs. Yat hit it. She's.. not attacking me, though. Instead she's sort of blinking in confusion at the table and her own right hand.

"Yes, that takes a little getting used to, doesn't it? Would you.. like me to put it back together?"

She hesitates for a moment, then gives me a small and awkward nod. A wave of orange and the table is back in one piece.

"We do have a kryptonian on Earth who only arrived a month ago. If you want help growing accustomed to your strength-."

She overcomes her surprise, face hardening. "I won't be here for long enough for it to be worthwhile."

"No? Because that's actually a solution. I don't have any objection to you talking to Lantern Yat, and I admit that we haven't had him doing 'adult work', so he's still a child by that definition. There's no force that could force him to go back to Daxam so that's not happening, but you're free to stick around if you want to involve yourself in his life."

"Absolutely not."

"Would you accept him basing himself on Daxam while commuting? Until he becomes a full adult at least."

"Only if you removed his ring."

"He can hardly commute with no ring."

"Um." Arisia leans forward. "I think… I should see what happened when you recruited him?"

"Certainly." I connect my ring to the holoprojector. "I hope that you find it illuminating."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
17:40 GMT

The recording stops, and Arisia nods slowly.

"Cara Yat, do you..? Dispute the accuracy of-?"

"It is probably accurate."

"Why did Mister Yat try and kill Mister Tessog? Or.. Orange Lantern?"

"Because they were on Daxam."

I briefly consider shouting 'neat!' and generating a nuclear bomb construct, but think better of it. I mean, the only person it would hurt would be Arisia, and wrecking the ship would slow the daxamites leaving.

Arisia looks stern. "Killing someone who crash landed on your planet is completely immoral. At most you could have detained him until his government sent someone to collect him."

"The very first daxamites put up warning beacons and orbital defences precisely to ensure that no one visited us! The only reason anyone could have to ignore them is theft or spying."

"Or they crashed. Did your husband check the crash site? Did you find evidence-?"

"What other reason is there? Have other worlds in the region forgotten that we do not wish to be disturbed?"

Arisia looks away for a moment, her eyes glowing. "No, but worlds further away like the one Mister Tessog came from don't always know."

"It was a military spacecraft."

"I could accept that Orange Lantern appearing like that could look like an attack, but Mister Tessog was clearly injured and standing next to what was obviously a crashed ship. Did he attack anything on Daxam before he crashed?"

Mrs. Yat doesn't answer, looking away awkwardly.

"Did he attack anyone on Daxam?"

"… No."

Arisia's face hardens slightly. I think she's trying to look tough, but she doesn't really have the physiology for it.

"You can't expect everyone else to treat you according to the normal rules of interstellar society when you don't follow them yourself." She huffs. "Orange Lantern."

"Lantern Rrab."

"Why did you give Sodam Yat a power ring?"

"Because he was qualified and he wanted it. Tell me, do your people consider you an adult? I never thought to ask."

"Just about. But I had more of an idea about what I was getting into."

I flick my left hand in her direction, a copy of Lantern Yat's service history flying over to her ring.

"I assure you that Lantern Yat was given plenty of time to accustom himself to his new abilities before being given anything to do, much less being sent somewhere that might see combat. Unlike you."

"I-." I get a mild glare as she reviews the file. "We're getting off-topic."

"Sorry. But… Look. Different civilisations consider people to be capable of making decisions for themselves at different ages. As far as Maltus is concerned, Lantern Yat can make his own decisions. We would have absolutely no objection to him returning to Daxam if he wanted to, but he doesn't. So far as I'm concerned, Missus Yat is placing her desire for social conformity ahead of the needs of her son, which isn't something I can respect."

"So there's no way that you'd send Lantern Yat to Daxam?"

"Well, if the Reach stopped existing tomorrow I suppose I could assign him as the Sector Lantern, but it would still be up to him how much time he spent on the planet. I could mind control him into wanting to go home, but-" I chuckle to myself. "-I'm not going to do that."

Arisia turns to Mrs. Yat. "Is there any reason other than cultural contamination that you want Sodam Yat to return to Daxam?"

"These.. people you're fighting… The Reach?" I nod. "Are they so honourable that they always leave everyone who isn't a soldier alone? Especially the ones who have your power rings?"

"No. Which is why adult Lanterns and LEGION ships were always on hand. There's no such thing as a guarantee of safety, but it's as close as most places get."

"Is it more dangerous than Daxam?"

"I don't know enough about Daxam to say. Would you object to me visiting to learn more about the place?"

"Yes."

I shrug theatrically. "I came here because I thought we were negotiating. It's difficult to negotiate with someone who won't offer anything. Not that I really need to because… I've got everything I want, and everyone under my command has everything they want. If you won't move at all, then other than a wellness check… I guess you're going home disappointed."

"What..?" Arisia smiles the smile of someone who can see that negotiations are about to collapse. "About..? If one of your Sector's Green Lanterns visited Daxam?"

"No."

"We do have protocols for-."

"No."

"How about if they temporarily gave a daxamite a green ring and had them do the report? If your culture's so great shouldn't everyone know about it?"

Arisia doesn't look comfortable with that suggestion. "Ah…"

"We don't use alien technology."

"Except for the fact that the entire kryptonian technology base started with the Vrang. Let's not get precious here. The only way for you to advance your position is to accept a member of your species temporarily accepting a tiny alien device, which they can give up after a day or two."

"We do not use alien technology."

"Fine! Then I guess we're done. I'll escort you to the meeting with Lantern Yat in… Ten hours, and then you can get out of my home system."

Arisia's eyes widen slightly. "Wait-."

"Thank you for trying, Lantern Rrab."

I

step out, aiming for

Roy, appearing next to him inside his ship. "Boo."

He sticks his head out from under a console. "How'd it go?"

"She wasn't prepared to make any concessions, so she got nothing. Any idea how they got here, or how they knew how 'here' is?"

"No."

"Does this thing have a cloaking system?"

"No..?"

"Do you want it to?"

Roy smiles.

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
18:06 GMT

"Oh, hey." Mr. J'aarkn waves as Roy and I walk over to the… Café? Where he's eating. Surrounding Martians take the opportunity to gawp at us as they realise that we're not anthrophiles but are in fact actual humans. "Sit down, sit down! What brings you here?"

I take a look around as we sit. Making the surface of Mars habitable is an ongoing project, but this settlement is half conservation workers and half tourists. Around the outskirts Martian plants and the safer animals mix with the ground level of the great telekinetic pillars which Lantern Mother of Mercy created. Despite what hard science fiction enthusiasts think, space elevators usually don't take off-

Boom boom.

-because by the time there's an actual need for them a civilisation has usually developed exotic energy generators which make thrusting out of a gravity well on a decentralised basis far simpler, or anti-gravity technology which renders it superfluous. But on the few worlds which use them -usually due to a species-wide aversion to flight or a really manic drive towards early space travel- this is how they look; a huge structure on the ground and then a continuation you can faintly see through the blue of the sky.

Trying to follow it by eye from the ground to the barely visible top is a good way to fall over.

"An opportunity. How would you like to travel to a world no Martian has ever visited?"

"No martian's ever been to Mercury, but I don't think that would be good for my skin. Oh, and I finished those application forms… And if I'd known you were coming I'd have brought them with me."

"Neat. Do me this favour and we'll fly you to Earth afterwards."

He looks puzzled. "How come I'm jumping the queue?"

"You're not. But not everywhere has the same immigration restrictions. I can't legally take you to the United States but I can take you to my place in Bir Tawil-"

"Feeling-" He assumes Jade's appearance while maintaining his suggestive expression. "-lonely?"

"-and-. Not that lonely. Remember-" I tap the side of my head. **-that physical transformation isn't enough for me any more than it would be for another martian.**

"You could always pretend."

I shake my head. "I can't. I can't turn it off. You'd have to match her desires perfectly, and even then I'd be able to tell because the.. depth is wrong."

Roy shoves me in the shoulder. "And you wouldn't cheat on Jade."

"Yes, as I said, because-." Ah. "Yes, of course I wouldn't cheat on Jade. This was just-. If he wanted to make me think I wasn't."

Roy shakes his head, an action which the helmet just about relates to the exterior world. "Paul's got a problem with a child custody case, and we want a telepath to investigate."

J'aarkn stares at him, then turns his head to take in the rest of the area, and the hundreds of telepaths walking or floating around. "O-kay? What's so special about me?" He cups himself in a decidedly non-Jade way. "Other than the obvious."

Roy shrugs and turns to me.

"Religion."

J'aarkn blinks, shifting back to his default humanish form. "Huh?"

"While my empathy lets me perceive all emotions, as an Orange Lantern and Host of the Ophidian I'm drawn to avarice first. I want this, you want something I can help you with. Our desires work together to achieve things which advance both our positions. Thus, that is the thing to do. Yes, I could find a way to hire a random Martian…"

I look around at the dozen or so who are showing an unusual degree of interest in us. Two raise their hands.

"Or just ask them to do it for the privilege of my company, my dedication to the orange light means that I regard this as more.. elegant."

"Remind me where Bir Tawil is again?"

"North east Africa. Just south of Greater Kahndaq. I'm told that the value of the real estate actually gone up since Isis replanted the region."

He grins. "Hey, beachfront property."

"Land's the only thing they're not making more of."

"Alright, so what's the case?"

Roy points at me. "He kidnapped a boy, and his mother wants him back."

"Ah… Huh?"

"I prefer to think of it as emancipation. He could have gone back to Daxam at any time. He chose not to."

"Oh-kayyyy..?" J'aarkn looks decidedly uncomfortable. "How old are we talking?"

"Early teens-. Human-equivalent early teens."

"I'm… I mean, I… So… What would I be doing on Daxam?"

"Firstly, finding out what would happen to him if he went back. Secondly, finding out how they knew where Earth is and that he's here."

"Heh, look, I think M'gann M'orzz has given you unreasonable expectations about what a martian can do."

"You'll need to scan the boy's father and a couple of people in their police. They're isolationists, and they've never encountered a telepath before so even if they have learned the kryptonian theta waves state, they can't have practiced with it."

"Kryp-? Like Superman?"

"Daxam's sun is red. No powers. They probably have technology that can detect telepathy, but they're primitivist isolationists. Their advanced technology is kept in isolated vaults for situations where they know that they need it. If you get spotted then you should have plenty of time to leave."

"Okay." He frowns as he considers the offer. "So this is some kind of messy custody thing, right?"

"Essentially, yes. Except there's no judge and everyone has high-end superpowers."

"And-. Alright, checking the kid would be okay if he went back? I can do that. And I get the universe is a real big place… But…"

"Yes?"

"I… Think I should check up on the kid, too. Like… I know how these things go, and wanna square it with my con-."

"That's fine, but I'd appreciate it if you'd visit Daxam first. Negotiations continue in nine hours or so, and I'd like the information by then. Sodam Yat is currently in Bir Tawil, so you can see him when I drop you off."

"Okay." He nods, looking a good deal happier. "And can you get me Simon's current number? I should give him a call."

"It turned out that Simon Leas was an Apokoliptian infiltrator and he's currently sitting in a sciencell on Oa."

He stares. "'Apokoliptian', like… Oh. I had.. no idea."

"I know, but the police are probably going to want to interview you anyway. I can get you Sally Sonic's current number-."

"No, no, I'm good." He gets up, picking up his sandwich-equivalent as he does so. "Where's your ship?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
18:15 GMT

"You can just go back down, you know." Lantern Taranna glances at me, then goes back to hanging morosely in space. "Kara's usually pretty good about putting things on 'pause'."

"Is she taking Sodam back?"

I raise my left eyebrow. "How would that even work?"

"She could ask him to go back?"

"Taranna…" I twist so that my right ankle is resting on my left thigh, with my right elbow resting thinker pose style on my right knee. "I do hope that I haven't at any point encouraged you to be mindlessly obedient. That's… Sort of the exact opposite of what Orange Lanterns are supposed to be."

"I might go home if Mum told me to. I still feel nervous about pretending to be betrothed."

"No you don't."

She frowns at me for a moment, then dips her head. "No, I feel bad about it. Uurh!"

"Some people respond to the inequities in their culture by rejecting it whole cloth, as you have. And some respond by clinging harder to everything… That doesn't involve gouging eyes out."

"That was kind of a big part of it. And praising that god you killed."

"I'm not sure it was really powerful enough to be properly classified as a 'god'."

"I remember when you asked about guide dogs. We do actually have animals that can be trained like that, but no one did. Not in our culture. Every other part of my planet used them like that for the blind." She moues. "'Extreme patriarchy'. Crippling the women when they become women, and then marrying them to whoever their father determines is best when they're at their most vulnerable to encourage psychological dependency. Why would she want to keep any of that?"

"Because she was encouraged to be psychologically dependant from early adulthood. Has she considered remarrying herself?"

"No, that's not really something we had. We didn't have divorce, obviously, and a woman whose husband died… Would usually be sent back to her father's house, if she didn't have an adult son. And Mum.. didn't."

"And… Does their-? Did their father try and find them a new husband?"

"Uh, maybe. They usually became… Uh, secondary wives."

"Ah."

"Which was bad because they wouldn't be able to find their way around, their new husband probably wouldn't have the time to.. bond with them, and the first wife probably wouldn't want to either."

I nod. "Ah, divide and rule, that old chestnut. So not only did you get blinded, you'd have been denied any of the tools that would let you navigate while blind."

She nods. "I looked up the adaptations your people make and I was amazed. And then I looked at my own world and found out that every other country's does at least some of them. I didn't know."

"Did you actually have a betrothal arranged?"

"I wouldn't have been told until later. I only saw my Dad once.. afterwards. And that was the last thing on my mind."

"Is Lantern Coutara still married?"

"No, Mum was kind of divorced the moment she left Dad's house. It's convenient, at least."

"Ah… Your grandparents?"

"I think the princesses probably killed my grandfathers. We weren't close." She stares towards the daxamite ship. "I do like having a brother, though. One from a different culture. He didn't have having his eyes gouged out hanging over him for his entire childhood."

"No, but I'm not entirely sure what daxamites do with cultural iconoclasts." She jerks her head back towards me, looking concerned. "I've got some people checking now. My main concern here is that they'll try and force something. I assume that you fabricated-."

"Lead dust." She nods. "To weaken them but not kill them, because we can get it out of their bodies later."

"Good show." I look down at the Earth, which miraculously hasn't exploded. "Alright, I'm turning in. Send me a message the moment anything changes."

"Do you think.. they actually will try something?"

"Yes. Absolutely. This is Earth, interesting times incarnate. There's basically no chance that they won't try something. Or someone, at least."

"There aren't that many of them, and even if they wear an environmental shield we could pierce it far easier than we could piece their skin. There's no way they could reliably avoid lead dust, I've been practicing with x-ionised knives, and a lot of human cities still have lead paint. They'd just die."

"How many people died when we ended your home country's priesthood?" I shrug. "How many chose not to surrender even when they realised that it was hopeless? People just get locked onto an idea sometimes, no matter how impractical." Hm. "But it's probably best that we don't kill Lantern Yat's natural mother if we can possibly avoid it."

She nods.

"Right. I will see you tomorrow."

I transition down, ending up on the balcony of my home.

Another night where I can't really justify leaving Earth.

I sigh.

I turn, heading inside and shutting the door behind me with a wave of my hand. Lantern Coutara looks up from the kitchen table. "Is Lantern Yat asleep?"

She nods. "How are things with.. Cara Yat?"

"She's going to be trouble. Fortunately, she's alienating everyone with her attitude. Just a matter of finding out what her Plan B is, stopping it and sending her home."

"He is safe, then?"

"There's no such things as complete safety, but he should be. Lan-."

"How do you..?" She stands up with an oddly meek posture, her eyes dimming. "Want to do.. this?"

"I don't." She looks up, surprised. "I sometimes miss social cues, but I did spot this one. To be clear, I arranged a meeting for Lantern Taranna not because I'm assuming paternal authority but because Roy's lonely and I thought they might hit it off. I'm looking after Lantern Yat because I caused this problem by recruiting him in the way that I did, not because I have a father's duty towards him. I invited you to my home because it's adequately defended, not because I intend to make you my concubine. Do you understand?"

"Ah-. I-." She looks up. "Yes?"

"Though if you're looking for a partner because you want one, my friend Alan is a great guy."

 

[Mr Zoat]

26th July 2013
18:17 GMT

"Look." Donald raises his right forehoof in a warding gesture. "You can be attracted to whoever you're attracted to. No insults from me. But you will be giving up the right to call anyone else a furry as an insult."

Hawk Horse-Face undulates as he considers it. Then he twists his midsection so that the upper part of his body is facing me. "Hey Gray, you're banging that horse-chick, right?"

"I assure you, she's a fully mature hen."

"Yeah, I-." His eyes widen, expanding beyond the bounds of his eye sockets. "Wait, is the little purple one a kid? I thought the ponies were just short 'cause they're ponies!"

"You may stand at ease. Twilight is a young adult." Hawk Horse-Face collapses bonelessly to the floor in relief. "Alicorns undergo an additional period of growth after they ascend, regardless of age. She's started growing again and will probably end up about as tall as the others. The ponies are indeed short because they're ponies, though the local zebra are about the same size and I haven't seen any true horses. And her name is Twilight Sparkle."

Hawk Horse-Face floats back upright. "Thanks, dude."

"And for future reference, please don't use the term 'banging' to describe my relationship with Luna. I wouldn't use it to describe your father's relationship with your mother, or yours with your right hand."

Hawk Horse-Face opens his mouth to respond, then looks down to the part of his torso between his legs. "Do I even have a cock right now?"

Donald stares at him. "What, do you want us to check for you?"

I bow my head. "Not it."

"Not-!" Donald glares at me. "Damn it!"

"Nah, it's cool." Hawk Horse-Face bends double and reach down… "I got this." And predictably pulls a male chicken out from between his legs.

It clucks at him, then pecks him on the snout. He drops it, raising his hand to cover the wound. "Ow!"

Donald huffs. "At least his acting's on point."

"Ah." I watch the tail feathers disappear down the corridor. "His cock got away from him."

Donald smiles. "Wouldn't be the first time."

"You guys suck."

Donald snorts. "At least we don't peck."

A short distance away, Celestia… Giggles. She actually raises her right forehoof to cover her muzzle. Hawk Horse-Face twists in the air, sinuously floating over to her. "Do we entertain you, oh radiant one?"

"You do. It has been quite some time since my little ponies felt at ease enough in my presence to engage in open tomfoolery."

"Cockfoolery." / "Cockfoolery."

Donald and I look at each other for a moment, then look in opposite directions.

Alright, that was weak.

"Princess…" Raven Inkwell, Celestia's secretary, trots in, staring at the clipboard suspended in her magic. "Everyone's been-" She looks up, takes in the scene, then looks back at her notes. "-informed and…" She stops, and risks looking away from the clipboard again only to see that we're still here.

She blinks.

"Would you like me to cancel?"

Celestia looks at me, raising her eyebrows. I give my head a small shake.

"No, I don't think so. Gentlemen, are you ready?"

Donald and I nod, while Hawk Horse-Face gives her a manipulator-appendage up.

Celestia nods to Miss Inkwell, who nods in acknowledgement. "Yes, Princess. And… Your guests?"

"Grayven is the source of my inspiration. According to him, our sun and planet would have had a very different relationship before Discord interfered with them. And I so very rarely get to use my special talent for anything creative."

"And… Discord?"

Celestia looks at the transformed Hawk Horse-Face with a smile. "He is the only one who can tell me if I'm doing it right."

"Ah… Yes, Princess. This way."

Miss Inkwell trots along the palace corridor with the rest of us following on behind. Celestia takes the opportunity to sidle closer to 'Discord'.

"Are you truly interested in my former student?"

"I mean… She's cute, sure."

Miss Inkwell stumbles a step, the pony mastering herself to avoid staring in profound religious horror. I assume. I can't actually see her face from here.

"And the commute's not that bad. But, I don't know, she didn't seem to be picking up what I was putting down, you know? I mean, I get it, interspecies isn't for everyone-"

Miss Inkwell stumbles again, and I catch Celestia watching her out of the corner of her eye with a smirk on her lips.

"-but I don't wanna waste my time if she ain't into me. Or come off like a total creep 'cause I don't know pony body language. What kinda guy does she usually go for?"

Celestia opens her mouth slightly and then appears to think of something. She closes her mouth and looks mildly pensive. "I can't remember her ever showing any interest in any stallions."

Hawk Horse-Face throws his head back, his neck forming a 'U'. "Damn it!"

"Or any mares. Though given how long it took her to understand the value of simple friendship-"

I cough "Remedial." into my right forehoof.

"-I wouldn't assume that it's impossible for you to win her over."

I wing-shrug. "I suggest being blunt to the point of rudeness. Otherwise she's just going to fail to understand for an irritatingly long amount of time."

"That…" Celestia considers my statement for a moment, and then nods as we reach the courtyard, the gathered crowd silencing their conversations and turning to us. "May well be true."

"Huh. Dove?"

"If she's really that oblivious then, yeah. Just be prepared for her to say 'no'. Ooor have some sort of total freak out."

"Okay. Guess I know what I'm doing when we finish up here."

Celestia glances his way. "Perhaps you could send me a letter to let me know how it goes?"

Hawk Horse-Face looks confused. "A letter?"

I shake my head. "It's a pony thing, just go with it."

Celestia steps forwards to address the crowd. "Mares and gentlecolts, thank you for coming. Today begins a new era of celestial engineering. Thanks to Grayven, ponykind now has a new understanding of the relationships between celestial bodies. In order to promote a more harmonious and orderly cosmos, I am proud to announce that we will be transitioning to a heliocentric system."

Hawk Horse-Face nods. "Even something as silly as a pony-driven sun can get tiresome if you keep repeating it. It's about time for a change."

Another Discord appears, looking furious. Quick check? Many tails.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!"