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

Discussion in 'Story Archive' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 30, 2019.

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  1. Threadmarks: Dependency Day
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Dependency Day

    My bed feels soft. Did I go to sleep on top of the duvet? Stars? Did I leave the blinds open? I try to turn to the clock, but there's just more stars? I wake up pretty much instantly at that point and OH SHIT THAT’S THE EARTH! I see the Earth and it’s a long way away and I'm breathing? I bring my hands up to my face. No, no space suit. I see the Earth and I'm breathing and I'm not cold or hot and there's no space suit? I'm in space. What?

    There's something glowing on my left hand. I don't wear rings but I now have one on my ring finger? It's orange. In fact, I'm orange. I'm glowing orange. I hold my hand up to my eyes and-

    [​IMG]

    -AAAAaaaauuhhhh!?

    That’s an orange power ring. I'm being kept alive in space by an orange power ring. Well I… I suppose I've never felt suicidal, so that much makes sense. I poke my other arm. Yes, definitely flesh, I haven't been turned into a construct. I don't seem to feel the overwhelming avarice that comes from the orange central power battery, so I guess this is one of the other rings? One of the ones that Larfleeze keeps in his cave? Does he know it's gone?

    Fucking stupid. It's Larfleeze. Of course he knows it's gone.

    Alright. I'm calming down. As long as I want to remain alive, I will. I can probably fly by wanting to move. I want to move.

    Did I move? I can't tell. I don't seem to have moved relative to the Earth, but the Earth is very big and I wasn't trying to move that far. I don't want to go anywhere in particular. I'm still wearing my pyjamas; I can't go out in public like this. Pyjamas?

    I look down to check that I am still wearing pyjamas. Yep, with an added orange lantern corps emblem on the chest. Guess the ring just changes whatever I wear to something thematically appropriate? Shouldn't it have generated an actual uniform?

    I'm going to assume that that Earth isn't my Earth. If power rings actually existed and this one had come for me it would have found me in my bed. Unless I was dreaming about flying in space? I don't remember doing that and I don't remember seeing a ring choose a sleeping wearer in the comics. Would that work?

    Huh. If that actually is DC Earth down there then I'm going to be the most out of shape Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

    Something happened. Everything's blurry. I think I'm standing on something, but I don't pay attention because everything hurts too much! My arms. My chest. My abdomen, my teeth, my eyes! How do eyes even hurt? They're watering and I'm blinking and gasping and all I can see is a creamy white colour and more black. I hug my arms to my chest and bend over. Oh, aagh, it's not just the pain, everything feels the wrong shape. The pain is being caused by something I can't fix. I don't want to-.

    And it stops. My body still sort of tingles, like I've just gone from somewhere warm into somewhere cold and the veins in my skin are trying to decide whether to contract or not. But the pain is gone. My body still feels wrong though. I need to see-.

    A thin orange line extends straight in front of me from the ring. At about four meters it stops and spreads right, as if someone was pouring liquid into a mould, only the mould is filling from the top left rather than the bottom. My first construct is a mirror. Sort of. Obviously it isn't reflecting anything, it's making an image of what it would reflect. It actually has a construct frame with a bevelled edge and is about three meters by two in size.

    Wow. I'm looking good.

    I've never been properly fat or anything, but I've never really taken to physical exercise and, well, no sense lying about it, I have been carrying a little weight about the stomach. Not any more. My arms are now about twice their earlier width. My shoulders are broader. My chest -I roll up my pyjama top- goodness, I have abs! I've never had abs! I run a hand over them. Huh, those don't feel like I was expecting. My chest hair is gone -wait, check- along with most of my other body hair. That feels weird. Feels kind of sticky. My face -the mirror shrinks and moves closer- is pretty much the same. My nose is a little straighter and if I can see this clearly my short sightedness has been fixed. No visible hair on my chin. Skin clarity appears to have improved. The hair on the top of my head is shorter. Looks like something Hugh Grant had in his prime, but longer at the back. Not sure how it's staying where it is. It should be flopping all over the place. Teeth are improved as well. Evenly sized, shaped and in good condition. I think I also look younger? Maybe, it's hard to tell when the image is orange.

    I wave my hand and the construct dissipates. And that’s when I realise that I'm STANDING ON THE MOON. Grey dust and rock all around and the Earth is visible in the sky. It's too much. I'm in a place only a handful of humans have ever been and my response is to drop to the ground, staring at the sky.

    I'm sitting on the moon watching the Earth. I think the ring just rebuilt my body based on how I ideally want to look. Which really hurt. It must have been transmuting new muscle from existing fat. Or maybe even just making more meat from orange power? Should I feel bad about that? Doesn't everyone want to look a bit better than they do?

    Shit. This isn't a dream. I never feel pain in dreams. And not enough is going on. I'm actually here and I have to deal with it.

    Plan. Plan plan plan plan. Okay, first. Check that this isn't my Earth. I need to go home to do that. If there's another me here it's going to be weird, but I'm a fairly reasonable guy. DC comics don't really show much outside the US so I don't know if the places I've lived in will actually be there if I've somehow entered a comic reality. I can't plan anything else until I know where I am.

    Now, how do I get there?

    I stand back up. I go to brush off my legs because the dirt has coated everything it touched. Then I remember I'm wearing a power ring and I like being clean. A ring of orange passes over my body and the dust falls slowly away. As the ring reaches my feet I float a little off the ground. No sense getting dirty again just after cleaning myself. Now that’s done, how to get to Earth? I have to want it to happen but I'm mostly just feeling apprehension about what I'll find when I get there.

    Anal retentiveness to the rescue!

    It's late at night and I have to be up for work tomorrow. I need to get to sleep and the best place for that is in bed! On Earth! If I don't then my schedule will be completely messed up. It's working! My need for regularity is controlling the flight!

    Now to find somewhere familiar and see if it exists.
     
  2. Threadmarks: Welcome to Happy Hour
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Welcome to Happy Hour

    18th July
    10:37 GMT -5


    "What I'm saying is, they accidentally took a guy from the wrong planet. That doesn't sound very safe to me."

    M'gann and I are in the kitchen area. Finding out that despite her appearance she is actually forty eight was quite a relief. Someone I can talk to! Aqualad is sixteen but I've got no idea whether that counts as adult or not in his country. Superboy came out of his pod on the day I got the ring. He looks physically adolescent, but his mental development is all over the place. I had an interesting conversation with him about 'Human, All Too Human' a couple of days ago. His analysis of some of the aphorisms was interesting, but when he spoke it sounded like he was reading out something someone else had written. When I questioned him about it he got in a mood and stomped off. If we're going to live together I'll have to watch myself to make sure I don't push his buttons like that.

    "Uncle J'onn says that that can't happen again."

    "Of course it can't; he's already here."

    She giggles. "No, I mean the safety systems have been improved since Dr. Erdel's experiment. There has to be a tube at each end, and they check the signal integrity before sending whoever is inside."

    I've got a construct whisk whisking the mango custard. I'm on dinner duty this evening and I've decided to try my mango meringue cake on a captive audience. People at work seemed to like it. The construct has four whisk bits and as it has no actual mechanical components is virtually silent. I've kept the basic shape though, since I'm used to it and the handle is convenient. The one I made for work had two layers. This one will have three. Partly because I want to push my baking skills, and partly because I want there to be some left for the rest of us when Kid Flash has finished. He says that he has a fast metabolism as a result of his speed, but I don't think that can be right. He can run at the speed of sound; there is no way a human body can ingest enough to fuel that in the conventional way. On the other hand, he isn't gaining weight, so, I don't know.

    Cooking for and being cooked for by apprentice superheroes is an interesting experience. M'gann goes for traditional American food, though yesterday she branched out into Tex-Mex. I pretty much flip through a recipe book until I find something that looks interesting, though when it comes to pudding I currently have a bit of a custard fixation. When he's actually here Kaldur does baked fish with various kinds of seaweed. It isn't as bad as it sounds. Superboy does Beef Stroganoff and poached pears. He does them well, but it appears to be all he knows how to do. I watched him once, and he put everything he needed out on the work surface in a very particular arrangement before starting. Cooked the whole thing in a fugue state, unresponsive when I tried to ask him about it.

    One morning M'gann tried to help him make pancakes. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I ended up having to remove burned pancake mix from the work surfaces, floor and his forearms with the ring.

    Kid Flash actually looked distraught when he turned up last Friday evening and I told him I didn't know the number of the local pizzeria.

    "But do they check the integrity of the thing checking the integrity?"

    "There is at least one level of redundancy built in to each system, an automatic remote daily system check and a service each month." I stop and look at her. She simpers. "I read the manual."

    "Good. I'm glad someone has."

    The custard is mixed. I won't add the mango puree until it's started to get stodgy. I eliminate the whisk construct and watch as the custard mix coating it falls into the bowl. I put it in the microwave, one hundred percent power, four minutes.

    "Are zeta tubes common on Mars?"

    "No, we don't use them at all. Earth developed the technology first, and on Mars the radiation disrupts the signals too much for it to be much use."

    I float off the ground, legs folded up beneath me. The cake itself is in the oven, the custard is in the microwave and I can't start the meringue until they are both done and cool. I also can't start doing something else while the custard is cooking because it needs attention every few minutes.

    "Why are you doing that?"

    "Huh?"

    "You do that sitting in the air thing a lot. I was just wondering why?"

    Huh, I suppose I have. Hadn't thought about it. Didn't realise that she'd noticed.

    "I've had this ring for a fortnight. The novelty value of being able to do this hasn't worn off yet. Kinda hope it never does, actually."

    "I can't imagine not being able to fly."

    Huh?

    "I don't think I've ever seen you fly outside of the base."

    "Yes, because I'm trying to fit in. I can't just walk down the street and start floating things in public."

    "Why not? There are humans who can do things like that."

    "Yes, but not very many. I don't want to attract that amount of attention. While I'm here, I just want to be a normal Earth teenager."

    Teenager? Odd. Maybe shape shifters think about societal groups in a different way to humans?

    "You do know we're not a monoculture, right? A teenager in the United States is very different to one in Kenya, or Pakistan."

    "Yes, but my first exposure to Earth culture was in some TV shows Uncle J'onn sent back after I asked what it was like here."

    "They were all American?"

    "I think so. I didn’t bring the tapes with me, and when I watched them I didn't really know anything about the different countries on Earth."

    "Might be interesting to watch them again, now you know more about what it's like here."

    "Maybe. I think I mostly liked them because it was so different to what I was used to. Open skies rather than caves."

    "You lived in a cave?"

    "All Martians do. Oh, no, not little caves. Vast underground caverns. All of the settlements on Mars are underground, because of the radiation."

    "Uh."

    Mars must be very different here. And not just the being inhabited thing, there are reasons why some worlds don't develop life.

    "You said that you came here from a parallel universe, right?"

    "As far as I can tell, that's correct."

    "Do you have… What's Mars like there?"

    "In my parallel Mars is a frigid, barren, uninhabited desert wasteland. I think we found some bacteria in soil samples, but that’s about it as far as life goes."

    "Oh."

    "Sorry, but it's like I said. Where I'm from Humans have only met other Humans."

    The microwave keeps whirring. There was something I was meaning to ask. What was it? Oh, yes.

    "I've been wondering… I saw you change your t-shirt from white to black when I first got here..?"

    "Yes?"

    "Do you actually wear clothes, or do you just shape shift part of your skin to look like you are?"

    Silence. The microwave beeps, and I pull the steaming protocustard out onto the work surface and recreate the whisk construct.

    "YesIwearclothesofcourseIwearclothes!"

    I turn around. She looks flustered and is blushing purple.

    "Oh. Shape shifting clothes. That's fairly impressive, actually. Though I suppose for a Martian on Earth something like that would be pretty essential."

    A quick wizz with the whisk and then the custard goes back into the microwave. I set it for two minutes and go back to watching it.

    "I'm not naked."

    "Alright. What sort of range do these wonder garments of yours have? Just standard humanoid, or can they do extra arms as well?"

    "Really. I'm wearing clothes. Totally wearing clothes."

    "I fully accept that you are wearing clothes."

    "I mean, you don't seem to care but some people would probably find it really strange if I wasn't wearing clothes."

    "They probably would."

    "It would be really humiliating."

    "Okay."

    "I just want to be clear."

    "You are fully clad. The matter is resolved."

    "Okay."

    "Okay."
     
  3. Threadmarks: Prod Zone
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Prod Zone

    19th July
    12:49 GMT -6


    I peer into the desiccated face of what was once our target.

    "Ye-ap. This one's not alive either."

    After yesterday I thought it might be good for M'gann and Superboy to get out of the base on something that looked kind of like a mission. Which is why we're walking through the swamps of Louisiana in an attempt to track down either Doctor Alec Holland or, as I hope, Swamp Thing. Finding the weird mutant plant he nominally lives in was quite simple for the ring. Finding the Elemental himself is presently defeating us. This is the seventh abandoned Swamp Thing body we've come across.

    Robin is helping Red Tornado investigate Mister Twister's remains. American summer holidays are really long, apparently. He wanted to come until I said that it was unlikely anything interesting was going to happen and Red Tornado made it clear that we were obliged to retreat in the event of a hostile reception. His orders may not be binding like Batman's or Diana's but I don't want to irritate him all the same.

    Wallace is back in Central City doing… Something. Possibly washing his hair. Since Robin let everyone know my name Wallace decided it would be fair to share his. Apparently, not even his mother calls him Wallace and I'm on a list with his grandmother and his geography teacher.

    Kaldur wanted to plan out team training activities. I also asked him about getting the base warded against arcane attack. He said that it was a bit beyond his abilities. Mentioned some Atlantean friends of his who might have been up to it. Someone named Tula -whose name sounded vaguely familiar from the comics- and Garth. Kaldur became Aquaman's aide after he and Garth aided him in combat against Ocean Master. Both were offered the position, but Garth chose to remain at the Conservatory of Sorcery instead in this timeline. Would he have chosen differently if Kaldur wasn't there? I don't remember his comic background well enough to know if that's how it happened there. Kaldur also said that my referring to him as Royal Champion was a bit premature. He doesn't actually have a formal court title as yet.

    Superboy appears to be adjusting well to his new and improved ears. He's currently photographing and taking samples from different parts of the Swamp Thing modified plants that we've found so far. M'gann and I are doing a bit of exploring. Since none of us know which bits are safe to step on floating over the ground is really the best way to do it. Superboy looked a bit down at the whole 'can't join in because you can't fly' aspect of the thing, but as I told him, we need information. He perked up a little once M'gann offered to teach him to fly the Bio-Ship.

    **Orange Lantern to Miss Martian.**

    **It sounds weird when you think it.**

    **I'm still not sold on the whole 'secret identity' thing. Makes even less sense for you.**

    **My Earth name is similar to my Martian name.**

    **Actual name.**

    **Right. And my face is the same, just a different color. People might make the connection if they heard it.**

    **Anyone on Earth capable of telepathic eavesdropping could already get your secret identity. I don't suppose you've heard anything from our target?**

    **I don't know what a Plant Elemental's mind would sound like, but.. so far it's just swamp creatures.**

    **Right. He's either not here or he's avoiding us. I'll do a ring scan and then I think we should break for lunch. Try a different approach in the afternoon. Superboy, you about done on your end?**

    **Yeah.**

    **Red Tornado say anything about the pictures?**

    **He said he'd get someone to look at it.**

    I smile. **Anyone know a super powered botanist other than Pamela Isley?**

    **Who?** / **Who?**

    Neither of them have heard of her? **Poison Ivy? Crazy Gotham plant woman? Feeds people to giant pitcher plants?**

    Silence from Superboy.

    **I.. think I remember Robin mentioning her.**

    **Right, when we get back I'm sticking both of you in front of some case files. You need to know this stuff.** I get a sense of disgruntlement from Superboy. I'll snap him out of that. **You think Superman doesn't read up on potential threats? You think he hasn't invested a great deal of effort in finding out exactly how hard he has to hit someone to put them down quickly without causing permanent damage? Being strong isn't enough, you have to know how to use it.**

    **Fine.**

    Done it again. **Look, I was thinking about asking Diana to give you some hand to hand combat tuition. I'm not convinced that Black Canary's martial arts are going to be of much use to someone as strong as you. Is that something you'd be interested in?**

    There's a brief pause. **I should be getting taught by Superman.**

    Haven't seen him around, actually. **How are things between you and him anyway?** There's a flash of something from M'gann. Feels like… Panic? **What?**

    **They're fine!**

    **Okay, well, let me know if you're interested. I'll see you both back at the ship.** If the swamp were a bit dryer, I might find it pretty. As it is the mud and mosquitoes put me right off. "Ring, scan for any more piles of vines that used to be Swamp Thing."

    Immediately I can feel their locations. Wanting something more precise I create a map construct with their locations. There's about forty, plus or minus seven for degrees of decay. No real pattern, other than there seem to be more around his home, and none of them are moving. Makes sense. I save the map and fly back towards the ship.

    There's a shallow pool to one side of the.. tree..? Vine mound? I have no idea what to call the thing Swamp Thing lives in. Beautiful and quite alien. I doubt it would survive without his attention and upkeep. The Bio-Ship is hovering over the more solid ground on the other side, stealth disengaged. Superboy left a letter from us addressed to the owner, asking him to get in contact. I somehow doubt that he will.

    I fly around to the rear entrance and enter the ship. Superboy's in the pilot's seat with M'gann standing over him, pointing out the basic controls. Superboy hunches slightly as I land. M'gann turns around and smiles nervously at me.

    **This is just coming to you. Superman and Superboy… Well… Superman didn't take finding out that someone cloned him particularly well. I don't think they've spoken since the others got him out of Cadmus.**

    **Fiddlesticks.** She frowns slightly. **Dah, okay, sorry. I'll try and fix it.**

    She nods, and turns back to Superboy. "Okay Superboy, take us up."

    His hands move over the controls and the ship rises above the canopy. I'm not worried about being seen. If the comics are anything to go by this whole area is inhabited only by crazy people who see far weirder stuff on a daily basis. If the comics aren't anything to go by then there's still nothing anywhere near here. I walk over to sit at the right forward seat. I know we brought packed lunches, but…

    Idea!

    I swivel the chair around to face them.

    "How about we go and find a restaurant? There's got to be somewhere that does good food around here. My treat, if we can find somewhere that will take gold as payment."
     
  4. Threadmarks: Skived
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Skived

    25th July
    14:37 GMT -5


    I don't think I'll ever quite get used to the way technology works around here. Not the user interfaces, which are either completely straightforward or completely incomprehensible -unmarked keyboards ahoy-, but the fact that it all works at all. Back when I first met Alan his intercom had completely clear sound, and it's all like that. Computers just don't crash during regular use. This base is full of machines that are just waiting to go wrong, and they never do. I remember reading Hyperion, where at the end the Shrike Church get trapped in their mountain fortress when the wormhole network collapses, because that was the only entrance. Our exits are giant blast doors and zeta tubes and they always work. I have the ring scan them every time before I use them. Nothing goes wrong. Coming from a place where the trains don’t run on time if it rains -or if it doesn't- it takes a bit of getting used to.

    I've paired my dark grey jeans with an orange shirt today. I doubt Alan or Diana would mind if I showed up in my usual vest but I feel I should make an effort. This will be the first time I've spent much time in both of their company in a casual setting since the team was founded. Plus, the orange colouration means that the Lantern sigil doesn't really show; Vietnamese colour matching at its finest.

    I'm on pudding duty, so I'm bringing a few hundred grams of chocolate with me in subspace. I ended up getting a chocolate pudding recipe online after M'gann found me in the kitchen swearing at one of the ones we have here which expresses all quantities in volume rather than mass. I don't mind ounces or grams, but whoever thought that a 'cup' was a sensible measure of anything solid needs to be slapped around the face. Also, not American 'chocolate'. I know some mainland European connoisseurs get snooty about British chocolate, but the US stuff is frankly hydrogenated vegetable oil filled swill. The chocolate I'll be using comes from Belgium.

    Cadbury exists here, and it doesn't look like anyone is planning to take it over. If that situation changes I will seriously consider buying as much of it as I need to in order to prevent that from happening. Fucking Kraft.

    "Hey, nice shirt."

    Wallace is standing next to the main computer console in casuals. Robin is working a case with Batman and M'gann's taken Superboy out shopping so instead of hanging around with them he's looking at the initial reports on Venom Buster. I vaguely knew that his Justice League Unlimited incarnation was a police chemist but until last Tuesday I hadn't realised that this version shared that skill set. Apparently he copied Jay Garrick's speed formula in his own bedroom with some fairly basic materials.

    Given that the formula is three for three with no serious adverse effects, I wonder why it isn't more widely used? I can understand about not making it public, but any baseline Human in 'the community' could benefit. Heck, Wallace's eating disorder is probably a product of amateur level equipment, rather than a problem with the formula itself.

    I wonder if he could fix it by repeating the process with better materials? Or would doubling up make matters worse? Is there some common element between the Garrick Formula and the Danner Formula? Not sure what happens when you use a magic formula on someone who's already had a magic formula. Besides, the Danner Formula needs to be used in vitro. I… might want to look at getting a copy of each…

    "Thanks. You ever need a suit, I'll introduce you to my tailor."

    "Heading out early, aren't you?"

    "I'm doing pudding. Besides, Diana's bringing a plus one and I want to find out who it is. On my parallel, someone like Wonder Woman dating would be bigger news."

    He stops typing, and looks at me in confusion. "Did she actually say she was bringing a date?"

    "Urp, no, Alan just said a plus one. That means date, right?"

    He goes back to work. "Maybe. But she's probably just bringing Troia along."

    The word forms even as I remember who she is. "Who?"

    He looks incredulous. "Are you serious? You didn't know about Wonder Woman's other student?"

    Donna Troy, the woman with the most messed-about-with back story in DC. I know that she's got the same abilities as Wonder Woman, but even though I've never had any interest in the character I can remember three distinct versions of where her powers come from. Right, right, Diana already said that she doesn't have any sisters, so that's out. So, that leaves being given the powers by the Greek gods on Themyscira or inheriting them from Titanic ancestors. Or something else. Can't remember anything about her personality.

    "Diana never.. mentioned.. her?"

    She didn't. And I looked up 'Wonder Girl' on the League's database and found no matches. Maybe I should have looked up Donna Troy as well, but that might have shown that I know real names when I shouldn't. I thought she started calling herself Troia as an adult. I mean, what does Troia even mean, anyway?

    "You really didn't know?"

    "Does this look like my 'I know what's going on' face?"

    "N-no? Whaw. Really?"

    "Yes, really."

    "Huh. Kinda assumed that you'd met her by now."

    "Nope."

    Is she going to think I stole her mentor? I haven't been spending that much time with Diana. Have I? I certainly haven't been monopolising her. But maybe there's only so many trainee-appropriate missions?

    "Wonder if she wants to join us?"

    "I don't know! I never heard of her until just now."

    And then he's standing next to me with an arm around my shoulder. "You should totally talk to her about it. She's pretty hot."

    "I'll be sure to mention it."

    "'Cause if she did join, we'd have a Bat, a Flash, a Super, a Martian, an Atlantean, an Amazon and a Lantern. That's the founding League right there."

    "I'm sure the subject will come up."

    "Make sure it does. I don't wanna start feeling bad about hogging all the female attention around here."

    Yea-ah.

    "I will endeavour to ensure that that doesn't happen. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a walk ahead of me."

    "You know New York has cabs, right?"

    Sigh.

    "I can't carry conventional currency without destroying it. Some cab drivers would believe that a person would pay them in gold, but most would tell me to get lost, or call the police. I don't want to draw attention to Alan's house by flying there while glowing orange so I either have to get the zeta tube to Upper Manhattan and walk, take one to Metropolis and walk further, or take the one to Washington and travel underwater, which is incredibly boring."

    "Yeah, I feel so sorry for you having to have dinner with Alan Scott and two of the hottest women on the planet."

    He releases me and walks back to the computer at normal speed. I walk over to the entrance to Zeta Tube A, and look at it for a moment.

    "Ring, just… just check it's working properly."

    "Operations within defined parameters."

    "Are you still worried about that?"

    "I am justifiably cautious."

    He sniggers. "Whatever."

    Fine. I enter my destination, straighten my posture, and march in.

    "Recognised, Orange Lantern, B zero six."

    Ugh.

    "It's Orange Lantern two eight-"
     
  5. Threadmarks: Exfiltrator
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Exfiltrator

    9th August
    09:52 GMT -5


    I've now been in a world with superheroes for over a month.

    The thought hits me as I leave my room having changed into beach wear. I'm not usually a fan of beach activity, but I have resolved to participate in as many group activities as possible. And who knows, maybe with the higher temperatures and -let's be honest here- nicer beaches than Eastbourne it'll grow on me. With the ring I don't have to worry about sun burn or cuts from small stones.

    A world of superheroes is probably the only place in which my wardrobe would go unremarked. Back home I have an eclectic range of garments, bought years ago or -in the case of most of my t-shirts- won as prizes. Never tried to create a theme, and didn't really wear most of it. Here, I'm doing things a bit differently. Aside from a few white shirts everything is grey with orange decoration. As a result, everything goes with everything else and I'm immediately recognisable to anyone who knows me without standing out much to anyone who doesn't.

    Currently, I'm wearing dark grey swimming trunks with a partial view of the Orange Lantern Corps sigil to the front of my left hip. I'm carrying a large thick grey towel with a slightly elongated Orange sigil in the centre. For obvious reasons the beach around the Mountain is private, and it's not like the sigil is widely known. I had thought that it might be a problem if anyone saw us on the beach attached to a known Justice League facility, but really the idea of this place remaining secret for any length of time was such a nonsense anyway that I decided not to care.

    I've now been in a world with superheroes for over a month. Some things I've adapted to. The costumes no longer stand out as much. I've started getting used to new names for familiar things, and have updated my alternate history knowledge sufficiently that differences there no longer leave me dumbfounded. But the more I've learned, the less other things make sense. The separation of magic from mainstream study is a big one. Tech hoarding is another, and superheroes do it nearly as much as supervillains. I decided that if I wanted to change that, I'd have to prove to the League that I can have good ideas. Before I design an escape resistant supervillain prison on Ganymede, I need something on a smaller scale.

    Suggesting appropriate people for League candidacy is one possible avenue, and recommendations for membership of my team another. I've decided to perform background research on people I think might be what the League's looking for, but whom they wouldn't ordinarily consider. Diana already knows that I can break secret identities easily, so that won't come as a shock. She hasn't said anything about that since. I wonder if I should ask?

    League membership comes pretty much from word of mouth, which is why most members are American. There aren't any other Amazons in Diana's weight class and few of them would have the inclination to join up anyway. The latter is part of the reason why there aren't any other Atlanteans either, though Kaldur tells me that the opinion among younger Atlanteans is rather different. So; who do I know of that would be a good member?

    Accomplished Perfect Physician is the obvious choice. A decent man, powerful enough to stand with the League and not so nationalistic that he'd create discord. Plus, if I remember correctly he's an actual medical doctor, and the League could do with one of those. Since he doesn't know anyone in the League he'd never be recommended through normal channels. Would the Chinese government let him? I think so. I doubt that they really want him in the Great Ten, or the equivalent group if it doesn't exist here. They signed off on the League's UN mandate, and I imagine that they'd like to see someone 'flying the flag'. So, put his name down for background checking if I can confirm that he exists.

    Heh. I imagine it'll be a novel experience for the Chinese military: having someone hack them.

    I can't think of anyone else. All the other superheroes I can remember well are American. Of those I don't remember well, I think there was an Arab guy who worked with Superman a bit? Might be able to track him down. Fire and Ice of course, but Fire's involvement in Operation Condor puts me off her a bit. No, hang on, she'd have been far too young to have been involved if that happened in this timeline. Uh, this is going to be irritating. I still can't rely on what I think I know.

    Anyway. No one else stands out as a good candidate that wouldn't have already come to their attention. I can start investigating him this afternoon, if nothing comes up. As for team members, Zatanna is an obvious auto-include. We could do with a thaumaturgist and her father is a League member. She's a lot younger than I thought she'd be. Still no luck on Timothy Hunter or Rachel Roth. Actually had a go at tracing Ms Roth the hard way. None of the thirty two Rachel Roths in the right age category in the US appeared to match. I've given the ring instructions to make daily scans, but I'm not hopeful.

    Once we finally got to speak to the right Abigail Holland I did a quick check. No Tefé. Abigail was understandably nervous about our presence but we eventually persuaded her to speak to Swamp Thing about establishing some sort of working relationship, though if he's anything like in the comics I doubt he'll go for it.

    Other names? My first thoughts are of the younger Captain Cornwall and Red Star. Since the story I remember Cornwall from has him nearly kill his father due to his frustration at the latter's unwillingness to take superheroing seriously he seems like he would be both receptive to an offer and enthusiastic about taking advantage of it. If we can get to him before he reaches the patricide stage. Red Star I don't really know much about, but I think he was a member of the Teen Titans and again, I think his government would probably be okay about releasing him. I've already confirmed that Beryl Hutchinson is active as Squire, but I worry that Knight might fall apart again without her. Maybe? I'm sure that Diana would appreciate seeing some female names on any list I present.

    The one person I'd really like to see join us is Amon. If he exists here then he's probably either an infant or in a slave labour camp somewhere. Plus, he won't be empowered unless I sort things out with Teth Adam. I think I'm going to need to retrace the Batsons' last steps to see if I can further clarify his origins. I'd like to help, but I can't afford to take unnecessary chances.

    For a moment I actually considered suggesting Teth Adam for League membership. I remember him spending time with the Justice Society in the comics, but it didn't last and I doubt it could work here anyway. Theo's just done too much damage with his stolen powers.

    We're meeting in the dining area. I think I can just about hear M'gann…

    "…doesn’t necessarily mean that. Maybe they just do things differently in England?"

    I turn the corner and M'gann and Robin are already there. M'gann's wearing a yellow bikini top and yellow shorts, and she has a short red surfboard thing propped up against a work surface. She's also still green. Guess she thinks that the secrecy thing's a non-starter as well. Robin's wearing blue shorts, and has a small white towel around his neck and a ball in his right hand.

    "Do what differently in England?"

    "Ah-."

    M'gann had her back to me. She turns and sees me. Her eyes widen. Do I have something on my face?

    "What?"

    Robin's smirking.

    "Cooking! We were talking about cooking!"

    "Oh. Look, I know Britain hasn't had the best reputation for food, but we've come a long way in the last decade or so. I grew up watching cookery programs, and we hardly ever ate take away or prepackaged food at home. Can't promise it's a national trait or anything, but I enjoy cooking."

    M'gann's still staring. Is it the trunks? Were they a mistake? I haven't swum regularly for a very long time, but I used to wear them back when I did. Plus, I'm honest enough to admit that I want to show off my ring-engineered body a little. She can't be reacting to that, though. All the guys on the team are as buff as me, or buffer.

    Kaldur and Kon approach from the kitchen, carrying picnic baskets. Kon just registers my presence, but Kaldur stares a little too. What is it?

    "Um. I don't think I've seen you without-." M'gann's eyes flick over me, and she gulps. "Without your ring on."

    "Oh, you still haven't. I'm wearing it now."

    The whole team stares. Then, as one, their gaze drifts down towards my trunks.

    "MY TOE! On my TOE!" I raise my left foot and point to it on my enringed long toe. "Minds out the gutter, people."
     
  6. Threadmarks: Acceptance
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Acceptance

    27th July
    06:12 GMT -5


    This early in the morning I don't think it's much of a risk to just fly to Alan's house, as long as I don't land in his garden or something. A quick look around to make sure there's no one in the immediate vicinity, and I land in a woodland in Isham Park before switching to civilian clothing.

    I still don't know what he wants. He actually sent the message directly via the ring, rather than using the secure comm line. I knew that it was possible to do that from the comics and the animated series, but I had assumed it was intra-Corps only. Guess I was wrong about that. Unusual way to get woken up, particularly given that he said it wasn't that important, but I owe Alan a lot and if he wants me to visit early in the morning without telling me why, that's what I'm going to do.

    I tense slightly when I see the expensive looking black car parked outside Alan's house, with a man whom I assume to be the chauffeur leaning against the bonnet reading a newspaper.

    Ring?

    No weapons detected.

    Where's Alan?

    I see his living room. He's sitting in the same chair he sat in when we first met. Another, more weather-beaten old man sits opposite. They're holding an animated discussion, but it seems to be good humoured. I don't recognise-.

    The hell? He just turned to look at me, my perspective point on the image. I'm not even how is what?

    Returning my full concentration to my surroundings, I pass the car, jog up the drive and open the door.

    "He makes pretty good time, too."

    The other man's voice.

    I move down the corridor at stride-pace and open the door to the living room. Alan and whoever… Kent Nelson? Fate? Oh. Both turn their heads to look at me. Alan's in his standard shirt and jeans, but Mister Nelson's in a full suit. A walking stick is propped up against the settee. He lacks Alan's vigour, but he still looks good for a man of one hundred and six.

    "Alan. Mister Nelson. Where's the fire?"

    Mister Nelson lowers his head slightly, a wry smile on his lips.

    Alan shrugs. "Paul, I said that it wasn't all that important. If you were still asleep-."

    "I was woken up by a giant orange head coming out of the ring."

    He pauses for a moment. "Uh, I didn't mean for it to be giant."

    "I'm lucky there was no one in the room above me. The top half of your head was projected through the ceiling. I just saw a giant chin. Didn't even realise it was you to start with."

    "Oh. Sorry about that."

    "No, it's fine. I hadn't even realised that I could communicate with Green Lanterns that way. I'll have to see about prank calling Lantern Jordan or something."

    Mister Nelson shuffles forward to the edge of his seat before rising to his feet. He offers me his right hand, and I shake it. He barely comes up to my shoulders, but his gaze is clear and slightly fierce, the mouth set of a man familiar with disappointment. His hand is cold, and bony.

    "I was surprised when Alan told me he'd taken on an apprentice."

    "I think I was a surprise to him as well."

    "Wouldn't have worked in our day. No computer databases for your ring to sift through. Though I can see things like that'll be a problem, going forwards."

    I turn and sit on the chair underneath the window. Mister Nelson gingerly lowers himself back into the settee.

    "I wanted you to meet Kent while he was in the city. He's heading to the airport to catch a flight down to New Orleans in half an hour."

    The older man smiles slightly. "Always happy to catch-."

    "Kent! You! The scrying pool."

    He looks at me quizzically. "I'm sorry kid, but you're going to have to be a bit more coherent than that."

    "When I went to Themyscira. Diana told me that someone called 'Kent' created a scrying pool for her to communicate with home, back in the forties. I hadn't-" I wiggle my right index finger back and forth. "-made the connection between that and you until just now."

    "Oh! I remember that thing. Must have taken weeks to get the darn thing to focus properly. Was worth it though, to see the smiles on her and her mother's faces."

    "Did you ever try creating any others? I'd have thought that long distance communication with coloured images would have been very impressive, compared to nineteen forties technology."

    He shakes his head. "It wouldn't have worked. Magala and I needed to be on hand at either end to keep it working when they wanted to speak as it was. There just weren't enough magic users around in those days to build a network." He sighs. "There's even less, today."

    Magala?

    "Don't the Atlanteans teach magic? Aqualad seemed to imply that it was fairly common where he's from."

    "It's the wrong style, the wrong sort of approach. But, if things keep going as they are, I might need to hire an aqualung after all."

    Alan nods at him. "Kent's going to-."

    I hold up my hands. "Don't tell me, don't tell me! I've been practising this." I take a deep breath, and close my eyes. Ring, Ophidian's Eyes.

    M'gann tells me that this application of the orange light makes my irises look like those of a snake, with glowing orange vertical slits. I can't see it myself, because it replaces my normal vision with images of the desires of whoever I look at, and mirrors don't want things. I know the Greenies can't do this.

    I turn to Mister Nelson, and I'm assaulted by images. A woman… His wife? The Helm of Fate. A tower. An idea… There's no image, but I can feel-.

    "That's about enough of that, I think." My vision returns to normal. Mister Nelson's raised his right hand in a 'halt' gesture, a golden glowing ankh floating just in front of it. "Young man, looking into someone's soul isn't something you should do so casually."

    Souls are a thing here?

    "Oh. Sorry, I didn't think that was what it did."

    I flick my eyes towards Alan. And get a shock. Mister Nelson didn't turn the Eyes off, he just blocked them from working on himself. And now I know exactly why Alan wanted me to have his lantern.

    "Ring, end."
     
  7. Threadmarks: Initiative
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Initiative

    27th August
    05:38 GMT -5


    Note to self: don't try looking into the soul of a man made of clay.

    I collapse into my chair on the bioship, close my eyes and press my hands against my temples. When we confronted Clayface in the storm drains I thought that taking a look would be useful for intelligence purposes. It wasn't as if he was an immediate threat to anyone down there. One blast of orange confusion later and I recovered just in time to get slammed against the walls. That didn't hurt, but it did distract me from the fight until my team mates were downed, at which point they became my priority.

    Taking on Clayface without specialist equipment isn't a great idea, but once my mind stops spinning I should be able to put something together. I am slightly worried that this version appears able to take on additional material; he was leaving blobs of mud around the place but wasn't any smaller afterwards. Why were we even engaging it? I thought Batman said that he just wanted us to track it?

    The only vaguely coherent thing I got from that ill-advised use of Ophidian's Eyes was a series of fractured images of a woman I recognise as Talia al Ghul. In this timeline she and Batman broke up about a year ago. Since this version of Matthew Hagen works for the League of Shadows, he'd probably know her. Not sure why she was the only thing I could see, I usually get some kind of narrative and an idea of the way the target thinks about things.

    "-point of putting on a clean costume when I'm not fresh?"

    "Oh, Wally, you're always fresh."

    I open my eyes.

    "At least you have a clean costume."

    Cleaning duty it is, then. I raise my left hand.

    "Yeah, an old back-up! No stealth mode! It stinks!"

    Ring, sort them out before my headache gets worse.

    A beam strikes Wallace right in the lightning bolt, and a wave of orange disintegrates all of the residual clay. Next, it hits Kon, where it removes a lump of the caked on mud before disintegrating the rest. The removed blob floats over to me.

    Ring, analyse.

    Substance contains Aluminium, Oxygen, Silicone, Hydrogen, Iron, Magnesium, and various other elements. It is clay, and matches the chemical composition of local clay.

    "Thanks Oh El!"

    I rub my forehead with my right hand. "Don't worry about it."

    Anything special about this clay?

    Observed phenomena have no basis in conventional chemistry.

    Right, right. Of course, the problem there might be me. I keep thinking that clay shouldn't be able to do that. I remember that the comics had a load of different Clayfaces, but the only origin I remember is the one from Batman: the Animated Series. Some sort of beauty product, wasn't it?

    "So what do we do about the creature?"

    Robin has never encountered Clayface before, so Hagen must have been transformed sometime between his last encounter with them and now. I doubt Robin would remember him though; he and Batman tend to go through henchmen rather quickly. I only know his former face because I made a point of looking him up.

    "Batman wanted us to track it."

    Well remembered, M'gann.

    "Why settle for that? Okay, sure, it got the drop on us. But now we know its tricks!"

    :-|

    Kaldur, slap Wallace for me would you?

    "Yeah! We split up!"

    :-[

    Kaldur?

    "Then whoever finds old 'Clayface' radios the team."

    Wait, what? Why is Robin-?

    "We converge and kick some clay-butt!"

    !-[

    Kon, we're going to be having a talk about this.

    "What do you think, Aqualad?"

    "What? Oh. Yes… It seems we have a plan."

    }:[

    "Oh, we most certainly do not!"

    The clay sample I was analysing moves aside as I rise out of my chair, and land with some force in the front of the ship.

    "Are you seriously saying that you want to attack Clayface using exactly the techniques that just failed. He cannot be meaningfully hurt by kinetic force. And you think splitting up will improve our chances!?"

    No sound. They're all looking at me, though.

    Think calm thoughts.

    >:[

    I point at Wallace.

    "Kinetic force."

    I point at Kon.

    "Kinetic force."

    I point at M'gann.

    "Mostly, kinetic force."

    I point at Robin.

    "And unless you've changed your utility belt load out without telling me, kinetic force! Now, does anyone have any ideas for fighting a thing made entirely of clay that are actually sensible?"

    Stunned silence.

    Oh, Kaldur's woken up.

    "Could you track it with your ring?"

    "No, because it's got exactly the same chemical composition as Gotham mud-"

    I bring my clay sample to float in front of me, and wave it at him.

    "-and Clayface can change his shape at will. No constant unique physical characteristics."

    He looks down for a moment.

    "Is there something you would like to suggest?"

    "As I see it, we have two options for fighting it. We can bake it hard, or we can try and mix it with so much water that it can't maintain its integrity."

    "How would we do that?"

    "Can you use your water bearers to force water into it?"

    "Possibly. But what is to stop it simply reforming?"

    "Not much. I'm hoping that it needs a certain amount of clay in one place in order to think complex thoughts. But for my preferred option, Robin-"

    I shift my attention from Kaldur to him.

    "-do you know where you can lay your hands on some thermite at short notice?"

    He grins.
     
  8. Threadmarks: Clueless
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Clueless

    14th April
    Nugh?


    "Pffffffffffff!"

    What the heck?

    Sand?

    What?

    The cold sand under my right hand shifts slightly as I push myself into a kneeling position.

    What?

    Dark, I was expecting. Sand, not so…

    "Oh!"

    Right, dream. Chu.

    I push backwards, onto my bare feet.

    I've never been able to get this lucid dreaming thing to work for me before, but let's try…

    "Clean!"

    Sand sprays off me in all directions, nearly causing me to lose my lips as the sand in my mouth leaves by the nearest available exit.

    Alright, that worked. Now, what do I… Whaw.

    Looking down, I'm not standing on the ground anymore. I'm floating just above it. There's a small indentation where I was standing, and my feet are surrounded by a corona of orange light.

    Flying dream. I love flying dreams. Even that one time I was riding on a dragon's back to do it.

    I grin, and look at the sky.

    Go go go!

    Dust is blown away from me as I rocket into the sky. Within a few seconds I'm too high up to see the crater I made. I stop, and turn slowly around, taking everything in. A bit hard to see in the dark…

    Haha! I control this dream!

    The clearly illuminated desert dunes stretch away in all directions. Kinda dull, actually. No, I'm not wasting this!

    I dive back for the desert floor, grinning like a loon. As I hit the ground I want it to part before me, and then like Scrooge McDuck I dive through the densely packed silica grains in a subterranean 'U' before surfacing and hovering just above the ground.

    The path of my passage is now shiny crystal, a bit like the passages used in Tok'ra installations. As I watch, a weak wind blows some of the sand around the entranceway down into it. I suppose it'll fill in completely before too long. A bit of a shame, that. I remember an episode of the Aladdin animated series where Mechanicles tried to turn the whole desert into glass. Crazy, yes, but pretty.

    Wait a second. Why am I glowing orange?

    I hold out my hands for a moment. There's a glowing orange ring on my left. I bring it closer to my face, and turn my hand so that the palm is facing me.

    [​IMG]

    Orange power ring, of course! What better representation of a whim indulgence lucid dreaming than a device designed to make whatever the user wants to happen happen!

    "Hello, ring!"

    "Awaiting command."

    Hmm. The voice reminds me of the AI from Flight of the Navigator. Not sure what I was expecting. Was that my first exposure to the idea of artificial intelligence?

    This desert's a bit boring. Go somewhere else? Wait, what am I wearing? My summer pyjamas? Oh, hello arm, aren't you muscular today?

    I hold my right arm out to the side, upper arm horizontal and forearm straight up. I roll up the short sleeve of my pyjama top and rotate my hand one hundred and eighty degrees, watching the muscles move as I do so. I move my left arm over -yep, it's the same- and gently rub my right bicep, marvelling at it.

    Ring, remove my pyjamas.

    Oh HELL yes.

    My left hand traces the contours of my abdominal muscles as my right runs over my pectorals. Some sort of silver pendant sits between them on a chain. Ignoring it, I stretch, lean and flex, all the while taking in the GLORY that is ME. I run my hands over the unfamiliar muscles on my back. No body hair? Odd, but somehow appropriate, like a body builder but less deformed. I bend and tense the muscles in my legs, lightly massaging my thighs and calves. Also good.
    Penis looks the same, with the slightly discoloured patch on the left side of the head still visible. Looks like I evened up my scrotal balance though.

    God, this is great.

    Okay, clothes. Something classy. Oh yes, this is a nice suit.

    I rub myself against it, taking a moment to relish the feel of the material against my smooth skin. Closing my eyes and stretching my arms out to the side. No glasses, but my vision is perfect. The feel of wind through the fingers is like nothing I've felt before. I can hear the faint sound of sand grains sliding past each other. I can smell the arid desert air.

    I shake slightly at the overwhelming sensuality of it all.

    Huhuhuhurrrr.

    **Ohh, my head… Where am I? This can't be Mars…**

    My eyes snap open.

    What was that? Hello?

    **One moon… white sand… Oxygen!**

    Hello?

    **Hello?**

    I receive an impression of surprise.

    **Who's there?**

    **Ring, what's happening?**

    **What ring? Who is this?**

    **You are engaged in telepathic communication.**

    Oh.

    **Who was that?**

    I want to go to wherever the person I'm talking to is.

    The scenery shifts. I'm now facing a large dune, and just in front of me standing on the ground is… A young woman with long red hair and green skin.

    Wait a minute! That's M'gann! The Martian girl from the Teen Titans comics!
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2019
  9. Threadmarks: Tracers
    Mr Zoat

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    Tracers

    5th September
    09:54 GMT -5


    Wallace looks uneasy at the furry objects in the basket. "This doesn't feel very scientific."

    I sigh, and lower the bat. "It's not. I already know that the Danner Formula worked on them just fine. But yesterday I had to explain to Batman why I decided to build a giant naked statue of myself in the middle of an enemy country. I need this."

    We're standing in the training area. The female rats which I treated with the Danner Formula had their litters while we were on the Bialya mission, and their offspring showed superrodent strength and fortitude from birth. Taking a bit of a risk, I commanded the ring to replicate the physiological alterations upon their mothers. They were already suffering from suckling their Dawn-Rat offspring, and leaving them in that situation seemed unnecessarily cruel.

    It worked.

    Wanting to check a wider variety, I took a random selection of other rats and upgraded them as well.

    Now, we're going to play rat baseball.

    "Remember, don't put your hand anywhere near their mouths."

    Wallace looks at me, then back to the basket. I raise the bat, and take a stance.

    His hand moves.

    "Recognised, Troia, Ay zero five."

    What?

    "Hey guys, what are you do-?"

    I turn to the zeta tube as the rat flies past me and hits the wall. Edgar McScurry drops to the floor and we all watch as he rights himself, sniffs the air and then scurries along the floor. My grip on the bat relaxes.

    "And.. why were you going to hit that rat with a baseball bat?"

    I make the appeal gesture. "Because the shop didn't have a cricket bat. Bloody Americans."

    She's wearing her black star-studded armour and mithril bracers. Finding out that mithril exists here was a bit of a surprise. Finding out that Diana's gold armour is actually made of orichalcum was even more so. I'd thought that White Wolf made that stuff up for Exalted. But no: take a normal -if highly refined- metal, add a little magic and boom, super tough armour. I've got to add that to Sephtian's slate.

    Before Edgar can reach the exit and give Teekl even more cause to shun my company, I grab his tail with an orange tentacle, lift him into the air and ShockCrown him before he can break free. I was a little alarmed to discover that these rats are now strong enough to break my weaker constructs, but I suppose that was sort of the point of the process. I float him over to the basket. Strong though they are, it doesn't seem to occur to them that they can get through a solid looking obstruction.

    "Paul…"

    Whaw. That's exactly the tone Diana uses.

    "Short version: Alan gave me a copy of the formula that gave Hugo Danner super strength. I tested it on some rats, it worked. The bat wouldn't have hurt him."

    "You made.. super rats?" She looks more disturbed than impressed.

    "Yes!"

    I raise my right fist in exaltation.

    "NOW THE WORLD WILL TREMBLE IN FEAR BEFORE MY RODENT MINIONS!"

    Donna and Wallace blink at me. Wallace waves a finger. "Ah, I'm not gunna help you with that."

    "Was a joke, guys. Anyway, works on rats. Had a super strong Blue Jay flying around for a while. Not.. sure.. where that went. Monkey trials struck me as a really bad idea."

    I pause, waiting for a response. Donna appears to decide that it's her turn. "So you can make super strong animals? Is that.. good?"

    "The Danner Formula normally only works on foetuses. I now know how to make it work on adult organisms. I can make any baseline Human as strong as Hugo Danner was."

    "Alright, but what do you need me for? I'm skipping Chemistry revision to be here."

    "Eh, Wallace can help you with that."

    Wallace grins at her. "I'm, like, the king of chemistry. I can totally help you with that."

    "Your name's really Wallace?"

    He slumps slightly. Whoops. "Yeah."

    "Well, thank you, Wallace. That's very kind of you."

    And he's fine again. I hold up my left forefinger. "Ah. Just a moment…"

    Kon, Kaldur and M'gann walk in from the habitation area, with the sphere rolling along just behind them.

    Tingle tingle.

    M'gann's carrying Teekl, who turns her head to peer around the room. After her telepathic confrontation with Doctor Jones and my creation of offensively strong food animals, Teekl's been spending most of her time with M'gann.

    "Okay, Kon, do you want the good news first, or the bad news?"

    "Ah." He looks at M'gann and Kaldur, then back to me. "Bad.. news?"

    "Right, oh-kay."

    I float up into the air. Sooo good to have a full charge again.

    "After our encounter with Mister Twister, you made it clear to me that you.. were unhappy, not having the full range of Kryptonian powers. I've been working on the issue." I raise my hands, and form two images. "Eye on the left is yours. Eye on the right, Kal-El's."

    I trigger a zoom to various points of interest.

    "As you can see, near enough identical. Your ability to perceive different wavelengths is almost exactly as good as his, as is your magnification. But."

    The image pulls out and extends into the brain.

    "Your visual cortex, his visual cortex. As you can see, noticeable differences in structure." I point with my right hand. "This bit here, as far as I can tell, is the capacitor for his heat vision. You don't have one. Your visual cortex is almost entirely Human. So, bad news, I'm sorry, but unless I changed the structure of your brain -which I won't, by the way- there's no way to give you heat vision."

    He looks down, slumped, and nods.

    "I'm still working on flight. Now, good news. I've found a way to upgrade your strength."

    His head comes straight up. "Really?"

    I move my arms out to the side. "No, I'm winding you up."

    His face falls.

    "No no no, that was a joke! That was a joke. I've done it, with a little help from Wallace, Alan and a guy named Abednego Danner."

    The eye images are replaced by a cut away diagram of Kon's body, with Kryptonian, Human and Chimeric -presumably Genomorph- components in different tones.

    "See, originally, I was trying to see if I could get your Human components to have the same strong nuclear force control as your Kryptonian parts. Couldn't do it. But, it occurred to me, I'd be better off studying existing metahumans, and seeing if I could replicate their abilities."

    I float over to him, touching down a metre away.

    "And with the Danner Formula, I have a way to upgrade your Human components. Can't promise that you'll be exactly as strong as Superman, but you'll probably be close."

    He's smiling.

    "And that's why Donna's wearing her armour. You spar today, she'll need it." I extend my hands forward, towards his chest. "So, you want me to do this?"

    He looks a little stunned, in a happy sort of way. He nods.

    "Yes."

    Good day, good day.
     
  10. Threadmarks: Exaltations
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Exaltations

    8th September
    13:08 GMT -5


    The only good thing about monitoring a phased military stand down in a country on the other side of the planet is that when night falls you can go home and still have some day left. I think I'm going to be abusing the ring's 'don't need to eat or sleep' function. I had thought that I'd be working in an office with representatives of North and South. Instead, I spent most of it in front of a room full of press people, announcing a confirmation of each stage as it happened, as well as fielding their questions. The recording of me listening to 'There she is!' was released on VidULike and has now gone thoroughly viral. There's remixes, mash ups, extended cuts and the last mutation I saw had the music edited out and replaced with a porn sound track which I turn off once I see the Rhelasians. After I watched that, I stopped looking.

    There were a few people dressed up as Doki and Nabi outside, and they were eventually joined by people dressed as me.

    I have cosplayers now.

    That's a thing.

    Guy turned up for a bit around local midday. Not sure what he was planning, but it gave me a break so I didn't really care. When I came back, he was trying to dodge answering questions on the relationship between our Corps. I feel a bit bad about that. He's clearly been ordered not to say anything. News programs have been making the whole thing more interesting by splicing in parts of our dinner with Miss Grant. I guess that either she made the recording off the clock or GBS sold it on. I think we come across fairly well, and the people running the stall seemed happy enough about it.

    Diana's finding the whole thing a little amusing. Her only punishment for me 'coming out' was to make me spend an hour screening her fan mail so that I'll 'have a better idea of what I've let myself in for'. If I ever see a picture of a fat hairy naked guy again, it'll be too soon.

    Haven't heard anything back from the Taiwanese police yet. Bane's employees are in their care. I checked, and they are being treated properly. Well, aside from being made to go through Venom withdrawal cold turkey, but I can live with that. Mister Huang hasn't woken up yet, and I've set the ring to alert me when he does.

    I'm in the base's kitchen. No one else is here, and I want to eat something. Something not Asian. I don't mind it exactly, but the flavours just clash in my mouth and I haven't worked out the exact mechanics of eating some of it yet. I check, but the last of the chilli is gone from the freezer. What do we have? Nothing that looks appetising. Right, head into Happy Harbour, buy some fresh fish and vegetables, come back. If I stick some potatoes in to roast now, they should be ready when everything else is. The ring makes peeling easy, and lets me skip the usual pre-boiling and feathering with a burst of microwave radiation and a slight application of force. Olive oil, heat resistant dish, oven on to gas mark 6, oh. Right. Electric oven. Chart on the wall says gas mark 6 equals 200oC, which translates into Imperial as 392oF. In it goes.

    Ring, transition to the training area.

    Compliance.

    The scene shifts and oh. Kaldur's back. "Hi Kaldur, how's..?" I look at the object he's holding in his right hand. He notices what I'm looking at, and raises it slightly. "Is that.. actually.. Ocean Master's trident?"

    "Yes. My king did not want to keep it in Atlantis, and since we were the ones to defeat its former owner…"

    That's a little weird.

    "You know.. the only one of us who can use it is you, right? Are you.. actually.. planning to?"

    "I have not yet decided. It is a powerful weapon. I will need to train with it before I make a decision."

    "It's not booby trapped or anything, is it?"

    "No, it was checked thoroughly, and by mages of proven loyalty. I do not believe that Ocean Master would have considered planning for his own defeat worthwhile."

    "How.. is..?"

    Should I be asking that? I look away for a moment, and Kaldur does likewise.

    "He is… There is no immediate danger of Ocean Master dying. King Orin has expressed a desire for a full trial once he is well enough to go through it."

    I've still got his hands in subspace. With all the excitement in Asia I completely forgot about it.

    "Before I forget, there's a few things I need to talk to you about. Got a moment?" He nods. "Alright, first, I've still got Ocean Master's hands."

    His eyes widen slightly.

    I wave my hands in a warding gesture. "I picked them up after I cut them off, and with one thing and another I haven't got around to returning them. They're perfectly preserved… Ah, would they be able to reattach them?"

    He blinks, trying to come to terms with the idea of me carting around a man's hands. "Possibly. Now that he is out of danger…"

    "Who.. would I talk to about that?"

    We look at each other for a moment. I'm starting to feel like laughing.

    He shakes his head slightly. "I honestly am not sure. I suppose it would be the physician responsible for his care. If you go to the palace and ask for Tuvul'Orr, they should be able to direct you."

    "Thank you. I'll do that after lunch. Second thing, ran into Red Arrow yesterday. There's a-" I wave at the computer console. "-mission report, you should probably read. In summary, League of Shadows tried to violently break up the Rhelasian peace summit and we stopped them, but… When Red Arrow fought Onyx, she said something about them having a source inside our team. Now, I haven't put anything about that in the report. I've checked our electronic systems, nothing there."

    He nods in understanding. "That would just leave the people."

    I shake my head. "I don't think there's anything to it. I think she was just trying to wind him up, but, your call."

    His eyes flick down for a moment. "I suppose we cannot rule out the possibility."

    "I suppose not. Heh, I don't think I'd have believed my backstory if I hadn't lived through it. Alright, you want me to ask Diana to come here and truth lasso us all? I'll go first."

    "With all due respect to your sponsor, I think it would be more prudent to investigate quietly. If there is a mole, I have no wish to tip him -or her- off."

    "Okay, if that's how you want to do it. But if we're investigating, we need to get lassoed. I don't doubt your honesty and I don't think that you doubt mine, but if we're being thorough…" He nods. Glad he's not arguing about that. "I should be able to get hold of her this evening. Alright, last thing. Has Batman said anything to you about the process for us getting new members?"

    "No, he has not. Do you have someone in mind?"

    "Yes."

    I call the grey with orange sigil notebook out of subspace. Turns out that the rocket motor shut down as soon as I put the missile there. I desire, and the ring generates a copy of my research before returning the original to subspace. I hand the copy to Kaldur.

    "This, is Robert Marrack."
     
  11. Threadmarks: Home Font
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Home Font

    18th September
    19:02 GMT +8


    I haven't quite gotten used to the stares yet.

    Obviously my activity last time I was in Taipei was far more obvious than what I've been doing with the team, but there are plenty of other Caucasians around and it's not as if I'm wearing my armour. But I'm getting recognised. I'm getting photographed. I'm getting gawped at, even just walking down the street.

    Feels jolly odd.

    I'm on the way to the Mackay Memorial Hospital where Mister Huang Jianhong has recently woken up. Had to skip out on the morning training session, but Kaldur said it was fine. Mister Huang's parents -Missus Huang De and Mister Huang Tung- and a young woman -ah, her name's Miss Su Xin- I assume to be his girlfriend are with him now. It's been a couple of hours, and I think that the initial 'thank-god-I'm-alive' bit should have passed by now. Thinking about it, I'm not sure why I want to speak to him so much. I'm sure that the police will be interviewing him after an appropriate amount of time has passed, though at this point a new lead is unlikely. Everything I know about neurophysiology says that he should be at least as good as new. But I don't regard the case as complete until I've seen for myself.

    I don't know whether or not I'm actually allowed in to see him. It isn't as if I'm a relative or anything. Hmm. One of the windows in the room next to his is open, and the door doesn't make a good enough seal to stop my FTL. It's a pretty good room. Mister Luthor made a point of paying for his care. It was thoughtful of him, even if he made sure that the press knew about it. I'd have done it myself, but it just didn't occur to me to offer. I suppose I'm too used to the NHS just being there.

    Might as well skip the whole front desk bit. I materialise in a hospital corridor, one door down from the one Mister Huang occupies. I hear a soft thump, and turn to see someone I presume to be either a nurse or an orderly staring at me in astonishment, having just dropped a pile of folded bedclothes she was transporting from the cupboard to a trolley. She's probably in her mid twenties, though I remember reading an interview where the interviewee claimed that Asian women generally kept looking young until they suddenly don’t, so I could be well out. I pick the sheets up and move them to their intended destination, before walking toward her. I stop moving when her confusion shifts to nervousness.

    "Good morning, miss. Orange Lantern two eight one four."

    "Um… G-good morning, sir."

    She actually puts her hands together at her waist and gives me a shallow bow. Am I supposed to do that?

    "I'm here to check on Mister Huang. He's in this room-" I point. "-is he not?"

    "Ah!" She moves to her trolley and consults a clipboard. "Yes, that is where Mister Huang is staying."

    "Thank you. I won't keep you."

    I find myself bending slightly, as if some part of my brain believed that bowing was appropriate but was unable to secure a majority. I straighten, turn away, walk to the door indicated and knock loudly. The conversation within carries on, and for a moment I wonder if they didn't hear me.

    "Come in?"

    A woman's voice. I turn the handle and push open the door. Miss Su and Mister Huang senior are sitting on either side of the head of the bed, with Miss Su taking the window side. Missus Huang is sitting by the foot of the bed at her husband's side, and is looking at me as I enter the room. Given how surprised she looks I'm going to assume that she was expecting a doctor or something like that. Miss Su flickers her eyes up, then back to the patient, then back to me with her eyes widening.

    "Good morning. I'm sorry to intrude, but I was hoping that I might have a few words with Mister Huang Jianhong."

    Mister Huang senior stops talking to his son with a grunt. "You couldn't even wait a day, could y-." He swivels in his seat as he speaks, then cuts off. And I get a direct look at his son for the first time in two weeks. He's smiling faintly, and unlike his guests doesn’t seem shocked by my being here at all.

    "What can I do to help? They showed me the recordings of what I did, but I really don't remember much about it."

    "I didn't honestly expect you to. Have the doctors here explained what the stuff the League of Shadows stuck you with did to your body?"

    "Not yet. They're going to run some tests to check how I'm doing. I do remember reading a newspaper article on the effects of Venom use, but I thought that most of the harmful effects took a while to manifest?"

    "Usually, they do. But what you were given was a new substance made by combining Venom with something called the Blockbuster Formula. They then mixed that with something called Adder Venom, which is a Venom variant which had only previously been seen in a couple of places in Mexico. The stuff was responsible for you going berserk, and it has much worse side effects than regular Venom."

    "How bad?"

    "You'd have needed a new liver, and would have been left an emotionally unstable wreck. Probably for the rest of your life."

    He looks down at his chest. "I don’t seem to be..?"

    "Power rings are awesome. The liver was an easy fix, and it's now as good as it ever was. Thing is, I didn't know what your amygdala looked like beforehand, and that has a larger effect on your behaviour than your liver does. When I repaired it, I made it as good as an amygdala can be, and that's probably quite a bit better than it was."

    He looks more puzzled than worried. "What would that mean for me?"

    "Not sure, to be honest. As an educated guess, you'll be able to learn new skills faster than before, and your memory will probably be better. You'll have better intuition of what other people are feeling or thinking, and you'll probably be calmer and friendlier, no social anxiety at all."

    He seems to think for a moment. "Those all sound like good things."

    "If there were likely to be negative effects, then I wouldn't have been so gung-ho about doing it. Fact is, I've never done this to someone before and so I can't predict exactly what will happen. Plus, those behaviours might not have been how you were originally."

    "You have repaired my son's brain from the damage the terrorists caused… By making him smarter?" Mister Huang Senior wants to make sure that he's understood correctly.

    "Sort of? There haven't been any studies into the effects of doing what I did. I mean, we know what the result would have been if I'd done nothing, but it isn't as if I just go around doing this to everyone."

    "I do feel a little different." He frowns slightly. "When I woke up, I wasn't worried at all. I suppose I should have been, waking up in hospital with no memory of how I got here. But, I think I like it better this way than the alternative. And I appreciate the effort you have gone through on my behalf. Thank you."

    "You're welcome. But if you start to feel uneasy about the situation, contact me on this number." I summon forth a card with the number of the public phone in which I'm monitoring in Happy Harbor.

    He takes hold of it. "I will. Thank you for checking up on me."
     
  12. Threadmarks: Beta Male
    Mr Zoat

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    Beta Male

    23rd September
    05:16 GMT -5


    I stand in a service corridor, looking at the smooth hemisphere carved into the wall by an Arrow of Unmaking. The first, Artemis used in the library to moderate effect. Losing an arm cost Red Typhoon a great deal of precision but none of his raw power, the primary water control generator thingy being housed in the chest. I asked Batman for Red Tornado’s precise technical specifications but was rebuffed. He didn’t refuse exactly, but he did indicate that as far as he was concerned it was a League matter now.

    The second arrow went off here because a current of water knocked it out of Artemis’ quiver and into the wall. The quiver I gave her has little locking mechanisms which mean that you have to push down slightly before pulling the arrows out. That would have stopped them falling out during acrobatics, but she switched back because she found it awkward during normal use. As a result, when Typhoon tried to drown them she lost most of her arrows.

    Just lucky it didn’t go into her or Robin. Or a major electrical cable. I thought that the impact trigger I built into it would prevent accidental activation, but it seems that a depth charge exploding in close proximity works just as well as striking a target. Maybe I should add an extra safety? An activation button, perhaps?

    !Must repair!

    “Lantern Stewart, would you mind?”

    Lantern Stewart points his ring, and part of our accumulated rubble pile is consumed as the hole is repaired by a green beam. He wanted to make an early start, and I’m used to getting up early. Before I came to this world that was because I had an hour long train journey to get to work. Last night... I... I didn’t get much sleep. Even with my orange feline nightlight standing guard. I don’t think the others did either.

    “What did that?”

    “I made Artemis some arrows using Alexander Tuttle’s ‘crumbler’ technology. That’s a misfire.”

    We had a chat about exactly what he’s allowed to do with his ring as far as building work goes, and the upshot is that he with his unlimited-recharges-but-can-only-manufacture-things-commonly-available-on-Earth-unless-he-gets-special-dispensation ring will be doing all of the structural work, while the orange no-more-recharges-for-seven-hours-but-can-make-anything ring makes the advanced stuff. Well, we are now. Last night I got a bit repair-happy, and I’m now on low power. Unlike Lantern Jordan, Lantern Stewart actually sounded interested in the possibilities of unrestrained creation.

    “Crumbler? Didn’t he use gauntlets?”

    We carry on down the corridor. At the moment we’re just checking the base is structurally sound and doing a little tidying up. We could have started the major work immediately, but I pointed out that it would be a bit pointless to rebuild something if we decided not to include it in the redesign and had to tear it down again. He’s volunteered to do most of the design work.

    “Yeah, but his design had a load of jank.” He gives me a puzzled look. “Stuff that it didn’t need in order to work, I mean. Sure, I can see how it could be useful to precisely control the shape and size of the area being crumbled, or the rate of crumbling, but it’s hardly necessary. Once you strip out everything you don’t need, you can make a one use short duration high intensity crumble generator the size of an arrowhead.”

    I nod my head to the side.

    ”If you’ve got a power ring, anyway.”

    I asked, and it turned out that he had to wind up his architecture practice in order to be a full time Lantern. Really, that just reaffirmed my decision that establishing a civilian identity wasn’t worthwhile. If you can never use it, what’s the point? I mean, what does he tell people he does for a living? He hadn’t joined the League when this place was first built and so wasn’t involved in the construction process. Superman and Lantern Jordan might have hollowed the space out, but Batman and Mister J’onzz handled design and the electronics.

    “You been making a lot of things with your ring?”

    “Blanks for magic artefacts, mostly.” I give an amused snort. “I was actually wearing a personal ward when the robots attacked. If their abilities had been magic based, I could probably have beaten them even without this ring.”

    I flap my left hand up before letting it drop back down to my side. I’ve been wearing the ring ‘the right way around’ since getting it back yesterday evening. Not quite sure why, but it’s not as if I’m going out in public.

    He frowns. “I didn’t think it was possible to use a power ring to do magic.”

    “Far as I know, it isn’t. But if the party wizard wants some sort of symbol drawn on the ground for a ritual, you just need to look at the illustration and.. will it so, in your case.” I hold up my right hand and generate the Seal of Solomon. The good version John Constantine showed me, with all the extra squiggles. “Same with reagents and artefacts; you need a particular shape or formula, it’s far faster to do it with a ring.”

    He nods. The corridor exits back into the main cavern, though unlike last night this part is no longer under water. With the main generator out, light is provided by halogen spotlights connected to portable generators. The rest of the mountain has emergency lighting powered by built in batteries... Where they hadn’t been completely destroyed, anyway. Ring power means that Lantern Stewart and I can see just fine.

    “We’ll be bringing in a replacement generator at oh six twenty.”

    Being at ground zero for an electromagnetic surge of that sort of power turned out to be a bit unhealthy for the main generator. I’m not sure exactly how it generates power, but the consensus among those who do understand it appeared to be that replacing it would be more sensible than letting me reset it to factory settings.

    “How exactly are they going to get that in here?”

    “The generator was designed to be exactly the maximum size the mountain’s zeta tubes can handle. We’ll use the temporary generators to power the tubes at this end and bring it through.”

    “For a moment there I was wondering if we were going to have to hinge the entire mountain open.”

    I look around the cavern. Kaldur and M’gann are talking to Mister J’onzz. No King Orin, but I suppose it would have been very short notice.

    !Assist!

    I should really talk to Kaldur about that, see how things are going in Atlantis. If Kaldur’s still here, he probably hasn’t had any sleep at all. I’ll see if I can bring myself up to speed and then suggest that he get his head down for a few hours.

    Captain Atom’s pulling some wrecked electronics from the wall. Teekl’s floating just over his shoulder, watching the sparks and flailing wires with interest. Then, she turns and makes eye contact with me before dropping to the floor and starting to walk in my general direction. I mean, she’s still a cat. She isn’t going to hurry over, is she?

    This is probably the furthest she’s been from me since I got the ring back. She followed me back to the main cavern, then to my room, then back to the main cavern when I finally gave up on sleep and then part of the way around the mountain checking for damage. She usually doesn’t spend that much time with me in a week. I wonder if it’s my need that’s drawing her to me, or if she’s genuinely that compassionate?

    Last time I saw them, Wallace and Robin were in the living area, dozing on the settee. They were really quite angry when the League first appeared, but there’s only so long you can keep that up when the other party doesn’t respond and you are either dog tired or ravenously hungry. Kon’s been stewing in his own frustration. I left Diana trying to engage him in conversation, but I’m not sure where he is now. I still think the best thing to do is to keep yourself occupied in a situation like this.

    !Make better!

    Fretting doesn’t help.

    !Make better!

    Artemis was talking to Black Canary –not sure where they’ve got to- while Green Arrow hasn’t arrived yet. Superman was here, and he and Kon studiously avoided looking at each other until he left to see if he could pick up the Reds' trail.

    “Hard at work already? ‘Cause I gotta be honest; you could both use the beauty sleep.”

    !!!

    I jerk my head to the right, armour forming around me even as I process the voice. Guy Gardner, with a slightly concerned looking Captain Marvel standing just behind him.

    “Wohw! Easy there buddy.”

    I relax slightly, dropping the armour.

    “I was just sayin’ t’Marvel here, hope you’re not going to try an’ use this as an excuse to pussy out of training on Saturday.”

    “Why, have you finally learned to balance the ball on the end of your nose?”

    A flicker of green in the corner of my eye is swiftly followed by a sharp stinging sensation on my left earlobe. I jerk my left hand up to it before my brain catches up. I look down at the green construct hand sticking out of the ground on the end of a thin green thread. It waves, and then makes an obscene gesture at me. I grin. Not only is it not coming out of his ring, but his ring’s not even glowing.

    “You finally got the hang of it!”

    Lantern Stewart looks at it with evident curiosity. “How are you doing that?”

    Guess Lantern Tui isn’t all that imaginative, either.

    “Paul showed me. Ya gotta send a real thin construct under the ground from your foot. When it comes out the other end, just make whatever you want from that, instead of yer ring.”

    Lantern Stewart looks confused. “I thought you were training him.”

    I shrug. “Well, yeah, but what would we have done for the rest of the afternoon? I think I’ve nearly undone all the damage Lantern Kilowog did. Just wish I could do something about the smell.”

    “Oh, that’s it! On Saturday, we’re doin’ orbital bombardment practice!”
     
  13. Threadmarks: Revolution
    Mr Zoat

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    Revolution

    25th September
    07:01 GMT -6


    “Are you sure about this?”

    “Yeah, come on. Hit me!”

    Guy stares me down with a rakish grin. We’re floating above the Chihuahuan Desert, and the ruined proof of the fact that the League shouldn’t call upon me to counter an orbital bombardment any time soon. Sandcastle New York lasted about twelve seconds. Sandcastle Seattle managed three. Sandcastle Mount Justice survived for all of two minutes before Guy actually put some effort into it.

    The statue of Kon’s still standing, mind.

    “Alright, but if it looks like it’s not working, I’m going to stop immediately.”

    “It’ll work!”

    I hold out my left hand. I’ve put the ring sigil back on the palm side, and I point that right at him.

    “Ring, assimilate.”

    The deep orange beam strikes Guy square in the chest and the orange ripples spread out over him like a cocoon.

    "Identity Theft in progress. One percent complete. Warning, will detected."

    Guy grins harder, and clenches his right fist harder.

    ”Two percent complete.”

    His ring crackles with green energy, momentarily breaking through the orange coating.

    ”Warning, will intensifying.”

    I am.”

    The cocoon shatters as his environmental shield surges.

    "Identity Theft ability interrupted by will pulse. Do you wish to resume?"

    “Hah! Told ja it’d work.”

    His ring is still crackling and his aura is a brilliant green shield of solid willpower and smug.

    “Do you want me to try again?”

    “Sure! Go ahead.”

    Wipe the grin off his face.

    Ring, assimilate.”

    Another orange beam, this time pointed at his head. As soon as it touches his environmental shield the beam fades to nothing.

    ”Unable to connect.”

    “Hah!”

    “Okay, I’ll bite. What are you doing?”

    “You said you heal yourself by focusing your need to be perfect. But I’m me right? I already know I’m perfect. So, I just gotta focus on being me, hard as I can? I can do that. I am.”

    His aura intensifies still further. He unclenches his right fist and brings his ring up to his lips to kiss it.

    Ophidian's Eyes.

    No, nothing. All I see is a green Guy Gardner. I’m genuinely impressed. Guy’s never been that imaginative, and he’s copied my concept and developed his own green-friendly version in a few weeks.

    “And the doctor said I mighta had brain damage. Huh, shows what she knows.”

    Or you just fixed it. We certainly didn’t need hit-on-head-to-change-personality Guy around the place, thank you very much.

    “Any news on going back on active duty?”

    His aura drops back to normal and his ring crackles as his smile fades. “They’ve scheduled an assessment for a couple a’ weeks. Dunno why they’re draggin’ their feet over this.”

    “Because something unexpected has happened, and that annoys them.”

    “Hey, show some respect.” He jabs at me with his ring finger. “The Guardians got a whole Corps to run. They ain’t got time t’ come runnin’ just cause I’d like ‘em to.”

    “Doesn’t Clarissi Salaak run the Green Corps?”

    “Salaak? Nah, he’s just a secretary.”

    Ring, message him using Salaak’s image.

    Compliance.

    Guy’s ring blinks twice. He frowns at it. “Oh. Hang on.” He holds it out in front of him. “Yeah?”

    Salaak’s image appears.

    Guy immediately clenches to attention, all humour vanishing from his face. “Lantern Salaak. Got a mission for me, sir? Ohhhh...”

    The image of Salaak has an orange sigil in place of the green one. Curious, I didn’t mean to do that.

    Guy drops his ring down and look at me. “That, was a dick move.”

    “Pffffff!”

    “Okay smart guy, serious time now.” He crosses his arms. “Wonder Woman wanted me to talk to you about the robot attack.”

    “What’s to talk about? We got owned. If they’d wanted to kill us, they could have done. Lantern Stewart and I-.”

    “Yeah yeah, turnin’ the place into a fortress. She said. You really think that’s necessary?”

    !Yes!

    “I think events speak for themselves. I always thought that the whole ‘they won’t think to look here’ thing was a bit weak, and the robots just proved me right.”

    “Okay but, plasma cannons? Anti-Kryptonian plasma cannons?”

    “It’s not a measure of power, they just operate on the right wavelengths to disrupt Kryptonian organelles. And they’re not cannons, they’re just… Efficient. Besides, I said I’d compromise on that.”

    “Right... Paralysis traps. Which you got from The Brain.”

    I hold out my hands, palms upward. “Which don’t cause any lasting harm. An intruder would be rendered helpless, and all a friend who forgot to enter their password would have to do is shout it. Or wait until someone came to check on the cause of the alert.”

    “Look kid, I’m not... I’ve got no say in the rebuilding process. I just wanna know that you’re coping okay. How’s that meditation thing of yours goin’?”

    I look away. “I’ve... Been having.. trouble. Short term stuff’s demanding so much of my time at the moment. And I think I might have messed up with Captain Marvel.”

    John got his bone fragments eventually. Marvel didn’t say much else to me. I’ve no idea what he’s thinking at the moment.

    “Didn’t you say that you needed to keep your long term goals in mind to avoid going cuckoo?”

    “Look, Guy, two nights ago two robots broke into our home and took most of us prisoner. If that.. if that happened to people under my command, I’d give them a few days before sending them anywhere. Instead, we get sent to India, and nearly eaten by super rats. If we’d delayed a day the team could have been well rested and I’d have started with a full ring charge.”

    “Alright, but he’s giving you a break now, right? If you let John handle the-.”

    I give him a calm and level look.

    He looks puzzled. "What?”

    “He’s sending us to Africa tomorrow.”

    “What?”
     
  14. Threadmarks: Inhumanity
    Mr Zoat

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    Inhumanity

    3rd October
    08:07 GMT -5


    "…tells me that in this age a skirt is not an appropriate item of clothing for a man, but I am still not completely comfortable with thisss."

    He spreads his arms and gestures at his bodysuit. Adom and I are in the staff dining room of the Themysciran embassy, eating breakfast. He’s staying here until the League can think of somewhere more permanent for him to go. Batman seemed to be alright about what I did to make this happen, but he was right when he pointed out that I hadn’t really planned for the next bit. I would have done, given a little more time, but in the meantime we’ve got a man who doesn’t speak any modern languages and who’s never seen iron before to introduce to this country.

    Maybe the costume is a bad idea. I mean, he doesn’t look all that much like Theodore Adam’s transformed state, but if I’ve learned one thing during my time in this crazy world it’s that people tend to see the costume and ignore everything else.

    "I’m sure that if you wanted to wear something else a tailor could be found, Mighty One."

    He shakes his head. "No, it is a trivial matter. Learning English and Kahndaqi Arabic is a far more urgent concern."

    "How’s that going?"

    "Your princess has arranged for a tutor from a local school... No, they are called..." He frowns. "Universities? I teach them of Kahndaq-. Ancient Kahndaqi, I should say, and they teach me English in exchange. It is slow, but I can hardly require that you or one of the Martians escort me at all times." He smiles faintly. "Martians. To think that there are other worlds like ours..."

    "And Arabic?"

    "No. I am lucky enough to have a teacher who can understand Kahndaqi at all. Arabic will have to wait." He slices through a piece of bacon with his knife and holds it up on his fork. "They tell me that this is forbidden in Kahndaq, now. That the animal it is taken from is considered unclean. Do you know why that is?"

    "It’s a religious prohibition, but the underlying reason? No. I didn’t think it was favoured in your time either."

    He shakes his head. "Another change that occurred after my death. In my time we did not have the luxury of rejecting perfectly good food. It seems wasteful... but perhaps I should make an effort to conform?"

    "Planning to convert to Islam?"

    "Of course not, but it would not hurt to observe some of the traditions..." He lowers the fork and pushes the plate aside. "And what of you?"

    "Today? The wizard who helped me with... you has finished designing an enchantment I wanted and I’m getting it tattooed onto my skin. Given how magic affects me I doubt I’ll be much use for anything else for the rest of the day after that."

    "When you said that you had no soul I had thought that you were using a metaphor. You must trust this wizard a great deal."

    Um...

    "On certain matters, yes. I trust him not to stab me in the back. I’ll be taking Kaldur -Aqualad- with me even so."

    And I asked Queen Mera to review his designs. According to her they should work as described, though she couldn’t be certain. Nothing quite like this has ever been done before.

    "At some point I should probably take the time to thank him for his efforts on my behalf."

    Errrr...

    "If you like, Mighty One. But John Constantine is a somewhat... Idiosyncratic man. Not always easy to get along with."

    Adom waves my concern aside. "I used to run a country. I am certain that I can hold my temper around one irritating wizard, particularly when I am in his debt. Now, I shall take my leave."

    He rises, and walks out of the room in the direction of the residential section. Ferdinand got the job of explaining modern plumbing to him and he got the hang of it immediately. Mostly. I saw him watching in horror at one of the charity workers taking a glass of water directly from a tap and had to do a quick off the cuff presentation of modern water treatment processes, but he’s intelligent enough to realise that if we’re doing something there is probably a reasonable reason for it.

    Now for the other reason I’m here. I pick up the glasses, his plate and my bowl and head towards the kitchen. Ferdinand usually has the place to himself, though they hire people in during large events. As I push through the doors I see him putting the finishing touches to a leafy salad. I clean the crockery and return it to the correct cupboards. Ferdinand and I are both very particular about that sort of thing.

    "Was something wrong with the bacon?"

    Ferdinand’s holding up the salad bowl and looking at it critically. His eyes are a bit further towards the front of his head than those of an actual bull would be, but he told me that his snout can still get in the way.

    "No, but bacon’s banned in Kahndaq. He doesn’t want to do something which might offend his countrymen."

    "Fair enough."

    I lean back against the work surface and hold my arms across my chest. "So... The spear thing..."

    "Yeah, look, I... I was a bit angry about some stuff, thought I’d take it out on a training dummy."

    Ah, personal conversations. With someone I don’t really know all that well. I mean, we’ve spent some time in each other's company -mostly him watching me like a hawk-bull when I wanted to use the kitchens here- but I wouldn’t say that we’re close.

    "Do you want to... talk about it? If not, I can probably create better sparring opponents than training dummies..?"

    "Uhh." He sighs and tosses his head. "Leslie... We were talking about Christmas, and she wants me to spend it with her at her parents' place."

    "That’s great, isn’t it?" Why wouldn’t it..? Oh. "She has told them you’re a... y’know..." I mime having horns.

    He lowers his muzzle so that he can stare at me with both eyes. "Of course she has. It’s not even them I’m really bothered by." He walks over to look out of the window onto the busy New York street below. "When I first came to New York with Diana, I got stared at a lot. I didn’t like it but, fair enough, they hadn’t seen anything like me before. Eventually, people here got used to me. I still get the occasional tourist wanting a picture but apart from that..."

    He slumps a bit, putting his weight on his arms. There isn’t a tribe of cow-headed people anywhere. The original Minotaur is still around somewhere and I found out that the two of them share a great grandfather, but apart from that he’s never mentioned other family. Given that the mythological version of how the Minotaur came to be appears to be true, I haven’t wanted to ask.

    "I don’t like getting stared at, and if we spend a week in Seattle I’m going to get nothing but people staring at me."

    "Have you considered a disguise?"

    He turns his head just enough to give me an incredulous look with his right eye.

    "I mean, like, an illusion spell or something."

    "Diana would just tell me that they’ll get used to it."

    "Well, luckily for you I’m not her. I know a guy who does good work, and.. I’m.. due to meet him in about two hours, if you want to come along?"
     
  15. Threadmarks: Contingency
    Mr Zoat

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    Contingency

    14th October
    13:56 GMT -5


    I dash down the corridors of the Allen Hospital in what I fully appreciate is a panic. Come on, come on, they said it was around here somewhere!

    "-complete overreaction, Diana. I just tripped. Coulda happened to anyone."

    There! I darn near bounce off the wall at the end of a T junction, feet scrabbling for grip on the squealing floor.

    "Alan, you're not a young man anymore. Doctor Jacobs is just concerned-."

    I shove through the door to Alan's room, and they both turn their heads to look at me. Diana's wearing.. tweeds and a shawl? Guess she finds it hard not to get noticed around New York. Alan's still in jeans and a slightly rumpled shirt, sitting on the edge of the bed nearest the door and slightly turned away from the walking frame positioned at the end of it.

    "Oh, not you too. It's noth-"

    I cross the gap between us, bend down and hug him.

    "-thing. Okay." He hugs me back. "Clearly I.. scared you more than I thought I did."

    As I loosen my grip I get my first good look at his face. The skin around his right eye is purpling in a way which suggests a black eye in the not too distant future. That skin which had been smooth and blemish free when we first met three months ago has taken on the looser and more wrinkled look I remember from my grandparents. His formerly wheat blonde hair is now noticeably greying. Maybe I'm imagining things, but his eyes seem a little dimmer too.

    "Paul, I'm okay. I just caught my foot on the edge of the step when I was carrying some.. ah, some things upstairs. Hit the side of my face. But I'm fine, really."

    No you're not. You're ninety three and you had a fall. My Nan was younger than you and she never fully recovered from her first fall. I knew he'd age but I thought we'd have more time than this!

    Ring, heal.

    Unable to comply.

    I hold up my left palm to stare at the stupid thing.

    "Well why not!?"

    "A high proportion of the substance of the target individual is etheric in nature. Its alignment resists modification by orange light. Though it is possible to proceed, the most probable result is further damage."

    "Paul, it's fine. I've been bruised worse than this plenty of times. I remember in my first fight with Grundy-."

    "Okay, it's not a problem, you can just use your ring. Where did you leave it?"

    His eyes dip to the floor for a second, and then he makes eye contact with Diana. "Well, I... Until you showed me, I didn't even know power rings could be used for healing."

    "Now you know, and if Guy can get the hang of it then you should... What?"

    "Paul, I... I thought I told you."

    "Told me what?"

    "My ring's been out of juice for three weeks now. Can't get a durn thing out of it."

    Nooooo.

    "Oh, come on, I'm not going to drop down dead tomorrow. I'm not touching that walker, though."

    "Do you want a hand up?"

    He shuffles his weight right to the edge of the bed, arms supporting himself on both sides. A little gingerly he shifts the load to his legs, standing up fully once he's sure they can take it. Once he's up I realise that I was standing by to catch him if something went wrong.

    "There, see? I'll take things a little slower for a few days, next time this week I'll be good as new." He frowns and looks me over. "You're not skipping out of class to be here, are you?"

    "No. Mister.. Jones is teaching mental techniques I already know. Apparently, power ring users tend to shrug off weak mental illusions anyway."

    In Carpe Jugulum, Nanny Ogg said that Discworld vampire hunters get drunk before they go hunting, as vampires find it hard to get through the 'fog' surrounding their thoughts. Turns out? Probably not true for here. Mister J'onzz can send me to sleep when my ring generated telepathic shields are down, but when I focus to create a construct simple telepathic illusions and attempts at mental misdirection tend to fade away. Wish that had been true when I first moved into the mountain, could have wrapped that whole thing with the G-Gnome up very quickly.

    "How is Kon coping with it?"

    Can't be very often a man honestly forgets that Diana is in the room with him. From her smirk I think she may have spotted it.

    "He seems to be doing okay. He certainly sees the value of it, and he did some practice with M'gann when she removed his Cadmus programming."

    She pushes open the door and holds it open. I wait while Alan walks out ahead of me.

    "He said that you were having dinner with Artemis tomorrow."

    Alan's head jerks around and he gives me a grin.

    "Oooh?"

    "I'm having dinner with Artemis and her mother. Her mother had a spinal injury and I repaired it with the ring, they invited me over to say thank you."

    A quick check online suggested that Artemis was wrong about the etiquette. A bottle of wine might be appropriate, but I don't drink and Artemis can't drink legally. Oh, wait, America. Neither Artemis nor I can drink legally. I think they'll like my alternative, but I am a little worried that I might have overdone things again.

    "Getting on her mother's good side already?" He turns to Diana while pointing at me. "This is what happens when you teach them strategic planning."

    No. No.

    "Alan, Artemis -I like her- but she's a bit young for me."

    Diana nods. "You have been spending a good deal of time with her sister. And I think Ollie said something about her recently divorced mother looking noticeably younger?"

    My face freezes as I look at Diana. She's an Amazon! She shouldn't be allowed to make this sort of joke! Change the subject change the subject.

    "Diana, do you have a bow?"

    She raises her eyebrows slightly and Alan chuckles.

    "I've trained with most types of weapon. Why do you ask?"

    "No, I mean, do you have a bow like your training swords? One where you can use it at full strength without breaking it?"

    "I do, but it's a little impractical; I can shoot an arrow further than I can see. Why do you ask?"

    "Can I..? Is it possible for me to commission weapons like that? Or armour?"

    "I.. suppose. I'd have to ask Io. But why would you want one?"

    "I was thinking of getting Artemis one as a pres-."

    They both nod as if understanding has dawned.

    "NOT LIKE THAT!"
     
  16. Threadmarks: Reordered
    Mr Zoat

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    Reordered

    17th October
    15:51 GMT -5


    "Y'know, I think I'm starting to like New Paul."

    He looks at the dishes of ice cream covering the dining area table. We aren't an expert... No, I suppose we are an expert. Probably the greatest expert ever, actually. Absorbing all frozen milk derivative pudding knowledge in the world only took a few moments, and we combine that with the ability to feel every molecule in the substance throughout the mixing and freezing process.

    Artemis swings her right hand at the back of his head. We ready a shield, but Wallace sidesteps at super speed.
    "Hey! You need to be careful doing that!"

    She crosses her arms at her chest, hands folded behind her upper arms. "I'd have hit you exactly as hard as you deserved. He's possessed, you shouldn't joke about it!"

    "He seems okay to me."

    "His forehead has a glowing lantern sign carved into it!"

    He indicates a bowl with his spoon. "Hey, what's this one?"

    "Orange flavoured."

    He leans down to peer at it, squinting with his right eye.
    "Doesn't look very orange, buuut I guess you're the expert."

    "We extracted oil from the rind of seven oranges to make it. Commercial orange ice cream almost always uses food colouring in addition to the artificial flavouring. We find this practice distasteful."

    "See, he's even making jokes! Hey, Rob-" He addresses the wall monitor, through which the cave's laboratory can be seen. "-you finished the toxicology screening yet?"

    Robin's face appears. "It's... As far as we can tell, it's just ice cream. Cream, sugar, egg yolks and flavoring."

    "And it won't do to me that thing that happened to Manhunter?"

    "Can't think of any reason why it would."

    "Sweeeett."

    "We would not have poisoned you. We are guided by our desire for your happiness."

    "You're making him happy by helping him pig out on ice cream."

    "It works."

    "We will also be monitoring his digestive processes, his blood sugar and fat deposits. We have long been curious as to the cause of his dietary concerns."

    Wallace shrugs.
    "I burn a lot of fuel to go fast."

    "You would need to eat far more than you do to fuel your speed through calorie intake alone, you regularly eat more than your stomach should be able to process, you do not spend a proportionate quantity of time excreting and neither of your predecessors share this problem. It cannot be a simple matter of fuel."

    "See Artemis, it's for science. What's this one?"

    "Mint."

    "And this one?"

    "Mango."

    "And-?"

    "Peppermint."

    Artemis appears to realise something.
    "You're monitoring his digestion?"

    "Yes, of course. Matter is being transformed, and we must understand-."

    "Okay, Oh El? New rule. No scanning me while I'm in the bathroom."

    "That will make it much harder to get good results. And do you know how many superheroes have died while on the toilet?"

    He and Artemis look at each other.
    "Nnnnnooooooo?"

    "Three. Granted, in Red Bee's case it was due to underlying health problems rather than assassination... But if we'd been scanning him at the time we could have healed him."

    Artemis screws up her face.
    "Ew!"

    "Don't care, got ice cream." His expression turns more serious as he looks at me. "And I'm serious about the bathroom thing."

    "As you wish. Having observed your ingestion habits we recommend starting with the white chocolate variety."

    "Which one is..?"

    We raise it up. "We have raised it to optimal eating temperature. We hope you will enjoy it."

    He takes hold of the bowl in his left hand and brings his spoon to bear.
    "Here I go." His spoon passes easily into the soft white just freezing material. He takes a small amount before withdrawing and looking at it critically. "Looks okay."

    "…down and have a bottle of beer with the ache of all you've lost. I saw Milarepa at the coffee house…" All three of us stare at the ring as it starts singing. We slap it a few times and it stops. "We're sorry, we have no idea why it keeps doing that. Please, continue."

    Wallace frowns, but dismisses it. In truth, we are a little concerned. Neither of our components understand power ring programming and the Ophidian was once imprisoned by such a device. It shouldn't be acting contrary to our desires like that. The song is not relevant to our current situation. Or perhaps it is? The Ophidian couldn't be said to be caged any longer.

    We watch as Wallace gingerly raises the spoon to his lips before sliding it in and sucking the ice cream off. He rolls it around his mouth for a moment for a moment, a beatific smile gradually appearing on his face.
    "This is the greatest thing I have ever tasted."

    "We're glad, but you have many more to go. Perhaps we may surprise you again?" And then the bowl's empty and he's picked up the macadamia nut flavour. We flavoured it with nut oil rather than putting pieces in and we're not quite sure what the effect will be.

    "Ugh." Artemis looks unimpressed as Wallace begins moving through our work at some speed. Fortunately, these are just sample bowls. We still have plenty more. "Look, are you.. both of you, whatever. You're still not going to do anything about this super strength.. thing."

    Wallace momentarily stops spooning. "He gave you super powers! I dunno what you're complaining about!"

    "I never asked for this!"

    "And it's awesome!"

    "We were really more concerned about-."

    "And you still won't give me the collar that Paul made for me?"

    "If you like the collar-."

    "Whow whow whow." Wallace lowers his thirteenth bowl and gives Artemis a stunned look. "He gave you a collar? Like-?"

    We generate a construct to demonstrate its appearance. Artemis throws a spoon through it, disrupting it and embedding her projectile in the door of one of the kitchen units.

    "A power suppression collar! So I could get used to super strength without smashing things."

    "That is actually far more unlikely than-."

    "And now he gets possessed by a demon and just forces it on me!"

    "The Ophidian isn't actually-."

    "When that inquisitor gets here, I am so going to look forward to him kicking that stupid orange snake right out of you."

    We blink. "Inquisitor?"
     
  17. Threadmarks: Transparency
    Mr Zoat

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    Transparency

    23rd October
    21:21 GMT -5


    Guy and I stare at the wall of paper blocking the corridor to my room.

    "Did you have all your files on paper in there? Y'know rings can do data storage, right?"

    "I'm not.. completely sure." We both walk up to the blockade and pull out a few pages. It's actually stacked fairly neatly but it's continuous. We're about.. um.. eighty metres from my room. Corridor's about a metre and a half wide and two metres tall, the paper's A4...

    "This some kinda alien?"

    Guy turns his page towards me, revealing... A picture of a Carnifex. My page has what appear to be mathematical formulae, but after a moment my eyes unfocus and it starts to make sense. Did I really do that..? Clearly, yes.

    "Sort of. There's this wargame I used to play called Warhammer Forty Thousand. That's a picture of one of the units. It's called a Carnifex. I think.. when the Ophidian and I were.. you know, together.. we sort of decided to rework all of the rules. See, the company which makes it is really bad about balancing stuff, and a load of rules just don't work or don't do what they're supposed to and they got a bit of a randomness obsession in the last version of the main rulebook..." Not that 6th edition's been released here yet.

    "You're sayin' all this is..?"

    "My attempts to do better. Well, the Ophidian's and mine, there's no way I could have done this sort of calculation by myself " Hm. A summary of fixes for Slugga Boyz. Choppas with AP 4 or shred or rending, run and assault, pursue into new combat... Huh, and looks like changing vehicle firing rules to only restrict heavy or ordnance weapons works just fine.

    "The rulebook's supposed to be this big?"

    "No, but this includes records of all of my testing. All of my alterations, and the results of thousands of simulated games based on those alterations. I'm.. not really sure why we put it on paper, mind."

    "Why not?"

    "Nooot with you."

    He frowns. "What'd'ya mean?"

    "Oh, um Britishism. I don't understand what you mean."

    "Why don't you understand why you did it?"

    I take a moment to look through what appears to be an attempt to model the effect of imposing 2nd edition choosing a target rules on 6th edition. "I don't remember everything we did together. It's like.. you remember what I told you about accelerating your brain using a power ring, why I don't do it routinely?"

    "'Cause the bits o'your brain that were in the ring bits would vanish when y'took the ring off."

    "Right. The Ophidian is this.. ancient elemental.. thing. I don't know if I can explain it properly. I don't even know if I can comprehend it as I am now. I'm.. not Green Lantern material. I don't stick with a thing until it's done, I stick with it until I get bored with it. This was created by a being who couldn't comprehend stopping until it got exactly what it wanted."

    "Which was what, exactly?"

    "The perfect wargame. I might also have a complete redesign of Dungeons and Dragons in there somewhere. And.. possibly the Human digestive system. Got a bit.. strange, towards the end."

    "You redes-. You know what? I ain't even gonna ask." He tries to slide his page back into the piles, but can't tip the pile back far enough to get it the full way in. "What'd'ya wanna do with all o'this?"

    "I'd quite like to send it all to Games Workshop headquarters in Nottingham. I mean, I've basically written the next edition for them, and it's far better than anything they'd have put out."

    "If only y'hadn't given Wondy your power ring."

    "Yeah... I.. couldn't persuade you to stick it in yours, could I?"

    "All of it?"

    "When I headed to the moon.. I don't even really remember dumping everything. I've got no idea where the important parts are. And the rest is the proof that the change is the correct thing to do. Without it, it's just one man's opinion."

    He rubs his chin with his right hand. "Eh, not like we can just set fire to it in here. You want it in any particular order?"

    "Nooo. I'm just hoping there's a record on the ring where it's all supposed to go."

    He raises his right hand, and his ring highlights the first pile of paper with green light. A second later it disappears into his subspace pocket. This could take a while.

    "There gunna be anything interestin' through here?"

    I shrug. "I'm not sure. I was working on improved water armour for Kaldur, but I pretty much stopped that once he started using Ocean Master's gear. There's some plasma pistols, my clothes..."

    "A cake the size o'New York?"

    I wince. "No. That's in a safe place under some mountains in Switzerland."

    "How were you plannin' on..?"

    "The Ophidian could phase. I haven't.. is that a thing power rings can actually do?"

    "Yeah, I known guys who can do that. I can't, Jordan couldn't last time we talked about it. Don't know about Stewart or Alan. So, what, the Ophidian could phase but you couldn't?"

    "No, it doesn't... When we were together, we shared our understanding of the orange light and its applications. Now... I can sort of remember how to do some things, like those tiny filaments I used on the eyeballs-."

    "Freakiest fuckin' thing I've ever saw, by tha way."

    "Yeah. Well, you don't have to worry about me doing it again. When we were together, I knew how to phase. I don't even remember it taking that much focus or power. Now? No idea. That part's just.. not in my head."

    "You remember everything you saw with those eyes?"

    "No. I was only paying attention to the bits which looked like ninjas. A normal Human brain can't hold all of the data. I might get flashes when I see a place or meet a person, but I don't really know any more than before I did it."

    "Hm. Oh, good work fixin' up Red Inferno. I know Tornado really appreciated it."

    "Was that me?"

    "You don't remember?"

    I shake my head. "No."

    "Sounds like you mighta lost a lot."

    "I think you're right."

    "You okay with that?"

    "Okay?" I wrinkle my nose. "It sucks. Losing memories takes away not just that knowledge, but it also changes my behaviour. Who I am. Except.. I really want me... I don't know. I've never done something like that before, and it doesn't suck enough to make me want to rebond with the Ophidian."

    "Glad t'hear it."

    "But losing phasing does create a problem. As I am now, I can't get the cake out. I'm going to have to relearn within the next two months or I'll miss Christmas."

    Another stack of paper disappears. I think I can see a doorway.

    "Been meaning to ask: what'd you do with the Star Sapphire?"

    "Ah. What?"

    "Glowin' pink rock, 'bout yay big." He makes a circle with his hands.

    "I don't.. did I..? Did I leave it on the moon?"

    "Didn't see it."

    "Then I'm sorry, I just don't know."
     
  18. Threadmarks: Displaced
    Mr Zoat

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    Displaced

    1st November
    22:09 GMT -4


    I dash up the dingy theatre aisle, ignoring the stares from the other members of the audience. Behind me on the stage some wizened thespian witters through Prospero's lines. Listening to Shakespeare while wearing a power ring is a strange experience; Elizabethan English really isn't modern English and half the time the ring decides that it needs to be translated. That amusement was just about the only thing keeping me interested, which is probably why I was the one who noticed Ms Reilly get up and head for the exit. The body I built for her doesn't creak in the way that Red Tornado's does and it can move pretty darn fast. By the time I'd clambered past Mister Grant and Jay and Joan Garrick she had already left the auditorium. The ring can track her easily enough but I can't use it to just appear at her location with all of these people around.

    I slow to a jog as I pass through the corridor to the main lobby. Funny thing, it's actually quite difficult for a group of superheroes to get together out of hours. One camera taking a picture of a group of people with a particular set of physical characteristics when they're spending time together, one person realising that those people bear a remarkable resemblance to another group... It's even worse when the group in question includes people like Diana, Jay and me who don't have secret identities. Jay can just about get away with it this far from Keystone City, Diana wore a shawl, coat and big dark glasses and I avoided wearing orange but one little burst of FTL and I blow it for Alan and the others.

    Through the main door and out onto the street, turning left. Ms Reilly has slowed to a walking pace but is steadily heading away from the theatre, and not in the direction of the nearest zeta tube. Red Tornado is back in the mountain, so...

    "Ms Reilly!"

    She slows slightly and I hurry to catch up. Not many people on this street during performances and her name isn't really a risk factor. Would someone recognise her, and so me and then the others? I'd have thought not, but the risk... I really don't like this secrecy. She comes to a full stop as I catch up and move ahead of her. Her face is completely still. She has a program for generating organic Human facial expressions but she appears to have it deactivated. I watch her for a moment, hoping for a clue as to the cause of her behaviour.

    "You can call me Danette. Or Danni. I don't think it would be inappropriate."

    "Um. Right. Danette. Is there... What's wrong?"

    "Do you know how many times I have watched The Tempest?"

    "No. I know Jay said it was your favourite..."

    "I remember having watched it on seven occasions. First, in nineteen thirty one. Then nineteen thirty six, thirty eight, twice in nineteen forty, then forty two and forty four."

    "Right?"

    "How old am I?"

    "I.. suppose it depends when you count from?"

    "Danette Reilly's records say that she was born in nineteen twenty five. In fact I was first activated in nineteen forty two."

    "So you couldn't have-."

    "Seen those plays. Yes. The annoying thing is that the memories aren't even that detailed. I can manually access the files now. Those I really saw I can describe in perfect detail, every word, action, every stage direction. If I had to I could recreate the whole performance. For those that were part of my false background Father simply entered a review cut from a local paper. It's just a text file. Wesley asked me about the first time I saw it when I was a member of the Justice Society and I just blithely regurgitated the file without dwelling on the lack of detail. When we were in the theater just now Joan asked me the same thing and I nearly gave the same response."

    "Ahhh..."

    "What is perhaps worse is that the performances I do remember appear to be shorn of emotional context. I remember that I thought Ariel's enslavement was unjust. I can see my own reasoning, the false memories and implanted beliefs which led me to that conclusion. I simply don't feel the connection to it any more. It is as if I am reading an essay on the subject written by someone else."

    "How do you feel about the things you've done since being.. reactivated..?" Not a good choice of word there.

    "Distress. Loss. Uncertainty. Danette-. I didn't used to feel those things."

    "But that means that you can still feel. Doctor Morrow didn't remove your capacity for emotion completely. You can still make a new life."

    She turns to the road, head held straight. "Red Tornado believes that he can reinstate the program which caused me to interpret the data as memories, not as computer files. It is still active in our elder brother. It would likely allow me to become more like Danette once more, at the cost of becoming more deluded. I am tempted by the offer, but at the same time I do realize that this might simply be a transitional state. He said it was something I would have to decide for myself, but I find that since I am unable to trust my own recollections I have no sound basis for doing so." She turns her head to look at me. "Which do you believe would be the better course of action?"

    "They're both a bit rubbish. Are there no other choices?"

    "Yes. The most tempting choice of all would be to erase all memory since my reactivation and then reinstate the program. I would have to create a believable explanation for my resurrection and convince everyone who knows me to go along with it. But..." She stands there for ten seconds, completely still and saying nothing. She doesn't have to breathe unless she wants to speak, and at the moment she isn't. "Danette could be happy with the result."

    "No. Absolutely not. Killing yourself is not the answer."

    "It would not precisely be suicide."

    "But if you have the program restored, you're effectively altering your mind to become a new person. You wouldn't be you anymore, it's close enough." I take a moment to think it through. "If the choice is a comforting delusion or an uncomfortable truth, I'd choose truth. That's part of why I'm an atheist. If you want.. help, making happier memories... I've got lots of spare time if there's something you want to do."

    "Danette had few-."

    "No. Don't worry about what Danette would have thought. Your problem appears to be you thinking you 'should' be Danette when.. from what you're saying.. there never really was a Danette." She tilts her head slightly to the side. "Alright, look. Hiding up in Red Tornado's penthouse is not a good way to accustomise yourself to the new 'you'. If you're seriously considering wiping your mind anyway there wouldn't be any harm in it."

    "That.. makes sense. Do you have something particular in mind?"

    "Batman's going to be occupied with.. um... Dealing with the fallout from us destroying the League of Shadows-" Technically true. And it might be properly true as well. I was pretty busy myself after Infinity Island. "-for the next week or so, and he told me it would be helpful if I could spend some time in Gotham. Not just doing crime prevention, but learning to interact with civilians and with conventional law enforcement while on the job. If you're interested in getting back into that sort of thing... Well, actually, if you don't have a better idea, it's as good a place as any to start."

    "Are you aware that I cannot fly without setting fire to whatever is below me?"

    "Not a problem. You can try using a flight belt, I can float you by ring, and you're easily strong enough and light enough to parkour it."

    Stillness again. Then she turns to face me and in a smooth motion steps close and puts her arms around my chest, her head resting on my right shoulder. I freeze for a moment before reciprocating. "Thank you."

    "You're.. welcome. Not that I miiind, but..?"

    "It feels... Appropriate."

    "Um. Okay. Dooo you want to see the rest of the play?"

    "No. I believe I am content here."
     
  19. Threadmarks: Half-hearted
    Mr Zoat

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    Half-hearted

    6th November
    02:51 GMT


    At this time of the morning London's streets are almost completely silent. A couple of hours from now the first delivery vans of the day will make the first deliveries. Five hours from now people will wake up to find that they slept through the murder of hundreds of thousands of children. I imagine that they'll consider themselves lucky. Will they reflect -as they should- that their offspring's survival was a matter of pure chance? A few hours this way or that and the majority of casualties could so easily have been in Europe rather than... I don't actually know where they are. I doubt we'll know the final death toll for days. Anywhere rush hour was, I suppose. The Americas and East Asia, perhaps?

    Teekl's walking on my left. She's at lion size, ignoring her surroundings and keeping pace with me in a decidedly non-catlike manner. Zatanna's on my right. She's got her arms crossed at her stomach and every so often she rubs her upper arms with her hands. I had thought that she might be cold, but she kept doing it after I extended my environmental shield around her. I'm not sure... I don't know what else I can say to support her. She used the half hour to change and clean herself up a bit. I'm finding her face a little odd like this; part of cleaning up involved removing her makeup. I hadn't realised that she was wearing any. I suppose that's the aim when it's applied with skill.

    I should say something.

    ...

    I look down at the perfectly cubical cardboard box in my hands. Best I could do for a talisman of order. I hope making it with the ring isn't a pr-.

    "Do you..?" Zatanna looks away from me to her right. "Do you really think this will work?"

    "This?" I exhale. "No, it's... It's not very likely. I mean, it might work. I don't know enough about order magic to really know, but I would have thought... I mean, if they were likely to take exception, I don't think Nabu would have done it."

    She stops dead in her tracks, her face creasing on the verge of tears again. "Then why, why are we..?"

    I turn to face her and put my hands on her shoulders. "Because it might work. Because in the short time I've had to think about this, it's the least violent thing I've been able to come up with and I think we should try it before trying something riskier. Because I don't think, even if he finds out about it, Nabu will do anything about this."

    "Couldn't.. I mean, the Ophidian..?"

    "Could she beat him in a straight fight?" Zatanna nods, still looking down at the ground. "Maybe. Maybe. If she had some way to stop him just.. teleporting away. But I sincerely doubt that Mister Zatara would survive the fight, at least not without being-" I flick my right hand in Teekl's direction. "-assimilated. Also, I'm... Nabu... I haven't seen him at full power, as powerful as he is now, with your father as a host. It's.. hard to judge exactly what he's capable of." She nods and I see drops of water splash onto the pavement.

    No, that won't do. I move my right hand to her chin and force her head up. "Zatanna, listen to me. This is not a murder. This is a kidnapping. Whatever happens today, we will free your father. I just don't want to give you false expectations. This will take some time, it could be weeks, months, even years. Not everything we come up with will work, but the end result will be Nabu either back in the Helmet or dead and your father free. Do you understand me?"

    Her breath is ragged and she only meets my eyes for a moment before looking away, but she manages a nod. A little shaky, but I'll take it. "Okay. O-okay."

    I step in for a hug before turning and slipping my right arm behind her back. "Come on. Not far now." John phoned me back while things were calming down in the cave. He's at the Tate Club now. He said he'd try to get Clarice and Albert there but that he couldn't promise. I try scanning the place but -surprise surprise- the ring can't tell me that it's there at all. I had to tell John about the scry ward problem because I wanted him to try and come up with a way around it. Could he have warded the place because of me? Because of Nabu? Or would a club built to host magic users of dubious legal status have been built with wards incorporated into its design?

    "Hey, um. How..?" Her voice sounds a little steadier. "You called the Ophidian 'she'?"

    "Yes. Nottt sure how I know that, actually. We had a brief chat when I got back to the cave. She doesn't like what Nabu's done any more than I do."

    "Why does..? I mean, I'm not complaining about the help, but.. I didn't think..?"

    "Because you-." 'Because you're mine' probably isn't the way to go with this. "Because you're my friend, part of my team, part of how my.. world.. is. Should be. What Nabu's done, disrupts that, hurts you. And since I'm her Agent that.. reduced her as well."

    This whole thing shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. Zatanna needs sleep. I can go without if I need to but I don't think there's much I can really do to fix the world after something like this. Oh! Damn it, I need to go back to Gotham and pay the people at Tikka Nights for dinner and check up on Miss Robinson. Ah, both of those can wait for a more civil hour, I want to be around in case Zatanna needs something.

    "This... John Constantine. Who is he? I know you've talked about him and I know Dad didn't like-."

    "Doesn't. Doesn't like."

    Her eyes flick up to me for a moment, then she nods. "Doesn't like him, but I don't know why. And he tried to take the Helmet."

    "John..." Where to start? "You're probably better off asking him. Who he is, well, um, born in Liverpool, mother died in childbirth, brought up by his father. His father was murdered by a serial killer known as The Family Man about seven years ago which means the only people left in his immediate family are his sister Cheryl and-."

    "Gemma. His niece."

    "Yep. He's been involved with magic since secondary school. Not particularly powerful but cunning, intelligent and knowledgeable. Don't think we're going to outmuscle Nabu so he's probably the sort of person we need."

    "But how did-. How does he know Dad?"

    "I really don't know. Your dad performed on stage in the West End during the nineties so they might have met then. Clarice... Ms Sackville mentioned that she knew, um, both your parents. Anyway, John doesn't... The things he's been involved in over the years, a lot of his friends have died as a result. That might be why your dad was so worried. I don't know why they fell out, or when."

    "Is he a.. British superhero?"

    "Uhoow, um, I wouldn't... Not in the conventional sense. He does fight supernatural opponents but, no secret identity, no costume, he's not exactly an icon of clean living and he frequently uses his arcane abilities for personal gain. Also, he doesn't think of himself as being one."

    "Has he fought anyone like Nabu before?"

    "His most powerful opponent to date was a being known as The First of the Fallen. At the time, he was the de facto ruler of Hell."

    "He.. beat.. Lucifer?"

    "No, Lucifer left of his own accord about, um, thirty years ago? Threw everyone out and locked the gates behind him."

    "The.. Plague of Ghosts? That was Lucifer leaving Hell?"

    "Yes. Well, you understand I haven't been able to ask anyone directly involved, but as far as I know, yes. The whole.. mess.. only started to get sorted out when Duma and Remiel reopened it. They have de jure authority over the place, but the Demons listened to the First. John outsmarted him repeatedly, and he died with a golden two-pronged sword embedded in his chest. So, yes, fought and beat. If anyone can work out how to free your father, it's him."
     
  20. Threadmarks: Mirage
    Mr Zoat

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    Mirage

    13th November
    09:06 GMT -5


    There's a soft thump as Alan puts another stack of battered looking journals down on the table. "I think that's the lot of them. Since Kent.. urm.. passed on, I haven't really got around to organizing it all yet."

    Zatanna pushes her current volume aside, stands and leans over the table to check the front piece and opening pages. Most of them have turned out to have dates written somewhere reasonably accessible but the dates on individual entries generally don't have the years written on them and we're not quite sure about the order of some of the volumes. "Thanks Mister Scott. Sorry about taking over your dining room like this."

    "That's quite alright Zatanna. And please, call me Alan."

    "Thanks! Okay, um, this one starts in nineteen twenty seven..." She picks it up and moves it into the appropriate pile. "Nineteen twenty nine aaand..." She sags slightly. "Forty two."

    Kent got the Helmet of Fate somewhere between thirty nine and forty one, and either he happened not to keep a journal during that period.. or something happened to it. I suppose it might have got left in Kahndaq when he returned to the states or.. got destroyed in one of the many fights he was involved in afterwards. Nabu might even have destroyed it himself.

    Alan thinks for a moment. "Well, it might just have got mixed in with some of his other books. They're not really in any order. Howsabout you and Paul make a start on these and I'll have a rummage around up in the attic, see what I can come up with?"

    Zatanna nods, already leafing through the forty two journal. "That would be really helpful."

    Alan turns to leave then pauses, looking at Zatanna with a small frown. Dismissing whatever idea struck him with a small shake of his head he then continues out of the room.

    I turn another page of the nineteen forty six edition. I understand why he warded the books but it has meant that I can't just scan the whole thing in one go. Plus, I'm not... Zatanna has a much better idea of what's relevant than I do. She's already read the bit with the fight with Mordru in sixty nine, but that wasn't the first time they ran into each other and Kent didn't bother putting down an explanation of what Mordru was. That might be in the journal explaining their first encounter, or it could be in a different sort of book entirely. Did he write books for magic instruction?

    Another page. Nabu had the gall to show up at one of the Ice Fortresses, though thankfully not the one Zatanna was fighting at. I've already watched the recording of his actions and he didn't use any abilities I haven't seen before. My own Fortress is still on its custom built iceberg waiting for me to find a power source big enough to get it back into the air. I'm tempted to try asking the Ophidian to guide me through the process of plugging my personal lantern into it but I don't want to have to explain that one to Diana. Guy managed to bring Fortress One down more or less safely. The bottom couple of levels got turned into a crumple zone but it could be repaired. The other three attacks went less well. No one on our team was hurt but the three Fortresses are all smouldering wrecks and Fortress Five crashed inside Central City. The area below had been evacuated but the property damage was extensive.

    Guy ended up giving me a lift back to the mountain after the Fortresses were all dealt with. Good job too; no power meant no communications or heating. Much longer and I'd have had to risk getting a ride on Fatty or trying to persuade Teekl to pass on a message. I asked Batman but he told me that the League doesn't have any power sources that could be used to power the Fortresses. He didn't have a problem with me keeping the one I've got -as long as I don't let it sink- so I'll just have to add that to the list of things to do after I leave Earth. STAR Labs people are already all over Fortress One and the others are going to get a quick League inspection before being dismantled by the local version of Damage Control.

    Another page turned. Nineteen forty six was not a helpful year. Kent stopped using Nabu in nineteen forty five at the urging of his wife, and cut back on his 'superhero hours' a great deal as well. This journal's mostly about his professional life as a teacher and archaeologist. Interesting stuff I'm sure but not a lot of good to us. Need to go through it all though, just in case. Actually... "Zatanna, what was it Batman wanted to talk to you about yesterday?"

    She flinches. Why would she..? I reach across the corner of the table and put my right hand on her right shoulder. A moment of tension and then she relaxes slightly. "He.. wanted to talk to me about..." She keeps looking at the journal but reaches across her chest to put her left hand on mine. "He's listed in Dad's Will as the person who becomes my legal guardian in the event of Dad's death. I mean, Dad's family all live in Italy and I.. barely speak any Italian."

    "So he offered to take you in?" A shallow nod. I frown. "But Mister Zatara's not dead."

    Her head turns slightly towards me and she meets my eyes for a moment. "That's what I said. He... He said that the League's going to try to help Dad but he has no idea if it's even possible." She exhales sharply through her nose. "I knew Dad and Batman were close, but I don't even know who he is."

    "Really? He didn't tell you?"

    She shakes her head. "Secret identities don't stay secret if you keep sharing them. Obviously he would tell me if I'd.. said yes."

    "It was condi-?" I blink then wave my left hand, filling the room with orange light to prevent eavesdropping. Then I take two sound ward stones out of subspace and pass one to her.

    She picks it up with her right hand. "What?"

    "Bruce Wayne. Batman's real name is Bruce Wayne."

    Her eyes widen in surprise for a second, then she nods. "That.. makes sense. I'd wondered how my dad knew a billionaire industrialist. So, that means that Robin's..?"

    "Richard Grayson, yes."

    "You.. weren't supposed to tell me that, were you?"

    "Probably not, but he should have. If he was asking you that... "

    "He was just trying to help."

    I 'mmm' noncommittally. If Batman thought that freeing Mister Zatara was that difficult.. maybe not even possible.. then he shouldn't have taken 'no' for an answer. Tempting as the idea might sound to some of her contemporaries leaving fourteen year olds to their own devices isn't a good idea. Maybe he just wanted to leave it for a bit? I turn another page and turn off the orange light as I hear Alan come back down the stairs.

    He walks in with a broader but thinner book. "Nothing too exciting, but I remembered Kent putting this together as a guide for the rest of us for if we ran into something magical. There's a bit on Mordru in there." He puts in down next to Zatanna's current book. "Look, I was watching the news when you and the League took on those fortresses. I know there's a new Doctor Fate. I'll understand if you've been told not to tell anyone but I'd sort of like to know who it is." Alan frowns slightly as he looks first at Zatanna then at me. "Shouldn't he be reading all this so he knows what he's letting himself in for?"

    Zatanna looks at me. "It's up to you, but I think we should tell him."

    She nods, then looks at Alan. "It's... It's my dad."

    Alan's frown deepens. "I thought he wasn't interested in it? That's what Kent said he said... Was that why he's taking a leave of absence? To.. get used to it?"

    Ah yes, the Justice League press release. I'm not.. sure why they decided to cover up what really happened to Mister Zatara. Diana said that working out how to play that issue was why they were so slow in releasing information on what happened on Roanoke Island.

    Zatanna gives me a pleading look.

    "He's not taking a leave of absence. Nabu's taken him and isn't giving him back."

    Alan recoils. "What? No!" He looks at Zatanna and her mask fades slightly. The emotion in her face is enough to convince him. "Wh-? Are you telling me Diana was a party to the Justice League lying to the world? She'd never do that. She can't stand lying."

    "If Mister Zatara was taking a leave of absence don't you think that he'd be the one making the announcement?" His eyes drop. He doesn't doubt me but it's a big idea to get your head around. "I don't think Diana was happy about it but she didn't write or read out the press release."

    "Even so, Fate isn't-."

    "Alan, I was there when it happened." I look at Zatanna. "And so was Zatanna. We're reading up on Nabu to try and work out how to get rid of him."

    Alan shakes his head in disbelief. "I just.. can't believe that bastard -oh, pardon me, Miss- would do something like that. I remember when Kent stopped wearing him, why he said he.. did it. I just... And the League knows about this?" Zatanna looks up and him and nods. "Well I... Zatanna, I'm so sorry. I'll... I'll just make a start on this pile, shall I? I'll let you know if I find anything."
     
  21. Threadmarks: Minutes
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Minutes

    24th November
    11:21 GMT +2


    I watch as a truck full of men dressed only in their underwear drives through the Shiruta streets below us. "I understand why you're shipping them out, but why did you take their clothes?"

    Adom's expression doesn't change. In public his body language is almost completely static and it makes talking to him a little strange. "They were sent here to murder members of Shiruta's provisional governing council. My belief is that killing them would have been appropriate retribution.. but, since I was able to prevent them from reaching their targets and since I am endeavouring to be… To behave in the manner befitting a modern 'super hero', I decided against it. Publicly shaming them was the next best option. A man might believe it is noble to die for a cause but it is unlikely that he will believe that it is noble to be driven around in his underwear for one."

    True, I suppose. "If you don't mind me asking, why have you taken this long to communicate directly with the rebels?"

    "There are several reasons. The situation is far too volatile for me to take the time to perform an administrative role. The government in Cairo has sent two major attacking forces as well as aircraft against Shiruta since the civil disobedience became open rebellion. I need to be in the open, where both my enemies and the people whom I protect can see me and know that I am ever-vigilant."

    "That makes sense, but you could have stopped to speak with them for a few minutes, surely?"

    "That.. would have been difficult. My Arabic is much improved, but it is still not good enough for long conversations and I do not wish to appear uneducated. My people have high expectations of me and I must live up to them."

    "How have you been getting on with Captain Marvel?"

    The merest glimmerings of a frown. "He is an unusual man. He has been asking me for tales of ancient Kahndaq, of the battles I fought during my first life. I do not think that I was ever so.. exuberant, so unguarded as he is. He has an almost childlike capacity for joy." I try not to react. The League might know that William isn't as old as he appears but it isn't common knowledge. "He is a good man. I think we might have become friends were it not for his continued service to the.. wizard."

    "Don't rule it out. I don't think that the wizard gives him orders on a day to day basis."

    "Perhaps." The truck is just a speck on the horizon to me now, though as I understand it Adom's eyes are much better than those of a normal Human. "I am grateful that you thought to arrange this meeting with the Quracis."

    "I thought I owed you for the whole 'scaring the Bialyans off' thing. Anyway, President Muhunnad has few friends, internationally. He hasn't provoked anyone enough for them to want to force him from office by military power but hardly anyone will complain if he's removed by other Kahndaqis. It's only taken this long to arrange a meeting because there wasn't anyone in charge to meet before."

    "There still isn't. The provisional council only speaks for Shiruta."

    "I think they meant you." He doesn't respond immediately. "They're taking the fact that you're attending this meeting as a sign that you're finally taking command."

    "I had hoped to leave it longer."

    "Why?"

    He thinks for a moment. "I have made a study of the ways in which nations are governed in this age. Captain Marvel was an enthusiastic proponent of American democracy and its division of powers. Princess Diana's nation is ruled by a Queen but most decisions are consensual, arrived at through discussion by its citizens. Your own nation has a monarch, an elected body and an appointed one. If I come to rule Kahndaq once more I have no desire to force a particular form of government upon my people. I had wanted to see where people naturally look for leadership when not compelled to bow to Cairo by force. Shiruta has a council, tribal groups have their elders, there are exiles who are now returning to their homeland who have their own ideas. I wanted there to be a structure I could govern through before I formally accepted the authority to do so. Above all I do not want to taint this resurgence of the Kahndaqi spirit with kinslaying as proponents of different forms of organisation fight amongst themselves."

    "Do you want to rule?"

    He bows his head slightly. "Yes. I occupied the position for so long that in my own mind it defines me as much as the gods’ blessings do. But I would not impose myself against the wishes of the Kahndaqi people."

    "How long were you in charge for?"

    "From my father's death until the wizard slew me… About eighty years."

    "Oh. I'd sort of been assuming that he killed you because you killed your father."

    "No. Even he was hard pressed to argue that my father did not deserve it."

    "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did your father.. do..? You sort of implied-."

    His jaw tenses. "If any other man had asked that question…"

    "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you, but I can't help unless I know more about what happened."

    He doesn't respond immediately. I can see scab-textured red churning inside green within him. Old rage, kept in check but never fully excised. "I had been the gods' champion for fourteen years. The wizard knew that I had duties to Kahndaq as its Crown Prince, and that in the fullness of time I most likely would have further duties as its Pharaoh. He made it clear that he did not give me… No, did not assist me in receiving these gifts, so that I could make Kahndaq pre-eminent among nations. I accepted that without complaint. When I fought demons, sorcerers and mad titans for the wizard and for mankind I did so with the gods’ power, and when I led Kahndaq's armies against bandits, against other nations and other tribes I did so as a mortal man."

    "But… Having met people from all parts of the world, having seen their lives and experienced their cultures, I knew that my people were really not so different from people I might meet anywhere else. Their lives, their hopes and dreams… That the men I slew as Prince Adom were much the same as those who fought beside me. And I found that I could not forget that, even as I put the gods' powers aside. So, I stopped taking trophies from the bodies of those I slew, stopped making slaves of those I captured. I tried to negotiate with foreign chieftains rather than fight with them. It was not easy; I could not use Lord Zehuti's wisdom and I.. am much less wise than he. Father hated it, hated that I, the gods' anointed, accepted the defiance of barbarians and foreigners. Shiruta, my wife for whom this city is named, supported me. Calmed me when the foolishness of all those around me drove me to rage, counselled me when my own wisdom was insufficient to surmount the challenges I faced. Confronted me when my stubbornnessAnd my father believed that she was corrupting me, weakening me and had her and our sons Gon and Hurut killed."

    I suddenly realise that my mouth is hanging open. "Mighty One, I didn't-."

    He holds out his left hand to stop me. "The assassination of the high priestess of Isis justified me in using the gods' powers to track down her killers, and their sponsor. When I confronted him he didn't even bother to lie to me about it. He boasted how he had.. freed me. So I resumed my mortal form, drew my sword and killed him. My action was just and because I had not used the gods' powers the wizard had no grounds to intervene." He exhales. "I think that was when he lost faith in me. My later actions, forming alliances with others like myself to better protect the world, were seen as those of one seeking to cement his personal power. When other nations swore fealty to us in exchange for our protection he had the excuse he needed to act against me."

    "Others?"

    "My friends Prince Khufu and Princess Chay-Ara. Your Hawkman and Hawkwoman appear much like them. The sorceress Gamemnae, Lord Rama Kahn of Jarhanpur, the Anointed One… The wizard finally confronted me when I was isolated from them in Kahndaq. I don’t know if he took action against the others afterwards." He turns to face me fully. "If the wizard had stayed his hand, if he had seen how we acted rather than deciding that we had broken some arbitrary law, if he had trusted me, who had exercised the gods' power on his behalf hundreds of times, we could have created an age of order and peace the likes of which the Earth had not seen before or since. That, is why I hate him."

    I don’t know what to say. Having said his piece Adom turns away again. "Now, we have a meeting to go to. We should-. Ah, yes. Before we go there, the gods have asked me to pass on a message to you."

    "Um. What is it?"

    "It is from Sekhmet." Huh? "She tells me that while she appreciates the consideration, she simply isn't interested in Athena in that way." Shiiit. He frowns and glances at me again. "Athena is one of Princess Diana's gods, is she not? What is Sekhmet talking about?"
     
  22. Threadmarks: Insincerity
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Insincerity

    30th November
    09:21 GMT -5


    "Un-frickin' real." Corporal Jase shakes his head in disbelief as Lori swims through the air over Glenmorgan Square. Traffic's basically stopped as people leave their cars to stare and take pictures. I might have been a bit pessimistic in requesting the assistance of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit but it's not as if I have a lot of police contacts. "These folks make the Fourth of July parade look like a carnival sideshow."

    I shrug. "I'm just glad people aren't screaming in terror." Just like Kaldur, Lori took to the flight belt like a… I've started thinking it, I'm not going to feel any less stupid by not finishing it. Like a fish to water. Blubber's having a little more difficulty but with a belt around each flipper and another around his tail we just about managed to get him airborne. He won't be able to participate in the shopping the others have planned but he appears to be taking it all in his stride. Or whatever the Atlantean phrase is.

    Kaldur and a man who was introduced to me as Russell Tenclouds are taking Garth, Tula and some guy called Ronald around the more popular tourist attractions. Atlantean Purebloods have less of a traffic stopping effect. Still, watching small children swarm around an increasingly irritated Sha'ark while Topo and La'gann pose for photographs, I reflect that this could have gone far worse.

    Ambassador Vallambrosa raises an eyebrow.. ridge.. thing. "That is a somewhat pessimistic thing to be glad about." He's human shape, but his skin is covered in pale orange scales with a rather odd looking green trim. Weird thing is that he isn't even an Atlantean native; he grew up somewhere around here which I assume is why he got this job. Not sure what his story is and I think it would be rude to interrogate him for it. Sephtian passed on joining in the excursion. He said that he had too much work to do setting up the thaumatorium but I'm wondering if there was some other reason.

    "The way I see it, it's best to be pessimistic. If you're right then you can be pleased at your foresight, and if you're wrong then you can be pleased things went so well."

    Jase raises his left eyebrow. "You just make that up?"

    I shake my head. "Probably stole it from somewhere. Don't remember where t-."

    "Orange Lantern!" Sha'ark does his best to step over the munchkins crowding him. "I'm trying to-. Get off me!" He said that using an alien flying belt was beneath his dignity. Struck me as rather strange. He doesn't look comfortable walking on land, though I suppose that could just be the impression I'm getting from the bent over posture which appears to be natural for him. I raise my left hand and stick a flight aura around him to pull him over to us. He twitches a little uncomfortably as I let him go.

    "Having trouble, majesty?" I'm not sure exactly what the power relationship between Vallambrosa and Sha'ark is. I know that Sha'ark doesn't gain much in the way of political authority until he graduates and I know that Vallambrosa was appointed by Queen Atlanna over forty years ago and answers to King Orin now.

    "You! Brown surface worlder!" He points aggressively at Jase with his right index finger. "Tell me what a Street Shark is, and tell me where they live!"

    Jase gives me a 'is this guy serious?' look. I give him a slightly nervous smile. Ring, Street Sharks? Ooooh. Looks like they basically occupy the space in children's entertainment that the Turtles do back home. The Turtles animated series I grew up with still happened here, as did the first two films, but the series seems to have been out competed towards the end by Street Sharks. The internet appears to credit the superior writing of some guy called Greg Weisman for the derivative becoming more than just a rather transparent attempt to cash in on its forebear's popularity. It's been relaunched several times since. Mister Weisman's name sounds familiar but I can't.. immediately call to mind anything I heard of him working on back home.

    Vallambrosa puts his right hand on Jase's left shoulder for a moment and then steps towards Nanaue's enraged co-sovereign. "They are a group of fictional heroes, majesty. Quite popular with young children. I believe there is a film featuring them on show at most of the local-."

    "Gaaaaaah!"

    Lori looks around at his bellow and swims towards us. "Calm down Sha'ark, they're just curious."

    "I am a large predator! They are bite sized! Do they have no sense of self preservation!?"

    Vallambrosa blinks with the calm resolve of a career diplomat. "That is not quite the image of Atlantean society which King Orin and Queen Mera wish to portray, majesty."

    Lori turns in the air, pointing to her belt. "If you had one of these you could fly right over them."

    "No! Lantern! Where is the nearest body of water?"

    "There's a.. pond in Centennial Park. I'm not sure it's really-."

    "Take me there!"

    I suppose we've blocked the traffic for long enough. I'm a bit surprised Jase has been okay with this as long as he has. I cup my hands around my mouth. "Alright everyone, we're moving on! La'gaan, Topo!" Topo starts walking back over. La'gaan lingers for a moment, strikes a pose and then… What the heck? His whole torso puffs up, horse shoe shaped sigils on his shoulders and around his neck glowing pale green. His arms are also slightly larger… Puffed up for intimidation? Judging by the way people are waving their cameras around I don't think that was the effect. He holds it for a couple of seconds and then crashes back down to his regular size. He looks a little dizzy, actually. Lori's eyes widen and with a flick of her tail she's at his side, scooping him up.

    He half heartedly tries to get her to put him down as she swims back but she's having none of it. "I told you that you weren't ready for something like that."

    "Anything.. for my fans…" He turns his head to look at me and smiles drunkenly. "Surface worlders are so friendly."

    "For some reason they don't find you threatening. Alright." Lines of orange extend from me to each of them. "Next stop, Centennial Park."

    Jase looks a little nervous. "Hey, is this-?" We appear on an area of grass near the larger of Centennial Park's ponds. Sha'ark looks around and then starts lumbering towards it while Jase takes a moment to check that his limbs are all there. "Oh."

    "Lantern FTL is complet-. Lantern FTL is nearly completely safe. Certainly there aren't any technologies on Earth that could disrupt it."

    Vallambrosa turns his attention away from our surroundings to me. "Could magic?"

    "Yes. Could magic available locally? I don't think so, not while I wear this." I show him my Spell Eater.

    Jase nods and then waves at the remaining students. "Alright kids, let's go do the meet and greet." The group of them head off in the general direction of the Superman statue while a frustrated growl indicates that Sha'ark has discovered that the pond doesn't really have diving depth. Vallambrosa and I follow along behind at a more sedate pace.

    "I'm impressed that Queen Mera was able to organise this so quickly."

    "Political will, Orange Lantern. Atlantis wanted it to happen and clearly America no longer has any objections."

    "How did the meeting with Senator Knight go?"

    "It's early days, but I think Washington has finally woken up to the fact that we exist. It's just a shame that it took this long."

    "What did you talk about? Uum, if you can tell me."

    "There seems little point in keeping it secret from you. I think he was trying to feel out the size of his own ignorance."

    "And?"

    "It's not as large as it could be. Nothing substantial.. will happen for a while, though I am getting an increase in the size of my staff. Military and arcane attachés, who will be available to the American government for consultations. I should point out that things will probably go better for us if Senator Knight does end up becoming President. If you could see your way clear to not calling him an idiot on national television again..?"

    "It was an accident the first time. Is Atlantis finally going to get international recognition?"

    "Probably. It sounds harsh, but the simple fact is that Roanoke Island scared everyone into amenability. We offer our help and the United Nations General Assembly is happy to play ball. It might take a couple of years…" I nod. "The Senator had some fascinating ideas on rapid sigil printing. I hadn't really paid any attention to computing before, not about how they're made at least. I've always been for dialogue but I'll admit I never really saw the point of integration into 'global' institutions until I saw a circuit being printed. I really do think this will end up benefiting everyone."

    "And that, is why it'll work."
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2020
  23. Threadmarks: Preparation
    Mr Zoat

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    Preparation

    6th December
    09:13 GMT -5


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

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

    She shrugs. "Suit yourself."

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

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

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

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

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

    I'm saved.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    "Yes. Yes, of course I did."

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

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

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

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

    "Ace of Winchesters. I remember it."

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

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

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

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

    "
    No."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    I nod. "I can arrange that too."

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

    "No hurry. Be careful and safe rather than fast, alright?"
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2019
  24. Threadmarks: Unusual Suspicions
    Mr Zoat

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    Unusual Suspicions

    23rd December
    07:35 GMT -5


    I take one last look at the construct cables running from my lantern to the Ice Fortress' power distribution network. Everything looks set and I know this should work in theory but I'm still a little nervous.

    "Alright in there, Ophidian?"

    A pulse of orange. "Fear not, my Agent. We were one when this scheme was conceived. We will see it through to its conclusion. The people of New York will bear witness to the magnificence of our palace and marvel at our generosity."

    "Thank you. Ring, contact Green Lanterns two eight one four B and C."

    I was a little surprised that Lantern Stewart offered to help. He'll be very useful if something goes wrong. I hope that Guy didn't twist his arm too much. With two out of three of this Sector's serving Green Lanterns helping me I'm certainly not going to complain about Lantern Jordan absenting himself. I'm sure the rest of the Sector doesn't stop for Christmas.

    The busts of Guy and Stewart appear just above the ring. "Ready in Switzerland?"

    Guy nods. "Cake's outta the ground. Think we gave some cows a nasty shock. Hadn't realized you frosted it."

    "What sort of Christmas cake designed by a Lantern hopped up on the light of avarice doesn't have a scale model of the North Pole on top?"

    Stewart takes a quick look around. "Air space is clear and the cake weighs next to nothing. Orange Lantern, I was contacted by a guy from the Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs. They want to know what you intend to do with the chamber you were storing this thing in."

    "Hadn't really thought about it, to be honest. Do they want it, or do they want me to fill it in?"

    "I think he was more trying to feel us out about it."

    "I don't really have any strong feelings about it? I realise that I shouldn't have dug it, wasn't compos mentis at the time. Far as I'm concerned it belongs to Switzerland."

    "I'll pass that on. Ready at your end?"

    "The Ophidian's ready and willing." Guy winces as I reach over to press the intercom. "Captain Zatara, you about ready?"

    The ring shows me an image of her sitting in the central command chair with a thick coat on and Teekl curled up on her lap. I've had several heaters up there trying to raise the temperature for a couple of days but we are in the arctic circle. She could use magic to warm up but we want to keep her fully fuelled in case we run into difficulty later. "I will be as soon as I get some power up here."

    I nod. "Main power live in three, two, one, now." There's no outward sign that my construct is now converting the lantern's output to electrical power from the lantern itself, but the lights in the engine room immediately come on at full intensity and -quick check- so does the heating. "Captain?"

    "Heat systems check, computers… Check. Closing external doors and hatches. There doesn't appear to be any new damage since yesterday. Shall I take us up?"

    "Orange Lantern to all points, we are go for take off. Engage anti-gravity at your convenience."

    In the command centre I see her smile, her right hand on the control pad and her left idly stroking Teekl. "You are so loving this."

    "Yes, I so am."

    "Taking us up."

    There's a very slight shudder, probably caused by an unevenness in the shape of the ice attached to the bottom of the hull. I checked the bracing around what we think to be the bit generating the anti-gravity effect at the same time as I checked the computers and it all looked solid. Can't be one hundred percent sure without a better understanding of the system. I close my eyes for a moment and focus on the sense of hunger I know to be Fatty.

    Fatty, start eating the ice off the hull. Don't eat the hull.

    Eating! Yay!

    He's been weirdly upbeat since the Truggs thing. I can't really ask what that was like for him. Well, I can, he just can't give an answer that makes any sense to me. He's much less use as a scout than Teekl for much the same reason; even though he is more obedient he can't articulate or comprehend what he sees as well. I get a vague impression that he's eating something and so until Zatanna reports otherwise I'll assume that it's what he's supposed to be eating.

    "Everything looks good up here."

    "Right. Ophidian? "

    "This is a mere fraction of my full power as well you know."

    "Just checking. Okay Captain, I'm on my way up." I need to stay connected to the transfer constructs to keep them active but I can do that with a filament. In fact, since I'm not actually doing much ring work here I've got filaments trailing throughout the structure. With one last look at my lantern I turn around and start the trek back to the bridge.

    "Hey, Paul." I look at the image of Guy. "You know none of the rest of us can hear what the Snake's saying when you do that, right?"

    "No, I.. I didn't. Really?" Lantern Stewart nods. "Huh. Um, I'm not crazy."

    "We know she's real, it's just kinda weird seein' you talk to thin air."

    "I'll bear that in mind. See you when we get to Switzerland." I close the connection and start climbing the ladder up to the next level.

    "Internal communications are up and running as well. I'll do a check on the snow generators."

    I pull myself up onto the next floor and fly through the corridors at speed. "Operation: White Christmas is still on?"

    "I think so. The vents are still covered in ice. We won't really know until Fatty's finished clearing it off." I land next to the bridge door and press the control panel. Zatanna looks up at me as the door slides open. "We're at cruising height and I'm setting course for Switzerland."

    "Good show. Estimated time of arrival?"

    "At the moment? About five days." She presses a few buttons. "Once the vents are clear and you add your engine constructs, about six hours."

    I nod. "Zatanna, I want to apologise again-."

    She jerks her head away. "No, it's… I talked it over with John. Really, I'm okay with it."

    I nod. "I'm glad, because the next six hours would have been really awkward otherwise. But I was thinking I should do something to.. you know.. make up for it."

    "What did you.. have in mind?"

    "How would you like a trip to Eden?"

    She blinks at me. "Eden? Oh! Rob told me about that place. That's the botanical park, where they use giant domes to create different habitats from all over the world, isn't it? I'd love to go there."

    I blink. Eden..? Eden Project. "Yes, that's exactly what I meant! I.. wasn't sure you'd heard of it."

    She sighs slightly. "You meant the other Eden, didn't you."

    "Yes. Sorry."

    "Look, I.. don't really-."

    "It's as near to the biblical version as it could possibly be. But we can go to the Eden Project instead. Less risk of flaming sword. I'm… I'm happy to take you anywhere."

    "Oh." She thinks for a moment. "Well, then, yes. Thank you." She looks straight at me. "The other one. Not the biblical one."

    "Other one it is. They're closed Christmas Day… Do you have any plans for Boxing Day?"

    "No. Boxing Day's.. good."
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2019
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  25. Threadmarks: Gude-Willie Waught
    Mr Zoat

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    Gude-Willie Waught

    31st December
    05:53 GMT -5


    "You're up early."

    I look up from the workbench and see Zatanna standing in the doorway. "I am?" I look up at the clock. "Oh. No… No, I'm up late. Whoops."

    She sighs theatrically and walks into the workshop, coffee mug in hand. "What are you working on?"

    I grin. "Power armour."

    "I thought you were working on the cold guns."

    "Oh, finished them hours ago. Dropped a few prototypes off with the Metropolis fire department."

    She walks over and sits down across from me at the workbench. "Don't they already have cold guns?"

    Both index fingers up, lecture mode engaged. "No, they have freeze rays. Big, bulky ones they can't risk using anywhere where there are people because they'd get frozen to death. These-" I push part of a chestplate I was working on out of the way and pull a partially disassembled cold rifle over to show her what I mean. "-are ice guns."

    "Okay?"

    "A normal freeze ray works by… Well, I'm not actually sure… Explanation kind of went." I wave my right hand over my head. "Simple version, they use battery power to impede molecular vibrations. Somehow. Shoot something with it and that thing drops in temperature. Fine. Er, can I borrow that?" I point to her coffee.

    "If you like?" She pushes the mug over to me.

    I generate a freeze ray construct. "Works like this." I jerk the mug up and then down. Obeying the laws of motion the coffee keeps going and I freeze it in mid air. It thumps back down onto the bench, small bits of frozen coffee breaking off but the main lump staying solid. "Now, what do you notice?"

    "You just ruined a mug of perfectly good coffee?"

    "No, it's fine, you've just gotta…" I pick up the lump with a construct, brush it off and put it on top of the mug. A quick blast from a maser construct and the mug is half full of hot coffee again. "Okay, so what else did you notice?"

    "You can just tell me."

    "No ice. I mean, no extra ice build up around the frozen coffee. You see, there isn't enough moisture in the air to create the sort of ice build ups some cold effects generate. And yet, ice appears. Where does it come from?"

    "The.. gun..?"

    "Yep. But, someone like Doctor Fries has to use this whole compression system, keep the gas at very high pressure to get the effect he wants, and his accuracy at range is terrible. The advantage of that sort of system is that the harm done to the target is greatly reduced. The ice isn't usually much more than minus ten degrees so their body heat will start to melt it and it's hard to get it to layer on very thick. That's why he's only killed eight people rather than hundreds. Mister Snart's version -the one I ripped off- has better accuracy but a much lower rate of fire. He usually uses it as a sort of cold.. plasma.. blast.. thing, messing around with pressure and hydrogen bonding as well as temperature. These-" I pick up the rifle and give it a little shake. "-use these gel cartridges. You know that dome shouldn't have stayed up under its own weight? And I actually had trouble pushing through it when I got coated. That's be-caaause it isn't exactly ice as in frozen water. It's a sort of novel liquid crystal, a bit like Artemis' hard foam arrows, only it has weird thermal properties and.. I'm.. going on a bit, aren't I?"

    "A bit. So what can it do?"

    "When we captured the Ice Fortress there was no way for it to generate power."

    "You said it was coming through…"

    "Right, right. This has the same system! I mean, there's a local battery and a cable for connecting it to the armour's power supply, but it's designed to have reloads and power sent in through mini Dolmen Gates." I remove a panel on the rifle and show her the circle of dull grey metal. "Best of all?" I use the ring to pick up from the workbench two I'd removed earlier and apply a small amount of electrical power. Runes inscribed on the outer edge glow as the Gate forms. "Mass production! They're a standardised design. You just have to work out which bit of the inscription defines the target, and thanks to Sephtian's notes on his work I have. I mean I was just thinking about the potential for bulk transportation but… A firefighter could have a hose attached to a huge tank of water miles away with one of these at the bottom. Or just.. chuck it in the sea, or a river or something. The power requirements are large but compared to the cost of the infrastructure they could replace it's a pittance. Hey, check this out!" I stick my right forefinger in through one of the Gates and it appears through the other. I give it a wiggle and then grin at her.

    "That sounds useful." She picks up her mug, sniffs at it and then puts it back down with an expression of mild distaste. "I'm not sure why you're so excited, though."

    "You know how useful my subspace storage is. Now, everyone can have it. Just have a load of these lined up somewhere, dial the rune-tag and voila! You can make them small like in this rifle, or handbag size or whatever size. And I can store arcane artefacts without wiping out my power reserves. Here, you want a go?" I move the two mini Gates over to her.

    She gives me and them a sceptical look before deciding to humour me and quickly jabs her right index finger through one of them. "How about the armor?"

    "Yeaaaaah. Ssssslight problem with that. Power armour.. needs to 'learn' how you move, how to interpret your nervous system. Otherwise you'd risk pulling yourself apart whenever you moved. I'm wearing-" I reach up to the collar of my jumper and pull it aside. "-the undersuit and control collar, but I can't really start playing around with the armour itself until it's learned me. The armour's simple enough, though I did ask Red Tornado to ask Morrow about incorporating the improvements I made to Danni into a revised design."

    "How strong does it make you?"

    "You could arm wrestle Kaldur and win."

    "Not Kon?"

    "No, not with the version they were using."

    "Does the invisibility thing work?"

    "Sort of. When I took the claw back to Mister Crandell I had a chat with his MI6 handler. It uses a sort of exotic radiation, you need to be exposed to it for a while before you can use the invisibility function and it has a rather.. unfortunate effect on the Human mental state for a few months before the whole thing stabilises. There might be a way around it but I'd want to do a lot more testing before moving to Human trials." I frown as my explain-the-clever-thing-you've-done impulse winds down. "Wait. What are you doing up?"

    She looks away. "I've.. been up for half an hour. I couldn't.. get back to sleep." She glances at the coffee mug. "Can't seem to fully wake up either."

    Agh, she mentioned having trouble sleeping before. Should have… "Right. Before you go to bed tonight, come and see me." She blinks at me, blushing slightly. "My massage teacher insists that it's supposed to be good if you're having trouble sleeping and clearly.. ignoring the problem isn't helping."

    "Um. I mean… Um. Couldn't you use your ring or something?"

    "To suppress activity in your brain? Yes, but I'm not going to. Look, if you're really not comfortable with it then I'll try and think of something else… Whale song, maybe? Some sort of white noise? But, come on, it's me. I'm not.. going to do anything weird."

    She shifts slightly in her seat. "Okay. Um. Tonight. Let's.. give it a shot."
     
  26. Threadmarks: Gaolbreak
    Mr Zoat

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    2011

    Gaolbreak

    1st January
    04:23 GMT


    "Recognised, Batman, zero two, Robin, B zero one."

    Robin waves back at us as he disappears. They should just about have time to get to Mayor Skowcroft's New Year's party in their civilian identities before the local New Year. Pretty much everyone else on the team has already left, and a good chunk of the Justice League too. After a short stop off in Atlantis to recover my personal lantern I've been dual wielding my way through the Watchtower's repairs. Usually this sort of thing would be Lantern Stewart's job but apparently new rings take a few days at least to forge and that will only start after our Greenies have gone to Oa for a full debriefing.

    That database… I don't have the Green Lantern Corps' full database. Just what was loaded onto Stewart's ring at the time I took it. Thing is, that's a lot more than it might have been. It turns out that the Guardians usually only recruit from interstellar civilisations. When they need to recruit from primitives like us -such as when one of their veterans falls in combat and has to recruit a replacement as quickly as possible- they load up their rings with everything they need to know about technologies commonly used by starfaring species so that they can interact with them intelligently. I've basically got an Idiot's Guide to Uplift here.

    And I don't know where to start.

    I could.. build a starship. An actual FTL capable starship with.. shields and artificial gravity and my choice of about thirty different types of energy projector.. or kinetic or.. heck, there's even the design for a sort of psionic amplification array! And yes, all I've got on some of the fancier weapons is a quick summary of their effects with no technical detail but I'd hardly need it!

    I could build what is basically a stargate. A matter replicator. A weather control network. I even have a file on antimatter and its ADHD little brother qwa matter. I could… There's so much! I'm going to need to spend some time thinking about how to implement this. A new power plant for my Ice Fortress seems like a good place to start. Maybe.. move out of the mountain? If we keep expanding the team’s membership as we have been doing we might end up getting a little pushed for space. No, I'd.. rather stay, but my inner Space Warlord is crying out for a flying Doom Fortress.

    i CaN mAkE dOoM fOrTrEsSeS nOw!

    "Is something funny?" I look around as Diana, Kon and Donna walk in. Diana is looking at me with curiosity. I was giggling, wasn't I? Yes, yes I was.

    "Um, Lantern Stewart's ring. I now have all of the data on it and I'm getting a bit overwhelmed by all the possible applications."

    Kon grins. "What, you can make alien cakes now?"

    "No! Well, yes, there's a few.. recipes humanoids might be able to eat, but I was mostly thinking of the technology." The glorious glorious tech-. I'm giggling again.

    I think Diana's getting concerned. "Are you alright holding two rings? I've never seen a Green Lantern try that before."

    "That's probably because it's inefficient. All having a second ring does is extend my total power reserves, it doesn't make my constructs any more powerful. Psychological effects… I don't think there'll be any problem. That was just excited giggling, not mad giggling."

    She doesn't look entirely convinced. "I wanted to tell you that in light of what happened today I've moved our visit to Themyscira to next Saturday." I nod. I was expecting something like that. "I want to remain on monitor duty in case any of the League's enemies try to capitalise on our vulnerability."

    "Finished tracking your movements yet?"

    She sighs. "No. We can't account for the movements of the founders for the twelve hour period shortly after we were infected."

    Donna shakes her head. "I don't think you've got anything to worry about. If they were trying to.. I don't know, damage your reputation by making you carry out an attack or a robbery on somewhere, we'd have heard about it on the news."

    "Incoming priority communication." A holographic image of the words 'incoming priority communication' appear on the main display.

    Donna takes a step backwards. "That wasn't me."

    Diana takes a step towards it. "Source."

    "Washington DC, Department of Metahuman Affairs."

    "Answer."

    Amanda Waller's face appears on the screen. She looks surprised for a second and then her expression turns to one of relief. "Thank God."

    "Ms Waller, what-?"

    "It's Belle Reve. I don't know what the hell's happened down there but we've got a mass break out in progress. Phone line's down, satellite link's down and some of the nastiest supervillains in the country are on the loose two hours from Houma."

    "They escaped?"

    "Satellite images shows that the walls are intact. Beyond that I've got no idea what's happening. I'm trying to get the Louisiana State Guard to form roadblocks but I can hardly get hold of anyone 'cause it's New Year!"

    Shit, who do we actually have available? With Klarion puppeting them unrelentingly for an entire day most League members were showing definite signs of tiredness. Guy's still here, Alan's… Not coming, whatever he says. Red Tornado, Danni and the Hawks are still about along with a whole herd of flying horses but everyone else has gone home and probably to sleep.

    "We'll have a task force on the ground within an hour. Wonder Woman out." The holo screen deactivates as she turns to me. "How much charge do you have left in your rings?"

    "I'm fresh off my post-rebuild recharge. Two hundred percent normal maximum power."

    "Orange Lantern, Superboy, Troia. Head to Belle Reve Penitentiary as quickly as possible. I need you to assess the situation there and report back while I find out who's available to deal with the breakout. If you can subdue the prisoners or free any prison workers without endangering yourselves, do so. The zeta tube in-."

    "Baton Rouge." I make eye contact with Kon and Donna. "Ready?" Two nods and the three of us fly into the zeta tube on the far side of the room.

    "Recognised, Superboy, B zero four, Orange Lantern, B zero six, Troia, B one two."

    31st December 2010
    22:36 GMT -6


    The Baton Rouge zeta tube is located inside a storm drain so the three of us remain airborne when we rematerialise. I used to think that it was strange how a zeta tube could be large like the ones in the mountain and small like the hidden units but it turns out that the smaller 'tubes' are just focusing arrays and security systems for the actual full sized tube somewhere else in the city. That's why the terminals can be moved relatively easily if they get discovered.

    "Ring, Belle Reve. Show me somewhere we can land without being spotted."

    Orange images of the prison I've got to know so well during my frequent visits flash before my eyes. The main bunker gate of the prison proper is wide open while the outer gate has been smashed down. By an armoured lorry or by someone like Mister Flinders I really couldn’t say. One of the guard towers looks like it's taken a battering but those things are designed to survive metahuman attack. Heck. Kadabra can look after himself but I'm worried that Thomas might have done something ill-advised. The prison itself… The image flickers and fizzles out. That's new. They scry warded it?

    "We can get into one of the guard towers. It should have a dedicated hard line to the prison. My attempts to scan the prison-."

    Kon nods. "Wards. They didn't have those before. Are there any wizards being held in Belle Reve?"

    "Not according to their most recent records, and it's not really designed for holding them anyway. Strange might have had it added, but I can't think why." Except, supervillain. Damn it.

    Donna nods. "You know the prison better than I do."

    "Alright, that's where we're going. Transitioning in two, one,-."
     
  27. Threadmarks: Ex Perdition
    Mr Zoat

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    Ex Perdition

    1st January
    18:34 GMT -5


    "…beyond not cool." The image of Guy floating over Stewart's ring shakes its head at me.

    I walk down the corridor in the direction of the living area. "I know, I know. But I had no other way to get back!" His lip curls slightly as he nods. "If the Guardians had given me a star chart months ago I wouldn't have needed to. How are things on Oa?"

    "Same old same olds. Kilowog's got me helpin' out with the rookies."

    "Noo. Noo. Guy, you need to be teaching the veterans your technique." He gives me a sceptical look. "Seriously. It's too advanced for rookies. Get Salaak to find a few Sectors with two experienced Lanterns, recall one of them and show them how it works."

    "I don't think Salaak's really in the mood fer more 'human shenanigans' right now."

    I turn the corner and can hear the television in the distance. "He actually said that?"

    "Yeah. Oh, you know, translators, but…"

    "Try getting Kilowog to do it then. Have you shown him?"

    He nods. "Think he got it. Course, the only way t' check would be bringing you here."

    "I'll probably pop over once my year's up. Anyway, reason I called. I got a phone call from Nylor Truggs this morning."

    "What, you leave your number in a phone box or something?"

    "He hacked GBS's phone records. You know Truggs says that he comes from the future?" Guy nods. "According to him we're due to be conquered by The Reach in a decade or so." Guy stops smiling. "He says that's why he came back."

    "So why's he workin' fer Team Evil?"

    "Because we failed. The League wasn't able to prevent it from happening, so he's trying to buff some other faction. Either that, or he's trying to force us to improve by giving us harder challenges. I've spent most of the day going through John's database on the Reach."

    "He could just be bullshitting you."

    "Yes… He could. I would probably have been able to tell if I could see him while he was saying it… On the other hand, looking at the stellar maps-" I hold up my left hand and generate a chart. "-in my particular area of interest it looks like I'll run into them anyway."

    The somewhat nebulous border of the territory of the Reach Stellar Empire is marked out in a slightly brighter orange hue than the worlds around it. The map is 'dead' as of Stewart's last update so it might have expanded a bit since then. Plus, most of the systems marked aren't readily habitable. Yes, they could dismantle a few gas giants and build artificial habitats but it's so resource intensive that even the Reach don't bother outside the core of their territory. I expand one section and individual border worlds are marked out. "See what I see?"

    Guy looks off to the side for a moment, then back 'towards camera'. "Maltus."

    "They're actually curving around it. They can't hope to conquer it with brute force and I can't think how they'd corrupt the Controllers… And I think I can probably work out who the Orange Lantern Corps' first target is going to be. Except… Do I cause the attack on Earth? From the way Truggs was talking it was fairly apocalyptic."

    Guy shakes his head. "You can't worry about stuff like that. But…" He has a furtive look over his shoulder. "Okay, look: I'm not sure I'm meant ta tell you this, but the Guardians think that the Controllers are already fighting the Reach. Lanterns in nearby Sectors have reported seeing these guys carrying out hit and run attacks on Reach shipping." The starchart disappears, being replaced by the image of a burly alien with a head somewhat like that of a bulldog trading fire with a Reach starship. "They wear this red, white and silver power armour with this.. sort of black starburst symbol-."

    I smile. "The Darkstars."

    "That what they're called? Wouldn't get too excited about it. Every time we saw them fighting Scarab Warriors they were gettin' their asses kicked."

    "They'd probably do better if they had power rings."

    Guy shakes his head. "No can do Paul. The treaty them and the Guardians signed says no Lanterns-."

    "No Green Lanterns."

    He's silent for a moment as he takes that in. "Heh. Hehhehheh. Think they know rings come in other colors?"

    "Sinestro isn't exactly subtle. On the other hand, it's a big universe."

    "So, what? You're just gunna give 'em all rings an' let 'em go at it?"

    "Hardly. Even without Bobblehead malware-."

    "Will you lay off'f that! They don't-."

    "You can't kill people, Guy! The Green Lantern Corps was at war and they couldn't kill their enemies! The Scarabs are a threat to Lanterns -just about- but the reason you lost was because-."

    "We didn't lose!" The image glitches. "We got a draw and a peace treaty. No more Reach battle fleets firing on unprotected worlds from orbit!"

    "What do you call it when one side advances and the other retreats? Reach occupied space is… What? Five times as big by volume now as it was then? Are they any nicer? Give me a few hundred people who hate them, people whose worlds are under Reach control, whose people are slaves, whose strongest desire is to unmake them utterly… I think we'll get a different result."

    "And then what? You wanna give a bunch of genocidal maniacs power rings you'd best be damn sure you can make them give them back at the end of it."

    "That volume of space? Destroying the Reach will take centuries. Besides, rings can be used to rebuild their worlds as well as killing their enemies." He doesn't look convinced. "You know I use mine like that."

    "You ain't exactly most people. And you haven't had decades a' seein' your homeworld torn apart. That sorta pain does stuff to yah and it ain't usually anythin' good. And you had trouble with the orange light anyway."

    "So I'll ask the Controllers to be a bit more selective about it. It still gives me a core of experienced people to build my Corps from."

    He thinks for a moment and then nods. "Plus, no one here's likely t' complain about the Reach gettin' hammered. Doubt even the Guardians would mind that."

    "Any chance they'll approve bringing the Watchtower up to spec? If the Reach are heading this way…"

    "I'll ask, but I doubt it. Couldn't you sort somethin' out?"

    "Yes, I could build a series of space based battle fortresses armed with beam singularity projectors. Six months down the line I'll probably be able to build ones powered by Personal Lanterns in the same way Sector Houses are and equip them with nuclear force nullifiers and giant orange defensive barriers. You think they'll be okay with that? Heck, you think the Justice League would be?"

    "Or you could just build one."

    "Wouldn't be enough. If I'm doing a job I'm going to do it properly."

    He moves his jaw slightly to the side, then looks around again. "Ah, look, I gotta go. I'll pass it on. For what it's worth. Just don't do anythin' too crazy until I get back."

    I take a moment to reflect on the activity I have planned for this evening. "I'll see what I can do. Bye Guy."

    He waves goodbye and the images shut down as I walk into the living room.
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2019
  28. Threadmarks: Homecoming
    Mr Zoat

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    Homecoming

    3rd January
    06:54 GMT -5


    The four of us wait patiently outside the external zeta tube terminus for Garfield and Missus Logan to arrive from Qurac. I haven't been back here since the first day I came to the mountain but aside from the grass getting a bit longer nothing much has changed. Kon and M'gann have their standard school bags containing the small pile of homework they were set over the Christmas holiday period. They're also carrying torches as the sun won't be up for another quarter of an hour or so and we're some distance away from where the street lighting starts. I hope Garfield doesn't get too jetlagged from the travelling back and forth every day. With the seven hour difference he's coming from early afternoon to early morning and he'll be going back from Mid afternoon to late night.

    Diana's wearing a pink coloured formal blouse, dark blue business jacket and a matching pleated knee length skirt. It's slightly strange seeing her dressed like that. When I've seen her out of uniform before it was either in what I think of as Themysciran clothing or casual wear. Combined with the glasses and the altered hairstyle I could just about understand her passing un-. Well, not unremarked upon, she's still a strikingly attractive woman. Not noticed as being Wonder Woman, perhaps. Just about.

    I still don't understand how glasses work so well.

    Something else I learned today: Diana owns a car. And can drive it herself. No diplomatic number plates either. I don't.. think she has a cover identity. Is she planning on turning up around town as.. Diana Kent? That would be weird.

    Kon's looking at the car as well. "Not that I'm complaining, but we've been walking to school just fine since September."

    "I know. But your principal has been requesting a meeting with your parents." She smiles fondly at him and he reciprocates. "And since that is now me I thought it might be best to show my face around the school gates once in a while."

    Kon nods, then freezes up. "Ah, I don't think I've done anything wrong?"

    "I know you haven't. Your teachers have been extremely impressed by the level of knowledge you've displayed in your lessons."

    He shrugs. "The G-Gnomes did all the hard work. I just have to remember it."

    "Maybe we should offer the school their services. Do wonders for their league table position."

    "Regardless of how you came by the knowledge, the fact remains that you're considerably better informed and more academically able than most students in your grade. The school may want to offer you a chance to study at a more advanced level."

    "Oh. Ah. Great. I guess."

    She smiles at him fondly. "And I'd like to be able to spend more time with you in public."

    "You can do that now."

    "Kon-. Conner, we talked about this. Deciding not to have a secret identity isn't something you can take back. If you're still set on abandoning it by the time you finish High School then I will accept your decision, but until then I expect you to maintain it." He nods, clearly not entirely happy with the situation.

    Not sure what I think on the subject. Themyscira probably has some sort of civil list type arrangement. It's not like Diana pays for the embassy by selling her own action figures or anything stupid like that. Could the Genomorphs use him as a PR rep? He'd need to increase his visibility for that to be the case. He hasn't mentioned to me finding one part of his education more interesting than the rest so I can't really try suggesting careers. Superheroing's his life so the hours would need to be very flexible… It's the same problem I have with Donna: converting super strength into cash just isn't that easy.

    "Recognised, A one nine, Marie Logan."

    A flash of light from the phone booth and a slightly dazed Missus Logan gets out. M'gann immediately lights up and scurries over to her. "Hi Marie!"

    "Good-." She pauses, taking in her environment. "-morning Megan. I still don't think I've quite gotten used to-."

    "Recognised, A two zero, Garfield Logan." He materialises, takes a couple of quick steps forwards then nearly trips up on the uneven ground but manages to catch himself.

    M'gann walks over to him and kneels down. "Hey, Garfield. Ready for your first day of school?"

    "Yeah? I think so." He looks even less certain than he sounds. He distracts himself by studying the one member of the group he doesn't immediately recognise. His eyes narrow as he regards Diana, and then they suddenly widen. "You're Wonder Woman!"

    She inclines her head slightly. "I-."

    "Now remember, Garfield." Missus Logan bends down to lecture her son. "You're not allowed to talk about Megan or Conner being superheroes with anyone they haven't already told. Or that you come to school by zeta tube."

    "Yeah, I know." He bends around his mother to look at Diana. "But you are, right?"

    "Sometimes. But today, you can just call me 'Diana'."

    "Okay." I suppose he's probably a bit young to appreciate that level of familiarity from her. "Is Missus Reilly here?"

    Diana looks at me. I shrug. "Um, she's in New York at the moment."

    "Oh, okay." He looks around the group again. "Is it time to go yet?"

    Diana consults her watch. "I suppose it is. I'll be driving you-."

    "I call shotgun!" He dashes towards her car and then stops suddenly as he gets a better look at it. "Awwww… I thought you'd have a secret agent car or something!"

    "I prefer my vehicles to be road legal. But you're welcome to sit in the front if you like."

    Missus Logan walks up behind Garfield and pulls him into a hug. "Remember to do what your teachers tell you. And try and get along with the other kids."

    "Moooom."

    She kisses him on the forehead before letting him go. Diana walks over to the car and opens the passenger side door for him. He hesitates for a moment and then jumps in.

    Kon and M'gann head for the near side rear door as Diana walks around to the driver side. Kon gets in first while M'gann stops next to the door. "Why were you expecting Miss Reilly to be here?"

    "Oh. I was worried Mom might get lonely with me being here and Miss Reilly said she'd make sure she didn't. She's been at the sanctuary a lot lately. Mom says they're best friends." He pauses for a moment. "Well, she said they were 'special friends', but that means the same thing, right?"

    Huh?

    M'gann gets in as Diana turns the key in the ignition and the car pulls away.

    Huh?

    Missus Logan stands next to me, sagging slightly and with her right hand over her face. "Tell me you didn't hear that."

    "I… Didn't hear that? But.. that.. thing I didn't hear..?"

    "She.. started.. visiting on a regular basis after you stopped by back in December."

    "I… I'm sorry, I'm just a little surprised. Given the trouble she was having with social interaction… I mean…" I shake my head in incomprehension. "How?"

    "How old are you again?"

    "Eighteen. Oh, I don't-. I'm sorry, I don't mean to-."

    "No, no, she.. said you'd helped her a lot. When she came back the first time… She.. noticed that I'd been.. looking at her. She was actually.. quite… Assertive."

    "Assertive in a social situation?"

    "She.. walked up to me. Naked."

    "That that that is pretty assertive. Um. You do know that she-?"

    "That she's a robot? That was sort of obvious when she stopped faking her facial expressions. I…" She exhales. "I've been.. cut off from the rest of the world at the sanctuary, since Mark died. It probably wasn't healthy but.. it.. got me through." She pauses, trying to get her thoughts in order. "It's been.. nice, having another adult around. She's good with the animals, great with Garfield…"

    "And you don't need to worry about Bialyan patrols with her there. Well, I'm.. happy for the two of you." I nod, more to myself than to her. "Flabbergasted, but happy."
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2020
  29. Threadmarks: Aberration
    Mr Zoat

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    Aberration

    10th January
    11:16 GMT


    I do my best not to slump in my chair as the Right Honourable Member for Croydon North drones ever onwards and upwards. Any residual good feeling I had about augmenting Orana has long since faded away under the assault of mundanity from the Parliamentary Preternatural Scrutiny Select Committee and its incredibly dull chairwoman Jasmine Abbott. I knew that the British government would want to talk about what happened on Friday. I had dared hope it would be a one to one chat with.. Sir Cyril.. or someone like him. Someone who knew what they were talking about.

    Diana gave me the bad news Sunday afternoon so I can't say I didn't know this was coming. Kaldur took the stand yesterday but since I was so clearly taking a lead on that operation it isn't inherently unreasonable that they want to hear from me. I'm supposed to be meeting with the Great Ten this afternoon and if this drags on-.

    "Mister Grayven, are you paying attention?"

    I take a calming breath. But I don't waste a smile on her. "Madam Chairwoman, you have yet to say anything that requires my comment."

    "Mister Grayven, you have committed some highly irregular activities on British sovereign soil. While we accept that there may be extenuating circumstances a man is dead. We would appreciate it if you could behave with the solemnity the situation demands."

    "Madam Chairwoman, I remained with the train until the police arrived. I gave a verbal statement at that time and submitted a full written account -one which you appear to be reading back to me word for word- a few hours later. That written statement is my version of events. If you wish to question it I will respond. If you would like additional details I am happy to provide them." I pick up the jug on my table and pour a small glass of water.

    "Very well." She pushes the statement printout aside as I take a sip. "The Justice League is obliged to notify governments prior to acting within their jurisdiction. Why did you not notify the Home Office when you decided to intervene?"

    I put down the glass and make a show of considering the question. "Firstly, because I am not a member of the Justice League. I am aware of their rules of engagement and endeavour to follow them where reasonably practical but they do not -strictly speaking- apply to me. Secondly, because I was concerned that any delay would result in the situation deteriorating in a way contrary to the wellbeing of your species. As you can see from the timeline the gap between us having a concrete location to move on and the situation being resolved was.. perhaps five minutes. Certainly not enough time for anyone in the Home Office to actually do anything about such a missive."

    "Why did you not simply pass the matter on to the Justice League? You said yourself that you alerted Green Arrow and that Giovanni Zatara became aware during his daughter's scrying attempt."

    "Again, because of the delay that would have been involved. The five of us-."

    "Five.. of you?"

    "Aqualad, Celestial Archer, Zatanna, Mister Tawny and myself."

    "Oh. The Cat."

    Who at this very moment is either picking a fight with a Thanagarian Snare Beast or picking the remains of one out of his teeth. "The five of us have worked together before. Zatanna aside we haven't worked with Mister Zatara. Adding a new person to the group and disrupting the established chain of command would have been a very bad idea had we encountered significant resistance."

    "What measures did you take to ensure the safety of the train's other passengers?"

    "After the event I scanned them all. There were no significant injuries but we alerted the ambulance service anyway."

    "And beforehand?"

    "Nothing."

    "Mister Grayven-."

    "Unless you count dealing with the civilisation ending abomination. There simply-."

    "Wasn’t time. Yes." She gives me what she probably thinks is a stern look. "I'm seeing a pattern in your activity."

    "Since we're talking about the same event that merely indicates that I'm not perjuring myself." I take another sip of water. By the fire pits, this is annoying. Am I going to have to blackmail her? Seems a little petty-

    !Establish dominance!

    -but she is being really stupid about this. See how it goes. "Had it been necessary I would have accepted the deaths of everyone on the carriage in order to stop the Beast." There's a slight intake of breath from the gallery.

    "That is a remarkably cavalier attitude to take."

    "Ruthlessly pragmatic, perhaps. Not cavalier. The fact is that if the Beast had succeeded in killing its guardian they -and every other Human- would have died anyway."

    "So you say."

    "No, not just 'I say'. Mister Zatara confirmed the presence and power of the being we exorcised. If you had any experts of your own they would be telling you the same thing. Have you managed to track down Mister Constantine yet?"

    "John Constantine does not work for the British governm-"

    "I'll take that as a no."

    "-ent. The matter will be investigated by Captain Cornwall, who does retain our confidence." I take another sip of water. She's really getting close to what I'll-. "Now, your treatment of Miss Angela Spatchcock. Would you like to say anything on the matter?"

    I put the glass down. "Not particularly."

    "You did kill her brother, however necessary it was." She studies me for a moment. "Perhaps some words of sympathy?" I use my right arm to unishrug. "Mister Grayven, you are a remarkably callous individual."

    "The Beast killed Jason Spatchcock. If you want to rake the head of the Stone Cross psychiatric hospital over the coals for not preventing that then feel free to do so."

    "He's dead."

    "As for being callous… A hundred and fifty thousand people die every day. One scan from this ring-" I raise my left hand. "-and I can show you malnutrition, civil unrest… In fact-" I generate an image of a small part of the Gulf of Mexico, complete with drowned corpses. I smile at the gasps. "-a family of five who failed to make the crossing from Haiti to Florida."

    "You let them d-."

    "No. I don't make your immigration rules. I don't run your economy, your.. transport infrastructure. I do not rule the Earth. My only responsibility as a free individual -as I see it- is to stop you all doing something stupid enough to wipe yourselves out. If I were a member of the Justice League I would have a different job. I am not. If I were a police officer I would have a different job. I am not. Could I have stopped.. that?" I point to the orange recreation of Mister Anel Dabrezil's remains. "Yes. And so could about a billion other people by living slightly differently. Why didn't you?" I dismiss the construct. "Your species has a right to self determination, to live as you want to live. I respect that. What you do not have is a right to expect others -people like me- to step in every time one of your decisions has unpleasant consequences, to patch over holes in the fabric of your society that you know full well are there." I hope the Light are going to see this. "And on that note I'd like to request a brief recess."

    She looks down at me with evident distaste. "Yes, I think that might be for the best. Ten minutes."

    I wait for the bench to rise before getting up myself and heading for the exit. The people around me give me plenty of space. Where's.. she.. going to go? Ah yes. I transition into the private part of The House, materialising next to Mrs Abbott as she feeds change into a vending machine and stick a barrier around us. "Madam Chairwoman."

    She jumps. "Mister.. Grayven, this is completely inappropriate!"

    "I know, but I'm getting bored and annoyed so I thought I'd have a word."

    "If you're.. trying to threaten-."

    "No. Blackmail."

    She frowns. "I haven't done anything-."

    "I have CCTV footage of Prince William murdering people and eating their remains." She goes pale. Ah, she knows what I'm talking about! That will make this easier. "Did you ever go to the Caligula Club yourself? Before it burned down?"

    "Yes. Once, as a junior minister."

    "Enjoy yourself?"

    "No! It was disgusting! I never went back!"

    "Well, aren't you the Pollyanna?" I give her a lazy smile. "I understand that that prince doesn't need adult nappies anymore and it's amazing what they can do with artificial knees these days. You can barely see the scar-."

    "What do you want?"

    "You have a job. Do it. Stop deliberately provoking me. Establish the facts and make recommendations for whatever changes in policy you think are necessary." I lean closer. "I have lists. Names. Faces. Times. Dates. Photographs and camera footage. Step out of line again and I will make this country a republic, French style, am I clear?"

    "Yes. Yes, you're clear."

    I lean back. "Good. Enjoy your sandwich, Madam Chairwoman."
     
  30. Threadmarks: Widdershins
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Widdershins

    17th January
    19:48 GMT


    "Whaw. That's some real hard luck you had there."

    I turn up the right corner of my lip. "Oh, I don't know Alan. It's not that bad. Fifteen two, fifteen four, three is seven and one for his nob is eight." I reach forward and move the rear peg eight in front of its partner.

    "I meant the whole.. situation in Aberrance."

    "Yeah. I mean, there were a lot of things we should have done better, but it doesn't usually bite you in the arse quite-."

    "Hey." Theodore 'Ted' Grant gives me a mock frown, then points at Danni. "Lady present."

    She tilts her head slightly, but makes no other expression. "I am familiar with the Human posterior, Ted."

    "I just think, standards should be-."

    "You did not think that when you were younger. I distinctly remember you putting your hand-."

    "Ah…"

    "Have you got no points again?"

    A second of relief, then he exhales in frustration. He tosses a two of clubs, a four and a Jack of hearts and a Queen of spades onto the table. "How do you even know how to play this game? No one your age plays card games that aren't poker!"

    "Are you joking? Nan and Grandad-" He winces slightly. "-taught me how to count with cribbage. Danni, got anything?"

    "Fifteen two and three for six. A total of eight."

    Alan smiles slightly. "You can just tell us what you get. We do trust you."

    Ted shakes his head in disappointment at his partner's naiveté. "Speak for yourself. You gotta watch these sharks, Alan. They'll take you for everything you're worth."

    "Given how far ahead they are, I think they might just do that anyway." He lays down his cards. "Eight for me as well." Two eights, a nine and a ten. He picks up the box. "Uhh."

    "Hey, Danette, we haven't really caught up since you came back. How's being a robot zombie treating you?"

    "Strange, but largely pleasant." She blinks. "Though I do find the constant hunger for Human brains somewhat disconcerting."

    Alan chuckles, but Ted looks momentarily nonplussed. "You can make jokes? Tornado never did that."

    Without showing the rest of us Alan shuffles his box in with the rest of the cards before passing it to me. I give it a quick shuffle myself before dealing out the cards. I have discovered watching her play that Danni can't do a Data type fast shuffle, though Ted's been watching her hands carefully every time it's her turn to deal.

    "Jokes are not complicated to make, though my capacity to appreciate the humor is limited."

    "So why the long face?"

    "I was originally programmed to automatically mimic Human facial expression. Since I am not currently trying to infiltrate the Justice Society for Father while keeping my nature as a gynoid a secret, I see no reason to present a false visage."

    I pick up my cards. Three and Jack of diamonds, six and ten of hearts and a nine of clubs. Not great. Toss the ten and hope something turns up or toss the three? Aaaaaah. The three. Danni's already added to my box. Alan rearranges his hand for a moment before picking something to get rid of.

    Ted's still thinking. "So.. do you walk around looking like that?"

    "No. Usually, I allow the program to handle my body language. My elder brother leaves his on all of the time, though that may be because he is too stubborn to change it."

    "That's that Lockhart guy, right?" Danni inclines her head slightly, "Can barely credit no one spotting he was a robot." He takes another look at his hand. "Oh, dang it." He adds his card to the box.

    Alan grins. "Yolanda making Uncle Wildcat use the swear box again?"

    "Gotta set a good example for the kids, Alan." Alan cuts the deck and Danni turns up the Queen of hearts. "Ah." Ted nods. "Okay. I can work with this."

    Ted leads with a Jack. Danni's choice is immediate. "Fifteen for two."

    "Uhh…" Alan thinks for a moment. "Twenty three."

    "Twenty nine."

    Ted knocks on the table. Danni remains expressionless. "Thirty." Alan knocks and I shake my head. "For one."

    "Ten."

    "Twenty for two."

    Ted grins. "Thirty for six. Anyone?" We shake our heads. "And one."

    "Three."

    "Eleven."

    "Twenty."

    "Hah, got ya! Twenty seven for three."

    "No, that doesn't work. They have to be in order."

    Ted squints. "Are you trying to hustle me?"

    "No, really. We can check the rulebook-."

    "No, no, that's okay. You're probably right." He looks at Danni. "So what are you doing with yourself now? Getting back into the cape business?"

    "Thirty for one. I never wore a cape. I have not yet made a firm decision with regard to my future direction. I am currently splitting my time between America and the Logan Animal Sanctuary in Qurac."

    "Ten."

    "Twenty."

    "Twenty four." Ted looks at Danni, who shakes her head. "One each then." We all reach down to pick our cards back up. "You like animals?"

    "The Wildebeest are growing on me. Slowly. The main reason I spend time there is my growing infatuation with the owner."

    "Oh? So you're..?" Ted waves his right hand in circles.

    "Outwardly anatomically accurate? Yes."

    "Two for eights and two for Queens."

    "Three for three. What's his name?"

    "Fifteen two, fifteen four. Marie Logan." Ted's eyes widen slightly.

    "Fifteen two and four for four. Aaand." I pick up the box. "Nothing."

    "Ah… So.. you..?"

    "I am not…" Danni thinks for a moment. "My mind is not situated in a Human brain. I lack the parts that would cause me to experience physical attraction to one gender or another. And Paul was being frustratingly slow on the uptake."

    "I was?" Alan snorts with laughter. "What?"

    He coughs. "Just something went down the wrong way."

    "Alright… So, what's she like?"

    Danni thinks for a minute as Ted shuffles. "Determined. Running an animal sanctuary in Qurac is hot and hard work, to say nothing of raising her son Garfield on her own. I think perhaps the reason she was willing to become involved with me was that she had worked so hard for so long that she had no idea what to do with the free time she gained when we shared the duty of animal care." She smiles. "That is to say nothing of the occasional intrusions by the Bialyan army. Though those have stopped now."

    Alan frowns. "You.. turn your facial-" He wiggles his right hand at his mouth. "-program thing on?"

    "No. Why do you ask?"

    "You're smiling."

    "I am not smiling."

    "Actually…" I nod.

    She blinks, then raises her right hand to feel her still smiling mouth. "Oh."
     
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