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

[Mr Zoat]

Anarkic

1st May 2013
12:46 GMT

The old home town just… Ain't the same,
Like a derelict man who has died out of shame,
A jumble sale left out in the…

No, no. That's not fair at all.

But this whole situation is disappointing. Dolmen Gates are the second biggest improvement I've made to the world. Right after preserving Cadburys' chocolate.

"Heh."

Right after undoing global warming. Useful magical artefacts that can just slot into the world, reducing pollution, getting Atlanteans interacting with the surface, cutting travel times to next to nothing… And the longer it stayed there the more useful it made itself.

And now… Well… The ones we already made are still there, but the one Atlantean who was working with us and was on the surface when the Anti-Life broadcast happened… Didn't.. survive. I haven't checked, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that magic users were actually more vulnerable than normal people due to their connection to the arcane side of the world.

I'm not sure if Mannheim didn't know about the portals, or didn't care about them, or didn't really have a way to move them, but he didn't do anything about them. Mitchell and Noriel had to stop the Bourneville City Boss doing a sort of evil Willy Wonka re-enactment with Cadbury's World at one point, but… Well, we were moving goods using the Gates before and… Morbid as it is, aside from a few name changes where people died and a few emergency League authority rulings to get land where all the potential owners died back into use, it's… Back into full working order.

I mostly check the value of my theoretical investment in medallions rather than pounds sterling these days…

Who was it-? I honestly don't remember who it was, who looked upon the damage wrought by the Great Fire of London and got excited at the chance to rebuild London as a modern city in its wake. Good for him, I suppose, but I'm just… I'm not annoyed or angry. I'm actually sad that it's all been curtailed like this.

Months since, and I still can't get back to what I was doing.

I suppose that I should check in with everyone.

"Orange Lantern Illustres to Watchtower. Anything you need me doing, or can you just forward me the to-do list?"

"Watchtower responding." Mr. Atom. "Orange Lantern, Batman has expressed a desire to speak to you in person. Go to Mount Justice and I will inform him that you are here."

"Rightoh. Going there now. Orange Lantern out."

I raise my right forefinger to my forehead and

step out, reappearing

next to the bundle of drives that characterise Happy Harbour.

1st May 2013
07:48 GMT -5

It's… Quieter than it used to be. As a rural location, the death toll here wasn't… Too bad. But.. more than the death, people are just more sombre than they used to be. I suppose that after the Sheeda it was possible to believe that things would just go back to normal eventually. At least, if you weren't in one of the areas that was directly attacked. But everyone got exposed to the Anti-Life. Sections of the woodlands near the town have been cut down to make allotments-. A community farm, because while food supplies here weren't disrupted much, everyone living here thinks they could get disrupted badly if anything like that happens again.

And with the economy the way it is, having a cheaper hobby like growing your own food has a definite appeal.

I drift towards the mountain, taking in Euanthe's grove on the top. Still there, if not flourishing quite as much as it was with a dryad's constant attention. And no soon-to-be druid lying next to a tree blissed out on green magic-rich fruit this time, which is probably good.

Hm.

I don my light power armour and dive into the water off the coast, powering through the water and entering the underwater tunnel into the lower level. I send my authentication signal to the force field system to actually enter the Mountain proper. This system is an upgraded version of a modification I made to the system after those Saremites got in and we got a definitive answer to the 'do they actually know we're here' question.

Gone are the happy days when I could just swim in.

I come out in the hangar, and… Ah, no bioship. It's a school day, so… I guess Martian Manhunter is using it? Or there's been an emergency of some kind. Not really a huge issue. Anyone-

Lantern Ghia'ta flies into the hangar, Lantern Rrab just behind her.

-could be.. using it. I send my armour back into subspace.

"Good morning."

Ghia'ta smiles. "Good morning!"

Lantern Rrab just nods a little cautiously. "Illustres."

"Apparently Batman wants to talk to me. Any idea what that's about?"

Ghia'ta shakes her head as I land on the shore. "No. Perhaps he wishes to coordinate a wide scale operation with you?"

"I suppose. What are you up to today?"

"I am volunteering at an orphanage."

I.. nod. That's something she's been doing during her enforced downtime. Children generally flexed rather than being broken under the Anti-Life, but that meant that there are a lot more children without a next of kin to take them on. I turn to Lantern Rrab, eyebrows raised.

"Um. Could you..? Tell me how the war against the Reach is going?"

I shrug, and flick a data packet from my ring to hers.

"The most recent fight involved me rescuing the last surviving members of an unusually intelligent species before the Reach could scoop out their brains to use as computers. We're winning, as much as space captured since the beginning of the war is any guide to go by. But we always knew that the Reach are defence in depth types, so…"

I shrug, and she nods.

"Interested in getting involved?" I pull my ring off my right hand and wiggle it at her. "One of my students recently gained enlightenment, so I've got some spare time?"

"Um." To her credit, she doesn't recoil much. "No. Thank you. I've got… A lot to learn before I try fighting the Reach."

"Good attitude, though I think it makes you the only member of this team who thinks that. What are you doing today?"

"Hal is showing me more advanced techniques!" She smiles as she-. Oh dear. Note to self, have a word with Lantern Jordan about-.

I consider Zatanna.

About talking to someone else about how to gently let someone know that you're not interested. Actually, Batman is probably a good person to go to with that.

I nod again. "Chihuahuan Desert?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"Lantern Gardner and I started using it, then it expanded to all the Lanterns on Earth. I should probably try and get us all together at some point. Well, you have fun with that. I've got some mission reports to read."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Supnautica

4th May 2013
09:55 GMT -5

Governor Grisham shrugs. "I agree, but unless he's willing to testify there's not much I can do. We don't have cameras everywhere, and the ones we do have aren't high resolution."

"Can I..?"

"Look through our records?" He nods. "Sure. You can do that a whole lot easier than we can, and if you've got some idea of when he was attacked then that'll help."

I nod, standing up as I do so. "Thank you for your time, Governor."

He stands up as well, and offers me his right hand. I shake it.

"Do you need someone to take you to the server room?"

I shake my head. "No, I can find it. Thank you."

I turn and walk out of his office. By 'find it' I mean 'downloaded all of it the moment I became aware of the incident', but there's no need to be rude when he's being helpful.

Is now a good time to ask the League to lean on Washington about truth compulsion magic and telepathic testimony in trials? The problem with having a right to a fair trial is that you can waive it. Isn't there a state interest in ensuring that criminals are punished appropriately?

Note to self: try finding a parallel universe where the United States never gained independence and see how it's going.

And not just for personal interest.

I

step out, aiming for the slightly twisted desire structures of the prisoner whose victimhood led me to the prison today.

"Good morning."

He maintains the same impassive expression as his comrades, leaning back as he sits on his bed. "I'm pretty sure you just turning up in my cell violates my rights."

"Yeah. You should talk to your lawyer about that."

His lawyer who hasn't got in contact yet. I shrug.

"There are other lawyers, you know."

"I'll wait. Thanks."

"You can." I nod. "You can. I would suggest that showing a little initiative in closing down a potential leak might be looked upon favourably -I do have far greater investigative powers than your senior business associates are likely to- but I'm not here with the thumbscrews." He shrugs nonchalantly. "The other-."

"What's a thumbscrew?"

"Ah… A medieval torture device. Lock someone's hand in place and turn a screw which gradually crushes their thumb."

"Damn."

I shake my head. "It's pointless. You could do the same thing with a hammer, and still have a useful tool. And it's not like torture's a reliable way to get information anyway."

"Pretty intimidating."

"During the Hundred Years War, the French used to cut fingers off any English soldier they caught so they wouldn't ever be able to loose arrows at them again. Henry the Fifth of England won that war. I wouldn't overestimate-."

"Like, the Shakespeare guy?"

"Yes the Shakespeare guy. Shakespeare's Histories are -naturally enough- based on real history. The other reason why I'm here-."

"Took a girl to see it one time. Didn't think I'd pay it much attention, but it was actually pretty good."

"Brush up your Shakespeare,
Start quoting him now,
Brush up your Shakespeare,
And the women you will wow."

He stares at me for a moment. "Whow, dude, I thought this was gunna turn into a musical or something."

"That's the chorus. If I was doing it properly I'd need to start with a verse. I spoke to-"

"Because I usually-."

"-Governor Grisham."

He smiles. "Oh yeah? How is he?"

"He's in good health. And he gave me access to the camera records, including your attack."

There's a tiny flicker… But that's all there is. "What attack?"

"What happened to you is.. very illegal. The Justice League employs telepaths. And discretion. I would like to see the person who attacked you punished."

"There was no attack."

"It is possible to proceed with a case where the alleged victim doesn't want to cooperate. It's difficult, particularly in cases where physical evidence is unlikely to exist and the alleged perpetrator is unlikely to confess, but it can be done. Were I to proceed in this manner, I would need to speak with all potential witnesses-."

He glares at me. "Fuck you."

"I realise that this is a sensitive topic, but I really do just want to help. I do have a list of everyone who was in your cellblock at the time. If you can think of any who might-."

He stands up in an explosive motion, arms jerking up over his head. "FINE! Fuck!"

"Alright. If-."

"Fucking thumbscrews! You want the message we got?"

"It.. would be quite helpful. And I wish to emphasise that it can't be used in your prosecution because -as you've noted- you haven't yet had access to a lawyer."

"And-." He waves his right forefinger at me. "Don't tell anyone else you heard anything from me."

I nod. "As far as anyone will know, I found out by scanning phone records."

"And there was no attack."

A prosecution would be unlikely anyway, and this is clearly distressing him. "Very well. If you insist. What form does the message take?"

"It's on paper. Usually burn it after-." He shakes his head, sitting down. "Since it's the only one there's nothing for you to compare it to. But you might get something out of it."

"I will certainly try. Would you like to be kept apprised of the results of my investigation? It may help your defence."

He thinks, then shakes his head. "Send everything to my lawyer when the… When he gets here."

"As you will. Thank you for your cooperation."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Supnautica, part 2

4th December 1993
11:03 GMT -5

I close my eyes and bow my head, scanning our destination.

"Grateful as I am to have been taken into your confidence, Remy, I was hoping that you'd be prepared to give me a slightly more thorough briefing before we arrive."

"You don' need one. Ain't hard."

"The more I know about what's going on, the better I can help you. Please."

His eyes dip, though that's probably to check on the Blackbird's instruments rather than out of any sort of doubt.

"Mah brother done got his fool self caught bah d' Assassins. They wan' me in exchange."

"The Assassins, as in a group called 'The Assassins'?"

He glances my way for a moment. "It mattuh?"

"If they're a group of thugs who call themselves 'The Assassins' to sound scary, that's one thing. If they're actual professional killers for hire, that's quite another."

He snorts. "You wan' me turn this 'ere thing around?"

"Not where I was going with that. My thoughts were that if they are in fact lower case 'a' assassins, it might be helpful if we could notify the police about their location. Or the F.B.I., or if we're really desperate, S.H.I.E.L.D.."

"Dat ain' too smart. We got dis ritual. Every ten years, we offah a tithe to a woman called X-Ternal. She lakh wha' she get, she give us power."

"'Power' meaning..?"

He takes his left hand off the control column and makes a pinching gesture, the dust in the air crackling and bursting as he empowers it.

Oh.

"Can anyone get in on that action? Because swinging back here once a decade with a pile of cash is no effort at all."

"You wan' mo' power?"

"If all I have to do is pay-." I frown. "What..? Does she just wave her hands and you get a random pull, or can you ask for specific things?"

"You get what cha get. An' if she don' lahk wha' you give her… Den bad t'ings happen. Ya tinkin' 'bout Rogue?"

"If a power-granting genie could give her power an 'off' switch, that would have been simpler than beating up a green-skinned Chinese warlord and stealing his rings."

"Ain' dat simple. An' X-Ternal don' stick aroun' for no show-an'-tell."

"Well… If we run into her, I'll try asking once you're finished up. How about that?"

He smiles. "Lemme an' Bobby get twen'y feet clear and dat's jus' fahn." His smile fades. "The Assassins, yeah, dey kill people. Good at it, too."

"Hm. Right. And does tithe payment result in the other party to your agreement getting less?"

"It don'-." He stops, frowning. "How ole' you tink ah am?"

"I.. was guessing mid-twenties?"

He nods. "I remember las' tahm. Ah left aftuh, when we didn't make payment an' Ol-yay paid da price."

"Which was?"

"He ded. She wave her hands, and… Poof."

Hm. That suggests that if someone isn't physically present, then they're fine. And even if that wasn't how it worked, then if she could call me from any distance to demand her payment, then I could just pay her then. And throw in extra for her trouble. I mean, once a decade isn't exactly taxing-.

"How much is the tithe supposed to be? I mean, 'tithe' implies a percentage of income, so do you submit accounts..? Or what?"

"Y'all gettin' way too int'rested. How 'bout ya'll leave the creepy swamp alone, huh? Ah don' wanna have t'tell Rogue her hubby ain't comin' back."

"Alright, alright. Assassins. I assume they have a base in the swamp?"

"Uh-huh. We headin' dere now."

"And other than active assassins, will anyone else be there? Children, non-combatant supporters, that sort of thing?"

"Shouldn' be. Dey awl stay home. Least, dat's how we do it our end."

I nod. I mean…

"So how much do you like this woman? You said 'crazy ex-girlfriend' rather than 'some girl I knew', so I assume you're not neutral on the subject of her wellbeing."

"She made her choice, ah made mine." He shrugs. "How it goes."

"When you got out, you asked her to leave with you?" He nods, an air of regret settling on his features. "Do you want her to leave with you now?"

"Dat ain't on da cards."

"Do you want your brother to leave with you? Any other family members? Ex-girlfriends? Pets?" … "Noteworthy trees..?"

"Nah. He in fo' life." I raise my eyebrows. "Guess it don' hurt t'ask."

"No, I think it could this time. But you should anyway."

"Why you care dey kill people?"

"Well… He's your brother. I'm following your lead. But if they're all a bunch of unrepentant serial killers… A person in my position might consider just… Going in shooting. Detecting their locations in advance, using high-powered railgun rounds to shoot them through the walls and ceilings. Naturally, if you want to take this opportunity-."

He glances my way, mildly perturbed. "You one col' fish, you know dat?"

"Because I accept killing the unrepentant serial killers holding your brother hostage, intending to kill him if you don't surrender yourself?" I shrug. "Police would do the same, just less well." I snort. "Double-time if they thought her powers came from the x-gene."

"Y'all think we get police out 're?"

"If we could link them to specific murders, yes? I mean, this isn't an obvious place for an order of genie-worshipping assassins to meet up. So?"

"We bein' recorded?"

"No."

"Den… Make mah life a whole mess easier." He sighs. "No. Jus' watch mah back."

"As you will."

We fly in silence for a few moments.

"You gon' do it anyways?"

"Not sure. I'll try acquiring information. If it turns out that any of them have done anything particularly notorious… Ah, I can come back later. See where they go when they leave."

"Not sure how the professor feel 'bout dat."

"I-."

"'specially from you. He like how diplomatic you are."

"I joined the team after killing two supervillains. Nearly got more. Wasn't entirely intentional, but… I don't regret it. Killing someone isn't my first choice and I don't want to ever do it just because I'm angry… But some people have it coming. Some people are just that bad."

"Guess dey best hope dey ain't dat bad."

I frown at him. "For assassins or in absolute terms?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

The Man

8th May 2013
09:23 GMT

"…and I spent most of the rest of the day feeding arcane artefacts to the Ophidian, because just removing the physical objects wasn't enough to destabilise the system quickly, but I couldn't feed her too much because-."

Queen Artemis nods. "That would risk the ire of the elementals you would hope would finish the job."

I nod, leaning back slightly in my chair. "Exactly. I mean, it's a brilliant piece of thaumic engineering, and I… I think there are other things that they could do with the system, but the planet's thaumic systems aren't something you can just reroute like that without colossal amounts of power that we don't have."

She shakes her head in amazement. "I understand the principles you have described, but I cannot imagine devising the mechanisms to put it into operation. And you believe that she did that while being tortured by evil gods for thousands of years?"

"That's my best guess. She had other concerns when she decided to be more open about what she'd been doing. Hopefully, if we eventually restore her mental clarity, we can find out."

It's not like I can check the clay she used to change her own appearance, but I wouldn't be shocked if she'd had some of Ahri'ahn's bones added to the mix. But we never found out where she found them… If that is what happened.

"What would happen to her then?"

Huh. I look around her drawing room as I think about it. The carved wood and padded furnishings put me in mind of my granny's living room or dining room, though in fact it's probably more similar to the drawing rooms of the Early Modern wealthy. I smile a little as I see some of my books on the personal reading shelf.

"I don't know. It won't really be my business either way. Adom is a head of state, but he was killed before Gamemnae could try and murder him. The people she killed died a long time ago, and she legitimised her own actions in Atlantis-. Old Atlantis, so there's no legal issue there. But attacking King Orin, taking his authority and reordering Atlantean society… That's probably a death penalty offence, which strikes me as extremely wasteful."

"But hardly unearned."

"If she hadn't been willing to sacrifice her sanity with no prompting from me at all, I'd probably be a lot less conflicted."

I mean, I'm not conflicted, exactly. I want her alive and in prison so that she can work off her debt to society. I don't think she's an ongoing threat. But King Orin doesn't want a new Ocean Master, and getting his heart cut out really hurt. I can easily understand why he might just order her death. It wouldn't be capricious or arbitrary if he did.

I wonder if the genomorphs could-? Of course they could, but would it-?

"What are you thinking about?"

"I was wondering if we could use a species of telepathic hive mind creatures to take a copy of her knowledge, in the event that King Orin insisted that she be executed."

"I suppose that you could, but where would you find such creatures?"

"Oh, no-. Sorry. We've already got them. They're called g-nomes. They're a synthetic organic species, one of several genomorph types created by a company called Cadmus Laboratories."

She appears to take that with reasonable equanimity. "Do your people use many types of vassal creature?"

"No. None, actually. I was actually responsible for the legal changes that got them manumitted; they officially have full citizenship now. Do your people use.. things like that?"

"Some do. Though I imagine that their nature is dissimilar. Can your 'genomorphs' use magic?"

"Some can, but they have to be specifically designed for it. We've still got a couple who were engineered to use demonic magic in the wind, but the other types are a good deal easier to deal with."

"Then they are living creatures whose nature makes it easier to use a particular type?"

I nod. "That's my understanding of it."

"Ours are… Partially elemental. A seed enriched with magic is placed in a vessel, and their master will usually grant it life with a drop of their own blood."

"How mentally.. complex are they?"

"They essentially run off their master's intellect, understanding their orders and situation based on their master's understanding. If their master dies or severs the bond they usually just sit where they are until the raw magic powering them is expended."

That's.. a relief, and Artemis picks up on my response.

"Were you worried that we used slaves?"

"A little. I don't know your culture."

"Then let me put your concerns to rest. They're more like an extra pair of hands that a magician can operate without a second mind."

I nod, smiling. "That's a relief."

"Have you noticed any ill-effects from contact with Despair?"

"No." I shake my head. "Other than what happened to Gamemnae there doesn't appear to have been any ill effects. On the other hand, Despair is fairly patient, so they might just be setting me up for something. Or… Someone I meet, or something like that."

"Is there a story there?"

"I doubt that you've heard of the planet 'Krypton'. Despair was the one who arranged for it to develop intelligent life, knowing that it would be unstable and eventually explode. That took millions of years, so, I doubt that the comparatively short span of a mortal lifetime is much of an obstacle for them."

She gives her head a small shake. "How do you know about that?"

"It happened at a party. One of the guests was a Maltusian, and I work for her descendants. Well, the descendants of her people."

Huh. Technically, she might still be alive. Might be worth looking into. And… Actually, that whole business might.. go some way to explaining why Hinon was so interested in how Dream got contained…

"It's amazing that you've directly encountered two of the Endless-."

"Four."

"Four?"

"I met Dream when a possessed madman tried spreading the Anti-Life to the Dreaming, and Desire thinks I'm entertaining viewing. I haven't met Destruction, Delirium or Death, which is actually unusual as most people meet Death twice."

She nods slowly. "At the start and at the end of their lives. But you come from a place beyond their reach, and have not yet died."

"No, I've died twice. Didn't see her the first time and I don't remember seeing her the second time, but… My memories of that death are a bit confused."

She looks at me like she thinks that she misheard me. "You.. have died twice."

"I got better."

She nods slowly, looking unconvinced. "Perhaps, if we… How do you see the return of Atlantis affecting our agreement?"

"There's no such thing as too many researchers. Regardless of Atlantis getting spare capacity, we'd still like to expand. And if we don't need your researchers for our fleets in the short term, there are plenty of research projects we'd like them to work on. Obviously it's a little less urgent, but we're still eager to proceed."

"Then let us discuss how to do so."