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

[Mr Zoat]

Vantavendi

20th October 2012
09:23 GMT -6

"Oh." Leonard looks at me over the chain attaching his door to its frame. "It's you."

"Good morning, Leonard!"

He looks… Ah, hung over. Also suspicious, though that could just be the lasting effects of the alcohol and lack of sleep.

I hadn't taken it entirely seriously when Waller said that the Governor was minded to pardon the Beresfords, but it seems that she was right on the money. Several of the supervillains I was working with are out on licence already. If they had a record of good behaviour inside and a job lined up…

I cautiously extend a vial of healing potion towards the gap in the door.

"This should fix the hangover?"

Good behaviour, a job lined up, and probably took part in operations against the Sheeda. There isn't a Taskforce X -I checked that hard- but things were dicey enough worldwide that I can't really fault them for asking for volunteers. At least amongst the rehabilitatable prisoners. If I'd found out that they'd made a deal with Satanus then we'd be having words.

He extends his right hand through the gap and takes the vial before pulling it back to him. He removes the stopper with his left hand and lifts it to his nose, taking a cautious sniff.

"What is it?"

"Healing potion. KordTech are taking it through FDA approval, but the League already uses it."

"… Healing potion." He looks away for a moment, then tips his head back and downs the contents of the vial. Then he puts the stopper back on and stows it in his dressing gown pocket. "How long does it ouwh."

He blinks, suddenly looking more alert.

"Fuck me."

"I appreciate that you're grateful, but that won't be necessary."

"Fuck you." He blinks again. "That's good stuff. What's the problem with the FDA?"

"They don't have the skills to properly regulate magic. It's not even entirely clear that they have the authority to regulate magic. But plenty of companies are fighting over the rights to bring Sheeda technology products to market so there's a huge furore in Washington over who gets to do what, and the presidential election's coming up…"

"Fucking politicians."

"A politician got you out of Belle Reve several years early. It's a little ungrateful slandering his entire occupation."

I hear a masculine mutter from inside the apartment. Leonard's eyes move a little before refocusing on me.

"It's Louisiana. He can't be that useful. What took you so long, anyway? I was expecting you to be right outside the gates."

I shrug. "I was on holiday. First proper sustained period of inactivity since I arrived on this planet. And I honestly had no idea it was even in the works. If Ted Kord hadn't been on the ball, Kadabra would be rather narked with me right now, and with good reason."

"I bet it didn't take you two weeks to visit that cat girl."

"No, but she's got nicer tits than you." … "So… Are you going to invite me in, or..?"

"I've got… Company over."

"And I can see emotions through walls." I cup my right hand against the side of my mouth. "Good morning Mister Harkness!"

"Uuuughfukoo."

"Ah." He reaches over and removes the chain. "You might as well come in, then."

Door open, he steps out for a moment and checks both directions before going back inside. I follow him in, the smell of smoke and alcohol-.

I sniff again.

"Is that bhang?"

Leonard freezes for a moment. "No."

"Good enough for me." I close the door behind me. "No problems accessing your accounts?"

"Not for long."

He leads the way into the living/dining room, where Mr. Harkness is lying on a settee with a pillow over his face.

"Hello again, Mister Harkness. How's life treating you?"

"I'll go to prison for an aspirin."

"I'm not sending you to prison. You're not important enough." I pull another vial out of one of my pouches and lay it between the beer cans on the probably-misnamed coffee table. "Hangover cure on the table."

Leonard looks from me to Mr. Harkness. "You met?"

"My first week here. I needed directions. My original costume was designed by Peter Gambi."

Mr. Harkness extends his right arm, knocking cans aside as his questing hand tries to find the vial without exposing his face to light.

"So, are you taking Ted's offer?"

"Don't know. Haven't decided."

"The terms of your parole do say-."

"I know."

"If you want to go into business for yourself I'm happy to invest or lend you the money, but now you're out… I am going to be paying you a certain amount of special attention. You're far too dangerous for me not to."

He looks mildly pleased by that comment, though he tries not to show it.

"How about the twins?"

"Already tearing their way through an old cargo ship and loving every minute of it."

He nods.

"I'll probably go with Kord. Can't see any reason not to. But right now I just want to enjoy being out."

"Fair enough. Oh." I smile. "Before I go, I thought I'd let you know that I've shown your work to a number of alien engineers and scientists from interstellar civilisations and they don't have anything like it either."

"That right."

"So if you ever get bored of Earth, you've got a galaxy of worlds to choose from."

"I like Earth fine."

"Alright. I'll see you when you make a dec-"

Mr. Harkness sits up suddenly, empty tube flying across the room and his eyes staring! "Fucking Jesus!"

"-ision."

Leonard shrugs.

"Why? You got somewhere you need to be?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Coup Data

27th October 2012
01:23 GMT

Jade glances at me as I pull myself out of bed after her.

"You don't have to get up. I know you came to bed a while after me."

"No, that's not the point. I moved in-"

She tosses her pyjama shirt to me and I catch it as she heads towards her quarters' sonic shower.

"-because I want to spend more time with you, and if that means getting up out of sequence and taking a nap later, then so be it. " I walk towards her the wardrobe. "Ah, uniform or exercise clothes?"

"I already laid-" There's a burst of sound distortion as the sonic shower activates, effectively limiting the pitch of sound that can escape the shower unit. "-it out in here last night."

"Oh, okay." I hold out my hands, calling my rings to me from the dressing table. A flicker of orange and I'm clean of the night's dead skin and sweat and dressed in my own light armour. Then I clean, iron and fold her shirt and lay it down on her pyjama trousers. "Breakfast?"

"Something that doesn't make me need to spend an extra hour working out."

I walk towards the kitchenette.

"I'm hearing pancakes and golden syrup!"

"No you're not!"

The distortion cuts out, and as I pull out the… Foil… Alien oats packet? I hear the quiet rustle of her donning her clothes. With sonic showers not actually involving water they can double as a changing room, because there isn't any need for them to dry after they share in the cleaning process.

Okay, alien probably-milk, or-? Oh, right, lactose intolerant. I'm sure it says something about Jade that she was happy to change the structure of her own brain in order to improve her emotional awareness but it didn't occur to her to gain the ability to digest milk properly. Heck, that means that this isn't actually milk, it's-.

Well, she's clearly fine with drinking it or it wouldn't be in here. I'm having the actual milk that my majority Anglo Saxon digestive tract is evolved to process instead of...

I'm not going to scan it.

Okay, two bowls of porridge and under the smart microwave cooker they go. And fire. It's essentially the same as a microwave on Earth, only lacking the whole box element and the turntable. It's also quieter than the models I'm used to, leaving me to watch the countdown.

Fruit juice is chemically synthesised, but given how I've been agitating for the return of Still Tango I'm hardly in a position to complain about that. Darkstar food processors are able to adapt to produce food that's nutritious and palatable to just about any carbon-based species, though… Obviously the components aren't going to be recognisable due to not occurring in nature. For obvious reasons most Darkstars prefer to bring in food from home rather than subject themselves to the synthesiser.

Though I will admit that the green lumps it came up with yesterday were actually quite nice.

Jade strolls in wearing her uniform, picking up her juice cup and taking a small sip.

"Briefings today, then?"

"I think we're nearly getting to the point where we can leave them to take care of themselves."

"Oh? Where are we off to next?"

"I don't know for sure, but I'm due a rotation on one of the liberated worlds. Investigation, counter-insurgency, that kind of thing."

"Still got room for a plus one?"

She smiles faintly. "They're not going to say 'no' to you even if we don't."

"I don't want to take advantage of my status."

A quiet non-beep tone as the microwave cooker finishes its work, and I offer Jade her bowl.

"I have real fruit and nuts-."

"It's been so long, I don't know if I can handle real food. Why is mine a different color?"

"Because I can handle real milk." I frown. "I know I offered it to Artemis but I don't remember ever offering it to you; are you at all interested in improved milk digestion?"

"Why?"

"Because it would let you ingest milk-based products without ill-effects?"

"Considering what happened last time I modified myself with a power ring, I-"

I frown and look at her breasts. They look like they've gone back to normal size to me, but-.

"-think-." She follows my gaze, then averts her eyes with an expression of amused embarrassment. "No, my brain, not.. that."

"Oh. Ah, while the lactase gene might have a knock-on effect, it would be a very minor one. Humans all produce lactase at some point during their lives."

"Did you give yourself that gene?"

"No, I was born with it. Like your-." Oops. "Un-cle."

"I'll.. stay with the nut-milk, thanks."

"As you will. I -on the other hand- am trying different fruit combinations, and today is…"

"Apricot."

"Apricot, apparently."

"Don't you like apricot?"

"Last time I ate apricots, it was with a pork chop."

"For breakfast?"

"No."

"Do you like pork chops?"

"No. Honestly, I just want to try everything once. I don't have high hopes, but I've been wrong before."

Seven apricot halves appear in my-. And there's the eighth half so that I won't be thinking about the missing half all day. Thank you, ring. I generate a construct spoon and dig in.

"What are you doing today?"

"Quick check up on my students, then I'm in the Themysciran forum all morning. Elections are coming up and I'm hoping that we can finally get Clyemne out of office."

"Are you standing?"

"Hah! Ah, no, I don't think that Themyscira is ready for a male senator. Maybe when the war's over."

I take a spoonful of-.

Uh.

"Not good?"

"It's… Interesting."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Regnancy

28th October 2012
09:15 GMT -5

"U-um."

"Oh." He looks at me uncomfortably. "Did you..? Do something?"

"Yesss. Yes, I did. Ah, how quickly do you need to change back?"

"I got school tomorrow? W-? Why?"

"The fastest way to turn you back would probably be to get Adom or Osiris-. What's happening with Lieutenant Marvel and Mary Marvel?"

"Mary's stuck in normal mode." He shrugs. "Freddy's still in bed. I mean, it is a Sunday. But you think Amon could transform us?"

"Maybe? I've never tried studying the spell that transforms you. I didn't even know you'd.. be affected like this."

"Oh, ah, yeah, the Wizard says you're not allowed to study the spell. Ah, or anyone else. I think he… I think he thinks you're a bad influence."

…

"Yeah, that's… That's fair. Of course, since I haven't studied the spell, and since Adom and Amon use different gods, it might just not work."

His eyes narrow suspiciously. "Did you..? Do something to Zeus?"

"He's not.. dead or anything. Just… Feeling a little under the weather."

"Isn't he the God of Weather?"

"No, the-. It's a metaphor. The point is, they might not be able to turn you back, so we might need to work out something else. Has the Wizard said anything?"

William looks away awkwardly. "See, Zeus's Power is how I visit him, so I can't really get there right now?"

"Darn it. Um, okay. How does the… Sponsoring you thing work?"

"Oh, the Wizard handles all of that. I've never even met any of them."

"Okay. So… Zeus lost his link to the titans in Tartarus, but he kept his own-."

Or did he? What exactly did Hephaestaean take away when he cast him out? And he… Didn't give it to someone else. He just locked it away from Zeus. So… A lightning bolt. The Cyclopes, perhaps? Or just ask Hephaestaean to arrange for a substitute until Zeus sorts himself out.

"If Zeus is unavailable, do you have any preference as to who substitutes for him?"

"I guess… As long as it works. I just got kinda used to saying 'Shazam'. And shouldn't we try using Amon's lightning first?"

"That will turn you back into William Batson so you can go to school tomorrow. But-."

"But I can't just get them to transform me whenever I need to transform." He nods. "Billy doesn't need to do anything today, so I can just come-." He realises something. "Do you need to do something else today?"

"Explain to Batman why I thought overthrowing Zeus was a good idea, but I'm happy to put that off for a few hours." Hm. "Have you ever used anything else to transform?"

"One time, Freddy transformed me by saying 'Shazam' and dodging out the way so the lightning bolt hit me instead. Oh, hey." He smiles. "Shazam. Shazam! Shazaaaaaaam."

I look at him in confusion for a moment.

He shrugs. "I can say it without transforming. I haven't been able to do that for a while."

"Does the word 'Shazam' come up a lot in conversation?"

"It didn't, and then I couldn't say it?"

I nod. "I understand. Okay, let's try…" I raise my left hand to my mouth. "Orange Lantern to Osiris. Orange Lantern to Osiris. Come-."

"Osiris here! Am I late already?"

"No, no. Captain Marvel has a problem we're hoping that you can help with. Could you-?"

"Recognized, Osiris, B One Nine."

Amon flies out of the zeta tube the moment the lights dim, smiling enthusiastically. "How may I help?"

"Hey, Osiris! I'm having trouble transforming right now, and I'm hoping that your lightning can do it."

"You want me to hit you with my lightning?" William nods. "Okay, I-." His head jerks slightly. "Ah. Lord Zehuti says that he doesn't think it works like that."

William nods. "We figured it might not, but it worked with Lieutenant Marvel so I'm hoping it will work with you."

"Before we… Do anything. Amon, have you noticed your powers working differently in the last few hours?"

He blurs up to the ceiling and then slowly flies down. He looks around, then closes his eyes and concentrates for a moment, listening and… smelling.

"No." He opens his eyes, shaking his head. "Everything feels the same."

"Good show. Captain, if… This turns out to hit you like normal lightning, will it..? Hurt you?"

"Yeah, but not too bad." He nods. "I'll be okay."

"Right then." Construct armour, bubble shield and retreat back a small way. "Go ahead."

Amon floats up to William and puts his right hand on his left shoulder. "Are you prepared?"

William nods. "Uh-huh."

"Teth Adom!"

Lightning flashes from nowhere and Amon drops to the ground, having taken the precaution of wearing a copy of his costume on his normal body. William-.

"Ow." Smoke rises off his still-adult body, and he takes a moment to look at his arms. "Oh."

"Okay, that's slightly more of a problem. Do you think the Wizard would be alright with Amon visiting the Rock of Eternity?"

"Ah." He brushes some fragments of ash off his costume. "That should be okay. Un-less… You haven't..? Done anything to Solomon, right?"

"No, and I have no plans to."

"So it should be okay." He turns to Amon. "I can show you where to go."

Amon nods. "I would like to meet the Wizard who murdered my brother."

"And while you're doing that I'll see if I can find out what happened to Zeus's lightning. Ring, find Zeus."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Dear John

5th November 2012
23:12 GMT

"Do you have a-"

"FUCK!"

The surprised… I want to say 'cultist', but this might actually be an unusual but accepted part of Hinduism for all I know, so… 'Ritualist', loses hold of his goat, which writhes in his grasp, smacking him with its horns before freeing itself and making a break for it.

"-license to butcher that goat?"

The ritualist takes a moment to take stock of the situation, then straightens himself up and brushes some of the goat hair off his robes.

"I do, actually. So-."

"Doesn't look stunned to me." I look around the… Rented business unit? Reminds me a little of the place John set up that withering spell to try and weaken Nabu. "And this doesn't look like a licensed premises."

"I've got a religious exemption."

"No you don't. If nothing else, because those stopped existing the moment Doctor Balewa finished explaining to the Select Committee how ritual sacrifice could be used to power certain types of spell." I drop to the floor. "Now, de facto, I'm not sure how well that law has actually been enforced, but in this instance I would respectfully suggest that now is the time to fold."

"Right, fine." He pushes back his hood, revealing a face covered in ritual face paint. "What do you want?"

"I'm trying to find John Constantine. Unfortunately, I've been getting nowhere."

He frowns, paint flaking slightly as his brow furrows. "Thought you and him were pretty close."

"You know how that goes with John. I take it you haven't seen him?"

"Not since just after that thing with that Lich."

"'After'?"

"Yeah… He.. just sort of turned up in my flat. Like he does, you know?" I nod. "Asked me about a couple of rituals… Don't know why he bothered if he can just talk to the Atlanteans about it."

"Most likely because the Atlanteans study magic scientifically, building their understanding in a gradual, controlled way. There are any number of rituals and evocations they don't know about and probably wouldn't try."

"Uh." He nods, actually looking a little pleased.

"What?"

"Well, with those Dolmen Gates and.. things, people like me… People have been trying to set up… Professional standards and that. But no one gets that we can't do that stuff." He shrugs a little self-consciously. "Just nice to hear there's stuff we can do that they can't, too."

"Not to… Harsh your mellow, but… They're magical scientists. They'll get it eventually, and then they'll be better at it because they'll understand how it all works. Particularly if they can study other people doing it so they've got somewhere to start."

"And they pay for that?"

"Um. Probably? I'm not sure if they've got a system for hiring locals, and… Atlantis doesn't exactly have large reserves of foreign currency, but I can introduce you if you want?"

He nods. "Sounds good."

"But going back to John..?"

"Oh yeah, he wanted to know this spell… Okay, you know how the soul goes through multiple cycles of life, death and rebirth?"

"I'm Lord Hades's marriage counsellor."

He frowns. "Who?"

"Ancient Greek God of the Dead."

"Oh. Do Greeks have samsara?"

"No, reincarnation is voluntary and random, and it's more… Because you're bored of the underworld than any sort of journey of spiritual discovery. But I'm familiar with the idea."

"Right, well, the soul retains… Development between incarnations, but it doesn't keep most of the memories. There's some leakage, but mostly… The new incarnation is a new person. That's the whole point; you can't learn if you're constantly doing the same things."

"Alright."

"But it's hackable."

"Reincarnation is hackable?"

"You can't change-. You can't reliably change where you reincarnate." He shifts awkwardly. "I mean, I've read scrolls which say you can, but the system picks up on it and makes your next life miserable, and there's no point because you don't remember it anyway."

"Karma's a bitch."

"No, it sounds fair to me." He shrugs. "But it's not just that. Because the soul does retain development, the memories of all your past lives have to be encoded in it, right?"

"Not all of them, but… Yes? That's where past life memories come from."

"But it encodes more than people remember. There's rituals you can use to get more access. Even talk to your own past incarnations, if you want."

"And that's what John asked about?"

"Yeah." He shrugs. "That was the main thing. We were talking for a while, and I don't remember… It was mostly about that."

John's past incarnations? I don't remember anything about that in the comics. Sure, there were other Constantines, and other synchronicity wave travellers… This is more than I've gotten from anyone else.

"Do you remember anything else about his visit?"

"He had a Tesco bag that glowed the whole time."

"What colour?"

"White, with blue and red-."

"The glow, not the bag."

"Gold."

I nod. "Did he say where he was going?"

"No. Didn't even say goodbye, I just turned around and he wasn't there anymore."

"Mind if some colleagues of mine take a look at your apartment? We're really quite eager to make sure that John's alright."

"Sure." He shrugs. "Sure, no problem. Ah, about those Atlanteans?"

"Do you have time now?"

He glances in the direction the goat fled in. It's gone.

"Might as well."

 

[Mr Zoat]

False Dawn

8th November 2012
08:02 GMT -5

"Hm."

Canis doesn't look impressed. "Crude and inelegant. The deceitfulness intrinsic to trying to appear advanced while falling so far short may have merit, were it not for the fact that they so clearly believe their deception."

We're looking at one of the Alliance of the Just's quantum field towers, this one towering above every other building in Washington DC. Honestly, I'm a little surprised that they were allowed to build it here, but… I suppose that with everything that's caught the American government flat-footed lately, this was something they wanted to get on board with early.

And the new President-Elect has been publically shaking hands with Vincent Edge, which didn't hurt either of them.

"You don't like it?"

Canis shrugs. "It is not terrible. I suppose that it serves their purpose; it simply does not interest me." He clenches his knees slightly, and Brut turns away. "So I will do something that does. Death-Doll is introducing me to her modelling agency today, and I hope to find many fascinating subjects there."

"Modelling agency?"

"The 'Support Group'. No doubt a reference to the way they support the activities of their more enthralling principles. A worthy life for a Lowlie."

I smile, and raise my right hand in a wave. "You have fun. Or at least sufficiently artistic pain."

He glances back with a smile as a Boom-

BOOM!

-Tube opens.

"I'm glad that you understand! So many humans don't!"

Brut gallops through and I return my attention to the tower. There were articles in a couple of national newspapers about how they were using superhumans and magicians in the building process to keep the costs a little more manageable -they are a charitable organisation after all- as well as to do some things that couldn't be done otherwise. Using Earth technology to build a quantum communications network? Well, I could do it, and I… I don't think any species in this Sector has the technology, but I wouldn't exactly be shocked to find out that there were mad scientists out there somewhere who could do the same. The Sivanas are the only ones who come immediately to mind.

"Ring, will it do what they say it will?"

"Exterior design matches submitted plans and known examples of the technology. Unable to directly scan structure."

And that's the rub. I don't have any grounds to barge in. Legally speaking, I'm just a nosy parker. They've got all of the permits that they require, and the Justice League… Really don't have the expertise with this sort of device.

I made my bed where the League are concerned.

I look away, turning and unfocusing my eyes to look at the underlying desires of the federal government's administrative buildings. Lots of milling around and jockeying for position, especially now they know for certain that they'll have a new boss next year.

I don't really… Have a position on the US Presidential Election. President Horne seemed inoffensive enough; the Citizenship Recognition Act is something he'll always be remembered for, and I'm personally grateful for how he treated Swamp Thing after he attacked Gotham. On the other hand, I'm not really convinced that he does dynamic leadership, and after something like the Sheeda Harrowing and… All the other changes that have been happening in the world, I'm not sure he was a good fit. And of course the deal with Swamp Thing played a lot less well with America than it did with me.

President-Elect Henry Knight is certainly more dynamic. And I've worked with him enough to know that he's energetic and determined. Will he be a good President? Don't know. He's not a moral person but he is prepared to move things around if his allies get their cut.

There are many people I'd much rather have in the role, but… I don't think he'll be a disaster. At least, not in any way that will affect me or anyone I care about.

I

step out,

reappearing at Alan's de-lichened house. And… He's not here. Huh. Guess he's making an early start. We were going to meet up today to follow up on Dr. Balewa's lead on John Constantine… I suppose I didn't say I was going to meet him here…

I generate a zeta tube construct and step through-

8th November 2012
13:04 GMT

"Recognized, Orange Lantern, B zero six."

-into the Watchtower. No one in the main hall…

Oh, Alan can send me a message by ring if they need me immediately.

I drift over to the main window and look down at the Earth. Yeah, still there, still a planet. It's interesting that the change to Brazil is actually visible from here; it's just about the only visible thing to have changed from here since I first arrived. I had thought that my efforts at removing plastic particulates in the ocean might have changed the colour a little, but no. It was a useful thing to do for the ecosystem; I do occasionally get letters of thanks from oceanographers and fishermen, but in terms of making changes visible from orbit it… Didn't.

Still, it's… Nice. To look down on a world and recognise the shape of the continents. Because I'm actually familiar with them and not because I checked the map in advance.

"A most pleasing sight."

"Not too much of it on fire, you mean."

"I do not believe that it is our job to put out all of the fires."

"Me neither, but I still prefer it when they're not there."

"Members of the Justice League are surprisingly resistant to the idea of seeing themselves as gods. At first, I thought that it was modesty. Now, I think that it is self-delusion."

"Taxonomically, they're not gods. And people revere things that aren't gods all the time. You wouldn't call… Arsenal Football Club a god."

"Could the Arsenal Football Club attack a titan with a black hole?"

"Taxonomically, it wasn't a black hole." I turn away from the view to look at Dr. Balewa. "So, what news on the Constantine situation?"

"Are you not more concerned about the Smiley?"

"John Constantine is a friend. Boss Smiley isn't currently attacking any of my friends. So even if he's more important in some objective sense, I'm not going to prioritise him. That said… Could I go full-Ophidian Host on him… Safely?"

He looks at me, not unkindly, and… And for a moment I can see his age, the millennia of life-.

"If you were to fly into the deepest part of space, as far from every living thing as you could possibly be, you could not 'go full Ophidian Host' with complete safety. All people have an influence on one another just by existing. The idea that certain actions are 'free' and others are 'restricted' is simply nonsense."

"Alright, but-."

"There is no rule. I cannot tell you that there is some objective level of influence that is 'okay', and take from you the ability to make that determination for yourself. I hev spent most of my life in the remote parts of Africa because my tolerance for influencing people is low, but there is no thing built into the universe that tells me that I am right."

He shakes his head.

"I could hev made myself King of Earth, you understand? And I am sure that you are thinking-."

"The practical advantages, yes."

"And yet, you hev avoided making yourself king. Ah." He looks down, smiling for a moment. "But… Perhaps we should focus on the reason for our meeting."

"Where in the world is John Constantine?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Tower Offence

8th November 2012
19:03 GMT +3

That's a… That's a big ole storm.

It's a lot more intimidating from this side.

"Doctor Mist. Before we, um. Jump. I've got a couple of clones of myself in storage in Bir Tawil."

He glances at me. "Should I inform the authorities?"

"Last time I died, I was able to transfer myself into a clone. I don't think I lost more than a few seconds of memory."

"You were in space?" I nod. "Yes, I see. Interesting. But thet will not work here, even if the Ophidian is feeling generous."

"Ah. Well. Worth asking."

"No, it wasn't."

"I just like to plan-."

He hands me a length of rope, which I wrap around my left forearm with a sigh. Then he hands another part of the rope to Sanderson.

"Sandman, are you prepared?"

Sanderson shimmers again, staring at the picture I provided of the Tower of Fate. I hadn't really thought about it, but the angle of some of the 'external' windows meant that I did actually see some parts of the exterior. So he's got that, the probable view when looking in from outside, and all of my best wishes.

"I… I think so. I think I can-. See where I'm going to be. But I-. I can't see us there."

"Thet is because we are not yet there. Rope."

"Ah-? Oh." He ties it around his right arm. "I guess I have to go right after Mister Constantine?"

"Yes, and drive him on. We are depending on you."

Dr. Balewa pats him on the right shoulder.

Sanderson gulps. "I sort of wanted to ease myself back into being a super hero."

"Life is what happens when you are making other plans. Constantine."

"I'm surrounded by dreams and one of them's me."

I take a very deep breath-.

"Hey." Alan puts his left hand on my right shoulder. "You okay?"

"I don't like losing control like this." I shake my head. "Okay enough. Let's go."

"Remember: let your bodies and minds flow with events. Go."

Constantine jump-lunges into the swirling pink mists, Sanderson a heartbeat behind him. Alan goes next, and I'm next go go go!

There are mists, and I'm standing on a tiny platform on the edge of a canyon, barely big enough for my feet. On a platform in front of me way too far away I can see The Demon and Sanderson and this is a bad time for my vertigo to come back but Dr. Balewa said keep moving! They leap, and, ah, ah, there's a route and a path and we've all eaten figs so leap!

Mist swirls and I'm running along the dividing barrier between two lanes of roaring traffic either of which could obliterate me! Don't think about your footing don't think about your footing run run run!

"Hey!"

I glance up and see Alan running along a motorway gantry sign.

"Okay so f-."

He leaps and vanishes.

Ah.

Keep going keep go-.

"Jump!"

Jump! Where t-?

Manhole!

Fuckfalling!

The road and the cars are gone, replaced with.. land far below, wispy clouds and my falling colleagues and I think I'm falling behind a little?

I aim myself downwards and fuck that was a flying platform. That was a platform, was I supposed to get onto-?

That was another one, but I'm still moving and they're moving ahead of me so I assume that I'm going in the right direction? But the aim is movement, the idea of movement, catching the dream-wisps of movement that still exist in the storm and in The Demon's mania. Falling and distance travelled don't matter, this issue is that I'm-.

I'm seeing purple clouds intrude in the corners of my vision fuck where's the platform they're coming up too fast there leanleanlean!

Oof! Roll back on my feet platform falling to absorb impact run run leap!

Next platform there and I'm too far to the right ring?

Shit.

Ah… Angle body, air resistance. Helping but not enough. What are the others-? No time. It's a dream, try running on air. Like Wily Coyote. And it's working nearly well enough but I'm not quite I'm going to miss-.

Run along the rim, the edge, the side and the world shifts around me and down is sideways, the left side of my vision entirely enveloped by pink clouds. Am I getting further away, or is The Demon losing his grip?

Leap.

I grab a floating umbrella handle and then pull and release, flying through the air to grab onto the next one. In the corner of my eye I see the pink mist start eating the upper panels and pull and release!

I'm zooming down the side of a snow-covered mountain trail in a bath tub. Dr. Balewa's skiing on a dog a little way in front of me.

Ah, I think I-. I think I get it.

I shuffle to the back of the tub, seeing the pink mist just behind me, then dash forwards and leap, landing on the dog's tail.

"Going well so far?"

"Compared to what?"

We both crouch and then lunge, landing on a giant branch above a giant forest.

"Getting annihilated?"

"Yes, but we hev fallen behind Sandman and Constantine."

"Then we need to-" I jump grab a giant leaf and pull down to accelerate. "-go faster."

"It is not-" He copies my example. "-so simple, but I suppose thet it is a-"

Pink mist roils in from all direction, disintegrating the forest around us!

"-start."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Feasibility Study

15th November 2012
13:27 GMT -5

"So…"

I look around the Tower's library. This is where we met up before our sojourn into Hell to get Satanus. Which I suppose means that we can rule out anyone associated with him as 'the hole in the universe'.

"Do we have any idea what he was trying to do?"

Sephtian nods, barely able to turn his attention away from the notes that he and his team have spread out over the writing desks.

"Yes, I believe so. We will know for certain if we find a second machine like the one you destroyed."

"A-. Second?"

"John Constantine was attempting to balance himself. You saw that there were far more Order-attuned crystals than Chaos-attuned ones. You also saw that he had caged raw Dream-stuff."

"And Demon John said that he'd been using the balcony which opens onto the Dream storm outside."

I glance out of the window. From the outside, it looks much the same as it did last time.

"What was he doing?"

"He did not get that sand from Morpheus. As far as-" He turns back towards the tables, looking for something-. "-we-. Ah!"

He strides over to one of the tables, and I take a moment to be impressed by how far the water armour designs have come in such a relatively short time. He's moving easily despite being in the open air and unless the light catches him at exactly the right angle I wouldn't know it was there. Pushing two pages aside he grabs one from beneath them and brings it back to me, ignoring the disgruntled crablantean who was studying it.

"Here, you see."

I try making sense of the diagram, but… It's well beyond me. Quinn doesn't appear to have been all that impressed by Atlantean notation. Some of what he used reminds me of John Dee's writing, but this is far more sophisticated.

"I don't suppose that you've translated his notation-?"

One of the researchers raises her head. "Come back in two or three years!"

Sephtian jerks his head around and glares at the impetuous researcher. "Orange Lantern could decipher it in two or three years. We are the mostly highly skilled professionals on Earth."

The researcher appears to be torn between her desire to give her honest opinion and her desire to avoid insulting her boss.

"One to two years."

"That's better." He turns back to me, looking for somewhere to spread out the-.

I take hold of the paper and attach it to a construct flipchart.

"Thank you. This part appears to be a depiction of the part that processed the raw chaos of the storm into sand." He shudders slightly. "I had no idea that was where the sand came from."

"I wouldn't get too enthralled. I don't think Morpheus would be too happy if we started mucking about with it."

"That.. is.. a good point. But will he complain about us studying a device that already exists?"

"I don't know. I've never spoken to him. Do you have someone on your team who specialises in understanding powerful elemental beings?"

In the background, someone snorts.

For a moment, Sephtian doesn't reply. The eyes of more than a few of the other researchers have turned our way.

"No."

"Oh. Well, the only person I know of who's spoken to him recently is Sandman, but I don't think they had an in-depth conversation. I can only suggest that you avoid doing anything that John Quinn didn't and stop the moment he complains about it."

"Yes, of course. Even going as far as John Quinn managed to will take us… 'One to two' years and teach us a great deal."

"Do you know what he managed to do yet?"

"That is easier to understand." He sighs. "Though Sandman absorbing so much sand and the destruction to the machine makes it harder to understand the specifics. He extracted sand from the storm outside and used what remained to create a smaller 'tame' storm for his own use. Combining both elements allowed him to manifest the man you knew as 'The Golden Boy' as an intelligent being derived from John Constantine's own memories and sense of inadequacy. But between the records we have found and the remaining Chaos crystals, we think…"

He pauses, and I imagine him rechecking his figures in his head.

"We think that he may have been attempting to impose structure on the Dream itself."

"Sure, that's… Possible. We saw the city-."

"All of the Dream."

"I don't see Morpheus tolerating that."

"I don't either. But I do not know what else it could be."

"Dream spaceship?"

He blinks in confusion for a moment, then his eyes widen.

"I mean, I'm just hoping, I've got no idea-."

He grabs the paper off the construct board and runs over to the team working on the desks.

…

"Okay."

It would be nice if it was something like a Dream spaceship. Unlike most afterlives, the Dream is universal. It's just that travelling through it reliably is such a pain that it's not worth it, and then there's the fact that actual gates that physical objects can use are virtually unheard of.

But it's not going to be that. It's going to be him trying to Anti-Life the Dream or something else equally ridiculous. Normally the range of Anti-Life exposure is limited and if it's not constant then people can recover. Plug it into their dreams…

There aren't many ways into the Dream. Erebos is as well defended as it's going to get, and the Tower of Fate is… Well, there's a reason why we came in through the balcony. Lock down the Tower and no one is getting in.

But this place went from a curiosity to a weak point for the entire universe.

I'd suggest destroying it, but I've got no idea if that's even possible.

We need to get John back here just to make sure that nothing goes wrong, but he's in no fit state to look after himself, much less the Tower of Fate.

Who else..?

The construct Helmet of Demon Fate precipitates out of my ring, hovering in the air.

"How may I serve?"

"It turns out that I need a doorstop. Well volunteered."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Uncomplicated Good Works

25th November 2012
15:01 GMT -8

Interceptor -Linda Anderson, apparently- sighs heavily as she floats away from the latest shipping crate of basic supplies that she's dropped off. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that the JSI were happy to be relatively open-handed where civilian relief is concerned. Or perhaps it's just their way of keeping the clearly-wavering Interceptor on-side.

We haven't been able to put Earth 666 back together. That's probably impossible. But we've just about finished injecting Polyfilla into the largest cracks so water can't get-.

The local Supergirl speeds past with another shipping container, drops it off and speeds off again immediately.

Interceptor frowns. "She should slow down. She's been working non-stop since she got back. People can't work at full intensity without a break."

Ring?

"She heard you, slowed down for about half a second and then sped up again. I don't think she's going to be listening to reason on the subject."

"I can understand being dedicated, but-."

I generate a sound baffle around us.

"When he was possessed, the local Superman spread-. The demon possessing him, I should say, used him to spread its magic to everyone close to him. Supergirl ended up torturing people to death for his amusement. She remembers everything she did under the influence with perfect clarity. We offered to remove or suppress the memories but she refused."

"Damn. And she's me?"

"No, you're you. She's a little like you, accounting for growing up in a different situation. Genetically, she's pretty much identical, if that's what you mean."

Interceptor seems to find the idea a little off-putting.

"Not met parallel versions of yourself before?"

"No. I wasn't even sure I was an alien."

I raise my left eyebrow. "Really?"

"Metahumans can have very different physiology to normal humans. It wasn't that much of a stretch."

"Alright."

I take a moment to open my awareness of the desires of the survivors below. Like the survivors of other disasters I've worked on they're mostly simple and short term, but I… I make an effort not to think of them like the Ophidian does, but as a human who could have similar experiences would.

"I wouldn't be astonished if the JSI had information on the subject that they were sitting on, though I suppose that if you take the promotion, you'll have full access."

"It doesn't matter. I don't remember anything about it, and America is my home."

"Well, fine, but having seen the way America celebrates Saint Patrick's Day, you won't exactly be an outlier if you acknowledge the traditions of two cultures."

"Why did they send me away?"

"I'm not completely sure, but if your Krypton is like most other Kryptons I've encountered, it exploded. The people didn't get enough notice to carry out an evacuation, so the only survivors were the children of a doomsday prepper and his brother; your uncle and father respectively. Except in.. your parallel, your cousin appears to have not arrived on Earth."

"So he could be somewhere else."

"Or he might never have been born. Our Kara Zor-El was a teenager when she got into her pod, but from what you've said, it sounds like you were younger."

She nods. "I've been on Earth since I was a baby."

"I can give you a cultural and historical database if you want. No trouble."

"I guess it's worth having in case someone else turns up."

I nod, fabricating an ultra-density data stick and floating it over to her. She takes it with a nod of gratitude.

"So where's your alter ego?"

"I don't know. No one's mentioned him. There might not be one, he might have died during…" I look around at the wrecked city below us. "This, or he might have taken one look at the place and legged it. Which is a pretty rational thing to do."

"You said you fixed it. Why couldn't he?"

"Without wanting to get too much into emotional spectrum theory, I'm a lot more powerful than a standard Lantern. And I had external help."

"People from the… What did you call them, Justice League?"

"Ah… My Superman, yes. The rest were from Earth Ten, because demon cultists from here had opened portals to there and were making attacks."

"Earth Ten?"

"Nazi Earth." She stares. "I know, they're a… Fixer upper. We're working on it."

"You're fixing Nazis?"

I generate another data stick and float it over to her. "A full analysis of their history, culture and my efforts to aid Overman and Overgirl as they try to reform them."

"I got disturbed by Commander Scott making a deal with the dominators because the JSI has been on a hate campaign against them for as long as I can remember. The idea that he talked to them, handed people over, goes against everything the JSI has been saying. I saw you react when he admitted it… But you're fine with actual Nazis?"

"My Alan Scott is a good friend of mine. Hearing something I don't think he'd ever say said so casually shocked me. And it… Made me re-examine my own thinking, because… I've done a lot worse than Commander Scott and I've been about as bothered by it as he is. But Nazis are just Nazis, you know? Probably the worst idea to ever come out of Europe. And when the few I actually like are the ones who realise that their society is messed up but don't know how to fix it… I'm not a Nazi. I've never been tempted by the idea. There's no personal connection there. It's not that I think Commander Scott is morally worse or anything."

She appears somewhat mollified.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'll think a little better about my colleagues who are less ruthless than me. Probably make a bit more effort to hold back in fights. No more 'I don't see any point in keeping you alive'. You?"

"If I'm being promoted off the front lines, I'm not going to have the opportunities to change how I fight. I could try being less ruthless, but that's going to create a lot more problems if I try making it policy."

"I don't know what to suggest. Try talking to Lantern Jordan, see if there's any species in the region you could ally with. I've started a program to provide funding to extreme scientists in order to encourage them to stay on the straight and narrow."

She nods. "We've got an internal program, but I could expand it."

"Beyond that… If I knew the answers, I'd have solved the problem."

My ring shimmers as Lantern Holt transmits a new request.

"Back to work, then."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Pete Tong

29th December 2012
12:08 GMT

Guy looks at me like he's not sure what to make of that statement.

"You serious?"

I mirror his expression, and wait for him to-

He looks away, shaking his head.

"Why'd I even ask?"

"Because it would normally be a odd thing to claim, and you still haven't fully internalised the fact that we're fairly odd people."

"Okay, but jus' sayin' that yer entire Lantern Corps picked God as an enemy-."

"The Silver City as an enemy, and they picked us."

Because while Hades made peace with them, technically the Orange Lantern Corps hasn't. Which is why Jade couldn't get the time off; worshipping your enemies is generally looked upon as a bad idea. Particularly when your biggest enemy is as good at mind control as the Reach.

Huh. Reminds me of the panel in The Boys where Jessica Bradley tries to work out what would happen if The Boys and The Seven fought. Butcher proved that he could kill Vought superheroes when he killed Payback. Heck, he killed an unnamed team with just a gun before he got super strength. But there's a level of power people like Homelander and Black Noir have that Vought didn't think people could plot around.

Dox aside, the Reach are cleverer than us. They're certainly more unified and more experienced. And it's increasingly looking like that isn't going to matter.

Lanterns have engaged Scarabs a lot in this war. A lot of ex-Darkstars literally can't resist the urge to hunt them down and show them why they're no longer hiding. And while Scarabs have killed Lanterns -stupid Lanterns who got high on their own fumes and decided that they didn't need backup- the results have been very much in our favour. Roughly seven out of ten fights have resulted in Lantern Corps victories. And yes, we're already recruiting the best motivated people and the Reach can stick Scarabs on just about everyone so those deaths technically hurt us a little more, but the Reach don't have anything above Scarabs. Those are their best super warriors.

I don't know what the feelings of the Reach citizens further in their empire is, but for most people, something like that would be a major psychological blow.

"Ya could always talk to Zauriel 'bowd it."

"I'm afraid that the political objectives of N.E.M.O. are irreconcilable with those of a being which declares itself to be 'King of the Universe'. Until such time as the title is formally renounced there really isn't anything to talk about."

"Kgrgahhaha!"

Guy bows his head, and I suspect that only enlightenment is preventing him from getting to experience the joys of vacuum exposure. He manages to open his eyes mid-cackle to see if I'm showing any sign that I meant if as a joke, and finds nothing.

"Oh, man. Ugh. Y'know, it's all in th' delivery."

Warning: will detected.

Guy and I both look up as Lantern K'ryssma arrives early, arriving just outside the outer limits of what was once Reach-controlled space. I wanted to meet up where we first met up seventeen months ago but apparently the location didn't work for her. She makes eye contact with me first, but then looks at Guy in surprise.

"Illustres. I didn't know that you had already begun negotiations."

Guy frowns in confusion, his eyes going from me to her. I'm a little puzzled myself. Guy didn't mention getting a promotion, and I'm fairly confident that he would.

At length.

He reorientates from his 'lying in space' pose to face her.

"I ain't the Illustres."

"The original use for the title was to refer to any Lantern who achieved enlightenment, as you have. The use for the rank in the Corps that does not require that development is a more recent affair."

"Okay, it was." He shrugs. "What's that got t'do with us?"

"My species has been aware of the Green Lantern Corps for somewhat longer than yours. We remember the older traditions. Am I to understand that you are not negotiating?"

"No, we're together for a human religious celebration. What negotiations?"

Lantern K'ryssma turns to me. "Illustres, you have my gratitude for following through on your pledge to push back the Reach."

"You're welcome."

"Indeed. I am here because you have pushed them entirely out of what was once a Sector which the Green Lantern Corps patrolled."

"Ah. And that means that you're allowed to go there now."

"Yes. Moreover, it seems likely that you will push them out of further Sectors soon."

"We're certainly going to try."

"We wish to resume our patrols. I would like to negotiate with the Orange Lantern Corps with a view to making that happen."

"Is this coming from the Guardians? Because-."

"No. it is coming from the Green Lanterns who had to leave their homes in response to the Guardians' treaty with the Reach and who would dearly like to return. The Guardians will not intervene if the parties involved discuss things between themselves."

"Not thinking of jumping ship?"

"No. After many decades of service, I do not think that I could adapt effectively to a new ring colour."

"Okay. And what do we get out of it?"

"Y'get ta have a Green Lantern watchin' yer back."

"But these are Lanterns who already left. And who can't fight the Reach. There's basically no organised crime around here that the Reach aren't connected to at least a little."

"For the most part they would not be Lanterns who-. Who did not fight the Reach. Their rings would be returning while they remain in the crypt."

"You understand that across most of this region, any Green Lanterns who get recruited are going to look to N.E.M.O. for direction. Which is good for me, but I can't see the Guardians liking it."

"Do you think that the Guardians 'like' the treaty with the Reach?"

"I can only assume that they do, given what the Controllers have been able to do with far less time and resources."

Guy puts his right hand on my chest and pushes me away from Lantern K'ryssma a little way.

"Okay, Paul. Dial it back."

"Alright, this needs to go to the N.E.M.O. governing board, but I can guess what they'll want. This is N.E.M.O. space. Any Reach-affiliated or Reach Empire personnel are external invaders. If you want to recruit Green Lanterns here then they better be willing to fight this time."

"That is perfectly acceptable."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Jet Fighter

25th October 1998
21:12 GMT -7

"Ohshitshitohshit!" The terrified man laying on the pavement grabs my shoulders as I crouch next to him. "You gotta call me an ambulance, man!"

I smile, grabbing the side of his coat with my right hand and pulling it up to reveal the hole.

"You're fine." I wiggle my right forefinger through the double hole. "See? They missed. Amateur gunfighters often do."

"Whu-?" He frowns in confusion, staring at me and then at his own coat.

I unhook my finger and then pat him across the torso before holding up my hand. "No blood. Are you in any major pain?"

"N-? No?" He frowns harder, shaking his head as if he can't quite believe what's happened. "I-. I was?"

"It might have skimmed you, I suppose. Bullets are quite hot when they come out of the barrel, and if it skimmed you then you might have felt a burn. Do you want a hand up?"

"Ah..?"

I move my right hand under his left armpit and then stand, pulling him half-willingly up with me. He takes a moment and then pulls away, patting himself down as if to… No, to actually reassure himself that he's not injured. After a moment of finding nothing he calms down a little.

"Ah. Thanks."

I smile a little more broadly. "Your attacker was so shocked that I just had to shout at them and they ran off. Not a big deal. Ah. Are you going to be alright getting home, or do you want me to call you a taxi?"

"Did you-? Did you get a good look at them?"

I shake my head. "Sorry. Between the bad lighting and the adrenaline, not really. I mean, if you want to report it to the police I don't mind-."

"Nah. No, I'll-." He manages to relax a little. "I'll go talk to 'em tomorrow. Right now, I just wanna go home and hug my kids. And… Change their curfew to Five PM."

He laughs awkwardly and I nod. "Sounds wise. You have a good evening."

He nods, turning to walk away. He gets about half way to the sounds and lights of the next street, then stops and turns his head back towards me. I wave, and he awkwardly nods and keeps walking.

Good job his brain wasn't quite dead when I got to him.

My right hand moves to the faintly glowing orange ring on my left ring finger. Yes, I could easily have captured the idiot youth who nearly killed him, but after something like this I think tracking them down and having a stern word with them… Helping them sort their life out, will really do more good in the long run. It was supposed to be a threat and they were genuinely horrified-.

I frown as I catch sight of a blond… Slightly ratty-looking man at the end of the road, where whoever that was I just intercepted from his premature meeting with his maker went. He ducks back when he notices that I've seen him. Not sure what that's about.

Now, where's the first-time gunfighter gone? I'm sure this would be easier on a world with an established superhero tradition, but… Needs must where the Devil drives. This city's enough of a mess that even a neophyte like me can find people to help, and… Not like there's much point starting again on this world's version of Britain.

Okay, start walking, ratty man apparently having disappeared. Compare my target's location with a local map… A bar. I haven't been here long enough to know whether it's a criminal underworld type bar or if he just wants to steady his nerves. I walk at a pace, hands in pockets and making good time. He was running, but he's not thinking straight. I could just appear next to him, but I don't really want to blow my own cover. Or prompt him to panic into a relapse. Let him calm down, then have a word.

Never really been a fan of bars. Music, too many people in close proximity, dancing and alcohol. Still, I can usually get a laugh out of the bar tender.

I sit down, and manage to catch his eye.

"Yeah?"

"Orange juice, please."

He stares at me for a moment. "You know this is a bar, right buddy?"

"Ah, I apologise. Orange juice, I'm a great tipper."

"Hahaokay." He ambles over to the bar's fridge. "You want ice?"

"In October? No, thank you."

He takes the cap off the bottle and pours it into a glass before putting it down in front of me. I pass him a twenty dollar bill before picking it up and taking a sip. Well… I… Shouldn't have expected freshly squeezed. The barman-.

"Hey."

I turn to my left, and it appears that ratty-man has followed me here. He's looking at me… Rather intensely-.

"Hello?"

"So, ah. How do you wanna do this?"

Ah. I've never really been sure how to handle this sort of situation. I knew… Los Angeles was basically America's Brighton, but it still…

Just have to learn to deal with it, I suppose.

"Ah. Look, I'm sure you're a splendid chap, but you're not really my type, and even if you were, congress in public toilets is extremely unhygien-"

"Ah, no, no-."

"ic-. Oh. Sorry, I-. Just assumed-." He looks as awkward as I feel. "I'd.. buy you a drink by way of apology, but I'm worried that would be giving mixed messages."

"No. Jesus. Look, I-. Saw what you did for that guy."

Ah.

"Are you a police officer?"

"I… Was."

I blink in bafflement. "What the heck did you do to get fired from the Los Angeles Police Department?"

"No, I was.. in the NYPD."

Okay… Nineties computers, but I'll manage-.

His right hand's gone under his coat, because… He just saw my eyes flash.

"That won't be necessary, Detective Stone-."

Who is listed as dead. Huh.

"Again, not wanting to give mixed messages, but you're looking surprisingly good for a man your age, who's been dead for fifteen years. Um. Are you under cover?"

His face hardens slightly. "How about we take this outside?"

"Um. Okay?"

I down my orange juice and then set the glass back down on the bar. Barman… It's a busy evening, and I think $20 for a small low quality orange juice covers the 'generous tip' part. I step back from the bar as Detective Stone gestures for me to go first.

The man I'm looking for is downing shots at the other end of the bar. He's not going anywhere. I nudge my way past the flow of people entering the bar and head out with a shrug. Other than myself, Detective Stone is the first sign I've seen that anything supernatural exists on the Earth, and I'm definitely curious what that-.

"Time to give the Devil his due."

"Um." I turn to face him as he raises his gun. "What?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Fleet Traction

Earth 534834

7th February 1992
23:12 GMT +3

The stars are out, the wind is gentle and I'm sure that if I turned towards the sea I'd see a sight that would put me in awe of the natural world when transformed by the multi-million dollar investment of a burgeoning tourist industry.

But darn does Anne-Marie fill out that bikini… Delightfully. And… I know it's not her power that does it. Sure, that gives her strength, but Ashley Crawford's strong in her augmented form and she's… Nothing like this sculpted. No, super strength actually makes staying in shape more difficult, because you seldom have to exert yourself in the way that makes the human body build muscle. Her stomach is flat with just a hint of muscle because she's spent a lot of time under one of the X-Gym's pneumatic presses, exerting herself against colossal weights.

Her breasts on the other hand are the result of a combination of good genes and good diet, though I appreciate them every bit as much. Her hips are in perfect proportion, her neck elegant and her mouth smiling as her eyes look directly at me…

I maintain eye contact for a few moments.

"In my defence, you look really good."

"Ah don't see no problem with you lookin', sugah." She leans against the balcony's railing, hair flipped back and chest thrust forward, something she doesn't really need to do. "Long as you don't mind me lookin' back some."

"I have no objection, though I'm.. honestly not sure that I'd notice."

"Aw, you don't got no need-" She walks over to me, placing her right hand on my left pectoral muscle and her left on my abdomen. "-to worry none. You're pretty pleasin' to the eye yourself."

I smile a.. little awkwardly, even as I feel my ring start to shine entirely on its own without any input from me at all. I'm not really sure where it's okay to put my.. hands in this sort of-.

Anne-Marie looks mildly disgruntled for a moment, then takes a half-step back.

"Anne-Marie-." / "Is there some-?"

I stop, waiting slightly nervously for her to resume talking. She looks… Nervously back at me.

"Is there..? Some kinda problem..?"

"Problem?"

"You..?"

We look at each other in nervous incomprehension for a moment.

"D'y'all..? Not… Find me attractive?"

I blink. "I find you extremely attractive. Um. I'm just-. Sometimes I'm not sure-. I mean, don't know exactly what I'm meant to do..?"

"'cause y'all were just gawpin' like a-"

"Oh! Right, sorry, I-"

"-landed catfish-"

"-wasn't-. Catfish?"

"-and ah was… Hopin'…" She blushes faintly, looking away.

"Hoping..?"

"We've been together more 'an two months, an' we still ain't…" She looks me directly in the eyes, as if trying to prompt me to-.

"Are you talking about having sex?"

"… Yes, Gawd. Ah weren't expectin' nothin' on the first date, then it was two, an' three, and a month-"

"Oh, I-."

"-and two, an' you tole me you weren't religious-"

"No, but I thought-."

"-so is there some kinda problem?" She looks down at my crotch. Then blinks. "'cause it sure don't look like there's a problem."

"Ah, no, it's-. I know Americans are generally more religious than British people and I thought that you'd wait until we were married." I shrug as her eyes go back to my face. "I didn't-. I am very much interested, and… I told you what the ring does where my desires are concerned, and I.. sometimes have to reel it in a bit, but that's not because I don't want to have sex with you."

"Oh. That's…" She looks awkward, raising her right hand to brush a wayward strand of hair out of her face. "Real… Ah. Gentlemanly."

We look at each other awkwardly, but the… The tension is… Reduced, at least.

"Y'all know.. I don't go to church no more."

"Yes, but… I thought that was because you… Associate it with where you.. grew up, and-. Well, the fact that you don't go doesn't mean that you don't still… That you don't still think that's the right way to live."

"Oh." She looks away, blushing a little more. "So how long were you figuring on keeping me waiting, s-?"

"I currently intend to propose to you on the fifth of September."

She blinks. "Okay? What's so special about the fifth of September?"

"It's precisely nine months after I realised that I love you. I-." I frown. "I did tell you, didn't I? I'm sure I-."

"No, you-. You tole me. Thought you were going to pick me up and carry me upstairs."

"I'll…" I nod. "Remember to do that, though-."

No, now isn't the time to tell her that I read Gone With The Wind when I was fourteen because Mum said that I was reading too much science fiction and fantasy, and that I ended up wanting every named character except Melanie to be hanged.

"Though it wasn't a line, or-. Look, if you don't want to-. If you want to have sex before that, I'm perfectly-. Perfectly happy…"

She frowning thoughtfully. "Why nine months?"

"Oh, the… The human brain is… The infatuation period of the relationship lasts… About six months? And the brain sort of encourages you to fixate on your partner and ignore any… Potential problems? I'm…" I bow my head slightly, smiling. "I'm besotted with you. I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else, but I also know that I'm… Sort of not in my right mind at the moment, and… Rationally, it would be more sensible to wait until we both… Were, before making a lifetime commitment."

She looks like she doesn't quite know what to think.

"That… That might not have been the best decision I ever made. Um. But I… I remember that we're superheroes, and… That's not about doing what you feel like, but about setting the best possible example, and…"

And I shouldn't mention that I got that from Thermoman.

"And you're worth waiting another seven months for? I mean, look at you. And everything you've done. You're extremely desirable, and I do desire you."

She thinks for a moment, eyes not meeting mine. Then she walks right up to me and wraps her arms around my neck, staring me in the eyes with a look of ferocious sincerity.

"Ah ain't. Waitin'. Seven. Months."

"Um. Caution to the wind, then? Can you give me five minutes to grab an engagement-?"

And then heavily armoured soldiers break down the door and tase us both.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Counterpunched

6 558 937.M41

"…job."

Tsua'm looks mildly concerned as we walk through the secure biological research facility. Given the nature of what's being studied here, there are a lot fewer members of the Fire Caste than would usually be the case. Instead, internal security is provided by stationary turrets and gun drones, though they're neatly slotted into charge stations or otherwise folded away at the moment. Similarly, the whole place is run by a A.I. with the personality engram of the lead researcher who founded it, an interesting solution to the problem of A.I. friendliness and the novel problem solving difficulties A.I.s sometimes have.

"Your efforts have aided the Tau Empire greatly. I am unused to humans with-"

I smile slightly as she uses the English word without really thinking about it. She can be remarkably insightful at times.

"-your disposition-."

I glance at her with raised eyebrows. "You mean not fanatical converts?"

"I prefer to be polite. I would call them-."

"Mon'gue'vesa."

She makes the choking sound that tau make when they're laughing. "No-." She elbows me in the ribs. "No, I would not call them that, and you should stop corrupting me with such ideas. You… Filthy heretic."

I put my right hand over my heart. "Won't happen again."

"The Empire exalts you above all other humans. You could ask for a world to rule, and you would be granted it. Instead, you ask for trivial things."

I shrug. "I like my work."

"I know that, but the Lar'shi Por'ar'tol are used to humans who are used to… A 'neo-feudal' structure. And yet you do not want land, or trade contracts, nor marriage into-"

I wince. "Please tell me they haven't-."

"-a notable family and no, after your reaction to the concubines they sent last time I was able to convince them that it would not be a good idea."

"Thank you."

That was a bit of a shock. A really… Awkward shock. Because they came from a human world where concubinage was a perfectly respectable profession for a noblewoman looking for promotion, which meant that they were from really well-connected families because Tsua'm isn't joking about how much the Empire likes me. Working out how to turn the women down without getting them shunned when they got home was a lot of work, but not a hard decision to make because they were still nuts.

"The humans of your age were different, I understand. But this is not corruption. Placing industries and peoples in the hands of trustworthy families is a perfectly accepted part of rulership in human society. And I am not looking at you and I know you are either wincing or rolling your eyes." I'm doing both. "It is difficult to rule such a large area of space. Sometimes, it is necessary to use stable systems rather than ideologically pure ones, as well you know."

"Yes, but…" I sigh. "Okay, there are a few things."

"Then tell me what they are."

"I… Can't."

"In the same way that you can't say your name?"

"No. It's… Some things, their nature is affected by how they're given. Like… No one orders fire warrior squads to undergo the bonding ritual, they do it when they all feel that their relationship has reached that stage."

"Of course. I see. Then I must decipher what you want without being directly told."

"I'm afraid so."

"That is marvellous!"

I frown at her as we arrive at our destination. "It is?"

She nods.. in a slightly awkward way because it's not a natural gesture for the tau. She sort of thrusts her head forwards slightly before tilting it. It makes her look a little like a chicken pecking at the ground. "If I can intuit your intention with such precision, then I will be worthy of promotion. I will be much better placed to curb the well-meaning actions of the Lar'shi Por'ar'tol as Por'Vre Lar'shi Tsua'm Raard."

I take a moment to consider the effects of promotion on tau social interactions.

Hang on.

"Is your mother still-?"

"AND WE ARE HERE!" She puts her right hand on the palm reader. "One to access, one to monitor."

"Acknowledged, Alien Psychology Envoy Tsua'm Raard."

Two armoured doors slide open, and she wastes exactly no time in striding through the one to the right. And I receive a reminder that just because tau have less close family structures when compared with humans, that doesn't mean that they don't sometimes get pressure from their parents.

Ho-hum.

I walk in through the left door, which closes behind me.

"Please don protective equipment."

I clench my left hand, construct armour appearing around me.

"Acceptable. The following advisories are to be relayed before contact. The contained specimen has: supertau speed, supertau strength, supertau endurance, supertau senses and tau-equivalent intelligence. Interior weapons are permanently active, and in the result of a confrontation your survival will not be prioritised. Please confirm that you understand."

"I understand."

"Acceptance noted." The interior door opens. "Have a productive day."

"Will do." I walk into the holding room, dismissing my construct armour. "You too."

The room is divided in two by solid bars, with the captive on the far side. She's dressed in clothing that's not really any different to tau casual wear, if a little simplified. The actual interior of the cell is bare… Ah, the tau version of rockcrete, with a small rug to either sleep on or just to keep off the cold floor. The only other object is a commode, and the only hole in the bars is the device for taking waste material out and allowing food in.

The woman herself has brown skin and -naturally- no hair. The ridge crests are relatively small and she's clearly used to avoiding letting people getting a good look at her teeth. Two arms, two legs, skin covering her muscles… You'd almost think she was human. She'd be the picture of good health, too, if she wasn't curled up in the middle of the rug and trying not to shake.

Very nearly human eyes are fixed on me.

"Good morning, Subject Two Five Seven Nine Four."

"F-f-f-f-amily. Why-? Why can't I h-hear them? P-promised…"

"Because we're not stupid enough to put a fourth generation genestealer hybrid somewhere without a null zone." I activate the room's holographic display, switching it between images taken from the facility's various other holding cells. "As you can see, they're alive and well."

The other surviving members of her cult. And not 'her' in the sense that she ruled it. We're fairly sure that she's just a regular neophyte hybrid rather than one of the 'specialist' forms that genestealer cults produce if they reach the 4th generation, but she has seniority amongst those that escaped the Imperium and surrendered to the Tau Empire.

So much that we don't know about genestealer-infected humans. So much we could learn from willing test subjects.

And so much trouble we could get into if this goes badly.

"Now." I smile. "Let's begin with the background."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Fear Ourself

20th January 2013
10:02 GMT

Jade nods. "The food is-." She frowns. "Better, here."

I look around the calm street in which our restaurant is situated. If not for the odd colour of the residents this could be somewhere in France or Italy; the roads are cobblestone and the buildings are clearly modernised relics of an earlier age.

Not Britain though: they drive on the right.

"Better than raw liquidised space snake?"

"Yes, but-." She looks uncomfortable.

"What is it?"

"What happens to the souls of the people who get eaten?"

I don't ask her to clarify whether she means the souls or the people.

"Nothing special. If the death is traumatic enough the person who ate them might become the attachment point for their ghost rather than the place they died, but otherwise they're off to the local afterlife as normal. Unless… You're telling me otherwise."

She gives her head a small shake, not looking at me. "I don't know."

"Most people the citizenry kill are on planets, and most of the rest are near to inhabited planets. What I experienced with my second death is unusual and only really happens in deep space. Even if you… Had a ghost haunting you, we're on a world with a measurable thaumosphere at the moment; they'd probably wander off. And, if you want, we can perform the appropriate death-rites to make sure of it."

"Can we change my brain back?"

"Change..? To how it was before you used my ring?" She doesn't nod, but she does make momentary eye contact. "Yes. It wouldn't.. be a good idea, but we could. Are.. you.. having problems?"

"No. No.. nightmares. No shaking or flashbacks. Just a background sense of… Wrong, that I ate them. That's more empathy than I used to have."

"That wasn't part of your training, was it?"

She turns her head towards me, frowning more deeply. "Eating people? No." her expression becomes contemplative. "Though I think Dad would probably have given us a pass on our wilderness survival if we did."

"I'm pretty sure that the Scouts Association would have failed me if I'd done that. And… Eating people is wrong, so I can't say that there's anything wrong with you feeling that way. How serious-?"

"No, not… I was just talking. So, what's the plan for freeing Earth?"

"If I knew how to remove Anti-Life, I assure you, I'd have volunteered that information. The League's plan is… I can't think of anything better, and it will probably work as it's supposed to."

"All that effort trying to take over the world, and the Justice League gets there first."

"The right to rule comes from the consent of the governed. And it turns out that the governed prefer heroes who've tried to help them to villains who keep robbing and killing them."

She raises her right eyebrow.

"Yes, I am including actual politicians, though in all fairness they're not all in the second category. The problem with democracy is that people don't always vote for who they're supposed to. I mean, would you vote for Knight or Horne over Superman?"

"I might if I thought he was going to fly off to save the world every day instead of doing his job."

I raise my eyebrows pointedly at her.

"Fine. No. So why didn't he stand for office?"

"Because his adoptive parents and work colleagues would almost certainly get killed. And because as good a man as he is, he doesn't actually have any experience in civil administration and wouldn't really know what to do. And he.. wasn't born in the United States. Now, Batman could run, but he doesn't have the same reputation amongst the general population."

"And it would terrify every other country on the planet. So what's the plan for dealing with that when it's over?"

"What, 'if we keep fucking up competent and morally upstanding people might take over'?" I shrug. "I don't know, but you know what happened with Brazil."

"The League hasn't done a thing to get rid of the Accala. I thought that was because there wasn't anything to restore."

"People have asked the League to do it, including survivors from the pre-Sheeda Brazilian government. This… Well, people will either restore their pre-Anti-Life governments, or they won't. The fact that a thing existed at one point in time isn't an indication that it must exist for all time."

"All men aren't created equal if one of them can fire lasers out of his face."

"All men aren't created equal anyway. I'd have to check with Rao to see if he endowed Kryptonians with the same innate rights as humans. But, yeah. If your political structures don't centralise power then it doesn't matter if the people with power are incompetent arseholes because they can't do anything too bad. If you do, then they need to be good people."

"And who better than the Justice League?"

"I hope someone, because most of them don't have the skill set."

"But they do all have the moral integrity. Have you ever read Starship Troopers?"

"I don't actually think that overthrowing the concept of democracy in favour of oligarchy would be as easy in reality as Robert Heinlein thought it would be."

"So you have read it, or..?"

"No, I just watched the films. The third one was surprisingly good, given the budget."

She smiles with a quiet snort.

"So you've got no idea at all?"

"No, no… I've got an idea, it's just that even if it works, the results might be worse."

"For Earth, or the universe?"

"Both. Though given that the universe as a whole isn't that bad-."

Wait. The Crime Syndicate reality. Would they..? Have some sort of non-evil Anti-Life? Or… Would it just be the Anti-Life in the hands of Highfather?

I'll pass that one along.

"What?"

"Just had an idea that may be even worse. Ah, first idea is to use different colours of power ring to forcibly push the Anti-Life out of peoples' souls. But we don't have all the colours, and Alan and Ghia'ta probably aren't skilled enough, and I doubt that Sinestro will cooperate."

"Why do we need Sinestro? Kalmin works for you."

"Kalmin works for Kalmin. He just happens to be pointing in the right direction at the moment."

Still… I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Butcher's Blood

20th January 2013
21:05 GMT

Sereaven still looks to be in a good condition as Ragnar and I fly towards Lantern Lacuray. The only real change is that the ships are formed up close to the planet rather than being in a dispersed formation to respond to raids. Inviting her to come along would have been a bad idea; I picked her up because I thought that defending her home would give her the power boost that she'd need to become relevant. Still, given how gung-ho most Orange Lanterns are, I feel that I've wronged her slightly. Hopefully this will make up for it.

"Illustres." She comes alert as we approach, drawing herself up slightly. "The fear demon will not be coming here?"

"Not any time soon, if the Guardians know their business. Which they generally do. So you've got a choice. You can go back to Maltus and continue your training, or you can accompany Lantern Ragnar and I on a diplomatic mission with a minimal chance of combat."

"There isn't.. any threat to Sereaven?"

"The Reach remains a threat to Sereaven, but I'm not aware of any new imminent threat to Sereaven, no. Parallax is going back to Oa and Joseph Harrolds has returned to his home planet."

"You left him alive?"

"Yes?"

"I-. Oh, I didn't mean to question you, sir."

"You can question, politely. As to why he's still alive, it's because we're not at war with him or his people at the moment. He hasn't hurt us or ours except while Parallax was in his head. Because we could take him alive without undue risk. And because I'm trying to be a little more discerning in who I kill."

Ragnar nods. "To be killed by the Illustres is an honour one must earn."

I try to smile in a way that indicates that she should ignore that comment.

"Where are you going?"

"New Genesis. Long way from here, so I'll probably have to tow both of you. It's mostly jungle, with a small floating city that has virtually all of their technologically advanced civilisation on it. No real relationship with any Maltusian faction, but I know the ruler's son and daughter-in-law. They're usually pretty friendly, in a slightly high-handed sort of way, so if you treat them like Maltusians who haven't forgotten how to breed you'll probably do alright."

"Will I need to talk to them?"

"Not for any negotiation. Talking casually is fine."

"How big an empire do they rule?"

"No, it's just the one flying city. They're just advanced enough that they can sustain a large spacefaring military without a particularly large population base."

Not sure why they don't expand, even if they limited themselves to taking a few uninhabited worlds to build new flying cities over. My guess would be that their nature encourages them to focus on their own individual excellencies rather than the strengthening of their society, but that is just a guess.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure why Mr. Free and Barda don't have children. This is our first major contact with Apokolips since Kanto tried to kill Canis. Before that, Darkseid was completely ignoring them. They had plenty of time to settle down and start a family. Barda certainly wasn't exercising her divine capacity for violence in any significant way… Maybe they're just not children-people.

"Then I would like to accompany you, Illustres."

"Rightoh. Illustres to local admiral."

"Admiral Scratch-Click here."

"I'm detaching Lantern Lacuray from your command to mine. That won't cause any problems, will it?"

"No. One more Lantern doesn't make much difference to our defence plans. Where are you taking her?"

Technically, he doesn't need to know, and spreading that information risks other people who shouldn't hear about it. But the Reach finding out that I'm talking to New Genesis doesn't really cause a problem for us, They're not going to involve themselves in this war whatever I say, and the Reach could find that out by asking them politely. Which, to be fair, would probably be what they'd start with. And while the Reach might make common cause with Apokolips to keep me distracted, there's no way they'd pursue an actual alliance. Which means that they don't have much of a motivation to stop me talking to New Genesis about something not related to their war with us.

If anyone's feeling uncharacteristically rational.

Heh.

"New Genesis, but not for anything that will affect our war with the Reach. It's just that some things can't be left until a convenient time."

"Understood. Scratch-Click out."

"Right. Now, we're going to be warping to a system that's quite a long way from New Genesis so that I can try to communicate with them."

I could go back to Earth and borrow a boom tube, but that risks someone on the Apokoliptian side hearing about it and taking action.

"Yes, Illustres."

Ragnar looks thoughtful. "Do they have a duelling tradition?"

"Yes, though unless someone's very eager, I'd rather that you held off-."

He holds up his hands, palms facing me.

"I am a prince, not an uncultured barbarian. Of course I would learn their customs before duelling on their soil."

I think he sees the scepticism on my face.

"The Orange Lanterns I challenged, we went to neutral grounds before fighting."

Ring, check-.

"Outside of their worlds' cities, you mean."

"Yes, of course."

That would… Probably work for New Genesis. The way that nation states work with regard to claiming territory on Earth isn't universal. Betrassus still has substantial areas between settlement that technically aren't controlled by anyone.

"I'll trust your judgement on the matter."

"Thank you, Illustres."

Oh, he'll name his terms in advance.

I extend tethers to each of them, plotting a course and warping space as we connect. I… Think that Ragnar could cope with a brief dip in the Honden at this point, but Lacuray is far too new to consider it.

"Three, two, one, warping."

The system vanishes to our rear, stars blurring around us. This sort of faster than light travel actually… It's pretty, giving you the chance to watch the universe fly by. Stepping out lacks that, though it's so much faster that I almost always use it.

"This is gratifying, Illustres." Ragnar grins. "Every time you show me something like this, I am shown the path to my own improvement. When we have more time I would like it if you would critique my own technique."

"Certainly. I'd be happy to. Lantern Lacuray, how to you feel about being the furthest travelled member of your species?"

"A combination of awe and terror, Illustres."

"A very sensible attitude. It never pays to become habituated to what we can do. Warp terminating in three, two, one."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Home Field

4th February 2013
11:37 GMT -7

"Hey, man."

I sit down next to the dude laying in the street. That's something Wonder Woman tol' me to do. Makes it so I'm not tower… Ah, taller than them. Less scary.

"H-hey."

"Y'all plannin' on hol'en up traffic all day?"

Ain't a lotta cars 'round. Spent a couple days pullin' cars outta the road so's trucks and ambulances could get through back when this whole mess started. People ain't drivin', 'cept when they got to.

...

Sometimes, they don't go fer a drive when they got to. Wonder Woman don't like us gettin' those jobs so much. I tol' her we can handle it, but, ah… She said robot-atom's little robots can deal with jobs like that. She needs us fer actually talkin' to people.

"Ah 'unno. Can't think of no reason t'move."

And she says that's it. I used to think there was… I dunno, not, like, magic words… Just stuff a smart guy could say to… Like, encourage someone. Like Doc Quinzel did with us. But it turns out jus' talking to someone does nearly the same thing.

And that'll have to do, 'cause I sure as s-sugar ain't going back to school.

I don't know what set this guy off. More guys do this stuff like this than girls. When they get real bad, they don't leave the house at all.

I don't know what this guy needs to hear, neither. But if all I gotta do is talk? I can do that.

"Don't look comfy. It's all gritty and dusty."

"That it is. Ah jus' don't think those things matter none."

"Sure they do. Who wants to do laundry more than they gotta?"

"Heh."

That wasn't no happy kinda laugh, but it's… He's responding. He heard what I said and he said something back.

"What's it to you, anyways?"

"Ah'm working for Wonder Woman. Y'all layin' here makes me look bad."

"That all it is, huh?"

"Sure. 'cause if'n ah do a real good job, maybe ah'll get a kiss out of it."

"Fer real?"

I shrug. "Can't hurt tryin', right?"

Ain't going to happen. She ain't been with a guy in a hundred years, and she treats me like Doc Sivana does. Older Doc Sivana. The woman one, not the little scary guy. She told me to call her 'Venus' and I didn't think that was right, but maybe it's the only way to talk without getting confused the whole time?

Don't rightly know how I feel about it. Got two ladies who want to be my Maw, and they're both better than the real one. Nice when they're doing it, but…

"Guys done dumber before."

"So ah jus' gotta beat those guys, an' I'm set. C'm'on, man." I hold out my right hand. "Where you live? Ah'll take y'all home."

"We lost, didn't we?"

"Ah. Ah don't really keep up with football…"

"You people. Superheroes. That why everyone feels lakh they whole family up an' died."

"Thanks! Ah ain't never been called a superhero 'fore."

Especially around these parts. 'Don't shit where you sleep' sure is good advice, and my life would have worked out better if I'd gotten it earlier. There's a few places I don't really want to go right now because… I don't want to think 'old me' and 'new me', because that's…

What did Doc Quinzel call it..?

Thinking like that stuff was done by someone else. When it wasn't. It was me. Me deciding I don't want to be like that no more don't mean that I wasn't back then. And I know I don't do that stuff no more, but plenty of people don't.

"So what's with the get-up?"

I look down at my shirt. The Anti-Life folks got alla the equipment that was stored in Belle Reve for the prisoners, and we didn't stick around to get our normal clothes back. So the guys who needed equipment got given old versions of their stuff the Justice League had in storage. I got some clothes that the old Doctor Fate had in his trunk. Don't got no idea who owned them. Fate was, like, two thirds my size when he was a hero. And I don't know who picked this stuff, because the round collar jackets make me feel Chinese, and then there's the decoration. It's sewn on and not printed. Whoever made it used gold-coloured thread to make the pictures and it must have taken ages. Looks good, though. But I don't think it's really me.

"Thrift store. Only thing they had that fit me. Guess they had some Chinese strongman who needed cash real quick."

"Got their address?"

He looks at me for a little while, then he reaches out to take my hand and I pull him upright.

"Yeah man, but it's in Massachusetts."

"Oh. Don't worry, then."

"So where'd you live?"

"I-I can make it on mah own. I jus'…"

I try looking like I got sympathy, like I want to know what's got him so down. But this isn't the first time I've dealt with someone doing this. I get a couple a day, every day since the Justice League started sending me out. I can make like I care -and it's not like I want bad things to happen to him or nothing- but I can't make me actually care. I ain't good at it. Can only manage a fistful of people right now.

"What's happ'ning, man?"

"Is this it? Are we doomed? I thought the Justice League would git 'er done in a few days, but..?"

He sighs real heavy.

The truth is… I think Batman's making things up as he goes. And I get it. No one knows how we should deal with this. They don't tell me much about what's going on, but I see how many people are killing themselves. And how many are just doing what Mannheim tells them to, or doing what one of the city bosses tells them to. Just about everyone on Mannheim's side is hostage, and… I don't want to kill them. Even if it would make things a whole lot more simple. So all we can do is destroy their Anti-Life radio things and fight them when they try to take a new town. And run away when F…

Big evil robot dude, shows up. And that sucks. But even I know you can't just tell folks that. Or they just give up.

"Yeah, this whole thing sucks real bad. It's gonna take a whole lotta work to get things straightened out. But a lotta people thought the world was ending when the Sheeda attacked, and we still beat them, right?"

"Yeah."

"So we gotta tough it out. Gotta remember that even if it feels bad now, we're gonna get there in the end. Ah." I shake my head, because I got this speech from a real good speaker and when I do it, it just sounds dumb. "Superman does this better than me. But we're gonna win. You'll see."

"O-okay. Thanks… Thanks, man. Hey, what's yer name, anyhow?"

"Tommy. Tommy T-. Beresford."

"I dunno, man. That ain't exactly Superman, y'hear me? Maybe you should work on it some maw."

"What y'all think ah'm doin' here?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Compass

13th February 2013
14:57 GMT -5

"So how is he-"

"RAAAAAAAGH!"

I smile politely as the L.E.G.I.O.N. officer's eyes momentarily flick away from me in the direction of Orion's bellow.

"-getting along?"

A blinding flash over our heads as the nebula discharges its accumulated charge somewhere in the distance. We both cringe a little, even though it wouldn't do a thing.

Taking this world from the Reach is being a slog.

"He's an effective killer, sir. Normal protocol for Orange Lanterns is… Er…"

He trails off, remembering exactly what my job is.

"Carry on."

"Right, well, we rotate them off the front lines after a while. The sane ones, because there's only so long a rational person can keep up that level of desire, and the ones who are losing it because we don't really want them to lose it completely. Orion told us… Ah… He didn't want to stop."

"DIE, WORTHLESS PLAGUE CREATURES!"

"He's been like this for four days. I don't think he's slept or eaten."

Hm.

"As I understand it, he doesn't actually need to do those things."

"And he's alright staying that angry? Because…"

"I don't know. I don't think anyone does. Part of why he's here is so that we can find out. But he should be able to regenerate any damage it does to him using his innate abilities."

"Constantly or eventually?"

"Um. Don't know that either."

Another colossal lightning bolt passes over our heads, and we cringe a little less.

"How's the fight going generally?"

"It's a heavily fortified position and we have to use specialised ships to even get here. The whole place is riddled with tunnels and bunkers. Sir, is there something here?"

"We don't know."

The nebula contains planets. Unlike most nebulas, it isn't an area of infinitesimally increased particle density, but an actual electrified space fog. There's no actual sun, just a load of lumps of rock just big enough to have a liveable gravity field illuminated by the constant electrical discharges.

So why are we spending time and blood to actually clear it rather than just mining the region and going right past it?

Because they spent time and resources to fortify it rather than just mining the region and going right past it.

And it's good field experience, because…

I'm getting a slanted view of the war. I usually take part in major fights that have a squad of Orange Lanterns with them. Heck, we kicked this war off with the entire Corps in one place. So that's what the war looks like to me. But the fact is that the Orange Lantern Corps is less than a thousandth of a percent of the size of L.E.G.I.O.N.. Not all L.E.G.I.O.N. fleets have even one Lantern with them, let alone a team of three who could reliably deal with a Scarab Warrior without risking their lives.

So most ground attacks are carried out by L.E.G.I.O.N. marines. Who are drawn from hundreds of different worlds that have no prior history of working together.

"Must be something here."

"If there isn't, we're no stupider than they are. Is there anything you need me to do while I'm here?"

"Need?" He shakes his helmet. "No sir, I don't think so. Not unless the Reach just sent a fleet our way."

"Rightoh. Keep up the good work, and keep up the record of Orion."

"Will do, sir."

I

step out, and

reappear at the minimum permitted distance from New Genesis.

"This is the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps calling Supertown control. Mind if I come down?"

The space in front of me shimmers… That's… Vikyn, isn't it?

"You are authorised to approach. Highfather wishes to speak with you concerning Orion."

I wince slightly. "Yes, I… Thought he might. Be right down."

New Genesis really is a beautiful planet. I can't quite… Credit that this is the New God's original homeworld. The signs of industrialisation just aren't there. Though I remember reading something about how it would only take a few centuries for most of those signs to vanish from Earth, so maybe it was just that long ago?

"Did you break him already?"

I glance right.

"Hello, Lightray. Basically, yes. Sorry."

"Would you care to expand on that?"

"He got a red power ring, because a crazy maltusian was so desperate to feel anything that he made sure that he went as red as possible as quickly as possible."

"That sounds bad."

"It was bad."

"For the maltusian?"

"For the maltusian. And possibly Orion. I mean, he seems to be coping and I don't have good data on what a stable Red Lantern looks like, but he's been killing Reach soldiers continuously for four days without rest."

"I've known him do that with parademons."

"Right, but parademons work for Darkseid. He has good reason for hating Darkseid. I hate the Reach, but as far as I know he'd had nothing to do with them. Because there's a difference between hating people who deserve it and hating people for being there."

He stops in the air, his right hand on my shoulder to stop me.

"You do have a plan to turn him back when this is done, I hope?"

"Yes. But if you'd like to help…"

I take a hologram projector out of subspace and generate an Indigo Lantern Corps sigil.

"Do you know this symbol?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Pyrrhucy

14th February 2013
10:47 GMT -6

"… really odd."

Sunset frowns as she studies… A weird coloured blob of magic energy on the brass… Thingamy in front of her. I'm sure that it's a very efficient way of relaying information from her magic sensor arrays, but it's not exactly… Ignoramus-friendly.

"'Odd' in what way?"

She presses a few keys, and the blob shrinks and gets joined by some other blobs.

"Okay, so this is… I use Atlantis for a lot of calibration stuff, because they use far more magic than anywhere else on Earth."

I nod. "Makes sense."

"So this is all… Passive detection. I don't use it to get through their wards, just to give me a rough idea of how much magic is being manipulated at once."

"Okay?"

"And… When I started using it, it looked like this." Another button press, and the lights dim. "And then this happened." The intensity and size increases. "And if I compress the time since…" The lights gradually get brighter as the magic output of individual cities increases. And more than that, the area between the cities begins to glow more brightly as well. "It starts to do this."

I frown at her. "It might have been helpful to know this earlier."

She winces, nodding. "I didn't think anything of it. It was only dim for a few days; I thought the machine was just calibrating. And I only checked up on Atlantis when I wanted to calibrate it for looking at something else."

"Alright." I nod in acceptance. "Fine. So… Do we know what happened?"

She sighs. "I don't. Ahri'ahn's done… Something to keep Circe and me out. And not just.. this. Anything active just gives total nonsense."

"Because the machine isn't designed to make sense of whatever he's doing, or because he's disrupting your sensors?"

"Honestly, it could be either." She sighs. "Or both. With magicians as old as him, there aren't any good comparisons. His style and all the skills he's accumulated are going to be so unique that it doesn't make sense to try and assess him in terms of someone else."

"So no idea how he raised Atlantis?"

"I can tell you how he didn't do it. It wasn't water manipulation, because using that much magic would disrupt water magic worldwide and that hasn't happened. He hasn't manipulated magma in the Earth's mantle, because that would disrupt earth magic everywhere too. He isn't holding it up through levitation because it isn't a continuous unit and he still has to sleep sometime."

I frown. "Does he?"

"He's supposed to be flesh and blood. According to Queen Clea, he was really strongly against turning himself into anything that wasn't a flesh and blood Atlantean."

"Okay, couldn't he set the spell to keep going while he slept?"

"Not… Not without it being something I could pick up." She presses a few new buttons as the display changes again. "I think."

"How confident-?"

"I've been sending runic arrays into Atlantis using your drone things, and… Like, ninety seven percent? No one knows what he can do, but it's a lot easier to work out what other Atlantean magicians can do, and it's nothing like this."

"In that-"

"Grayven?"

"-case-. In here, moon of my heart!"

Luna trots in, looking slightly pained. "What manner of calamity has occurred, Our swain?"

"Ahri'ahn's trying to make a nuisance of himself. We're trying to work out how he's floating an entire continent."

"We must admit that We are surprised that you are not merely charging him regardless."

I face-shrug. "Given how powerful he is, it's a bit of a risk. I've put a lot of work into the Earth, and I'd rather not have to rebuild it from scratch because I misjudged his contingency planning."

"Or lose your own-" She winces again, blue light pulsing around her horn. "-life."

"Or that. Are you alright?"

"We assume that yon scintillating lights mean that some great working of magic has occurred."

Sunset nods. "More 'is still going on'. I don't suppose you've felt anything, have you?"

"Aside from the brobdingnagian ache We feel due to some ill-mannered and unskilled dullard twisting the dreaming world to suit their ends. Were this Equestia then We would hunt the miscreant down Ourself."

"Dream…"

Wait. Wait. Sandman. That… Sultan moved his entire kingdom into the dream, and made everyone paupers. Or rather, he talked Dream… Morpheus, into doing it for him. An early sign that Morpheus was a callous arsehole. But could that process be… Reversed?

"Luna, you told me that things in the dream world on Wilson could not break out."

"That is… Largely true. If the dreamer were in possession of sufficiently powerful magics, then the mental disquiet may cause some manifestation… But that is all that it is."

Hm.

I raise my hands to cover my mouth, and just for a moment find their size… Odd. Disconcerting.

"That's not how it works here."

"It is not?"

"No." I lower my hands. "Here, dreaming connects to a realm of shifting ideal forms and memetic loci of meaning. Things can go there, and things can leave. It's not… Easy, and there are difficulties, but…"

Sunset's already pulling levers. "You think that Ahri'ahn pulled something out of the Dream?"

"Can you check-?"

"Yeah, yeah, working on it."

I smile and pat her on the head. "Good lieutenant."

"Pretty sure I'm a.. captain."

"Let's not go crazy. Can you actually prove that's what he did?"

"Uh, yes, actually. Zatanna's dad's been really helpful with letting me borrow things from the Tower of Fate."

I frown. I didn't realise he still had access. I mean, good, but…

The image of Atlantis's thaumic systems vanishes, and is replaced by-

"Celestia."

-a stalagmite and a stalactite touching.

"H-?" Luna looks around, and then appears to realise that Sunset was just making an oath. "Ah. We understand that this is alarming?"

"He's making reality less real. No wonder King Orin and Queen Clea stopped responding. They probably think that they're some sort of ideal type monarch right now!"

I nod. "And how do we break that spell?"

"As far as I know?" Sunset shales her head. "We don't."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Prep Time

15th February 2013
08:55 GMT -5

I nod as another wave of crew teleport up, the crew chief stepping forward to hand out orders. I give them a scan but I don't really expect… Lex Luthor to try anything. Because these are LexCorps employees with backgrounds in aeronautics, the space program or electronics, and they're the most mentally stable of the survivors.

Truggs isn't greeting them. Because that's something that could be used to prove prior collaboration, and Truggs has a long record of criminality.

Just a couple of things to take care of before I head back down to Earth.

I press the activation button on my pilfered Dhorian communicator. "Mister Standing Bear, are you occupied?"

"You want to talk?"

"Seems like a good time."

"There is no good time. I'm in my barrack."

"Be with you in a few moments."

It's not practical for us to replace the lift in the prison ship, but we captured this ship entirely undamaged. It's… Well, it's obviously not Maltusian quality, but the build is decent. Some of the signage was clearly designed for people with non-standard eyes, but otherwise it needs no work to make it habitable for humans. Kadabra's busy adding Earth languages to the control system so that people without power rings can actually use it. Fortunately, the Dhorians aren't advanced enough to use anything really weird, or biologically different enough to perceive things differently to have an inhuman control scheme.

Lex's people will adapt.

Mr. Standing Bear picked quarters as far away from everyone else as possible. He said something about not having anything to contribute now that the fighting is over, but I wouldn't have to be an empath to know that was rubbish. Dhorian soldiers had communal sleeping areas, and the officers had fold-away bunks in their offices. Mr. Standing Bear is so big that he had to push three beds together.

I knock on the door, and it opens.

He's taken his helmet and amulet off and stuck them on a shelf in the room's cupboard, doors open so that it's in view the whole time. The man himself is standing at parade rest at the foot of his freshly made bed. Well, I am an officer, so I suppose that's a reasonable approach to take.

"Let's get this out of the way. Eiling implied something about a funeral?"

His face hardens. "Yes."

"What happened?"

"I got acquitted. Army paid me to leave anyway."

"Right, but acquitted of what?"

"Murder. Man came at my squad with a gun. Shot him dead, bullets kept going and hit the people behind him. Three died."

"How does that relate to a funeral?"

"They came from a funeral. Didn't like American soldiers being near it. We were ordered to be there in case trouble broke out. It did."

"Sounds like military thinking to me." I bow my head slightly. "You got off because there was a clear and present danger. If he hadn't wanted to get shot then he shouldn't have drawn a gun. It's unfortunate that anyone else got hurt, but that's what happens when you draw a gun in a crowd."

"That's what my lawyer said. Didn't change much. Too many people decided to blame me."

I don't need to look particularly deep to understand the issue. The army gave him structure that was missing from the rest of his life. With the army gone, he didn't have anything. His friends were other soldiers, his family… I'm not seeing strong bonds there.

"You're assigned as security for this ship for the duration of this crisis. After we're done… I don't know if you're interested, but I suspect that Eiling will be able to find work for a man of your talents. If he isn't, I can."

"Mm."

"If you want to talk to anyone about-"

His face, which had been relaxing slightly, hardens up again.

"-your experiences under the Anti-Life, I'm effectively a chaplain. Or I can find someone else, if you prefer."

"As long as I don't have to go back to Earth, I'm just fine."

I'm sceptical, but there isn't anything to be gained by pushing him at this point.

"As you will. Thank you for speaking with me-. Oh, is there..? Anyone you want me to get in touch with? Tell them-."

"No."

"I see."

Honestly, it's more surprising that some organisation or other didn't pick him before now.

I turn and head out of the door. I've got a meeting set up with Batman and Mister Atom, but they're both very busy people and can't just drop everything to speak with me. I need to fix my rings at some point, but I've got no real idea how to do that.

I raise my right fist as I walk down the corridor.

"Ring, contact Controller Hinon."

Nothing happens for a moment, then a sort of static-laden crackling construct appears. That… Might be Hinon, I suppose.

"Controller Hin-"

The image collapses.

"-on?"

Now, radio communication works fine. I was able to notify Guy what had happened without any difficulty. Is range a problem? It shouldn't be. The orange light? Did the contamination get further than I though? Don't know, don't know. I can't just ask Guy to try with his ring because they're blocked from long range communication by the Guardians due to the potential for Anti-Life contamination. Alan should-.

"Hey." Tuppence is waiting by the lift entrance, looking… Pensive? It's not a normal expression for her.

"Hello Tuppence. How have you been?"

Her eyes narrow lightly. "What's that suppose ta mean?"

"It means you've been stuck in an environment with the Anti-Life for a prolonged period of time and I'm concerned about you."

She holds my gaze suspiciously for a moment before looking away. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Ah. Do you want me to put a privacy shield up?"

She shakes her head. "No."

"Is Thomas alright?"

She shakes her head again, but her face come up to meet my eyes again. "Nah, he's fahn. Last I saw him, anyways. Lahks bein' a heero."

"And you?"

"Got a voice in mah head, tellin' me ah'm a simple-minded killuh. An' ah don't think it's wrong. Only thing that troubled me 'boud this whole thang is when ah couldn't kill someone."

And I can see the need in her. Now that she's started talking, she wants to keep going, to unburden herself.

"Why don't we.. go to my quarters, where we can get some privacy? I can even magic up some of that cold tea you people like so much?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Wait Time

17th February 2013
06:46 GMT -5

I smile as the teleporter glow fades and… Richard, Kon, Mitchell and M'gann appear. I spot the clear relief that Richard feels at once, and while the other three are a little more subdued in their response I spot them relax a little as well.

"Paul!" Kon steps forwards, standing-.

Ah. I walk right up to him and hug him, and I feel him relax a little further as he hugs back. "Good to see you, Kon."

Mitchell gets a quick hug too, Richard gets a warm handshake and M'gann-.

I frown. "M'gann, is that a telepathy blocker?"

She nods. "I tried-. But I couldn't take feeling that all of the time."

I nod back twice in quick succession. "No, no, I understand."

"But I guess I can take it off up here." She looks around. "It is.. safe here, right?"

I nod again. "I've checked everyone. No one's feeling great and Luthor's people all have some sort of implant, but we're too far from Earth for the broadcasters to reach us."

Her blocker shapeshifts back into a collar, and she smiles with relief. **I don't think I really appreciated feeling other peoples' minds until I couldn't do it any more.**

**[An image from our day at the beach during our first few months on the team, juxtaposed with our current situation.]**

She blinks in surprise. **That was complex. Have you been practicing?**

"Lantern training. We have to be able to picture things clearly. Listen-."

"Batman said you had a way to fix this." Richard can't conceal his eagerness. "Please tell me it isn't anything too crazy."

I affect a sombre expression. "It isn't anything-."

"I don't believe you already."

"We're going to fire the concept of life itself into the Anti-Life broadcaster network, expunging the Anti-Life from the Earth."

He thinks that over for a moment. "Doctor Mist said he couldn't do that."

"I suspect that he could, if he didn't concern himself with the fact that doing so might end all life in the universe on a conceptual level. My technique has considerably less chance of doing that."

He smiles. "'Considerably less' huh, Oh El?"

I nod, smiling back. "Yes. It's far lower. And it would be very difficult to reverse engineer." I exhale. "It's hard enough to engineer, particularly now."

"I thought you got the Medusa Mask."

"I did. But I didn't know about Batman's change of heart regarding the utility of fear, and…" I take the yellow ring out of my pouch. "I don't have another user in mind for this."

Mitchell stares. "Did you kill Sinestro?"

"No. He's recruiting, and I stole a ring and extorted a spare personal lantern for it. I need someone to use it-."

Richard nods, staring at the ring. "But with Batman turning over a new leaf, he can't use it."

"Not well enough. Not without backsliding. Karshon the Shark could have used it, but it turns out that he's the only one who knows what the mutagen which turned him from a normal shark into himself looks like, and he can't communicate that while a normal shark."

M'gann frowns. "Who?"

**[An image of Karshon and the summary page of his Justice League file.]**

"Oh. I could try reading his mind."

Richard half-winces. "Yeah, but Oh El's planning on giving him a power ring. I'm not sure it's such a great idea to give it to a killer shark."

"Actually, he's a tiger shark."

"Still not a good idea."

I shrug. "Batman's turned over a new leaf. Karshon isn't reliable. The only-." I frown. "Michael Siskin.. is.. dead, but I never checked where his soul went."

Kon frowns for a moment, then his brow relaxes. "That's the guy who died helping you kill Nabu."

"Yeah. He'd actually be a good pick. I mean he's… Probably somewhere." I shake my head. "Anyway, I promised myself that I wouldn't even try Doctor Crane-"

Richard looks unimpressed. "Uh, yeah."

"-so I'm hoping you've got some ideas."

Kon thinks for a moment. "How about Luthor?"

He… I think Lex Luthor used a yellow ring in the comics once..? But I don't really see our version as being someone who focuses on manipulating people by fear. And anyway…

"I don't know where he is. According to Truggs, he-."

Eyes widen at his name, but it's Richard who asks.

"'Truggs' as in 'Nylor Truggs', the guy who's responsible for at least five murders and tried to kill us?"

"Yeah, but Jade tried to kill-." They don't look impressed. "Okay, yes, he's here, and he doesn't want the Earth Anti-Lifed. And neither does Luthor."

Mitchell nods. "How about Cheshire, then?"

"Ah… Doesn't really have a history of using fear as a tool. Not especially, anyway."

M'gann looks thoughtful. "Artemis's mom?"

"The mental technique she's using to cope with Anti-Life exposure precludes using a power ring. And again, she was more of a sneak thief and assassin, not someone who focused on fear. Batwoman would-"

Richard winces. "Please don't."

"-be a better option, but still not really good enough." I could ask him about his… Home situation, but I don't really think this is the time. "So, yeah, I need someone experienced in manipulating people with fear, and I don't have one. Getting someone compassionate would also be nice, but it's probably not essential."

Richard shakes his head. "When we're dealing with saving the whole Earth, I think we should try doing better than 'probably'."

"Okay, well, let's start researching. There's got to be someone on Earth who can do the job."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Break Time

17th February 2013
16:51 GMT

Focus.

Physical check? Human head back. Kon's a living kryptonian/human/genomorph again and Cernunnos is still himself as well. The gate here looks the same as the one in Duat, and the sacrificial altar-. Yes, there it is-.

"Human." The sheeda man standing next to the altar-. There's a hole in his chest, showing his lungs as they move with his breathing while also showing that his heart is entirely absent. "I know you."

We're on a stony cliff overlooking the ocean, and just visible out to sea is the familiar shape of the island of Themyscira. It's nothing like this close to a larger land mass in reality, so wherever we've ended up has moved it.

Get to that later.

"While I have no idea who you are at all."

"They told us, when you killed the queen. That was the last of our hope."

Kon and Cernunnos spread out slightly to the left and right. Kon's not giving the sheeda all of his attention as he listens for other threats.

"You don't need to raid the past any longer-."

"We can't!" He bares his teeth, which are surprisingly pointy. "Our future is no longer our future! I left my whole family behind and I will never see them again!"

Oh. Right, yeah. Their future still exists, but unless things go very badly wrong that's not our future any more.

Kon shrugs. "Your future was kinda evil."

"We had a life whose greatness you will never comprehend and you condemned it to death by your refusal to know your place! You are fit only to be chattel! CHATTEL!"

He expectorates the word, clearly losing whatever self-possession he had. Interesting that he doesn't appear to be Anti-Life controlled, particularly given that I don't think it would be all that difficult to turn him. Unless… Would the sheeda be resistant?

"You were making an almost sympathetic point until you said that. So, ah, you're under arrest."

He draws a knife with his right hand. Obsidian. Fits the Aztec look of the portals but I'm not sure-.

He pricks his left thumb and presses it against the altar, the red stains immediately changing colour to match the black of his blood.

"And now you are trapped, and your hearts will be offered up to the goddess who will give me the revenge I long for!"

He smiles beatifically, and there's a quiet sighing noise as the portal behind us closes.

"Okay, so, we're looking for a female elf? We have reason to believe that you were involved in her abduction."

"Stupid creature, do you not understand what I've done?"

"Yes, you've closed the portal to Duat, 'trapping' us. But we already know that there's a portal to Otherworld somewhere around here, and that-"

I point to where the island of Themyscira sits in the ocean.

"-is home for me and Superboy. So, ah, honestly? This is better for us than finishing the original investigation." Kon frowns at me. "Which we're still going to complete, but… You've been a real help, which is why I'm not branding you and compelling you to answer my questions. So, please: what's this all-"

"Hahahaha-."

The rocks and sands at the bottom of the cliff erupt upwards as a colossal creature leaps up from under the ground! Kon, Cernunnos and I leap off the ground and into the air as a vast hand slaps down onto the altar, sheeda and inactive portal and obliterates them, along with most of the cliff. The huge creature responsible stares up at us, head locked onto-.

Ugh-.

What? The.. sky is a flat surface about a hundred metres off the ground. No escape that way, and I don't think that breaking the structure of the local universe would have good results.

The giant creature resembles a cross between a human and a toad. The head is mostly human, but broader and having a wider mouth. The ears are larger as well, and have bulky earrings hanging from them. A decorative headdress made of what I think is some sort of woven material sits on her head, more like a tiara than the stereotypical feathered headdress. Her torso is unusually broad like her head, and has the same hole in the chest showing that her heart has been removed as the sheeda had. Her hands put me in mind of a sloth: short fingers with long claws. She wears a skirt in the Aztec style while her legs are disproportionally short, or are jointed in a non-standard way, and her skin is covered in scales. Her bare feet have the same claw-heavy structure as her hands, and they're digging into the ground.

"You know who that is?"

I shake my head. "None of my records on Aztec deities include up-to-date photographs. Cernunnos?"

"I avoid gods with a taste for human hearts."

"Looks more like someone has a taste for hers. Which Aztec god is it who eats hearts?"

"All of them except Quetzalcoatl."

He frowns as the Aztec goddess turns to face us.

"Huh. Guess we got lucky. Do you think that sheeda was controlling her?"

"He didn't have a heart either. I suspect we'll only find the one in charge when we find where the hearts have gone."

"She's not getting in the water. Do we need-?"

The sea beneath us erupts and we all evade as spires of rock shoot up towards us! I see the shockwave as they thrust the air aside before slamming into the sky-roof-. Dodge again! Her feet are squeezing into the sand and-.

"Waghaaaaaagh!"

I throw up! Everything I ate jumps out of my mouth and my stomach tries to follow it-.

In the corner of my eye I see the Aztec goddess's head split in two, a new mouth appearing between the left and right sides as it fully opens and her tongue extending up from her neck!

"Grughaaaaaagh!"

The world dims and my head-. I feel something hit my left side, but it's… Distant. I'm.. moving..?

Ah…

Not chemicals. Not shortness of oxygen. Probably not telepathy-. Magic. Tattoos and wards have a maximum absorption rate-.

"Feed me!"

Rockrockrock!

I form rock drill constructs and fly, smashing my way free from the spines that threaten to crush me! A glance shows that the other two are doing better, but-.

But while we've been dodging the giant heartless woman has been making a bridge for herself.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Do Or Die Time

17th February 2013
19:05 GMT

"Running!"

The Anti-Lifed soldiers guarding the door step into our path, guns raised. Robert clenches his fists, and the stones of the walls reach out and grab them. Chirurgical limbs sprout from my armour and start… Shit, ah, reattaching Nuala's… Everything, and sealing the severed parts of her limbs to prevent complete exsanguination.

"What's happening?!"

"Do you have a healing potion?"

I construct-grab one of the stone-bound guards and throw him behind us, intercepting the omega beam that Mannheim fired at our backs. A momentary glow and he's gone.

"I.. got, like, one?"

I send out a construct hand. "Give it here."

He pulls it out of his belt and passes it to me. I poor a few drops into Nuala's chest cavity before sewing her skin closed, then pump the rest down her throat. Not much else I can do for her.

"What's happening?"

"Mannheim appeared to be trying to give himself the power of the Aztec gods, using their hearts and a lot of Apokoliptian-"

And we're outside. No army of suits converges on us, so I turn in the direction of the city's exit closest to Itztépetl-.

I scoop up a handful of stone slabs, shove them in a new gravity impeller construct and then fire them at the portal to Otherworld.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The building on the top of the pyramid crumbles, which I hope will take the portal out of commission.

"-machinery. We haven't stopped him, but if we're lucky he's going to be occupied with this for a while."

"Is a healing potion gunna grow her arms and legs back?"

"A healing ray can, given time."

"Thought it only closed wounds up if you lost a limb."

"Oh, yeah, I'd have to create a scaffold and basically flay the end of the limb repeatedly healing it a little better each time, but it's perfectly possible."

"Maybe the elves have got something better?"

"Elves are arseholes. Even if they do, I doubt they'd use it on her."

"Right. How's M'gann?"

"A few wounds. Nothing that we can't heal when we get back to Earth."

But so much for making contact with Melinoë. If Olympus is off limits then I doubt that there's a…

Elven path, possibly? I can ask once she's stabilised. Because once Mannheim's dealt with… It's like that bit in Transmetropolitan where they regenerate a frozen head. As Spider Jerusalem observes, the cryopreservation company thought they could promise whatever they felt like because surely someone in the future could actually do it. I fully expect to have to spend a lot of time putting the Earth back together after this, but the point is that I have the power to do that.

So long as Mannheim doesn't eat the whole thaumosphere or something.

"How much damage did it feel like we did to his machine?"

"Not much. Damn it, we didn't even know he was doing this. We tripped over it!"

"If you look everywhere hard enough, you're bound to 'trip over' something eventually."

No point asking 'how long will it take to repair', because there's no way he's going to know. Some time, which means that the best time to attack the Anti-Life network is right now, or at least as soon as possible. And I don't have a yellow ring bearer.

I-.

"Did you get exposed to the Anti-Life? Any injuries?"

"No-. Other than.. being around Mannheim. No injuries. I don't think they knew I was there. Did the.. goddess helping him… Do that to herself?"

"Gods are vulnerable to the Anti-Life. If you think about it, they'd have to be. Maybe she thought it was a way to gain some sort of relevancy, maybe… I don't know, absolution is one of her domains. Maybe she was motivated to sin more so there'd be something to absolve."

"That's crazy."

"I said I don't know. I'm speculating."

Out of the city and into the jungle. Mountain is that way, and we should meet up with the refugees before we get there. If there are any suits still working, I'm confident that we can destroy them as long as they reach us before we get in range of the mountain's cheat-zone. The only issue would be if Mannheim was able to take control and change the rules.

So I hope his system is at least that damaged.

What happens next?

Tlazolteotl spoke about this to Bastet, probably trying to persuade her to make herself vulnerable to Mannheim's influence. That would risk removing Adom's powers and making Kahndaq vulnerable to the Anti-Life. I'll need to warn him and her. Other pantheons… Well, the Olympians clearly know what's going on. The Roman pantheon? I can probably get a message to Vulcan, but I've got no idea if he can warn the rest of them. And I doubt that Odin would fall for anything that Mannheim could do. And that's about all the pantheons that I know anything about.

"Otherworld. Are there any gods who might do something stupid with Mannheim?"

"No. It's all pretty quiet. They're not really ambitious. Well… Some of them are-. Were, but they've already moved on. Ah. You can… Does this, like, stop that thing you said would get rid of the Anti-Life?"

"It shouldn't. As I've said, it isn't something I've been able to test in advance. I don't know if Mannheim being away from the material world creates a problem or not. And it doesn't matter because he wouldn't be doing this if it didn't help him, so we're going to have to carry it out as soon as possible."

"You need someone for fear, though."

"Batman will do. He was actually going to be my first choice. He'll just need to get back in his old headspace for a little while. Shouldn't need to keep it up for long."

"Ah." He exhales as we continue to run. "Great, okay! Always thought he was pretty scary. So why did we… Do all this? If we didn't need her?"

"Melinoë would have been better. Less coaching needed. I'm a pretty powerful Orange Lantern, and with Batman changing how he operates… I didn't want to take the risk, but now we've got to. Unless you know anyone better?"

"No." He shakes his head.

"Then that's the plan. Hope you like obsidian."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Reconstruction

18th February 2013
13:01 GMT

I open my eyes, the ceiling of my facility…

My…

Hm.

The N.E.M.O. facility in Bir Tawil. I rebuilt it last night, with a few modifications that I'd been thinking about for a while but couldn't be bothered to make when the place was intact. The defences… They were… Fine. They were never intended to make the place invulnerable; it's a home with a few defences rather than a fortress, and…

And it's still not the same after someone's broken in.

At least I can't feel the Anti-Life, so that's something.

"Mister Atom to Orange Lantern. Respond."

I lift the duvet and bed sheet off and shuffle around, dropping my legs off the right side of the bed. I could probably have stayed in the field a little longer. Lanterns can keep working without sleep for a couple of weeks without much of a drop in performance. But Mr. Atom found that even superheroes who could function for long periods started making poorer decisions if they experienced frequent high-stress situations or kept going without sleep. Combined with Anti-Life exposure…

It's a bit like World War Z, where psychologists kept tabs on soldiers who were fighting zombies and the moment they saw their performance dip they ordered them off the line for a breather. A pinch of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

"Responding."

I don't know if I'll keep this place. I could just return it to wilderness or remodel it as an actual spaceport. It's just nice to have somewhere that's mine.

I get up and don my lightest armour. We haven't found Vincent Edge and I don't know where my final clone ended up -obviously the same place- but there's… For the first time in a long time there's no fighting going on anywhere on Earth. I doubt that it will last, but it's nice while it does.

"Where do you need me?"

"Have you ingested nutrients today?"

"I just woke-. No."

"Take fifteen minutes, Orange Lantern. Your briefing will begin after that time."

Fine. Fine.

I head out onto the balcony, out of the room but still inside the area covered by the environmental control system. It's sunny, and the rocks, sand and sea look exactly as it did yesterday. There's a faint smell from the desert and from rotting seaweed along the beach. Reminds me of family days on Eastbourne seafront. The kitchen is one floor down and there's an internal staircase as well, but…

It's a nice view.

Down the stairs to the next balcony down, and then inside into the kitchen.

"Can you at least tell me if Atlantis is back in contact?"

"No."

I pull open the cereal cabinet.

What do I.. feel.. like..?

I pull out the Start packet and put it on the work surface. Then a bowl and a milk bottle. Jade laughed when she found out that I keep milk in glass bottles instead of plastic ones. I see her point: I hadn't actually had milk in a milk bottle from a milkman for years before coming to this Earth, and four pint plastic bottles with screw on lids are more practical.

It just… Has good associations. And doesn't produce microplastic waste.

And I think today is a pineapple juice day.

Bowl in my left hand and glass in my right, I amble back to the balcony and sit down at the table.

"How about personal news?"

"I still have not received my newspaper."

"I didn't know that you read newspapers."

"Noted."

"It just seems a little inefficient."

I take a sip of pineapple juice.

"I read the newspapers for metatextual reasons. I am reading to learn about the writers, not about what they write about. If I needed actual information I would investigate the subject myself."

My first spoonful of Starts crunch in my mouth, the accompanying milk mildly sweetened by the glucose sticking the multi-grain shapes together. I guess that Kellogg's will probably survive, though getting production started back up will be difficult. And I should probably see what sort of state Cadbury's is in at some point. It's not an absolute priority but I feel a degree of personal responsibility.

"Learning about how information travels around human civilisation? How people form their views?"

"It would harm the study if any human understood its purpose."

"Fine, fine." Another spoon of crunch. "What did you experience when we used the white light?"

"Nothing. I surmise that I was too far from an Anti-Life broadcaster and not otherwise linked to the Anti-Life."

"Lucky you."

"That is one interpretation. The other is that I lack something fundamental to the human condition."

"Is that a problem for you?"

"I would prefer the choice as to whether to expunge the trait or not."

Yeah. So would Batman.

Crunch.

"Do you want to..? Talk about..?"

"No."

"Batman was about to say what your greatest fear was."

"He was going to guess."

"Mannheim might not have had the technology to Anti-Life an AI, but that doesn't mean that you don't have emotions."

"That is a true statement."

"If you don't want to talk about it, then we won't. But you did the world a major favour this last month, and I want to thank you. If that means helping you get over a fear-."

"'Get over'. Explain."

"I don't know how your systems handle it, but with humans, it's sometimes helpful to talk about a fear with someone. Because you build it up in your mind and talking to an uninvolved party might help you put it in its proper perspective."

"That is unlikely. You have eleven minutes remaining of compulsory inactivity. Once they have elapsed, I will contact you again with your assignment."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Hellish Content

Day 1
12th March 2013
07:00 GMT

The small green mucus-covered demon in front of me cringes as I give… It? Him? My full attention.

"Thank you for coming in today, Blarg. I've just got a few questions for you, and then you can get back to whatever you usually do, alright?" Take Subordinate's Measure

I raise my eyebrows and smile pleasantly. Blarg cringes a little more. Not a lot, then.

"Blarg, at this stage in the proceedings, I'm not making any conclusions. I'm certainly not carrying out any decisions, which even if I had made them I would have to run by the First anyway. I'm simply gathering information. But if you don't give me the information I'm asking for quite politely, then I am going to use your battered remains as a lesson to the next demon I speak to that I do actually expect answers."

I paid for lawyers and magicians. The contract was drafted and redrafted, the First arguing very little. The only real point of contention was that I wanted to only take possession of the book once my side was completed where he -for whatever reason- wanted me to take it from the start. Some sort of obligation ritual component, I suppose. And… I signed, and my nature… Set An Example.

He only gets a month, and no trickery can be used to make that month longer than the least of all the places it could be a month in. I'm obliged to do my best, but… I'm a long-term planner. Ultimately, if I create the best plan and it isn't a plan that can be implemented within a month, that's his problem. Like a sales consultant who recommends a new sales technique, if the salespeople won't use it, that's their managers' problem.

And the First doesn't bother keeping precise records I could just ring-scan or use divine power to intuit.

"YyyesLord."

"So. What do you do? In your own words."

"I'm a Slime Demon, Lord."

"Y-. Yes, that's what you are. I'm asking what you do."

"Slime, Lord. I do.. slime."

"I wasn't aware that slime had any particular spiritual presence."

"It adds ambience, Lord. And things stick to it."

"Corporeal things, or..?"

"Thoughts. Feelings. Little fragments of self left behind."

"And you subsist on that?"

It… 'Shrugs'. "It's a living, Lord."

This is… Literally, a bottom-feeder. Excellent! Or-. Ugh.

I went into this agreement intending to fulfil it while at the same time helping Hell as little as possible. But… Now that I'm here, the same sort of thing that drove me to order the digging of a network of canals across the continent of Africa in order to make the place more navigable means that I'm… Really interested. In the ecosystem, in the people, in the magic systems, everything. And while my contract means that I can't use further resources other than myself and my personal equipment, I saw the way Sunset was looking at it. The Alicorn of Magic is interested, too.

"What proportion of your time would you say you spent on Earth? Or-." I fan out my hands, shaking my head. "Or anywhere else in the mortal universe."

"Um." Five eyes blink at me uncertainly. "I have been on Earth…"

I nod encouragingly. "Good."

"As a proportion, it's not very much. It was more in the beginning, but after Crulk had his.. fall from grace I've… Most senior demons have their own pools of spies to draw on, and they don't like bringing in less reliable outside help."

"So you're a spy?"

"I have spied. It's more of a default thing than… Something I'm good at. I'm not really good at… Much. But I don't need much spiritual power to keep going, to stay on Earth, and… Who really notices slime?"

"So… Crulk was your former employer, and he would arrange for you to be sent to Earth and put into positions he wanted observed. You would absorb ambient power to feed and report anything significant you observed."

"That's the size of it, Lord. And tried not to get set on fire."

"Did that happen a great deal?"

"Slime isn't all that mobile, Lord. If a fire happened there wasn't much I could do about it. And it's a pretty good purgative. If someone couldn't do spells to purify a place, a little fire would do the job. And modern cleaning agents can be nasty."

"Personal experience, or..?"

"Sort of, Lord, sort of. Leave a little bit of me in Hell, so if my body gets destroyed I can recover. Eventually. With what my slime absorbs."

"Hm." I nod approvingly. "So you do little with even less. Efficient. I approve."

"You… Do?"

"Frankly, yes. Take.. Nergal, for example. A powerful lord… Undone by a mortal wizard a fraction as powerful as he was. You on the other hand have a tiny fraction of his power, and yet you fulfil a useful role as an observer. Tell me, do mortals ever summon demons like you?"

"Hardly ever, and then it's mostly by accident."

"By accident? So they don't bind you?"

"Bind me against doing what, Lord? I'm a Slime Demon. Even if I got down their throats, they could just cough me up. And that would be really hard."

"Do Slime Demons go through with a lot of summonings?"

"I don't know. But there are usually a couple of others who go through when I do, so I'd guess so."

A plan occurs. Have standardised no-obligation summoning rituals. Whatever the terms are, sneak a few Slime Demons through. Yes or no, the main demon does its things or comes home and the Slime Demons hang around.

Though that's inefficient. It would be better to have secretaries listen to requests and match summoner with an appropriate demon. No sense in getting someone important involved if the summoner isn't going to be able to make a big enough…

Sacrifice.

Ah.

Okay. It's true, but… I mean, if they were going to sacrifice something anyway, all I'm really doing is preventing them from making more trouble.

"Thank you, Blarg, you're being quite helpful. One final question. What do you want out of existence?"

"Existence, Lord."

"Yes, what do you want out of it?"

"Existence, Lord. To continue to exist. There are a lot of Slime Demons and we're all very easy to destroy if something powerful turns its attention our way. I don't want to be destroyed."

"A reasonable desire, but have you ever considered..? Anything more..?"

"A dark hole no one else can go in would be nice."

Which ties back into the 'existence' thing. Yes, demons like this aren't going to really threaten the material world. I might be able to build something with them.

"Thank you, Blarg. That will be all. Please send in the next interviewee on your way out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Unreal

29th March 2013
07:00 GMT

Jade watches her mother carefully as she stares at the city surrounding us. This is Paula's first look at an alien city, and she seems to be coping.

The 'capital' of Maltus has grown a little since I first arrived, but… L.E.G.I.O.N. is commanded from Ranx or from regional command centres closer to the extremely loosely defined 'front line'. Orange Lanterns are powerful, but the whole Corps numbers in the thousands and it would be unusual for there to be more than a few hundred on Maltus at once. Darkstar numbers have increased a great deal, but unlike before when this was the only true safe harbour for them they can be posted on any one of hundreds of allied worlds.

The only real addition to the population are the diplomatic personnel, frustrating Hinon with their requests for a face to face meeting with one of the leaders of our movement. Controllers… Are… Not good diplomats, for the most part, and they certainly don't like people from civilisations younger than their current hairstyle acting as if they owe them something.

The people who have suggested that the ambassadors might form a legislative assembly and appoint their own representative to the N.E.M.O. council have been invited to read the treaty they signed.

"How many species live here?"

"How are we counting AIs?"

She looks around from the flying traffic flow, focusing on me.

"AIs?"

"Do you want to count all AIs as one species, or should I group them by type?"

"Type, I think? Do they find that rude?"

I smile. "I think they'd be more offended by the 'they' in that sentence than anything else. AIs can be far more different from each other than humanoid species can. Humanoids have similar basic drives to each other with fairly few exceptions. AIs can be programmed to prioritise just about anything."

"Ah… By type, then."

"There are members of six hundred and thirty seven species on Maltus right now. The majority of the population are-"

I gesture to a group of clickers who are walking nearby and then wave at them. The smaller ones rear up and waggle their forelimbs back at me.

"-clickers, like them."

And not so like them. We've actually expanded far enough that non-Maltusian-aligned clickers have worlds inside N.E.M.O.'s territory. I think Dox was planning on sending a diplomatic team, though that's not my responsibility unless he asks for my input.

Jade nods as her mother stares at them.

"Roughly half our military are clickers."

The smallest clicker makes eye contact with Paula, then sort of hops up and down before bending its head backwards and lifting its mid-section up. There's a slight delay and then it rolls backwards, rotating all the way around before landing flat on its feet.

It then looks at her expectantly.

Paula hesitates, and then smiles and nods, clapping in appreciation. The small clicker hops again and looks at its caregivers for their reaction.

The lesser A adult bows the forward part of its body, then leads the way along the street and into one of the buildings.

"That was.. cute?" She turns to Jade. "That was a child, wasn't it?"

"Yes Mom. About three years old."

Paula looks around at the city once more before walking over and sitting down at our table.

"Was that normal behavior for a three year old..? Clicker? Is that really their name?"

"No, their real name is something like-." I rap my knuckles and scrape my fingernails against the surface of our table. "But they know that humanoids can't say that. I haven't met one who objects to us calling them 'clickers'. One actually told me to."

Jade smiles. "The little ones can be pretty playful. They didn't used to have biological families, so their children needed to be able to bond with any adult they met."

"Oh. Then who raised them?"

"Any adult who wanted to. They learn a lot faster than human children, so it's like taking on an apprentice. Traditionally."

Paula nods slowly. "Not… Raising their own children…"

Jade doesn't react to that. I… Maybe there wasn't anything to react to, but I can't help but connect it to Paula's absence in most of her childhood.

"It wouldn't work. In their traditional hives, the fertile ones don't live long, and can have thousands of children. The Controllers changed how that works with the hives on Maltus, but they left the instinct to please adults. It was too much a part of how they expect their children to behave." She smiles. "Click-screech-clack used to live on my floor, and he was always having to chase down his kids when they started following some random adult."

"He should put reins on them. That is dangerous."

"Not around here. The crime rate is just about zero, and everyone in the building was a Darkstar. And most of them were clickers who'd gone through the same thing themselves."

"I see. It is very different to Gotham. Do you still live here?"

"No. We get barracked wherever we're stationed. I was just living here while I was training." She smiles faintly. "So many new Darkstars have joined since then that I've gained seniority over half the organisation." The smile fades as she looks more closely at her mother. "Mom, are you..? Okay?"

"Yes?"

"Paul told me you shut.. down to hold off the Anti-Life. I got taught that when I joined the League of Shadows. No one keeps it up for more than a few days."

"People can do surprising things when it becomes necessary. It was strange, but it was better than feeling… That."

"And you're okay now?"

"I am f-." Paula exhales and looks away for a moment. "I am mostly fine. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it is safe to feel things, now. Sometimes I forget for a moment that I can feel things, and I will feel something and for a moment it will surprise me. I am sure that will fade as I adjust."

I nod. "And… The Anti-Life itself? No lingering effects?"

"No. And I was fortunate that I did not do anything regrettable before you defeated it. Not everyone I know was so fortunate."

I nod. "It's a long list."

"The man who was responsible…"

"Mannheim?"

"No. You said that Mannheim was controlled by someone called 'Darkside'?"

"Yes."

"What does the Justice League plan to do to stop him?"

"H-chih. We don't." I shrug. "Try to look boring so he doesn't do it again? Apokolips is so far out of our league that it's decidedly not funny. Right now, we're focusing on restoring Earth's civilisation. Mannheim defeated everyone who fought him directly. Picking a fight with the full version is not on the agenda."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Mighty Morphin' Lantern Rangers

1st April 2012
09:17 GMT -5

Kaldur looks over the machinery which surrounds me, his eyes passing over the electronics with a cursory glance while lingering a little longer on the enchanted objects and arcane devices.

"Do you not think that this is a little extreme?"

"No."

"I understand that the visions you have had for the past two years are perhaps a little distracting, but you yourself have said that they have not harmed you in any way."

"One thing I learned from that mess with Krona. Parallel universes cause intersecting problems. I saw no sign that Ambush Bug was involved last year. None of the other versions of me I met at Vanishing Point admitted to experiencing anything like it. Which means that Ambush Bug might have done something to me that caused a lasting change to how I work. If so, that is a problem, because… Yes, a few visions one day a year isn't a problem, but if I don't-" Kaldur nods. "-know why it's happening, I don't know how to stop it if the visions start coming more often."

"And if this year none come?"

"Then… Great, it was probably something to do with Krona and I can stop worrying about it."

Kaldur smiles a smile which makes it clear to me that he's leaving me to my folly. "Then I will wish you the best of fortune."

"Thank you."

"Will you require someone to check in on you?"

"No, that's fine. People have been in close proximity to me both times this has happened-"

The world around me turns slightly, moments in time being interspersed with brief flickers of white like a projector reel.

"-and can you see that?"
//
Kaldur frowns at my alarm and
//
looks around. "I cannot see anything unusual."
//
He turns back to me. "Can you describe-?"
//
//
///////////////
The universe tilts and whirls and peels away and I'm sent flying and none of my time-wasting machines register anything unusual! There's a street, a road, American road signs, people running while a group of five brightly-costumed individuals fight a mob of grey humanoids and I'm flying or falling-.
/
Uhgh.

I land face-down on the asphalt-

"Oh dear. That wasn't supposed to happen."

-and push myself up, construct armour appearing around my body.

The alien looking at me in concern resembles some sort of uplifted chimpanzee. With… Wings and a monocle. His body... Looks like he's either been heavily bio-engineered or he's wearing organic armour, and he's looking at me like he thinks I'm about to explode.

The figure next to him is looking awkwardly at a large bottle in his right hand. His skin is blue, his head and most especially his jaw are far larger than the humanoid norms, while the rest of his body is squat and muscular. His clothing is… Weird. Baggy trousers with some sort of circular decoration, armoured helmet, boots, shoulder pads and breastplate. The teeth from his lower jaw protrude uselessly from his mouth in a way which puts me in mind of the designs I've seen of Japanese Oni masks.

"Ahhhh…" He tosses the bottle over his shoulder, and it smashes when it hits the ground. "Not my fault."

"Oh who else could it be? I gave you a simple task-."

"Excuse me, gentlemen."

They freeze, the shorter one looking directly at me for the first time.

"Oh… That's not good."

"Would one of you mind explaining what's happening?"

"Ah." The simian raises his right forefinger. "One question first."

"Okay?"

"Are you evil?"

"A.. completely honest answer to that question would be fairly complex. I have killed a lot of people-"

"Oh?"

"-and I don't feel any reluctance when my goal requires ruthless action-"

The monkey man nods. "Good, good."

"-but my goals are generally altruistic; I try to improve the lives of the people and.. society around me."

The blue-skinned one grimaces more, and the two of them look at each other.

"So really it depends on how you define evil."

They both return their attention to me.

"We…" The simian raises his right hand uncertainly. "Might… Need you to help us conquer the Earth."

"I'm.. going to need some evidence that you're some sort of godlike administrator before I even consider that. Do you have a… Curriculum V-?"

"Hey!"

The two of them take a nervous step back at the shout, and I turn to see that the brightly coloured fighters have defeated the grey humanoids. The fighters appear to have some sort of empathic shielding; I can see that they're alive and have emotions but that's about it. The figures on the floor… Either dead or they were never-. No, that one twitched. Some sort of automata? A robot or-.

They vanish, in… I think that was a teleportation effect.

"Uh-oh."

The five of them -yellow, pink, blue, red and black- form up on the red one and adopt… Silly pseudo-martial art poses like it's a photo shoot or something. Hm. They're clearly capable enough, and… They each have weapons and side arms they're not using.

Ring, identify.

Alert! Internet size vastly decreased since last scan. Identifying with paper archives. Targets are vigilante group 'Power Rangers'-

The… Fuck..?

-and are identified by colour.

"Two of Rita's goons and a new monster." The Red Ranger… Darn, I can't remember what his name was. He draws his sword, which is a sign for the others to draw their main weapons as well. "Let's stop their evil plan right now!"

"Right!" / "Right!" / "Right!" / "Right!"

The blue alien cringes further. "I'm outta here!"

His body shimmers and vanishes, and from the look of the other one he's not far-.

Something occurs to him.

"Go, my Orange… Warmaster! Destroy the Power Rangers!"

"Excuse me?"

He shimmers away as well as the five Rangers charge me.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Trivialities

3rd April 2013
11:36 GMT

"Recognised, Orange Lantern, B Zero Six."

I walk out into the Fortress of Solitude, and… Realise that the name is increasingly inaccurate as Kara looks around with a.. broad smile? Those weren't all that common before the Anti-Life-.

I do a quick scan to make sure that I'm looking at the right Kara. The practical and hard-wearing outfit suggests that I am, but-. Yes, I am.

She floats over, her eyebrows rising. "You just checked that I'm me, didn't you?"

"Yes."

She switches her smile from 'happy' to 'about to make rabbit soup with live rabbit' and widens her eyes. "How did you know it was me!?"

I roll my eyes. "Come on, she's not quite that bad."

She puts her face back to normal. "She is when she looks just like you. How do you cope with it?"

"With what? You mean my.. alter egos?" She nods, and I shrug. "They're not me. We have a lot in common, so… We just share information and stay out of each others' way."

"Doesn't that make it… Worse?"

"What?"

"That they've got a lot in common. Like, you're not…"

I frown. "Is this a girl thing? Do you want me to get M'gann?"

"No, it's not a.. girl…" She looks thoughtful, her eyes moving to the side as she frowns. "Thing?"

I fan my hands out, palms up, and wait for her to reach a conclusion.

"And anyway, M'gann's whole species are shapeshifters. They wouldn't-. That's not the point."

"No, no, this is fascinating from a social scientific point of view. Do you find yourself trying to gather a support group of beta females whose plainness will make you look relatively more attractive?"

"Ah, no?"

I grin, craning my neck slightly. "Do you think you should?"

"Do.. human-? No. You know what? No."

She floats back up and goes back to overseeing the newly constructed factory unit. It's kryptonian and designed to work with minimal oversight, but having someone who actually knows how this works seems much more sensible than waiting for it to try rebuilding Krypton on Earth or something.

I float after her. "Everything working alright?"

"Well, it's kryptonian, so yes. I don't know how Kal managed this long without a basic fabricator."

"I think that was your uncle's influence."

I see the reflection in one of the crystal surfaces as she rolls her eyes.

"You're probably right. It took a lot of getting used to, but I… I think I get what he meant, about what kryptonian society was… Missing."

"So we don't have to worry about you heading off to Xudar?"

"No. Not while Earth's in the state that it is, anyway." She cough-laughs. "It's funny. After everything… I thought it would just… Bring everything back. About Krypton. But actually… Earth survived. And… I think it's going to keep on surviving…"

She slowly rotates around.

"Um. Why is it..? You're here?"

"I'm here to talk to Kal-El about the Phantom Zone. Ah. But thinking about it-."

"I should probably sit in on this." She nods. "Kal should be in the arboretum."

She flies upwards to a wall-mounted door and I follow her out into… Huh. It's not exactly a forest. It's more like a agricultural laboratory as various types of edible plant are grown in their own modules where the soil chemistry, microbes, heat, humidity and… Everything else are constantly monitored in real time. Kal-El himself is checking up on a… Tree-like plant with unusually thick, green/yellow leaves.

"The Phantom Zone, huh?" He finishes his note-taking as we land, then takes a deep breath before turning around. "I hope you don't want to put anyone else in there."

"No. Ah. You remember Amalak, one of the people I'm-." Huh, it's been a while. "One of the people I was working with in Vega?"

He nods. "General Zod destroyed his home planet."

"And Amalak wants his head. Which I put it to you has no negative consequences."

Superman shakes his head. "He's already been tried and sentenced."

"Only for his attempted putsch on Krypton. He wasn't ever tried under the law of Amalak's people."

"I assume they'd execute him."

"If he were found guilty, yes. And in my opinion the evidence is fairly conclusive. You are aware-."

"Yes." He nods. "I know that criminals that I've apprehended have been executed before. And I know that if anyone deserves it, he does. I'm just not really… Comfortable with…"

"There aren't enough of them living in one place to form a government, and even if they had one they don't have an extradition agreement with Earth. They had one with Krypton but that only really covered petty stuff like kryptonian marines getting drunk while on shore leave. There is no legal system here, just you making a choice about whether he spends eternity is a disembodied void or gets let out for a week before being killed."

"I… I'll think about it."

"Okay, and then there's the rest of them."

He frowns slightly. "I don't think that Nam-Ek wants to come out."

"No, but there are other inmates: Amalak would probably want Non and Ursa, though Non might get an insanity plea. But there are plenty of others. Faora Hu-Ul…"

Kara shakes her head. "I… Think she can stay where she is. Even if we tried putting her on Themyscira… It wouldn't be safe for anyone."

"But we have gold kryptonite. We can make sure that she never develops superpowers, and… She wasn't given the indefinite sentence that Zod, Ursa and Non were."

"She was given a three hundred year sentence. She's still got about two hundred and sixty years to go." Kara frowns. "I don't think you get time off for good behavior when it's physically impossible for you to misbehave."

"How about Ak-Var? He had a thirty year sentence for theft, and he's served it. The only reason he hasn't been released already is that there isn't anyone to release him."

Kal-El nods. "Then he should be released. But I'm not sure we've really got the facilities to handle a kryptonian on parole."

"Gold kryptonite radiation again. Have him help you out here. If he proves he can be trusted, then he can have more freedom."

"That sounds reasonable. Kara? What do you think?"

"I remember hearing about it. I thought his sentence was far too harsh." She smiles faintly. "It'll be nice to talk to someone from Krypton again."