With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Mr Zoat]

Day 3, Week of Hen, 990 YSD, 6th Eclipse
Last Time I Checked

Isn't this a novel experience. One moment I'm building a Pillar of Bones and studying the dark energy of an entirely new world -or if what I suspect is true, something rather larger than a world- and then the next I'm getting a rather uncomfortably up-close introduction to the demonic form of my current patron.

And I lost consciousness. I can't even remember the last time that happened. But on the grounds that it's wise for favours to be reciprocal -something which my studies show that Markal never learned- I suppose that I should-.

Oh dear. That nice young woman in the leotard is getting beaten to death. So what exactly-? Oh, the restraints are powered by that jewel, I wonder how it-?

A problem for later.

Now… A small Eldritch Arrow from both hands unlocks the manacles, another two free my legs, and without a more potent magic preventing it, it's easy to call my staff to my hand.

And Puppet Master.

The 'youma' creature stops moving at once, claw paused in the act of-. Yes, back off, off you go.

The lesser youma appear to be divided between those charging… A man with oddly green hair? I suppose that he's on 'our' side then, and the rest who are charging me.

Mass Slow. And… Blade Barrier.

And they work… Just as they did on Ashan. The youma slow to a crawl, so whoever that is can cut them down with little difficulty. And those heading towards me will have to be bold indeed to charge through a wall of rotating blades.

It's so nice having this staff again.

Just across the way there's one of the women the Orange Lantern was looking for. She appears to be recovering too, though not so quickly as I. Hm. I'm not sure exactly what she is, but I think that I'll leave her there. Better for her to wake up to a friendly face.

I turn away from her and walk towards Guardian V, the nice young lady who is currently bleeding to death. Mm. Still alive, for now. Regeneration should see her right in a few minutes.

Now, where did my cloak g-?

There's a knife in my stomach. How odd.

Mass Decay.

The knife is withdrawn, and my attacker's invisibility fails as Decay necrotises their-. His extremities. He's uniformed like the fellow in the melee, but his skin is green instead of his hair. I wonder what that signifies?

Blindness.

He stumbles, clutching at his face as he tries to work out why he can't see. He must be unfamiliar with dark magic, which is a little strange-. Ah, of course. A transformation. He may well be suffering from excess dark energy exposure. Light Magic isn't my best skill, but…

Cleansing. Not strong enough to disrupt Blindness, but lesser influences-.

Ah yes, that seems to have worked. His skin has turned to a warm ivory colour. It's not practical for me to cast Cleansing on everyone-. Perhaps that V girl's crystal might be able to help?

"Nnhhrrr…"

Oh, she's waking up. Marvellous!

"Miss V? Are you well?"

Her eyes snap open-. Ah, she's trying to get away from-. Perhaps I should move him? Yes, those youma are of no use to us.

"L-lushun?"

"Yes. Well done for liberating the crystal. I assume that you have a plan for it?"

"Huh?" She looks at her arms as her cuts knit themselves closed. "Ah…"

I reach down with my left hand, and she takes it and allows me to pull her upright.

"I… I need to-. Look-"

And the dagger is back in my stomach. How vexing.

"-out!"

Hm. It looks like the dark energy overload wasn't what was making him oppose us. Some sort of blessing from 'Metalia'? It would explain why he is so wroth with me. Ah, I removed Decay when I used Cleanse, that's why he's still fighting fit.

Weakness. Suffering. And Vampirism on myself.

He tries withdrawing his knife, but it appears to be stuck.

I level my left hand at his head and loose a bolt of concentrated dark energy, striking him full in the face and -with apologies to my fellow captive- eating the flesh right off. And from the vital force transferred to me by Vampirism it appears one with more than human vitality. That is convenient.

I turn to Guardian V as the first youma brave enough to attack my Blade Barrier loses an arm and I receive another burst of vitality from Vampirism.

"Do we need him alive? He appears to be in his right mind."

She appears to be having a little trouble getting up to speed.

Haste.

"The others didn't remember their current life because Queen Beryl cast a spell on them to only remember their past one. If you undid that, he might go back to normal."

"That's not really something I can do under current circumstances. But…" I crouch down and pick him up by the collar with my left hand, carry him over to the bench I was strapped to and close the manacles around his arms and legs. With those spells on him he shouldn't be strong enough to break out, and if we haven't dealt with the situation by the time they wear off then it's probably too late anyway. "There."

She's looking at the large mutant. "What about him?"

"Oh, I'd say that we've got another… Twenty seconds or so until Puppet Master ends and he savages us both."

"Can you turn him back?"

"That's a little more than I can do with Cleanse, I'm afraid. I can't raise him from the dead because he's physically alive. Even if I could cast Resurrection, it wouldn't work because he lacks a soul. So I'm afraid that it's up to you and the Crystal." I turn back towards the now-depleted youma horde. "I'll leave it to you."

That should motivate her. It's a lie, of course. She'll actually have about another minute. Now-. Ah, Mass Slow is beginning to wear off, but that fellow has cut quite the scythe through them. And my own Blade Barrier is in my way.

Eldritch Arrow. And…

"Hold still a moment!"

Circle of Winter.

The uniformed man freezes in place, looking at me. And then the jagged blades of ice erupt from the stone floor around him and skewer his assailants. He throws knives, I throw bolts of concentrated dark energy, and before too long there are no survivors. Splendid.

He eyes me warily. "Are you Lushun?"

"The very same. Is there a plan, and what is my place in it?"

"There is, and you need to get to the surface now."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th November 1995
00:06 Mission Time

I love the man, but Kunz-. Sebastián-? Seb-Kun? Heh. He really doesn't understand what long-ranged teleportation takes. It wasn't a problem with a few passengers, especially not when Orange Lantern took us most of the way there, but it's not quite the same when you have to move a building.

I look up at the frankly disturbing spire of bones and evil magic as it flickers in and out of reality.

Alright, it's already connected to the dark energy enveloping the world. That makes this possible. It doesn't make it easy. Seb-Kun has the most raw power out of all of us, while I… I'm not certain if I'm the weakest or not, but I might be. I could fight well enough by not relying on raw power... But I can't outthink a building. Unless Queen Metalia does something-.

I gasp as dark energy all across the planet is sucked towards the North Pole, and it's all I can do to stop the bone spire collapsing entirely. Right, hold it, hold it, and push!

The world dissolves around me and then, oof! Petals fall onto the icy ground, and the spire… The swirls of manifested dark energy become more and more violent by the moment. There's another manifestation around the entrance to D-Point, a giant crackling sphere. And not on my best day could I breach that. I don't think any of us could.

But that's not my role here. Supposedly, this thing can focus colossal amounts of dark energy while also being receptive to other forms of magic. If the Crystal can really do what my-. My past self believed that it could, it might actually let us fix this without killing half the people on the planet.

19th November 1995

I look at Paul's face and try to find even the slightest bit of humanity there.

I don't find anything.

I didn't want to believe the… New Paul, when he said that he was born without a soul, but that… Might explain a few things. Like why he couldn't feel youma, even when normal people started feeling that something was wrong. Or how he could be around that much dark energy without turning into a youma.

I don't know what changed…

And I don't know why this damn Crystal isn't working when it's right next to my stupid Transformation Pen!

"Work, damn it!"

I wish Artemis was here. I'd put up with him stealing my alarm clock, and… Giving me another lecture about telling Paul my real age and going back to Japan to babysit the reincarnation of the Moon Princess just for him to tell me how to fix this.

It's just-. We were fighting the Dark Empire! And normal criminals! We were making the world a better place. And I was acting as a decoy just like Artemis wanted-. You're not much of a decoy if you're standing right next to the person you're being a decoy for!

Why couldn't I get at least one healing move.

"Just…"

I step forwards and slap it against his chest.

"Do it you stupid crystal!"

The crystal flares with rainbow light!

Really? That's all it-? Okay! I'm not complaining!

Dark mist rises off Paul's youmaised body, and-. I don't know. If he doesn't have a soul then… This is it. But if all that's left of his mind is being a youma then he was-. He was dead anyway.

"Goodbye, Paul. And… Thank you for being my friend."

There's a sudden surge of the mist, and-. And I nearly drop the crystal because I'm catching him-.

He's not breathing. He's not a youma anymore, but he-. He-. I-.

Okay, ah, we went to a class on this. Check his pulse-.

There's a noise behind me! I turn around as bits of chain go flying-.

The woman with half her face missing gets up. She looks angry, but she's looking around at the youma and at Jadeite. And then she sees Paul and she looks worried instead. She comes over-. The other Paul was looking for her, right?

She looks at him, and then she frowns at me. "Is he dead?"

"I-I don't know. I'm not sure."

She lays her right hand on his head, frowning. "Hm. I should be able-." She winces. "No, I'm too weak from… Whatever brought me here. I-. That crystal."

"Would it..? Help?"

"Would that cryst-? Yes, of course it would help." I hold it out to her, and she stares at me. And then she sort of huffs, like I've done something stupid. "Humans have become far too trusting."

"So..?" I start pulling it back. "Do you not want-?"

She holds out her hand, and I pass her the crystal. "I hope you have no idea what you just handed me."

"Please, just-."

She puts her free hand on his forehead and-.

"It doesn't want to work. Someone called 'Queen Serenity' locked it to her bloodline."

"So-."

"Unfortunately for her, I'm much better with magic than she is. There."

There's another burst of rainbow light, and Paul's eyes shoot open! He gasps painfully as he starts breathing again. I look at… Ah… Mazykean? "Is he okay?"

"All he needed was someone to jumpstart his brain. Him not having a soul made it easier."

I nod, and… Then my eyes land on the Silver Crystal. "Um."

"You should have made sure that I promised to give it back before you handed it to me."

She walks away and I try helping Paul upright but his legs don't seem to be working right. He's pretty out of it, which I… Guess makes sense. He's still wearing his armour but I assume Metalia took his ring-.

He kind of reaches out towards the hole I made in the ceiling-.

The crystal!

"Um, I should have, but the person who was using you to make a portal to Hell is up on the surface, and we need it to beat her."

Mazykean stops walking away. "Or I could do that."

"You just woke up. And you said your magic wasn't working right." Paul grabs my free hand and pushes it against his-. His holster. He's still got his gun. He tried getting me to use one but I always had my compact. Mazykean's got her back to me. I could try shooting her.

I shake my head, and he rolls his eyes and goes back to trying to call his ring. "But mine is, and I know what the plan is. Your Paul's plan."

"My Paul's plan?" She turns back to me and-. And tosses the crystal to me. "If it's one of his plans then you're welcome to it."

"Okay, thank you." I-. I start heading for the hole in the ceiling, but I'm still supporting Paul and he can't quite keep up. "Um."

He pulls away from me, staggering towards the empty bench. Once he's close enough to use it to support himself, he turns back and waves for me to carry on.

"Right. This time, Queen Metalia's going down!"

And then I sprint for the exit, really hoping that's how it's going to go.

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th November 1995
04:46 GMT

I vomit what feels like blood and tar as I frantically try to evade. I guess that in a world saturated with dark energy a being of pure dark energy can manifest just about anywhere she cares to!

I spin, hoping against hope that she's suddenly become vulnerable to x-ionised blades. Suggestions of claws part and reform, slashing at me and I know from painful experience that they pass through both armour and flesh.

At least I'm not throwing up inside my helmet. I-.

I dodge again as an arrow whistles past my face, the tiara still stuck on Nabu and-.

Ah.

The cold bites nearly as hard as the claws! I can't see my body, but ring scans and… Just the lack of feeling from most of my skin paints a-. A nasty picture.

But either we're doomed, or the rest of the plan worked and-.

A wall of flames appears between me and the undead Guardians, and I drop down behind it as I finally-

"Ahk-hk."

-get the opportunity to repair my extremities. Agh, whatever this stuff is, it's coming out of my tear ducts as well! It's not even doing that much damage, it's just disgusting!

"Remarkable!"

Okay, they freed Lushun, good, that was step… Ah, three? He doesn't seem to be affected by the cold or claws made of darkness.

"A being of incarnate dark energy! And with far more initiative than mere darkness elementals. Oh, I would love the opportunity to study you at length. But! Needs must when Urgash drives."

A dark… Shape manifests out of the roaring darkness just above him.

"Those young ladies appear to be a little dead." He taps the but of his staff on the ground. "Let's see if I can do something about that."

Sailor Moon's brutalised flesh… Runs, dust and fragments of bone being pulled back into position, and as her eyes reform there's a-.

Blessed Hades, she's regained her awareness. She knows that she's a walking corpse and-.

And Nabu stops babbling as the tiara flies off his head and into her mangled but outstretched hand.

Resurrection is Light Magic. Level 5. You have to be an expert to cast it. Raise Dead is Summoning Magic, level 2. Anyone can cast it. But it doesn't last. Any living unit raised with it crumbles to nothing at the end of the battle.

The dark apparition brings its claws down, and Lushun lets his Arcane Armour take the hit.

"Moon Tiara Action!"

Her tiara burns cold as it flies up into the dark energy creature-

"GWRAAAAAAAGH!"

-and apparently causes it some measure of distress. And I've stopped puking, which… Suggests that its hold is weakening a little. And Sailor Mercury's body is reforming in much the same way that Sailor Moon's did. Hopefully someone explained to Lushun that he's supposed to be focusing on the dark energy Metalia's been throwing around-. But either way, now that Metalia's ignoring me, what can I do?

Ah yes, a transplant. Because she might not be wearing a ring at the moment, but like this there's even less gap between desire and action.

Metalia, you want to stop.

The claw falling towards Lushun stops, her focus wavering.

Metalia, you want to let go of the dark energy.

Lushun turns towards the fire wall and smiles at me. "Not dead, I see. Well done!" He taps the butt of his staff against the ground twice more, and Mars and Jupiter are zombified and removed from Metalia's control.

"Foc-!" I wheeze more sludge out of my throat. "The plan!"

"I can do more than one thing at once. But there's a slight wrinkle."

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

"You'll be a wrinkle if you don't get on with it! She's resisting!"

Metalia, you want to hear more of my v-.

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

Lushun sweeps the head of his staff across the combat arena, the sphere of dark energy collapsing and thank you, Ao is in position with the Pillar of Bones.

"Sailor Guardians! Venus will be up in a moment, and she's got the Silver Crystal. Blast the bitch!"

Sailor Moon nods, catches her tiara as it falls from Metalia, and leads her squad towards… Where Venus is leaving D-Point, Silver Crystal in hand.

They're… Going to die. But they were dead anyway, and-. And I can't think of a better way to do this. I mean, I could try absorbing the power myself, but between what happened to my alter ego and the lack of testing… I don't even know if I'm compatible with the Silver Crystal and I'm not about to risk trying to get the Ophidian's attention from here.

The power ring that was on Beryl's finger rises into the air and flies into D-Point.

Huh-? That takes more control than some random-. They cleared and resurrected the other me.

Then-.

Not me!

Metalia stabs downwards towards Lushun just as the Sailor Guardians start to glow. He raises his staff with his left hand and points towards the Guardians with his right, smiling like it's the most fun he's ever had.

And then-.

The Pillar of Bones crackles and discharges, dark energy flowing into Metalia, then into Lushun, and then towards the Sailors where… The Silver Crystal annihilates it in a sphere of blinding light!

Conflicting energies crackle around Lushun's body, but he's still grinning. "A whole planet's worth of dark energy! I must study-!" He looks down at himself as he begins to disintegrate. "Oh dear. But, at least Asha won't get me."

The white sphere expands, consuming Metalia's form, enveloping… Me, and I can barely see anything else, and then being… Sucked into the Pillar of Bones.

That wasn't the plan. Is that..?

That's amazing.

I try scanning, but I can't get anything useful while an artefact this powerful is discharging. I-.

The light dims slightly, and I can see the Sailors, their bodies fully regenerated and living. There's a pile of.. robes on the floor, and I… Stagger towards them. I don't know if there's anything left of his body, but I should recover it and… If I'm stuck here now… Perhaps I could learn to use the staff? I reach down to touch his sleeve, where it's shrunken down-.

The robe moves.

"Well."

It pushes itself upright, clearly being able to move under its own power. A bony hand pushes his hood back-.

That's not Lushun. That's a skeleton.

"That was invigorating." He looks at me as I stare at him, the light around us fading back to normal levels. "Is there something on my face?"

"Who are you?"

"What do you-?" He blinks, then his right hand reaches up to his face. "Oh. Oh dear."

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th November 1995
04:51 GMT

"I have been studying-."

"Don't bother." I sigh. "I should have realised that a random Dark Elf wizard wouldn't have access to Sandro's notebook. So you're Sandro, right?"

"I am indeed." He considers me for a moment as behind him the Guardians hug one another. "I thought that you would be more perturbed."

I shrug. "My people's God of the Dead is one of my favourite deities. And I don't know how notorious you are on Ashan, but I've never heard of you… Because I come from a different world. Lying to me…" I sigh again. "I've done worse for less cause. You didn't tell me any important lies, and you've given me the help I asked for. And you honestly thought you were going to be destroyed there-."

"Ahh. That… Not entirely. A necromancer of my experience will usually have a technique or two to avoid Final Death. Though it would have been inconvenient, for both of us. Oh, ah, your surmise as correct: the woman you call Mazikeen was indeed below, and in rude health when I left her."

I nod. "Good, thank you. Still on board for finding Angelica?"

"Certainly! Though I should recover the rest of my artefacts. If you will excuse me?"

"By all means. I've got a few things to check up on, too."

He nods, and then turns away and heads towards the entrance to D-Point.

"Hghhrrr-hghhrrr."

I look around-. Huh. I wasn't sure-. I transition over to the woman in blasted rags lying on the arctic snow, extend my environmental shield over her and fabricate some clothing over her dangerously cold body.

"Is your name actually Beryl, or something else?"

She staggers to her feet, bent over, arms hugging her torso. "W-what?"

"Sebastián and Ao prefer to use their names from this life, rather than their past life. But I don't know which set of memories stand out more to you."

"Beryl… That's my actual name… In both lives."

"Huh. Funny how that worked out." And while I think the Silver Crystal probably purged her of dark energy, I'm going to take a look… Yes, looks like she retained her past life memories in the same way that the Heavenly Kings did, but like with them, it's less… Spiky? Now? I see images of things I think are from her current life shuffling back to pre-eminence, with her first life fading into the wings. "So, official story: you were possessed, you hate everything that happened, and as an act of restitution you're happy to put your new magic skills at the service of the Earth."

She nods stiffly.

"Anything we need to know right now?"

"The-. The cats are alive, in a cage in the dungeons. Prince… Endymion… He's dead. I-. Beryl-. Wanted to keep him, but once Metalia took over fully…"

"I understand. Best go and give the girls the news."

I glance over at the Pillar of Bones, where Ao is waiting… I wave my right arm at him in an attempt to signal that he can-. He waves back, and then vanishes in a shower of petals.

"Hey, thanks for-." Guardian Moon pulls away from the Guardian huddle to face Sandro. "-the-. AH!"

They stare at each other for a moment, Japanese superhero and walking skeleton. And then Guardian Moon brandishes her tiara and the other Guardians adopt combat poses-.

"Oh, knock it off!"

"Ehh?!" Guardian Moon stare at me is if I've taken leave of my senses. "What do you mean, 'knock it off'?" She points at Sandro. "That's a walking skeleton!"

"Technically speaking, it would be more accurate to refer to me as a liche. 'Skeleton' is usually used to refer to animated bones without a sophisticated intelligence."

"Oh." She nods, then points at Sandro again. "That's a walking liche!"

"This is Sandro, and he's at least fifteen percent of the reason we're all alive right now. He's the one who drew out the dark energy so that your Crystal could purge it."

Planetary scan, summarise casualty figures.

Compliance.

"And -Guardian Mercury, if you would please confirm the general state of the world- I think you'll find-"

Guardian Mercury fiddles with her goggles.

"-that the death toll from this was mercifully low. Despite the billions transformed into Youma, the population now is not all that much lower than available census records say it should be."

Mercury stares at the flashing lights inside her goggles for a moment, and then sags in relief. "I was afraid to look."

Guardian Moon doesn't look convinced. She frowns for a moment, then turns to Guardian Mars. Mars stares at Sandro for a moment, and then shakes her head. "He doesn't feel evil."

Sandro shrugs. "Honestly, I'm as surprised as you are. May I continue?"

Guardian Moon frowns, but appears to accept that. "I guess…"

Sandro nods, and continues towards the D-Point entrance. "Have a pleasant day, dear girl."

"Huh, that was-." She sees who's standing next to me. "That's Queen Beryl!"

Beryl shrinks back slightly, and I shake my head again. "Beryl had her brain rewritten by Queen Metalia the first time she came here. You've never actually met the real her."

Guardian Moon sort of sticks out her head to stare a little closer at Beryl, and then turns towards Guardian Mars. The other Guardians do the same, though Venus gives me a quizzical look first.

Guardian Mars frowns at Beryl for a moment. "She doesn't feel evil either."

"Whaaaaaaat?!"

Beryl relaxes slightly, but I close my eyes for a moment. "I'm glad to hear that your death and reanimation had no long term psychological consequences. Beryl says that the cats are still alive, so we can head in and pick them up, and then I can fly you all back to Japan."

"Um." Beryl looks awkward for a moment. "I'm from Canada. I don't know… It's been years, everyone… Probably thinks that I'm dead…"

"I can drop you off first, it's no problem. I suggest telling them that whatever happened to cure everyone resurrected you, but you could try the truth if you like."

"I… Don't think that would be a.. good idea."

Warning! Avarice detected!

And… My alter ego runs out, construct armour covering his body. A little more simple than what I use, but I suppose that I've had actual power armour to draw inspiration from. He scans the environment, orange lights strobing over the arctic landscape. Apparently satisfied that there's no immediate threat, he slows, walking towards Guardian Venus.

"Paul!" She runs over to him, and the two of them embrace…

Ah… Given what happened with Zatanna, I can't really criticise him for hugging her after a life and death situation…

I'm not here to police his personal conduct anyway. Finish up, grab Mazikeen, and then go and find Angelica.

 

[Mr Zoat]

19th November 1995
14:13 GMT +9

Three out of the five Guardians walk away, having resumed their civilian forms and wanting to return to their families. That means that I'm left with Moon, Venus, Other Me and the cats. Artemis is lying in Venus's arms, which… Seems a little odd for an intelligent creature to do, but for good friends who've been through a lot… I suppose that it makes sense. Moon's cat Luna is standing on a nearby wall, glaring at me.

"Alright, Mazikeen, Sandro and I will be leaving just as soon as we've got a lead on Angelica. I don't suppose that you've got any sort of transplanar tracking technology, do you?"

Moon blinks. "Transwhat?"

I close my eyes for a moment, then look at the rest of the huddle. Venus shakes her head, Artemis blinks owlishly, Other Me-.

"Sorry, I… I've had enough trouble keeping this ring-" He raises his left hand. "-charged. I tried investigating the planetary fortresses, but the first one I looked at still had functioning defences. There might be something there, if Metalia didn't completely destroy them."

Venus taps Artemis on the head, prompting him to look up at her and then turn to me.

"I don't remember having anything like that. Queen Serenity might have had a spell that could do that, but I never saw her perform it. Sorry."

Moon frowns thoughtfully for a moment, and then turns to Luna. "Luna, do you know anything about that?"

Luna keeps glaring at me, then raises her right forepaw and points it at. "What is he!"

I narrow my eyes slightly. "I'm the reason why you're not in Metalia's dungeon right now. And what I am doesn't matter if I'm just going to leave."

"Hey!" Moon glares at Luna, who is completely unaffected. "Luna, be nice!"

Luna growls, fur puffed up and tail lashing.

I generate a construct cat carry case around her, and then transmute a physical one to replace it.

She looks around her new enclosure, and then tries clawing at the door. The carbon nanotube reinforced tungsten doesn't get damaged in the slightest. "Hey! Let me out of here!"

"Alright, I'll assume-" Guardian Moon looks a little concerned about the cat case for a moment, but when she sees that it's not actually hurting Luna she smirks at her pet's discomportment. "-that she doesn't know anything either. Is there anything I can do to help before I leave?"

"I-." Other Me starts to speak, then stops and looks away.

Ah, yes, I know that feeling. I'd hate asking for help too, and he really wants a safe way to recharge, and knows perfectly well that continuing to feed on dark energy isn't an option. But he's torn between asking and just trying to work something out himself. Because trading is one thing, but just asking for a favour you can't pay back…

"I could make you a personal lantern, but it would take a while and wouldn't be as effective as an actual maltusian one."

His eyes widen. "You ended somewhere with maltusians?"

I nod, shrugging. "It made getting started a lot easier. I got a personal lantern handed to me inside a day. " I fabricate a copy of my training manual and offer it to him. "I wrote this to help with the training of new Orange Lanterns. You might find it useful."

He nods, taking it and sending it into subspace.

"You might be able to learn to feed off the Silver Crystal. It might take a while, but the orange light is pretty good about consuming-."

"Absolutely not!" Luna tries to glare at me, but the bars rather diminish the effect. "The Silver Crystal is the property of the Moon Princess!"

"I'm pretty sure that the Moon Princess is dead..?"

Guardian Moon frowns at me. "Hey!"

"I'm sorry, I know that Shinto doesn't have a belief in reincarnation, but if we accept the Buddhist view, then you're still a new person who is supposed to add to your soul's total wisdom. You're not her, whatever you share with her. And anyway…" I smile. "Strange cats distributing sticks is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical feline ceremony."

The Japanese girls and alien cats look confused, while Other Me snorts with laughter. "You can't expect to wield supreme arcane power just 'cause some mangy moggy threw a stick at you!"

Luna scowls. "Hey!"

Venus looks confused. "Huh?"

Other Me shakes his head. "It's from a film. I'll show-. I'll show it to you later."

Guardian Moon blinks. "I can't?"

"Mazikeen took the 'royal family only' spell off, so anyone can use it. And… Have you ever really thought about what you're doing? You're some Japanese girl who a cat gave magical powers to because you're genetically identical to someone who died thousands of years ago. Do you think that maybe getting some training with the police or military might have been a good idea?"

Venus nods. "I used to train with the British police's Armed Response Units. And… Honestly? Having a whole organisation who could give me information and back me up was really useful."

Other Me nods. "I noticed that British politicians got a bit upset when Venus and I started acting as superheroes. Monopoly on legitimate use of force, you know. It might be worth you speaking to someone in the Japanese government as well in case they decide that you're… Somehow partially responsible for what happened."

Moon's eyes widen. "But I wasn't."

"Yes, we know that, but after global catastrophes governments aren't very rational. Beryl said that she was going to speak to the Canadian government, so that conversation is going to happen. It would be a good idea to get ahead of things."

"Okay. I guess I'll ask… Rei or something."

Other Me girds his loins and huffs. "I… Would appreciate it if you could make me a personal lantern. You're right: using dark energy isn't-. It's a terrible idea. But I don't want to give this up."

Hm. "Actually, there might be an easier way. One moment."

I look out into the universe, searching for… Orange light use, or something similar enough that I can-.

There! I move

"…trouble me ever again!"

To where a woman… In a golden costume that looks a bit like what the Guardians wear fires an energy blast at another young woman. Her target disintegrates almost immediately, a crystal… Smaller than the Silver Crystal and orange in colour falls to the ground.

"Splendid."

Gold Woman turns to me with an expression of surprise. "What?"

I tether the crystal and

step out, returning to

Japan, holding the crystal out to Other Me. "Here you go. This might make things easier."

He takes it, nodding as his ring recharges. "Thank you. That will do very nicely."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Terror Nova

19th November 1995
05:20 GMT

I drop down into the… Ritual space, inside D-Point. Dead youma have been raised as… Zombies?

"Why zombies?"

"Why?" Sandro turns towards me from the dais where he's studying the stone arch which appears to have been the focus of things. "None of them were powerful enough to become wights."

"I thought that skeletons were more useful. More agile, capable of using weapons…"

"Ah. Well, that's true, but I don't really have the time to prepare the bodies. I just wanted them to walk out of the way, really."

I nod as I land next to him. "Any clue where Angelica went?"

"The world through this portal. They were using a link between your friend Mazikeen and something already on the far side in order to maintain it. I'm not certain how, but I'm hopeful that Mazikeen will be able to offer a little more-. Ah, here she is."

I turn as Mazikeen enters from the passage to the dungeons, the remaining parts of Death's Embrace in her arms. I-. I tether them with filaments and move them over to Sandro for him to don, and then transition up to her and wrap my arms around her.

"I'm very glad that you're safe."

She.. actually hugs me back, without hesitating. Huh. Thought that would be harder.

"You're surprised."

I let go and step back. "You've spent a lot of time in Hell. I imagine that a lot of people have tried to take advantage of your link to Lucifer, and they're not exactly the best people anyway. And I don't have the best reputation."

"Compared to most of the Lords of Hell, you have an excellent reputation."

"You're a Lord of Hell?"

I turn towards Sandro, who's paused halfway through donning the Cloak of Death's Shadow. I look at-. Mazikeen and I both look at him for a moment.

"Her or me?" / "Which of us are you.. asking?"

He fully dons the Cloak, then strokes his mandible with the fingers of his right hand. "I am now concerned regarding both of you. I am not a devout man, but I'm not blind to the connotations."

"Our Hell is different to Sheogh. It's a place where the souls of the damned go for punishment, but the demons who run it aren't constantly trying to break out and conquer the world. They're really more into tempting people into sin so they get their souls when they die. Avoiding going there is a simple matter."

"Completely ignoring temptation may be a simple matter, but it's certainly not an easy one."

"No, you just need to pick a religion that sends your soul somewhere else and you're good. I mean, they'll probably have a different set of punishments, but you'll avoid Hell specifically."

"And… Your involvement?"

"I was involved in trying to convince one of the senior demons that it was in his interest to moderate punishment in exchange for faithful service."

"And you, madam?"

"I used to be the personal assistant of the one who oversaw things. These days I mostly look to my own interests. Cultivating assets, increasing my own knowledge and power and encouraging those who think I should be their pawn to look elsewhere."

"And your relationship?"

Mazikeen glances at me, a faint smile on her lips. Alright, let's hear it. "To put it simply, he's my father's new partner, and wishes to be involved in my life out of a sense of paternal responsibility."

"I… See. I suppose that answers my concerns-."

"But not mine." An armoured man of oriental extraction appears from thin air, sword in hand. "Who are you, skeleton?"

"Lich and nethermancer, actually. A skeleton would not be able to hold a conversation." He pauses for a moment, then folds his left arm across his chest and makes a shallow bow. "Alejandro Dela Segadora of the Bull Duchy of the Holy… Oh, I forget what dynasty it was. The Holy Whatever Empire. Also called The Shadow of Death. The Netherlord. The Great Lich. Master of the Order of the Void." He shrugs. "But please, call me Sandro."

"And what do you want with my people?"

"Your people? I fear that you're making a false assumption, there. We are all leaving. Though I am not averse to returning, once my current commitments are at an end."

"Your people?"

"I am Prince Endymion of Earth."

Oh… Heck.

"I thought Metalia killed you."

"She did. I awoke here, in the traitor Beryl's pit, and took measures to conceal myself until I could discover would foulness was afoot."

I take a-. Ow. Okay, I try to take a look and get rebuffed by some sort of magic. But if he's like the Heavenly Kings, then his past life memories have overwritten his current life memories, which… Oh dear.

"Ah. Okay, I've got some very bad news. Ah. Though, on the plus side, Queen Beryl and the evil spirit sponsoring her are now dead."

His sword is lowered a little. "What is the bad news?"

"Everyone else died, thousands of years have passed, and the only reason why you're talking to me is that you got reincarnated and your reincarnation's memories of his current life have been suppressed."

He frowns disbelievingly. "How?"

"Apparently, Queen Serenity did something with the Silver Crystal. I'm trying to be charitable to a dead woman, but it honestly sounds pretty messed up."

"You believe that Queen Serenity murdered… No. I had no love for her, but she would not do something so horrific."

"I have a suspicious mind, and all of my sources either don't remember, didn't see everything, have a good reason to lie or all three."

"And… Will his memories return?"

"My knowledge of human neurophysiology suggests that they will… But… I don't know the magic involved well enough to say."

"And… Princess Serenity?"

"Reincarnated, but Guardian Moon doesn't remember anything from her past life. She's not the same girl."

"I see. Then.. there is little for me to do but wait for my mind to be reduced to an echo in the back of this boy's head."

"Or you could take part in one last epic quest with us." I turn to Sandro. "Can you open the portal?"

"I'm certain that I could in time, but it seems to resonate better with Mazikeen's magic than mine."

Mazikeen steps up to it, eyes blazing with eldritch fire as she raises her hands. "Yes. It feels a little like the Gate of Hell, and I know the spell which-"

The portal opens in a flare of fire.

"-unlocks it."

A desolate wasteland of grey sand greets us.

I nod, and turn back to Prince Endymion.

"Coming?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th August 2013
06:06 GMT -7

"In-."

The grey blur continues blurring, hush tubes opening and closing as it travels to distant parts of the galaxy.

"In-.

And she's gone again.

"I told you." Persuader-. Ah, no, she's not wearing her helmet. Elise gestures to the hole in the air. "She's been here all night."

She looks genuinely worried. And she feels worried, too. Which is an interesting contrast to her god-name.

A mild frown forms on my brow. "I didn't order her to do this."

"Is she in.. trouble? She's doing what you want, right?"

"No, I don't mind. And I've made it clear that she's free to pursue her own projects. I value my peoples' initiative. I'm just not used to her-." Grey blur, portal closes and another opens. "In-."

And she's gone again.

I could stop her. I can order the mountain's system to stop accepting her commands. A few words. Or I could use my power as her sovereign.

But I don't, because I'm-

Grey-.

"In-."

Gone again.

-curious.

"Her career's going alright, isn't it?"

Elise nods. "Yeah? I've got a few of the magazines that published her photos if you wanna look?"

I shake my head. "I read them when they're published. I just wanted to make sure that I hadn't missed something… Or if there'd been a recent development I hadn't heard about yet."

"I don't think so. You want me to phone her agent?"

"Nono. She knows that she can come to me if she has a-." Grey. "In-." Gone again. "If she has a problem."

Elise kind of twitches. "Some problems… People… Don't want to talk to their father about."

I turn to face her. Every report I've had from her school and from Knockout indicates that she's doing well, but I haven't spent a great deal of time with her myself. I started with monthly appraisals, but once she settled in I decided that it wasn't worth carrying on meeting up so frequently.

Right. I kneel down and put my right hand on her left shoulder.

"Elise, is there anything that you want to talk about." My Door Is Always Open

She looks at my hand, takes a deep breath and then looks me directly in the eyes. "I wanna tell my Dad."

"Okay. Which bits? Because he knows that you work for me."

"Yeah, he knows-. He knows I'm working for you, and I've registered with the Department of Metahuman Affairs. But I haven't really told him what I actually do. I think he thinks I make your coffee."

I frown. "But I don't drink coffee."

She looks surprised. "You don't?"

"No?"

"Lynne does."

Oh that's where the mugs are coming from. I thought it was Knockout. "We don't do everything the same. I think Imra's having an influence on her. Which is…" It's good that I'm not the only influence on her, but… Coffee? Really? "Natural. And normal. How come you haven't told him more than that already?"

"I… I don't know. It's like I don't really think about it when I'm not wearing the mask. I mean, 'good day', 'bad day', 'productive day'… Just not 'so these guys were doing illegal dumping and I cut them in half and then took lunch'."

"Ah, yes." I nod, standing up. "That 'not being able to think about it' thing is something that you've made a part of your nature."

"Huh?" She blinks. "Oh, you mean, the New God thing?"

"Yes. You so rigidly separated the two parts of your life that it's now your nature to-." Grey. "In-." Gone. "A part of your nature to split the two things completely."

"Are you saying I've given myself magical multiple personality disorder?"

"No." I shake my head. "No. It's not called that anymore."

"So I have?"

"It's more like… If you're in geography class, you don't really want to be thinking about art class. And when you leave, you pack all those thoughts away so you can focus on what's in front of you. You've just done that with larger and more complicated parts of your life."

"But what if I… You know, need to do homework?"

"I suggest one of those tiny masks some of my peers like to wear. It will blur the distinction in your own mind between the two states."

"Okay." She looks over to the giant pile of severed reachian heads that Amane Misa has been piling up. "I don't think I'm going to start with this."

"Probably wise-." Grey-. "Misa!"

She appears before me, taking a few steps as she shifts back into normal speed mode. In her right hand is a naginata, tron lines gleaming as she extends her divine majesty into it. In her left hand is another head, eyes blank, tongue lolling and neck still dripping. "Master?"

"It's time for breakfast."

"Uh… Okay? I have a few more-."

I regard her levelly. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

"Ah". A small amount of… Poise seems to drift away, and the lights on her naginata fade a little. "Yes, Master."

Oh, I don't want her to think that she's actually in trouble. I walk over to her as she looks up at me nervously, reach out with my right hand and pat her on the head.

"Good enthusiasm. Unless you've got a plan for the pile I'll have Jean dispose of it."

She looks over to the pile, and then back to me. "We could put them on stakes?"

"That's unsanitary." Speaking of which... "And… I think that you need a shower before breakfast."

"Hm?" She leans the blade of her weapon forwards and looks at her blood-covered face in her reflection. "Ah. Yes. Sorry, Master."

"Don't worry. Blood splatter happens in melee." I look at her pointedly, and she stares back at me owlishly. "The head? The one in your h-"

She cringes slightly, and blurs for an instant as the head appears on the pile. Perhaps a necromancer could do something with them?

"-and. Thank you. Go and clean yourself up, and… Are you still eating omelettes?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th August 2013
06:13 GMT -7

A simple ring scan shows me that I shouldn't expect the majority of my children to be awake for while. Lynne has.. mostly acquired my habits, but she's going through puberty and I'm not.

Elise takes three plates from the cupboard and puts them on the work surface next to me, while Misa chops spring onions. Usually, 'helping' in this sort of way is something that I'd invite my younger children to do, but after Misa actually asked if she could help I've been including everyone else as well.

Sunset isn't quite so enthusiastic. She mostly sits in her chair and enchants things to move.

While Misa chops and the lard in the square omelette frying pan starts to spit, I crack a tenth egg into the mixing bowl. Construct whisk, because chopsticks are acceptable only when your county doesn't have enough metal for proper cutlery, and blend it well. And while that's happening, grab…

"I got it!"

Let Elise grate the carrot…

Teenagers aren't meant to be this helpful, are they? Misa's already done the spring onions without destroying the chopping board, and she's moved on to dicing the pork cutlet.

Alright then. Dash of salt, dash of pepper, and into the weird Japanese cuboid saucepan… Half the mixture goes. My Dad would love a saucepan like this; easy stacking and tessellating compared to the round versions. And… Spatula …

"So, ah…" Elise smiles at Misa. "Who were those guys, anyway?"

"Very bad people."

"Yeah, but… I mean, specifically."

Misa glances at me as I perform the first flip, and then again, shoving what will become the innermost part of the omelette over to one edge and pouring in another layer of egg. I then step to the side and she scrapes in the pork cubes.

"Master…" A slightly nervous look at me before she turns back to the significantly less intimidating Elise. "The Reach send out spies as merchants, so they can learn about the places they want to conquer. And then they start putting mind control chemicals in the water, or in the air, or do whatever they need to so they can control their minds and take over without fighting."

"So those were spies?"

Misa nods, and risks another glance at me as I keep my face in an expression of beneficent approval. "I just had to capture one, and then the g-gnomes could read their minds and learn about a lot of their operations."

"Hm." Another omelette flip and pour, and Misa adds the spring onion. "I'm a little surprised that they don't have anti-telepath measures prepared."

"I am very fast, Master."

I nod. "That you are. So you can get a g-gnome in position before they can activate a safeguard."

"I can do that. And I can just knock the Reach spies unconscious."

"So the defence has to be toggled by conscious intent?"

"I did not find a defence, Master. If they felt what was happening, they triggered a machine in their brain which scrambled their thoughts."

I nod as Elise adds the grated carrot. "How long did it take them to recover from that?"

"They did not, Master. They died because their brains did not work."

"Oh, that kind of-." I nod. "Well done for working out a way around it. Elise, could you get the sauce-?" She's already gotten the sauce bottles. "Thank you. So, ah… How far did you get?"

One last turn… And move it to serving plate.

Misa hesitates, so I gesture to the omelette with the knife. "One slice or two?"

"I… Would like three, please."

"Misa, did you skip dinner?"

"Um. No." I cut three slices, transfer them to a plate and hold it out to her. She takes hold of it but I pointedly don't let go, looking at her for an answer. "But I didn't sleep last night. And I did a lot of running."

I let go of the plate, and she shamefacedly takes it to the dining table.

"Misa, just because you can stay active for longer without rest, that doesn't-" I move the next slice onto a new plate and then look at Elise, pointing to the rest of the omelette with my knife. "-mean that it's actually healthy for you to do so." Elise nods, so I add a second slice and then pass the plate to her. Now for my bit. That is to say, all of the rest. "And it's going to mess up your circadian rhythms."

"YesMaster."

I smile as sit down opposite her, me-sized knife and fork in hand. "So how many planets do you think you saved?"

"Ah… I'm not sure that I saved planets, but there are now seventy worlds that had Reach spies on them that don't have Reach spies on them any more."

I nod approvingly. "Good work, good work. Write up-. After breakfast and a nap, write up a report for Vril Dox. He'll want to know how far they've spread."

She nods, her mouth full.

"Okay, good work. We might be able to get a necromancer to take a look at the heads, but if they've all had a full telepathic trawl I suppose there isn't any point."

Elise looks curious. "Would it work on the ones who scrambled their brains first?"

I nod. "It should… If it works at all. They're not a magical species, so it's not reliable. But it's worth trying."

"Master? Is there something else that you want me to do?"

"Yes." She perks up slightly. "Finish your breakfast."

She slumps a little, but she hardens her resolve and focuses on her plate.

Elise puts her cutlery down, having already finished. "Misa? Are you at a loose end?" Misa's eyes move to me, and then back to her food. "'cause I wouldn't mind you helping with Kobra cultists in Pakistan. It's overkill, but they've got it coming."

"I have to nap."

Loco parentis time. "Misa, is something wrong?"

She looks like she's about to speak, and then stops. And starts again, and then stops again. Then she slumps against the table. "You didn't come to my concert."

"Not the.. first night, no. I talked it over with your agent and we agreed it would be too disruptive. I was planning on going in a couple of days, once the journalists were finished with their reviews."

She perks up slightly. "Oh."

"Was that all? Were you worried I'd forgotten about you?" I smile, shaking my head. "Because I assure you, I hadn't."

She shifts awkwardly in her seat.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you I'd be going to a later concert, I didn't think that you'd notice-."

She glares at me. "I always notice you, Master!"

"… Right, lesson learned." Okay, should have handled that better… How should I..? Ah. "Controller Hinon said that she'd found a planet for me. How about both of you come and assess it with me?" I turn to Elise. "You could talk to your father about that, couldn't you?"

"Yeah, I could. That works. Thanks, Grayven."

"You're welcome. Anyone want seconds?"