Pete Tong (part 14)
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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31st December 2012
14:15 GMT -5
Now that feeling I know; that's Anti-Life. I don't know what nonsense it's about to try to convince us of but I'm pretty sure that we're all immune. And my rings may not be able to generate constructs down here but their AI can still monitor my behavioural baselines and trigger my armour's computer to fly an emergency escape.
Objective check. I can destroy this machine by slapping it with crumbler gauntlets. That will probably kill Mr. Sage, Miss Fite and Orchid, and deny us information we could get by studying it. But it would slow down whoever-this-is's attempt to Anti-Life the planet. A couple of weeks ago I might well have just done it, but now I'm hesitating.
Getting them out in a rush is impractical. The plugs in Miss Fite's brain would probably kill her or at the very least cause hard-to-treat brain injuries if not removed with the utmost care. Mr. Sage and Orchid look like I could rip them out, keep them alive with a purple ray and go for distance and then repair them with my rings once we're clear. The problem is that if Mr. Sage isn't already free then there's probably something magical going on that I can't see and that could create problems that I can't fix.
So neither destroying or evacuating are appropriate. Let's hear the villain speech.
"You're not Darkseid." Mr. Free taps his Mother Box, which twinkles silently. Presumably trying to access whatever device whoever said that is using to communicate with us. "I'll never forget his voice. Is that a Metropolis accent?"
Metropolis, named Bruno, criminal, associates with Apokolips. One name, but… This doesn't match anything in his records. Letting a mortal near the Anti-Life suggests that they're actually backing him, rather than just using him as a patsy and stringing him along.
"Bruno Mannheim. I'd say 'delusions of grandeur' but if you've managed all this then you're clearly not deluded."
I think that Mr. Free is frowning under the mask. "Mannheim? A two-bit Intergang thug."
BOOM!
A boom tube opens just in front of the core of the machine, and a-. Agh, ghuh… Someone, someone large and powerful, walks through with their hands behind their back. Ah, camera, don't observe directly, monitor the space in the surrounding area, track when lines of sight to background objects is disrupted-.
"I hardly need that-"
And now I can see him.
"-now."
The face is more or less correct. His hair's a little neater and his moustache is a little shorter and thicker, but it's nothing a salon couldn't do. But the rest… He's gained about seventy centimetres in height, going from one meter sixty to two metres thirty. Most basketball players are now shorter than him, and unlike them he's gotten broader as well. He was always well-muscled, but now he's gone past bodybuilder and into metahuman territory. His altered proportions appear to be preventing him from being muscle-bound and I doubt that he's limited by merely human body tissue.
'Ugly' Mannheim also never wore a suit that good.
Mr. Free's eyes narrow.
"What..? Happened to you?"
Mr. Mannheim doesn't smile. His poise suggests confidence, yes, but his expression is completely sombre. Almost… All supervillains I've encountered would be smiling in a situation like this. Mr. Mannheim certainly used to have a livelier disposition than this.
"You remember the Justice League's attack on Apokolips?"
"Yeah?" Free Your Tongue.
"Darkseid gifted Intergang with certain pieces of equipment. Trifles, really, but that was the point. We exceeded Darkseid's expectations by defeating Infinity Man and handing the children over to him. And he rewarded me."
"You feel like… You're a New God? Is that.. possible?"
Mr. Mannheim glowers, a faint red light burning deep within his eyes. "Yes."
"No."
No is… I have anti-omega effect techniques, but they're rather dependant on me having access to my rings when I confront him. Accessing my armour's subspace arsenal and throwing stuff to block his shots isn't a great solution, but the alternative is flying through the ceiling to create debris and that… Depends on how fast they move and how much they reinforced the roof here.
"Darkseid touched me, and now everything seems so clear. So obvious."
"For those of us who aren't New Gods?"
"Darkseid broke off part of his soul and stuck it inside Mannheim. Anti-Life, Omega Force, Tyranny itself. He's connected to it all."
"And all the better for it."
"You gave Vincent Edge his change of heart. That's why he was so scared. He saw… Darkseid, and thought he was speaking to an angry God."
Of all the reasons to reform…
"He did see an angry god. The one true and absolute power in the universe showed him his own failure."
"Criminality?"
"Living in a way other than in compliance with the will of Darkseid. He has reformed acceptably. I will tolerate his continued existence, though I will crush his hopes and dreams as I crush the hopes and dreams of all who live on this world."
"I'm sorry, I'm not clear how much I'm talking to Darkseid and how much I'm talking to Bruno Mannheim right now. Are your dreams getting crushed too?"
"My dreams are Darkseid's dreams. His vision is my vision. His thoughts are my thoughts. Whatever feeble dreams I had before he transformed me are but a tiny speck in my memory."
"What is your intent here?"
"Earth is a world rich in magic. Everything is tied to everything else by the magical bonds of millennia. I was curious to see how easily those bonds could be turned to the Anti-Life. How easily it could slip from the collective unconscious of this world into the souls of every living thing."
"And then?"
"And then the fragment of Darkseid that is me shall study the broken shell of humanity for any knowledge that can be derived from their fall before I open Fire Pits and truly turn this world into the mirror of Apokolips. All for the glory that is Darkseid." Quail.
It's too early. It's too early and we're not prepared.
Dr. Balewa nods.
"A street shaman and a creature of the Green. But why the girl?"
"Through some black art she contains within her a fragment of the Anti-Life equation. This will enable me to learn of its nature even as it spreads to this world."
Zauriel hardens his face and raises his sword. "Why do you delay, then?"
"Delay? I began the moment you entered the room. Now, die." "Die for Darkseid."
14:15 GMT -5
Now that feeling I know; that's Anti-Life. I don't know what nonsense it's about to try to convince us of but I'm pretty sure that we're all immune. And my rings may not be able to generate constructs down here but their AI can still monitor my behavioural baselines and trigger my armour's computer to fly an emergency escape.
Objective check. I can destroy this machine by slapping it with crumbler gauntlets. That will probably kill Mr. Sage, Miss Fite and Orchid, and deny us information we could get by studying it. But it would slow down whoever-this-is's attempt to Anti-Life the planet. A couple of weeks ago I might well have just done it, but now I'm hesitating.
Getting them out in a rush is impractical. The plugs in Miss Fite's brain would probably kill her or at the very least cause hard-to-treat brain injuries if not removed with the utmost care. Mr. Sage and Orchid look like I could rip them out, keep them alive with a purple ray and go for distance and then repair them with my rings once we're clear. The problem is that if Mr. Sage isn't already free then there's probably something magical going on that I can't see and that could create problems that I can't fix.
So neither destroying or evacuating are appropriate. Let's hear the villain speech.
"You're not Darkseid." Mr. Free taps his Mother Box, which twinkles silently. Presumably trying to access whatever device whoever said that is using to communicate with us. "I'll never forget his voice. Is that a Metropolis accent?"
Metropolis, named Bruno, criminal, associates with Apokolips. One name, but… This doesn't match anything in his records. Letting a mortal near the Anti-Life suggests that they're actually backing him, rather than just using him as a patsy and stringing him along.
"Bruno Mannheim. I'd say 'delusions of grandeur' but if you've managed all this then you're clearly not deluded."
I think that Mr. Free is frowning under the mask. "Mannheim? A two-bit Intergang thug."
BOOM!
A boom tube opens just in front of the core of the machine, and a-. Agh, ghuh… Someone, someone large and powerful, walks through with their hands behind their back. Ah, camera, don't observe directly, monitor the space in the surrounding area, track when lines of sight to background objects is disrupted-.
"I hardly need that-"
And now I can see him.
"-now."
The face is more or less correct. His hair's a little neater and his moustache is a little shorter and thicker, but it's nothing a salon couldn't do. But the rest… He's gained about seventy centimetres in height, going from one meter sixty to two metres thirty. Most basketball players are now shorter than him, and unlike them he's gotten broader as well. He was always well-muscled, but now he's gone past bodybuilder and into metahuman territory. His altered proportions appear to be preventing him from being muscle-bound and I doubt that he's limited by merely human body tissue.
'Ugly' Mannheim also never wore a suit that good.
Mr. Free's eyes narrow.
"What..? Happened to you?"
Mr. Mannheim doesn't smile. His poise suggests confidence, yes, but his expression is completely sombre. Almost… All supervillains I've encountered would be smiling in a situation like this. Mr. Mannheim certainly used to have a livelier disposition than this.
"You remember the Justice League's attack on Apokolips?"
"Yeah?" Free Your Tongue.
"Darkseid gifted Intergang with certain pieces of equipment. Trifles, really, but that was the point. We exceeded Darkseid's expectations by defeating Infinity Man and handing the children over to him. And he rewarded me."
"You feel like… You're a New God? Is that.. possible?"
Mr. Mannheim glowers, a faint red light burning deep within his eyes. "Yes."
"No."
No is… I have anti-omega effect techniques, but they're rather dependant on me having access to my rings when I confront him. Accessing my armour's subspace arsenal and throwing stuff to block his shots isn't a great solution, but the alternative is flying through the ceiling to create debris and that… Depends on how fast they move and how much they reinforced the roof here.
"Darkseid touched me, and now everything seems so clear. So obvious."
"For those of us who aren't New Gods?"
"Darkseid broke off part of his soul and stuck it inside Mannheim. Anti-Life, Omega Force, Tyranny itself. He's connected to it all."
"And all the better for it."
"You gave Vincent Edge his change of heart. That's why he was so scared. He saw… Darkseid, and thought he was speaking to an angry God."
Of all the reasons to reform…
"He did see an angry god. The one true and absolute power in the universe showed him his own failure."
"Criminality?"
"Living in a way other than in compliance with the will of Darkseid. He has reformed acceptably. I will tolerate his continued existence, though I will crush his hopes and dreams as I crush the hopes and dreams of all who live on this world."
"I'm sorry, I'm not clear how much I'm talking to Darkseid and how much I'm talking to Bruno Mannheim right now. Are your dreams getting crushed too?"
"My dreams are Darkseid's dreams. His vision is my vision. His thoughts are my thoughts. Whatever feeble dreams I had before he transformed me are but a tiny speck in my memory."
"What is your intent here?"
"Earth is a world rich in magic. Everything is tied to everything else by the magical bonds of millennia. I was curious to see how easily those bonds could be turned to the Anti-Life. How easily it could slip from the collective unconscious of this world into the souls of every living thing."
"And then?"
"And then the fragment of Darkseid that is me shall study the broken shell of humanity for any knowledge that can be derived from their fall before I open Fire Pits and truly turn this world into the mirror of Apokolips. All for the glory that is Darkseid." Quail.
It's too early. It's too early and we're not prepared.
Dr. Balewa nods.
"A street shaman and a creature of the Green. But why the girl?"
"Through some black art she contains within her a fragment of the Anti-Life equation. This will enable me to learn of its nature even as it spreads to this world."
Zauriel hardens his face and raises his sword. "Why do you delay, then?"
"Delay? I began the moment you entered the room. Now, die." "Die for Darkseid."
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