"Shouldn't you do something about the demon invasion?"
"No. I told the Justice League what Truggs told me and told them that I'm happy to help. Working out how to defend the planet is their responsibility, so until they actually call on me I'm at your disposal."
Not taking into account the fact they're relative
amateurs at the process? But no, you don't
want to do it,
so...
She frowns with mock-crossness. "Defending the planet is everybody's responsibility."
"Yes, but organising it isn't. Complex endeavours like this require clear direction, and Angelica and Zauriel know more about demons and how to fight them than I do. Aquaman literally rules a country of wizards, every single one of whom is in a better position to ward the Earth than I am. When N.E.M.O. wants to use wizards, we have to go cap in hand to the Atlantean city states."
Still... Ugh, it's
pointless trying to change his mind, isn't it?
The frowns has faded.
"The little fish?" She beams again. "He's so cute!"
...Well, she
has been catching up on human culture, I guess? And now I'm picturing her with a
hundred TV screens and monitors, each playing a
different movie or TV show... And she can keep
each and every one of them straight.
"The.. fish-? No, not the fish; the umbrella organisation for the Maltusian military forces conducting our war against the Reach."
"Nemo?"
Surprised she didn't ask about the Reach, but I
guess she figures 'If he's fighting them, they're bad guys.' She wouldn't be
wrong, either.
"Network for the Establishment and Maintenance of Order. In English anyway; they probably use something different in other languages."
"NftEaMoO?"
First rule of Acronyms: dump
any word that gets in the way of a cutesy abbreviation.
Articles are prime targets for that.
"Probably not. Anyway, would you prefer-"
Euanthe. She isn't in contact with the League. I don't know if her ability to manipulate antediluvian wood is limited to her avatar or something that she can do over an area.
Oh, thought of something the League can't handle about the invasion preparations? I can't help but imagine his eyes darting back and forth as he thinks of each one...
"-something based on-"
The League doesn't have contact with Hell, as far as I know. I think Mammon would understand why it's better to ensure that there's a strong non-demonically dominated human population in order to ensure that there will always be people to corrupt. There are probably all sorts of things that the demons mostly keep to themselves.
And it's kind of a matter of
jurisdiction, too. Don't want those dirty
devils from that universe coming over here and messing up their nice Hell...
"-old Krypton, or-"
If we're going to ward the planet then they're probably going to need to expand the runic satellite network and do it in a hurry, something that I could do faster than anyone else at their disposal.
Don't forget to look into expanding the area of effect of those dimensional travel blockers. The current model only covers a radius of a few dozen
miles, right?
"-more recent Krypton, or-"
"Nnno. Modern Krypton had dreadful style."
Well, that depends. Is that
Earth-1 modern... Or
Modern modern? I would definitely lean more on the classical 'raygun gothic' aesthetic over, say,
Donner's 'Crystal pillars and tunics' look.
"-something else entirely?"
We both look at each other for a moment.
Yeah, she can probably
see the neurons in your brain firing, and knows enough
humanoid Kryptonoid biology to guess what you're thinking...
"I need to get on this, don't I?"
"No." She zips closer. "We need to get on this."
...Are we
sure she isn't affected by Black Kryptonite, and is just so gosh-darn
nice that she doesn't really
do evil?
"Right." I hold out my right hand and fabricate an environmental protection harness. "Here. This will shield you against low to mid level radiation exposure and refresh the air around you."
She takes it from me.
Hopefully disguised as a classy 'House of El' icon belt, like Superman's?
"I don't care about radiation."
"Then in four hundred years from now, when you have super tumours, don't come crying to me."
And that's no idle threat. Just consider what different
colours of sunlight can do to Kryptonians. I remember a storyline about Superman developing some kind of
physical overload, just before the 'Electric' era...
"Oh. I though you just meant kryptonite radiation. Because that can't affect me because it's from the wrong universe."
"We're dealing with parallel universes. They might have kryptonite that can affect you. But this will also deal with other radiation, and you still need to breathe."
Oh, yeah, '
hurricane-breath' and
Silver Age super-lungs... That's a recipe for trouble.
"Not very often!"
"But you still need to breathe, we don't particularly want to have to deal with the hurricanes your deep breaths cause and at some point you might move away from a yellow sun."
At a guess, at Silver Age levels of power, Superman could suck up a
significant amount of gas into his lungs... Like,
way more than should logically be able to fit into them, even when compressed into
solid form...
"Okay!"
She clips it on over her uniform, and for a moment there's a very faint haze as the shield engages.
Ah, such trusting gullibility. But,
again, she considers him a
good guy, so
naturally he wouldn't give her anything that could hurt her...
"Remember, it's not a true defence shield and can't deal with actual radiological weapons. It's for environmental exposure only."
She nods. "I understand."
Given her Silver Age powerset, she's basically
immune to any purely physical attack vector short of a
planet-killer... So it makes sense she wouldn't feel cocky.
"And one of these, it's called a Spell Eater. It will deal with ongoing magic effects placed on you but it won't completed stop sufficiently powerful spells cast directly at you."
"That means I'm basically unstoppable!"
...
There's the cockiness. Though really, any caster who doesn't take her down on the first hit will end up..
pacified.. quickly.
"That's not what it means, it just means that if you have to take part in a counterattack that you should remain sane despite the exposure to demonic magic."
"What if someone throws a fireball at me?"
Dodge. Superspeed gives you a +100 innate bonus to Reflex saves...
"Avoid it."
"What if I can't avoid it?"
Well, if you're acting as a human shield for someone, then
fine.
"That depends on exactly what it is. If it's just conjured fire, it shouldn't do anything to you anyway, because it's almost exactly the same as if you stuck your hand in a bonfire. If the fire is itself magical then the Spell Eater will absorb the energy making it function, but only after it hits you."
"But I don't wanna be hit."
Finally, she understands! Well, she
seems to understand. We'll see if it sank in when she inevitably gets dragged in.
"Then avoid it. So our first stop is Brazil."
"I've never been to Brazil!"
...I
would say something about her not having been here long enough to, but OL can handle
that.
"You've been here-. Okay. Do you have any kryptonian plant cultures or seeds with you?"
"Ah, well…" She squirms awkwardly. "I ate some fruit before I got into the pod-."
...Would Euanthe appreciate a donation of Kryptonian...
fertilizer too?
"Right." I hold up my right hand to stop her. "Right. I'm going to assume that passing through your supergut will have thoroughly destroyed them."
"I don't think that's how it works."
Given the alternative,
yes, that
is how it works.
"Do you want to spend the rest of the day staring at mixed sewage until you spot the seeds?"
"Ew! No."
See! Thus, 'supergut'. Let's just add
that to the long list of things
not to think about now, then, shall we?
"Then they were destroyed. Euanthe-."
My rings blink.
Oh, hell, now what? A Reach push? Trouble with Jade? Dox wanting to know what the hell that last report is all about?
"Illustres here."
Lantern Savenlovich's head appears.
Oh,
local business. That... That's actually worse.
"Orange Lantern, we have detected a powerful act of magic close to your current location. Please perform reconnaissance and report in."
"Demonic?"
Oh, hell. ...Heh, 'Oh, Hell' indeed...
"Yes. If you require additional help it can be provided."
"But you need everyone you have to work on countering a potential attack from Demon Earth. Don't worry. Kara and I will handle it."
Well, a Silver Age Kryptonian is a pretty
major force multiplier. Even a
teenage girl.