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

[Mr Zoat]

8th April 2013
18:58 GMT -5

"So if it weren't a magic giant, how come she's throwin' knives atcha?"

I lean back in my construct recliner, overlooking the stadium below us. The surviving sports venues got repurposed after-. Well, during and after the Anti-Life blanketed the Earth, though thankfully this one wasn't used for anything too gristly. Sporting events are just starting up, though between the economic collapse and the collapse of the leagues they're just opening them up to local amateur teams just to get some use out of them.

"Beatrice is a fairly passionate woman, so-."

"Hey." Guy waves his artisan beer bottle at me. "You passed."

"I meant as in 'intense', not 'amorous'."

"That's Latinas for yeh."

"She's Roman-?"

No, he means 'from below Texas'. I mean, yes, I know 'Latin America' is how United Statesians refer to South America, but whenever I hear someone say 'Latina' I think they're talking about a pokemon. It doesn't even make sense; the Romans never went to South America, and neither did the Italians. It's all Portugal and Spain.

Guy stares at me in disbelief. "Yer jokin', right?"

"No."

He snorts, taking a mouthful of popcorn and going back to watching the game below.

"I'm not sure. The genetic alterations could be affecting her mood, but it's just as likely to be a product of prolonged intense stress. You and I can go home and rebuild a good deal more easily than she can."

"Mm." He nods absent-mindedly. "An' if it is genetic?"

"Then there's not much we can do about it. Anger management classes, maybe?"

Another nod. "So what next?"

The landlord didn't know anything, the account the rent was paid from has been closed down, the woman who manned the counter didn't know anything beyond the fact that the shop manager wasn't particularly talkative and we couldn't trace the manager. Which would worry me if it weren't for the fact that medium grade wards were commercially available for months before the Anti-Life broadcast so that doesn't necessarily indicate a high level of opposition.

"Put out an alert and wait, I'm afraid. We could try a sting operation… Assuming that this is someone targetting metahumans, but every metahuman we actually know is probably better actually… Doing stuff."

"Think they'll try clonin' her?"

"Best of luck to them if they do."

Guy smirks.

"But seriously, no. Cloning is hard. Cloning adults is harder, and… If you can clone a kryptonian, why would you clone anything else? For their innate abilities, I mean."

"No offense to yer boys, but that didn' go quite right. An Bea was hittin herder today than she use t'. Howsabowt checkin' up on laboratories, things like that?"

"It's a big planet. The chance of us stumbling over something is next to nothing. And the opportunity cost is pretty high."

Guy nods, his expression slightly sombre. "Yeah. Good thing we don't have lives, right?"

"On the subject of our lives outside of our work… I have been asked to relay-."

"She wants me to pick up aftah myself more."

"Yes."

He sighs, sitting back in his own construct chair. "It ain't that I don't-. I live on my own, an' not havin' weaponised O.C.D. like you got, I jus' don't think about it."

"Well, obvious solution."

"Get my ring to page me?"

"Marry Tora."

"U-uuuh. That's…" He glances at me. "Kinda weird, you puttin' it like that."

I shrug. "Sorry if that's a bit intrusive, but if Jade was based on Earth I'd have married her by now. If her sense of self-worth would have allowed it, I wouldn't have mentioned the Darkstars. I can literally see how much the two of you love each other-"

He looks away. "Fergot abowd that."

"-and since you're both superheroes there isn't any sort of increased risk to her safety by being associated with you. I'm really not seeing any reason not to."

"You wanna make Bea homeless that badly?"

"I could put her up, if it came to it. Wouldn't be hard to add a teleport system to my place in Bir Tawil. Is there..? Some sort of..? Problem?"

"Yeah." He chuckles grimly. "Self-sabotage. Me worryin' abowd how this is gunna go wrong."

"Guy. If I don't worry about that, you've got nothing to worry about."

"I don't know that tracks, but… Thanks."

"Alright, I think that's as far as I can go before we both need emergency testosterone injections. Talk to me if you want to, or your sister, or… Carol?"

"Which one?"

"Dame Carol… Do you know the other one?"

"Yeah." He nods. "We're not close or anythin', but Hal an' me werked together fer three years before I got put on a bus. I knew his girlfriend an' boss 'cause I had t' cover fer him."

"If you were trying to get on the bus, you missed."

"Any landing you can eventually walk away from…"

"You even sound like Jordan."

He snorts again, but this time his amusement is more genuine. "Bea have any other complaints?"

"She wasn't complaining about you not marrying Tora, if that's what you're implying."

Guy thinks for a moment. Then he stands, dismissing the chair construct.

"Oh, we done? Too much-?"

Guy tilts his head back, raises his fists… And… Beats his chest in a staccato rhythm.

"Aaaah-ahhhh-aaaghaaahaaaaaghaahhhh!"

I frown, a.. little concerned. "Guy, the.. baseball players are staring at us."

"What can I say, Orange? When you're right, you're right. What kinda ring you think I should get?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th April 2013
11:02 GMT +1

I walk into the… Ruined church with a frown. This doesn't look recent. Some people exposed to the Anti-Life attacked the sacred, but there wasn't really an organised campaign as far as I've been able to tell. There were a few occasions where Mannheim threw aside an altar and had a congregation worship him, but that was a dominance thing rather than a serious attempt to realign Earth religious practice.

He's been attending church a little more regularly recently.

Chantinelle is doing the metal album thing of praying at a ruined statue in the middle of the ruin. I… I don't really know why. I've checked up on her a few times since we…

What's a polite way of saying 'mutilated'..?

Realigned her soul. And she was making herself useful in a variety of minor ways, acting as a counsellor at large to people who her new magical senses tell her need it. I have no idea what she did while the Earth was under the influence of the Anti-Life or why she's here… But if I want to track John down she's probably at least a part of the solution.

I don't muffle my steps, but I do hang back a little and wait for her to finish her prayers.

After thirty three seconds she stands, her wings morphing into a long coat and her more inhuman features concealing themselves. She looks me over for a moment.

"I didn't think you could find me."

"I can't scan for you directly, but your magic has a unique signature. Indirect detection and crude sensors work fine."

She nods. "What do you want?"

"What were you..? Doing?"

"Praying."

"What for?"

"I want to help more. I want to earn my way into heaven. I want to-. Be more right."

"Remind me. You didn't fall, right? You were born in Hell?" She nods. "Ah, well, I don't think prayer does anything in and of itself, but if it helps you, go for it. Is there anything that I can do to help out?"

"Perhaps… If you could find people in need for me. Nothing else. I need to earn this myself."

"I'm not a theologian, but I don't think that's how it works. You're judged based on who you are, not what you've done. Striving to help others is good, destroying yourself isn't. But I do have a friend who might benefit from talking to you, so there's that. Oh, and the producer of Queen Hera's old television series needs a new star. You might find it a little commercial, but she made a lot of people happy."

"I've been helping reunify families that lost each other during the… Dark time. Or comforted the bereaved. Mid-day television isn't quite the same."

"A public platform can be used to further virtuous causes, but if you want something hands-on then it isn't for you."

"Why have you come looking for me now?"

"Why do you want to get into Heaven, specifically? I'd have thought that you'd find Zamaron more satisfying. As you are now."

"Tali would have gone to Heaven. And so would our child."

"We.. could just ask Zauriel for some clarity on that. The Angel Kings have been rethinking a lot of things recently."

"Death is part of existence. I don't want to pull Tali's soul away from God. I just want to.. see for myself that he is alright."

I snort, shaking my head. "Sorry. I think I'm too far into the orange part of the spectrum to comprehend that answer. As long as you're happy, I guess."

Not as if I actually need her there to ask Zauriel myself.

My face falls as for a horrible moment I consider the idea that Noriel is their offspring. No. No, she's far too old. And there's no demonic magic in here. We checked.

I'm going to double check.

"I'm not. But I will be, someday. What do you want, Paul?"

"The island John Constantine was on hasn't reappeared. Given your long history with the man, I was hoping that you'd have some insight."

She frowns. "Didn't you help him become a Lord of Chaos?"

"Yes. And a Lord of Order."

"Then I think he'll turn up when he wants to."

"Right, and if he wants an indefinite holiday in the Lands In-Between then he can just go back there once we've checked up on him. But he wasn't the only person on that island, and the others aren't super-powerful wizards."

Though, being Amazons, they might appreciate the change of pace. But maybe John Constantine is a bit of a steep 'change of pace' curve.

"I don't know what you think I can do. You know him better than I do."

"If I could find him using my own resources then I'd have done that by now. I have an approximate idea what he can do. You understand how he thinks better than I do."

"I'm not sure that's true anymore. But… The other people on the island. Are they Amazons?"

"Yes."

"Then I might be able to find them through their bonds." She frowns. "Why haven't you asked the Star Sapphires?"

"Neither of them know anything about magic. And they haven't met any of the people involved. But if it'll help then I can ask them to come."

And it.. might actually be worth asking them to have a look at her as well. Just in case I got something wrong.

"Do you think that it would be better if he wasn't found?"

"No."

She studies my face for a few moments.

"Having obtained ultimate power, John Constantine has no one watching him. Does that sound like a good idea to you?"

"No." That gets a small smile. "It doesn't."

"Are you available now, or do you want to schedule it for later?"

"I'm volunteering at a local primary school. But I can try finding John this evening."

I nod. "I'll come and pick you up. Thank you."

I-.

"Paul, before-. You go. The father of one of the children got one of his arms torn up by the sheeda. It's giving his daughter nightmares."

"I suspect it's more the association than the lack of an arm, but if you think it would help I'm happy to replace it. Why don't you introduce us?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th April 2013
13:37 GMT +3

"I'm… Surprised."

I look around the Themysciran streets. "I know. Three thousand years, and they hardly advanced at all."

"You healed Klaus's arm. He thanked you, his family thanked you, and you wanted to leave as quickly as possible."

I shrug. "What's not to understand?"

"He was crying with happiness. I nearly cried. If I could heal worth a.. damn, I'd spend all of my time doing that. I'd be overjoyed to get that sort of response."

"All the more reason to talk to Dame Carol." She's glaring at me. "What, do you want an explanation?"

"Yes."

"I can't just heal anyone I feel like healing. I'm an orange Lantern. Worse, I'm an Enlightened Orange Lantern. I can't fool myself into thinking 'maybe I want this' because I know I don't. I always know. I'll take your word for it that he was a good man, but he's not mine."

"Then how did you do it?"

"Human perfectionism. I find damaged bodies.. wrong. I healed him using my desire for my own psychological comfort. You'll note how there aren't any maimed Amazons anymore."

"So why did you offer to make him a mechanical hand?"

"No, I offered him a cybernetic. Something with added functionality. Something I could get excited about." I shake my head. "It's not practical for me to heal everyone on the planet, and it would impede the development of medical technology and encourage dependency. But a cybernetic could be built by other people in a workshop. Developing a human-compatible cybernetic could help a lot of people. Repairing his arm back to how it was just helps him and his daughter."

Mala was on Reformation Island when it vanished, and of all the people who love her…

I rise into the air and then fly over the city towards the docks. Chantinelle flies behind me, expression thoughtful.

"What?"

"I didn't expect you to think like that. It's not all that different to how demons think."

"I was going to say that demons wouldn't act from altruistic ends, but Buer acted selflessly to free the First. And Satanus did nearly manage to turn me into a demon using Mammon's power. I've never claimed to be the best guide to moral behaviour-. Ah."

I drop down, landing next to Antimonie as she checks the integrity of her nets. She stops, looking at me with a healthy dose of caution.

"Yes?"

"I had an idea about locating Reformation Island."

"And you need to borrow my boat because?"

"Oh, no. Chantinelle here-" Chantinelle lands, and… Gets a decidedly interested look from Antimonie. "-can track people via the bonds of love. You and your sister are on good terms?"

"We've always loved each other. But, yes. We haven't had a big fight in centuries." She looks Chantinelle over. "So what exactly does finding Mala via my love involve?"

"Love. Not sex." Chantinelle places her hands on Antimonie's shoulders and gently directs her to a clear part of the jetty. Then she extends her tail and walks around her, scratching a rough circle in the stone. "And I just need you to stand there."

"That doesn't sound like fun."

When Chantinelle is facing away from me I hold up my right hand, shaking my head and wincing at Antimonie.

"And stay still while I imprison you in a solid block of crystal.

"What?" / "What?"

Pink light flares from the interior of the circle as Antimonie looks down, eyes wide. Then the crystal shoots up, enveloping her.

Several other Amazons look on in concern. I try and give them a reassuring smile and a wave, but it doesn't appear to reassure anyone.

"She's alright, right?"

"Yes. I just needed to crystallise the emotion to get a proper resonance." She frowns to herself. "Does that happen a lot?"

"What, Amazons hitting on the first foreign woman they see?" Ah… "It's frequent enough. Though they usually show a bit more deference to someone who obviously isn't human. I…"

I watch her run her hands over the crystal menhir for a moment.

"Does that mean that you're not interested in a relationship with anyone other than Tali, or that-."

"I can't imagine something like that happening. But there was a time when I couldn't imagine someone like him-. I couldn't imagine ever feeling like that about anyone. If it happened-. I don't know. I'm not looking… But I don't know."

"Understood."

"But I have no interest at all in a hook up with a randy pagan. I'm not a succubus any more."

"Are you still feeding on..? What are you feeding on?"

She stops touching the crystal and takes a step back. "I 'feed' by bringing love into the universe. Whenever I help someone, whenever I repair a relationship, I get a little stronger."

I nod. That tracks. Succubae don't feed on sex exactly, they feed on the indulgence in vice. Lustful vice, prideful vice, it doesn't really matter: immoral action is the key. Chantinelle got exactly no power out of her relationship with Tali, which is one of the things that makes it so odd.

"Found anything?"

"I think so." She frowns uncertainly. "I'm not a magical expert like some. I know a lot because I'm old, not because I've ever been much of a student of magic."

I nod. "And this is new to you. What do you think you know?"

"The resonance is still there. Usually-. Before you changed me, I'd use it to find lustful mortals. Now, I think I can feel Mala through the light of love… But only through that."

"And the upshot is?"

"I can take us all there. I think. But I don't know where 'there' is and I don't know if I can bring us back."

"I can handle 'back'. I even know the rituals to let me bring you with me, if John can't handle it for some reason."

"He might be dead."

"The universe isn't that lucky."

She reaches for me with her right hand and lays her left on the crystal. And then