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

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
12:43 GMT -5

"Hello, NNew friends!"

A g-pooka I don't recognise waves from its position behind the front desk. Cadmus has… Changed a great deal since the last time I was here. Now that they're not merely not hiding but openly advertising what they can do, the lobby is less 'secure laboratory' and more 'corporate showroom'. Bright colours, airy room, and a g-troll lifting a 5-tonne dumbbell without straining off to one side.

Amalak-.

Amalak stopped just inside the front door.

"Commodore?"

He doesn't immediately respond.

I turn back to the g-pooka. "Please, whatever you're doing to him-."

"No NNo! We are not playing GGames while we are working!" The g-troll gently sets down its dumbbell and lumbers towards the desk. "Our new FFriend is not human, yes? Is a telepathic conversation RRequired?"

Amalak-. He's gone back to the front door, and he's looking out at the Washington street. And then he turns back around.

"Problem?"

"The technology required to make a novel intelligent species is far in advance of what your world has on display. It that a security precaution?"

I raise my hands and then waggle them back and forth. "Human technology is all over the place. Don't try and compare us to anyone else because that way lies madness."

The g-pooka's horns glow for a moment. **Is this BBetter, sir?**

"Yes." He walks closer. "Thank you. Do you know what we're here for?"

**No, SSir. Basic telepathic ethics PPrevents us from prying too deeply.**

"And g-pooka aren't very good at it."

It-. She? **[Pouts]** at me. Telepathically, as her face isn't that flexible.

**I would NNot anyway.**

"Very.. well, then." He approaches the desk, looking up at the g-troll as it stands at the ready. "You and.. he are the same species?"

**We are genomorphs. Designed by CCadmus Laboratories, based upon alien genetic material recovered from SSouth America.**

He's frowning in bewilderment. "Were the multiple forms encoded in the original genetic material?"

**NNo! The original form were g-prometheans. They were larger than I am, though LLess intelligent. They are all dead now.**

"And you are modified based on their physiology?"

**Yes! [Smile!] TThat is what we are! I am a g-pooka, specialising in outgroup interaction!**

"The g-succubae not ready to replace you yet?"

**We do NNot interact in the same way.** She shudders, apparently involuntarily. **They cheat.**

"Succubae?"

"G-succubae are psychic erotic entertainers. Weird, but safe. Actual succubae are a type of demon, and you should avoid them."

"Very.. well. Do you have a name?"

**I am sometimes called Lisa.**

"That's not your name?"

**WWe have a group mind. We always know who other genomorphs are. Why would we have SSpoken names?**

"But you have a sense of self. You refer to yourself in the singular. And you are assigned to the task you were designed for, rather than acting through some sort of drone."

**II have more parts when there are other genomorphs within range. Further away, I am less.**

"Genomorphs share schema and capacities more than personalities. For example, having Lisa in range lets other genomorphs understand the behaviour of other species better."

Amalak nods, turning to the g-troll. "And this one?"

**G-trolls IImprove our spatial awareness.**

He continues to take the g-troll in. "Not your physical strength?"

Lisa blinks. **How WWould that work? We share minds, not bodies.**

"I'm sure they'd be happy to give you the full tour whenever you like, but since we're here on business..?"

"Yes, yes." Amalak turns back to Lisa. "I have concerns that someone who is about to be placed on trial for his life may have had his mind altered by an external force. Your people have been recommended to me as having the ability to determine whether or not that is true."

**YYes. We have yet to encounter a form of mental AAlteration that we cannot detect.**

"I was told that I would need g-gnomes and g-lusca?"

**And you will need a g-pooka.**

"What for?"

**G-Gnomes do not understand people. SSometimes they give false results. They follow the thoughts, NNot the logic.** Her horns glimmer. **AAlso, g-gnomes and g-lusca cannot talk.**

"They're telepaths, though. Why would they need to?"

"Because they'll be operating too far from the other genomorphs to draw on their knowledge, and you're not trained to share your mind with individuals whose minds are that different from yours."

"Are you?"

"I'm a party to the case. I could handle it, but… I'm trying to cut down on adopting inhuman mental states."

He nods. "Do you do a great deal of this work?"

**Yes-mhm. Many places are using genomorph mental interrogation to accelerate legal PProcesses. We have the approval of BBatman and Mister Atom.**

"Is that simply a matter of revealing lies, or is it more complex?"

**Humans constantly change what they RRemember about the past. Memories are reinterpreted and simplified and linked to OOther things. We have to learn how to undo those CChanges and recover the original memories, without damaging their minds.**

"Are you competent to work on species other than humans?"

**Machine-thoughts are difficult, but we are mentally flexible. We have AAdapted to every species we have encountered.**

I raise my eyebrows. "You can do A.I.s now?"

**Yes! G-gremlins can use their magic to bridge the gap. Martian Manhunter was QQuite impressed!**

Amalak nods thoughtfully. "Would you be willing to provide a demonstration?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
12:57 GMT -5

"I didn't…"

Lisa gently directs Amalak over to a soft chair, where he lowers himself unsteadily down to the cushion. The four g-gnomes who were working on him stare at him blankly for a moment, and then return to a neutral position. The g-lusca doesn't seem to have any more interest in him than it ever did.

"That was.. surprising."

"What did you get?"

"I'd long since forgotten what it was like, being evacuated from Timaron. They brought it back. For a moment it was as if I was a small boy again, pressed into the corner so that more people could fit in-."

He recovers himself after a moment.

"I could not have remembered it on my own, and I can feel the.. intensity of the memory fading away again." He shakes his head. "And you could not have known the details well enough to create a false memory." He thinks for a moment. "Were there any incongruities?"

**There WWere parts that were completely gone. You-.**

"Skips in time, yes." He nods. "Is that natural?"

**It can be. At TThat age, it is more like you were too scared to encode memories. But I would NNeed to know more about your species to be certain.**

"Ah." Amalak nods. "That sounds plausible. How long will it take for you to trawl through Dru-Zod and Ursa Dou-Ka's memories?"

**That depends on what we FFind. Maybe an hour?**

"Alright. Again." Lisa looks puzzled. "I've been in contact with telepaths before. If you identify-" The g-gnomes look around again, their horns glowing. "-when it-."

**The psions contracted you to move a shipment.** Amalak blinks, then his eyes unfocus as the memory is brought to the foreground. **They modified that one to remove your memories afterwards. We think their work was CCrude.**

"I.. remember. You're not making me relive it this time?"

**We can, but you did not ask us to.**

"Very well then. I accept the quality of your work. Will the six-" He glances at the g-lusca in its tank. It slowly closes the one eye facing us, then opens it again. "-of you accompany us?"

**Not Lisa. I am supposed to work the FFront desk. There will-**

The door opens and another g-pooka gambols into the demonstration area. The two of them are physically identical. Even my rings are struggling to find a way to distinguish between them. Hm, good quality control I suppose.

**-be another g-pooka going with YYou.**

The new g-pooka perks up brightly. **Hello, new FFriends!**

Amalak looks the new g-pooka over. "And you are..?"

**LLesley!**

"And you're..?" He moves his right forefinger from pointing at Lisa to Lesley. "Sisters?"

They look at each other, and then turn back to him.

**We are NNot related.** / **We are not RRelated.**

"You're genetically identical."

**But we are FFrom different batches.** / **But we are from different BBatches.**

"And since production is standardised you got the same nutrition in the tank. Literally the only difference is that Lisa has very slightly lighter skin on the side facing the front door."

Lesley turns to Lisa and leans closer, staring at her skin while her hands gently turns Lisa's head back and forth.

**HHe is right. We should move the desk.**

Through the window into the lobby I see the g-troll pick it up and carry it to the opposite side of the room. And I note that Amalak does as well.

He nods. "Then the only thing to do is agree upon a price. Do I need to speak with a manager..?"

They both look at him like he's a bit slow. **We are telepaths.** / **We are telepaths.**

"Ah. Yes."

"Has Dubbilex created some help for himself, or is he still handling the whole thing on his own?"

Lisa nods slowly. **After what HHappened with our not-brothers, we created two more g-goblins. In case.**

I nod, while Amalak looks curious. "'Not-brothers'? What do you mean by that?"

**WWe call each other brothers or SSisters. We cast the oni out of our FFamily.**

"The g-oni were part of their attempt to create genomorphs who could use magic. They were designed to use demon magic."

"Was the attempt unsuccessful?"

"No. Extremely successful. Which was rather the problem. It turns out that having your soul made of elemental evil encourages negative character traits. Last time I saw them, they were trying to eat an immortal kryptonian heretic. They-" I look pointedly at the g-pooka. "-were lucky that it didn't infect the rest of them."

They both nod.

"Be that as it may. The cost. What do you want in exchange for your services?"

Lesley makes a show of thinking about it. **Two hundred kilograms of platinum.**

Lisa nods. **Or payment in kind.**

"Expensive, but not impossible. What else do you want?"

Lisa straightens up slightly. **Psions and citadelians both use advanced cloning technology. This interests UUs.**

**And their medical technology in GGeneral.**

He looks at me. "Is importing that sort of technology a problem?"

"No, not at all. Earth has so much schizo technology that there's no point enforcing something like that."

"I'm afraid that very little of either has come up for sale. But I have been meaning to send scavenging teams to Wombworld for a while, and I believe that the citadelians had cloning systems on their larger ships. How does five tanks, the associated systems and the plans therefore sound?"

Lisa nods. **We are quite CContented.**

"Then I believe that we are ready to depart. Lantern?"

I nod, the g-gnomes clambering into their cubby-holes on the g-lusca's tank as I stand and extend my tendrils to it. Then I hold out my left hand to Lesley. "Lesley?"

Lesley blinks, and then saunters over and takes my hand. I extend my environmental shield over her, the tank and Commodore Amalak.

"We'll be back in a couple of days."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
21:11 GMT

Dru-Zod stares up at the g-lusca, an expression of mild distaste on his face.

"What is that?"

Arnus takes his position next to him, just outside of the containment area marked on the floor. "It is a synthetic creature called a 'g-lusca', Essentially, a living computer."

"And if it makes you feel any better, it's genetically kryptonian."

He shakes his head, eyes still fixed on it. "Krypton had no creatures like that."

"It turns out that rondor and thought-beasts are distantly related. A little genetic tweaking, and you can get something like that."

"Where did you get samples of either?"

"Nam-Ek. Well, I didn't. A team of researchers did. And they created-" The g-gnomes stick their heads out of their compartments. "-those, and a few other variants, who in turn created the g-lusca."

**And MMe.**

Lesley and Nallam enter from the opposite, along with a xudarian lawyer named Nowan-Lu who is acting for the prosecution. Amalak… Didn't trust himself to be in the same room as Dru-Zod.

Dru-Zod straightens up. "I've already given my testimony."

Nallam very carefully gets her face under control before explaining. "The defence has raised the possibility that your mental processes may have been externally altered."

He frowns. "By what?"

Arnus shakes his head. "That is irrelevant."

"Are you talking about narcotics?"

"No, but Kryptonian law -and the Timaronian law derived from it- make allowances for deliberate mental alterations."

"By who? We were isolationist."

"The daxamites had an Eradicator-derived A.I. that could alter kryptonian minds. I doubt that Kem-El was working both in isolation and without records."

He looks to Arnus, who nods, before turning back to Nallam.

"Very well, if it satisfies you. I regret nothing."

"Arnus, are you satisfied as to the qualifications of the telepaths?"

He nods. "I am familiar with the capabilities of the genomorphs. I am confident that they will act appropriately."

Nallam looks at Lesley. Lesley nods, and her horns and those of the g-gnomes begin glowing.

Nowan-Lu comes forwards, taking the prosecution position as Nallam occupies the 'court overseer' position. Not ideal, but she's probably the only one who can do it. Nowan-Lu is here mostly because in addition to her law degree she has an encyclopaedic knowledge of Timaronian courtroom dramas, but that still doesn't cover knowing the application of a foreign legal code. Nallam might be biased, the rules of evidentiary process aren't really something that can be weighted.

If she tried something like that then the defence can request that she be removed, but taking a look at her I don't think that's going to be a problem. She honestly wants to demonstrate that this was done justly.

Nowan-Lu briefly consults her notes. "Do you recall when you first became aware of Jor-El?"

"No."

"No?"

"I remember when I was first tasked with monitoring his political activity, but I also remember having a level of awareness of him before that. It may have been associated with his political activism, or it may have been something else. I was somewhat aware of a great many people."

Nowan-Lu looks at Lesley, who shrugs. **What do you want TTo know?**

"Is he telling the truth?"

**Yes.**

Nallam looks at Lesley. "Can you make him remember, or at least tell us yourself?"

Lesley cocks her head to the side. "WWhich do you prefer?"

Arnus draws himself up slightly. "My client has been entirely open and honest throughout-."

"Make him remember."

Lesley nods twice, and the horns of the genomorphs glow more brightly for a moment.

"Oh!" Dru-Zod blinks heavily, his right hand going to the side of his head. "That-. Yes, that was.. it. The first time I heard his name was when he was assigned as the operator of the phantom zone projector for Gra-Mo's banishment. I saw his name on the daily action summary, though I only saw him briefly during the actual event. We didn't speak or otherwise interact."

Nowan-Lu nods. "When did you first hear of Timaron?"

"Specifically?"

"What do you mean 'specifically'?"

"I heard of the possession worlds early in my education, but I didn't hear anything special about Timaron's geography or culture until far later." He frowns, glancing at Nallam. "I haven't actually been in a room with one of you before this."

Nowan-Lu glances nervously back at Nallam, but she gives no outward sign of being bothered by his statement. "Specifically, then."

"Shortly before I was promoted to Colonel. Part of my work involved the assessment of theoretical threats from outside of our system. That required me to understand how their technology was when we last had contact, and how it might have changed since them."

"And-. Summarise your conclusion."

"That our garrison had previously had a good rapport with them and that there was unlikely to be any hostility. That they would likely have increased the size of their fleet to make up for the absence of ours in policing the trade routes but that as their technology was little better than that of the vrang when we defeated them they would need to put a great deal more effort into it. Based on my study of their culture I felt it most likely that they would not build a deep space fleet but rather create a self-defence fleet which might get sent out if there was a report of raiding. Culturally, they weren't warlike enough to become an active threat without a significant external influence."

Nowan-Lu glances at Lesley, who once again nods twice.

"Then why did you select them as your target?"

"I didn't select them as a target because they were a threat. That would have been too great a risk. There were several worlds who regarded the guiding hand of the Kryptonian Empire as a grievous imposition; those had fleets that might have been able to fight off the handful of vessels still under my command. Timaron was a viable target because it lacked such defences, and its formerly positive relationship with the Empire made my claim that someone had handed over something without authorisation credible."

Lesley tilts her head to the side. **That's NNot true.**

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
21:15 GMT

Dru-Zod frowns. "It is. I have no reason to lie."

**MMaybe.** Her horns glow. **But SSomone does.**

Dru-Zod looks blank for a moment, then blink-splutters. "Hu-?"

**That was GGood. Very clever. If we had no g-lusca, I don't think I would have NNoticed it.**

Wait, there actually was something?

Nowan-Lu stares at Lesley. "What? What is it?"

**The memory is real but the AAssociations were fabricated. He made connections TThat he should not have made.**

Nallam glares. "Meaning what?"

**Mental networks are NNetworks of association. Ideas and memories are linked together in PPatterns. A telepath can add in links and CChange how thoughts interact.** She pauses, waiting to see if they understand. It looks like the answer is 'no', because if you're not used to psychic phenomena the concepts are a little out there. **Like water. Water flows down CChannels. If you dig a new channel between one stream AAnd another, some water will flow that way instead. And one PPool grows while another shrinks.**

"It-." Dru-Zod looks dazed. "It wasn't… Why did I choose Timaron? It-. There were better… Targets." He looks angrily at Lesley. "Who did this to me?"

Lesley shrugs. **I don't know. I CCould recognise mental alterations similar to that one, but they did not sign their name on your brain. It is Ssomething I could have done, but it does not feel like how Martians work. Human telepaths are TToo variable to say if one of them could have done it.**

"Did I meet someone? There-!" Dru-Zod's initial rage is getting replaced with confusion. "There weren't any aliens on Krypton, that was the whole point-."

Arnus makes a 'stop' gesture to his client. "General Dru-Zod. An impossible situation has just become survivable. That is better news than we could have expected."

"This is not good news. I knew that saving Krypton was a long shot. I missed, and I accepted that. Now I find that I might just have-! Just have been some mindworm's pawn?!"

**If it makes you FFeel better, the decision to destroy a world was entirely yours.**

He calms down a little. "Thank you. It does."

I see Arnus sigh a very shallow sigh. "Nowan-Lu? Do you have further questions?"

"I-." She thinks for a moment. "Why did you decide to destroy a world? Why not carry out a smaller strike?"

"I needed to ensure that there was no evidence to contradict my version of events. A limited strike might destroy evidence I claimed existed, but other records and witness testimonies might survive."

**True.**

"I needed the Science Council panicked and the population motivated."

**No.**

Dru-Zod doesn't make a noise this time, but he does flinch. "That's not what I remember deciding."

**I KKnow.**

"It-. It seems that I wanted them worried enough to follow my advice, but… Something made me think that I needed more than that. But that's-."

Arnus looks empathetic. "General?"

"I couldn't rely on-." Lesley's horns glow, and he twitches again. "I-. Something made me think I couldn't rely on them."

"And in reality?"

"I don't-. I don't know. Krypton under the Science Council was out of the habit of resisting their directives. If an order had come from them to build a larger fleet then it would have happened. My original plan was to manipulate them, not simply take over directly. I considered it, but then decided that the risk wasn't worth it. They would act to preserve their power as they did against Jor-El, whereas if I was merely an advisor advocating a course of action they… Would consider it based on the evidence available."

Right. Think. Someone was on Krypton, messing around with the minds of the people there. But Krypton was going to explode anyway. Jor-El's model wasn't based on mind control. I checked it myself. It accurately predicted the shape of Krypton post-explosion, the timeline, and there weren't any other residues that would suggest a planet busting weapon. So there wasn't any point in making things worse, because everyone was going to die anyway.

"How widespread was knowledge of what Jor-El thought was happening?"

"I don't know exactly. He mostly circulated it amongst people he knew, his intellectual peers. He told me that he hoped that with enough peer review it would either be accepted or someone would point out his errors. I doubt that it was more than one percent of our population, mostly around the capital and the younger scientists."

Nallam fixes me with a level glare. "Orange Lantern, you are here as a courtesy-."

"There are kryptonians in the Phantom Zone, and while I didn't detect any sign in the Rao system that anyone other than Kal-El and Kara Zor-El left during that period, there are ways around those scans. I need to follow up on that right away. Excuse me."

I raise my right index finger to my forehead

and

12th August 2013
21:18 GMT

home in on the desires which are exactly the same as Lesley's.

"Hello, old FFriend!"

"Lisa, I need to hire another g-lusca, a g-pooka and some g-gremlins."

"G-Gremlins are based on g-gnomes. If you wish to interrogate an A.I. then YYou-."

"Four is fine. Please arrange this quickly, I'll pick everyone up when I've gotten hold of the subjects."

**[Smile]** "I am HHappy to help!"

"Thank you." I

focus on Jor-El's synthetic desires and

appear in the Fortress of Solitude, and-. "Anyone here?"

"No." Jor-El appears nearby. "We are alone. How is the trial going?"

"You said that the original Jor-El didn't update you with anything relating to Lar-On."

"Yes. It was an oversight, but under the circumstances a fairly forgivable one."

"No it's not, because it doesn't make sense. He made you so that he'd have something that could share knowledge of Krypton with Kal-El. A way to vicariously participate in raising his son after he died. But when he apprehended Lar-On he was still doing research. And after that he was still trying to convince the Science Council to take action. He wouldn't have made you until after that. Now, I don't understand exactly how making neural clones works, but you are a clone, right? Not an intelligent system patterned after him?"

Jor-El frowns. "That is.. true. You believe that my programming was altered?"

"We have reason to believe that there was a telepathic alien on Krypton before it exploded. I'd like you to agree to let the genomorphs have a look at your mind to check."

"Someone-?" He frowns. "That makes no sense. We were isolationist and xenophobic. Why would an alien come to Krypton?"

"Perhaps they'd been there for a long time and couldn't get away. Please, this is important for the trial. Can-?"

"Yes, of course. We absolutely must find out what happened. I would not see Dru-Zod punished for something he did not do of his own volition."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
21:52 GMT

No g-lusca has travelled by zeta tube before, and in any case the part of the Fortress of Solitude with the zeta tube in it isn't big enough for the tank to fit inside. I'm not.. completely sure that transitioning would be entirely safe, so I'm just flying north at high speed with my cargo.

G-Lusca tanks are big, containing not just the gigabrained genomorph itself, but also the fluid purification machinery, feeding system and emergency backups. G-Lusca can hibernate, but on dry land they can't do much more than squirm weakly and they're not much more manoeuvrable in water.

Honestly, that whole thing makes me a little uncomfortable. It's like they deliberately created something that would spend its entire life in a tank, unable to care for itself. But looking at its desires it's perfectly content where it is. The usual positive associations with physical activity humans have just aren't there; it isn't human, and the genomorphs are good enough at bioengineering that they can create new genomorphs who have desire structures which relate to their function.

They're… Inhuman. Intentionally.

The g-gremlins have six small horn nubs, rather than the two horns that g-gnomes have. They also lack the mouth fronds and have slightly more powerful fingers. But it's clear that they're based on the same design. And they appear to be asleep.

"Are they alright?"

The new g-pooka who got assigned to this job blinks at me.

**Are YYou alright, big boy?**

Huh?

She… Wiggles her posterior, tail flicking from side to side to emphasise the motion.

"Yes, thank you? I was asking because-."

**Could you be MMore alright?**

I shake my head. "What are you doing?"

**I am a free human-equivalent BBeing. I can engage in intimate BBehaviour.**

"You literally can't. Your species is asexual."

**Genomorphs are GGestalt telepaths. G-Pooka like me are VVery empathic.**

"You can experience pleasure when your partner does?"

She blinks twice, then nods.

"And it's not external, because you're a gestalt telepath and so you experience that neural function as if it's your own." Another nod. "And you're definitely not a g-succubus who made an illusion to sneak out on this mission?"

**I cannot make the SSort of illusions that they can.**

"Do the other g-pooka do this-?" Ah. "This is a joke."

**[ROFL]**

I hiss quietly. "Don't, we're about three miles up and I'm not sure that I'd want to catch you."

She grips her perch with her toes and-. And slaps her scrawny hindquarters with her right hand.

"I thought that g-pooka were serious when on professional jobs?"

**YYou should not have made an emergency request. It takes time for g-pooka to CCalm down. I AAm too young to not joke.** I allow the environmental shield around her to flicker, briefly exposing her posterior to the arctic chill. **EE!**

"So am I. Orange Lantern to Jor-El. Please open the cargo door."

"Certainly."

I fly the tank inside and set it down on the crystalline floor. "Is this close enough?"

The g-gremlins wake up, twitching slightly as they shake off their lethargy. The g-pooka's horns shimmer for a moment, the g-gremlin's stubs glowing in response.

"They're not sure. NNew types of machine mind require time to adapt to."

The nearby plinth lights up with Jor-El's image. "Does this make it easier? You have almost my full attention."

Her horns glow again, and she nods. "They are WWorking on it. Please stand by."

"Did you ever knowingly encounter a telepath when you were alive?"

"Other than the thought-beasts, no. Though that may well just have meant that the telepath knew what they were doing."

"How confident are you that there were no aliens on Krypton during your life?"

"One human visited us. That is how I first heard of Earth." I generate a construct image of Jack Knight. "Yes, though he was younger at the time. Is he telepathic?"

"No. Anyone other than him?"

"No, but I believe that my father covered up his brief visit. And if he could do that, anyone on the Science Council could have done the same thing."

"Were there aliens on Krypton during the Kryptonian Empire?"

"A few, sometimes. Usually as part of a diplomatic visit where we would display our unrivalled supremacy in an attempt to persuade them to yield without armed conflict. None lived there."

"Did they get counted in and out?"

"I don't know. And I don't think that's an issue of my memory being altered. The history of that period wasn't my preferred reading."

I want to ask him what was. I want to prod him about allowing me to clone him a body again. I-. Don't.. have time. And I know that he doesn't care; that he expects to be treated as a useful object.

"Would there be any surviving records?"

"I doubt it, unless Har-Zod stored them on Xenon. I doubt they would help. There were no telepathic species within the bounds of the former Kryptonian Empire, and so far as I recall none in the area-."

"That's not TTrue."

The g-gremlins are staring at… The wall, in what I assume is the direction of Jor-El's core intelligence. The g-pooka on the other hand is looking at his holographic projection.

"You have found an edited file?"

"No. You have a MMind. It isn't hard to AArrange your thoughts so that you do not connect the ideas. I can restore IIt?"

"Do so."

The horn stubs of the g-gremlins flicker as they work, and then Jor-El's face grows grim in recognition.

"Ah. Yes. It seems that my memories had been edited. There was a telepathic species we encountered. They were called the empireth, but by the standards of the martians or the few telepaths your species has produced, their abilities were slight."

"Did the organic Jor-El know one?"

"No-." The g-pooka shakes her head again. "Yes. How did I forget-? Lyla, her name was Lyla. She was on Krypton when it exploded."

"You're sure?"

"There was no way off."

"Except the Phantom Zone."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
21:57 GMT

"Great."

I shrug at Lantern Jordan's face as it floats above my ring. "Better to know before it blows up in our faces."

"She didn't blow up the planet, did she?"

"I don't see how she could have done. The original borehole closed up centuries ago, and there's a limit to what telepathic intrusion can cover up. If she tried drilling down someone would have detected it."

"Wasn't Jor-El taking samples? What if she stuck something in the sampling robot?"

"Then…" Ring, run the numbers? "She could have made the planet she was standing on blow up about three years early, if she already knew what was going on and how to make it happen, which she probably didn't."

"Okay, so we need to find out if Zod or Ursa knew this 'Lyla' woman-. What did she look like?"

"Pale skinned humanoid female with purple hair and purple tattoos all over her shoulders and the outsides of her legs. But since she's capable of telepathic illusions, she could look like anyone at the moment."

"Does that include Zod and Ursa?"

"Ah… No. I don't think she could keep up with the g-gnomes or the g-lusca."

"But she could be anyone else."

"Not you. Green rings require too much mental focus. Even if she took one from a Green Lantern, she'd barely be able to use it."

"But she could be you?"

"Uh… Orange rings are very user friendly. She wouldn't be as good as me, but she'd probably be able to use it to a basic level. Don't… Know about violet rings."

"So she could be anywhere on Earth, or Tartarath, or Xudar. Could she be invisible?"

"I don't know."

"How about her people's government?"

"How about them? I mean, semi-seriously, when was the last time you submitted a tax assessment?"

He frowns. "Last year? Oh, Batman hooked me up. Officially, I'm a private security consultant. John got the same thing. But I get what you mean; they're not going to know what every single member of their species is doing. And it was forty years ago."

"Empireth society is usually pretty friendly. Maybe you could send Arisia to ask them?"

He doesn't seem too keen. "I don't really wanna risk her getting picked up by their version of the C.I.A. if Lyla was a spy." He jerks his head away… Listening to someone? "You are? How-? Oh, right, thanks." He turns back to me. "Superboy can go with her. Apparently he got Metis to bless an amulet or something?"

"You could all learn from his example."

"Hey, you got brain-blasted too."

I cause his camera angle to pull out a little, so that he can see more of my armour. "Yes, because my tattoos interfere with the amulets. I upgraded my light armour to include a telepath baffle instead." … "Of course, as far as you're concerned it could be a telepathic illusion, so… Don't put too much faith in it."

"Right." He looks away again. "Superboy, Arisia, you get that? Okay." He turns back to me. "So are you headed back?"

"No, because there's one more place she could be."

"In the Phantom Zone? Why? I mean, if she wanted out she could just have asked. You didn't even know she was there before you checked Zod's memories. I don't even think we've got anything to hold her on now."

"If she was an intelligence asset, she might be practicing professional paranoia. She might not even be exactly aware of how much time has passed. And… Depending on how much she was nudging Dru-Zod, she might be partially responsible for Timaron, which is a pretty good reason to hide."

"I guess. Was Har-Zod affected?"

"No, he's clear. He died a long time before this became an issue."

"Right. Any advice on tracking her down?"

"Don't you run exercises like this with Martian Manhunter? It's basically the same thing."

"Hey, you don't need to-. Okay, no, we don't."

"Oh. Um. Use your telepaths to confirm that someone isn't the infiltrator then keep at least two people watching them at all times. Two can vouch for the third. Redo it if anyone is out of contact."

"She could just walk off."

"Suspicious as this is, if she was just doing corporate espionage then it really isn't our problem. If Dru-Zod confirms that she wasn't controlling him… Like you said. If we don't have anything on her then we don't need to find her."

"Yeah, I… Guess…" He nods. "You got someone there in case things go wrong?"

"A g-pooka."

"Are they authorised-?"

"They can already see inside our brains, and I had to bring this one to the Fortress of Solitude to check up on Jor-El. What exactly are you afraid they'll find out?"

"I guess… Yeah. Okay, send me a message as soon as you're out."

"Will do. Orange Lantern out."

I lower my ring, and step slightly nervously into the danger zone of the Phantom Zone projector.

"II just turn the dial?"

The g-pooka has its tail wrapped around the dial and I back up-.

I narrow my eyes as the g-pooka giggles.

"I know how to turn the DDial and move the switch. How long SShould I leave you in there for?"

"Let's say fifteen minutes. Remember, the dial isn't perfect for locating the target. Make sure that it's me, and if you need help ask Jor-El or ask him to call someone in."

The g-pooka salutes with both hands and its tail.

"Alright. Send me-."

And then I'm nowhere.

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:02 GMT

You know… Now that I think about it, film and animation have been somewhat sparse on detail on what it's actually like to be inside the Phantom Zone. I think Superman the Animated Series depicted it as a sort of glowly nothing. Supergirl had it as a desolate grey rocky wasteland, with one exit point reachable at great peril. I only saw it in the comics a couple of times, and I don't see a fake Krypton.

In fact, I don't really see anything.

There's grey… A pale sort of grey, with no texture, no obvious light source… And… That's about it.

Okay.

"Nam-Ek?! Are you around?!"

Okay, I remember what his desires look like,

so-.

So-.

Huh. Doesn't work here. I… Still retain awareness of my own desires, so I haven't lost my enlightenment. I just can't see desires. Which presumably means…

…

Yep, can't step out. I'm stuck here until the g-pooka opens it back up again. Or failing that, someone else comes to the Fortress and does it.

Alright, try moving.

…

I… Think I'm moving, but there's nothing to judge it against. I'm also not sure why my rings are working when empathic vision isn't. But at least I'm not getting attacked by zombified Superman clones, so that's nice.

"Anyone here?! Nam-Ek?! Lyla?!"

No? Honestly, this is starting to look like a wild goose chase. There's nothing and no one, and if I can't find some sort of-.

"I'm here, Orange Lantern."

Huh? Oh. There's a sort of… Humanoid shape that's a little darker grey than the background. The voice was kind of indistinct, like the sound wave is meeting with some sort of interference.

"Is this all we get? Just… Blurs..?"

"You learn to tell them apart. And at least no one can smell me."

"Alright, so where's everyone else?"

"They're here somewhere. If you don't stay together, finding one another is a matter of pure chance."

"Oh? I'd have thought that everyone would stay together in that case."

"Violent prisoners are not always the most rational people. But if you follow me, I'll see if someone feels like making themselves known."

He drifts… Away, and for want of anything else to try I follow him.

Hm.

"Is this place infinitely large?"

"Given that there appear to be finite spaces within, I do not believe that it can be. Perhaps the size changes with the number of people within it? Or perhaps it is merely very big. Without any sort of landmark to measure from there is no way to tell."

"Form a chain of grey blurs and see if you can see the edges?"

"I refer you to my comment about violent criminals."

"It's been forty years for the newest of them. I'd have thought that they'd get bored of being arseholes eventually."

"Perhaps they will, eventually. But it has not happened yet."

I nod. For a human, this sort of sensory deprivation would cause serious psychological damage. Perhaps something about this place allows you to… Sleep through it? Or perhaps kryptonians are different where sensory input is concerned?

"You mentioned someone called Lyla? I'm not familiar with a prisoner by that name. Is she a friend of yours?"

"No. She was a telepath who was using her abilities to conceal her presence on Krypton before it exploded. Since we're pretty sure that she wasn't hiding in Kal-El or Kara Zor-El's pods, this is the only place she could have come to escape."

"Telepathy is rare amongst kryptonians."

I raise my eyebrows. "I didn't realise it occurred at all."

"Our bodies respond to exotic energies strangely. My own mutation is proof of that. Speaking of which, I think that after this respite I'm ready to face the universe once more."

"You sure?"

"Jax-Ur was able to explain to me the advances in kryptonian medical science that have happened since my time. I was in shock before; I'm confident that I can learn what I need to cure myself."

"Hah!"

"Did I say something funny? I appreciate you putting me here, but now it is time for me to be released."

"You're not Nam-Ek. Your outline is wrong, your diction is wrong, and while you've made an effort to match his accent you haven't gotten it quite right. Which probably means that you're Jax-Ur, though if you can offer me evidence to the contrary I'll hear you out."

The grey blur stop moving and straightens up.

"When am I to be released?"

"You're not. You murdered five hundred people."

"They'd be dead now anyway!"

Huh. Superman was right. It's not funny.

"If you'd like to make a representation to Governor Karsta Wor-Ul then I can certainly pass it on. But unless someone else was actually responsible then I doubt that she'll be interested." I frown. "But I'm interested in what the plan was, here. Even if I let you out, I know what Jax-Ur looks like. All that would happen is I'd chuck you back inside."

"Our bodies respond to exotic energies strangely, Orange Lantern. I knew that when I arrived here. So I took steps to ensure that I was prepared for any opportunity. And do you know what I learned?"

"Do tell."

"This place is alive! It has a consciousness! I don't know if it existed before we started sending people here, or if it only gained form in response to our thoughts. But it knows that you're the reason why people have been leaving its domain, and it is not happy."

"How does telling it anything help you?"

"It doesn't. This is just-"

From nowhere a colossal purple hand appears around me, fingers gripping me as a pair of huge yellow eyes glow out of the grey mist!

"-spite."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:06 GMT

Kinetic barrier… Not working, which is fair enough given that the fingers just sort of materialised around me rather than coming in from outside of its detection radius. Armour… Not really designed for this. My heavy armour is, but given that everything I know about the Phantom Zone said that it would be impossible to physically interact with anything I don't think that was much of an oversight. I'm not making an armour construct because I hope that whatever this thing is-

"Aethyr."

-can be persuaded to…

Oh. Telepathic. That does make-.

"No." Its head… It looks sort of like the head of a dragon, but floating there without a neck. The other point of reference (given the hands and head combination) is the Andross boss fight from Starfox 64-

"I am not Andross! I am Aethyr!"

-but that's probably not what this is.

I smile politely. "Hello, Aethyr. What can I do for you?"

"Do you understand what you face, creature?"

"Not even slightly. Which is pretty unusual for me. Usually I've got at least some idea but in your case I'm drawing a blank."

"All this universe is Aethyr. I am its means to your comprehension. As the red sun was to the priests of Rao. As the burning bush was to Moses."

"So… You're the Metatron of the Phantom Zone." I nod. "Okay. That makes sense. And… Krypton was basically shoving their criminals into your brain."

"They entered the domain of the oversoul unbidden, and by so doing obliterated the distinction between its existence and their own."

"And me as well, I suppose."

"No." The eyes regard me curiously, though for all I know the gesture is my mind's interpretation of its general attitude rather than an actual expression. "It is."

Oh, this is going to get confusing.

"For you."

"Not me. What do you mean by that? And what does it mean for-" I glance at the grey blur that is probably Jax-Ur. "-them?"

"Something about you means that you both are and are not a part of me."

"Hey, my wards actually did something! I'd sort of gotten used to my preparations not working."

"Explain yourself."

"Okay, so you know how-" I gesture to Jax-Ur. "-kryptonian bodies respond to exotic energies strangely?"

"I know everything that they know."

"I had myself altered so that I absorb and internalise magic. And I guess that something about this place is similar enough that it's still working. Which would mean that I'm you, but you're also becoming me."

"What?"

"I don't know, and I'm going to suggest that it's not in either of our interests to find out. I'll be leaving shortly and I just need a few pieces of information before I go."

"I could take the spiritual force which defines you and merge it with the oversoul for all eternity!"

"I've never eaten an oversoul before, but I try to be open to new experiences."

Aethyr stares down at me.

"You hear my thoughts as your own. You know that I genuinely suspect that would happen. And no one here could explain it better than my mind."

"What do you want?"

"Was the empireth named Lyla here?"

"Yes. Can you imagine what that feels like? To have a part of your psyche torn away?"

"Do you want us to stop? To stop using Phantom Zone technology entirely, to remove the ones who are left here?"

"I want you to cease removing them."

"Ah… Can I talk to Nam-Ek really quickly?"

Another grey blur appears, and then-. Nam-Ek changes from a blur to a man. He looks around in surprise. "What?"

"There's a lot of that going around. Nam-Ek, Aethyr here is getting-"

Nam-Ek looks up and the giant purple dragon head. "Aargh!"

"-annoyed about us putting people in here in such a way that they become part of his mind and then removing them again. I know that you appreciated the respite, but I wanted to check whether you were alright with it becoming completely permanent or not."

"And become part of the new colony?"

"Or whatever you want. I'm pretty sure that we could reverse what happened to you. Or at least create a new unmutated body. I didn't say anything because we're a bit busy and I haven't had enough time to get everything ready, but it should be possible."

"And what about..?" He points at Aethyr's face.

"I will bear no more intruders. Leave, or become one with me."

Nam-Ek considers the issue for a moment. "Then I will choose to leave."

"Oh, good show. I was worried that you might… Not choose that. Ah. Bear no more intruders?"

"I will merge with any who remain."

Rats.

Uh.

Jax-Ur looks up at Aethyr. "But I warned you!"

"Do you think that means that I am obliged to you?"

"I-!" Jax-Ur turns back to me. "I am the greatest scientist Krypton has ever known! Take me with you!"

"While there's a theological argument in favour of letting you out and executing you, legally I'm not allowed to execute people on Earth and we can't try you for a crime that happened on Krypton and that you've already been sentenced for."

"The-!"

"But by that token, I have no right to remove you." I shake my head. "Much as I hate wasting knowledge, I have no intention of saving you." I sigh. "Give me everyone else, and I'll get out of your scales."

"NOOOOOO!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
16:10 EST

I stare down at the planet while Arisia finishes her scans. I can see places where people live, I can see roads, and I can see what I think are water reservoirs, but I'm… Not seeing a whole lot of industry. That could just be… This part? I dunno. I don't wanna decide the planet's primitive and then find out that I was looking at a nature reserve or just somewhere backwards.

"Huh."

I look around. "Find something?"

"I'm not used to planets this primitive."

Oh. "How primitive are we talking?"

"No radio. No semaphore. No roads in a lot of places."

"Is it because they haven't got there yet, or is it because they're stuck behind that Wall thing?"

"Ah. I'm not so good at xenosociology or geophysics." She goes back to looking at the planet. "Looks like… Some coal and oil? I don't know what the normal amount is. And that's not really why we're here."

"If they don't even have radio yet, I guess they couldn't have sent Lyla to Krypton."

"Not by themselves. But she could easily have gotten to Krypton during the Kryptonian Empire."

"I don't actually know much about that part of Krypton's history."

I glance at her ring. Must be nice to have all that knowledge available whenever you want it.

"You don't?"

"I was created on Earth, remember? I've never even spoken to anyone who was actually on Krypton, certainly not hundreds of years ago."

"You didn't speak to the Sub-Commander?"

I shrug. "She was busy, and honestly? It's not really my history."

"Except literally?"

"All I got from Krypton is my strength. Culturally, I'm American and Themysciran. It just doesn't mean as much to me as it does to Superman." I look down at the planet again. "Are we going down, or does that violate the prime directive?"

"The Green Lantern Corps doesn't have a prime directive. Going to primitive places and making sure nothing bad is happening is part of our job."

I nod. "I guess the same's true about the Justice League. It's not just the advanced parts of Earth we go to. So where do we start?"

"We don't have any idea where she came from or where their centre of government is… But I do have a record of where the old Kryptonian Empire way station used to be. If she got off planet on one of their ships, she'd probably have done it there."

I guess that's as good a place to start as anywhere. "Makes sense."

We don't go anywhere.

"So..?"

"Oh. I just-. I'm used to getting orders from Hal or my team leader for team missions. I-." We glow as she focuses, and then we get moving, slipping us inside the atmosphere and around the planet. "I haven't gotten into the habit of just… Doing stuff."

"Aren't Green Lanterns picked for being strong willed?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean 'pig-headed'. I won't give up when there's a job to do… But I haven't gotten used to deciding what the job is, yet."

"How long do Green Lanterns usually get mentored for?"

"Usually, less than a year."

"Uh…"

"I know. But-. You know that film we watched, with the soldiers?"

"Can you narrow it down?"

"Something about someone called Ryan?"

"Oh." That makes sense. "Right. You mean, because so many members of your family died for the Green Lantern Corps, they've put you with the best Lantern they've got, in a Sector with three other Green Lanterns, plus everyone else?"

"Hal's… Great, and I know I'm learning a lot that I wouldn't be able to if I was just flying around my Sector on my own. But I'm not sure I'm really… Pulling my weight?"

"I don't think your home Sector ever got Anti-Lifed."

"No, that-. That never happened. But that only lasted a month and I wasn't even involved in attacking Washington."

"If you wanna try planning a mission, you can just ask Kaldur. The whole reason the team exists is to help us learn stuff in a controlled environment." Uh… "But, maybe… Maybe don't talk to Paul about it."

"Why not? Won't he help?"

"He will…" I exhale, trying to work out how to explain it when she hasn't actually spent all that much time with him. "But his ideas about what makes someone effective aren't… Always things you'll be comfortable doing."

She looks at me. "Ah… Did he..? Do something..?"

"Not to me. But I was made in a tank. My ideas about 'normal'… Kinda weren't. He… Turned Themysciran society on its head to get me a home and a better suit of armor. And I appreciate it, and I know Wally likes not having to eat his own bodyweight in food every day. But sometimes it doesn't go so well."

"But if I'm trying to push myself…"

"Maybe try asking Kaldur or Green Lantern first."

"Okay."

We slow down as we approach the ground. It looks like there's a town here, built around a lake…

That's not a natural lake. That's a crater that filled with water.

People down below are looking up at us and pointing. Doesn't look like anyone's panicking, but a few people are heading towards a building… With guys in armor in it. Some of the crystals on the armor look like something that would have come from Krypton, so that confirms the connection.

I pull away from Arisia's flight aura and head towards the largest concentration of soldiers. No need to scare people, and they should be able to help us or tell us to get-

"El?" / "El." / "Yal kryptonian?"

-to someone who can.

Maybe… Maybe I should get some armour that doesn't have the 'S' on it.

Arisia flies after me. "Do you speak their language?"

"No, but I kinda speak kryptonian." We come in for a landing as someone in fancy armour comes out of a fortified building. And I do kinda speak kryptonian -the only problem's my accent, really- but I didn't study Kryptonian Empire body language or gestures and I get the impression that the Science Council era was kinda weird.

"I'll just translate for you."

"Thanks."

The soldiers -and the crowd- look wary but not scared as the… Officer? Comes forwards.

"Kryptonian. There is nothing left here for you to take. The other aliens have already left with it."

I blink. "What other aliens?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:12 GMT

And reality.

"Stand back!" The g-pooka sits up at the controls, looking disturbed as I jog past to get away from the projector. "Seriously, stand back!"

The g-pooka drops to the floor on all fours and gallops away as the projector starts to hum worryingly.

Jor-El appears in a nearby monitor. "Orange Lantern, what has-?"

"The Phantom Zone was an intelligent being and thanks to Jax-Ur, it just found out who was shoving things into its brain. It's about to throw them up-."

Shadows rise around us-.

I tether the g-pooka, transition us both as far as I can and then

step out,

appearing outside. I've got an emergency tent in subspace but there were a lot of people in the Phantom Zone-.

Thirty two people appear in the arctic snow in clothing that really isn't appropriate to the weather.

Oh heck.

"What-?" / "Aargh!" / "Where are-?"

"Excuse me!" I drop down to the surface-.

Oh Hell. Kryptonians. Jor-El will know to block sunlight inside the Fortress, but out here-.

I raise a construct dome shield, ostensibly to shield them from the cold but in reality to block the sunlight before any of them realise they could get powers. Because Superman-tier superpowers are… Something very few people would turn down, even if they weren't criminals sentenced to life imprisonment. Add construct heaters… Okay.

"If I could have your attention for a moment!"

Kryptonians and humans are at least that similar: dumped in a completely new situation with no idea what's going on, they'll listen to someone who sounds authoritative.

"Welcome back to the material universe. We were going to do a phased release, but events have rather gotten away from me. I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps, a position roughly equivalent to Admiral in the old Kryptonian Stellar Navy."

My mind shield activates as someone tries to do something to me.

"And which ever of you is telepathic better buck their ideas up. Unless your name is Lyla, in which case I've got some questions for you."

I give them a moment, but other than looking at their neighbours in puzzlement or concern, none of them really reacts.

"Most of you were due for release once we had somewhere to put you. As you can see, we currently don't. Unless you feel like braving near-zero temperatures with no way to start a fire and no protective equipment, please stay where you are until I have a chance to sort something out."

Igloos? No, I don't know if they'd work at sup-zero temperatures. My emergency tent is designed for two people at most… Look through the database for something better…

Eh. The problem with a space age database is they keep skipping steps. I don't have a low-tech shelter design, but I do have a sort of light weight space survival module. Uh. Add something for frame strength… That'll do.

I gesture to my right and start fabricating-.

"Illustres?" A pale-skinned man in yellow robes with a green House Ul emblem steps forwards. "Where are we? Why aren't we on Krypton?"

"Alright, there's no easy way to say this. How good is your knowledge of history?" He shrugs, a little off put by being on the spot. "Remember the civil war Krypton had over clone rights?" He thinks for a moment, and then nods. "Remember how it ended, with Black Zero narrowly being prevented from dropping a bomb into the planet's core?"

"… Yes..?"

"Turns out they weren't entirely unsuccessful. Enough of the bomb's radiation entered the core to cause gradual radiological transmutation. About forty years ago-"

"I-. My sentence was only-."

"-the planet exploded."

Scan.

Ah.

Just as the shelter finishes, I send a filament forwards, tag the telepath and transition him forwards.

"Sir, I appreciate that the situation is disturbing, but please keep your brain to yourself."

For a moment he looks like he wants to shout me down, but taking a quick look around seems to calm him down. He nods to me. "Of course. I'm.. sorry, it's… Instinctive. In a strange situation…"

I nod, brushing it off. "If everyone could please enter the shelter, then I'll begin the process of sending you on to the kryptonian colony we're setting up." Uh. "With a couple of exceptions. Is Faora Hu-Ul here?"

A general looking around, with several male members of the crowd looking nervous.

"No? Okay, good. Please head inside. And please note that while I can't send you back to the Phantom Zone, I do have less pleasant places than the new colony where I can send you if you mess up your chance at freedom."

They start moving. A few of them appear to know each other, but for the most part they keep a little distance. A couple are people we interviewed, but mostly… Mostly they're people who were going to need more work.

I wait until they're all inside, and then

step out, homing in on Nam-Ek's desire network.

Which was a good decision because the area around him… Appears to be just about the only free space in the Fortress.

"Ah, Orange Lantern."

"Nam-Ek. Jor-El, could you turn the air-"

"Jor-El?" / "Jor-El?!" / "Where! Where is he!"

"-purification systems up? Everyone else! Please be patient while we arrange for accommodation! If you don't want to wait, you're welcome to freeze to death outside!"

Okay, we can send them to Tartarath using a zeta tube… I can drop off extra supply crates, and… I can get Karsta Wor-Ul a sunstone…

"Nam-Ek, I'm appointing you trustee." He nods. "I'll grab more help when I can. Could Faora Hu-Ul please make herself known!"

Because with Dru-Zod and Ursa Dou-Ka on trial and Jax-Ur dead, she's the worst criminal left, and-.

"Here! I'm here!"

I send a filament through the mass and transition her to me. She glares at me and then gags.

Zeta tube construct to Themyscira, push her through-

"What?"

Then step out, home in on her rancid chauvinism and

13th August 2013
01:16 GMT +3

appear, tag her and transition us both to Reformation Island, fabricating tungsten manacles of submission with built in radiation shields to stop her getting empowered.

"Mala! New guest for you!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
16:14 EST

The Captain leads us towards a large building. It's… A bit weird, seeing this many buildings made of wood. I've only really visited advanced worlds before, but this place doesn't even have clay bricks. Or at least, not a lot of them. I would have thought the kryptonians might at least have let them have a few crystal buildings.

"They didn't tell us their names, and they killed anyone who tried to stop them. But we recorded their faces."

Superboy is frowning. "So the kryptonians didn't take everything with them when they left?"

The Captain glances at the lake. "No."

"Do you know why they didn't?"

The Captain shakes his head. "That was a long time ago. It always seemed to me that it wasn't valuable enough to them to bother with." He smiles wryly. "People used to visit us to see the 'great crystal castle'."

I look at the lake. Was it at the bottom? "What happened to it?"

"The other aliens scooped it out of the ground and loaded it into their ship."

What? "What about the local Green Lanterns? They should have stopped something like that."

"The Green Lantern beacon is halfway across the continent. We've been lucky before; the few aliens who've visited us since the kryptonians left for good have been friendly. The people with the beacon wouldn't have called a Green Lantern in unless they knew for certain that the visitors were hostile. The aliens left before our messenger could reach them."

"And you didn't call him afterwards?"

The Captain shrugs. "What for? We know what alien ship-weapons can do. If they'd wanted us dead then we would be dead. They took everything they wanted, and then they no longer cared about us at all."

"He could have chased them! Maybe gotten the crystal palace back, or at least stopped them taking anyone else's things ever again."

"Maybe. But no Green Lantern has visited us since my grandfather was young. Activating the signal might have called the aliens back, angry that we called for help. We didn't think it was worth it."

Oh.

That's the problem with primitive worlds. They should all have a way to call a Green Lantern, but not everywhere on the planet would be able to actually send that message. Anywhere that wants to call one of us in has to send someone riding on an animal towards the beacon, if they even know where it is.

If they even know that it exists.

A hundred Earth years ago, humans wouldn't have been able to contact the Corps with their own technology. But most places could have sent a radio message… If they could have trusted any country with the beacon, which they… Probably couldn't.

The Captain pushes open the door to the large building, and inside… It's a library! Well, there's lots of large book shelves, anyway, and they've got large books on them.

"Our forebears knew that the kryptonians weren't interested in raising us up to their level, but they got in the habit of recording everything they let slip. We have germ theory, safe biological waste disposal and simple chemistry as a result." He glances down. "And we know what we will never have without burnable fuel."

A man in robes walks out from the stacks, looking at us curiously.

"Ah, grandfather! They want to see the pictures of the aliens who took the crystal castle."

"Mm? Oh. Certainly."

He walks over to one of the shelves, runs a hand along several tomes and then pulls one out and walks over to a reading desk. Superboy and I follow him as he opens the book, carefully turning the large pages covered in beautifully calligraphed writing. My power ring translates it, but I only get a few words here and there before he stops-.

Oh dear.

Superboy and I look at each other, nodding. That's a big problem.

The old man looks at us curiously. "You recognise them? Who are they?"

I guess explaining that is my job. The odd-shaped body armor isn't an immediate giveaway, but the yellow skin, gumless mouths set with sharp pointy teeth combined with the small red dot on the laborer's forehead is.

"Dominators. They're Dominators. And if they're doing the sort of thing that they usually do, they stole the kryptonians' technology so that they can study it."

"'Dominators'? Is that a literal translation?"

I shrug. "That's what they call themselves. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be their species or their culture; they don't bother to distinguish."

"Is their world near to here?"

I shake my head. "No, but they have ships over a large part of the galaxy. But you shouldn't have to worry about them coming back."

Superboy peers at the book. "Kryptonese…" He turns to the Captain. "How long ago was this?"

"About forty years ago. Is that important?"

"That's when Krypton exploded."

"What? Exploded?"

"Yeah. The core transformed into radioactive crystal until the planet burst. Do you have a list of the people who died?"

The Captain looks at the archivist, who nods. "The next page."

Superboy turns it, looking down-. "Lyla."

The archivist leans closer to check, then nods. "Yes. Do you know something about her?"

"It looks like the Dominators took her to Krypton for some reason. Are your people usually strong telepaths?"

The two local people share a glance, then the Captain shakes his head.

**No. We can send messages a short distance, but that is all.** He takes a few steps back. **Even going this far away, you can hardly hear me.** "Why do you ask?"

"Lyla ended up a whole lot more powerful." Superboy frowns. "Arisia, do the Dominators have any telepaths?"

"Not that I know of." But I'll check the database… "No, but they've studied telepaths along with everything else."

"Could they have made Lyla stronger?"

"I don't know, but it's a possibility."

"So… Okay. The Dominators are interested in kryptonian technology. But they don't want to go to Krypton. They try the possession worlds, but there's nothing much there because the kryptonians took it with them. They capture Lyla… Maybe they want to dissect her. Instead, they improve her and send her to Krypton. But they don't know that Krypton is going to explode."

I nod. "That-." I gasp. "Wait. Would they have gone to Timaron too?"

Superboy frowns. "I dunno. It would make sense. Do you think.. they made Dru-Zod attack it?"

"Dru-Zod told the Science Council that the navy left things there. He said it was a lie, but what if it wasn't and the Dominators want to cover up the fact that they had… Whatever it was, and had Lyla make him forget?"

He thinks, then shakes his head. "We're just guessing. We need to get back to Xudar." He turns to the archivist and the Captain. "Thank you for your help. We'll let you know what we find out."

12th August 2013
22:18 GMT

I stare at the man staring back at me.

"Non-Du?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:19 GMT

"Yes?" He steps aside of some of the other prisoners follow the directions of the robot Jor-El has recalled to lead them towards the exterior shelters. "Do you know me-?" He frowns at me. "Are you a-? An orange Lantern?"

"Yes, yes I-." Scan. Okay, the gallery is cleared out already. "One moment."

I tether him and transition us to the gallery.

"I realise that this is a shocking transition and I promise to answer all of your questions later, but-."

"Something's happening, I understand. What do you need to know?"

"Please confirm: you are Non-Du, and you worked under Jor-El?"

He nods. "Yes."

"You are aware that Krypton was scheduled to explode due to the transmutation of the core?"

"Yes. That's.. happ-?" He bites his lip. "Sorry. Carry on."

"You were in communication with Dru-Zod about Jor-El's discovery?"

"Yes."

"What action had he taken at the point you were sent to the Phantom Zone?"

"He…" He considers for a moment, looking around and then.. staring at my sigil. "He wasn't arresting us. I think he was trying to get Jor-El's findings confirmed."

"That's all?"

"Yes."

The alley. That wasn't him. So what did I-? I did brain chirurgy… Didn't I? Or was that just… I wasn't wearing a mindshield at the time, and I… I haven't… Seen Non since I started. But psychics can create illusions, and not just-. False sensory impressions, it's just usually they don't because it's inefficient. Or did I find Lyla and then… She erased my memory of it?

Damn it. I scan him just in case, but aside from a little… Cut in his arm-.

"How did you end up in the Phantom Zone?"

"I don't know. I was cross-referencing some seismic data, and…" He shakes his head. "The next thing I knew, I was there. I did not even know it was the Phantom Zone to begin with."

"Ring, contact Lantern Jordan."

My ring blinks once, and then his face appears.

"What you got?"

"The Non-Du on Xudar is a fake. The real one was still in the Phantom Zone. You need to locate him as quickly as possible."

He smiles wryly. "I got one better. Looks like Lyla was a dominator asset."

…

"Kan-Z wasn't an engineer or physicist. He couldn't-. Gods, how long were they-?"

"Who?"

"Kan-Z was the leader of Black Zero. The people who-."

His eyes widen. "Bombed Krypton."

"Kryptonian society was easily advanced enough to build a bomb like that, I didn't think to ask how he got it. The city-states just used conventional nukes…"

"How long ago was that?"

"Pre-Empire. They had to rebuild from almost nothing."

"Why the change in strategy?"

"The Dominion's been around for a while, but it's hardly a total monolith. Individual high-caste dominators come and go. Or maybe they considered slowing down Kryptonian development to be a success, even if the planet wasn't destroyed." I shake my head. "Or maybe I'm just speculating. Have you found the fake Non?"

He shakes his head. "The starports are in lockdown, the prisoners are secure and we've got people out looking."

"Secure how?"

"Security robots. I figure, they've got no brains, so-."

"She was directly observed by both Har-Zod and Jor-El's sensors. I think she's got better illusions than that."

"The telepath's got better illusions than-. Fine, fine. I'll-. Call Miss Marvel back."

"I thought she was just going with Mary-?" Not the point, focus. "Superboy should have a mind ward-."

"He's not back from her homeworld yet. Not everyone's as fast as you. Actually, how come you haven't just appeared already?"

"I wanted to check that Lyla wasn't in the Phantom Zone-. Long story short, all of the prisoners got released and I'm on guard duty."

"What? How did-?" He stares at me. "Have you called in the League?"

I shake my head. "They're not empowered. I'll call in the Karas when you hang up."

"Get your team, too. It'll be good experience."

"My t-?" Oh, he means… The team, not-. "Will do. Are Superman or Karsta Wor-Ul on the Doomsday?"

"No, Ak-Var's in command. Why?"

"Well, Lyla might want to get away, but equally she might be trying to send a message to her handlers. Dominators can go to ground for a long time if it's useful to them to do so, and I haven't checked the entire Sector for them."

He nods. "They might wanna pick up the Doomsday."

"They do want to pick up the Doomsday. The only question is how highly they prioritise it."

"I'll get Carol to pick up Karsta. Send me anything else you find out. Green Lantern out."

His face vanishes.

Okay.

I look at the somewhat lost-looking Non-Du. "I don't suppose that you know how to use the theta wave state, do you?" He shakes his head. "Does the name Lyla mean anything to you?"

"No. Who is she?"

I point to one of the seats. "It's easier if I explain the whole thing. But first I need to talk to some people. Orange Lantern to Aqualad."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
2​/11​ 7​/11​ Local Time

I sigh as I watch all the alien military officers stare at screens between bouts of shouting at each other.

"This obviously isn't going to work."

But I don't say it loud enough for them to hear it. They won't listen anyway. They never do. Billy doesn't have this problem because he ages up when he transforms, but I've seen the internet and I'm not doing that. My strength works better when it's concentrated in a smaller fist-area anyway.

"Hrrrrrrr."

And it obviously won't work because we're looking for a telepath on a planet of… It looked like about.. eight billion people… With no way to detect telepathy. The smart thing to do would be to bring in about a thousand g-gnomes and get Green Lantern to carry them around in a kind of nest box construct. The moment they detected any telepathy, bam, we've got her. Because otherwise it's just Osiris and me who're immune, so even if the patrols do find it she'll just be all 'You don't want to sell me deathsticks' and they'll forget all about it.

Though… We did kind of drop this on them at short notice, so I can't get too mad-.

My communicator beeps. I take another look around the command room, sigh again, then hold it up to my mouth.

"Marvel. Go ahead."

"Is it 'Miss Marvel' or 'Mary Marvel'?"

I wince inwardly, because the Courage of Achilles only means that I don't show any outwards sign of the cringe I'm feeling. It's supposed to be Miss Marvel but of course Orange Lantern told him I'd been using my own name.

"Uh, e-either? 'Miss' isn't a name, it's a title."

"Yeah, but there are guys who have 'Mister' as part of their codename. Just remember to update the zeta tube system if you're changing it."

"Uh, yeah?"

"Anyway, I need you to go watch Zod and Ursa. Apparently Lyla can do some kinda super-illusion thing that works on robots-"

I head out of the command centre and towards… The fire exit. Can't move too fast indoors or while I'm talking to someone on the radio because of how hard it makes it to understand them.

"-so we need someone who won't be affected around just in case Lyla goes after them."

"Okay."

"Oh, and it turns out that Non was Lyla in disguise all along."

I frown as the city shoots by beneath me. "Didn't Orange Lantern do brain surgery on him?"

"I guess it was an illusion or something. Anyway, real Non is on Earth, so if you see him, it's not him."

"Understood."

Because holograms aren't a thing? And there are magic illusions that don't need to touch your brain to work. I've seen those before. I mean, I usually spot them because the sounds don't match the image quite right, but they exist.

Aaaaand here's the prison wing. The guard checks my identity, gets a guard off-site to check that he's seeing the same thing, and then approves me going through. Inside, robot gun monkeys have grabbed onto the walls and ceiling so they can make sure nothing sneaks past them.

"Okay, I'm here, nothing's happening."

"Good. Keep an eye out. Green Lantern out."

Great! So now I'm stuck here.

I watch the robots for a moment. They're not really monkey-monkeys, but the long arms with hydraulic rams mean they can throw themselves around like monkeys, and the gun built into their chassis could probably kill a normal person.

Maybe I'm being unfair, but I thought that space-planets would be more advanced than this. Ivo would think those were garbage. His robot monkeys looked like monkeys and could fly. Sivana had better robots. His monkeys were mostly just creepy.

I walk over to the actual cells and make sure that the prisoners are actually here, because I'll feel stupid if it turned out they'd already been replaced. I guess a kryptonian couldn't hide that easily outside of the area around the spaceport because of how different to the locals they look, but there's still a lot of places to hide in a city.

"Girl." Zod looks up when he hears me, while Ursa is… Writing something on a datapad. "Why are you here?"

I don't know exactly how much I should talk to them. They haven't really tried to escape, but that's probably just because they know they couldn't get away. On the other hand without a yellow sun they're basically just human soldiers, and they've got radiation shields strapped to them in addition to the ones built into the prison. And… Maybe they know something?

"Lyla was pretending to be Non."

He gives me a very faint frown. "Since when?"

"I didn't ask. The point is that he's-. She's on this planet."

"And you think she might release us?" He frowns. "Why? She was leading us around by the nose forty years ago. She can't expect me to respond positively to her being here."

"She might want to kill you." He stares-. "And Ursa."

"Ah." He glances towards her for a moment. "In that case, I wish you every success."

Well, everything seems fine here. I check around just to make sure… Yep. Hearing… Nothing unusual. Power of Susanoo just in case? Still nothing.

Um.

"Hey, I was wondering. What was it you said the kryptonians left on Timaron?"

"A sunstone."

"Why?"

"Because it was small enough that it might actually have been accidentally left behind, while still being powerful enough to be a security risk. Oh, and because according to some of the original shipping itineraries one might actually have been left behind."

"Was that a problem?"

"I didn't destroy their world because they were actually a threat. I would have preferred to have it back, but it's unlikely that they'd have been able to comprehend how to use it. If it was there. It's far more likely that the quartermaster's records were inaccurate. The fleet was decommissioned suddenly, and most members of the military were not inclined to do their best work for their new masters."

I nod. "Sunstones were power sources, weren't they?"

"Among other things. The one that went missing was most likely used-."

The air in his cell shimmers-.

A thin alien in cream and purple armour teleports in!

"Here."

It drops a glowing crystal as I punch my right arm through the door and yank it out!

"Escape."

I try grabbing it but it's gone, and the crystal-.

Zod's eyes glow as he fires his heat vision-!

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
2​/11​ 7​/11​ Local Time

The red beams burn through the wall of his cell from top to bottom as I fly at him and punch him in the jaw! He gets knocked back a little, but-. He's flying, and he's using that to hold himself in place, the sunstone in his right hand where it can bypass the radiation shields.

Um.

Okay, I know roughly how fast kryptonians power up from the sun which is why I didn't hit him at full power, but I've got no idea how fast they can power up from a crystal designed to power them up.

"Green Lantern!" I dart towards the hand holding the stone and spin as he tries to block me, kicking him on the knuckles and-. Uragh, he moved with the kick and didn't drop it! "Teleport jammer!"

Sheltering the stone, Zod lunges at me, using his growing speed to strike at me and keep me back.

"Marvel, Dominion ships are entering the system."

"Dominators teleporting!"

Heat vision ow-. Okay then. I duck under him, flying between his legs and-

"SHASAM!"

-dodge, lightning exploding from nowhere and striking Zod in the chest as it tries to hit me.

"Agh!"

It doesn't sound right without the 'Z'. We need to talk to Hephaestus-. Taean, about sorting out some sort of bypass.

I check the lightning's all gone before flying upright with my fists on my hips. "Give up and drop the stone!"

His hair's singed, his clothes are burning off, ew, and he's struggling to get back in the air. But I can see his skin healing, the charred bits flaking off.

"I am scheduled to die anyway. Why should I give up a weapon?"

"Because you know you're wrong, and when you know you're wrong you should stop doing the thing you know is wrong!"

"I can't kill everyone on Timaron twice. But-." He winces, because oh yes, getting hit with lots of magical lightning causes internal burns, too. "That's not what it's about."

"You want to kill more people?"

"No." He jerks his head to the side and fires heat vision at the wall again!

I dive forwards and punch him right in the forehead. This time I put serious force into it, sending him flying back into the wall and hitting hard enough to cause a crater!

I give him a moment to knock it off, but he just staggers out of the wall and sets his feet. He looks up at me, and half… Smiles?

"It's not about me."

And he-.

He threw the sunstone through the hole in the wall! Where'd it g-?

Dodge!

Another beam of heat vision blasts through the wall, cutting the cell in half!

"General-."

"Go!"

I hear the burr sounds of the monkey robots trying to shoot Ursa and doing nothing at all as she smashes her way out.

Zod nods. "Have you killed before, girl?"

"Have you?"

He clenches and unclenches his right fist, checking that it still works. "That's why I'm here."

I shake my head. "No, I mean, close up. You only just got superstrength, but maybe you used a gun or something?"

"I… Can't say I have. Krypton was peaceful for my entire life. Have you?"

I nod, making sure that my eyes never leave his. "Yes. Earth hasn't been peaceful for even a single day in my life. The first time I ever killed someone wasn't even this year. Sheeda usually bleed grey, but if you punch them hard enough in the stomach you just get covered in whatever they'd been eating." I sigh. "I don't like knowing that, but I do, and I can't go back to not knowing it."

"To kill in defence of your people is an admirable thing."

"No. It's just something you need to do-" Mercury-speed so I can fly to above him and Hercules-strength hammer! "-sometimes."

He turns as he falls, eyes flaring red as he fires-. Wide beam, his eyes are unfocused, and Atlas-stamina keeps my skin and costume safe.

"Green Lantern, Ursa's got a sunstone and she's escaped. I'm busy with Zod."

"Got it."

Zod makes another crater, but metal and concrete aren't enough to hurt people like us. He comes to his feet and shoots upwards, telegraphing a right hook which I dodge-.

His left arm comes around as he spins-.

Cables!

I wince as the woven metal ropes he pulled out of the floor lash my eyes, knocking me aside-.

Block! Spin kick counter!

It hit, and he's-. The burns that are left aren't healing. He's just going to get weaker-. His eyes still aren't focusing right.

He comes at me again anyway.

Punches, hard and quick as he can. Dodge, dodge, turn it aside. He's slowing down. He knows that he can't go as fast as I can so he needs to keep attacking me. Dodgegrab, wrist and upper arm, hands down and knee up!

SNAP!

UGH!

Uh, looks like I made the crater this time. Ribs ache and kidneys… Have to make sure I'm fully healed before I go home. But Zod's right arm is out of action, and that hurts. And he's not actually used to getting hurt.

He flies at me again, trying a spinning kick. But it's too slow.

SNAP!

And that's his knee, and the shock makes him fall to the ground more than the actual force. He tries standing, but his leg gives way and for a moment he just collapses before catching himself with his flight.

PUNCH!

My fist hitting his forehead sends him back into his wall crater, and this time he's too woozy to move. But he's still conscious. Still dangerous.

I pick him up by the neck and punch him in the diaphragm, the air in his lungs shooting out like a short-lived gale. Then I-.

Ah, there it is. I drop Zod onto his face and pull the cables off the ground, binding his arms, and then his legs, and then tying the two together. By the time he's coherent the empowerment should have worn off.

"Marvel to Green Lantern. Where do I take Zod?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:28 GMT

I think that if Mr. Luthor knew about the theta wave state then the genomorphs would have made sure I was programmed with it.

"Green Lantern to Match and Star Sapphire."

Ghia'ta and I stop in the air, and I raise my bracer so I can look at the screen.

"We're here. Go ahead."

"The dominators just broke Ursa and Zod out."

Huh? "How?"

"They teleported a guy in and handed them a sunstone. Guess they didn't take them with them so there'd be a distraction."

"Is Mary okay?"

"Yeah, she's got it, but Xudar's navy isn't exactly on the Dominion's level and I'm stuck jamming their teleportation until Tomar and Arisia get back. Any luck finding Lyla?"

I shake my head. "Nothing yet. How did the dominators get here so fast?"

"They probably had a cold gate set up somewhere. Space is too big to check everywhere, especially when you don't know there's anything to check for. Let me know if you find anything. Green Lantern out."

I nod and lower my arm, looking at Ghia'ta. "Any luck?"

She shakes her head sadly. "I can feel no love for her or from her."

I nod. "X-ray vision's no good. Half the buildings here block it completely and for all I know she can make an illusion to change how her skeleton looks. Hearing's no good because she doesn't have to use Non's voice, and I can't smell her because this whole city smells weird." I shrug helplessly. "So I guess we're just stuck hoping we get lucky. At least until the dominators come closer."

She nods. "Could we ask Dame Carol to ask the dominators which the Earth has as prisoners to speak with the Dominion fleet?"

I look up, narrowing my eyes until my eyes pick out the Dominion fleet. I can't really get scale like this, but it looks like… Three cruisers, a couple of dozen attack craft and… The other ships have a different style, but…

"Do dominators use mercenaries?"

"Oh yes. They usually prefer using mercenaries to sending their own ships."

"How do they make sure that the mercenaries stay on their side?"

"Good pay and brutal retribution. They won't betray the Dominion unless you can move their entire planet to somewhere the dominators will never find it."

Darn. "What's their technology like?"

"Dominator technology is… Advanced. But they usually don't sell anything that good to their henchmen."

"So the three cruisers are the main threat if we start fighting."

"If we knew what they were trying to do. But not necessarily. Dominator ships can just be workshops or something to carry their machines around in." She shudders. "But if we can get inside them, then we should. Some of their recent victims might still be in storage."

"Have you fought them before?"

She nods slowly. "Dame Carol said that they were a 'guilt-free target'. I tried to find any love at all inside them and there was none at all. They have torn the capacity for love out of themselves and said that it is a good thing."

"Like the psions?"

She shakes her head quickly. "The psions became like they did because of how maltusians treated them. If they'd treated them better then I'm sure that they would have been better. Or even if they'd just left them alone. The dominators became how they are all by themselves."

"Do they clone themselves too?" She nods. "Do you know how they think?"

She shakes her head uncertainly. "They are disturbing. I don't want to think like them. Why are you asking?"

"I was thinking… What are they trying to do, exactly? We couldn't find Lyla anyway. The Xudarians aren't going to accept them just sitting there forever, but they could probably have teleported her out before Green Lantern started jamming them. Why did they try freeing Zod?"

"Ah-um..? Because they knew where he was?"

"So, what, they want Zod or Ursa to find her for them? How would they know where she is either?"

"Maybe… Lyla knows that she's supposed to look for them?"

"But how would she know that the dominators contacted them? The xudarians aren't announcing it, I'm using the theta wave state, and… Are you sure she can't read your mind?"

She shrugs. "My mom was Zamaron. I'm… Not millions of years old like she was, but I'm… Older than your country."

"America?"

"Themyscira. I've learned how to keep people out of my mind, and I'm deeply connected to the violet light."

"If-."

Ow! I wince as a high frequency sound pierces my brain-. Ghia'ta isn't reacting so it's probably something only a kryptonian can hear. Can I-? Yes.

"This way!"

I fly across the city, mindful of the air traffic lanes. Ghia'ta's right behind me.

"Match to everyone. I just heard an ultra-high frequency sound and I'm heading towards its source now."

"I heard it too." Superman's face appears on the bracer's screen. "Someone's trying to attract a kryptonian's attention."

"Ursa."

"Not necessarily. They know we're here."

True…

"Then, why?"

"Another distraction, maybe? Or it could be a code they set up before Lyla went into the Phantom Zone."

Okay, we're here… I come to a halt, staring around, eyes darting from place to place as I try and spot whatever it was that made that noise. Ghia'ta's scanning, but there are only a few local people around and… I don't think any of them are Lyla in disguise. If I can-.

There!

I fly downwards, picking the speaker out of a gutter. It's… Kryptonian technology, set to play a burst of sound on a delay. Piezoelectric, so there's no battery or anything else like that we could detect. I trigger it to play -ow- again. Same noise.

I look closer. I can see fingerprints, so I guess I know what her real fingers look like now. But… She's not here.

"Found it. She's not here. And it doesn't look like she only just ran off. Ghia'ta, are there any cameras around here?"

Her eyes flicker. "Not close to here."

Superman nods. "Okay. Stay there for now in case someone else turns up."

I nod. I can still see the Dominion ships from here, and Ghia'ta can move us faster than light if normal flying isn't fast enough. I-.

Huh.

I press the crystal again, triggering the sound burst-

"Match?"

-and it's…

"It's not a continuous tone. But I can't make it out. I don't think it's words, and I don't have any way to-." I look at Ghia'ta's ring. "Ghia'ta, can you check it out for me?"

She holds up her right hand, ring glowing as I trigger the crystal again. And then she frowns. "You were right, it's not words. A series of pulses, like Morse code."

Superman nods. "Send it to the Doomsday and I'll get Karsta Wor-Ul to take a look. Good guess, Match. Superman out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:30 UTC

Every moment that passes, I feel like I'm a little less likely to get the Doomsday.

I snort as I stare at the Dominion ships through the Doomsday's sensors. Nightwing take me, it's making me feel like I'm… Thirty, forty again. Sure, they're dangerous. They're one of the species I made a point to avoid when I was on my own. But how dangerous are they really against the most powerful warship Krypton ever built?

If those idiots on the Science Council had a telepathic alien spy on Krypton before the end, probably dangerous enough.

"Superman to Doomsday."

I try not to roll my eyes at the name. Yes, we are superior to man, but even an old Empire soldier like me knows that going on about it tends to piss people off.

"Doomsday comm. Speak."

"Can the Doomsday run a computer analysis of a sound recording?"

Who does he think he's-? "Kal-El, this is the Doomsday. It could probably teach your grandmother how to suck eggs."

"Ah-."

"Send me the file."

File received. Think for a fraction of a second.

"It's a kryptonian military code, intended for squads who get cut off. I'll-."

"What does it say?"

"It doesn't say anything. It's a bearing relative to-." It doesn't matter. I barely remember it. How the heck would marines actually go missing? "Where was it sent from?"

"Sending location."

You could just send the location, Kal-El. I could work out what you meant when I got it.

"Received. Actual destination decoded and sent. Any reason we're not just shooting the dominators?"

"Because the Dominion is pretty big, and we've only got one Doomsday. And we've only got one qualified pilot, and you can't spend your whole life in there."

"I think you'll find that I can."

Does he really know so little about how kryptonian society-? No, he doesn't, he's basically a human with powers. And it would be difficult to be a colonial governor inside the Doomsday. It's not really a light-touch weapon system.

And another thing about Kal-El is that he thinks that I'm not going to teleport Ursa Dou-Ka up here the moment I get a lock. The moment Green Lantern stops jamming everything around the capital. Amalak will be happy with just Zod, and I have no intention of seeing kryptonians judged by aliens.

12th August 2013
22:32 UTC

"Superman to team. I'm heading in now. Osiris, you're with me."

He nods, and we're going down. Usually, I'd be a little worried about bringing a kid into a fight like this, but he's proven he can handle himself. And I hope Lyla's just confused, and that Ursa didn't know exactly what Zod had planned…

But I doubt I'm going to get both, and I think I'll be lucky to get either.

"Sir?"

"Hang back, and make sure that I'm not getting mind controlled."

"Yes, sir."

And that's something else I'm not used to. I'm not… I don't like the idea of becoming some kind of paramilitary enforcer. After I heard about what the Justice Society International ended up becoming, I didn't even think there was an argument any more. I know Amon is just calling me that to be respectful, but… After this I'll tell him that 'Superman' is fine.

The location… It's some kind of high-rise parking lot. I don't hear any screams and I don't see anyone running, which is usually a good sign. We might have gotten here before whoever that message was meant for, or they might be somewhere inside.

I glance at Osiris. "Can you narrow it down?"

"With magic?" He shakes his head. "I'm not even sure that what the spy is doing is magic… I have not focused on magic theory in my training. I am-"

"Okay, that's fine."

"-sorry."

I smile reassuringly. "Don't worry. We'll just have to do this the old fashioned way." Hm. If it was me, I'd enter through the roof and head down, but Ursa must realise that we've got aerial surveillance. "Okay, I'll go in from the bottom. You stay outside and keep an eye out. If she flies out, get after her. I'll be right behind you."

"But… You cannot see through the illusions."

"Don't worry. It won't be the first time I've fought an illusionist. Though if Mitchell turns up, feel free to pass the job over to him and join me."

He nods, and I fly downwards towards the ground vehicle entrance. A few hover cars pull over in surprise, with the people inside staring at me. Normally I'd stop and try and say something reassuring, but with Ursa…

God, what should I even do about that?

She really doesn't have anything to lose. Which means that I need to bring her down as quickly as possible, because we've already established that she doesn't value alien lives.

I don't know if it's the lighting in here or the stuff they build the walls out of, but I can't see through the thicker parts at all. I can hear echoes of voices, but they're too quiet for my earpiece to pick them up so I'm not getting a translation. As far as I can tell the tone is… Happy? Conversational? Not there, then. I doubt that Ursa knows any languages other than kryptonese-.

The guy in the toll booth looks up at me for a moment, blinks, then pulls his hat over his face.

Heh. I guess some things are universal. Okay, I need to fly around fast, without endangering anyone or creating any gale force winds. Clear the first floor, mapping out the layout-. Pause for a moment to turn around a small child who wandered away from its parents, yes, that's it, that way. And then… Underground first. Down the… Central shaft, and start at the bottom. Looks like… This isn't a popular place to leave a hover car. I suppose that's because it's furthest from the entrance. I don't see anything immediately, but I'll fly around-.

There's a sound from… Three levels up. Someone moving around quietly. Just… One person. The layout of the levels looks like it's standardized so I can keep my lines of sight cleared, and whatever else Lyla can do her species aren't any stronger than regular humans. I could sneak up there and try listening in, but I can't hear anyone else on that level and I'm not going to get a better chance to bring either of them in without putting anyone else in danger.

I fly up, keeping half the length of the building between us-. It's Ursa, and she spots me just as fast as I spot her. She's… Shivering. Is that a stress response? I've never seen a kryptonian do that, but she's the first pregnant kryptonian I've seen.

"Ursa. I'm going to ask you to come quietly."

"Kal-El. Is Dru-Zod alive?"

"He's pretty beaten up, but he's alive."

She doesn't exactly look happy about that. Was he..? Trying to die in combat, or something like that? I don't remember Krypton having that sort of warrior culture, but I guess it could be a personal thing.

"This is going to go a whole lot easier if I don't have to fight you. I don't want to risk causing a miscarriage. Please."

"You're a good man, Kal-El. Your father would be proud. But-"

GYAAAGH!

"-I have other options."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:35 UTC

Did Superman..? Scream-?

Move!

"Gods of Kahndaq bless your servant."

I move fast. My mind races as I take in every sound and sight, judging where I must avoid obstacles and where I may safely smash though them.

"Ahh!"

Lord Zehuti's wisdom lets me categorise it as a cry of alarm and surprise, not of pain. Montu's courage prevents me being distracted. Lord Zehuti's wisdom also shows me how the stresses in the building will change with the elimination of one support pillar. Well, it seems. The architect was wisely cautious.

Down.

My heart has beat twice since I heard Superman's cry.

Noise. There. Lord Aker's speed lets me turn without slowing. Lord Zehuti's wisdom allows me to understand what I'm seeing and make decisions without slowing.

At the far end of the room is a woman in a prisoner's garb. Ursa. Closer to me are Superman and another woman. She matches the description given for the spy, Lyla. She is grappling Superman and somehow causing him enough pain to make him cry out. But he does not appear injured. Pain is an illusion of the mind, and I am more resistant to such things.

Ursa is pregnant, and has not been judged guilty of a capital crime. Lyla has not even been accused of a serious crime. I do not really want to fight either. But Lord Montu's courage means that I do not hesitate or second-guess myself.

Ursa raises her arms and crouches to reduce her profile, but she has had only a short time to absorb energy from the sunstone… Which I cannot see. I slap her all too slow punch aside as I move behind her, wilfully setting Lord Aker's speed aside to stop. Then I move close and place my arms in a choke hold around her neck, Lord Atum's power holding us in place as she tries to use her own flight to move, to dash me against the walls.

As Orange Lantern has said, grappling is the key to super strength fights. And briefly depriving her brain of oxygen should not harm her child in the womb.

Superman… It is like there are veins of yellow fire under his skin. I have… Studied the few ways that Earth's… Second greatest hero can be humbled, and I do not recognise this one.

"What are you doing to Superman?"

His eyes are glowing too, while hers… It is like Miss Martian when she is focusing on her telepathy. Her mind is not absent, but it is not focused on what is in front of her.

She does not answer, whatever vision she is receiving too interesting to spare a thought for me. Ursa tries to strike me, but while she is strong enough to injure me her own body and the gods' magic impede her. Her elbows hit me twice before she weakens too much to harm me. Having super strength does not make your lungs any larger.

Lord Atum aid me.

"Lyla!"

She blinks, her arms still wrapped around Superman, yellow veins still visible under her skin.

"What are you doing?"

"The dominators called it 'The Cistern'. My body is adapting to his strength."

"Then it would be wise for me to strike you now."

"If I were separated from him, I would die. But so would he."

"I have only your word for that."

"And I have only the word of the dominators. How lucky do you feel?"

I do not rely on luck. I cannot risk it. "And when you are finished?"

"His strength will be my strength."

That is… Considerable, but without-.

The sunstone is on her belt.

If she has Superman's strength, will he be as weak as a normal man? Might she simply kill him? Is she like The Parasite, who must feed repeatedly to maintain stolen power?

Ursa goes limp, and I relax my hold on her neck enough that she will not die.

"What is your objective?"

"To return to my masters with what I have learned, and the power I have gained."

"That is why you were on Krypton? To spy on their technology?"

"Yes."

"You did not make their planet explode?"

"I am not that powerful, even now."

"And Zod-."

"It did not take much. He would have decided to attack something without me. I just made it easier for him."

"Why not have the dominators approach openly? Many people would have accepted temporary submission over death."

"I don't know, and I don't care."

"Then what do you plan next?"

She laughs, a childish sound tainted by madness. "Whatever I want. I will finally have the strength of a god. Whatever I do, I will do with divine grace. I can see his life. Not just as images in his mind, but as if I were there, living it. Such… Joy, such love. Such purpose and opportunity and hope."

Ah. "And you did not have those things."

"By the time I was born the kryptonians were long gone. And still my people near-worshipped them. They soared above us so effortlessly. They surpassed us in every way. And they could have elevated us… Had they cared to. It would have cost them nothing and we would have been their most loyal servants."

She looks down at Kal-El with… Fondness, as her own skin begins to glow faintly.

"But instead, I must take. And thanks to the dominators, I can. And you. I cannot touch your mind even as his is an open book. Are you kryptonian too?"

"Why did you not do that to Ursa?"

"I did. Didn't you see how slow she was? But he has fed on the yellow star Sol for his entire life whereas she has only absorbed the faintest wisps."

The yellow veins dim, almost as if they are flowing back into Superman. I give Ursa's neck a squeeze, her effort to remain motionless while conscious insufficient to evade my senses. And then I drop her, ready to-.

Lyla drops Superman with a beatific smile, rising off the ground-.

And then I'm there, fist-. She catches my fist, strength stolen from Superman surpassing mine. But she does not have his experience, and I spin around to knock the sunstone-.

She turns, tears it from her belt and throws it to where Ursa lays. "Go!"

I turn to chase it but she presses me, heat vision flaring with Superman's power but none of his control! I evade, estimating how much of that these walls can survive-. I do not know enough to judge. Her follow-up is a punch which I recognise from watching Superman, but while she has his speed and strength her stolen memories do not account for her smaller size. I can move around, evading and turning aside, but this is not-.

I hear Ursa rise to her feet and grab the sunstone. And then-.

BOOM!

CRUNCH!

And then she is gone.

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:36 GMT

I stare at Lar-On.

"Well… Where is she, then?"

"The.. pink Lantern picked her up. Aren't they with you?"

I frown, looking away from him as I try to work out what's going on. Looks like the ex-prisoners are wise enough to keep erecting their prefabricated shelters without Karsta Wor-Ul watching over them, if only because it looks like there's going to be rain in a few hours. "No." I raise my left hand. "Orange Lantern to Dame Carol?"

…

Oh dear.

"Jordan? Arisia?" Level of worry rising. "Mother of Mercy?"

…

"Illustres to Lantern Son of Great Mother."

My favourite macrosperm appears above my ring. "Illustres. Do you have new orders for me? Because I am excited to fulfil them."

"No, sorry. Something's jamming communications to Sector Two Eight One Three. Carry on."

"I will enjoy that order too."

And he's gone. I should check what's going on, but jumping in blind would be a bad-.

"Why were you looking for Karsta Wor-Ul?"

"Short version? The Phantom Zone was actually an intelligent creature and I got to choose between everyone getting kicked out now and Aethyr eating them."

"Did..? Anyone get eaten?"

"Yes, but just Jax-Ur. Unfortunately, that means that everyone else who was imprisoned is now standing in a tent outside of Kal-El's Fortress. Except Faora Hu-Ul, who I moved to another prison. Some of my colleagues are standing guard, but I wanted to bring them here as quickly as possible."

"They're on Earth? Under a yellow-?"

I shake my head. "Radiation shields all around. But that's not a long-term solution. I was just going to bring most of them here, but now I need to check Two Eight One Three."

But… Do I? No, no, there are multiple powerful superheroes there, in addition to the Xudarian navy. Keeping hundreds of kryptonian parolees from rioting is more urgent.

I transition to a reasonably clear area of land on the other side of the island, and fabricate a sign saying 'Habitation this way' in kryptonese. Then I begin the more complex task of creating a zeta tube terminus.

Now, this may be purely a receiver station, but that still involves emitting zeta radiation to… Not wanting to get into the physics which I honestly didn't understand, to sort of form a hook which the main radiation discharge can grab onto in order to send things to a specific location rather than 'somewhere in that general direction'. Of course it's… Possible to do it the other way ala J'onn J'onzz and Adam Strange, but that's ridiculously inaccurate…

So I need either a huge power source or a decent power source and a decent capacitor. Taking a minute or two to charge isn't going to be a problem here, so I'll go with that option. Zeta sources have half-lives measured in fractions of a second; you don't find them naturally. Build the capacitor around a fusion reactor -not one that generates power, it's just for fusing nuclei- and then create the actual tube part which stabilises the rematerialisation process…

Done. Set it up to fire off the hooking pulse and

step out, the desires of the kryptonians standing

out clearly.

They're not rioting yet, at least.

"Orange Lantern." Kaldur's eyes move to me for a moment before returning to his charges. "Is the Sub-Commander ready?"

"She's not there. Star Sapphire grabbed her for something. I've set up a zeta terminus, so I can overcharge the one in the Fortress to make the connection."

"If she is not there to take possession of the former prisoners, is it wise to send them?"

"As opposed to leaving them here?" I shrug. "It's not good, but it beats the alternative."

"Are they ready for new residents?"

"They're not ready for their current residents." I fan out my hands in a gesture of appeal. "Look, once I've dealt with this I can go and get Karsta Wor-Ul and… Actually help her get things settled. But clearing the Fortress comes first."

He returns his full attention to me, looking concerned. "You cannot contact them?"

"Indeed. Not a lot of people can block power ring transmissions. So…"

"I will organise the crowd. We will need Nam-Ek to go through with the first wave."

I nod. "I'll leave you to it."

I head into the Fortress proper, transitioning as far as I can and then waiting for the door-. Jor-El pre-empts me and opens all the doors along my route.

"Thank you!" I land in front of the Fortress's zeta tube and open up the generator. "Have the genomorphs recovered anything else?"

"A dozen memories of 'Lyla' being present at a number of my meetings with the Science Council. I am torn between the hope that their regrettable decisions were not entirely of their own making, and the fear that they were not."

"How could an alien survive on Krypton like that?"

"Once she was on the planet, I imagine that it was fairly simple. If she drew no attention to herself, people would simply assume that she was kryptonian. Who, after all, would look for an alien on a world as isolated as ours?"

"Confirmation bias is a bitch."

Okay, extra power, properly fused, extra reaction mass…

"This look alright to you?"

"According to my sensors, it should hold for long enough to transport the former prisoners."

"Is now a good time to ask why you didn't send people to the Phantom Zone as an escape method?"

"Had it been discovered, they would have been extracted and I would have lost what little access I had left. By the time that I launched Kal-El and signalled my brother that he should launch Kara Zor-El, I would not have had time to send anyone into the Phantom Zone. And since I had been stripped of access to the detainment centre where the projector was stored, I would have had to fight my way in. It is possible that I did that; Jor-El updated me for the final time before launching Kal-El's pod. I have no memories of what Krypton's final moments looked like from the ground."

"And building more ships in secret?"

"It was a balancing act between doing enough to improve the outcome and avoiding being placed in detainment. Nothing I could do could match what the whole of Krypton could do working together. Until… The end, I hoped that the Science Council would change its mind."

"Alright, I'm done here." I close the panels. "Please ask Kaldur to start sending them down. I need to see what's happened in Two Eight One Three."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:37 UTC

I'll say this for Orange Lantern; him arriving on Earth made me really get into the theory and philosophy of using my power ring.

Yeah, I know my brain doesn't react to stress the way most people's do, but that doesn't make it easier to focus on something boring for hours on end. Or staying fully aware when nothing much is happening but everything could start happening at a moment's notice.

But I'm maintaining focus, because the moment my teleport jammer construct goes down, the Dominion fleet does whatever the Hell it wants and then leaves us to clear up the mess. And there's no way that the Guardians will authorise the Corps attacking the Dominion directly, so anyone they take is gone. And as well as maintaining focus I'm also paying attention to my surroundings, which is why when there's 'boom-crunch' below me-

Ping!

-I'm aware and alert enough to dodge.

And that's why Ursa skims me instead of ramming right into me.

Heh. Missile Command time. I raise my right hand and fire construct missiles as Ursa turns over… A lot slower than Superman would.

But if she's up here-.

"Supes, you okay?"

She blasts my missiles with heat vision, so I convert the damaged constructs into explosions! The blasts buffet her a little, but she's kryptonian; I'm gunna have to bring my A-game to take her down.

And that's not easy while I'm still jamming the damn teleporters.

"Little help, anyone?"

Ursa's eyes glow, so I throw up a shield just in time to block her heat vision… Aiming at me, weird. Shoulda shot the jammer, it's not exactly small. She charges me eyes blazing, and I can't help but smile.

"Batter up!"

Her eyes widen as the slugger construct comes around, and she flinches just a little before it nails her right in the face! She goes flying up, up, up into the sky… That's gotta be a boundary, right? And then-.

Oops, nearly took my eyes off the ball. Make sure the jammer is still working, great, and then-.

Wait, what's that glowing thing she's-?

Ah, fuck, that's a suns-.

Her eyes glow again and I nearly dodge before I realise that I'm flying over a city and if she misses-. So I don't worry about that, I just make a shield between me and her and start flying upwards to try and change the angle to one where thousands of people don't die if she misses.

"Anyone at all."

And that's when the fuck.. me! Giant burning beam blasts out of her face like something Superboy could do! I focus on reinforcing the shield, widening it so there's no spill-over-.

There's a flicker of red, and Ursa knocks it off, blinking as… Match and Ghia'ta approach from below. Match's eyes are glowing, while Ghia'ta's… Checking me over. I hope that's medical, 'cause the last thing I need is two underage girls-.

Match turns his eyebeams off. "That the sunstone?"

"Looks like."

"So she's just gunna keep getting stronger."

"Might wanna get it off her, then. Ghia'ta, can you jam the dominators' teleport signals?"

"Um. Perhaps?"

"Just help Match, then. Match, make sure she doesn't shoot the city while you-."

Ursa blinks, then looks down-. Super hearing!

"Ghia'ta, shield the city!"

Match fires his heat vision at her again, but she ducks her head and she actually takes the shot! Ghia'ta shoots forwards, a giant mass of crystal forming-. She blocks it, but it's burning through-.

Match swings around and punches Ursa in the head, spinning her head around-. I shield most of it, and the rest-.

"Ghia'ta, buildings!"

She darts down, crystal covering sagging walls well enough to prevent anything collapsing. Match-. He carries on punching her, but if Superman is anything to go by she isn't really getting hurt by those punches.

What are the dominators doing? Looks like… Nothing. Take a few minutes for the light from us to get to their ships, so they won't react to that until they see it. Unless they teleported someone down somewhere remote and left them on monitor duty. Which would make.. sense.

Of all the times to miss Orange Lantern's casual 'scan the whole world for one atom' scanning bullshit.

Ursa manages to pull back from Match a little and fire down, but Ghia'ta's there with a crystal shield.

Ah, fuck it.

"Green Lantern to Orange Lantern."

…

Right, just because we can jam them, that doesn't mean that they can't jam us. Something else to warn Salaak about. Okay, I should be able to help-.

"Osiris to everyone! Lyla-"

My construct shatters as… Some purple-haired chick flies though it fists first. She… Sort of slows down as the remaining fragments fade, smiling at me in a way that's… Not a 'I just got one over on you' smile. It's weirdly… Friendly.

"-is here, and she has taken Superman's power!"

Great. Can't keep my jamming construct like that safe from a kryptonian and fight them myself. Just have to hope the Doomsday can handle that. I make a construct A-10 just behind me and reinforce my environmental shield.

"Any chance of you coming quietly?"

She… Actually looks like she's thinking about it.

"I have finally taken the full power which the dominators promised me. But now that I have it… Why should I keep following their orders?"

"Exactly. We just need you to answer a few questions about what you were doing on Krypton before it exploded-."

She frowns. "Why?"

"Zod blew up a planet, and that's kinda bad. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"And if I do?"

"Then I'll take you down."

And she ain't smiling no m-. Duck!

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:38 GMT

Looks fine from the border. Though I suspect that something big enough to blot out an entire Space Sector would probably warrant immediate Green Lantern Corps action. Mundane sensors show nothing of note, though neither of the places I want to look at are close enough for the light to have reached where I am yet. But do I go to Timaron or Xudar first? If something's gone wrong then Xudar is more likely to need me… But I'd be going in blind if I emerged from the Honden, and Timaron is a lot closer for regular faster than light travel. And Mother of Mercy is there, and she's on her own and might be able to give me an update.

And the others should be able to handle most things.

I plot course and accelerate, space bending and stars blurring. I've gotten a little out of practice in using this sort of faster than light travel, but it should only take a few-.

Geh!

A few seconds unless someone puts an interdiction field up in a system that didn't have one half an hour ago. It didn't kill me, but that's mostly because my environmental shield is rather good at holding my body together. Peering in-system shows me… Mother of Mercy is… Moving around Timaron, and… There are ships on the far side of the planet. Looks like they're trying to keep it between her and them. Most of the ships look like they could have come from anywhere, but that one is definitely Dominion.

What are they doing here?

The space around Mother of Mercy seems clear at least, so I

step out, homing in on the giant beacon of orange

before emerging at the base of the solar collector I was sitting under earlier.

"Lantern Mother of Mercy. Update."

"It appears that there was a Dominion spatial gate under the crust of Timaron. They have exposed it and brought forth a fleet.

"Shouldn't you have detected it?"

"While inactive, it simply read as an area of dense matter. It did not stand out."

"Why aren't they leaving?"

"They dispatched a larger fleet towards Xudar. I assume that they are intending to recover them before returning home."

"They've got an interdiction field around the system and they're jamming power ring communications. Any idea what's happening on Xudar?"

"No."

"Current location of their gate?"

"It is attached to the hull of their large ship."

"Lantern Tomar-Re?"

"He is escorting observers and other civilians to safety. The Dominion fleet sent pursuers, but only in sufficient quantity to force him to remain."

Tomar-Re might be a veteran, but he isn't exactly a high-flier. Maintaining a shield around civilian ships against the sort of firepower which Dominion client state ships can throw out and dragging those ships to the edge of the interdiction field may well be the limit of his abilities.

"Keep chasing their fleet. I'll aid Lantern Tomar-Re."

"As you command."

Tomar-Re is also

rather obvious, his desires to protect his charges

visible despite the green. I take a look at his shield and energy pulses… The ships don't look too damaged and he himself is fighting fit.

"Illustres to Lantern Tomar-Re. Do we need prisoners?"

"It would be preferable. They are likely conscripts. The Dominion-."

"Understood."

I brute force transition towards the closest ship and use a crumbler ram to batter a hole in its shields before flying inside the envelope. Stabilise my velocity relative to the hull. Then send out a swarm of giant wrench constructs and twist the manoeuvring thrusters off the hull.

I see the sudden burst of fear from the ship's bridge. Is that for me, or just a response to their ship being damaged? Doesn't matter. Crumbler ram through the hull, find an internal communications line…

"Orange Lantern to ship. Power down main thrust, shields and weapons, or I'll deactivate your power plant by tearing it out of your ship. You have-."

Main thrust shuts down almost immediately.

"Thank you."

I turn to the next closest ship, which… Has dropped off the stern chase and is trying to target me with its flak. Brute force transition, smack with the construct crumbler and smack again to make a large hole in the hull.

"Feeling lucky? Shut down or else."

I don't see the pulse of fear, but all aggressive systems power down a moment later.

The next ship… Is already turning away from the civilian vessels, as is the rest of the flotilla.

"Thank you."

"I suspect this is happening because of me, so don't worry about it."

"I agreed to it. I will escort these ships to safety and then return to take the crew that surrendered to you into custody."

"Do you want me to attack their fleet here, or fly on to Xudar?"

"Xudar. There are no further innocents at risk here, whereas-."

"Understood."

I take a moment to watch the ships flying back in-system. There's not really anything to stop them turning around the moment I leave, so I should probably hurry them on their way. I generate a simple but effective faster than light projectile cannon construct, charge, warp spacetime and fire.

It doesn't pierce their shields, but it does hit with enough force to make them flare and knocks the ship slightly sideways. Thrusters flare as they recover, but they and a couple of the other ships accelerate just a little harder afterwards.

Good.

Now, I still don't want to risk appearing in a place that may be under fire. Not without a spare body on-hand. I mean, I've left records on what to do lodged with the League but I'm a little worried that they'll just hold a funeral or something unhelpful like that.

Is anyone..?

Ah, good, Kon and Arisia are outside of the system. I

step out, homing in on their desires before

returning to normal space.

"Hi-"

Arisia spins around and hefts a hammer construct for a moment before recognising me.

"-guys. What have I missed?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:41 GMT

"Purple hair and tattoos?"

Kon nods. "If she looks like the others, yeah."

That's her. In the comics she was an alien living in Kandor, who mentally altered Superman to think he was her husband. Now that I think about it, that doesn't make any sense. There weren't any aliens in Kandor; Krypton had been isolationist for over a century before it exploded, and it's not like Krypton had any need for an alien underclass to do manual labour for them.

And wasn't Kandor part of that Mosaic thing anyway..? Author's note: No. Despite having a guy in the comics who canonically collected cities, they chose to make a character who when last seen was a pleasant old man retiring from active service go mad and abduct cities for no reason instead. Yes, I'm bitter.

"And this whole thing was a dominator plot to steal kryptonian technology?"

Kon shrugs. "That's my best guess. You said they had a space gate on Timaron?"

"Under the surface, yes."

"Were they trying to get kryptonian technology from there, too?"

"I don't know. It's possible that they just put a portal there so that they had one in the general vicinity. I don't even know if they put it there before or after Timaron was ravaged."

Arisia frowns. "Wouldn't someone have noticed?"

"The dominators have a bit of a habit of sneaking research stations into places no one was expecting them. The only difference between that and a gateway is that building a gateway would take longer. They've had forty years since Dru-Zod wrecked the place, but they've had over a century since Krypton abandoned it."

"Okay." She nods. "So the reason why everyone got turned stupid is that Lyla… Wanted to make sure that none of us talked to Zod and Ursa about her? Or-. About Non, because they knew him well enough to notice that he wasn't acting right? And that's why she knocked them out and didn't speak to them again?"

"That's my best guess. Plus, it increased how much we trusted 'Non-Du'. Nothing went missing, but she could have learned all sorts of things by observation."

Kon nods. "So what now?"

"We go back to Xudar, beat Lyla unconscious and then have the genomorphs trawl her brain to find out exactly what she did, and then if relevant put her on trial under the appropriate legal code."

"And Zod and Ursa?"

"Nothing's changed, except that Lyla might be responsible for the things they've been accused of. I'm carrying kryptonite and their environmental shields aren't configured to block kryptonite radiation."

"What if they're on the ships?"

"Then that's up to Jordan and Kal-El. More Jordan, really. I'm happy to pry them open but that might cause a bigger confrontation with the Dominion."

"Bigger than that thing with the guys working on Great Mother?"

"Those were -relatively speaking- nobodies. If their gamble doesn't pay off no one was going to do anything. Whoever did this has a slightly bigger circle on their forehead."

Arisia narrows her eyes. "Didn't you attack a dominator prison?"

"Yes, but I didn't keep hold of the high caste dominators who ran it. The Dominion is far too low on my list of priorities to start a fight right now." Hm. "Unless no one minds if I destroy their core worlds and butcher the entire population. I might be able to do that-."

"No." She shakes her head. "No don't do that."

I nod agreeably. "So the best case scenario is that we take all the dominators here prisoner and trade them back to the Dominion after learning what they were doing. So." I gesture in the direction of Xudar. "Shall we?"

They nod, and I extend my own environmental shield around them because with all due respect to Lantern Arisia I'm a lot stronger than she is. Space bends and my rings' power reserves tick downwards as I brute force us through the Dominion interdiction field towards Xudar.

Scanning…

"We're coming out behind their fleet. Not sure what they're doing or what's happening on Xudar itself. Two, one, now."

Spacetime wobbles, and we're back to following its rules.

And there are the ships, four military cruisers and a cluster of attack craft, backed up by a smattering of thralls.

"Green Lantern to Orange Lantern."

The cruisers aren't bothering to do anything so gauche as use a gravity well slingshot. Instead, they're just using their own gravity drives to twist around as they pull away from Xudar, the rest of the fleet following as best it can. They aren't actually trying to get their subordinates killed; they just literally don't care whether they live or die.

"I'm here with Kon and Arisia. Situation?"

"Ursa and Lyla are free, and Lyla got kryptonian powers. Any idea where they're going?"

"There's a spatial gate near Timaron. They were hiding it under the planet's surface. Mother of Mercy's in pursuit of their command ship, but with interdiction fields in action she's… A planet. They're not exactly fast or agile."

He nods curtly. "Lyla and Ursa are onboard one of those ships. I don't know which one."

I look at them. I don't know what Lyla looks like, but Ursa…

I add her location to the tactical plot. "Orders?"

"What do you think?"

"We don't really need either of them, tidy as it would be. But we can't let the Dominion do whatever it likes. I could easily wreck a few of those ships without killing too much of the crew. Alternately…" Hm. "Could you make a zeta tube construct?"

"No."

"Can Ghia'ta?"

"Ah… She says 'yeah'."

"Neat. Whoever's in charge will be on the command ship near Timaron, but the shipmasters will be experienced and capable. It would help if I had a distraction."

"Karsta wants to attack, Supes told her 'no'. I know how you feel but he doesn't think this is worth killing anyone over."

I suppose the Doomsday probably wasn't designed to be discriminating.

"Have her pursue on an attack heading, just to make them think she's going to shoot. Move after the alien ships yourself. You can disable them without killing anyone, right?" He nods. "Kon and Arisia can hold their attention here without getting in too much danger."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to board them, of course."

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th August 2013
22:45 GMT

It's not that the dominators couldn't learn to block me when I travel like this, it's that they haven't done so yet.

I give Team Distraction a few moments to get their attention. Dominator vessels tend to have highly hierarchical command structures. Everything will go through the shipmaster unless there's a high caste dominator on board, and even then the shipmaster will probably only refer to them if they need a policy decision. What that means is that if the shipmaster is making decisions about his ships being attacked there should be an appreciable delay in them making decisions about me.

But with the high caste in overall command not here, there's a limit to the amount of intelligence I can gather like this. The dominators on board just don't have strong desires relating to the mission beyond wanting to survive it. I haven't interacted with low caste dominators before, and it's… Interesting the way that their desires appear to be limited by their station. And not in the way that humans would be, where they might want all sorts of things but have stronger connections to things that are regarded as desirable in their subculture. Dominators seem to desire improvements in themselves, better tools for their jobs… And that's about it.

It's an interesting contrast to the Reach, where even a 'poor' Reachian will in effect have a middle class existence. The Dominion does have lower class dominators, rather than use alien slaves or metics for undesirable tasks. And yet there doesn't appear to be any resentment or burning need for personal advancement. As opposed to the psions who did want to advance themselves while still being mostly willing to work within the structures of their own society.

Alright, that's

enough. I appear in… A medical laboratory, a mid caste dominator performing basic tests on the recumbent Lyla. She seems at ease around them, smiling to herself as they move their instruments. In a remarkably human moment that makes me smile I notice that all the dominators in the room are looking at her rather than paying attention to their surroundings. My armour's stealth system activates almost immediately, but there was a good half-second there where they could have spotted me.

And because a dominator ship is almost certainly able to detect phasing but doesn't have a system for monitoring footfall, I'm just standing here. They'd pick me up immediately if they looked, but… There's nothing to cause them to look and the shipmaster is busy. And while Lyla could certainly detect me with telepathy, this armour has a mind shield.

"…in line with predictions. Some cells exist at the lower energy state, but that will most likely correct itself with further solar exposure."

Lyla smiles. "I shall become more powerful?"

"In line with previous estimates, yes. I am uncertain what the process will do to the mundane aspects of your physiology. If you desire your strength to reach the greatest height possible, it may be best to avoid solar exposure and concentrate on expanding your muscles."

"I cannot exercise like this? Kal-El had memories of machines designed to test even his strength."

"You have fulfilled your obligations to us, as we have to you. You are free to ignore my advice. If you want exercise equipment built for you to test your current strength, you will need to agree to new terms."

"You aren't interested at all?"

"That is not the information we came here to gather. Anything else is up to the high caste."

She opens her eyes slightly, regarding the dominator curiously. "Will they give my power to you?"

"That is unlikely. It would not aid me in my duties."

I deposit a gold kryptonite crystal behind me, my armour's stealth system obscuring it from the rest of the room. But the radiation should start-.

"Curious. The activity in your cells is weakening. Can you feel-?"

She sits upright, scowling. "Yes! What is happening?!" Something occurs to her, and she gets and the bed and grabs the physician by his overalls, lifting him off his feet. "If you have betrayed me I am still strong enough to-."

"No." He stretches his arms and cranes his neck to keep in contact with his computer. "If we were betraying you, you would not be coherent enough to complain. The photoreceptive kryptonian organelles which your body generated are still there, but their… Connection to the exotic energy source is being disrupted. This is fascinating. I will be certain to note that you have provided additional data beyond our expectations."

He does want to live, but there's no real fear at the idea of his immediate death. Just a sense that it's extremely undesirable to fail to complete his task.

"Fix it."

"I do not have the required knowledge of dimensional physics." His eyes dip, noticing the fact that her not particularly muscular arm is shaking with the effort of keeping him aloft. "If you put me down, I will resume my examination. Our agreement was to take the kryptonians' power and give it to you. If you do not have it, then we have failed to live up to our end of the bargain. Learning what has happened will further our understanding and is in accordance with our interests."

She calms down slightly, setting him down on his feet and sitting back down on the bed. "Do it, then."

Sound screen around the edge of the room, shield around the edge of the room, drop stealth, target automatic turrets there and there with energy pulses, they're nothing special and appear to be purely for ship security, generate a zeta tube construct and dial…

"What?" The mid caste dominator boggles as he takes me in, while his low caste assistants back off. One takes a look at the shield blocking the door but immediately abandons the idea of trying to break through. "Who-? Orange Lantern."

"Yep. And you're-" The zeta tube swirls to life. "-busted."

Construct tethers grab everyone in the room -Lyta's not entirely out of power so her construct is a bit more solid- and toss them through. A one way trip back to Xudar. If this was a Reach ship then I'd leave a bomb behind, but as this is a Justice League operation I'll just have to leave it.

And by 'it' I mean a box with 'LARGE BOMB' written on it. I-.

I pick up the gold kryptonite and send it back into subspace, because that's not something I want to leave with the Dominion, step

out and walk towards the thwarted desire for personal empowerment that marks out Lyla and

appear onboard the Xudarian flagship surrounded by armed marines guarding the prisoners.

"Thank you, gentlemen." The pink glowing zeta tube construct shuts down behind me. "Thank you, Star Sapphire Ghia'ta."

She gives me a shallow bow as I raise my left hand to my face, using my other ring to generate a teleport jammer.

"Green Lantern Jordan? Spy and other prisoners captured."

"Right." No face, because he's busy. "I'll call everyone off. You get Ursa?"

"She wasn't being held in the same place. I could try, but they'd almost certainly be more prepared this time. And zeta radiation-based travel is something they know how to disrupt."

"Then forget it."

"I take it we're letting them leave?"

"We're not starting a war with the whole Dominion right here, so, yeah."

"I'll tell Lantern Mother of Mercy to abandon pursuit. Lantern Tomar-Re will have other prisoners for us to interrogate, but I imagine that the Guardians will have them shipped back to the Dominion afterwards. Anyone need medical attention on our side?"

"Yeah. Superman and Osiris. I'll bring them to you. Green Lantern out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th August 2013
19:45 GMT -7

Prime Minister Geoffrey Talbot lands on the forecourt of Sunset and Circe's school, the police car construct he was flying in fading around him as he stands up. He takes in the surroundings for a moment, straightens his jacket, and then nods to me. "Grayven."

I smile warmly. "Geoffrey." I step forwards and offer him my right hand. "Thank you for coming."

He shakes it, eyes scanning our surroundings suspiciously. "Not the sort of place I expected."

"I didn't think you'd want to meet up this quickly. The Bilderberg Hotel didn't have any rooms I could rent out at short notice." I shrug. "And if anyone asks, we can say that you were meeting with the staff to talk about sending some of your own police to study here. Which you should do anyway."

"Doesn't Constantine teach here?"

Does Constantine teach here… Like he could be reliable enough to hold something like a class. "Irregularly, yes. But I'm almost completely sure that he's not here now. Is..? That going to be a problem?"

"Not as long as he's not part of this Star Chamber of yours."

"Huh-heh-hahhaha… Urh… Bless you, no, bless you, no. But it's the sort of thing he might hang around and get in the way of."

Scan… No one, good. I raise my right hand and fabricate a small table. Upon the table I create a pile of boxes of Silk Cuts, several bottles of ale and a sign saying 'Free cigarettes and alcohol.'.

"That should do it." I start towards the front door, Geoffrey matching my pace.

"It can't be that easy."

"I added some of the old wacky backy to the cigarettes, and scumble to the ale. Enough to disrupt his judgement. Otherwise, tomorrow's classes are going to be jolly interesting."

He snorts as we enter the building, the lights still on in the direction of the staff room. A few moments pass before he asks:

"Why am I here, Grayven?"

"Short version? We're a little worried that something might happen to render the human species extinct, and we'd like to set up humanity's first off-world colony."

"You have a space fleet and those boom tube things. And a Lantern Corps."

"Oh, I gave the Lantern Corps to my former second in command. He was basically running it anyway. They're busy setting Vega to rights and undoing centuries of degradation. Besides, part of our thing is to use human resources exclusively."

He raises his right fist, ring glowing balefully. "This isn't human technology."

"No, but the office of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is. The ring just lets you survive when someone tries to stop you. Anyway." I push the staff room door open. "Hello, everyone!"

Clea has completely failed to dress down, though at least she's left the crown at home. And from the way she's glancing at Circe's school teacher/farmer's wife combo she knows it too. Adom is clearly uncomfortable in slacks and a short sleeved shirt, but he has managed to remain on the ground, which is major progress. Richard has rearranged his shadows to something that a nutty Victorian professor might wear, and Cranius is… In a lab coat. Lex is using a television straight from my old primary school, big blocky design and cathode ray screen.

"Grayven!" Richard waves. "It's been a while since my last fancy dress party. Who are you supposed to be?"

My armour vanishes, replaced by a tweed suit. "My Dad; the human one. He taught biology." I step aside and allow Geoffrey to see what he's letting himself in for. "Geoffrey, I believe you know-."

"The Shade, yes. And Doctor von Schadel. I was concerned about Mister Fiendstein, but since I haven't heard anything about him returning to crime I assume that you've got him under control."

"Yah, yah. He just needed to heff his… Energies… Directed properly. He is a wonderful chirurgeon."

"I'll take your word for it. Teth Adom."

"Red Lantern."

Geoffrey doesn't seem entirely happy about being addressed like that, but shrugs it off. It's not like he can deny it, after all.

"Professor Larissa."

"Oh, please." She smiles, leaning slightly against Adom in the hope that he'll unclench slightly. "Call me-" Her clothing shimmers and shifts into something more Grecian. "-Circe."

"The witch who turns men into farm animals."

"I gave that up. I'm a happily married woman."

Geoffrey observes her with Adom for a moment. Likewise, Circe considers her husband, then pokes him until he awkwardly wraps an arm around her.

"I see. And, you, madam? I'm afraid that I don't-."

Clea gurns in mock-distress. "Why am I the only one he doesn't recognise!"

I give her a flat look. "Sixty years of isolationism."

"Apart from that!"

I gesture to her with my right hand. "Queen Clea of Venturia."

He looks blank. "Is that in Eastern Europe?"

I'm not sure that it's mock anymore. "No, it's in Atlantis!"

"Ah. I'm sorry, we don't have much to do with Atlantis."

"And that's one of the things I joined this little group to fix." She shakes her head in irritation. "Honestly."

Then the screen moves, and Geoffrey starts slightly. "He did not recognise me, either."

"And you are..?"

"Ah." I raise my right hand for a moment. "Just curious. Has anyone not worked out-?"

"Lex Luthor." / "Alexander Luthor." / "Luthor." / "Mister Luthor." / "Luthor, naturally." / "Lex."

BOOM!

The portal opens, creating a passage from his office to this staff room. "You may as well come through. The thing about working with intelligent people is that they occasionally work out inconvenient things."

A moment passes, and Lex walks through the boom tube, dressed in what looks like a rather expensive business suit.

Circe shakes her head. "This was supposed to be a dress down meeting, Lex."

For a moment, he hesitates. Then he manages what looks nearly like a natural smile. "I didn't expect to attend in person, and didn't leave time to change. Geoffrey, I'm glad to have you with us."

"I wouldn't go that far yet." I gesture to the seating, and everyone takes their places. "Explain to me exactly what I'm supposed to be joining."

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th August 2013
20:39 GMT -7

"Hm."

Geoffrey has taken a glug from one of the ale bottles and is contemplating the flavour. Since there's no John Constantine passed out underneath the table, it seems that the bait was unsuccessful. Somewhere behind me I feel the brief tug as Circe sends everyone home.

"So?" He looks around, face indicating deep thought. "Good? Bad?"

"Luthor."

"Did you ever get a full briefing on what the Light did?"

"Do you know how many children died?"

"Yes, of course I do. Why do you think I killed the people responsible?"

"Except Luthor."

"He had no direct input into that. All he knew was that Klarion would be creating a distraction while Mister Crock stole the Star Conqueror sample. And while I do take issue with him signing up with a team containing Klarion in the first place, him deciding not to wouldn't have stopped Klarion doing it."

"And the rest?"

"Mind controlling the Justice League highlighted a rather important flaw in their security, and we were able to deal with it before too much time had passed. He voted against unleashing the King of Tears, and I killed the others before they could follow through."

"Fine. What about what you're doing now?"

"Kahndaq was a brutal shithole, and now it's… Alright, and getting better. Venturia's experiencing an economic revival and an improved relationship with the rest of Atlantis. Uncorporation is now offering a range of services which are actually useful to people…"

"Africa. Looks colonial."

"Y-es? I mean, technically, the genomorphs are colonising the place, and they're not really interested in becoming citizens of pre-existing countries. On the other hand, if you'd like to look at the reports on local standards of… Everything, then I'm sure that you'll see that they've done the world of good."

"I already knew that. I get reports from the Commonwealth Office."

"So what's the issue?"

"What's the issue with the Prime Minister of Great Britain cooperating with the group taking over most of Africa?"

I shrug. "I understand that it's a little embarrassing that we're outperforming the Commonwealth Office with a fraction of the resources. Have you considered doing an audit?"

"The Commonwealth Office don't assassinate people."

I gesture upwards with my right hand. "And there's where you've been going wrong! It's like Batman not killing the Joker; it's amazing the number of lives you can save by murdering a logjam. Do you remember when the people of Sudan stopped murdering each other?"

"That was you, was it?"

"That was my eldest and her friends. I put them up to it, but the technique and timing were all them. And look at the results. Far less death than if no one did anything or if another country invaded. And we haven't even had to lean on the surviving government officials all that much."

"The country has effectively partitioned, but I suppose that's the best result they could have gotten."

"Well, they are next door to Kahndaq. They know perfectly well that if anyone acts up Adom might well pay them a visit. The southern tribes are in talks regarding annexation, and LexCorp is already constructing mines and oil wells in the area."

"I thought you were using cosmic converters to power everything?"

I shrug. "South Sudan had basically no infrastructure. It's easier to refine local oil and use it to fuel generators than build an actual power network to hundreds of tiny villages. We're working on it. And we still need plastics and oil-based lubricants. Besides, LexPower's global monopoly relies on us not letting cosmic converters get out of our sight. Sticking them on starships is one thing. Putting one in a random African village with no security is quite another."

"I was waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding electrical generation. I assumed Luthor would be asking for tax breaks or something of that nature. But he's already past that, isn't he? The point is to fund his fleet, and it's already doing that."

"What he wants is for people to accept cheap electricity and stop trying to bypass him when they directly benefit. He's using it to fund the stellar self-defence force that protects the Earth. That's all there is to it." … "Alright, it's also an ego boost for him too, because… Heh. I read a book… Centuries ago on my personal timeline, where a media mogul had a group of magical dragons hooked up as a transmitter array because it was cheaper than using satellites. When the hero asked him if he was planning on taking over the world, he said 'no'. Because when you own the media corporations they throw in the governments for free."

"And the raw materials are just for building starships?"

"At this point the few shareholders he doesn't control regard him as the second coming of John Rockefeller. He works very long hours and was already extremely rich. What's he going to do with the extra money that's going to meaningfully affect his quality of life? No, he wants Earth to have a self-defence fleet because this way it's not relying on Superman."

"What's wrong with Superman?"

"Lex hates him. Don't ask; it's not rational and he knows it. He feels better if the Earth is protected by a navy rather than a single man who could choke on a kryptonite fishbone tomorrow and leave the planet defenceless."

"And what about you?"

"The need to build up civilisations is built into my soul. I'll do that until my soul reunites with the Source. But in the medium term, I want help killing my father."

"Why?"

"Can I be blunt?"

"I would appreciate it."

I glance up for a moment. "Remember how it felt, when you found your wife's body?" He jerks and then goes still, jaw tensing. "My father wants to make everyone in the universe feel just like that, all of the time. Cradle to grave. Abject misery for all. He wants to alter reality so that no other state of mind is possible. And I don't know how close he is to pulling it off, but he hit me with a little of his work-in-progress a while ago and I spent a week raving in despair and trying to claw my own head off."

"How?"

"It's called the Anti-Life Equation. He speaks, and you're not exactly you any longer. That's what I want to stop, why I'm investing in Earth society rather than going somewhere else and building up from scratch." I turn back to him. "So, you on board?"

"Does he know you feel like this?"

I nod. "Probably."

"Then why hasn't he stopped you?"

I shrug disarmingly. "He can hardly crush me if I haven't built up anything to crush, can he?"

He watches me for a moment, mulling things over.

Then he nods.

"Alright then. I'm in. What do I need to do to get started?"